Realms In The Firmament

The giant elephant’s skin was indeed strong, but it still had its limits. The elephant’s belly endured most of the pressure, and it was about to explode. The giant creature kept screeching and struggling, but it couldn’t move in or out. It was trapped.

The entrance would be closed once the energy shield was activated. No matter how slow it was, it wouldn’t stop. The giant elephant kept struggling. It tried to get out, but it just couldn’t. It was getting more and more difficult for the giant elephant to do so. Even though the giant elephant was blocking the entrance there was still room for other beasts to get through it. Countless fierce beasts kept running under the elephant. They rushed to the hidden space behind the fake rock.

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

“What… What should we do?”

The leader of the men in black clothes was shocked by what was happening at the entrance. He lit up his sword. He wanted to rush over to where the giant elephant was, and cut it into pieces. The giant elephant’s skin was strong, but it had its limits. A top-level Dao Origin Stage cultivator with a divine weapon could still cut through it though. However, when he was about to kill the giant elephant, he heard the buzz of the swarms of bees approaching. The great army of bees was rushing over with their terrifying red eyes.

The entrance was totally sealed by the swarm of bees!

Millions of huge bees got through the entrance under the giant elephant in a small period of time!

The men in black clothes were shaken up.

Now they absolutely had no idea what to do next.

Someone suddenly shouted violently; then a long stream of sword light was shooting all over the place!

One of the man in black clothes who seemed to be guarding the valley wanted to know what was going on, so he quickly grabbed his weapon.

“You are a bunch of useless junks!”

The man in black clothes was obviously more than furious.

In fact, none of this could have happened if anyone from those man in black clothes had cut down the giant elephant earlier. If they did then the situation would at least not develop into such chaos.

However, the men in black clothes were shocked by what happened and just froze.

In fact, the giant bees were low-level spiritual beasts. The reason why they were frightening was because of their huge number.

All of the Dao Origin Stage cultivators bravely faced the bees since they were being guarded by an energy shield. It was a Dao Origin Stage energy shield, so the bees wouldn’t be able to break through it for quite some time. It wouldn’t matter even if one or two bees could squeeze in. Everything was under control as long as the shield was there.

However, when those men in black clothes saw the terrifying swarm of bees rushing over the entrance; they got scared. They all felt like it was impossible to fight against such a big army of bees. None of them made a clear judgment on the battle situation. No one realized that they were actually safe for quite some time if they did try to exterminate the bees.

Perhaps, all human beings were naturally afraid of any living creatures that moved in swarms! These men were definitely lacking in mindset training!

This proved the importance of improving a cultivator’s mind power. If at least one of those fifty men in black clothes had a strong mindset like Ning Biluo, Zhao Pingtian, and Liu Changjun, or any other top-class assassins in Land of Han-Yang, someone would have done a wise judgment on the situation and made the right move. However, the truth was they froze. For an assassin, to freeze for just a second could get themselves killed!

However, whoever went first might die very soon.

None of them stood up when everything started to become a mess because they were weak in mind power. Opportunities came and left.

The bees in the front had already rushed over to the entrance, and there were more bees approaching.

It was already too late when the man who was guarding the valley noticed what was happening. They couldn’t get out of this mess anymore.

It was hopeless.

A man just came; he seemed to be the boss of the men in black clothes. He started to move along with his sword as one, rushing into the swarm of bees. There was demonic energy that flows around his body. There were already a lot of bees inside the hidden space. However, things would be fine again after a while as long as the entrance was shut. He was sure that his level nine Dao Origin Stage power could defend himself against the stings from those crazy bees. He could go straight to the elephant and cut it into pieces. If he did succeed, it would shut the entrance and end this miserable scene at once.

However, somebody shouted non stop in the sky when he made a move with his sword.

“Here I am!”

The shout sounded like a bolt of lightning on a sunny day. After that, a broad stream of sword light which was glaring like starlight was slashing down from up in the sky!

Bang!

The leader of those men in black clothes was moving with his sword as a whole, yet his power got broken by that starlight sword slash.

A man in white clothes was standing in the gap between the closing entrance and the elephant!

The man had this dreamlike purpose qi rolling around him.

This man asked his men to wear black clothes, yet he himself was wearing white clothes…

Ye Xiao!

It must be a coincidence that the giant elephant that moved really slowly would show up and be stuck at the entrance. Well, it wasn’t a coincidence though. Ye Xiao made it happen.

Erhuo had done a great job in making the entrance appear by making tons of moves earlier. How could the Xiao Monarch miss such an opportunity to do his job? He certainly would seize this chance and do something.

Ye Xiao’s shout was heard by his people, so his people including Xuan Bing and all the other cultivators went towards his location at high speed. Ye Xiao suddenly made a sword move. Although it was only a sword slash, it broke the energy flow of the enemy’s sword and the protective energy shield of the enemy.

The man in black clothes screamed and spat out a mouthful of blood. He fell back, coincidentally falling into the swarms of bees.

His screech could be heard in an extremely horrible way.

When two superior cultivators fought, the better one would always win. The sword slash from Ye Xiao had shaken off all the spiritual energy shield around the man in black clothes. The man in black clothes became like a piece of fresh meat when he fell to the floor. The place he landed was right in front of the marching troops of the army of bees. When he touched the floor, thousands of that terrifying giant bees fiercely bumped onto him at the same time like a turbulent tide!

He clearly felt the pain which was difficult to describe. Long story short, he had tasted the wight of a miserable life…

The other men in black clothes were all astounded after they saw the man’s horrible situation. They felt cold all of a sudden and got a cramp on their legs.

That was so horrible.

Ye Xiao was standing straight, alone in front of the gap of the closing entrance with his sword.

Countless giant bees flew over him, but they ignored Ye Xiao. They just rushed into the hidden valley.

The reason why that happened was simple–the Intangible Shadow. It allowed Ye Xiao to change himself to the perfect form according to the surroundings around him. Ye Xiao was just like a human-shape rock, silent and still like death. No matter how furious and savage the swarm of giant bees were, they wouldn’t attack a rock. What they did was ignore the rock and flew over it!

Ye Xiao didn’t get attacked by the swarm of giant bees. It was like the end of the world inside the hidden space of the valley.

Inside the hidden place, countless men in black clothes were at a loss as to what to do when the huge swarms of bees approached. The entire place fell into panic and fear…

Some of the men in black clothes tried to stay calm and started to display their best martial arts with all kinds of weapons. A lot of giant bees were killed, but there were way too many of them. Millions of giant bees that had gotten through the entrance earlier were yet to be defeated, and more and more bees were still approaching. These creatures kept rushing in with no fear in their mind because all they wanted was to take revenge!

“Our king and queen are dead! You killed them…”

“This will never end until you all die!”

“Either we all die, or you all go to hell! That is the only possible conclusion of this battle!”

The giant bees had all gone crazy because of hatred.

The giant bees kept crazily attacking one after another, in spite of the fact that they might all die. Many of the men in black clothes were crazy too, but they were scared to go mad!

The bees and the men in black clothes were not the only ones who went crazy. The other beasts went crazy as well. Some of them were driven to madness. Some of them were frightened, while the others went crazy because they were desperate.

All in all, the hidden valley, which had been calm and peaceful suddenly became hell in the livings’ world with blood and horror within a short period of time.

The cultivators inside the hidden valley heard the noise from the entrance, so they all went out to see what was happening. Their feet were trembling, and their hands turned cold and numb when saw the bloody scene! These people were weaker than those men in black clothes earlier!

“What… What is going on?”

“I thought it was absolutely safe here in this hidden place? I was told that there would never be enemies in this place, what the hell is this? Where did those beasts come from? Why are those giant bees attacking everywhere? Where did the blood come from? Why is the sky bloody red?”

Nine dark shadows were approaching quickly while shouting angrily.

These people were the nine top-level Dao Origin Stage cultivators that were sent over to protect this place by the leaders of the Demon Soul Dao!

Honestly speaking, these guys heard the noise arose from the valley. They didn’t really care that much though.

They had stayed here for a long time, and nothing serious had ever happened, so the noise didn’t really bother them at all. They even thought that this ruckus could be a good training program for their cultivators. However, they didn’t know that the situation would develop into a massacre. They had never thought that such chaos would happen!

What happened would easily destroy the hidden place!

That was why the nine protectors started to feel frightened and shocked!

A lot of things changed when they arrived. They carved out a bloody path through the swarm of giant bees toward Ye Xiao using a powerful rush.

“Who the hell are you? How dare you stir up trouble here?”

The man in black clothes who seemed to be the leader of the protectors looked pretty mad, and it seemed like he was about to spit out blood soon.

This place was an important part of the foundation of the Honor Demon’s great plan. They couldn’t believe what they saw was truly happening.

Giant bees?

A cat?

A bear?

The beast tide?

A riot?

Thinking of all these words, the nine men in black clothes were so frenzied that they nearly spit out blood.

“What the hell is this?”

Ye Xiao looked at the nine men in black clothes with cold eyes and said, “Who am I? I am the man who will end your lives!”

The nine men in black clothes who were in this hidden place as protectors had pretty strong mindsets as well as extraordinary cultivation power. Ye Xiao wasn’t being soft at all, so these men knew it was pointless to talk anymore. The nine streams of sharp sword light arose at the same time and shot towards Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao was currently standing on the back of a giant elephant. With a cold sneering smile, he casually swung the Stars Sword. He had already splashed out countless glimmers of cold starlight before he could even fully turn around.

Every glimmer of the starlight shined with his pride and aloofness!

“The Xiao Monarch’s Nine Laughters!” One of the men in black clothes kept both of his eyes open and exclaimed. “You are Xiao Monarch! You are Ye Xiao!”

The Xiao Monarch’s Nine Laughters.

It was Xiao Monarch’s particular brand of martial art!

Ye Xiao showed up in a fight against Wu Fa and won when he returned to the Qing-Yun Realm. It was not a secret to the public. Now as the nine men saw his Stars Sword and the Monarch’s Sword martial art; they immediately recognized him.

However, they all became frightened since they recognized him.

They were absolutely intimidated by the name of the Xiao Monarch no matter how calm and steady they were. When Ye Xiao returned to the Qing-Yun Realm, he had defeated and killed Wu Fa. He beat the Red in the Sky as well. Everybody in the Demon Soul Dao knew what he did!

Xiao Monarch actually showed up in person—the world’s most powerful cultivator!

They couldn’t help being intimidated no matter how calm and steady they were when faced with such a powerful enemy!

Ye Xiao was surrounded by a purple qi. He was holding his shining sword. He was wearing long and white clothes, standing in a place where countless bees were flying through…

It was a scene that contained a huge visual impact.

Why were those terrifying giant bees not attacking Ye Xiao?

After a while, somebody shouted somewhere. Another person’s slim white shadow arrived, coming through the gap in the entrance like a bolt of lighting. It was Xuan Bing!

Xuan Bing was wearing all white as well. Xuan Bing was known as a lady who always wore black clothes, so she had to wear something different now since she needed to convince everybody that she wasn’t just the girl Bing’er they knew. She begged Ye Xiao to let her wear white clothes, and Ye Xiao couldn’t stand hurting this beautiful lady’s heart—so he approved it!

When Xuan Bing got in, another followed. Jun Yinglian didn’t plan to wear white clothes in the first place, but she realized Xuan Bing had gotten a privilege. She wouldn’t want to lose in such a competition, so she put on her white clothes as well. However, she added a black robe on the outside, pretending not to break the rules.

Xuan Bing was good at the Shadow Movement technique, so she could hide from everybody else’s attention. Jun Yinglian wasn’t good enough, so she decided to put on a black robe on the outside!

Xuan Bing was wrapped in a cold qi. Her long hair was floating in the air. She flew by Ye Xiao but didn’t stop beside him. She completely ignored the nine men in black clothes. She just rushed into the valley.

Ye Xiao was alone standing at the entrance. Well, he alone was enough to protect that gap in the entrance for the others.

What mattered at the moment was to get inside the valley and check whether there were other ways out. They had to make sure all the exits were blocked because they couldn’t let any of the enemies get out of this place.

“Go catch her!”

A man in black clothes just had enough time to shout out those three words before Xuan Bing disappeared before their eyes.

Xuan Bing was even faster than Ye Xiao, which meant none of those men could catch up with her, not to mention stop her!

The men in black clothes were all shocked by the incredible speed of Xuan Bing. However, it was not the only thing that would surprise them. After her, a group of women wearing white clothes was approaching. It turned out to be Jun Yinglian and her disciples from the Sky Ice Palace. They all had taken off their black robes and appeared in all white. They fleeted away fast like a strong flow of wind. Actually, they were like a big piece of cloud that was moving fast.

Women loved to look beautiful. Who would want to wear all black if they could wear white beautiful dresses? Besides, their prime master, Jun Yinglian was wearing all white. What a good example for all the ladies from the Sky Ice Palace! They didn’t need to hide anymore, so it was pointless to cover their white clothes with ugly black robes. These ladies absolutely would love to be beautiful in their white clothes again!

The nine men in black clothes were all locked up by Ye Xiao’s killing intent, so they didn’t dare to make any reckless movements. All they could do was to watch Xuan Bing and all the other ladies that were rushing inside. In fact, they even had the same thought at the moment.

“If we stay here and do our best to face Xiao Monarch, we may still win.”

“We’re probably gonna be killed if we try to catch the others if we ignore Xiao Monarch’s raging killing intent because he will definitely see our weak points once we move and take advantage of it.”

“Let’s not make any reckless moves once we fight against Xiao Monarch.”

“A mistake, a tiny mistake will lead to our failure!”

As expected, it had become like a huge pot of boiling rice gruel inside the hidden valley.

Countless giant bees were chasing after other living creatures and men inside the valley. A lot of beasts had run crazy after getting stung by the bees. They couldn’t do anything about the bees, so they turned to attack the men in the valley. The crazy beasts had lost their minds, so they didn’t care whether they could win in a fight against those men. The giant bees didn’t let the men go any easier either. They attacked the beasts most of the time because there was more beast than men!

The men in black clothes were wrecked. Those who were superior in cultivation were doing well because they had pretty strong spiritual energy to protect themselves. That was the reason why they were safe at the moment. However, those who were weaker started to die one by one in a short period of time. Those who were stung by the giant bees started to get swollen, becoming like some kind of human-shaped balloon.

Their skins started to turn green, appearing like green leaves.

Xuan Bing saw that, and she was shocked. She said, “Those are Sky Toxin Bee!”

Xuan Bing was the most knowledgeable person in this battle among all the people except Ye Xiao. She was shocked when she first saw how big those bees were, but she didn’t think much of it!

However, she had no idea that there was actually a Sky Toxin Bee in the Big Dream Mountain.

In fact, the king and the queen of the Sky Toxin Bee were merely level-six spiritual beasts, but the Sky Toxin Bee was one of the three spiritual beasts which one should never mess within the Qing-Yun Realm. There were three reasons why the Sky Toxin Bee was so horrible. First of all, the toxin was poisonous. It was safe to get stung once or twice, as long as one was above Spirit Origin Stage. The poison wasn’t that strong if a person was in that stage. However, the poison could accumulate inside one’s body. Whoever got stung for over a hundred times would definitely be a dead man, even if he was a Dao Origin Stage cultivator. If one was surrounded by a swarm of Sky Toxin Bee and got stung by them, he would likely be dead soon even if he was a top-level Dao Origin Stage cultivator!

Second, the Sky Toxin Bee’s reproductive capabilities were incredible. The Sky Toxin Bee only needed a hundred years to become hundreds of millions—or even more!

Third, they were extremely territorial, and they always harbored their hatred for a lifetime. They would do whatever it took to sting whoever attacked them. That was why when Erhuo broke their hive, they still kept chasing after Erhuo even though they knew that Erhuo was way more powerful than them.

If Erhuo didn’t attack the Sky Toxin Bee, they would have kept minding their own business. The entire Qing-Yun Realm could have been conquered by these insects!

The Demon Soul Dao knew about the Sky Toxin Bee too. However, when they noticed their existence in the Big Dream Mountain, there were already too many of them to destroy. As long as they didn’t mess with the giant bees first, nobody would get hurt. Besides, they wanted to use the Sky Toxin Bee as a natural protection for their hidden place. However, the giant bees started to attack the base of the Demon Soul Dao because of what Erhuo did!

Xuan Bing realized those were swarms of Sky Toxin Bee, so she hurriedly told the others to be careful, “Guys, we have to be careful not to get stung by those bees. If any of you, unfortunately, get stung, do not attack them back! Do not make them hate you!”

The others had been frightened by what those bees were doing inside the hidden place, and now Xuan Bing gave them such a warning, so they definitely wouldn’t go mess with any of those terrifying bees.

However, no matter how terrifying the army of the giant bees was, many of them had still died because they had been fighting for too long. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of superior cultivators in the valley, and they were not somebody that was easy to mess with.

No matter how difficult it was, it was possible to kill all the Sky Toxin Bee at the same time for the Demon Soul Dao!

This fight was out of everybody’s expectation. The Sky Toxin Bee’s army was wrecked. The rest of the giant bees that were still alive couldn’t cause that much of a commotion anymore. Xuan Bing and the others came late, but it was the perfect time to arrive.

A cat kept meowing somewhere.

Erhuo was urging the beasts who had gotten inside the hidden place, “What the hell are you doing? Go! Go for it! Come on, fight! Don’t you see how many are fighting on the same side as you? Oh, go join them already… I can’t see why you are so afraid of those men with swords and sabers when some of those men are already rolling and screaming on the floor! Hey! you tigers, can’t you just move your mouths or something? Clench? Come on, you can’t even get those who are already beaten… Aren’t you ashamed?”

Erhuo was urging those beasts in high spirit.

All the spiritual beasts were staring at the tiny cat with silence in their hopeless eyes.

After surviving such chaos earlier, these animals didn’t feel the same suppression from Erhuo anymore, even though Erhuo was still the superior spiritual beast compared to all of them. However, these beasts didn’t fear Erhuo more than death no matter how terrifying it was. They had faced death once, and they were trying to stay away from getting killed. Why would they care what a cat would say?

“Look at this cat! He surely doesn’t care what would happen to us, because he only needs to watch.”

“Think about it… You are the one who made all these happen! You nearly got us all killed! You just can’t feel guilty, can you? Well, now we are safe, and you actually want us to risk our lives?…”

“I have never seen anything like you…”

“Are you addicted in making trouble?”

“You can’t be more despicable, can you?”

The sword lights were slashing everywhere. Xuan Bing, Jun Yinglian, and the others did their best moves. The most murderous ones had killed their way inside.

Before the gap in the entrance of the hidden space.

Ye Xiao was holding his Stars Sword—which glittered fiercely

Bang!

The sword made a cracking sound. The energy shield that was protecting the entrance exploded.