Chapter 889 - The Mantis and The Oriole

The crowd was dumbfounded in the face of this sudden turn of events.

What was happening?

What exactly was this large hand?

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

Their madness stemming from greed gave way to rationality under fear. Like ice water had been poured over their heads, they returned to their senses.

Exactly how terrifying of a monster was it to kill a late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm expert at once? Not even a peak, late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm top expert could do that.

What exactly was hidden within that darkness?

Chen Fan’s irises also shrunk violently. He’d already sensed looming disaster. Now, his fears had materialized.

Although only a large furry hand had appeared, he was almost certain that it belonged to a powerful jiangshi in the peak, late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm at the very least.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

An expert in the late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm shouted, “Stay calm! Stop fighting over the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring and focus on dealing with this hand first!”

The crowd reluctantly agreed. This wasn’t the time to think about claiming the spring—it was about survival.

The hand was too formidable: impossibly tough, impervious to weapons, and overwhelmingly strong. Just the hand alone had killed a powerful cultivator. Facing it alone would mean certain death.

Fighting for the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring was supposed to lead to breakthroughs and greater strength—but what was the point if they couldn’t survive? Strength was meaningless if life itself was at stake. Safety had to come first.

However, before that person could finish speaking, another hand struck out from the darkness, grabbing their head, ripping it off, and crushing it in an instant.

This scene nearly gave everyone a heart attack.

It was too terrifying.

Just moments ago, this person had called for unity against the hand; now, they were dead—blood spraying like a fountain, drenching the air in terror.

“What the hell is that, show yourself! Stop playing tricks, or I’ll blow your dog brains off with my staff!” The Scarlet Flame Demon Ape, Zhan Kong, had the least patience. Flames erupted from his body, his fury igniting his Primordial Demonic Staff, which he smashed toward the darkness.

“Sweeping Under the Heavens!”

The Primordial Demonic Staff swelled up and unleashed a terrifying aura. It was actually an exceptional quality Grade-7 treasure. As it smashed down, the air vaporized and a large area collapsed. It was like a fire dragon was rushing into the darkness.

This was the Scarlet Flame Demon Fire. It was very terrifying, immediately igniting the thick corpse qi, burning through it, and vaporizing it. The endless darkness was also lit up in an instant by the fire.

For a moment, the pitch blackness was illuminated, revealing the horrors within.

Three towering jiangshi emerged, clad in the garb of a Daoist, monk, and scholar. Their green faces, sharp fangs, and bodies covered in corpse fur radiated cruelty, shrouded in thick corpse qi. Even though they were far away, the crowd could feel their oppressive aura.

Each jiangshi far surpassed a peak, late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm expert, nearly reaching the first-level Manifestation realm. It was no wonder that the white-robed youth had to retreat temporarily from that ambush earlier.

As the crowd watched in horror, the jiangshi's auras surged, breaking their shackles and pushing them fully into the first-level Manifestation realm.

“What!” The crowd felt a chill, and their eyeballs nearly popped out.

Suddenly, the three jiangshi’s turquoise eyes lit up, and they pounced at the numerous martial artists in a flash.

“Kill!” shouted someone in the crowd. Immediately, countless terrifying killing moves bombarded the three jiangshi.

Though fear gripped them, there was no other option but to take the risk and fight.

The three jiangshi had just awakened, so their strengths had not yet harmonized, ensuring that they couldn’t display their true strength. Still, they were much stronger than a peak, late-stage, half-step, Manifestation realm expert.

Not even Guan Wei and the other top experts could hold them off alone.

The combined assault was a fearsome spectacle, with ultimate techniques tearing through the air, threatening to shatter heaven and earth itself.

“

Roar, roar

!” roared the three jiangshi angrily. The terrifying corpse qi transformed into Corpse Dao ultimate moves and clashed with the crowd’s attacks head-on

Rumble!

Deafening explosions erupted in an instant. The entire secret room shook violently, producing creaking noises as if it was about to collapse.

Incredibly terrifying sounds of explosion rang out everywhere, along with miserable screams.

Fortunately, the crowd’s united strike managed to repel the three monstrous jiangshi, pushing them back. Chen Fan joined the assault but kept a watchful eye on Shang Ziyan.

As he had expected, Shang Ziyan chose this moment to act. Having kept himself hidden for so long, he seized the opportunity while everyone was distracted.

With almost everyone focusing on the three jiangshi, there was no better time to snatch the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring.

Shang Ziyan manifested a true primeval hand to grab it, an ecstatic smile playing on his face.

Finally, the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring was his.

All his plotting was not in vain. With the spring, his injuries would soon recover, and he would regain his true cultivation level. Not only was his dream about to come true, but he could also progress a step further.

His hand of true primeval was just about to grab hold of the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring when a streak of sword qi came slashing down through space right at this moment, blowing up the hand. Next, a flood dragon’s claw snatched the spring and vanished like lightning.

“Shang Ziyan, all that planning and this is what you get!”

Chen Fan’s voice rang out, freezing Shang Ziyan in his tracks.

All his scheming was for the sake of the Heavenly Soul Holy Spring. The duck that was almost in his possession had flown away!

He stared into the void blankly before quickly looking over. With an incomparably savage expression on his face, he roared, “Bastard, it’s you!”

Shang Ziyan flew into a rage when he saw Chen Fan. His aura instantly erupted wildly, sweeping through heaven and earth, causing countless people to shift their gazes.