Chapter 597: Chapter 596: Brutal Voice
The roar only soared during the attack or retreat of the Fire Stiffs, brief and piercing, as if causing a resonance between heaven and earth, making it impossible for even the top Lords to pinpoint its exact location.
A full day passed before the roar echoed again.
Shi Xiaole immediately released all his spiritual power, secretly analyzing the vibrations in the void to trace the source of the sound.
The roar died away quickly, but the vibrations spread out like ripples in a lake, silently affecting the surroundings.
"This guy!"
The Evil Intent Young Master, who was fighting off the onslaught of the Fire Stiffs, glanced back inadvertently, noticing that everyone was engaged in a fierce fight, except Shi Xiaole. He was sitting upright on a stone, eyes tightly closed, seemingly still in recuperation, which drew a sneer from him.
Isn’t he the one with exceptional martial arts, single-handedly protecting everyone? Why isn’t he making a move now?
Other people were also more or less watching Shi Xiaole, wanting to see exactly how strong he was. They frowned upon seeing this scene.
The fighting continued for a half 2-hour period. With the likes of Bai Zhanmei, Bi Yuesheng, and a number of other experts taking turns to hold the fort, the fierce offense of the Fire Stiffs couldn’t break through, eventually forcing them to retreat helplessly.
"Young Hero Shi, did you sustain serious injuries? I have some excellent medicines on me."
A high-level practitioner from the Dragon Gate Realm walked towards Shi Xiaole, offering a small porcelain bottle.
"Thank you, but I’m not hurt."
Opening his eyes, Shi Xiaole smiled.
The expert gave a sound of acknowledgment and retreated back into the crowd.
The looks on everyone’s faces towards Shi Xiaole promptly changed.
If he wasn’t hurt, why did he stand by just now? Did he deem himself above joining them in battle, or did he believe it beneath him to be expected to fight despite his own past exertions?
In the next few 2-hour periods, the Fire Stiffs attacked again and again. Disturbingly for everyone, Shi Xiaole never once engaged in the fray, but sat openly on the rock, closing his eyes to recover his energies.
"We can’t continue to defend passively, we have enough people to lead the villagers away from this area to a safe place now. Then we can turn back and fight, maintaining the upper hand."
After repelling another wave of Fire Stiffs, Bai Zhanmei suggested.
"That makes sense, we have been bottled up in this small place, I haven’t been able to fully show my strength."
"We just repelled the Fire Stiffs, it’s best to initiate the move now."
Bai Zhanmei’s prestige among the people was unmatched, and he immediately won unanimous approval.
"Young Hero Shi, what do you think?"
Among the crowd, Sun Wei turned to Shi Xiaole.
Shi Xiaole said, "That’s not appropriate. We seem to have several hundred people, but the Fire Stiffs outnumber us by thousands. Once we leave this place, we would be attacked from all sides and it would be hard to resist."
"Ha ha ha..."
One of the young men following the Evil Intent Young Master laughed out loud then said, "Does Young Hero Shi not want to leave because he is considering the villagers’ welfare, or is he afraid he won’t be able to continue sitting back and taking it easy? Don’t worry, if you want to continue resting, just blend in with the villagers when the time comes, and we will protect you."
"What did you say?"
Zhao Hong glared at him angrily.
The young man grinned and sneered, "It seems I didn’t say anything wrong."
Sun Wei, Jiang Yatang and more than twenty other people, stood silently beside Shi Xiaole. The hundreds of great experts who came later, led by Bai Zhanmei, stood completely opposite.
The groups were clearly divided, and the atmosphere was a bit strange.
The Evil Intent Young Master said lightly, "If Brother Shi wants to stay, just stay. We will lead the villagers to leave on our own." He went up to the mountain top after saying that.
Not long after, the Evil Intent Young Master led hundreds of villagers back, a spring-breeze-like smile spread across his face, and the following villagers seemed excited too.
The robust man, whose father was almost killed but got saved by Shi Xiaole, laughed loudly, "Brother Shi, can we finally leave?"
Li Changde said: "Young Hero Shi does not agree to leave, if you want to leave, you can follow other people, they will protect you."
The expression on the villagers’ faces changed.
The laughter on the sturdy man’s face disappeared, "Since Brother Shi isn’t leaving, I won’t either."
The mobs’ eyes were sharp. Over this period, how much Shi Xiaole had given to protect them, everyone had seen and remembered in their hearts.
His strength, his calmness, and his management had won their deep trust. They were willing to entrust their lives to him.
This was particularly true for the robust man.
Many people told him that day that it was Shi Xiaole’s touch that revived his father. Considering the other’s martial arts, the robust man was deeply impressed, and immensely grateful to this selfless young man.
"There must be a reason why Brother Shi isn’t leaving, we will listen to Brother Shi."
All the villagers showed their stance unanimously.
Only a few people hesitated, but seeing the unanimous decision, they did not speak up, thus tacitly accepting the decision.
"You..."
The martial arts experts couldn’t believe it. Was Shi Xiaole’s prestige so high in the hearts of these people?
The Evil Intent Young Master’s face became incredibly difficult to look at.
He was planning to embarrass Shi Xiaole, but who knew it would backfire and these villagers would slap him in the face. What a pack of ungrateful country bumpkins!
Bai Zhanmei heaved a deep sigh, looking at Shi Xiaole, and asked, "Brother Shi, how long do you think we can hold them off?"
"Probably not very long, at most a month."
"Then why do you insist on staying?"
"Give it another ten days, if the wave of Fire Stiffs hasn’t receded by then, I will leave with you all."
Shi Xiaole was unsure of the source of the voice, whether it had the capability to destroy it, or even what the aftereffects would be, so he gave a perfunctory and seemingly ridiculous answer in the eyes of everyone else.
"What a joke! Are you expecting the wave of Fire Stiffs to recede by itself? And you are putting these innocent villagers at risk with your reckless adventure?"
A furious master exclaimed.
Shi Xiaole remained silent. In the midst of the confrontation, another wave of Fire Stiffs came. Everyone had no choice but to prepare for battle. Seeing him close his eyes again and refusing to move an inch was infuriating for some, eliciting a slew of harsh words.
Seeing how some people started having the intention to leave because Shi Xiaole refused to move, the villagers were reluctantly persuaded to stay for another ten days by Bai Zhanmei.
"I found it!"
After repeatedly searching with his mental power and unweaving it like a cocoon, Shi Xiaole finally accurately located the source. He instructed Sun Wei and the others and immediately lept into the horde of Fire Stiffs, quickly disappearing from view.
"Where did that kid go?"
"Did he run away on his own?"
If at first, people harbored minor complaints about Shi Xiaole, now it was complete disgust.
Even Sun Wei and others could not understand Shi Xiaole’s thoughts, but they still firmly believed that he must have his reasons.
...
Racing down at full speed, about two-hour periods later, Shi Xiaole saw a wall of a mountain hundreds of feet high and dozens of feet wide from afar.
These types of mountain walls were common in the mountain range; they looked extremely solid, but through his mental power, Shi Xiaole knew that this was merely a surface, it concealed something entirely different inside.
With a light flick of his fingers, the condensed Vigorous Air pierced a hole about ten feet deep into the mountain wall. A gust of cold wind blew out, confirming that there indeed was a separate world inside.
Following the same method, Shi Xiaole merely pointed at the next spot, and each time the Vigorous Air pierced the mountain wall, the Sword Qi would also disappear, not making any noise. Soon, a hole appeared, only allowing a person to traverse horizontally.
Soaring through, Shi Xiaole gently landed on the ground.
Before him, beyond his sight, was an endless darkness. Gusts of cold wind whirled rampantly within the darkness, like sharp blades grazing against his face. There was a hint of warmth amidst the cold.
It wasn’t a physically warm feeling but an emotionally warm one, as if a fire was ignited within his heart, wishing to destroy everything.
Concealing his aura, Shi Xiaole walked forward relying on his mental power.
The dark space seemed endless, and with the deepening journey, the heat began to intensify. Even for someone as resilient as Shi Xiaole, a rare surge of violent impulses began to rise.
This impulse triggered his blood yang medium, prompting him to have evil thoughts persistently. He quickly slashed it with the Sword Qi, which eventually brought back his cool-headedness.
Whoosh!
A flame ignited ahead.
Within the flame, a few hundred hideous red-fire colored Fire Stiffs emerged, aggressively hurling themselves towards him.
Shi Xiaole prepared himself, and with a swift slash, blew away a dozen of red Fire Stiffs. However, the horde of Fire Stiffs behind them didn’t pause at all and continued to aim towards him.
Boom!
A dense wave of illusion techniques, with Shi Xiaole at its center, fanned out ruthlessly.
Illusion techniques were useless against those low-level Fire Stiffs without spirit intelligence. But for those red-colored Fire Stiffs who could speak, it might come in handy.
As expected, under the disruption of the illusion technique’s aura, hundreds of red Fire Stiffs swayed left to right, fighting and tearing among themselves.
There were horrifying sounds of disturbance coming from the rear. Based on the resonance, Shi Xiaole affirmed that at least there were ten thousand Fire Stiffs charging in.
Although he had deduced where the source of the sound was, he was not sure where the entrance and exit of the Fire Stiffs were. So, he was already prepared and promptly jumped into the fray.
With his current capabilities, Shi Xiaole was confident that ordinary Fire Stiffs could not entrap him. Since he was already here, it was necessary to explore. If he encountered insurmountable creatures, he would retreat on time.
The deeper he went, the more the number of Fire Stiffs seemed to increase, as if there was no end.
Red Fire Stiffs could not stop Shi Xiaole, but those deep-red and light-red colored Fire Stiffs became his main trouble. They swarmed chaotically and no matter how much he killed, they wouldn’t end.
Putting any other Limit Supreme Lords in this situation, it would be pretty tough to remain unscathed. However, Shi Xiaole’s swordsmanship and combat skills were extraordinary. Under numerous attacks, he astonishingly broke through and made a path of few thousand miles long, leaving all the Fire Stiffs behind him.
In the end, he broke through their vigorous defenses.
Hisss...
The dark space suddenly turned bright red. An endless scorching wind vehemently swept towards Shi Xiaole. Smoke started rising from the ground when it first started melting, then it was eroded into pools of clear water.
"Fire poison!"
There were millions of poisons, but fire poison is one of the most deadly. It not only possesses the destructiveness of fire but also the lethality of poison. As one can see, the Vigorous Air protecting Shi Xiaole was torn in a blink of an eye.
At the critical moment, a layer of golden radiance emerged, followed by a layer of silver-grey ring enveloping his body. The heat was continuously weakened, but the mixed poison managed to invade Shi Xiaole’s body.
However, apart from becoming slightly pale, Shi Xiaole did not show any unusual symptoms and even his complexion quickly returned to a rosy hue.
"Those who trespass upon this place shall die!"
A murderous intent soared from the depths, echoing like it contained the world’s ultimate brutality, resonating through the entire space.
