269: Chapter 269 Senior Brother is Mighty!

On the twenty-third day, news reached Heming City.

Lu Ya of the Qingxuan Sect had slain an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast in the heart of the mountain range.

Strictly speaking, the word "slain" wasn't quite accurate; a more fitting description would be "violently crushed using a pile of trump cards," but the version that spread outside naturally wouldn't be so particular about phrasing.

"Peak Tenth Layer Qi Refining slays an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast"—this sentence circulated throughout Heming City for an entire day, growing more exaggerated with each retelling.

By evening, one version claimed that Lu Ya had killed it with a single sword strike.

But the actual situation was like this.

On the second day after Lu Ya led twenty-seven Junior Brothers into the heart of the mountain range, they bumped into an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Grey-backed Spider in a thicket of shrubs.

This spider demon had only recently broken through; its spiritual power wasn't very refined yet, and its body was on the smaller side, making it one of the weakest among Foundation Establishment Yao Beasts.

Lu Ya assessed his opponent's strength and had the twenty-seven Disciples form the Qingxuan Sect's "Seven-Star Sword Formation." Divided into groups of four, with seven groups each occupying a Formation position, they surrounded the Grey-backed Spider in the center.

Once the sword Formation began to operate, twenty-eight Medium Grade Magical Artifacts hummed simultaneously. Spiritual power was channeled through the Formation, converging and layering; the attack power was indeed impressive.

Although the Grey-backed Spider was at Foundation Establishment, it was suppressed by the combined efforts of twenty-eight people, and for a while, it truly couldn't gain the upper hand.

For the first four or five rounds, the battle went back and forth.

The Disciples were in high spirits and their coordination was quite seamless. As the sword Formation rotated, seven bursts of combined Sword Qi were lashed out alternately, leaving several bloody gashes on the Grey-backed Spider's legs.

Then, in the sixth round, the Grey-backed Spider grew annoyed.

As a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast, its intelligence was not low. It suddenly spat out an extremely sticky web, sealing the Magical Artifacts of the two groups of Disciples to the southeast. Immediately after, its body contracted and then sprang out, its entire form turning into a gray shadow that slammed into the weakest junction of the sword Formation.

With a muffled "thud," two Eighth Layer of Qi Refining Disciples were swatted away by the spider's legs. One of them had his back grazed by the spider's bristles, and the flesh beneath his robes immediately began to fester in a small patch.

The sword Formation was broken then and there.

Lu Ya had also been waiting for this exact moment.

He didn't rush to strike, but instead let the Disciples retreat and tighten their Formation before he moved.

His movement was very deliberate. First, with a flip of his right hand, a High Grade Magical Artifact Flying Sword shot out from his Storage Pouch. Under the infusion of spiritual power, a half-foot-long sword glow erupted from the blade.

Immediately after, his left hand slapped out two Talismans in succession. One attached itself to the blade of the Flying Sword, while the other was stuck onto his right arm, which held the sword.

Both were second-rank Medium Grade. The moment the Talisman light activated, a layer of sharp golden halo appeared on the Flying Sword, and the sword glow nearly doubled in size. Lu Ya's own spiritual power output was also forcibly boosted by a notch by the Talisman.

With a High Grade Flying Sword coupled with the enhancement of two second-rank Medium Grade Talismans, the power of this single strike approached the level of an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator's full-strength output.

Lu Ya surged his Flying Sword, aiming the golden sword glow straight for the Grey-backed Spider's abdomen.

The Grey-backed Spider took this strike head-on. Its shell was pierced through, leaving a fist-sized hole. Its internal spiritual power instantly became chaotic, its eight legs spasmed and twitched, and its entire body flipped over onto the ground.

It was heavily wounded but not dead. The vitality of a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast is far more resilient than that of a Qi Refining Yao Beast; it's normal for a single strike not to kill it.

Lu Ya hadn't expected a one-shot kill either. He took advantage of the gap while the Grey-backed Spider was overturned to surge his Flying Sword again. The second strike cut in through the hole, and with the last bit of momentum from the Talisman's boost that hadn't yet faded, it pierced all the way through the spider's abdomen and exited from the other side.

The Grey-backed Spider twitched for a moment and finally stopped moving.

Lu Ya's hands were shaking when he withdrew his Flying Sword. The spiritual power backlash from the two second-rank Medium Grade Talismans, combined with the consumption of two consecutive sword strikes, had drained more than eighty percent of the Qi in his Dantian.

But the result was worth it. The twenty-seven Disciples stared at the Grey-backed Spider's corpse, which was larger than an ox, for several breaths of silence before erupting into a burst of cheers.

"Senior Brother is mighty!"

Lu Ya raised his hand to signal for silence, his breathing not yet fully steady.

"Less nonsense. Take the spider core, strip the legs and shell clean, and collect the spider silk. These will all be good items once we get back."

He didn't let it go to his head, but the way the corners of his mouth were set showed a hint of self-pride no matter how you looked at it.

Once they returned to Heming City, the news spread among the four Sects.

The twenty-seven Disciples recounted the events with added color over and over again. With each telling, Lu Ya's image grew more formidable.

In the end, the most concise and impactful version was:

"Lu Ya, alone, slaughtered a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast with just two sword strikes."

Lu Ya himself neither corrected nor grew conceited about these rumors, simply allowing them to ferment.

On the twenty-fifth day, there was movement from the Hundred Beasts Gate's side as well.

The leader of the Hundred Beasts Gate was a middle-aged female Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage, surnamed He. She had a steady temperament, and her style of leading Disciples was similar to Su Yunling's—neither rash nor aggressive.

However, the Hundred Beasts Gate was a Beast-taming Sect. The Disciples' greatest strength lay not in their own cultivation, but in the Spirit Beasts by their side.

The fifteen Disciples collectively held nineteen Spirit Beasts, all of which were first-rank Yao Beasts. However, five of them had already cultivated to the Peak of Qi Refining, with sturdy builds and fierce bestial natures. Coupled with the Hundred Beasts Gate's unique beast-taming techniques, their combat power was not to be underestimated.

After the news of Lu Ya slaying the Grey-backed Spider arrived, the Disciples of the Hundred Beasts Gate couldn't sit still either.

Their methods were different from the Qingxuan Sect's; they relied on the cooperation between humans and beasts for group hunting.

The fifteen Disciples' own cultivation wasn't low either, with the majority at the eighth or ninth layers of Qi Refining. With five Peak Qi Refining Spirit Beasts leading the charge, the group calculated and decided that taking down an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast was not impossible.

Elder He pondered for two days before finally agreeing to the Disciples' request.

The target chosen by the Hundred Beasts Gate was an Early Foundation Establishment Stage One-horned Rhino. This rhino-type Yao Beast had a violent temper but wasn't fast; it had extremely high defense but low intelligence, making it the most suitable target for group hunting tactics.

Fifteen Disciples plus nineteen Spirit Beasts pursued the One-horned Rhino through the mountain forests for an entire day.

The five Peak Qi Refining Spirit Beasts led the charge to pin down the One-horned Rhino from the front, while the Disciples used the Hundred Beasts Gate's unique beast-taming Formation to link the nineteen Spirit Beasts' attacks together, achieving a unity between man and beast.

Spiritual power flowed and amplified between the Disciples and the Spirit Beasts through the Formation nodes; the rhythm and positioning of the attacks were coordinated with extreme precision.

Even so, the brute force of a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast was still terrifying.

Three Spirit Beasts were injured one after another and withdrew from the battle, forcing the Disciples to tighten their Formation to fill the gaps.

The Hundred Beasts Gate was, after all, a Beast-taming Sect, and the Disciples had a wide variety of tricks for dealing with Yao Beasts.

Beast-repelling spiritual powder to block retreat paths, pitfall traps and beast-tooth spikes to cripple hind legs, and Spirit Beasts taking turns to lure and exhaust the demon's power—a series of combined strikes lasted from dawn till dusk. Two more Spirit Beasts were lost in the process; although the Disciples were pained, none of them hesitated.

Meanwhile, Elder He had been watching from the shadows, only intending to appear if a Disciple's life was threatened.

Finally, after being worn down for a whole day, the One-horned Rhino was exhausted. The Disciples seized the opportunity and simultaneously poured out seven pots of first-rank Soul-Confusing Powder from the upwind position.

A single pot was useless against a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast, but with seven pots stacked together, combined with the fact that the One-horned Rhino's physical and spiritual power had both bottomed out, the medicinal effect finally suppressed it.

The One-horned Rhino struggled a few times before falling unconscious. The Disciples hurriedly used Profound Iron Chains to bind its limbs tightly, which was considered a complete subdual.

When the news reached Heming City, the Hundred Beasts Gate Disciples were naturally arrogant and proud.

Jointly subduing a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast! Though the methods were varied, every step was a display of the true skills accumulated by the Hundred Beasts Gate over many years. Its value was not in the least inferior to Lu Ya's individual heroic performance.

The Wanfa Pavilion's side showed no reaction after receiving the news. Their leading Foundation Establishment Elder usually had a bad temper and didn't care much about the Disciples' fluctuating moods.

"Want to fight a Foundation Establishment Yao Beast? Sure, wait until you've reached Foundation Establishment yourselves."

This one sentence shut down all discussion; perhaps the Elder's prestige was too heavy, making them not dare to disobey at all.

The Disciples of the Wanfa Pavilion grumbled for two days and then dropped the idea. In any case, their Sect's ranking among the four was not high.

But on the Tiangang Sect's side, there was a big problem.