Chapter 2863 - Heartfiend Ghoulbeast
Thankfully, Yi Daiyan had TIanming's help, or she wouldn't be able to locate the gigantic infinitum-class warbeasts in thousands of years of searching. The subterranean world was filled to the brim with nova source, cosmic impulses, and cosmic hazards, making it incredibly tiresome to navigate. Just like whales in the sea, the warbeasts would be impossible to locate despite their large sizes.
"Considering the location Yin Chen’s reporting, there’s no way that we would've found the beast by normal means." Tianming and the others paid attention to Yin Chen's reports on what was taking place.
Soon, Yi Daiyan encountered the first of her prey and the fight immediately began. Nobody could clearly see what was happening down there, so Tianming could only nervously await the results.
After an hour, Yin Chen said, "It's dead!"
Tianming couldn't help but feel rather impressed at the result. Yi Daiyan had slaughtered an infinitum-class warbeast like she would a common pest. "She's incredible!"
"It isn’t surprising. Wildbeasts that grow that powerful mostly develop in one common aspect: their size. All infinitum-class wildbeasts in Ebonia are huge and can pose a threat to swathes of astral gods, but against singular elite fighters, they suffer quite a disadvantage. After all, they don't have heptastar cosmic bodies," Xiaodao said.
Before the Order stage, nova wildbeasts were stronger than humans or lifebound beasts, but beyond that, astral gods were simply stronger, all other things being equal. All five infinitum-class warbeasts in Ebonia were allies of Shenxi Xingtian, and all of them fighting together would still end up being defeated by Yi Daiyan, and that was without the killer weapon she now wielded. With the Infinitum Stele and the chance to fight those beasts one on one, exterminating them was an easy feat.
"Did the other two beasts start running?" Tianming asked.
"Shenxi Xingtian... didn't get... the memo," Yin Chen said. The other warbeasts had been hidden too far away. Coupled with the fact that Shenxi Xingtian wasn't actually a beastmaster that did symbiotic cultivation with them, they didn't have a telepathic link with him, either. There simply was no way he could find out about their deaths until someone personally discovered it. That combination of factors would be unthinkable in the case of beastmasters. "So these so-called infinite beastmasters have pros and cons as well."
Yi Daiyan was charging toward the second warbeast, which was still trying to hide deep underground based on Shenxi Xingtian's instructions, giving Yi Daiyan the chance to slay it; not that it would have been able to escape anyway, as long as Yin Chen marked it.
The infinitum-class warbeasts were nightmares to the common folk, but they were nothing but livestock to be slaughtered for Yi Daiyan. By now, Shenxi Xingtian should have received news of the death of the infinitum-class warbeasts as the third target ran in the direction of Ebonopolis, possibly in an attempt to hide behind the wildbeast wall for protection. It was hard for any news to travel beyond that wall, so if it weren’t for Yin Chen, it would have been a great place to hide.
"End it as quick as you can!" Tianming said after relaying the news to Yi Daiyan.
"Got it." She fought as hard as she could, using her sixfold simulacrum. The Infinitum Stele turned into a gigantic flashing sword-like mass and pierced the warbeast completely beyond a level that its non-heptastar cosmic body could recover from. It was turned into minced meat.
"That's an insane amount of meat!" Xian Xian was crying at the thought of all that food going to waste. Then again, it’d had more than its fill that day. All of Ebonia was heaven for it, thanks to all the wildbeasts. It had eaten to the point of vomiting, its spiritform looking incredibly fat to reflect its state of satiety. Xian Xian had no choice but to watch as the second infinitum-class warbeast's flesh was evaporated by the burning nova source.
"To be fair, the flesh of these infinitum-class wildbeasts isn’t something normal ether-class artifacts can slash apart. Only the Ininitum Stele can do it!" Yi Daiyan had become the bane of the ebons because of that very weapon.
Apart from the unkillable bloodline wisteria, only one infinitum-class warbeast remained. It was escaping toward Ebonopolis while Tianming kept Yi Daiyan informed about its position. She used the Infinitum Stele itself to break apart the rocks in the underground caverns and push magma aside. She rapidly made her way across the underground domain, traveling faster than any astralship or wildbeast could dream of. All obstacles crumbled like tofu before the Infinitum Stele.
All of it reinforced in Tianming's mind the importance of cosmic artifacts to cultivators. Astralships and formations were convenient for protecting the masses or taking territory, but they couldn't truly rival the might of a single powerful cultivator. In fact, wildbeasts also belonged to the category of weapons of war. That was why they fumbled before Yi Daiyan and her Infinitum Stele—all they were good for was massacring the innocent masses!
The third beast kept running toward Ebonopolis with its figurative tail between its legs as Yi Daiyan rapidly closed the distance. "Without Yin Chen, the underground caverns are much safer than Ebonopolis itself. Shenxi Xingtian wouldn't have lost if it wasn’t for me!" They had lost to a Primordial Chaos Beast! Yin Chen was indispensable in war.
"Granddaddy Chen, do you think Yi Daiyan can catch up to the heartfiend ghoulbeast based on their relative speed?" Xiaodao asked.
"She should... catch up... but only... when they're... near Ebonopolis!" Yin Chen said. That was a bit risky!
"We aren't able to do anything about the bloodline wisteria, but if we can kill the heartfiend ghoulbeast, the ebons will no longer have any real ability to continue waging war," Tianming said, looking at Xiaodao. They were at the crucial juncture!
They patiently waited until Yin Chen gave them news an hour later. Yi Daiyan had caught up, but only when it’d reached spitting distance of the wildbeast wall surrounding Ebonopolis.
In other words, they were right at Shenxi Xingtian's doorstep.
"Did Shenxi Xingtian come out to save the heartfiend soulbeast?" Tianming asked.
"Not yet!"
Tianming smiled. "That fellow’s cowardly indeed. Looks like he might be giving up on the heartfiend ghoulbeast even when it's so close to the city." If Shenxi Xingtian had intended to interfere, he would have already left instead of waiting until Yi Daiyan caught up.
"He’s utterly lost. His only hope right now is his outside aid. I'm guessing that he won’t come out to fight no matter what before these two allies come to help him, even if we attack the wildbeast wall nonstop," Xiaodao said.
In fact, everything happened as he predicted.
As Yi Daiyan fought the heartfiend ghoulbeast, all Shenxi Xingtian did was send out beast waves to harass her without actually coming out. He didn't even dare to send out the Ebonfiend, which had been poked with many holes thanks to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb's attacks. He was clearly worried that Yi Daiyan could infiltrate the ship through them.
Eventually, word that she had killed two infinitum-class warbeasts spread through Ebonia.