books44 Chapter 976 - 830: Rookie Mistake
Chapter 976 - 830: Rookie Mistake
"Even surrounded like this, they managed to escape. Despite his dissatisfaction with Dongguo Shou, Manxi couldn't help but praise, 'It's said this cat has been lazing around under the eaves of the Carefree Sect's main hall for years, unwilling to move. Yet who knew its claws were so powerful, able to tear through the supposedly impenetrable scale armor of the Demon Riders! Thus, it seems its flight speed is its only weakness.'
As he said this, he looked at Mulan Jin, apparently believing this Commander knew more.
Mulan Jin remained unmoved, showing no expression on his face.
Quickly, Manxi became anxious again. As he mentioned, the flight speed was the chubby big white cat's weakness. No matter what, the big cat couldn't shake off the pursuing Demon Riders. Every time it encountered a blockade in front, it got tangled up, making everyone constantly on edge.
Fortunately, its nimble dodging ability was astonishing, and the power of its claws was terrifying, giving the impression of the Sky Splitting Sword's invincibility. Its bizarrely high defensive power also rendered it immune to weapons, allowing it to break out from encirclements repeatedly.
But the problem is that in combat, the goal is to exploit each other's weaknesses. As the number of attackers grows, with more and more varied attacks and tactics, once caught in a siege, it's easy to falter.
The saying "what you fear is what comes" proved true when a "flower" suddenly bloomed within the mirror image. In fact, it was a vine, which quickly unfurled and wrapped around the big cat.
The usually gentle-faced big cat suddenly bared its teeth, swiping its claws to tear apart the obstruction, attempting to force its way out.
However, the thousands upon thousands of branches made it difficult to dodge effectively, continually threading through its flanks and limbs. Countless vines quickly engulfed the big cat's figure within the mirrored scene.
Trapped inside, the big cat swiftly flipped and clawed to break through the cage of vines. Yet soon, its limbs were immobilized, and although its claws continued to scratch, its entire body was firmly restrained. It wanted to exert force to see if it could break free but had to worry about Dongguo Shou wrapped in its fur. Trying to check if Dongguo Shou was unharmed, it found itself unable to turn around.
As it let out a sharp "meow" in a roar, with Manxi watching the growing vine ball, a white light rushed in, disrupting the encircling crowd in the mirror image.
When the silhouette in the white light appeared, landing on a Demon Rider's head, it was none other than Tong Mingshan, with a few wisps of white hair flowing outside his battle armor helmet. The white glow in his palm pierced directly into the Demon Rider's eye as its head was shaking vigorously.
The decisiveness and skill in his assault were clearly far superior to earlier times, now having gained experience dealing with Demon Riders. From the outset, he aimed to deliver a fatal blow.
"Crack, crack, crack..." The Demon Rider let out a sharply acute wail towards the sky.
The people behind the Demon Rider, seeing this, shouted and attacked but didn't dare to really rush in for a hard fight. After all, even if they hadn't seen this white-helmeted person before, they had heard of him—how many Demon Riders he had killed and how many demon cultivators he had slaughtered.
It was said that touching him meant death, who would dare confront him directly? They attacked from afar.
Facing these attacks, Tong Mingshan seemed to have no intention of dodging, taking a few hits while observing the scene. After confirming the source of the big cat's calls, as the reeling Demon Rider rolled over, he flew away with a burst of bright fire, crashing into the vine ball like a meteor, sparks bursting and scattering everywhere.
The blazing Divine Fire penetrated the vine ball's center, finding the Cloud Demon big cat trapped inside. When Tong Mingshan pointed, the Divine Fire dispersed the vines tangled on the big cat's back. As the surrounding vines tightened swiftly, the flames on Tong Mingshan's body exploded in all directions, igniting the surroundings. Each entangling vine turned into a burning red coal.
The big cat, with its claws waving, broke free of the remaining vines underneath it. Its fur floated with the heat of the flames, gazing intently at Tong Mingshan in mid-air.
The big cat recognized Tong Mingshan; it had seen him when he first tangled with Dongguo Shou.
Sounds of fighting and shouting from outside faintly reached them, sparks falling like rain. Tong Mingshan called out, "The Commander sent me. Hand over the item. Otherwise, they won't let you go."
The big cat didn't show the same hostility it did towards other Heavenly Court forces. Its fur loosened, revealing Dongguo Shou wrapped within, as it meowed and gestured toward its own back.
Tong Mingshan flashed over immediately, landing beside Dongguo Shou. He reached directly towards Dongguo Shou's Qiankun Bag to check, quickly retrieving the Sky Splitting Sword. This item he was familiar with. A brief probe confirmed its authenticity. He then picked up a pile of tokens, equally familiar with various tokens, swiftly putting them along with the Sky Splitting Sword into his own bag.
His actions were swift and clean, showing better conduct than Shi Chun and the others, as he didn't directly take the Qiankun Bag but only took what he came for under the big cat's gaze.
Then, amidst the rain of sparks, he floated away, calling, "I'm leaving first. Hold on. Once I'm gone, they'll surely chase after me."
The big cat meowed, its fur wrapping Dongguo Shou and sinking down again.
With a "bang," the charred coals flew, as, under the Command Center's pressure, the outside forces unleashed a fierce assault, exploding the core of the vine ball that was already half-burnt. A swaying Demon Rider was the first to break in.
Tong Mingshan, with white light bearing down in his hand, the tunneling light reignited. In a flash, he cut down another rider, blasting away the falling fiery rain branches, charging against the tide.
Just after letting go of the branches, the vine demon saw Tong Mingshan breaking through the crowd, clearly targeting him, turning to flee in panic.
A tunneling light flashed past; he lowered his head to see the white glow emerging from his abdomen, then raised his head and let out a heartrending wail, "Ah..."
Having landed a strike, Tong Mingshan no longer tangled with anyone, glancing back at the breaking-out big cat below, then once again transformed into a tunneling light and departed swiftly.
Seeing the tunneling light disappear into the crowd in the mirror image, Manxi excitedly clapped his hands and shouted at the mirror image, "Record the merit, record major merit!"
Others weren't fools either; they knew once Tong Mingshan left, he surely took the tokens and the Sky Splitting Sword with him. Ming Chaofeng and Lan She looked extremely grim, knowing that with Tong Mingshan's speed, it was almost impossible for their subordinates to catch up.
Wei Mo's face darkened as well, suddenly turning to say sternly, "Confirm whether Tong Mingshan's direction when coming and going is the same."
"Yes." Tao Zhi received the command, quickly verified, and returned with the results, reporting promptly, "Indeed, the direction of coming and going is the same."
Wei Mo declared harshly, "In the direction of the Extreme Abyss, order all nearby forces from that place to rush with full speed to the Extreme Abyss Rift Valley, spread out along the rift valley's direction to collapse and fill it for Blue Child to gain some time."
With no argument from the other teams, he still had Blue Child, an unbeatable ace once deployed, so naturally, he wasn't going to give up easily.
Tao Zhi hesitated slightly, saying, "This might not be easy to fill. Even if filled, it might not help."
Wei Mo turned his head and sternly shouted: "At all costs! Relay the command to each unit, tell them, whoever can figure out a way to prevent Tong Mingshan from returning to Extreme Abyss to hide will be credited with the top achievement!"
"Yes." Tao Zhi took on the task with trepidation, knowing the commander was forced to go all-in.
According to the token cursor display, after confirming Tong Mingshan had taken the token, the forces entangled with the big cat Cloud Demon quickly dispersed, continuing to pursue the elusive Tong Mingshan.
No one really wanted to kill the high disciples of the Carefree Sect in a battle without interests at stake.
The mirror image of the Five Great Teams was intensely focused on that tunneling light.
During this, Tao Zhi ran to Wei Mo to report joyfully, "Sir, several disciples of the 'Yellow Banner Sect' are nearby, and have already been ordered to rapidly fill the Extreme Abyss."
The so-called 'Yellow Banner Sect' is a sect practicing Earth Attribute Techniques, making them perfect for digging and filling pits.
Yet Wei Mo showed no sign of joy on his face, fully aware that large scale filling of Extreme Abyss was not something that could be achieved quickly, might not stop Shi Chun and the others from tunneling into Extreme Abyss.
While pondering, the image of the tunneling light swiftly flying across the mirror stopped.
Tong Mingshan and Shi Chun's group had already met up.
Seeing Shi Chun and others also emerge from Extreme Abyss, Wei Mo and the others immediately realized it was a prepared reception.
After receiving the token and Sky Splitting Sword brought by Tong Mingshan, Shi Chun glanced at the sky, guessing that he must be watched by the mirror image.
Since he had succeeded, there was no need to continue onward, once retrieving the Mother-child Talisman to contact Mulan Jin, Shi Chun waved grandly and shouted, "Retreat!"
The group turned direction and swiftly returned.
Soon after, Shi Chun received a message from Shen Moming, saying someone stormed into Extreme Abyss causing chaos, Shen Moming worried about trouble, opted to retreat first to avoid danger, warning Shi Chun's group to be cautious.
Shi Chun did not seem overly concerned about this, occasionally encountering other teams coming head-on during the journey, but without engaging, quickly dodging aside to fly parallel, though could not match Qilin A San dragging several people along, quickly losing sight of him.
Even when encountering Heavenly Court forces, Shi Chun's group did not stop their advance.
Encounters like this happened more frequently, even Demon Riders appeared, daring not to obstruct, only flying alongside.
Faced with Shi Chun's group, none of the teams ordered a strong attack, implicitly acknowledging Shi Chun's group's strength.
Having observed the mirror image closely for some time, Manxi let out a breath of relief, looked at Mulan Jin, and sincerely praised, "This time we were lucky the commander brought Shi Chun's group to join the battle."
After the long journey, Shi Chun's group suddenly halted in mid-air.
They stopped over an expansive body of water, each glancing around suspiciously, realizing something was wrong.
Wu Jinliang frowned and said: "There were lakes along the way, but none this large, we've been running for so long without seeing the end."
An Wuzhi said: "Did we go too far?"
Wu Jinliang: "Shouldn't be, for a rift valley as long as Extreme Abyss, it's impossible for us to misjudge its length, maybe one person got distracted, but it's improbable everyone missed it, could it be we fell for some trick and entered an array? Or perhaps it's an eye-blocking skill?"
Shi Chun had already pulled out the Mother-child Talisman to contact Mulan Jin, asking for help to confirm their current location.
This task was simple, Mulan Jin asked Manxi, who didn't need to confirm with subordinates, directly replied: "They've already crossed the Extreme Abyss, deep into the sea above the other side... No, what does this mean, do they not know where they are?"
His words caused a shiver, for earlier reports showed on the Mountain River Map that Shi Chun's group had crossed the Extreme Abyss, destination unknown.
His subordinates were diligent and responsible, but Manxi, the commander, wasn't concerned upon receiving the report, because he had confidence in Shi Chun, believing there must be a reason for Shi Chun's actions.
Of course, the Mother-child Talisman not being in his possession was also a factor, preventing constant requests for the Xuanji Token Master to relay messages. Had the talisman been in his hands, he certainly would have confirmed with frequent contact.
Now he inevitably felt some worry, hoping he was mistaken, surely they wouldn't commit such a basic error, right?
Mulan Jin glanced at him, then at the mirror image of the figures checking around, sensing something amiss and promptly relayed the situation.
In East Victory Central, observing the mirror image, Wei Mo tilted his head slightly and said: "It might indeed be as we guessed, a mistaken route, they might realize now, where's Blue Child now?"
Earlier, they discovered Shi Chun's group had passed Extreme Abyss without stopping, suspecting a possible unintentional route error due to the Yellow Banner Sect's filling of Extreme Abyss, yet they doubted Shi Chun would commit such a basic mistake.
Nonetheless, they made potential preparations, urgently contacting West Niu, borrowing the legs of Demon Riders to transport Blue Child, better safe than sorry.
One dared to ask, the other dared to answer, Western Bull Commander Niu Qian fully cooperated, promptly deploying nearby Demon Riders for support.
At this moment, in West Niu Central, Niu Qian connected the unwilling request from East Victory earlier, deduced, eyebrows furrowing, saying: "Wei Mo's quite something, managing this? Truly a clever trick, achieving much with little!"