Motionless and staring intently at the light screen, Lu Yu and the others couldn't help but swallow nervously as they watched the scene unfold.
Everything that stood in the way of the massive beasts—whether it was towering trees or mountain rocks glowing with black light and mixed with metal—turned to dust. The entire world seemed to be bathed in a fiery glow, and from afar, it appeared as if even the heavy mountain itself was being consumed by flames.
"This charge alone... not even one Taicheng, but a hundred stacked Taichengs would be flattened!" Ji Qing murmured, almost delirious.
"Indeed," said Ji Ze, still with a look of shock on his face, "These three-headed beasts are taller than the city walls of Taicheng. The fire on their bodies is supernatural. A charge from a thousand of them would likely incinerate even the Cangqing Mountains."
"Look, those are the people from the Da Fu clan," Lu Yu pointed toward the light screen, where seven figures appeared.
The seven figures wore black robes, shimmering with streaks of light, forming strange symbols. Their faces resembled those of the Taicang people, but there were distinct symbols etched on their skin—on the backs of their hands, their necks, and the right side of their faces.
Three of the figures revealed their bodies, with symbols in different shapes and positions. The symbols on the other four were concealed by their robes, making it impossible to see.
The seven black-robed figures stood motionless at the base of the mountain, their bodies exuding an air of calm and ease. It seemed as though the thousands of three-headed beasts charging down the mountain, threatening to incinerate everything in their path, were but an illusion—utterly insignificant.
Meng Gui, rarely speaking, furrowed his brows. "Why are there only seven of them from Da Fu? Where are the rest of their army?"
Zhao Qu answered, "Although Da Fu's land is vast and abundant, its population is sparse. Many parts of the territory are barren and uninhabited."
Meng Gui still didn't understand. "Even so, their population should still be dozens of times larger than ours. Facing such a terrifying beast kingdom, Da Fu only sends seven powerful individuals? What about the rest of their soldiers?"
Zhao Qu paused, then said, "There's another possibility."
Ji Qianqing stared at the seven Da Fu warriors on the light screen and added, "Da Fu believes that with just these seven individuals, they can defeat this powerful beast kingdom."
Meng Gui shuddered under his black cloak, unable to believe it. "How is that possible? Even if these seven are all godly beings, they would be burned to ashes by the flames from these beasts!"
"Godly beings?" Perched in silence, Po Xian glanced at Meng Gui and remarked, "Even spirit manipulators, facing so many three-headed fiery beasts, would only meet their demise."
"Spirit manipulators?" Meng Gui struggled to focus on Po Xian. He was one of the strongest in Taicang, but had grown up there and his worldview had been shaped by Taicang's narrow scope.
In Taicang, Jiuquan, Zhouqing, E Jiao, and the surrounding smaller nations, no spirit manipulators had ever been born. Even godly beings were so rare that every nation only had one or two—let alone spirit manipulators.
Thus, the rarity and power of spirit manipulators were made clear.
As they continued discussing, the beasts were already trampling the earth, drawing closer. The seven black-robed figures finally moved.
The leader among them slowly raised his right hand, and a flash of light passed over the symbol on his palm. He began to float off the ground, ascending to more than ten zhang in the air.
"Being able to fly means at least one of them is a spirit manipulator!" Meng Gui's face, hidden beneath his black mask, would have shown disbelief if it were visible.
The black-robed figure hovered in the sky as countless three-headed beasts raised their three heads, their eyes burning with fury. The first beast, with a tiger's head at its center, roared as a fireball shot out from its mouth, aimed at the black-robed figure in the sky.
One after another, the tiger heads of the beasts lifted and released a blinding wave of fiery projectiles, sending a scorching heat toward the black-robed figure. The figure was buffeted by the oncoming flames, his cloak fluttering in the wind.
Immediately after, a storm of fireballs descended from the sky.
The other six black-robed figures took flight, two of them positioning themselves beside the leader. They traced their fingers through the air, drawing complex symbols in the void.
As they moved their fingers, symbols appeared in the air, and they quickly fused together to form a massive circular shield, ten zhang wide and tall.
The shield glowed with a myriad of shifting symbols, while other symbols spiraled like rivers. The fireballs, numbering in the thousands, crashed against the shield, but instead of an explosion, the fireballs seemed to be swallowed into an endless abyss, disappearing without a sound.
The small beings atop the beasts, with their single eyes glowing brighter in rage, had their bodies engulfed in red-hot flames. Their small wings flared with intense fiery energy, transforming into massive wings of flame, stretching ten zhang wide.
As the fiery wings flapped, the three-headed beasts began to levitate and fly into the sky. The thunderous sound of their wings created a vortex, with fiery embers swirling in the air, heading toward the seven black-robed figures. At the same time, the beasts roared in unison and charged toward them.
The black-robed leader remained silent, and with a gesture, a scroll appeared in his hand.
The scroll's edges were made of a purple jade, and its surface gleamed with a mysterious energy. The scroll exuded an aura of immense spiritual power, indicating its extraordinary value.
"This must be a spiritual artifact, and of a very high rank," Zhao Qu said gravely.
As the scroll appeared, the natural symbols on the seven black-robed figures glowed brightly, and their spiritual energy surged, flowing into the scroll. Particularly the leader, whose spiritual energy poured forth like a waterfall.
The scroll began to slowly unfurl.
On the scroll was an intricate and powerful symbol, so complex that it seemed alive. As the seven Da Fu figures poured more spiritual energy into it, the symbol leaped from the scroll and disintegrated in the air, forming countless lines that intertwined and fused.
In an instant, a massive spiritual hammer formed from these lines.
The beasts, with their fiery wings, charged in unison, but the seven figures showed no change in expression. The black-robed leader's spiritual energy surged, and the symbol on his palm glowed brightly as he pointed toward the beast army.
The spiritual hammer grew larger, blocking out the sky, its powerful spiritual energy almost taking physical form. It hurtled toward the beasts.
"Boom!"
A massive sound erupted, and endless smoke filled the air, blocking the view of the light screen.
"Boom, boom..."
The ground shook, causing the hearts of Ji Xia and the others to tremble.
After a long silence, the smoke cleared.
The seven black-robed figures had disappeared, and in the light screen, the earth where they had fought was left with a massive pit, hundreds of zhang wide and dozens of zhang deep.
Around the pit, numerous cracks had formed, stretching out for thousands of zhang.
At the center of the pit, there was a blurred mass of flesh and blood—heads of the massive beasts had been crushed and exploded, their remains pooling together in a sea of blood.
As the light screen faded and the jade slip rolled up, Ji Xia exchanged a silent glance with the others. The fear and... despair in their eyes were unmistakable.