Chapter 105 - Monsters Rise (Part IV) (Patreon)

Gold and cyan lights collided, and the resulting thunderous explosion illuminated the entire night sky, drawing the attention of everyone in the city despite the ongoing riots.

Cultivators were dispatched immediately to investigate, while ordinary guards received orders to suppress the panicked masses and maintain control over the streets.

At the center of the clash, dozens of houses had been devastated, their occupants either having fled long ago or died within the explosion. Being responsible for that destruction and floating high above the ground through the use of a movement technique, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide frowned and stared downward.

Below her, dozens of cyan marine beasts swam through the air. Gigantic fish, sea serpents, demonic seahorses, scarred whales, turtles with shattered shells, and enormous octopi drifted like corpses.

“If this is all you can do,” Grandmaster Miao said, sitting atop a phantom shark as though it were a tangible being, “then I will be very disappointed.”

Moments earlier, when the horned serpent had breathed golden flames downward, the marine beasts intercepted most of the attack and dispersed the remaining fire and sound waves throughout the surroundings with wide, sweeping movements. This was the main reason the neighborhood was in ruins.

Hearing his words, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide sneered.

“I have not even begun, Miao Long,” she replied, tightening her grip around the golden spear.

Then, more clouds in the sky turned gold as waves of Qi spread outward from the spear and permeated the heavens.

Grandmaster Miao observed with an indifferent expression. He was secretly analyzing the flow of Qi and the spreading sound waves around him.

A second later, a gigantic horned serpent’s head split apart the golden clouds above. This one was more than ten times larger than the previous phantom manifestation behind Grand Elder Vermilion Tide.

The instant he saw the serpent’s head emerge, Grandmaster Miao stood up. Next, with a wave of his hand, two nearby cyan marine beasts exploded apart, their flesh, bones, and scales flying toward him.

Countless Qi lines appeared and connected those remains, forming a layered floating shield around his body.

At the same time, the enormous horned serpent opened its mouth. Nearby clouds and scattered sound waves were devoured by the maw, creating a gigantic vortex that shook the ground below and caused debris to rise and tumble through the air.

“Your reputation is undeserved,” Grand Elder Vermilion Tide declared coldly. “Hunting these weaklings merely to display your might. How unsightly.”

After those words, she thrust her spear downward.

Golden Qi surged from the horned serpent, and accompanied by a deafening roar, an invisible sound wave spread downward, carrying terrifying pressure.

The floating cyan marine beasts crashed violently into the streets below, creating earthquakes throughout the district. Meanwhile, Grandmaster Miao’s layered shields began breaking apart one after another.

Unlike the flames from before, the roar continued endlessly. With it, wave after wave of pressure descended upon the marine beasts.

As his defenses crumbled, Grandmaster Miao continuously retracted his cyan Qi lines and dismantled additional marine beasts, using their internal organs and bones to create replacement shields.

Watching the number of marine beasts decrease, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide felt no satisfaction whatsoever. Despite her earlier mockery, she knew very well the man below was no easy opponent.

After all, rumors claimed Grandmaster Miao had once fought against a Grand Elder of the Ten Thousand Echoes Island and survived. And for someone to become a Grand Elder within a major force, they needed to stand at the Core Formation realm.

While Grand Elder Vermilion Tide maintained the soundwave attack and prepared another technique simultaneously, Grandmaster Miao’s hissing voice rose from below.

“If you do not use your Vermilion Qi, this battle will be over soon,” he said calmly.

Then, every marine beast vanished, leaving thousands of floating cyan Qi lines suspended where the beasts had once drifted.

A terrifying sense of danger exploded within Grand Elder Vermilion Tide’s instincts. She immediately released the golden spear and activated a movement technique, her body phasing out of existence to flee her current location.

Yet the instant she moved, she felt a tug around her foot. Forced to stop, she looked downward.

A single cyan Qi line had pierced through her wooden sandal, penetrated her golden scales, and entered the meridian within her right foot.

While she was unable to comprehend how a strand of cyan Qi had bypassed both her investigative techniques and Qi perception and was unaffected by her previous attacks, she could at least immediately understand the danger.

Even though she did not wish to follow her enemy’s words, she no longer had a choice.

Grand Elder Vermilion Tide unleashed her Vermilion Qi.

Inside her Dantian, a crimson droplet of Qi sealed beneath countless golden runes exploded, sending Vermilion Qi surging through her meridians. Her golden scales were tinged in crimson, while her eyes burned with orange flames.

The moment the Vermilion Qi erupted outward, the cyan line attached to her body ignited like a rope thrown into fire.

Had the other end not been severed immediately, the flames would have traveled to its origin.

Scowling, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide glared toward a spot hidden near the clouds. There, she saw Grandmaster Miao sitting atop a horn.

“A horn?” she muttered before her eyes widened as she expanded her perception farther.

That phantom horn belonged to an enormous serpentine creature with seven horns. This gigantic snake-like creature stared at her with cold, dead eyes.

Coiled through the sky itself, the seven-horned serpent was at least twenty times larger than the horned serpent she had manifested earlier. Merely witnessing it caused her golden Qi to weaken. For her, it was a type of bloodline suppression.

With this, she recognized that Grandmaster Miao had been correct. Had she failed to unleash the Vermilion Qi gifted to her, she would not have had a chance of survival.

But now that she had done so, no fear sprouted in her heart.

“What kind of scheme or trap you used to kill such a ferocious creature is beyond me, Miao Long,” she said, buying time to spread the Vermilion Qi through her body.

“Halfling, I must thank you,” Grandmaster Miao replied, rising from his seated position atop the serpent. “Defeating you now will be far more satisfying.”

As he spoke, his triangular eyes shone with cyan light. The snake tattoo on his back devoured the remaining markings across his skin, growing larger and larger. Then, it detached from his body, tearing apart his robes and revealing the lean musculature beneath.

Grandmaster Miao had finally unleashed his true physique.

Combining it with his killing technique, Cyan Sea Swallows the Shore, and the semi-domain that amplified his Water Qi techniques, he now possessed the ability to contend directly against a Core Formation cultivator for a while.

Nonetheless, as the tattoo entered the serpent beneath him and gave its cyan body a tangible feeling, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide did not remain idle.

From her vermilion scales, transparent feathers sprouted outward, and a pair of wings emerged from her back. Then, the feathers lit up as orange, gold, and crimson flames spread across them.

Around her, these feathers spontaneously materialized in a second, and then ignited and exploded on the other. With every explosion, the wings upon her back expanded further, empowered by the heat.

After covering entire streets and reducing her actual body to little more than a tiny dot within the inferno, the explosions stopped.

Observing the scene, Grandmaster Miao sighed with genuine regret.

“What a pity,” he said. “Had you possessed greater talent, you might have obtained an inheritance more suited to yourself."

The instant he finished speaking, he made his move.

Standing atop the middle horn of the gigantic serpent, he commanded the creature forward while countless cyan Qi lines connected to its body.

At the same time, more Qi lines burst outward from Grandmaster Miao, piercing through the clouds above.

Watching her opponent advance, Grand Elder Vermilion Tide flapped her wings. This caused a tidal wave of red fire to surge forward with golden motes and sound waves alongside it.

The sound waves accelerated the firestorm and amplified its destructive force, being used for a more supportive role.

Every Qi line touched by the flames was severed by Grandmaster Miao, while the gigantic serpent endured the brunt of the attack. The creature moved its body to ensure that not even a spark touched Grandmaster Miao.

Besides, although many Qi lines had been burned away, countless others managed to approach Grand Elder Vermilion Tide from behind.

However, the moment they were about to pierce into her body, she flapped her wings again.

And this time, her figure vanished entirely.

The golden-crimson dot phased out of existence before reappearing above the ocean outside the city.

Laughing loudly, Grandmaster Miao understood at once the condition the City Lord must have imposed upon her if she chose to unleash the Vermilion Qi. Such Qi could destroy the whole city if left unchecked, so it was obviously forbidden to be used without a reason.

Nonetheless, the condition greatly restricted her!

After all, Vermilion Qi belonged to the Fire attribute, so fighting in the ocean wouldn’t give her any advantage.

The gigantic serpent beneath Grandmaster Miao flicked its tail once under his command. In the next instant, it too appeared above the sea as Grandmaster Miao used countless Qi lines to drag the creature forward and accelerate its movement.

The moment Grandmaster Miao and Grand Elder Vermilion Tide reached a sufficient distance from the city to unleash their strongest techniques freely, they moved simultaneously.

As their battle reached its peak, deep beneath the Feathered Serpent Pagoda, in the middle of Feathered Serpent Castle, inside a secret chamber surrounded by arrays and talismans, massive stone doors slowly creaked open. An aura belonging to a Core Formation cultivator emanated from within the chamber, while a bit of lightning seeped through the doors.

The being’s attention first turned to a higher floor in the Pagoda, then toward the riots spreading across the city. After a second, the being focused on the blood-soaked streets left in ruins, and finally on the battle raging above the sea between the pseudo-Core Formation cultivators.

After a long sigh, the being rose from within the chamber and stepped outside, darkness consuming their surroundings.