The second wave that surged forward consisted of over a dozen demonic crabs, each about ten zhang in size. These monsters were entirely encased in hard, black carapace, their bulbous green eyes radiating a chilling aura, with a pair of massive pincers guarding their fronts.
From their mouths spewed gusts of green mist, and wherever this mist touched, the ground immediately turned a vibrant green, saturated with wood-element toxins. Any enemy attempting an attack would first have to endure the corrosive effects of the green poison gas. The crab swarm advanced rapidly along the corridors carved out by the gaseous miasma.
“Green Giant Crabs!”
Wood-element demonic beasts, their clawed legs possessed immense crushing power capable of crippling and destroying flying swords.
Niu Qin instantly recalled the origin of this crab horde, observing the charging swarm with calm precision.
He did not dare delay. With a gesture of his finger, the Nanming Lihuo Sword, one of the five blades standing beside him, flared violently, transforming into a streak of flame that shot toward the crab horde.
The sky filled with Sanmei True Fire, and soaring fire crows immediately smothered the surging green mist.
Crimson flames and green poison gas clashed intensely. The crab leader appeared enraged, brandishing its colossal pincers and charging forward.
Neither Ye Qin nor the twenty-odd Golden Core cultivators in the team considered this group of crabs a serious threat.
Even the crab leader was merely an eighth-tier demonic beast; how formidable could this small group truly be?
Moments later, the battle concluded.
Pii!
The carapace of a seventh-tier demonic crab was torn in half by a flying sword, ejecting a large volume of bluish-green, strangely crimson paste.
Ye Qin killed the last Green Giant Crab with his sword, sliced it open, and, with a wave of his hand, collected the demonic core, recalling his five flying swords.
The team’s Golden Core cultivators promptly harvested demonic cores from the shattered corpses of the smaller crabs and cut away intact pincers, carapaces, and crab paste—raw materials highly valued. Crab paste, for instance, was a premium restorative for replenishing xue qi after severe injuries, fetching a high price in the market stalls.
Ye Qin had slain an eighth-tier crab leader and one seventh-tier crab; the remaining dozen or so crabs fell to the other cultivators. The spoils were decent enough.
Ye Qin’s gaze turned cold as he scanned the other directions of the battlefield.
His location was merely a minor skirmish zone around Stone City; there were not many demonic beasts in the immediate vicinity.
The true main battlefield lay with Grand Elder Zhou Hong and the other Nascent Soul ancestors.
Several demon cultivators had personally joined the assault on the city, and the massive beast horde was charging alongside them, engaging the Nascent Soul cultivators in the wilderness. The spectacle was earth-shattering, turning the area spanning dozens of li into absolute chaos.
Ye Qin’s team was positioned slightly further away from the main clash and thus avoided being drawn in.
Meanwhile, the several dozen Nascent Soul cultivators and over two hundred Golden Core cultivators originally hidden around the island had fully emerged, moving at full speed to encircle and besiege the few demon cultivators and thousands of high and mid-tier demonic beasts stationed on the island.
This entire deployment was a death trap set specifically for the demon cultivators.
The handful of demon cultivators attacking the city had clearly realized they were surrounded by Nascent Soul cultivators. Terror flashed across their faces as they fought frantically with Zhou Hong and the others, attempting to break through the encirclement. The massive beast horde also descended into disarray.
“Elder Ye, those demon cultivators really fell for the trap. Should we charge over and take the opportunity to hunt some demonic beasts? Most of the high-tier ones are following those demon cultivators. Once the demon cultivators die, that massive horde will surely be slaughtered!”
“Indeed, let’s go join the slaughter! We can take down more beasts!”
Many Golden Core cultivators in the team showed glee and an urge to jump into the fray.
Ye Qin surveyed the situation, then calmly shook his head. “The fighting over there is too chaotic. Those demon cultivators are fighting for their lives; we might get dragged down if we aren't careful! Let’s go to the periphery and hunt some smaller packs! It won't be too late to join after those demon cultivators are dead.”
He was acutely aware of how terrifying demon cultivators could be and would never approach them unless absolutely necessary.
Following this decision, Ye Qin turned his sword and flew out toward the wilderness beyond Stone City to meet another group of demonic beasts.
The Golden Core cultivators in the team felt a tinge of regret, but Ye Qin was the leader, and his decision stood. The cultivators followed Ye Qin, transforming into more than twenty streaks of light, heading toward the island's wilderness.
Ye Qin’s assessment proved correct.
Those demon cultivator scouts were from the Rock Rhino Clan, and they were indeed formidable, possessing astonishingly tough defenses. They were fighting on par with Zhou Hong and the other Nascent Soul cultivators, simultaneously fending off their attacks while inciting the massive horde of high-tier beasts to launch frantic assaults.
Since the main thrust of the beast tide was occupied with tying down the Nascent Soul cultivators, the pressure on the Golden Core cultivators was relatively light.
It was foreseeable that once the few demon cultivators were eliminated, this beast tide would be successfully wiped out. The demon cultivators were fiercely strong, but Zhou Hong and his Nascent Soul peers were no pushovers either.
The Rock Rhino demon cultivators, unable to shake off the entanglement with Zhou Hong’s group and seeing the streaks of light formed by Zhou Yu and the large contingent of Nascent Soul cultivators closing in from all sides, began to panic.
The leading Rock Rhino cultivator unleashed a barrage of rock spikes as demonic weapons, violently sweeping away the flying swords and magical artifacts being hurled at it by the surrounding cultivators. Immediately afterward, it opened its massive maw in a ferocious roar, stamping its giant foot on the ground. In the next instant, a world-shaking, colossal roar erupted—a massive earth-element demonic spell, shaking the mountains and causing yellow shockwaves to spread for dozens of li.
The surrounding great mass of demonic beasts was overturned by the intense tremor.
Even the mid-stage Golden Core cultivators in the low air, whose cultivation was slightly lower, were instantly stunned into unconsciousness. They lost control of their flying artifacts, plummeting from the sky to be trampled to death by the chaotic beast horde on the ground.
Roar!
Countless roars of fury and anguish echoed across the entire sea area.
The Golden Core cultivators in Ye Qin’s team paled with shock, inwardly grateful that they hadn't rashly rushed over. Such a sudden blast would have been disastrous.
However, the roars over the sea did not cease; instead, they grew stronger.
The surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators, who were besieging the few demon cultivators in the wilderness, paused in surprise upon hearing the sound.
Palace Master Zhou stopped, his expression tightening. He swept his divine sense toward the far reaches of the island and his face changed dramatically.
He suddenly realized that a vast tide of demonic beasts was surging toward the island from all directions. Within that horde were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of powerful auras—the auras of tenth-tier or higher demon cultivators.
“There are more demon cultivators than just these few on hand. Within a thousand li, another large beast tide has appeared, at least ten times larger than the current one!”
Zhou Palace Master, usually measured and calm, showed a flash of anger.
He had set a trap to lure and kill this small contingent of demon cultivator scouts, but he had misjudged the situation. The force attacking them now was an enormous contingent of demon cultivators, not just these few scouts. These scouts were merely probing the strength of the cultivators inside Stone City.
This was likely the most powerful demonic force they had encountered in the four or five years since establishing the city.
“Stop holding back, kill! Resolve these few demon cultivators quickly, and all Golden Core cultivators are to follow the Nascent Soul ancestors and retreat!”
Zhou Palace Master roared, flicking a sword art with his finger. A small sword wreathed in dark lightning that had been circling his body instantly surged, accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder, growing to over a hundred zhang in size as it shot toward the demon cultivators ahead.
This small divine ability flying sword, laced with purple lightning, possessed terrifying speed; it struck toward the Rock Rhino demon cultivator almost instantaneously.
The Rock Rhino cultivator roared back, unleashing its rock spike demonic weapons.
Boom!
The lightning sword was batted away.
But several strands of dark lightning followed the rock spikes, winding around the Rock Rhino cultivator’s entire body, crackling—Pichi, pichi~—stunning the beast on the spot.
The repelled lightning sword immediately swept back in for another strike.
Swish! Swish! Dozens of sword lights hacked down fiercely. Even the Rock Rhino cultivator’s armor could not withstand the brutal assault and began to shatter.
Zhou Palace Master swept his sleeve, recalling the lightning-element flying sword.
The Nascent Soul cultivators’ morale surged, and their attacks grew even more ferocious.
The Nascent Soul cultivators surrounding the few demon cultivators no longer held back; they attacked with full force, unwilling to leave any threat that might pressure the later stages of the battle.
The demon cultivators, realizing their doom was imminent, swung their demonic weapons desperately, unleashing their respective demonic body innate abilities and spells in a final, desperate resistance.
Under the siege of dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators, the demon cultivators couldn't even manage to escape.
In moments, the few demon cultivators were all killed. As for the great beast horde, the Nascent Soul cultivators had no intention of managing them, letting them scatter in all directions.
At that moment, across the sea area surrounding the great island, as far as the eye could see, the immense beast horde had formed a circular black line, flying toward the island. Leading them were large numbers of demon cultivators—easily numbering over a hundred.
The Nascent Soul cultivators gazed into the distance, their faces grim.
They had tried to outmaneuver the demon cultivators, but the demon cultivators were also calculating against them.
They had placed many scouts in the distant sea area surrounding the island, but no messages had been received yet—likely, those scouts had already been killed by the enemy.
“Palace Master Zhou, this is likely the largest counterattack by the demon cultivators in years. We are surrounded on all sides by the beast tide and demon cultivators. We must either fight the demon cultivators to the death and hold Stone City at all costs, or abandon the city and execute a general retreat to preserve our strength! Please make a swift decision!”
Palace Master Liao of Guangyu Palace spoke with a solemn expression.
The surrounding Nascent Soul cultivators also tensed, looking toward Palace Master Zhou Yu.
“Abandon the city and break out!”
Zhou Palace Master gritted his teeth.
The attacking demon cultivator force was unexpectedly strong; they could even kill all the Nascent Soul cultivators present. Furthermore, he absolutely could not risk a head-on clash with the enemy right now—it was not the time for a decisive battle.
At this critical juncture, hesitation was impossible.
“Where shall we retreat to?”
“The nearest teleportation nexus is to the north, but with a full-scale demonic assault, they might have set up an ambush there or along the route! Let’s head west; there is a Stone City built by the Heavenly Dao Alliance Sect Master there, which can temporarily mitigate the danger.”
The Golden Core cultivator teams that had dispersed to encircle the beasts—Ye Qin, Zhou Yi, and the others—had already retreated and rejoined the ancestors.
The Nascent Soul cultivators from Purple Sword Palace and the Alliance Palace, along with hundreds of Golden Core cultivators, rapidly charged toward the west.
This sudden encirclement by the large demon cultivator force clearly intended to annihilate all the cultivators within Stone City, but the East Sea cultivators decisively abandoned the city, causing the western pincer movement to face fierce impact.
The enemy reacted instantly; most of the demon cultivators immediately surged toward the direction where the Purple Sword Palace cultivators were breaking out.
The massive beast horde swept over and completely engulfed Stone City.
For a time, the hundreds of li of sea area descended into chaos, with magical artifacts and sword lights crossing paths, talismans and spells flying, accompanied by explosive sounds as they struck the charging demonic beast horde.