Without delay, Han De started his first divination. He used the stars visible from the cracks to find the correct timing and the direction to flee at full speed. A few seconds later he was baffled.
“F#$%, are you kidding me?!”
His divination result was negative. All directions would result in certain death if he started dashing right now. In the background, the flagship finally crashed to the ground and released a huge dust cloud. The remaining core defensive formation couldn’t withstand the weight of the flagship, and half of it directly exploded.
Han De used his Heavenly Gaze through his index finger to shoot the debris that were coming toward them.
“HAN DEE!!!”
Xiao Ping wasn’t alone, he had nearly 50 Immortal Realm guards. Han De also spotted other experts coming in fast from behind Xiao Ping, most likely the remnant forces of the Ming Emperor.
*Low Hum*
Shrieks from the netherworld demons stopped and they instinctively cowered. Cultivators took advantage of the situation and cut the ones they were fighting.
“Attack the Han family and the demons at the same time!!”
When Han De heard the voice, his body turned stiff. This was the same voice that killed the cultivation idiot.
“YOU WILL SUFFER A MILLION FOLD!!!”
Han De flinched with the closer shout of the Xiao Ping. He gritted his teeth and did another divination.
‘F#$%&# useless!!’
Treebeard was the only one remaining with him. Lackeys below Immortal Realm regrouped below him. From the distance, the Transcendent experts of the Han family seemed to have gained the advantage, but the situation was unstable and a reversal could occur at any second. The netherworld demons were still cowering and waiting.
Han De gave all of his high realm attack items to Treebeard. Distributed a few hundred life-saving items to his lackeys around him. He gave extra lifesaving and escape items to Yao Qing and Jin Shu as well. He was about to give a few to Ning Bi too, but he realized the girl was completely concentrated on keeping her eyes open.
Or, more accurately, she was concentrating on not closing her eyes at the same time. She kept opening and closing one after the other in rhythm.
Han De thought of something. Her ability was named Breach after all, and her symptoms worsened immediately after a crack had appeared. He didn’t want to endanger her, but if he didn’t do anything they would all die in a few minutes at most.
Ning Bi looked at her master. She could barely think at the moment, she just obeyed without thinking.
“Concentrate!”
Han De gently shook Ning Bi. A moment later he forcefully opened her eyes with his hand. The startled Ning Bi could only point toward the north after seeing the concerned expression in her master’s face.
‘North?! That side is too close to the expanding cracks. But the killer of the cultivation idiot is at east, mother is at west, Xiao Ping is coming from south-east…’
“DIEEE!!!!”
Han De’s lackeys in the outer circle around him engaged with Xiao Ping. They were all at the Nascent Soul realm, but they couldn’t do anything to an MC of the same realm. Treebeard engaged without saying anything, but he was stopped by the two remaining Immortal Realm guards of Xiao Ping. The rest of the royal guards were fending against Yuan Zemin and the Han family guards.
“Ahhh, there you are…”
Han De looked up and saw a red-dressed woman standing in mid-air. She was looking intently at Ning Bi with her shining red eyes.
“Matriarch!”
Han De cursed inside, the voice was from Xin Qiang, the woman from the Blazing Sun family. This new one should be the matriarch of her hidden family.
[Time Remaining: 25.1 days.]
Once he realized the identity and the cultivation of the new woman, Han De knew that he would fail the quest.
‘This quest was at B level difficulty with a million point reward. How could I delude myself into completing it… The failure penalty was the loss of Ning Bi’s disciple status, probably this woman is going to take her and lea-’
*Shriek*
Everyone around him covered their ears and fell to the ground. Han De held his disciples tightly. He could see countless tentacles coming from the cracks instead of netherworld demons.
Another blinding flash came from the direction of his mother. Han De realized once this shockwave hit them, they would instantly die, with or without life-saving items. The shockwave was very fast and Han De knew he couldn’t outrun it. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.
“...”
“...”
‘Did I die again?’
Han De tentatively opened his eyes. His disciples were still hanging on to him, and he was still alive. His doubts were solved once he saw the rapidly healing tentacles.
‘If I don’t take this chance, I might hand myself in a platter to my enemies.’
Even Transcendent experts were affected. In fact, from just a cursory look, it seemed as if they were the ones that got hurt the most. His disciples were barely able to hold onto their consciousness at least.
“So beautiful…”
Han De touched the eyelid of Ning Bi and opened it. At the same time, he did a final divination.
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‘F#$%$# waste of points!!!’
It was a failure once again. It wasn’t a failure of divination, he just wasn’t getting the result he wanted. In times of crisis, who would want to see a result that indicated their death over and over again?
Han De operated his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture at full power and poured as much spiritual energy as his speed-focused sword could handle. He decided to trust Ning Bi and dashed towards the north with all his might.
‘I got 3 MCs on me! They should count for something right?! They couldn’t just die here right?! One of them even has max luck for f#$%s sake!’
Yuan Zemin was able to shake off the initial effects of the mental attack. He was only at the Ancient Realm and the attack's strength was limited. Transcendent experts around him were much worse off. Blood was coming from their ears and their eyes, and their bodies were convulsing with some strange rhythm. He wasn't as deeply hurt as them, but he still couldn't use spiritual energy freely, otherwise there was a big risk of damaging his soul.
A strange but potent aura caught his attention. He couldn’t tell if it was in the Nascent Soul, or Spirit Origin realm. If it wasn’t in the latter, it was still infinitely close. He was surprised at first, but then realized he was mistaken. This was probably a peak Spirit Origin expert, but could only exert this level of power after the mental attack. The panic probably caused the person to pick the wrong direction as well. Why else would they fly directly into the mass of spatial disturbances?
An idea came to his mind, was this person holding a spatial artifact? He looked in the direction, but he couldn’t see anything. His mind was still blurry and right now he could only use late-stage Qi Condensation level spiritual power at best.
Han De and his disciples flew towards the north, but they didn’t account for the spatial disturbances, nor could they feel them with their level of cultivation. As a result, they kept entering and exiting from different points in space. The countless tentacles that blocked his mother’s shockwave seemed to be looking at them. These disgusting, dark, and slimy tentacles were convulsing at random. Han De’s face turned sour.
He was reminded of his bloodline, but the effects of it were non-existent in beings evolved from spiritual animals. What were the odds of having an effect on a netherworld demon? Han De didn’t want to test the odds, not while his disciples were with him.
Yuan Zemin was recovering rapidly, he could already use Foundation Realm level of power. He estimated he needed a few minutes to return to his peak. The time was short, he jumped into a spatial disturbance and tried to follow the Spirit Origin expert by relying on his superior perception. He couldn’t use his spiritual power, but at least he could use his Ancient Realm senses to navigate and reach that expert before it was too late.
Xiao Ping shook his head. All the experts near him were down. He directly killed the one in front of him and put his soul into the amulet for later consumption. His eyes searched for Han De, he couldn’t see him anywhere. His reasoning was already compromised, so he thought the best way was to move forward while everyone was down.
As he left, the few Core Formation experts were able to recover. Among them, a few were Han De’s lackeys, they immediately went to find other members to help, meanwhile the alliance members started to run away. No one could blame them, if another powerful aftershock were to appear, they would simply perish without a higher realm expert's protection.
Han De flew for a full minute, but the unexpected spatial disturbances that made it hard to go anywhere. After a while he had realized he couldn’t just fly at full speed, and had to navigate carefully, but it seemed as every time he entered a disturbance, he would end up getting closer to the crashed flagship. The tentacles around the expanding cracks creeped him out as well.
At this point, Han De was suspecting that these tentacles were some sort of foliage. He had watched many sci-fi shows and was familiar with the concept of interdimensional parasites as well. These Tentacles seemed rather weird.
‘Ok, let’s relax, this isn’t working. Maybe I should try to divine step by step?’
“HAN DEE!!!”
Han De’s face dropped and he started cursing from inside. This guy was persistent. He deeply, deeply regretted not abusing his power and burning Xiao Ping's soul when he could. He swore to himself that if he survived this, no more half measures. You are an MC and you are looking at me funny? Say goodbye to your soul!
A few shrieking sounds started to appear from a distance. Intermittent battle sounds started to become regular again. It seemed as if most of the experts were up. Han De felt a pain in his liver, he went north because of Ning Bi’s advice, but he couldn’t escape. Had he chosen another direction he would be miles away already.
He tried to divine the exit point of the cracks in front of him. After the first one he frowned, then the next one caused him to frown more. All of them seemed to lead him toward the crashed flagship as if that location was the epicenter. Unfortunately for Han De, Xiao Ping was coming from that direction.
“These spatial disturbances are getting annoyin-”
Since Han De and his disciples were standing still for a moment, the tentacles started coming closer inch by inch from below. Han De only noticed them after they started touching his sword. Unfortunately, the mass of energy behind him was rapidly getting closer as well.
‘Shit! How is this guy just flying in a straight line without running into a single disturbance? F#$%! His MC cheat is too disgusting!’
Han De used one of the Late-Stage Nascent Soul consumable items without delay. As he expected Xiao Ping dodged it easily, but it was just a test shot anyway. He still had 139 more.
One after the other, Han De fired one-time attack items. He lost the count after 25.
‘Most of the lower realm versions are gone. I still have 20 Immortal Realm level items, but I could only use 3 or 4 at best.’
Xiao Ping realized the realm of Han De’s attacks were increasing. He gritted his teeth and became more defensive and reduced his speed. It was all fine anyway, he was already less than 100 meters away from him. His disciples were unconscious and he had nowhere to run. Xiao Ping could enjoy torturing him this way.
Unexpectedly, an attack came out of nowhere and hit Han De from behind. He immediately collapsed on the sword and started coughing blood out. His lungs were punctured by someone’s powerful Sword Qi and Han De was barely holding the sword afloat. He felt all of the life-saving items he was wearing disappear into dust under his clothes, just like that.
A deafening shriek was released and netherworld demons started pouring out from the cracks once again. The ones that were already in seemed to regain their vigor and started attacking everyone in frenzy. It seemed as if the previous attack was just a casual spar, and now things got personal.
Han De couldn’t heal himself with his healing spell, thanks to his stupid body constitution. He swallowed a high-grade healing pill without thinking and tried to look behind. The only thing he could see was a wall of tentacles.
Yuan Zemin’s eyes shook when he saw the tentacles protect Han De from his second attack. His mind went blank for a second, then he started running at full speed. He felt bloodlust from all directions. It wasn’t even killing intent, it was a pure impulse for blood, for violence. He used all of his spiritual power without minding the damage it would cause to his soul. Everything would be meaningless if he was dead.
Xiao Ping was surprised at the sneak attack, but a moment later he sneered. The wall of tentacles coming to protect Han De from a second attack seemingly woke him up. He needed to finish this and rip his soul apart now, otherwise he might never have a second chance! He growled and flew towards him without delay.
Han De heard the growl, but his reaction time was lacking due to the puncture wound on his right side. The pill was effective, but he actually needed to guide it to get the full effect. Just swallowing and not meditating would slow the healing effect significantly.
When he finally managed to turn his head, that turn was accompanied by a sickening bulging sound. Hundreds of tentacles impaled Xiao Ping, and a moment later they crazily started trashing him around. In only a few seconds, Xiao Ping turned into a meat paste in mid-air. This meat paste that was once an MC, harmlessly dripped from the tentacles.
[Scent of the Progenitor]
[Beings evolved from spiritual animals will pay their respects when they detect the scent. Beings evolved from the netherworld will accept your rule when they detect the scent.]
[Notes: Effects will be extremely limited on lower beings.]
‘Is this thing a higher being? If so, it should’ve been respectful, but maybe this is how it shows its respect?’
Han De decided not to leave things to chance.
[Redeeming Bloodline Awakening Token for 100 Profound Points]
[Bloodline Awakening Process Invoked]
[Gathering statistics]
[Checking awakening requirements]
[1. Privilege Level not met]
[2. Bloodline concentration requirement not met]
[3. Incompatible spiritual roots found]
[4. Incompatible body constitution found]
[5. Incompatible race found]
[6. Compatible soul type found]
[7. Catalysts 1 through 6 not found]
[8. Cultivation requirements not met]
[Process Aborted]
[Privilege level not met for alternative options]
[Cultivation level not met for alternative options]