Chapter 393: Trapped
Ungodly amounts of Saint Qi gathered around us as the Corpse was forced onto its knees.
One could clearly see the indignation, disbelief and complete madness in the eyes of the Corpse as it was being refined by someone far below his cultivation level.
As for the Poison God Cultivator, -The other one, not me- madness was clear on his eyes as he was enjoying what was happening.
'I have one shot at this, I can't act now,' I muttered to myself as I was looking at what was happening.
One of the cultivators presents though thought otherwise. It was one of the beast people, he seemed to have some sort of ability to stand under this immense pressure that was forcing everyone to their knees and swung a sword as fast as possible towards the Poison God cultivator.
It happened in a flash, the sword that was going to pierce the cultivator was caught using two fingers and then swung back, pinned into the head of the beast clan member.
Yet, the repercussions of such an act were not good.
Stopping, or even hindering someone in the middle of refining has catastrophic consequences. Consequences for us in this case.
The corpse that was slowly being refined found an opportunity to fight back in that slight distraction and was fighting back.
"REFINE!" spoke the cultivator, this time with even more power, so much of it that the cave shook.
And thanks to that, I was able to feel a breeze, it was slight, and small, but it was there.
I turned around, "Automaton! Grab them all! To the white chamber!" I ordered.
And in less than a second, everyone in the room, including Y was dragged to the Lord of Lords Pagoda.
I turned and legged it.
There was no way for me to fight against that person. I had thought of trying to kill him the moment he finishes refining that puppet. But that beastman's action proved how awfully wrong that would have been.
I've fought many people who were higher in cultivation than me. But a Saint Qi class cultivator is a different story. Going at him with my current ability is nothing short of suicide, I have to leave this place.
Through the cave I moved, as fast as I could, using every ounce of energy I had, dashing using the Ancient Step.
The tunnels were spread like a maze, and the moment we went through that white wall everything here became new to me. But I was following the breeze, it was right up ahead, not far away. I can make it to the exit.
I kept on dashing and moving as fast as I could until I arrived to what seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Only this light was so small, a finger width worth of a hole where the breeze had come from.
"Fist of Roaring Ki!" I called as I channeled as much Qi in my hand and shot it into the small hole where the light was coming from.
The explosion shattered the wall as rocks blew forward, revealing an endlessly deep cliff where I was now looking down.
Suddenly a great rush of energy seemed to fill me as I felt that Spatial Law is no longer be disturbed.
I took a step forward and began climbing to the skies.
"Release everyone," I said, and immediately the automaton released all the people that I grabbed with me.
Shouts and screams soon filled the place as everyone almost fell to their deaths.
I forgot that I was in midair, but thankfully they all got their bearings and hovered in the skies after realizing that they weren't suppressed by Space Law anymore.
"You bastard almost got us killed!" one of the Fire Disciples spoke
Only to have another one ask the real question, "Where is that cultivator? Did we escape?" he asked.
"I've got you all as far as I could from him, better contact your respective Palaces. This treasure hunt is over," I said.
"And who might their respective Palaces be?" I heard.
I slowly turned as I looked up ahead.
There were more than a few hundred cultivators, all flying above us.
In the hands of a few of them were round objects. One couldn't see them from afar.
But then the cultivators threw the objects toward us.
Mid-air, as the objects came closer and closer, more features could be seen. Hair, ears, nose… they were heads. Heads of the people who brought us here…
Panic seemed to find its way far too easily on the faces of everyone present.
"That's a fine treasure you have there, to be able to hide so many people inside it at once. How about you hand it over, and I'll make your death pain-free," he spoke as he licked some blood that was on a claw weapon he had on his hand.
Several people were surrounding us, we didn't even notice them, and they were all, without exception at the Ascendant Stage.
Fear seemed to grip at the heart of everyone as we were completely suppressed here, without a way to escape.
Just to make matters worse, the cliff beneath us seemed to break as someone came out of there, bloodied and with many of his clothes torn, he still grinned as he rushed forward.
It was the Poison God cultivator.
"Master Shi Situ!" spoke the person who was threatening me earlier, with hands clasped.
Everyone around him did the same gesture and it was clear that they were his friends.
"Spread out!" spoke the Poison God Cultivator, Shi Situ.
Looking behind him there was the corpse following after him, it seemed that the refinement was a failure, or perhaps a partial failure.
Situ charged past me, and looked me straight in the eyes, saying, "I wouldn't be staying here if I were you," he said as he shot forward.
"Prepare the Soul Chaser Formation!" Situ said.
Immediately his followers spread out and began doing hand gestures.
Saint Qi gathered around in incredible amounts as bright and dark lights seemed to manifest from around the cultivator spreading from one to one in lines creating something that was shaped like a sphere of wires.
All of the members who came for the treasure hunt were trapped inside this formation, and among us was the corpse that seemed to have lost all reason.
The corpse ignored all of us and continued chasing after the poison cultivator, but the moment it touched the border of the Soul Chaser Formation it was pushed back.
The corpse screeched and began assaulting the formation trying to break it. Which didn't seem like it would be possible due to how resilient this formation looks.
"Master, should we let them live?" asked one of the cultivators.
"Live? None of them will survive, that's a King Class Corpse, currently it's degraded to Saint Class, but once it eats enough, it should gain more power, by then I can refine it to have a better puppet to use," Situ Said.
"That person had a good treasure on him," the man with the claws spoke.
"He also has a part of the Heritage, that's the reason I personally moved," just as Situ Spoke, everyone around him seemed to have a glint of greed passing through their eyes.
"Don't you even dream of taking it, it's mine, and if anyone tries anything shady, I'll make you into a Jiangshi," he said.
This was a threat strong enough to make everyone stop the greed that crossed their hearts.
"You're one of them!" spoke Xuan.
I turned to her and frowned, "The hell are you talking about?" I asked.
"They want something you have, and I've seen you control poison like that person, you're also one of them! why don't you just give him what he wants at least he'll let us go!" she said.
"Let you go?" Situ spoke, "In what world did you even dream of that being a possibility? And you, after all of what I have seen you do, to think that you've hidden the fact that you're a follower of the Poison God, what a shady person you are," He said.
Just as the words were spoken, everyone, including many of the cultivators from the Heavenly Academy backed away from me.
"You-you!" spoke Wei Lei, "You're a follower of that disgusting being!" he said.
"You're members of the Heavenly Academy and didn't even realize that you were harboring a devil person among you!" spoke Xuan.
"We…I didn't know!" spoke Wei Lei, "I would have never associated myself with him if I knew that!" he said.
He then began gathering his Qi.
'Fuck.'
"Are you are fucking retarded? How many times did Shen Bao help you, and you think that he's a follower of that person?" Liang Yu said.
"You're probably being controlled by that man, get away from him!"
Yuyu also took my side, "You all seem to be mistaking something."
Her words caused everyone to stop, "You think fighting among us here will solve the issue at hand?" she said as she pointed up, "Once that thing realizes that it can't break through, it'll come for us. We're nothing but food for it. So better get a hold of your dumb grudge and focus on how we can get away from this situation," she said.
Her words held a lot of reason and logic. And this caused the situation to slowly diffuse
"This is boring," spoke Situ.
"You there, whoever brings me that man's head, I'll allow them to walk free," he said smiling.
"Don't he just wants us to exhaust ourselves!" spoke Yuyu.
One of the Fire Palace disciples seemed to disagree with her and charged forward, "I'll gladly give them your head if it means I get to live!" he said.
Suddenly however before he made it half way, his entire body was snapped in two mid air, he didn't even realize how, nor did we.
The man died before he even realized it and below him, was the corpse, and in its mouth was the fire palace disciple's hand.
He tore the flesh out of the hand slowly ate it.
"It finally realized that it needed more power to break free, good, this way it'll end faster, and it should be a sight to enjoy," spoke Situ.
'Fuck, this is getting worse and worse, how can I get away from this situation!'
'Perhaps if I call her name, if she comes this situation will be instantly diffused… but, is it worth it. Do I have to rely on another person to save my ass. What would happen if its another situation, also how can she make it to this place if she's in the Wind Palace. All the way in the northern domain, so far away from here. Will she even make it in time to save us, or will I be long dead before she arrives…'
Think, Think, THINK!
'I can't be relying on other people to help me every time. How can I ever grow if I were to ask for help every time I'm in a pinch.'
The corpse looked at us, me in particular, and shot forward.
"FIST OF ROARING KI!" I called as I gathered qi in my fist, so much of it that the area and space around me seemed to shudder.
Qi gathered around my arms like jet turbines shooting out flames from my elbows.
"FIST OF THE ETERNAL GOD!" I called as I struck down at the corpse with the strongest ability I can use.
An explosion of sound Qi and energy surged out from everywhere around us.
"Huh? Is it dead?" someone spoke.
And I almost cursed inwardly, because even if I didn't need to look, I knew that the moment someone spoke those words, it will never be dead.
Smoke seemed to dissipate as the silhouette of the corpse appeared slowly in front of me, and my hand was firmly gripped in its own grasp.