The fellow’s face was flushed crimson, half from rage, half from mortification, since Nie Kong’s recent maneuver had been undeniably rather despicable. Seeing the brute’s sturdy frame staggering forward, whipped by the tail of a spirit beast, Nie Kong suddenly burst from the beast’s side and jammed the broken end of his staff right into the man’s rear.
Waving the wooden shaft protruding from his backside like a gorilla, whooping and bouncing for a moment, Bei Ge Kong darted in again. The inner-city disciple’s face paled with shock, and he frantically channeled a stream of spiritual power into his “Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins,” shouting in exasperation, “Nie Kong, you just wait for me!”
Watching their comrade ejected from the illusionary space in such a ludicrous posture by a jade-green pillar of light, the inner-city disciples engaged in combat with the spirit beasts instinctively shivered. To be forced out of the illusionary space like that would be too humiliating; they might as well withdraw voluntarily.
“Swish!”
Under the watchful, wary gazes of those inner-city disciples, Nie Kong shot like an arrow back into the roaring swarm of spirit beasts, vanishing from sight.
“Nie Kong, you are truly wicked!”
Miao Ge covered her small mouth, her delicate body trembling against Nie Kong’s back, yet she dared not let out a loud sound, her pretty face burning red from suppression, like an overripe persimmon, captivating in its charm.
Nie Kong burst into laughter, “It’s his own fault for being too eager; he practically offered up his own backside.”
“Go on with you!”
Miao Ge couldn't help but giggle again. But just then, Ge Kong suddenly turned back and said, “Senior Sister Miao Ge, stop laughing, you can come down now.”
“What, let me down?”
Miao Ge froze, wondering if she had heard correctly. This scoundrel was actually asking her to get down? Didn't he know she’d be immediately besieged by these beasts once she was down? Looking at the inner-city disciples trapped in the confusing melee, Miao Ge felt a chill run down her spine. Within a radius of several hundred meters, the lush undergrowth had been completely devastated, and the number of spirit beasts had likely swelled to nearly a thousand, still increasing!
“That’s right. Are you planning to set up permanent residence on my back?” Nie Kong placed both palms behind his back and cheerfully gave a slight upward lift to Miao Ge’s perfectly round, moon-like hips.
“Ah!?”
Miao Ge sprang up from Ge Kong’s back like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, then exclaimed angrily with a blushing face, “Get down, I’ll get down! At worst, I’ll keep my distance from you! I don’t believe that without you, I can’t fight my way out of here?”
“Haha!”
Nie Kong chuckled, paying no further attention to Miao Ge, and swiftly vanished without a trace.
“Hmph!”
The bastard actually abandoned her in the midst of the spirit beasts and left her. Miao Ge wrinkled her nose and snorted. Seeing a spirit beast that had just been drawn over rushing toward her, she hastily circled and drew her hands in front of her, ten fingers wreathed in faint azure light, reaching swiftly toward the creature.
Moments later, Miao Ge suddenly made a soft sound of surprise, her hands freezing in the air.
She realized that although the spirit beast had charged in her direction, its target seemed not to be her at all, but rather those inner-city disciples of Ling Yu City dozens of meters behind her. Sure enough, the spirit beast bypassed her without a second glance, rushing past her toward the others.
Miao Ge was greatly astonished. Her beautiful eyes swept around; none of the nearby ferocious beasts were paying her any attention either. Miao Ge became even more confused. Previously, any slight movement away from Ge Kong would immediately trigger the beasts’ attack, so why were all the spirit beasts now treating her as invisible?
Miao Ge blinked her eyes in suspicion. Seeing a spirit beast charge past her, she quickly stretched out a hand and tapped it. The beast halted, looked at Miao Ge with some confusion, let out a questioning roar, and then abruptly turned back, continuing its charge toward the inner-city disciples ahead.
“What strange thing is this!”
Miao Ge pondered it repeatedly but could not fathom the reason—it was utterly baffling. Suddenly, a shriek carried from the front; another inner-city disciple had been ambushed by Nie Kong and, at the critical moment, had activated his ‘Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins,’ shielded by a dense emerald glow.
Having seen their companions ambushed repeatedly, the inner-city disciples were growing increasingly flustered. Miao Ge felt intensely satisfied and stopped worrying about why the spirit beasts had suddenly ceased being hostile toward her. Her figure flashed, and she too imitated Nie Kong, hiding beside a stout spirit beast before charging forward...
Ling Xiao Altar.
In the mid-section of the mountain forest within the illusionary space, the red dots had become dense, layer upon layer, completely surrounding the green dots, which were constantly turning black and then vanishing. Those bright lights, twinkling like scattered stars, dazzled the onlookers, filling them with amazement.
“Indeed! Only inner-city disciples are coming out!”
“There must be over a thousand spirit beasts there now, and another thousand ferocious beasts are rushing towards that spot. If the remaining inner-city disciples run in that direction again, they’ll probably all be flushed out this time!”
“That’s right. An event like this has seemingly never occurred in the history of our Ling Yu City. Truly… alas…”
...
“Look! Another inner-city disciple is out! No, two!”
“These guys used to have their noses in the air. Now one person has reduced them to such a sorry state. What qualification will they have to act arrogantly in the future?”
“Huh, there’s a very strong green dot over there; it has already killed ten spirit beasts!”
“It is rumored that the most powerful person among the inner-city disciples who entered the illusionary space this time is called Luo Chu. Could he be that Luo Sheng?”
...
At Ling Xiao Altar, opinions flew, and the clamor was deafening.
“Ah!”
A scream suddenly pierced the air.
Two inner-city disciples panicked upon seeing Nie Kong’s figure and were impaled through the shoulder by the sharp horn of a spirit beast. The man’s luck was clearly poor, as he was subsequently struck by another spirit beast flung away by a different inner-city disciple upon landing.
If two companions hadn't desperately rushed forward to buy him time to activate his ‘Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins,’ this fellow would probably have gone to meet his ancestors by now!
In the blink of an eye, a pillar of green light descended, and the mountain forest saw another inner-city disciple vanish.
“Nie Kong! I really didn’t want to violate the rules of the competition, but you’ve gone too far. Don’t let me catch you, or even if I face punishment after exiting, I will personally ensure you have a good ‘welcome’!”
“Yes! We must torture him half to death!”
“Brothers, be careful! Where has he hidden himself again? Hurry up and find him! Don't let him ambush us again!”
...
Beside a spirit beast, Nie Kong suddenly poked his head out, grinning mischievously, “Esteemed Seniors, please don’t be so angry. That guy getting hurt just now really had nothing to do with me. You all saw it—I didn’t lay a finger on him! You can’t blame everything on me, can you?”
“There he is! Brothers, charge him together!”
The several dozen disciples present hated Nie Kong to the core. As soon as he showed himself, they hurriedly pushed away the spirit beasts in front of them and charged toward him simultaneously.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Two screams rang out in succession—it was Miao Ge taking action from behind. Her graceful figure flashed slightly, azure light streaked by, and two inner-city disciples tumbled down near the spirit beasts. Frightened, they quickly activated their ‘Jade Tablets of Verdant Veins’; saving their lives was the priority right now.
Everyone was startled, finally realizing that while their fury was fixed on Nie Kong, they had forgotten he had a companion!
“Oh! You—you bastard…”
The fellow who had shouted about giving Nie Kong a ‘good welcome’ suddenly felt his neck tighten, and his body lifted as if carried by the wind, plummeting directly toward a cluster of agitated spirit beasts. Those creatures almost simultaneously opened their gaping maws, leaping and snapping at him.
The inner-city disciple was terrified out of his wits and channeled his remaining spiritual power into the ‘Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins’ right there in mid-air. The next instant, he landed into the mouth of a spirit beast whose jaws looked particularly ferocious. That beast, unable to bite through him, directly snatched his body and smashed him onto the ground.
As he hit the ground, a crowd of spirit beasts clustered near his head.
Fortunately, the green pillar of light descended quickly; otherwise, if one of the beasts had taken an interest in the top of his skull, he would have been in grave danger.
After driving away the most arrogant one, Nie Kong’s figure flickered and darted about. In just a few minutes of skirmishing, over ten inner-city disciples had successively utilized the ‘Jade Tablet of Black Veins.’
Especially now that he didn't have Miao Ge on his back to slow him down, he could cooperate with her from time to time, making it impossible for the inner-city disciples to cover both ends.
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
...
Gasps and screams rose one after another. As time passed, green pillars of light descended one after another, sweeping away the inner-city disciples.
For the remaining inner-city disciples, every second spent there was fraught with danger. While dealing with the frantic attacks of the spirit beasts, their eyes constantly darted around, their expressions shifting from initial anger to sheer panic.
\First Publish
“Brothers, this man has spirit beasts assisting him; we simply can’t handle him… I… I’m leaving first!” After furiously blasting away the spirit beast in front of him, the inner-city disciple could bear it no longer, channeling his last bit of spiritual power into the ‘Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins.’
“Coward! You damn—oh no…!” “My spiritual power is almost depleted too!” A green, vibrant protective shield floated up around another man’s body.
“Let’s go, let’s go. It’s better to leave on our own than be driven out.”
“Nie Kong, you petty thief who only knows how to ambush, remember this! I am leaving on my own accord, not because you forced me out!”
...
In their hearts, they had long wanted to flee, but as inner-city disciples, escaping in such a manner meant complete loss of face. Now that someone had taken the lead, everyone naturally followed suit. Pillar after pillar of green light descended into the swarm of spirit beasts. In an instant, only a dozen or so inner-city disciples remained.
“My esteemed Seniors, do you still wish to play?”
Nie Kong reappeared with a smiling face. He was not surprised by this turn of events. At the moment of life and death, was face or life more important? Undeniably, it was the latter! It was good that those inner-city disciples had left; it saved Nie Kong the trouble of dealing with them one by one.
With most of the inner-city disciples gone, the remaining dozen or so had to bear the full brunt of the attacks from all the surrounding spirit beasts, and the pressure instantly multiplied. In the blink of an eye, every one of them sustained several new wounds. The expressions of these inner-city disciples were exceedingly grim.
“Nie Kong, you win!”
“Go!”
...
In an instant, the last remaining group of inner-city disciples nearly all fled, utilizing the ‘Jade Tablet of Verdant Veins.’ Only one person remained in the mountain forest, fighting a bloody battle! At this point, the thousand-plus surrounding spirit beasts had no obstruction and swarmed toward that fellow, their roars shaking the heavens.
P: Second update is here. There will be another one tonight.