Chapter 2053: Cutting Through The Beast Tide

The current fleet they were leading had two large Star Ships. At the very front, leading the fleet, was their flagship, the ‘Chasing Wind’[1], commanded by the fifth tier True Immortal, Cai Zhuifeng. At the rear was the ‘Welcoming Snow’[2], commanded by the fourth tier True Immortal Cai Yingxue.

In the fleet, there were three Arks in total. The largest was the ‘Azure’ the Spirit Ark belonging to the Essence Luxuriant Heavenly Field. There, the fleet’s strongest experts, Shang Xia and the Giant Ape King, took charge. Of the two Azure Arks, one carried the Star Beast Nest while the other stored materials harvested from the body of the rank seven bird emperor along with other gains from their journey into the boundless void.

The remaining 12 were medium Star Ships. They were arranged in a protection formation of groups of threes around the Arks.

They quickly pressed deeper into the Floating Star Region, moving ever faster.

As expected, the Beast Tide rampaging within the Floating Star Region proved as ferocious as the reports had said. Not long after the fleet entered, they drew the attention of small groups of spiritual beasts that could fly.

True Immortals on the medium Star Ships rushed out into battle. However, the spiritual beasts instantly split off, resulting in a rank five spiritual beast slain and a rank five spiritual beast captured.

When Chu Jia and Tian Mengzi arrived, Cai Yingxue was already waiting for them. Chu Jia glanced at True Immortal Hu, who had caught a long-necked, gray-winged rank five spiritual bird. She remarked curiously, "So... The wingless ones escaped, but the actual birds were captured or killed. Interesting."

True Immortal Hu looked at her with a strange smile. "Those beasts sent as scouts clearly had life-saving innate talents. But these birds rely only on wings. They don’t have such gifts."

"That makes sense." Chu Jia nodded, then asked Cai Yingxue, "Were you able to get anything out of it?"

Cai Yingxue shook her head and said softly, "In theory, a rank five spiritual beast should already have intelligence. But this one is dimwitted, acting mostly by instinct. Perhaps it is because it comes from another Star Field."

Tian Mengzi arched his brow skeptically. "And such creatures can be sent as scouts?"

"Not necessarily scouts," Another member of the original Blizzard Pirates, who had killed one of the birds, said, "Perhaps they strayed from their pack. The Beast Tide from the Desolate Forbidden Region must already be splitting apart. Stragglers or ones who were abandoned might be flying around themselves."

Tian Mengzi frowned and was about to speak when Chu Jia cut in first. "Then hand this bird to the Giant Ape King. Let’s see if it can get anything out of it."

Cai Yingxue’s eyes lit up. "Ah, yes, I’d forgotten we had the Giant Ape King in our fleet!"

Taking the spiritual bird from True Immortal Hu, Chu Jia smiled. "But don’t expect too much. It’s from another Star Field and may not speak the same language...”

After she left, Tian Mengzi remained.

Cai Yingxue gave him a smile, then turned to True Immortal Hu and his companion. "Whether scouts or strays, prepare for the Beast Tide’s assault."

The two nodded, exchanged a strange look at Cai Yingxue and Tian Mengzi, then excused themselves, leaving the two alone on the medium Star Ship which was responsible for protecting the Arks.

...

"They

are

scouts!"

The Giant Ape King casually tossed the terrified bird to the ground. "Prepare for battle. A Beast Tide will be here soon."

Chu Jia did not seem surprised. "Should we tell

him

?"

The Giant Ape King shook its head. "No need. Nothing around the fleet escapes his notice. And with me here, it won’t be a problem."

Chu Jia nodded. "Then I’ll pass the word to the Cai siblings. Also..."

She faltered, embarrassed, as if holding back words. The Giant Ape King seemed to know. "Don’t trouble yourself with my feelings. We beasts live by survival of the fittest, killing and devouring one another. Not to mention these fools are from other Star Fields."

Cupping her fists, Chu Jia turned to leave.

Since the incoming tide was expected to be small, the fleet naturally aimed to devour them. To do so, they couldn’t unleash full power at first, or the beasts would scatter. Instead, they would feign weakness, lure them in, and only once most were trapped within the battle formation, unleash a combined strike and send their experts to finish them off, thus reaping the greatest harvest.

Though this tide came from other Star Fields, spiritual beasts were spiritual beasts. Any creature below the fourth rank could not even survive in the void with Star Beasts as the only exception.

Thus, the backbone of any Beast Tide sweeping across the sea of stars had to be made up of fifth rank spiritual beasts. To lead even a small tide across the void, one needed more than an ordinary rank six beast king. It would take a high-level beast king, or even a rank seven beast emperor!

Otherwise, how could they besiege so many Heavenly Fields at once?

If Chu Jia’s plan succeeded, the spoils from the spiritual beasts they would capture and kill from the incoming tide should be able to fill their Azure Ark.

As they pressed deeper into the Floating Star Region, keeping their high speeds, Chu Jia subtly adjusted the formation. From afar, the fleet looked loose, with wide gaps between their Star Ships.

Along the way, they kept encountering spiritual beasts. Some were moving alone and quick to flee, others in small groups avoiding the fleet entirely. Any beast that reacted too slowly would be slain by experts who emerged from the Chasing Wind.

But the deeper they went, the more frequent and dense groups of spiritual beasts became. Killing the beasts also became a little more difficult.

Before long, word came from the Welcoming Snow at the rear. Those scouts that had fled earlier were trailing the fleet from afar, growing in number, with at least one rank six beast king among them.

From that alone, it was clear. The leader of the tide they were about to face was definitely a powerful beast king. It might be a rank seven beast emperor, or at the very least, was a beast king at the peak of the sixth rank, like the Giant Ape King.

Moreover, their leader was cunning. Instead of calling the scouts back, it let them shadow the fleet, building a second force to strike from behind when the main tide attacked from the front.

Too bad for the beasts... The fleet had already laid its trap, ready for them to walk right into it. They weren’t afraid of the beasts! They were afraid the beasts wouldn’t rush into them like they had hoped!

Yet when the tide struck, it was not a swarm of beasts that first appeared, but a barrage of meteors hurled from the side of the fleet.

Thankfully, meteor storms were familiar dangers. The storm of rocks that were hurled at them might seem large and powerful, but they had faced worse in the boundless void. The True Immortals on board didn’t even need to form battle formations as they quickly activated the protection barriers on each ship. Others would shatter or push away larger meteors from time to time, and anything that slammed into them was mere fragments, splattering into their protection barriers like raindrops on a lake.

But before it was fully over, several rank six beast kings suddenly appeared. They used the meteors as cover, bursting forth with flames, bone spikes, feather swords, ice spears, lightning bolts, and other attacks as they concentrated their firepower on the central medium Star Ship on the left flank.

At least five beast kings struck as one, focusing entirely on one vessel rather than spreading out. Among them was at least one beast king at the level of a high-level True Immortal.

They knew it was better to break one finger than bruise ten!

The tide leader’s intelligence was even greater than Chu Jia, Tian Mengzi, or the Cai siblings had imagined.

In the crisis, True Immortal Hu fought back, unleashing the protection barrier at full strength even at risk of damaging the keel. However, the outcome depended on the fleet’s battle formation and on Chu Jia’s mastery in the dao of formations.

As the void thundered with impact, the ice spear shattered into countless needles and shards as it rained down on the ship.

True Immortal Hu staggered as he was nearly knocked over, his eyes wide with shock.

He had misjudged. The Snow Bear King wielding the ice spear was at least comparable to a third tier True Immortal. Though he broke the ice spear flying at the ship, it still held hidden power.

The delayed storm of ice would strike just as the other four attacks landed, surely breaking the barrier and perhaps the hull, forcing those on board to flee, only to be shredded by the ice shards that remained.

To be able to plan so well... Was that truly the mind of a mere beast king?

True Immortal Hu had done all he could. All that remained was to watch.

At the last moment, the fleet’s combined might descended.

Under Chu Jia’s command, beams of light converged onto the protection barrier of the medium Star Ships. Four deafening explosions followed. The light flared, then dimmed like a candle in the wind, but still held.

Next came a torrential swish as the barrier was riddled with holes, and the ice storm hammered into the hull.

The ship was heavily damaged, and their protection barrier was shredded, though its crew remained safe inside.

As for True Immortal Hu... He was a second tier True Immortal and didn’t suffer too heavy injuries.

Yet he was troubled. The barrier should not have failed so easily, not when Chu Jia, a rank six Formation Grandmaster, had been controlling it personally.

Unless...

With his instincts screaming at him, True Immortal Hu seemed to realize what had happened as he immediately gave up on controlling the Star Ship, signaling for the others to do the same. The vessel lurched into the void, spinning and tumbling away from the fleet.

In fact, to make it look even more convincing, True Immortal Hu even subtly used his remaining energy to make the ship fly away faster.

1. Zhuifeng = Chasing Wind ☜

2. guess ☜