Chapter 118: Mastermind of the darkness

Everyone looked at the black shadow behind the Rank 5 beast. A lone silhouette drifted out from the dark. It was a man.

He wore a fluttering black robe against the cave breeze. His black hair hung loosely around a pale face. He didn’t have a heavy body, and didn’t need to flare up his spiritual pressure.

The moment he stepped forward, Xue Hongzhao’s eyes twitched vehemently.

The Sect Master’s Phoenix beast essence swirled rapidly in frantic warning.

A suffocating chill lingered out from the man’s body. It wasn’t simple killing intent, nor was it the bloodthirst of a wild beast. It was something corrupt, a dark resonance that made the cultivators’ meridians and aperture too strong.

Xue Hongzhao clenched his black bow, his knuckles white. "Who the hell are you?"

The man halted ten paces away. He stared at the bruised, blood-stained cultivators, his eyes dull with boredom.

"Why the fuck do we need to talk?" the man sneered, nodding his head slowly. His hollow eyes darted across the frenzied elders and gasping disciples, his lips curling into a dangerous smile.

"I’m going to butcher every last one of you anyway..." his mockery voice lingered across the area. "Filthy humans."

He casually flicked his right wrist toward the Rank 5 beast. "Kill them!"

"Yes, Master!" The large Rank 5 beast lowered its head in approval.

The beast’s mutated aura burst outward powerfully. But that was only the beginning. From the dark cave surrounding the central chamber, a lingering chorus of shrieks burst out all at once.

The ground reverberated as other nightmares rushed out from the various tunnels.

Lin Yuan’s eyes widened in disdain. "There are more?!"

The towering beasts came out from the shadows one after another, their grotesque, thick muscles rippling under their fur.

There were eighteen gruesome Rank 4 mutated monkey commanders. The strange cultivator didn’t spare them a second to stare. He turned away with casual disgust, as if watching mere maggots lying frantically under his legs.

"Tear them apart!" He commanded, flicking his hand slightly.

The eighteen commanders lunged forward with an immense speed. The whole underground chamber vanished into sheer, unadulterated madness.

"Be careful! Let’s crush these beasts! I will take care of the Rank 5 monster!" Xue Hongzhao bellowed, moving forward.

The power of nineteen mutated monsters shattered the defensive positions of the disciples instantly.

Lin Yuan’s beast essence swirled vehemently, summoning his female white tiger. A four-armed commander crashed straight into him, its jagged claws thrusting forward very fastly.

Lin Yuan crossed his arms, concentrating his beast essence to parry.

The strong impact blew him backward, his legs carving deep trenches through the shattered bone floor.

"Tsk!" Lin Yuan clicked his tongue vehemently.

A second commander lunged from his blind spot. The female white tiger lunged mid-air, aiming her fangs into its throat to drag it down.

Across the field, Bai Ning and her fox fought frantically, letting out a torrent of glacial mist to freeze the legs of an approaching beast, while Chen Ming darted beside Lin Yuan, his hands flashing.

"There are too many of these bastards!" Chen Ming yelled, parrying a slashing claw.

"I can see that!" Lin Yuan groaned under his breath.

"Then pull a miracle out of your sleeve!"

"I’m fucking trying to do something!"

The dark cave changed into a slaughterhouse. The spiritual aura, severed body parts, and splashes of corrosive venom splattered against walls and floor.

The eighteen commanders had no fear and felt no pain. Their mutated flesh evaded the standard spirit techniques, their physical strength hovering terrifyingly close enough to rival a Rank 5 beast.

Even the veteran elders were being torn to pieces, vomiting blood against the cave walls.

In the center of the storm, Xue Hongzhao faced down the Rank 5 beast. A torrent of divine Phoenix flames slammed head-on with the beast’s boulder-sized fist.

The shockwave pulverized the surrounding rocks into fine powder. The Rank 5 beast roared through the heat, its scorched arms swinging in a savage movement.

Xue Hongzhao’s face twisted with murderous intent. "Come, you piece of shit!"

The Phoenix rumbled from the ceiling like a falling sun. The two beasts tore into each other with reckless brutality. A few minutes stretched into eternity.

The bone crackled against the stone. The blood splashed on the cave walls. The air turned so thick with the stench of burnt fur and dust of pulverized rock that every breath choked the lungs.

One mutated commander fell, its spine shattered by an elder’s bear. Then another was torn open by the white tiger. Then a third was killed by Bai Ning’s fox and Chen Ming’s falcon.

The disciples and elders fought with frenzied desperation. Lin Yuan leaned against a stone boulder, taking in a few vehement gasps.

His aperture was becoming dry. His beast essence had plummeted to near zero, the warning rumbles in his aperture screaming for relief. His chest rose and fell rapidly.

’Ha... ha...’ He pressed a trembling palm to his chest, his eyes darkening around the edges. ’Fuck!!’

Beside his leg, there is a mangled corpse of a commander, its skull crushed under the female white tiger’s claws. But the exhaustion had taken control, and the tiger flickered, forced back into the tattoo on his shoulder. Lin Yuan could barely keep his knees still.

Chen Ming stumbled over, curling a bruised arm around Lin Yuan’s shoulder to steady him.

"Easy, man..." Chen Ming wheezed, his face covered in bruises and disdain. "Just... take a breath..."

Lin Yuan leaned against Chen Ming slightly. "I’m still breathing."

"You look like a walking corpse," Chen Ming grunted, smiling slightly.

"You look worse, Chen Ming."

Chen Ming let out a bloody chuckle. "Fair enough!"

Around them, the surviving cultivators collapsed onto their weapons and boulders, gasping for life.

The ground was filled with shredded meat and shattered bone. All eighteen Rank 4 commanders lay dead. Only two remained in the center — the mutated Rank 5 beast and Xue Hongzhao.

The final battle violently shook the cave foundations.

Xue Hongzhao was bathed in blood, his crimson robes torn. But the Phoenix aura wrapping his body burned brighter than ever, fed by the raw fury of his spirit.

The Rank 5 beast swung a desperate, powerful right hook.

Xue Hongzhao stepped inside the attack, his left hand snapping out, and catching the mighty fist in mid-air!

His burning eyes locked onto the monster’s golden eye.

"You..." The golden-crimson Phoenix flames flowed down the Sect Master’s arm, swirling around the beast’s massive wrist. "...butchered my children."

The flames burst out into a tempest.

The beast threw its head back, letting out an agonizing shriek as the divine fire melted its skin, and muscle to the bone.

Xue Hongzhao gave it no space. He was so angry and thrusted punch after punch into the beast’s chest.

The colossal beast was pinned into the stone floor. The Phoenix closed its wings around the crater, unleashing a torrent of fire that consumed every part of the creature’s vitality. The large beast moved once and remained dead.

An eerie silence fell over the dark cave.

The strange cultivator in the black robe stood thirty paces away against the wall, watching the slaughter with calm eyes.

Xue Hongzhao stood still, his chest heaving slightly over the smoldering crater as beads of sweat and blood dripped from his chin.

The Phoenix flames gradually flickered and died, sinking back into his exhausted aperture.

"It’s over..." Xue Hongzhao rasped, staring down at the dead beast.

Everyone forgot about the demonic cultivator there. Then, a wet crunch echoed through the cave. Xue Hongzhao’s breath caught in his neck. His eyes widened and became pale.

A pale, blood-drenched arm pierced out from the center of his chest. The fresh, crimson blood dripped over from the hand onto the sect master’s robes, falling onto the stone below.

The sect master’s body stiffened in a final groan. Standing behind him silent he had evaded everyone’s senses in the room... he was the demonic cultivator. His hand had pierced clean through Xue Hongzhao’s back, and took out his heart.

He held his heart tightly within those pale fingers which were throbbing slightly.

Xue Hongzhao coughed, the dark blood crawled out from his lips. The demonic cultivator leaned forward, his rotting breath smearing against the sect master’s ear, his pale face changing into a calm grin.

Then, his fingers clenched hard. The heart burst vehemently, the blood and beast essence spraying between his knuckles across the area.

Xue Hongzhao’s head bent frantically, his aura evaporating in a fraction of a second.

The pale hand slowly slid out from his chest. The sect master of Red Talon Hall pivoted on his feet, turning half a step toward the man with hollow eyes. His body collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.

Xue Hongzhao was dead. Lin Yuan stared at the corpse of the Sect Master, his mind turning numb. Chen Ming’s arm slid down from Lin Yuan’s shoulder, his mouth open in terror.

Bai Ning’s fox shrank back into her aperture. Every surviving elder stood frozen, their faces pale, staring in pure disdain at the corpse lying on the floor.

The demonic cultivator casually licked the blood on his hand with a scary grin on his face. Everyone burned with rage, seeing the demonic bastard who killed their sect master.