“There’s no need, I heard a sound from over there,” Xia Fei’s two eyes moved to stare straight toward a narrow passageway right in front of them.
Ulan and the others heard a loud cry at the same time Xia Fei finished his sentence, a bellow that was filled with manic rage not too far from where they were.
Everyone was startled. It was not hard to tell that this cry came from a savage beast, and it had to be at least a Level One Divine Beast.
“Ping*
Furball woke up instantly and stood up straight, perched atop Xia Fei’s shoulder. His entire furry body had instantly bristled, like a hedgehog that had found its prey.
Xia Fei knew very well that this was how Furball looked when his fighting spirit was at its peak, and could tell that the creature that had made that sound was Furball’s natural enemy! Even before that cry faded away, Xia Fei could already feel the sound of breathing in the distance quicken. Thinking about it now, that other creature must have gone wild after catching Furball’s scent.
*Whoosh*
Xia Fei went dashing forward without another word, traveling along the long and narrow passageway and making a turn. He saw several figures standing calmly, completely blocking the width of the passageway that was no more than five or six meters wide.
One, two, three, four, five, and six. Xia Fei did not rush in, silently counting the six men standing before him.
Ulan was right behind him, and leaned forward to whisper into his ear at this time, “They are all Dark Spiritualists!”
Four against six? Xia Fei would not hold the upper hand in this fight. Aside from Ulan, no one on Xia Fei’s side would be considered a high-level Founder, while two out of the six men standing across him were at least high-level Founders, and the others were intermediates.
The thought flashed through Xia Fei’s mind when he noticed two more figures appear behind those six Dark Spiritualists. One was someone Xia Fei was very familiar with: Shu Yuhe. The other was a one-legged Eagle with a humanoid face!
“The Holy Beast Lonegleam!” At almost the moment they appeared, Ulan blurted its name out, a stern expression on his face.
Lonegleam, also known as the Lonegleam Eagle, was a Spirit-type Holy Beast. Its appearance could be described as strange, having only a single leg and taloned foot, and a face that looked like some sort of mutated human. Its triangular eyes brimmed with ferocity, and there was even someone dangling from its mouth. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was Fuchen!
Fuchen appeared to be very weak, tied up in thick and sturdy metal manacles. The Lonegleam Eagle’s serrated teeth were biting down on his waist, making it impossible to get out from its vise-like grip.
*Bang*
The way Lonegleam walked was very strange, because it only had one leg. All it could do was hop with it, the five sharp talons digging deep into the rock, leaving behind gouges with every step it took.
Despite this Holy Beast looking like it was only a bit bigger than an average human, the Spirit Beast Codex actually had it recorded down as one of the most fearsome birds of prey known to exist! It was classified as an extremely dangerous creature!
Holy Beasts had spirits and were very proud creatures, difficult to tame. No one had any idea just how Shu Yuhe had come to own such a heaven-defying existence, and he was able to defeat Fuchen with it.
Xia Fei was powerful without Furball by his side, but with his pet next to him, he was an unparalleled force to be reckoned with! Xia Fei was well aware what it meant to go up against Lonegleam, a creature whose ferocity index surpassed Furball many times.
An inadvertent glance over at Furball showed that the little creature was not showing a hint of fear. In fact, just the opposite, Furball appeared to be displaying an unprecedented amount of excitement! His eyes glowed red, and even before these two beasts traded blows, Furball was already treating Lonegleam as his nemesis!
Holy Beasts were different from Divine or Exotic Beasts. No two Holy Beasts could ever coexist, because they were simply too proud. Any time two Holy Beasts met, a deathmatch was the only result!
“Shu Yuhe! Let Fuchen go!” Ulan demanded loudly, his face stern and rigid.
Shu Yuhe chuckled and scoffed, “Ulan, long time no see. How could you be so unfriendly the moment we meet again?”
This exchange hinted that Ulan was acquainted with Shu Yuhe as well, and the former’s expression turned livid as he reached his left hand into his sleeve. It was unknown just what he was doing so surreptitiously.
Shu Yuhe shook his head. “Spiritualists of Botany are just an offshoot of the profession, and hardly more than a handful of you are still alive. You better think this through; the moment you make your move, that means that you botanists and us Dark Spiritualists will engage in an all-out war! Originally, my master considered that given how sparse the number of you botanists there were, he planned to let you all off, so what you’re doing here is no different from courting death! You and what other fellow sect brothers and disciples you have will be thrown right through the gates of Hell!”
Shu Yuhe was employing an emotional attack. Spiritualists showed strict loyalty to their sects, and Ulan hailed from the Spiritualists of Botany. If he were to cross swords with the Dark Spiritualists here, that would also mean an open declaration of war between the two sects, exactly as Shu Yuhe had said.
There had always been few botanists, and they lacked the powerful combat strengths of the Unrestricteds or the Purple Jades. They might very well meet their end if they were embroiled in this internal struggle between Spiritualists!
*clatter*
Ulan tossed out something deftly. It was a green badge bearing the insignia of a millennium vine. He had used great force with this throw, and the badge shattered into two halves the moment it left his palm.
“Right now, I’m no longer part of any sect,” Ulan replied, his expression unchanged.
Shu Yuhe frowned slightly, but soon broke out into a mirthless laugh, “So you were the Sectmaster of the botanists… You’ve been really keeping a low profile all these years, so much so that even I had no idea that your master had actually passed the position to you. If he was still alive and learned that you’ve ruined the Green Millennium Vines that symbolized the post of the sect master, I’m afraid he might regret placing his trust in you.”
What Ulan had destroyed was an important token of the botanists. Every Spiritualist sect would have a token, and holding it meant everyone would know that you were the Sectmaster. Now that Ulan had destroyed the token that belonged to the Spiritualists of Botany, while it seemed like a childish urge, it was actually a very extremely major decision. He planned to participate in this fight without wishing to implicate his remaining sect brothers, so he was left with no choice but to destroy the symbol of his sect.
Fuchen’s eyes remained shut as everything transpired. No one had any idea just what vicious hand these Dark Spiritualists had dealt him, such that an apex Spiritualist like Fuchen would be reduced to a near-corpse, not moving in the slightest this entire time.
But at the very moment when Ulan had destroyed his token, Xia Fei could very clearly see that two drops of tears had flowed from his closed eyes. Fuchen had wept.
Xia Fei felt emotions bubbling inside him. The friendship those two old men shared was not something common in this world, and despite the fact that they would normally be ridiculing and mocking each other, when it came down to the wire, both men would be old buddies that they could rely on.
Shrugging, Shu Yuhe did not care for this display, “So what if you’ve destroyed it. In any case, there are not more than ten of you Spiritualists of Botany still alive, so it doesn’t matter if any of you exist or otherwise. Who would care about a bunch of old fogeys who bury themselves in their plant research!”
Shu Yuhe’s attitude was rather arrogant. Ulan was angered to the point his body was shuddering, but he had no way of retaliating. As one of the less popular Spiritualist lineages, botanists like himself had always been easily ignored.
Glancing at Fuchen in the mouth of the Holy Beast Lonegleam Eagle, Shu Yuhe laughed, “Looks like I’m wrong. You actually have people coming to your rescue, but it’s too bad that these people are too weak, and the funniest part is that the strongest among them is actually a Spiritualist of Botany?”
The moment he said this, the other Dark Spiritualists around him broke into raucous laughter as well.
“Botanists should go back and grow your flowers. Get good at it and you could become a gardener for our master.”
“Tsk. What would our master care for such trifling things? But that little porcupine is pretty interesting, baring its fangs. It looks like it wants to trade a few blows with our master’s Lonegleam Eagle.”
Yet another round of laughter came from those present. The porcupine that they were referring to was none other than Furball. At this moment, Furball was raring to take the fight to the enemy. The fur on his body was bristling, which did indeed make it look somewhat like a porcupine.
Meanwhile, Xia Fei had learned that the Holy Beast Lonegleam Eagle belonged to Nan Shazi, the leader of the Dark Spiritualists. This fact surprised Xia Fei, because if the so-called number one Dark Spiritualist Nan Shazi was also nearby, then the situation was truly troublesome for him.
Of course, the unscrupulous Dark Spiritualists would have someone backing them. The stars and terrain were all in their favor, and even their cultivation was at a level that Xia Fei and his comrades could not match.
“Whoosh*
An explosion of killing Intent and his Inner Demon!
The humiliation from the Dark Spiritualists provoked a strong retaliation from Xia Fei’s side. This was especially true for the Skywings Xia Fei and Xia Guanghai. Neither man could contain the fury boiling inside them!
“What is it that our clansmen would say when in such a situation?” Xia Fei asked with a smile.
“Skywing business, those uninvolved can scram!” Xia Guanghai raised his voice and growled through clenched teeth.
“No, not that one,” Xia Fei shook his head.
Xia Guanghai was slightly taken aback, but soon loudly declared at the top of his voice, “Where the Fiendish Blade points, Gods and Demons alike will be slaughtered!”
At that moment when Xia Guanghai said the word ‘blade’, Xia Fei had already launched his attack!
This narrow passageway was paradise to speedsters!
*Whoosh!*
With a speed of thirty million meters per second, Xia Fei’s figure blurred, like the knife of a deadly apparition!
The long-absent Fiendish Blade Nirvana came flying out! The black blur sped right toward the crowd, and though Soza had admonished Xia Fei before about not randomly using his Law of Speed to further boost the speed at which Nirvana was sent out, Xia Fei could not care less about that at this moment. With a charging motion, he sent Nirvana hurtling forth.
*Bang!*
That throw from Xia Fei, whose speed had easily broken the thirty-million speed barrier, was anything but ordinary. The crossblade instantly broke the sound barrier, and the sonic boom that resulted thundered in the cramped space.
Xia Fei was well-versed in combination attacks, and he had never been someone that would attack alone. Just as Nirvana was sent flying, Peacock Blue abruptly broke through the ground and came bursting out! It turned out that the Immemorial Mystical Armament had hidden itself already and had been lying in wait to strike.
Furball, Xia Guanghai, Ulan and Oro followed closely behind Xia Fei. This was a narrow corridor. Just Nirvana and Xia Fei alone could cut out a path of blood, tearing apart this pack of enemies in front of them, promptly killing any warrior that took even a step out from their formation.
This was the standard Wolfpack tactic!
This was the formation that the Skywings were proud of. Xia Fei had already taught the intricacies to Oro and the others, and this was actually the first time they were applying it.
The Wolfpack Formation never emphasized following the rules, focusing on dealing a vicious blow to the opponent through superior combat strength. Meanwhile, the key to this lay with Xia Fei. Xia Fei was acting as the lead wolf in the Wolfpack Formation, so it was his job to separate the enemies, one by one. As long as he could achieve that, everything else would naturally fall into place!
*Rumble!*
The driving force of Nirvana was unstoppable. It penetrated right through the crowd, but these Dark Spiritualists all had high cultivation, and barely managed to evade the assault despite the suddenness.
But no one noticed the silk thin thread that Nirvana was pulling behind it, which belonged to the latest weapon Xia Fei obtained, Fiend Lock!
*Swish*
Fiend Lock was like a nimble finger, silently wrapping around the body of the warrior that was standing the outermost in the group. Because Fiend Lock had no weight and was far too thin, this individual didn’t realize what had happened.
“Dragged Blade style!”
Xia Fei exerted force through one arm, and Fiend Lock tightened! The sound of a sharp blade slicing through metal was heard!
This was a true dragged blade, the formless blade that no one could even sense the presence of!
