Chapter 49: Revealing Their Hidden Cards

The five Sky-Coiling Snakes from Cliff of the Crescent Moon and the five Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons from Nine-Palace Island, with the sudden help of the Silver-Faced Howling Dog and the Blue Dragon, wiped out all the combined-stage elders from the JinYang Sect and CangYang Valley, two demonic cultivation sects.
Now, in the entire Antarctic region, it was undoubtedly the two demonic cultivation sects that held the greatest power on the surface.
The Sky-Coiling Snakes and Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons quickly approached the Howling Moon Wolves and Ancient Ice Crocodiles, all looking at Liang Jue, Li Zhen, and Shuo Jin.
Seeing that the situation was highly favorable for their side, the Howling Moon Wolves and Ancient Ice Crocodiles immediately communicated through mental telepathy.
“Ice Crocodile, shall I go get the Eight-Directions Sword or shall you?” asked the Howling Moon Wolf.
Since it had been agreed earlier that the five Sky-Coiling Snakes and five Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons would each hold off one opponent, the Howling Moon Wolves and Ancient Ice Crocodiles also needed to hold off one, so the other could easily seize the Eight-Directions Sword.
Because the leaders of both the Cliff of the Crescent Moon and Nine-Palace Island had sworn with their souls, the two sects had joined forces. Thus, both the Howling Moon Wolves and Ancient Ice Crocodiles knew that no matter who obtained the Eight-Directions Sword—whether they or the others—it would belong to both sects. This was why the Howling Moon Wolf was so confident in letting the Ancient Ice Crocodile go get it.
“Howling Moon, you go get the Eight-Directions Sword. Liang Jue, Li Zhen, and Shuo Jin all have hidden cards. My defense is strong enough to hold them off for now,” said the Ancient Ice Crocodile calmly.
In its combined-stage form, the Ancient Ice Crocodiles, in their beastly forms, had defense capabilities comparable to those in the early stages of tribulation.
After agreeing, the Ancient Ice Crocodiles, the five Sky-Coiling Snakes, and the five Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons immediately moved and appeared before the other three combined-stage powerhouses.
The Ancient Ice Crocodiles fought against Liang Jue, while the five Sky-Coiling Snakes linked up end to end and charged fiercely at Li Zhen. The five Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons merged into a blood mass, then condensed into a single even larger Sea-Devouring Blood Python, which roared as it lunged at Shuo Jin.
“Liang Jue, as someone from the foremost cultivation sect, I really want to fight you once,” said the Ancient Ice Crocodiles, pulling out a long, slender magical scissor artifact and shouting.
One part of the scissor was blue, the other green; it was one meter long and was a top-grade spiritual weapon called the Cyan-Blue Crocodile Spiritual Scissors.
As soon as the scissor closed, two fierce crocodiles—one green and one blue—flew into the air and bit at Liang Jue simultaneously.
“You crocodile have lived too long. Ancient one, today will be your last day,” said Liang Jue suddenly, drawing out his Golden Rainbow Sword and shouting coldly.

Liang Jue swung his Golden Rainbow Sword, and two streams of golden light rushed toward the two crocodiles. Meanwhile, Liang Jue himself suddenly moved swiftly and flew to the Eight Directions Sword, attacking the Howling Moon Gray Wolf, which was trying to seize it. Seeing a golden light charging at it, the Howling Moon Gray Wolf immediately retreated and drew out its top-grade spiritual weapon, the Star-Shattering Whip, swirling it rapidly to create a mound of earth that blocked the fierce golden light. “Hmph, do you think I don’t know your plans as a cultivator from a demon sect?” Liang Jue said calmly. “So what if you do? Can you really defeat us two alone?” the Howling Moon Gray Wolf shouted angrily. If it weren’t for Liang Jue’s intervention, it would have already obtained the Eight Directions Sword. With the blood oath binding them, killing Liang Jue would have been easy. The Ancient Ice Crocodile, which hadn’t stopped Liang Jue, now flew over as well. A hint of anger appeared on its eternally cold face, and its intent to kill grew as it held its cyan-blue crocodile spirit scissors. Liang Jue calmly stared at the two beasts and said softly, “You two can’t stop me.” After saying that, he suddenly took out two black humanoid puppets, each containing a top-grade spiritual stone. With a thought from his spiritual consciousness, the two puppets shot out and flew toward the Ancient Ice Crocodile and the Howling Moon Gray Wolf. Meanwhile, Liang Jue himself flew toward the Eight Directions Sword. These two humanoid puppets were special magical artifacts crafted by the Taiyuan Sect. Each possessed the strength of a cultivator in the early stages of tribulation. They required many precious materials and took several master craftsmen from the Taiyuan Sect a great deal of time to create. The reason the Taiyuan Sect ranked first among the top ten sects in the cultivation world was because it possessed the Star Luo Ding, said to be of immortal artifact level, which could be used to forge various high-grade magical artifacts, ensuring that every powerful cultivator in the sect had a suitable weapon to fully display their strength, making the other nine sects dare not provoke them. Seeing the humanoid puppets approaching, the Howling Moon Gray Wolf and the Ancient Ice Crocodile immediately understood Liang Jue’s plan—to use the puppets to distract them so he could easily take the Eight Directions Sword. “Liang Jue, is that all the powerful magical artifacts you brought?” the Howling Moon Gray Wolf roared loudly. The Ancient Ice Crocodile, too lazy to speak, took out a piece of ice glowing with white light and spat in some of its vital blood to activate this special magical artifact. This ice piece was called the Soul-Freezing Ice Crystal. It was discovered by the Ancient Ice Crocodile when it was very young in an underwater sea eye. But at that time, its cultivation level was weak. It wasn’t until ten thousand years later that it returned to that sea eye and retrieved this three-finger-width Soul-Freezing Ice Crystal.

As the true energy was activated, the entire Ice Soul Crystal flew into the air. Like a whirlpool sucking in water, it rapidly absorbed all the cold energy around it, covering the entire world in ice. The two humanoid puppets, Liang Jue, Xiao Yue Cang Lang, and the Ancient Ice Crocodile were all frozen by this ice layer. However, Liang Jue, Xiao Yue Cang Lang, and the Ancient Ice Crocodile immediately brought out their magical treasures to shatter the ice. Meanwhile, as the two humanoid puppets were frozen, the chaotic aura of the Ice Soul within the ice disrupted Liang Jue’s spiritual consciousness. Thus, despite having the strength to break the ice, they remained motionless trapped inside it. The Ancient Ice Crocodile and Xiao Yue Cang Lang quickly rushed to their puppets, using their palms imbued with true energy to strike them, forcing out the high-grade spiritual stones inside. With those stones gone, the two humanoid puppets lost their strength, even if they received instructions from Liang Jue’s spiritual consciousness again. Liang Jue, wielding his sword, swiftly shattered the ice layer and continued toward the Eight Directions Sword. Seeing this, the Ancient Ice Crocodile spat more of its vital blood onto the Ice Soul Crystal. Suddenly, a burst of white light flashed from the crystal, causing the entire ice layer to vanish. Ice walls appeared in the air, constantly blocking Liang Jue’s path. Liang Jue swung his Golden Rainbow Sword, shattering one layer of ice wall at a time, but even as he unleashed a thousand slashes, the number of ice walls continued to rise without decrease. In the span of a breath, Liang Jue was blocked by the ice walls. The Ancient Ice Crocodile and Xiao Yue Cang Lang immediately flew to his side and attacked together, aiming to kill him in one strike. Liang Jue’s expression turned even colder. … On the other side, the five Pan Tian Snakes reverted to their true forms and linked up end to end, instantly gaining the strength of their combined form in the later stage. A giant ring over a thousand meters in diameter spun rapidly, generating winds and waves capable of engulfing everything. These winds and waves contained countless wind blades, and anyone trapped inside would be tortured to death. Seeing the movements of the five Pan Tian Snakes, Li Jian didn’t dare stay in their range and quickly flew away to escape their attacks. When the Pan Tian Snakes saw Li Jian retreating, they adjusted their rotation even faster than before and immediately chased after him, generating more winds and waves to trap and kill him. Seeing that Liang Jue, the Ancient Ice Crocodile, and Xiao Yue Cang Lang were all near the Eight Directions Sword, Li Jian realized that if he continued to be held back by the Pan Tian Snakes, he would lose control of the sword. His eyes instantly turned blood-red. “Just you five snakes dare to block my way?” Li Jian shouted in anger.

In an instant, Li Zhen had a yellow ring in his hand—a top-grade spiritual artifact, the Meteor Ring, which was his trump card this time. With the activation of his vital energy, the ring rapidly expanded, and all the Earthly Energy in the entire polar region surged into it, forming a ring thousands of meters in size.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The gathered Earthly Energy within the Meteor Ring immediately generated a stream of meteorites—thousands of yellow meteorites, each as heavy as a mountain, were sent at the five Sky-Coiling Snakes.

Only cultivators at the Great Vehicle stage could forge top-grade spiritual artifacts. Although Li Zhen was only in the later stage of the Consolidation phase, thanks to the activation of his vital energy and the Earthly Energy absorbed by the Meteor Ring, the meteorite waves he unleashed possessed the power of those at the mid-stage of the Tribulation phase.

The five Sky-Coiling Snakes withstood two waves of attacks but were scattered after the third, lying weakly on the ground.

Li Zhen had no interest in killing them and immediately flew over to Liang Jue, preparing to seize the Eight Directions Sword as well.

……

The five Sea-Devouring Blood Pythons merged into one and lunged at Shuojin, spewing two streams of energy—one a stream of water and the other a stream of red blood.

The water and blood streams flew side by side, aiming to envelop Shuojin completely and then refine him.

Shuojin sensed the intense energy in the water and blood streams. If trapped by them, both streams might explode, and he would be unable to withstand it.

“Star-Moving Golden Ball!”

Shuojin shouted angrily and immediately took out a golden sphere in his hand, covered with hundreds of holes. This was his trump card this time—a top-grade spiritual artifact, the Star-Moving Golden Ball.

Activated by Shuojin’s vital energy, the Star-Moving Golden Ball soared into the air and spun at high speed, shining like a golden planet. From its hundreds of holes, lightning-like golden beams shot out, targeting the water stream, the blood stream, and the massive Sea-Devouring Blood Python.

Feeling the power of these golden beams, the Sea-Devouring Blood Python immediately flew away. Without guidance or energy supply, the two streams of energy were quickly cut apart by the golden beams.

Shuojin sneered, retrieved the Star-Moving Golden Ball, and swiftly flew near Liang Jue, his eyes fixed on the other four leaders, thinking about how to seize the Eight Directions Sword.

The Eight Directions Sword still floated in the air, rotating gently.

The five leaders looked at each other, none daring to take the sword first for fear of being attacked by the others simultaneously.

The situation once again reached a stalemate.