Chapter 383: The Sudden Appearance of a Koi, Chaotic Warfare

Translator: Minotauruz

Chi Jingtian took a step forward and stood directly in front of Jun Xiaomo. Then, turning his head slightly, he whispered, “Xiaomo, don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

Jun Xiaomo was touched, yet her heart was also awash with a sense of bitter astringency. She was touched because Chi Jingtian had not left her side despite the fact that the odds of victory were slim. Even though she still drew a blank whenever she tried to recall who Chi Jingtian was to her, he still stubbornly remained by her side in the face of adversity. At the same time, she was awash with a sense of bitter astringency because the situation looked grim, and the prospects of surviving the attack felt close to zero.

Regardless, Jun Xiaomo curled her lips into a blissful smile as she acknowledged Chi Jingtian’s feelings, “Thank you.”

Slightly embarrassed, Chi Jingtian rubbed his nose. He found Jun Xiaomo’s sincere thanks far too warm and soft, almost as though a soft pair of hands were caressing his ears, causing the area around his ears to flush a gentle red hue.

Jun Xiaomo was completely oblivious to the fact that her simple expression of appreciation would cause Chi Jingtian’s heart to grow all antsy like that. As she continued to stare at Zhuang Lenghui’s coalition drawing closer, her gaze began to grow increasingly steely and determined.

Women were like water, soft and fluid. Yet, when push came to shove, their hearts could also transform into cold, frigid ice with its incredibly sharp tips pointed straight towards their enemies.

Zhuang Lenghui’s gaze vacillated between Jun Xiaomo and Chi Jingtian’s bodies for a bit, before she furrowed her brows – she didn’t expect Ye Xiuwen to be missing today.

After all, if Ye Xiuwen were willing to do so much for Jun Xiaomo, there was no reason for him to be missing on the day when the Rainbow Lotus Flower bore seeds. Could there be more than meets the eye here?

Zhuang Lenghui thought for a moment, before she simply shrugged it off with a sardonic chuckle, attributing it to nothing more than an oversensitivity on her part.

So what if there were something more than meets the eye? She was not here alone today. The coalition standing behind her were partially formed from experts called to arms in response to the Greenwich Kingdom’s promise for great rewards, and their average abilities were in the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation. On the other hand, how many cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation did Jun Xiaomo have on her side? No matter how scheming and crafty they are, was there truly any way they could possibly turn the situation around?

With these reassuring thoughts on her mind, Zhuang Lenghui’s heart felt much more at ease. Thus, she pointed at Jun Xiaomo and barked, “She’s the one whose head the King has placed a bounty on. If anyone of you can take her head today, the King will most certainly reward you greatly!”

These cultivators had responded to the call of the Greenwich Kingdom’s King because they coveted the promised rewards. Naturally, they responded to the motivation of wealth with much enthusiasm. As soon as Zhuang Lenghui’s prompt echoed out, they immediately charged straight towards Jun Xiaomo and Chi Jingtian.

Jun Xiaomo’s spirits tensed itself to its limits. The child in her womb seemed to have sensed the imminent danger as well, and it also stilled itself, entirely alleviating from Jun Xiaomo’s body what would ordinarily be pangs of torturous pain.

Jun Xiaomo released her divine sense as far as they went, and the movements of the assailants immediately flowed into her mind. Her forehead began to bead up with sweat, and something clicked within the depths of her mind.

Almost instinctually, Jun Xiaomo reached into her Interspatial Ring and retrieved several talismans and tossed them into the sky quickly. As soon as they were high enough, Jun Xiaomo made a hand seal and the talismans split open, forming a massive circle, revealing a complex formation diagram among them.

“It’s a floating formation array! Jun Xiaomo has already mastered the floating formation array?!” Zhuang Lenghui’s heart was instantly swamped with a deep sense of jealousy. She had longed to be made Tong Ruizhen’s disciple, yet Tong Ruizhen was unwilling to reciprocate those feelings of hers. Instead, he chose the young sprout Jun Xiaomo as his very own disciple. Right now, when she saw Jun Xiaomo proficiently tossing out the talismans and forming a floating formation array, Zhuang Lenghui knew immediately that this was something that Jun Xiaomo had learnt from Tong Ruizhen.

Tong Ruizhen must have taught her all these things! Who would’ve thought that, despite feigning her death, Jun Xiaomo would have channeled all of her time into mastering the discipline of formation arrays?

Zhuang Lenghui cursed resentfully in her heart as she glared at Jun Xiaomo indignantly.

On the other side, Jun Xiaomo hardly had the time to entertain Zhuang Lenghui’s intense glare. All of her attention was focused on the group of assailants that were charging straight towards her. As soon as she tossed out the five talismans, slightly over ten assailants were instantly trapped and bound by her floating formation array, and they remained completely motionless where they were.

“I’d never thought that the red-garbed beauty is actually an array master.” One of the bystanders exclaimed.

“That’s right. Looks like her mastery over formation arrays isn’t too shabby either. At the very least, I’d never seen anyone form a formation array just by scattering several talismans into the air. That formation array is pretty formidable too. Look – those people have all been trapped.” Another man chimed in.

Several onlookers standing by the lotus pond subconsciously retreated several steps, intending to watch the ensuing battle from afar in the hope that they wouldn’t incidentally be drawn in or hurt by collateral damage.

Not only was their curiosity for Jun Xiaomo’s identity piqued, they were also exclaiming in admiration for her mastery over the discipline of formation arrays.

However, what Jun Xiaomo had done was hardly sufficient. After all, the King of the Greenwich Kingdom was hell bent on sending Jun Xiaomo to the grave to accompany, so how could he possibly have sent only ten assailants? The fact of the matter was that there were several more people lying in wait around the lotus pond, waiting eagerly for the command to charge straight towards Jun Xiaomo.

Thus, as soon as the first wave of assailants were trapped by Jun Xiaomo’s formation array, Zhuang Lenghui calmly waved her hand, directing a second wave of assailants to rush towards Jun Xiaomo and Chi Jingtian once more.

“Damn! Why are there so many people!” Chi Jingtian couldn’t help but curse aloud. Then, he retrieved an enormous spirit tool from his Interspatial Ring and covered both Jun Xiaomo and himself in an instant.

Under the effects of this defensive spirit tool, the second wave of assailants who had rushed to their side found themselves immediately repelled backwards.

“It’s actually a Diamond Bastion?!” Zhuang Lenghui’s eyes widened with disbelief as a trace of avarice flickered across the depths of her eyes. She immediately turned around and instructed the remaining assailants of the coalition lying in wait, “All of you are to attack her at once! The Diamond Bastion can block all attacks from cultivators weaker than the advanced-tier Nascent Soul stage of cultivation. Those who had attacked them earlier won’t be able to lay even a scratch on this spirit tool. I want you to kill those two within the Diamond Bastion. Anyone who does so will be greatly rewarded!”

Even though the effects of any attacks would be greatly diminished by the Diamond Bastion, it can only protect its user from attacks for a total of two hours. After two hours, the Diamond Bastion’s effects would expire, and it would only be usable after a cooldown of three full days.

Yet, even then, Zhuang Lenghui sincerely desired to seize the Diamond Bastion for herself. After all, such high-grade spirit tools were hard to come by to begin with.

Moved by the promise of wealth and rewards, the other assailants lying in wait immediately charged towards Jun Xiaomo and Chi Jingtian. At the same time, they began to rain down an intense barrage of attacks and spells on the Diamond Bastion.

Chi Jingtian’s forehead began to grow percolated with sweat. He had never expected Zhuang Lenghui to have such a massive army of assailants behind her, and each wave of assailants were stronger than the last to boot.

Damn it. Is there an end to this?!

Chi Jingtian began to pull out more spirit tools from his Interspatial Ring, while Jun Xiaomo began to duke it out with the assailants with her abilities at the Nascent Soul stage of cultivation.

Then, just as everyone’s attention was completely captivated by the battle between Jun Xiaomo’s faction and Zhuang Lenghui’s faction, the Rainbow Lotus Flower finally finished shedding all of its petals, revealing the massive lotus seeds in the middle of each bulb of flower. The intense spiritual fluctuations from the lotus seeds had attracted not only the cultivators around the lotus pond – it had even attracted some spirit beasts as well.

Swoosh! A massive koi suddenly leapt out of the lotus pond, attempting to swallow the lotus seeds. It was only at this instant that everyone realized that the Rainbow Lotus Flower had already completed its process of bearing seeds!

“Damn! Hurry! Stop that koi!” Those who were standing further from the lotus pond immediately roared at the top of their voices, while those standing closer to the pond immediately rushed forward, thinking to kill the koi that was vying for the seeds against them.

Unfortunately, the Spirit Koi’s abilities were incredibly strong. It was a spirit beast of at least the eighth-grade. Those who rushed forward recklessly soon discovered to their dismay that the Spirit Koi possessed rows of incredibly sharp teeth within its mouth, and it could effortlessly cleave a nine-foot tall cultivator in two halves.

In fact, there were several cultivators who were indeed unable to avoid the Spirit Koi’s attacks, and they lost their lives to its powerful jaws in an instant. There were other cultivators who attempted to flank the Spirit Koi and cleave its skin, only to realize just how solid its scales were. As soon as their attacks struck the Spirit Koi’s scales, these attacks would be repelled backwards. Some of these cultivators were even injured or killed by their own spells and attacks.

How are we supposed to fight against this thing?!

Then, before the cultivators could come up with a plan, the Spirit Koi began to launch its counterattack. With one massive sweep from its tail, the Spirit Koi sent a massive eight-foot wave surging straight towards the cultivators. Those who were further away from the Spirit Koi were able to react in time and leap out of the way. However, those who were closer to the Spirit Koi found themselves being consumed by the tidal wave and dragged deep into the depths of the pond. With another vicious slap of its tail, the Spirit Koi beat them to a bloody pulp underwater, before devouring them entirely with its powerful bite.

Zhuang Lenghui clenched her fists tightly. She had initially expected seizing the Rainbow Lotus Flower to be an incredibly easy thing. Yet, an unexpected variable had arisen, throwing her plans into complete chaos.

Despite that, a bright gleam flickered in the depths of her eyes, and she decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach to the problem. She was different from those fools who were throwing their lives at the Spirit Koi recklessly. If she had a choice in the matter, she would most certainly choose to devise a foolproof plan before making her move. Ideally, she was hoping that the cultivators around the lotus pond would whittle down the Spirit Koi bit by bit until it was at its final breaths before she made her move. This way, the entire operation would go much more smoothly.

The Spirit Koi’s combat abilities were incredibly strong. That said, there were innumerable cultivators standing by the side of the lotus pond as well. Furthermore, many of these people belonged to each the same sect. Thus, as soon as they witnessed the Spirit Koi hurt or even kill their fellow sect mates, their hearts immediately roiled intensely with indignation and murderous intent.

Just like that, wave after wave of cultivators charged headlong towards the Spirit Koi, as though intent on carving its flesh for their dead brethren.

In an instant, the lotus pond had turned into a bloody battlefield, and the nauseating stench of blood began to fill the air.

Even though the Spirit Koi was incredibly powerful, it was still slowly but surely whittled by the relentless attacks of all the cultivators around. As time went by, not only did it begin to show signs of weakening, the number of injuries on its body also began to increase more and more.

Zhuang Lenghui squinted her eyes, contemplating whether it was time for her to make her move. She was calculating the risks involved in discreetly harvest the lotus seeds from the center of the lotus pond while capitalizing on the fact that everyone was preoccupied by the Spirit Koi.

Yet in that moment of hesitation, a shadow suddenly shot through the crowd amidst all the chaos, making a beeline straight for the lotus seeds in the middle of the pond.

Zhuang Lenghui’s heart constricted slightly – Is that person thinking of the same thing that I am?! Who is he? How could he possibly move so quickly to elude even my eyes?!

In her rage, Zhuang Lenghui imbued her eyes with her spiritual energy and stared at the center of the lotus pond.

Then, she finally recognized the identity of the man who had just appeared – who else could it be apart from the “missing” Ye Xiuwen?