Free Web NovelChapter 309: Chapter 42: Divine Bird Peacock
But, as if in response to Su Zhou’s words, the crimson pillar of light stopped reaching for the sky. It retracted, falling back down and transforming into countless streaks of light, like the ribs of an umbrella. They crashed to the ground, forming an enormous, hemispherical shield that firmly protected the Sealing Hall at its center. The shield enveloped everything within a radius of several kilometers, including the metallic-looking rocky mountains and all that lay within them.
This Breaking Array, created by sacrificing the lives of over a hundred thousand of the Otherworld’s Slave Species, was inherently capable of defending the teleportation point. It would last long enough for the channel between the two worlds to stabilize and become indestructible.
Su Zhou and his party, having rushed to the side of the translucent, black-and-red shield as quickly as possible, naturally wasted no time on idle talk.
Faced with the shield, their first instinct was to concentrate their power and try to blast a hole in the Great Array before anything else.
"My Spiritual Power recovers quickly. I’ll give it a try first."
RUMBLE! Thunder cracked as bluish-green electrical currents gathered, arcing wildly in all directions. Spiritual Power surged into the air, and one could even faintly see tiny Thunderbolts flashing through it.
The moisture in Su Zhou’s body was vaporized by the violent Thunder Light he was channeling, causing a large cloud of white steam to rise above his head.
But after Su Zhou held his breath and focused, gathering most of his Spiritual Power to form a Thunder Spear so powerful that even the Demon Emperor’s Dragon Horn would struggle to withstand it, the result of the blast—which tore through the air with a piercing shriek—was less than satisfactory.
BOOM!
The bluish-green Thunder Light left a lingering afterimage in the eyes of everyone watching. Amidst the blinding flash, concentric shockwaves, accompanied by the intense heat of the Thunderbolt, obliterated all the surrounding plants and debris.
However, the black-and-red shield was abnormally sturdy. Even when struck by Su Zhou’s Thunder Spear—an attack that could have electrocuted a defenseless Golden-winged Bird to within an inch of its life, or perhaps even killed it outright with a bit of luck—the shield merely warped and shuddered. A small hole, barely large enough to fit a fist through, appeared for a moment before rapidly healing shut within seconds.
"This Array is so tough."
Seeing that what could be considered the peak of his current Thunder Technique had failed to leave a mark, Su Zhou couldn’t help but frown. The man and bird at his side were also at a loss. Bai Canglang immediately abandoned the idea of firing one of his special bullets; his Attack Power was nowhere near that of Su Zhou’s Thunder Spear, and concentrating all his Spiritual Power would just be a waste of effort.
The same was true for Garuda. A full-powered strike in its Demon True Body would likely still be a notch below Su Zhou’s charged attack, not to mention it hadn’t even recovered half of its Spiritual Power yet.
But while the trio was stumped, the beings on the side of the Beast God Realm were, in fact, even more shocked.
"How is this member of the Dragon Race’s power output so high?! He actually managed to slightly pierce the Great Array?!"
As the massive black hole in the hall slowly expanded, the amount of power that could be transmitted through it grew, and the clear cry of a Peacock became more distinct, tinged with a hint of bewilderment. "Even for a practitioner of the Thunder Marsh Way who also cultivates Thunder Techniques, it should be impossible to have this kind of power output at the General Tier..."
The Beast God Realm’s Tier system was similar to that of the ancient Demon God lineage, consisting of the Tiers ’Soldier,’ ’General,’ ’King,’ and ’God,’ with the highest realm being that of ’Great Saint.’ The Extraordinary Realm was the advancement to Demon General; one Tier higher was the Demon King, the Overlord of a race. However, naturally Extraordinary races like the Dragon Race and Phoenix Race were different. Their kings were at the level of a Demon God.
Of course, with Spiritual Qi having waned and only recently recovered, there were no High Tier beings in the Beast God Realm today. Even the king of a race was merely at the Extraordinary Tier. Thus, seeing Su Zhou’s power output, the Peacock couldn’t help but be astonished. ’If he has this kind of power, then Garuda’s loss wasn’t unjust. I underestimated it. After all, even a natural counter is only effective between those of the same Tier. For it to last so long against an Alien Species like this is quite impressive.’
’But running into me is just your bad luck.’
As this thought crossed its mind, two Colorful Feathers, glowing with a five-colored luster, faintly lit up on the other side of the massive black hole. They cycled endlessly through the colors of green, yellow, red, black, and white, exuding a profound and boundless aura. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
It wasn’t only the people inside the Secret Realm who reacted. Outside, around the Zhengguo ruins-exploration encampment, which was now locked out of the Secret Realm, several fully armed military units had already arrived.
"Anomalous spatio-temporal reaction detected inside the Kunlun Secret Realm. It’s almost certainly a channel to an Otherworld."
The voice, which could have been the Artifice Sage himself or an AI imitating him, echoed in the conference hall. All the decision-makers present had grim expressions, their brows furrowed. "An invasion from an Otherworld? I never thought things would escalate this seriously, this fast. What’s the situation? When can we open the passage to the Secret Realm?"
"We’re not sure."
The one who replied was the Artisan Saint. He was observing the data from the Daoist Discipline Bureau as they worked to crack the Space-Time Sect, but from his expression, it was clear that progress was not going smoothly. "The spatio-temporal data within the Secret Realm is fluctuating in a highly complex manner. We can’t open a stable Teleportation Sect. However, give me an hour. Just teleporting the people inside out shouldn’t be a problem."
"As long as we can get our people out, that’s all that matters. We’ll cede the Secret Realm to them for now. When the Secret Realm Gate opens again, if there’s truly no other way to retake it... well, worst-case scenario, we’ll just use a hydrogen bomb."
The speaker was the Military Saint, who had hurried over—a bald, elderly man with snow-white eyebrows. Seated beside him was the equally ancient Military Saint. The two were respectively responsible for strategic weapons and special strike forces, and for conventional combat forces. The moment he spoke, his words perfectly reflected his domain.
