Chapter 502: Breaking the Rules Means Death!

As Tianyin said, after suffering the soul attack, the beast seemed overwhelmed by unbearable stress. With loud thuds, it jumped wildly in place before lowering its upper body forward. This movement was by no means an act of surrender—it was…
Hissssss…
Hundreds of thick, sharp spikes erupted from its body, spreading in all directions and enveloping the dozen or so people at the front of the cultivators’ group.
Puff puff puff puff…
The defensive barriers of those people couldn’t withstand them; they were instantly pierced. Muffled groans and screams followed as each person was hit by spikes as thick as wrists.
These spikes, having penetrated the defensive barriers of high-grade Dao instruments, barely slowed down. Still as fast as lightning, they could pierce through flesh in an instant, leaving terrifying wounds as thick as thighs.
The worst-off were several cultivators at the Refining Void stage—their thighs were pierced, and the immense force torn off their limbs. Having lost a leg, how could they walk from now on? Hop on one leg? That would mean being off the ground with both feet—what would happen then? Even if a companion were willing to carry them, they’d still be off the ground…
Under normal circumstances, such injuries wouldn’t be a big deal. Even if they lost both legs, they could still use flight techniques to hover in the air, with little impact on their combat ability. But in this race today, they became fatal wounds.
And that wasn’t all—something even more unexpected was to come.
The beast, now completely insane, had fired hundreds of spikes and then launched a suicidal charge. It rushed into the crowd, exploding with a loud roar, similar to a cultivator’s Yuan Ying self-destruct.
Boom!
A terrifying shockwave spread out. Within dozens of yards, those at the later stages of Yuan Ying cultivation couldn’t stand their ground. At least thirty people were blown away by the shockwave.
Even if unharmed, it would still be fatal—because they were now in the air, off the ground!
“Rule violation! Hahahaha…”
Crazy laughter echoed from above. Soon, it was seen that the thirty-plus people blown away weren’t falling but were lifted even higher by some force.
“No!”
“Save me!”
“Don’t kill me!”
These people knew full well what awaited them, screaming or begging desperately.
Useless!
Completely useless!
Sssss…

The power of the game designers belongs entirely beyond the mortal world—it is pure force beyond control. The defensive barriers surrounding them shattered in an instant, and soon after, a rain of flesh and blood fell from the sky…
Over thirty people became fragments of flesh and blood scattered on the ground after their feet left the ground, violating the game rules. Those on the ground could also sense that their vital spirits had not escaped either, dissipating into the air and vanishing into nothingness.
Total destruction—everything was ruined, even the slightest hope of reincarnation was mercilessly snuffed out!
Boom…
At this moment, more beasts rushed into the crowd, instantly separating the more than 1,100 cultivators. It was like cavalry charging into an infantry camp on a battlefield, turning the situation chaotic in an instant. Moreover, more and more beasts were coming from the grasslands toward them.
The number of beasts far exceeded that of the cultivators. Within just a dozen breaths, each person would have to face at least three beasts.
“The best way is…”
Tian Yin advised once again, “Endure their attacks, don’t engage in prolonged battles—just keep moving forward step by step.”
Su Che and Heng Yi understood right away: Indeed, with so many beasts, each one was extremely difficult to deal with. If they fought them, they might exhaust themselves without killing even a few.
The game rules only required them to travel three thousand li—they didn’t specify how many beasts they had to kill. So why risk life and death against them?
Move forward!
Su Che and the others gathered together, braving the attacks of the beasts approaching them and moving forward step by step. If beasts blocked the way ahead, they would take a slight detour…
The ultimate goal was to keep their feet firmly on the ground and avoid being knocked off.
Tian Yin’s advice was clearly correct. The beasts attacking Su Che and the others were strange apes with giant sword-like arms. Though not as large as spiked wild bulls, their impact force was still considerable.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
These strange apes had four wide, sword-like arms that seemed incredibly sharp and had formidable cutting power. Their relentless attacks made the giant defense barrier flash with golden light repeatedly, seemingly on the verge of collapsing.
Yet Su Che remained calm. He initially judged that the attacking power of one such ape was roughly equivalent to the combined force of three or four late-stage Yuan Ying cultivators, so the defense barrier could still hold.
The apes roared fiercely as they attacked the defense barrier, looking extremely ferocious. But Su Che faintly sensed that their rage wasn’t that severe.
“That’s right!”

Tianyin, who was walking alongside Su Che, said, “If we don’t fight back and just endure the attacks, we won’t provoke them. The force of these attacks is still within our tolerance… The fatal weakness of these beasts is their fragile soul power. Once attacked with a soul-related attack, they go completely berserk and may even resort to extreme self-destruction.”

Self-destruction at close range was the most feared form of attack in Su Che and the others’ current situation. Even if the blast’s power wasn’t enough to penetrate defensive barriers, being thrown away along with one’s magical artifacts was still a real risk. Being thrown away meant certain death—immediate execution! No matter how powerful one’s magical spells might be, under the rules of the game, they were useless at this moment. The best strategy was simply to take the hits.

By enduring the attacks without fighting back and trying not to provoke those beasts, it actually became the most effective way to survive.

Boom! Boom! Boom…

Several explosions were heard in the distance, clearly caused by someone using what they thought were powerful spells, dealing heavy damage to some of the beasts and driving them into complete berserkness, leading to self-destruction attacks.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh…

More than a hundred figures rose into the sky, all thrown away by the force of the explosions. Most of them were innocent people caught in the crossfire. They hadn’t done anything to those beasts, but unfortunately, they were within range of the explosions.

“Hahaha…”

Amidst the laughter from above, more than a hundred cultivators were reduced to bloody fragments falling to the ground. The strong smell of blood further enraged the already wild beasts.

“Stay back and keep your distance from those guys,” Su Che immediately instructed Heng Yi and the others, advising them to avoid crowded areas to avoid being caught in the chaos.

Bang bang bang…

Several giant armored beasts rushed forward, trying to attack Su Che and his group, but they were driven away by the sword-armed ape monsters.

Howl! Howl! Howl!

A dozen sword-armed ape monsters roared at the armored beasts, clearly saying, “Get lost! Don’t steal our food!”

Sssss…

Their sharp arms carved deep wounds into the massive bodies of the armored beasts. Those beasts roared in protest a few times but eventually gave in, roaring as they fled in another direction to attack others.

“Good luck,” Su Che thought with relief. “It seems these ape monsters hold a high status among the wild beasts, which is actually in our favor.”

In the current situation, the worst fears weren’t such slashing attacks but rather the charging attacks from armored beasts and wild bull monsters, which could easily knock people flying. As a result, these monstrous apes actually became a shield for Su Che and his group—so long as they stayed close and kept pestering the enemies, they were relatively safe.

“Where’s the God Rat?” Suddenly, Su Che realized that one of his subordinates, the God Rat, seemed to be missing. It was unknown where it had gone; it wasn’t by his side anyway. The God Rat had a unique form of existence—it couldn’t transform into a human nor control any magical artifacts. Relying solely on its own weak defenses, it would have a very poor chance of withstanding the attacks of those savage beasts. Su Che wanted to bring it back to the Immortal Prison, but he couldn’t find it at the moment.

With over a thousand cultivators entangled with thousands of giant exotic beasts, the scene was extremely chaotic. Most importantly, everyone’s spiritual senses were disabled, leaving them to rely only on their eyes to look around. For a while, Su Che found it difficult to spot the relatively small God Rat among the myriad beasts.

After searching for a long time without finding any trace of it, Su Che could only rely on the soul connection sense of the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison to confirm that the little guy was still alive, safe, and in normal spiritual condition.

Although the battle on the grassland was extremely chaotic, those from the Spirit Realm were none ordinary—they had vast experience in various aspects. It was only because they knew nothing about the characteristics of these savage beasts that they suffered some losses at first. Before long, they each discovered some tactics, and some sharp-eyed individuals had already seen Su Che’s group bypassing them and moving far ahead.

“Braving it head-on might actually be the safest option?” Many people suddenly realized this and followed suit, enduring the attacks of the beasts around them and quickly escaping the chaotic battlefield to head toward the distant forest.

One learned from another, and word spread. After a few breaths, the more than nine hundred survivors scattered across the grassland, keeping at least dozens of feet of distance from each other to avoid provoking the beasts with reckless actions that might trigger self-destruction and endanger them.

Among them, those attacked by giant savage beasts were undoubtedly the luckiest losers. Massive beasts like spiked wild bull monsters, armored beasts, and rhinoceros-like beasts preferred charging attacks. If one wasn’t careful and lost their balance, being knocked off the ground by them would result in a tragic end.

Su Che glanced around and saw that those guys were learning from him without paying a single penny in tuition. He must have been quite resentful, so he whispered in Tian Yin’s ear, “We can’t let them off so easily. We should add some more challenges for them. Do you have any good ideas?”
After thinking for a moment, Tian Yin nodded and said, “You could do this…”
After hearing that, Su Che nodded with a smile, but his gaze toward the others was utterly cold and heartless.
Using these beasts to reduce the enemy’s numbers was certainly an ideal situation…