Chapter 86: The Great Battle

Li Zhen saw a pure white rat monster emit a shrill scream. As if finding their target, the nearby frenzied monster beasts charged towards the concealment array.

“Prepare for battle, the array won’t last much longer!” Mr. Zuo said with a grim expression. He controlled the formation disk, watching the energy within it deplete rapidly.

“Shi Xuan, Li Zhen, let’s coordinate together. Fang Congzhi, come to the center!” Wang Rushi said firmly.

In the face of danger, her family education had prepared her for the best self-preservation method.

She, Shi Xuan, and Li Zhen had practiced combat formations together over several months, enhancing their attack capabilities while reducing individual energy consumption.

Fang Congzhi didn’t refuse; at this moment, any words were a waste of time.

Li Zhen and Shi Xuan positioned themselves to form a triangle with Wang Rushi.

Mr. Zuo continued manipulating the formation disk, doing his best to stall for time until Pei Zhenxiu’s arrival.

With a ‘crack,’ the array was broken under the onslaught of monster beasts, and they lunged at the group.

Li Zhen stood at the forefront, his adept close combat skills making him the first line of defense.

Wang Rushi and Shi Xuan activated numerous talismans each, unleashing a barrage of attacks—flames, freezing spells, earth spikes, and more—in the midst of the monstrous beasts.

This was no time to be sparing; however precious the talismans were, they couldn’t compare to the value of their own lives.

Li Zhen held the front, with Mr. Zuo guarding the rear, temporarily easing Fang Congzhi’s burden.

His longsword erupted with flashes of blade light, intercepting and dispatching the monstrous beasts that managed to breach the talisman barrier.

“Retreat to the rock on the left!” Mr. Zuo called out, his voice a beacon of hope.

About ten meters to the left, a rock jutted out from the ground, its three-meter stature a potential refuge.

Following Mr. Zuo’s warning, they sprang to action. Another wave of talismans poured out, holding back the monstrous beasts while they dashed towards their new position.

With the rock at their side, their formation shifted into a new shape.

Li Zhen and Mr. Zuo took up positions on the front line, one to the left, the other to the right. Behind them, Shi Xuan and Wang Rushi rained down distant attacks. Fang Congzhi, despite his wounds, persisted in launching his own assaults.

“Die!” Li Zhen roared, sweeping his longsword across the beasts before him. One creature lay dead, another grievously injured—a testament to his martial prowess.

Yet, optimism remained elusive. The ranks of beasts gathering before them swelled, their numbers an ever-growing tide of danger.

Every time they killed a monster, two more would materialize to take its place.

Wang Rushi, Shi Xuan, and Fang Congzhi had already depleted their talismans. Without any space-enhancing gear, they’d been limited from the start.

Now, they relied solely on their flying swords for attacks, facing less pressure since Li Zhen and Mr. Zuo bore the brunt of the battle.

Mr. Zuo’s swordsmanship was a marvel of versatility. Unhesitating with his spiritual energy, he manifested a mid-grade flying sword, simultaneously wielding both it and his own blade with split-second precision. His defenses, thus fortified, remained steadfast.

Li Zhen’s attacks, honed by his mastery of the Great Accomplishment Sword Technique, struck out in a series of dazzling arcs, each finding its mark on the monsters’ weak points with unfailing accuracy.

His mind, remarkably clear, conjured up the document’s descriptions of each monster’s vulnerabilities the moment he laid eyes on them.

Faced only with low- to mid-tier monsters, he managed to keep the situation under control.

As time wore on, his swordsmanship grew increasingly fierce. It was as if his longsword had developed a will of its own, always finding the most effective path to victory without conscious thought.

The seconds ticked by, each feeling like a year in this prolonged hell.

Mr. Zuo, his mind stretched in two directions at once, found himself controlling both his long sword and the flying sword simultaneously. This mental strain was immense; his face began to pale from the effort.

Li Zhen, through a quick scan with his mind’s eye across the Dragonheart Space, noticed twenty seeds of mid-grade tier-1 Hairvine. These he had unearthed from auction items at the Nine Heavens Group, a relatively common variety of entangling plant.

Activating the ‘Wrapping Technique’, he infused five of the mid-grade tier-1 Hairvine seeds with spiritual energy. With a swift motion, he tossed these five seeds out.

As soon as they touched the ground, the Hairvine seeds erupted into a frenzy of growth. These vines were named for their unique property: once sprouted, they thrived like a dense head of human hair.

The five seeds rapidly extended into nearly a hundred tendrils, entangling all creatures within their range. However, the sheer number of vines came with a tradeoff—the power of each individual vine was significantly weaker compared to similarly-ranked ones, limiting their effectiveness against beasts of the same tier.

Despite this, these vines proved remarkably effective at constraining inferior-grade mystical beasts over extended periods.

What Li Zhen and his group faced now was a horde of creatures led by numerous demonic beasts. Among them, the majority were first-class, low-grade demons.

When these lower-grade beasts became entangled, even if the higher mid-grade ones managed to break free from the vine’s grip, it significantly reduced the pressure on Li Zhen’s team.

Feeling this sudden advantage, Mr. Zuo sheathed his long sword and relied solely on his flying blades for attacks. He focused on decapitating as many of the trapped mid-grade demons as possible before they could free themselves.

Li Zhen cast Wrapping Technique once again. As the next wave of enemies charged forward, he hurled five more first-class, mid-grade Hairvin seeds, creating another dense thicket of vines.

“Good! When we get back, all consumables will be on the school!” Mr. Zuo announced loudly while continuing to attack.

He was well aware that some cultivators from poorer backgrounds might hesitate to use precious life-saving talismans in the face of death, fearing the loss. Such hesitation often led to the talismans remaining unused while the cultivator himself perished.

“Watch out!” Wang Rushi exclaimed, startled.

She tossed a high-grade talisman from her hand, forming a protective barrier in front of Mr. Zuo just in time.

It was only after hearing Mr. Zuo’s predicament that she reluctantly chose to expend this top-grade life-saving talisman.

This act saved Mr. Zuo’s life, for in the instant the protective barrier appeared, a scorpion’s tail struck it, causing the shield to ripple and falter.

“A first-rank high-grade demon scorpion! Whoever has a life-saving treasure, don’t hesitate any longer!” Wang Rushi urged.

Her plea was directed at Shi Xuan. Given his status as a genius at Second High School, the influential faction supporting him would surely provide measures to ensure his survival.

“My survival measure is meant for escape only!” Shi Xuan replied helplessly.

Ideally, one should never reveal their life-saving means to others, but in these dire circumstances, withholding such information could erode trust among them.

“Mr. Zuo, hold on,” Li Zhen decided resolutely. “I’ll get you out of there!”

He had prepared himself mentally: if overpowering the enemy proved impossible, he would resort to invoking dragon might to save his own life. In this complex battlefield, the presence of his dragon might might not be detected amidst the chaos.

As he spoke, he channeled all his spiritual energy into the long sword in his hand and activated ‘Sword Force Thunderclap’.

With a thunderous roar that seemed to come from thin air, the long sword transformed into a bolt of lightning, hurtling towards the first-rank high-grade demonic scorpion.

The demonic scorpion was in the midst of attacking the protective barrier, eyeing the mere strike it needed to break through. It redoubled its efforts.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been vigilant for potential dangers while launching its assault. But today was different; it was in a state of frenzied madness. This enhanced its attack power but diminished its wisdom.

‘Sword Force Thunderclap’ imbued the mid-grade long sword with an energy surpassing its own essence. Coupled with the first-rank high-grade demonic scorpion having no defenses whatsoever, the long sword easily pierced through its carapace upon impact.

Li Zhen could distinctly feel the immense power of this instance of ‘Sword Force Thunderclap’, just slightly weaker than when he wore the martial fighter armor. This was due to his recent advancement to the mid-stage of qi refining.

Thus, with the Sword Force Thunderclap, he managed to pierce through the defenses of the Elite Upper Second Demon Scorpion. Alas, after breaching the scorpion’s carapace, the mid-grade longsword met its end, shattering into fragments.

The Xingrui D13 Longsword—this was the mid-grade weapon lent to Li Zhen by the Second High School.

At that moment, Li Zhen couldn’t dwell on the fate of the mid-grade longsword. His state was dire; the attack had drained most of his spiritual energy, leaving him feeling utterly weak.

The crux of the matter was this: the Elite Upper Second Demon Scorpion had not perished. It merely bore grievous wounds.

Had the mid-grade longsword not disintegrated, if it had penetrated just a fraction deeper, it could have reached the demon scorpion’s heart.

“Die!” Mr. Zuo’s flying sword struck at that very instant, aiming for the damaged area on the demon scorpion’s carapace.

His combat experience was indeed that of a seasoned veteran, knowing well how to seize every opportunity.

But the adversary, the Elite Upper Second Demon Scorpion, was in a realm just slightly higher than his own. Even in its berserk state, facing a fatal attack instigated an instinctive self-preservation response.

The demon scorpion twitched its body, causing Mr. Zuo’s mid-grade flying sword to glide past the wound, missing its mark.