Strongest War Emperor

In contrast, Xu Lianyou was much calmer. "This is too strange. A Beast Tide on the Tala Prairie usually only happens around April. It’s only December now, so how could this be...?"

Uncle Zhong said, panting heavily, "Judging from the gale, the Beast Tide is probably only about fifty *li* away from us. It’s sweeping across the entire prairie, and it’s far too close. At this distance, there’s no way we can escape the Tala Prairie in time. The Fiery Demon Wolves aren’t fast enough to outrun the higher-level Demon Beasts! Young man, what should we do?"

Shen Lang slowly turned and pointed to the towering, cloud-piercing peak to the northwest. "To Qixia Mountain!"

"This..." Uncle Zhong and the others hesitated.

"Are you kidding me?! You think hiding on Qixia Mountain will solve anything?" Xia Yu roared hysterically.

"Impossible! The Beast Tide will cover almost the entire Tala Prairie, and Qixia Mountain is a major Demon Beast den! Besides, it’s just a bald rock face with barely a tree in sight. There’s nowhere to hide! When the Demon Beasts come after us, we won’t even have a place to run!"

"You bastard! If you hadn’t been doing your Cultivation in a place like this for so long, we wouldn’t be in this mess!" Xia Yu bellowed.

"Xia Yu!" Xu Lianyou and Uncle Zhong shouted, trying to stop him.

Xia Yu gave a bitter laugh. "I know he saved us, and I know he could kill me as easily as swatting a fly. But we can’t escape now, so what’s the difference between dying to a horde of beasts, a pack of wolves, or at his hand? At a time like this, can’t I even complain a little?! What, are you angry? I’m even angrier! Go on, kill me now if you’ve got the guts!"

The other members of the Twin Dragon Sect turned even paler.

If Shen Lang decided to act, no one here could stop him.

However, the explosive rage that Uncle Zhong and the others expected never appeared on Shen Lang.

Shen Lang glanced at Xia Yu, then said coolly to the members of the Twin Dragon Sect, "You’re overthinking things... We can escape by going up Qixia Mountain. Believe it or not, the choice is yours."

With that, Shen Lang turned to Shui Qingwu. "Give me a Fiery Demon Wolf. We’re going to Qixia Mountain!"

Shui Qingwu was decisive. With a flash of yellow light from the Beast Escape Chapter at her waist, a Fiery Demon Wolf appeared.

Then, she leaped into the air and, with the graceful turn of a celestial fairy, landed astride the tall Fiery Demon Wolf.

"Come on up..." Shui Qingwu whispered, her voice barely audible.

Shen Lang was taken aback for a moment. "I said for *you* to give *me* a Fiery Demon Wolf. What are you doing getting on it yourself? Don’t tell me the great young lady of the Imperial Capital Shui Family only brought one Fiery Demon Wolf?"

"Hmph! Well, you tell me, who has nothing better to do than carry around two Fiery Demon Wolves?" Shui Qingwu huffed, her face flushing as she turned away.

Shen Lang was dumbfounded.

"Fine." He gave a wry smile, leaped onto the Fiery Demon Wolf, and wrapped his arms around Shui Qingwu’s waist. Her body trembled at his touch. Then, with a long howl, the Fiery Demon Wolf shot forward, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

The members of the Twin Dragon Sect exchanged ashen-faced glances, then looked back to see the gale closing in.

"Follow him!"

A flicker of determination appeared in Xu Lianyou’s eyes as she, too, released her Fiery Demon Wolf from her Beast Escape Chapter.

The five of them thus caught up to Shen Lang and Shui Qingwu, galloping madly toward Qixia Mountain.

However, domesticated Spirit Beasts like Fiery Demon Wolves were primarily used for long-distance travel. Their true speed was no match for many of the Demon Beasts on the Tala Prairie.

Before the group could even reach Qixia Mountain, the Beast Tide that was sweeping across the Tala Prairie had caught up.

The many Demon Beasts they encountered along the way acted as if they were on some sort of drug. The moment they spotted the group, they became unnaturally excited and gave chase. More and more joined the pursuit, forming a massive, inescapable tail behind them.

By the time Shen Lang and the others finally reached the foot of Qixia Mountain, more than two hours had passed, and the overwhelming horde of Demon Beasts was close behind.

The tide-like swarm of Demon Beasts was divided into two groups, one on the ground and one in the air. The sky was filled with eagle-like birds with wingspans of dozens of feet and two bald, vicious heads—Double-headed Ducks;

There were also Blackwind Owls, which looked somewhat like regular owls but emanated roiling black qi;

On the ground were Gold-Eating Rats as large as calves;

A Silver-Armored Horned Python over two hundred feet long with a giant, pitch-black horn on its head;

Three-eyed Fire Wolves covered in scorching flames;

There were even Green-eyed Ice Toads, which were normally docile creatures!

Regardless of whether these Demon Beasts were normally bloodthirsty and vicious or calm and gentle, their eyes were now all crimson red, and they radiated an overwhelming Evil Qi.

They stared intently at Shen Lang’s group, letting out a constant stream of deafening, ferocious roars.

The cacophony of countless Demon Beast howls assaulted the ears of the fleeing group, making their eardrums ache and their hearts pound with fear.

"Damn it! My flesh tastes awful, so stop chasing me! Besides, there’s not enough of me to go around! Just give it a rest!" Xia Yu shouted, his voice trembling with terror.

Shen Lang chuckled. "They might not eat you."

"Really? Is there such a good thing?" Xia Yu swallowed hard. GULP.

Shen Lang smiled. "That’s right. They’ll just trample you and flatten you into a meat pancake."

"You..." Xia Yu was half-dead with anger.

But this was hardly the time for an argument. If he slowed down or fell behind even slightly, he really would become a meat pancake.

Uncle Zhong glanced at the massive horde of Demon Beasts getting ever closer and shouted to Shen Lang, "Young man, we’ve reached the foot of Qixia Mountain! This mountain is steep and treacherous, so the Fiery Demon Wolves aren’t suited for climbing. In a moment, we’ll have to put them away and climb by hand. What’s the plan?"

"To the right! Head for Qixia Mountain’s Celestial Pillar Peak!" Shen Lang said without a hint of hesitation.

The members of the Twin Dragon Sect nearly fell off their Fiery Demon Wolves.

Once again, Xia Yu was the first to shriek, "I say... I know I’ve offended you, but you don’t have to mess with us like this, do you? Calling Celestial Pillar Peak a peak is being generous; it’s basically just a giant pillar! It’s surrounded by bottomless cliffs on all sides and is barely two hundred feet across. Isn’t going there just suicide? When these Demon Beasts pounce, we won’t even have a place to dodge!"

Shen Lang gave him a cool glance. "You seem to have plenty of energy, still able to shout like that. Why don’t you save it? You’ll need to kill Demon Beasts later. Every extra bit of strength will let you kill one or two more."

"You, you, you... You’re trying to get us killed! Did I wrong you in a past life or something?" Xia Yu wailed at the sky.

"Xia Yu, that’s enough!"

Xu Lianyou turned around, gave Shen Lang a deep look, and said softly, "The lives of myself and the others are in your hands, Sir..."

Shen Lang glanced at Xu Lianyou, his gaze lingering for a moment.

While Xu Lianyou wasn’t a peerless beauty who could topple cities, her melancholic aura was so captivating that it was hard to look away. She possessed a natural, bewitching charm.

"You’re too kind. We’re all facing this crisis together now. We’ll have to cooperate to get out of this," Shen Lang said with a slight smile, pulling his gaze away.

Shui Qingwu pouted and lightly pinched Shen Lang’s arm.

"What’s wrong? Am I holding on too tight?" Shen Lang asked, startled.

"Hmph!" Shui Qingwu snorted softly.

Amidst the group’s frantic escape from a great crisis, a strange, flirtatious tension began to fill the air. Xu Lianyou and Shui Qingwu subconsciously glanced at each other, then both blushed and quickly turned their heads away.

The Demon Beasts behind them drew closer, and the foul, musky, and bloody stench carried by the wind was nauseating.

Endless clouds of dust billowed toward them. The group felt like a small boat tossed about in a monstrous storm, on the verge of being torn to shreds at any moment!

The aura of death spread through their hearts, making them increasingly hysterical.

"Get to that cliff up ahead first! Put away the Fiery Demon Wolves and climb!" Shen Lang roared at that moment.

It was a massive, jutting rock formation over a hundred feet high, completely bare.

Once they were on top of it, they could at least shake off a large portion of the pursuing Demon Beast horde.

Demon Beasts with huge bodies and poor jumping ability, like the Thunder Elephants, would never be able to make it up. If they wanted to continue the chase, they would have to go around the cliff.

"You go first!"

Shen Lang shouted, turned around, and clapped his hands together. Dozens of large rocks went whistling through the air, smashing into the first wave of pursuing Demon Beasts.

With a series of thunderous crashes, the boulders stunned a large number of Demon Beasts at the front.

Before those Demon Beasts could react, they were immediately engulfed by the tide of beasts behind them. Their shrill, miserable cries echoed from the foot of the mountain.

The five from the Twin Dragon Sect and Shui Qingwu scrambled up the cliff face, kicking off its surface several times. When their momentum gave out, they drove their short swords or daggers into the rock to pull themselves up, finally all making it to the top.

"Xiaolang, get up here!"

Shui Qingwu was frantic when she saw the beast horde closing in on Shen Lang.

This wasn’t just ten or twenty Demon Beasts; this was thousands, tens of thousands!

If they were all land-based Demon Beasts, it would have been much simpler. The problem was that the sky was also a dense, countless swarm!

Among them was a large patch of Flying Bone-Eating Ants, creatures that could devour a person, bones and all!

And not a single person here had a Flying Spiritual Artifact. If he was even a little too slow, he would be instantly consumed by the flood of Demon Beasts, with absolutely no chance of survival!

"Coming! You all keep going, don’t wait for me! I’ll cover the rear!" Shen Lang yelled. "Cross the Celestial Bridge and get to Celestial Pillar Peak!"

"Okay!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

At this point, the group had no other choice. They immediately began to frantically leap and climb upwards.

Although the members of the Twin Dragon Sect had nearly exhausted their energy during the earlier attack by the Netherworld Wolves, they had recovered a good deal during the chase.

Xia Yu and Xu Lianyou’s Cultivation was at the Qi Martial Realm Fifth Heaven, and the other three were at the Qi Martial Realm Sixth Heaven. A steep cliff like this was not enough to stop them.

A pair of faint, almost invisible wings of light unfurled from Shen Lang’s back, and he bounded up the cliff face.

SHING!

With a clear metallic ring, he drew the Celestial Water Blade.

With the Single Saber in hand, an unparalleled sharpness instantly burst forth!

"Get back!"

As Shen Lang flew rapidly upward, he swung the Celestial Water Blade horizontally in a slash aimed at the air behind him.

BOOM!

A tyrannical beam of saber energy exploded outward!

The beam was thirty feet long, incomparably sharp, and contained a terrifying glint of lightning.

SQUELCH!

A clap of thunder roared. The single slash instantly sliced seven or eight pursuing Flying Demon Beasts in half.

The blood and feathers of the Demon Beasts rained down, only to be devoured by the bloodthirsty horde on the ground the moment they landed. Not a single scrap was left!

By now, the cliff was blocking most of the land-based Demon Beasts, allowing the group to put some distance between them. The greatest threat now came from the overwhelming swarm of Flying Demon Beasts.

However, even with Shen Lang’s powerful Spirit Martial Realm cultivation, and even as his long saber sent a rain of Demon Beast corpses falling from the sky, it was still a drop in the ocean compared to the massive horde.

The Celestial Water Blade, carrying an peerless saber light, continued to reap the lives of Demon Beasts, but the situation remained extremely perilous. It felt as though they could be drowned in the ocean of Demon Beasts at any moment...