Shang Xia circulated his inner qi and he cleared his mind from the threat that was the rank four snake.
“Stop being distracted! Hurry up and run!” Shang Xia pushed his inner qi into his throat and yelled.
He felt a sickly sweet feeling in his mouth as his larynx nearly tore apart.
However, his yell was extremely effective. The cultivators who were stuck in a trance due to the aura of the rank four giant snake snapped back to reality.
All of them continued to run for the Tongyou Peak.
The giant snake gathered a phantom made from the heaven and earth qi and pushed it high into the skies. Even though it looked close, its true body was pretty far away.
It was possible for the phantom of the giant snake to attack, but it just swallowed several Mutated Rain Swallows and Wolf Eagles. It wouldn’t be able to attack any time soon.
Shang Xia snapping them out of their daze earned them precious time to escape from the threat!
Along the way, Shang Xi and Yun Yifei had already left Shang Xia’s side.
By the time he noticed, he saw that the two of them joined Deng Gua and went to the back of the group! They met up with Wu Tinghai and another Martial Intent Realm cultivator and firmly held the rear.
They were ready to sacrifice themselves to buy a little more time for the others to escape!
Shang Xia wasn’t the only one who noticed their actions. However, no one called out to stop them, and words of thanks couldn’t be heard.
There was an unwritten rule set by Kou Chongxue when he established the Tongyou Institution. Whenever danger arrived, the strongest cultivators would step out to buy more time for the rest to escape!
Those who were running only had one job, and that was the escape to the best of their abilities! They couldn’t allow the sacrifices of the other disciples to go wasted!
Shang Xia turned back from time to time and saw the five of them getting into position.
As their inner qi slowly linked up according to the five man formation taught by the Tongyou Institution, they brought out their weapons…
The phantom of the giant snake released a heaven-shaking roar and it opened its mouth yet again. It rushed towards the group of escaping disciples.
The five Martial Intent Realm cultivators moved at once! A giant fist made from their inner qi emerged. The palm was formed from thin silk, and the thumb was made up of a short hammer. Its index and middle fingers came from Shang Xi’s twin blades, and a bronze staff made up its fourth finger. A bow made from bone created the pinkie of the fist.
A massive blast was heard and the fist smashed heavily into the phantom snake that was crashing down on them.
Upon impact, the phantom snake raised its head in pain and recoiled in pain.
Three figures appeared around the five Martial Intent Realm cultivators who had fallen to the ground from the impact. They dragged the five in the direction of those from the Tongyou Institution.
Two of the three who appeared were Martial Intent Realm cultivators. Because the formation only required five experts, two of them didn’t join Shang Xi and the rest. Instead, they stood nearby in order to provide support if needed.
Of course, it wasn’t feasible for the two of them to evacuate five cultivators.
They didn’t expect another cultivator to rush over with them. Even though his speed was slightly slower, it wasn’t by too much!
Staring at the third figure who appeared, one of the cultivators roared with rage, “Why are you here?! Stop messing about!”
The third person who came was none other than Shang Xia, and he didn’t plan on arguing with them with a rank four giant snake on their tails. Grabbing Shang Xi, he started to run.
After learning the Irregular Steps, his speed received a massive boost. Adding on his martial intent, his burst speed was comparable to Martial Intent Realm cultivators!
Of course, he could only keep up for a short period of time. His endurance was nowhere near a cultivator in the Martial Intent Realm.
The two other cultivators were in no position to blame him and they grabbed the other four before making a beeline for the Tongyou Peak.
When that happened, the group was closing in on the Tongyou Peak. They cheered happily when they saw what happened.
All of a sudden, the phantom snake in the air rose once again.
A frosty light flashed in its eyes and it hissed violently. It was clearly enraged by their earlier actions. Now, there was no one to stop it!
“Quick! Run! It won’t be able to eat all of us at once! The protection formation will be able to cover us when we enter a five mile radius from the Tongyou Peak!” One of the Martial Intent Realm cultivators who was carrying Wu Tinghai yelled.
As the snake charged towards them, they could only leave their lives up to fate.
Even though Shang Xia was only carrying Shang Xi on his back, the two other Martial Intent Realm cultivators overtook him with two bodies slung over their backs. Shang Xia might have moved as quickly as them when he saved Shang Xi earlier, but it seemed as though his stamina was lacking.
Shang Xi, whose inner qi was completely exhausted, was still extremely alert. She couldn’t help but chuckle softly when they passed. “Brat, I didn’t expect you to do such a stupid thing. I bet you’re regretting your actions now… The two of us will turn into snake food today!”
As the phantom snake drew closer, the pressure pushing down on Shang Xia grew stronger.
However, he didn’t say a word as he continued to rush towards the Tongyou Peak.
At the final moment, a ray of sword light tore through the air and stabbed straight into the back of the phantom snake.
The phantom snake opened its mouth, but no sound came out.
A crisp cry rang in the ears of everyone present. “What a huge snake! I’ll use its tendons to turn my Seven Segmented Whip into an Eight Segmented Whip!”
“Instructor Liu and the rest have returned! We’re saved!”
The cultivators who were running for their lives felt a huge weight lifted off their shoulders. Many of them even stopped to look behind them.
“Look! There’s an ice sword in the snake’s back!”
“That’s Master Shang Bing’s attack! He used it against the cultivators of the Four Spiritual Peak previously!”
“He seems to have another identity…”
“Who cares about that! It’s not something for us to worry about!”
Shang Xia turned back and saw the phantom snake dissipating into thin air.
Not too far away, Liu Qinglan waved her whip and Shang Lubing wielded his sword. The heaven and earth qi was swept up once again. A heaven-shaking roar rang through the air and the two seemed to be locked into a tough battle. The phantom of the giant snake started to condense in mid air once again as it confronted the two Martial Extermination Realm experts.
“What are you looking at?! Hurry up and return to the Tongyou Peak!” Liu Qinglan’s voice boomed in the minds of the experts who had stopped. Snapping awake, they started to run for the Tongyou Peak. This time, they were much more relaxed.
After they entered the area protected by the protection formation, many of them fell to the ground and gasped for breath.
They had been running all the way since the beast tide started, and their lives were almost threatened at every turn. A huge portion of them had reached their limits and was barely holding on.
Now that the threat was gone, they fell to the ground, powerless.
Shang Xia entered the range of the protection formation and placed Shang Xi down. After taking a short break, Shang Xi might not have gathered much of her inner qi, but she regained the ability to walk.
“Don’t bother about me. Hurry up and look for the horses with the Rain Swallows! They’re extremely important! Let’s see if we can bring them to Tongyou Peak this time.” Shang Xi couldn’t be bothered with her weak body. The most important thing they needed to do was to locate the Mutated Rain Swallows!
Shang Xia chuckled at the side, “Aunt, relax… The Lightning Bird came back to me when the snake appeared!”
“You must think of a way to make them nest in our Tongyou Peak! No! Make them nest on the Pinxin Peak!” Shang Xi declared triumphantly.
However, the words barely left her lips when the skies lit up behind her. Colorful lights lit up the air and the giant phantom snake was sliced in two.