Sword Among Us

A sentient beast!

There was an endless array of sentient beasts in the world of wanderers. They swam in water, ran on the ground, and flew in the sky. They were common sights. Also, these sentient creatures usually possessed strength that ranged from Moksha Realm to Myth Realm.

The formation of sentient beasts were due to various different factors.

Some of it was due to their blood.

One of them was the Phoenix-eyed White Tiger, which was also commonly known as Huge Worm. There were also the Black Apes in the mountains, King of Wolves, Golden Rocs, and Snow Eagles. Due to their body constitutions and blood, these creatures stood at the top of the biological chain. They possessed great strength since they were born and could rule over any region they wanted.

But there were also other reasons as to why sentient beasts became stronger.

Such as mutation…

Take, for example, the Nine-tailed Fox who had caused quite the ruckus in the Chinese plains. It had turned into a sentient creature who was at Myth Realm because it had mutated after it suffered from qi deviation.

There were also the fierce creatures in the Mountain Villa of Ten Thousand Beasts. After their bodies were stimulated by various medicines, they became even stronger and fiercer, and they turned into fearsome, sentient creatures who were rather lacking in the intelligence department.

The last was rather unique. They were sentient creatures who possessed unique talents and lived in harsh environments, just like the Black Sandstorm Scorpion.

Their strengths usually varied.

Take, for example, the Japanese oak silkworms.

They lived in extremely cold regions, and if they left those regions, they would die. Their lives were very fragile, but the wild silk they ejected were rare treasures in the world.

The Fire Qilin was a sentient beast who lived near a volcano. It was so strong that it could rival an elite at the peak of Myth Realm, and its vitality was as strong as those in the dao of heaven!

The Black Sandstorm Scorpion was an incredibly fierce sentient beast from ancient times.

Even though its strength and intellect could not rival that of a Fire Qilin, since it ate sand for a long time as its main diet, its entire body was as tough as steel, and it also obtained quite a number of unique abilities—being able to move about as easily in flowing sand as a person running on land. Also, the Black Sandstorm Scorpion could spit out black crystals, which were crystals extracted from sand. They were even tougher and sharper than common metal. They could easily pierce through metal and kill their targets from the distance.

Once she recognized the Black Sandstorm Scorpion, Osaya’s expression instantly turned unpleasant. The long, white gauze that swept toward the Black Sandstorm Scorpion changed the manner of its attack. It swept out in the form of a hoop and bound the scorpion’s opened mouth.

“Hiss!”

The Black Sandstorm Scorpion relied on the black crystals its spat out to attack its enemies. Once its mouth was bound by something as tough as metal, it instantly felt so miserable that it started struggling violently.

Its long and huge body twisted about hideously in the air. It crashed against the area around it, making banging sounds. In the end, it could only helplessly fall toward the sand whirlpool with the white gauze like a stone falling into a river.

While she was still in the air, Osaya took the chance to give some information to Happy and Thousand-faced Human Fox. “The Black Sandstorm Scorpion is made of sand, and it’s very difficult to injure it badly. Also, even if you manage to injure it, once it enters sand, it’ll heal very quickly, which means that all your effort is in vain. The best way to deal with it is to stay far away from it!”

Osaya naturally did not know that when she identified the Black Sandstorm Scorpion, Thousand-faced Human Fox had already swiftly told Happy all the information regarding the Black Sandstorm Scorpion through a private message.

What both of them said was exactly the same.

“Be careful!”

At that moment, a wave of yellow sand pounced at them from a spot not far away from the distance.

The trio could not avoid it on time, and they were struck. All three of them sank into the sand whirlpool that swallowed the Black Sandstorm Scorpion at the same time.

At that moment, Happy was only able to activate his true origin aura!

Boom!

Darkness surrounded him.

Happy sensed that his entire person had been instantly swallowed up by yellow sand. Before the yellow sand swallowed him, the last thought that flashed in his mind was this.

‘Thank goodness Osaya sealed the scorpion’s mouth!’

But soon, weightlessness filled his senses.

Once he was swallowed by yellow sand, he did not experience the sense of being trapped and squashed, and neither did he feel as if he could not breathe. Instead, he felt a great sense of weightlessness, as if he was falling from the sky.

Happy quickly sensed that as he plunged down with the flowing sand, the world spun, as if he was flung out from some place!

He spread out his spirit sense, and Happy immediately noticed that the flowing sand around him had spread out as it fell. It plunged down like a waterfall, and when it connected with whatever it was down below, it let out a bang.

There was nothing around him, but above him were many holes that had diameters of 32 feet. Sand poured out of them madly.

Happy did not notice any building or ground below him for a period of time.

‘This is bad!’

Happy knew that if he did not do something in this distance, the sand waterfall would definitely ram him against the ground violently, and falling to his death in a quest in a forbidden land was not a respectable death.

Boom!

He swung his longsword, and a dazzling light shot out of the heavy sand waterfall. The sand was instantly cut apart.

Almost at the same time, a graceful, black shadow shot out of the sand waterfall in a leisurely manner. At the same time, the Black Sandstorm Scorpion charged out as well, intending to attack Osaya after it tore through the white gauze. But the creature was a little more unfortunate. Once Osaya hit it with a hidden force, its mind was dizzy, and it flew out of the waterfall to fall downwards.

“Let’s go!”

With his spirit sense activated, Happy could see all that was around him.

He reached out and grabbed Thousand-faced Human Fox, who was nearby. He then held his breath, and as swiftly as lightning, he flew out of the waterfall in a pathetic manner.

The ground might be far away from them, but since their lightness skills were great, they would naturally not face any problems.

Thousand-faced Human Fox was tossed out at the moment before they were about to land. In a show of great sense, he delivered a palm strike to negate the force in his plunge. At the same time, he delivered a palm strike to the air so that he could dissolve Happy faced as he fell.

Bang!

Happy did not waste Thousand-faced Human Fox’s kindness. He activated his true origin aura and withstood the blow before he landed on the ground on his feet soundlessly.

“Thank you for saving me, Master.”

Thousand-faced Human Box bent his back and thanked him.

But Happy could care less about that. He raised his hand in a nonchalant manner and surveyed his surroundings at the same time. “Enough with the chatter. Just check where we are.”

Whoosh!

Bang!

The first sound was the sound of wind generated when Osaya landed on the ground, and the second sound, which was loud enough to cause the ground to tremble, was caused by the Black Sandstorm Scorpion.

Thousand-faced Human Fox nodded and said nothing else. He began sizing their current environment.

This was a huge man-made palace!

Its diameter was more than 656 feet long, and it was a palace shaped like a huge dome.

“What’s that?”

Thousand-faced Human Fox’s gaze landed on the huge pits which had diameters more than 32 feet wide. Slight surprise appeared on his face.

Every pit was positioned directly under the huge holes above them.

And the sand that poured down from the area above went straight into these large holes.

It was as if the sand waterfalls had fallen straight into these huge pits.

As time passed, the pits in the area were slowly filled by yellow sand.

“Master…” When he saw this, Thousand-faced Human Fox sucked in a sharp breath. After counting carefully, he cried out in shock, “Forty-nine holes! This is similar to the Forty-nine Sky Force Formation from ancient times!”

Happy, Osaya, and Thousand-faced Human Fox were not the only ones in the area where the palace was. A few other people could be found in other directions. They either stood alone or formed groups to surround one person.

The seven elites in the dao of heaven had stayed at the ruins, and all of them had gathered at the mysterious and unidentified palace at the same time.

However, while they fell from high above just now, they had been far apart from each other, and none of them had time to pay attention to the other people’s situations.

Boom!

“Hiss…”

Humans were not the only ones who fell from the holes above them. The hideous and fierce and Black Sandstorm Scorpions had fallen down as well.

These creatures had shells as hard as steel, and even when they fell from a height of more than three hundred feet, they were completely fine. They twisted their bodies and were so agile that they looked as if they knew martial arts. They stared at the targets near them and let out thudding sounds as they approached their targets at the speed of lightning.

Regardless of whether it was Osaya or Dongfang Bubai, they were completely hopeless against these sturdy creatures.

Once the Black Sandstorm Scorpion near Osaya targeted her because of how great it was at holding a grudge, the human and scorpion began fighting against each other. Even though the Black Sandstorm Scorpion was hit with such a great impact that it would stagger backwards and even hiss in pain, it still chased after Osaya’s skirt relentlessly, refusing to give up.

As for Dongfang Bubai, he was not someone with a good personality.

However, when he faced the Black Sandstorm Scorpion, he found that even after he used more than ten embroidery needles against it, it remained unharmed. The Black Sandstorm Scorpion seemed to be incredibly sensitive to the minute changes in the air, and whenever there was something that went to its eyes, its body would nimbly avoid it by twisting and breaking free from the attack. It was either that, or it would shut its eyes and let the attack brush past it.

Even though he was much more active when he attacked the scorpion compared to Osaya, Dongfang Bubai was still helpless against the Black Sandstorm Scorpion. The powerful palm strikes from those in the dao of heaven could even crush stones, but they could not crush these mutated sentient beasts who relied on eating sand to survive.

More than ten Black Sand Scorpions fell from the sky and crashed against the ground. With agile movements, they found their nearest target and went to attack them with the teeth bared. They looked like perverts who had not seen a woman for decades.

No one paid attention to the pits in the area which were gradually filled with yellow sand.

Then…

Boom!

When the first pit was filled with yellow sand and the sand waterfall above it disappeared, it looked as if the hole above it had been forcefully shut.

One, two, three…

More pits were filled.

As the number of sand waterfalls falling from the sky reduced in number, some people finally noticed this phenomenon, and this sight also attracted Happy’s attention.

Thousand-faced Human Fox’s anxious cry rose beside his ear, and Happy frowned. He turned around and asked, “What is this Forty-nine Sky Force Formation?”

“Forty-nine Sky Force Formation is created based on ancient divination techniques. It’s said that it’s also the oldest formation to still exist in the world. Its power is incredibly terrifying. As for the details, even I don’t know about it. The Amazing Log of the Seas and Mountains didn’t give a detailed description about it.”

When Thousand-faced Human Fox reached the second half of his sentence, his tone became wry and awkward.

“Master, be careful!”

At that moment, a second Black Sandstorm Scorpion suddenly fell out from the sand waterfall nearby.

Its body was about the same as the other Black Sandstorm Scorpions. It landed coincidentally into the pit next to Happy. After a long bang, it jumped out of the pit like a rolling snake.

“Hiss!”

Once it showed up with its hideous and fierce body, a huge pair of clamps went to attack Happy.

It opened its mouth wide, and dozens of black things that looked like hidden weapons sealed up all the paths Happy could use to dodge.

Happy had long since witnessed just how powerful this creature was. Even when he used the accumulated strength from Full Wind in Long Skies to hit it, he could not injure it severely. He did not even bother to draw his sword but just maintained his distance from it while he withdrew and dodged it. He thought, ‘Since I can’t hurt it with normal attacks, I might as well use other attacks.’

“Roar!”

In an instant, a loud and mighty dragon’s roar rang through the palace.