"Senior Brother Liao, should we take advantage of the chaos and kill that brat surnamed Chen?"
In the distant jungle, four shadowy figures lay hidden. One of them watched the battle and spoke with excitement.
"Now?"
Liao Changhai narrowed his eyes. If they struck now, they could easily expose their identities and be set upon by the righteous cultivators.
"Awooo!"
Roars rang out repeatedly from deep within Cloud Mist Mountain. Before they had even finished killing the first wave of beasts, a second beast tide came surging forth.
"Good! A godsend!"
Hearing the roars and feeling the ground tremble, Liao Changhai's face lit up. He sneered. "Junior Brothers, who knows what got into these beasts tonight? They've launched two waves of attacks."
"Indeed, Senior Brother."
The three Blood Demon Sect disciples all laughed.
"From what I can see, the cultivators from the various sects are stretched thin. Once the second wave hits, they'll be scattered. They'll be too busy looking after themselves to help one another. That's when we strike."
Liao Changhai analyzed the situation slowly. "Luo Lan hasn't gone far. It seems she's intent on keeping an eye on Chen Changming. If things are still like this when the second wave arrives, I'll tie Luo Lan down while the three of you strike quickly and kill that wretch with overwhelming force!"
"Understood, Senior Brother Liao."
The three men replied solemnly.
Liao Changhai thought it over, then added a warning. "We'll be snatching chestnuts from the fire this time, so it'll be dangerous. Those beasts don't distinguish friend from foe. Everyone, be careful and end the fight as quickly as possible."
The three men nodded gravely.
"Not good!"
As the beasts' roars drew closer and closer, many people's expressions changed drastically.
Recently, beasts had occasionally charged out of Cloud Mist Mountain at night, but the disciples of the various sects had always driven them back. No one had expected two waves to come tonight.
There were so many beasts that they were already beyond what the cultivators could handle.
"Kill!"
A streak of purple light shot into the sky from the Purple Bamboo Gate camp. It flashed as it flew into Cloud Mist Mountain.
At the same time,
a powerful Foundation Establishment aura descended upon the battlefield.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Purple Bamboo Gate, who was responsible for guarding the camp, had joined the fight!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Streaks of light of different colors shot out from the camps, carrying powerful Foundation Establishment auras as they rushed into Cloud Mist Mountain to meet the second wave of beasts.
Seeing the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the various sects enter the fray, everyone else's spirits lifted, and their fighting resolve grew stronger.
Yet only a few dozen breaths later, a great number of beasts came charging out of the mountain, trampling the trees with a thunderous roar. In the blink of an eye, they had joined the first wave.
The pressure on the disciples of the various sects surged.
Everyone had to face at least two beasts. In an instant, the massive tide of beasts swept through and scattered them all.
Caught in the melee, Chen Changming's expression was grim.
He hadn't expected such a terrifying beast tide tonight. There were simply too many beasts. Even with Foundation Establishment cultivators holding the line, the disciples from the various sects present couldn't possibly withstand them.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out. A black bird crushed the skull of a Purple Bamboo Gate disciple at the third level of Qi Refining with a single claw, killing him on the spot.
The black bird devoured the man's brains, then beat its wings and took flight.
Three Iron-Armored Wolves pounced on the disciple, tore him apart in an instant, and swallowed him whole.
Watching the bloody scene, Chen Changming felt neither sorrow nor joy. He activated Dragon Glide Step, dodging again and again, while the power of his Lingxiao Sword Technique grew stronger.
There was no helping it. If he wanted to stay alive, he had to kill more beasts.
Fortunately, everyone was now fighting for their own lives, too busy to care about anyone else. The beasts had separated them, and they were all far apart. No one had time to watch the performance of a lowly disciple like him, only at the third level of Qi Refining.
Beasts swarmed all around him, but Dragon Glide Step proved immensely useful.
Every time, he managed to evade their attacks.
Fighting as he retreated, he moved farther and farther from the entrance to Cloud Mist Mountain. The situation around him gradually grew safer.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Senior Sister a hundred yards away, locked in fierce combat with several beasts.
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Changming still decided not to help her.
First, he didn't want to reveal his strength. Second, the beasts fighting Senior Sister were all mid-tier level 1 demonic beasts, and he was no match for them.
Just as the Cloud Mist Mountain camp was being overrun by the beasts, deep within the mountain, a dozen streaks of sword light slowly approached an area shrouded in faint red mist.
One Foundation Establishment cultivator after another flew on their swords.
"Everyone, this Man-Eating Flower Demon is extremely vicious. Be sure to stay safe when you engage it..."
An elderly cultivator spoke with a grave expression.
"Elder Wu, don't worry. The Man-Eating Flower Demon is only a Level 3 Mid-Tier Demonic Beast. With so many of us, could we really fail to kill it?"
A burly man scoffed.
"Killing it may not be difficult, but don't forget, our target is the Spirit-Devouring Insect. The sect master gave us clear instructions: we must capture it and bring it back to the sect!"
Elder Wu sneered.
"That Spirit-Devouring Insect is clever indeed. Back then, no one realized that the spirit vein contained the little fellow. Everyone was fighting tooth and nail, and no one noticed it secretly escaping. It headed south all the way here, to Cloud Mist Mountain."
A handsome young man at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment spoke slowly.
"Heh, the Spirit-Devouring Insect ranks ninth on the Strange Insect Ranking. How could it be easy to catch? Spirit insects like this have always had a close relationship with beasts and can shelter under their protection. If it finds a Level 6 Demonic Beast to take as its backing, catching it will be nigh impossible..."
Elder Wu smiled, a profound look appearing in his eyes.
The war between the cultivation sects of the Chu Kingdom and the Yue Kingdom had begun because several large spirit veins had been discovered along their border. With ownership disputed, a full-scale war had broken out.
The war had come at a terrible cost. Though the cultivation sects of the Chu Kingdom were slightly stronger, they had gained little in the end. If the fighting continued, the sects of the Yue Kingdom would be the ones to benefit.
In the end, the two kingdoms had no choice but to seal the large spirit veins for the time being, set aside their dispute, and recuperate.
No one had expected a Spirit-Devouring Insect to emerge from the depths of those spirit veins. The sect master of the Ghost Sword Sect had discovered it by chance, but the little insect was extremely cunning. Taking advantage of the chaos on the battlefield, it had escaped right under the sect master's nose.
Afterward, they had mobilized the sect to search for it. Their efforts had finally paid off, and they had tracked the Spirit-Devouring Insect to the depths of Cloud Mist Mountain.
With disciples from the various cultivation sects of the Yue Kingdom outside, they had released a kind of poisonous gas to cloud the beasts' minds and conceal their tracks, triggering two consecutive waves of beasts.
Elder Wu gently moved one hand. A talisman silently burned, transforming into a golden shield of light that enclosed him.
The others followed suit.
Once awakened from its slumber, the Level 3 Mid-Tier Demonic Beast, the Man-Eating Flower Demon, would be extremely vicious.
They had to make every possible preparation before they could kill it.