Chapter 136 - The Temporary Army and the Trial’s End
Chapter 136: Chapter 136 - The Temporary Army and the Trial’s End
On another side, Lin Weiyang released several bronze mechanisms.
The small devices unfolded in midair and locked onto the movement patterns of the monsters.
"They respond to mist density," she called out. "Thicker mist strengthens them. Separate them from the red flow!"
Zhuge Jing immediately adjusted.
"Yan Lie, burn the mist path, not the body."
Yan Lie frowned.
"Are you ordering me again?"
"Yes."
Yan Lie clicked his tongue.
Then his flames shifted.
Instead of attacking the monsters directly, he burned the red mist around them.
The effect was immediate.
Several monsters slowed.
Their bodies became less stable.
Ji Ruyue’s ice flashed.
One head fell.
Tang Ziyan’s poison needles followed the gap created by the weakened mist and pierced deeper this time.
The monster collapsed.
Liu Meng threw another powder, this one silver-gray.
It spread low along the ground.
When the monsters stepped into it, their feet slipped slightly, as if their sense of ground had been disturbed.
Han Yuelin’s sword intent passed through the gap lazily and cut tendons that should not have still existed.
Qin Baoshan blocked a charging beast with his shield and forced it sideways.
Su Bai’s needles followed, striking the exposed joints.
The battlefield gradually changed.
At first, the young cultivators had fought as separate groups.
Then they began reacting to one another.
A sword cultivator cut open a wound.
A Tang Clan needle entered it.
Yan Lie burned the mist path.
Bai Zhi protected the opening.
Lin Weiyang identified a movement pattern.
Zhuge Jing adjusted the formation.
Liu Meng disrupted the senses.
Ji Ruyue froze the legs.
Qin Baoshan held the front.
Su Bai finished what needed to be finished.
No one had appointed a single leader.
But under pressure, the scattered geniuses began becoming a temporary army.
Su Bai watched while moving.
For the first time, he saw the younger generation of this cultivation world properly.
They were proud.
Some were annoying.
Some were sarcastic.
Some had emotional problems that looked very time-consuming.
But they were not weak.
Their techniques were refined. Their foundations were solid. Their reactions were fast.
When real danger stood in front of them, none of them cowered.
Su Bai quietly adjusted his view.
The cultivation world was not lacking in geniuses.
It was only lacking in situations where geniuses had no choice but to cooperate.
But this kind of cooperation was fragile.
Right now, everyone shared the same threat.
If a treasure appeared...
Su Bai looked at the battlefield.
Then silently sighed.
If a treasure appeared, this neat formation would probably become a very expensive argument.
A roar interrupted his thought.
The largest rotting beast near the pillar suddenly lowered its head and charged.
Its body was covered in black bone plates.
Red mist poured from its back like smoke from a furnace.
If it reached the Boundary Pillar, the pillar would definitely crack.
Zhuge Jing’s fan snapped open.
"Stop that one!"
Several attacks flew at once.
Sword Qi struck its plates.
Flames scorched its side.
Poison needles sank into gaps.
Ice formed beneath its feet.
But the beast continued forward.
Qin Baoshan stepped into its path.
"Brother Qin!" Liu Meng shouted.
Qin Baoshan raised his shield.
Earth Qi surged.
The beast slammed into him.
This time, Qin Baoshan slid back several steps.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
But he did not fall.
Ji Ruyue’s eyes turned cold.
Her cold Qi gathered into a line and struck the beast’s front legs.
Yan Lie roared and punched the ground.
Flames rose beneath the beast’s chest, forcing its body upward.
Han Yuelin’s Sloth Sword Intent moved without hurry.
It cut the weakened joint Ji Ruyue had frozen.
Lin Weiyang’s bronze mechanisms locked onto the beast’s back plates.
"Third plate from the left! It is hollow!"
Zhuge Jing’s fan pointed.
"All attacks there!"
Su Bai had already moved.
His needles appeared between his fingers.
The first needle pinned the beast’s neck movement.
The second struck the hollow plate.
The third was the Weeping Needle.
It slipped into the gap Lin Weiyang had identified.
For one breath, the world was silent around that point.
Then ashen gray flame bloomed inside the beast’s back.
The red mist pouring from it suddenly froze.
Then burned.
The beast screamed and twisted.
Bai Zhi’s lotus light spread forward, shielding Qin Baoshan from the backlash.
Liu Meng threw a final bottle of powder into the beast’s open mouth.
The powder ignited from Su Bai’s cold flame.
The beast’s skull shook.
Tang Ziyan’s violet needle entered through its eye.
Ji Ruyue’s ice spear followed.
Yan Lie’s flame fist struck its jaw.
Han Yuelin’s sword intent cut across the neck.
Qin Baoshan roared and pushed his shield forward one last time.
The massive beast toppled sideways.
Su Bai’s Ashen-Frost Blight Flame surged over it, devouring the remaining red mist before it could scatter.
The beast fell.
The ground shook.
The Boundary Pillar remained standing.
For a moment, the ruined valley was filled only with heavy breathing.
Then the remaining monsters stopped.
One by one, their bodies stiffened.
The red light in their hollow eyes faded.
The mist around them loosened.
Then they collapsed into ash.
The stone tablet near the river released a faint glow.
The words changed.
[Boundary Pillar Protected.]
No one cheered immediately.
They were too tired. Too unsure whether another wave would come.
Then Han Yuelin slowly lowered his sword.
"Does this mean we can rest?"
The stone tablet did not answer.
Han Yuelin looked at it.
"Rude."
Several cultivators finally laughed weakly.
The laughter broke some of the pressure.
But only for a moment.
Because the sky cracked.
A thin line appeared across the dark red sky.
Then another.
Then another.
Like a mirror struck from the other side.
Everyone looked up.
The ruined valley trembled.
The black river distorted.
The stone bridge behind them blurred.
The Boundary Pillar flickered.
Zhuge Jing stared at the cracks in the sky.
His fan slowly lowered.
Then he muttered, "I knew it..."
Su Bai glanced at him.
"You knew?"
Zhuge Jing paused.
Then said, "I suspected."
Su Bai was speechless.
By now, he had also realized something.
This place was not the true Fallen-Star Sanctuary.
The cracks spread faster.
The red mist peeled away in layers.
The monsters’ ashes dissolved.
The Boundary Pillar sank into the ground.
One young cultivator shouted, "What is happening now?"
No one answered.
The entire world shattered.
Then peeled away.
...
Moon-Reflection Garden returned.
The lake was calm.
The jade lamps were still glowing.
The tables were still arranged neatly beneath pale silk curtains.
The young cultivators stood where they had first entered, weapons still drawn, Qi still raised, expressions still tense.
For several breaths, no one moved.
Then someone looked down at the cup of tea beside their hand.
The tea surface rippled gently.
As if nothing had happened.
Yan Lie stared at it.
Then at the garden.
Then at his own flames.
"What?"
Tang Ziyan’s eyes narrowed.
Bai Zhi slowly lowered her hands, her face pale from maintaining the barrier.
Lin Weiyang’s bronze mechanisms folded back into place.
Zhuge Jing closed his fan.
Ji Ruyue silently lowered her hand, cold as ever.
Qin Baoshan looked around carefully, as if confirming whether the bridge had truly disappeared.
Han Yuelin sat down.
A nearby disciple stared at him.
"You can sit at a time like this?"
Han Yuelin looked at him.
"This is the first sensible thing that has happened today."
Su Bai looked toward the main pavilion.
His expression remained calm. But his eyes were thoughtful.
In the main pavilion, Yue Cangyu walked out slowly.
Behind him, Lu Canghai also appeared.
The moment the young cultivators saw Lu Canghai, the Radiant Sky Sect disciples relaxed slightly.
Yue Cangyu stood before the garden.
His gaze swept over the younger generation.
Some were confused.
Some were still pale.
Some were already realizing what had happened.
Yue Cangyu spoke calmly.
"The trial is over."
The garden fell silent.
Then the silence exploded.
"Trial?"
"That was a trial?"
"We thought we had been dragged into the Fallen-Star Sanctuary!"
Their reactions were mixed.
But no one dared show them too openly, let alone say anything that might offend Yue Cangyu.
After all, he was a Void-Shattering cultivator.
One careless move from him could kill everyone present.
No matter how dissatisfied they felt, they could only swallow their grievances.
Yue Cangyu waited quietly until their emotions settled.
Then, as if the coldness from before had only been an illusion, his expression softened again.
The gentle City Lord returned.
An approachable elder.
A host who seemed easy to speak with.