208: Chapter 208 The Offense and Defense Have Changed

Li Shi's change was the most startling; he was originally at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, but after swallowing the spirit burst pill, his spiritual power was pushed directly to the Foundation Establishment Peak.

Spiritual light overflowed from his eyes, and his entire Aura ascended to a new level in an instant.

Zhao Shan had already been close to reaching the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage; once the spirit burst pill entered his stomach, his spiritual power broke through the threshold of the Early Foundation Establishment Stage and reached the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

The High Grade Flying Sword in his hand hummed under the influx of surging spiritual power, all the Array Inscriptionss on the blade lighting up as its power increased sharply.

The other two Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Guards both broke through to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment. (The effect varied from person to person; at the Foundation Establishment Stage, it generally provided an increase of one minor stage.)

Su Chengyuan did not take one himself.

He still had nearly two hundred second-rank High Grade Talismans in his Storage Pouch; he could crush Meng Li to death just by piling them on.

There were six spirit burst pills left, and there was no need to use one on himself.

At this moment, the roles of attacker and defender had reversed.

The Four Seas Chamber of Commerce camp, which had been suppressed just moments ago, saw their Spiritual Pressure double within a few breaths.

Li Shi became the existence with the highest cultivation on the entire battlefield.

Meng Li's expression changed.

His Divine Sense clearly captured the sudden change in spiritual power fluctuations from several of his opponents; this wasn't an eruption of some secret technique, but the stimulation of a Medicinal Pill.

He had stayed in the Blazing Fire Sect for over a hundred years and considered himself knowledgeable about most second-rank pills.

But he had never heard of a pill that could raise a Cultivator's cultivation by a minor stage within a few breaths and show no signs of going berserk.

"What kind of pill is this..."

He didn't have time to finish that thought.

Li Shi moved, his Foundation Establishment Peak Spiritual Pressure venting out, making him seem like a completely different person than before.

His hands formed seals as he activated his trump card Spell, the 'Earth-Rending Vajra Seal'.

A massive golden palm print condensed above his head, about two zhang in size, carrying Magnificent metal-element spiritual power as it crashed down toward the two Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators who had just been pressing him so hard he could barely breathe.

The shift from defense to offense came too suddenly.

Those two Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators each summoned a defensive Magical Artifact; one held up a Fire Cloud Shield, while the other activated Crimson Flame Armor, attempting to join forces to block this Vajra Seal.

The gap between the Foundation Establishment Peak and the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment was clearly displayed the moment the Spells collided.

The golden palm print slammed into the Fire Cloud Shield, causing the spiritual light on the shield's surface to oscillate violently and crack with several fine lines; that Cultivator was pushed back five steps by the impact, the webbing of his thumb splitting and seeping blood.

The other person used his Crimson Flame Armor to tank the remaining force, and he was sent staggering back, the flame patterns on the armor's surface dimming slightly, but at least it didn't shatter.

They were, after all, Foundation Establishment Elders of the Tianyang Sect, having spent over a hundred years struggling within a Golden Core Sect; their foundation was solid.

Although they suffered from this heavy blow, it was far from being a crippling injury, and they stabilized their forms after adjusting their breathing.

One of them took advantage of the gap as Li Shi's palm print dissipated, circling around from the side to send a crimson fire-attribute Sword Qi straight toward Li Shi's back.

Li Shi quickly fished a second-rank defensive Talisman out of his Storage Pouch and flicked it out.

The Talisman unfurled itself behind him, transforming into a silver wall of light that forcibly blocked that Sword Qi.

Then he turned and summoned a Flying Sword.

Under the infusion of Foundation Establishment Peak spiritual power, the High Grade Flying Sword's blade glowed brilliantly, turning into a gold-and-white stream of light that left his hand and lunged straight for the Cultivator's face under the precise control of Li Shi's Divine Sense.

The opponent hurriedly mobilized his Divine Sense to drive a long saber to meet it; the two Magical Artifacts collided twice in mid-air, and the spiritual light on the saber's body dimmed visibly to the naked eye.

That Cultivator's expression changed drastically; even across a distance of several zhang, he could clearly feel that the spiritual power he poured into the saber was being crushed layer by layer by the Magnificent Sword Qi on the opponent's Flying Sword, and his control over the artifact via Divine Sense became sluggish and heavy—he was simply no match for Li Shi after his strength had surged.

He decisively withdrew the long saber and swapped it for a short halberd artifact from his Storage Pouch to engage in battle in mid-air, barely stabilizing his position at the limit of his Divine Sense control range.

The other Cultivator also readjusted his position, the two of them standing left and right in a pincer formation, coordinating tacitly to pin Li Shi down.

In a one-on-one fight, neither of them was a match for a Foundation Establishment Peak, but by working together to maneuver and using defense as offense, they weren't immediately defeated, only sustaining some light injuries; their situation was quite unfavorable.

If things continued at this rate, they would eventually be unable to hold on.

It wasn't that these two from the Tianyang Sect didn't have trump cards, but looking at that Foundation Establishment Peak fellow opposite them, who pulled out a second-rank High Grade Talisman to use as a consumable every now and then...

While on their side, using even one made their hearts ache for a long time; this crushing difference in family wealth was even more frustrating than the gap in cultivation.

Meanwhile, Zhao Shan's side was fighting with great satisfaction.

His cultivation had been pulled up to the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage by the spirit burst pill; the three Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Cultivators from the Tianyang Sect who could originally fight him and the other two Guards to a draw were now being completely crushed.

Moreover, those two Guards had also broken through to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, so the three-on-three situation instantly became high-rank crushing low-rank.

Under the control of his Divine Sense, Zhao Shan's Flying Sword suddenly changed direction, bypassing the left side of a Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Cultivator's artifact and stabbing straight into the opening under his ribs where his spiritual power defense was weakest.

That Cultivator's reaction wasn't slow either; he abruptly activated a Fire Bursting Pearl to meet the Flying Sword, attempting to use the shockwave of the explosion to disrupt the sword's trajectory.

Crimson firelight expanded and burst in mid-air, the heat wave sending gravel flying everywhere.

Zhao Shan's Flying Sword was blown half a foot off course, but only half a foot.

The sword's edge brushed past the embers of the Fire Bursting Pearl and pierced through, plunging into the Cultivator's right abdomen; this single strike mangled three of his Meridians.

The man groaned, his spiritual power circulation becoming chaotic, and his body plummeted from mid-air, rolling twice in the rock pile before stopping.

On the other side, the Red Copper Spear Guard was locked in combat with the second Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Cultivator.

The opponent had summoned a fire crow shield of no small quality; three phantom fire crows on the shield's surface flapped their wings and screeched, and with every flap, an arc-shaped fire blade sliced out from the shield, forcing the Red Copper Spear Guard to withdraw his spear and retreat.

But the Red Copper Spear Guard was no pushover either; he gave a thunderous shout and poured all his spiritual power into the spear tip, causing the swirling air blades wrapped around the spear to suddenly contract and solidify, turning into a high-speed rotating spiritual power drill.

This was his trump card, 'Mountain-Piercing Strike'.

The long spear thrust forward with a sharp whistling sound through the air; the three phantoms on the fire crow shield pounced together to intercept it, but the first was ground to pieces by the drill, the second was smashed apart, and the third barely blocked for half a breath before its spiritual light collapsed.

The spear tip pierced all the way through the shield, emerging three inches from the back and stabbing into the Cultivator's thigh bone.

"Aaah!!"

Amidst the screams, the Red Copper Spear Guard withdrew the spear and swept it horizontally, the tail of the spear carrying thousands of jin of force as it slammed into the opponent's side, sending the man flying along with the shattered fire crow shield and embedding him into a crack in the rock wall, blood spraying from his mouth and nose.

Seeing his two companions fall one after another, the third Foundation Establishment Mid-stage Cultivator's eyes turned bloodshot, and he fished a black diamond-shaped Talisman out of his sleeve.

That was the 'Blazing Heaven Incineration Talisman' specially made by the Tianyang Sect, a second-rank High Grade item; once activated, it could create a sea of fire within a ten-zhang radius, its power equal to the full-strength strike of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood to ignite the Talisman, and the sea of fire roared as it swept toward the three of them.