Chapter 68: Choosing the Lesser Evil (Extra Chapter for Alliance Leader Zhibai 4/12)
The charge of the boar demons thundered across the earth.
The black monkeys swept over the land like fleeting shadows, silent and ruthless. They had already spread out in all directions, meticulously planning the best routes of attack. Thus, when Liu Sui launched the full assault, it was also the moment of their frenzied slaughter.
The wind rose—they came.
Even when Wei Cheng, Cheng An, Mei Renli, Yu Liang, and Wang Wei roared together, their voices booming like thunder, they managed only to shake off five or six black monkeys. Aside from Wei Cheng, the others simply weren’t strong enough.
As their shouts still echoed, the monkeys pounced. At that instant, a shield of flames flared forth, enveloping all five. Yet, unexpectedly, the fire shield, so effective against fireballs, proved almost useless against the monkeys’ razor claws—as if it barely existed. In just a moment, the golden bell shields of Wang Wei and Yu Liang shattered. Cheng An and Mei Renli’s bell shields were covered in cracks.
Fortunately, Wei Cheng had anticipated this. He hadn’t activated his own bell shield, instead spinning around to protect Yu Liang and Wang Wei, channeling his Mountain-moving inner force. With a mighty roar, he shook off several more black monkeys.
Though the first round left them battered, they did not fall behind.
But then ten boar demons charged forward.
Wei Cheng hesitated only a moment before activating the Way of Non-Contestation. He could have used his bell shield—he himself feared nothing, and three or five boar demons couldn’t break it—but the others would surely be trampled into pulp. If he released the Way of Non-Contestation, the others, being so close, would be swept up in its invisible force field.
He could only choose the lesser evil.
In an instant, lofty mountains and rushing rivers, mountain winds howling and waters roaring—the illusion of the Mountain-moving Visualization enveloped them. All ten boar demons were caught by the invisible force, as if their strength was whisked away by the surging river. They lost their balance and crashed to the ground.
But Cheng An and Mei Renli lost their balance as well, their bell shields vanishing entirely. Wang Wei and Yu Liang were flung aside, landing heavily a second later.
Wei Cheng could only turn and roar, shaking off three monkeys lunging at Yu Liang. At the same time, Wang Wei’s skull was torn open.
“Damn it!”
Cheng An screamed, rushing forward. A black monkey darted from the side, its claws slicing through his shield and tearing off half his nose.
Wei Cheng’s heart bled, but he was powerless. The Way of Non-Contestation merely toppled the boar demons, dissipating their charge, but didn’t resolve the threat.
“Ahhh!” Wei Cheng roared in fury, golden light blazing in his fist as he charged forward, smashing a boar demon’s skull in one blow. Even as two monkeys attacked, they couldn’t penetrate his shield.
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His inner force was of a quality far beyond Yu Liang, Wang Wei, and the others.
“Boom!” The second boar demon’s head exploded under Wei Cheng’s force.
At that moment, the black monkeys began screeching. Xu Shan abandoned the giant black ape and wolf demon, darting over. Cheng An and Mei Renli stood back to back, alternately activating their bell shields, with the gravely wounded Yu Liang at their feet. They had no strength left to counterattack.
The black monkeys couldn’t break Wei Cheng’s secondary shield, but tore through Cheng An and Mei Renli’s bell shields as if they were made of paper.
Only Xu Shan’s desperate maneuvering kept them alive for a few seconds, leaving her body covered in dozens of wounds. Still, as a Swift Swallow, she managed to dodge and counterattack, killing several monkeys.
Once Wei Cheng had slain the ten boar demons, the remaining monkeys screeched and fled.
The survivors were soaked in blood, the scene unbearable.
In the distance, Liu Sui glowed with shifting violet energy. He had slain every antlered demon, wolf demon, and giant black ape around him, but was barely able to stand.
Several hundred meters away, atop the ruined fortress, a massive stone stele of transmission slowly descended.
They had finally won.
“Wang Wei!”
Xu Shan wept bitterly, disregarding her wounds as she carried Wang Wei’s corpse toward the demon stronghold.
Wei Cheng followed, carrying the unconscious Yu Liang.
Cheng An and Mei Renli supported each other, their Mountain-moving inner force nearly depleted.
Liu Sui had slaughtered most of the demons alone, his strength exhausted and his body battered by fireball explosions.
Wei Cheng himself had little inner force left.
Now, only Xu Shan retained any combat ability.
Fortunately, the surroundings were empty—no other demons, no enemies, only silence.
The Trial Immortal kept faith; having won, they would be granted a period of peace to recover.
Minutes later, Wei Cheng carried the gravely wounded Yu Liang to the stronghold’s battlements. Xu Shan’s face was heavy, streaked with tears.
Wang Wei was gone; even the divine radiance had no effect.
“Liu Sui, you touch it first,” Wei Cheng said after a long silence.
“No, Wei, you must go first. You are the soul of our team. Without you, we would have been annihilated,” Liu Sui refused decisively.
The danger of today’s battle was beyond imagination. Even Zhou Wu’s team might not have survived. Over fifty black monkeys as strong as Swift Swallows, thirty antlered demons, one that could immobilize with nightmare magic, ten boar demons, thirty giant black apes, nearly two hundred wolf demons. This force was held at bay only because Wei Cheng could withstand two waves of fireballs head-on.
Though Liu Sui and Xu Shan performed brilliantly thereafter, it was all built on the advantage gained by Wei Cheng and the others sacrificing themselves.
He refused to confuse the order of merit.
He was no Zhou Wu.
“Wei, stop pushing it off. Time is short—let Liu Sui go second! Yu Liang third, I’ll go last,” Xu Shan urged. She and Liu Sui owed the team favors from the jade stone that enhanced their lightning rings, so her yielding now would settle half her debt.
After all, her contributions today ranked her third.
“That’s right, Boss Wei, your merit is greatest—you must go first, or we can’t bear it!” Mei Renli chimed in, rubbing his hands and feigning sincerity. Even if he went last, the divine radiance would still shine on him.
Wei Cheng glanced at Liu Sui, said no more, and pressed his hand to the transmission stele. Instantly, divine radiance poured down like a tide, its quality even surpassing that which shined on Xu Guoliang after capturing the Floating Cloud Stronghold.
Wei Cheng immediately obtained the ninth stage of the Golden Bell Shield technique.
His inner force recovered rapidly—almost fifty percent in a second.
His mental strength surged, a sensation like enlightenment, each second of divine radiance equal to three of the old. He even ignored the strengthening of his physique; breaking through the Eight Cycles bottleneck was meaningless now.
As his spirit rose, he felt himself touching a broader, more mysterious realm—just a glimpse, with a long way yet to reach it.
For twelve seconds, the divine light bathed him, then faded swiftly, and the stele shrank by half.
Wei Cheng exhaled heavily, a complex expression on his face. His Mountain-moving inner force was fully restored, and even his Swift Swallow inner force returned.
His physical cultivation potential not only broke through to Eight Cycles, but the ninth was faintly visible.
His mental strength increased by a full fifth.
At this moment, the eighth stage of the Golden Bell Shield, which had once baffled him, suddenly became clear, like a long-standing puzzle solved at last.
He could now look back at his previous understanding, as if reflecting on youthful folly, and his mastery of the Golden Bell Shield had risen to a higher level.
He wondered how many points Zhou Wu could score now, but felt certain he himself could reach ninety.
The reason? He had not yet mastered the ninth stage of the Golden Bell Shield technique.