No wonder
Moreover, under the probing of his divine sense, Liang Yong simply could not determine where Yang Kai was hiding. In this strange place, it felt as though only his group of a dozen or so people existed, with no one else around.
He certainly didn't believe this array was merely meant to trap them. Yang Kai would undoubtedly be up to some trick.
"Everyone, get over here! Don't scatter!" Liang Yong suddenly barked. Right now they couldn't locate Yang Kai, but regardless, this group of a dozen had to watch each other's backs if they stood any chance of holding out until the Alliance Leader and the others broke the array. Otherwise, if Yang Kai picked them off one by one, it was entirely possible they'd be completely wiped out.
Yang Kai's fierce methods from before were still etched deep in his memory.
Hearing Liang Yong's shout, the others snapped back to their senses and hurriedly closed ranks around him.
But just then, an abrupt change erupted.
The white clouds drifting across the sky, which had been floating lazily, suddenly hurtled downward at lightning speed. Each cloud looked like an enormous piece of cotton candy, pristine and flawless.
Though none of them knew exactly what was peculiar about these clouds, none dared let them get close. They scattered using movement techniques or deployed their artifacts to attack.
Yet those clouds seemed formless and insubstantial — even when struck, they merely dispersed slightly before quickly coalescing back together.
"What the hell is this?!" A middle-aged man's face twisted with impatience. He channeled his Sacred Yuan into the halberd-shaped artifact in his hands and slashed down viciously, attempting to cleave the cloud blocking his path.
This middle-aged man possessed a two-level Void Return Realm cultivation, and his strength was no trivial matter. The halberd in his hands was a void-grade mid-tier artifact — he had stumbled upon it by chance in a cave during an excursion into the wilds and treasured it greatly. It had aided him in slaying powerful enemies on numerous occasions.
A blinding streak of radiance erupted from the halberd, successfully splitting the cloud in two. The middle-aged man smirked, his figure flickering as he moved to pass through the gap between the severed halves.
Just as his body was about to pass through, the cloud that had been cleaved in two rapidly merged back toward the center, engulfing him in an instant.
A startled cry rang out from within.
Then, that cloud — roughly twenty zhang in area — squirmed and morphed, transforming into the imposing figure of a great desert lion.
And with the naked eye, one could see the lion's belly continuously swelling and contracting, as though something inside was struggling desperately, trying to burst free.
That was clearly the middle-aged man who had been swallowed by the cloud moments ago.
But it was futile. The lion's belly expanded and contracted, channeling terrifying force. Before long, a series of cracking sounds came from within — as if someone's bones were being ground to powder.
The movement inside the lion's belly abruptly ceased, and the aura of life quickly extinguished.
"A Desert Frenzied Lion?!" Liang Yong's face drained of color, and the cry escaped his lips before he could stop it.
He recognized the creature at a glance. However, this one was different from a true demon beast — it emitted no demonic aura and merely retained the form of a Desert Frenzied Lion. Yet the energy fluctuations radiating from within it were in no way inferior to those of a fully grown Desert Frenzied Lion!
That was a peak ninth-rank demon beast. In a one-on-one fight, it could overpower a two-level Void Return Realm cultivator, and even against an ordinary three-level cultivator it would hold its ground.
Before Liang Yong's voice had even faded, the white clouds all around them began squirming and transforming. In the next instant, massive beasts of various shapes and sizes materialized before their eyes.
Horned Charging Rhinoceros, Deep Sea
All manner of creatures, each more grotesque and imposing than the last.
Every single one was at least eighth-rank, with no shortage of ninth-rank specimens among them. None of them looked quite like ordinary demon beasts — not only were they enormous in size, but their imposing auras were staggering.
The moment these beasts took shape, they each locked onto their nearest target and charged at the dozen or so Void Return Realm cultivators with savage abandon.
The sheer number of demon beasts instantly scattered everyone, forcing them into individual duels or small-group skirmishes.
The War Heaven Alliance and Thunder Platform Sect cultivators — those dozen Void Return Realm fighters — found themselves immediately overwhelmed. Shrieks and cries of alarm erupted one after another. Their cultivation was by no means low, and their strength was considerable, but trapped within the array and besieged by so many demon beasts, they were losing their nerve before the battle had truly begun.
What drove them to the brink of despair was that these beasts appeared to possess undying bodies — even when dispersed, they quickly reassembled, a sight that was as infuriating as it was terrifying.
Casualties appeared within the time it took to drink half a cup of tea. One of them — it was unclear whether from the Thunder Platform Sect or the War Heaven Alliance — was caught off guard and struck head-on by a Horned Charging Lizard. The tremendous impact sent him hurtling through the air.
Before he could hit the ground, an ink-green dragon dozens of zhang long came hurtling from the side, its head swinging, tail lashing, its massive maw gaping wide to reveal rows of fangs. It clamped its jaws around his body.
The protective glow of his Sacred Yuan flickered wildly, yet it still could not withstand the crushing force of the Deep Sea Ink Dragon's bite.