The remaining green centipedes charged at the vulture like mad, wrapping their bodies around its claws and wings in a desperate attempt to stop its attack.
But most of these centipedes were inexperienced in cultivation, no match for the Demonized Vulture at all. One by one, they were swallowed whole by the vulture.
Cyan-green blood dripped from the vulture's beak, hissing as it corroded the rock ground.
Wu Xuan endured the agony of his torn wing membrane, summoning his last ounce of strength to spit out a final wisp of silver thread. It coiled precisely around the vulture's beak, trying to block its attacks.
Yet the thread was far too faint. It dissolved instantly upon contact with the feral aura.
Taking advantage of the opening, the oncoming demonized beasts surged forward. The claws of several Golden Metal Beasts raked across Wu Xuan's body simultaneously, tearing him into pieces.
His cyan-green blood mingled with the black demon blood, dripping beside Xue Kuang's remains like a cold burial shroud.
The Green Centipede Clan's reinforcement lasted no longer than an incense stick's burn, leaving them nearly annihilated. The massive venom net had long since dissipated, leaving only scattered centipede limbs and congealed green blood across the ground.
With the Green Centipede Clan's restraint gone, the demonized beasts' assault grew fiercer than ever. The pressure on the three gaps skyrocketed. The Snow Fox Clan's defense line teetered on the brink of collapse, ready to shatter at any moment.
Xue Yao's spiritual power was nearly depleted. Her Yin Spirit Staff had snapped completely in two. She leaned weakly against the golden metal rock behind her, light blue blood trickling continuously from the corner of her mouth.
Fewer than fifty Snow Wolf Guards remained at her side. Every single one of them was gravely wounded, gasping for breath, yet they clung tightly to their short blades, their eyes fixed unwaveringly on the surging horde of beasts.
Just then, a small party of barely a dozen figures came running from the rocky terrain to the west—the Stone Leaf Clan of the Western Wasteland!
A tiny clan with only a hundred-odd members, they were insignificant among the myriad clans of the Primordial World.
Standing barely half a zhang tall, their bodies were fused from golden metal rock and innate spirit leaves, granting them a natural affinity for combat amid rocky terrain.
They clutched crudely forged stone hatchets, their blades still caked with damp spiritual vein soil—proof they had rushed to the battlefield without a moment's rest upon receiving the call for aid.
The Stone Leaf Clan's party halted a hundred zhang from the defense line. The younger clansmen stared in horror at the carnage before them, drawing sharp breaths.
The ground was littered with corpses, the air thick with suffocating feral aura, warriors falling one after another, and the sky blotted out by black-red clouds—all of it overwhelmed these young souls who had never witnessed such a brutal war.
"Clan Leader, there are... so many beasts up ahead! It's... it's a massacre!" Shi Ya, the youngest warrior of the clan, tightened his grip on his stone hatchet until his knuckles whitened. His voice trembled with unmasked fear, yet his gaze remained locked on the rampaging Demonized Vulture at the center of the battlefield.
"We... we only have fifty of us, and our cultivation is so shallow. Can we even win? Maybe... maybe we should retreat first..."
Shi Ya's words echoed the thoughts of many young clansmen. A murmur of unrest rippled through the ranks. Several warriors took half a step back, their eyes filled with hesitation.
It was not that they were cowardly. It was simply that the battlefield before them was too terrifying, offering no glimmer of hope for victory.
Shi Qing, the clan leader of the Stone Leaf Clan, let out a faint smile. His gaze swept across the battlefield—lingering on Xue Yao's struggling figure, then on the scattered green centipede limbs in the rock crevices, before finally settling on Shi Ya's face. His tone was heavy yet unshakable.
"Retreat? Where to?"
"If we retreat today, the beasts will raze our Stone Leaf Valley to the ground tomorrow. If we fail to hold the Western Wasteland today, our clan will have nowhere left to hide!"
Shi Qing's voice was not loud, but every word rang like a bell.
"Look at the fellow warriors of the Snow Fox Clan! Look at the brave fighters of the Green Centipede Clan! Do you think they did not know the dangers? Yet they did not retreat! Because they understood that one step back means the annihilation of their entire clan!"
He raised his stone hatchet high, pointing toward the golden metal spiritual vein shrouded in feral aura in the distance. His voice surged with sudden resolve.
"That is the source of the Western Wasteland's spiritual energy—the foundation of every clan that calls this land home!"
"If the spiritual vein is devoured by the beasts, the Western Wasteland will become a lifeless wasteland. Our Stone Leaf Clan will not escape destruction either. When the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. Do you not understand this simple truth?"
Shi Qing's words struck the Stone Leaf warriors like a clap of thunder. The young clansmen lifted their heads one by one. The fear in their eyes faded, replaced by a awakened sense of determination.
They looked at the alien warriors fighting to the death against the beasts. They looked at the fallen corpses that still retained their defiant postures. The fear in their hearts was replaced by a sense of duty.
"Our clan may be small, but we know the meaning of 'when the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold'!" Shi Qing raised his hatchet once more. His voice was not booming, yet it carried a resolute power that stirred the hearts of all who heard it.
"Children of the Stone Leaf Clan! The spiritual vein is the root of the Primordial World, and the Western Wasteland is our home! Today, we shall use our stone bodies as shields and our spirit leaves as blades—to defend our Western Wasteland!"
"Defend our Western Wasteland!"
The fifty-odd Stone Leaf warriors shouted in unison. Their voices echoed through the Golden Metal Stone Forest, dispelling the last traces of cowardice in their hearts.
Instead of charging recklessly into the fray, they followed Shi Qing's orders and darted swiftly into the rock crevices.
They knew full well their cultivation was too shallow to stand against the beasts head-on. Only by using the golden metal rock terrain to their advantage could they maximize their impact.
The Stone Leaf warriors used their hatchets to pry loose the golden metal rocks around them—rocks that had absorbed the faint venomous aura of the Green Centipede Clan over the years, granting them a slight ability to counter feral aura.
Boulders the size of millstones were pried loose, rolling down the rocky slopes and slamming into the joints of the Demonized Golden Metal Beasts. The rocks were not lethal, but their immense weight and momentum slowed the beasts' movements for a brief moment.
That brief moment was all the Snow Fox warriors needed to catch their breath. One Snow Wolf Guard seized the chance to slash at a Golden Metal Beast's tendon, severing it cleanly. Glancing at the Stone Leaf warriors hidden in the crevices, a flicker of gratitude crossed his eyes.
Then he turned back to the fight without hesitation.
Young and impulsive as he was, Shi Ya knew how to bide his time. He nimbly climbed a thick golden metal rock pillar, which offered a clear view of the battlefield's center.
He tightened his grip on his stone hatchet, hacking off a piece of rock embedded with innate spirit leaves. Taking aim at the eye of the Demonized Vulture, which was tearing a Snow Wolf Guard apart, he hurled the rock fragment with all his might.
The rock hurtled through the air with a sharp whistle. It missed its mark by a hair's breadth, but grazed the vulture's eye socket, drawing a trickle of black blood.
The vulture screeched in pain, forced to dodge sideways. Its imminent attack was thwarted, giving the few Snow Wolf Guards beside Xue Yao a precious moment to recover.
"Well done, Shi Ya!" Shi Qing's voice of approval rang out from the rock crevices.
But the beasts' ferocity had already been fully aroused. The Stone Leaf Clan's harassment enraged the Demonized Bone-Corroding Vines lurking in the rear of the horde.
Pitch-black from root to tip, their tendrils glowed with a sinister green venomous light. They usually hid behind the beast horde, specializing in ambushing isolated warriors.
Now sensing the threat from the Stone Leaf Clan, several thick vines suddenly shot out from the rock crevices, coiling like venomous snakes toward the Stone Leaf warriors prying loose the rocks.
"Watch out!" Shi Qing shouted a warning, but it was too late.
More than a dozen Stone Leaf warriors, who had been focusing all their strength on prying the rocks, had no time to dodge. They were ensnared tightly by the vines.
The venomous green light seeped into their bodies through the vines. The innate spirit leaves on the warriors' bodies instantly lost their luster, withering and turning black at a visible speed.
They let out shrill screams of agony. Their stone bodies creaked and cracked under the vines' crushing grip, before being squeezed into fragments and scattered across the rock crevices.
"Clan brother!" Shi Ya watched as a clansman who had grown up with him was crushed to pieces. His eyes turned blood-red, and he was about to leap down from the pillar to fight to the death, but Shi Qing's sharp voice stopped him.
"No rashness! Hold your position! Your mission is to hold the beasts back, not throw your life away!"
Shi Qing's voice was thick with suppressed grief. He ached for his fallen clansmen as much as anyone else, but he knew that impulsive actions would accomplish nothing. Only by holding their ground could they buy more time for the Snow Fox Clan.
Watching more and more Bone-Corroding Vines emerge from the crevices, Shi Qing knew the Stone Leaf Clan could not hold on much longer. He pulled a fist-sized golden metal stone core from his bosom— the clan's ancestral treasure, condensed from the essence of the spiritual vein, brimming with pure golden metal spiritual energy, and the Stone Leaf Clan's last resort.
Shi Qing gritted his teeth. Taking advantage of a lull when a Snow Wolf Guard repelled the beast beside him, he dashed out of the rock crevice and ran toward Xue Yao. Several Bone-Corroding Vines chased closely behind, coiling toward his back.
Shi Qing swung his hatchet backward, chopping off one vine, but another grazed his shoulder. A deep, corroded pit instantly appeared in his stone shoulder, and gray-green blood streamed down the wound.
Ignoring the pain, he summoned every last bit of strength to reach Xue Yao's side, shoving the golden metal stone core into her hand. "Take it... this is our clan's last spiritual vein essence... hold on for as long as you can!"
Xue Yao stared at the wound on Shi Qing's shoulder, then at the warm stone core in her palm. Her eyes filled with emotion. She was about to speak, when a thick Bone-Corroding Vine suddenly pierced through Shi Qing's chest from behind.
"Clan Leader!" Xue Yao cried out in horror.
Shi Qing's body froze abruptly. Gray-green blood spilled from his lips. He turned his head with great difficulty, glancing at his clansmen fighting in the rock crevices, then at Xue Yao. A look of relief crossed his face, and he slowly crumpled to the ground.
His stone hatchet clattered to the ground. The vine piercing his chest continued to wriggle, slowly corroding his body into dust.
His gray-green blood dripped onto the golden metal stone core, causing it to burst forth with a dazzling golden light. The light, infused with pure golden metal spiritual energy, temporarily dispelled the surrounding feral aura—only to be quickly swallowed up by the surging demon aura.
Watching their clan leader fall, the Stone Leaf warriors were overcome with grief and anger. They charged out of the rock crevices, pouncing at the Bone-Corroding Vines—but it was like moths throwing themselves into a flame. One by one, they were ensnared and crushed into fragments.
The Stone Leaf Clan was on the verge of annihilation, and the Snow Fox Clan's defense line was at its breaking point. Clutching the golden metal stone core, feeling the residual spiritual power of Shi Qing within it, Xue Yao's eyes blazed with unyielding resolve.
She channeled all the power of the stone core into her remaining spiritual energy, condensing it once more into a light sphere—brighter than ever before, glowing with intertwined silver and golden light.
"My clansmen!"
Xue Yao's voice was warm yet firm. She held aloft the expanding light sphere, which was on the verge of exploding, and shouted at the top of her lungs: "For our children! For the home behind us!"