Chapter 962: Biding Time


    "You may have managed to fool me this time, but you''re only dying the inevitable. Even if youbine your powers, it won''t amount to anything," Yin Shao sneered with a sinister grin on his face.


    He then reached behind himself with both hands, putting on a pair of white bone ws that were riddled with dozens of glowing star acupoints, clearly indicating that it was a star artifact of a very high caliber.


    At the same time, one profound acupoint after another lit up over his body, only stopping once the total count had reached 283.


    Grim looks appeared on the faces of both Shi Chuankong and Lü Gang upon seeing this. 283 profound acupoints was a number that ced Shao Ying on the same level as the four subsidiary city lords. In fact, he already outstripped the likes of Qin Yuan.


    Right at this moment, Fang Chan''s immobile body began to stir slightly, and before long, he had struggled to his feet.


    Wisps of crimson mist were rising up from the gruesome wound on his back, and the flesh around the wound was rapidly healing at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.


    At the same time, he rose up several dozen more feet in height, and ck scales began to appear over his chest, shoulders, and neck, making him appear no different from a fearsome scaled beast.


    "What did you feed him just now?" Shao Ying asked as his brows furrowed slightly.


    "It''s called a Blood Tide Pill, I''m not sure if you would''ve heard of it before," Shi Chuankong replied with a smile.The Blood Tide Pill had been given to him by Shi Pokong, so there was a chance that it was meant to harm him rather than help him, just like that jade pendant, but with Fang Chan on the verge of death, he had no choice but to feed it to him.


    For the moment, it seemed like the pill was working as intended. In fact, it was proving to be far more effective than Shi Chuankong anticipated.


    "So it''s just a pill that temporarily stimtes his bloodline power. I should''ve known that you wouldn''t have anything good up your sleeve," Shao Ying sneered, then abruptly vanished from the spot.


    Shi Chuankong was already prepared, and he raised the purple staff in his hands before sweeping it through the air to his side.


    A sharp screeching sound rang out as two sets of sharp bone ws raked over its surface, raising several trails of sparks in the process.


    Shao Ying flew back in retreat, and upon steadying himself, he cast his gaze toward the staff in Shi Chuankong''s hands with a surprised look in his eyes.


    Right at this moment, a giant shadow loomed over his head, and Fang Chan came swooping down upon him while swatting a massive hand down at his head.


    Shao Ying was just barely able to evade the attack, and the ground that had been beneath his feet just a moment ago waspletely pulverized amid a resounding boom, creating a huge crack that extended all the way to the crimson light barrier..


    Before he had a chance to steady himself, Lü Gang pounced at him from behind, holding a glowing white dagger that he pierced directly at the back of Shao Ying''s head.


    Shao Ying harrumphed coldly as he ced one hand behind his own hand to protect himself while making a tugging motion with his other hand. The bone w on histter hand immediately began to glow with radiant starlight, releasing a burst of formidable tearing force that caused the space behind him to warp and twist.


    Lü Gang was drawn involuntarily toward Shao Ying by this burst of tearing force, and he hurriedly began to backpedal in an rmed manner, only managing to stop himself in his tracks after his feet had sunk deep into the ground.


    However, before he even had a chance to catch his breath, Shao Ying had already swung around to attack him.


    Thankfully, Shi Chuankong and Fang Chan had also already arrived on the scene, and the three of them joined forces to oppose Shao Ying.


    On the other side, Xuanyuan Xing possessed a slight cultivation base advantage over Zhu Ziqing, but thetter''s bone armor and bone spear were all extremely formidable star artifact, thereby bridging the gap between them, so it was unclear who was going toe out on top between the two.


    At the same time, Zhu Ziyuan and Duan Tong were also locked in a fierce battle against each other, one that was fraught with peril.


    Countless dark purple runes had appeared over Duan Tong''s exposed skin, and they were all giving off bursts of scorching heat.


    Plumes of ck mist began to rise up from his body as the heat became more and more intense, forming a ck cloud around him that made it impossible to gauge the number of profound acupoints on his body.


    After forcing back Duan Tong with his spear, Zhu Ziyuan darted back to open up some distance between the two of them as a wary look appeared in his eyes.


    "Looks like you''ve made significant strides since the previous Five City Martial Gathering," Zhu Ziyuan mused.


    "I was nning to even the score with Gu Qianxun, but you''re the one who has to face the result of myst one thousand years of training now!" Duan Tong replied in a cold voice.


    Zhu Ziyuan took a nce at his sister out of his peripheral vision to see how she was faring in her battle, and Duan Tong was furious to see this.


    "How dare you get distracted when you''re facing me!" he roared as heunched himself at Zhu Ziyuan while swinging his right fist through the air.


    His right fist was extraordinarily massive to begin with, and now that it was enshrouded in ck mist, it resembled a devilish ck lion biting down upon Zhu Ziyuan''s head.


    Zhu Ziyuan turned his attention back to Duan Tong, then swung his spear upward, and a ball of white starlight emerged over the tip of the spear to sh against Duan Tong''s right fist.


    As the ball of white light shed against the ck mist, it resembled a resplendent sun piercing into a dark cloud, and the ck mist churned violently while rapidly evaporating to reveal Duan Tong''s fist once again.


    However, it was no longer clenched into a fist. Instead, he had grabbed tightly onto the tip of Zhu Ziyuan''s spear.


    Zhu Ziyuan was holding the shaft of his spear with both hands as he hoisted it upward, and a series of star acupoints lit up over the spear in rapid session, releasing dazzling white light that spilled through the gaps between Duan Tong''s fingers.


    Even so, Duan Tong still refused to release the spear, and he allowed himself to be hoisted up into the air by Zhu Ziyuan.


    Right at this moment, a vast expanse of crimson light suddenly erupted out the runes on Duan Tong''s arm, while plumes of dense mist surged out of the palm of his hand, drifting toward Zhu Ziyuan like a nest of snakes.


    Zhu Ziyuan''s brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he tightened his grip around the shaft of his spear, upon which a burst of tremendous starpower erupted out of its star acupoints in unison to dispel the oing plumes of mist.


    However, before he had a chance to do anything else, a loud crack suddenly rang out from the tip of his spear.


    He hurriedly cast his gaze toward the tip of the spear to discover that it seemed to have alreadypletely dposed. Not only had it turned a corrupted, ck color, it had shattered all the way from its tip to its shaft.


    Zhu Ziyuan was just about to dart back in retreat when he suddenly felt his entire body go stiff, and an rmed look appeared in his eyes.


    <em>Crap! This is Paralysis Death Poison! </em>


    All of a sudden, he felt as if his legs had been filled with lead, and even the slightest movement had be an extremely arduous feat.


    "I''ve already refined Paralysis Death Poison into my arm, so your fate was sealed from the very beginning!" Duan Tong roared as he threw a punch at Zhu Ziyuan, and his giant right fist came crashing down with tremendous power.


    An rmed look appeared on Zhu Ziqing''s face as she saw this unfold from afar, and in her moment of distraction, she was struck by a blow to the shoulder from Xuanyuan Xing. The bone armor on her shoulder was instantly shattered, and she was sent flying like a rucksack.


    A furious look appeared in Zhu Ziyuan''s eyes upon seeing this, and all of the profound acupoints on his body lit up as he somehow mustered up the strength required to swivel around and evade Duan Tong''s fist.


    ……


    In the heat of battle, no one had noticed that all of the yellow clouds in the sky were currently converging toward the hall from all directions, as if they had been herded here by some type of mystical force.


    Under the all-epassing nket of yellow clouds, the entire area in a radius of dozens of kilometers around the hall had been plunged intoplete darkness.


    Theyer of clouds in the sky was only continuing to grow thicker and denser, and they gradually formed a giant vortex, at the center of which was a ck hole that was looking down at the hall below like a giant eye.


    Thick arcs of lightning were shing incessantly within the vortex amid bursts of dull rumbling, and before long, the vortex had swelled to an enormous size.


    Furthermore, there was a burst of devastating power umting within it, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to erupt.


    ……


    Inside the hall, the four subsidiary city lords in the Weeping Blood Array were slumped over their stone statues, and all of them were trembling uncontrobly, while theirplexions had turned deathly pale.


    It seemed like all of them had already given up hope, and they weren''t even bothering to try and resist anymore.


    All of a sudden, Han Li silently appeared on one of the stone arch bridges leading deeper into the darkness, but instead of immediately revealing himself, he carefully concealed his own aura to observe the unfolding scene from afar.


    The first thing that he noticed was that something had clearly gone awry in the Weeping Blood Array, and that the four subsidiary city lords were all in terrible condition.


    Before he had a chance to analyze the situation, his attention was drawn to Lü Gang, who had just failed tond a sneak attack on Shao Ying, only for thetter to pounce on the opportunity to retaliate and pierce both sets of bone ws into his chest.


    Shao Ying then brought his hands apart, and Lü Gang''s entire body was torn into two amid a blood-curdling howl.


    Before his nascent soul had a chance to escape, it was also torn to shreds by a swipe from Shao Ying''s ws.


    Fang Chan let loose a thunderous roar upon seeing this, sending powerful soundwaves sweeping toward Shao Ying, but thetter merely darted away to the side to evade the attack before rushing directly at Shi Chuankong.