Chapter 478: The Great Enemy Arrives
Xiao Hei also sensed that killing intent. He flipped over and stood up, glaring at Ao Xinyan, then spoke in human language: "Our powerful enemy is about to arrive, troublesome one, you'd better leave quickly."
"Fat cat, who are you calling troublesome?" Ao Xinyan glared at Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei rolled his eyes, showing a large expanse of white, as if to say, "Who else but you?"
Ao Xinyan ground her teeth. If she hadn't also sensed a group of experts rapidly approaching, she would have definitely taught this fat cat a lesson first.
Ao Xinyan walked over to Zhang Ruochen, drew the Dragon Pattern Emerald Water Sword, and said with some guilt: "These people must have come to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm because of me. Team Leader, I'm sorry."
"Do you think that even if you hadn't sent the message, they wouldn't have come?" Zhang Ruochen said.
As a king among the new generation, every move Zhang Ruochen made was under the surveillance of various major powers. Even if Ao Xinyan hadn't leaked the information, those forces with ill intentions toward Zhang Ruochen would have learned of his whereabouts in a very short time.
Ao Xinyan said: "No matter what, I can't escape responsibility for this. Team Leader, let me help you."
At this moment, Zhang Ruochen no longer told her to leave. The group of experts was getting closer, forming an encirclement. Even if they wanted to escape, it wouldn't be easy.
Xiao Hei lay on the ground, his claws moving rapidly.
Every time he scratched the ground, he left behind a formation inscription mark. The marks crisscrossed and overlapped, quickly forming a circular formation diagram twelve meters in diameter.
Ao Xinyan was stunned, never expecting that this fat cat could actually set up formations.
Moreover, the speed at which he carved inscription marks was astonishingly fast.
"Zhang Ruochen is indeed no ordinary person. Even the cat he keeps is so formidable. The formation he's inscribing is very complex and profound—could it be a fourth-rank formation?"
Ao Xinyan's mood was very complicated. She found it hard to believe and once again realized a truth.
There is always a sky beyond the sky, and people beyond people.
Formation masters had always held a very noble status in the Kunlun Realm.
Especially those formation masters who could set up top-tier formations were respected by countless people, even able to stand on equal footing with Half-Saints and Saints.
If a martial artist could gain the assistance of a powerful formation, their strength could double, or even increase several times.
The Holy Academy also had a formation department, but among this year's new students, only a few could set up a fourth-rank formation.
If this cat could also set up a fourth-rank formation, wouldn't that crush the formation geniuses of the Holy Academy into utter shame?
Xiao Hei looked at the completed inscription marks and sighed in disappointment: "Still too weak in strength, I can only set up a fourth-rank formation, the Wind Split Cloud Roll Formation. If I had a bit more power, I might be able to set up a fifth-rank formation."
Then, Xiao Hei took out pieces of spirit crystals and carefully buried them underground, using the inscription marks to connect the crystals with the formation.
The spirit crystals would provide the energy needed for the formation to operate.
Not long after the formation took shape, two streaks of afterimage light flew rapidly under the moonlight, landing halfway up the mountain.
The two afterimages stopped, revealing a man and a woman.
The man was tall and handsome, with sword-like brows and eagle-like eyes, a dashing young master. The woman was tall and slender, with a beautiful face, like a moon goddess.
They were Zuo Qiuling of the Zuo Holy Clan and Xi Yunxi of the Xi Holy Clan.
Xi Yunxi revealed two rows of snow-white teeth, staring at Zhang Ruochen standing in the distance, and laughed: "Knowing we've caught up, you didn't even try to escape?"
Zhang Ruochen said: "You two are holy disciples of the First Group of the Sword Dao Department, and I am the team leader of that group. Why should I flee upon seeing you?"
Zuo Qiuling and Xi Yunxi exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter.
Zuo Qiuling's smile faded, and a cold, ruthless expression appeared on his face: "Zhang Ruochen, do you think this is still the Holy Academy? A mere country bumpkin from the Demon Ridge, thinking you can be our team leader? You overestimate yourself too much."
Ao Xinyan stepped forward and said: "Zuo Qiuling, Xi Yunxi, what exactly are you doing chasing us to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm?"
Xi Yunxi looked at Ao Xinyan as if she were an idiot and said: "Of course, we're here to kill Zhang Ruochen. What other purpose could there be? And we should thank you—if you hadn't revealed Zhang Ruochen's whereabouts, we wouldn't have caught up so quickly to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm."
Ao Xinyan's expression changed: "We are all holy disciples of the Holy Academy. How can we kill each other? Aren't you afraid of punishment from the Holy Academy?"
"As long as Zhang Ruochen dies in the Wood Essence Ruins Realm, who will know it was us? Of course, since you know about this, you'll have to die too."
"First, get rid of her, then deal with Zhang Ruochen."
Xi Yunxi and Zuo Qiuling simultaneously activated their movement techniques, charging forward, each striking out with a palm technique.
"Boom!"
Ao Xinyan swung her sword and slashed, sending out an arc-shaped sword energy.
The palm force and sword energy collided, and Xi Yunxi and Zuo Qiuling were knocked back, landing in their original positions.
Their palms were cut open by the sword energy, leaving long bloody gashes.
"With your strength, you're far from being able to fight me, and you want to kill the team leader?" Ao Xinyan said.
"Is that so?" Xi Yunxi smiled.
"Swish, swish!"
Figures leaped out from the jungle, eighteen in total. Each of them had reached the Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection, surrounding Zhang Ruochen, Xiao Hei, and Ao Xinyan in the center.
These eighteen people were carefully selected from the three Saintly Clans, all of them experts.
They were not on the Heavenly Ranking, but their strength was not much weaker than those on the Heavenly Ranking.
Even the proud Ao Xinyan dared not claim she could withstand a siege from eighteen Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection martial artists.
Xi Yunxi circulated her true qi, letting it flow through her palm, and the bloodstains on her hand healed automatically. She said: "What does it matter if you're strong? Can you withstand a combined strike from eighteen Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection martial artists?"
Ao Xinyan took two steps back, retreating into the Wind Split Cloud Roll Formation set up by Xiao Hei, and stood beside Zhang Ruochen, whispering: "Let's join forces and break out of the encirclement."
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head, instead fixing his gaze on another direction, and said: "Pei Ji, since you're already here, why not show yourself?"
"Tap, tap!"
Pei Ji slowly walked out from the forest, still looking sickly, and said: "Zhang Ruochen, I've always been curious—why didn't you stay in the Holy Academy and instead come to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm? Don't you know this is no different from seeking death?"
"I came to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm for my own reasons. Besides, I can't hide in the Holy Academy forever. I have to come out and walk around, see the outside world," Zhang Ruochen said.
Seeing Pei Ji appear, Ao Xinyan was not as relaxed as Zhang Ruochen. Her face turned pale in an instant.
Even if she and Zhang Ruochen joined forces against the eighteen Heavenly Extreme Realm Great Perfection experts, they still had a chance to escape. But Pei Ji's appearance was like the God of Death, cutting off all their hopes of survival.
Number forty-one on the Heavenly Ranking, the Blood-Handed Butcher.
This title and this ranking were earned by Pei Ji through one battle after another, with pure hard power.
Below the Fish-Dragon Realm, how many people could remain calm and composed when encountering Pei Ji?
Ao Xinyan bit her lip tightly and said: "It's all because I leaked the news that they chased us to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm. Team Leader, you go first. I'll hold them off."
With that, Ao Xinyan infused her true qi into the Dragon Pattern Emerald Water Sword, activating the inscription marks of this sacred sword, and charged out.
"Falling Yellow Spring."
A ghost-level lower-grade sword technique, the Falling Green Sword Technique.
Guided by the sword energy, the heaven and earth spiritual energy transformed into a wave of water, flying forward with the war sword, aimed directly at Pei Ji.
"Overestimating yourself."
Pei Ji shook his head, and true qi surged from his Qi Sea, flowing to his right arm, bursting out through his pores, forming rings of spiral-shaped flames.
"Flame Beast Force!"
As Pei Ji pushed his palm forward, a roar of a barbaric beast echoed from within his arm.
It was as if a giant beast was sealed inside his arm.
With a single palm strike, the palm force condensed into a flame beast phantom, like a fiery hurricane, charging toward Ao Xinyan.
"Boom!"
The sword energy formed by the Falling Green Sword Technique was shattered in an instant by the flame beast phantom.
Ao Xinyan immediately infused her true qi into the crystal stone on her wrist. The crystal stone emitted streaks of inscription marks, forming a light shield that enveloped her body.
The flame beast phantom struck the light shield, sending Ao Xinyan flying backward, crashing more than ten zhang away.
Ao Xinyan's eyes were filled with shock. Pei Ji's strength was terrifying. If she hadn't activated the protective power of her defensive treasure in time, she would have been severely injured by that move.
Was this the combat power of the number forty-one on the Heavenly Ranking?
Pei Ji's strength not only shocked Ao Xinyan but also surprised Zhang Ruochen.
Pei Ji withdrew his palm, placing it behind his back, as if everything was under control, and said: "You have no chance to escape, Zhang Ruochen. Hand over the Dragon Pearl, and I'll give you a quick death."
With Pei Ji's cultivation, he didn't actually need to take orders from Xu Hai.
The reason he was so eager to come to the Wood Essence Ruins Realm to deal with Zhang Ruochen was still for the Dragon Pearl.
If he obtained the Dragon Pearl, Pei Ji's strength would surely increase greatly, and even breaking into the top ten of the Heavenly Ranking wouldn't be difficult. Moreover, with the Dragon Pearl's help, breaking through to the Fish-Dragon Realm would become much easier.
"Still after the Dragon Pearl," Zhang Ruochen said with a smile.
Zuo Qiuling stood behind Pei Ji and said coldly: "Zhang Ruochen, if you're smart, you'll hand over the Dragon Pearl immediately."
"The Dragon Pearl is on me. If you want it, come and take it with your real skills," Zhang Ruochen said.
Zuo Qiuling smiled: "Then let me show you my real skills."