Swallowed Star 2: Origin Continent: Volume 8: Chapter 18 (323): [The Attack]

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Swallowed Star 2: Origin Continent
Volume 8: [The Battle of Yulan City]
Chapter (323): [The Attack]
(18th of Volume 8)
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As the Lord of Yuanxiang Hall- and an expert who has cultivated to two and a half levels of the Hunyuan Realm and has been suffered from the torment of soul corruption until now- he remains unyielding and refuses to surrender easily.

"Elders, we all know the situation is dire," said the Palace Master Yuanxiang through spiritual voice transmission.

"Right now, a vast army of low-level Hunyuan lifeforms has completely surrounded Yulan City. If you want to escape from this siege, only a handful of people in the city can do it! At least I can't do it."

Over three hundred elders listened, fully aware. Even if escape is an option, most of them wouldn't make it out either.

The palace master of Gaitao Hall, a long-time expert in refining weapons and secret treasures, had always considered the Nine Rivers Holy Realm far safer than the Dark Holy Realm.

This was his home base for refining weapons and secret treasures, and it held a huge collection of half his life's accumulated treasures. He couldn't bear to lose them- so he spent heavily to acquire escape treasures, just in case.

Other elders, less wealthy than the Palace Master Gaitao and lacking such life-saving secret treasures, had no confidence in fleeing either.

"If we can't run, then we will fight to the end," Palace Master Yuanxiang declared.

"I've already requested help from the Dark Holy Realm. This time, An Ultra-limit-level Heart-Bewitching worm has appeared. In response, a team of elite practitioners from the Dark Holy Realm has already set off- they'll need a little over a day to reach Yulan City."

"As long as we hold on for a little over a day, we will win!" What Palace Master Yuanxiang said was the truth.

This elite team consisted of three powerful practitioners, each on par with the Palace Master Yuanxiang in his peak.

First, they would travel to the teleportation lake in the Dark Holy Realm, then teleport into the Jiuhe Holy Realm, and finally make their way to Yulan City. Even at full speed, the journey would still take more than a day.

"The 92 elders responsible for the Star Formation- continue to kill the enemy's lurking teams," the Palace Master Yuanxiang ordered.

"The rest of elders- spread more clones as soon as possible. If any clone is detected, self-destruct it immediately. We must delay the enemy's progress as much as possible."

"Yes!" All the elders acknowledged the command.

In fact, Palace Master Gaitao could have done the same- sending out clones to delay- but palace master Gaitao wasn't willing to take this risk.

Because once the terrifying enemy team led by 'King' caught up, and if he makes even one mistake, his clones and all his treasures would be lost.

Now, however, none of the elders had any choice left. Whether due to lack of choice or pride, they decided to stay and hold the line, doing whatever they could to stall for time.

Boom-

RUMBLE-

Without Palace Master Gaitao, the Star Formation had already lost the core of the formation, reducing its total power by a third.

However, at this moment, the entire Star Formation's power is only targeted at three out of 39 elite lurking teams.

When the power of the star formation gathered, these three elite teams also suffered casualties.

"King, these elders are all too cunning. As soon as they discovered us, they immediately dispersed into clones. They have other clones hidden elsewhere!"

"The power of this formation is too great. Our team has already lost the true bodies of three core members!"

"King, our team still has 60% strength left! But these elders are too cunning!"

"King, we succeeded in killing Elder Qiu Ge!"

"Elder Qiu Ge's clone speed was far slower than our spiritual body, and all his fleeing clones have dissipated."

"In Yulan City, one elder is now confirmed dead!"

One message after another reached the king, but there was only one piece of good news.

The King had already expected this outcome.

The pressure exerted by the low-level Hunyuan lifeforms surrounding the city wasn't enough. In fact, it made the situation worse by making them feel the enemies hidden inside the city even more dangerous.

"Stay alert," the king said.

"We have arrived at the main cave of Yuanxiang Hall!"

The King and a total of 30 leader level clones have all come here.

There were originally a total of 32 lurking leader level clones in Yulan City, and two of them have already died during the process of ambush.

Boom-

The king and 30 leaders, each resembling an illusion, rushed towards the main cave of the Yuanxiang Hall with lightning speed.

The Palace Master Yuanxiang sat there, smiling at them.

"You're here!"

The Palace Master Yuanxiang smiled slightly, but disappeared.

"Hmm?"

The king and 30 leaders were left aside.

"King, within Yulan City, I can no longer feel the clone of the Lord of Yuanxiang Hall," said a leader in confusion.

"I can't feel it either,"the King looked up at the operation of the high-altitude formation with some confusion.

"But as the builder of this city, if the Lord of Yuanxiang Hall dies and loses his control, the power of the Yulan City's formation should be greatly reduced. But right now... the power of the formation has not changed at all!"

"He is still alive!"

"Yes, I'm still in Yulan City," a voice sounded inside the cave.

The king and 30 leader level true bodies carefully sensed.

"I am tormented by soul pollution, and my mind and strength are all fighting against it."

"I know that I am the biggest weakness of Yulan City, so how could I not be prepared?"

The voice of the Lord of Yuanxiang Hall sounded,"With you alone, you will never be able to find me!"

"Damn it!"

The king and the 30 leaders were quite angry.

Previously, dealing with the Lord of Weiyang Hall and the Lord of Gaitao Hall went smoothly, and everything went as planned, resulting in one of the palace masters dying and the other escaping.

But when facing the weakest palace master, the Lord of the Yuanxiang Hall, they cannot even find him right now.

"Guess where I'm hiding?" The voice of the palace master Yuanxiang continued to ring.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's just stalling for time."

The king glanced at the 30 leaders and said, "Let's move on to the next plan. I'll act alone, and you'll split into five teams! Start attacking and killing each elder! The more elders you kill, the better. Every time you kill an elder, the power of the formation will weaken."

"Yes."

The king no longer paid attention to the voice of the palace master Yuanxiang, and quickly separated and began to attack and kill the elders of the surrounding caves.

Huuu!

Inside a cave.

A high-ranking elder Qin Yi sat cross-legged...

Suddenly!

Before he could even react, he was already attacked by the king.

The king's innate secret technique, 'Heart-Bewitching technique', has already reached an incomprehensible level.

The elder Qing Yi possessed only one precious secret treasure- and it was stored far away in the Dark Holy Realm.

Here in Yulan City, without any proper defense, he was completely vulnerable and died on the spot.

With his death, all of his clones spread across the Nine Rivers Holy Realm also perished.

"Next," the King said coldly, eyes sharp as blades.

The Lord of Yuanxiang Hall had the highest cultivation level in all of Yulan City- even someone like King couldn't ambush him easily.

But the ordinary elders? They never even saw death coming.

Once an elder failed to resist the attack from the king, all of their clones within the Nine Rivers Holy Realm perished instantly.

Ah-

Far from the center of Yulan City, in a quiet and ordinary cave in the outer area, the Palace Master Yuanxiang was hidden here.

He sat silently, veiled by a powerful secret treasure- an artifact capable of completely concealing light, shadow, aura, and even karmic cause and effect.

Even someone like Luo Feng, using the advanced Bionic Eye of Destruction, would be utterly incapable of detecting Palace Master Yuanxiang's presence.

He knew his own weaknesses well. He wasn't the strongest... but he was rich.

Wealthy enough to acquire a rare treasure that could grant perfect concealment.

In the entire Dark Holy Realm, only a few beings could even hope to crack such a disguise.

"Although the elders can split themselves into many clones, these lurking teams are in spiritual bodies. And their speed is also too fast. The elders, despite their efforts, are gradually falling."

"They won't last a day. It's hard to even make it through half," thought the Palace Master Yuanxiang grimly, observing everything in the city through the monitoring network embedded in the grand formation. He could see it all- clearer than anyone.

Although the lurkers were also attacked and killed by the star formation, they suffered consecutive losses, mainly affecting some core ethnic groups.

As for the king and leaders, they were much more difficult to eliminate.

******

Dan Tower.

At this moment, Luo Feng is practicing in seclusion and also has the strongest clone outside the meditation room to protect himself.

"Brother Luo Feng!" Changqing Tower Master quickly arrived.

"Owner?" Luo Feng looked at him with confusion.

"Brother Luo Feng, I am one of the elders of Yulan City and also the target of those lurkers. They have an elite team approaching the Dan Tower."

Changqing Tower Master took out a wristband and handed it to Luo Feng.

"These are all the treasures in the Dan Tower, worth about 2.7 billion Hunyuan Crystals. Brother Luo Feng, I'm entrusting them to you."

Luo Feng was stunned.

"All of Dan Tower's treasures? That's far too valuable. I can't guarantee I can keep them safe. Changqing Tower Master, you should find another way."

"At least you're not listed as an elder," Changqing Tower Master said firmly. "That makes you less of a target. And your strength... it's above mine. Your chances of survival are better."

He smiled faintly.

"If you lose them, I won't blame you. But if you manage to protect them- then I will forever owe you. The Hundred Calamities Heart Essence that I gave before can be considered a storage fee."

"As for the true cost of the Hundred Calamities Heart Essence... we'll settle that later."

Luo Feng took the bracelet and said, "I will temporarily store this treasure from the Dan Tower for you. But I can only promise to do my best!"

"Thank you brother Luo Feng," said the owner of Changqing Tower, turning his head to look outside.

The elite lurkers team has arrived at Dan Tower.

"Huuu!"

"Kill the Changqing Tower Master!"

This elite team has 8 leader level clones, 6 core ethnic group real bodies, and 59 additional clones from the core races.

For context, just one core ethnic group's true body has the power to threaten Changqing Tower Master. Now, this entire team moved as one- it was too terrifying.

Roar-

A phantom snake suddenly roared, its roar impacting the entire Dan Tower building complex and the fleeing Changqing Tower Master in the distance, affecting both the main body and shadow clone of the Changqing Tower Master.

These were spiritual lifeforms- Heart-Bewitching Worms and Soul-Devouring Serpents- originating from the lower realms of existence.

Spiritual entities are capable of shifting between illusion and reality.

Similar in nature to those Luo Feng had once faced in Infinite Space, but far more horrifying now.

Suddenly-

"Hmph." A cold, angry snort cut through the chaos.

Then- boom.

A blood-red tide surged out of thin air around Dan Tower. Like an unstoppable tsunami, it instantly swallowed the entire elite lurker team. The sea of blood seethed and churned, devouring everything it touched.

Within seconds, the entire squad- leader clones, core race elites, and all- was annihilated. No survivors. No resistance. Just... silence.

"Hmm?" The Changqing Tower Master, who was originally running away, looked at this scene in shock.

"How is that possible?" The Changqing Tower Master couldn't believe it.

************

Meanwhile, in a hidden cave in the outer districts of Yulan City-

"This is..?"

Inside the cave in the outer city area, the Yuanxiang Palace Master, who concealed his figure and aura, constantly observed the situation and also saw the scene of the Dan Tower incident.

An entire elite squad of lurkers- utterly annihilated. Not a single one left.

Even creatures like the late-stage Heart-Confusing Worms and Soul-Devouring Snakes, known for their spiritual fluidity and tenacious vitality, had been vaporized. No illusions, no fragments.

"To destroy them all in one strike..." he muttered, his eyes sharp.

"There are fewer than twenty beings in all of Yulan City who could even kill a single one of those creatures so cleanly."

"But to wipe out the entire team in a single breath..."

His eyes narrowed.

"Only two beings could've done that- the Lord of Weiyang Hall and the Lord of Gaitao Hall."

But...

The Lord of Gaitao Hall had already fled Yulan City without a fight.

The Lord of Weiyang Hall had only managed to resist for a few breaths under the joint attack of the King and twelve leaders before dying.

This lurker team, in terms of combat power and spiritual strength, was equivalent to a leader-level true body. To annihilate them so decisively meant only one thing-

Palace Master-level strength.

True, overwhelming power.

The Master of Yuanxiang Palace's expression turned grim... and yet, a glimmer of understanding began to shine in his eyes.

"Could it be... Luo Feng..." he whispered.

"Luo Feng, have you reached the Semi-Hunyuan Enlightened Realm?" The Palace Master Yuanxiang sent a message.

A tremor passed through his soul. With one of the two great Palace Masters dead and one escaping, it seemed that... A new palace master… had emerged.

Right here.

Right now.

In the heart of Yulan City.

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END OF CHAPTER

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