“What’s happening, what was that explosion of spiritual energy? Did the Golden Dragon get angered by anyone?”

“No Patriarch, invaders!”

“What nonsense? Are the demonic cultivators invading us?”

“No, it’s something else they come from beyond the divide, the Golden Dragon decided to intercept their forces he referred to them as ones from another empire, he spoke of a great war coming!”

“Slow down, explain yourself!”

The group of elders that had escorted Zhang Dong out of the sect had managed to return. They were all sweating bullets as they even used forbidden techniques to increase their speeds to run away. The large technique that he had used was seen even all the way here and the ensuing shockwave had even destroyed some of the buildings that belonged to the common people living in this city.

While these elders had given a transmission that they were being attacked, the people from their sect did not truly believe that some enemies from another empire appeared. Only now after they had arrived and were behind their grand formation they could somewhat give a proper report.

“So… you are saying that these beings attacked you and the Azure Emperor’s brother is now facing them in battle?”

“Yes, Patriarch!”

Like in any other sect, they were now discussing their next move. After the large explosion of spiritual energy, they had no idea what happened. It was a really tremendous amount of Qi and they feared that the Golden Dragon might have already been dead.

The Patriarch found himself in a dilemma. It was as if he was between a rock and a hard place. From one side there was the Azure Emperor that could blame his sect for his brother's demise if he died. Would he eradicate them if he found out that they didn’t go aid him and just left him to some savage attackers?

On the other side, there were the unknown attackers, they seemed strong enough to make someone like the Golden Dragon use a powerful attack like that. They could not have been normal enemies and it was clear that the Long clan that this Golden Dragon belonged to knew something. The whole bit about them being from another empire and that a war was approaching could have been actually true.

“Damn out bad luck… call out to all the elders, everyone get ready we might be going into battle! We do not know who these people are, but we must heed the Golden Dragon’s words, if this is a force from another empire more could come! Ready the flying vessels, if they dare invade our lands we will answer them with violence!”

While the Patriarch made preparations for a bloody battle, Zhang Dong was still battling it out with the smaller group of beings that were on the level of nascent soul cultivators.

“GAH…”

“You guys don’t know when to quit!”

A toothy head went flying after being slashed from its body by a sword covered in golden energy. The first ones to suffer a casualty from this six-man group were the attackers from the other empire. They made the assumption that their soft skin opponent wouldn’t be able to compete with their hardened bodies at close range. They soon discovered that his body was no less softer than the sharp sword that he was wielding.

It didn’t take him long to kill the first one but out of the corner of his eye, he was still looking at the giant worm in the distance. After his attack, it had slowed down significantly but it was still going. He feared that on that fortress that it was carrying was some kind of teleportation formation, perhaps after his enemies had enough time, they would be able to call forth more of their brethren.

‘I guess it's time to test that swordsmanship of mine.’

While one of his opponents was dead, it was only the weakest. The five that stood now against him would probably not make the mistake of taking him lightly anymore. But there was one thing that Zhang Dong knew about these sorts of battles and buy how these monster-like beings were fighting, he was going to exploit it.

One of them charged at him with a bone blade in his hand, it descended with lightning speed onto his head. This wasn’t his only problem, at the same time a spear user decided to perform a quick thrust from behind. Their aim was precise and it only took a fraction of a second for the weapons to reach their targets.

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But after another large explosion, the spear user’s face contorted into confusion. He felt that he had pierced through someone’s flesh but it was too similar to someone of his own race. Then when he looked at his bone spear, he noticed that it didn’t go through its intended target. Instead, it slipped under Zhang Dong’s armpit and pierced the shoulder of his own ally.

Instinctively he tried to quickly yank the weapon back to perform another attack but when he tried he was unable to. It felt like this spear was being held back by some kind of vice that was connected to some kind of huge mountain, he could not budge it at all.

To the beings doing this mistake would cost him dearly as when he was struggling with pulling out his spear, his opponent didn’t wait. Instead, he found him using that glowing sword. The blade’s aim was true and it connected with his abdomen. This wasn’t over as the moment he was pierced by the sword a massive torrent of energy was injected into his body electrocuting him from the inside.

Zhang Dong smirked a bit as he yanked out his blade from the being that was behind him. He had turned the disadvantage into an advantage. These people were very similar to high-level cultivators from this empire.

This of course brought a certain amount of status. Just as he thought, a person of high standing and power would not be able to work in a team too well. Even though they had him outnumbered five to one, he could still win by using their own allies against them.

The attack might have seemed coordinated but in reality, both of the fighters weren’t used to each other at all. The strike that was coming from behind him was used to his advantage. He just needed to shift a bit to the side and the dual-wielding monster from his front side was pierced by an attack he did not expect.

‘They have no idea how to fight in a group.”

This was the biggest weakness of cultivators that focused on themselves too much. They had no idea how to work with others. In such a confrontation where they needed to work together to combat a common foe, they would falter.

While the enemy that he electrocuted started falling he moved quickly to the side. The person pierced by the spear was momentarily stunned after being hit by his own ally which gave him ample time to perform his attack and dodge when those dual blades came his way.

“And so it was four!”

Zhang Dong shouted while encompassing his entire body with a golden sheet of energy. This energy diverged towards his shoulders and back area. Soon after two golden hands sprung out, each one of them holding a sword of light. The white blade that he was holding in his right, quickly doubled as he was now ready for battle.

He tossed himself into the fray while his opponents flew at him. With four arms and four blades in hand, he found himself able to combat even four nascent soul-like beings at once. But the longer the fight continued the harder it became, even though these enemies weren’t used to fighting with each other, Zhang Dong knew that with each passing second they would improve.

The fight turned brutal, after two of their allies had fallen before Zhang Dong the remaining four seemed to go into some kind of strange berserked state. Their muscles bulged out and their already large bodies increased in size. It was clearly some kind of technique that these beings all had, they had clearly increased in specs but this didn’t mean that they would be victorious.

Regretfully the invaders had clearly overestimated their own close-ranged capabilities. From four there were soon three and not long after only two combatants remained. No one could have expected for someone like Zhang Dong to be there just waiting to greet their forces. But there he was and soon he would be the only man left standing.

“You put up a gallant fight but … you have no way of winning, give up now and I might spare your life, that is if you answer some of my questions…”

Zhang Dong looked at the toothy monster, one of his arms was missing as he had cleaved it from the shoulder down. Instead of red blood, it was green and even as they spoke the cut-off limb was slowly healing and reassembling itself.

After facing off against these new enemies he was now aware of some differences between the races. They were clearly not humans and could regrow their limbs. They had a similar organ to a heart but it was in a different location. The best way to kill them was to chop off their heads, as humans they still possessed brains in the same location and could not live without them.

“You are strong outlander, but you will not stop us! We are many, we are the swarm, we will feast on your flesh!”

The monster could communicate but he certainly didn’t want to be taken in for questioning. While Zhang Dong would rather bring this person in to get some answers, there were more crucial things to take care of.

While he was distracted by these six enemies the huge worm had managed to crawl its way to this side. Its head was now slowly sinking into the ground right next to the entrance as it seemed that it wanted to bury itself here. The only question was, would the fortress go underground with it or would it remain outside like some sort of temporary fort.

The man with more teeth than jaw tossed himself towards Zhang Dong. A fast exchange of two masters brought along another explosion. Two of them passed each other in a blink of an eye.

A small gash appeared along Zhang Dong’s cheek. It was as if someone took a nail and ran it through a car. This scar burst into golden flames soon after as it started to heal up, but the wound on his opponent was much deeper.

“Damn idiot should have surrendered…”

The monster was cleaved in two exact halves which slowly parted in mid-air before descending towards the ground.

“What is that thing doing…”

Zhang Dong quickly turned to the giant worm which managed to bury itself underground. The large castle-like structure on its back now looked as if it was built here. The moment it was in place he felt some kind of strange vibration that burst forth from it.

Without thinking about it he tossed himself towards this strange construction. It looked like this structure was attempting to do something and before it could be fully activated he needed to destroy it.