Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 704 - 704 703 Northwest Beacon Fires 14 End of month ticket request

704: Chapter 703: Northwest Beacon Fires 14 [End of month ticket request] 704: Chapter 703: Northwest Beacon Fires 14 [End of month ticket request] Under the clear sky, the thunder roared, and only Han Tiangang was fully aware because he controlled the power of the thunder and could also most directly feel the resistance from the stone statues.

He knew he had failed.

As the statue shrank, he knew things had taken a bad turn.

It wasn’t just the size that was diminishing, but also its subjugation.

After all, stone statues aren’t sentient beings; they are merely tools that manipulate sandstorms, not the instigators.

When they showed subjection, the Heavenly Dao wouldn’t relentlessly pursue.

This was always a bad debt.

Human challenge came first, inanimate retaliation followed.

With countless historical and environmental reasons leading to all this, who could truly determine upon whom to lay the blame?

So, it wasn’t really a question of whether his mana was sufficient or whether the thunder was powerful enough.

The real issue lay with the obscure cognition within the grand scheme, something beyond human control.

When the statues shrank to the size of a Master, these spiritually endowed things had already retreated to a corner.

The thunder could not advance any further—it had to stop here!

Simply put, the Heavenly Dao deemed the punishment sufficient, and the remaining issues should be traced to deeper causes.

The only thing hindering him from stopping was how to save face, to find a plausible justification for this failure so that everyone would know he had done his utmost.

This was the will of heaven, not a fault in battle.

It was at this moment he suddenly felt a slight change in his clear sky thunder.

Was it as if something had blended into it?

Had the celestial tribulation undergone a change?

Did that mean he could continue?

The incident was too sudden.

Honestly, such a powerful Thunder Disk was only forged once by the Guo Sect, so he had no experience to speak of and couldn’t get a grip on the anomaly that had appeared;

He wanted to wait and see, but this observation led to serious trouble.

One statue disappeared from his perception, then a second, a third…

In just a few breaths, twelve statues vanished, not only from sight but also from his senses, even the clear sky thunder he controlled couldn’t detect a target.

What was this, self-concealment?

Or had someone collected them?

It wasn’t him, so who was it?

There was no time to ponder this question, for with the stone statues gone, the natural course for the clear sky lightning was to find the next target, and in an instant, among all the present cultivators, it found one…

Himself!

Of course it chose him!

For amongst all present, he was the most qualified to be struck by lightning!

He was closest to the Golden Core!

The sudden risk struck him, he had not anticipated such a turn of events, it was completely unexpected; but no matter, just retract the Thunder Disk, and without his mana support, subsequent changes would have nothing to follow.

The whereabouts of the stone statues were no longer his concern.

The surrounding cultivators were uplifted, to say the least.

Regardless, the mission had been completed beautifully.

Han Xingzuo had shown great prowess, sweeping everything clean and not even leaving dregs for the undying beings.

It was a flawless victory!

Now, it was time to think of their own safety.

…Xiang Anshi let out a breath.

No matter what, the objective had been achieved, at least his efforts hadn’t been in vain.

“Why aren’t you running?

What are you staring at?

Do you want to stay and be turned into a statue standing there?”

However, Hou Niao’s reaction was quite strange, “Wait a bit longer.”

Xiang Anshi didn’t know what he was waiting for, but chose to trust him.

After all, up to this point, his choices had never been wrong, even though they were incredibly risky!

…”Everyone gather around me, we’ll break out together shortly!” Huai Liangyou and Lou Yue tried their best to project their Divine Sense amid the chaos.

This might be out of fraternity for their fellow disciples, but it could also be because the more people they had, the more pawns they could use as shields.

The number of undying beings was simply too overwhelming, swarming densely and already covering the entire sky above Xunfeng Valley.

They hadn’t noticed how the statues had disappeared, but they could clearly feel the power of the clear sky thunder, and couldn’t help but admire Brother Han’s strength.

This was the might of a Constellation True Inheritor; they had much more to aspire to.

…The undying beings had completely gone Berserk, gathering in numbers exceeding two thousand and completely sealing off Xunfeng Valley, both in the sky and beneath the layer of sand.

They could truly sense the loss of their treasure, an indescribable pain that transformed into an outbreak of furious anger.

These humans—none would escape!

There were already over a hundred eyeless monsters at the Golden Core Level, forming a deadly net of the inanimate.

…Han Tiangang was momentarily too preoccupied with his surroundings to care.

The danger to himself had not yet been resolved, and that was the most urgent matter at hand.

In his mind, he chanted silently and performed the gestures to retract his mana.

A series of operations successfully retrieved the Array Plate, and his mana returned to normal…

but the thunder didn’t stop!

He was in despair when he discovered that even without his support, there was still the presence of thunder in the sky, not from the Thunder Disk’s activation, but from the thunderclouds that had somehow appeared!

He had withdrawn the clear sky thunder, but not the infused Tribulation Thunder, which was now transforming into the Tribulation Thunder of the Heavenly Dao, targeting him, the initiator of the thunder.

How did it come to this?

He was just laughing at Tang Yan, not expecting retribution to fall upon him so swiftly.

Was this the Heavenly Dao’s discontent with the Constellation True Inheritors for suppressing their Realms, ready to claim back their positions one by one?

Although he couldn’t understand it, although he was filled with righteous indignation, under the threat to his life, all he could do was figure out how to get through this Upper Realm tribulation.

Running was useless.

Could he outrun the scrutiny of the Heavenly Dao?

Just like Tang Yan, although he never hoped to achieve Core Formation before obtaining the Spiritual Green from Outer Space, it didn’t prevent him from making preparations in advance.

This was what every cultivator suppressing their Realm would do, just in case an accident happened.

He did the same, quickly collecting his thoughts and adjusting his mindset to face the Heavenly Tribulation.

As he prepared, the tribulation clouds in the sky grew thicker, and all the cultivators noticed this unexpected change.

“Advancing to the Upper Realm after completing the mission?

Is there a necessary connection between the two?

This is not the stuff of legends from storybooks.

Has Brother Han gone mad?” Huai Liangyou couldn’t comprehend it.

Lou Yue was also baffled, “It can’t be that Brother Han is advancing the Realm on purpose!

He must have an inevitable difficulty!

I got it—it must be those twelve statues.

There are no signs of destruction, so it must be Brother Han who collected them into some space?

The result triggered the subsequent changes in the Heavenly Tribulation!

This, this is a bit too much, isn’t Brother Han being a little too greedy?”

The two of them agreed with this guess, and then suddenly realized that the attacks they were facing were becoming less frequent.

The undead were awakening from their frenzy, looking up at the sky…

Even the undead beings sensed something, following their instinctual intuition about such celestial phenomena!

The undead also feared the Heavenly Tribulation, afraid of drawing fire upon themselves!