Chapter 444: Funeral Dirge
Up above, the sky looked like it was filled with black clouds as an enormous spider leg descended upon this fifteen hundred meter area.
The ground trembled as massive pressure bore down in all directions. All life forms within the fifteen hundred meter area were completely incapable of evasion. Everything was crushed into nothing more than ash beneath the shocking power.
“He’ll die for sure!” thought Zhao Youlan. She was surrounded by the nine Nascent Soul Elders, but her face was completely white. Suddenly, she frowned.
Her frown was because of the pain of her severed arm. The pain not only caused her face to pale, but affected her mentally. It took all the effort she could muster to ignore the pain of her lost arm and focus on analyzing Meng Hao.
“That silk of his can bind up even the High Priest, which shows how powerful it is. All of his hope rests on that silk, and he probably knows exactly how powerful it is. Therefore, he’s actually most likely NOT going to die!
“His Cultivation base is profound, he’s as clever as a fox, and is extremely decisive too. He’s the type of person who is calculating and vicious. As a Grand Dragoneer, any Tribe should be wary of provoking him….” Zhao Youlan sighed lightly. Had she known that the five Tribes of the Crow Divinity had the backing of someone as powerful as Grandmaster Meng, then she would have adjusted her plans.
“Actually, it doesn’t really matter if he lives or dies. The blood I spat out just now will notify the Tribe that my trial by fire has failed. The main forces from the Tribe will be arriving soon.”
Even as she mused regarding these things, the spider leg arrived at Meng Hao, slamming into the tightly sealed silk cocoon surrounding him. From a distance, the leg looked like an enormous black sickle.
However, when it was about ten meters away from Meng Hao, it was suddenly obstructed by the Eyeless Larva silk. A massive boom echoed out, transforming into a shockwave which swept out across everything. A massive wind kicked up, battering into the surrounding Cultivators and forcing them backward.
Meng Hao’s body trembled and he coughed up blood. The black sickle pushed down from the ten meter position, slowly nearing Meng Hao. Despite its slowness, it still emanated intense, destructive pressure that pushed down onto Meng Hao.
His body trembled as the sickle reached the five meter mark.
Four meters, three meters, two meters, one meter, half a meter….
Meng Hao looked up at the sickle as it approached, his eyes radiating coldness. Although his body shook as he gazed up, when you compared this pressure with that of Heavenly Tribulation, it was simply…
“Too weak!” said Meng Hao coolly. The sickle was now only three inches away from the top of his head.
That three inch gap was like the difference between Heaven and Earth. It was an unbridgeable gap! The Eyeless Larva silk was wrapped too tightly. Nothing in Heaven or Earth could destroy it!
No matter how the sickle tried to break it, it couldn’t. Soon the sickle began to tremble. In the blink of an eye, all of its power was gone, and it transformed into ash, right there, three inches away from Meng Hao.
A howl drifted down from up above in the sky. Everything grew dim and the clouds seethed as a gigantic spider with legs like sickles magically appeared up above. It seemed to rip itself out from the void, followed by the roaring totemic Sacred Ancients of the Five Tribes, who were pestering it in a way that made it impossible for the thing to descend any further.
The instant that the black sickle disappeared, the members of the Five Tribes within the shield let out powerful roars. There were seven Nascent Soul Cultivators, as well as all the other surviving Tribe members.
The archaic Crow Soldier Tribe Greatfather, who had the combined desire for revenge of more than ten fellow Nascent Soul Tribe members imprinted on his heart lifted his head up, his eyes bloodshot, and roared:
“Revenge!”
All of the members of the Five Tribes who charged into battle screamed with rage and sadness.
“Revenge!!”
“REVENGE!!!”
Led by the Greatfather, the rest of the Tribe members charged out of from behind the shield.
Their world was now a world ruled by revenge as they charged toward the three thousand Spider Branch Cultivators. Their bodies exploded with a madness that made it clear they would bring the Spider Branch to ruin even if it meant they died in the process.
A moment later, the close-quarter fighting began. Unfortunately, the deaths of the three Dragoneers had been quite a blow to the morale of the Spider Branch.
Meng Hao’s intrepidness had also left a deep impression on their hearts. He had slaughtered his way through thousands, then soared overhead above the crowds to pursue the Holy Daughter. Nine Nascent Soul Cultivators were incapable of stopping him, and even the High Priest had been captured. People could only watch on wide-eyed, as their lofty, sacred Holy Daughter’s face filled with despair and her arm was severed, after which she fled in a panic.
All of it had been a huge blow to the Spider Branch Cultivators. Meng Hao was now not simply burned into their mind, but indelibly fused there!
If that was all there was to it, it wouldn’t be a very big deal. However, even the fearsome attack of the Holy Spider, which they assumed would surely destroy Meng Hao, did nothing. They had seen with their own eyes that the Holy Spider was incapable of exterminating him.
As of now, Meng Hao was like a nightmare to them. An unbeatable, invincible nightmare!
Now, just when their confidence and morale was lowest, the members of the Five Tribes fought back with full force. Their hatred and killing intent boiled up to the sky. Earlier, they had watched with wide eyes as their fellow Tribe members were slaughtered. The dead included children, parents, and other relatives. Right now, the eyes of the surviving Tribe members were bloodshot, and they seemed on the verge of weeping. Within the redness of their eyes, living fury could be seen. That was because… the time for revenge had arrived!
When the two sides slammed into each other, there was no leadership, nor any tricks. It was mutual slaughter.
A boom suddenly filled the air. One of the Five Tribes members slaughtered one of the enemy, but was mortally wounded in the process. Laughing madly, he chose to self-detonate. Even as his body exploded, a vicious smile twisted his face as he saw that his self-detonation would kill three of the enemy in front of him.
Booms continued to sound out in the air as one member of the Five Tribes after another, after having reached their final moment in battle, chose to use self-detonation. This was their way of sending a message to the Spider Branch: observe the staunch vengeance of the Five Tribes of the Crow Divinity!
One of the Five Tribes members lost his legs, and an arm. Even his dantian region was damaged beyond repair, making it impossible for him to self-detonate. But he still had teeth. Soon, his entire body was destroyed, and yet, his teeth were still clenched viciously into the throat of the enemy. Regardless of anything, mutual destruction would be achieved!
In a very short period of time, the Spider Branch had already lost over a hundred members. The viciousness of the scene, the explosive madness of the members of the Five Tribes to get revenge even in defiance of death, thoroughly shook the hearts of the Spider Branch Cultivators.
They were scared witless, and began panting. Facing the savagery of the Five Tribes suddenly filled them with feelings of cowardice!
They began to retreat. Off in the distance, the nine Elders watched on with wide eyes. They too were moved, but before they could even think about the situation, the seven Nascent Soul Cultivators from the Five Tribes were shooting toward them.
The High Priests, the Greatfather of the Crow Soldier Tribe, and the others, all had eyes filled with blood as they whistled through the air. This… was truly a war between two Tribes. It was different than the killing before. This… was a deadly massacre.
Meng Hao looked around at everything that was happening. He saw the Five Tribes rise up, and saw their determination to exact vengeance. It was at this time that an undulating sound could be heard. This was not the sound of war bugles, but rather, the voices of all members of the Five Tribes who had stayed behind within the protection of the shield. There were less than a thousand of them, but their voices joined together and drifted out onto the battlefield.
Most of this group of nearly a thousand people were children. The rest were the elderly. The majority of them did not have Cultivation bases; they were simple, ordinary Tribe members. However… considering all the sacrifices that had been made by the five Crow Divinity Tribes, they were hope. They were the hope of the Tribe.
Nearly a thousand people began to weep. As they wept, their feet stamped the ground and they began to sing. This song was the Tribe’s funeral dirge, the song sung to accompany the soul of any Tribe member into death.
A thousand voices joined together, filled with the sound of youth, filled with tears.
“Perhaps you are still here. Perhaps you are watching your family. Perhaps you will return….
“We hope that the Heavens will not obstruct your path. Let the land guide your way. The living, golden light of the Crow Divinity will cause your glorious bloodlines to remain in the world….
“We hope to prevent you from being buried by the sands of Time, to prevent the devils from snatching you away, to prevent the Demons from frightening you, to prevent any living thing from disturbing your rest….
“You are the warriors of the Crow Divinity! You are the pride of the Crow Divinity! You will exist forever in the lands of the Crow Divinity… we… will await your return!”
The song echoed out across the battlefield, and as it did, Meng Hao could almost make out the image of countless souls appearing. They seemed to be slowly looking back at their home, their Tribe.
As the sound of the funeral dirge rose into the air, the members of the Five Tribes who were locked in battle found that tears were flowing down their faces. They began to laugh madly and slaughter with even more savagery. Their laughter and their tears caused the faces of their enemies, the Cultivators of the Spider Branch, to fill with dread. In the past, they had slaughtered Tribes, but never before had they seen the type of explosive insanity that they were seeing now.
Now, they were scared.