The Geared Immortal

Chapter 81

The whole line of defense is very chaotic when the elders and powerful cultivators arrived, the first cultivators in the area are already fighting against the beast horde. This time the level 5 beast kings have entered the fray, making the situation of the cultivator's worst. Then they noticed that a large number of beasts are being lured towards the eastern part of the town, and the stench of death is heavier there.

The beasts in that area are dying like flies, which also got the attention of Fen Hu. As a level 6 beast king, Fen Hu is nearing a breakthrough and with its sense is sharp enough to detect the fluctuations of large area traps, so it didn't take any action.

"What's the situation?" an elder asked a young cultivator who is standing while conjuring long-range fire spells towards the beasts.

"Huh! Oh, elders at last you arrived. It is almost hopeless; we are being overwhelmed by their numbers. Many have already retreated, but still many are fighting on the front lines."

The situation looks grim in the surface, but in truth, those who have died are just cannon fodders and lower level cultivators who don't have any choice but to participate in the war because of the lack of resources. With the arrival of the elders and other high-level cultivators with the geniuses from each school and sects, the surrounding cultivators are invigorated and their fighting spirit rose up.

"Haha! Attack! This is a once in a lifetime chance. Let's fill our spatial tools with beast core and their bodies! Haha." Suddenly a person loudly shouted firing up the greed hidden deep in each cultivator's heart.

This is their true goal in coming to this place, to gain the loot of hundreds of thousands of beast carcasses and cores. In the elder's minds, if they could gain a number of carcasses, they could gain a lot of benefits from it for their schools or sects. The cores can increase the power of each cultivator, while the carcasses can be refined into powerful artifacts. So they are willing to sacrifice just for this, plus now they have the Rapid Hemostatic Pill which could preserve their lives if they are careful enough.

And so after the high-level cultivators entered the fray, the tide of the battle was turned. The cultivators began to push back the beast. Plus they noticed that there are silver flashes that would always take out those level 4 beast kings, which greatly added to the demise of the beast horde.

Seeing its pawns being pushed back, the beast Fen Hu was angered. Then it gathered its power and roared loudly making the retreating and chaotic beast suddenly turned around and began to fight back.

"Serpent, please retreat for now! The beast tide is pushing forward you'll get cornered." A command from the coms entered Serpent's ears.

Hearing the command, she immediately activated the cloaking function of her gear and immediately dashed towards the walls. It didn't take for her to reach the walls but before she could reach it, she suddenly felt a bad premonition.

Swoosh!

Jumping sideways, Serpent was able to evade those incoming claws. But the sheer force of that strike distorted the air making her lose her balance and was thrown a couple of meters away. She tumbled to the ground helplessly hitting many trees in the process.

But with her aura activated, she was able to preserve her life and just suffer some minor bruises. She didn't dally and immediately lifted her gaze towards her previous position and found a horrifying creature.

It was the same beast that she saw fighting against three very powerful cultivators when they first engage against the beast tide. The beast she is looking at is a mixture of a tiger, a man, a lion, and a dragon. The speed of the creature is too fast that she didn't even saw it coming and have even found her even with her cloaking on.

But then she noticed that the beast seems to be looking for something and had a confused look on its face. She had a bad premonition and immediately turn off her coms and activated the mental shield. Luckily she did that as she immediately felt shivers run down her spine as a pressure suddenly envelops the area.

Serpent's option now is to stay low and to not make a sound or to run as fast as she could, but she chose the latter.

"Interesting… I could have sworn that thing is in this place. Hmmm... Never would have thought that a human can hide from me. It's just an ant thought." Fen Hu said after not finding Serpent's location.

The beast jumps high up in the air and suddenly vanished.

"Whew… that was scary. I thought I was going to die." Serpent heaves a heavy sigh of relief as she immediately checks her body.

Then she saw where the beast is going, it is directly going towards a large crowd of cultivators with powerful auras. Seeing the situation, she immediately turns on her coms and sent a message.

"This is Serpent reporting. There is a powerful beast approaching the front lines. Be advised, the beast is a level 6 beast." She said as she then moves towards the rendezvous location.

Hearing her report, Shin Jiao suddenly frowns. He suddenly felt uneasy deep within his heart.

"I think something bad is going to happen." Shin Jiao thought as his gaze turns towards the location of the elders and leaders of the towns of Dis where he just left.

He didn't want to go there and enter the battle with the cultivators as they would immediately discover his secret that way. But his mind is now full of worry though he didn't know why.

Fen Hu arrived in the location where it can feel powerful human auras congregate. And high up in the air, it can now see hundreds of infant soul cultivators and the three World Nascent cultivators he had faced before.

"Keke… We meet again! This aura, this magnificent aura of the strong! Bwahaha!" the beast Fen Hu shouted like a maniac.

Its expression looks like a lustful beast as it seems to be drowned in the euphoria and the feeling that it will be consuming the powerful being it is looking at.

But before Fen Hu could act, it discovers something odd. It seems that its movement is being restricted by some force. Then suddenly something dawned into it, and its complexion turned sour.

"You despicable and crafty humans! I will all tear you apart!" Fen Hu shouted as it tries to fly up and struggled.

But the circular trap array confined it to place. And no matter what it does it could not move even an inch, while on the ground patterns suddenly lit up connecting all the runes. This is the trap array that the elders asked Shin Jiao to make, and he quickly followed their request. But after working with the formation, Shin Jiao immediately left wanting to get back to his group.

With the reinforced and seemingly unlimited supply of energy from the cores and spiritual stones, the array held Fen Hu down.

"Haha! Now you will die beast, you and your army will be obliterated here!" Taili Xi shouted as he sent a wave of spiritual energy spear tip towards the defenseless Fen Hu.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

Fen Hu's body was suddenly riddled with wounds as it received multiple waves of attacks. The cultivators followed suit after seeing this, everyone in the area threw their magical artifacts attacking Fen Hu. But, it was ineffective as its body is very strong. Only those at the late-stages of the infant soul realm did some small damages to Fen Hu's thick fur. While Shanguan Lao and Zhao Long similarly attacked which further causes wounds to appear on Fen Hu's body.

Every cultivator in the area is elated with this and didn't stop attacking.

"It seems that you are going to die in here beast!" An elder shouted as he suddenly congeals pure lightning energy from his hands.

The chirping sound of lighting started to form from his extended hands grabs everyone's attention. Everyone stopped attacking as they look at him with awe and envy. Lightning attributed skills and having a lightning spiritual root is very rare, and it seems that this elder is also very powerful nearing the nascent realm. If that elder can advance then the town of Dis can gain another powerful protector.

Fen Hu, on the other hand, is looking at that middle-aged man who is forming lightning Qi with fear in its eyes.

Seeing the expression of the beast, the middle-aged elder from the town is elated. With the beast's expression, he knows that his attack would cause huge damage to it. When the lightning ball became huge, the man immediately released it.

Pzzt!!!

A ball made of pure lightning Qi flew towards the immobile Fen Hu, who had a look of horror on its expression.

Everyone looks in anticipation at the hopelessly struggling beast. As they watched silently in schadenfreude towards the incoming death of the beast, a sudden shout broke everyone's stupor.

"Nooo! Idiots!" someone suddenly shouted from afar.

Then the three most powerful cultivators felt that something is off and saw the sudden change on the beast's face, it was from horror into a smirk.

"Not good, we've been tricked!" shouted the three as they quickly moved away.

Shin Jiao was the one who shouted as he already foresaw what would happen. He knows the weakness of his array formation, and that is, it cannot handle a higher amount of electric current, which is the key in opening the array.

Then he immediately noticed a figure, wandering in the battlefield helping those fallen cultivators by giving them some healing pills, more concern on helping others than the danger around her. Seeing this, Shin Jiao didn't think twice as he ran with all his might towards her position.

At that time, the lightning ball hit Fen Hu, then something strange happened. The electricity from the lightning ball enters the beast's body and a lightning explosion spreads forth enveloping the surrounding cultivators, beast, elders, and even those who had moved earlier were not spared. No one expected this outcome, as now both beast and humans are paralyzed. They are all unable to move except for one, the beast Fen Hu.

"Keke… Ahhh… That was so exhilarating. It is my first time to trick humans and I feel great! Now all of you will die under my hand." Fen Hu shouted with a grin while stretching its arms and neck checking its movements, this means that it was already released from the trap.

"As if I'll let you do that!" a voice suddenly interrupted Fen Hu's advance.

Standing on the ground with a woman behind him, Shin Jiao, with half of his body scorched in black and a huge burn on his arm where a broken shield is on. Although the lightning blast was very powerful, yet Shin Jiao can absorb natural lightning energy. So he was not affected by its stun effect which should have lasted for around 5 minutes, or kill low-level cultivators and beast.

"What is this? You're just a puny mortal and were able to survive the Lightning blast?" Fen Hu shouted in disbelief.

"This puny mortal is going to take your life, beast!" Shin Jiao replied as a long thin sword appears on his hand, it is his upgraded sword, the nodachi.

Then Shin Jiao signaled Qin Lou to step back. She reluctantly moves but the anxiety in her face is clearly shown.

"Keke… Let's see what you got then." Fen Hu laughed as it suddenly dashed towards Shin Jiao with a wide grin on its face.

Reacting to its attack, Shin Jiao took a quick draw stance, then immediately attacks with his long nodachi. In a blink of an eye, a long gash can be seen on Fen Hu's chest pushing it back with a shock expression. But Shin Jiao didn't stop there, he didn't want the beast to get an upper hand.

He did some quick slashes drawing multiple shadow arcs towards the beast. Fen Hu, on the other hand, didn't mind the attack as it felt challenged so it sends counter-attacks giving Shin Jiao multiple claw wounds on his body. The non-stop ruthless classes between the two causes a huge wave of energy fluctuations which destroyed the surrounding areas. Those beasts and cultivators near them were immediately shredded into pieces as both seem to be in berserk not minding the growing wounds they received.

As the two continuously clashed Shin Jiao felt the spheres in his dantian being drained faster, as he uses fire energy on his sword, body strengthening energy for his body, and regeneration. It didn't take long for his sphere to be drained. Both of them now looks like creatures made of blood as their bodies are riddled with all kinds of wounds.

Then Shin Jiao suddenly saw something that made his heart jump.

It was because, in the corner of his eyes, a very familiar figure is actually advancing behind the beast Fen Hu.

Cherry Lao is feeling anger and anxiety right now. She couldn't take it anymore upon seeing the bloody figure of Shin Jiao. She actually just arrived in this place as she was delayed by the old woman who advised her to stay in the town. But she felt a little unsettled upon seeing Shin Jiao go into battle.

Now she wanted to sneak attack the beast who hurt him. But her action was seen through by Fen Hu who suddenly sent a few wind blades towards her. This made Cherry Lao's face paled in horror, she didn't expect to be attacked as she should be the one doing the sneak attack.

Although afraid, Cherry Lao is not a weak cultivator, and with quick-thinking, she immediately draws out a shield and a few protection talismans. She plans to use these to resist the attack from Fen Hu. But, it is clear that she would be sliced into many pieces even if she exhausts all the spiritual Qi and artifacts in her body. Because of the fact that a gold core cultivator could not contend with a level 6 beast.

But before she would be hurt Shin Jiao reached her position and was only able to push her to the side sending her near Qin Lou's side. And with her gone, Shin Jiao was the one who received the brunt of the attack, but thanks to his strong physique the wound was not deep.

"Humans are really too…" Fen Hu sneered but before it could finish its words, it noticed something different on the battlefield and on its body.

It seems that all the stunned beasts have been killed off by something or someone, and its body is actually oozing with poison. It didn't understand everything fully even after the dust in the area slowly settled down.

…

The scorching heat of the battlefield, and smell of rusty iron and other pungent burnt odor permeated the air. Not too far from this death-filled zone now stood the two figures of Shin Jiao and Fen Hu, where both are riddled with wounds all over their bodies. The contrasting difference between their heights can make one feel an unfair fight. But the giant beast on the other side would dispute this likewise, as it has received far grievous wounds than the young human standing not too far from it.

They have been fighting for a while now and each seems to be equal to the other. In this fight what Shin Jiao lacks in strength, he compensated with killer techniques, making the beast suffer a lot of fatal wounds all over its body.

"I should never have underestimated you… a despicable human!" the beast Fen Hu shouted as it now feels its life gradually ebbing away, the poison is actually corroding its core.

Unknown to him Shin Jiao himself is already dead tired to even move as he has already exhausted almost all of his power and inside his dantian, only a single full sphere is left. What Shin Jiao fear is if the beast will attack once more then he had no choice but to use it and hope that the energy in that sphere is enough to end the beast's life.

The cultivators around them have already recovered from their stunned state, but are afraid to enter the battle as they had already experienced the fearsome power of the beast. But what made everyone realized is that the young man facing the beast is actually a mere mortal without any cultivation aura fluctuation. Everyone could not make any heads or tails about the situation as they just stood there watching and waiting for the outcome of the final battle between the fearsome beast and a very powerful mortal man.

Then all of a sudden what Shin Jiao feared came true, Fen Hu suddenly spreads its wings. Its gaze suddenly turns to an area where two young women stood rooted on the ground. Their eyes are already filled with tears as they are focused on the wounded young man standing in a distance protecting them. Qin Lou could not forgive herself if something will happen to Shin Jiao as it was her fault that he came to that situation while Cherry Lao is also filled with regret for becoming a hindrance.

They didn't even notice the flying creature rushing towards them both. But Shin Jiao forces himself to move his aching body, with his quickest speed. Luckily he was able to rush forward and arrive in front of the two women before Fen Hu.

Then Shin Jiao suddenly noticed the beast's sinister smile and realized that he was tricked. The beast seems to realize that he treasures the two female humans, and feint an attack towards them. But its true goal is him whom it despises for ruining its plan and ultimately will be ending its life.

The large claws of Fen Hu grab Shin Jiao and it flew like a rocket high up in the sky. It already had a plan in its mind before it dies as it flew straight high up.

"Beast, you can struggle all you want, but in the end, you're still dead!" Shin Jiao shouted as the long nodachi disappear and was changed into a submachine gun.

Upon seeing this, the beast immediately grabs Shin Jiao's arm and both began to wrestle. While trying to point the nose of the rifle to Fen Hu, Shin Jiao suddenly realized something and that is the air around them is getting colder and thinner. With Shin Jiao's current power he is actually able to hold his breath for hours or even days if he wanted to. But right now his eyes are filled with horror, as it seems that the beast is already burning its life essence to continuously fly high up in the sky.

Weakness suddenly enters both their bodies as it seems that they reached a part of the planet where it is impossible to exit the gravity field. This is not what Shin Jiao fear, what he fear right now is the sinister smile of the beast Fen Hu.

"Goodbye human! See you in hell." Fen Hu shouted as it closes its eyes.

Luckily Shin Jiao has already prepared for this as he had activated his boots function. But then before he can put up a force shield his eyes went wide in disbelief.

BOOM!!!