CHAPTER 79: CLASH WITH THE GUARDIAN

Chapter 79: Clash with the Guardian

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Yǔn Hào’s team shot forward at full speed, and in less than a minute, they had cleared the entire tunnel and reached its end.

As soon as they arrived, they found themselves in another underground cavern, this one a bit smaller than the previous one, but still fairly large and spacious.

But none of them paid attention to that.

Every pair of eyes was locked on the far end of the cavern, where some kind of dark mass seemed to be writhing around something.

Most likely the creature that had just roared.

It didn’t take long to realize what it was doing, and when the view in front of tem became a little more clearer, a few of the weaker members of the group trembled at the sight of one of their companions being slowly skinned alive by the thing in front of them.

It was obvious it hadn’t taken long for the creature to overpower him,

barely a minute had passed since the roar, and the creature was already done taking care of their teammate.

That man was at the peak of the third stage, so killing him shouldn’t have been easy, not even for a fourth stage beast.

That made it painfully clear to everyone, that the creature had most likely already stepped into the Nascent Soul stage.

Soon, the monster seemed to notice their presence.

With a swift movement, it finished devouring what remained of their companion’s body.

It untangled itself, and like a knot unraveling, it began to rise up, stretching and writhing, until it reached a full height of ten meters in an instant.

Now that it was fully uncoiled, the view of the creature became clear to all of them:

It was a giant centipede.

It stared down at them calmly, as if evaluating its next prey, and at that sight, everyone tensed up, fully aware that the battle was about to begin.

But just at that moment, Yǔn Hào stepped forward with a serious expression.

"I knew it would be guarded by a strong beast, but I didn’t expect one that’s already reached the peak of the fifth stage," he said as he swept off his cloak with a single mouvement, revealing a golden armor underneath, adorned with dragon emblems on the shoulders.

The aura around him began to intensify, and in his hand appeared a Greatsword, its blade thick and black like obsidian.

"Anyone below the fourth stage, step back.

The rest of us will handle this thing, you focus on the others," he said,

as three figures from the group stepped forward, each of them radiating an aura within the Core Formation stage.

Sensing their fighting intent, the giant centipede raised its head and let out a shrill screech that echoed through the entire cavern.

Soon, the walls began to tremble, and before long, parts of the ceiling and ground all around began to crack and crumble.

From the gaps, strange creatures started crawling out.

They looked similar to the giant centipede in front of them, just weaker versions.

Still, not by much.

Each one gave off an aura of the first or second stage, and a few of the bigger ones were clearly at the third.

If this had been a one on one fight, it would have been easy to deal with beasts of the same stage, or even slightly stronger.

But in this case, the sheer number of creatures pouring out far outnumbered the cloaked men.

Everyone could feel the pressure of the incoming battle.

And Yǔn Hào, who was at the head of the group, didn’t waste a single second.

Gripping his Greatsword with one hand, he dashed toward the towering figure.

The other three at the fourth stage moved too, splitting off and darting to three different points around the beast.

Seeing this, the creature didn’t back down. With a feral roar, it charged forward, kicking off a brutal clash.

The other beasts didn’t wait either, launching their own assault, and so did the cloaked men, each one pulling out all sorts of strange tools and weapons.

Some rushed to the front lines, while others in the back immediately activated various artifacts and talismans, unleashing a series of effects in the blink of an eye.

The start of the battle was fast and vicious, but not nearly as intense as what was happening at the center of the cavern between Yǔn Hào and the giant centipede.

The sound of blows echoed through the space as man and monster collided head on.

The three Core Formation cultivators didn’t waste time either.

They swiftly moved into position around the battleground between Yǔn Hào and the beast, reaching specific points.

Without hesitation, each one pulled out a black metal stake, about a meter long, from their spatial rings, and with sharp precision, they stabbed them into the ground.

At the same time, they poured spiritual energy into the stakes, which lit up with rows of runic symbols from top to bottom before those markings began spreading across the ground like serpents, darting in all directions.

With a roar, Yǔn Hào reached the creature’s head and swung his massive sword in a clean arc, clashing straight against it.

Metal met shell with a sharp, violent clang.

Sparks flew.

A high pitched screech rang through the cavern.

The centipede, seemingly unaffected by the blow, lunged forward suddenly, its massive mandibles snapping shut like iron jaws, trying to crush him.

But Yǔn Hào ducked just in time, using the momentum of his own swing to leap back.

To someone watching, it might have looked like a failed strike.

But Yǔn Hào wasn’t disappointed.

In fact, he looked... excited.

A maniacal smile spread across his face.

"Good, let’s see how you handle this."

As if triggered by his words, glowing lines lit up across the battlefield. A violet light flared up, and a thin dome of the same color began to rise, enclosing both Yǔn Hào and the beast.

Within the dome, a thick, poisonous mist started to seep into the air.

Its smell was sharp and metallic. A strange energy began to pulse throughout the entire area inside the formation.

If a regular cultivator had been caught within its range, they would’ve struggled to breathe as their energy was slowly drained away, leaving behind nothing but a shriveled, tainted corpse.

But that clearly wasn’t the case for Yǔn Hào.

On the contrary, he seemed to thrive in it.

His eyes glowed with purple light, and the aura around his body surged and throbbed like a burning flame.

He fully released his cultivation, at the mid phase of the fifth stage, and the violet aura around him twisted violently.

It gathered behind him, then rose upward, reaching six meters in height, slowly forming the shape of a serpentine figure that seemed to be alive,

as it lifted its head and turned its crimson eyes toward the centipede in front of him.