Chapter 19: In a Flash

Streaks of red mist surged into the sky, rendered even more ominous by the hazy lightning flickering above.

Meanwhile, at Xuzhou Town, countless warriors retreated to this frontline stronghold.

"The beasts have launched a counterattack! Seven or eight strongholds on the front line have been ambushed, and the beast tide is heading straight for us!"

"These beasts are resorting to a scorched-earth strategy. With only the forces we have at these outposts, we cannot hold them back. Request reinforcements immediately!"

The warriors stationed at the base immediately activated the sound-transmission formation to alert all other outposts around Mount Qiyun. Under normal circumstances, spirit talismans could be used for short-range communication without interference, but they were highly inconvenient for longer distances and were generally reserved for use within sects or martial academies.

After sending the message, the warriors remained deeply anxious.

"With such a massive outbreak of beasts, they must realize that being hunted down will lead to their certain death, so they are prepared to fight to the bitter end. We must hold on until reinforcements arrive..."

While humanity's overall strength far exceeded that of these remaining beasts, there was still a significant gap in power between the beasts and smaller outposts like Xuzhou Town.

On the other side of Mount Qiyun, Tao Xitian and other martial academy disciples were rushing toward the distance, following the grandmaster warriors to provide urgent aid. Looking at the hazy, dark clouds in the sky, he felt an immense pressure in his heart.

"Junior Brother Chen Fan, you must survive..."

Warriors at various outposts, upon receiving the news, immediately dispatched forces to provide support. While this beast counterattack was a catastrophe for the warriors along the line of the ambush, it was also a strategic opportunity for the overall suppression effort; the beasts had lost the protection of the mountains and wilderness and were forced to face humanity in a head-on confrontation.

However, Mount Qiyun was vast, and even for grandmasters, it would take time to travel across it. Sacrifices were inevitable.

Dark clouds hung heavy, and lightning crackled along the horizon. The earth trembled incessantly, and billows of dust rose into the sky. Chen Fan’s speed was great, and the beast tide could not keep up with him, but he had been delayed by having to take two detours.

By now, the tide had already surged down from Mount Qiyun. Thousands upon thousands of beasts erupted from the deep mountains, trampling wildly across the plains.

Countless martial academy disciples and common warriors who could not dodge in time were torn to pieces in an instant.

Chen Fan stared at the scene in a daze. Even with his iron-willed resolve, he felt a moment of bewilderment.

"These are just the remnants that fled into the border; they aren't even the entirety of the beasts involved in this attack on the frontier..."

Chen Fan barely dared to imagine how terrifying the beast tide that faced the border days ago must have been. It made sense; Fan Lin, leading three thousand Green Python troops along with an unknown number of reserves and numerous grandmaster-level reinforcements from Qinghe County, had still had their city gates breached. It wasn't just a matter of the sheer number of beasts; there were Beast Kings of the tenth rank and above!

"It is said that the total area of the Myriad Beast Ridge is no smaller than the Great Qian Empire, and the beasts that are truly hostile to our Empire account for less than one percent. If the entire Myriad Beast Ridge were to mobilize, the Great Qian Empire could never stop them, even if it gathered all its strength."

The beast tide surged forward like an ocean. However, while the number of beasts was vast, their average strength was significantly lower. Most were only third or fourth-rank beasts.

Against these low-level beasts, even if Chen Fan stood still and let them attack, his Lumen Feather Garment would make it difficult for them to hurt him. Furthermore, with his Unity-stage movement techniques and mastery of the lightning concept, he was faster than some grandmasters.

He cast his gaze toward the riverbank in the distance, gritted his teeth, transformed into a bolt of lightning, and plunged his sword into the herd.

With every strike, Chen Fan’s sword, wreathed in lightning, claimed the lives of a large swath of beasts. As he continued to slaughter his way deeper into the herd, stronger beasts naturally took notice of him.

Yet, even those of the fifth or sixth rank could not withstand the sharpness of his blade. The "Jade Rainbow Piercing the Sun" and "Sword Qi Eroding the Heavens"—his two secret techniques—were unleashed repeatedly, harvesting lives.

No matter how profound his internal energy was, it was being consumed rapidly. Chen Fan constantly swallowed medicinal pills to replenish his reserves, not daring to stop his pace for even a moment. By this time, he had already consumed five Yuan Gallstones. Even with his resilient physical body, he began to feel sharp stabs of pain after the fifth activation. But in this emergency, he ignored the agony completely.

Suddenly, Chen Fan heard a series of thunderous roars from the west of the tide, followed by a beam of blood-red light streaking into the sky.

A figure emerged from the direction of the beast tide, traversing vast distances in an instant, smashing through countless beasts, and passing directly in front of Chen Fan.

Chen Fan was stunned. The figure moved as if propelled by a rocket, faster than his own limit of the "Lightning Flash." Yet, Chen Fan clearly recognized the face—it was Wan Qing, whom he had met earlier. He was clutching a silver-white talisman tightly, blood spurting from his mouth; clearly, his encounter within the tide had been grim.

"Wan Qing? He’s actually still alive and fleeing this way? To have such speed—is that some kind of talisman treasure?"

Chen Fan watched as the blood-red streak vanished from his sight, heading toward the riverbank. He was astonished. Talisman treasures were not easy to create; it required not only immense power but also masters skilled in talismans and artifact refining. Even someone of Dong Guozhi’s eighth-rank martial cultivation lacked the ability to craft them. This speed was faster than his own maximum pace; though it did not compare to his own "Seven Stars Flowing Clouds" talisman, it was not far off.

Just after the blood-red streak passed him, a deafening boom echoed.

Chen Fan saw a massive figure suddenly burst through the rolling dust behind him, leap high into the air, and land with a heavy thud.

It was a giant frog-like beast, three or four zhang tall. Upon landing, its violent impact crushed a dozen low-level beasts into pulp. Its massive tongue flicked out, sweeping up the remains of the beasts and pulling them into its maw. Then, it leaped again, covering massive distances, and crashed back onto the ground.

Chen Fan finally realized the source of the rhythmic booming he had heard. Looking at the approaching giant frog, he silently cursed his luck. With his strength, he could have held out until reaching the river against a herd of sixth-rank beasts, but facing a creature of this caliber increased the difficulty exponentially.

Shocked, Chen Fan did not hesitate. Transforming into a bolt of lightning, he wove through the herd. Even fifth or sixth-rank beasts could not keep up with him, left to choke on his dust, while the ordinary beasts couldn't even catch a glimpse of his shadow. Meanwhile, his sword never ceased its motion, cutting down the beasts that blocked his path.

Though Chen Fan was fast, the sheer number of obstructions meant the giant frog was drawing closer with every leap and landing.

*Swoosh!*

The frog’s giant mouth opened, and its red tongue extended like a sharp laser, turning the beasts in its path into shredded meat as it lunged toward Chen Fan.

"Lightning Flash!"

Surrounded by a haze of electricity, Chen Fan shifted his body sideways in an instant, narrowly dodging the attack. The frog’s assault killed countless of its own kind, but it didn't care in the slightest, leaping again to close the distance.

Chen Fan panted slightly, feeling a surge of resentment. He knew that if this continued, he would be in serious trouble. In a one-on-one fight, he might have been able to maneuver against the beast, but in this situation, the danger was extreme.

"I had intended to save this last trump card..."

He gritted his teeth and took out the talisman treasure, pouring his internal energy into it. At that moment, the talisman flickered with light, and fine cracks began to appear on its surface.

An aura of evasion rose around him. A fierce wind swept up, and Chen Fan’s body seemed to ride the gale, surging forward instantly. His sword held horizontally, the sharp edge carved through the beasts before him. In the blink of an eye, he left the giant frog behind.

*Swoosh!*

Blood-red light flickered in front of Chen Fan. Viewed from above, one could see a blue blade-like streak piercing into the belly of the herd, with blood spilling as Chen Fan headed straight for the river. He quickly shook off the giant frog as well.

After a long while, Chen Fan finally caught sight of the dimming red light in the distance, and further out, the river.

The blood-red streak suddenly stopped at the riverbank, then plunged into the churning water. Countless beasts roared at the shore, and while many followed into the water, most turned away to continue eastward.

Chen Fan, now only two hundred zhang from the riverbank, took it all in.

"As expected, once they enter the water, the number of pursuing beasts drops significantly." His eyes brightened; a path to survival was right before him.

Compared to the massive size of the tide, the number of beasts pursuing them into the river was indeed small. Chen Fan’s movement aura had not yet faded, and he was just about to follow them to the bank when he heard a massive roar of waves.

*Splash!*

A gargantuan spray of water erupted into the air. A giant water cage, binding Wan Qing’s body, slowly rose from the river surface.

"What is that?" Chen Fan’s expression changed abruptly.

He saw the river in the distance churning violently. Then, a giant ape-like beast leaped from the water. Water spiraled automatically around the creature's body. It opened its massive maw and bit down on Wan Qing’s body, still trapped in the water cage.

The ape grabbed Wan Qing’s legs and crunched down as if eating a lollipop. Blood splashed everywhere; Wan Qing’s upper body was bitten off in one snap, and the beast then lifted its hand and swallowed the lower half whole.

Amidst the stampede of ten thousand beasts, Chen Fan couldn't even hear Wan Qing’s screams, but in such a state, there was no possibility of survival.

The giant ape leaped onto the riverbank, bringing with it a massive volume of water that scattered many low-level beasts. Then, it tilted its head and looked toward the direction of Chen Fan’s blue streak.

"A seventh-rank beast with water-control talents..." Chen Fan’s heart sank, and a sense of despair washed over him.

"What now?"

Once a beast reached the seventh rank, it underwent a metamorphosis, gaining special abilities. While this upright ape did not look as large as the fox or wolf demons Chen Fan had encountered earlier, its water-control talent meant his hope of escaping via the Qingling River was shattered.

His "Seven Stars Flowing Clouds" movement technique was about to expire, and he had no confidence that he could evade the ape’s pursuit in the water before the technique wore off.

If he turned back, he could rely on the remaining power of the technique to dodge the ape. But without being able to enter the river, he would have to fight his way back out to the periphery, where he would likely encounter other beasts of the seventh rank or higher. Surviving this chaos would be nearly impossible.

While the beasts' overall strength was weaker than humanity's, Chen Fan had no confidence that he could hold out in the tide until reinforcements arrived.

The ape, seeing Chen Fan, revealed a look of interest and headed straight for him. Despite being a water-type beast, its speed on land was shockingly fast.

"Damn it, that beast has locked onto me..." Chen Fan’s face turned pale, and he turned around immediately.

The blue aura flickered, and his speed was astonishing. As Chen Fan sped away, suddenly—

*BOOM!*

A bolt of thunder flashed across the sky and struck the ground just ten zhang away from him. Blue electricity wreathed the sky, forming massive, tree-like branches. After the intense flash of lightning, the surrounding beasts were startled and scattered in every direction.

Chen Fan shuddered, and his eyes suddenly lit up.