Chương 1222: Chapter 13: Artifact Manifestation

"Roar!" The beast let out a gut-wrenching howl upon its birth. The sound waves rolled across the sky like a physical tide; every cultivator below the Foundation Establishment stage turned deathly pale, their bodies swaying as they stared at the cyclopean horror with primal terror.

"Artifact Manifestation... Tiandaozi is truly putting his life on the line!"

"Look at the toxic miasma clinging to its hide, that singular, baleful eye... it is the likeness of the Liao, the ancient venom-beast. Its power is catastrophic."

"If he doesn't gamble everything now, his disciples will be butchered to the last man. The Qingyan Sect would effectively cease to exist." Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi exchanged a grim, wary look. The fact that Ancestor Ming Diao had yet to show himself added a layer of gnawing anxiety to their hearts.

"Go!" Faced with the Artifact Manifestation, neither elder dared to hold back. They pointed their fingers in unison. Qingxiaozi's vulture-beak treasure let out a piercing, metallic shriek. Under the watchful eyes of the masses, it transformed into a gargantuan, black-feathered raptor with a wingspan of nearly a hundred feet. Its eyes were chips of cold obsidian, radiating a predatory malice that marked it as a creature of ancient slaughter.

Meanwhile, the heat radiating from Dan Chenzi's alchemical cauldron intensified until it was blinding. A burst of milky-white flame erupted, coalescing into a majestic avian with fiery red plumage and a regal phoenix-crest. As it took form, a wave of scorching heat washed over the battlefield, causing the very air to shimmer and distort. Three monstrous entities now loomed in the sky, snarling and roaring at one another. The sheer pressure of their clashing auras sent tremors through the souls of everyone watching.

"Strike!" Tiandaozi swept his hand forward. The Liao beast unhinged its massive jaw, spewing a torrent of grey, corrosive miasma that dissolved the very clouds in its path. Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi focused their wills, commanding their manifested beasts to meet the charge. The three titans collided in the sky, a chaotic melee of claws, fire, and poison. It was a scene of primordial carnage, as if the world had been cast back into the age of desolation where ancient behemoths fought for dominion.

"Roar!" Amidst the brutal exchange, the Liao—despite facing two opponents at once—suddenly let out a mournful, high-pitched wail. A violent, unstable surge of spiritual energy began to pulse from its core.

"Not good! Junior Brother, withdraw your treasure!" Qingxiaozi's heart skipped a beat, his face darkening instantly. Dan Chenzi's expression turned equally grim, but with their artifacts locked in such close proximity, a clean retreat was impossible. Boom! Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The Liao beast threw its head back in a final, agonizing roar. Its singular eye pulsed with pain before its body shattered.

The explosion of its self-detonation was a cataclysmic shockwave that swept across the heavens. The two opposing manifestations shrieked in pain as the blast tore through them, their radiant glows dimming instantly as they were flung backward. Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi turned pale, their bodies recoiling as they fought to stabilize their shaken spirits. Tiandaozi's condition was even worse.

Self-detonating a soul-linked artifact was a desperate move; though he used a secret technique to mitigate the backlash, his face flushed a violent red before turning deathly white. He repeated this cycle three times before his complexion settled, but a thin, dark trail of blood at the corner of his mouth betrayed the internal damage he had sustained. But the explosion had served its purpose. With the two elders pushed back, Tiandaozi's eyes locked onto the burly man.

A tidal wave of murderous intent erupted from him.

"Die!" With a thunderous roar, Tiandaozi transformed into a streak of blinding light. His aura billowed like a storm as he descended with the crushing weight of a falling mountain.

"No!" Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi cried out in unison, realizing the trap too late. Tiandaozi had sacrificed his treasure just to create this window of opportunity. Their faces twisted in horror. They knew all too well that the burly man was the key to their momentum; if he fell, the battle would devolve into a pyrrhic victory at best. But it was too late. A Golden Core master moving at full tilt could cover hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye.

By the time they could move, Tiandaozi was less than a hundred meters above the stranger's head.

"Tiandaozi destroyed his own treasure just to kill this man... he is truly resolute."

"He had no choice. If that man lived, the Qingyan Foundation Establishment core would be wiped out."

"The stranger is a dead man. If the Qingyan Sect can stabilize now, this becomes a war of attrition once more."

"A pity... he was a man of character and strength. To die like this is a waste." The spectators looked on with pity, already viewing the burly man as a corpse.

"Fellow Daoist, flee!"

"Watch out!"

"Despicable Tiandaozi! To ambush a junior... you have no shame!" the Xuanxiao cultivators screamed.

"Kill him! Sect Master, grind his soul to dust!"

"Finally! With him gone, I can finally breathe again without looking over my shoulder!"

"Kill him, and then we slaughter the Xuanxiao scum!" the Qingyan disciples cheered. At that moment, no one believed the man had a prayer of survival. Yet, unnoticed by the crowd, a sharp, calculating glint flashed in the burly man's eyes. His pupils, black as ink and bright as stars, remained unnervingly calm. It was only when he looked up that he allowed a mask of sheer terror to take hold. He shrieked at the top of his lungs: "Starry Sky Demonic Domain Escape!"

As he screamed, he bit his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of essence blood into the air. The blood didn't fall; it hung suspended, erupting into a thick, crimson mist that swallowed him whole. In a flash of bloody light, the man vanished. He reappeared nearly a thousand feet away, looking back with a face full of lingering horror.

"Hmph! A desperate life-saving technique? It won't save you today!" Tiandaozi paused for a fraction of a second, surprised, before letting out a cold snort. His form blurred as he gave chase with relentless speed.

"Escape!" The man's eyes were wide with 'panic.' Without a moment's hesitation, he spat out another mouthful of blood, flickering away another thousand feet in a burst of crimson light.

"I want to see how much blood you have to burn!" Tiandaozi roared, his Divine Sense locking onto the man like an iron shackle as he pursued him further and further from the main battlefield.

"Hold on, little friend! We are coming!" Qingxiaozi and Dan Chenzi pushed their speed to the limit, trailing behind. In the span of a few heartbeats, the four of them had streaked nearly ten thousand feet away from the sect gates, leaving the stunned armies behind. The burly man reappeared once more, his face now ghostly pale, his breathing ragged and shallow. He looked utterly broken, his eyes filled with a desperate, wide-eyed hopelessness as he watched the vengeful Sect Master close the distance.

To any observer, he was a cornered animal, gasping his final breaths.