"Rumble!"
A vibration was felt which seemed to come from the direction of the altar!
"What's that..."
Zhou Tian had felt the same thing as well and his expression changed. "Is the base under attack? Should we quickly return to help them out?"
"Are you joking?"
Fang Yuan looked at Zhou Tian with scepticism. "We are so far and yet we can feel the vibration. Who do you think is involved in the fight? A True Divine martial artist? Or a True Elemental spiritual knight? Or could it be a dream master in the 7th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage?"
"How is this possible? This is only a normal mission..."
Zhou Tian was confused. "Why would such powerful people get involved?"
'Because we are mere baits! The alliance has decided to use us to lure the Imperial Court to come for us, and we might even have the assistance of the other 4 Grand Organisations!'
Fang Yuan thought to himself, but did not intend on telling the truth to Zhou Tian.
"Against such a situation, we would be of no help. We should wait until the commotion is over before returning there to assess the situation.
He would not admit that he had only followed Zhou Tian out because he wanted to avoid the impending clash at the node.
Even if he were to be punished by the alliance, it would still be better than going head-on against the enemy and losing his life!
"Hmm, you make sense!"
Zhou Tian's expression changed once more. Finally, he weighed the options and realised that staying alive was more important. With that, he agreed to Fang Yuan's suggestion.
"Relax! The Imperial Court will at most destroy the altar and leave. After all, there are still other nodes around!"
Seeing how worried Zhou Tian looked, Fang Yuan tried to calm him down.
In fact, if Fang Yuan had predicted correctly, if the Imperial Court had decided to go down hard on them, the Realm Alliance would suffer great losses.
"Hmm?"
At this point in time, Fang Yuan and Zhou Tian suddenly felt something as they looked at the entrance of the valley.
A few silhouettes appeared. Their spiritual auras were strong as they started to surround them. It seemed as though they had bad intentions.
"The people from the Imperial Court?"
Fang Yuan sighed. Never would he have thought that he would still encounter them, even though they were so far away from the altar. However, these people were only the supporting forces and therefore, Fang Yuan and company would gain a little advantage over them.
"Fang Yuan, Zhou Tian. Both of you are dream masters in the 4th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage. Especially for you, Fang Yuan! You're young and yet you are already a 5th Leaf Cultivator. Not bad! Not bad at all!"
A few of them started to approach Fang Yuan and Zhou Tian. Their spiritual auras were vastly different. There were 3 martial artists and 1 spiritual knight. All of them wore the same uniform and had a murderous look in their eyes.
"Who would've thought that the lake and the weird snake here would deplete quite a substantial amount of elemental force from you... I am Wang Chan from the Imperial Court, and together with me are 3 Wu Zongs. We are instructed to destroy you crazy traitors!"
The spiritual knight in front seemed to detest dream masters. Vaguely, 9 spiritual points appeared on his body. With a shout, a shocking spiritual pressure was felt.
9 spiritual meridians formed on each of the martial artists' backs, forming the illusionary figure of a giant behind them. Spiritual inscriptions appeared all over their bodies which resembled a battle armour.
"A 9th Tier spiritual knight? A 9th Meridian Wu Zong?"
Zhou Tian took in a cold breath as he slowly realised the power of the Da Qian Imperial Court.
These few people had the chance to attain True Divine and True Elemental, but they had no qualms in serving the Imperial Court to be deployed. This showed their hatred towards dream masters!
'What should we do?'
Zhou Tian glanced at Ah Long. 'I can take on this 9th Tier spiritual knight. However, under the influence of the Ultimate Segregation, I'm afraid that only dream masters in the 6th Tier of the Illusionary Divine stage would be able to take on the 3 9th Meridian Wu Zongs. However, Fang Yuan and I have already depleted most of our dream elemental force previously!'
"What else do we have to say to these traitors? Kill them!"
One of the martial artists took a confident step forward. "You dream masters have been troubling the people and always do whatever you wished. Now that we have the order to kill you, just cooperate and concede to us!"
The few martial artists had bloodshot eyes. It was evident that they had an immense hatred for dream masters, which made Fang Yuan laugh inside.
What the martial artist just said was true.
With such powers, dream masters had been in control over the past few thousand years. The resentment the people had for dream masters would have accumulated, but they were always kept under control forcefully by the more powerful dream masters.
Now that they had an opportunity to strike back, they would strike back hard like the eruption of a volcano.
"Fang Yuan, I'm afraid that the both of us will have to die here today!"
Seeing how the 4 of them could seal of their escape paths with much chemistry, Zhou Tian could only laugh helplessly.
"That may not be the case..."
Fang Yuan stripped his robes and cracking sounds were heard from his body. His martial arts spiritual aura started to explode.
"Eh? A 7th Meridian Wu Zong?"
One of the martial artists was stunned before breaking into a laughter. "Do you think you can escape with such a weak cultivation? Dream on! Kill!"
With a roar, the martial artist leapt forward. The spiritual aura from his spiritual meridian exploded and he seemed to harness the force of an entire mountain.
A 9th Meridian Wu Zong would have reached the peak of the Elemental Opening Realm and would be a single step away from forming the Divine Body!
Although it was one step away from the Divine Body, a 9th Meridian Wu Zong was, without a doubt, sufficient to deal with a 7th Meridian Wu Zong.
"Seven Murderous Ferocious Tiger Fist! Die!"
This martial artist was shockingly powerful. As his arms rotated, his fists struck out like cannonballs. Every fist had an immense amount of force and power. As he flew through the air, there was a faint roaring of a tiger.
"With the long knife, I will kill your soul!"
As the first martial artist started to pounce towards Fang Yuan, his companion also reacted. A Hundred Casted Knife appeared in his hands and there was a skull engraved on the handle of the knife. There was frost on the blade of the knife and as it sliced through the air, the glitter from the knife sealed Fang Yuan's escape path. The two martial artists' coordination was seamless.
Zhou Tian felt uneasy as his breathing hastened.
In the 9 Extremes Mountain, the dream masters would be at a disadvantage and their power would be reduced by a lot.
Now that they were in such a situation, even if Xing Yunzi was here, all of them would still suffer great losses!
It was not known as to where the Imperial Court sourced these Wu Zongs. All of them were highly-skilled and murderous and would not give any chance the moment they attacked.
"Restrict!"
He could not think so much.
Just as two 9th Meridian Wu Zongs were attacking Fang Yuan, Wang Chan started to execute his technique. A streak of spiritual light flew out and covered the entire surroundings. It was colourful and glittery as it formed the word 'restrict'.
Zhou Tian could feel the energy in the surroundings slowly being depleted. The original dream elemental force which he had in him also came to a halt. With that, his expression changed.
He knew that Wang Chan was using spiritual spells to force himself to fight with all that he had. Wang Chan wanted to deplete Zhou Tian of his elemental force to force him into submission!
Just as he was being restricted, the final Wu Zong rushed forward and leapt towards Zhou Tian like a tiger. He arrived about 4 yards from Zhou Tian, raised his right palm up and activated all 9 of his spiritual meridians. Like an enraged dragon, his force travelled from his arm to his palm, and from his palm to his fingers. With that, his fingers struck down!
"Ah, I'll go all out!"
Zhou Tian's eyes turned bloodshot as he spat out a mouth of blood.
From his body, a piece of jade flew out. As soon as the jade came into contact with the blood, the golden runes on the jade started to glow and expand, forming a layer of defence around him.
"Metal blood, destroy!"
As the Wu Zong laughed, he exclaimed as his metallic claws strengthened by the spiritual meridian struck on the golden glow of protection.
"Bzzzzz!"
The golden glow shook before crumbling into sparkles and disappeared.
That was all Zhou Tian needed to retreat half a step back and avoid the killer move. As he felt the wind which was created from the swift claws, his face turned pale and he continuously retreated. "Disgusting..."
If this was outside, he would have restored at least half of his dream elemental energy and would be able to retaliate!
"Hmph, you're lucky to have survived the first strike. What about the next?"
The Wu Zong pressed forward and pressured Zhou Tian.
Suddenly, there were cries coming from the other side which attracted their attention.
"What's happening?"
Wang Chan thought that he had things under his control. Now that he gazed over to the direction where Fang Yuan was, he was devastated.
Fang Yuan was standing still and beneath his foot, there was a Hundred Casted Knife. The Wu Zong which wielded the knife was exhausted, but he could not pull the knife form Fang Yuan's foot.
The other Wu Zong was lying dead on the ground and his arms were bloodied as though a giant beast had trampled over his arms.
"Hmph, how dare you show off when you are so weak!"
Fang Yuan kept his fists and smiled.
He had 70 proficiency points for his Spirit! What kind of concept was that? It was overflowing with elemental force, much more than the limit of a 7th Meridian Wu Zong! Furthermore, he had a strengthened physical body!
The Wu Zongs did not know what they got themselves into. It was like throwing an egg on a rock, and the outcome as extremely predictable.
Just previously, Fang yuan had simply stepped on the Hundred Casted Knife. Everything was held beneath his feet. With a simple punch, the arms of the 9th Meridian Wu Zong had exploded and his bones shattered. It was a gruesome death!
"Big brother! Quickly leave!"
The Wu Zong suddenly released the handle of the Hundred Casted Knife and rolled forward. Using his palms as a knife, he sliced towards Fang Yuan's waist.
"Dong! Dong!"
There was a loud but dull sound coming from Fang Yuan's body. His shirt was torn, revealing a muscular body with a bronze hue. Peering down, Fang Yuan quipped, "Are you scratching my itch?"
"This is impossible... the martial arts Divine Body?"
The Wu Zong shuddered and momentarily forgot what he was doing.
In the next moment, a huge hand landed on his head with a great force.
"Bang!"
His head exploded like a watermelon. With that, Fang Yuan kept his fists and took in a deep breath. 'A simple fist and strong force within my blood is the true essence of martial arts!'
"Second brother, third brother?"
The remaining Wu Zong no longer cared about killing Zhou Tian as his eyes turned red.
"Quickly leave... this person is too powerful and we are no match for him!"
Wang Chan quickly snapped out of his trance and executed a few techniques in one go. "Stabilize! Bind! Seal! Kill!"
4 spiritual spells appeared which continuously struck towards Fang Yuan. Wang Chan wanted to buy himself some time to escape.
"It's no use! No use! No use!"
Fang Yuan walked up to him and paid no attention to the spiritual light as it struck his body. With a little vibration, the spiritual spells were nullified.
"Die now!"
Without any fancy techniques, Fang Yuan came to Wang Chan and struck out a simple fist.
"You!"
How scary was it to deal with Fang Yuan, who had a strengthened physical body? Even before Wang Chan could finish his sentence, his body exploded!
It exploded! All of his defences were useless. His body exploded into a mist of blood and he turned into a bloodied mess.
"Keke... No one would've thought that you had attained such a level in martial arts. The three of us brothers are utterly impressed!"
Witnessing this scene, the final Wu Zong felt a chill down his spine and tears started to well up in his eyes. "Heaven... why are you so kind towards these traitors? I can't believe it!"
"Chi!"
He was a reckless person. Knowing that Fang Yuan would not let him go, the Wu Zong bit his tongue, spat out a mouthful of blood and killed himself.