Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Wilderness Battle, Python Transforms into Flood Dragon

Outside of Golden Maple Ridge.

More than two hundred Qiyun Alliance cultivators, both young and old, were seen furiously riding various mounts.

For low-level cultivators, long-distance travel was most consuming of mana and spirit, hence along the way, these Qiyun Alliance cultivators were riding mounts.

However, due to their limited heritage, the majority of their mounts were ordinary beasts, including cattle, horses, deer, and sheep.

Moreover, due to insufficient taming, quite a few of these beasts either flipped their riders off their backs on the road or attempted to escape when their masters rested, causing quite a few jokes.

But no matter what, after several days of arduous travel, they were about to successfully reach their destination, with their mana mostly in a full state.

“Alliance Hierarch, the Flying Eagles of the five great families have been scouting us from the sky continuously; shall we kill all these feathered beasts now to prevent them from gaining a tactical advantage when we meet the enemy?”

Atop an Ink Scale Steed, a Qiyun Alliance cultivator at the later stage of Foundation Establishment looked up at the azure sky and, with an unsightly expression, made a suggestion to the Qiyun Alliance Hierarch Tang Yuan with a fist salute.

Compared to other Qiyun Alliance cultivators, as a Purple Mansion Phase Cultivator, Tang Yuan naturally had a much more superior mount.

His mount was a Golden Light Leopard—a second-order mid-grade Demon Beast, extraordinary and majestic.

Upon hearing his subordinate’s suggestion, Tang Yuan, who looked like an aged man with a youthful appearance, lightly waved his hand and said, “There’s no need. We want them to know we’re coming. This time, we’re going to show these families the power of our Qiyun Alliance!”

The advising cultivator’s face immediately changed upon hearing this, and he quickly plastered a smile on his face, complimenting, “Alliance Hierarch is mighty and domineering; this time, you will surely let those family cultivators taste the flavor of defeat!”

“We certainly will!”

Tang Yuan spoke with confidence, his face brimming with self-assuredness.

The Qiyun Alliance cultivators who heard their conversation also showed expressions of anticipation.

Soon afterward, just outside the Red Pine Forest near the Red Shine Iron vein, the forces of the five great Cultivation families met head-on with the Qiyun Alliance cultivators.

“Tang Yuan, if you retreat now and honestly keep to being your mountain king, everything could be as though it never happened!”

In the sky above the forest, Sun Yaowu, a core disciple of Green Lotus Temple, looked sternly at Qiyun Alliance Hierarch Tang Yuan and issued a final ultimatum.

Of course, he knew that the other party wouldn’t really do that.

Sure enough, Tang Yuan, on the back of the Golden Light Leopard, suddenly leaped into the air, hovered with his hands behind his back, and looked indifferently at Sun Yaowu, saying, “Sun Yaowu, if you weren’t a core disciple of Green Lotus Temple, today I, Tang, would definitely make sure you’d never return, turning your three hundred years of cultivation into ashes!”

“How audacious!”

Sun Yaowu’s face turned furious, and he immediately shouted angrily, “Then let Sun see just what abilities you have to make such audacious claims!”

Before his voice had faded, he waved his sleeve, summoning a green Flying Sword and slashing it towards Tang Yuan.

This action signalled the beginning of the battle.

In no time, Zhou Mingde and Wang Family Purple Mansion Cultivator Wang Guangping each found a Qiyun Alliance vice-alliance chief to engage in combat with.

And the enemy Zhou Mingde faced was none other than Zhang Zixuan, the Qiyun Alliance vice-alliance chief who previously cultivated in Wild Wolf Ridge.

However, with his master Zhou Mingde present, the Fire Divine Jackal demonstrated far greater strength than before.

Zhou Mingde continuously formed hand seals, and the flames burning on the Fire Divine Jackal quickly condensed into an armor covered with mysterious fire runes.

Then, he patted his storage pouch on his waist, and a pair of reddish-golden metallic claws flew out, gripped by the Fire Divine Jackal and fitted onto its own claws.

The Fire Divine Jackal, thus armed, let out a howl and pounced towards Zhang Zixuan like a mad dog.

At this time, Zhou Mingde also deployed his magic artifact to launch a joint attack on Zhang Zixuan.

On another battlefield, thirteen Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators from the five great Cultivation families quickly matched up against seventeen Qiyun Alliance Foundation Establishment cultivators.

At first glance, the Qiyun Alliance had a significant numerical advantage.

But in reality, they had no advantage at all.

Since the Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators of the five great Cultivation families were generally above the mid-stage and had over two second-order Magic Artifacts per person.

In contrast, many of the Qiyun Alliance Foundation Establishment cultivators had only one second-order Magic Artifact for show, and several were still at the initial stage of Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, not to mention cultivators like Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Daoquan with second-order Spirit Pets who could take on two opponents by themselves, even some old Foundation Establishment cultivators from the five great Cultivation families without Spirit Pets could manage one against two without falling too much behind.

The situation was almost the same among the Qi Refinement Realm cultivators.

Although the Qiyun Alliance had brought more than two hundred Qi Refinement cultivators this time, outnumbering the five great Cultivation families by thirty to forty percent.

Yet in terms of cultivation level and assets, they were far less than those of the five great Cultivation families.

Moreover, a crucial point was that the five great Cultivation families, with their deep heritage, had provided a large amount of Talismans to every combatant in advance, allowing them to frequently use Talismans in battle.

The cultivators of the Qiyun Alliance, however, did not receive such treatment; they mostly had to rely on their own private savings for support in combat.

The result was that not long after both sides engaged, the five major Cultivation families relied on a large amount of talismans to brutally kill dozens of Qiyun Alliance cultivators.

This frightened the remaining Qiyun Alliance cultivators into no longer daring to be stingy. They one after another emptied their deepest reserves of treasured talismans to retaliate.

“Qingqing, Cloud Dragon Transformation!”

In the sky, Zhou Daoyi stood on the back of the Sky Azure Cloud Python, blocking the opponent’s magic artifact with an ancient bronze flying sword while chanting a spell, activating the Flood Dragon Bloodline within the Sky Azure Cloud Python with a secret technique.

Roar——

A dragon’s roar echoed through the sky as dazzling white light burst from the cloud patterns on the belly of the Sky Azure Cloud Python beneath Zhou Daoyi’s feet. Almost immediately, a distinct green and white Flood Dragon One-Horned formed on top of the python’s head, while Flood Dragon Claws emerged underneath its belly.

This transformation shocked countless cultivators, and Zhou Daoyi’s opponent was stunned by the spectacle.

But the now-transformed Flood Dragon Sky Azure Cloud Python showed no mercy.

Its golden yellow eyes swept over its enemy. With a gentle exhalation, it unleashed a fearsome beam of green and white light towards the enemy.

Zhou Daoyi’s opponent was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, who had thought that being one small realm above Zhou Daoyi would be enough to handle both him and the python.

But now he realized just how naïve that thought was!

At that moment, when his entire body shuddered under the gaze of the dragon’s Dragon Eye, he quickly came to his senses.

He then hastily maneuvered a dark brown square shield magic artifact to block the green and white light beam.

However, the result was that this second-order Defensive Dharma Artifact, which had cost him most of his fortune, was torn to shreds on the spot, and he too was hit by the aftermath and violently thrown backwards.

Before he could regain his footing and calm the mana and blood roiling within his body, the transformed Flood Dragon Sky Azure Cloud Python flicked its tail, swiftly gliding to his side like a breeze and viciously swiping down with its Dragon Claw.

“No…”

A scream pierced the sky.

In just a short dozen or so breaths of time, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator perished on the spot.

After killing the late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with one strike, the Flood Dragon Sky Azure Cloud Python then turned its tail and swiftly pounced towards the enemy fighting Zhou Daoquan.

Thus, within a mere sixty breaths of time, the transformed Flood Dragon Sky Azure Cloud Python successively killed three Qiyun Alliance Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After this battle, Clan Leader of the Zhou Family, Zhou Daoyi’s reputation spread throughout Lanzhou’s Cultivation World, earning respect and awe from both allies and enemies who had witnessed the fight.

The Spirit Beasts and Demon Beast Spirit Pets from the Zhou Family henceforth left a deep impression on the cultivators of Jingguo Lanzhou.

With both the Qi Refinement Realm and Foundation Establishment Stage battlefields overwhelmingly in their favor, the cultivators of the five Cultivation families were even more confident, with an unprecedented fervent and resolute belief in victory.

However, on the most crucial battlefield of Purple Mansion Phase cultivators, things were not looking good for the five Cultivation families.

Although Sun Yaowu came from a grand sect like Green Lotus Temple, his cultivation level was still a minor realm lower than Tang Yuan’s, and Tang Yuan, who cultivated to the late Purple Mansion Phase as a Loose Cultivator, surely had his own extraordinary encounters.

After clashing for a while, Sun Yaowu gradually became overwhelmed and fell into a disadvantage.

Although Zhou Mingde, pairing with his Spirit Pet Fire Divine Jackal, was gaining the upper hand, it was going to take more than a short time to defeat his opponent Zhang Zixuan.

Wang Guangping and another deputy Alliance Hierarch, Wei Feng, were locked in a fight too close to call, leaving no clear advantage on either side.

“Taoist Friend Zhou, Tang Yuan is truly formidable. Sun alone may not be his match, so I ask for your aid!”

Suddenly, a Divine Sense transmission from Sun Yaowu sounded in Zhou Mingde’s mind, requesting his help.

Turning his head to look at the nearby battlefield, he saw that Sun Yaowu was being pressed so hard by Tang Yuan that he could only defend himself, managing to hang on solely due to a third-order medium-grade defensive magic artifact.

He then glanced at his own opponent.

Zhang Zixuan was also under heavy pressure from the Fire Divine Jackal, teetering close to his limit.

At this juncture, Zhou Mingde faced a tough decision.

With a little more effort, even if he could not eliminate Zhang Zixuan, he could certainly severely wound him.

But if Sun Yaowu didn’t receive his support in time, he suspected that the man might simply choose to flee.

After all, different from himself, Sun Yaowu bore the Sun Family bloodline but had practiced in Green Lotus Temple for over three hundred years, with a less profound sense of belonging to the Sun Family, making it unlikely for him to fight to the death for them.

Especially considering that the Qiyun Alliance had not launched an attack on the Sun Family.

“Taoist Friend Sun, hold on. I am coming to aid you now!”

After weighing his options for a while, Zhou Mingde finally decided to help Sun Yaowu.

Otherwise, if Sun Yaowu really did flee, today’s battle would end in utter defeat for the five Cultivation families.