novelDai Yanfeng's Regret
| ← Ch.222 | Ch.224 → |
Translator: Minotauruz
If the persons lying helplessly on the floor were truly disciples from the Eternal Summit Sect, then there was no way they would be able to survive a furious swipe from the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf's claws.
However, these disciples were from the Du Clan. As members of the Du Clan, and a part of the eight great sects, these disciples would naturally have several life-preserving measures hidden up their sleeves. Many of the Du Clan disciples had been resigned to yielding up their lives there and then. That said, when the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf's attack landed where they were, they did not experience any pain as they had originally expected.
Hong! A massive tremor rang out. The Scarlet Heavenly Wolf's attack had sent a cloud of dust flying into the air and scattered debris all around. Some of the stones beneath its paws had even been melted down to molten rock by the intense heat on the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf's paws.
The molten rocks congealed together to form a thin layer of what looked to be a ceramic glaze on the ground.
"That... they must be dead, right?"
"They have to me. How could they possibly have survived such a powerful attack?"
"That's a pity. Those people were the cream of the crop among the Eternal Summit Sect's disciples. The Eternal Summit Sect has really sustained huge losses this time. It's going to take them a while to recover in future."
Everyone in the audience began to whisper to each other and discuss the plight of the Eternal Summit Sect. That said, there were several people who also treated this entire incident as something that hardly concerned them, and they simply watched on as though they were watching mere theatrics.
The Eternal Summit Sect could only blame their "disciples" for putting up such a vile and disgusting performance during the group battles. After all, no matter which Secondary Sect it was out there, none of them could stand the prospects of their own disciples being used by others and discarded as nothing more than cannon fodder.
And this was exactly what the Eternal Summit Sect disciples had done. It was as though disciples of the other sects were no more than tools to be used to benefit themselves.
However, as soon as the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf lifted its paws, everyone began to glance below –
Eh? Where are the disciples from the Eternal Summit Sect? Could they all have turned into dust? That can't be. Even if that's the case, there should still be some traces of their remnants...
Everyone in the audience couldn't help but glance towards the Eternal Summit Sect's seating area, only to discover that the Eternal Summit Sect's Sect Leader and Sect Elders had already disappeared. Their seating area was sparsely populated with few people remaining.
On the other side, a tall and well-built man with a cloak over his body stood sullenly at the exit of a Teleportation Array. Moments later, a bright blue light flashed across the floor, and the twenty Du Clan disciples appeared in the heart of the formation array. Everyone stumbled out of the heart of the formation array in an incredibly sorry state. One of the disciples had even wet his pants.
He had been so afraid of the oncoming attack by the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf that he had thought he was a goner.
"Father." Du Yongxu, on the other hand, knew that he was not going to die. That said, he knew that their exit from the group battles meant that they would no longer be able to complete their tasks.
As expected, in the last possible moment, Du Ruiguang activated his secret formation array to rescue the Du Clan disciples from within the marshlands. However, they had without a doubt failed in their mission, and Du Yongxu looked sheepishly at Du Ruiguang with a guilt-ridden face.
Du Ruiguang roughly guessed the thoughts on Du Yongxu's heart, and he remarked, "I'm not blaming you for this. Even I had underestimated that young little brat. Who could've known that she would be able to cripple the ancient hex casted by the Third Elder?"
"Crippled the Third Elder's hex?! Doesn't that mean..." Du Yongxu's eyes widened.
"That's right. The Clan has met with a mishap. The Third Elder's disciple has sent an urgent missive over requesting everyone to return to the Clan's grounds. The spirit beasts are going out of control." Du Ruiguang spoke with a sullen voice.
"Just what has Jun Xiaomo done to cause the Third Elder so much problems?!" Du Yongxu had just appreciated the extent of what Jun Xiaomo had done.
Her capabilities were far beyond what Du Ruiguang had expected was possible of a young sprout like her.
"We'll find out once we return to the Clan's grounds. The Third Elder's condition seems to be pretty grim. We have to return to keep the situation under control."
As Du Ruiguang spoke, he immediately retrieved another Teleportation Scroll from his Interspatial Ring.
"Wait... wait a minute!" Dai Yanfeng had earlier noticed Du Ruiguang leave the seating areas earlier, and he and the other sect elders from the Eternal Summit Sect had followed closely behind him. Du Ruiguang couldn't be bothered with Dai Yanfeng any longer, so he had acquiesced to their eavesdropping on the contents of their conversation.
Dai Yanfeng's heart thumped heavily as he heard the entire conversation between Du Yongxu and Du Ruiguang. Then, he mustered his courage and held Du Ruiguang back –
"Du Clan Head, are you going to just leave like that?!" Dai Yanfeng cried out with indignation. Even though he was afraid of the Du Clan Head's abilities, Dai Yanfeng was not a timid person by any means. When push came to shove, he would still allow his anger to manifest, "Have you forgotten our transaction? We've already done everything that you'd asked for, yet you're going to turn away and just leave like that?!"
Du Ruiguang smiled grimly as he glanced back at Dai Yanfeng. His gaze was filled with contempt and disdain.
"Otherwise? Do you think that we have to pander to your every desire just because we've got a transaction between us? Don't you forget that it was you who had of your own volition given up your rights to participate in these group battles and allowed our Du Clan disciples to stand in their behalf. Since that's the case, when we choose to back out of the competition is naturally also up to us to decide. Who gives you the right to stop us?!"
"But didn't you say that you were going to help us kill those people from the Heavenly Peak?! This was your obligation in our transaction!"
"You're wrong. I've only said that the odds of success in this regard would be higher. I've never once guaranteed that we would kill the Heavenly Peak disciples." Du Ruiguang explicated as though he were expounding on a basic truth in the world.
"Du Clan Head, you... !" Dai Yanfeng was on the brink of exploding.
"Oh, but if Grand Elder Dai is not satisfied, you can still send your own disciples back into the marshlands to fight on." Du Ruiguang waved his arms and twenty identity tokens landed in Dai Yanfeng's hands just like that, "These are the identity tokens of the Eternal Summit Sect disciples. As long as they put on these identity tokens, they will be able to return into the marshlands through this formation array on the ground. But don't say that I didn't warn you – that Scarlet Heavenly Wolf has already lost control. If you don't want your entire team to be obliterated, I'd suggest you shelf that lousy idea of yours."
Du Ruiguang's lips curled into a contemptuous smile.
Dai Yanfeng's face turned a sickly green and then a pale white. He knew full well that even if he sent his own disciples back into the marshlands right now, they would be as good as dead.
But he was incredibly aggrieved right now! The Eternal Summit Sect's reputation and pride had fallen to an all-time low as a result of the Du Clan disciples' repugnant performance during the course of these group battles. Yet notwithstanding that, the culprits from the Du Clan were simply going to leave and turn a blind eye to all the damage that they had caused to the Eternal Summit Sect? How could Dai Yanfeng just take this lying down?! Dai Yanfeng was so furious right now that he had the urge to tear the Du Clan Head to shreds!
But the precondition was that he had to have the ability to do so first.
Du Ruiguang knew what was going through Dai Yanfeng's mind as well. He lifted his head as he remarked disdainfully, "Grand Elder Dai, I think you've got to be clear about this. The right to choose had never been in your hands. The conduct of the battles, including when we depart from the battles, is entirely up to us. Besides, do you think that your Eternal Summit Sect disciples would be able to defeat the Heavenly Peak disciples had they made an appearance instead of the Du Clan disciples? Didn't you witness with your own two eyes the peculiar abilities of that little brat, Jun Xiaomo? If you want to kill them, you'll first have to find a way to understand what goes on in her mind."
Dai Yanfeng knew that every single statement from Du Ruiguang right now was none other than the truth. Yet it was precisely because of this that he felt so aggrieved and indignant about all of it – if the Du Clan disciples were unable to deal with the Heavenly Peak disciples, who would be able to deal with the Heavenly Peak disciples?
"Ah, but you don't have to be too worried. Her little tricks are crafty and peculiar, but these won't be of much use in the face of absolute strength. You'll have plenty of opportunities to deal with them in the future." Du Ruiguang enlightened Dai Yanfeng.
As much as Dai Yanfeng knew that what Du Ruiguang was saying was completely logical and accurate, he equally felt that this was not the outcome that he had desired to begin with. Just as he struggled with the tension between these two thoughts in his heart, Du Ruiguang activated the Teleportation Array.
An intense blue light flashed brightly, and the Du Clan members were all gone. It was as though they had never appeared to begin with.
Dai Yanfeng was dazzled by the blue light that had emanated from the Teleportation Array. Then, as soon as he came back to his senses, a deep sense of frustration and exasperation surged and roiled in his heart – this transaction had failed. They had not only failed to achieve any of their initial objectives, the Du Clan disciples had even left a huge mess for them to clean up afterwards. Dai Yanfeng was so incensed that a swathe of blood lodged itself in his throat.
"Grand... Grand Elder?" One of the Eternal Summit Sect disciples noticed that the colour of Dai Yanfeng's face was truly ugly, so he mustered his courage and stepped forward to check on the Grand Elder.
"I'm fine. Let's go back first. That's right, summon the martial brothers of yours who were supposed to have been participating in the competition. At the very least, we cannot let others know that we'd allowed others to take part in the competition on our behalf." Dai Yanfeng spoke to the disciple with a harsh tone of voice.
The disciple was slightly taken aback by Dai Yanfeng's tone of voice. However, he quickly nodded his head, acknowledging his instructions.
Dai Yanfeng stared at his back as the disciple took his leave. A deep sense of anxiety and unease swelled from the depths of his heart.
Inside the marshlands, the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf had discovered that the Du Clan disciples had vanished just like that, and it could not help but howl at the sky with indignation. A frenetic intent began to surface in the depths of his eyes.
"Damn. This fella might be..." Jun Xiaomo realized that the situation had just taken a turn for the worse, and she hurriedly instructed her martial brothers, "Martial brother Chen, could you bring everyone away from this place quickly? The further away, the better."
"Then what about martial sister?" Chen Feiyu quickly caught onto the hidden implications within Jun Xiaomo's words, and he furrowed his brows as he clarified her intentions.
As expected, Jun Xiaomo calmly explained, "I'm going to remain here and set up a formation array."
"No!" Chen Feiyu immediately rejected Jun Xiaomo's suggestion, "This spirit beast is far too dangerous. Martial sister's cultivation level is only at the sixth level of Qi Mastery. Even if someone has to stay behind, it can't be you."
Jun Xiaomo chuckled with some measure of exasperation, "But, martial brother Chen, apart from me, who else would be able to set up a formation array to bind it and restrict its movements?"
"I know martial sister is capable, but..."
"Martial brother Chen, I hope you'll be able to trust me this time. Furthermore, time is of the essence. If I don't have enough time to set up my formation array, the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf might truly lose control before we can restrain its movements." Jun Xiaomo spoke with earnestness.
"Then, alright." Chen Feiyu sighed, before he immediately turned to the others behind him, "Follow me. We're going to leave this place so that we don't hinder and obstruct martial sister's efforts."
The others had also heard Jun Xiaomo's words. Although everyone was incredibly worried for Jun Xiaomo, they still decided to follow Chen Feiyu and leave in the quickest time possible.
The Scarlet Heavenly Wolf had not completely lost its senses yet. There were two opposite forces within its body that was vying for control right now – one was the remnant powers from the refinement technique that was used by the Du Clan; while the other was the talismans that Jun Xiaomo had just applied onto its body.
These two opposite forces had initially been relatively equal in their power, and the equilibrium lay in favor of the beast-taming talismans applied by Jun Xiaomo. However, the sight of its objects of hatred vanishing in front of its very eyes had dealt a heavy blow to the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf's rationality. As a result, the equilibrium had now been broken, and the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf was on the brink of losing its rationality once more.
Thus, Jun Xiaomo began to recite the mnemonics from the Beast-Taming Technique as she began to set up a Constriction Array where the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf was.
She did not expect to immediately be able to restrain the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf. Her only aim right now was to be able to hold the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf back once it lost its rationality and began to thrash about its surroundings. If she were able to hold it back and restrain it ever so slightly, then she would be able to continue to overlay layers upon layers of Constriction Arrays over the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf.
As long as she was able to overlay sufficient Constriction Arrays over each other, its combined strength would undoubtedly be able to restrain the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf.
This was incredibly trying to a person's understanding and knowledge of formation arrays. One wrong move and all of her previous efforts would have gone to waste. Not only that, Jun Xiaomo knew that as soon as the Scarlet Heavenly Wolf broke free of its restraints, someone at the sixth level of Qi Mastery like her would immediately face grave, life-threatening dangers.
Thus, time was of the essence. She had to make the best use of it all.
Outside the marshlands, a sect elder from a Greater Sect watched Jun Xiaomo with great interest as he stroked his beard. The smile on his face widened greatly with pleasant surprise, as though he had just discovered a hidden gem.
| ← Ch. 222 | Ch. 224 → |