The End

Yellow sand filled the sky, the setting sun was like blood.

The battle between the Zhou Lineage cultivators and the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm had stained the yellow sand across the battlefield a brownish red. Most of the blood had flowed from the Poison Fire Scorpions, but some had also spilled from the wounds of the Zhou Lineage cultivators.

The Zhou Lineage had prepared for this battle for two years. Not only had Zhou Xuanhao, a Tier 2 High-grade alchemist, begun refining large quantities of Tier 2 Detoxifying Spirit Pills two years ago, but Zhou Dan and Zhou Xuanyu, the two Tier 2 High-grade Talisman Masters, had also used the Lineage's stored talisman-making Spiritual Materials to create a large number of Tier 2 Talismans and distribute them among those participating in the battle.

With these talismans and spirit pills prepared in advance, although Zhou Lineage cultivators still inevitably suffered injuries under the demonic beasts' attacks, they could always take pills to detoxify and heal their wounds at the first opportunity with the help of others, preventing any casualties.

After the battle had continued for roughly half an hour, more than half of the several hundred First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions had died. Only a few Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, leading a small number of First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, were still putting up a desperate resistance.

"Mother, I'm coming to help you."

On the eastern battlefield, after Zhou Yang had cleared out most of the First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions, he did not pursue the remaining fish that had slipped through the net. Instead, he swiftly headed toward his mother, Lin Yuting, to assist her.

Lin Yuting was only at Qi Refining Layer Seven. Though she had remained at that level for over twenty years and possessed considerably more spiritual power than Zhou Yang, who had only recently entered Qi Refining Layer Seven, the cultivation technique she practiced did not excel in combat. Her actual battle strength might not even match Zhou Yang's.

Zhou Xuanhao and Zhou Xuanyu both knew this, so the two Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpions assigned to Lin Yuting were both low-grade Second-tier beasts. With her cultivation, keeping those two demonic beasts tied down was not a problem.

However, fighting one against two while also fending off the close-range attacks of the First-tier Poison Fire Scorpions rapidly drained Lin Yuting's spiritual power. In less than half an hour, more than half her spiritual power had been depleted, and beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead. She was clearly struggling.

Thus, upon seeing Zhou Yang come to reinforce her, she let out a breath of relief. Biting the tip of her tongue to rouse her spirits, she cried, "Good son, help your mother hold that beast back for now. Once I kill this one, I'll come help you."

After saying that, with a thought, she recalled the flying sword attacking the other Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpion. One azure and one blue flying sword slashed together toward the other Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpion.

"Hehehe, Mother, don't underestimate your son. Let's see who kills a demonic beast first!"

Zhou Yang laughed loudly and directly controlled four Armor Piercing Daggers toward the Second-tier Poison Fire Scorpion his mother had yielded to him.

This Poison Fire Scorpion had already had much of its demonic power depleted by Lin Yuting. The Poison Fire Bullets it spat out were far less powerful than before and could not pose any threat to Zhou Yang, who was protected by the Silver Gang Shield Artifact.

Moreover, Zhou Yang's four Armor Piercing Daggers were all Tier 2 High-grade Artifacts, even sharper than ordinary Tier 2 High-grade flying swords. Every attack could carve a wound into the scorpion's toughest pincers. After only a few exchanges, the Poison Fire Scorpion was forced to reveal its trump card.

Whoosh!

A flash of red light streaked through the air, and the venomous stinger on the Poison Fire Scorpion's tail had already pierced through the air toward Zhou Yang's chest.

The stinger flew incredibly fast, much faster than the Tier 2 High-grade Artifacts Zhou Yang controlled. It had already exceeded the speed of sound.

But the Poison Fire Scorpion clearly did not know that Zhou Yang's Silver Gang Shield Artifact possessed an automatic master-protection function. Moreover, he had been guarding against this move all along.

Therefore, the instant the stinger shot toward him, it was blocked by a gleaming silver shield. Taking advantage of the moment the Poison Fire Scorpion's aura weakened after firing its stinger, he decisively controlled the four Armor Piercing Daggers to stab into its body from behind.

Screech—

After a miserable shriek, the Poison Fire Scorpion's body was split into four from the inside out by the four Armor Piercing Daggers, and it died on the spot.

At that moment, Lin Yuting's paired swords also happened to strike the pincers of the other Poison Fire Scorpion together, severing both its pincers and its head in one stroke.

Seeing that Zhou Yang had actually killed his demonic beast before she did, Lin Yuting smiled in gratification and sighed happily. "My son has truly grown up!"

Hearing his mother's words, Zhou Yang felt indescribably happy and could not help shouting, "Mother, rest for a while. I'm going to help Father and Godmother."

Before his shout had faded, he spiritedly controlled his Artifacts toward his father, Zhou Xuanhao, to offer aid.

Lin Yuting smiled again at the sight. Her son was so sensible; as his mother, she could not let herself be looked down upon either.

She immediately forced herself to raise her spirits, lifted her two swords, and followed after him to help her good sister Zhou Xuanyu.

Half an hour later, aside from a few Poison Fire Scorpions that had luckily escaped, all the Poison Fire Scorpions on the eastern side had died at the hands of Zhou Yang's family.

After resolving the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm on their side, they rested only briefly before immediately heading to the other fronts to help the rest of their clansmen.

With the help of Zhou Yang and the other four, the Zhou Lineage cultivators on the other fronts also rapidly gained the upper hand and soon joined forces to eliminate most of the Poison Fire Scorpion swarm.

By then, apart from a few Poison Fire Scorpions that had not joined the battle or had luckily escaped, all several hundred Poison Fire Scorpions in the entire swarm had died upon this sandy ground.

"The Poison Fire Scorpion swarm has been exterminated. Everyone, rest here for a while. The Ninth Layer Qi Refining elders and Xuan Tai, gather with this old man. We will go help the Old Clan Leader kill that Poison Fire Scorpion King!"

Though the battle had ended, Elder Zhou Quan had no time to rest. He immediately gathered the other six Lineage elders and the Lineage's sole Formation Master, Zhou Xuantai, and headed toward another battlefield.

The battle between a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and a Third-Rank Demonic Beast was incomparably dangerous. Only cultivators at Qi Refining Layer Nine could barely be of help.

Yet even Qi Refining Layer Nine cultivators faced a great risk of perishing if they rashly intervened in a life-and-death battle between a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and a Third-Rank Demonic Beast. Thus, Elder Zhou Quan had specifically brought along the Lineage's only Formation Master, Zhou Xuantai.

Zhou Xuantai ranked second among the Xuan generation. As the Zhou Lineage's only Formation Master, though he possessed only Qi Refining Layer Eight cultivation, he held a Tier 2 High-grade formation set, the Eight Gates Golden Light Formation, which had been refined by the Zhou Lineage's Great Elder, Zhou Qian.

The Eight Gates Golden Light Formation was a trapping formation. As long as eight Ninth Layer Qi Refining Cultivators held formation flags and jointly deployed it, with a Formation Master coordinating from within, it could even trap a Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator for a short time.

In truth, as a Foundation Establishment Layer Seven cultivator, Zhou Minghan could slowly kill the Poison Fire Scorpion King even in a one-on-one fight.

But if the Poison Fire Scorpion King was determined to flee, Zhou Minghan had little confidence of keeping it behind in this boundless sea of sand.

And once the Poison Fire Scorpion King escaped, it would surely launch frenzied revenge against the Zhou Lineage cultivators and mortals stationed at the Crimson Flame Iron Ore Vein.

Therefore, to ensure nothing could go wrong, Zhou Minghan needed helpers to trap the Poison Fire Scorpion King for a time, after which he could unleash thunderous methods and thoroughly blast it to death.

During the battle, Zhou Minghan had deliberately lured the Poison Fire Scorpion King far away, preventing it from promptly learning what was happening to its swarm.

Only when it saw Elder Zhou Quan and the other eight humans appear did it realize that something might have befallen its swarm.

This discovery drove it into a towering rage. It immediately abandoned Zhou Minghan, its troublesome opponent, and pounced toward Elder Zhou Quan and the other nine, who had arrived covered in dust.

"Just what I wanted!"

Seeing the Third-Rank Demonic Beast, the Poison Fire Scorpion King, charge directly at the eight of them, Elder Zhou Quan and the others were delighted rather than alarm. They hurriedly gripped the formation flags of the Eight Gates Golden Light Formation and activated the formation.

As the formation activated, eight thick beams of golden light instantly shot skyward from the eight formation flags, forming a massive cage of golden light that trapped the Poison Fire Scorpion King within. No matter how it rammed about, it could not break free from the range covered by the golden light.

"Good! Hold on. Give this old man half an hour, that is all!"

The Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan, in the sky, brightened with delight. He immediately halted his sword light and began preparing his ultimate killing move.

Half an hour later, just as Elder Zhou Quan and the others were soaked through with sweat and the golden cage had begun to shake violently and become unstable, the killing move Old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan had painstakingly prepared for half an hour was finally unleashed.

"Wretched beast, die!"

With a furious roar that made his beard and hair flare outward, the Old Clan Leader thrust both hands forward. A pale purple fireball flickering with threads of silver lightning flew from his hands in an arc, shooting straight toward the Poison Fire Scorpion King in the golden cage.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

As if it had sensed something, extreme terror flashed through the Poison Fire Scorpion King's eyes within the golden cage. Its screeches became sharper than ever before.

Those screeches alone made Elder Zhou Quan and the other eight's heads ache, with thin streams of blood flowing from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses.

But the eight knew that success or failure would be decided at this very moment. They forcibly endured their discomfort and desperately poured their remaining spiritual power into the formation flags to maintain the formation's might. No matter how the Poison Fire Scorpion King struggled, it could not take even one step beyond the golden cage.

Finally, the pale purple fireball flickering with silver lightning struck the Poison Fire Scorpion King.

Boom—

Amid the boundless sea of sand, a thunderous roar like heaven and earth collapsing suddenly rang out. Even from dozens of miles away, Zhou Yang felt the ground shake violently.

"Was it over?"

He stared blankly toward the source of the explosion, his eyes filled with shock.

Was this the power of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's full-force attack?

It truly was terrifying beyond measure!

Well, I finally had a day off today and slept a little late, so the update is only coming now. Please vote with recommendation tickets, recommendation tickets, recommendation tickets! Please also join the new book investment group. It only needs a little over thirty more investors to reach one hundred. Brothers, if you see this, could you join the new book investment group? My sincere thanks.