txolops Chapter 40 The Chaos of Monsters
Chapter 40 The Chaos of Monsters
Over the past three days, he had already completed the refinement of the Water Nether Sword and the Profound Ice Rope. Only the Golden Light Shield, being a top-tier defensive magic weapon, required a large amount of spiritual materials, making its refinement even more demanding on mana. Luo Ming knew that among magic weapons of the same grade, defensive magic weapons were often more expensive than offensive or auxiliary ones, precisely because they consumed more spiritual materials and were more difficult to refine.
With a soft "hum," the golden shield suddenly burst forth with a dazzling golden light, then its brilliance subsided, transforming into a stream of light that flew into Luo Ming's storage bag. Luo Ming breathed a long sigh of relief, a look of joy on his face: "Finally, the entire refining process is complete!"
This further enhanced his combat capabilities.
Luo Ming planned his defense strategy in his mind: if he encountered a weaker opponent, he would use the Xuanbing Rope to trap the enemy and then use the Shuiyou Sword to kill him; if he encountered a strong enemy, he would first use the Golden Light Shield to block and defend, and at the same time summon the Silver Sword Talisman to launch a fatal blow—as long as the opponent did not have a top-level defensive method, it would be extremely difficult to withstand the talisman that sealed one-tenth of the magic weapon's power.
"Using talismans during the Qi Refining stage was ultimately a waste," Luo Ming thought to himself. The power of talismans needs to be matched with the corresponding cultivation level to be fully activated. Now that he has advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage and his mana has changed from a gaseous state to a liquid state, the talismans in his hands can finally unleash their true power.
Only he possesses the heaven-defying ability of the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, allowing him to use talismans as magic weapons. Generally, Foundation Establishment cultivators would prioritize purchasing magic weapons once they have spirit stones. After all, although talismans are more powerful than magic weapons, they are ultimately just talismans that can only be used a few times and can only be used as a trump card. They are not as durable as magic weapons.
Just as Luo Ming finished packing his things and was preparing to leave his temporary cave and return to his sect, the entire Qinghu Market suddenly shook violently, followed by a series of exclamations from outside.
The spiritual energy shield surrounding the market was being violently struck by countless dark figures. The spiritual light on the surface of the shield flickered, showing signs of poor spiritual energy circulation.
"It's demonic beasts! Many demonic beasts have crawled out from the depths of Qinghu Lake and are attacking the market's grand formation!" Not far away, a cultivator shouted in panic and turned to flee into the depths of the market. Luo Ming looked up and saw hundreds of ordinary demonic beasts on the outskirts of the market. The five leading demonic beasts were enormous and had a fierce aura; they were all at least at the level of second-level demonic beasts.
Isn't that the Azure Dragon over there?
Luo Ming saw one of the swirling azure shadows, which was none other than the azure dragon he had been longing for, and his heart stirred.
"No! These monsters have wild, irrational eyes; they're being controlled by some kind of means!" Luo Ming instantly realized.
If it's just a simple attack by demonic beasts, then there must be a demon king of level five or above behind them to mobilize these demonic beasts. If that's the case, then everyone in the market should pray for their own good fortune. Moreover, a demon king of level five or above wouldn't be so mindless.
Luo Ming had just used his divine sense to investigate and found that these level-two demonic beasts seemed to be out of their minds. This was definitely the work of a cultivator who was proficient in the art of beast taming. As far as Luo Ming knew, there were many ways to make demonic beasts go mad, the most common of which was to use drugs.
Could it be a cultivator from the Spirit Control Sect? Surely it's not like Spirit Beast Mountain is messing with itself!
Just as Luo Ming was deep in thought, from another direction in the market, three powerful auras belonging to Foundation Establishment cultivators suddenly erupted and rushed rapidly towards various parts of the market. One of them was Duan Chen.
His face was extremely pale. Several days ago, news of the calamity cultivators had arrived, and each of the three sects had sent one person to investigate, but they had not returned. Now, however, an unprecedented attack by demonic beasts had occurred, and he realized that he had fallen for a diversionary tactic.
"Everyone, remain calm! Any misconduct discovered will be immediately dealt with! Enforcement team, obey orders! Divide into three groups: one to guard the central array, one to assist the rogue cultivators in defense, and one to patrol the market area to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble!"
Duan Chen, worthy of being the prospective leader of Spirit Beast Mountain, remained calm in the face of danger and began to systematically arrange defenses. His voice was clear and authoritative, spreading out with the help of spiritual energy, suppressing the initial chaos and noise.
At the edge of the market, the enormous light barrier composed of countless array runes fluctuated violently under the relentless attacks of hundreds of frenzied demonic beasts. Its spiritual light swayed, emitting a chilling "creaking" sound, as if it were about to shatter at any moment.
Meanwhile, several miles away from the market, above a cloud of mist, a blurry figure excitedly gazed at the scene before him, muttering to himself, "Hehe, this Demon-Attracting Grass I obtained by chance is surprisingly powerful. It's probably attracted demon beasts from hundreds of miles around. Lured by the Demon-Attracting Grass, these demon beasts will fight fearlessly and will definitely deal a fatal blow to Qinghu Market. I've successfully completed my mission."
"Bang bang bang—!"
Giant waves surged on the surface of Qinghu Lake, and countless demonic beasts crawled and leaped out of the lake, frantically attacking a protective light barrier not far away with their bodies, claws, and fangs. Inside the light barrier was a group of cultivators huddled together in defense, with Duan Chen standing in the center, calmly directing them to defend against the enemy.
The five leading demonic beasts were exceptionally ferocious, with the strongest reaching the level of a fourth-level demonic beast: it was covered in bluish-black scales, had a single horn on its head, and looked very much like a rhinoceros demon on land. At this moment, it was lowering its head, and a dense earthy-yellow spiritual light was condensing on its single horn, which slammed hard into the light shield, causing the spiritual light ripples to spread wildly and almost shatter.
Another giant, colorful python with an aura of level three was coiled on the shallows, constantly spewing foul-smelling, dark green venom from its mouth. The venom landed on the light shield, causing it to sizzle and its spiritual light to dim rapidly.
Two other crocodile-like monsters with bony spikes on their backs lurked by the water's edge, lashing the light barrier with their long, barbed tails, each strike causing the barrier to shake violently. Not far away, a massive azure dragon was frantically tearing at the edge of the light barrier with its claws; it was the same one Luo Ming had encountered before.
With Duan Chen directing from the center, and the law enforcement cultivators responding calmly, the rogue cultivators gradually regained their composure and systematically manipulated their magical artifacts and flying swords to attack the demonic beasts outside the formation. Everyone knew that once the demonic beasts breached the formation, they would be severely injured or killed without protection; only a desperate fight offered them a chance of survival.
Just then, a figure in cyan robes darted out from the edge of the chaotic crowd like lightning, heading straight for the protective light barrier on the outskirts of the market, near the direction of the Azure Dragon! This person was none other than Luo Ming!
"Brother Duan, leave this azure dragon to me! Be careful, there might be someone controlling demons lurking in the shadows!" Luo Ming's divine sense transmission accurately reached Duan Chen's ears.
Duan Chen's heart skipped a beat, but his spirits lifted immediately. He quickly replied via telepathy, "Brother Luo, be careful! Thank you for your help!" He naturally trusted Luo Ming's strength and knew that if someone could restrain or even eliminate this level-two azure dragon, the defensive pressure on his side would be greatly reduced, allowing him to focus on stabilizing the array's core and defending against the attack of the level-four demonic beast.
"Hmph! I was originally thinking about how to find you, but I didn't expect you to deliver yourself to my door. It's a good time to test the power of this Xuanbing Rope." A cold glint flashed in Luo Ming's eyes as he thought to himself.
He quietly took out the Wind Spirit Veil and draped it over his body, instantly blending into the surrounding environment. Taking advantage of the chaotic situation, he stealthily moved to the inside of the protective light barrier a few feet away from the Azure Dragon. This Azure Dragon was the one he had been thinking about all along. At this moment, it was abusing its power and frantically attacking the array light barrier with its claws. The "scratching" sound of its claws colliding with the light barrier was extremely piercing.