Chapter 370: Conjuring Beans into Soldiers!
With a roar that would make the bravest of souls quiver, the scene transformed drastically at the sight of the youth with golden eyes. Gone was the jovial ease that once danced around the fiery-haired Old Immortal when facing Yun Xiao, replaced now by an expression so sour, it could curdle milk, dripping with a dread so thick one could cut it with a knife.
He let out a screech, fierce as a cornered beast, and charged with a horde of Old Immortals, each one looking more like a relic than the last, towards the young man whose eyes sparkled like twin suns.
BOOM! The ground shuddered and cracked under the stampede of these old men, their faces twisted in grotesque snarls, moving with a ferocity that belied their age, like a pack of wild beasts unleashed.
Amidst this chaos, the fiery-haired Old Immortal morphed into a crimson blur, a specter weaving through his comrades, closing in on the golden-eyed youth with a ghost's silent grace.
"Pests!" The youth stood tall, a lone bastion amidst the storm, his gaze icy, stripping the oncoming horde of their dwindling dignity, regarding them as one might a particularly disagreeable pack of rats.
With a step back, he conjured a golden box from thin air, its surface swirling with inscriptions exuding profound mysteries. "Open!" he commanded, his voice cutting through.
The box sprang open to reveal a mist of Immortal energy, within which danced about a thousand golden beans, each bearing a visage etched in gold, a silent army waiting for its call to arms.
"Go forth!" With a sweep of his arm, he scattered the beans before him.
POP! POP! POP! Before the beans even touched the earth, they burst into golden mists, which coalesced into armored figures. These golden warriors born from the dust stood tall and imposing in their gleaming regalia. Swords in hand, their lifeless gazes promising nothing but oblivion.
This was no mere trick; this was the art of conjuring warriors from beans, a legend whispered in the darkest corners of the Nine Hells, a feat beyond the reach of mere mortals.
To wield such power, one must command the very essence of the world, backed by a might that could forge these Immortal constructs, supported by wealth vast as the oceans.
And in a voice that could freeze the sun, the youth commanded, "Annihilate!"
At his word, the golden warriors, once statuesque, now blazed with a ferocious light, turning their steely gazes upon the tide of Old Immortals, their swords ready to reap the whirlwind.
And so, the battle was joined, a clash of titans and time-worn old men, each wielding their might in a brutal melee.
They clashed, a maelstrom of flesh and steel, where the thunderous cacophony of bursting sinews and shattering armor rang out like a symphony of savagery. The air was filled with the ear-splitting roars of beasts, a testament to the ferocity of their brawl.
The bestial Old Immortals and celestial automatons were locked in combat. The battle erupted into chaos, with limbs and appendages taking flight like some grotesque birds of prey.
Many of the soldiers crumbled, their armor shattered, heads twisted off in a grim ballet of destruction. Likewise, many of the Old Immortals met their end, beheaded or disemboweled, their insides painting the ground in grisly strokes.
The scene was a tableau of brutality, a dance of death under a symphony of destruction.
In the midst of this carnage stood the youth with golden eyes, his technique of conjuring warriors from beans proving to be nothing short of miraculous. These soldiers alone could sweep through the Nine Hells, their might unfathomable.
This young man, about ten years older than Yuan Jian, was at the prime age for a cultivator. Yuan Jian himself had reached the Late Genesis Spirit Realm at the tender age of 13 years old. Yet, the might of this golden-eyed youth was beyond comprehension.
Amidst the battlefield, he stood unyielding, a cold smile playing upon his lips.
With a sudden pivot, he unleashed a punch that tore through the air, meeting the clawed strike of the fiery-haired Old Immortal head-on.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the ground, cracking the earth, both combatants thrown back by the force. The fiery-haired Old Immortal soared into the sky, while the youth merely staggered, his every step sending tremors through the Immortal Asylum, a testament to his immovable presence.
"A single hair, indeed frail and wanting," he mused, his gaze piercing as he inspected the scratches on his fist, his aura even more commanding.
The trial had been set, the measure of the fiery-haired Old Immortal taken. It was time for the youth to unveil his true might.
His fists clenched, his eyes ablaze with golden radiance, a cascade of golden light enveloped him, coalescing into scales of light that clung to his skin like divine armor, making him resplendent, a deity in mortal guise.
"Behold, the Primordial Martial Dao, the Celestial Gold Armor..." The young man with golden eyes silently recited those words, his gaze locking onto the fiery-haired Old Immortal with the intensity of a hawk eyeing its prey.
With a thunderous boom, he moved with a speed that blurred the lines between now and then, appearing behind the old man in an instant. His fist, a golden comet, was simplicity and brutality embodied, bearing down like a mountain upon the ancient's back.
The Old Immortal's face twisted in alarm, spinning around in a desperate attempt to block with his arms.
Sadly, the golden punch came crashing down like divine retribution, snapping the old man's arms with a sickening crack, bending them at angles that would make a contortionist wince.
The golden-eyed youth, relentless, followed up with a devastating blow to the Old Immortal's chest. Blood sprayed, ribs shattered like glass under a hammer, the old man's chest caving in as if struck by a meteor.
With a grotesque twist of his face, the Old Immortal spat out a mouthful of black blood, a scream torn from his lips as he was sent hurtling through the air.
The victor was clear, the fiery-haired Old Immortal was utterly outmatched, overwhelmed by a display of sheer physical dominance that left him no quarter.
His plight now was a far cry from the swagger with which he had once crushed Yun Xiao, reduced from a towering inferno to mere embers in the wind.
The Old Immortal's pained howls trailed behind him as he crashed to the ground, rolling for what seemed an eternity before the golden-eyed youth's might was finally spent.
"A withered beast, clinging to a flicker of past glory? I'm afraid those days are long gone," the golden-eyed youth sneered, his voice a cold wind that snuffed out any sparks of resistance.
With a roar that was more desperation than defiance, the fiery-haired Old Immortal staggered to his feet, his body a broken vessel, his once-proud mane now a blood-soaked banner of his defeat.
"Die! Die!" the old man bellowed at the golden-eyed youth, defiance flaring like a dying star.
But in a twist that bordered on comedic, no sooner had his roar echoed than he turned tail, fleeing into the darkened corridors of the Immortal Asylum with a speed born of sheer survival instinct.
"Running?" The golden-eyed youth's laugh was like a predator's growl, as he transformed into a spear of blinding light, chasing down his prey.
"The path of immortality is preordained, life and death but footnotes in its margins. Your struggles, as pitiful as a tiger stripped of its fangs, only serve to underscore your fall from grace, a sad spectacle indeed."
Outside the Radiance Gate of the Immortal Asylum, Yun Xiao stood atop a mountain peak, his gaze piercing the veiled chaos within. The tremors and the distant wails of the ancients within echoed, a testament to the turmoil unfolding.
"As expected of someone from the Primordial Ruins, he's no slouch," Yun Xiao mused, a note of wariness for the golden-eyed youth threading his thoughts. It wasn't the youth's might that unnerved him but the weight of those he now sought to protect.
He had already dispatched the Sword Warden and others to safer distances.
Aware of the restless stirrings among some of the Inscription Cultivators and Yang Devils, Yun Xiao seized the moment to confront them.
With a significant number having departed, the remaining were few. Wordlessly, Yun Xiao wielded his Heaven Burial Sword Soul, slaying a hundred of the most vocal dissenters from each group.
After the deed, to the ashen-faced survivors, he offered a chilling grace, "This is your final chance. Cherish it. Or else your hells won't even have a single Fate Ocean Realm cultivator left."
Their legs buckled, their wills broken, they knelt.
Soon, the golden-eyed youth emerged from the Immortal Asylum, his demeanor clouded with frustration.
Yun Xiao approached the youth and asked, "Primordial Envoy, did you manage to slay the Nian?"
The golden-eyed youth shook his head with a grim look. "I wounded him pretty badly, but he escaped."
"I see. Still, quite impressive," Yun Xiao said. He was inwardly surprised that the golden-eyed youth was completely unscathed after a battle with that fiery-haired Old Immortal.
The golden-eyed youth glanced at Yun Xiao and said, "You should hurry up and have your people split into eight groups and keep a lookout over the eight gates of the Immortal Asylum. If that withered old beast tries to escape, quickly notify me.
"Understood," Yun Xiao affirmed.
"If that Nian breaks out, it'll be a calamity on the common folk. If there's a single mistake, those countless lives are on your shoulders, understood?" the golden-eyed youth said solemnly.
"Yes! I'll give it my all for the sake of the common people!" Yun Xiao said. He hurriedly had several Sword Cultivators, Yin Devils, and even a few merfolk set off for the other gates of the Immortal Asylum.
In fact, Yun Xiao had already made these preparations before. He was just doing it again as a bit of theater to assure the golden-eyed youth that all was in hand. It was just keeping watch; there was no need for too many people.
"If it's just those run-of-the-mill remnants sneaking out, it's no big deal. I'm sure your people can handle it. But if that fiery-haired one shows up, you'll be in for a disaster," the golden-eyed youth said coldly.
"Yes." Yun Xiao nodded. He was of the same mind.
"My second brother might send down a squad of Primordial Guards to wipe out all of that withered beast's remnants. Make sure none of those escapees get far. You keep your eyes peeled, and you'll be rewarded appropriately," the golden-eyed youth added, throwing Yun Xiao an extra glance. "To be the Nine Hells Conqueror at 16 years old, you must have quite a lot of support behind you."
It wasn't so much a comment on Yun Xiao's strength as it was praise of his ability to rally folks to his cause. The golden-eyed youth found himself thinking quite highly of this Nine Hells Conqueror.
"I'll give it my all," Yun Xiao promised.
With that, the golden-eyed youth seemed to shake off some of his frustration from losing track of the fiery-haired Old Immortal. He looked around and casually asked, "And where's my third brother?"
"Primordial Envoy, we haven't seen nor heard him since you three headed into the Immortal Asylum," Yun Xiao replied.
"Not seen him?" The golden-eyed youth was taken aback. "You mean to say he didn't come out of the Radiance Gate?"
Yun Xiao confirmed as much, "We've been here the whole time, and there's been no sign of him."
The youth's face clouded over, a storm brewing. "That little rascal, spoiled rotten by our mother! Always biting off more than he can chew."
It was clear from his tone; this wasn't the first time the younger sibling had stirred the pot.
"I'll go in after him. You keep an eye on the gates. If you hear anything about my brother, send word inside. With that withered beast badly hurt, he shouldn't be too much of a threat," the golden-eyed youth said seriously.
"Understood," Yun Xiao replied.
"And if the Primordial Guards show up, fill them in on the situation." With that, the golden-eyed youth turned into a streak of gold and zipped into the Immortal Asylum, leaving Yun Xiao to his watchful waiting.
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