Chapter 351: Defending Xuan Qi Island
Although Lu Ping worried for Qu Xuan-Cheng's situation, now was not the time to think about it.
He pointed at the fallen monster Enlightened Master's corpse and stabbed a hole in its chest, while a furious voice shouted from afar, "Brat, don't you dare!"
Lu Ping smirked mockingly, the Water Specter Sword pierced through the fallen monster's heartspace and crushed his Golden Core, eliminating his last hope of surviving.
Boom—
The Golden Core exploded into a vortex of spiritual energy above the sea, the only proof that this monster Enlightened Master once existed.
Then, the Water Specter Sword deftly picked up the fallen monster's interspatial belt and delivered it to Lu Ping's hands. But before he could check its contents, a golden feather was suddenly shot towards him.
The attack came from the strongest of three approaching monster Enlightened Masters; he was in the Fifth Layer Core Forging Realm, while the remaining two were in the Third Layer like Lu Ping.
Even with the wide range of Lu Ping's divine revelation, he hadn't noticed them at all before this. This suggested that they'd hidden somewhere far away, waiting for their companion's signal to come out of hiding in order to kill the Zhen Ling Sect Enlightened Master that was lured out of Xuan Qi Island.
However, what puzzled Lu Ping was how the monster cultivators knew there was another Enlightened Master on the island? Chen Lian was just a newly advanced Enlightened Master in the First Layer Core Forging Realm; any one of them could easily handle him, so there was no need for such a scheme.
The other known Enlightened Master was Qu Xuan-Cheng, the principle protector of the island. But these four were clearly not on a level that could match up against him. So, this must be a setup for the Enlightened Master sent to reinforce the island.
Furthermore, this setup could only happen in Qu Xuan-Cheng's absence, suggesting that he was currently being held back and entangled by someone else from the monster race!
Lu Ping was now positive that Qu Xuan-Cheng had fallen into a trap. Despite the Enlightened Master's irritable temperament, he was experienced and knowledgeable—he wouldn't have recklessly left Xuan Qi Island knowing the dangers his absence would bring.
Fortunately, it was Lu Ping who came to reinforce the island and killed off one of the monster Enlightened Masters. This forced the remaining three out of hiding, messing up their plan to break the protective formation.
Lu Ping must protect the island!
Lu Ping decisively sent a message sword to Xuan Qi Island, while the Water Specter Sword dove into the sea and disappeared. The Golden Scale Sword remained, shining brightly like a sun in his hands.
Its light soon faded, and the sword disappeared. A low rumbling noise came from the sky, as if in resonance with something.
Then, a golden light appeared from the clouds, enhanced with a heavenly aura.
Some distance away, a green-garbed Enlightened Master was flying over quickly when he suddenly stopped and exclaimed in shock, "This heavenly aura... it's a great sword divine ability! This is bad!"
In general, a great divine ability was one that could resonate with nature and utilize heaven and earth's power!
The monster Enlightened Master tried to recall his feather mystic treasure, but it was too late. Oppressed under the heavenly aura, it split into two pieces, righ down the middle!
"You...!"
The monster's face flushed red and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
With this preemptive strike, Lu Ping injured the Fifth Layer Core Forging Realm monster Enlightened Master!
Meanwhile, the Golden Scale Sword shifted into a giant blade of light, and continued hurtling towards the monster Enlightened Master's head.
Approaching from other directions, the remaining two monster Enlightened Masters were already within Lu Ping's sight. This gave Lu Ping little room to strategize, and he only wished he could kill the first Enlightened Master as fast as possible then deal with the other two. He knew this was wishful thinking; he couldn't kill a Fifth Layer Enlightened Master that easily.
[True Origin One Essence Sword Art]!
The monster Enlightened Master already had a taste of Lu Ping's swordsmanship, so he wasn't surprised to see the mini sword divine ability. He cast up a drill bit mystic treasure in front of him, releasing a flash of blue lightning that struck the giant golden light sword, shattering it into pieces.
With a swing of Lu Ping's sleeve, the shattered light pieces turned into a river of swords that shot unerringly towards the monster Enlightened Master.
Although the sword river's power was much weaker after tanking his blue lightning, the monster Enlightened Master was still surprised that Lu Ping could so promptly switch from one mini sword divine ability to another.
The monster Enlightened Master quickly took out a golden charm which was inscribed with an indistinct word—"Gu (Solid)". The charm hovered above him and the word came alive, the inscribed strokes absorbing the golden charm and extending downward to form a golden light barrier that protected the monster Enlightened Master inside.
The sword river bombarded the golden barrier only to split down the middle. However, the golden light barrier also grew dimmer under the sword river's onslaught.
The monster Enlightened Master was unwilling to show any weakness—as he protected himself with the golden charm, the drill mystic treasure unleashed another bolt of blue lightning, this time, it aimed directly for Lu Ping's head!
Without glancing at the incoming attack, Lu Ping made a hand sign and commanded, "Strike!"
A similar flash of lightning—but ghastlier and far silent—struck down from the sky. The lightning bolts clashed and obliterated the other, dwindling from the sky into nothing but smoke.
During this time, the other two monster Enlightened Masters finally arrived.
The third Enlightened Master approaching from the left cast up a golden trident, when his expression abruptly changed. He hurriedly pulled the trident back to his side.
Clang—
Beads of cold sweat rolled down his cheek—he'd barely blocked the stealth attack at the last second. If not for his intuition, he'd never expect a mystic treasure could sneak up to him without his divine revelation's detection.
Faced with the Water Specter Sword's threat, this Enlightened Master didn't dare to attack with all his might as he had to keep watch of his own safety first.
On the right side, the fourth Enlightened Master was currently trapped in the center of three giant water tornadoes.
Six lights of gold, blue, yellow, red, green, and white appeared in the sky. In front of the second monster Enlightened Master's terrified eyes, the lights struck down at his golden light barrier.
He could only cast out another blue lightning bolt to diminish the blue light, while the remaining five lights struck his golden barrier.
Under the Seven Elemental Lightning Gourd's full attack, the golden charm's light barrier couldn't last and eventually gave way.
However, Lu Ping didn't stop; the Golden Scale Sword quivered rapidly and resonated with heaven and earth once more.
The monster Enlightened Master's expression changed drastically. He was worn out from the consecutive attacks, and his battle spirit was bashed to the ground. In the end, this forced him to abandon his comrades and hurriedly retreat on his own.
But it was too late!
The Golden Scale Sword was inches from his heart, so the monster Enlightened Master turned to block the sword with his nascent drill spirit emerging mystic treasure.
Dang—
Surprisingly, it deflected away the Golden Scale Sword. The monster Enlightened Master was puzzled, then quickly gained confidence.
What is this? Why is he... He's just pretending to be strong to scare me away! That's right, he's just in the Third Layer Core Forging Realm, he must be more worn out than I am! It's my turn now!
However, before he could rejoice, the seawater beneath him suddenly boiled up, giving him a bad feeling. Immediately, the sea shot out thousands of water swords—the monster Enlightened Master could only shatter the first hundred before the rest impaled him, forming a compact sphere of blades.
The third Enlightened Master turned pale upon seeing his companion's death; he hurriedly cast up a translucent white umbrella and dove into the deep sea to flee.
The fourth Enlightened Master had just managed to break through the water tornado spells when he saw the second monster's death. Terrified, he immediately fled without looking back.
Lu Ping flew over to collect the dead monster Enlightened Master's interspatial ring. It was unfortunate that the nascent drill spirit emerging mystic treasure was crushed in the [River Unification Ocean Sword Art], otherwise it would be a valuable prize.
A green light flashed beside him and a teenager appeared at the scene, saying, "I now realize you're only becoming stronger and stronger."
Lu Ping smiled calmly, his face flushed red from battle, then turning pale like snow in an instant, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
He first fought and killed one monster Enlightened Master, then won against the second while deterring two others. Except for his nascent weapons, Lu Ping had used almost everything he had, including multiple mini divine abilities, and wielding the great sword divine ability twice.
As of now, he was left with enough true energy to sustain a basic and low-intensity fight. Otherwise, he would've surely killed the remaining two monster Enlightened Masters instead of letting them escape.
It was also fortunate they decided to flee instead of staying to fight, because Lu Ping might not have been able to survive if they were to face him at full power!
Lu Ping looked at the teenager and sighed helplessly. "If only you'd help, even just a little, I wouldn't be in this state."
Weekly Chapters (2/5)