Chapter 2055: Cutting Through The Beast Tide Pt.3

The Giant Ape King, who had already devoured and refined a rank seven bloodline through a beast emperor’s blood essence but had not yet completed its fusion, was, in the eyes of the Snow Swan Emperor, leading the beast tide, a ripe exotic fruit exuding an irresistible fragrance.

From the bloodline aura leaking from the Giant Ape King, the Snow Swan Emperor could tell that the blood essence it devoured came from a fellow bird species. Moreover, the mastery of the bird emperor’s mastery over its bloodline had far surpassed its own.

For such a powerful bloodline to fall into the hands of an ape was, to the Snow Swan Emperor, sheer waste.

If it could slay the Giant Ape King and seize the bloodline, it would advance greatly, saving decades, even centuries, of cultivation.

As long as it succeeded, it didn’t matter if the entire tide was sacrificed!

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

After fighting for a day and two nights, both sides were near exhaustion. The beast tide trapped in the fleet’s battle formation had already been reduced by a third.

Outside the formation, the group of beasts that had attacked the Welcoming Snow had lost close to 100 beasts.

Throughout the battle, the Snow Swan Emperor had carefully plotted the Giant Ape King’s death and tested whether stronger experts hid within the fleet.

Yet though the Giant Ape King was nearly killed several times, no one came to aid it. That seemed proof enough.

Still, the emperor remained wary. Such a fleet might conceal a Sage. It knew, too, that in the Chaotic Sea of Stars, beasts did not hold the same place as human cultivators. Should the Giant Ape King die, its allies might even celebrate.

But one suspicion gnawed at it. How had the Giant Ape King acquired a rank seven bird emperor’s bloodline?

Regardless, it would not abandon the hunt. To succeed would free it from being the weakest of the tide’s emperor-level commanders. Otherwise, why had the others been able to strike at Heavenly Fields directly, while it merely skulked about the Floating Star Region?

That was because it was the weakest beast emperor of all! It hadn’t been long since it advanced.

The thought filled it with urgency. Its patience, worn away after a day and two nights of probing, finally snapped. Even if the fleet held other hidden experts in hiding, it would risk everything to kill the Giant Ape King. Even if it was grievously wounded, as long as it escaped, it would be worth it.

At the very instant it made the decision, the Snow Swan Emperor moved. Seizing the moment after the Giant Ape King had exhausted itself in a counterattack, it boldly forced its way into the battle formation. Wings beating, it charged with snow-feathers cascading down, freezing the void within the battle formation, including the Giant Ape King itself.

...

"You truly won’t intervene?" In the sealed cabin, the rasping voice asked again, its tone slightly different.

Shang Xia smiled faintly. "Senior Wanggui... Why not lend it your aid?”

The humanoid monster Shang Xia had brought back from the Star River, its inhuman traits mostly faded, its mind restored enough for speech, called itself Wanggui.

Shang Xia knew it was a fake name. The creature could converse, but it never revealed its true origin. Yet from their talks, Shang Xia had discerned that Wanggui knew the Floating Star Region intimately. Not just their Heavenly Fields either, but even much of what lay within them.

He had reason to suspect Wanggui had once been a Sage of the Floating Star Region.

Hearing Shang Xia’s half-jesting probe, Wanggui forced a bitter smile. "You know well, Sage Shang, that only after leaving the Star River and with your assistance of purifying me in the power of the stars have I regained this meager human form and a scrap of reason. If I were to act now, my damaged dantian would collapse, and I would immediately return to being a mindless creature.”

Shang Xia did not comment. He simply closed his eyes and muttered calmly, "Then it must rely on its own fortune."

Wanggui shot him a strange look, wondering if Shang Xia meant for the Giant Ape King to die. After all, it was not of his kind, and it was already one step from reaching the seventh rank.

Perhaps Sage Shang intends for it to die, not allowing it to be a nuisance...

But then Wanggui suddenly gasped, as if seeing something astonishing.

...

The Snow Swan Emperor’s domain filled the battle formation, freezing the Giant Ape King in place.

At once, the battle formation repelled the foreign energy, while the Giant Ape King stirred its bloodline and innate talent to resist.

But the Snow Swan Emperor had prepared the strike after much contemplation, and it was determined to succeed.

In a flash, it appeared before the Giant Ape King, claw slashing for its chest.

At the critical moment, the void changed. The space within the battle formation bloomed with countless flickering stars, like eyes blinking amidst the turbulence of battle.

Invisible starlight threads fell like needles, piercing the frozen void and shattering the Snow Swan Emperor’s domain.

Everything happened so quickly even the Snow Swan Emperor had no time to react. It couldn’t even tell what had destroyed its domain.

However, it knew one thing for sure. Trouble had arrived.

Indeed... Once it was freed, the Giant Ape King took several strange steps in the void. The starlight that fell formed a stairway beneath its feet, carrying it away from death at the last moment.

The Snow Swan Emperor’s claws struck its ribs instead of its heart, snapping a few ribs but avoiding the fatal blow altogether.

Through searing pain, the Giant Ape King swept its stone rod in a counterattack, and Chu Jia, a heartbeat late, brought down the battle formation’s power to bind the beast.

The Snow Swan Emperor could only regret its failure, but it had no choice but to retreat.

Then the starlight shifted, falling upon the Snow Swan Emperor. Bit by bit, it started to devour its bloodline. Though the effect was slight, and the power of the stars the Giant Ape King controlled was only of the sixth rank, the effects were cumulative.

What kind of strange secret art is this?!

Unease filled the Snow Swan Emperor’s heart as it decided to flee.

Moments before, it had been ready to risk heavy injuries to kill the Giant Ape King. Now, faced with the unknown, it thought only of survival.

It abandoned the hunt without hesitation, wings beating to withdraw from the battle formation.

As it fell back, the battle formation faltered as Chu Jia shifted too much power to aid the Giant Ape King a moment ago. The tide that had suffered heavy casualties over the battle found a region of weakness, seized the chance to break out. The higher-leveled spiritual beasts commanded the others to charge out without regard for their lives, and in a few short breaths, the weakened point of the battle formation was smashed open.

As beast kings led the charge, the gap only grew wider.

Chu Jia reacted swiftly, ordering them to give up on trapping the tide again. Instead, they would shrink the battle formation to focus on defense.

Her reaction was fast, yet one medium Star Ship was still flipped over in the onslaught. The Giant Ape King, retreating into the formation, managed to save most of the crew of the destroyed ship, but the disintegrating vessel itself was likely beyond rescue.