Chapter 63: Giving One’s Life

 

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Pre-Chapter translator note: Hope you enjoy.


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Chapter 63, Giving One’s Life

The throng of ferocious beasts clashed together with the mass of humans. The entire valley fell into a giant battleground.

“Peng!”

A strong cultivator at the ninth layer of Zhen Qi erupted with Zhen Qi, striking out with the force of a surging wave. A rank eight ferocious beast fell instantly with his strike. Several ferocious beasts took the dead beast’s place, swarming towards the cultivator like a tide. The cultivator’s figure was lost under the mob of beasts.

Under the trampling sound of the beasts’ hoofs, the crunching snap of the cultivator’s bones was painfully audible. The desperate shrieks of the cultivator quickly faded. A cultivator at the ninth layer had perished.

“Ahh! Save me!”

A dreadful wail rose from a cultivator caught between the bloody jaws of a red tiger.

Not a glance was spared for him. It was every man for himself.

“Senior Brother Zi Chen, save me!”

“Senior Sister Su Mengyao, save me!”

“Senior Brother Mu Yi!”

“Senior Brother Liang Guang, please save us!”1

A group of disciples cried out of help just as they were drowned out by ferocious beasts.

“Pu!”

Swordlight flashed. A rank nine ferocious beast dropped to the floor, dead. It was a tenth layer elite disciple from Zhan Wu sect. He had already finished three rank nine ferocious beasts.

Several pairs of savage eyes fixed onto the cultivator intensely. A mob of ferocious beasts madly pushed towards him, overrunning the tenth layer elite cultivator.

Blood spilled in all directions. Ferocious beasts fell one after another, but the wounds on the cultivators were deepening and increasing. When they tired, they would be swept away by the tides of ferocious beasts.

A tenth layer elite cultivator fell.

“Give me a boost.” A few disciples utilised Qing’gong techniques. Kicking themselves up from the ground lightly, they soared into the air. Using the walls of the valley as leverage, they scaled the sides of the valley by using their weapons like ice axes and arrived at the summit of the valley with difficulty. Before they could muster a laugh to celebrate, they met with Ling Chen.

“Die!”

Ling Chen maliciously grinned. His leg shot out like lightning in a kick. The cultivators lurched to the pit of the valley. At an altitude of several hundred meters, their deaths were set in stone.

In front of them lay ferocious beasts, at the summit of the valley camped Ling Chen and others. Simply translated, it meant the mass of disciples had come to an end.2

“Hiss!”

The python repeatedly hissed. Under its short, repeated strikes, more than 20 cultivators had fallen prey to it. Their deaths were the same — hauled to the lake before being dragged under, never to be heard from again.

Tremors quaked the ground. The ferocious beasts had finally entered the valley. Numerous cultivators began to retreat. The chaotic battle advanced.

Zi Chen and the others also paused their recovery and got to their feet. Under these circumstances, recovery was impossible.

“It’s definitely the work of Ling Chen. They orchestrated this.”

“This fucker, he wants to wipe out all of us.”

Mu Yi swore wildly in anger. However, they did not have any ideas to escape at the moment.

“What’s to be done? Maybe we can charge and break through?” A person proposed.

“Break through? With those numbers?”

Faced the horde of ferocious beasts, the cultivators were helpless. If every cultivator present had been in their peak condition, perhaps breaking through would have been a feasible idea. But with their individual injuries from the preceding fights, the idea was rendered suicidal.

“We can’t charge.” Zi Chen stepped in. “We’re all heavily wounded now. Charging against several hundred ferocious beasts is madness.”

“Then what should we do, wait for death?”

“We can group up and defend a certain area. By alternating ourselves, we can slowly wear down and kill these ferocious beasts.”

“Brilliant idea. We need to get out of here first. This place is too dangerous, we’re within the python’s attack range.”

A unanimous agreement rose from the group as they headed away from the python’s range. As they neared the mouth of the valley, the ugly cries for help grew louder. Their group turned a deaf ear to the cries. Even Su Mengyao ignored the cries.3

Mu Yi took the lead. Bursting with Zhen Qi, he sent the ferocious beasts that attacked them flying.

The python emerged from the lake’s surface again, raking its icy gaze across the chaotic mess of humans. Like it was contemplating where it should attack next. The python’s eyes flickered as as it caught a glimpse of Zi Chen’s advancing group.

The waters rumbled as the python revealed its fangs, bolting towards the nearest member of Zi Chen’s group — Su Mengyao.

The air whistled. The strong scent of saltwater assaulted their nostrils. The aura of the Xiantian realm approached them once again. Su Mengyao spun around, just in time to see the large gaping mouth of the python.

“Ahhh!”

Su Mengyao let out a shriek, terrified. She had not expected the python to target her. In this moment of life and death, a sudden force surged from the side, sending Su Mengyao stumbling. Su Mengyao stumbled to the side and fell, barely dodging the python’s attack. She brushed past the steel-like scales of the python.

Su Mengyao fell to the ground, uninjured. An additional figure had appeared at where she previously stood. It was Zi Chen, the very same person who had knocked over Su Mengyao when the python had struck. In the next moment, the python snapped at Zi Chen. Packed rows of razor teeth gleamed as the python opened its mouth once again, as if it intended to snap Zi Chen into half.4

The breath of the python stank heavily of fish. Its gaping jaws were drenched in blood and with pieces of shattered human limbs. It was a hair-raising sight. Under the horrified gazes of everyone present, the bloody maws of the python snapped shut.

“Ah!”

The python retracted its head. Zi Chen’s silhouette was no more. The waters surged as the python returned to its domain, dragging Zi Chen under with it to the bottoms of the lake.

“No…Zi Chen.” Lin Xue’s breath hitched. Her eyes widened with horror. Disregarding all danger, she broke towards the lake in a run, but was held back by someone. It was the heavily injured Miao Kong.5

“Quickly withdraw.” Miao Kong seized Lin Xue’s arm and rapidly retreated. Zhang Haotian followed Miao Kong’s lead, helping Su Mengyao to her feet before following Mu Yi and the others.

The python now was unrivalled. Nobody had the capabilities to put a stop to it. Zi Chen had been swallowed whole. Although everyone was filled with anger, they had no other options.

As for killing the python, it was an impractical thought.

Following Zi Chen’s previous idea, the group found a suitable area. Backs against the walls of the valley, they took turns guarding.

Lin Xue followed Su Mengyao wordlessly, protected by the others. The current state of the two women were really bad. Lin Xue had been a train wreck after watching Zi Chen being bitten by the python. Thoughts of suicide had even resurfaced. Hot tears dripped from her face. Su Mengyao was not much better than Lin Xue. Her lovely face was now deathly white, her thoughts jumbled with the image of Zi Chen pushing her out of death’s way.

In that instant, Zi Chen had traded his life for her’s. He had saved her, and had been taken by the python.

Zhang Haotian stood protectively in front of the two women. His body carried heavy, deep cuts. He repelled the oncoming ferocious beasts repeatedly.

“Zi Chen protected me before. Now that he’s dead, I need to protect his friends too.” Zhang Haotian eyes brimmed with staunch determination. Like an iron tower, he planted himself there unflinchingly as he guarded the despairing people behind him with his body. Guarded the silent place behind him.

The group converged together, protecting a small plot of land. Many people defended against the ferocious beasts while the others treated their injuries and recovered. After they defended till it was unsafe, they would return to the interior of the area to recover, swapping with the next person.

This was the only method to survive under the present conditions. To be more accurate, it was the only effective method.

The rest of the cultivators began to imitate Mu Yi’s group as they saw how they warded off the ferocious beasts.

Ling Chen’s gaze bored into the lake, his expression concerned.

Inexplicably, after the python had swallowed Zi Chen, no further attacks had been carried out. But the waters of the lake were still violently surging…like a battle had taken place within the waters.

“Zi Chen’s still alive. He’s battling with the python.”

Waves crashed as sprays of water several hundred meters tall burst into the air. Lin Xue’s dim eyes brightened as she gazed at the sprays of water, letting out a short exclamation of surprise.

The recovering people involuntarily turned their heads towards the lake, watching the raging waters. Occasionally, the scales of the python could be seen past the raging waters and sprays.

Su Mengyao’s eyes also brightened. She began to recover some colour in her cheeks as she made a silent prayer for Zi Chen, for him to survive.

“Zi Chen, you must hold on.”

Even Xu Yan had died under the fangs of that viper, much less Zi Chen, who was at the eight layer of Zhen Qi. All Zi chen could do was endure. As for whether he’d survive, Zi Chen’s death had been set in stone the moment he had been dragged into the lake.

Everyone knew how Zi Chen would end. But what nobody admitted to was that everyone was hoping for a miracle.

But the odds of a miracle like that occuring was too bleak.

“Hmph, kill them. If everyone dies it would be the best. It is only a pity that the two big beauties of Ling Wu sect, particularly the woman that Cheng Feng is so fixated on, will perish along with the rest.” At the summit, Ling Chen gazed upon his work, revelling with satisfaction. A hint of regret flashed in his eyes.

Xie Qiu chortled. “Indeed, it is a pity. Since they’re all going to die anyway, I wish they could have allowed us to savour a taste, just like Chen Feng.”

”The amount of beautiful women are many. Don’t delay important things just because of these two women. What about the spirit medicine?” Ling Chen suddenly asked.

“These ferocious beasts we lured have evidently given up on the spirit medicine. With the people we have now, I’m afraid that we’ve lost the means to obtain the spirit medicine.” Xie Qiu replied.6

”That’s good, our target, apart from winning the gamble, was to deal heavy losses to the other two sects.” Ling Chen’s eyes gleamed callously. “That trash, Xu Yan, he could not even kill the python. If both of them had fought till heavily injured, we would have really killed three birds with one stone.”

The Zhan Wu sect’s disciples were busy gathering spirit medicines enthusiastically. Following the rich, delicate fragrances of the various spirit medicines, they would slowly harvest the spirit medicines stump by stump.

For the 500-600 year old spirit medicines, they typically needed to deal with the ferocious beasts guarding them. However, the ferocious beasts had left their posts today, so they were free to collect the spirit medicines as they pleased.

“Pick up the speed; quicken your pace. We still have a fight to settle.” Ling Fei raised his voice. He was accompanied by Chen Qi and Tai Kai. Chen Qi was missing an arm. The duo were Ling Fei’s bodyguards now, tasked with ensuring his safety.

“Hmph, when our plan succeeds, Zhan Wu sect will emerge with the biggest benefits. I wonder if Zi Chen has fallen for it.” Chen Qi clenched his teeth. His arm had been severed by Zi Chen, and he harboured deep grudges towards Zi Chen for that.

“Loosen up, Chen Qi. I know you loath Zi Chen, and I feel the same way. Didn’t they mention that the news had already been passed on to Zi Chen? The allure of a 1,000-year-old spirit medicine is enough to pique Zi Chen’s interest. Perhaps he has already been turned into a corpse.” Ling Fei guffawed as he slapped Chen Qi’s shoulder.

“It is a pity that I could not kill him with my own hands.” Chen Qi said.

“Truly a pity, but killing him personally is also beyond our abilities. Letting other people kill him is fine. I hope he has been torn into pieces by the horde of ferocious beasts.” Tai Kai sneered, his voice dripping with poison.

~

Zi Chen had been swallowed by the python. His life was in peril, but he had not perished yet.

After he had knocked Su Mengyao out of harm’s way, Zi Chen had glimpsed the rows of sharp, gleaming teeth before the python bit him. However, Zi Chen had darted towards the mouth of the python. When the mouth of the python closed, Zi Chen dodged the sawtooth-like teeth, and slid towards the throat of the python.

The python was taken aback. When it ate humans, it typically chewed them thoroughly to death before gulping them down. But Zi Chen had jumped in himself, and it swallowed Zi Chen alive instinctively.

Chapter 63, END

If you see this, YOU ARE READING ON AN AGGREGATOR SITE. Please read this series on isohungrytls.com and support our translators. Releases are a day faster on ISO, so instead of using an aggregator site for convenience, use novelupdates.com


Post-Chapter translator note: Damn, Ling Chen is truly the main antagonist for this arc, not Xu Yan like we expected. He pulled the strings behind everything and used everyone.


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