Chapter 962: Poised for Action

"Heh, it seems I was careless. Those brought here are all trusted confidants of the city lords, how could they possibly flee on their own? But a rabble like you, even united, what storm can you stir up?" Shao Ying said with a sinister smile.

As he spoke, his hands flashed behind his back, and when they returned, a pair of bone-white claws gleamed on his hands, studded with dozens of star apertures, clearly a high-grade star artifact.

At the same time, his robes billowed without wind, and one after another, apertures lit up on his body surface.

"Two hundred and eighty-three apertures... you've opened that many..." Shi Chuankong's expression shifted slightly as he murmured.

Not only him, but the Elder Hu beside him also changed color. Two hundred and eighty-three apertures meant his strength had reached the city lord level, even surpassing Qin Yuan and the others.

"Save the city lord, save the city lord..." At that moment, a slurred voice came from the ground.

Shao Ying looked up and saw Fang Chan, who had fallen earlier, standing again, somehow.

On his bloody chest wound, wisps of red mist emerged, and the shattered flesh writhed rapidly, visibly repairing itself bit by bit.

At the same time, his body grew several zhang taller, black scales sprouting from his chest, shoulders, and neck joints. His eyes blazed with even more bloodlust, and his fierce aura surged, making him look no different from a ferocious scaled beast.

"What did you give him? It doesn't look like a healing beast pill," Shao Ying frowned.

"I wonder if you've heard of it. It's called the Blood Tide Pill," Shi Chuankong smiled.

This Blood Tide Pill was also a gift from his third brother, Shi Pokong, back then. Whether it harbored some trick like the jade token, Shi Chuankong didn't know, but with Fang Chan on the brink of death, he had no choice but to give it to him.

From the current situation, the pill seemed harmless and far more potent than he had expected.

"I thought it was some miraculous elixir, but it's just a pill that temporarily stimulates physical power..." As Shao Ying spoke, his figure flickered and vanished on the spot.

Shi Chuankong, prepared, roared and swung a purple-black long staff horizontally toward the void beside him.

A sharp clang rang out.

The two bone claws scraped sparks across the staff and flashed past.

Shao Ying flew back, steadied himself, and looked at the staff in Shi Chuankong's hand with a hint of surprise.

Just then, a shadow loomed over him—Fang Chan charged over, raising a giant palm to strike down.

A thunderous roar!

Shao Ying dodged just in time, but the ground before him took a heavy blow, sending rubble flying and cracking open a huge fissure that only stopped at the edge of the blood-colored light barrier.

Before he could steady himself, wind howled behind him. Elder Hu had closed in, a gleaming white short blade in hand, thrusting at the back of his head.

Shao Ying snorted, didn't dodge, but shielded his head with one hand while the other reached back and yanked. The white bone claws blazed with starlight, generating a powerful tearing force that twisted the void.

Elder Hu's body was pulled by this force, involuntarily leaning toward Shao Ying.

Startled, he stomped his feet, sinking them into the stone slabs to halt his movement.

But before he could relax, Shao Ying spun around and attacked him.

Fortunately, Shi Chuankong and Fang Chan rushed over to intercept, and the three joined forces in a chaotic battle.

On the other side, although Xuan Yuanxing was slightly higher in cultivation than Zhu Ziqing, her bone armor and bone spear were formidable star artifacts that bridged the gap, making their fight evenly matched.

Compared to them, Zhu Ziyuan and Duan Tong fought fiercely, with danger at every turn.

At this moment, the purple-black runes on Duan Tong's exposed skin all lit up, like burning talisman paper, emitting waves of scorching heat.

As the heat intensified, wisps of black smoke rose from his skin, enveloping him entirely, obscuring even his apertures.

Zhu Ziyuan parried his spear and distanced himself, a flicker of caution in his eyes.

"It seems your progress since the last Five Cities Tournament is remarkable..." Zhu Ziyuan couldn't help but praise.

"I planned to settle the score with that woman Gu Qianxun, but now you're just unlucky," Duan Tong's voice came muffled from the swirling black mist.

"Oh? Let's see if you have the strength," Zhu Ziyuan replied casually, glancing sidelong at Zhu Ziqing.

"Facing me and still distracted? You're asking for death!" Duan Tong roared in fury, charging forward and raising his right fist to smash down at Zhu Ziyuan.

His right fist, already enormous, now wreathed in black mist, seemed like a black demon lion biting down at Zhu Ziyuan.

Zhu Ziyuan withdrew his gaze, gripped his spear, and thrust upward. A cluster of starlight-white light condensed at the spear tip, bursting into dazzling brilliance upon contact with the fist.

The white light merged with the black mist, like a blazing sun piercing dark clouds, emitting a continuous sizzling sound.

The black mist churned violently but rapidly dissolved, and Duan Tong's fist was revealed again.

However, it was not clenched but gripping the sharp tip of the bone spear tightly.

Zhu Ziyuan roared, gripping the spear with both hands, and jerked it upward.

One after another, star apertures on the white bone spear lit up, and the white light at the tip multiplied severalfold, shining through the gaps between Duan Tong's fingers.

Yet even so, Duan Tong didn't let go but leaped up, lifted into the air by Zhu Ziyuan.

At that moment, the runes on Duan Tong's arm blazed with crimson light, and thick mist erupted from his palm, like two serpents coiling along the spear shaft toward Zhu Ziyuan.

Zhu Ziyuan frowned, shook his hands, and the bone spear vibrated violently. Almost all its star apertures simultaneously released a powerful stellar force, shattering the two black mist serpents into dust.

But before he could steady the spear, a crisp crack came from the spearhead.

Then he saw the tip of his star artifact bone spear had turned pitch black, as if decayed, and from the tip down to the joint, it had shattered completely.

"Damn, it's corpse stiff poison..." Zhu Ziyuan tried to retreat but stiffened, frowning.

His legs felt as heavy as lead, making even slight movement extremely difficult, let alone agile maneuvers.

"Hmph, I've already refined corpse stiff poison into my Mystic Penetration Arm. Resign yourself to death!" Duan Tong roared, punching at Zhu Ziyuan.

His right arm's giant fist, wreathed in black mist, bore down like dark clouds pressing on a city, with overwhelming force.

"Brother!" Zhu Ziqing cried out from afar, witnessing this.

The moment she was distracted, Xuan Yuanxing struck her shoulder with a palm, shattering her shoulder bone armor and sending her flying like a torn sack.

Seeing this, Zhu Ziyuan's eyes blazed with fury. All his apertures lit up, and his nearly immobile body twisted hard, dodging Duan Tong's punch.

A thunderous crash! The ground exploded into a deep pit, rubble flying and dust rising.

...

While the group was locked in fierce combat, no one noticed that outside the hall, the sky was howling with wind, and rolling yellow clouds gathered from all directions like driven sheep.

Under these sky-obscuring yellow clouds, the area within a hundred li around the hall was pitch black, like the bottom of a cauldron.

The thickening clouds piled layer upon layer, manipulated by a mysterious force, gradually forming a massive storm-like vortex. At its center was a dark hole, like an eye, coldly gazing down at the hall below.

Thick arcs of lightning leaped and flickered within the vortex, accompanied by a continuous, muffled rumbling.

Soon, the vortex grew to ten thousand zhang, and a tremendous power brewed within, accumulating for a long time but remaining dormant.

...

Inside the hall, among the five in the Blood Weeping Grand Formation, except for E Kuai, the other four had collapsed on the statue's head, pale and trembling uncontrollably.

Sun Tu and the others seemed to have given up, their eyes dim and nearly despairing.

Chen Yang, though slumped with a listless expression, had deep anxiety and worry hidden in his eyes.

Meanwhile, on the stone arch bridge leading to the rear hall, a figure appeared silently but didn't rush over. Instead, he carefully concealed his presence and slipped to this side of the bridge.

This person was none other than Han Li.

Returning to the altar, he first noticed the anomaly in the Blood Weeping Grand Formation. Apart from E Kuai, Chen Yang and the others were clearly off, completely different from before he left.

This made him recall the restriction triggered by the sulfurous blood cloud in his dantian earlier. Could this be related? Or was it E Kuai's scheme?

Before he could think further, he witnessed a gruesome scene: Elder Hu of Xuanzhi City, under Qin Yuan, failed to ambush Shao Ying and instead had his chest pierced by Shao Ying's bone claws.

With a tearing sound.

Shao Ying pulled his hands apart, and the elder screamed as his body was torn in two.

Before his nascent soul could escape, Shao Ying clawed again, smashing it to pieces.

Fang Chan, now half-transformed into a beast, let out a sharp howl, sending rolling sound waves surging toward Shao Ying.

Shao Ying tapped his foot, instantly shifting sideways, evading the attack and darting straight toward Shi Chuankong.