Inside Dwarves colony, a huge commotion had occurred. Qiang had transformed into a giant tree, reaching close to the roof of the huge cave in which Dwarves colony was situated. This giant tree moved its long and strong branches, wreaking havoc wherever they struck! Chunks of large rocks flew around and dust rose up as a messy battle took place.
"Dragon breath!" An empyrean warrior shouted and breathed out a long trail of fire, assaulting the tree but it could barely scorch a small portion of the bark. The fire didn't spread either as liquid gum seeped out from the tree, snuffing down the flames quickly.
"This tree has immense reach and assault power. And its defense is not weak either." Another empyrean warrior deduced.
"Sword blizzard!" Yet another empyrean warrior roared and attacked using a weapon-based technique. Numerous illusionary swords emerged in air, attacking the giant tree.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Bam! Several tall branches were successfully chopped down by the sword blizzard and they fell upon the ground with loud sounds. But immediately, new branches grew on the stumps and elongated rapidly, attacking the warriors. Qiang's branches were not only hard and robust, but also flexible. It was a troublesome contrasting combination. The branches twisted likes vines, grabbing several warriors often, stabbing some and injecting venomous liquid into their bodies. Some warriors managed to escape with great injuries while some perished.
"Retreat! Use long ranged attacks only." One of the warriors shouted.
"This tree is humongous! Its branches are everywhere! There is no long range left to use!" A frustrated comrade of his complained before getting swarmed by the branches which carried dagger-like poisonous thorns on them and stabbed into his body, immediately turning him blue and taking his life!
A Sage realm warrior lost his life just like that! The others who were poisoned earlier were also losing their strength by the minute.
"Who has healing techniques here?!"
"I can't see! I've lost my sight!"
"This can't be happening! It's just a damned tree!"
All sorts of shouting echoed along with the sounds of numerous techniques being deployed & the continuous loud cracking sounds as the giant tree Qiang moved, wreaking havoc everywhere. Qiang was simply unstoppable!
"Troublesome…" Jiao glanced at this from afar. Under his left arm was Xiao, unconscious; having been beaten badly by all the empyrean warriors earlier.
"Hey tree, I have your mother!" Jiao suddenly shouted, gaining Qiang's attention. "Look what I'm doing to her hehe." Jiao chuckled before stroking his erect penis and ejaculating a thick load of semen on Xiao's beautiful face, covering it in a white layer.
Krrrr!!!! The giant tree Qiang moved towards Jiao angrily. He was incensed by Jiao's actions. All his roots moved out of the ground and wriggled speedily, grabbing the ground and enabling him to move with great speed.
"Attack the roots, you fools!" Jiao suddenly said to his empyrean warriors. They all jolted into action right away, hurling all sorts of attacks on the tree roots.
Boom! Snap! Krrr!! Loud sounds echoed and numerous roots were destroyed. But their stumps all regenerated. Wood element was the most tenacious of all elements. The regeneration attribute it provided was no joke.
"So, you won't be taken down so easily huh. Good-good…" Jiao smiled cruelly. "Amuse me a little longer then." Saying so he turned to Xiao. His semen on her face had turned black by now and was seeping inside her body through her skin pores. Soon Xiao opened her eyes.
Her eyes were completely black with not a speck of white in them. Even the light falling into her eyes did not return; instead, was absorbed in, making her eyes look like a deep insatiable pit of ominous darkness.
"Go bring down that tree or die trying." Jiao commanded.
Xiao turned her neck, looking at the huge tree Qiang.
Suddenly a rusty armor appeared on Xiao's body. It looked old and was full of dents and scars, but it gave off a formidable vibe. It must have belonged to some great warrior but eventually ended up in the hands of Ork King whose ring was obtained by Xiao later on.
Swoosh! Xiao leapt off the rock and stormed toward Qiang. A long sword emerged in her right hand. Everyone was taken aback at this sudden change in her behavior and the vibe she gave off felt daunting. The empyrean soldiers parted way for her and she reached Qiang's trunk, chopping several branches along the way.
Qiang was taken aback and confused as his mother whom he was trying to rescue was suddenly attacking him ruthlessly.
"Cleaving the mountain." Xiao uttered and swung her long sword fully, directing a powerful arc of pure yin chi towards the enormous trunk.
Boom!! Krrrrr!!!! The cracking sounds increased as Qiang was cleaved in half! His massive upper tree body fell down with a loud boom, shaking up the entire area and causing dust and stones to erupt everywhere.
"It died just like that?" One of the empyrean warriors blinked. He was both surprised and happy.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip! Suddenly several vines grew from the lower half of the trunk and successfully caught Xiao off guard, gripping her tightly.
Hiss….!!! The vines secreted an acidic fluid which corroded Xiao's rusty armor, threatening to seep inside. Smoke emerged from this reaction and engulfed Xiao entirely for a few moments.
Boom! Suddenly a muffled explosion occurred, ripping the vines off Xiao. Her armor was damaged but still provided plenty protection. Not a single drop of the acid had managed to seep inside. It had also enlarged and so had Xiao. Her fair white skin had turned green and her hair turned brown. She looked three times the size of an average human. This was her ork transformation!
Xiao stared at Qiang whose trunk was regenerating speedily. New branches bloomed on its body and moved rapidly trying to capture Xiao and fend off the other warriors.
"Support her." Jiao commanded from behind as he watched the battle unfold.
"Horraaahh!!" the empyrean warriors roared and attacked Qiang.
Boom! Boom! Fwip! Snap! All sorts of sounds and explosions occurred as Qiang faced off against multiple foes. Xiao was spearheading the assault. She replaced her long sword with a giant double handed axe. This weapon suited her ork transformation better and replaced agility with power.
Thwok! Boom! Hisss…! Every time Xiao hacked at Qiang, a chi explosion occurred, ripping off large chunks of wood and releasing water element traits which Xiao had altered to induce the acidic effect. It was still quick weak compared to Qiang's own acid. Apparently, Xiao had only invented this assault move recently and was yet to develop it. Even so it gave some aid to her in harming Qiang.
Qiang continued to defend & retaliate. His regeneration was remarkable and even though he took a lot of damage, he remained undefeated due to quick regeneration.
"This woman is quite something though…" Jiao mused from afar as he glanced at Xiao who kept using one surprising technique after another. "Ork transformation, unique weapons, water element constitution…even her dual cultivation technique was no less than a dangerous assault technique! No wonder she was at the very last barrier initially. She was going to be my final opponent huh?"
Suddenly a change in battle occurred. Qiang stopped attacking and curled up all his branches, protecting his trunk and forming a strange club-like massive shape.
"He's using the branches to defend his trunk while his roots have returned to the ground." An empyrean warrior deduced.
"He must have given up haha! He's only focusing on defense now."
"Pity he won't preserve his life for long!"
"Charge!"
With battle-cries, the empyrean warriors attacked Qiang relentlessly and freely. Their attacks were powerful! Soon the giant tree was crumbling, burning and disintegrating from different sides. Several parts of it had been thinned as weapon-based technique users hacked down on his protective branches relentlessly. After a few minutes of this one-sided battle, suddenly Qiang retaliated!
Fwip! Boom! Suddenly all the remaining branches unfurled and attacked the warriors, pushing them all several feet back.
Xiao narrowed her eyes as she defended against the branches and noticed several fruits growing not on Qiang's branches but the trunk itself. These fruits were as big as a horses and were yellow in color.
Pop! Pop! All the fruits suddenly popped open and humanoid tree-men emerged from them. There were several hundreds of them! They had humanoid shape but their bodies were completely made of wood and had some leaves growing on their robust thick arms. They had a head-like structure on top but no facial features.
"What move is this? What technique? These treemen are all at level 10 Master realm!" One of the empyrean warriors shouted.
Master realm warriors could not compare to Sage realm warriors but there is always strength in numbers. There were a hundred treemen while empyrean warriors were only eight. In the past Xiao had been defeated by only a handful of Master realm warriors working together strategically against her. This time the difference in numbers was massive. The treemen all jumped off Qiang's trunk and attacked the empyrean warriors. Their limbs extended and moved like vines. Some of the treemen shot poisonous thorns, some grabbed the warriors and released acid, some tried to pierce their opponents with sharp branch arms. The battle turned messy again while Qiang became silent, standing without a move. Seemingly his consciousness was busy controlling the treemen.
"Kill…" Xiao muttered as her goblin ring glowed with green light. Immediately thousands of goblins emerged in the Dwarves colony attacking the treemen and supporting the empyrean warriors. Jiao was surprised once again.
"Oh? A goblin army? These despicable creatures aren't extinct?" Jiao thought as he stared at Xiao. "This woman has too many secrets and trump cards on her. Luckily, I subdued her before she could regain her senses and turned her into my puppet temporarily. Later I will need to thoroughly interrogate her and snatch all her trump cards and resources."
Meanwhile even orks emerged on the battlefield. Nearly a hundred orks roared and sprinted towards the huge tree, attacking its trunk and pushing him in a direction.
Fwip! Fwip! Several vines grew from Qiang's trunk, lashing at the orks but the orks had wood element constitution naturally and were able to endure the attacks while continuing to push the huge tree.
Krrrrr!!!! Soon with a loud sound, Qiang was uprooted! His long and numerous roots emerged on the ground and wriggled like giant snakes or tentacles, stabbing into the ground as Qiang tried to regain his footing.
Swoosh! Bam! Thwok! Xiao charged ahead madly like a monster, killing goblins, treemen and injuring empyrean soldiers alike, reaching Qiang and then pounced on his large roots, hacking them down with all her might repeatedly! The roots coiled around her, trying to capture and restrain her but Xiao was simply too strong! She was at level 9 Sage realm. Ork transformation had the effect of increasing power. Currently Xiao could be considered a pseudo Emperor realm warrior!
For several minutes the battle continued. The treemen all perished under joint attacks of empyrean warriors and goblins. The orks were attacking Qiang and supporting Xiao while Xiao hacked down the roots no matter how many times they regenerated. Other warriors attacked Qiang too. He tried to fight back but his advantage was gone and he was taking damage greatly. Nearly half an hour later, Qiang's giant tree body stopped regenerating. It no longer made any move. Qiang was dead having exhausted all his wood element traits. His constitution was unable to cope with the repeated assault which overwhelmed the recovery speed.
"Hahaha, good job everyone." Jiao complemented. "Retreat and recover now."
Swoosh! Swoosh! All the empyrean warriors hastily retreated and started healing each other. A dozen of them had died in this battle and the rest were battered. Qiang had displayed a truly powerful potential. But alas, he met his end due to his own mother.
"My slave harlot…" Jiao called out to Xiao. "Continue the assault. Kill the men and capture the women. Don't stop until your task is completed, unless you die."
Xiao silently walked ahead. Her armor was broken and barely covering her ork body now. She looked fearsome. She opened her mouth and roared loudly, sending chills down the hearts of the children at the center of the hub.
Swoosh! She charged ahead and struck the defensive strategy with her giant axe.
Boom!! An explosion occurred as white light flashed everywhere.
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Far away in an unnamed forest, Wind was cultivating patiently. Her breaths were steady and calm. Her mind was focused. Inside her body, heaven and earth forces moved around through her meridians, entering the dantian and forming shadows. These shadows swirled inside Wind's dantian, increasing in size and speed. Soon the shadows started to consolidate. They reduced in size but swirled speedily, eventually forming a pea sized bead. It was deep black and glossy. But most importantly, it was solid!
"Success…" Wind thought and smiled softly. This could only be considered half success though. Yet, from an intangible force to a solid form; this transformation of energy into matter was miraculous! But the cost of it was not little. Wind was bleeding from seven orifices. She had taken great damage as she had faced over a hundred backlashes earlier when she had failed in solidifying the shadows. Her magic ran dry and her healing pills were also finished. She had already healed herself thousands of times during her crazed cultivation over the past week after all.
"Restore…" Wind murmured, using the magic spell to restore her bodily condition to its peak once again. Her magic ran dry again. Its recovery speed was low and Wind couldn't contain large amounts of it either. She was weaker than a bottom tier elf. This was unfortunate but Wind had already made peace with it. She had no time to experiment on her body anyway. Raising her cultivation and getting stronger was the only thing on her mind now.
"Now, onto the last part." Wind thought, taking a deep breath and focused. Heaven and earth forces kept flowing into her body and were collected into her dantian, forming shadows which swirled speedily. Few minutes later, Wind formed yet another shadow bead and kept repeating this process all day long, gaining about a hundred few beads by the end of the day. These beads would be her backup source of energy just in case she became isolated from heaven and earth forces during a battle.
Next, Wind tried to melt one of these beads and tried to absorb it in her body as a trait. She didn't succeed. Sighing, she tried again. Currently the shadow element in her body was like yin and yang chi. These two could be solidified to some extent and stored as yin and yang beads. Wind and many other cultivators did it mostly during dual cultivation. But a solidified chi was different from an elemental trait. Traits could be absorbed by the body as nutrients, directly nourishing the body and changing its constitution to some degree. This is how people who used elemental stones would obtain fake elemental constitutions and become able to use elemental techniques.
Wind was prepared for the failure. Transforming chi into a trait was not only difficult, it was also unprecedented. But cultivating according to the Shadow technique, Wind continued trying.
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Meanwhile in Dwarves colony, a defensive strategy barrier crumbled and fell apart. Xiao stared at a silent black girl who was standing motionlessly not far from her. This girl was Lan.
Swoosh! Xiao leapt at her and swung her giant axe. Compared to the size of Xiao and her axe, Lan seemed tiny.
Boom! A loud sound echoed as a rocky pillar arose, defending Lan from the axe, but it shattered under the impact of the chi imbued in this forceful swing.
Swoosh! The giant axe cut through Lan immediately afterwards! But then Lan's body also crumbled and shattered.
"Hmm? A realistic statue?" Xiao furrowed her thick ork eyebrows. "Where is the real Lan?" She thought, scouting the surroundings. White light shot out of her eyes as she used the Tracker technique, seeing everything clearly up to 500 meters distance.
"There you are…" Xiao smiled. Her armor vanished & she became naked. Next, she turned into water and splattered on the ground seeping inside it and reaching towards Lan speedily.
The battle went underground and few could witness it by using their observational techniques. Xiao chased after Lan while Lan sprinted everywhere, creating tunnels and closing them behind her. Her earth element seemed useless against Xiao's water element. She could not restrict Xiao. Soon Xiao was upon her. Water trickled down and Lan was completely soaked. This water was Xiao and she quickly entered Lan's body through her nostrils, ears and eyes.
"Ahhh!!!" Lan screamed as she felt great pain from inside. Xiao was torturing her, turning her water body acidic and burning Lan from inside slowly.
"You! You dare take your daughter in law's life? You even killed your own son!" Lan shouted. "How could you do this? Even if Jiao controlled you, shouldn't your emotions be strong enough to resist it!?"
Xiao said nothing in response and started tampering with Lan's brain directly.
Rumble! The ground shook and cracked as an earthquake occurred. Ground began to split open. Soon a girl stepped out from a crevice. She was Lan. Her face was emotionless as she stared towards the defensive strategies around the central hub.
"Oh no…" Saiyu uttered as she saw this.
"She's been brainwashed by Xiao." Plant King deduced. "Xiao's water form and Tentacle assault technique together can allow her to manipulate someone's brain directly!"
Rumble! The ground shook again heavily.
"She's damaging the strategies from under the ground!" Karisa shouted nervously.
"I'll handle it!" Aisling suddenly shouted and magic erupted from her body, seeping into the ground and entering the strategies, strengthening them. At the same time, Saiyu took charge of the battle as she manipulated her strategy. She was inside an assault type strategy which suited her. She had learnt strategy manipulation from Hyun Jung- the formation spirit and also practiced sometimes with Aerin. She was a strategy expert who had even tutored Calen and Hua.
Pew! Pew! White light beams were shot out from the strategies' energy barrier, attacking Xiao and Lan.
Boom! Explosions occurred as Lan easily defended herself and Xiao by morphing the ground as shields.
Pew! Pew! Chyoom! The light beams rapidly increased in numbers and intensity, finally piercing through the tough ground shields.
Boom! A shield shattered and Xiao emerged from behind it, sprinting towards the barrier with great speed. She had returned to elf form which enabled her to move agilely. She swung her long sword rapidly, reflecting the light beams off. Soon she reached the barrier and jumped up high, falling down on the barrier and stabbing into it with her long sword which pierced through it!
Shinnnnk! Xiao slid down, resting her feet on the barrier while cutting it down cleanly. Suddenly a sharp energy beam was shot at her & cut her body in halves!
Xiao's split body turned into water and splattered on the ground before returning to elf form. She remained uninjured.
"This strategy reflects all attacks while possessing light beams as an additional attack method." Saiyu said calmly. "You cannot break in."
Xiao monitored the barrier's surface and found that the part she had sliced earlier had already recovered. Technically it wasn't a solid surface. The energy accumulated by the strategy formed this barrier which repelled anything hurled at it. This is why Xiao was able to land her feet on it and also seeming to be slicing down. But it wasn't really cut through. It was made of energy after all.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Several beams attacked Xiao. This time she didn't dodge or reflect them but let them strike her. Wherever the light beams struck, Xiao's body turned liquid and allowed the light beams to simply pass through her. Xiao couldn't be hurt through this strategy.
"Are you done preparing?" Xiao then asked as she looked over her shoulder at Lan.
"Yes." Lan nodded. Her level 4 Sage realm cultivation base revealed itself fully as her chi revolved rapidly in her dantian.
Rumble!!! The ground shook heavily as a massive earthquake assaulted the Dwarves colony.
"This again…" Plant King frowned and checked up on Aisling & Hua. They seemed tense. Hua's nose was bleeding but she immediately swallowed a medicinal pill and recovered, continuing to defend the strategies alongside Aisling.
"Oh no…! Aunt Saiyu, retreat!" Aisling suddenly shouted but it was too late.
Boom! Saiyu's strategy shattered as countless rocky spears were hurled at it from below. Even though she could strengthen the strategy, it couldn't withstand the enormous change in the terrain as the ground shook and rose up. Countless spears kept flying up, attacking Saiyu who immediately parried with a sword and defended herself urgently.
"Rising mountain of doom." Lan uttered and raised her right hand towards the mountain, controlling it. It rose high up until its peak pierced the roof of the Dwarves colony. The rocky spears rained down on Saiyu and completely obscured her figure.
"What power!"
"Too intimidating!"
The empyrean warriors were in awe. Lan had displayed her trump card just now. This rising mountain of doom had even pressured Jiao during his previous battle with Lan in the revolutionary army's base. Of course Lan didn't go all out this time, otherwise all the strategies would have crumbled despite Aisling and Hua's joint effort.
One opponent at a time! Take them out one by one! This was an effective technique Lan understood deeply. She had taken part in revolution and fought several battles. She was a smart strategist. She also understood abilities of her former allies. If their defensive strategy crumbled, they'd be forced to come to battle together. At that time things could get unpredictable. Currently everyone from Wind's group wanted to stall for time. Thus, as long as the strategy was intact, they won't come out to battle together. Their previously smart tactic was now becoming their flaw and Lan was expertly exploiting it. Taking them out one by one was much easier.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Spears rained down and pierced into the ground, forming a large spiky area. In the middle of it, Saiyu could be seen. She had been pierced by multiple spears. Her blood was dripping down and forming a pool underneath her. She was dead.
"Next." Jiao commanded from afar and Xiao and Lan moved towards their next target. Aisling and Hua panicked! They weren't good at fighting just yet. They were good at support instead.
"You retreat. I will hold them off." Aisling said to Hua.
"I can't leave you alone, sister. Let me fight alongside you!" Hua insisted. She and Aisling were half-sisters. They had same mother-Xiao. And this was seemingly their last day in the world. They'd meet their doom at Xiao's hands. But they were clear on their plan. They had to stall and buy time for Wind.
Swoosh! Xiao sprinted towards the barrier and transformed into an ork along the way. Her long sword disappeared and was replaced by a giant axe.
Boom! Xiao struck powerfully. An intense shockwave rippled through the barrier before it crumbled.
"My lovely daughters…" Xiao spoke emotionlessly. "Submit and become sex slaves for the emperor. This is your best choice."
"Mother…" Aisling and Hua sobbed.
"Summon!" Aisling gritted her teeth and casted her best magic spell. It was her trump card.
Swooshh!!! Eerie cold winds blew in the entire Dwarves colony before consolidating in between Aisling and Xiao. It took the form of a ghost. This ghost was hideous and had many twisted arms of varying forms. Some resembled different animals' limbs, some were like claws, some were like tentacles. Its main body was a fuzzy round orb with a single red eye on it which glared at Xiao.
"Whooooooooo!!!" The ghost howled creepily and charged towards Xiao.
"Hmph!" Xiao snorted and returned to her elf form.
"Whooooo!!" The ghost attacked with all of its arms at once. The arms easily penetrated through Xiao's body and immediately she froze up, turning into an ice sculpture.
"What is this…?" Jiao frowned. This was his and everyone else' first time seeing a ghost. There were of course lore and fables borne out of superstitions about ghosts but this was a real thing right in front of them. They were unsure about the ghost's power.
"It's pure yin." Jiao quickly deduced. Ghosts were indeed said to be souls possessing acute yin chi. Currently Xiao was struck by the ghost's powerful attack. It infected Xiao with large amounts of yin, freezing her up immediately.
"Restore." Xiao mumbled inside the icy shell which had covered her up and immediately the ice shattered, revealing an uninjured Xiao.
"Whoooo!!!" The ghost screamed and attacked Xiao again, freezing her up but Xiao used the restore spell again. This process repeated itself several times. The ghost's size was reducing rapidly! It was expending its yin chi to attack Xiao. But Xiao was a high tier elf. She had plenty magic in her to use the restore spell several times. She calmly faced this attack and the ghost would soon be destroyed.
Lan was watching this calmly from behind. She was waiting for her chi to recover. Xiao alone was plenty to handle the two weak girls Aisling and Hua anyway.
"Got you bitch!" Suddenly a voice whispered from behind Lan. A sword shined and swirled hacking at her neck with great speed.
Clanggg!!!! Sparks flew as Lan was tossed aside from the sheer force of the attack. But she was unhurt!
"This...how!?" Saiyu exclaimed but she dared not give Lan any chance. She immediately rushed towards her. Her knight armor was glistening and she moved like a white flicker reaching near Lan within a moment.
Swoosh! Her sword flashed in air multiple times as she used the Silvery Flicker technique.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks kept flying with each strike. Lan was tossed around like a cannonball. Looking at this, Jiao was surprised.
"This girl is alive?" He thought. "I clearly saw her dying!"
"I see your illusion technique is as good as Hyun Jung's" Lan said at this moment while landing on the ground and skidding backwards. As she regained her footing, she clapped her hands and soil began to climb up on her body, covering her up entirely and accumulating layers upon layers, taking form of a giant golem.
"I have gotten stronger as well." Lan added before stomping towards Saiyu. The two started to fight violently.
"An illusion technique that could even affect an Emperor realm cultivator…" Jiao pondered. "It is intriguing, & also very dangerous. This girl must not be spared!"
Boom! Boom! Clang! Saiyu attacked the stone golem strongly, chopping off its limbs but it kept regenerating as more and more soil and rocks continued to reinforce it. Meanwhile Lan was obviously safe inside the golem. Saiyu ultimately used a strategy to isolate the golem from the ground, cutting off its supply. It worked. Saiyu began to get an upper hand and soon the golem was entire chopped to pieces. But surprisingly Lan wasn't inside it!
"This…" Saiyu had an intense foreboding as she realized that Lan wasn't inside the golem.
Swoosh! Saiyu suddenly turned and swung her sword splitting a crossbow bolt which had leapt at her silently from behind.
"Silent Arrow technique huh? Where are you hiding Lan? How are you hiding? Is it camouflage?" Saiyu asked while carefully moving around, prepared to parry against any attack. She and Lan were inside a strategy that isolated Lan from the ground, cutting off her advantage. To break it, Lan would have to show herself.
Lan had obtained great insight on her earth element constitution in the past, developing the ability to modify her skin. She could even endure thunderbolts, let alone mere sword attacks. Her skin also allowed her to camouflage. She was best suited as an assassin, having mastered Silent Arrow technique, her every move was silent as she walked around stealthily.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Clang! Arrows kept hurling towards Saiyu every now and then. She'd parry perfectly, thanks to her amazing instincts and chase after the source of the arrow trajectory. But Lan kept moving around, not giving Saiyu a chance to get her.
At once, Saiyu's speed was of little help to her. Lan's camouflage was great and the strategy was spacious.
"Kill her. This one I don't want her captured alive." Jiao coldly said from afar.
Saiyu pursed her lips. Compared to Lan, she was weak. It was mostly because Lan had an earth element constitution and two elemental techniques with great power in each move of theirs.
Rumble! The ground shook and so did Saiyu's heart.
"She was trying to capture me alive after all huh." Saiyu uttered smiling bitterly as her strategy was torn apart by a rising mountain of doom.
"Damn it Wind. To think that I wouldn't get to curse at you for having brought this upon us…" Saiyu muttered. "Then again…it has been an adventurous life."
Puchi! A silent arrow pierced through Saiyu's armor and then her heart, killing her. She couldn't cast an illusion this time. The mountain of doom was just a decoy and this arrow was the real deal. It glistened with faint green light. Lan had already started forging such unique arrows from rare minerals and metals.
Lan cancelled her camouflage and turned around, she witnessed that Hua had been beaten to a pulp by Xiao while Aisling had admitted defeat. Her best spell was of no help against Xiao. She could still stall but Xiao had actually gone after Hua and thrashed her viciously. In order to save her sister's life, Aisling surrendered and begged Xiao to spare Hua. Xiao then stowed the two girls inside her spatial ring and moved towards the next strategy barrier. Her opponents this time were the remnants of Order of Chaos. Four groups of 4 nuns each; well trained by Wu Shang, Deodomus and having good coordination in combat. This was going to be tricky.
Lan and Xiao stood side by side, facing their targets.
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"Ohok!" Wind coughed out a mouthful of black blood. She looked pale and almost fainted. But she regained her senses quickly and smiled.
"Success at last." Wind thought. She had succeeded in obtaining a shadow element constitution!
This wasn't easy. She had suffered many failures. Ultimately, Wind decided to experiment. She tried to infuse the shadow element into her blood instead of her tissues and such. Her blood was unique. It was the Carny heirloom. This blood could be manipulated as an extension of Wind's body and had miraculous effects. It strengthened her body and helped her in many ways. She even succeeded in transforming into an elf due to aid from her unique blood.
After some initial failures and backlashes, Wind finally succeeded. Her blood was no longer red but instead reddish black! The darkness of its color kept increasing as Wind continued to melt all the shadow beads and mixed them into her blood. This blood flowed through her veins and helped her tissues absorb the shadow element, thus providing her a shadow element constitution which would only keep getting stronger as Wind mixes more and more shadow in her blood and body.
Sighing, Wind swayed a little and then fell on her back, dozing off immediately. She was very tired having cultivated nonstop and had suffered several injuries. She had no healing pills left and didn't want to misspend her barely recovered magic either. She chose to recover naturally by sleeping.
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Inside the Dwarves colony, the first group of nuns surrendered quickly. One of them was butchered by Xiao earlier though. The two formidable women Xiao and Lan then moved towards the next group which was protected by an even stronger strategy than the previous one. The deeper one went, the stronger were the strategies.
Xiao turned into an ork again and attacked the strategy while the nuns inside murmured their last prayers. They intended to die fighting. It was better than submitting to the enemy and be subjected to endless sexual violence and humiliation.
Boom! The strategy crumbled after several minutes.
"Chaos burst!!!" the four nuns shouted, using their strong assault in unison. Powerful chaotic vibrations lashed out and attacked Xiao & Lan, whipping up a dust cloud.