Chapter 372: Broken Net
Translator: SoupHunter Editor: Milkbiscuit
Broken Net
Everyone heeded his command and started making torches. They then tossed out the lit torches as they circled around the forest. Under the starry night sky, it looked like a scene of shooting stars from afar.
The Yao cultivators in the forest immediately responded. They hastily covered the flames on the ground with dirt and put it out. The treants also invoked their arts and used those long limbs of theirs to put out the flames on the trees as they darted across the forest.
A human face appeared on the bark of a tree, pursing its lips and as if mocking Gu Sanzheng, casually blew out the final ember.
There were so many demons staying in this forest. How could it catch fire so easily?
The plan to start a fire had failed! Gu Sanzheng's expression contorted in frustration. This was completely humiliating for him.
"Hmph! I'll kill you all!" Ye Xin suddenly huffed. Then, she swung her arm, tossing out over a hundred blaze resins to the sky. These were all the spoils obtained in the Sea of Constellations.
The whip in her hand suddenly lashed out, quickly brushing past all the Red Blaze Resins. Clanging noises erupted as sparks of flame shot out. As they streaked across the sky, the embers quickly grew to become blazing fireballs and dove straight into the forest. It was an incredible sight.
The Yao cultivators hiding in the forest were all astonished. The flames from blaze resins were not so easily extinguished, and couldn't be put out even with water. Even if they buried the flames underground, they could still burn their way up to the surface. Furthermore, the flames were usually large, and their temperatures extremely high.
This was a material for refining artifacts, but now it was being used to start fires. That said, it was a prime material for starting fires indeed.
But that was still not the end. Ye Xin continued to beat her whip as she tossed out over a thousand more blaze resins, knocking the fireballs all across the surrounding forest. Then, she twirled her long whip like a tornado and created strong winds to blow at the blazing flames. With the wind bolstering the fire, it quickly spread throughout the forest, setting the whole place ablaze in mere moments.
Ye Xin then wrapped her whip around the broken pieces of wood on the ground and tossed them into the flames.
There was no need to instruct the rest of the Red Scarves Alliance. They immediately imitated her and tossed all the broken pieces of wood nearby into the sea of flames. They wanted revenge against those treants.
Fire was the bane of trees, to begin with. With such a raging blaze, the treants in the forest could no longer remain hidden. Some that caught fire immediately burrowed underground to escape, while the others morphed into their human forms and hastily retreated from the sea of flames.
The Yao cultivators that escaped the sea of flames quickly dug out ditches and started burying the trees underground in order to isolate the fire. Otherwise, all life on this heavily forested island would truly be exterminated.
On the distant mountaintop, Hei Langjun could no longer laugh anymore. His expression twisted when he saw the blazing sea of flames before him. The two voluptuous women beside him covered their lips, equally shaken by the sight.
"Gu Sanzheng, how dare you?!" Hei Langjun furiously bellowed.
Gu Sanzheng looked at him and scoffed. The deed was already done. What else could he be afraid of?
With a flip of his hand, he grabbed a large pile of blaze resins. Not just Red Blaze Resins, but Blue Blaze Resins and Gold Blaze Resins were added to the mix as well. These were all the things he obtained in the Sea of Constellations. They were worth quite a fortune, but he already said that he wished to exterminate all life on this island, so how could he possibly care about such a measly price?
"Attack!" Gu Sanzheng raised his arm and shouted.
The three riding the Crystal-Armored Hurricane Beasts led the charge into the sea of flames. The hundreds of troops behind followed after them in a triangle formation.
The riders all plunged into the blazing sea of flames. No one could stay too long in the fire, but they could use their arts to protect them and their steeds from the flames for a short period of time.
Plunging into the depths of fire, Gu Sanzheng hurled out a bunch of blaze resins. As soon as they came into contact with the flames, the blaze resins were immediately ignited, forming blue, red, and gold flames respectively. The flames expanded into fireballs in mid-air as they flew off into the distance.
Ye Xin and Tan Lao also continued to toss out blaze resins. Balls of fire flitted across the sky and landed far away.
'Trying to isolate the fire using ditches? Dig as much as you want. I'll set the other side ablaze as well. Let me see how much you all can dig then! Let me see whether you treants can still cause trouble then!'
"No!" Frantically waving their hands about, the treants looked to the forest in the distance which had also started burning and screamed in agony. The ones who felt more deeply for the forest over anyone else were none other than these treants.
The massive forces of the Red Scarves Alliance charged out of the sea of flames, carrying waves of heat as a vicious hatred enveloped their bodies. They charged straight for those Yao cultivators digging the ditches and screams of agony resounded as they began slaughtering them en masse.
The blazing flames burned bright and illuminated the island. The Yao cultivators couldn't put up any resistance at all. Their casualties skyrocketed in mere moments. The few surviving Yao cultivators then frantically tried to escape into the forest.
Gu Sanzheng, Tan Lao, and Ye Xin carved out a path of blood as they charged straight for the mountaintop where Hei Langjun was at.
Watching the fire rapidly spreading from the mountaintop, Hei Langjun's eyes were stretched wide and bloodshot. Not only was this island going to be destroyed, but they had almost annihilated his forces as well.
The radiance of the fire illuminated the night sky as the rolling smoke blurred the stars.
This was one of the reasons why Fu Qing of the Western Constellations Palace was so displeased to have the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade organized on the Western Star Sea. With 180,000 cultivators brutally massacring each other on the Western Star Sea, it was no different than having his domain trampled on. It would be strange if he could feel happy with the idea.
Miao Yi's group was still safe from the conflict. Watching the battle from their hiding spot in the dark, they shook their heads in pity.
Pi Junzi sighed, "This island that we have been hiding in for the past few years is done for." He kept the following comment to himself, 'If this Niu Youde hadn't run here, would the island even suffer from such a tragedy?!'
"Gu Sanzheng and those bastards are really pulling out all the stops!" Miao Yi clicked his tongue, then said to Zhao Fei and the rest, "This idea of his is not bad. If possible, we should also try to gather blaze resins from now on. We might be able to put them to use. Better to be safe than sorry."
He felt a little regretful now for selling off all his blaze resins back then.
Zhao Fei and the others were speechless. 'Aren't you concerned that the treant behind us can hear you?'
Everyone turned around and watched as the giant tree behind them shook off its leaves and retracted its branches. Its whole body was quickly shrinking, and in an instant, it became a white-haired old man. The old man jumped out of the hole and fearfully ran to hide behind the giant rock like everyone else.
Everyone else was stunned. Miao Yi eyed the old man and bluntly asked, "Why are you hiding here? Shouldn't you be helping out with the fight?"
From the way he looked, it seemed like he was just one step away from kicking this annoying treant away.
Help out with the fight? Only an idiot would go out to help now! With a nervous expression, the old man said, "It looks like they won't be able to hold out much longer. Aren't we going to retreat?"
It was easy to tell what he was implying. Since Miao Yi had said that they were stationed here as Hei Langjun's backup plan, the old man was clearly trying to ask, 'The battle has already escalated thus far, so why are you still not doing anything for the backup plan?'
"It's none of your business whether we retreat or not. Go away!" Miao Yi said disdainfully. He then turned back to watch the battle.
However, the old man wasn't willing to leave on his own and just kept quiet as he continued to hide along with everyone else. From the looks of the situation, it was more reassuring to have more people by his side.
The Red Scarves Alliance had almost annihilated the Yao cultivators on the island. Their forces killed their way out of the second forest fire and charged straight for the mountain peak where Hei Langjun was at.
"Die!" On the mountaintop, Hei Langjun suddenly shouted. He swung his arms and hurled out a giant black net. The black net shone with a blue radiance and instantly expanded a hundredfold mid-air. However, the holes of the net did not enlarge. It flew straight towards the forces of the Red Scarves Alliance charging up the mountain.
Miao Yi's group widened their eyes and stared at the artifact. This must be Hei Langjun's Seamless Net. They wondered about its might and whether it was as its namesake described, capable of trapping Gu Sanzheng's forces completely in a single stroke with none being able to escape.
It seemed as though Gu Sanzheng's forces had not expected Hei Langjun to possess such a transcendent artifact either. A transcendent artifact that could change its form was clearly not an average Second Grade Transcendent Artifact, which was only capable of increasing one's raw power.
Additionally, since Hei Langjun looked rather confident in himself, Gu Sanzheng and the others didn't dare to be careless. Tan Lao used his full strength from the start. Sixteen flying spiked shields quickly spun through the air and shot towards the giant net descending over the troops. However, despite the raining sparks, the barbs were unable to cut even a single thread.
When they saw the entire Red Scarves Alliance army about to be caught in the web, Miao Yi and the others were immediately excited. This was a good artifact indeed. It seemed like it was really capable of trapping Gu Sanzheng's forces in a single stroke.
Tan Lao tried to use the flying shields to stop the net from falling onto them, but it was also useless. As soon as the edges of the giant net fell on the ground, the net quickly shrunk. Like a knife through butter, all the trees and rocks were easily diced into bite-sized pieces under the net's sharp strings as it closed in on itself.
The forces of the Red Scarves Alliance caught within the net were immediately stricken with fear. The strings of the net were so sharp. If it caught them, wouldn't they turn into meat cubes?
"Haha…" Hei Langjun lifted his head and laughed maniacally. The sound of his laughter echoed throughout the mountain.
Miao Yi quickly transmitted his voice over to Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei, "Once Hei Langjun succeeds, Sikong, I want you to hammer him to a pulp immediately. With the two of you working together, that Seamless Net is as good as ours."
Sikong Wuwei implied that he understood. He was already readying the small hammer in his hands in secret.
"Burst!" With a grim expression, Gu Sanzheng suddenly roared with a deafening shout.
As he raised his hand and pointed at a certain direction, the one hundred and one Thunderclap Flying Swords shot out like a crack of thunder, and amidst the ringing, focused their attacks on a single point on the Seamless Net. The swords were attacking only a single point on a single thread of the Seamless Net.
Laughing maniacally as he watched the net about to entrap all the troops of the Red Scarves Alliance, Hei Langjun looked at Gu Sanzheng's actions with disdain. However, before he could laugh to his heart's content, his expression suddenly froze as his eyes instantly widened.
"Ding…" Like the sound of the strings on a qin breaking, a clear ringing sound reverberated across the night sky. The thin thread finally broke under the relentless assault from the combined might of the Thunderclap Flying Swords.
Bang! The entire net exploded into a cloud of gray dust.
Transcendent artifacts were not so easily damaged. As long as there was enough energy to replenish it, it would be able to repair itself and be as good as the day it was first refined. The only concern one would have would be the damage made to the transcendent artifact's base structure. If that were to happen, the rampant energy within would immediately crumble along with the destruction of the transcendent artifact's base structure.
Miao Yi's eyes widened as he sucked in a breath of cold air. To think these Thunderclap Flying Swords were so sharp that they could actually destroy a top-tier Second Grade Transcendent Artifact. He finally understood why Yao Ruoxian coveted the high-density, pure Crystalline Silver that the tiny mantids excreted out.
However, he was sure that this had to do with the threads of the Seamless Net being too thin. If it were Sikong Wuwei's Mountain Suppressing Hammer instead, the Thunderclap Flying Swords would not be able to break it no matter how much they attacked.
As he watched the gray mist billowing across the sky, Sikong Wuwei clicked his tongue and said, "How much Crystalline Obsidian must have gone inside such a thin Seamless Net? And it's destroyed just like that. It will be hard to collect them now that they're all dispersed over the ground. What a waste!"
"Alliance Master is valiant!" The members of the Red Scarves Alliance couldn't help shouting with glee. It was hard to hide the joy of being able to survive an ordeal.
On the mountaintop, Hei Langjun's expression contorted as he exclaimed in shock, "My Seamless Net!"
After a sigh of relief, Gu Sanzheng's eyes turned sharp. With a raise of his arms, the Thunderclap Flying Swords hovering in the air immediately shot out towards the peak of the mountain.