Chapter 505: Black Tentacles

“We can’t hold our ground; we must counterattack! Otherwise, we’ll all die here!”
Tianyin’s warning cry was not only aimed at Su Che and the others but also at the twelve human cultivators on the other side.
No one present was foolish; they immediately realized that these black tentacles must be extremely terrifying. If they didn’t work together temporarily under such circumstances, everyone would die here.
No one questioned Tianyin’s warning, as everyone had been struck by dozens of tentacles just now, and their respective defensive barriers were on the verge of collapsing.
“What a formidable monster!”
Having experienced its power firsthand, how could they fail to recognize its severity?
Especially the leading Heavenly Monarch, who was not only highly tense but also filled with deep sorrow and frustration. As a high-ranking Heavenly Monarch, if his cultivation hadn’t been sealed, he wouldn’t have cared about a monster of this level. Under normal circumstances, a single strike from him would be enough to kill it…
But it was useless to dwell on these thoughts. At this stage, he could only rely on the combat power of his late Yuan Ying phase, reducing him to the status of those ants he usually despised—easily killed with a single mistake.
Bang!
As the one who gave the warning, Tianyin was the first to counterattack. A clear bell sound rang out, and a wide-area sound wave attack caused hundreds of black tentacles to twitch simultaneously, halting their movements.
This gave Su Che and the others a chance to catch their breath. With swift movements, they unleashed their divine powers to fight back.
The best way to deal with such tentacle monsters was to sever them at the root. Su Che immediately used his divine power, “Spatial Slaughter.”
Spatial Slaughter was the initial stage of the great art “Great Slaughter Technique,” which used spatial power to create a highly powerful spatial blade to slash through solid matter.
Spatial Slaughter, Soul Slaughter, and Annihilation Slaughter—these were the three stages of the “Great Slaughter Technique,” from lowest to highest. Su Che’s understanding of this great art was still very superficial. At this stage, he could only master the most basic form, Spatial Slaughter, and due to his limited cultivation level, he could only unleash a relatively modest amount of power.
This great art originated from the inheritance of the Statue of the Shadow Star Saint Ancestor. Over the past decade or so, Su Che had devoted a great deal of time and effort to studying these three great arts, but he was still only just beginning to grasp them.
Nearly a hundred light gray crescent-shaped spatial blades shot out in all directions from Su Che as the center.

Each spatial blade would accurately strike one of the black tentacles at close range. With such precision, it was certainly nothing difficult for someone at the late Yuan Ying stage—there was no way it would accidentally harm others. The killing power derived from spatial force didn’t lie in how sharp the spatial blades were, but rather in their ability to forcibly cut through space wherever they passed. When applied to an opponent, it meant creating extremely terrifying spatial cracks on their body surface or even inside, which couldn’t heal within a certain period of time, causing severe damage. Even the smallest spatial cracks would emit spatial turbulence, inflicting continuous harm; if the cracks were large enough, spatial storms would erupt. Just imagine what it would be like if a spatial storm arose inside the belly of some colossal beast. Of course, this was just a vision for the future—Su Che’s current spatial slashing techniques were far less powerful…

Chichichichi…
Hundreds of spatial blades slashed at the tentacles, only leaving shallow cuts that seemed to cause little damage. Yet, these cuts instantly transformed into tiny spatial cracks, continuing to emit spatial turbulence capable of destroying everything. Those cracks clearly kept growing larger; perhaps within a few dozen breaths, they could cut off these tentacles bit by bit. However, Su Che wasn’t sure if these spatial cracks could last that long, as their duration varied depending on the material they affected—whether stone or metal. The black tentacles were extremely resilient and highly defensive, rendering most cutting attacks ineffective. Even that Tribulation Heavenly Monarch hadn’t managed to sever a single tentacle.

Huhuhuhu…
After being injured, the black tentacles seemed enraged. With even greater speed and ferocity, they lashed out, slapped, or wrapped around the group. Due to the game rules, Su Che and the others couldn’t fly or jump, leaving their evasion options severely limited to dodging in small areas on the ground—making it impossible to avoid all the tentacles.

Papapapap…
This time, nearly twenty tentacles struck the Wealthy Guardian’s barrier at once.

Vum…
The barrier flashed with golden light, and Su Che could clearly hear the pained cries of the Wealthy Spirit.

“Fortunately, there are less than twenty. If there were a few more, we definitely wouldn’t hold out…”
As this thought crossed Su Che’s mind, a scream reached his ears.

About a dozen zhang away, a cultivator at the Lingxu stage in the Spirit Realm had the worst luck. He was in a place where the black tentacles were thickest. Despite dodging left and right, he was still struck by over forty tentacles at once. With a loud crack, the light red defensive barrier created by a top-grade Dao artifact shattered instantly.

The man was terrified, but his reaction was swift. With a bang, his vital energy exploded outward, forming a crimson flame wave in an attempt to push away the two tentacles about to ensnare him and create a gap to escape this dangerous area.

Clearly, like Su Che, he also specialized in fire-based cultivation techniques.

Unfortunately, in such a crisis, he apparently forgot that he was no longer at the Lingxu stage but only in the later stage of the sealed Yuan Ying phase. Such a hasty reaction could only provide limited resistance.

Bang! Bang!

The two approaching tentacles were indeed pushed back a little, but there were too many of them. In an instant, even more tentacles wrapped around him.

“Ah…”

In sheer panic, he tried to use a highly powerful sword-wheel combined magic weapon, but he couldn’t cut through any of the tentacles. In the blink of an eye, his screams were drowned out as he was engulfed by dozens of tentacles.

What was even more terrifying was that once the tentacles captured their prey, they would strangely wriggle together, merging into one extremely thick tentacle that made a gulping sound. In an instant, it swallowed a living person deep underground, taking them somewhere unknown.

He had been eaten!

Seeing this, Su Che instinctively thought: It’s better to jump into the air and face the death penalty per the game rules than to die in such a disgusting and miserable way…

Perhaps everyone present thought the same at that moment.

Dong!

The bell rang again, and the heavenly sound unleashed another wave of sonic attacks, causing hundreds of tentacles to tremble once more, giving the others precious time to catch their breath. Almost simultaneously, they replaced their defensive Dao artifacts.

The defensive effect of a top-grade Dao artifact was barely enough to withstand even two rounds of attacks from the black tentacles before shattering. Fortunately, all the people present had once been heroes and possessed top-grade Dao artifacts. If they could replace them in time and had decent luck, they could hold out for a while.

Su Che did the same—storing away his wealth and replacing it with a bronze cauldron, also a top-grade defensive Dao artifact.

The giant wealth could no longer hold up; the powerful attacks of the black tentacles exceeded its tolerance limit. It also needed some time to catch its breath, desperately absorbing spirit stones to accumulate enough defensive energy before it could once again step forward to shield Su Che from the elements.