novelraw Chapter 953: Fighting The Bat Beastkin
Chapter 953: Fighting The Bat Beastkin
The Beastkin rushed again.
This time his speed increased drastically.
His claws slashed repeatedly.
Frost blades filled the air.
Han Yu met him head on.
His palm struck.
Abyssal Frost condensed into gauntlets.
BOOM!
Their attacks collided.
The shockwave shattered nearby corpses.
The Beastkin retreated three steps.
Han Yu remained still.
"No human should possess Ice Dao comprehension greater than a Frost Bat!" the man shouted.
Han Yu remained silent.
He advanced instead.
Three spears formed.
One struck from above.
One from the side.
One from beneath.
The Beastkin twisted through them.
His body moved strangely.
Almost like a bat weaving through the air.
He appeared beside Han Yu.
Claws descended.
Han Yu caught the wrist.
Frost exploded between them.
CRACK!
The ground shattered.
Both separated.
The temple began collapsing around them.
Stone fell.
Pillars cracked.
The ritual circle fractured.
The Beastkin suddenly gritted his teeth.
"Damn you!"
He took out a talisman.
Blue.
Ancient.
Bat shaped symbols covered it.
He threw it upward.
"Suppress!"
The talisman exploded.
Han Yu instantly felt it.
Arrays hidden within the temple activated.
HUALA
Pressure descended.
The air thickened.
His spirit Qi slowed. His body grew heavy. His attacks weakened instantly.
Only half their previous power remained.
Han Yu’s expression changed.
"So there were hidden arrays..."
The Beastkin laughed.
"You entered the sanctuary and thought I lacked preparations?"
He attacked again.
This time Han Yu retreated.
A claw strike shattered the wall behind him.
Another froze half the chamber.
Han Yu immediately decided.
"I need to leave."
He turned.
Abyssal Frost exploded beneath his feet and he rushed toward the stairs. The Beastkin followed instantly. The chase tore through the underground passage. Both soon erupted into the village.
The moment they emerged the open space changed everything.
The Beastkin spread his arms.
Frost mist filled the sky.
Han Yu answered.
Dark ice spears rained downward.
BOOM!
Houses collapsed.
The villagers still smiled.
They simply watched.
Some laughed.
Some clapped.
The Beastkin appeared above Han Yu.
His claws enlarged.
Frost gathered around them.
He struck.
Han Yu blocked.
BOOM!
The ground beneath Han Yu collapsed. He counterattacked immediately and Abyssal Frost erupted upward. The Beastkin retreated and both separated. Han Yu finally understood.
Without the suppression arrays... They were nearly equal.
The Beastkin possessed immense Frost affinity. Han Yu possessed superior quality Frost Qi. The Abyssal Frost continually pressured him. The Beastkin clearly realized this too. Then suddenly disaster struck.
A stray frost blade hit the villagers.
Seven smiling people died instantly.
They collapsed without resistance.
The Beastkin froze.
"No!"
He rushed toward them.
His face twisted.
"I cannot lose sacrifices before the ritual!"
He turned toward Han Yu.
Pure anger filled his eyes.
"I will force you out!"
He took out a token that was Bat shaped. The same face from the murals stared outward.
The token activated.
HONG
Han Yu immediately felt space distort and his expression changed.
"No..."
The realm itself moved as space wrapped around him and the village blurred.
The Beastkin stood before him.
His eyes glowed.
"You will leave."
The world twisted.
Han Yu felt himself dragged through space and everything vanished. A few moments later cold wind struck his face and snow appeared beneath his feet.
He was pushed back and the village disappeared as the portal closed before him. Han Yu stood once more upon the snowy plains.
Silence returned.
Only the wind remained.
A few moments later Chitterfang’s voice sounded.
"Master?"
Han Yu slowly looked at the empty space where the portal once stood.
His expression had turned serious.
"The ritual is real."
He paused.
"And the thing beneath the spring..."
His eyes narrowed.
"That thing is alive."
After a minute Han Yu saw no sign of the man appearing. As such he immediately attempted to recreate the portal.
His fingers moved through the cold air, tracing the frost sigils he had memorized from the Bat Beastkin. One symbol after another formed before him, glowing faintly blue against the endless white plains. The final sigil settled into place.
Nothing happened.
The snow continued drifting quietly.
Han Yu frowned and repeated the process, this time feeding more Frost Qi into every symbol.
Still nothing.
The runes flickered and dissipated into mist.
"He sealed it." Han Yu muttered.
The conclusion came easily. After their fight the Bat Beastkin had certainly changed the entrance conditions or temporarily locked the realm down. Han Yu stood silently on the frozen plains while the wind brushed against his robes.
Technically speaking, the mission was already complete.
He had found Smiling Spring.
He had discovered the ritual.
He knew what had happened to Lady Rot Rose’s people.
He had identified the person carrying out the ceremonies.
He even possessed the recorded structure of the ritual circle itself. A longevity ritual with seemingly no backlash held immense value anywhere in the world.
He could leave now.
Return to the sect.
Report everything.
Yet Han Yu did not move.
He remained standing there.
The smiling villagers.
The strange spring.
The laughing corpses.
The souls extracted during the ritual.
The Bat Beastkin.
And above all else...
Madam Cold Fang.
Nothing fit together.
He could feel there was still something missing.
Thus Han Yu stayed.
He hid several kilometers away among frost covered stone outcroppings while Chitterfang’s children remained spread through the region.
He did not wait long before receiving another report.
"Master!" Chitterfang suddenly called through their connection.
"The children report movement. Palm Hand Lu is making a move toward Smiling Spring."
Han Yu’s eyes narrowed.
He immediately remained hidden and observed.
Based on distance, Palm Hand Lu would need a few days to arrive.
Han Yu waited.
Three days later the group finally appeared.
Palm Hand Lu personally led them.
More than fifty cultivators followed behind him, including several formation masters carrying arrays, detection tools and surveying plates.
The robust man stopped at the approximate area where Han Yu had previously opened the portal.
"Are you certain this is where the disturbance happened?" Palm Hand Lu asked.