Chapter 1416: The Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab's Supernatural Ability

Since the Sky-Eyed Butterfly could assist in analyzing the array, Qin Sang had taken the lead, positioned to respond in time to shifts in the Thousand Buddha Wall and the crimson flame force.

He had volunteered for the role, and Valley Master Mu and the others were glad enough to let him have it.

Before the wall, Qin Sang entered the fissure first, his figure all but dissolving into the Buddha light and crimson flame qi. Valley Master Mu followed a step behind, guiding the Snake Spear to clear the path under Qin Sang's direction. Daoists Qi and Wang brought up the rear, holding off the winds.

It was at that moment that the Chaotic Devil Elder and Precept-Keeping Sage, having lain in wait so long, finally struck.

The air froze. Qin Sang sensed it first, and his thunderous shout sent a jolt through the other three, their expressions changing as one.

An instant later Valley Master Mu's own spiritual sense caught the anomaly, but he was still a step behind the Sky-Eyed Butterfly. Daoists Qi and Wang were left wholly bewildered.

Because they had harbored suspicions about the Precept-Keeping Sage from the outset, they had never relaxed their guard since entering the array, probing by every means available against anyone who might mean them harm.

This spiritual array was highly unusual, most likely a secret transmission of a Buddhist sect. Not only they but very likely the whole of the North Sea's immortal cultivators could count on one hand those who had even heard of such a thing.

Within an array like this, the odds of someone tailing them were vanishingly small. Having confirmed there was nothing amiss, they had devoted the bulk of their attention to unraveling it.

Never had they imagined that someone could borrow the array's own power to slip past their senses!

At that same moment, a soft murmur of surprise sounded from the void.

Aided by the Nine-Precept Ring, the Chaotic Devil Elder and Precept-Keeping Sage had drawn near in silence on the strength of the array itself. Hearing Qin Sang's shout, the elder's murky eyes rolled slightly and came to rest on him, a sharp gleam flashing in their depths.

The Precept-Keeping Sage grew tense. They had been exposed sooner than anticipated! They had taken precautions, yet it seemed they had still underestimated their opponents' means of detection.

The original plan had been to close in quietly while Qin Sang's group passed through the fissure with all their energies bent on withstanding the Buddha light and crimson flames, then strike without warning and dispose of them with ease.

Who would ever have expected a great cultivator to stoop to ambush, with so little regard for propriety?

The plan had changed.

The Chaotic Devil Elder's expression did not so much as ripple, and there was not a trace of haste in him as he drove the black bamboo staff downward. There was no longer any need for concealment.

Poof!

The winds convulsed. A shaft of black light shot out like a loose arrow, and the overwhelming aura of a great cultivator revealed itself without reservation.

Late-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator. The Chaotic Devil Elder! The name flashed through Qin Sang's mind. The most renowned great cultivator in all of Boundless Sea, the Chaotic Devil Elder!

It had been only a short while since Qin Sang had learned of the man's illustrious reputation at the Nine-Star Guild, and he had never expected to meet him so soon.

Chaotic Devil Island lay a great distance from Ethereal Sea. That the phenomenon there had drawn the elder's notice did not surprise Qin Sang in the slightest. The very reason they had rushed to force the array was fear that experts like him would appear and spoil everything. He simply had not expected the man to arrive this fast!

Crack! A muffled report rang out.

To their horror, Daoists Qi and Wang saw the light shield conjured by the Thousand-Pattern Shell pierced clean through by a bizarre black bamboo staff.

Qin Sang's shout was still echoing in their minds. They had been directing the Thousand-Pattern Shell against the winds and had never anticipated an ambush here.

The Chaotic Devil Elder moved far too quickly. Even with Qin Sang's warning, they could not turn the shell's true body around in time to meet the staff. The light shield the astra had conjured now seemed pitifully thin, and it was torn open on the spot.

Still, Daoists Qi and Wang were Spiritual Infant cultivators after all, and terror did not cloud their judgment. Daoist Qi hurriedly drove his spiritual sword forward.

What followed made his eyes split with rage, the whites flooding crimson in an instant.

"Dodge!"

Poof! His roar and a muffled impact sounded together.

At the very moment the staff broke through the Thousand-Pattern Shell, a mass of golden light erupted. Looking closely, it proved to be a string of prayer beads that had been concealed behind the staff, seizing the opening to strike.

There were nine beads, their surfaces rough and pitted as though refined from the pits of some spiritual fruit. Ugly things, yet a Buddhist treasure all the same, and the force they radiated was of the utmost hardness and strength, savage beyond compare.

Their target was Daoist Wang, squarely between the shoulders!

The beads were the Precept-Keeping Sage's treasure, and his coordination with the Chaotic Devil Elder was exquisite. The breach they had chosen was the weakest cultivator among the four.

She had no time whatsoever to react. The beads struck her square in the back, shattering every bone. Blood sprayed from her mouth, her aura collapsed in an instant, and the light went out of her eyes before the naked eye could follow it.

Then radiance flashed at the crown of her head and her Spiritual Infant leapt free, looking about in a daze. Before she even understood what manner of opponent she faced, she watched her own ruined body be carried by the string of beads and hurled at Daoist Qi.

The Precept-Keeping Sage paid her Spiritual Infant no attention at all and went straight for Daoist Qi instead. Her situation, however, was more perilous than her companion's.

The Chaotic Devil Elder had clearly foreseen this moment. Having broken through the Thousand-Pattern Shell, the black bamboo staff drove straight for the crown of her head.

A knot of black light, condensed and refusing to disperse, gathered at its tip, and it was now a hair's breadth from her Spiritual Infant!

Her Spiritual Infant was about to be blasted apart, with no time even to teleport.

Yet the Chaotic Devil Elder's true target had never been her. A mere early-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator was not worth his regard. The ones for whom he had schemed so carefully, laying all these plans, were Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu.

Whoosh! The staff tore through the air, sweeping past as though the strike had been an afterthought, and without sparing Daoists Qi or Wang so much as a glance the elder hurtled straight at Qin Sang and Valley Master Mu.

At that instant Qin Sang had only just entered the fissure, with the crimson and golden light pressing in from both sides. The Buddha light and crimson flame qi were closing on him, and he was caught between advance and retreat.

The Chaotic Devil Elder's timing had been precise to the extreme.

Fortunately Valley Master Mu had fallen a step behind, and Qin Sang had detected the elder's approach early enough to buy them precious time.

Battle-hardened as he was, Valley Master Mu understood from the warning that the enemy could only be striking from behind, which meant the ones in gravest danger were not himself and Qin Sang but Daoists Qi and Wang.

Yet accurate as his judgment was, he could not prevent the destruction of her body.

Seeing his companion's desperate straits, his face filled with shock and fury. Blue light flashed at his dantian and the Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab glided forth.

Wherever it passed, a pool of water seemed to well up out of empty space. It hovered before him, its sword-like tail lashing abruptly as dense blue light erupted and pointed toward her Spiritual Infant across the distance.

The next moment, a wall of blue light materialized around her Spiritual Infant out of nowhere, enclosing her like a bubble.

Bang! In that same instant the staff swept in.

The Tide-Drawing Horseshoe Crab gave a mournful cry as the bubble shattered under the blow, fragments whirling in every direction, but it had bought her the chance to escape.

Terror written across her face, she instinctively teleported dozens of zhang away, finally clearing the staff's shockwave and surviving by the narrowest margin.

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