Nine Astra Skies
chapter-97

The mystical beasts and human combatants kept pressing on with their attack on the formation as though they were trying to force their way into it. There should be something hidden in the formation as these mystical beasts and humans were willing to put aside their prejudice toward each other and worked together to deal with those six evil spirits.

“All people of Emerald Cloud Sect, take heed. Attack from the left flank to lure away those evil spirits and shield us from them!” a burly fellow who had a long beard, dressed in a green robe ordered in a loud voice.

Emerald Cloud Sect?

Ye Chen scanned the area with his Astral Body and found that while these five to six hundred human combatants seemed to be scattered all over the place, they could roughly be divided into five groups of people. Out of these five groups, three seemed to be moving in a relatively orderly fashion. Judging by what they were saying to one another, these people were most likely from the Three Major Sects. Each of these groups consisted of over a hundred combatants. Ye Chen was not sure where the fourth group had come from. There were around fifty to sixty people in that group and they did not appear to be from the Xiwu Empire. The remaining group consisted of only twenty to thirty combatants and seemed to be more thinly scattered over the area. These people were probably from some well-known martial arts families of the Xiwu Empire.

In that case, it seemed like people from all Three Major Sects had shown up. It was not surprising that there were so many strong combatants here.

The six evil spirits would occasionally swoop down from the sky to fight with the mystical beasts, Celestial Beasts, and humans on the ground. During such moments, the sky would temporarily grow dim. It was difficult to tell what rank those six evil spirits were as they were extraordinarily powerful, so much so that all these mystical beasts, Celestial Beasts, and humans could not do them much harm.

Whenever some mystical beasts and humans tried to force their way into the formation, those evil spirits would open their mouths abruptly and inhaled a few breaths of air, which would then form a fierce whirlwind. Thus, all Ninth Level combatants and mystical beasts collapsed to the ground and were sent retreating away from the formation with severe injuries. Only a few unlucky ones died directly.

The battle dragged on for quite some time yet no one managed to enter the formation.

Among these mystical beasts, Celestial Beasts, and humans, many had achieved the peak of Tenth Level. Nonetheless, they were no match for these evil spirits and were repeatedly sent flying away!

‘What exactly is this formation? I can’t understand why so many people are trying to force their way in,’ Ye Chen thought. ‘Could it be that there was some treasure in this formation?’

Curiosity flickered in Ye Chen’s heart. ‘I’ll be able to find out once I enter the formation.” At this thought, Ye Chen smiled faintly and said, “Little Tanuki, come to me!”

Little Tanuki dashed into Ye Chen’s embrace in a quick swoosh.

Ye Chen leaped down the slope and charged toward the human combatants.

These five to six hundred combatants had come together at the last minute so they did not have a leader and were chaotically fighting their enemies. In contrast, the mystical beasts and Celestial Beasts were advancing and retreating in an orderly fashion and would launch vigorous waves of attacks from time to time.

Some of the human combatants had noticed Ye Chen running over but did not bother to spare him a second glance.

As Ye Chen wormed his way into the noisy crowd, he heard a few of them talking about some ancient formation although they could not provide much detail as no one knew what the function of this ancient formation was. In any case, a wonderful surprise would await whoever entered the formation.

As the six evil spirits continued diving down from the sky to attack the humans now and then, many combatants were sent flying backward, one after another.

“Attack!” A group of over thirty combatants charged forward again.

“Where’s this little kid from? You have the nerve to come to such a place. Get out of my way.” A tall and brawny man waved a hand to shove Ye Chen aside. This man looked strong and terrifying as his face was covered with scars while he was armed with a gigantic mace.

Ye Chen frowned and activated his Chi Construct Barrier. Since this brawny man was merely a top Ninth Level combatant, Ye Chen did not have to fear the man at all.

That tall and brawny man’s arm became numb after having collided with Ye Chen’s body in a booming noise. The man stumbled a few steps backward in shock as he felt as though he had hit his arm against an iron block instead. A hint of fear flickered in the man’s eyes as he found it difficult to believe that this young man, who seemed to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, was a Tenth Level powerhouse.

Ye Chen ignored the brawny man and slowly approached the formation while his Astral Body extended over the center of the formation. Overall, the formation was made up of more than a hundred boulders and he was able to survey the peripheral areas of the formation. However, Ye Chen could not peek into the central part of the formation with his Astral Body since it was completely shrouded in a golden glow.

This golden glow was dazzlingly brilliant. Could it be that there was some kind of treasure at the center of the formation?

It seemed like there was a much higher concentration of Celestial Chi in the formation.

“Du Lang, what’s wrong?” a thin middle-aged man asked and patted him on the shoulder when he noticed that the tall and brawny man was in a daze.

“It’s nothing.” The brawny man shook his head but still felt somewhat frightened as he glanced at Ye Chen from afar. How could he not be in shock when he had encountered such a young Tenth Level combatant?

After a moment of pause, the brawny man and his comrades charged toward the formation too.

Ye Chen decided to enter the formation and look at its central part, so he gradually made his way to the edge of the formation.

The combatants around him were still charging ahead when Ye Chen suddenly sped up and advanced toward the edge of the formation.

An evil spirit swooped down abruptly from the sky like an enormous ball of shadow. Its claws and fangs would only become visible when it dove downward and revealed a blurry face.

“It’s coming down again!” All Ninth Level combatants began to run away and only two top Tenth Level combatants remained in their spots while yelling in anger and throwing out punches. A thunderous explosive sound echoed but the evil spirit merely slowed down for a moment whereas the two top Tenth Level combatants were sent flying away.

As the evil spirit inhaled a sudden breath, everyone around it felt as if their Celestial Chi were being sucked out of their bodies.

Bang, bang, bang. The Ninth Level combatants proceeded to punch and kick at the evil spirit but were unable to harm it at all.

This wave of attack was about to be forced into retreat soon seeing as most of the combatants were scattering out in all directions at that point.

Suddenly, Ye Chen charged forward and ran toward the formation.

As the evil spirit slammed a palm down on Ye Chen, an overwhelming bout of force weighed down on him and it felt as though his entire body was being squeezed violently. This evil spirit was indeed much more powerful than a top Tenth Level combatant.

Nonetheless, although it possessed overbearing powers, Ye Chen had already anticipated its attack and had instantly externalized a small part of his Astral Body on the evil spirit’s head.

An Astral Body had a pretty terrifying effect on spirits and demons after all. As a result, the evil spirit cried out in surprise and retreated sideways away from him.

Ye Chen had never thought of using his Astral Body to drive the evil spirit away since many other combatants would be able to force their way into the formation if he did so. Thus, he had decided to just frighten the evil spirit slightly so that he would be able to avoid its attack and run past it. As Ye Chen rapidly swept past the evil spirit and forced his way into the formation, his body soon vanished behind a boulder.

After having fought with Ye Chen earlier, Du Lang had been constantly keeping an eye on Ye Chen. So, when he saw Ye Chen vanished behind the boulder, he became somewhat stunned.

“Du Lang, what’s the matter?”

“That young man has entered the formation!” Du Lang pointed at the formation in shock. Many people had been trying to force their way into the formation but none had succeeded so far. So how did Ye Chen manage to enter the formation so easily?

The thin middle-aged man beside Du Lang glanced in the direction he was pointing but found only a boulder there. What young man was Du Lang talking about?

“Your eyes must be playing tricks on you. No one has managed to enter the formation yet. Even all top Tenth Level combatants have been forced to retreat.”

“I’m sure of what I saw. That young man has gone into the formation!” Du Lang said firmly. That young man had managed to enter the formation in an unbelievably effortless way. As Du Lang scanned his surroundings, he saw that the other Ninth Level and Tenth Level combatants around him were relentlessly charging forward while launching attacks but were all defeated by the evil spirit and forced to retreat again and again. How exactly did that young man manage to do it? Du Lang wanted to use Ye Chen’s method but simply could not figure out how Ye Chen had managed to enter the formation no matter how much he racked his brains. Regardless of how smart he was, it would never occur to him that Ye Chen had used his Astral Body.

As Ye Chen stood amid the boulders in the formation and glanced outside, he found that all the combatants were still charging forward in waves of attacks. However, the moment they encountered the evil spirits, even the most powerful Tenth Level combatants were frightened out of their wits. Thus, Ye Chen was the only person who was able to enter the formation so easily.

An Astral Body was indeed a truly wonderful thing to have!