Chapter 55: -55- Early Golden Core
Chapter 55: -55- Early Golden Core
Chapter 55: -55- Early Golden Core
Back in the grand hall, Zhaoyin, Tulu, and Xi stood anxiously as they received their master's orders. The dark armor sets hovered before them, and they exchanged uneasy glances.
"We are to use the Dao Battle Armors?" Tulu muttered, his voice tinged with fear. "Master only allows these in the direst of situations."
"This is clearly such a situation," Zhaoyin replied, her voice steady but cold. "Yanchi is dead. Master is furious. We have no choice."
Xi swallowed hard, eyeing the golem that was now lumbering out of the mountain to hunt down the intruders. "That golem alone could defeat anyone below rank 4," he said, his voice shaking slightly. "Why send us too?"
"Because these intruders aren't ordinary," Zhaoyin said, slipping into the armor. "If they were able to kill Shen, Zan, and now Yanchi, we'll need every bit of strength we can muster."
The other two disciples nodded grimly, donning their own armors. As the pieces latched into place, dark energy swirled around them, reinforcing their bodies and amplifying their qi. The battle armor hummed with latent power, designed to enhance their attacks and defense to an extraordinary level.
"Let's go," Zhaoyin commanded, her eyes flashing with determination. "Master has given us a task, and we cannot afford to fail."
With the golem leading the way, the disciples followed, each of them fully aware that their lives—and their master's wrath—depended on their success.
***
"My disciple! My Yanchi! You dare kill my disciple! You will all die!!!"
"Sounds like someone's angry," Kai said, amused.
"That must be his master," Silas murmured. "Things are about to get interesting."
"So what should we do now?" Kai asked.
"Hang on, let me check on Thea, Red, and Nebula. Stay here for a moment," Silas said as he entered the estate treasure they were currently in.
Once inside, he noticed all three of them were sitting on the ground in lotus positions.
"Are you guys ok?" Silas asked.
Thea quickly opened her eyes, "Are you ok? Did you win the fight?"
"Yes, we're both fine, but what about you three?" Silas asked.
"We should all be fine after we get rid of this poison," Thea said. All three of them were currently using their divine power to destroy the poison inside their bodies.
"Ok, if you're fine, I'll leave you guys to it and try to get out of here," Silas said, but he knew they weren't likely to get out of the formation they were currently trapped in without Red's help. To leave this mountain, they would most likely have to fight Yanchi's master and either take the formation core from him or force him to let them go.
"Be safe," Thea said.
Silas nodded, then left the estate treasure and appeared beside Kai once again.
"Are they all good?" Kai asked.
"Yeah, they should be fine after a little while... Now we need to try to get out of here. Let's go," Silas said as he picked a seemingly random direction and started to fly off, with Kai following right next to him.
After a minute of flying, they crossed the mountain, and when Silas looked down, he was shocked.
"What the hell is this?" Silas said in anger as he and Kai saw millions of mortals trapped inside a large fenced-off area. There were millions of them all bunched up in a very small area, and they all looked terrible. They were clearly underfed, and all of them were surrounded by their own filth that had clearly been building up over a long time.
Silas and Kai also both immediately noticed in the distance five men and women standing outside the fence, clearly cultivators.
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Early Revolving Core]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core - Body Cultivation: Late Transcendent]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core]
The group of five just as quickly noticed Silas and Kai and immediately went on the defensive, all pulling out their various weapons.
"You two killed Yanchi!?" one of the men yelled.
"Ha, that pathetic peak revolving core... If that's who you're talking about, then yes, I did... Why, do you want to follow in his footsteps?" Kai said with a laugh.
"You motherfucker! You're looking to die!" another man yelled.
"Calm down. If Yanchi was killed by them, then we don't stand a chance... Yanchi could fight us five to a standstill on his worst day, and they killed him quickly," one of the two women said.
"Hmph! Just wait... Wash your necks!" the man yelled.
"Ha ha... Why, are you going to do something?" Kai yelled back. He really wanted them to attack, but if they refused, he wasn't scared to charge in himself.
But before he could do that, he noticed that all five of them had turned to their left at the same time. Kai quickly followed their gaze and saw four people on their way over.
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core]
[Human - Qi Cultivation: Mid Revolving Core]
[Golem - Qi Cultivation: Early Golden Core - Body Cultivation: Peak Revolving Core]
"Quit playing around and be on your guard," Silas quickly sent to Kai. So far, he had been fine with Kai playing around with these five, but now that there were three more humans and a strong golem on the way, he knew they had to get serious.
"Feiyu, Sheng, Jian, Yuelin, Lang, come over here and put these on," one of the human newcomers said in a commanding tone.
Silas watched as all five of the people from before quickly got serious and flew over to the new group to take a set of armor each.
"Those are probably dao battle armors. Don't be careless," Silas sent to Kai.
"Hmph... Like they stand a chance... Let me take the golem," Kai said as he readied himself.
"No, I'll try out the golem first. It's an entire rank above us; we have to be careful... The golem I had to fight in the 2nd level of the battle hall was only a peak revolving core in both Qi and body cultivation, and it was a tough fight... If this golem is anything like that, we're going to be in serious trouble. Can you defend yourself from those eight?" Silas sent back.
"Fine," Kai said. He knew he was the weak link in the group, so for now, he decided to follow his big brother's orders.
"Don't get in over your head; just fight defensively and let me test them out... But at the same time, don't just turtle up. We have to kill these guys before their master shows up, or we'll be in real trouble," Silas said as he finally pulled out his scythe as well as his Ten Sickles of Requiem.
The group of eight humans was now all donned in their dao battle armors and spreading out, while the early rank 4 golem was flying forward toward Silas and Kai.
"Let's go," Silas said.
Silas tightened his grip on his scythe, feeling the hum of energy from his ten sickles aligning into the Requiem Harvest Formation.
A chill fell over the battlefield as the spectral sickles began to orbit around him, radiating a raw, destructive force.
He charged forward, his presence like an impending storm, while the golem ahead of him responded with a heavy, clumsy motion, lifting its greatsword in a slow, forceful arc.
"Shing! Bang!"
Silas dodged the swing with ease, his sickles moving in a precise, deadly rhythm as he struck at the golem's joints, the blade finding vulnerable points with surgical accuracy.
Unlike the golem he'd fought in the battle hall, this one was far less graceful, each movement powerful yet awkward, and Silas quickly saw through its weaknesses.
"Too slow," Silas muttered, sidestepping a wide swing of the golem's sword.
He noted that, while sturdy, this golem lacked the mastery and quality of treasures he'd encountered before, relying only on raw strength.
A thought struck him, and he called out to Kai, "Switch with me! This golem is a good match for you—I'll take on the others!" Silas knew that they needed to kill all the humans and hopefully take out the golem before their master came. He didn't know how strong their master was but he would surely be the strongest of the bunch.
Kai grinned and broke away from the eight cultivators surrounding him, eager for the challenge. He dove toward the golem, claws outstretched, while Silas turned his gaze to the eight armored cultivators, who now surrounded him in a loose formation.