Chapter 82 - Influence
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his machete. In an instant, his entire body was engulfed in red flames.
These were not real flames, but flames formed from his internal force. However, just like real flames, the surrounding air began to tremble.
“Swish!”
Zhang Lifan suddenly charged forward and leaped into the air, slashing his saber vertically downwards. The red flames quickly spread out and covered the entire machete, which slashed at the mother beast along with his internal force. The saber descended from the sky.
“Roar!”
The mother beast roared angrily. It raised its five or six-meter-long tail and struck at the blade.
The red scales on its huge tail emitted a dazzling red light that illuminated the entire forest.
From afar, it looked like a ball of blood had exploded.
“Boom!”
The two internal forces collided and exploded upon contact.
A circular stream of air appeared at the point of contact between the machete and the huge tail. Then, it quickly spread out and swept across the battlefield.
“Compared to the battles of the warrior realm, the disciple realm is nothing,” Chen Yiming commented.
The two of them were several kilometers away from him. The stream of air swept past him, and his hair was standing on its ends from the wind that blew past.
On the battlefield, the mother beast was forced back a few meters by the pain. Every time it took a step back, it would leave a footprint half a meter deep, causing the ground to shake continuously.
Zhang Lifan, on the other hand, was sent flying back and crashed into a spot in the empty space. “What are you two doing? Watching a show?” Zhang Lifan got up and shouted. He looked a little disheveled. His armor was stained with a lot of dirt, but he was actually unscathed.
“Everyone, follow the plan,” Jiang Weishun instructed the people behind him.
In an instant, his entire body, along with the spiked rod, was covered in a layer of darkness, as if he was wearing a layer of armor.
“Those of you who perform well, I’ll use my internal force to help you cultivate the concept diagram when we get back,” Wang Zhizhao encouraged his subordinates.
A large amount of silk-like streams of air appeared around his body, shining with white light just like steel wires.
“Attack together and stall it!”
Jiang Weishun, Zhang Lifan, and Wang Zhizhao charged at the mother beast from three different directions.
Black, red, and white, the three of them were wrapped in balls of light and moved extremely quickly. In the blink of an eye, they had arrived at the head, abdomen, and legs of the mother beast.
“Roar!”
A fierce glint flashed in the mother beast’s eyes as it unleashed all of its internal force. Its entire body lit up with a bright red aura. It used its body to withstand the attacks from two people, then swung its huge tail at the remaining person. The mother beast was being held back for a short period of time. “Hurry up! Take advantage of the situation and go now,” Wang Zhizhao shouted after his attack.
There were a total of nine warrior candidates under the three of them. They immediately split up and rushed towards the cave behind the mother beast from all directions.
Seeing this, the mother beast exerted strength in its four strong limbs. Borrowing the strength from its huge body, its huge tail swept across the battlefield like a spinning top.
“Dream on!” The three of them growled.
In an instant, the three of them gathered together and attacked at the same time, clashing head-on with the mother beast’s huge tail.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Three collisions occurred at the same time, and the three of them attacked the huge tail at the same time.
Three streams of internal force collided with one stream of internal force, and immediately, several shock waves appeared, like several bombs exploding at the same time.
If an ordinary person was standing at the side, the explosion would have torn them apart.
However, the three of them were clearly not ordinary people. With the three of them working together, even if the mother beast relied on its huge body to combine its internal and external force, it was still thrown back by the three of them.
The mother beast rolled a few times before regaining its footing. “We can’t let it recover,” Zhang Lifan shouted as he took the lead to continue attacking the mother beast. The three of them joined forces again and faced the mother beast head-on.
Their shameless tactics made the mother beast roar angrily as it was forced back by the three of them.
Under the protection of the internal force, even if the three of them worked together, the beast would only suffer minor injuries. Its movements would not be affected.
However, their subordinates could take the opportunity to sneak into the cave. The mother beast could only watch helplessly as all this happened.
Chen Yiming observed the entire thing from afar.
“The increase in defense from the internal force is too extreme,” Chen Yiming analyzed.
The battle was extremely intense. The three warriors were fighting with the mother beast, and it was like a barrage of canons. If the mother beast had not been guarding the entrance of the cave, the range of the battle would not have been limited to just a kilometer.
“I wonder how long both sides can last in such an intense battle?” Chen Yiming asked in his heart.
Ever since he broke through to the warrior realm, he had never fought an opponent of the same level. Therefore, it was impossible to determine the speed at which internal force used up one’s resources in such a battle.
“Based on the movements of the mutant beasts in the mountain range, it should affect the entire central region,” Chen Yiming guessed after some thought.
At this moment, the mother beast was being held back by the three humans.
“Roar! Roar! Roar!”
The mother beast roared three times in a row. Its entire body glowed red as it charged straight at the three of them.
Its huge body stirred up an endless amount of dust, and its vision began to blur. This time, it was really anxious and intended to fight the three of them to the death.
“The mother beast is about to use its explosive power. Everyone, be careful,” Jiang Weishun reminded them loudly.
With the three of them working together, they only barely had the upper hand. Each of them alone was no match for the mother beast.
Just as the three of them were about to attack together, the mother beast’s huge body suddenly stopped and it opened its huge mouth.
Its open mouth was much larger than expected, and a car could probably fit inside of it.
A tongue full of barbs suddenly shot out from the huge mouth.
However, to their surprise, the tongue’s target was not the three of them, but the interior of the cave.
The three of them were stunned for a moment, and a question appeared in their hearts. “What’s going on?”
In order to ensure that nothing went wrong, when they worked together to topple the mother beast, they deliberately attacked in the direction away from the cave.
At this moment, the mother beast was at least 20 meters away from the cave entrance.
Previously, they had already roughly estimated that the tongue’s maximum attack range was no more than ten meters. The cave should not still be within its attack range.
The next moment, “Swish! Swish! Swish!”
The sounds of its tongue piercing through several bodies came from the cave. Then, the mother beast withdrew its tongue. On it were the bodies of the nine warrior candidates.
Although the nine warrior candidates had all been pierced by the beast’s tongue, they were not dead yet. Each of them used all of their strength to attack the tongues.
However, the difference between the disciple realm and the warrior realm was insurmountable. When the force that they had gathered from their bodies hit the tongue, it was dissipated by the barbs that were covered in the beast’s internal force. Half a second later, the mother beast swallowed the nine warrior candidates in one gulp, and the sound of chewing came from its huge mouth.
Unlike true warriors who could use the internal force to protect themselves, the warrior candidates could not withstand the crushing force of the huge mouth.
After dealing with the nine people who had sneaked into the cave, the mother beast turned around and stared at the remaining three humans.
The three warriors stood rooted to the ground. The two sides formed a stalemate, and neither side continued to attack.
“Hey! What should we do now?” Jiang Weishun asked directly.
“How would I know?” Zhang Lifan slammed the machete into the ground to vent his anger.
Wang Zhizhao patted the dust off his clothes and suggested, “For now, we can only send one of the three of us to take the risk and enter the cave. The other two will be in charge of stopping the mother beast.” “Who’s going?” Jiang Weishun asked.
No one replied.
Outside the cave, the three of them could come and go as they pleased. Before their internal force was completely exhausted, they would at most suffer some light injuries.
But if they were trapped in the hole and got caught in the mother beast’s mouth…
Internal force was not endless. Once it was exhausted, even a warrior would not be able to withstand it.
The three warriors were silent for a few minutes. No one was willing to take the risk, so they could only give up and leave.
“They may come back and cause more trouble. I’ll come back at night to fight the mother beast.”
Chen Yiming also turned around and left. He found a patch of grass nearby and lay down to rest.
In Yongluo Town, the only street in the town was filled with people who had entered the mountains to hunt mutant beasts.
Many people’s faces were pale as they exchanged information with the strangers around them. Only by sticking together could they dispel the fear in their hearts.
The small-scale beast tide caused by the battle between the three warriors and the mother beast had frightened all the people who had entered the mountain to hunt mutant beasts that day.
Those who could not escape in time were left behind in the mountain range.
At this moment, most of the mutant beasts in the mountain range were gathered at the outskirts of the mountain range. A small portion of them had even rushed out of the mountain range and were wandering around near Yongluo Town.
In the Star Moon Bar, Liu Wanqing’s face had a cold expression as she picked up her cup and downed her drink in one big gulp.
Ever since she escaped from the mountain range, there had been no news of the rest of the team.
Unless a miracle occurred, it could be assumed that they had died in the beast tide.
“What should I do? Should I return to East Lake City or escape to another city?” Liu Wanqing thought to herself. Three core disciples from different martial arts schools had died at once. As the organizer, she had an undeniable responsibility. If the Liu clan had a warrior presiding over it, it was not impossible for them to pay some compensation to resolve the matter.
However, Liu Wanqing’s father was only a warrior candidate. He did not have the standing to reason with the martial arts school. If she returned, things would probably be bad for her.
At the entrance of the town, a man was holding a plaque high in the air. On it was written the plan to gather people and break out of East Lake City in two hours.
Many people who heard the news moved to the side to observe the situation. “That seems like a good plan. We can move together and spread out the risk,” someone discussed with his companion.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate. With so many people gathered in Yongluo Town, this is the safest place,” his companion retorted.
“What if the beast tide hasn’t ended? Will Yongluo Town be able to withstand it?” the person asked
“That’s true, but we’re too weak. The real purpose of the others gathering us is just to make us cannon fodder. Rather than going with them rashly, we might as well stay put. At the very least, there will be more cannon fodder in Yongluo Town,” his companion explained. “You’re right. If the situation worsens, we’ll fight our way out with the people from Yongluo Town,” the man said with a nod. Both of them had only undergone three transformations and would be among the weakest in the wilderness.
Every decision they made had to be considered carefully. Once something happened, the weakest of them would be the ones to die first.
Night fell. The forest was silent. Occasionally, one could hear a bird or two chirping.
Most of the mutant beasts that had escaped from the center of the mountain range were still in the outskirts. Only a small number of them had been sent back to gather information. Chen Yiming arrived a few hundred meters away from the cave.
His vision had improved a lot after breaking through to the warrior realm. With the help of the moonlight, he could see the surroundings of the cave clearly.
At this moment, the surroundings of the cave were silent. Even the slightest movement could be detected.
“Is the mother beast not around?” Chen Yiming asked curiously.
During the day, he had seen the mother beast blow up a cloud of dust with just one breath.
In such a quiet environment, there should be some movement.
“Let’s test the waters first.”
Chen Yiming casually picked up a fist-sized stone.
He aimed at the entrance of the cave and used his internal force to cover the surface of the stone.
In an instant, the noise caused by the power of lightning resounded throughout the forest.
Some mutant beasts that were passing by and investigating the situation fled when they saw this.
“Swish!”
The stone turned into a bolt of blue lightning wrapped in his internal force and flew into the cave in the blink of an eye.
“Bang!”
The rock hit the cave wall and broke apart. Immediately after, the internal force exploded, and blue sparks of electricity instantly filled the entire cave.
“So the mother beast didn’t go out.” Chen Yiming saw the scene inside the cave clearly.
At this moment, a burnt smell drifted out from the cave.
The mother beast was lying on a nest of eggs. The ground was covered with soft sand, so the eggs would not be crushed. “Roar!”
The mother beast roared louder than it did during the day.
The next second, its huge body charged out of the cave, heading straight for the attacker, Chen Yiming.
“Why are those eggs so fragile? They’re not much different from ordinary eggs,” Chen Yiming said in surprise. He hadn’t expected this to happen.
Facing the mother beast that was charging at him in a craze, he did not hesitate to mobilize all the internal force in his body. His entire body was instantly covered in a layer of lightning armor.
The raging power of lightning constantly swam around his body, emitting an ear-piercing noise. The lightning illuminated the surrounding forest.
“Bang!”
The two figures, one big and one small, collided.
The internal force from both sides exploded at the same time, and red and blue light appeared in the center of the mountain range.
Then, a sound comparable to a cannonball exploding spread throughout the silent mountain range, causing the same commotion as during the day.
At this moment, the mutant beasts that were staying at the outskirts of the mountain range heard the commotion and no longer dared to stay where they were. They formed groups and ran out of the mountain range without looking back. All of a sudden, the entire mountain range became lively again. Roars and footsteps sounded out from all around.
In Yongluo Town, the entire town was brightly lit.
Everyone was alarmed by the commotion and ran out to gather on the street.
“What happened?” People in the crowd were constantly asking the other people around them for information.
“I don’t know either. When I saw everyone running out, I followed them,” someone replied.
The town was too far from the center of the mountain range, so they only knew that the mutant beasts had started acting up again.
“Gather all the experts above the sixth transformation. They will be in charge of leading the team to guard the town,” someone shouted through a loudspeaker.
When the crowd heard this, an uproar started.
“How could this be? If we had known earlier, we would have followed those people during the day and directly broken out of the city,” someone wailed, feeling extremely regretful.
“It’s over. During the day, there were only mutant beasts wandering around the town. Now, they need to gather people to guard the town,” someone slapped his head and said in horror.
The entire town was in chaos.
Many people climbed up to the roof and looked into the darkness.
Groups of mutant beasts rushed out of the forest in all directions. Most of them were fleeing towards somewhere further away.