A Seventh Rank King Raptor was now raising its claw with startling speed to attack a group of cultivators.
Its claw attack was so devastating that it imploded the thick wall, leaving behind its claw mark behind a cultivator that it was attacking.
Behind the Seventh Rank Raptor was a group of eight Fifth Rank Raptors.
And behind the cultivator was a group of twelve cultivators.
These two groups were all watching the fight keenly between the two champions.
The lone cultivator that was fighting the King Raptor was Zhao Xingye.
There were many dead bodies of the cultivators and raptors around them but for most of the cultivators, they had already escaped by burning the talisman.
The cultivators that were left were those that stubbornly refused to abandon their other companions. At the same time they knew that if too many of the talismans were burnt at the same time, this would decrease the odds of survival for those that need to escape.
Moreover this group of cultivators was really very close to one another. Among them was naturally Zhao Riyue her twin sister.
The messy fight had now become a fight between two champions of these two groups.
The cultivators were astonished that the raptors had suddenly stayed their hand; if the raptors had chosen to attack all at once, their small group was certain to be obliterated by them. After all, most of these raptors were at the fifth rank level.
Perhaps it was because of Zhao Xingye that had slain three of the fifth rank raptors and her feat had caught the attention of the king raptor.
Although Zhao Xingye was only a fourth realm expert but with the mental empowerment of her twin sister, her strength had risen to that of a fifth realm golden celestial.
But even then, she was defending more than attacking against the Seventh Rank Raptor. A Seventh Rank Raptor was capable of tearing apart even a sixth realm golden supremacy and Zhao Xingye was only a fifth realm golden celestial.
Without the enhance speed and the mental intuition that was given by her twin sister Zhao Riyue, she would be torn apart long ago.
The Seventh Rank Raptor of course was not aware that Zhao Xingye astonishing reflexes was due to the mental guidance and mental empowerment of another cultivator.
Zhao Riyue watched the fight with astonishing keenness as she lifted her sister away from harm again and again with her profound strength. But she was now breaking into heavy sweat and was trembling now; it was because she had expended too much of her profound strength and mental energies.
She was now almost at her breaking point and in another few blinks of an eye, she would collapse from sheer exhaustion. When she fell, so would her twin sister Zhao Xingye!
As for Zhao Xingye, she was already at her breaking point. If it was not for her twin sister, she would have been torn apart already by now.
All of a sudden a white flash of light had appeared between Zhao Xingye and the King Raptor, separating them from their fight.
The white flash of light had come from Lu Qingyun's two beaming divine swords!
Zhao Xingye, Zhao Riyue and many of the cultivators were gasping when they saw that it was Lu Qingyun. It was because he was now a true celestial, a golden celestial!
Although Zhao Riyue could temporary elevated her sister to the level of a golden celestial fighter but there was no way she would change her cultivation characteristic to a real golden celestial. A golden celestial was a golden celestial because of their regeneration abilities and was much tougher.
At the very least, a golden celestial would not be torn apart by the Seventh Rank King Raptor with only one or two hits since even their skeleton would also become golden and was much tougher than any of the fourth realm cultivators.
At the same time Qian Jingjing had also arrived at the scene and was shocked to see the monstrous size of the King Raptor and its malicious claws towering over Lu Qingyun.
She panicky shouted, "Brother Qingyun, be careful!"
Lu Qingyun had immediately displayed his 'Alpha Soaring Heavens as One' with his right divine sword and the 'Beta Soaring Heavens as One' with his left divine sword.
These two powerful sword arts had immediately swept the King Raptor aside, causing it to fall to one side of the ground.
Zhao Riyue, Zhao Xingye and the other cultivators were all gasping softly; they had never seen such a profound display of sword energies before.
Lu Qingyun however was not too glad about his feats. It was because he could see that his two powerful sword arts were only able to knock it aside but not hurt it.
Immediately he raised both of his divine swords high up in the air with his newly golden profound aura as his animus. This next attack was going to be his most powerful attack ever, merging his profound aura with his profound strength.
This was his 'True Soaring Heavens as One' sword art, merging the speed of the 'Alpha Soaring as One' with the profound power of the Beta Soaring Heavens as One'.
A beam of towering profound energies had enveloped his two upright divine swords and had begun to follow his directed swing against the King Raptor, immediately puncturing through its scales and because the outburst of sword energies were so devastating, two unfortunate raptors that were caught in the blast behind were instantly obliterated.
The King Raptor was bemoaning loudly as it was caught in the full blast of the attack.
All the cultivators were now cheering now. It was because they did not expect that a fifth realm golden celestial would actually have the profound power to defeat a Seventh Rank King Raptor.
Zhao Xingye was blinking her eyes as she stole a glance at her sister with a silent thought, "Is he really a fifth realm golden celestial? His powerful sword energies are in the realm of the seventh realm sword energies cultivator."
Zhao Riyue was also exchanging silently with her twin sister, "Even a saint may not be capable of using such powerful sword energy attacks."
Lu Qingyun was also startled by his new profound strength. "This is the strength of a golden celestial? The disparity between a fourth realm and a fifth realm expert is so vast…"
Just as he was about to swing his sword to make another move at the King Raptor, Zhao Riyue quickly said. "Don't. This King Raptor is quite honorable to fight us one to one. Even if it is only a desolate beast but it is better than most cultivators that are without any honor. Let it go."
Lu Qingyun nodded as he pulled back his two divine swords to his back.
When the King Raptor saw his gesture, it seemed to understand. It gave a huge bemoaning roar before turning back clumsily. The King Raptor was quickly followed by the other raptors.
Zhao Riyue and Zhao Xingye quickly greeted Lu Qingyun with a hand bow as they said respectfully, "Senior, thank you for coming to our aid."
Zhao Xingye chuckled as she added, "Or should we call you Celestial Lu Qingyun now?"
"Or Senior Celestial Lu?" Zhao Riyue was giggling.
Lu Qingyun returned a weak smile at their tease. He was not used to being addressed as a Celestial. In the Celestial Realm, fifth realm experts were the true celestials and were called the golden celestials. At such, they had an honorable celestial title attached to them, according to their cultivation realm.
He had never dreamed that one day he would be a golden celestial. Qin Keqin was a golden celestial and unless he was a golden celestial himself, there was no way he could be with her.
Maybe he could even win the approval of Saintess Jade Light now.
Qian Jingjing looked immensely proud of Lu Qingyun when all the protégés of the Heavens Ridge Villa were now looking at him with awe.
"He is Lu Qingyun?"
"He is really dashing…"
"I've heard that he has a bad reputation…"
"The rumors are not true at all…"
Zhao Riyue quickly said to her protégé sisters, "Don't be rude and greet this Celestial Lu! Don't forget that his master is an elder of our sect. Therefore he is also your senior."
Immediately the protégés of the Heavenly Fragrance Villa were all greeting, "Our greeting to senior! Our respect to Celestial Lu!"
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly. He was not used to being greeted by so many. Moreover these maidens were all core protégés of the Heavenly Fragrance Villa and they were all mostly fourth realm experts. He was only a fourth realm expert not too long ago.
But this was the protocol of the Celestial Realm. The disparity between a fourth realm level and a fifth realm level was simply too great. Although there were many peaked fourth realm experts but overcoming the barrier to become a golden celestial was simply too great and many had perished during the life and death tribulations.
Lu Qingyun asked Zhao Riyue and Zhao Xingye, "What is going on here?"
Zhao Riyue said weakly, "We are combing the ruins here when we are attacked by these raptors. It seemed that we are in their territory."
Lu Qingyun looked at their numbers with an anxious look, "Only a few of you have remained?"
Zhao Riyue said without a hint of sorrow, "We have actually split into three groups of about thirty each to better comb this place. After all, we only have six hours."
Then she took a look at the bodies of five of her protégé sisters as she lowered her glances, "We have lost seven of our protégé sisters here. The remaining protégé sisters are back outside now."
Lu Qingyun saw that there were many other dead cultivators too. These cultivators must have followed Zhao Riyue and her group when the attack occurred.
He muttered quietly, "Let's bury them first before we go deeper."
Zhao Riyue replied with trembling voice, "No need."
She had quickly taken out a talisman and a fire pill from her spatial ring. With a flicker of her fingers, she had imbued her profound strength into the talisman and had sent it flying with the fire pill into one of the bodies, detonating it into a fiery fire.
Lu Qingyun was startled. This was the Samsara Fire. Unless there were profound energies to resist this fire, it would continue to burn until there was no flesh that was left. And dead cultivators were unable to muster any of their profound energies.
The rest of the protégés of the Heavenly Fragrance Villa were all doing the same as they burnt the bodies of the dead. This was actually the greatest respect for the dead to prevent their bodies from being defiled by the desolate beasts.
Lu Qingyun could see beyond the cool countenance of Zhao Riyue, Zhao Xingye and the other maidens that they were grieved but they had chosen to suppress their emotions of their hearts. In fact many of them had red sorrowful eyes as they burnt the bodies of their beloved protégé sisters.
He began to sigh quietly.
But he was soon startled by Zhao Riyue who said to him, "Senior, may you guide us. We will follow you."
"Follow me?" Lu Qingyun asked.
Zhao Riyue nodded with a melancholy sigh, "I've led my protégé sisters to their deaths and caused the deaths of so many of the other cultivators. I am not worthy to lead anyone now. Why don't senior lead us instead? You are not only our senior but also a golden celestial. If you are not fit to lead us, who is?"
Lu Qingyun smiled bitterly, "This is a most unfortunate encounter and it can happen to anyone. How can I be worthy of leading anyone?"
But all the maidens from the Heavenly Fragrance Villa were all nodding at him with a fierce determination.
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly as he stole a glance at Qian Jingjing who was nodding to him, "Alright then…"