Chapter 255 War breaks out

“Let me make this clear: this collaboration has a single goal—to eliminate the monstrous creature that preys on Spirit Root cultivators!”

“I do not want to see anyone scheming or plotting against one another when the time comes to unite against this shared enemy!”

The voice, calm yet laced with authority, belonged to a woman in a flowing azure dress. Her beauty was striking, but her expression was one of chilling detachment as she surveyed the gathered figures.

This was Nangong Chun, princess of the Southern Kingdom and a Spirit Root cultivator in the Qi Refinement stage.

She was one of the lucky few who had escaped the jaws of the ancient fiend, though her survival came at a cost—witnessing the brutal slaughter of her royal brother and the Southern Kingdom’s wandering cultivators who had risked their lives to protect her.

The hatred she bore for the creature that had ravaged her kingdom and devoured so many Spirit Root cultivators burned deep. Accepting Chu Ran’s invitation to join this meeting wasn’t simply a matter of survival—it was her chance to strike back, to exterminate the monster and live to tell the tale.

Still, survival would not quench her fury. Once she left the Tianqing Mountains, she would waste no time reporting to her father, the emperor, and settling accounts with the despicable Wu Kingdom.

“Princess Nangong has spoken my thoughts exactly,” came a resonant voice.

“True, our kingdoms have long been embroiled in hidden rivalries,” the speaker admitted, his tone weighty and earnest.

“Yet we all face the same peril. Surely, you’ve seen for yourselves the dire situation we’re in. Should anyone harbor treacherous intentions and turn against their allies in the midst of this life-or-death struggle, none of us will escape unscathed. We’ll all become nothing more than a feast for that ancient beast!”

“Therefore, I implore any of you who might be contemplating such folly—abandon those thoughts. It will do no one any good!”

This declaration came from the Northern Kingdom’s prince, his nod affirming Nangong Chun’s call for unity. Like her, he understood that the only way to survive was through cooperation—though he remained wary of potential betrayal by Spirit Root cultivators from other kingdoms.

“Princess Nangong, Prince Beiyuan, you may rest assured,” Chu Ran said with a faint smile, his tone soothing.

“Given the current circumstances, no one would dare engage in such foolish games.”

“Hmph. They’d better not,” Nangong Chun retorted coldly. Without another word, she crossed her legs and sat down, her breathing slowing as she began to focus on adjusting her qi. She needed to be in peak condition for the coming battle—a fight against the creature that had been relentlessly hunting Spirit Root cultivators.

“It seems the Spirit Root cultivators of the Four Kingdoms have decided to join forces,” a quiet voice mused.

In the shadows, Li Qing and his three companions watched the gathering unfold with expressions of mild surprise.

For years, the Five Kingdoms had been locked in subtle conflict, their cultivators no strangers to skirmishes and rivalries. The idea of them working together would have been laughable under normal circumstances.

But now, faced with a shared crisis, the unthinkable had happened: Spirit Root cultivators from four kingdoms had set aside their differences to stand against the monstrous elder of the Wu Kingdom, who fed on their kind.

“That elder of the Wu Kingdom,” Li Qing began, his voice low, “is a failed Foundation Establishment cultivator—a terrifyingly powerful one.”

“With the Spirit Root cultivators of the Four Kingdoms in the same plight, they have no choice but to pool their strength and confront him first.”

“Even so,” Tuxian Master interjected, his expression grim, “I fear their combined power will still be insufficient to overcome such a foe.”

“I’ve observed them closely,” Daoist Lu spoke, his tone measured. “Each group of Spirit Root cultivators is protected by strong figures from their clans. Altogether, there are over thirty guards, though some have already fallen to the Wu elder. That leaves about eighteen in hiding, all at least at the third stage of Qi Refinement or higher.

“The strongest among them, protecting the Southern and Northern royal heirs, is at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement. With such backing, coupled with the Spirit Root cultivators themselves, slaying that failed Foundation Establishment elder should not be impossible.”

“You’ve forgotten something,” a soft voice interrupted.

Li Qing and the others turned to Rain Fairy, her expression somber.

“Oh? What have we overlooked?” Tuxian Master asked, curiosity in his tone.

“The Spirit Root cultivators of the Wu Kingdom,” Rain Fairy said quietly.

Her words caused the group to frown deeply.

“If the Wu Kingdom’s Spirit Root cultivators appear,” she continued, “their first move will undoubtedly be to join forces with their elder against the cultivators of the Four Kingdoms.”

One Wu elder was already enough to make their coalition tremble. If the Wu Spirit Root cultivators were to join the fray, their chances of victory would plummet.

“Stay vigilant,” he sighed after a long silence. “If worse comes to worst, we’ll follow the emperor’s orders and prioritize protecting Yan Shuang and the others.”

“Four Kingdoms, united at last,” Rain Fairy murmured. “It’s a wise decision… but will it be enough?”

Perched atop a massive boulder, Yun Yanshui sat cross-legged, gazing silently at the gathering of the Four Kingdoms below. A faint smile played on his lips.

“Third Prince, are we really going to join forces with the Spirit Root cultivators of the Four Kingdoms to deal with that ancient monster?”

Xia Changfei stepped forward, his demeanor respectful, though his tone carried a trace of bewilderment. He couldn’t quite fathom the reasoning behind Yun Yanshui’s decision.

“What’s the matter? Is there a problem?”

Yun Yanshui cast a sidelong glance at Xia Changfei, his voice calm yet sharp.

“No… it’s just that I’m concerned…”

Feeling the weight of the prince’s gaze, Xia Changfei instinctively lowered his head, his face clouded with unease.

“Concerned about what?”

“I’m worried that while we’re joining forces with the other kingdoms to fight the monster, their Spirit Root cultivators might turn on us at a critical moment!”

“Third Prince, I share the same concern,” Zhang Tianli and Yun Yueru interjected, stepping forward to voice their anxieties.

“What are you afraid of?” Yun Yanshui chuckled dismissively. “That creature, though a failed Foundation Establishment cultivator, is still a formidable foe. Do you think the Spirit Root cultivators of the Four Kingdoms will have the luxury of scheming against us while battling it?”

“Stop overthinking this. Just follow my orders.”

The others paused, his words settling over them. After some reflection, they realized the Third Prince’s reasoning wasn’t without merit.

“Hah! It’s here,” Yun Yanshui muttered suddenly, his eyes narrowing as he spotted a figure streaking through the distant forest. The figure radiated a murderous aura, moving with terrifying speed toward the gathering of Spirit Root cultivators.

It was none other than the Wu Kingdom’s elder.

“Blood! Blood! So many delicious scents!”

The elder soared through the air like a thunderbolt, his movements impossibly fast. The faint aroma of Spirit Root cultivators reached him even from afar, causing a manic grin to spread across his face.

With a casual gesture, he crushed the skull of a Northern Kingdom cultivator in his hand, tossing the lifeless body down to the ground below.

In the next instant, he descended from the sky like a harbinger of death, his oppressive aura flooding the area.

The Spirit Root cultivators of the Four Kingdoms, along with their hidden guardians, froze as a chill gripped their hearts.

“He’s here… he’s here!”

A Southern Kingdom cultivator paled as he sensed the suffocating presence, his voice trembling with fear.

“Attack!”

Chu Ran, Nangong Chun, Beiyuan, Ye Xiaolin, Lu Shanglin, Lu Shangsheng, and Lin Yifeng all shouted in unison.

Without hesitation, they unleashed an array of Spirit Talismans. The glowing charms filled the air, swirling around the elder in a dazzling display of light, attempting to trap him within a formation.

Chu Ran gripped his spear tightly, the spiritual energy within him surging violently. His technique, Thunderous Fury, erupted from the weapon, lightning crackling fiercely as the spearhead glowed with destructive energy.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Bolts of thunder entwined the spear, emitting a deafening hum as Chu Ran thrust forward. The spear shot toward the elder with a tyrannical momentum, its thunderous power threatening to tear the air apart.

Meanwhile, Nangong Chun activated her Hundred Insect Chorus. Streams of spiritual energy poured into the surrounding forest, summoning swarms of venomous insects from their hiding places. They surged toward the elder in a nightmarish tide, their sheer numbers enough to make one’s scalp crawl.

Beiyuan wielded a pristine longsword with a white scabbard. His technique, Winter’s Snow, unleashed a blade of frost that sent waves of icy energy into the air. The temperature plummeted as snowflakes fell in a dazzling storm, blanketing the elder in a chilling frost that sought to immobilize him.

Ye Xiaolin, Lu Shanglin, Lu Shangsheng, Lin Yifeng, and the other Spirit Root cultivators unleashed their own techniques, each attack cascading toward the elder in an overwhelming onslaught. They left no room for him to counterattack, determined to give him no quarter.

“What are you waiting for? Attack!”

From his vantage point, Yun Yanshui barked orders to his allies.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Xia Changfei, Zhang Tianli, Yun Yueru, and the other Spirit Root cultivators of the Wu Kingdom obeyed immediately, descending from the mountains and joining the fray. They too unleashed their most powerful techniques, focusing all their efforts on the elder.

At the forefront, Xia Changfei led the charge. The memory of his nephew and niece, brutally devoured by the elder, burned in his mind. Their tragic deaths fueled his fury, driving him into a blind rage as he hurled his most devastating attack at the monster that had taken everything from him.