Chapter 18: Level Two Demonic Beast

Not far away at a corner of the pond, another cultivator from the Liu family at the late stage of Qi Refinement skillfully manipulated a massive flying sword, blocking two low-level demon crabs attempting to escape into the water from that direction. In less than fifteen minutes, he had easily slain them all beneath his blade.

For a moment, the area surrounding the pond was filled with earth-shaking noises as dozens of various magical artifacts flew wildly through the air.

Watching these cultivators grandly activate their artifacts to kill enemies, a trace of shame inevitably appeared on Song Qingming's face. Compared to these veteran Qi Refinement cultivators, his own cultivation and combat techniques were indeed far behind. If he wanted to be like them—able to use various spells and artifacts so proficiently to slay enemies—he would need much more hard practice.

Soon, the dozen or so low-level demon beasts by the pond were all annihilated on the shore. Just as the crowd was about to seal off the entire pond, a loud "bang" erupted, and a massive plume of white water splashed up from the center of the pond.

A silver-armored crab demon, over ten feet in size, suddenly appeared in the center of the pond. Its entire body was silver-white, and the pair of massive white iron claws in front of it waved incessantly, looking incredibly ferocious and terrifying. A terrifying aura of spiritual pressure radiated from its body, making even Song Qingming, standing a hundred feet away, feel a wave of discomfort.

Judging by the intensity of the spiritual pressure, everyone immediately realized that this must be the Rank 2 demon beast.

Looking at the human cultivators who had intruded into its territory and begun a massacre, the silver-armored crab demon angrily waved its claws, releasing bursts of piercing sonic waves from its mouth. The cultivators on the nearest shore instantly felt a wave of dizziness and tinnitus, many clutching their heads and nearly collapsing.

"Quickly, use spiritual barriers to block the sonic attack!"

Liu Tianlong roared. He was the first to rapidly release a stream of spiritual energy to form a semi-circular barrier, protecting himself and several mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators beside him. This was a powerful spell that only late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators could perform.

Hearing Liu Tianlong's voice transmission, Song Changfeng hurriedly released the spiritual energy within his body to form a shield, protecting the members of the Song family behind him. Seeing this, the other late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators also released their own spiritual barriers, allowing the mid-stage cultivators who had almost been injured to recover.

Seeing that its sonic waves could not deal with these hateful human cultivators, the silver-armored crab demon extended its eight long iron legs and charged toward the group of more than a dozen cultivators led by Liu Tianlong on the shore. The speed of a Rank 2 demon beast was astonishingly fast, and it reached the shore in just a few moments.

"Use talismans and long-range spells to stall it!"

Seeing the silver-armored crab demon charging straight for him, Liu Tianlong retreated while commanding the others to use spells and spiritual talismans to slow it down. Unfortunately, the attacks launched by the crowd were mostly Rank 1 talismans and spells, which had very limited lethality against the silver-armored crab and failed to affect its forward momentum at all.

Just as the silver-armored crab demon was about to catch up to Liu Tianlong, the retreating Liu Tianlong suddenly turned around and released a Rank 2 talisman he had prepared in advance.

It was a low-grade Rank 2 Explosive Fire Talisman, capable of producing an explosive attack equivalent to the full strength of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. A single low-grade Rank 2 talisman cost at least two hundred spirit stones on the market. To ensure this mission was foolproof, Liu Tianlong had specifically brought the only two remaining Rank 2 talismans of the Liu family.

With a flash of fire and several loud "booms," the silver-armored crab demon was caught off guard by Liu Tianlong's sneak attack. Its silver-white shell now showed several cracks and streaks of red blood that flowed incessantly; even one of its long front legs had been obliterated by the explosion of the Rank 2 talisman.

Taking advantage of this momentary reprieve, the crowd, who had almost been overtaken, quickly put distance between themselves and the crab demon and rushed toward the nearby grand formation.

Soon, everyone successfully returned to the formation, except for one unlucky Liu family cultivator whose cultivation was only at the fifth level of Qi Refinement. He inadvertently fell behind, and when he was only a few steps away from the formation's range, a massive iron claw suddenly tossed him into the air.

With a blood-curdling scream, he fell from the sky and was instantly sliced in half by the silver-armored crab demon's other sharp giant claw, raining blood down from the air.

The people inside the formation changed expression upon seeing this. This was the power of a Foundation Establishment-level demon beast; one slight mistake could lead them to follow the same fate as that fellow cultivator.

This was the first time Song Qingming had witnessed such a bloody scene. He trembled so much that the formation flag in his hand nearly slipped to the ground. The Liu family cultivator who had been chatting and laughing with everyone just last night had, in the blink of an eye, died a tragic death at the hands of a ferocious demon beast.

In the face of this massive Rank 2 demon beast, they—cultivators who usually stood high above mortals like immortals—were as fragile as ants.

It wasn't until the Great Elder, Song Guba, sensed his distress and patted him on the shoulder that he snapped out of it, hurriedly gripping his formation flag and returning to his position.

"Meng Lin... everyone, do not panic! Retreat and activate the formation, quickly!" Seeing that the silver-armored crab demon had entered the formation's range, Liu Tianlong, his eyes reddened, pushed aside the grief of losing a clansman and hurriedly commanded everyone to activate the formation to trap the beast.

Song Qingming and the others, who had been waiting in the formation for a long time, followed the direction of the four high-grade formation masters. They quickly tossed a half-foot-wide golden disc into the air. Over a dozen golden-yellow beams of light shot out from their respective formation flags, intersecting and connecting to the disc, instantly forming a massive golden iron net that draped over the silver-armored crab demon within the formation.

Caught off guard by the golden net, the silver-armored crab demon frantically raised its pair of iron claws to prop up the net against its body. The dozen or so formation masters responsible for the array rapidly performed hand seals, desperately injecting spiritual energy into their formation flags. This caused the golden net to glow intensely, entering a standoff with the silver-armored crab demon.

This "Golden Net Demon-Binding Formation" was a trapping formation. Once completely covered by this net, the silver-armored crab demon would essentially lose its ability to move, leaving it to be slowly slaughtered by these low-level cultivators.

Seeing the crab demon's claws propping up the net, preventing the formation from fully covering it, Liu Tianlong, who was attacking from the side, ordered six more cultivators to reinforce and activate the formation. With more cultivators joining, the golden beams of the formation gradually overwhelmed the iron claws holding it up, preventing the beast from breaking free.

Seeing this, everyone's spirits rose. Liu Tianlong, Song Changfeng, and the other late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators began to sacrifice their high-grade magical artifacts, attacking the weak points beneath the crab's shell.

Against a Rank 2 demon beast, only high-grade artifacts and talismans could deal significant damage. Among the group, besides the nine late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators holding high-grade artifacts, only four or five mid-stage cultivators possessed them; the mid-grade artifacts held by the rest dealt very limited damage to the silver-armored crab.

Facing the suppression of the formation, the silver-armored crab demon gradually fell into a disadvantage. Under the fierce onslaught, it was becoming unable to withstand the massive golden net above its head.

Just as everyone was rejoicing, thinking they could easily kill this Rank 2 demon beast, the crab demon suddenly let out a strange roar. Shortly after, bubbles began to rise from the distant water surface. More than twenty Rank 1 demon beasts, sensing the silver-armored crab demon's call, floated to the surface and charged toward the group besieging it.

"Fellow Daoists, deal with these Rank 1 demon beasts first! Do not let them interfere with the formation! This silver-armored crab is at the end of its strength. Do not hold back—finish this quickly! This Rank 2 demon beast is trapped by the formation; as long as we quickly resolve this wave of demon beasts, more than half of this mission will be successfully completed!"

After speaking, Liu Tianlong summoned a high-level Black-Patterned Leopard from his spirit beast bag and was the first to intercept the two high-level demon beasts charging at the front. The rest of the crowd also withdrew from the siege on the silver-armored crab to turn against the incoming Rank 1 demon beasts, leaving only a few mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators to continue attacking the Rank 2 crab.

This wave of demon beasts was not like the miscellaneous low-level ones on the shore earlier; most were direct descendants of the silver-armored crab demon that lived in the depths of the pond. A dozen mid-stage silver-armored crabs and five high-level silver-armored crabs were now desperately rushing to the rescue under the command of the Rank 2 demon.

There is a powerful bloodline suppression among demon beasts; a powerful Rank 2 demon can freely command Rank 1 members of its own kind. However, it was a bit too late for this silver-armored crab demon to think of calling for help.

On the human side, there were six late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators and over a dozen mid-stage ones, making them superior in numbers. Furthermore, they had top-tier combat power like Liu Tianlong, a ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator who could hold off two high-level demon beasts alone.

However, under the summons of the Rank 2 demon, these Rank 1 beasts acted with extreme frenzy. Although they were at a disadvantage from the start, they still forced the crowd to pay a significant price.