Chapter 289: Retaliation

In truth, the gold divine light of the copper bell wasn't invincible, and it exhausted Song Zhong's Primal Spiritual Qi. Facing the joint attacks of so many YuanYing cultivators, every attack would exhaust almost half of his magical Qi. In actual fact, it was already an amazing feat for only half to be exhausted. Due to the might of the Primal Chaos Formula, his magical Qi was a good ten times stronger than other cultivators. Even half his magical Qi had the might to split mountains. But in comparison to YuanYing cultivators like Huo Qing Yun, that couldn't be considered much. With a full strength attack, thousands of sword Qi would appear, and the other spells and magical artifact would exhaust a frightening amount of spiritual Qi.

The largest reason why Song Zhong was able to rely on that meager amount of spiritual Qi to block the attacks of so many experts was largely due to the amazing copper bell. Despite having had it for so many years, Song Zhong had never been able to fully uncover its mysteries. Every time he had a growth in strength, he would think that he would be able to have a deeper understanding of the copper bell. But, he would always be disappointed to realize that the more he understood it, the more mysteries he would unravel. The things he seemed to be unable to understand would also greatly increase. Take this time for an example, Song Zhong originally thought that the copper bell was an attack-type treasure which relied on sound waves. But after advancing into the JinDan stage, a protective ability appeared. Furthermore, this ability was different from other treasures. The divine light from the other treasures completely relied on magical qi to forcefully defend against the attack. However, the divine light of this copper bell was different. It was actually able to absorb a portion of the opponent's attack, converting it into spiritual Qi to strengthen the divine light. This was the reason why Song Zhong could block the attacks of the many YuanYing cultivators with so little spiritual Qi.

Of course, blocking a wave of attacks with half his spiritual Qi was also a considerable amount of exhaustion. If it was anyone else, he would definitely be helpless after a few waves of attacks. However, Song Zhong was unafraid of such this. He had an abundance of five element pure water, to the point he could use it to brew tea and drink it like water. As such, a large amount of spiritual Qi had been stored in his body over time. While nurturing his body and strengthening it, it also strengthened his spiritual Qi. This was also the reason why his magical Qi was abnormally dense. In such a ferocious battle, he would naturally not be stingy about this little bit of five element pure water. Huo Qing Yun and the other YuanYing cultivators were all extremely knowledgeable, and would naturally be able to tell what Song Zhong was drinking. In Song Zhong's hands, the precious five element pure water became even more worthless than water in the well. With every single move of his, he swallowed a few mouthfuls of five element pure water, drinking tens of thousands of spiritual stones without feeling any heartache. While Song Zhong did not feel the heartache, the others could not take it. All of them could not help but scold, "This damn wastrel, would anyone drink the five element pure water like that? That is a treasure to refine elixirs, how can he waste it like that?"

"This daoist here has plenty of it and cannot be bothered. Can you do anything if I want to waste it?" As Song Zhong finished his words, he threw the half-filled bottle of five element pure water into the ocean.

This obvious provocation had enraged all the YuanYing cultivators to the point they started cursing, with their attacks becoming more and more ferocious. While they looked enraged on the surface, they were feeling worried in their hearts. If this brat is able to throw out the five element pure water like that, just how much of it does he have? With such abundant five element pure water to replenish his magical Qi, he will probably still be full of vigor when we are all exhausted.But now that things had developed to such an extent, they did not have any routes of retreat left. Thus, they could only grit their teeth and intensify their attacks. High above in the skies, an intense battle broke out with sword Qi's cutting through the clouds, divine lightnings lighting up the sky, and colored fireballs exploding all around. The surrounding 300 miles had all been turned into a battlefield with no one able to interfere.

Despite facing the attacks of the many YuanYing cultivators, Song Zhong relied on his perverse defense and powerful divine lightning to fight them evenly.

After an hour of fighting, Song Zhong was still extremely energetic because of the five element pure water. As he got more and more used to using his divine lightning, he became more and more ferocious as he fought. As for the YuanYing cultivators who were attacking with all their might, they grew tired from the previous full force assault and seemed to be losing their edge. A bunch of seniors ganging up on a single junior was already an extremely embarrassing affair to begin with. Now that they were on the losing end, all of these reputation loving fellows didn't know where to hide their faces! These old fellows also knew what shame meant, as they tried to intensify their attacks to win them back some face.

Right at this moment, the battle between the flying beasts and flying ships had a change.

It turns out, when Huo Qing Yun was fighting with Song Zhong, the flying beasts had a large amount of reinforcements. Amongst those reinforcements were two group of flying beasts. One of them were the red-billed ducks and the other was the sky-flying bird. While they weren't very powerful, they were extremely fertile and had numerous descendants. In order to back up the Eastern Ocean's Crown Prince, both the red-billed ducks and sky-flying bird sent out all of their descendants, numbering several hundred thousand each. Just the addition of these two races added up to about a million demonic beasts. When the demonic beasts were receiving a large amount of reinforcements, the human cultivators were growing weaker. After their first flying ship was sunk, a good eight to nine YuanYing cultivators were now held back by Song Zhong. After a long battle, the demonic beasts slowly gained the edge. Thankfully, while the human cultivators were small in numbers, they were able to hold on with their powerful giant magical artifacts. However, misfortune does not come alone and fortune never comes in pairs.

When the battle in the sky was at a stalemate, the battle in the Gold Dragon ship saw a change. Apart from the two flying-type demonic beasts, the rest of the reinforcements were five types of Water-type demonic beasts. There were even two different species with an exceptional battle prowess, the flexible octopus and crossbow prawns. The flexible octopus was a fourth grade demonic beast with a body that was a few hundred feet wide. While it looked extremely soft and weak on the surface, it was extremely dangerous. They specialized in the use of Water type spells and their almost transparent body could be completely hidden by Water type spells. They would then be able to sneakily approach their enemies and tangle up their enemies in their eight tentacles. The venom on their tentacles would then seep into their enemies through their claws. A foundational cultivator would not even have the chance to let out a cry before his whole body turned numb and become a puppet of the flexible octopus. Even a JinDan cultivator would face great trouble when meeting with it. After all, they were demonic beasts who knew spells. Apart from ambushing someone from close range, they were able to launch long range Water type attacks. In a single description, they were extremely irritating to deal with. But compared to the crossbow prawns, the human cultivators would probably rather face the flexible octopus. While the crossbow prawns were only first grade demonic beasts two to three feet long and did not have any close range attacks, they had an extremely perverse method of attack — the bone spike in their mouths.

This bone spike was only a foot long and a crossbow prawn was only able to fire out a few of them. It is said these bone spikes were made from the ribs of the crossbow prawns and each of them was extremely sharp and laced with venom. This was the only ability of the crossbow prawn and every attack the crossbow prawn made would be done with its full strength. Together with the aid of a Water type spell, the crossbow prawns could easily shoot the spike a few thousand feet through the water.

Of course, the crossbow prawn was only a first grade demonic beast, and its magical Qi was limited. While their ambush was effective against XianTian cultivators, a foundational cultivator would be able to block it easily. However, while a foundational cultivator was able to block a few hundred, they could only run in the face of thousands. But this time, millions of crossbow prawns were here, forming a dense sea of them. Facing the attacks of this many crossbow prawns, not to mention a foundational cultivator, even a JinDan cultivator would feel the headache!

Thus, after the flexible octopus and crossbow prawns joined the battle, the cultivators in the Gold Dragon ship felt an immense pressure. Under the command of the nine beauties, the ambush of the flexible octopus and attacks of the crossbow prawns achieved their optimal effect, creating huge casualties amongst the human cultivators. After the fight over the treasures in the Gold Dragon ship, the human cultivators were already extremely fatigued. After battling the demonic beasts for such a long time, they were already at their wits end. Now that they suffered such heavy losses from the reinforcements of the demonic beasts, their not-so-united alliance was immediately dissolved.

The cultivators could no longer be bothered with finding Song Zhong anymore, escaping from the Gold Dragon ship in all directions. While the space in the Gold Dragon ship was extremely large, the roads in it were still rather narrow. Thus, the large wave of escaping cultivators could not avoid arguments as a few skirmishes broke out. When these cultivators finally charged out under the lead of the YuanYing cultivators, they were shocked to realize that only a few hundred people were left. In other words, more than half of their troops had perished in the Gold Dragon ship, but they had not found even a single trace of Song Zhong. However, they obviously did not have the time to think about this matter. They suddenly realized that they were not safe despite exiting the Gold Dragon ship. The flying beasts were extremely frustrated from being unable to destroy the flying ships. Seeing the sudden bunch of cultivators appear from the Gold Dragon ship, wasn't that akin to sending food into their mouths?

This time, without Lei Shan'er's command, the flying beasts in the air let out a loud cry, diving down at these unprotected cultivators. At the same time, the land-type beasts which the big-headed birds threw down also charged forward, surrounding these cultivators completely.

These poor cultivators, entering a tiger's den after leaving the wolf's nest. Many of them could not even react before being shredded by the demonic beasts. If not for the fact that there were many YuanYing cultivators present, all of them would have died already.

At this moment, the disciples on the flying ships finally reacted. Seeing how their fellow sect mates were being bullied, they also became anxious and rushed over to provide back up. The moment they moved from their original positions, the perfect defensive ball instantly broke. Now, all of the flying ships could only fight on their own without cooperation with the other ships. Being such an intelligent person, how would Lei Shan'er not know that this was a heaven-sent opportunity? She quickly gathered all her troops, concentrating her fire on Daoist Huo Long's Fire Dragon ship. Apart from the Fire Dragon ship being more powerful, the reason why Lei Shan'er chose it was because she had already wanted to snatch it over for her own use.

Facing the numerous flying beasts, the single Fire Dragon ship was naturally unable to defend itself. But right at this moment, the other flying ships had gone to save their own seniors and only the other ships from the Mystical Sky Yard and Jade Pearl Pavilion could provide some help. However, their numbers were just incomparable to the demonic beasts and they only served to delay a bit of time.

Under such circumstances, the Fire Dragon ship, which did not have Daoist Huo Long on it, had its protective divine light shattered. Then, the uncountable demonic beasts charged in and unleashed a heartless massacre.

At this moment, there wasn't a single YuanYing cultivator on the ship. Mister First and Mister Second were on the other two ships and only a dozen JinDan cultivators were present with a few hundred foundational cultivators.

Without the aid of the flying ships, it was nothing more than a dream to fight against the thousands of demonic beasts. In just a single exchange, almost all the foundational cultivators were killed as the JinDan cultivators gathered together to make their final struggle. But, they were obviously at their wit's end and unable to endure against the attacks of the demonic beasts for much longer.

But at this crucial moment, a game changing event happened. Of the remaining JinDan cultivators, a loud shriek could suddenly be heard, "Mother! Save me!"The one who shouted was a female JinDan cultivator dressed in red and filled with fear. She was the supposed daughter of Daoist Huo Long, Huo Qian Wu. In the face of death, she unknowingly called out for the person closest to her, her mother Huo Qing Yun.

With the dense magical Qi of a JinDan cultivator, this shriek of hers could be easily heard from thousands of miles away by a powerful character.

Song Zhong and the YuanYing cultivators were all such powerful characters and could naturally hear it, turning towards the direction of the shriek in unison. All of their faces turned strange in that instant.

Those who were unaware of the matter were naturally in doubt as they thought, Didn't Huo Qian Wu's mother die a long time ago? Only her father, Daoist HuoLong, is here today. Why did she cry out for her mother? Ah, don't tell me the rumors of Huo Qing Yun being her mother were actually true? Thinking about that, everyone looked towards Huo Qing Yun with a mocking look.

As Daoist HuoLong heard that shriek, he slapped his thighs in anger and cursed in his heart, This Qian Wu, why isn't she more sensible?

Being Huo Qian Wu's biological mother, Huo Qing Yun did not give the matter any thought. Seeing that her daughter was in danger, she wanted to abandon Song Zhong and save her. As for Song Zhong, seeing Huo Qian Wu, his eyes turned red. The killer of his parents was right in front of him, how would he possibly wait?"AHHHHHH! Huo Qian Wu, give me your life!" With a loud roar, Song Zhong sent out a bunch of Lesser Positive Negative Five Element Divine Lightning. He then turned into a golden shooting star and charged at Huo Qian Wu like lightning.

According to their speed, the completed YuanYing stage Huo Qing Yun was naturally much faster than Song Zhong. However, Huo Qing Yun and Song Zhong's actions immediately drew the attention of the demonic beasts. Some of the demonic beasts with intelligence could immediately tell that both Song Zhong and Huo Qing Yun seemed to be snatching for something. They would then help their Crown Prince for certain. Furthermore, Lei Shan'er also realized this point and let out the command to stop Huo Qing Yun. As such, a large amount of demonic beasts surrounded Huo Qing Yun. While she was extremely powerful, facing the obstruction of the golden roc and long-ranged attacks of the lightning eagles, she had no choice but to slow down. As such, Song Zhong managed to reach the Fire Dragon ship first.

At this moment, Song Zhong's rage was already at its peak as the muscles in his body flexed, shattering his robes and revealing his bare chest. With a belly full of anger, Song Zhong was just like a descending death god. Ignoring the JinDan cultivators protecting Huo Qian Wu, he managed to force his way right in front of Huo Qian Wu.

Seeing the frightening Song Zhong right in front of her, Huo Qian Wu was startled. She quickly brandished her flying sword as she stuttered, "You, don't come near me... my, my mother is going to save me!"

Using the divine light from his copper bell, he blocked the attacks of the other JinDan cultivators who tried to save Huo Qian Wu. At the same time, he sent Huo Qian Wu's flying sword flying and grabbed onto her neck. After pulling her into his protective divine light, he said hatefully, "Slut, even the celestial emperor wouldn't be able to save you!"

Actually, if not for the fact that Huo Qian Wu exhausted most of her spiritual Qi in the battle with the demonic beasts, together with the shock from Song Zhong's mighty descent, Huo Qian Wu wouldn't have been captured so easily. But now, the frail her was completely weak against Song Zhong's attack and she could only be captured helplessly. Just when Song Zhong caught Huo Qian Wu, Huo Qing Yun also entered the Fire Dragon ship. However, she was a step too late and her beloved daughter was already in Song Zhong's hands.

Huo Qing Yun was aware of the enmity between Song Zhong and Huo Qian Wu. The enmity from the death of his parents could definitely not be reconciled! Thus, the angered Song Zhong would definitely kill her at anytime! As such, Huo Qing Yun did not dare delay as she shouted out, "Song Zhong, Huo Qian Wu was still young and ignorant at that time. Please let her off!"

"Bullshit!" Song Zhong scolded without mercy, "She was at least seventy years old, equivalent to the whole lifetime of a mortal! You still dare to say that she is young?"