Chương 132: The Beast Tide Strikes

All the cultivators on Blood Lion Mountain stood frozen in stunned disbelief! By every established precedent, when a beast tide erupted, it took at least three months before Tier 3 spirit beasts would enter the fray. The rampages served a grim purpose, to cull the spirit beasts' own bloated numbers. But this time, less than three hours into the battle, a Purple Mansion Realm spirit beast had already struck. The three Purple Mansion cultivators stationed at Blood Lion Mountain wore expressions of grim resolve.

Their spiritual energy surged as they worked frantically to stabilize the formation's anchor network, struggling to maintain the Nine-Star Black Glass Array. Below them, Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators threw themselves into the meat grinder, using their own bodies to hold back the endless tide. Devastating power erupted in all directions. With every passing breath, lives were snuffed out by the dozens.

Huaijin gazed up at the battlefield unfolding in the heavens above, a sudden chill of foreboding creeping into his heart. Fang Xinjin watched the Raging Blood Lion battering the formation's outer shell and felt his unease deepen. At this rate, the Nine-Star Black Glass Array wouldn't hold much longer. Even lasting a single month would be a desperate struggle.

Once the formation shattered, the human defenders would face a nightmare, holding back the beast tide without the array's protection would become exponentially more difficult. And their three Purple Mansions against six Purple Mansion spirit beasts? That was a battle they could not win.

"We can't let them keep hammering the formation!" Zhou Yuezi made his decision in an instant. The Void Ancient Bell soared into the air. Clang! A single chime unleashed a devastating wave of sonic force that warped the very air around it, hurtling toward the late-stage Purple Mansion Raging Blood Lion. Fang Xinjin struck out simultaneously. Two Purple Mansion cultivators launched a ferocious assault on the beast. Fang Tianyu observed the situation with a heavy heart, then charged into battle himself.

Three Tier 3 cultivators against six spirit beasts of the same realm. The pressure was crushing. Within moments, they were on the back foot. The Raging Blood Lion, having broken through to the late stages, was a terror to behold. Against Fang Xinjin and Zhou Yuezi together, it fought with casual, terrifying ease, suppressing them both as if they were mere children. Fang Tianyu, meanwhile, found himself dodging and weaving through a storm of lethal attacks, his situation growing more desperate by the second.

"Brother Fang, we can't go on like this! Send for reinforcements!" Zhou Yuezi's face had gone pale as ash. This was no accident, the enemy had come prepared. If his guess was right, they intended to seize Blood Lion Mountain and reclaim the Raging Blood Lion clan's ancestral territory. Fang Xinjin said nothing. His fingertip ignited. A Tier 3, mid grade Message Talisman burst into flame, its distress signal shooting instantly toward Qingtai City. A Tier 3, mid grade talisman cost ten thousand spirit stones.

Fang Xinjin would never have burned one unless the situation was truly desperate. At Qingtai City, the Fang family's Purple Mansion cultivator received the message immediately. They mobilized with lightning speed, rallying their clansmen and racing to reinforce Blood Lion Mountain. The Zhou family responded as well, though they sent no Purple Mansion cultivators, a substantial contingent of Foundation Establishment fighters departed at once.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Under no circumstances could they allow the spirit beasts to breach Blood Lion Mountain. If that happened, all the hard-won advantages the humans of Qingtai Prefecture had painstakingly built would be lost in an instant. … On Blood Lion Mountain, the battle reached a fever pitch. Foundation Establishment beasts and Qi Refining beasts alike fought with mindless, frothing frenzy.

With the Purple Mansion beasts gaining the upper hand, several of Blood Lion Mountain's perfection stage Tier 2 cultivators were forced to abandon the defensive line and join the Purple Mansion battlefield, hoping to relieve Fang Tianyu's crushing burden. Five perfection stage Tier 2 cultivators withdrew from the front. The pressure on the remaining fighters skyrocketed. Casualties grew ever more brutal. Huaijin swept his gaze across the battlefield, his jaw tightening. He knew all too well, this couldn't continue.

"Liwei, hold this position!"

"Go, Huaijin!" Zhang Liwei understood the gravity of the situation. Qingtai's human forces were on the brink. And Huaijin, his combat prowess was unmatched. Late-stage Tier 2 spirit beasts were no match for him. The Tier 3 beasts could not be allowed to win. Huaijin strode forward like a dragon unleashed, cutting straight across the chaos toward a Tier 2 eighth level Iron-Bone Serpent. The departure of the perfection stage Foundation Establishment realm cultivators had sent the late-stage beasts into a frenzy.

The human defensive line was collapsing step by bloody step. This Iron-Bone Serpent in particular had already claimed the lives of two mid-stage Tier 2 cultivators. The late-stage Foundation Establishment fighters, though individually powerful, couldn't cover the entire battlefield with only two hands. The serpent was ten meters of coiled muscle and malice, its body pitch-black, its bones like living steel. As it moved, showers of sparks rained from its scales.

Its tail whipped through the air with a thunderous crack, and every swing was a catastrophe for the Qi Refining Realm cultivators caught in its path. Huaijin streaked in on his sword, spiritual energy surging. A blade of sword-light slashed through the air, appearing directly before the Iron-Bone Serpent. The serpent's cold, reptilian eyes gleamed with murderous contempt. A sixth level cultivator dared to raise his sword against it? Utterly suicidal…

But in the next instant, the Blood Dragon Sword materialized in Huaijin's palm. A towering pillar of blood-red energy erupted skyward. His sword technique exploded into motion, the Shadow Sword realm amplifying every strike! Sword-light flashed like crimson lightning. The Blood Dragon Sword carved through the serpent's scales as if they were butter, impossibly smooth, and drove straight into its seven-inch weak point! Blood sprayed across the battlefield, staining the surrounding air a deep crimson.

The Iron-Bone Serpent didn't even have time to shriek, it was slain in a single, devastating strike. In that moment, Huaijin in his flowing white robes became the absolute center of the battlefield. He didn't pause for an instant after killing the Iron-Bone Serpent. He pressed forward without hesitation, continuing the slaughter. Now was not the time to hold back. If the Purple Mansion battlefield collapsed, the human forces of Qingtai Prefecture would shatter like a mountain crumbling to dust.

The casualties would be unimaginable. Besides, killing Tier 2 beasts also slowed the formation's energy depletion, every death bought them precious time. The battle raged on Blood Lion Mountain. And far behind the front lines, back in Qingtai Prefecture itself, demonic cultivators began emerging from the shadows in force, unleashing a bloodbath upon the unprepared. The mortal cities under the various cultivation powers came under sudden, savage attack.

Some Qi Refining sects, caught completely off guard, were wiped out to the last man, woman, and child. Even some Foundation Establishment powers suffered catastrophic losses. It was only because the cultivators had been on high alert ever since demonic activity was first detected that the damage wasn't even worse. And it wasn't just Qingtai Prefecture, demonic cultivators had appeared all across Bing Province like a plague. With the beast tide erupting, the major powers were stretched dangerously thin.

It was the perfect moment for demonic cultivators to run rampant. And they did so with savage abandon, madly sacrificing mortals by the thousands, refining their blood essence, harvesting countless vengeful souls to fuel their own cultivation. The Zhang family estate came under attack as well. … Qingtai Prefecture's demonic cultivator faction was called the White Bone Demon Cave, a branch of Soul Sorrow Ridge.

Unbeknownst to the world, the White Bone Demon Cave now harbored three Purple Mansion Realm demonic cultivators, along with more than a dozen Foundation Establishment disciples. The speed at which demonic cultivators advanced was truly terrifying. As long as they kept sacrificing mortals, their cultivation skyrocketed. There was always the risk of qi deviation, of losing one's mind to the darkness, but for cultivators with mediocre spiritual roots, the demonic path offered the quickest route to power.

The temptation was almost impossible to resist. That was why the demonic sects could never be fully eradicated. All a cultivator had to do was kill, and their cultivation would rise. For most ordinary cultivators struggling against the slow crawl of their own potential, that promise was intoxicating beyond reason. The Tang Kingdom, which had slumbered in relative peace for nearly a century, was now churning with storm clouds once more as the demonic cultivators returned to claim their bloody due.