Lu Tianzi's appearance gradually reverted to normalcy. After which, he drew a deep breath before letting out a long sigh of relief.
He could still hear his heart thumping heavily, every corner of his body aching, all of it strained from the unexpectedly intense activation of the six winged griffin's bloodline.
In the end, the amount of the six winged griffin's blood essence condensed from the God of Pestilence's body was still far too low.
Not only was it insufficient to execute a complete beastial bloodline activation, but it was even unable to perfectly sustain the bloodline activation for long periods of time. Lu Tianzi even suspected that had the fight dragged on for much longer, his body would have ended up injured from within!
Even so, it had been enough to complete the job at hand.
After calming down, Lu Tianzi finally let out a satisfied smile.
Being on the ground himself, he had been the first one to sense Beimu Fei's completion of the rock conversions. That was also the reason why he had not bothered going after Bogeng.
Because there was simply no need for him to do so.
As he had expected, Formation Master Beimu did not let their efforts go to waste, acting the very moment everything had been prepared.
World Origin Energy in Rockfall Plain churned wildly, gathering upon Formation Master Beimu's graceful figure.
The emblem of light on the ground covered more than half of the entire battlefield, all the way past the line of engagement. This naturally included Bogeng's current position.
It was not just him either.
Marshal Xianming's group, Marshal Shengding's group that was surrounding them, the many Origin Core realm experts battling below them, as well as the ground soldiers fighting with their lives on the line, almost every single one of them was encompassed within the area of the emblem of light.
And then it happened.
The tall grass of Rockfall Plain seemed to have mutated into a monstrous existence, growing so rapidly that they extended into the sky, reaching out to bind every single member of the Dragon Cauldron Army.
They were fast, they were innumerable, and they were extremely difficult to deal with.
The ground soldiers were the first to suffer.
Since they were standing directly within the grass, the sudden change caught them completely off guard.
One by one, the tall grass wrapped around the soldiers as though they were monstrous tentacles, locking them down completely.
These monstrous grass were no longer as fragile as ordinary blades of grass. With the strength of an ordinary Essence Buildilng realm or Essence Condensation realm martial artist, it was simply impossible to deal with them.
Cutting them did not work, burning them did not work.
Countless energy attacks struck forth, but they simply bounced off these monstrous grass.
Just by coming into contact with them, they would move to bind their targets, not allowing for any chances of escape.
There was no way to break free either.
The soldiers howled and roared, pleaded and begged, but all of them were faced with the same danger, so how could anyone spare the time to help their comrades?
There was nothing that could be done, that was, except for sitting still while bound and waiting for their deaths.
The monstrous grass did not stop with the ground soldiers either.
They shot upwards with staggering speed, reaching straight for those in the sky.
From afar, it was a truly grand picture, as though a living prison of grass was being raised from the ground, swallowing everyone in its way. It could be seen as terrifying, no doubt, but grand nevertheless.
Of course, not everyone was in the mood to admire this scene.
Faced with the current situation, the numerous Origin Core realm experts of the Dragon Cauldron Army finally understood why Marshal Shengding had suddenly given the order to retreat.
Marshal Xianming's group found themselves instantly freed from the encirclement, with all of their opponents beating a quick retreat. None of them wanted to deal with this unknown formation while engaged in battle.
Numerous attacks were directed downwards, aimed towards the monstrous grass that were rapidly reaching out towards them.
Unlike the ground soldiers, the attacks from the Origin Core realm experts did work, albeit only to a certain extent.
It seemed that Origin Core realm experts were still able to deal with each of the monstrous grass as long as they exerted a certain degree of strength, but that was simply not enough.
After all, the numbers were staggering, to the point where it was almost inexhaustible.
In the time taken to deal with a single blade of grass, two others would arrive. After taking care of the two, another four would arrive.
It was endless.
Seeing this, the Origin Core realm experts of the Dragon Cauldron Army finally gave up.
All they could do was to retreat while covering their escape, hoping that they would be able to get out of the range of the grand formation before being bound.
Of course, it was impossible for everyone to escape.
Once an Origin Core realm martial artist was bound by a blade of grass, they would feel their Essence energy being sapped from their bodies.
Those with relatively higher cultivation levels could still break out of their bindings if they acted fast enough, but even by doing so, they had to expend quite a bit of their strength.
Those with relatively lower cultivation levels would find themselves weakened to a point where they could no longer break their bindings, which effectively meant that their fates were sealed.
Bogeng was clearly in a bad state right now.
Not only did he possess a relatively low cultivation level among Origin Core realm martial artists, he was also heavily injured, thereby limiting his mobility and strength.
He was caught in an instant, left hanging in the air like a strawman.
"Damn it!" Bogeng roared in indignance. "This is not how it is supposed to end!"
In this battle alone, he had gone through quite a few ups and downs.
First, he had been assigned to a thankless role of watching a junior, making him feel like his time was being wasted.
Next, he chanced upon what could have been the key to the Scarlet Moon Army's key to victory, and thought that he could take this opportunity to shine.
Then came Mosha, who brought him straight to the brink of death. At that point, Bogeng had thought that he was a goner.
Thankfully, Wenqin arrived and pulled him back to safety from the gates of hell. He might not like Wenqin, but he could not help but feel absolutely grateful at that moment.
Who knew that Wenqin would also lose, and Nanlu Tianzi would lock onto him next? It was just like tossing him from heaven back to hell.
But when he realised that Nanlu Tianzi was not going after him, only watching him from afar, Bogeng once again felt a glimmer of hope that perhaps he could leave this battle in one piece.
However, that was when the grand formation of the Scarlet Moon Army, the same formation that he had been trying to stop initially, finally activated. Now, he was completely bound by the monstrous grass, unable to move an inch.
Trapped in the enemy's grand formation, there was no need to guess how things would end for him.
From hell to heaven, to hell to heaven, to hell to heaven, and then now back to hell again.
It was as though fate itself was toying with him!
On top of that, he knew very well that he was just one of the many martial artists that were trapped by the grand formation. He could forget about receiving any sort of help this time round.
Marshal Shengding swung down the Darkclaw Battleaxe, his Essence energy firing out in a wave of dark annihilation.
Faced with such a terrifying attack, the monstrous grass that were closing in on him were all obliterated in an instant.
Of course, that was only the grass that were the nearest to reaching him.
After they were destroyed, an equal number of grass immediately took their place, reaching out towards Marshal Shengding once more.
Seeing this, Marshal Shengding shook his head, half in disappointment, half in admiration.
Along with the activation of this grand formation, chances were that they had lost this battle. This drastic change from almost obtaining victory, and perhaps even taking down Marshal Xianming, had left him utterly disappointed.
But at the same time, he could not help but admire the concept behind this grand formation. Without a vast source of energy, it was impossible to sustain such a powerful formation over this big an area. Even by tapping upon the World Origin Energy in the surroundings, it would only last a few moments at best, far from enough to truly influence the outcome of a battle.
Yet Formation Master Beimu had still managed to do it, overcoming the limitations that should have existed.
All she did was to switch from a killing formation to a binding formation, one that allowed the formation to sap energy from anyone who had been bound. This additional source of energy was exactly what she needed in order to keep this formation running.
How ingenius…
Marshal Shengding sighed.
If only they had such a talented formation master on their side, the Scarlet Moon Kingdom would have been done for long ago!
But there were no ifs. The fact was that they had nobody of equivalent talent on their side, which had led to the current situation.
With that thought in mind, Marshal Shengding decisively turned and left.
He, too, was in the range of the grand formation. Staying any longer would not be wise.
The grand formation might be strong, but with his strength, getting out of it was still not considered too difficult. In fact, he even had the luxury of helping out a few of his trusted subordinates, aiding them in their escape.
Behind him, the Origin Core realm experts of the Scarlet Moon Army immediately pursued.
They had been put on the back foot for quite a while now. Therefore, being allowed to let loose and go on the offensive was a change that they more than welcomed!
However, even with the monstrous grass of the grand formation on their side, taking down Origin Core realm opponents who were determined to escape was by no means an easy task.
Unlike the situation before when they were surrounded on all sides, the Origin Core realm experts of the Dragon Cauldron Army blocking their path of retreat right now.
But with everyone mainly concerned with saving their own skins, those of the Scarlet Moon Army could still aim for those who had lagged behind.
Under the pressure of both the Scarlet Moon Army Origin Core realm experts and the monstrous grass from the grand formation, those of the Dragon Cauldron Army started to fall one by one.
Marshal Xianming could not help but grin to himself as he led the charge.
It was not every day that Origin Core realm experts would fall in such numbers. But now, under his command, they were eliminating them like flies!
How exhilarating!
After breaking out of the area of the grand formation, Marshal Shengding turned around once more to survey the situation.
He no longer had high hopes for the current situation, and the scene before him only served to confirm his thoughts.
Those on the ground were mostly locked in place, subject to their enemies' whims.
That was only to be expected too. Not for a moment did Marshal Shengding think that they would be able to escape from a formation that was capable of threatening Origin Core realm martial artists.
As for those at the Origin Core realm, most of them had managed to get out in one piece. However, the numbers that had fallen to the enemy could still be described as disastrous.
On top of that, Formation Master Beimu was still freely channelling the grand formation, controlling monstrous grass that acted more like living chains. Anyone who entered the range of the grand formation would immediately be forced to deal with these monstrous grass, no longer able to focus on their individual battles.
With how things stood, there was simply no opening for them to re-enter the fight.
There was no doubt about it.
They had lost this battle at Rockfall Plain.