Chapter 211 (Part 1): Resentful Spirits? Extra Meal!

This dying demonic cultivator came from the Landing Victor Group.

Because they were the initial victors and closest to the Mirage Pearl, they suffered a coordinated attack from the other two teams.

For a time, facing a five-person team with only three of their own put them at a severe disadvantage.

Combined with their single-minded focus on snatching the pearl, their defenses dropped significantly.

The cultivator who took the hit had been solely focused on grabbing the Mirage Pearl quickly.

The moment he approached the pearl, a Spirit Technique struck him from behind, shattering his protective barrier.

He was sent flying sideways.

If the opposing teams hadn’t been wary of each other, he would have been buried under a barrage of Spirit Techniques by now, without his teammates even getting a chance to rescue him.

“Don’t worry about the Mirage Pearl for now! Those guys are gunning for us—we can’t grab it!”

A demonic cultivator shouted while raising a shield to block incoming fire for his teammate.

The pearl’s location was too dangerous—a wide-open space with no cover.

Any attempt to approach it would result in a joint attack from the others.

“I get it!” The injured demonic cultivator coughed twice, took a pill from his Storage Pouch, and swallowed it.

After taking the antidote, his complexion improved significantly, but his aura was still weaker than before.

Now, their combat strength was no longer the best among the three groups.

One of them had been wounded in the arm at the very start, and now another had sustained internal injuries.

With their condition declining, their fighting power followed suit, dropping from the virtual first place to second.

At this point, the rational choice would be to temporarily retreat and wait for an opportunity to re-enter.

But rationality was a luxury for demonic cultivators. Now that the battle had begun, how could they back down out of fear?

Fight! Kill everyone here! That was the survival mantra of demonic cultivators.

When they said “Don’t worry about the Mirage Pearl,” they meant finishing off the guys who came for the pearl first, then slowly dealing with the Mirage Pearl.

The other two teams of cultivators didn’t notice this shift in mindset.

They were still focused on pushing toward the Mirage Pearl.

The ones who had been cooperating seamlessly moments ago were now at each other’s throats, releasing Spirit Techniques to hinder each other’s movements.

In the middle of all this mutual backstabbing, the Landing Victor Group finally recovered their combat strength and rejoined the battle, relentlessly pounding the other two teams.

Now the situation was completely chaotic. Even Hua Jian found it hard to keep track.

He hits him, then he gets hit, and the one hitting him gets hit by someone else.

The battle between these three teams was an absolute mess—no strategy whatsoever.

Pure passion fueled their fighting.

With such chaos, the chance of casualties increased.

The demonic cultivator in poor condition from the Secret Realm Victor Group was unlucky enough to be targeted by three opponents at once.

Each of them broke through his defenses again.

His two teammates were locked in combat with two other opponents, but somehow he had drawn aggro from three different directions.

These three people belonged to different teams, yet they had a tacit understanding to gang up on him.

They probably thought, “Let’s pick on the weakest one first.”

In short, facing three sudden full-power attacks, this demonic cultivator was caught completely off guard.

His freshly activated Spirit Tool was destroyed after taking two hits.

The remaining attack landed squarely on his body, sending his aura spiraling downward.

He wasn’t about to die yet—his Spirit Tool was shattered, but he still had his own protective Spirit Power.

Taking a few full-power attacks was nothing serious.

However, having his shield broken meant danger was imminent.

The next attacks would have to be endured with his bare flesh.

The three demonic cultivators who succeeded in their ambush wouldn’t give him a chance to catch his breath.

His condition was nearly bottomed out.

Why not finish him off while they could? Were they supposed to wait for him to take a pill and pull out a new Spirit Tool to fight again?

It’s better to cut off one finger than to wound all ten—that was a principle demonic cultivators understood well.

If this demonic cultivator managed to escape the battlefield, it wouldn’t be long before he recovered most of his combat strength and came back.

Their attack would have been for nothing.

Demonic cultivators in this secret realm never ran out of consumables.

If they came here to fight, they brought everything they needed.

So they had to press the advantage, not give him any breathing room, and ensure he had no time to pull out more items from his Storage Pouch.

The three attackers exchanged glances and reached a unanimous decision: take this guy out first.

Among them, one came from the Landing Victor Group.

He directly pulled out a bow-like Spirit Tool from his Storage Pouch, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the demonic cultivator from the Victor Group.

Meanwhile, the two from the Mediation Group flanked the injured cultivator from either side, cutting off any attempt to escape.

“Dammit…” The cultivator felt a stinging sensation—the instinctive warning of being locked onto by a Spirit Tool’s aura.

The bow the Loser Group demonic cultivator pulled out was definitely a disposable Spirit Tool, containing a full-power strike at the Lingwang Boundary Peak.

If he got hit, it would be a death sentence.

In a split second, he could only make the safest choice available.

As the two Mediation Group members launched a combined palm strike, he didn’t dodge but instead stood his ground, deliberately exposing a weakness.

Two palms slammed heavily into his chest, sending him flying backward while coughing up blood.

But he used this opportunity to pull a life-saving Spirit Tool from his Storage Pouch.

Almost at the same time, the arrow from the Loser Group and the small shield-like Spirit Tool in his hand both emitted a flash of Spirit Light.

Whoosh!

Hum!

The next moment, a full-power strike from a Lingwang Boundary Peak cultivator collided head-on with a full-power defense from another Lingwang Boundary Peak cultivator.

Neither could overwhelm the other for a time. The injured cultivator was pushed backward by the arrow, quickly leaving the battlefield.

As time passed, the arrow’s power gradually weakened, and the shield’s Spirit Light dimmed.

Just as everyone thought these two Spirit Tools would cancel each other out, an unexpected change occurred.

Two obscure gleams of cold light appeared from behind the shield-bearing cultivator, shattering the already fragile shield barrier and plunging straight into his chest.

His chest burst open like a crimson flower blooming in midair.

He turned his head in disbelief toward the direction of the attack and saw the cold eyes of three black-robed cultivators.

“No… I can’t die…”

He tried to reach for a life-saving pill from his Storage Pouch, but the three demonic cultivators who ambushed him wouldn’t give him that chance.

Before he could extend his hand, several more beams of cold light flew toward him.

This time, he lost any hope of survival.

Even Hua Jian couldn’t help closing her eyes at the sight.

Too gruesome. His entire body turned into a mist of blood in the sky.

But his death was only natural.

First, he was targeted by three people working together.

If it had just been that, he might have had a chance to escape with some clever maneuvering.

But then three fully armed men appeared behind him. That changed everything completely.

He wasn’t fighting three—he was caught between fronts, one against six. No one could have survived that.

Hua Jian imagined herself in that situation and thought her outcome wouldn’t have been much better than his.

At most, having her chest pierced wouldn’t affect her much, and she might have had some room to maneuver.

But that was thanks to her talent, not her skill.

“Anyone brave enough to join this Gu-rearing battle is definitely no pushover,” Hua Jian murmured to herself.

She was glad she hadn’t charged in recklessly. If she had pressured these cultivators into uniting against her, she might not have won.

After all, they had plenty of Spirit Tools. Even just throwing items at her would be enough to give her trouble.

Without a gap in the action to throw her plasma grenades, even wearing full gear, Hua Jian wouldn’t dare to wade through that.

The best way to take these guys down was to bait them into fighting each other first, then hide in the shadows and wait for the last team.

She couldn’t beat them at full strength, but a weakened, worn-out last team? She could handle that.

With that in mind, Hua Jian began her own setup.

First, she fully activated the Mirage Pearl left in the center of the battlefield, making it continuously release Mirage Qi in all directions, shrouding the battlefield in mist.

This forced the demonic cultivators watching from the sidelines to get closer.

Then, she hid in this unnoticed little house, thrust her roots into the ground, and began to lay out a plan beneath the resource point.

She would scatter her plant seeds throughout the resource point, so when it was time to attack, she could launch a surprise attack without revealing herself.

As her plan took effect, events unfolded exactly as she’d expected.

Because of the spreading Magic Mist, the two mantis-like groups outside decided to risk entering the mist to stay on top of the battle inside and secure the last hit to become the victors.

Once inside, they were ambushed repeatedly. After chasing their attackers a few steps in anger, they ran into another equally angry team.

No words needed. They just started fighting.

The two mantis groups began their internal strife under Hua Jian’s provocation. As they fought, their commotion attracted the other seven who were still brawling nearby.

Realizing the two groups’ intentions, the seven who were just brawling came to a unanimous decision: they absolutely couldn’t let those bastards succeed.

So, in silent cooperation, the two battles merged into one, turning into a five-team free-for-all.

This chaos was real chaos. Five teams attacked each other.

Whoever got close to the pearl got pummeled by everyone.

In this bloodlust, they didn’t notice that the colorful mist surrounding them wasn’t just Mirage Qi anymore.

It was mixed with a poison Hua Jian had specially prepared, making people more susceptible to emotions and losing their self-control.

On top of that, Mirage Qi was inherently something that protective Spirit Power and even antidote pills struggled to resist.

Even if these demonic cultivators thought they had taken sufficient precautions against Mirage Qi, they were still gradually affected by it.

Even if some alert demonic cultivators began to sense something was wrong, it was too late to turn things around.

This resource point was now a huge arena. Only one team could survive. Before that, any attempt to stop the battle was doomed to fail.

For example, a demonic cultivator trying to pull her two teammates away was soon overwhelmed by attacks hurled from all directions.

She didn’t know why she was so popular. Just moments ago, she only had to deal with two opponents, and those two were busy fighting each other.

But now, it felt like the whole world had its eyes on her. Attacks came at her from every angle.

At first, some wooden arrows shot from somewhere.

Most were fragile and couldn’t even break her protective barrier.

But the problem was, these arrows were mixed with highly armor-piercing ones.

She was careless for a moment and got her defense broken by one of those armor-piercing arrows hidden among the ordinary ones, which scratched her arm.

Maybe it was because of her unexpected injury that the bloodthirsty beasts had their eyes set on her.

Her two teammates had completely gone mad, not even thinking about protecting her.

After thinking for a second, she made what she thought was the wisest choice.

This wasn’t a good place to stay. She had to get away, find a safe spot, and recover her condition.

She glanced down at the freshly scratched wound on her arm and noticed with horror that it wasn’t healing.

Instead, tiny plant sprouts were emerging from the wound, gradually expanding it.

She tried using Spiritual Power to attack the sprouts from inside her body, but it only briefly slowed their growth.

This gave her a very bad feeling.

No, she had to go!

Clenching her teeth, she took advantage of another demonic cultivator being ganged up on, flashed away from the chaotic battlefield, and dashed out of the resource point.

As she ran, she tore at her wound with force, ripping off the flesh around the sprouting area.

This excruciatingly painful action didn’t cause any change in her expression.

She threw the torn flesh to the ground, took a pill from her Storage Pouch with her bloodstained hand, and swallowed it.

The bleeding wound quickly stopped bleeding and began to heal under the pill’s effect. Losing that bit of flesh was nothing to a Ling King.

But her crisis had only just begun.

She had just taken a large dose of pills when more wooden arrows shot out from the increasingly dense Magic Mist.

She gathered Spiritual Power, shattered these arrows with a punch, and at the same time, a faint stinging sensation appeared on her back—her instincts warning her that something was about to ambush her.

Another one of those special wooden arrows?

Without hesitation, she spun around, swept her hand over her waist, grabbed several small matte-finish knives, and threw them behind her.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Unfortunately, she guessed wrong.

This time, the one ambushing her was not a wooden arrow, but a black-robed figure wielding a wooden sword.

The flying knives infused with spiritual power were enough to shatter metal and jade, but before the approaching black-robed figure, they couldn’t even pose the slightest hindrance.

The wooden sword deftly deflected most of the flying knives, but two still struck the attacker.

Just when the demonic cultivator under attack thought these two flying knives would injure the assailant, the assailant was completely unaffected and continued charging at her as if nothing had happened.