Chapter 584 - 584: An Extremely Tyrannical Slash

"Divine Strike? You mean Summoning the Divine Possession? But isn't that just a con artist's trick?" Hao Li said with a frown, not understanding why Elder Shan was reacting with such panic.

Elder Shan was clearly agitated, speaking in a rapid-fire voice. "The Divine Striking Skill, when used by an ordinary person, is indeed a trick with no effect whatsoever. But Yanbei Village is no ordinary person—he's a Cultivator in the Qi Listening Realm, capable of communing with the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi! When he uses the Divine Striking Skill, he can truly summon a sliver of divine consciousness left behind in the cosmos by ancient sages, causing his power to skyrocket!"

Hearing this, everyone gasped in unison.

They were already on the back foot. If Yanbei Village really managed to do what Elder Shan said—successfully complete the Summoning the Divine Possession and drastically increase his power—then how could they possibly fight? It would be a one-way ticket to death!

"Stop him!"

Everyone roared in unison, wanting to charge forward and interrupt Yanbei Village's ritual. But Queshichao, Pheasant, and Chicken Milk coordinated with masterful skill, forming an impenetrable defensive net that blocked them completely, making it impossible to get anywhere near Yanbei Village.

Their assault having failed, Ying Ji panted heavily and said, "We need to find a way to create an opening in their defense! If there's a flaw, I can interrupt Yanbei Village's ritual!"

"Alright, leave it to us!" Zhao Yuan responded. He raised his hands, activating a Five Ghosts Binding Talisman and a Thunder Light Talisman at the same time.

Five small ghosts materialized from thin air and pounced on Queshichao, Pheasant, and Chicken Milk, grabbing their heads and dragging their legs, holding them fast. Meanwhile, the lightning drawn by the Thunder Light Talisman came crashing down on their heads with a series of THUNDEROUS ROARS!

At the same time, Hao Li, Cheng Haoyu, and the Bone Woman coordinated their movements to launch their fiercest wave of attacks yet!

Elder Shan and Yue Tianchi, though half a beat slow due to their lack of synergy, were exceptionally powerful. Their attacks, launched later, arrived first, perfectly synchronizing with Hao Li's group to form a pincer assault!

In that instant, Sword Light flashed, spear tips danced dazzlingly, and the Fist Wind howled. Combined with the power of the Talismans, the assault wasn't enough to injure Queshichao and his two companions, but it threw them into disarray. A tiny crack appeared in their defensive net!

"Damn it!" The faces of Queshichao and his cohorts changed drastically. They scrambled to patch the hole, but it was too late.

Ying Ji had been waiting for this exact opportunity. How could she possibly let it slip away?

The moment the opening appeared, she flicked her wrist and threw out an Insect Cage.

As the Insect Cage flew through the air, a scalp-tingling drone emanated from within. Over a hundred finger-sized, jet-black wasps burst forth—they were none other than Ying Ji's painstakingly cultivated and powerful Gu Insects: the Bloodthirsty Bees!

These Bloodthirsty Bees had bodies as hard as stone; even a Cultivator couldn't kill them easily. Furthermore, not only were they incredibly fast, but their mandibles were lined with sharp, jagged teeth capable of biting a chunk out of solid rock. And that wasn't even mentioning the stingers on their tails—the venom was so potent that a single sting could kill an elephant in moments!

However, raising and controlling the Bloodthirsty Bees was extremely difficult. Every time she commanded them, Ying Ji had to feed them with her own blood—and a significant amount at that, which would leave her weakened for a long time. For this reason, she would never use the Bloodthirsty Bees unless the situation was truly desperate.

And now, the situation was truly desperate.

In the blink of an eye, the swarm of over a hundred Bloodthirsty Bees was upon Yanbei Village.

"It worked!" Seeing Yanbei Village still trembling violently with his eyes shut, showing no other reaction, Ying Ji cried out in excitement. "Haha! Under the assault of my Bloodthirsty Bees, even a master of the Qi Listening Realm is done for!"

Zhao Yuan also let out a sigh of relief.

But in the next second, his heart leaped into his throat again.

He had seen it clearly. Just as the Bloodthirsty Bees were about to swarm Yanbei Village's face, the man's eyes snapped open, and his body stopped trembling.

A torrential killing intent erupted from Yanbei Village's body, crashing down on Zhao Yuan and the others like a landslide and a tsunami, pressing down on them so hard they could barely breathe.

This was definitely not a killing intent that a master of the Qi Listening Realm could possibly possess!

Zhao Yuan's expression changed dramatically. "Oh no," he yelled, "Yanbei Village succeeded with the divine possession!"

Ying Ji forced herself to remain calm. "It doesn't matter if he succeeded. My Bloodthirsty Bees are already on his face. He's a dead man!"

The moment the words left her mouth, the Bloodthirsty Bees swarming Yanbei Village's face dropped from the air like rain.

All one hundred-plus Bloodthirsty Bees were dead. Not a single one survived. Yanbei Village, on the other hand, was completely unscathed.

"How can this be?" Ying Ji cried out, unable to believe her eyes.

'My Bloodthirsty Bees are impervious to blades and immune to fire and water,' she thought. 'How could they all just drop dead in an instant?'

'What in the world did Yanbei Village do to them?'

Only Zhao Yuan and Elder Shan had figured it out.

"Such terrifying killing intent... It can actually manifest physically and slaughter the Bloodthirsty Bees," Zhao Yuan said grimly, his expression incredibly grave.

Ying Ji's Bloodthirsty Bees had been shredded by thousands of invisible blades formed from Yanbei Village's killing intent!

'If his killing intent alone is this powerful, how terrifying will he be when he actually starts to fight?'

"You said I was a dead man?" Yanbei Village stared at Ying Ji, his voice as cold as ice. "Hmph. You mere mortals dare to spout such nonsense. Watch as I shatter you all with a single strike!"

He extended his hand, seizing Guan Gong's Great Saber. He raised it high, gathering his power.

The air itself seemed to crackle with deafening peals of thunder, causing everyone's faces to pale.

"Face my blade!" With a piercing shriek, Yanbei Village brought the saber down in a devastating arc.

The strike was as breathtakingly beautiful as it was tyrannical. The immense Sword Qi radiating from it caused a sharp pain to lance through everyone, making them feel as if they were about to be cleaved in two.

"Dodge!" Zhao Yuan screamed. His instincts told him this strike could not be blocked—they had to evade it, with everything they had!

Ying Ji's face went white with terror at the sight of the attack. She frantically pulled the Raccoon Dog Hide from her Storage Ring Space once more, unfurling it as she yelled, "Get behind me!"

Everyone scrambled for cover behind it, hoping the Raccoon Dog Hide could block the thunderous strike just as it had blocked the bullets before.

BOOM!

The baleful Sword Light slammed heavily into the Raccoon Dog Hide.

A scene that no one could have predicted unfolded.

The incredibly durable Raccoon Dog Hide, which had seemed indestructible, failed to block the strike. It was sliced clean in two!

"How is that possible?!" Everyone was aghast. None of them could have imagined that the Raccoon Dog Hide—capable of stopping bullets and numerous magical attacks—would be unable to withstand this single strike from Yanbei Village.

The baleful Sword Light didn't stop. It continued its path toward the group, with Ying Ji directly in its way.

"Die!"

Guan Gong's Great Saber, crackling with the force of a thunderbolt, struck Ying Ji. The baleful Sword Light it unleashed then swept toward Zhao Yuan and the others!

BOOM!

Everyone was sent flying by the impossibly ferocious strike, their fates unknown.