66: Chapter 66 The Martial Master is on His Last Stand

Under the sea, in front of Zhuguang Temple.

The last sea urchin spirit had just rolled out of the temple doors, and the monsters that had been queuing in the sand for a long time finally reached their most anticipated moment.

That was eating the dragon meat of Little Li Dragon!

With treatment like this~

Where else in the entire East Sea could they find it?

The monsters took out the dragon meat assigned to them one after another, just about to stuff it into their mouths.

Then, suddenly.

An imposing aura burst out from the bejeweled temple.

Bengbu's tongue froze in mid-air, and that piece of dragon meat slipped from the tip of its tongue, falling onto the sand.

It instantly recognized that this was the aura of Lord Qinling.

However, this aura was growing stronger and stronger!

That majestic aura made the entire coral reef tremble slightly.

The sea slug was the first to prostrate itself.

It didn't have bones to begin with, so it lay limply on the sand, trembling all over.

The sea urchin followed suit and prostrated itself.

Covered in thorns and unable to lie flat, it burrowed itself into the sand. Halfway through, it got stuck, with its thorns exposed outside, trembling like wheat awns blown by the wind.

The Little Clam Spirits were all frightened into tight balls.

Just as the numerous small monsters were about to be suffocated by that majestic aura, suddenly, the aura inside the temple vanished.

On the sand, those lying and cowering small monsters still didn't dare to move.

They didn't know if that aura had left, didn't know what condition the god inside that temple was in right now, and didn't know if they could stand up.

Therefore, they simply lay there, with their heads facing the direction of the temple doors, not daring to move at all.

...

Under the command of Qin Yin and Qin Mo, the villagers of Qin Family Village had hidden inside Lord Qinling's temple early on.

The elderly, women, and children hid in the innermost part against the temple walls, while the able-bodied youths were in the outer courtyard against the courtyard gates, gripping fishforks, firewood cleavers, and wooden sticks in their hands.

Although they also knew that the things in their hands were useless, holding them felt more reassuring than empty hands.

Qin Yin stood at the temple entrance with a long saber slung around her waist, her gaze passing over the courtyard wall to look at the patch of overgrown weeds outside the village.

Qin Mo stood beside her with a long spear laid horizontally across his shoulders, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the spear shaft in a way that made him feel annoyed and restless.

Outside the courtyard wall, the commotion was growing larger and larger.

First, the ground shook, as if something was pounding beneath the earth.

With every tremor, the dirt on the courtyard wall rustled down onto the villagers' shoulders, but no one bothered to brush it off.

Then came the sound of something slamming into the ground, vibrating so fiercely that people's chests ached.

Occasionally interspersed with sharp screeches, not human voices, but those of monsters, screeches that made one's whole body go cold.

A daring young man climbed up the courtyard wall, stuck out half his head to look outside, and withdrew it after just a glance, his face as pale as paper.

A few others climbed up to look, staying a bit longer this time; when they came back, their legs were shaking, their lips were trembling, and even their speech was a bit unsteady.

Someone said that the ground outside the village had collapsed, a huge area of it.

Someone said red lights were flashing and dark shadows were darting around, too fast to see clearly.

Someone said that the wine-drinking Pei Se was fighting a giant weasel, fighting so fiercely that the ground was overturned.

All the villagers of Qin Family Village cowered in the courtyard, listening to those commotions.

Listening to the ground shake, listening to the flying gravel.

Listening to those teeth-grating impacts and screeches.

The children buried their faces in their mothers' arms, not daring to make a sound.

The elderly closed their eyes, murmuring prayers under their breath.

The able-bodied men gripped their weapons tightly, sweat streaming down from their temples.

Right at this moment, a piece of gravel flew in from outside the courtyard wall, about the size of a human head, carrying a howling wind as it smashed straight toward the crowd.

Qin Mo's pupils shrank abruptly, and the long spear in his hand was already raised, but it was too late for him to block it.

However, just as the gravel flew into the airspace above the temple courtyard wall, it crashed into a thin layer of golden light.

The stone carrying the howling wind seemed to be cast into a deep pool, causing only a ripple before falling silently down to the base of the courtyard wall, rolling twice before stopping.

Qin Mo stared blankly at that piece of gravel, then raised his head to look at the layer of golden light shimmering faintly under the sunlight.

It covered the upper part of the courtyard, thin like a layer of gauze.

Yet, this very layer of gauze-thin golden light easily blocked the incoming powerful stone.

Another piece of gravel flew over, even larger than the previous one, and smashed onto the golden light barrier, still causing only a single ripple before falling down.

Another one, another one, and another one.

Some of those fragments were sharp, some were piercing.

They smashed against the golden light barrier like pebbles thrown into water, causing only a ripple before disappearing.

The villagers in the courtyard looked at those ripples, looked at the gravel blocked outside, and looked at that thin layer of golden light that somehow never broke.

Unknowing who knelt down first, one, two, ten—a dense crowd of people knelt all over the ground.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling, for your protection."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang took the lead in murmuring toward the location of Lord Qinling's statue.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling, for your protection."

"Many thanks, Lord Qinling, for protecting our Qin Family Village."

The rest of the villagers also followed suit, chanting prayers.

Qin Yin stood at the temple entrance.

She raised her head, looking at that layer of golden light barrier, watching the ripples spread out circle by circle.

Her eye sockets were somewhat red, but she didn't cry.

She just stood there, her hand resting on the hilt of her saber, her back held very straight.

She hated herself for not being able to help Lord Qinling shoulder a bit more.

Qin Mo stood beside her, his long spear still lying horizontally across his shoulder, his fingers no longer tapping.

He raised his head to look at that layer of golden light.

He suddenly felt that with Lord Qinling around, there was nothing to be afraid of.

Outside the courtyard wall, the commotion was still continuing.

The ground was still shaking, gravel was still flying, and screeches were still ringing out.

However, the villagers in the courtyard were no longer trembling, knowing that Lord Qinling was protecting them.

Several more people sprawled over the courtyard wall.

This time they were not young youngsters, but a few sailors who had been going out to sea all year round. Their guts were a bit larger than ordinary people's, and their hands and feet were also nimbler.

They lay prone on the top of the wall, revealing only half their heads, their eyes staring fixedly at the patch of overgrown weeds outside the village.

The ground there no longer looked like ground.

Pits connected to pits, cracks bit into cracks, and gravel and mud were churned together, as if something had plowed it back and forth several times over.

That wine-drinking Pei Se was half-kneeling on the edge of the largest pit, one hand propping up the ground, the other hand hanging by her side, her fingers dripping with blood.

Her hair was disheveled, plastered across her face, making her expression indistinguishable.

"That martial artist lord named Pei Se is almost done for."

One of the sailors prone on the wall said in a low voice.

The sailors nearby did not reply, but all of them could see Pei Se's exhaustion.

Another piece of gravel flew over from that direction, smashed onto the golden light barrier, caused a ripple, and fell down.

The sailor prone on the wall pulled back his head, slid down from the wall, and squatted on the ground, his expression looking very ugly.

"The martial artist lord won't be able to hold on much longer."

He said.

The people in the courtyard fell silent.

Everyone knew that once Pei Se died, what those monsters would do to them.

"Lord Qinling..."

Someone said in a low voice.

The villagers in the courtyard all raised their heads, gazing at Lord Qinling's statue with its lowered brows and downcast eyes.