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Chapter 1001: Chapter 969: Pretending_2
The two devils burst with a fighting will, their pairs of massive pincers thunderously striking out, tacitly sealing off Li Zhirui’s path of retreat.
Li Zhirui’s expression remained unchanged; his hands quickly formed a mantra, and in the next instant, a lotus sea spontaneously emerged around him, blocking the devils’ advance.
The moment they entered the lotus sea, they felt layer upon layer of resistance, as if they had sunk into a quagmire, unable not only to unleash their formidable strength but even sinking deeper the more they struggled, finally escaping with great difficulty.
In fact, had it not been for Li Zhirui’s intentional leniency, not wielding his divine power to its full extent, they wouldn’t have been able to break free at all, and would have been quickly devoured by the lotus sea, losing their lives!
"The strength of you two seems to be nothing more than this," Li Zhirui said with a voice full of mockery.
"A mere trifle, you really think you’re all that impressive?" One of the Crab Devils was instantly enraged and launched another mana-powered attack.
But the reality was that no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t get close to Li Zhirui, let alone launch an attack!
Originally, they thought they could easily capture this Early Stage Void Refinement cultivator, but the outcome was unexpected. Two hours had passed, and their mana was nearly depleted, while Li Zhirui seemed to be at ease, as if he had hardly spent any mana at all.
His breath was incredibly stable without the slightest fluctuation!
This situation greatly shocked the two devils. Just who was he, to be able to contain such a vast amount of mana with only an Early Stage Refinement Void cultivation?
Moreover, by this time, the two devils also realized that with mana of this caliber, Li Zhirui could have swiftly dealt with them, but he did not do so. His likely aim was to conceal his strength to avoid being targeted by the Sea Clan.
"Looks like you two have come to your senses?"
Seeing the changing expressions of the two devils, Li Zhirui chuckled lightly and said, "If that’s the case, I’m afraid I cannot let you live."
With a wave of his hand, mana surged from his body, and in the blink of an eye, ancient trees of an overcast sky surrounded the three of them. Countless thick roots, like pythons, slithered through the woods. Seizing a moment of the devils’ carelessness, they suddenly pounced, entwining around their bodies, continuously squeezing inward and leaving them unable to move.
Then, sun-blocking wooden spikes swarmed out, stabbing towards their Dantians. Even the sturdiest of shells were penetrated by openings, and eventually, their Dantians were pierced, and they lost their lives.
However, to maintain his charade, Li Zhirui appeared as though he had exhausted all his mana, looking pale with a listless aura, clearly indicating he had lost his combat power.
Fortunately, his performance was not particularly outstanding, even less impressive than defeating a Sixth-order Crab Devil in one strike.
Because the former clearly showed usage of a last resort, unable to continue to fight, whereas in the latter, Li Zhirui’s breath remained stable, seemingly without any hidden peril.
But everyone, Da Qing and the others included, had been deceived by Li Zhirui!
His current state was feigned!
However, this also perfectly allowed Li Zhirui’s hope to be realized; he would not be targeted by the Sea Clan and could take the opportunity to withdraw from the battlefield.
Up until now, he had no intention of revealing his true strength.
As for the safety of his clan members after he left the battlefield? Li Zhirui couldn’t protect them as before, keeping them safe from threats to their lives.
With his strength not being so great, the clan members had to rely on their own abilities if they wanted to survive!
And this, was something the clansmen had to face.
Li Zhirui didn’t completely withdraw from the battlefield; he just moved to its edge. Around him, there were many cultivators who had lost their combat ability, some even turned into corpses.
His condition seemed the lightest; there were no visible injuries to his body, only mana exhaustion.
Li Zhirui hid himself, but other Li family cultivators were still fiercely fighting!
Li Chengsheng held a disc of The Sun, the True Sun Fire so scorching that nothing could withstand it. Although most of the Sea Clan were adept at Water Attribute Divine Powers that counter Fire Attribute,
the Spirit Water summoned by the Water Devils was of too low a grade and had weak power, nowhere near comparable with True Sun Fire. Not to mention extinguishing it, they would evaporate as soon as they got a bit closer!
It was just that Li Chengsheng’s cultivation was lower, his mana limited, preventing him from using True Sun Fire frequently. Otherwise, he could have dealt with the Sea Clan faster and more brutally.
Not far away, Da Qing proved to be another tough opponent; its strong defenses left opponents struggling to find a point of attack, having to constantly watch out for his sneak attacks, making for a very frustrating fight.
Xiaoqing’s situation was vastly different; with his extremely fast flying speed, few creatures of the same level could catch up to him. He did not even need to use any defensive measures and could easily dodge his opponent’s attacks.
But the Water Devils had a hard time avoiding Xiaoqing’s attacks and could only use their defensive measures in resistance, which rapidly accelerated their mana consumption. In the end, they could only become Xiaoqing’s defeated foes and lose their lives.
Cang was more particular; he chose specifically Water Devils that possessed the Dragon Tribe’s bloodline, thinking of refining their bloodlines to strengthen himself.
This approach would leave hidden problems, causing Cang’s Dragon Bloodline to become mottled and ultimately he might only become a mixed-blood member of the Dragon Tribe, not a True Dragon!
But fortunately, there was Li Zhirui!
Cang could have Li Zhirui take action to purify the impurities, keeping only the most pure Dragon Blood before integrating it into himself, thus avoiding this issue.
However, Water Devils with Dragon Blood generally possessed greater strength, so Cang’s battlefield situation was far from as relaxed as the others’.
The conditions of the other clan members were mixed; some were able to kill the Water Devils while others were no match and fell permanently.
Just one day after the battle started, the Li family had already suffered dozens of casualties!
The Wanxia Sea Domain was awash with a large number of corpses; the crimson blood drove away the blue of the seawater, creating an extremely horrifying sight.
The evil Qi, Death Energy, and other evil energies on the battlefield grew rapidly as well.
Fortunately, the Lotus Seed Skill passed down by Li Zhirui had already spread throughout the entire East Continent. Because the Secret Technique was easy to master, the majority of Cultivators had learned it.
A portion of the Cultivators who did not participate in the battle used the Lotus Seed Skill; soon, the Cultivator side was completely purified, no longer needing to worry about being affected by these evil energies.
Of course, it was not possible to apply it solely to a single Cultivator, so a part of the Sea Clan was also included in the purification.
Seeing this, Li Zhirui thought to himself: Although I haven’t made full use of my strength, my influence on the situation is still significant!
It’s well known that Death Energy can cause one’s flesh to stiffen, and evil Qi and murderous Qi can affect the Spiritual Soul and mindset; other kinds of evil energy invading the body can also cause some kind of debuff.
Perhaps under normal circumstances, this level of debuffing effect wouldn’t matter much, and as long as it isn’t too deep-seated, it could be cleared with some time and quiet contemplation.
But on the battlefield, where is the time to dispel evil energy?
Yet if not swiftly dealt with, it would lead to one’s combat power declining and defeat to the enemy.
So, in a sense, Li Zhirui has made an outstanding contribution to this great battle, and even to all future battles of the Immortal Dao Forces!
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Within a few days, the Scattered Cultivators closest to the East Sea joined the battlefield.
Despite the Cave Abyss Sect still getting something for nothing, without any substantial rewards but only promises of capturing Spirit Islands and plundering the ocean floor for Spiritual Objects after victory, a large number of Scattered Cultivators still flocked to join the battlefield.
However, not all of these Scattered Cultivators were truly the solitary kind, isolated and lonely; rather, they were from families or Sects that had not occupied any Spirit Veins but had already begun inheritance.
Of course, the majority of these Scattered Cultivator families and Sects came from powerful State Domains like Cave Abyss State.
That’s because the strongest forces there could control each and every Spirit Vein, and without their permission, one could not so much as set foot there, let alone develop a Spirit Vein.
Unlike in Shanyuan State, where the northern Thousandfold Mountains are not actually under the control of the Zhang Family but are instead the territory of the Devil Race, allowing the Li family to occupy a Spirit Vein and establish a clan after clearing out the Devil Beasts.
And this time, the Cave Abyss Sect promised them that as long as they could capture and hold Spirit Islands after the war, without losing them to the Sea Clan, they would be acknowledged and guaranteed that no Immortal Dao Force would attack them for five hundred years.
How could they not be tempted by this?
Thus, one by one, for a Spirit Vein that could be inherited and rooted, these Cultivators rushed to the battlefield one after another.
It was precisely because of the arrival of these Cultivators that the numerical disadvantage of the Immortal Dao side was gradually overcome.
