34. Schemes that Got Together IV

Clay was blinded for a split second and looked to his side and blinked. As soon as he looked back up, something seemed to be falling towards him. He could not clearly see it because his eyes are still blurred by the sudden burst of light earlier.

He wanted to move away but his feet felt heavy. Knowing he could not evade the incoming debris, he activated his spatial ring. His head faced the ground with eyes closed afraid he would be hit by the falling object.

SHHSSHH!!

After two seconds, he opened his eyes and looked back up. It seems he has successfully stored the incoming object however the lion is nowhere to be found. Clay looked around frightened. He slowly tried to move his feet.

He could not find the beast, and he cannot help but notice a few droplets of blood and parts and cuts of flesh scattered around him. One of the bigger chunks of flesh even looked like an ear and there is still fresh blood on it. He suddenly remembered the falling object he stored in his spatial ring. As soon as he sent his Qi into the ring, he saw a huge body of a beast without a head.

Clay was not aware that when he activated the scroll earlier, it tore space and although it was only tiny and momentarily, the force it created was massive that when it activated in front of the beast, it literally exploded the beast’s head.

Confused, he wanted to escape the area but his heightened senses felt a movement coming towards him. His first thought is that it is his master and recalling how powerful his master’s aura is that it could easily immobilize him, he immediately casted any thoughts of running.

Thud!

Thud!

Clay’s heart is racing. For a moment, he forgot the rampaging Essence Flame in his dantian as his burning hatred towards his master consumed him.

He turned towards the approaching figure who is currently wrapped in dark clothes all over his body.

“I’ll kill you!” Clay’s eyes were bloodshot.

He should have had trusted his instinct. He can only blame himself for not being able to see their sinister plans.

Clay no longer cared what happens next but he hopes the scroll in his hand will help him incapacitate or eliminate this man.

*Exhale!

Clay forced himself to calm down and did not rush to activate the scroll. He could feel his feet trembling but still focused. Considering the distance from where the lion jumped, he estimated it was around twenty meters. He just hopes that whatever magic was produced from the Formation he inscribed himself would repeat itself like it did with the lion earlier.

He circulated his Qi to ensure he could properly control it this time as he watched every step the masked man takes.

When the man was in range, Clay lifted the scroll and poured all his Qi in it.

SWISH!

CRACK!!

The inscriptions on the scroll shined and this time there was no blinding light.

Meanwhile, the man clad in black walking towards Clay is none other the Elven Nascent expert who killed Chung Har’an and Dal In.

Seconds after he activated the Defensive and Offensive Formation Pillars to cover the area, he felt ripples of a strong and concentrated explosion. He felt something familiar with that sudden explosion but when he looked around, he could not feel any indication or presence of a powerful foe.

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He immediately stood up and spread his divine sense to investigate the origin of the explosion. The first thing that took his attention was sacrificial offering who is standing and looking at his direction. He knew something was amiss so he did not rush and slowly approached the area where the explosion took place.

As he got closer, the smell of beast blood greeted his nose and when he was around twenty five meter distance, he saw the boy pointed a scroll at him.

He almost wanted to laugh upon seeing the boy’s action. As a Nascent Soul expert, he believed that only Nascent Soul cultivators can hurt him but he was still wary of any surprise attack.

However when he took another step, he realized that the Flamed Horned Lion which was literally nearby was nowhere to be found. He suddenly had a bad premonition as he recalled the smell of blood just now.

“Where is the Flame Horned Lion?”

He wanted to spread his divine sense to cover a greater diameter yet before he could release his aura, he felt an inscription pattern activate on the scroll the boy was pointing at him and at the same time, an ominous spell activated behind him.

SWISH!

CRACK!!

The Nascent expert turned around to defend.

BOOM!

Multiple thick lightning tendrils assaulted him as a four meter crack in space formed in front of him.

In another instant, more thicker bolts of lightning forked outwards from the space tear and his position protected Clay from outgoing deadly sparks.

As a Nascent Soul, his body has been refined and tempered and survived a lightning tribulation so this attack barely damaged but at that moment, the space tear not only created terrifying lightning tendrils but also created a vacuum pulling everything towards the tear.

Although the Nascent expert was unscathed when the bolts of lightning hit him, it still shocked his body causing his response to be delayed and unable to resist the gravitational pull. At that moment, a portion of his body was already drawn into the space tear and before he could retreat, the unstable spatial tear collapsed and abruptly closed cutting his legs and dragged his body into the depths of unknown space.

What seemed like a long time for the Nascent Soul expert was not even a second to Clay. As soon as the tear in space was created, his eyes witnessed hundreds of bolts of lightning that came out, then it immediately closed after creating a tremendous gravitational force pulling everything in a five hundred meter radius starting with what he thought was his master.

Even he was pulled in causing him to fly towards the center but the suction force immediately stopped when the space tear collapsed. Even the massive bolder moved a few meters.

Clay surrounded his body with Qi to protect himself from incoming and falling debris and after around ten seconds, everything stopped.

Dust particles flew and scattered the air. On top of that, the fog created by the Formation Pillars activated by the Nascent expert has just reached his area.

The thick fog caused zero percent visibility but that did not stop Clay from walking away from his original location. His only thought was to escape. He could only hope that the next people who will find him are righteous and would take notice of his Alchemy abilities and treat him like a master.

While running, he felt the ring in his finger. He took it off and stored it on his spatial earring as a precaution.

Ignoring everything, he continued to run but after a few more minutes, the fight and flight state of his body began to wear off reminding him of his original predicament.

Clay stopped as soon as he started to feel the frenzied and burning heat generated by unrefined Earth Class Essence Flame in his dantian. He could feel that the Essence Flame already taken root on his eight Qi Node and his instinct is telling him he will die if this continues.

Clay had no idea how sealing works let alone methods of containing or stopping the Essence Flame from invading his entire Qi Nodes. He could only think of one way. He clenched his teeth and began to sever the connection of the Eight Qi Nodes and forcefully expelled the flame out of his body.

Arrggghhh!

After a few seconds, the ethereal form of the essence flame manifested before his stomach, then he threw it away.

Clay could feel his body relieved from the scorching heat.

Just as he smiled, he felt all his accumulated Qi dissipated and his whole body weakened. The next moment, he tumbled on the ground and slowly lost consciousness.

An hour passed and since there was no one controlling the Defensive Formation, the visibility around the area improved. Even the vortex of clouds formed above the sky for the lighting tribulation had dissipated as well.

Meanwhile, the companion of the Elven Nascent expert was puzzled with what just transpired especially the strong surge of magnetic and spatial forces and when he flew towards the origin of that dreadful energy, what greeted him are to legs covered in blood.

The man recognized the limbs but he could not find traces of fighting. Nascent level is the pinnacle of cultivation he is familiar with and even if another Nascent Soul cultivator sneak attacked his elder, there should still be traces of resistance.

“What happened?”

Unknown to the man, it cleanly cut from the closure of an unstable space tear.