Chapter 620: The Real Player!
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
The battle lasted three hours, and by the time it was over, night had fallen.
There was so much blood in the air that the sky seemed to be full of holes. Even the stars were dyed a queer crimson color.
With a crack, the saber in Li Yao's hand finally couldn't resist his surging spiritual gas anymore and broke into pieces the size of fingernails.
But they managed to maintain the shape of a saber, enhanced by Li Yao's spiritual gas, and did not explode until the saber was pierced deep into a behemothic apocalyptic beast's internal organs, which were immediately minced into a pulp.
The apocalypse beast collapsed and stiffened. However, Li Yao stopped looking at it and picked up a dented saber from the ground. His spiritual gas surged out and decorated the common saber glitteringly as if it were the most marvelous blade in the world.
Li Yao couldn't remember how many sabers he had broken.
He only knew that the blades and weapons he carried with himself had been used up an hour ago.
Even the Sky Scorpion Armor crafted out of the shells of apocalyptic beasts was riddled with holes and cracks.
However, his fighting will did not perish with his weapons. Instead, it was even higher than before as the slaughter continued.
For three hours, he had attacked the Death Curse with the reverberating fighting will and broken six shackles.
With each shackle broken, his control over spiritual energy grew more delicate, and the range of his surging spiritual gas expanded even further!
Just when he was going to summon his spiritual gas and blow up the last three shackles, he suddenly felt empty, and he could see the mountains and crags thousands of meters away. However, there were no more apocalyptic beasts in between.
Li Yao was at a loss, not knowing where he should go to.
Shi Meng and another member of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, on the other hand, hurried to drag him and shouted into his ears, "Sand Scorpion, wake up! Stop fighting. You are going to be mentally deranged!"
As it turned out, when they saw that Li Yao was fighting more and more bravely like a crazy devil, they thought that he had become addicted to the pleasure of killing and was about to become a monster who knew nothing but slaughtering.
Shi Meng clicked his tongue and shouted, "Sand Scorpion, what drugs did you take today to make you so insane? Do you know how many dragon-level apocalyptic beasts you've slain? The qi-trainers of the other five tribes did not even dare to come close to you and fight by your side. They feared that you wouldn't recognize who they were and kill them in your delirium!
"I thought you were tough enough in the previous battle of apocalypse, but I didn't expect that you would be ten times fiercer today!"
Li Yao licked his dry lips. The last three shackles still confined his heart and made him unable to condense his spiritual gas and advance into the Building Foundation Stage. He was quite upset.
He was hoping to continue slaughtering the apocalyptic beasts, but all he could see in the grey mist were his companions.
The roars of the apocalyptic beasts were replaced by cheers of joy.
"We've won!"
Shi Meng listened attentively for a while, before he raised his saber and said merrily, "We've annihilated all the apocalyptic beasts!"
"So easy?"
Li Yao took a rest. The previous prolonged battle of the apocalypse was still as fresh as yesterday in his mind. How come this outbreak was so lethargic?
Although the warriors present were all elites of the six tribes and Cultivators who had offered their help, Li Yao still felt that the ending had been too abrupt and something was wrong.
"Last time, it was a fully mature egg of apocalypse, but this time, it's only a hasty outbreak. Chances are that the egg of apocalypse only just started brewing the beasts. It goes without saying that their intensities are different!" Shi Meng grinned. "Anyway, there are no apocalyptic beasts anywhere close. The grey mist is dispersing, too. This must be all of them!"
Several True Qi tanks turned on their headlights and patrolled the battlefield, picking up the injured and the deceased.
When everybody gathered in the entrance of the valley and did a headcount, they discovered that approximately two hundred people had passed away and all the rest were seriously wounded and exhausted. Their ammunition and True Qi containers were running low, and their weapons and blades were all severely damaged.
Many qi-trainers were so exhausted that they did not have any strength left. They couldn't even stand on their feet. Some other people had even passed out now that the battle was over.
Everybody was stained with dust and blood. Iron Plateau natives and space residents were no longer distinguishable. True Qi armor and crystal suits were all wasted iron and copper when they were broken. Cultivators of the Great Horn Exo Society and qi-trainers of the six tribes leaned against each other and breathed heavily on the ground.
For a battle of apocalypse, it was already an unbelievably small loss.
"Be cautious, everybody. Brace for the second wave of apocalyptic beasts. Turn on all the tanks. We will march out of the grey mist in ten minutes!" the chief of the Giant Axe Tribe shouted on a drumming tank.
He was the commander-in-chief of the battle. After all, the place was full of peril. It would be the best if they left the place as soon as they found all the injured warriors!
But Li Yao's heart was pounding, and he frowned deeply because he thought that the victory had come too easily.
Suddenly, he remembered Xiong Wuji's words.
One egg of apocalypse could only absorb limited resources from underground.
If the small fries that it produced were too weak, it was a sign that most of the resources had been dedicated to an extremely strong apocalyptic beast!
Li Yao swallowed and said, his voice tremoring, "Shi Meng, did you kill any calamity-level apocalyptic beasts? It is my understanding that one calamity-level apocalyptic beast comes with every outbreak of eggs of apocalypse."
Shi Meng was dazed. He shuddered, too, and replied, "I didn't seem to run into any strong beings close to the calamity level.
"However, since the egg of apocalypse was detonated by force, maybe the calamity-level beast was still too young and was killed in the explosion. It is not unlikely."
Li Yao didn't believe that The Temple of Immortals' arrangements would be so simple. He suddenly jumped to his feet and shouted excitedly, waving his arms, "Don't relax. Stay alarmed. The battle is not over yet!"
The warriors of the six tribes had seen his insane bravery just now and more or less considered him to be the strongest expert in the younger generation. They were not unwilling to listen to his warning, but the fierce combat in the last three hours had drained everyone's spiritual gas. They were merely fighting with the support of their fighting will.
But right now, all the apocalyptic beasts they could see had been cleared. Their stress had been removed. Many of them couldn't even move their fingers while they were sitting on the ground, let alone standing up and holding their weapons!
Right then, the grey mist in front of everyone became hazy again, while heavy footsteps in a fixed rhythm came over from the depths of the grey mist.
An enormous apocalyptic beast was walking toward everybody unhurriedly!
Before the apocalyptic beast showed itself, the air was already frozen. An invisible mountain seemed to have fallen from the sky and buried everyone.
Such an intimidating aura only suggested one thing—a calamity-level apocalyptic beast was coming!
Li Yao could feel his heart palpitating as he gazed at the grey mist with his eyes wide open.
The grey mist gradually split like a curtain being pulled, revealing a brand-new apocalyptic beast.
The apocalyptic beast was rather skinny for a calamity-level apocalyptic beast, and it was no more than five meters tall.
It was like a combination of the forelegs of a mantis, the body of a tarantula, and the tail of a scorpion. However, it didn't give any sense of ugliness typical of the jumbled demon beasts or carry any hideousness that belonged to insects. Surrounded by a thin, bright aura, it was weirdly graceful and majestic!
It was like a tyrant standing in its own palace!
"Ah!"
Many qi-trainers gasped and screamed in disbelief.
The front end of the insect body was connected by countless purple gold veins and nerves to the upper body of a human being!
If the lower half body that looked like an insect was ignored, the upper half body of the human would have looked immaculate. Every muscle was shining in glamorous colors. Magnificent blood stripes identical to the tattoos on the Titan Warriors were flowing on the skin slowly as if they were alive!
But that was not the reason everyone was so shocked.
What appalled them was that the queer 'calamity-level apocalyptic beast', which was a combination of a human and various insects, had a face that was exactly the same as Yan Xibei's.
However, the face was much younger than the old man's face, which had been full of wrinkles and looked like dry rind.
For a moment, many of them seemed to see Yan Xibei when he was the best warrior of Iron Plateau in his prime years!
However, his white hair did not turn black, and bloody brightness was blinking at the end of his white hair!
'Yan Xibei' was wearing a weird expression. There was no telling whether he was sad or sorry. He simply eyed everyone emotionlessly, while he drove his six limbs to crawl over slowly, the greasy scorpion tail glittering.
All the qi-trainers seemed to be stunned by the nightmare-like scene and were utterly quiet.
Suddenly, a man leapt out of the crowd with a broken saber on his back. He charged to the front of 'Yan Xibei' unstoppably and waved his blade, before he bellowed, "What— what the f*ck are you exactly? What did you do to my uncle?"
'Yan Xibei' smiled and said, "Ah Huo, it's me."
His voice came both from his chest and from a certain organ in the insect body. It was mixed with the human voice and hums of insects. Everybody felt goosebumps rising up just listening to him.
Yan Chihuo was about to go crazy. He held his head and shouted, "What— what is going on? Uncle, weren't you killed in the grey mist? How did you end up like this?"
"Don't you see?"
Gazing at Yan Xibei, Li Yao said coldly, "Yan Chihuo, your big brother was a training maniac. Strong as he might have been, he did not have the connections and resources to carry out the scheme of the Temple of Immortals!
"Your big brother was merely a chess piece under someone else's control. Our Master Yan Xibei, the well-respected previous best warrior of Iron Plateau, was the real player of the chess game!"