72: Chapter 72 Second-Order Monster

Then, a second sound came.

This time, he heard it clearly.

It was not just a dull impact—there was a sense of tearing within that sound; it was the sound of more than half a mountain peak being forcefully severed by some kind of power.

Facing such extreme violence, the rocks did not emit a sharp, explosive crack, but rather a muffled, tearing sound, like a whole piece of cloth being ripped in two from the middle.

Following this was the roar of a mountain collapse, with millions of tons of rock cascading down the cliff face, the echoes of them crashing into the valley layering one upon another, never-ending.

At the edge of his Divine Sense, he captured a trace of extremely faint Spiritual Qi ripples the moment the sound arrived.

That ripple was so thin from who knows how many miles away that it was almost imperceptible, but the instant he touched it, the hairs all over his body stood on end.

What was contained in that ripple was not ordinary spiritual power, but a kind of terrifyingly pure Yao power, with violent Bloodline Power swirling within the thin ripple, like a giant beast hidden in the fog, its outline vaguely revealed.

Foundation Establishment Yao Beasts. Two of them, and their grade is not low.

He did not hesitate, flipping up onto the top of the tree canopy. The branch beneath his feet was still trembling slightly in the aftermath of the shockwave, with pine needles falling in a rustle.

The sky to the northwest had already been swallowed by smoke and dust.

About dozens of miles away, the top of a mountain peak was gone.

It hadn't been blasted flat; it had been severed—where the peak should have been, there now remained only a jagged cross-section, the edges of which were still flashing with a faint light.

Thick smoke billowed upward from the cross-section; it was not the greyish-white smoke of an ordinary forest fire, but a dark brown, like volcanic ash before an eruption.

The column of smoke shot high into the sky, expanding in mid-air into a massive mushroom-shaped grey pillar, its base still constantly billowing outward, dyeing half the sky a greyish-yellow.

Sunlight piercing through the smoke and dust turned a strange orange-red, shining down on the forest like the final rays of the setting sun.

Beneath the smoke and dust, he saw a shadow.

Circling above the mountain's cross-section, its wingspan was extremely wide.

Every time it flapped its wings, the smoke and dust were stirred into ceaseless turmoil, carving huge spiral airflow trajectories in the sky.

Only a small part of it was revealed from the smoke, and its specific shape could not be seen, but just from its outline, it was absurdly massive.

Another shadow was moving at the bottom of the valley. Its speed was extremely fast, and wherever it passed, trees collapsed in swathes—not knocked over, but violently crushed from the side by some kind of power.

Tree trunks were uprooted, and soil and rubble were tossed into the air, forming an earthy-yellow wall of dust advancing rapidly along the valley.

As Jiang Yan flipped down from the tree canopy, he activated his Sword Control Technique beneath his feet. A dark golden Flying Sword appeared beneath him.

He no longer bothered to hold back his speed.

The forest had long since descended into chaos—dozens of Yao Beasts were howling and stampeding from their respective hiding spots, the thickets shaking incessantly, and bushes collapsing in swathes.

A large Yao Beast covered in black fur darted past him, dozens of steps to his left, running at full speed on all fours, without even sparing him a glance.

Above his head, the sound of countless birds flapping their wings intertwined, merging into a continuous drone.

The flock of birds gathered into a moving black cloud above the canopy, fleeing frantically toward the southeast.

Under these circumstances, a Cultivator flying on a sword, mixed in among all the fleeing Yao Beasts, was actually not very conspicuous.

Jiang Yan flew at full speed above the canopy, stepping on his flame gold flying sword.

The whistling sound of the sword was drowned out by the rising and falling roars of beasts and the flapping of wings all around, making it almost impossible to hear.

He lowered his flight altitude, skimming as close to the canopy as possible.

The wind gusted into his cloak, blowing back his hood, and his hair was blown straight back, but he had no time to worry about it.

The forest beneath his feet retreated rapidly. The trees gradually changed from tall arbors to low shrubs, and from shrubs to sparse grassland.

He did not know how far he had flown, only that the spiritual power in his Dantian was being consumed at a continuously high rate, and the dark golden vortex had never spun so fast.

Until dusk fell, he looked back, and the smoke and dust in the northwest direction were no longer visible.

From so far away, that severed mountain peak had long been obscured by layers of mountains, and the massive dark brown smoke column in the sky had also faded into a blurry greyish-yellow haze, almost indistinguishable as it blended into the twilight.

His Divine Sense could not perceive any lingering pressure from any Second-Stage Yao Beasts.

The Spiritual Qi in the air had also returned to a normal concentration.

Low and stable fluctuations of spiritual power slowly seeped out from the surrounding forest, masked by the significantly increased concentration of Spiritual Qi over the past few days.

He put away his Flying Sword and landed beside a mountain stream, where the stream water flowed out from the crevices of the rocks, creating a string of white foam on the stones.

He crouched by the stream, cupped a handful of stream water, and splashed it onto his face.

The icy stream water flowed down his cheeks and into his collar, washing away some of the sweat and dust. The water was very cold, so cold that his temples throbbed twice.

Then he pulled out a beast-skin map and spread it across his knees.

The map marked the edge region of the Manghuang Mountains, the general locations of the Jin Kingdom and several surrounding small countries, with the deepest parts only showing the mountain trends near Woniu Mountain.

The mountain stream beneath his feet at this moment was far beyond the scope marked on the map.

He used his fingertips to draw a circle at the approximate location of the mountain stream. Outside the circle, everything was blank.

From the location of the circle, he drew a dashed line toward the southeast—that was his original planned route, passing straight through the Manghuang Mountains from the border of the Jin Kingdom to enter the unknown region on the other side.

But now, this dashed line had to be changed. That severed mountain peak was in the northwest direction; if the battle between the two Foundation Establishment Late Stage Yao Beasts continued to spread, the entire northwest region would become a Forbidden Ground.

He had to make a large detour toward the southeast.

As for how far to detour, he estimated in his heart the radiation range of the two Foundation Establishment Yao Beasts' territories.

The territories of Yao Beasts are not static—especially for Foundation Establishment Yao Beasts; after the battle, the winner will expand its territory, and if the loser is still alive, it will flee and intrude into the territories of other Yao Beasts, triggering a series of chain reactions.

Conservatively estimated, it will take several more days of travel.

He folded the map back up and put it back into his Storage Pouch.

Then he sat down against a tree trunk by the mountain stream and wrapped his cloak tightly around himself.

Holding a Spirit Stone in his palm, he slowly recovered his spiritual power, the dark golden vortex spinning sluggishly.

The croaking of frogs in the mountain stream rose and fell. A few were crouching on the rocks not far from his feet, puffing up their cheeks and croaking noisily.

Moonlight leaked down through the gaps in the vines, shattering into countless silver-white light spots on the water's surface.

A night owl crouched on a withered branch on the opposite bank, tilting its neck and staring at him for quite a while with one golden-yellow eye, then turned its head half a circle and continued to stare with the other eye.

Then it flew away silently; when its wings swept over the water, the airflow shattered the moonlight, and the light spots wobbled several times before stabilizing again.