Two days passed by in the blink of an eye. Yun Lintian was still camping around the swamp, unwilling to let go of the Celestial Buddha Lotus. After all, it was a divine-ranked magical plant, extremely scarce and possibly the only one in the Azure World.
During these days, Yun Lintian hid himself on top of the tree, observing his surroundings and searching for a way to deal with the Abyssal Crocodile. In truth, he could set up a formation to kill the beast, but he had limited Profound Stones. He didn't want to waste them here.
Yun Lintian's concealment ability worked very well. Many people passed by this spot without ever discovering his presence. In the past two days, he hadn't seen any of his senior sisters around here. His heart grew worried, and he began to contemplate the decision of whether to leave or stay here.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Yun Lintian caught a whiff of a strong fragrance carried by the wind. He cast his gaze onto the swamp and saw the Celestial Buddha Lotus blooming, revealing a faint golden color in the middle.
The fragrance spread several kilometers away, immediately attracting many people in the vicinity. Within an hour, the swamp became crowded. There were at least twenty people from different forces coming together. The members of the Hua, Li, Chen, Yang, and Qi royal clans were present, with the Qi Royal Clan having the highest number of members, totaling five people.
"Why did Senior Sister Chan come here?" Yun Lintian frowned slightly when he saw a familiar figure among the group. She was one of his senior sisters who came to this place with him. Her name was Yun Chan.
Yun Chan had a beautiful oval face, clad in a snow-white robe, with a short sword in her hand. Her expression was calm and composed. There wasn't any agitation on her face, despite the fact that she was facing a group of enemies.
"Greetings, Misty Cloud Fairy. My name is Yang Ping. Our young master and young mistress have instructed us to cooperate with you. I don't know what you think about this." A tall, handsome youth from the Yang clan took a step forward and greeted Yun Chan with a smile.
Yun Chan gave a slight nod and replied, "We can form a team together."
Yang Ping called his friend over and discussed a strategy with Yun Chan in a hushed tone.
Yun Lintian didn't rush to reveal himself. He continued to listen to the conversation among everyone and tried to find a way to warn Yun Chan about the Abyssal Crocodile.
"Everyone, why don't we share this lotus together?" Said a man with a long sword strapped to his back. He was a member of the Qi royal clan. His name was Song He.
Everyone glanced at each other without saying a word. No one was foolish enough to believe his words. Moreover, they didn't recognize the value of the lotus. Most of them thought it was a high-ranking medicinal plant, but they couldn't determine its exact rank. They were unsure if it was worth getting into a conflict because of this unfamiliar lotus.
Seeing this, Song He chuckled and said, "Since none of you want it. We will take it away ourselves." Following that, he and his friends jumped into the swamp one after another.
"What should we do? Are we going to let them take it away?" Yang Ping said anxiously.
Yun Chan pondered for a moment and decided to follow them. Just before she moved, however, a small needle shot toward her and accurately pinned itself to her sleeve.
Her expression abruptly changed as she looked at her sleeve and noticed a small letter tied to the needle. She opened it secretly and read the contents carefully. After a while, she said to Yang Ping, "Let's wait and see first."
Yang Ping was upset, but he didn't act impulsively. Even though he was unwilling to see the members of the Qi Royal Clan taking the lotus away, he was able to maintain his composure.
Yun Lintian nodded in approval upon seeing that Yang Ping had managed to control himself. Being too greedy could lead to a tragic end. Yun Lintian had proven this point himself two days ago. He nearly lost his life due to his greed and negligence.
In the swamp, the group of five swam cautiously towards the lotus, keeping a vigilant watch. Essence Profound Realm practitioners hadn't yet developed Spiritual Sense until they reached the Spirit Profound Realm. Hence, they could only rely on their eyes and ears to detect danger around them.
"W... What is that?" Someone in the group pointed uncertainly at a large shadow in the distance beneath the water.
"What kind of profound beast is that?" Another person asked.
"Hurry up! Prepare to fight!" Song He shouted and drew the sword out. Although he wasn't sure about the strength of the Profound Beast in front of him, he was confident it shouldn't be higher than that of the peak Essence Profound Beast. Dealing with it was not a problem for his group.
Roar!
The Abyssal Crocodile let out a deafening roar and revealed its gigantic body above the water's surface. Its savage eyes stared furiously at Song He's group, still remembering the prey that had slipped away from its grasp two days ago. This time, the crocodile didn't want to let the food escape again.
The roar caused a tide of water to form into a huge water wall, charging at the group of five. Song He's group as well as everyone on the shore, were shocked to the core by its scary appearance.
"Run!" Song He yelled out loudly and frantically fled for his life. Fighting? What a joke! Just a simple roar, he instantly realized that the beast before him had already surpassed the Essence Profound Beast.
Yun Chan appeared calm on the surface, but she was inwardly extremely shocked. If Yun Lintian hadn't warned her, she would be in danger by now. Coming back to her senses, she said to Yang Ping, "Do you dare to kill them?"
Yang Ping was currently in a state of shock. When he heard this, he turned to Yun Chan and asked in a trembling voice, "What do you mean?"
"I'm asking, do you dare to kill a member of the Qi Royal Clan?" Yun Chan repeated.
Seeing that she wasn't joking, Yang Ping nervously swallowed and replied, "O... Of course!" Before coming here, Yang Chen and Yang Mengli had emphasized this. Chen, Luo, and Qi were all members of the royal clan, and they were enemies to each other. They had to show no mercy to them when the opportunity arose.
"Good! Kill!" Yun Chan responded, and a terrifying aura instantly burst out of her body. She aimed her short sword at Song He's group, who were desperately trying to flee from the Abyssal Crocodile. In an instant, a brilliant beam of deep blue light burst forth from the tip of her sword, heading directly towards them.
Song He was currently paying attention to the crocodile behind him. Suddenly, he felt a dangerous aura approaching him from the direction of the shore. When he raised his head, he saw a deep blue light rushing towards him at high speed, leaving him unable to defend himself in time.
Boom!
The intense light struck Song He's right shoulder, propelling his body backwards and completely submerging him in the water wall.
The other four were also blown away by several attacks from Yang Ping and his friends and vanished into the water wall.
"What are you doing!?" A young man from the Chen clan's group shouted angrily, holding a spear in his hand. His aura surged, preparing to attack Yun Chan and Yang Ping.
Yun Chan didn't say a word in response. Her gaze fixated on the water briefly before shifting to the youth from the Chen clan. Hazy mist of ice slowly emerged from her body. Instantly, her figure vanished from the spot and materialized in front of the youth. With a swift motion, she swung her short sword down upon his head, unleashing a powerful wave of sword force.
Boom—
The youth was shocked by Yun Chan's speed. He panicked and raised his spear to block her short sword. However, Yun Chan's attack was too fast and caught him off guard. He wasn't able to defend properly and was thrown away by the impact.
The onlookers took in a cold breath. They had heard about the famous "Misty Cloud Steps" before, but they never thought it would be this scary. Without a doubt, they wouldn't be any different from the youth with the spear when facing Yun Chan's swift actions.
"Damn it! Kill her!" Another two young members of the Chen clan regained their composure and swiftly launched their attacks on Yun Chan.
Bang!
"Argggh!" Everyone expected Yun Chan to get injured by the attack, but to their surprise, it was the two youths who were sent flying instead of her.
The young man with the spear had just risen from the ground when he witnessed Hua Fei, a member of the Hua clan, assaulting his two companions from behind. He yelled angrily at her, "What do you mean by this, Hua Fei?!"
Hua Fei glanced at the youth and said indifferently, "Is it difficult to understand? We are enemies, that's why." She brushed her long hair lightly and jumped to Yun Chan's side.
"Let's kill them together, Sister Yun." Hua Fei said with a smile.
Yun Chan nodded lightly, "Alright."
The two women, along with Yang Ping's group, immediately charged forward at the Chen clan's group with murderous intent.
***
While everyone on the shore was in chaos, Yun Lintian secretly sneaked into the swamp and patiently dived towards the lotus. His body was currently covered in strange ancient runes, which glowed with a faint golden light from time to time. These runes were specially invented by Yun Lintian to shield himself from the enemy's spiritual senses. Although the effect was weak and couldn't be used against a high-level practitioner, it shouldn't be a problem to hide his presence from the Abyssal Crocodile.
"Argh!!" A kilometer away, Yun Lintian witnessed Song He screamed painfully as he was ruthlessly attacked by the Abyssal Crocodile. Blood was flowing out of his body incessantly, along with some of his internal organs. Shortly afterward, he stopped breathing and died with his eyes wide open.
Yun Lintian didn't feel disgusted by the scene. He calmly moved forward towards the lotus, while the Abyssal Crocodile locked onto new targets and maneuvered its massive body towards them.