Chapter 380: Chose a Day Teeming with Masters |
As the eerie Great Wilderness Fallen Crystal was smashed into a storm of fragments by Immortal Yuan Hao’s hammer, a shrill keening burst from deep within it, a sound that seemed to carry a terrifying force. In an instant it swept across the cloud sea around the Viewing Terrace and even erased more than half of the spatial rifts closest to the terrace.
This unexpected surge of energy briefly suppressed the number of demons and strange beings escaping from the Demon-Suppression Tower, easing the battle pressure on the Mountain-Guarding Disciples who were fighting layer by layer along the mountain paths near Queyun Palace.
Near Queyun Palace, Xuan Che led a line of cultivators in a defensive formation, locked in fierce combat with enemies spilling out of the rifts.
Over the past few hours, hordes of demonic beasts, demonized cultivators, and runaway entities had fled the Demon-Suppression Tower into external space. More than ninety percent of the rifts opened above the cloud sea near the main peak. Those escapees barreled from the summit down the mountain, nearly breaking through the improvised lines the mountain’s guards had thrown together at the very start.
Fortunately, the escapees were a rabble. Over half of them had almost no mind left, and the rest were an undisciplined mob incapable of forming any kind of cooperation, with the tower’s leak itself a complete surprise to them. In their haste they merely bolted downhill in confusion with no tactics at all. Once the Mountain-Guarding Disciples reacted and steadied themselves according to the various warning plans, the situation gradually came under control.
With the shockwave from the Viewing Terrace, the pressure on the mountain paths eased further. Xuan Che finally had a moment to lift his gaze and look across Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.
The number of black rifts strewn across the sky was dwindling, and the flow of escapees was sharply decreasing. Partly this was due to the energy release from the terrace just now, and partly it was because his master should be closing the passages from inside the Demon-Suppression Tower.
Between heaven and earth along the mountain range’s rim, a vast translucent barrier had risen: a veiled light-curtain that stretched from the cloud sea down to the foot of the range and wrapped all of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. It was the guardian grand array in its sealed-mountain state. Senior Uncle Yuan He was at Zhenshan Gate controlling the array’s heart. As long as that barrier stood, there was no need to fear demons and monsters slipping out through secluded rifts to bypass the lines and reach the cities of ordinary people.
Beyond the main peak, pillars of light flashed among the forests. Beneath each pillar a faint shield rose and shimmered. These were the key facilities scattered across Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. The junior brothers and sisters of Spirit Infusion, Divine Armaments, and Beast Taming Peak had reacted swiftly. As fighting began near Queyun Palace, the protective systems Otherworld were activated in time, so the damage should not further expand.
Although the leak from the Demon-Suppression Tower was gradually being contained, small groups of demons were still breaking loose from the seals. Several new rifts yawned open in midair. From one of them a grotesque seven-headed serpent was writhing its way out. Its seven heads took on various visages such as snake, jackal, tiger, and leopard, and one of the heads was even a beautiful woman.
At that moment the tiger head reared back and roared, the shock driving back the Mountain-Guarding Disciples who had formed up nearby. The snake head spewed poison smoke that made approach impossible. The leopard head’s eyes crackled with lightning that called thunderbolts down all around. The human head lifted and glared at Xuan Che with blazing hatred in its eyes, while a dog head stretched farthest, trying to gnaw fruit from a tree.
The human head shouted with rage: “Xuan Che! Your grandmother has escaped the Demon-Suppression Tower! You and your master, and that old thief Yuan He, you’re all going to… you damn disgrace, can you stop eating for once!”
The woman’s head glared at the dog head that was straining to reach the fruit, her fury even greater than when she had first seen Xuan Che. The next second she lifted the tiger head, opened its maw, and savagely bit the dog head off.
Almost in the blink of an eye a new dog head sprouted on the other side of the serpent’s body. This time it did not go for fruit. It picked up a stone from the roadside, evidently wanting to play toss-the-rock with the Spirit Peak disciples nearby who were hastily reforming their battle line.
“Xuan Che!” The colossal serpent thrashed across the mountain path, its body lashing wildly. All the heads, except the dog head panting and looking for someone to play with, roared in a fury beyond measure: “Where is that mangy old codger Yuan He! I will eat him today!”
The scene was as bizarre as it was farcical, but Xuan Che’s face stayed taut. Treating it as a mortal threat, he watched the seven-headed serpent, quietly rousing his spiritual power as he said in a low voice: “Serpent Princess, you once brought calamity to the land. My senior uncle spared your life only because, before you fell to the demonic path, you had received incense for several years and managed to act like a proper Mountain God for a time, and because cultivation is not easy. All these years we have sought to help you leave the demonic way. If you have even a shred of reason left, you should recognize our goodwill.”
“To hell with your so-called goodwill!” The serpent bellowed. Six heads rose high as its trunk ground the rocks beneath it to gravel. “Even if I perish with you all today, I will repay this grudge of a ‘head’!”
Before the last word fell, the serpent dove. The leopard head summoned thunder and hurled it toward Xuan Che standing on the path.
Seeing it, Xuan Che could only strike back with a single palm. His deep spiritual power rode his palm like a copper wall and iron bastion, a blasting gale smashing forward through the air to meet that sky-shaking thunderclap. At the same time he tried to persuade her once more: “Serpent Princess, draw back your heads. However chaotic the situation looks, you have no chance of escape. You know the strength of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, and today there is even a master sitting in town.”
The serpent flew into a greater rage: “Master my ass. I want to see how you make it through this day—”
Before she could finish, a series of heavy steps smashed the paving stones outside Queyun Palace. A plume of searing fire fell from the sky and detonated among the serpent’s clustered heads. Shocked and in pain, the Serpent Princess turned to look, but before she could see who had come, a titanic force seized her tail, swung her up, and slammed her along the mountain path.
Only then did she see clearly: the sudden assailant was a giant more than ten meters tall clad head to toe in flaming armor.
“What the—”
The Serpent Princess had barely formed the words and was hastily wondering how to counter this uncanny giant when a thunderous crack boomed. Lightning, frost, and all manner of weapons crashed in from every direction. One Titan after another seemed to appear out of thin air along the path, charging in and pinning her down for a ruthless beating.
In the space of a blink she was pounded senseless by seven Thunder Titans. Straining her neck, she cursed at one of the giants: “Seven of you against one of me, is this the style of a righteous sect!?”
She had not finished when a young girl’s ecstatic voice came from the shoulder of one Titan: “When you’re dealing with crooked, wicked things like this, chivalry doesn’t apply. Everyone pile on!”
The serpent nearly burst a vessel, her dimming consciousness catching a glimpse of the dog head attached to her body crawling away to graze on nearby grass. With that, a mouthful of blood sprayed from the human head: “For the love of—damn it, stop eating!”
Then she passed out.
Princess Snow White stood on a Thunder Titan’s shoulder, so excited her face seemed to shine. She turned and shouted to the king perched on the Titan’s other shoulder: “I’ve been waiting ages to say that line!”
Kitty said nothing. Lowering his head, he licked his fur. When he had licked enough, he lazily looked up at Princess Snow White, then flicked a paw and said: “Meow.”
One after another, portals of space unfurled outside Queyun Palace, and countless battle mages in starry robes flew out of the vortices. The Royal Mage Corps formed ranks along the path and began chanting a strategic resonance spell.
Engines roared above the clouds as countless dark silhouettes appeared as if from nowhere. Heavy bombers blotted the sky and dived to bomb the regions with the densest leaks. The lumbering propeller planes looked antiquated, but the Summoning that brought them out of thin air left no fiend or beast time to react.
Across the cloud sea, above Beast Taming Peak, a Red Dragon was slowly dropping from the sky. As it fell it spat acid and fire, carpet-bombing the demonic creatures fleeing along the paths.
A colossal beanstalk sprouted from the direction of the spirit-herb gardens, spearing through the mid-mountain mists and the clouds around the summit. Curled tendrils of the beanstalk were hung with many demons skewered through their bodies.
Between the mountains, a rousing background track swelled.
Xuan Che stood on the square before Queyun Palace with spirit swords hovering at his back. The junior brothers and sisters forming up around him stared at one another.
It was the first time Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain had ever displayed a “scenery” like this.
After a long moment, Xuan Che let out a quiet breath. He turned to look at the Serpent Princess, now tied into several choking knots by the Thunder Titans, and sighed: “I did say a master was sitting in the mountain today. I told you, yet you still would not believe it.”
Heaven and earth vibrated with a deep hum, as if hundreds and thousands of voices were chanting arcane, abstruse spells all at once, as if the mountain mass itself trembled and sent echoes rolling among the peaks.
Over the place where the Demon-Suppression Tower stood, the cloud sea began to heave violently.
Xuan Che lifted his head toward the surging clouds and saw the mists swelling into the outline of a colossal figure. The shape slowly gathered and took on the likeness of Immortal Yuan Ling.
A moment later, another colossal figure appeared and took shape opposite Immortal Yuan Ling as Elder Qian Ji.
Elder Qian Ji laughed and said: “I have come to aid you!”
Like mountains, the two dharma-body phantoms spread their arms and pressed down slowly toward the Demon-Suppression Tower.
All around those phantoms, the forms of innumerable Mountain-Guarding Disciples flickered in and out as they too formed seals, chanted, raised their hands, and pushed downward toward the tower.
Countless voices merged into one, solemn and commanding as they rolled across heaven and earth: “Seal.”
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