Chapter 36 One Man Stands Guard
Ye Liuyun's right hand was completely pierced, but he gripped the black thorn tightly.
The muscles in his arm were taut to the extreme, and the veins bulged like dragons and snakes. He forcefully blocked the fatal blow with his palm.
Seeing that its sneak attack had failed, the sharp spider legs suddenly snapped back.
It was a completely black spider, as big as a carriage.
Its eight long legs were like spears forged from steel, and its skin was like obsidian with no particular smell.
If you stood there curled up in a ball and didn't move, you would look like a rock.
Ye Liuyun had also learned a lot about soul beasts over the years.
He recognized the soul beast in front of him at a glance—the Cave Demon Spider!
It was a gregarious spirit beast.
A bitter feeling welled up inside him; this thing didn't appear alone.
At the same time, he understood that this misfortune was caused by the butterfly effect.
The appearance of the Titan Giant Ape, the king of the forest, had terrified the spirit beasts on the outskirts of the forest, causing them to scatter in all directions.
At this time, small hordes of beasts were running around in various places nearby.
However, because of his appearance, the Titan Giant Ape did not calmly return the way it came, but hurriedly took another route, which caused the beast tide that was originally running in a certain direction to change direction again.
Unfortunately, they ran into a group of...
Hiss—
Accompanied by a chilling hiss, countless tiny, scarlet eyes lit up from the surrounding bushes.
Hundreds and thousands of cave spiders, some thousands or even hundreds of years old, were densely packed together!
"It's over..."
Dai Mubai had just gotten up when he saw this scene, and his legs went weak, so he sat back down.
With Zhao Wuji unconscious, Tang San gone, and Xiao Wu captured, this group of defeated soldiers was nothing more than a snack in the face of this terrifying spider swarm!
Ning Rongrong was terrified. The shadow of death she had just witnessed, along with the shocking wounds on Ye Liuyun's hand, had shattered her worldview.
Smack.
A clean left hand gently patted the top of her head.
Ye Liuyun's voice remained calm, as if he wasn't the one who had almost lost a hand just now.
"Walk."
Ning Rongrong stared blankly at Ye Liuyun.
"And what about you?"
"Stop them."
Ye Liuyun turned around to face the surging tide of spiders.
"Why?"
Ning Rongrong's voice was choked with sobs, filled with bewilderment.
"I deliberately targeted you, and you called me trash, so why did you save me?"
Ye Liuyun did not turn around.
Looking at the hideous monsters ahead, he shrugged and smiled nonchalantly.
Who knows?
"It doesn't matter."
"Whether it was saving that old man on the street that day or saving you now."
"It was never to help anyone."
Ye Liuyun waved his hand dismissively.
"Let's go."
After speaking...
Having exhausted his soul power, Ye Liuyun used his last soul skill in a squeezed manner.
Third Soul Skill: Descent of the Tree Realm!
Two thick walls of trees rose from the ground, carving out a narrow passage through the dense swarm of spiders.
Zhu Zhuqing reacted the fastest, knowing that staying would only be a hindrance, and pulled up Ning Rongrong, who was still in a daze.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun helped the seriously injured Zhao Wuji and rushed toward the passage.
Ning Rongrong was being dragged along, and she kept turning back to look every few steps.
Looking at Ye Liuyun, who stood in front of the spider tide, his back slender.
She summoned her martial soul, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, intending to provide assistance.
However, her soul power had been completely drained when she assisted Zhao Wuji, the Soul Saint.
She couldn't use her soul skill even once.
Helpless, she could only run alongside Zhu Zhuqing.
Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.
She knew it was because of the intense fear she had just experienced; Ye Liuyun had explained to her that this condition was called the suspension bridge effect.
...
After everyone left.
The passage was quickly destroyed by a large number of cave spiders.
In this vast land, only Ye Liuyun remained, facing an army of thousands.
"Bring it on."
Ye Liuyun took a deep breath. His soul power was exhausted, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned like a raging fire.
At the same time, he also said what he hadn't finished saying earlier because he was shy.
"I just..."
Ye Liuyun slowly raised his head, and his pupils, which had been somewhat unfocused due to exhaustion and blood loss, now shone with an unprecedented brilliance.
In his previous life, in that peaceful era, what was he?
He was a speck of dust lost in the sea of people.
He had spent countless hours daydreaming in boring classes and fantasizing in bed late at night.
He imagined himself clad in golden armor, a lone warrior holding off ten thousand.
He fantasized about turning the tide, rescuing his beloved girl from a desperate situation, and enjoying the admiring gaze of the world.
He fantasized that he was the omnipotent superman, or the majestic general.
But the reality was that he didn't even dare to raise his voice to his boss, and he didn't even dare to confess his feelings to the girl he liked.
That was the helplessness of peacetime, and also the norm for ordinary people.
He wasn't afraid of dying, but he was afraid of dying quietly, dying meaninglessly, dying in a way that would make his childhood self look down on him.
"Ye Liuyun, look at yourself now."
He looked down at his pierced hand, which was covered in blood and exposed white bone.
Because of the toxins, black blood had been flowing from the wound.
His soul power had been exhausted, and he was now suffering from severe poisoning.
He was also surrounded by his opponents.
They had clearly reached a point of no return.
The cave spiders launched surprise attacks using their extendable legs, while others spat out spider silk.
Attacks rained down from all directions, like a hail of arrows.
Ye Liuyun could only barely manage to maneuver around.
The clothes on his body were burned by the corrosive spider silk.
The areas scratched by the spider legs began to turn purple and black.
His vision blurred, and his strength gradually gave out.
Ye Liuyun thought of the Shrek Academy members who had run far away.
It was like a revolving lantern, recalling past imaginings.
Behind him were classmates with whom he had only a casual relationship, and an impatient teacher.
Countless enemies stood before him.
He stood alone here, a man who could hold off ten thousand.
He first gave a self-deprecating smile, then lost control of his expression and burst into uncontrollable laughter, roaring.
"He has truly become the person he once dreamed of being."
He suddenly looked up.
"Come and fight!!!"
With this shout, Ye Liuyun's previously depleted dantian suddenly emitted a rumbling sound like a giant millstone turning.
Talent: Endless Regeneration, Reversal!
The reason why rescuing Zhao Wuji had been difficult was that he was only a Soul Elder, whose soul power, although far exceeding that of ordinary people, was still limited.
Add to that the wear and tear from the transformation, and the vitality gained was limited.
But at this moment, he was burning the primordial essence hidden deep within his soul, belonging to an 800,000-year-old soul beast, forcibly transforming it into violent soul power!
This transformation came at a cost.
The cultivation level of a transformed soul beast was used to condense soul rings at each stage.
To take things ahead of time was to overdraw on the future and burn the foundation of this life.
But so what?
Click click click—!
A sickeningly loud cracking sound of bones popping rang out.
In the golden flames, Ye Liuyun's body grew an inch taller at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The boy's body, which was originally a bit thin, now had muscles that bulged out like they had been carved by a knife and axe, and every muscle contained explosive power.
The gruesome wound piercing through his right hand was instantly healed by the overwhelming life force, with granulation tissue wriggling and forcefully healing in an extremely domineering manner, leaving not even a trace of a scar.
The toxins evaporated as easily as dust being swept away.
"Hiss!"
The cave spider at the forefront seemed to sense something; a hint of instinctive fear flashed in its normally bloodthirsty compound eyes.
It felt as if it were facing not a weak human, but a monster that had just awakened.
Boom!!!
The next instant, a golden surge of soul power exploded outwards in a ring shape, centered on Ye Liuyun!
The overflowing soul power swept across the entire arena like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down.
Ye Liuyun slowly raised his head, his eyes now completely transformed into a dazzling gold.
His body featured blue hair, golden eyes, and shimmering golden patterns.
His left hand gleamed with the crystal-clear Immortal Azure Emperor Armor, bearing his current surging and violent soul power.
He raised it high, one finger pointing to the sky.
At this moment, in this place.
In heaven and on earth, I am the only one who reigns supreme!
"Die!"
Snap.
A snap of the fingers.
In an instant, the ground within a radius of 100 meters collapsed, and countless cracks spread like a spider web.
Third Soul Skill: Tree Realm Descent - Imperial Supreme!
This time, it was no longer an ordinary green vine.
Rumble—!
Countless massive, dark golden trees, as thick as pillars of heaven, bearing ancient and weathered divine patterns, pierced the earth in an instant and soared into the sky!
They didn't look like they were growing; they were more like divine spears thrust out of hell!
"Squeak!!!"
The first few dozen thousand-year-old demon spiders didn't even have time to scream before they were pierced through the abdomen by those dark gold giant trees and hoisted into the air like a string of candied hawthorns.
The scene was filled with the mournful cries of soul beasts, with ruins and severed limbs serving as paintbrushes and green blood as pigment, creating a scene straight out of hell.
[end of the chapter]