Tian Lang of the Chuan Clan and the ten Golden Core cultivators of the Golden Shark Alliance stationed themselves on their respective magical artifacts. Liang Gong ate quality, flying toward them, instantly sensing that powerful aura. He immediately aimed the Demon Jiao Bone Bow in his hand at Yan Hao, the Golden Core cultivator charging at the very front.

An invisible, chilling malevolent aura rose from the tip of the bone arrow, shooting toward the sky. It condensed into a sharp presence, locking onto the Golden Core cultivators diving down from the sky.

Yan Hao had only charged within a thousand zhang. He instantly felt a chilling malevolent aura penetrate his body, actually causing his blood to freeze. A sudden shock ran through his heart, stunned by the sheer power of this chilling malevolence.

He gritted his teeth, fearless, channeling his magic power to expel the cold air pressing against his body, simultaneously controlling the three Azure Banner artifacts with one hand. He continued to charge down toward where the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman was located beneath the dark clouds. Only by forcefully striking down the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman could the tide be turned against the cultivators' passive situation.

One thousand zhang, nine hundred zhang... eight hundred zhang.

Liang Gong held the Jiao Bow high, the arrow light pointing directly at Yan Hao. His narrowed eyes held an ever-increasing coldness, but he never loosed the arrow.

Since he remained still, Liang Rong and Liang Hua, the two high-tier Bone Archers beside him, naturally did not move either.

The pressure Yan Hao was enduring at this moment grew ever heavier, making him feel exceptionally uncomfortable. The closer he got to the ground, the less space he had to dodge and maneuver, and the fiercer the bone arrow attacks he would have to face.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Yan Hao had charged into the seven-hundred-zhang range.

If he proceeded further from this distance, he had no confidence at all that the top-tier artifacts—the three Azure Banners he controlled—could block the bone arrows from the three high-tier Bone Archers without him suffering serious injury.

"Jiao Bone Arrow, First-Grade Demon Jiao Bone Arrow!"

At this distance, Yan Hao finally saw clearly the several-zhang-long, silver-white bone arrow Liang Gong had nocked on the Demon Jiao Bow, and he was instantly horrified. A wave of intense regret surged in his heart; he shouldn't have risked his life.

The Demon Jiao was one of the most ferocious and terrifying sea monsters in the East Sea. An eighth-rank Demon Jiao was equivalent to the fifth or sixth layer of the Golden Core stage. Bone arrows made from such material possessed terrifying power, far beyond what ordinary bone arrows could match.

He truly didn't know how the Earth Tribe archers managed to obtain the remains of a Demon Jiao and refine them into bone arrows. Fortunately, bone arrows of this caliber were probably only possessed by the tribe's absolute top-tier Bone Archers.

However, Yan Hao saw the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman standing behind Liang Gong, holding a black wooden staff, his expression coldly fixed on the sky. This Grand Shaman, whom he was desperate to kill quickly, was still waiting to see how he would charge through.

Yan Hao’s face was ashen. Even if the three Azure Banner artifacts were destroyed, he had to withstand the three bone arrows to give the other Golden Core cultivators a chance to kill the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman and complete the mission to conquer the Earth Tribe.

Liang Gong narrowed his eyes, watching Yan Hao and the other five Golden Core cultivators rapidly closing in.

Suddenly, he shifted the arrowhead, followed by a loud roar.

Dian Xi!

The three giant bone arrows instantly transformed into three dazzling white beams of light, leaving the string. They shot toward the sky.

However, the target of their attack was not Yan Hao, Li Peijun, Xu Zhen, or the other Golden Core cultivators charging at the front, but rather Ye Qin, who was at the very rear of the six Golden Core cultivators.

Ye Qin was purely reserve support, currently trailing behind the Golden Core cultivators Shi Hanyang and Xue Xiang, preparing to act when the opportunity arose. When Liang Gong shifted the arrowhead, an ominous premonition suddenly struck Ye Qin's heart.

Without hesitation, he opened his mouth and shot out a golden Primordial Spirit artifact.

"Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword!"

The small yellow sword grew as it met the wind, transforming into a giant yellow dust sword twenty zhang long, standing majestically in front of Ye Qin. The sword body possessed no sharpness; it was weighty like a mountain.

As this sword manifested, the area within a hundred zhang became a vast expanse of yellow, seemingly suppressed by an invisible Earth Spirit aura, causing even the strong winds in the mid-air to cease. This most defensively powerful Primordial Spirit artifact had been released.

Ye Qin was unclear why Liang Gong had abandoned the foremost Yan Hao to instead attack Ye Qin at the rear. He let out a cold laugh; since that was the case, there was no need for him to hold back any longer. He quickly formed a hand seal, controlling the Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword, raised a finger, pointed remotely, and the Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword lunged toward the Demon Jiao Bone Arrows.

Simultaneously, Ye Qin’s other Primordial Spirit artifact, the Southern Bright Flame Fire Sword, had also been unleashed, transforming into raging flames, twisting toward the other two seventh-rank bone arrows speeding toward him.

The Demon Jiao Bone Arrows hurtled in. Midway through their flight, with a muffled poof, they shattered into countless bone fragments. Mixed within these fragments were clusters of extremely fine, chilling, yin flames, forming a Yin Flame Cold Jiao several tens of zhang wide, pouncing toward Ye Qin.

Before it could fully engage Ye Qin, it directly collided with the Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword.

Ye Qin saw the bone arrows mutate, his expression unchanged. He controlled the Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword to slash head-on at the Cold Jiao, intending to entangle it! At the same time, he decisively threw out the Southern Bright Flame Fire Sword to intercept the other two peerless white light bone arrows.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword was gnawed by the Cold Jiao. With every bite, the sword body vibrated violently and shrunk by a circle. The twenty-zhang giant sword quickly shrank to just a few zhang in size. However, this Cold Jiao was ultimately not a true Cold Jiao; it was merely a bone arrow refined from a Demon Jiao skeleton, its power far less than that of a real Cold Jiao. After releasing its power, it too dissolved into countless white powder.

This Earth-elemental, extremely defensive Primordial Spirit flying sword had blocked the ferocious attack of the Demon Jiao Bone Arrows. Its light dimmed, and it finally shrank to a small sword a few inches long before flying back into Ye Qin's hand. If not for the large amount of cold energy and bone fragments remaining in the mid-air, one might have thought nothing had happened.

Ye Qin recalled his Primordial Spirit artifact, noticing the fine cracks running across the sword body. He felt a sharp pang of heartache and secretly sighed in relief.

He hadn't known the Demon Jiao Bone Arrow possessed such power. Had he not released the Yellow Heaven Deep Dust Sword in time, relying on the Primordial Spirit artifact to withstand just one bone arrow, the set of Heavenly Scale Armor he wore would not have been able to completely block the attack of the Demon Jiao Bone Arrow.

The other five Golden Core cultivators flying rapidly were all stunned by this sight.

Li Peijun and Xu Zhen exchanged glances. For a moment, they couldn't figure out why Liang Gong, who had the most dangerous target in Yan Hao charging at the front, would instead attack Ye Qin, who was providing support at the rear. Wasn't that a complete waste of bone arrows?!

Shi Hanyang was astonished. Ye Qin possessed two high-powered Primordial Spirit artifacts; his current combat strength likely wasn't inferior to his own.

Yan Hao was extremely vexed. Ye Qin’s capability was more than enough to hold the front line, yet he ended up in the rear, forcing Yan Hao to take the lead.

However, they had no time to dwell on such thoughts.

A distance of one thousand zhang was extremely short, especially for Golden Core cultivators—it was the time it took to draw a single breath.

The three high-tier Bone Archers could only manage to fire one arrow in this brief span. The Golden Core cultivators' incredibly swift artifact flight brought them instantly to within two or three hundred zhang—close quarters—where they released their artifacts to fiercely attack the high-tier warriors on the ground.

Now, without the threat of Liang Gong’s bone arrows, they could focus all their power on killing the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman and eliminating the leader of this Earth Tribe Stone City tribe.

After loosing the arrow, Liang Gong gripped the handle of the Demon Jiao Bone Bow tightly, looking up at Ye Qin in the mid-air, his heart shaken.

"Hmph, he actually blocked it!"

His immensely powerful Demon Jiao Bone Arrow was actually blocked by that Golden Core Immortal. And the other two high-tier Bone Archers, Liang Rong and Liang Hua, had only managed to cause some trouble for Ye Qin, failing to pose a significant threat.

Just then, a grim voice came from behind.

"Liang Gong, what are you doing? Why didn't you shoot down that Immortal Yan?" The Dark Cloud Grand Shaman stared fiercely at Liang Gong. Beneath his deathly pale, icy eyes, the poorly concealed rage was evident as he interrogated in a sharp voice.

"Grand Shaman, what kind of talk is that?! Who I wish to kill is my business, I am not your personal bodyguard. I did my best to stop the Golden Core cultivators from getting close; if they got through, what does that have to do with me?"

Liang Gong sneered, drew a bone arrow from his quiver without hesitation, and turned around, leading his two tribesmen in a hasty retreat. Several Golden Core Immortals were already closing in; these high-tier Bone Archers naturally needed to relocate to a safer position to shoot.

The Dark Cloud Grand Shaman knew the situation was critical and dared not remain in place. He immediately turned and fled rapidly, disappearing into the crowd of mid-tier Earth Tribe warriors behind him. Meanwhile, the five high-tier warriors of the Sea-Plundering Clan, including Jing Bo, rushed forward desperately to engage the five Golden Core cultivators, preventing them from pursuing the Grand Shaman.

Yan Hao swept his three Azure Banners, pulling a high-tier warrior into the fray. Shi Hanyang and Xue Xiang also joined the battle, getting entangled in a melee with the high-tier warriors. Li Peijun and Xu Zhen were each pinned down by a high-tier warrior.

Ye Qin, having forcefully blocked the three arrows from Liang Gong and the high-tier Bone Archers, still felt lingering fear and had expended a significant amount of magic power, so he did not immediately descend. Besides, blocking those three arrows had already served a tremendous purpose; whether he joined the fight below or not was immaterial.

"Hmph, escaping won't be so easy."

Li Peijun saw the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman about to flee, slapped the demonic beast pouch at his waist, and a seventh-rank Azure Scaled Demon Serpent, dozens of zhang long, sprang out. Its body was covered in ferocious stripes, its copper-gong green eyes blazing with red malevolence. Opening its fangs, it spat out a mouthful of foul, stinking energy and lunged fiercely toward a high-tier warrior in front of him.

Li Peijun abandoned the high-tier warrior, his sword light surging several zhang beneath his feet, pursuing the fleeing Dark Cloud Grand Shaman.

The Dark Cloud Grand Shaman was not skilled in close combat and fled in panic, rapidly chanting strange dialects under his breath.

What was shocking was that wherever the Grand Shaman went, the surrounding mid-tier Earth Tribe warriors’ eyes turned blood-red, and they acted as if possessed, screaming and throwing black iron long spears at Li Peijun. The dense rain of spears battered the protective shield around Li Peijun, causing it to clang loudly, and their divine power seemed several points stronger than usual.

Li Peijun didn't care about these spears scratching him, but amidst the large number of bone arrows, an occasional powerful arrow from a high-tier Bone Archer made him quite flustered on his flying sword.

The mountain pass descended into chaos.

When Li Peijun looked again, the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman had vanished from the throng of mid-tier Earth Tribe warriors, disappearing somewhere. He couldn't help but become furious, directing his flying sword toward the mid-tier warriors below.

"What a pity."

Liang Gong, with his two subordinates, had already run far. He looked back at this moment, only to find the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman had also disappeared, and he couldn't help but feel regret.

Liang Rong and Liang Hua behind him finally reacted. The situation just now had been rather precarious.

"Young Clan Leader, why didn't you attack Immortal Yan just now, but instead targeted the furthest young Immortal? What was the reason?... The Grand Shaman will surely blame us for failing in our protection." Liang Rong asked with some trepidation.

"You are a warrior of my Bone Arrow Tribe; since when did you start worrying about the life and death of that old shaman? Let's go find the Holy Maiden. The old shaman's life or death doesn't matter, just don't let anything happen to the Holy Maiden."

Liang Gong glared at Liang Rong, chastising him in a cold voice, before sprinting toward Stone City.

Liang Rong and Liang Hua, the two Bone Archers, dared not speak further, lowering their heads and quickly following.

Although the surprise attack led by Yan Hao and the six Golden Core cultivators failed to eliminate the Dark Cloud Grand Shaman in one go, it forced him into a desperate flight. The warriors of the Earth Tribe tribes at the pass lost coordination and fell into isolated combat.

Yu Weifeng, the leader of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, directed the cultivators to counterattack on the battlefield at the pass, and the cultivators gradually stabilized their positions. (To be continued)