Chapter 370. The Divine Might of an Empyrean Overlord (2)

"

Kyaaaaa!

"

Even the legendary yetis were nothing more than mere creatures in front of Zhou Xuchuan. Their cries of anger soon turned into cries of fear.

Even their hunger, which was overwhelming enough to push them to kill their own kind, couldn't do anything against Zhou Xuchuan. The group of yeti, which had been over two hundred even by a rough count, soon dwindled to a hundred.

"Little Ghost, thank you."

Luo Xiaoyue smiled at Little Ghost. She had entrusted her back to Little Ghost.

Luo Xiaoyue was Luo Xiaoyue, so she didn't need any mentioning, but Little Ghost was also pretty active. She participated in the massacre of the yetis with her back to the swordswoman.

Eventually, the morale of the Ice Palace warriors stabilized.

"Cut through the tendons on their legs! Aim for their heart while they're finding their balance!"

"Don't overdo it!"

No matter how agile and strong the yeti were, there was nothing they could do against the vanguard attacking them systematically in groups of five or six.

Occasionally, an impossible-to-defeat yeti would appear, but Zhou Xuchuan would descend on it, cutting it down with a single attack.

"

GRAAAH!

"

An unprecedented cry suddenly echoed throughout the snowy mountain.

Luo Xiaoyue, who had been leisurely performing her sword dance among the yetis, stiffened upon hearing the cry.

The anger and bloodlust in the cry were enough to make even Harmony Realm experts flinch upon hearing it.

"So it's here." Zhou Xuchuan grinned as if he had been waiting for it.

The leader of the group of yetis appeared on top of the hill, and it was covered with the corpses of its kin. Its bloodshot eyes covered in pure white fur were burning with the rage of a leader that had just lost its people.

Its body alone was enough for anyone to tell that it was the leader. It was over eight chi tall, almost nine chi. It was so tall that it made one wonder if the beast was a giant instead of a yeti. Its muscles were massive as well.

It was truly a monster.

Rumble.

To make matters worse, the mountain was in bad shape. The motionless snow was shaken by the roar, and it was clear that an avalanche was just around the corner.

It seemed like the vanguard's worries were about to come true.

"Grr—"

"You dare!" Zhou Xuchuan saw through the leader's thoughts and unfolded the Hidden Nether Flying Dagger Art. His sleeve fluttered as a dagger popped out of it.

The dagger flew with a flash of light and made a beeline for the mouth of the yeti leader. It moved at a speed that was too fast to be seen.

Clang!

"Oh?" Zhou Xuchuan remarked. The yeti leader caught the flying dagger with its teeth and snapped it in half with a bite. He had thrown it with some force, so the fact that the leader blocked it so easily made it clear that it deserved to be the leader.

If it's that strong, then it's definitely a spiritual beast.

Zhou Xuchuan's eyes lit up like an eagle that had found its prey. "I'll take its head, so I'll leave the rest to you!"

Zhou Xuchuan unleashed a Traversing Snow, Traceless Steps without even waiting for an answer.[1]

The Divine Phantom Art made him as light as a feather, allowing him to move speedily.

An avalanche is going to be annoying, so I have to make sure that it can't roar.

The Art of War stated that one ought to know how to use the terrain.

Zhou Xuchuan's thoughts were right.

In the yeti leader's eyes, only half of its allies were still alive, but it still had plenty of enemies. It deduced that the terrain would be the only way for it to turn the unfavorable situation around.

It couldn't have imagined that things would come to this. In a herd of beasts, the weaker males usually brought their prey to the leader male and female.

The leader of the yetis had been waiting for the hunting to end, but its herd ended up getting reduced by half in an instant. In the end, the leader thought that if left alone, they wouldn't be able to avoid annihilation, so it decided to step forward.

"Huff!" The leader of the yeti wasn't able to gather enough qi to roar loud enough to shake the mountains, so it decided to roar once again to gather its courage.

It used what it had gathered so far to attack the human flying straight for it.

BOOM!

The yeti slammed its right hand down with all its might. Its strength and speed were far superior to those of the yetis in its herd. Its muscles, the source of its strength, swelled up in colorful patterns, and blood vessels bulged on the skin hidden in its fur.

The leader chuckled to itself upon seeing Zhou Xuchuan rushing into its arms. No one had ever survived its attack so far. Every human and warrior of any faction that had stumbled upon its attack was killed instantly.

There was no other way to explain its strength than to say that it was innate.

People and beasts alike had no choice but to surrender to its power.

The human before its eyes would surely meet the same outcome as the previous ones.

BOOOOM!

"

Huff...?

"

Its prediction was perfect—perfectly off the mark.

Not a single part of it came true. While it felt like it managed to hit something, there was no pool of blood underneath its hand.

The ground hadn't collapsed. Instead, the human was using his left hand to lift its fist.

"How heavy," Zhou Xuchuan said. It wasn't a mockery; he was being sincere. His hand stung heavily upon impact. His muscles also became tense. Zhou Xuchuan was surprised that the yeti could produce

this

much strength without cultivating.

"Now, it's my turn."

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Squelch!

Zhou Xuchuan exerted strength, and his five fingers dug into the yeti leader's arm muscles as if they were being sucked in. In no time, holes were made in the yeti leader's arm.

"

GRAHH!

"

The yeti leader's forearm, bulging with muscles, shrank instantly. Blood flowed out from the holes, accompanied by terrible pain. It tried to pull its arm back, but its arm wouldn't budge. Then, Zhou Xuchuan turned its arm around.

Crack!

The arm was twisted in a strange direction, and bloodcurdling cracking noises echoed.

Muscles were torn and bones were broken.

The yeti leader let out a silent scream, and it unconsciously shrank back in pain.

Zhou Xuchuan took advantage of the gap and stepped forward with his left foot. He then struck the yeti leader's chin with the lower part of his right palm.

BANG!

The yeti leader's head snapped back. Its long fangs snapped and took to the skies, spinning in midair.

Zhou Xuchuan drew out his sword and unleashed a fierce attack, connecting his movements as if he were a flowing stream of water.

Crack!

In the sky filled with dark clouds, lightning flashed instead of ice and snow. A violet flash of light flashed moments later, accompanied by a violent churning of the ice and snow.

Violet Haze Dawnbreaker!

The Violet Haze Sword Sutra's First Form shot straight into the center of the yeti leader's chest. Even its skin, which was tougher than iron, was no match for the sword strike.

When the yeti leader came to its senses, it saw a large hole in its chest. The hole had also devoured its heart, ending its life.

***

Hawar was correct. A yeti was a rare sight to the people of the North Sea. They were just like the monsters in legends.

"They're extremely strong and agile!"

"They're so tough, too..."

"And you said they have a resistance to Frigid Yin Qi?"

The elites of the North Sea were utterly exhausted fighting the group of yetis. In the first place, they weren't excited to see the legendary monsters. Instead, there were only feelings of alarm, fear, and exhaustion in the face of the beasts.

When they heard the roar that, starting from their brain, took over their bodies, they thought they were going to die. Thanks to the Sword God, they survived.

"The Sword God's movements can't be seen at all..."

"It's even more terrifying because he wasn't even using a sword. He was only employing fist and palm techniques."

"If the yeti are fireflies, then Sword God is the sun."

The Sword God had appeared like a ghost and helped them in their moment of crisis. Whenever he punched, heads would shatter, and whenever he thrust out his palm, internal organs would spill out. Whenever he raised his sword, bodies would split into two.

The warriors of the Ice Palace fought with their morale raised to the limits due to the Sword God's help, and soon enough, they were faced with the yeti's leader.

"A monster!"

"W-what the hell is..."

"There's a monster like this in the land of the North Sea?"

The presence of the yeti leader alone was overwhelming.

Luo Xiaoyue's face stiffened, and even the best masters of the Ice Palace immediately became tense.

"Even if he's the Sword God..."

"We need to help!"

They tried to leap forward to repay the help they had received so far and to recover their crumpled pride.

"..."

Ridiculously enough, even the yeti leader lost its life after only a few moves.

Is the Sword God still human?

The Palace Master is incredible, but...

He's the best swordsman in the Central Plains, no, the best swordsman in the world!

They couldn't even figure out how he swung his sword. Their jaws dropped open at the difference in power due to the wall between their cultivation bases.

They were terrified at the mere thought of how powerful the Sword God would be if he were to give it his all.

"G-grah!"

"Huff!"

The group of yetis soon lost their morale and retreated. It wasn't strange. After all, there were only a hundred or so of them at this point. After losing their leader, who had been ruling the snowfield with its might, their morale quickly faded.

In the end, about fifty of them chose to flee in order of their size.

"Catch them!"

The vanguard tried not to let go of yetis. They were worried about being attacked later in the hazardous mountain range, where even just walking was difficult.

They were already having a headache thinking about how they would have to fight the Xuexue Tribe in the future, so the possibility of fighting yetis blinded by revenge was simply terrifying.

"Damn it, they're scattering away!"

"Chase them!"

The scouts led by Myagmar showed off their excellent lightness arts in pursuit. They killed ten of them in the process.

However, their hearts sank upon realizing that the chase was going to be difficult. Since the yetis were intelligent, they scattered and made good use of the terrain as they fled.

Myagmar's group almost fell off a cliff in the blind chase.

"Stop the chase!" Zhou Xuchuan exclaimed, realizing that a chase was going to be incredibly difficult.

The yeti nightmare finally came to an end.

"Scout Captain, how many got away?"

"Thirty," Myagmar answered, sounding sorry. His eyes were filled with respect for the strong.

"That's fine. They've already lost their leader, so they must have realized the gap between our strength. They won't be able to attack us again."

The society of beasts valued power as much as the

murim

, or rather, as much as the Demonic Path. Power was everything for them, and one with power held everything.

No matter how hungry they were, their hunger wasn't as important as their lives, so Zhou Xuchuan believed that they wouldn't approach them as easily as they did the first time around.

"Good. Skin and butcher the yeti corpses, then."

They resembled humans, but the yetis were still beasts despite the resemblance.

Even if the people of the North Sea had a little bit of reluctance, they had to skin and butcher the yetis, as they were still suffering from a severe food shortage.

"Understood."

After asking Dong Xuelian and the others, including Myagmar, to do the clean-up, Zhou Xuchuan went to the yeti leader sporting a hole in its chest.

"Let's see...." He squatted down in front of the corpse and cut through the fur and flesh. Thanks to his sword, there was no obstruction at all.

"It must be around here...

Ah,

there it is."

He grinned deeply upon making contact with a round lump below the yeti leader's lower abdomen. He took it out and rolled it on the snow. Upon wiping the blood away, a pure white neidan that emanated a cold air was revealed.

Befitting a spiritual beast, it held a neidan inside it. This was a decent harvest.

"Little Ghost."

"Yes."

Little Ghost appeared as if she had jumped out of the shadows.

"Hold out your hands."

"Yes."

"Both hands."

Little Ghost held out both palms.

Zhou Xuchuan placed the neidan of the yeti leader on Little Ghost's palms. He could see her hands turning pure white upon making contact with it.

"Keep that and eat it when I tell you to take it."

"I have received an order."

Little Ghost nodded with an indifferent face.

Zhou Xuchuan thought about handing it to Luo Xiaoyue, but she had recently consumed the neidan of the Human-Faced Spider, so he decided to hand the yeti leader's neidan to Little Ghost.

Even spiritual elixirs and neidans were going to cause problems once taken in excess. Worried that it would make her sick, he decided to give the recently obtained neidan to Little Ghost instead.

"By the way, how much fur do we need to pack? We can't quickly make a coat to wear..." Zhou Xuchuan muttered with a worried face.

"You don't have to worry about that," Hawar answered upon hearing Zhou Xuchuan. "Please leave it to us."

To endure the cold of the North Sea, winter clothing was essential. If something went wrong with one's attire, the issue would easily become life-threatening, so they were trained from a young age on how to produce such clothes.

Those who had to stay outside for long periods of time, such as guides or scouts, were very skilled in the art.

"Good. Then we'll find a place to repair our equipment, treat the injured, and make clothes before we set off once again."

"Understood."

"

Oh,

and how long will it take us to reach the Xuexue Tribe's camp?"

"We're almost at the top, so it'll be quick if we just go back down."

"We just need to wait for the next group to contact us. All right, let's get ready and go."

1. For clarification, like Floating Duckweed, Crossing Water, Void Steps, and the Void-Conquering Path—Traversing Snow, Traceless Steps is not a technique, but a type of movement. It's a skill that one learns, but not like a "follow this sutra and qi manipulation art in order to use a technique." You can consider in the manner of "You can learn how to walk on water/air/snow as long as you have enough qi, and knowing how to do that is called XX, and many different techniques can allow you to learn this skill. ☜