GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH.

A loud battle cry roared forth as hundreds of lizardmen rushed forward. The weapons consisting of primitive swords, axes, shields or even bare claws did not downplay their natural endowed strength as demonic beasts. As they resembled humans slightly as bipedal beasts, they also have superior intellect compared to other demonic beasts. Tactics and feints were not out of the question here.

CLANG.

The first sign of engagement has begun as Senior Qin stepped forth and clashed her blades against the large 3.5-meter glaive that swung before her. She pressed her sword forward as she wrestled for supremacy against the gigantic 2.5m black lizard. Sparks scattered as the two blades made contact.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

Rapid clashes between the blades followed as the two kept trading blows, neither gaining the edge. A blue glow gathered on Senior Qin's sword as she swiped towards the side. The energy slashed into an oncoming lizardman that attempted to dive towards her, bisecting the beast apart. The green-robed lady still focused her attention on the large black lizard as she took two steps back.

Flinging another two sword qis towards another two more lizardmen that were in the distance. Such scenes repeated several times as the clash went on for several minutes. The lizardmen that she targeted were all below the sixth stage of qi gathering, making them powerless against such energy blows from an essence foundation cultivator.

The lizardman chieftain was enraged by the sight of this female cultivator's display. Such treachery, such cowardice as she disrespected his presence by targetting others whilst he was focusing on just her. Rage burst forth within the beast as its muscles enlarged with vitality with qi being infused through its blood, strengthening its power effectively by several folds. It began to swing its large glaive with reckless abandon, every contact left deep impressions as it tore through the ground while missing the sword. The enraged beast kept pressing forward, dealing slash after slash.

BAAAANG! DIIING! BAAAANG! BAAAANG! BAAAANG! DIIING!

The continuous large blows came into contact with the sword as the occasional unavoidable hits have to be parried. Heavy blows, Qin Yeqian thought as sweat trickled down her neck. Her qi enforced Serenity Sword could feel large reverberations upon each contact. Though it seemed that she was evenly matched against this large beastman, she could feel herself losing the advantage as she could only helplessly counter the blows without further thinning the number of troops. The two continued to trade blows at the center of the battlefield, creating countless shockwaves from the epicenter. Meanwhile, other battles occurred in the surroundings.

--

"Eat this, you stinking reptiles!"

Dozens of yellow paper talismans burnt into ashes as a wide array of spells rained upon the lizardmen. Behind the back of Gan Xinjian, two mirrors floated as they released beams of light on approaching lizardman. Blue qi spears flying, red arrows exploding, poisonous green spikes impaling, a large cannon burst of qi...many different spells were being launched simultaneously against the large horde of lizardmen. This had caused heavy damage upon the cold-blooded reptilian forces as large craters formed with dozens of these lizardmen being wiped out in an instant. Grah, the lizardmen communicated with each other as they figured out this was their most troublesome prey. The stronger lizardmen have already settled this old man as a dangerous target that needed to be exterminated as soon as possible, as they rushed forth in a rage.

KISSSHHHAAAA!

A large green lizardman elder charged towards the yellow-robed man with a stone ax, planning to finish the frail man off. The big green lizardman swung his stone ax forward as it came into contact with one of those tiny small bronze mirrors.

CLANG!

The mirror resisted the blow of the ax as both weapons fought each other for supremacy.

"HAHAHAHA, think twice if you think you can break my treasured copper mirror that easily!"

A burst of raucous laughter rang out as a light beam from the other mirror blasted the green lizardman back. Blood burst out of the green lizardman's mouth as the light beam came into contact with its left shoulder, immediately blasting its entire left arm away along with the scapula. The green lizardman elder aggrievedly decided to step back into a retreat as it realized that it was no match for this opponent. Senior Gan then laughed once again as he flicked open the paper fan on his hand and launched a tiny ball of flame towards the retreating lizard. The ball of flare slowly grew in size and speed, before engulfing the green lizardman and burning it into nothingness.

"Fire-ball..."

A calm and mocking tone came out from Senior Gan's lips as he then turned to look at his surroundings. From his flanks, a dark blue and maroon lizardman elder both charged towards him along with a platoon of qi gathering lizardmen. It seems that they were going to risk everything just to eliminate this threat which could wipe out large numbers of their tribe at once. These beastmen fearlessly charged forth with their weapons, unafraid of death. They only had one goal, kill Gan Xinjian.

"Oh my...I sure am popular."

The old man continued to joke satirically as he flicked his wrist, revealing another six yellow talismans from his sleeves. He then burned all of them at once as they formed into six imposing purple swords. The purple swords then targetted the approaching group as they flew forth, tearing everything in their way.

!!

The dark blue and maroon lizardman elders swerved aside as they barely dodged the sonic purple blades. The blades moved on as it continued to tear into the rest of the lizardmen behind. They then sneered at the old man as they lunged forward with their spear and trident, planning to finish that frail man off quickly and turning the tide of the battle. Senior Gan's expression instantly fell when he saw his spells miss both of the essence foundation lizardmen. He could handle one, but two would push him to his limits. The old man thus used both of his mirrors to fire light beams at the approaching enemies as he waved his paper fan, conjuring another small ball of flame.

However, both lizardmen were approaching too fast as his fireball was still in the midst of charging. Gan Xinjian gritted his teeth in frustration as he looked at the two enemies coming up to him at any moment. He then jumped backwards to try and widen the distance between them. Yet both lizardmen easily closed the distance with their rapid advance, they were already cackling in joy as they could picture his death as they swung down their weapons simultaneously, not giving Gan Xinjian any chance.

"This is bad....."

Senior Gan said in a frustrated tone as his troubled face look towards both of the approaching lizardmen. The two of them were only just inches away from snapping this old man's neck. The two mirrors dived into the lizardmen's way, as if to protect their owner. However, the two beastmen's weapons easily deflected the two blocking mirrors surrounding the old man as they both raised their weapons for the deciding slash. It was time to finish him, they thought as their weapons slashed down.

--

"...just kidding!"

A light chuckle came out.

BAAANNNGGG!

A loud explosion came forth as the two lizardmen elders felt a strong force blasting them backward. In front of them was a large black-robed muscular figure wearing a straw hat. It was Xuan Tie. The corpse cultivator monk stood in front of Gan Xinjian as he swung his fist wrapped in samadhi beads against one of the lizardmen.

BASSSSH! WHACK!

The fist easily caved into the skull of the dark blue essence foundation lizardman, reaping its life in a single punch. The right elbow then swung towards the maroon lizardman, bashing the lizardman away in another direction.

STAB!

A sharp and swift stabbing sound could be heard as the maroon lizardman could only see a jet-black saber protruding from its chest. Looking behind, a middle-aged man with grey hair looked boredly at it as he retracted his saber from the surprised lizard. The lizard's eyes then dulled as it fell lifelessly onto the ground. Liu Five then turned his head towards the two other seniors as he sighed.

"I am already having my hands full over here, please don't add to my work."

He said before turning away while flicking his wrist, releasing several dozen knives from inside his sleeves.

"...was just assisting Xinjian."

Xuan Tie muttered as he turned away and continued crushing the other lizardmen in the vicinity, driving his fists into the cold bodies of the reptiles. The coffin laid several feet away motionless as if nothing was there to disrupts its peace.

"Yes yes, it was excessive of me to bother you guys. But hey, it is much easier this way right? They gang up on us, who said we can't do it too?"

Gan Xinjian apologized momentarily before returning to his promiscuous self as he brought out another set of yellow talismans to wreak havoc.

--

"Huuupt!"

Liu Xun roared out as he slammed his ax downwards onto a lizardman. This lizardman was just a sixth stage qi gathering warrior that was not that strong. Of course, based on Liu Xun's hidden cultivation level which was 3rd stage it was way more than enough. Yet, he was no longer even a 4th stage qi gathering cultivator. He had already broken through the day before, essentially becoming the 5th stage of qi gathering. With all his skills and abilities, he could effectively fight on par against 8th stage or even 9th stage qi gathering enemies if he gave it his all.

Splat! Clack. Clack. Clack.

The wheel continued to spin as he burrowed the blade of his ax into the chest of one that lizardman, effectively finishing it off. The spinning wheel seemed to be slowing down as the battle moved on. In fact, Liu Xun began questioning the fact why the wheel was still spinning. The previous few times when the premium wheel spun, it had not lasted half this long. This was starting to irritate him as he was constantly being distracted by the clacking sounds as he faced the enemies.

Three lizardmen had seen the youth tear apart their two allies as they nodded to each other before charging forward in three separate directions. Upon looking at this sight, Liu Xun chuckled to himself as he pictured his previous battle simulation which had a similar scenario. Now, it is time to spin and fight them all at once!

Swoosh. Woosh.

His ax began to pick up momentum as he started to spin. Sweeping his left leg forward then his right. The mini-cyclone fury of a blade rushed towards one of the beastman. Surprised by the sudden movement of the human, the lizardman facing the spinning ax was perplexed as it waved its body around and swiped its strong muscular tail against the ax blade. Wandering Ghost. It was one of the twelve arts of the Shadow Grasping Illusory Steps which Liu Xun had learned. This art allowed the user to misdirect the attack through an illusory feint. The ax blade seemed to barely slip past the tail as it collide against the back of the unsuspecting foe.

Crrraaaack.

The sound of the lizardman’s spine shattered as the blade caved into the flesh through the brownish thick hide of the unsuspecting beast. Graaaah, the lizardman cried out in excruciating pain as it was ruthlessly thrown 3 feet forward against the hard ground. Liu Xun gave a slight gaze towards the crippled beast before diverting his attention towards the other two attackers.

That one seems to be disabled already, time to handle the rest.

There was no space for sympathetic thoughts in this scenario. This is especially for creatures that would threaten his life. If you are willing to kill you must be prepared to be killed. He took a leap forward from his current position, jumping towards his next victim. The ax revolved upwards as it spiraled overhead targeting one of the two other lizardmen who approached. The nearby lizardmen that were surprised by the choice of the youth as the one he targeted chose to step back in retreat. The other one boldly chose to swing its spear at the youth as it assumed that it was not in much danger.

How foolish, for it to think that it can get a free hit on me!

Liu Xun sneered at it as he diverted the vertical chop, tilting the ax towards a 30-degree angle. The direction of the slash then turned at an angle as the distorted arc of light reached the unsuspecting beast.

Grah-SPLAT!!!!

Liu Xun used the Void Step, another one of the twelve movement arts in shadow grasping illusory step skill. This was a misdirecting step that misguided enemies into attacking in the wrong direction. The lizardman was misdirected by his advance as its spear stabbed towards his illusion. After smoothly glazing past the spear, the blade of Liu Xun's trusted ax slammed downward in full momentum, crushing the skull of the lizard in one smooth motion.

Clack. Clack. Kishaaaah! Grrrraaaaaahhh!

The last lizardman found the courage to dive forward. Liu Xun then placed his ax in front of him as he realized that he could not keep up his attacks since he had already lost all his built-up momentum. He also noticed that another three more lizardmen had diverted their attention towards him as the spinning of the wheel began to slow down. This is neverending, such a thought ran through his mind as he continued to strategize his next move. Noticing that one of the approaching lizardmen wielding a stone saber was much larger than the rest, he could tell his situation was far from optimal.

Crap, is this one of the essence foundation lizardmen? I cannot get any help from the seniors, this will be difficult.

Looking at his surroundings, Liu Xun noticed every senior was being pinned down by the lizardmen. It was already expected that they would be unable to assist with them being severely outnumbered. With great effort, the young man managed to push back the attacking lizardman as he sent the reptile to the ground whilst flinging its stone blade up into the air. He then did a swift downward to upward slash to finish the enemy whilst retreating from the approaching enemies, this helped to also gain distance from the approaching lizardman elder and two other lizardmen. However, the lizardman elder was too fast. The distance was closed instantly as the gigantic 2.2m tall lizard chopped its overwhelming saber towards the youth in black robes.

Not good.

CLLLLLAAAAAAAAANNNNNNGGGG!!!!

The ax of the youth met with the archaic black stone saber as the weapons collided, creating a large bang. Liu Xun had put a valiant effort, but it was insufficient to match against the overwhelming difference in cultivation levels. He was sent flying from the large blow as he flew deeper into the middle of the group of lizardmen. This loud clash had alerted the attention of the nearby juniors.

As the other juniors were fighting together in closer proximity, they had noticed that Liu Xun was bearing an unbelievable amount of suppression. Yet they had their own fights to settle, thus being able to aid him in any way. This loud clash which was more common among the seniors and other lizardman elders came from an unexpected direction, which was their weakest cultivator and link. The only sight they saw was the clash of an ax and saber whereby the saber overpowered the ax easily, sending the black-robed youth flying far away.

"LIIIIUUUU XXXXUUUUNNNN!!!"

Langsheng's panicked voice could be heard, as the youth was flung deep into enemy territory.