Chapter 862: Dangerously Unstable
Hordes of Blood Stream Division disciples entered the body of the Blood Ancestor and began to power it with their cultivation bases. The patriarchs of the Blood Stream Division were preparing to send the Blood Ancestor into the action!
On top of the Blood Ancestor’s head was a rabbit, who stared out at the deva fluctuations on the other side of the spell formation.
The disciples of the Spirit Stream Division did things a bit differently. Depending on which faction of the sect they belonged to, they formed different types of spell formation giants. Enormous swords in hand, the giants fought fiercely beyond the spell formation.
The Pill Stream Division offered auxiliary support, often stepping in to relieve disciples from the Spirit and Blood Stream Divisions. Last was the Profound Stream Division, whose primary task was to ensure that the Dire Skybanyan continued to maintain the spell formation shield.
Because of the vast resources the River-Defying Sect had at its disposal, Song Junwan had already reached the great circle of Core Formation. Currently, her hair was in disarray, and her face smeared with blood. She was clearly in bad shape. Xuemei fought next to her, and was also seriously injured. They were flanked by dozens of guards as they fell back into the protective perimeter of the spell formation, whereupon more disciples rushed over to help them.
“Pill Stream Division,” someone shouted, “get people over here to treat Sect Aunt Song!! Hurry!!”
Song Junwan waved her hand dismissively and said, “I’m fine, take care of Xuemei first!”
Eyes flashing with anger, she refused any help, and instead sat down cross-legged on one of the leaves of the Dire Skybanyan. As her injuries recovered, she surveyed the battlefield, and her eyes flickered with despair.
Patriarch Limitless of the Blood Stream Division wielded a shining, blood-colored blade that destroyed anything that got in his way. He was actually one of the most powerful patriarchs in the entire River-Defying Sect. However, at the moment, he was being ganged up on by a total of three Nascent Soul patriarchs from the other sects!
Most of the other Nascent Soul patriarchs of the River-Defying Sect were in various locations on the battlefield, fighting fiercely. Because of the spell formation shield, the fighting was somewhat at a deadlock. However, it was easy to imagine what would happen if the spell formation fell. The River-Defying Sect would be crushed as surely as if by Mount Tai!
Sighing, Song Junwan murmured, “Xiaochun… I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold out long enough to see you again….”
Her injuries weren't completely healed, but she was the most powerful expert of the Blood Stream Division’s Middle Peak, and therefore, she was the only one who could wield that peak’s enormous blood sword. There was no time for rest; the fight had to continue!
Each of the Blood Stream Division’s five mountain peaks of the past had all contained powerful precious treasures, and now, they were all being used in the fight. Animated corpses and gargoyles alike were all fighting without mercy!
There was one particular animated corpse with long, green hair, who caused particular frustration for the cultivators of the three sects. That corpse possessed shocking fleshly body power, and could also control other corpses. On top of that, it was being supported by hordes of gargoyles.
Generally speaking, gargoyles weren’t intelligent. However, there was one particularly wily gargoyle among the group who took it upon himself to lead the gargoyles into battle, making them a very effective fighting force.
As for the Spirit Stream Division, their spell formation giants were mighty, and wreaked havoc among the enemy wherever they went. One of them bore the semblance of Shangguan Tianyou, and another, Beihan Lie. All of them fought with valiance and bravery, and drove the enemy backward constantly.
Spirit beasts of all types howled as they fought alongside the Spirit Stream Division. One of them was an ancient, mighty dragon, who was flanked by a phoenix, a lizard, and a ghost.
Perhaps because of the Spirit Stream Division’s impressive showing, the Dao River Court sent three Nascent Soul patriarchs against them, like razor-sharp knives ready to take the heads of anyone they encountered.
However, in the instant that they began their charge, a howl erupted from inside the spell formation that could shake the heavens.
A huge beast appeared, dozens of meters long and growing larger by the moment. He moved as quickly as lightning, and had a sea of flames beneath his feet. As soon as he appeared out in the open, fluctuations rolled out which bordered on the deva level.
The cultivators from the other three sects were all shocked. As for the Nascent Soul experts who had just been preparing to attack the Spirit Stream Division, their eyes went wide, and they turned to flee. However, before they could, that beast pounced on them!
A boom rang out as one of the Nascent Soul experts exploded. His nascent soul flew out into the open, but before it could flee, was consumed by the beast. The other two cultivators were severely injured, and immediately began to retreat.
However, before they could do little more than move, a stream of sword qi, a huge hand, and a beam of black light shot out from the three sects, and headed toward the beast!
The will of the heavens filled the area: these were deva-level divine abilities!
The beast spun in place, dodging the huge hand and avoiding the black beam of light. Unfortunately, the sword qi slashed right into him!
Blood sprayed out of a wound on his back! In fact, closer examination would reveal that he had many wounds on him already, some which had healed and scarred over, but others which were fresh. Most shocking of all was one of the fresher wounds which went from one side of the beast's neck all the way to the other. It was a sword wound that had clearly been inflicted by the very same sword blast that had just been unleashed.
If the sword which had hit the beast’s neck had been moving any faster, it would likely have decapitated him!
Thankfully, the beast was incredibly quick, and was soon back in the safety of the spell formation. He resembled a qilin in some ways, and had large, charming eyes. He was none other than… Bruiser!
Serious expressions could be seen in the eyes of the three deva patriarchs from the three great sects.
“It’s him!”
“He’s just like the spies described….”
“It took him less than a sixty-year-cycle to reach the deva level…. He’s a paragon beast king!!”
“It’s too bad he’s so fast. In any case, that beast will be mine! He’ll either submit, or die!”
Back in the River-Defying Sect’s spell formation, the current sect leader, the Spirit Stream Division’s Zheng Yuandong, was anxiously treating Bruiser’s wounds.
“Don’t go back out into the fighting, Bruiser,” he said. “The only thing we can do is buy time right now. We don't even know if Qinghou is alive or dead, so if something bad happened to you, what would I tell Xiaochun?!” Zheng Yuandong’s eyes flickered with sorrow at the sight of all the wounds and scars covering Bruiser.
Bruiser didn’t care much about his wounds. However, when Zheng Yuandong brought up Li Qinghou and Bai Xiaochun, he shivered, and grief filled his eyes. His neck wound had come when he had tried to save Li Qinghou, an effort which had failed, and ended with him watching Li Qinghou being taken away to the Dao River Court.
Bai Xiaochun’s name caused his eyes to be even more bloodshot. Warm feelings rose in his heart, and at the same time, he remembered how Bai Xiaochun had entrusted him with the job of defending the River-Defying Sect!
Even as he gasped for breath, he cast a hostile glance at the three sects, his eyes glittering with both hatred and fear because of the three devas.
The battle was reaching a fever pitch. It was a war of extermination in which differences could never be resolved. Meanwhile, on the invisible ninth mountain of the River-Defying Sect, Patriarch Spirit Stream stood there with a bitter look on his face. He knew that the three devas were beyond his ability to fight, and that the only reason they were currently holding out was because of the sect’s reserve powers. Because the River-Defying Sect had no deva, they had to pull out all the stops to even threaten someone in the early Deva Realm.
Clearly, they were calling upon their reserve powers one by one, and only using them when they were absolutely sure that they would be successful!
“Master, do you think… that a miracle will occur?” Even as the words left Patriarch Spirit Stream’s mouth, a monkey appeared behind him, hands clasped behind his back as he looked off into the distance, wisdom and foresight gleaming in his eyes.
“Definitely!”