Chương 135: The Breaking Point

Crack! A jagged fracture split the shimmering barrier of the Nine-Star Black Glass Array. Then came the spiderweb, thin black fissures branching outward like winter twigs, spreading across the entire formation at a speed that made the eyes ache. Crack. Crack. Crack. The sound was relentless, each report driving another nail into the coffin of the human defenders. The Dark Winged Tiger and the Raging Blood Lion watched with eyes alight with savage anticipation. Decades.

It had been decades since Blood Lion Mountain fell to human hands. Now, at last, they would reclaim what was theirs. Among the Raging Blood Lion clan, the roars of triumph had already begun. Once the Nine-Star Black Glass Array shattered, the human cultivators huddled within would be nothing more than fish on a chopping board, waiting for the blade to fall. The spirit beasts had the advantage in every way that counted. Seven Purple Mansion realm beasts, two of them at the late stage.

And the Dark Winged Tiger's bloodline was so steeped in ancient power that it could contend with a peak Purple Mansion cultivator blow for blow. To the tiger, Fang Xinjin and his two fellow Purple Mansion humans were already marked prey.

Claiming three Purple Mansion heads from Qingtai Prefecture would earn it rich rewards from the Golden Core beasts back at Black Tiger Cliff, raise its standing among the late-stage elites, tip the scales in its favor when the time came to compete for treasures that could forge a Golden Core.

"Uncle, keep our people close," Huaijin said, his voice low and sharp. His gaze never stopped scanning the chaos around them.

"When the formation breaks, stay behind me. We fight our way out, do not hesitate." Liwei's face was carved from stone. He had seen war before, but this beast tide had spiraled far beyond anything he'd anticipated.

"Understood," he said simply, and began moving among the Zhang clan members, steadying them with quiet words and firm hands. Around them, the other cultivation factions were making their own grim calculations. Blood Lion Mountain was lost. Everyone knew it. The only question now was who would live to see Qingtai Prefecture again. The seven Tier 3 spirit beasts stared at the faltering formation, their excitement barely contained.

They struck again and again, relentless, their attacks hammering the barrier with earth-shaking force. BOOM! CRACK! The formation's light barrier shuddered violently, then collapsed inward, exploding outward in a shower of glittering fragments. Splinters of the array flew in all directions like scattered flower petals. In that single moment, thousands of Qi Refining spirit beasts were crushed beneath the raining debris, shredded to pulp. Blood and viscera painted the sky in ribbons of crimson.

"FALL BACK!" Fang Xinjin's face drained of color. His palm snapped open, and a terrifying wave of power erupted from within, a violet spirit talisman detonating with devastating force. His final card. The Heavenly Stellar Purple Thunder Talisman, Tier 3 upper grade, forged from the hide of the Heavenly Stellar Crystal Kui, a Tier 3 upper grade beast of legend. Infused with a sliver of heavenly stellar energy and the raw might of purple thunder, steeped in the blood essence of countless spirit beasts.

Once unleashed, it could wound even a peak Purple Mansion spirit beast. BOOM! A dozen colossal bolts of violet lightning tore across the heavens, descending like divine judgment upon the Dark Winged Tiger. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. At the same moment, Zhou Yuezi thrust his palm forward, and a massive three legged cauldron materialized before him, the Heavenly Origin Cauldron. Tier 3 upper grade.

The Zhou family's most sacred heirloom, their only treasure of that rank. It was a vessel of many purposes: alchemy, forging, defense, its true power lay in the single stream of Heavenly Origin Spirit Water nurtured within its depths, a domineering essence that could temper the flesh or erupt into a flood of apocalyptic proportions. BOOM! Zhou Yuezi poured every drop of spiritual energy he could spare into the cauldron. The strain carved deep lines into his face. BOOM! BOOM! The very sky groaned.

From the cauldron's mouth erupted a surging tide of silver-white water, rising thousands of meters into the air before crashing down like a celestial waterfall, directly over all seven Purple Mansion spirit beasts.

"NOW! Blow the Tier 3 earth vein, do it NOW!" Zhou Yuezi choked down a restorative pill, his eyes burning with ruthless resolve. The Zhou clan members faltered for the briefest instant, exchanging uncertain glances. But one look at their patriarch's ferocious expression sent them scrambling to obey. Fang Xinjin opened his mouth, a protest dying on his lips. He had no argument to offer. Blood Lion Mountain was lost. If the Raging Blood Lions reclaimed it, the vein's resources would only fuel the enemy's war machine.

Better to burn it than feed it to the beasts. Half an hour later… Blood Lion Mountain fell. The human army shattered. Thousands of cultivators broke and ran, scattering through the wilderness like leaves before a gale. No order. No formation. Just terror and the desperate urge to survive. Qingtai Prefecture's human forces had collapsed entirely. And the Zhou clan members assigned to demolition duty had done their work well. The Tier 3 mid-grade earth vein erupted in a cataclysmic detonation.

The shockwave sent tremors racing through the mountain's very bones. The Tier 3 mid grade spirit vein shattered, more than half of it reduced to rubble. Spiritual energy bled into the air like lifeblood from a mortal wound, thinning with every passing breath. Huaijin moved through the fleeing tide, the Zhang clan members pressed tight behind him. They pushed hard toward Qingtai Prefecture, not daring to slow, not daring to look back. In his heart, Huaijin knew Zhou Yuezi had made the right call.

No matter how precious the vein, it was better reduced to ash than left to feed the Raging Blood Lions. But knowing that didn't make the loss sting any less. The Raging Blood Lion clan's strength now eclipsed Qingtai Prefecture's human forces, and that was without counting the Dark Winged Tiger. This beast tide had always been poised to tip disastrously against them. Now it had. Three Purple Mansion cultivators against seven. Even with the formation, the outcome had been inevitable.

A late-stage Purple Mansion spirit beast, armed with a Tier 3 upper grade spirit artifact, the devastation they could wreak together was simply too much to withstand. Zhou Yuezi had a Tier 3 upper grade artifact of his own, but it was a trump card, not a weapon of war. A single strike had drained most of his spiritual energy. He couldn't do that twice. Not everyone possessed a Complete Cultivation like Huaijin, not everyone could draw from three sources at once.

The human forces of Qingtai Prefecture had collapsed like an avalanche. Every faction scattered, fleeing wildly, paying no mind to the spirit beasts snapping at their heels. And then, the Tier 2 spirit beasts clawed their way free of the chaotic energy storm. They emerged battered. Bruised. Bleeding. The Dark Winged Tiger was in the worst state. One of its great black wings hung in tatters, half-shattered. Black smoke curled from its body, its muscles twitching uncontrollably.

Blood dripped from the corner of its maw. The Raging Blood Lion was in better shape, but only just. Its hide was scorched, its eyes wild with fury.

"Fang Xinjin... Zhou Yuezi..." The Dark Winged Tiger's voice was a low, venomous growl. Humiliation burned in its gaze. It had dominated the battlefield from start to finish, only to nearly be undone in the final moments. The power of that Heavenly Stellar Purple Thunder Talisman had been far too savage. And the attack had come far too fast. The Raging Blood Lion turned its gaze to the smoldering wreckage of its ancestral mountain. Grief and rage warred behind its eyes. Those hateful humans.

They had stolen this land first, held it for decades. Now, when the beasts had finally clawed it back, the humans had destroyed the very earth beneath it. Decades. Decades of recovery, at minimum. The Tier 3 mid-grade spirit vein, destabilized by the earth vein's collapse, had already fallen to Tier 3 low grade. If it wasn't repaired soon, it might sink even further, to Tier 2. A death sentence for the clan's future.

"You." The Raging Blood Lion rounded on its subordinates, voice like grinding stone.

"Take every Tier 2 beast under your command. Hunt them. HUNT THEM ALL. I want their blood running down the slopes of the Purple Dusk Mountain Range. I want every human who set foot on this mountain to die screaming." The roar echoed across the scarred landscape, sharp with killing intent. The Dark Winged Tiger and the late-stage Purple Mansion Raging Blood Lion remained behind to hold the mountain, tend their wounds, and begin the slow, agonizing work of repairing the wounded spirit vein.

The other five Purple Mansion beasts took to the field, leading their forces in a methodical, merciless hunt, determined to sweep Qingtai Prefecture clean of every last human cultivator.