Chapter 294: Battle of Giants

The roar had the intended effect, as the ones who had been chasing Lin Xiao all faltered. Some collapsed, others kneeled and yet some—the stronger ones—were just stunned momentarily, but this moment was enough for the monk to retreat safely.

Seeing that Hei Gou, Lin Xiao, and Luoluo had reconnected with the army from the Gu and Yuan families, Xue Wei was feeling much more placated, so he got ready to face the grand elder.

Truth was that before this, he had not had much faith in his ability to survive. He knew that the grand elder had made the decision within the dungeons to kill him, but now it seemed that his luck had turned.

After seeing Xue Wei taking on the beastly shape and connecting it with the rumors about Lin Xiao’s ability to tame beasts, it was as if he had rekindled his notion of getting the information out of Xue Wei.

After all, if they could tame him, he would be at their beck and call, doing their bidding without any rebellion. He had just forgotten that Lin Xiao was on Xue Wei’s side. Would he really work together with someone else to enslave his friend?

Not to mention, Xue Wei was not a Primordial Beast. He was half a Sovereign Beast, a beast that could not be tamed anyway. So even if Lin Xiao did attempt it, he would fail. Unfortunately, the grand elder had never before heard about a Sovereign Beast.

Xue Wei was moving rapidly towards the grand elder. His body was flashing everywhere, leaving a trail of afterimages in the air. Although the body was massive, it was not difficult to move, neither was he slow or clumsy.

The grand elder dared not directly attack his soul as he feared that the soul would be destroyed. He was after all an Ordinary Saint, and if he accidentally killed Xue Wei, would he not lose this unique opportunity?

Instead, he materialized the spiritual energy in the air and made it take on the shape of swords. Fighting someone was different from sparring. Usually, when in a real fight, one would go for dispatching their opponent as fast as possible, which usually meant to aim for the soul. If they were sparring, they would aim for their opponent’s bodies instead.

Right now, the grand elder was treating the confrontation with Xue Wei as a sparring match. He was not being serious about fighting him; neither was the elder eager to kill him. All he wanted was to injure him enough to make him incapable of fighting back so that the taming would happen smoothly.

Xue Wei was relieved with this result. He felt a wave of thousands of blade come crashing down like a tidal wave towards him, threatening to drown him, but with a flick of his body, Xue Wei vanished from his location and appeared again twenty meters to the side, managing to avoid the majority of the spiritual energy blades.

Still, it was not enough to avoid them all. Blood started flowing from the scales that had been punctured, and the flesh beneath was showing ghastly gashes from the swords. The moment they came into contact with the flesh, they had detonated like small bombs, causing some serious injury to Xue Wei’s body.

He was surprised; he had not expected that a Saint was this powerful. It was clear his opponent was not using the full extent of his abilities, but even so, his attacks were devastatingly lethal. Although he had no intention of killing Xue Wei, if those swords had all landed on his body, then his body would have been completely torn apart.

Xue Wei felt a cold chill run down his draconic spine. He might have overestimated himself, but when he glanced behind, he saw that the two grand elders of the Gu and Yuan families had finally made an appearance.

From the look of them, it seemed they had also broken through to the Earth Saint rank; although it was clearly at a lower layer than the Baili grand elder as he had been at the rank for much longer and had better control over his strength.

The Baili grand elder had not noticed that the two other grand elders had appeared. All his mind could think about was pacifying Xue Wei, to get him tamed, and to claim all his strengthening methods for himself.

A manic smile appeared on the lips of the Baili grand elder, and he began laughing hysterically as if he had just imagined something glorious.

Xue Wei felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw this maddened expression, but he hardened his heart and advanced forward. He had various innate abilities that he had never tried before, and now was not the time to hold back.

So far, when in his dragon shape, he had mainly relied on the Azure Dragon Roar, an attack that reached a large number of people at once and caused them to be pressured by the Sovereign Beast’s aura.

Now he realized that this attack had its limits. Those with a strong soul were not as harshly affected as he wished. Back in Chang’an, he had seen people explode from the pressure, yet here in Yan Dalu, they had at most collapsed—and those who did collapse were all weaker than him. The rest had become disorientated but nothing more than that.

Azure Dragon Claws!

Xue Wei launched an attack that utilized his long and razor sharp claws to cut and slice at the Baili grand elder, but the attack was blocked by a protective layer of spiritual energy that the elder had formed in front of himself. It became clear that he would not even be able to puncture the elder’s protections. Xue Wei’s face darkened.

The Baili grand elder was not just a realm above him—Xue Wei was an Earth Knight while the Baili grand elder was an Earth Saint—it was akin to the difference between the Heavens and the Earth; it was simply not possible for him to retaliate.

Realizing this, Xue Wei changed his tactics. Since there was no use attacking back, he would just catch the Baili grand elder’s attention and try to distract him to buy time for his more capable allies to wound him. Unfortunately, if he could not touch the Baili grand elder even with his beast form, then his old plan of having them overwhelm him with sheer numbers was suicidal—his only hope now relied on the Gu and Yuan grand elders. Those two elderly men would be the only ones capable of matching up to the Baili grand elder.

Sensing his plans, the two elderly men also started moving towards the Baili grand elder. Their faces were solemn, and all their focus was aimed towards the man they hated from the bottom of their hearts.

Although killing was frowned upon in Yan Dalu, this man had been responsible for the crippling of many of their genius descendants. It had gotten to the point where the Gu family’s most talented genius in the younger generation was a woman, and the Yuan family’s most talented youngster was a naive young boy—two figures that the Baili family never expected to cause them problems later on as their personality or gender was in the way.

Ripples of energy were starting to pick up in the area where the grand elders were converging, so Xue Wei started retreating to the side. Although he was rather confident in himself, he was also realistic. Now, he understood the difference between himself and an Earth Saint; he would be squashed into a meat paste if he stayed in the middle of their fight.

Since he was no assistance in the fight between giants, Xue Wei’s body flashed like a snake in water as he rushed towards the constantly dwindling numbers of lesser Baili family members.

Everywhere he passed, blood flowed in rivers, bodies collapsed, and anguished cries sounded out. With the help of him and his friends, every one of the weaker Baili family members were soon dead or knocked unconscious.

The members of the Gu and Yuan families gathered in the middle of the blood tainted square with Xue Wei and, looking at the battle in front of them where the Earth Saints were fighting.

“We gave all the Rainbow Pills to our grand elders,” Gu Bing’er said when she saw how Xue Wei’s eyes were focused on the battle, but it was near impossible to follow what was happening.

“Both our grand elders have been on the verge of breaking through to the Earth Saint levels for a long time, but they never had the final breakthrough—the bottleneck was simply too overwhelming.

“When they used the Rainbow Pills, some of the pills increased their Qi levels, and a single one increased their bodily condition, cleansed the marrow and clearing his meridians, but the rest increased their spiritual energy. These Rainbow Pills truly are wondrous.

“With the help of the Rainbow Pills, they managed to break into the Earth Saint rank. At the same time, they managed to solidify their cultivation base, so even though they are only at the second layer while the Baili grand elder is at the fourth layer, our Elders are working together, and causing a problem for the Baili grand elder.”

Having explained how the Gu and Yuan grand elders had gained such a rapid increase in strength, Gu Bing’er turned around and looked at the men and women she had brought with her.

“Gather the Baili men in one corner of the courtyard and our men and women in another. We deserve to give them a proper burial!

“Those Baili men and guards who have been knocked unconscious, kill them all!”

Gu Bing’er understood the idea of uprooting the weed before it could sprout new problems. If they allowed someone to survive, was it not the same as asking for trouble later on? If they did not later seek revenge, then that was fortunate—but it was smarter to assume the worst.

Sensing the hesitation of her men and women, Gu Bing’er’s eyes turned cold. “They wanted to kill us all. If you let them live, who is to say they will not try again later? Re-releasing a captured tiger into the mountain will only hurt yourself in the future!”

After considering her words, the men and women started acting as they had been told. They cut off the heads of every single person before tossing them in a corner of the courtyard, bodies in one stack, with heads in another.

The battle was more or less over, but no one could relax. If the Baili grand elder won the last battle, then the Yuan and Gu members would without a doubt be slaughtered; as a result, they were all tense as they went about their grisly work.

Fortunately, it seemed as if the winner was going to be the Gu and Yuan elders. They held the upper hand as they pressed the Baili grand elder more and more.

Seeing this, Xue Wei quickly returned to his human shape and took out his final set of intact clothes. With a sigh, he quickly dressed in his trademark red robes that matched the bloodstained tiles beneath his feet.

As he stood there with his red clothes, he looked like a demon who had just ascended from the hells beneath. Rivers of blood smeared his boots, but since they too were red, no one could see it. Instead, his clothes gave the illusion of him being a devil, with a handsome smile hanging on his lips as he inhaled the heavy metallic-scented air with vigor.

Xue Wei did not have the time to consider the thoughts of everyone else; his eyes remained focused on the battle in front of him. Watching as the Baili grand elder was becoming more and more desperate, he could not help but become alert. A cornered animal was often the most dangerous one.

As expected, the moment he could no longer hold on, a malicious gleam appeared in the eyes of the Baili grand elder. He suddenly switched directions and rushed directly towards Xue Wei, his speed so fast that one would not believe that he was not a Qi cultivator.

“If I can’t have the secrets, no one can!” he exclaimed as he hurtled towards Xue Wei with blinding speed.