Wu Tianmo's body stiffened momentarily, nearly causing a serpent to devour him. At the last moment, his senses sent warnings down his body.
He side stepped the attack and with a clean motion he sliced the beast in two with his Blackwood Sword that had begun to crack.
The majority of the beasts at the third gate were much stronger than those at the second gate causing his weapon's durability to suffer.
What caused him to stiffen was the path leading up, moments before the murderous intent of beasts stronger than he had ever encountered were approaching.
Wu Tianmo's eyes widened as two streaks of gold shot through the air at an unfathomable speed.
Is this the power of the Core Forming Realm...
His seed of sword intent suddenly trembled, his face went pale, and his gaze was glued to the path up the hill.
Golden swords, mirroring the weapon of the Azure Sword Sect's Elder, were pierced into the bodies of two beasts that radiated ferocity.
Their scales had turned black, their eyes blue matching the markings that ran down their elongated serpent bodies. Their tails even had spiked golden rings. Those were no ordinary demonic beasts.
Why do I get the sense of familiarity when I look at them... Those are...
The elder, riding atop his flying sword moved closer to the large impaled serpents.
It was then that two other Demon Core Realm serpents dropped from nearby trees shooting blue waves of demonic qi.
As the waves of blue moved closer, the ground and all the grass started to tremble then decay.
The elder felt danger from that blue mist, he flew backwards slightly and gripped his sword.
The edge of his sword glowed golden, he took a stance and prepared to attack. His sword was glowing more and more radiant, its blade completely covered in golden light. Like the sun it drew the eyes of all around him.
The elder yelled,
"Cut!"
He swung his sword horizontally instantly dispersing the blue mist. Using his divine sense he retracted the swords from the serpents bodies ahead of him and directed them towards the hanging serpents.
A clean cutting sound was heard as their heads fell from their long bodies.
He stroked his beard while taking a deep breath, as he looked them up and down he mumbled,
"Crowned obsidian serpents.... A unique evolution of the obsidian serpent. How... this shouldn't be... They haven't been seen for..."
With a wave of his hand the manifested golden broadswords turned into golden mist and the bodies of the serpents were stored into his storage ring.
He looked back at the group of disciples with him and let out a dejected sigh,
"We can proceed no further. If the mountain is home to these four Demon Core realm beasts, it's ruler must be even stronger."
He looked back up the mountain,
"Why the king of the mountain hasn't shown himself is beyond me. Young Miss it's time to--"
The young lady who seemed to hold significant status walked forward,
She was different from Lin Qingxue, she was elegant and had a slender sword. Her demeanor was inviting and her steps flowed like the river. Her eyes were deep blue and the sect robes gripped her figure tightly revealing its curves.
"Uncle.... If that beast was intending to attack us he would have done so already. Can't we at least explore this building?"
Before he could respond she pursed her lips and pleaded,
Her pitiful pleading eyes rendered the elder incapable of rejection.
He sighed.
She walked towards the large three floored pavilion.
"We shouldn't lose this opportunity."
The elder and Lin Qingxue shook their heads at the same time,
The elder declared,
"You all may explore it, be careful of traps. I will patrol the path in case any beast should approach."
His eyes narrowed,
"If I say we must leave, do not argue or put up a fuss. I won't take you out again if you do."
The girl nodded and walked to the door.
At the front of the building there was a sign, she hesitated.
What is this sense of dread coming from the other side...
As soon as she started to read...
"The Thousand Serpent Sanctum...."
A loud roar came from outside the mountain.
The elder's face showed dread,
The ruler of the mountain! It must be some ancient monster... What else could make me feel this sense of impending doom.
Everyone turned stiff, only the elder could move freely.
The white bearded elder flew towards her, sweeping her off her feet and onto his flying sword.
Resolutely he said,
"Young miss we must go"
He turned to the other disciples and commanded,
"Lin Qingxue, take the outer disciples and flee for your lives! I will take the young miss and warn the sect."
Many of the disciples' faces turned pale and the Zhang clan members all started to panic. Even Zhang Guoshan couldn't stop shaking, causing the rings of his saber to rattle.
The feeling of murderous intent could be felt from all over, it was likely that they all would die and be swallowed up by this beast tide.
The ground started to quake as the marching of thousands of beasts from all around started to get closer and closer.
Beast tide...
Wu Tianmo fled down the hill, he had only one objective.
To make it home and to his family.
The beast tide was upon them, sooner than expected.
He rushed past the third gate, as he reached the second beasts of all kinds were making their way up the hill. Demonic Black Bulls, Azure Demonic Deer, and many other types of beasts were together.
Wu Tianmo felt a sense of danger,
Above him savage avian beasts that were of an unknown species dove down towards him.
He quickly drew his sword,
Crescent draw!
He sliced the two birds yet before he could relax tens of beasts were charging him from down the mountain.
He clenched his teeth and fled back up towards the third gate,
He encountered the others and yelled,
"Quickly, enter the pavilion!"
He shot through the blue glowing field around the pavilion, entering it's first floor.
He fell to one knee gasping for breath,
I... almost died...
Before he could calm himself, he looked up.
The pavilion was large as an arena on the inside yet mostly covered in an eerie darkness. Only blue flamed torches lit the edges of the amphitheater.
A sense of dread started to envelop him, as if a thousand sets of eyes were locking him in place.
"Oh no..."