Impressed at May’s strength to the point of shock, he wondered if he could do something similar now that his own capabilities were around that of someone at the eighth level of Genesis while hers was somewhere around the peak. Still, he knew that the devastation brought on by the attack was due to the strength of the technique that had been deflected, more so than due to May’s own merits. From the looks of it, she seemed to have paid a heavy price in order to do so and was currently unable to move. Thankfully, however, the barrier that Nyla had cast upon each member of the group had held strong amidst the violent backlash that May had been forced to bear, despite the fact that it broke apart and dissipated soon after.
Sensing several more artificial spirits breaking off from the main fight and honing in on May, Nolan decided to hold off on pursuing Kalvin and shifted his focus towards the oncoming threat.
Focusing his spiritual sense with the utmost care, he stowed away the flying sword that he’d just produced, landed atop a platform of spiritual energy and then did a light jump. A moment later he flipped over in midair and kicked off of a second platform that sent him rocketing to the ground at a tremendous speed. Flying was useful and all, but he could move far faster on foot by relying on his treasured Nian movement skill.
Vividly aware of the ground that lay between him and the area that May was hovering above, he activated the Tranquil Void Step’s passive function and relied on his sixth sense to perceive his sudden shifts in location as he dashed across the devastated land with careful steps. Each leap carried him about seventy metres ahead, always landing atop a sturdy, flat surface amidst the ocean of fallen trees and dusty detritus, the trees becoming splintered as he arrived beneath May with one last change in scenery.
“May,” he said, concerned as he leapt upwards while placing a flying sword beneath his feet. “How bad are you hurt? I can’t believe you deflected that.”
Her arms drooped, shoulders slumping and head bobbing with a dance of auburn strands, her large chest heaving as she hurriedly drank down a mouthful of heavenly dew between strained breaths.
“I—I’ll be fine.”
“Hold on.”
Emptying out a large portion of his dantian, Nolan left his flying sword hovering in the air at the behest of a small amount of expelled inner essence. Landing atop a platform of spiritual energy, he locked his feet in place, circulated his inner essence in accordance with the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique’s necessary circulation routes and then lashed out without ceremony.
With his current cultivation, the green spikes of projected inner essence that he’d created were significantly stronger than the arrows of the attack arrayment that he’d been relying on in this battle. Unlike the previous artificial fighters, the five that had just shot over hadn’t been strengthened in any way as Kalvin had done with the others via the silver talisman earlier on. All at the fourth level of Genesis, these spirits and their martial skills were collectively shredded into nothingness by the thousands of projectiles that Nolan suddenly sent their way from a distance of about four hundred metres. The spikes went on to target dozens of Kalvin’s summoned spirits in the clearing beyond, interrupting many more in a way that allowed for his own summons to gain the upper hand.
“Go after Kalvin,” breathed May. “I’ll catch up soon.”
“Be careful.”
He left after his short response, noting that his precious flying sword was nowhere in sight. Relying on the backup, he shot off towards the Falling Rain Sect’s force where Kalvin was currently standing beside the thin, dark-haired great elder that seemed to hold the most sway within the group after Tems himself.
Assailed by constant, overpowering winds, Nolan appeared in the air above them and activated his preferred offensive martial skill, though he didn’t unleash it just yet. Right arm glowing with emerald light, he stood above the force of about nineteen hundred people and allowed his aura to bear down upon without holding back. He was careful not to harm their weaker members, though most would have found it difficult to move around were they to attempt to flee in the face of his oppressive actions.
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“The future of the Falling Rain Sect is in your hands,” called Nolan from about three hundred metres away from the front of the force, his honey-brown hair whipping about as continuous winds whirled this way and that. “Do you want to be used and thrown aside, or will you guys take a stand and actually do what’s best for your sect?” Punctuating his sentence, he withdrew a three-litre bottle of heavenly dew and relied on his spiritual energy to ferry it over to the group of great elders.
Reaching out with a hesitant hand, the dark-haired woman grasped the bottle, un-stoppered it and inspected the liquid within. A second later, her eyebrows shot upwards and she looked at Nolan with a hard stare.
“Sect members!” came Tems’s booming voice, which was largely inaudible amidst the maelstrom of conflicting sounds. “Now’s our chance! Target the enemy group while their strongest members are occupied!”
“Tems is done,” Nolan rushed to say, floating closer with silent intimidation. “He murdered your real sect master, so if you guys have any sort of integrity at all then you’ll have to choose a new person to lead your sect regardless of what happens here. With what I just gave you, it shouldn’t be too hard to cultivate a few of your great elders up to Tems’s level. On top of the towers we’ll make you, I’ll also throw in another bottle of heavenly dew if you decide to stand down!”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Kalvin, voice calm but eyes desperate. “If it’s money you want, I’ll give you satisfactory compensation for all of your troubles.” When the woman was silent, he added, “Great Elder Dracia, don’t forget how much your sect has suffered because of these youths.”
Delia had attempted to take Belren’s life and was now on the defensive after her surprise attack failed, the elder sticking to her like a droplet of water to a window. Many of the Nightshadow Sect members had broken away from the fight to target Nyla and the others directly, and even as Nolan tried to negotiate with the Falling Rain Sect, his friends were entering into an all-out melee, their covering fire no longer aiding in Delia’s evasions.
I can’t keep wasting time.
He glared at the merchant lord. “You say you’ll reimburse them, but you’ll still take their tower, right?”
Many of the azure-robed cultivators conversed with one another while wearing conflicted expressions. Some looked on in wonder at the bottle of heavenly dew that Dracia was currently holding, a bottle that even Kalvin couldn’t help but cast the occasional glance at. Others discussed Tems’s failings and their unwillingness to continue risking themselves for his sake, while others simply looked frightened and wary as they braced themselves against the constant shockwaves that shook their bodies and caused their flying swords to entertain a constant, unsteady sway.
“You killed many members of our sect,” the woman eventually said, her voice cold and calculative as she stared up at him with small black eyes. “Including my nieces and nephews. As a matter of fact, nobody has caused our sect so much damage in all its years of history. Why should we help you to kill our current leader, regardless of his shortcomings? No matter how you look at it, you’re an enemy of our sect.”
“I’m Tems’s enemy, not yours. Would I even be talking to you all if I didn’t want to avoid killing so many of you?” Patting his chest with his left hand, he added, “I’m the type of person that would rather have an ally than an enemy. If you guys choose to stand down—keep in mind, I’m not asking you to help us, just not to help Tems—then your Falling Rain Sect and our Earth Sect can become allies on the world stage.” Bullshitting a bit in this crucial moment, he said, “If only ten of us can push you guys so far, imagine if our entire sect were to get involved? I’m giving you guys a chance to make that kind of ally.”
An impatient Kalvin pulled out a strange plaque made of an unknown mineral that was dark blue and matte, the trinket crumbling in his hands as he subconsciously inched closer to the Falling Rain Sect’s great elders. Elsewhere, May interjected into Ian’s fight with the merchant lord’s remaining bodyguards, catching the barrel-chested one by surprise and smashing him downward with a blunt-faced slash of the flat of her halmite blade. Within the blink of an eye, a deep impression was dug into the earth below, the man disappearing from sight as a large cloud of dust and dirt momentarily obscured him from view. With the current setting, however, this dust was quickly blown away to reveal a stunned and blood-covered visage squirming around at the bottom of the crater, which was over sixty metres deep. Likely, all of the bones in his body had been broken by the unexpected and undefended-against attack.