Sun Lotus City
Bao Zhi was back in his room. He has collected all the materials for his upcoming refinement. Now, he checked them one last time.
He nodded to himself in satisfaction. After separating the damaged and impure gu materials he portioned them into separate batches.
"I'll need to recover my essence before I begin." - He noted as he inspected his fake aperture.
He checked his bag of primeval stones. He didn't even have to look into it, by weight he knew it only had a dozen primeval stones left.
"Just barely enough." - Bao Zhi sighed.
He took out his rank three primeval elder gu in one hand while holding the primeval stones in his other.
Next, he started absorbing the stones and created rank one green copper primeval essence.
His fake aperture was slowly filling up with essence. When it was close to full Bao Zhi activated the primeval elder gu in his left hand.
The rank three gu drank up the rank one primeval essence like a thirsty traveler in a desert. As a consequence, Bao Zhi's essence started to decline at a sharp rate.
The primeval stones in his hands turned to fine sand one after another as they got depleted.
Bao Zhi focused on his multitasking. He couldn't be interrupted or this essence would be wasted.
After a long time, the last of his primeval stone was gone as well.
Bao Zhi lowered his right hand and rested it on the small pile of fine sand beside him.
At the same time, his essence was only about ten percent in his fake aperture.
He looked at the primeval elder gu in his left hand with a hint of anxiousness as he continued to channel his essence.
Five percent primeval essence left.
"Success." - He breathed out in relief.
The primeval elder gu activated finally. Bao Zhi gained access to his wealth again. Now he could retrieve a few hundred primeval stones from the primeval elder gu.
But he wasn't satisfied. This process was needlessly expensive and lengthy.
He looked out his window, the daylight was already gone. Now only the scattered lights of the sun lotuses shone into his room.
"This was the last time. After this refinement, I will get access to primeval essence much easier."
* * * * *
An injured and exhausted gu master arrived.
"Scout from the northeast region, reporting." - He was panting as he tried to catch his breath.
The gu master officer didn't catch onto his state, he asked indifferently:
"Why are you here? Can't you just submit your report?"
"This cannot wait. Something happened on the outskirts of the region. Wild beasts are approaching Sun Lotus City. There is a beast tide!" - Reported the scout.
"A beast tide?" - The officer almost fell off his chair in shock.
"Yes!" - Confirmed the scout with a hurried expression on his face.
"There should be no migrations at this time. This is very strange. What beasts formed the tide?"
"There isn't just one species. I witnessed at least two hundred beast king Forest Apes and a thousand beast king Long Feather Python."
The officer's expression turned grave.
"This is serious, we have to report this to the city hall. Follow me!" - The officer got up.
"Scout from the southern region, reporting. There are sightings of a horde of Stone Skin Rhinos heading this way." - Arrived another scout abruptly.
"What? Another one?" - The officer was dumbfounded. This was getting more and more bizarre.
"What is going on?"
"I don't know. This is all I could find out." - The scout shook his head, looking just as perplexed as the officer.
"You too, come with me!" - The officer said and left with the scouts in tow.
In the city hall, the atmosphere was tense.
"Two reports of migrating beast tides? This is unprecedented." - Said one of the officials.
"What should we do? Should we send out troops to investigate?" - Asked another.
"There is no time. We have to evacuate the city immediately. Take the mortals to the underground shelter. Fortify the city walls. Organize the gu master teams." - Ordered the city lord.
City lord Ding Shuren used his voice transmission to inform the citizens.
The officials hurried to carry out the orders. The city bells rang out, warning the citizens of the impending danger.
In a panic, the people rushed to gather their belongings and evacuate the city. It was complete chaos.
As the people were fleeing, the twilight sky darkened and a shadow loomed over the city.
"What is that?" - Someone cried out in terror.
It was a gigantic creature, at least fifty meters long. It had a snake-like body and a pair of wings.
"A dragon! There's a flying dragon!" - Exclaimed a mortal when they saw the Long Feathered Python.
The thousand beast king python landed loudly. The soundwaves shook the city walls.
The people were in a panic, some were even trampled to death in the stampede.
The gu masters teams were hastily assembled and deployed to the city walls. They launched their long-range attacks on the python, but it was ineffective.
The Long Feathered Python opened its mouth and breathed out a stream of fire. The houses caught on fire and the people screamed in terror next to the city walls.
"Watch out! It has a fire path gu in its mouth!" - Shouted a gu master from his cover.
City lord Ding Shuren was desperately trying to maintain order, but it was hopeless. The city was being destroyed before his very eyes.
"This is only the first wave. But our defenses are already in this state." - He muttered to himself in despair.
Ding Shuren left his office to personally fight the invading beast king. Stabilizing the situation was the most important for now.
He noticed a green shadow jumping on the rooftops before him.
It was a familiar sight.
"Vile beast! You can only dream of ruining my residence!" - The green shadow stopped and his shrill voice called out.
It was old master Ye.
"Elder Ye!" - Ding Shuren arrived and greeted Ye Ruogang.
"City lord, leave this python beast to my humble self." - He laughed lightly showing his yellowed teeth.
"Be careful of its breath." - Ding Shuren reminded.
"Thank you for your concern city lord, but I've been itching to try this new inheritance I bought at the auction."
The city lord nodded at him. He was confident that a rank four gu master like old master Ye would be sufficient to fight the Long Feathered Python.
Ye Ruogang put together his palms and activated his gu worms.
His skin turned to a dark-colored bark. His body started to grow and thicken. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a gigantic tree-man.
"Hahahaha! This is the power of the Wooden Giant Transformation! Come, let me show you the might of a rank four gu master!" - Ye Ruogang's voice boomed as he stepped forward to engage the Long Feathered Python.
The Long Feathered Python was startled by the sudden appearance of the giant. It immediately shifted its attention from the ant-like gu masters in front of him and attacked the tree giant.
"Gee whiz! This is the first time I'm facing such a huge enemy! This is exhilarating!" - Ye Ruogang shouted and punched the Long Feathered Python's face.
The impact sent the beast king flying. It crashed into the city wall flattening houses on its way. When it stopped, it was still momentarily stunned.
Anyone who couldn't get out of the beast's way was left without an intact corpse, turned into meat paste.
"Be prepared to meet your maker, you beast!" - Ye Ruogang dashed towards the python and continued his assault.
The Long Feathered Python recovered and blew out a stream of fire at the tree giant. It hit him squarely on the chest.
"Ack! This is not good!" - The tree giant crashed loudly into the streets below. Flames were spreading rapidly, charring his bark skin.
The giant tried to put out the flames by hitting and quenching them with his palm.
"Let me help you." - The city lord said to him.
"No, not yet!" - Ye Ruogang gritted his teeth.
Old master Ye focused his consciousness on his gu worms. He still had a technique left he wanted to try.
"Four arms holding the sky!" - He called out the name of the killer move as another pair of arms grew out of his body.
The giant proceeded to put out the flames while the Long Feathered Python looked on warily.
"This technique is quite powerful!" - He exclaimed in joy.
The extra arms were very useful. He was able to put out the flames much quicker and with less effort.
The Long Feathered Python flapped its wings and took to the air wanting to breathe out another stream of fire once more at the charred black behemoth.
But Ye Ruogang acted one step quicker. He grabbed the beast king by its tail with two hands and slammed it into the ground. His other pair of hands were locked into a hammer as they came striking down in succession.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Die, haha!" - Ye Ruogang shouted as he smashed the Long Feathered Python into the ground.
The beast king was dazed. It tried to get free, but the tree giant held firmly onto it. Unable to escape, it fiercely counterattacked like the cornered beast it was.
The python coiled around Ye Ruogang. It opened its mouth again, and many rows of needle-like teeth were ready to bite into the giant's head.
"Hmph! Wishful thinking." - Roared the giant as it grabbed the snake's neck with one hand. Two hands grabbed onto the wings of the beast. The last hand still held the beast's tail.
"Aaaaah!" - Howled the giant loudly.
The people on the ground looked on with dumbfounded expressions.
The struggling beast king was ripped into four by the powerful arms like it was made of noodles.
Blood was raining to the ground for a short while before the torn body parts came crashing down as well.
The people who had been trying to escape were now cheering and hugging each other.
Ye Ruogang collapsed to the ground. His body was smoking. He turned back to human form and was enveloped by burns.
"Ah, this is not good! All the injuries are concentrated on my human body now." - Ye Ruogang said in a pained voice as he lost consciousness.
Ding Shuren frowned. Old master Ye was an important pillar of Sun Lotus city.
He even suspected that the sly old schemer deliberately wanted to excuse himself while putting on a good show. But it could not be helped, his injuries were real. He could not be relied on for the time being.
Suddenly, the ground started shaking.
"What's happening?" - Someone cried out.
"It's an earthquake!" - Exclaimed another.
The shaking became more violent and the city walls started to shake.
"The Stone Skin Rhinos are here!" - Someone shouted in terror.
A horde of Stone Skin Rhinos came crashing through the city walls. They were followed by a pack of Forest Apes.
The people were being trampled and torn apart by the beasts. The gu masters were fighting desperately, but they were outnumbered and outmatched.
The city was being overrun by the beasts. There was no hope for the people of Sun Lotus City.
* * * * *
Bao Zhi was in the middle of his refinement when Ding Shuren's announcement came via voice transmission.
"So soon?" - He was surprised the calamity was already here.
Bao Zhi had to stop his refinement.
A moment later Jin Ju rushed into his room anxiously.
"Did you hear it? They are calling for every gu master."
"A calamity is coming. Take off your gu master clothes and go with the mortals." - Bao Zhi instructed as he pointed at the red uniform that Jin Ju was wearing now.
While Bao Zhi was gone to collect the Ling Zhi for his refinement, Jin Ju managed to break through to rank two initial stage. His red robes matched his rank two red steel primeval essence.
"You don't have any experience in fighting and you have just advanced to rank two. Just try to stay alive for now."
"Are you coming as well?"
"No. I will look for you when I'm done." - With that said Bao Zhi turned around and left the puzzled Jin Ju.
Bao Zhi headed toward the city hall.
* * * * *