Cultivation is just so scientific! Chapter 1690 - 891: Cavern Battle (Part 2)

A cold dread seized Cultivator Dai Biao's heart as he comprehended the meaning behind Peak Great Cultivator Jiao Xian’s declaration.

He stole a quick glance toward the exit, realizing that reaching it required passing right by Jiao Xian’s position.

Confidence eluded him in piercing Jiao Xian’s barrier; he knew all too well the Peak Great Cultivator’s fearsome battle strength.

His eyes returned to the Half-step Great Power, whose state had worsened pitifully, aura swirling in turmoil while energies inside the Grotto Heaven raged without cease.

Teeth clenched tight, he saw assaulting the Half-step Great Power as his sole path forward. Successfully slaying it might delight Jiao Xian enough to spare his life.

Entrusting his fate to Jiao Xian was a bitter pill, yet the dire straits offered no better alternative.

Cultivator Dai Biao surged spiritual power through his veins, setting his flying sword ablaze, and launched it slicing toward the Half-step Great Power.

Aware of the Half-step Great Power’s indomitable physique, he bypassed the body itself, targeting the twisted energy nexus hovering beyond it.

Uncertain of what that energy cluster signified, his gut screamed that striking it would yield results.

The Half-step Great Power couldn’t counter Cultivator Dai Biao’s strike, for taming the Grotto Heaven’s energies demanded his full focus.

Letting those energies run wild would shatter his lifetime of cultivation and snuff out his Great Power ambitions.

He clung to a fragile spark of hope. Meager as it was, he’d weathered such crises before and refused to yield.

Suddenly, a flying sword—pathetically feeble in his view—smashed into the energy node he struggled to command.

With a "boom", the energy node burst apart.

Chaos erupted across the Grotto Heaven’s energies; the heaven-earth barrier dissolved, ground objects ripped to shreds by surging power, and sky-darkening clouds scattered, reverting to pristine energy.

The Half-step Great Power vomited blood, body wounds forgotten, staring hollow-eyed at the Grotto Heaven’s wreckage.

Control over the Grotto Heaven had slipped away, leaving his flesh and Nascent Soul battered beyond repair.

Even unscathed, the Grotto Heaven’s loss would drain his vitality in a flash, withering him to death.

Injuries and swift decay now haunted him, his remaining days counted in mere moments.

"I will kill you all!" The Half-step Great Power unleashed a beastly roar utterly inhuman.

In a blink, his form flickered away, rematerializing before Cultivator Dai Biao.

Clamping both shoulders with crushing grip, raw power rent Cultivator Dai Biao’s body asunder.

Cultivator Dai Biao’s Nascent Soul materialized, desperate to escape, only for the Half-step Great Power to chomp it down, converting it to energy that fused into the Grotto Heaven.

Jiao Xian whipped his hand forth; a Fourth Grade Top Shield sprang up as he unleashed a protective incantation, simultaneously igniting the Great Ability Life-saving Jade Talisman clutched in his grasp.

This Great Ability Life-saving Jade Talisman embodied a scarce Great Power-tier defense, layering an unbreakable barrier of safety.

That Great Ability Life-saving Jade Talisman fueled his daring; it alone justified braving the Half-step Great Power’s Grotto Heaven.

Having struck down Cultivator Dai Biao, the Half-step Great Power had sacrificed a chunk of his own flesh.

No backlash from Cultivator Dai Biao—far too feeble for that—had caused it; rather, wrenching his body’s scant energies by force did.

Battered by wounds and hurtling toward old age, the Half-step Great Power invoked a forbidden art, funneling harm and senescence into his legs. True halt it offered none, merely a brief reprieve.

The toll was staggering—soul-shredding torment and body-searing agony. Absent burning grudge against these trespassing Great Cultivators, he’d never stoop so low.

His frame blinked out once more, making Jiao Xian go rigid as the Half-step Great Power materialized at his side.

Jiao Xian couldn’t fathom why the Half-step Great Power shunned cultivator arts for savage brawling.

Truth was, energy remained beyond his grasp. Space Movement inside the Grotto Heaven stemmed solely from his innate bond with it.

Typically a trivial feat within his domain, it now exacted more than tenfold the energy toll.

Yet the Half-step Great Power scorned the expense; stripped of all else, exterminating these intruders defined his final purpose.

His fist hammered the Fourth Grade Top Shield, which shrieked as though on the verge of shattering.

Jiao Xian nearly spat out blood; the Half-step Great Power's fist had almost demolished his shield, scattering a large part of its spiritual imprint.

It was the first time he grasped how potent pure physical strikes could truly be.

That immense physical might of the Half-step Great Power came not solely from his sturdy frame but also since this was his personal Grotto Heaven.

Although the Grotto Heaven's energy roiled in disorder, no longer supplying him with power, their bond remained partially intact, enabling minor alterations to its rules.

Altering just a few rules barely affected other Half-step Great Powers, yet it imposed crushing suppression on Great Cultivators yet to enter the Half-step Great Ability Realm.

The Half-step Great Power's next punch hammered into the double-layered spell shield.

One layer stemmed from Jiao Xian's personal defensive spell, the other from the barrier summoned by the Great Ability Life-saving Jade Talisman.

Jiao Xian's spell shield crumbled in an instant, though the Half-step Great Power's fist got halted by the Jade Talisman's protective shield.

Relief washed over Jiao Xian as he saw the Jade Talisman's shield holding strong; a grin lit his face while he thrust his flying sword at the Half-step Great Power.

Alas, the flying sword dealt no damage whatsoever to the Half-step Great Power's body.

In the Half-step Great Power's view, this Peak Great Cultivator's battle prowess matched that of average Great Cultivators.

The Half-step Great Power eyed the remaining shield around Jiao Xian, resolve igniting in his gaze.

"Flesh Curse!" he rasped.

At those words, one arm dissolved into a bloody mist cloud and surged toward Jiao Xian.

The moment the blood mist touched it, Jiao Xian's defensive shield thinned rapidly and trembled, lasting scarcely two breaths until the Jade Talisman's shield shattered completely.

Defensive spells from the Great Ability Life-saving Jade Talisman couldn't compare to those personally unleashed by a Great Power.

These represented wholly distinct levels—the energy threshold a Jade Talisman could endure set its maximum potency.

Jiao Xian believed the Jade Talisman would endure the Half-step Great Power's savage onslaughts, but he was mistaken, and his life would be the cost.

His last line of defense destroyed, Jiao Xian pulled back in haste, desperate to flee the Grotto Heaven.

Facing certain death, even the chance to become a Great Power could wait. Moreover, outside the Grotto Heaven, the Half-step Great Power's dire condition likely meant his own end was near.

He withdrew frantically, but the Half-step Great Power had no intention of letting him go.

The Half-step Great Power blurred into motion, sealing off Jiao Xian's path of retreat.

Pressing right up against Jiao Xian, the Half-step Great Power clutched him in a feral embrace, madness blazing in his eyes.