CHAPTER 435: ANNIHILATING THE PATROL GROUP

With everyone joining the fray, the battlefield became a little chaotic.

As soon as Lin Mo and Jiang Jianxin’s attacks broke the reformed formation of the Vindicators, Yan Wei stepped in.

Finally unleashed, he showed that he’s not just a pompous young master. He could also back it up with his talent.

With his speed enhanced by the famed [Azure Gale Steps] and enhanced by the effect of the [Blossoming Lotus Breathing Technique], he became a disruptive force. A storm.

He swept past the formation, bringing forth tornadoes in his wake that scattered the remaining Legionaries, preventing them from reforming it again.

He played his part well as an effective glory hound. His flashy technique connected perfectly with the others in their group.

Like Zhou Rui, who followed up quickly. His crimson-qi-infused saber became a blur of fiery red. He met a Legionary who had been spun out of formation by Yan Wei’s gale.

Unlike those who appeared outside, the Legionary’s body immediately dissipated upon a fatal blow, leaving only one piece of its armor clattering to the ground. Then, a sliver of Aether, comparable in purity to spiritual energy, was automatically absorbed by his body, replenishing a fraction of his expended energy. Yan Wei also got his share of foreign energy. But having been informed that they needed to purify it first before being able to truly own it, they didn’t rejoice yet.

From behind their cover, Wu Meiyu activated her [Celestial Duel Gear]. She was going to use the Awakened Duel Mode for the first time.

With her Celestial Field spreading from her feet, she played two Unit Cards and one Spell Card from her mixed Arcane Blossom Court and Celestial Idol deck.

Both units were only Level 2. A graceful [Lilypad Dancer] and a serene [Moonlit Harpist]. However, the Spell Card, [Royal Decree: Harmony], enhanced them.

The Harpist strummed a gentle chord and a wave of calming, focus-enhancing music washed over their team, sharpening their senses and soothing a little of the suppressive effect of the Aetheric Field. The Lilypad Dancer twirled, and ethereal, razor-sharp lily pads shot out, intercepting a Legionary that had been blown in her direction, slicing cleanly through its unarmored joints.

The Legionary also disappeared, leaving behind only a random piece of his armor and the sliver of Aether fusing with Wu Meiyu’s body.

At the center of it all, the Decanus, the crimson-plumed leader, finally broke free from the initial shock. His icy blue eyes blazed with a cold fury.

"Reform! To me!" He roared then raised his glaive, and a powerful pulse of Aether shot out, a beacon for his scattered soldiers.

But he never got the chance to rally them.

"Sorry, no reforming allowed," Liu Xiaoyu’s cheerful voice echoed right beside him.

The Decanus spun and swung his glaive in a deadly arc. But he hit nothing. Xiaoyu was already behind him, her movements a flicker of pure lightning.

Her Perfect Foundation, amplified by her Nine Heavens Exquisite Body, allowed her to move with a speed that defied the logic of the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Her gauntlet, crackling with a storm of wind and lightning, slammed squarely into the back of his helmet.

CRUNCH!

The Aether-forged metal, which had withstood the Dragon General’s assault, dented inwards. The Decanus staggered, a grunt of pain escaping his lips as his internal systems flared with warning runes.

He swung his glaive wildly behind him but Xiaoyu was already gone. Her sweet giggle echoed as she appeared on his other side, delivering another thunderous blow to his side.

She was toying with him, her speed and power an overwhelming, unsolvable equation.

The Crown Prince Wu Tianlong and his two subordinates caught three Legionaries and finished them off easily. Without the support of their formation, their strength only ranged between the peak Spirit Condensation Stage and the mid Foundation Establishment Stage.

Meanwhile, after landing on her feet, Jiang Jianxin fell back slightly as she caught Lin Mo’s figure, charging into the Legionaries who were blown away by Yan Wei.

A small smile appeared on her lips, deciding not to charge back in anymore and simply observe. She wanted to see the fruits of the Shopkeeper’s own grueling training. She had noticed that his aura was completely different from before.

It was stable, profound and carried the serene weight of a starry night sky.

Lin Mo’s movements were different from the explosive dashes of Yan Wei or the lightning-fast flickers of Xiaoyu.

They were a continuous, unbroken flow. The [Crimson Flow Phantom Steps] he used seemed less like a martial technique and more like a celestial dance, his form blurring as phantom afterimages trailed in his wake, each one performing a perfect, spearfighting feint.

A Legionary, disoriented by Yan Wei’s tornado, swung its glaive at one of the crimson phantoms. The phantom dissolved, but in that split-second of distraction, Lin Mo’s real form was already there.

The [Stellar Domain] around him subtly pulsed. The Legionary’s powerful, Aether-infused strike seemed to slow, its trajectory minutely but critically altered as it entered his field of absolute control.

Lin Mo executed a [Starcoil Thrust], but it was different from before. It was faster, more condensed, and it carried the weight of his entire domain behind it.

The spear tip did not need to clash with the armor. The force behind it pierced through the Legionary’s neck joint with perfect precision.

It produced no grand explosion but only a soft ’shhk’ as the spiraling starlight qi poured directly into the soldier’s body.

The Legionary froze and his whole body appeared to be getting suck into a black hole as though the space before him cracked open. Then, it dissipated, leaving behind only a breastplate and a gauntlet that clattered to the ground.

Without pausing, Lin Mo spun, the momentum of his thrust carrying him into a seamless [Dragon Crescent Sweep]. The arc of starlight intercepted another Legionary’s counter-attack.

The two other Legionaries near him tried to form a mini-formation, their shields locking together.

Lin Mo smiled. He had been waiting for that.

"[Qi Solidification]!"

The new ability he had gotten from achieving Perfect Foundation was shot. The air in front of the two Legionaries shone as the starlight qi, under his absolute control within his domain, coalesced, forming a solid, tangible wall of translucent starlight.

CLANG!

The two Legionaries, charging forward, slammed headfirst into the unexpected, invisible barrier. Their momentum was completely broken, their formation shattered before it could even fully form.

They stumbled back in confusion, their disciplined minds unable to process the sudden appearance of a solid wall out of thin air.

But then, Jiang Jianxin flicked her fingers. Two beams of impossibly sharp sword light shot through their heads, fatally striking both Legionaries even with their hard helmets.

Two more puffs of dissipating foreign energy, two more clatters of falling armor.

She landed gracefully beside Lin Mo as she muttered silently, "Shopkeeper... you’ve gotten a lot stronger."

"I didn’t deserve such praise from you, dear customer, " Lin Mo replied with a grin, not even winded.

His [Stillwater Body] was already absorbing the kinetic energy from the impacts and the ambient Aether, replenishing his stamina. His Perfect Foundation made his qi circulation so efficient that the few techniques he had used barely made a dent in his reserves.

With their formation broken and their numbers dwindling, the remaining Legionaries were picked off one by one.

Liu Xiaoyu, growing tired of her game of cat and mouse, finally appeared in front of the Decanus.

"Okay, playtime’s over," She said, her cheerful tone gone.

She reared back her fist and for the first time, used a named technique. "[Nine Heavens Storm Fist: Thunderclap Annihilation]!"

Her gauntlet glowed with the light of a miniature sun and crackled with lightning.

The Decanus raised his glaive in a desperate block but it was proven useless against the force behind the peerless genius’s technique.

BOOM!

The sound was a deafening thunderclap that echoed across the plains. The Decanus’s Aether-forged glaive shattered into a thousand pieces. The force of the blow continued, slamming into his chest plate. The crimson-plumed helmet was sent flying as the soldier himself was blasted backward, crashing into the ground and skidding for twenty meters before coming to a stop, his armor a crumpled, smoking ruin.

In less than a minute, their group took down the patrol group. And not far from them, sounds of explosions and battle cries could be heard as Liu Zhongzhu and the other experts also took down the outermost stronghold.

With their numbers, it couldn’t be called a battle. It was a simple annihilation.

"Shopkeeper, did the other strongholds get alerted?" Wu Meiyu asked as she landed beside him, clutching a pair of greaves.

"Hopefully not. Let’s pick up everything they dropped and let’s converge with Master Liu. We’ll continue with the initial plan. Straight to the fortress and clear this area to extract information." Lin Mo answered as Liu Xiaoyu also walked over, clutching the plumed helmet of the Decanus.

"Boss! This helmet is like an earth-grade artifact but I don’t sense any ability imbued within! It’s only a very hard helmet!"