Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World Chapter 1223 - 635: Ants (Part 2)

"Are we... going to perish?" Gongsun Yue valiantly fought to suppress her rising fear.

"Don’t be afraid, I am here with you." No sooner had these words left her lips than a deafening roar erupted from the cave's entrance. The entire cavern shuddered violently, sending tremors through the falling rubble.

"You little brats, I know you are hiding inside!" Qiankun Venerate King's icy voice lasered through the cave walls.

"This flimsy barrier, watch as I obliterate it with but a single strike!"

"Boom!" Another tremendous crack sounded, and web-like fissures snaked across the barrier at the cave's opening. The spiritual light flickered erratically, evidently on the brink of shattering.

Gongsun Yue’s face paled, and she swiftly pulled Gu Yu towards the cave's deepest recess.

"Quickly, hide behind me!" Yet, Gu Yu stubbornly refused, shaking his head.

"No, I want to stay with big sister..."

"Listen to me!" Gongsun Yue commanded sternly, tears welling in her eyes.

"I promised your brother that I would protect you!" The third roar reverberated, and the barrier finally succumbed, shattering with a resounding bang.

Fierce Demonic Qi surged into the cave. Wherever it passed, the spiritual moss clinging to the cave walls instantly withered, and the luminous beads flickered out one after another.

As the dust began to settle, Gongsun Yue, shielding Gu Yu, was fully exposed to their adversaries' gaze.

"Little brat, run, why do you hesitate to flee?" Qiankun Venerate King taunted with a sneer as he advanced. The Demonic Qi swirling around him coalesced into a sinister, ghostly visage.

"I am truly curious to see where you believe you can escape to!" Gu Yu trembled uncontrollably, clutching Gongsun Yue's sleeve with all his might.

Gongsun Yue resolutely straightened her back to shelter Gu Yu, her Three Yin Divine Sword emitting a spectral blue radiance.

"The mighty Qiankun Venerate King, who dares not face Gu Sheng directly, instead preying on a young girl – what manner of prowess is this?" Gongsun Yue's voice dripped with cold defiance.

From a distance, Tianlan Saint Mother watched with palpable anxiety.

"Yue'er! Hurry and escape!" As she made to rush forward, Taiyi Immortal King's figure materialized, blocking her path.

"I have already told you, this affair does not concern you." Tianlan Saint Master also attempted to intervene, but was similarly immobilized by Taiyi Immortal King's oppressive Divine Thought.

"What is the meaning of this, Immortal King?" Tianlan Saint Master inquired in a hushed tone, his eyes burning with suppressed rage.

Taiyi Immortal King regarded him with an indifferent gaze.

"My sole objective today is Gu Sheng; I desire no further entanglement. However, if you persist in interfering..." The unspoken threat hung heavy in the air.

Qiankun Venerate King, overhearing Gongsun Yue's insolent words, his eyes blazed with wicked intent.

"Such a sharp-tongued brat! Had you not been concealing her, I would not be subjected to this tiresome charade!" He abruptly raised his hand, and a palm wreathed in pitch-black demonic energy descended from above.

Gongsun Yue cried out in alarm. Her Three Yin Divine Sword erupted with blinding brilliance. Where the sword tip pointed, frigid air instantaneously condensed into an imposing ice wall for defense.

"Bang!" The ice wall splintered upon impact. Gongsun Yue coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body propelled backward with brutal force, slamming heavily against the cave wall.

"Gongsun!" Gu Yu shrieked, instinctively trying to move forward, but he was frozen in place by Qiankun Venerate King's terrifying aura.

Ignoring the fallen Gongsun Yue, Qiankun Venerate King turned his attention towards Gu Yu. With each step he took, his feet left scorched footprints ablaze with black embers on the ground. The suffocating pressure rendered Gu Yu almost unable to breathe.

"Little brat, you have your reckless brother to thank for this predicament." Qiankun Venerate King chuckled coldly, conjuring a short, obsidian sword in his palm.

"Rest assured, I shall ensure your demise... hmm?" A ferocious sword light suddenly flashed from the side!

Gongsun Yue, who had inexplicably risen back to her feet, wielded the Three Yin Divine Sword, which pulsed with an extraordinary radiance. Even more astonishingly, she crushed three Spiritual Artifacts with her left hand, unleashing their potent energy into three fiery dragons that lunged at Qiankun Venerate King.

"Courting death!" Qiankun Venerate King, caught completely off guard by this sudden assault, could only manage to erect a hasty, partial defense.

"Rumble!" Amidst the deafening explosion, Qiankun Venerate King's form was consumed by raging inferno.

Gongsun Yue’s sword continued its relentless assault, slicing across his arm and drawing forth dark, viscous blood.

"Gu Yu, run now!" Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Gongsun Yue grabbed Gu Yu's wrist, channeling all her remaining strength to hurl him out of the cave.

Qiankun Venerate King's enraged roar echoed from the heart of the blast.

"You wretched woman! I shall make you suffer a fate worse than death!" Demonic Qi erupted, instantly obliterating all traces of the explosion.

Qiankun Venerate King stood amidst the dissipating chaos, his body marred by wounds, yet his aura radiated an even more terrifying intensity.

In his grasp materialized an ancient sword, swirling with the very essence of Life and Death Qi—the Primordial Life and Death Sword!

"Perish!"

The Primordial Life and Death Sword descended, its strike seemingly cleaving through the fabric of space itself.

Gongsun Yue’s Three Yin Divine Sword met the onslaught, only to shatter instantly into two halves.

The residual sword light continued its relentless trajectory, plunging directly towards Gongsun Yue’s head!

From within her bosom, Gongsun Yue retrieved a peculiar, jade-green bead. With a reluctant yet resolute action, she detonated it.

"Boom——"

An explosive force, magnified tenfold from before, surged through the entirety of the cave.

Gongsun Yue was violently expelled from the cave, while Qiankun Venerate King was violently propelled into its deepest recesses.

The whole mountain shuddered, colossal rocks rained down incessantly, and a maelstrom of smoke and dust, intermingled with the acrid tang of blood and malevolent aura, billowed forth from the cave's opening.

"Yue’er!"

Tianlan Saint Mother’s voice resonated within Gongsun Yue’s mind.

"Take Gu Yu and flee swiftly! Do not cast a glance backward!"

Gongsun Yue clenched her jaw and pushed herself up. Spotting Gu Yu a short distance away, she disregarded her own grievous injuries, dashed towards her, scooped her up, and fled.

"Argh, argh, argh! I shall rend you limb from limb!"

A maddened roar echoed from the cave's depths, undeniably belonging to the Qiankun Venerate King.

In the subsequent moment, a figure drenched in blood erupted from the dissipating smoke—it was the Qiankun Venerate King.

His appearance was ghastly; half of his form was a mangled mess of gore, with wounds encircled by a noxious green energy that defied any attempt at healing.

"You cannot escape!"

Qiankun Venerate King slammed his foot down in a furious fit, relentlessly pursuing Gongsun Yue and Gu Yu. A trail of dark flames marked his passage with every stride.

Despite Gongsun Yue’s utmost efforts, the chasm in their cultivation bases proved insurmountable, and they were swiftly overtaken.

Just as the ancient sword, entwined with Life and Death Qi, was poised to strike, a shadow suddenly lunged from the periphery!

"Do not dare lay a hand upon the Holy Land's Saintess!"

The newcomer, adorned in the garb of a Holy Land Core Disciple, thrust a Silver Spear directly at Qiankun Venerate King’s throat.

"Insignificant insect!"

Qiankun Venerate King scoffed, casually deflecting with the Primordial Life and Death Sword.

"Sss——"

The Silver Spear snapped in two. The disciple had no time to utter a sound before being bisected by a wave of Sword Qi, his blood and entrails spilling forth.

"Hahaha! Is this the pinnacle of the Holy Land's Core Disciples?" Qiankun Venerate King bellowed with manic laughter, deliberately throttling his pursuit to toy with Gongsun Yue.

"Who else yearns to meet their end?"

In an instant, enraged shouts erupted from every direction.

"Protect the Holy Daughter!"

"Slay the Demonic Fiend!"

"We swear to uphold the honor of the Holy Land!"

Figures surged forth from all sides, each one a Core Disciple of the Tianlan Sacred Land.

Aware of their inferiority, they nevertheless charged towards Qiankun Venerate King without a hint of hesitation.

"No! Retreat!" Gongsun Yue cried out, tears streaming down her face, attempting to halt their charge, but Gu Yu restrained her.

"Gongsun... they are creating an opening for us..." Gu Yu choked out between sobs.

The first disciple to engage wielded twin blades, his sword strikes a blinding cascade of light. Yet, upon contact with the Primordial Life and Death Sword, he and his weapons were cleaved asunder.

The second disciple conjured an Ancient Mirror; its potent radiance momentarily impeded Qiankun Venerate King’s advance. But in the very next breath, the Primordial Life and Death Sword pierced the mirror, impaling the disciple through the chest.

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

Each disciple offered their very lives as testament to their unwavering loyalty to the Holy Land.

Some invoked Forbidden Techniques, forcibly augmenting their cultivation. Others detonated their Lifebound Magical Treasures in a desperate bid to wound Qiankun Venerate King. Still others hurled themselves forward, self-destructing their Golden Cores.

The sky bled crimson, and severed limbs rained down.

Yet, with a baffling regularity, as one disciple fell, another immediately rushed forward to take their place.

Taiyi Immortal King hovered serenely above, his gaze coldly fixed upon the unfolding carnage, neither assisting Qiankun Venerate King nor intervening to prevent the disciples’ suicidal charges.

His eyes were devoid of all emotion; to him, the beings below were not vibrant lives but utterly insignificant gnats.

"Immortal King!"

Qiankun Venerate King bellowed in fury amidst the slaughter.

"Are you merely going to stand by and observe?"

Taiyi Immortal King’s reply was chillingly flat.

"My sole duty is to ensure Gu Sheng's demise; the fates of others are of no consequence to me."

"You—!"

Qiankun Venerate King quivered with incandescent rage but found himself utterly powerless. His fury could only be vented upon the disciples who continued their relentless advance.

"Kill!"

A thunderous cry erupted in unison from over thirty Holy Land Core Disciples.