Chapter 164: Chapter 164: Heavy Losses
In an instant, a terrifying shockwave enveloped the Earth Martial Artists.
Smoke filled the air, and the Wind-Lightning Cave was suffused with a fiery aura.
They were Self-Destructive Flame Beads!
Earlier, after Ye Xuan had suggested they wait, he had also offered another piece of advice: bury the Self-Destructive Flame Beads.
His explanation at the time was this: if no one followed them, all would be well. But if someone did, and they were capable of entering the Wind-Lightning Cave, their strength would surely be far greater than their own.
By that point, even if they spotted the enemy, they would be utterly helpless. Burying the Self-Destructive Flame Beads was a precaution, just in case.
Fortunately, Zhao Wei had accepted this suggestion.
He had taken the five Self-Destructive Flame Beads he had left and buried them all in the ground to set a trap.
As they were being buried, Ye Xuan had used a clever technique to stealthily conceal the Profound Qi fluctuations coming from the beads.
Furthermore, the Wind-Lightning Cave was already filled with Wind Blades and flashes of lightning, which completely masked the beads’ aura.
Zhao Gang’s six Earth Martial Artists fell right into the trap.
In an instant, blood-curdling screams echoed through the Wind-Lightning Cave.
A single Self-Destructive Flame Bead had an attack radius of nearly ten meters, its power equivalent to a full-force blow from an Earth Martial Artist. With five exploding at once, the resulting force was far greater than the sum of its parts.
In an instant, the six Earth Martial Artists charging Ye Xuan and his group were drenched in blood.
Two of them, who were at the First Layer of the Earth Martial Artist realm, were blown to smithereens, leaving not even a bone behind.
Another at the First Layer of the Earth Martial Artist realm had both legs blown off, and one of his arms was sent flying who knows where.
The remaining three, who were at the Second Layer of the Earth Martial Artist realm, were much better off, but they too were coughing up blood and covered in gore.
SWISH!
The instant the explosion rang out, Ye Xuan and the others, who had been steadily retreating, suddenly sprang into action.
The panicked looks on their faces vanished completely, replaced by a cold, deadly indifference.
They felt not a shred of pity for the Martial Artists who had come to kill them. In a flash, they unleashed their strongest attacks.
A brilliant gleam of sword light tore through the air.
Two fluid blade strikes, like geese crossing the sky, left no trace.
The light of a broad, sweeping blade surged forward.
In an instant, the sharp attacks reached the surviving Earth Martial Artists, aimed for their vitals, and struck down without mercy.
One Earth Martial Artist at the First Layer and another at the Second Layer had no time to react before they were decapitated, their blood arcing through the air.
The other two at the Second Layer, clearly the strongest and least injured of the bunch, let out a roar. In their battered state, they hastily blocked the oncoming attacks.
But while they managed to block the attacks, the ordeal had already shattered their protective barriers of Profound Qi. The Wind Blades and lightning in the cave, like sharks smelling blood, immediately swarmed in and began hacking away at them.
Normally, they would have been unfazed, but in their current state of panic, the intense pain made them lose their composure.
SQUELCH!
A flash of a blade from an unknown direction swept past, and one man’s head flew into the air, a fountain of blood spurting nearly ten feet high.
Meanwhile, a sharp longsword thrust out and pierced the last man through the back of his heart, leaving a gaping, cold hole.
In the blink of an eye, the six experts who had charged Ye Xuan and his group were all slain. Not one survived.
It happened so fast. By the time they had all fallen, Zhao Gang was still in a daze, not understanding what had just occurred.
"You’re courting death!"
Mosen was the first to react. With an furious roar, he lunged forward.
He instantly unleashed the might of a Celestial Martial Artist. The terrifying force of his fist shattered the tornadoes inside the cave and slammed into the protective light shield of the group’s Array. The shield fluctuated violently, looking as if it would shatter at any moment.
The terrifying force of the blow passed through the shield to everyone inside the Array. Stifled groans sounded in unison as blood trickled from the corners of Zuo Liu’s and the others’ mouths.
Although Mosen was only a First Layer Celestial Martial Artist, the power of his punch was astonishing, seeming to approach an even higher level of strength.
"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!" Zhao Wei shouted in alarm and anger.
Just then, Zhao Gang finally came to his senses. Looking at his dead and wounded men scattered across the ground, his eyes turned so red they looked as if they might drip blood.
"Mr. Mo, kill them for me!" he shrieked. "Other than Zhao Wei, leave none of them alive! Kill them!"
His expression was crazed, and he was beside himself with rage. Just moments before, he had been watching Zhao Wei’s group with the playful air of a cat toying with mice, preparing to savor their desperate struggles.
He never expected that in the blink of an eye, his subordinates would be all but wiped out, leaving only Mosen. He could hardly believe his eyes.
Now, he had only one thought: slaughter every last one of them, sparing only Zhao Wei.
"Heh heh, very well!"
Mosen’s gaze was chilling as he spoke with a savage grin and lunged forward once more.
"Fall back, fall back now!" Zhao Wei and the others had looks of horror on their faces.
They never imagined that after going through so much trouble to kill so many of Zhao Gang’s men, the last one left would be stronger than the previous six combined.
Watching Mosen move fearlessly through the Wind-Lightning Cave, Zhao Wei and his group understood that they were no match for his power.
But no matter how fast they retreated, Mosen was faster. In the blink of an eye, he landed another punch on the Array’s light shield. Zhao Wei and the others turned pale and spewed a mouthful of blood. The entire shield trembled violently, and cracks began to form. One more blow, and it would shatter completely.
"Kill them!" Zhao Gang screamed madly from a short distance away.
"We’re done for."
Despair washed over the faces of Zhao Wei and his companions. Once the Array broke, Mosen wouldn’t even need to lift a finger; they would be torn apart by the wind and lightning filling the cave.
At the critical moment, to everyone’s astonishment, Ye Xuan suddenly charged out from within the Array.
"Damn it! That brat is actually deserting us!" Fu Yuling cried out, her expression turning sour.
"Idiot," Mosen sneered. "How far do you think you can get outside the Array? The Wind Blades and lightning will kill you soon enough." He paid Ye Xuan no mind and continued his assault on Qing Ling and the others.
As for Qing Ling and the others, though they were baffled by Ye Xuan’s actions, a glimmer of hope suddenly lit up their eyes.
They believed that Ye Xuan was not the type to desert his comrades; he had to have a reason for his actions.
Sure enough, under everyone’s watchful gaze, Ye Xuan didn’t flee toward the entrance after leaving the Array. Instead, he threw a punch directly at the nearby Zhao Gang.
A classic diversion to save his allies!
Zhao Gang’s expression instantly turned ugly.
Logically, no matter how pathetic he was, he was still a Martial Master at the Third Layer. He had no reason to fear a mere Second Layer Martial Master like Ye Xuan.
But right now, a sky full of Wind Blades and lightning strikes were hacking at Ye Xuan, tearing his robes to shreds. Yet under this ferocious assault, Ye Xuan didn’t even grunt. His gaze remained calm, without the slightest ripple, as if the relentless barrage was nothing more than a light drizzle.
That indifferent gaze terrified Zhao Gang, and his legs began to tremble.
"Mr. Mo, save me!" Zhao Gang shrieked in terror.
"Do not worry, Sixth Prince,"
Mosen said with a confident smirk, his expression calm as he continued to bombard Zhao Wei’s group. At the same time, he channeled his Profound Qi into his Array Disc, causing the white light of the Array enveloping the Sixth Prince to shine even brighter.
But before he could feel relieved, his fist froze mid-attack. He stared in horror toward Zhao Gang, his expression turning ghastly.
He could sense that as Ye Xuan’s fist flew forward, the Array he had deployed felt like it was on the verge of collapse.
CRACK! A faint shattering sound was heard. As Ye Xuan’s fist passed through, the white light enveloping Zhao Gang instantly disintegrated.
Ye Xuan had shattered Mosen’s Array in an instant.
’He actually struck the weakest point of my Array while it was active... A coincidence. It must be a coincidence.’
Mosen wore an expression of disbelief, but he had no time to be shocked. With the Array broken, the Sixth Prince was like a stripped-bare little girl, completely exposed before Ye Xuan.
Zhao Gang was scared stiff. He howled in a voice like a squawking duck, "Do you know who I am? How dare you lay a hand on me—"
Before the words even left his mouth—
SMACK! Ye Xuan’s fist slammed viciously into his face.
In that instant, Zhao Gang was sent flying backward like a rag doll, blood spraying from his mouth. He slammed heavily against the stone wall before sliding to the ground, several of his teeth knocked out.
Zhao Gang was seeing stars, and his mouth tasted like an overturned spice rack—overwhelmingly of blood.
CRACKLE! SIZZLE!
What was worse, now that he had lost the Array’s protection, countless Wind Blades and lightning bolts swarmed him. Zhao Gang let out a blood-curdling scream as wounds instantly appeared all over his body. One bolt of lightning struck him right in the crotch, emitting a foul, scorching stench.
"Mr. Mo!"
Zhao Gang shrieked in terror. Seeing his charge’s predicament, Mosen abandoned his attack on Zhao Wei’s group and instantly appeared before Zhao Gang, shielding him from the dense barrage. He managed to save Zhao Gang’s life.
Scooping up Zhao Gang, Mosen moved like a bolt of lightning, speeding toward the cave entrance and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Zhao Wei and the others let out a collective sigh of relief, their faces showing the strain of having narrowly escaped death. They hurriedly channeled their Profound Qi to stabilize the crumbling Array.
With a flicker, Ye Xuan was back inside the Array.
"Ye Xuan, are you all right?" Zhao Wei, Qing Ling, and the others looked at him anxiously, but then their jaws dropped one by one.
They saw that while Ye Xuan’s robes were in tatters and charred black in many places, the skin visible underneath was smooth and fair, without a single scratch.
’How is this possible!’
A storm of shock crashed through everyone’s minds.
