txolops Chapter 322 The Strange Events on Red Sand Island
Chapter 322 The Strange Events on Red Sand Island
With a tap of the fingertip, one is instantly transported to the exciting world of Chapter 322, "The Amazing Changes on Red Sand Island."
Their goal was naturally to use the teleportation array in Tianxing City as soon as possible to escape directly into the open sea.
However, following Luo Ming's usual practice, he planned to go to Red Sand Island first to see if he could use the teleportation array there to reach Tianxing City directly.
Luo Ming fully activated the Wind-Escape Shuttle. Although he was carrying a person, his speed was still comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stage. In addition, its unique ability to conceal its presence allowed them to speed all the way from the Void Heaven Palace over the past half month. Even when they encountered groups of cultivators, no one could detect that a terrifyingly fast, ghost-like blue shadow had swept past overhead.
However, when the familiar outline of Red Sand Island came into view, Luo Ming's heart sank. He slowly descended his escape light, concealing himself above the sea surrounding the island, his brows furrowed as he gazed at the scene before him.
The once prosperous and orderly Red Sand Island, with the Liu family in charge and Star Palace cultivators guarding it, is now unrecognizable.
The simple docks along the island's coast are in ruins. Looking inward, the once well-arranged stone houses and wooden buildings have now been reduced to charred ruins and broken walls. Broken stone walls and shattered tiles are everywhere, and many places still bear the deep pits and ravines left by fierce battles.
The scene was one of utter devastation and ruin.
This could not have been caused by a small-scale conflict; it was clearly the result of a fierce offensive and defensive battle!
"This place... has been breached?" Yuan Yao's pretty face paled slightly. Although she had never lived on Red Sand Island, she knew that it was a famous island among the twenty-four outer star islands, with a teleportation array that led directly to Tianxing City.
Judging from this situation, the Star Palace's influence in this area has probably been severely damaged or even destroyed.
Luo Ming did not answer immediately. His powerful divine sense had already spread out silently like an invisible tide. The information that his divine sense returned made his expression even more solemn.
Near the center of the island, the stone hall where the teleportation array leading to Tianxing City, which he had once used, was now shrouded in a layer of obvious array light, and more than a dozen cultivators wearing uniform black insignia were guarding the outside of the hall.
These guards were not weak; the lowest level was late Foundation Establishment, and the leader was even early Core Formation. They had cold expressions and vigilantly surveyed the surroundings, not allowing any unauthorized cultivators to approach within a hundred feet of the stone hall.
Not only the teleportation hall, but also other key points on the island that were originally controlled by Star Palace cultivators, the core area of the market, and even some hilltops with slightly better spiritual energy, are now mostly flying the flags of the Reverse Star Alliance and stationed with varying numbers of demonic cultivators.
Roughly estimated, the number of demonic cultivators on the island that he could detect was more than ten times greater than when he left last time. Among them, there were no fewer than twenty cultivators who had reached the Core Formation stage, scattered in various places, subtly controlling the entire island.
The atmosphere on the entire island was oppressive and tense.
"The Reverse Star Alliance is moving so fast..." Luo Ming withdrew his divine sense, his eyes turning slightly cold.
It seems that during the time he was in the Void Heaven Palace, the "Reverse Star Alliance," a joint force of the righteous and demonic factions, had quietly launched an offensive against the Star Palace and achieved considerable success, even taking control of remote islands like Red Sand Island.
"The teleportation array has been completely controlled by the Reverse Star Alliance," Luo Ming transmitted to Yuan Yao, his voice calm but tinged with coldness.
"Judging from this situation, they won't easily allow outsiders, especially Core Formation cultivators of unknown identity, to use the teleportation array. My original plan to teleport directly back to Tianxing City is no longer feasible."
He quickly calculated in his mind. The teleportation array on Red Sand Island was the fastest and safest route to Tianxing City. If it couldn't be used, he would have to rely on escape techniques to traverse the vast area, which would not only take at least one or two months, but he might also encounter cultivators from the Reverse Star Alliance along the way. There were too many variables.
"Brother Luo, what should we do now?" Yuan Yao moved closer and asked in a low voice, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
Luo Ming did not answer immediately. His gaze swept over the demonic cultivators guarding the teleportation hall again, and then looked at the Reverse Star Alliance cultivators who were either patrolling or cultivating in other parts of the island. His eyes were deep.
Force your way through?
It should be noted that the teleportation array area is the most heavily guarded area. Once a problem is detected, the array will be activated immediately. With his current strength, he might be able to defeat the guards and briefly activate the teleportation array by surprise.
But it will definitely alert other Core Formation cultivators on the island immediately, and may even attract Nascent Soul cultivators.
Moreover, he couldn't be sure whether the Reverse Star Alliance had tampered with the teleportation array.
Just as the two concealed their presence, secretly observing the teleportation stone hall and pondering how to test or find an opportunity, Luo Ming's eyes suddenly narrowed.
He keenly sensed the shadowy area near the edge of the deliberately cleared open space outside the stone hall.
A pale gray phantom, almost blending into the variegated ground, was moving silently towards the stone hall at an extremely slow, almost imperceptible speed, close to the ground.
"Someone's there!" Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat, his divine sense locking onto the illusory figure. "This person's concealment skills are quite impressive. What does he want? Could it be... that he's trying to force his way through the teleportation array?"
Luo Ming had used his divine sense to investigate. While the stone hall appeared to be surrounded only by guards, it was actually protected by multiple layers of hidden defenses and early warning systems. Once triggered, the array would activate, certainly alerting all the demonic cultivators on Red Sand Island.
He suppressed the urge to act or reveal himself, held his breath, and watched coldly, wanting to see what this audacious person intended to do and how far he could go.
The slowly moving gray shadow, when it was less than thirty feet away from the guard, suddenly attacked like a venomous snake that had been gathering its strength. Its movements were as fast as a ghost. As soon as it appeared, it raised its hand and summoned something!
It was a round, bowl-shaped magical artifact, completely black and covered with strange runes.
As soon as the bowl left his hand, it trembled violently with a "hum," and a burst of black light shone out. In an instant, it swelled to a diameter of ten zhang and floated in the air!
With the bowl facing downwards, aimed at the guards at the entrance of the stone hall, it suddenly shot out more than ten jets of jet-black light, each as thick as a bucket, with an ear-piercing shriek, and slammed into the demonic guards who had just been startled and whose faces were still filled with bewilderment and shock!
"Enemy attack!"
The nearest late-stage Foundation Establishment guard only had time to utter a short cry of surprise before a black light pierced through his chest. His protective aura shattered like paper, and he exploded into a cloud of blood mist without even uttering a sound.
"How dare you!"
At the entrance of the stone hall, the old man with a dove-like face, who had been sitting cross-legged and possessed the cultivation level of the early stage of Core Formation, suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light and shock and anger.
He never expected that on Red Sand Island, which was completely controlled by the Reverse Star Alliance, someone would dare to attack the teleportation site so blatantly!
His reaction was incredibly swift. In his shock and anger, he slapped the storage bag at his waist with his left hand, and a jet-black blade of light shot out, transforming into a small ghost-head dagger that grew longer in the wind, slashing at the thickest black beam of light that was attacking him.
At the same time, he quickly reached into his pocket with his right hand, about to take out a communication talisman to warn others.
However, he was still a fraction too slow!
Just as the old man with the pigeon-faced mask drew his ghost-headed saber and his fingers barely touched the communication talisman in his robes, a cold, mocking laugh suddenly rang out from less than three feet to his side:
"You just realized it? You wicked demon, you can die now."
The voice was almost within reach! Accompanying the voice, a hand enveloped in dense black light, with sharp, hook-like nails and radiating a chilling aura, seemed to emerge from the void.
With lightning speed, it struck directly at the old man's flank, near his dantian! The attack was ruthless and cunning, the timing perfectly executed!
The one who made the move was none other than the gray-robed cultivator who had been lurking in the shadows!
Using some strange movement technique, while unleashing the first wave of attacks with the black bowl to attract attention, his true form had already approached the old man with the pigeon-faced face like a ghost!
Judging from their posture, they clearly intend to achieve a quick victory, kill them in one strike, and seize control!
"How could it be so fast!" The old man with the pigeon-like face was terrified; he hadn't even realized how the other party had gotten so close!
In the rush, he only had time to frantically channel his inner power to his body surface, forming a thin layer of protective spiritual light, while desperately twisting his body to try and dodge.
"Pfft!"
The black palm pierced through the hastily condensed protective aura without any hindrance, like a hot knife cutting into butter.
Five fingers dug deep into the old man's waist and abdomen! Not grabbing at flesh and blood, but precisely piercing through skin, flesh and fascia, aiming straight for the golden core that was spinning deep in his dantian!
"Ugh—!"
The old man with the pigeon-like face let out a shrill, desperate scream, his eyes bulging out, his face filled with unbelievable fear and pain.
He could clearly feel that cold hand grasping his warm golden core; with just a little force…
A cold glint appeared on the gray-robed cultivator's face, and he suddenly pulled his wrist away!
With a soft "pop," the old man's screams abruptly stopped, his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body slumped to the ground.
In the gray-robed cultivator's hand now lay a golden core the size of a pigeon's egg, its light slightly dimmed.
All of this is a long story, but in reality, from the gray-robed cultivator's sudden attack to his close-range assault and the extraction of his golden core, it all happened in just two or three breaths!
The other Foundation Establishment stage guards at the entrance of the stone hall had already been either killed or injured in the first wave of crimson light pillars and had lost their ability to resist.
Luo Ming, watching from afar, took in all of this, a look of surprise on his face. The gray-robed cultivator's methods were truly beyond his expectations.
The opponent did not use any earth-shattering spells or unleash many magical treasures. Their attack methods were more like those of top masters in the mortal martial arts world!
He tempered his hands with pure baleful energy, making them as hard and sharp as magical weapons. Combined with his unparalleled, almost shrinking-the-ground movement technique, he could launch a fatal attack within a small space.
However, under Luo Ming's divine sense, this person's physical strength was not particularly outstanding, and he was not a body cultivator.
"Interesting... Could this person have had a profound foundation in martial arts in his early years?" Luo Ming's mind raced, and he became somewhat interested in the origins of this gray-robed cultivator.
He thought of Han Li. Han Li had also practiced mortal martial arts in his early years, but later he mainly followed the path of magic cultivation and sword cultivation. It was not until he ascended to the Spirit Realm that he began to enjoy close combat with people, which was completely different from the path of the person in front of him who specialized in close-range assassination.
At that moment, the gray-robed cultivator, having landed a successful blow, didn't even glance at the dead old man with the pigeon-faced face lying on the ground. He quickly reached around the old man's waist and tore off a white jade token carved with cloud patterns and emitting faint spatial fluctuations.
"A restriction token!" A look of joy flashed in the gray-robed cultivator's eyes. Without hesitation, he poured his magic power into the token, turned around and faced the teleportation array inside the stone hall that emitted a faint light, aimed the token at the core of the array, and activated it sharply!
Normally, when the token is activated, it will emit a specific beam of light, activating the teleportation array.
However, another unexpected event occurred!
The token did indeed emit a beam of white light, but instead of landing on the teleportation array, it turned in mid-air.
As if it possessed a life of its own, it swirled back at an even faster speed, instantly enveloping the gray-robed cultivator holding the token!