Chapter 1493 - Ruan Yaozhu
Chapter 1493 - Ruan Yaozhu
Everyone was powerless. Even Wan Jianfeng began to hesitate, considering whether to conserve some strength for retreat. The Scorching Fire Army God could not last too long in the hands of “Taowu”, erupting with flames under the latter’s punches.
Suddenly, a slender figure rushed into the enemy ranks. Dai Mengfan was surprised as well. “Yaozhu?”
Riding along on a white deer, Ruan Yaozhu shot over the turbulent battlefield. The nine-coloured deer emitted a glow of nine-colours, repelling the incoming arrows.
She pursed her lips and held onto an embroidered pouch firmly, such that her knuckles turned white. She looked back at Black Cloud city and made up her mind, grabbing a handful of seeds and sprinkling them on the ground.
A seed drifted through the air and landed in the mouth of a demonfolk who was looking up with his mouth agape. With a shiver, he swallowed the seed, but there seemed to be no response after that.
Ru Yaozhu prayed silently. She was not casting a technique, but actually praying. The technique itself had already been embedded in every single seed the moment she cast them out.
The seed flashed with green light in the demonfolk’s belly!
The demonfolk collapsed on the ground with a wail, clutching his belly and squirming around. Thistles erupted from his skin, greedily feeding off his blood. It rapidly enveloped and swallowed him completely, turning him into a monster woven by thistles like a sea urchin.
Every single “tendril” danced around madly, entangling the surrounding demonfolk.
A demonfolk was caught around the neck. The sharp thistles almost ripped his throat out. His eyes bulged as he swung his arms around madly.
A demonfolk on one side slashed through a thistle with a great yell, but the severed thistle began to squirm even more violently, plunging into the demonfolk’s eyes like a snake.
Finally, he let out a hysterical howl, but before long, another thistle monster erupted out of his body.
At the same time, even more strange and wicked plants erupted from the earth.
Colourful carnivorous flowers bloomed like a great mouth, swallowing a demonfolk with each gulp. Sharp spines that resembled teeth in its mouth chewed away at its prey.
The snake-like mud vines possessed potent poison in their sap. Just the slightest bit of sap could make the body rot away and disintegrate rapidly like mud. The yellow fluid that flowed out seeped into the ground and turned into fertiliser.
Even the strongest and wildest demonfolk let out miserable shrieks. Pain was always sobering.
The demonfolk that had been devoured were left without remains. They could not rebirth even if they were in the Asura realm, let alone the Asura field. Under these tortures, none of the demonfolk could maintain their battle spirit and become asura.
Ruan Yaozhu liked to collect seeds. She regularly issued missions in the Myriad sect to collect the seeds of all sorts of strange plants.
These seeds did not just come from the Human realm, but the entire six realms of sa?sāra and the trichiliocosm. There was even a portion from the Demon domain.
For example, the “thistle of pain” was originally one of the tortures of hell, called the Thistle hell. After being caught by it, even their souls would struggle to escape, enduring tremendous pain.
These sharp-toothed carnivorous flowers were native plants of the Demon domain. They were most suited to grow in the soil of the Demon domain, and they primarily fed off demonfolk and demonic beasts.
And so on and so forth.
And from the heritage of each past master of the Hundred Herbs garden, coupled with her own efforts, she even possessed seeds of plants from beyond the Nine Heavens.
However, the area of the Hundred Herbs garden was limited. It was all used to grow “commercial crops”. Plants that did not possess any value and were harmless could be planted on the surrounding island. However, there were many plants that could not be grown, especially these “wicked plants”.
However, it was also impossible for her to simply discard them. There was no such thing as intrinsic good or bad when it came to plants.
As a result, over time, they instead amassed a large number of “wicked plant” seeds.
The direct disciples were all stunned. Despite knowing her for so long, they never imagined there was actually a side like this to her, no matter how meek and gentle she seemed. The expansion and devouring of the plants was far more horrific than the clashes of weapons.
Ruan Yaozhu’s expression was blank and unfazed, powering the Heavenly Tome of Nature as she constantly scattered the seeds. As long as she gave the seeds a push so that they sprouted, they would seek out food and grow by themselves.
The so-called path of nature was not just the wonderful notion of plants sprouting and flourishing. There was also a cruel side to it, a life-or-death struggle for survival as the fittest. Countless lives perished at every single moment, even going extinct.
This was the most primitive war, spreading their leaves and branches for a part of the sky and sinking their roots into the ground for a part of the earth. The victor thrived while the defeated died, constantly, endlessly.
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the arrival of the Asura Field did not suppress her at all. Instead, it strengthened her powers. The Heavenly Tome of Nature had never been a gentle or kind path of cultivation.
Ke Xin shrank back, feeling some chills. She felt like she had turned into someone different.
Dai Mengfan made use of this opportunity. “Even girly Yaozhu is working so hard, so what are you all waiting for!?”
“Taowu’s” figure became visibly smaller. The efficiency of Ruan Yaozhu’s slaughter could basically rival the entire Xuanwu army.
In particular, the thistles of pain multiplied extremely quickly. As long as there was sufficient fertiliser, it could grow forever.
The weapons of demonfolk were powerless against it. Even Demon Emperors and Demon Kings could not completely destroy them. Their powers were suppressed by the interwoven laws of the world too, while the plants were basically unaffected, only further invigorated by the scent of blood on the battlefield.
The demonfolk stuck in the thistle bushes twisted all over as they shrieked miserably, clearly swaying the army morale and making the army qi disperse.
By now, she had already ventured deep into the enemy territory. She split the seeds into different varieties and spread them as evenly as possible, or they would compete and turn against one another.
The nine-coloured deer warned her. “Piece of wood, you’ve lost your cool!”
Ruan Yaozhu murmured, “There was originally no need for him to come. He completed his promise to me.”
The nine-coloured deer said, “You’re thinking too much. That kid clearly wanted to come himself and show off his powers.”
“Jiu’er, my heart hurts.” Ruan Yaozhu pressed down on her chest as if a thistle bush was growing inside. In the beginning, she had failed to sense it, but the pain became more and more intense.
The nine-coloured deer said nothing. She sighed inside, A tribulation of attachments, oh a tribulation of attachments!
This was not just due to Li Qingshan, but Chao Tianjiao, Lu Boming, and so on as well. The incidents that occurred over the past few days affected her drastically. In the past, she basically had not been involved in any conflict at all, even less than Ke Xin, let alone a war as horrific as this. She even had to defy her own will and kill madly.
As a result, the nine-coloured deer made up her mind. She had to take her away from here, even if it was through deserting the battlefield.
At this moment, a large, lone eye gazed over. The brutal spirit that filled the gaze made them stiffen.
Dai Mengfan cried out, “Be careful, Yaozhu!”
Firelight illuminated the sky. “Taowu” had already defeated the Scorching Fire Army God, which filled the air with flames. Li Liehuo’s fate was unknown.
Tu Wancheng felt something amiss. The decline of his power suddenly accelerated. The Xuanwu army did not collapse as he had expected. Instead, they fought even more vigorously after the Asura Field descended, tearing through the demonfolk army layer by layer.
It was as if they had not realised their commander was dead. Perhaps they had realised that already, but they were still carrying out his final order—advance!
The direct disciples did not scatter and flee either. Instead, they worked together to kill the regular demonfolk. He had wanted them to stay in the beginning anyway. They could continue their massacre, and it would only cost them an extra few hundred thousand demonfolk at most. They were all ants anyway.
However, never had he heard that the Myriad sect possessed someone as skilled at combat as the woman on the white deer. Her efficiency at killing the demonfolk basically left even him slightly pained.
“Then you can die!”
The two army gods had fallen. What came next was butchering all these direct disciples.
Ruan Yaozhu charged at the front. Immediately, a giant hand extended over from the other side of the battlefield, looming over her like a dark cloud.
Even though he had been weakened slightly, “Taowu” was still an existence that surpassed all other creatures on the battlefield. Without the impediment of the army gods, no one could threaten him anymore.
Not to mention the fact that she had ventured too deeply into the enemy territory alone, even if she was hiding among the direct disciples, no one would be able to help her.
The nine-coloured deer cried out miserably, “We’re really done for this time!” A nine-coloured glow erupted as she went as far as to use her vitality to power her daemon qi. Her movement technique that could originally transport them five hundred kilometres away in an instant now seemed extremely sluggish.
Under the hand, time seemed to freeze. The sensations of extreme speed and extreme sluggishness wove together, enough to drive people mad.
Ruan Yaozhu said softly, “Sorry, Jiu’er.”
“It’s fine… Yaozhu!?”
Ruan Yaozhu pushed off the nine-coloured deer’s back, receiving the cloud-like hand.
No matter how powerful “Taowu” was, killing a Human Sovereign would still take some effort. He could only lock onto one person at a time.
With the two of them separated, Ruan Yaozhu became the only target. The nine-coloured deer broke free from the mental pressure, immediately turning into a nine-coloured light that shot towards the Human realm.
Boom!
The huge hand fell, and the earth quaked, but it missed.
In that critical moment, Ruan Yaozhu had been gripped by an invisible force, escaping the range of the hand and slipping through the crack of its fingers.
All of the Human Sovereigns and Demon Sovereigns watched as her frail figure flew towards Black Cloud city, directly into the hole that Li Qingshan had produced.
“Hmm?”
Tu Wancheng furrowed his brows. This was the first time he had failed to kill a Human Sovereign since the battle began. For some reason, he felt slightly uneasy. However, he did not take it too seriously, glancing at the various plants that grew vigorously on the ground.
With a stomp, countless trees erupted from the ground and shot towards the sky.
These trees had no branches or leaves. They were tough like metal, and their roots were particularly well-developed. Within a range of fifty kilometres, not a single plant could grow anymore, completely losing contact with the earth. They were cleared aside by the Demon Emperors and Demon Kings very quickly.
The countless plants fought back instinctively, wrapping around the trees madly, but the trees refused to budge. Having lost the earth and their fertiliser, they gradually wilted.
But in that short moment, they had already slain several hundreds of thousand demonfolk, none of which rebirthed in the Asura Field.
Dai Mengfan was filled with pity. If someone could keep “Taowu” busy for a little longer, perhaps they really could turn the situation around.
She, who did not even seem to be capable of duelling, was actually so suited for the battlefield. If they had known earlier that she was capable of something like that, the entire strategy would have been different. However, probably even she herself was not aware of something like this. The master of the Hundred Herbs garden never entered the battlefield. This time, it was only because the city was about to fall that they had rallied all the direct disciples.
However, there were no “ifs”. It was all too late now. They had lost their two strongest forces, the Xuanwu Army God and the Scorching Fire Army God.
“Taowu” only needed three seconds to kill a Human Sovereign. In less than half a minute, the direct disciples would collapse, and dealing with the remnants of the Xuanwu army and Scorching Fire army would be even easier than clearing away these plants.
The outcome was set in stone now!