Chapter 75: Uprooting the Mountain

The longsword, a streak of lightning, left naught but a glint of cold steel in its wake.

Caught in the surging tide of monstrous beasts, Jiang Wang had no time for the intricate weave of Taoist arts. He could only rely upon the flowing dance of his swordsmanship, dodging and weaving amidst the monstrous throng.

The golden light arrow etched upon his blade had already found its mark, piercing the eye of a lion-shaped beast. Its next strike would be long in coming.

Were it not for the sheer fortitude bestowed by the Four Spirits Refining Body Scripture, survival itself would have been all but impossible for Jiang Wang.

Indeed, in this wave of savage attacks, more than a hundred cultivators had already fallen in battle, their very corpses consumed!

Jiang Wang clung close to a colossal ox-shaped beast, circling it like a shadow, now left, now right. This not only infuriated the beast, causing it to roar in frustration, but also hindered the attacks of the other monsters.

Yet, he knew well that safety was a distant dream. At this very moment, he danced upon the precipice of death. The slightest misstep, and he would be no more.

To this point, he still knew not the origin of the searing beam of light, nor the form of the beast that unleashed it.

And he had been separated from Zhao Rucheng.

If he, with all his strength, was struggling thus, what of Zhao Rucheng?

Jiang Wang dared not imagine.

He unleashed the entirety of his power, fighting and moving, straining to discern Zhao Rucheng's form amidst the chaos, and at the same time, observing the trajectory of that fearsome beam.

As the ox-shaped beast lumbered, Jiang Wang finally saw the creature blessed with inherent, monstrous power.

Even amidst the savage fury of the beast tide, instinct compelled them to carve out a space for this one.

It was a beast shaped like a black cat, surprisingly small of stature. Yet, it stood quietly in the violent torrent of the beast tide, a reef in a raging flood. Only its pair of blood-red eyes betrayed its monstrous nature.

At that moment, it seemed to yawn, a lazy stretch, but its maw opened wider and wider, until in an instant, it was the size of a wooden basin. And in the center of that gaping maw, a sphere of crimson light was slowly forming.

Jiang Wang’s gaze followed its aim, and his eyes instantly split with fury. There, Zhao Rucheng was being surrounded and torn at by seven or eight beasts, his situation dire.

Jiang Wang vaulted onto the back of the ox-shaped beast, a casual sword strike agitating its fury further, then stepped on his toes, launching himself forth!

He moved across the very crest of the beast tide!

Evading countless bites and attacks along the way, he suddenly soared.

The Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Art, the fourth killing form, the sword light erupted.

Jiang Wang, wreathed in blinding sword light, tore through the beast horde, rushing to Zhao Rucheng’s front with ultimate speed, seizing his shoulder and flinging him backward!

As Zhao Rucheng was flung away, Jiang Wang rotated three times in the air. And at that precise moment, the crimson light column from the black cat-shaped beast whistled past, narrowly missing him.

This was a maneuver executed with extreme tension, and yet, with uncanny precision.

But he had utterly disregarded the ox-shaped beast he had “toyed with” for half the battle.

It was a deer-ox, a monstrous hybrid of ox and deer, with hide like iron and strength like a mountain. After being used as a shield by Jiang Wang for an extended period, it had cast aside all other considerations. Its single-minded focus was on Jiang Wang, and it charged forward relentlessly.

As the red light column once again blasted a channel through the beast tide, Jiang Wang spun, landing upon a mountain spider, and with a single sword stroke, severed the compound eye of the colossal arachnid.

But at this instant, the deer-ox rose into the air, slamming into Jiang Wang!

Jiang Wang had only enough time to hastily raise his sword before him, and the impact sent him flying high. Behind him, lay a sheer cliff!

How high was Yuhang Peak? At least from the middle of the mountain, it was already shrouded in clouds.

“Third Brother!”

Zhao Rucheng surged forward in a frenzy, but what met him was the maddening rush of the beast horde.

…

The battlefield they occupied was on the northern face of the cliff.

Ye Qingyu fought and moved, and it was here she found Jiang Wang.

Before the second, more terrifying eruption of the beast tide, she, with all her arrogance, had resolved that she, too, must save Jiang Wang once.

Without dwelling on the numerous life-preserving treasures she had consumed along the way, facing the ever-growing beast tide, she told herself there were but two treasures remaining. If she couldn’t find him ahead, she would have to retreat.

Then she saw… a land of corpses and torn flesh.

It was the battlefield where the beast corpses were the most mangled of all she had witnessed along her path.

The very mountain was uneven, scored with three distinct ravines blasted by some immense force.

In one of these ravines, a man sat.

Even a glimpse of his profile revealed extraordinary beauty.

Blood flowed, corpses lay scattered, yet the man simply sat upon the ground, head bowed, his long hair in disarray.

“…Hey?” Ye Qingyu called out tentatively.

The man slowly raised his head and glanced at her.

What a cold and savage gaze!

But he immediately swayed and fell into a pool of blood.

…

And at this very moment, as far as the overall situation of the Yuhang Peak battle was concerned.

The Dean of the Sanshan City Taoist Academy had fallen in battle, and more than half of the five hundred cultivators organized for this endeavor had perished.

The beast horde had breached all defenses, the foremost almost reaching the logistics base at the foot of the mountain, slaughtering wantonly.

It seemed a failure.

Perhaps, from the moment the twin-headed eagle flock appeared, the outcome was already sealed.

In a moment of despair, the City Lord of Sanshan City, Dou Yuemei, stood forth once more.

But no one believed she could conjure a miracle.

In those days, Sun Heng, in the Inner Palace realm, had single-handedly repelled the beast tide and slain the beast leader, turning the tide of battle. But he, too, had met his end.

And everyone knew that Dou Yuemei was merely at the peak of the Sixth Grade Tenglong Realm. In those years, it was due to Zhuang Ting’s sacrifice, coupled with the collective plea of the Sanshan City cultivators, that she had been allowed to succeed as City Lord.

Otherwise, although the position of City Lord could be inherited by family, it required cultivation at the Fifth Grade Inner Palace Realm.

The old City Lord of Fenglin City, in those years, precisely because he had no descendants, had stepped down from his position in his old age and moved to Xin’an City to be honored.

However, Dou Yuemei stood before the beast tide.

She was a woman, yet she possessed a spirit more indomitable than any man.

She was merely at the peak of the Tenglong Realm, but a powerful and unparalleled momentum suddenly erupted from her.

As if something was exploding, a series of detonations resounded within her body.

Her momentum soared!

As is well known, the realm after the Taoist Vein Tenglong is the knocking upon the Inner Palace.

So, what is the interval between Tenglong and the Inner Palace?

It is the exploration of the body’s limits, the awakened Taoist Vein dragon’s voyage into the ocean of the trunk!

Generally speaking, this process is extraordinarily lengthy and meticulous.

Only after the cultivator has comprehended the greater part of the trunk sea will they attempt to knock upon the Inner Palace.

And the human body possesses five palaces, each holding a secret treasure.

The greatest practice of the five palaces realm is to develop the secret treasures within. With varying degrees of exploration, differences in personal talent, and the disparate experiences of each cultivator… the ultimate gains are also diverse.

In many cases, it determines one’s strength.

And among all the secret treasures of the human body, the most difficult and most precious is undoubtedly… the divine ability!

To be precise, it is the seed of a divine ability, or in other words, an incomplete version of a true divine ability. But as long as one possesses a seed of a divine ability, sooner or later, it will be fully developed, capable of dominating the world.

And what was Dou Yuemei doing now?

She had chosen to break through to the Inner Palace in advance, before the trunk sea had been fully explored.

And she broke through all five palaces!

This was almost completely abandoning the future, severing her path.

She merely glanced into each of the palaces, without considering any careful exploration. But finally, at the time of the fifth palace, she found a divine ability!

She was so confident, confident that she could knock upon the Inner Palace without fully controlling the trunk sea, and even more confident that she could gain a divine ability!

She had done it!

“Sun Xiaoman! Shake the mountain!” she cried out.

The barefoot girl, who was fighting, heard the command and without a word, her two ponytails flickered. She raised her mountain-shaking hammer high and resolutely bombarded the ground!

Rocks shattered, and the ground split into a deep chasm centered around the mountain-shaking hammer.

And Dou Yuemei simply squatted down, pressing her soft, boneless hands upon the earth.

The divine ability she had gained by breaking through the five palaces.

Named: Move Mountains!