Lin Xiao’s heart jolted.
So this was the Heaven-Tyrant Crab Clan’s unique trait: an army of tens of thousands, led by peak experts, attacking without regard for losses. Escaping such a force would truly be difficult.
Fortunately, he had confidence. The Sealing Heaven Stone Hand was his trump card.
That said, apart from the Wang family group who had treated him well, he had no obligation to help the others. The eight clans and three sacred lands had all attacked his mother years ago. Every one of these forces was his enemy; in the future they would very likely move against him as well.
“Bimu Clan, Spirit Phoenix Clan, Tianluo Spirit Snail Clan, Heaven-Tyrant Crab Clan: four great beast clans deliberately set this trap and joined forces against us humans. Are you not afraid of triggering all-out war between humans and beasts?” the Jiang Clan elder bellowed.
Only now did the humans feel genuine dread. Three great human clans already held no overwhelming advantage against three beast clans.
Now, with the addition of over ten thousand Heaven-Tyrant Crabs (though individually not the strongest), combined with the many half-step Martial Saints the beasts already possessed, the humans were at a clear disadvantage.
The foremost Heaven-Tyrant Crab stepped forward. “Starting a war between our races? I am afraid you lot do not carry enough weight for that.”
As he spoke, half-step Martial Saint pressure surged from his body and swept over the crowd.
“However, I will tell you the truth. If the human race dares to declare war, we beast clans will gladly meet you!” the crab declared arrogantly.
Everyone’s brows furrowed deeper.
“The beast clans want to use this incident to send a message to humanity. They wish to stand as equals,” Wang Qi whispered to Lin Xiao and the rest of the Wang group. “It seems that in recent years the beast clans’ strength has grown tremendously. They are no longer content with their previous status.”
“If things worsen, they might actually wage war against humanity in the future. But for now they would not dare. Otherwise, it would not be merely the Heaven-Tyrant Crab army that appeared today, but Saint-level beasts,” Wang Qi added.
Lin Xiao’s heart trembled.
War between humans and beasts?
That would shake the entire Central Continent. Blood would flow in rivers; the balance of power that had lasted a thousand years could collapse.
Whoosh!
At that very moment, a radiant glow burst from the spirit pool. An exquisite fragrance filled the air.
“The spirit lotus roots have ripened!”
Everyone’s gazes snapped toward the pool, ready to move.
Yet right then, water exploded upward. A figure shot out of the pool. All the faintly visible lotus flowers vanished in an instant.
Clearly, that figure had harvested every single spirit lotus root.
“Attack!”
The Heaven-Tyrant Crab half-step Martial Saint roared. He charged forward, swinging the massive pincers on his arms. Matchless crimson light erupted, condensing into a gigantic pincer blade that slashed through the sky straight at the Tantai Clan group.
Behind him, the army of over ten thousand crabs simultaneously unleashed crimson pincer beams. Like a scarlet ocean, the combined assault crashed toward the Tantai team.
“Defend!”
Tantai Wenjun shouted coldly. A hundred zhang in front of her, a spiritual construct rapidly took shape: an enormous curved defensive barrier several zhang thick.
The Tantai spirit controllers worked in perfect harmony. The moment Tantai Wenjun spoke, not only did she pour spiritual power into it, every other spirit controller did the same. Their spiritual energies fused into the barrier.
Seventh-grade advanced spirit controllers could materialise fifty percent of their constructs. In other words, the forms they created were semi-transparent but already half-solid.
With two seventh-grade advanced, four seventh-grade intermediate, and nine seventh-grade primary spirit controllers combined, the barrier was nearly ninety percent solid. Its defensive strength was unimaginable.
That the Heaven-Tyrant Crabs focused their entire army’s assault on the Tantai Clan showed how seriously they took spirit controllers.
It was also a strategy to concentrate force and annihilate one group first.
In the other directions:
– The Bimu Clan struck at the Jiang Clan.
– The Spirit Phoenix Clan attacked the Wang Clan group Lin Xiao was with.
– Half the Tianluo Spirit Snails targeted the Jiang Clan, while the other half assaulted the Wang group.
Brilliant lights flashed. Terrifying energies erupted in an instant.
The Tianluo Spirit Snail attacks especially shocked Lin Xiao. Each of them thrust both palms forward, unleashing spiralling black snail-pattern beams.
The black spirals spun as they flew, carrying dreadful strangling power.
“Imperial King Blade!”
Beside Lin Xiao, Wang Qi roared. Powerful aura exploded from his body. His long blade swept out, radiance stretching thousands of zhang, momentum like a rainbow. Terrifying force condensed into an immense blade beam that slashed diagonally at the Tianluo Spirit Snails on the ground.
The strike carried the majesty of an army marching to war.
With this single blade, Wang Qi, a Seventh Layer Martial Emperor, unleashed power equivalent to Ninth Layer Martial Emperor.
Lin Xiao could not tell whether it was purely the blade art or whether Wang Qi himself possessed such terrifying cross-realm combat strength.
At the same time, nearly every Wang family member executed the same technique. Roughly thirty percent directed their attacks at the Tianluo Spirit Snails, while seventy percent struck at the Spirit Phoenix Clan.
On the Jiang Clan side, each member brandished a length of cyan iron bamboo and smashed downward with ferocious, domineering might.
Naturally, the beast-form expert who had emerged from the pool also attacked the Jiang powerhouses.
Clearly the beast clans had long arranged for someone to hide inside the pool. The moment the lotus roots ripened, that person harvested them all, freeing the other beast experts to focus entirely on the humans.
As for distribution of the treasure, the four beast clans had surely already agreed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Thunderous explosions rang out. Heaven-shaking shockwaves erupted one after another. Energy surged violently across the entire region and hundreds of li around.
In the Tantai direction, the fused defensive barrier of fifteen spirit controllers finally shattered under the combined assault of over ten thousand Heaven-Tyrant Crabs plus one half-step Martial Saint crab. The backlash struck all fifteen, sending them flying backward while coughing blood.
The Jiang Clan barely held even against the Bimu Clan plus half the Tianluo Spirit Snails.
On the Wang Clan side, the two half-step Martial Saint spirit phoenixes were individually stronger than the Wang elders. Even after the Wang group unleashed their clan’s supreme techniques, they remained at a slight disadvantage. Rolling shockwaves swept over them.
Against the Tianluo Spirit Snail half, Lin Xiao wielded the Nether Heaven Demonic Pillar while Wang Qi and the others fought desperately. Yet facing another half-step Martial Saint, they too were slightly suppressed and battered by the waves of force.
Since the entire Wang group was clustered together, they were struck by shockwaves from both directions and sent flying diagonally upward.
In this opening exchange, apart from the Jiang Clan’s three half-step Martial Saints who barely held their ground, the other two human clans were forced back.
Some Wang members suffered light wounds, while the Tantai group fared far worse: every one of them was gravely injured by the army of ten thousand plus the half-step Martial Saint crab.
“Kill!”
At that moment the Heaven-Tyrant Crab half-step Martial Saint waved his pincer and bellowed. The army of over ten thousand immediately split into three perfect formations and charged to encircle and slaughter the human forces from all sides.
