Chapter 135 – The Wind Changes
Wang Lin didn’t hesitate to use the Earth Escape Technique to move toward the War God Shrine. As he moved, he found fire beasts everywhere. The more he traveled, the more shocked he became.
He quickly changed directions. Meeting Lin Tao wasn’t his objective anymore. Instead, he moved toward the border of the country using information from Ma Liang’s memories. He could no longer stay in Hou Fen.
But before he got very far, a giant divine sense swept by him. This divine sense quickly moved back and concentrated on him. Shocked, he scanned the sky. What he saw were 16 giant fire beasts in a circle with a ring of fire in between them.
Threads of fire from the fire ring were connected to the fire beasts’ heads.
The powerful divine sense came from the ring of power. This was clearly a special technique the fire beasts were born with. It was something they could only use when working together.
When they found Wang Lin, all 16 fire beasts’ eyes went cold. They all roared as they descended from the sky and charged at Wang Lin.
Wang Lin sped up without a word and escaped. The 16 giant beasts all let out angry roars and spat out fire, causing the ground to turn red and split apart.
Wang Lin had already seen this before, so how would he let it hit him twice? As the fire came out of the beasts’ mouths, he came out of the ground and disappeared in a ray of rainbow light.
The 16 beasts didn’t give up. The only reason they left the volcano was to find and kill the cultivator that killed their ancestor. This was the only thought in their minds right now.
At the same time, because of Wang Lin, these fire beasts now hated all cultivators. They basically wanted to kill every single one they saw. Their losses were heavy too, especially under the powerful cultivators’ magic treasures.
To be more accurate, these fire beasts don’t have a souls; they exist in a special way. Normal flying swords cannot damage their hard bodies. The best way is to hit them with powerful blunt weapons.
However, there were just too many of them. Even now, there were endless fire beasts coming out of the big and small volcanoes in Hou Fen. As for exactly how many there were, no one but the ancestor fire spirit, who was absorbed by the heaven defying bead, would know.
As Wang Lin flew more, he got faster. These fire beasts were faster than him when they were inside the lava, but out here in the open, Wang Lin managed to keep his distance.
However, Wang Lin didn’t feel very well. The surrounding spiritual energy was filled with fire element. Every time he absorbed some, he would feel waves of pain.
In addition to the constant roars of the 16 giant fire beasts behind him, there were countless fire beasts coming to obstruct him. More and more fire beasts accumulated behind him, chasing after him. He spread out his divine sense and felt his scalp go numb. There were so many fire beasts behind him that he couldn’t tell how many there were right away.
If he were to pause for just a moment, the fire beasts would tear him apart, but Wang Lin was not one to be hunted. Back when he was only at the Qi Condensation stage, he dared to sneak attack Teng Li, who was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
At this moment, a vicious gaze flashed across his eyes. He took out a bucket full of spirit liquid and drank it as he ran to recover the spiritual energy he had consumed.
Next, a black light flew out of his bag of holding and disappeared. It reappeared before a fire beast and stabbed it.
The sound of two pieces of metal hitting each other rang out. A bloody wound appeared on the chest of the beast and it was knocked far away. It let out a roar as it got up and continued chasing.
Wang Lin’s expression was normal, but his face darkened. Not only were the fire beasts immune to his Ji Realm Divine Sense, but their bodies were also this tough. The flying sword was only able to wound that beast’s body, and from the looks of it, it could only be considered a light wound.
Wang Lin was unwilling to give up. As he flew, he continued to attack the fire beasts. Using its ability to teleport, the sword moved in a very strange way until it stabbed in between the brows of a fire beast. The sword sunk in and the fire beasts exploded, releasing waves of heat.
Wang Lin’s hair immediately curled as the smell of burning hair reached him, but his eyes lit up. Although these fire beasts were tough, they were not without weaknesses.
After this, Wang Lin continued to control the flying word to ambush the fire beasts. One by one, the fire beasts were beheaded by him. Based on his calculations, the normal-sized fire beasts were only at the Qi Condensation stage, but because they had no souls and tough bodies, it was difficult to kill them.
But because Wang Lin was only one person, and adding on the fact that the fire beasts knew no fear, they continued to chase after him.
Eventually, the flying sword teleported too much and it’s shape began to change. After all, the sword’s spirit was simply possessing a new body. It was not fused with it. There were dents on it and some parts of it had completely melted. If the flying sword’s original owner were to be revived, even he wouldn’t be able to recognize it anymore.
Wang Lin realized that this was not a long term solution as more and more fire beasts showed up. Even though he had spirit liquid, once he runs out and can’t recover fast enough, he will die.
Wang Lin clenched his teeth and changed directions. He no longer went to Xuan Wu, but flew toward the War God Shrine. He didn’t believe that the War God Shrine would have been wiped out by these first beasts. If he was the War God Shrine’s ancestor, he would definitely decide to move, and that would take time.
And even if they were going to move, it wouldn’t be too quick because there were too many people. He had only been in the cave for a few days; even if the fire beasts had moved on the first day he went into the cave, the War God Shrine still wouldn’t able to move this fast.
These were merely guesses by Wang Lin. What made him make this decision was the Soul Blood Essences telling him the general location of Yang Xiong and Lin Tao.
The moment Wang Lin changed directions, the fire beasts closed in on him. They spewed lava at him, and many times, he was almost hit. He clenched his teeth as he moved even faster toward the War God Shrine.
Not long after, Wang Lin felt a powerful aura from a distance. He spread out his divine sense and noticed a group of tens of thousands of cultivators slowly closing in.
The scene of tens of thousands of cultivators on their swords shocked Wang Lin for a moment, but he quickly recovered and charged toward the army of cultivators.
Among the army of cultivators, there were many war chariots that emitted waves of spiritual energy.
The fire beasts suddenly stopped and the 16 large fire beasts blocked the army of cultivators.
The army of cultivators didn’t stop. More than 10,000 flying swords attacked without any hesitation under the orders of ten Nascent Soul cultivators. Soon after, two more groups flew out from the army and 2000 more people joined the battle.
Before Wang Lin even arrived got to the army, two lights flew out and surrounded him. The person in the middle was an ordinary looking young woman, but there was heavy killing intent coming from between her eyebrows. She looked at the fire beasts behind her and revealed a look of hate. She turned to Wang Lin and asked, “Fellow cultivator, which sect’s disciple are you? Quickly, say your name.”
Wang Lin revealed a look of fear and quickly replied, “I’m a disciple of the War God Shrine, Ma Liang.”
The woman looked at Wang Lin coldly and said, “Qiang Xuan, take him to the War God Shrine to verify his identity. If he isn’t a disciple of the War God Shrine, kill him.”
A young man flew out and nodded at Wang Lin, gestering Wang Lin to follow him. Then he flew toward the army. Wang Lin clasped his hands at the young woman before following the young man.
Soon, they arrived at the center of the army of cultivators. The closer he got to the center, the more he realized how terrifying an army of cultivators large enough to cover the sky was. The fluctuations of spiritual energy here had already reached an unimaginable level.
Although the entire country was covered by the black smoke coming out from the volcanoes, under the fluctuations of the spiritual energy from the army of cultivators, a path has been cut open in the huge cloud of black smoke.
Everywhere they, the black smoke was split apart, unable to stop the army at all. What was even denser than the fluctuations of spiritual energy was all of the Sword Qi. It was so dense that it could cause the sky to change colors.
The Sword Qi revealed its might as it clashed against the black smoke. Especially now, at dawn, and adding on the fight before them, it created this very majestic feel.
Various flying sword and magic treasures shined in the sky like fireworks that were too chaotic to keep track of. This scene was something Wang Lin will never forget. After all, this scene was something that only appeared in large scale battles.
Compared to the collapse of the foreign battleground, there was an extra sense of everyone working together and the need to charge out of Hou Fen.
This power wasn’t something an individual could wield; it was achieved because the entire country had been forced to move to survive.
Only the horde of fire beasts could compete with it.
Wang Lin couldn’t help but enter a trance. By the time he regained himself, he had already reached to the center of the army with the young man.
Xuan Qing shouted, “Scout from Lou He Sect, Qing Xuan, has brought War God Shrine disciple Ma Liang. Would someone from the War God Shrine confirm his identity?”
Wang Lin’s expression was normal. That Nascent Soul woman didn’t act against him and her voice was filled with the intention of bringing him to their side.
But even without that woman’s intent, Wang Lin would still come here. After all, this was the only place he could go while being chased by the army of fire beasts.
But Wang Lin was a very cautious person, so he was prepared to escape the moment things looked bad. With the battle with the fire beasts before them, there wouldn’t be many people willing to chase him.
As for the Nascent Soul cultivators, none of them would take time away from managing the migration to come and kill him. Core Formation cultivators were the main fighting force against the fire beasts, so the best people to send after him would be late stage Foundation Establishment cultivators at the pseudo-Core Formation stage. But Foundation Establishment cultivators were no threat to Wang Lin. If one came, he would kill one. If ten came, he would kill ten without any fear.