The answer: a dragon makes even shallow waters wondrous

Mo Chen had intended to accelerate his flight and gamble everything on breaking through, but once he drew closer, he was dumbfounded.

A sweep of his divine sense revealed that only one of the three had a slightly lower cultivation level. The other two were both at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

One against five? How the hell was he supposed to break through?

All he could do was watch, maneuver around them, and look for another opportunity.

The three newcomers all looked like young men in their early thirties. They wore identical black, wide-sleeved robes, and even the Storage Bags hanging at their waists matched.

Their auras were cold and sinister, their gazes sharp. Clearly, none of them was any good.

"Oh? Junior Brother Shi, you sent such an urgent signal just for this brat?"

The black-robed cultivator with the highest cultivation spoke indifferently, his tone full of disdain.

Shi Tian hurriedly bowed respectfully to the three and pointed at Mo Chen. "Reporting to Senior Brother, this is the one! He's terribly slippery. I just used a Mountain-Shaking Talisman to seal off his earth-escape route, but I still couldn't capture him quickly, so I sent a voice-transmission talisman to report the situation here."

With every retreat sealed off and powerful enemies surrounding him, Mo Chen knew he had no chance in a head-on fight. He could only force himself to remain calm and try to disrupt their rhythm with words.

"Well now! Where did you gentlemen come from? Those matching black robes look quite tidy. May I ask which esteemed figures have laid this trap to welcome me?"

Another black-robed cultivator with a cold, stern face chuckled. "Hmph. You're at death's door, yet you still dare wag that silver tongue. Once I refine you into a Corpse Refining corpse, I'll be sure to crown you Corpse King."

Before his words had faded, the cold-faced cultivator raised his hand and flicked it.

A black paper talisman ignited without a flame, instantly turning into a jet-black stream of fire that darted silently toward Mo Chen.

Mo Chen's expression changed sharply. He used the Earth-Escape Technique again, barely slipping through the enormous stone flower to hide beneath it.

A hiss rang out, and even beneath the stone flower, Mo Chen caught the stench of scorching stone!

Even that incredibly hard rock melted before the black fire like a wax figure before a flame, instantly burning into a charred pit.

Demonic Flame!

Seeing Mo Chen hide beneath the stone flower, Shi Tian pressed one hand downward. The hovering stone flower immediately accelerated, plunging toward the water.

Mo Chen dropped along with it, planning to enter the water first and flee using Water Escape.

But to his surprise, several enormous pythons formed of rock emerged from the bottom of the stone flower. Their heads thrust out from different directions, their great jaws opening to bite him.

Mo Chen was about to dodge the Rock Pythons growing from the stone flower when he suddenly noticed the river churning beneath him, with dense clusters of bubbles rising directly below.

Something's wrong!

Something's coming out of the water.

Mo Chen had just been about to focus his Divine Sense and probe the water when his heart began pounding wildly.

Forget it. Dodge first!

Sometimes, that inexplicable sense of danger really could save a life!

Mo Chen had barely tilted his body aside when an enormous pillar of water erupted from the river, blasting one of the stone snakes to pieces.

The tremendous force of the water did not stop after shattering the stone snake. It struck the underside of the stone flower and hurled it a hundred zhang into the air.

Five pillars of water shot skyward at once. The other four men each used their own means to defend themselves, but Mo Chen was closest to the surface and thus faced the impact first.

"Gentlemen, please leave!"

Everyone present heard a deep male voice rise from beneath the water, making the surrounding river tremble faintly.

This sudden turn of events interrupted the fierce battle.

Mo Chen, Shi Tian, and the other four were all awed by the tremendous disturbance and stopped fighting in unison.

The three black-robed newcomers were even more astonished than Mo Chen.

"What?"

"What's going on?"

"Could there be a third group besides us?"

Hearing their exchange, Mo Chen felt a surge of delight. The more factions became involved, the greater the chaos would be.

And the greater the chaos, the better his chances of escaping.

"Whoever it is, word of us capturing people for Corpse Refining must not leave Shuinan Village!"

Seeing this, Shi Tian used the Wind-Riding Technique to drift over to the three black-robed men and cupped his fists. "Senior Brothers, should we call for more reinforcements?"

"Send another signal. Bring more people here. Apart from those of our Branch Altar, leave no one alive. Kill them all!"

"Yes!"

Shi Tian did not dare delay. He immediately took out another message talisman, activated it, and sent it streaking into the distance as a ray of light.

Seeing that Shi Tian had activated the message talisman, the leading black-robed cultivator felt somewhat reassured.

Neither side dared make a move after that. Each harbored their own calculations as they watched the enormous stone flower, the first to be hurled upward by a water pillar, fall from a hundred zhang in the air into the river.

An earth-shattering crash rang out.

The eight-petaled stone flower, more than ten zhang across, smashed into the river and instantly raised waves as tall as a two-story building.

Countless roiling bubbles covered the river's surface. The waves spread far outward, only subsiding after they washed all the way to Shuinan Village on the opposite bank.

All six present knew that anyone who could lift a stone flower weighing over a thousand jin a hundred zhang into the air with a single pillar of water possessed strength beyond the realm of Qi Refining.

But because the Demonic Cultivators needed to prevent word from spreading, the three black-robed men had still ordered Shi Tian to summon reinforcements.

This strange balance did not last long, however.

A series of rushing sounds came from the horizon, and more than twenty figures appeared, speeding toward them on dark-red Demonic Artifacts.

Killing intent billowed from this group. They were clearly the Demonic Cultivator reinforcements summoned by the voice-transmission talisman.

The four at their head possessed unfathomably deep auras, with demonic energy swirling around them. All four were experts of the Demonic Path at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

"Brat, your scheme still fell a step short. With a foundation establishment expert backing you, you thought you could kill us all in one stroke, didn't you? But if you have a foundation establishment senior, how could we possibly have none?"

"Hahaha! Submit to your death! Even your Foundation Establishment expert will be refined into a High-Rank Demonic Corpse!"

Seeing the enemy suddenly gain four Foundation Establishment experts and nearly twenty Qi Refining Demonic Cultivators, Mo Chen's heart sank.

But Mo Chen knew he had no allies. There had to be an expert residing on Dragonwall Cliff on East Terrace Mountain.

Amid his despair, a sliver of hope therefore arose. If he could stir up this stagnant pool, perhaps he would find a chance to survive.

Shi Tian and the others were overjoyed at the arrival of so many people and hurriedly bowed respectfully. "We respectfully welcome the four seniors!"

The Foundation Establishment Demonic Cultivator at the head wore a stern expression. Glancing over the somewhat battered scene, he snorted coldly. "Hmph! Two urgent message talismans in a row—I thought the sky was falling! What exactly happened to warrant such a commotion?"

Shi Tian hurried forward and was just about to report. "Senior, here—"

Before he could finish, the river below, which had just begun to settle, suddenly churned violently again, as though an enormous Demon Beast were turning over beneath the water.

A low, bull-like bellow came from underwater, and the entire Dragon Whisker Cliff began to tremble faintly.

"How... utterly rude. I merely spent two hundred years in secluded cultivation, and you dared fill the entrance to my cave abode with Corpse Refining!"

Hearing the transmitted voice, the four foundation establishment Demonic Cultivators immediately spread their divine sense outward, but even after scanning several times, they found nothing.

Now that was rather frightening.

"My first warning was useless, and my second display failed to drive you away. Yet you dared summon even more people! Since that is the case, all of you can meet your end here!"