32 Chapter 32: Brace yourself

Haishi's flying got better by the minute. The air around her seemed to be carrying her and guiding her like the flow of a river.

Feng Xin carefully surveyed his surroundings to avoid any accidents and also to ensure Haishi's current state wasn't interrupted. Such a state could only be stumbled to rather than planned and whatever harvests she made would impact her foundations and the heights she would reach greatly. The longer the state was sustained the greater the harvest Haishi would have.

Feng Xin was busy monitoring the surroundings before he frowned as he noticed Haishi was borrowing the momentum from her comprehension and the qi flooding into her to break through the gates leading to the fifth stage of the core formation realm.

"She's being too eager," Feng Xin silently thought to himself

"Haishi don't be in a hurry to break through to the fifth stage just yet. Use the opportunity you have now to reinforce and solidify your foundations. The sturdier it is now the further and easier your road will be ahead. This will also help you be stronger in a fight even against those in the same realm as you." Feng Xin gently advised as he placed his palm above her head and used some of his qi to calm Haishi's excited qi.

Even though it was very dangerous to allow another cultivator's qi to course through your body, Haishi didn't put up resistance. Feng Xin's qi calmed her down long enough for her to halt her attempt.

She may not trust Feng Xin yet and was more terrified of him than anything but she believed in his insight. She had seen and experienced firsthand how Feng Xin easily massacred her compatriots forcing even a false king to flee. It was effortless, like someone harvesting chives. Though she did not have grand ambitions of being the most powerful spirit beast out there, that display of power left a clear impression on her. She both feared and envied it.

So when Feng Xin offered his suggestion on what she should do she didn't hesitate and took it as a creed hoping that someday she'd have a sliver of the ability she saw from him.

Even with the little interlude, Haishi had still maintained her speed. After five minutes they had already closed in on the outer region of the green fog region. The attacks stopped with most of the spirit beasts being in the foundation realm, Haishi's presence was enough as a deterrent.

The distance to the edge of the green fog region kept shrinking by the minute with little to no external interference.

The green fog thinned out the closer they were out of the green fog region

"Haishi you see that area with the small green cloud that's the destination I need you to fly to." Feng Xin said as he pointed to the fist-sized dot in the clouds directly ahead of them.

With their eyesight as core formation experts, it was easy to spot the cloud especially Haishi with her compound eyes filled with over a thousand lenses. Years of living in the green fog region had made her eyesight keener. She swiftly flew in that direction drawing closer to the exit of the green fog region.

.....

The fight between the tupelo tree and the Ao Yin was still heated and intense. One tried to corrode the other, while the other tried to purify it. However, things were not looking too good for the Tupelo tree as it had to fight against Ao Yin while also maintaining the barrier to protect Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen from the aftermath of its fight.

Both elders had pained expressions filled with guilt and frustration over their weakness. If things remained as they were, it was only a matter of time before the Tupelo tree lost. It lost more leaves the longer the fight continued which Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen couldn't help but worry about, especially with its impending seclusion for its preparation to breakthrough to the palace realm. The more leaves it had, the better its chances, but with the way things were going, losing its leaves was no different than a cultivator sacrificing their blood essence for strength.

Unable to bear the guilt of what was happening to the Tupelo tree, Peng Zhen averted his gaze upwards where the strange green cloud had appeared. His instincts kept screaming at him that something terrifying was about to fall. If it were any other time he would have dreaded it but now it felt like a saving grace.

If whatever was in there descended, the Ao Yin would be in as much danger as them. At this point, mutual destruction was a better end, than things progressing as they were. And some part of him felt that the Ao Yin would likely be the one to face the majority of its attack which would be even more favorable to them. Things could not remain as they were.

Dong Yanlin was still in a petrified state however some color had started returning to his limbs and parts of his face. Peng Zhen had been monitoring his situation ever since the barrier was put up. From his experience with the person, he had a feeling Dong Yanlin wouldn't risk his life without living a slim chance of a way out. His assumption was proved right as Dong Yanlin seemed to be regaining vitality albeit at a slow pace. If he woke up things would get dicier than they already were.

Just as Peng Zhen was deliberating on how he could convince the Tupelo tree to let him out of the barrier and deal with Dong Yanlin his earlier wishes were answered. A green light in the shape of an arrow flashed so fast that even Peng Zhen could barely catch a glimpse of it. The green-like arrow was targeting the area where the Ao Yin was.

Before Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen could register what it was, there was a blinding explosion when it clashed with the Ao Yin. The Ao Yin roared defiantly but the green light in the shape of an arrow decimated part of its silhouette as it struck the flesh-like finger that had the bone saber. The force was so brutal that its aftershock threatened to blow apart the Tupelo's tree barrier. The barrier that was sturdy just a moment earlier was now filled with cracks all over. The tupelo tree grew even brighter than before as more leaves fell. The barrier, moments away from being blown apart was immediately mended.

After the dust settled from the collision, Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen got a clear look at what the green-like arrow was. It turned out it was a green feather that had penetrated a small part of the bone saber before it disappeared into a small gust of wind.

Just as Peng Zhen was about to make sense of what he saw, up above him the green cloud cleared out all of a sudden but in its place was a gigantic swallow the size of an elephant. It was coldly gazing at Ao Yin as it gently floated with its wings spread wide. It screeched so loudly that Peng Zhen felt his eardrums quake. He quickly used some of his qi to dampen his ears and reduce the sounds coming in. The screech didn't last long, a tense silence taking its place.

The atmosphere grew eerie with the tense silence, ever party present filled with trepidation. With hesitation and fear, Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen looked up once more in time to see a green light charging in the mouth of the swallow.

On sensing the undulations produced by that light, Peng Zhen yelled with frenzy and desperation. His calm countenance was all but shattered.

"GUI!!! WE NEED TO HURRY TOWARDS THE CENTER OF THE TREE!!! Tupelo you need to shrink the barrier to just within a few meters of you or we won't survive the attack that's to come."

Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen rushed toward the tupelo tree. In a few seconds, they were both beneath the tree which shrunk the barrier and concentrated it to a few inches away from its body. Just enough to give Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen legroom to stand.

Without a word, as if in tacit understanding, Peng Zhen and Gui Bingwen started pouring all their qi into the Tupelo tree without reservation. That barrier was the only thing that could protect them. The barrier grew brighter as the tupelo tree stacked five more on top of the current one. It lost over two hundred leaves in a single moment as the barriers went up.

"IT'S COMING!!! BRACE YOURSELF!!!"

The swallow's charged attack finally fell like a pillar of green light except the light was filled with millions of tiny squalls compressed together. The attack struck the Ao Yin who was roaring to the skies as it struck upwards with a ferocious punch.

BOOM!

A huge green mushroom explosion filled the area that drowned out even the Ao Yin's yell. An explosive wave spread beyond the collision point spreading like an ocean drowning out a shoreline. The range of the explosion ran for more than a mile with the earth being sliced and diced into dust as the Ao Yin, the tupelo tree, and the rest were blanketed in the sandstorm created by the destruction.