Misty Rain of the Old Times

Amidst the surging tide of beasts, a straight, massive ravine stretched into the distance. As the meteor-like arrows passed, they crushed all the ferocious beasts along the way, turning most of them into dust, leaving not even a trace. The powerful kinetic energy of the arrows created a vacuum, which in turn pulled the air and swept up the beasts within a kilometer radius on both sides of the ravine, clearing them straight into the sky, as if parting the beast tide in the middle.

The scene was so horrifying that the giants around Chen Xuan, who had noticed his actions, were stunned and momentarily lost their senses, almost forgetting that they were still on a dangerous battlefield.

At that moment, the giants had only one thought in their minds: how could such a small person possess such earth-shattering abilities? It was unbelievable, unbelievable, yet the facts were right before their eyes.

“This man named Chen Xuan definitely possesses the strength of a guardian of our clan, or even stronger. The aura he exuded when he shot the arrow was terrifying. Even the guardians I’ve seen at full power weren’t as frightening as him. Perhaps I’m just not experienced enough. I’ve only seen one guardian. Are all the people from the Outer Heavens this powerful?” Lei Mo, who was keeping a close eye on Chen Xuan and the others, couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.

He quickly dismissed his last thought. How could everyone in the Outer Heaven be as powerful as Chen Xuan? The woman beside him hadn't exactly been outstanding, let alone the other terrified little girl. Chen Xuan was probably a top-tier existence in the Outer Heaven as well.

Looking into the distance, Chen Xuan nodded in satisfaction. The Eight Arrows of Extinction had not disappointed him. Even though the quality of the ink feathers was too poor to match the true power of the flying stars, they still managed to kill the target with a single blow.

His previous arrow, though seemingly aimless, was actually highly targeted, killing a target nearly fifty miles away, with the herds of beasts along the way merely incidental.

This was one of the few times he had used this level of technique since he reached the Grandmaster realm. Unlike in the past when he could act freely in crowded places without having to restrain himself to avoid harming innocent people, he could act without restraint.

Chen Xuan's arrow was actually aimed at a huge beast in the distance, lurking at the rear of the beast horde. It resembled a giant wild boar, with a shoulder height of over fifty feet, but its body was covered with ferocious bone spurs, making it look more like a hedgehog.

The terrifying beast was killed by Chen Xuan from a distance before it could even show itself. It seemed to be driving away the beast tide, or commanding the beast tide to attack Sun City, but not all of them, only a part of the beast tide. Although Chen Xuan could not see all of the equally terrifying beasts with his naked eye, there were still quite a few in the huge beast tide.

Although Chen Xuan hadn't come face to face with the enormous beast covered in ferocious bone spurs, he instinctively felt it was dangerous. But that was all. The danger he felt was that the beast had the ability to hurt him, just like a child with a knife could threaten an adult. As for the difference in their combat strength, it was obvious that he was instantly killed with a single blow.

That beast possessed the combat power of a Grandmaster, but even within this level, there are differences in strength. The difference between the top and the bottom is no smaller than the gap between an ordinary person and someone at the Innate Realm. To put it bluntly, at a certain level, even the slightest difference can be magnified infinitely under special circumstances.

Having successfully eliminated their target, the beast tide in that direction experienced a brief period of chaos, as if it had lost its leader. However, it continued its advance towards Sun City. Perhaps other leading beasts had regained control in a special way. In any case, the beast tide's objective remained unchanged. It was unclear what was attracting them to Sun City.

Amidst the chaos, Chen Xuan overheard Lei Mo's unconscious words and heard his voice clearly enter his ears, then asked in a daze, "I wonder who this guardian Captain Lei is referring to in your clan? Could you tell me?"

Judging from his tone, the so-called guardian must be an extraordinary being among the giants. He had mentioned warriors before, so the guardians are probably even more powerful than warriors. There are too many things about this giant civilization that Chen Xuan doesn't understand.

After quickly analyzing Remo's words, Chen Xuan estimated that the guardians he mentioned likely possessed the combat power of a Grandmaster, but their numbers were definitely not large. After all, in any race, only a small group truly stands at the top.

Hearing Chen Xuan's words, Remo, slightly stunned, didn't think too much about it and quickly said, "The situation is urgent now, this is not the time to talk about these things. If we overcome this difficulty and meet the wise man, I believe he will be able to answer your questions."

“That makes sense. It’s more important to solve the immediate problem first,” Chen Xuan nodded and stopped asking. He didn’t even mention the warriors much, clearly more wary of the guardians. It seemed to have touched on the secrets of the giants. Instead of making excuses, he directly avoided the topic, almost as if to say, “Don’t ask, I won’t tell you.”

After Chen Xuan made his move, many giants around him were momentarily stunned, but the beast tide did not. It continued to surge and crash against the city wall, piling up on top of each other. Some of them had already reached the city wall when they suddenly snapped out of their daze and quickly joined the battle.

The most eye-catching figure nearby was the female giant, Loko. She once again used the bloodline techniques of the giant race, her body as agile as a giant feline, but instead of fighting like a wild beast, she held a huge bone knife in one hand and a shield as big as a city gate in the other.

She slapped a six-legged creature away with her shield, then slashed back a wolf-like beast. As she swung her sword, the electric current surging on the wolf-like beast made her massive body tremble, but she was back to normal and continued fighting as if nothing had happened.

While Chen Xuan and the others were talking, Luo Ke, who was fighting hard, glanced into the distance with a slightly excited look in her eyes and exclaimed, "The Arrow Bone Boar is dead! It was killed by Chen Xuan from the Outer Heavens from such a distance! That's great! It's a pity it wasn't one of our clansmen, otherwise it would definitely have become one of the guardians!"

The topic of the guardians came up again. Knowing they didn't want to discuss it with outsiders for the time being, Chen Xuan, who was drawing his bow again, asked curiously, "Arrow-Bone Boar? The beast I just shot? Do you recognize it?"

"I not only recognize it, I wish I could tear it to pieces," Loke said through gritted teeth during a moment of silence in the midst of battle.

Chen Xuan released his finger, and another arrow flew through the air like a meteor streaking across the earth, crushing the beasts along the way and tearing a huge blank space in the beast tide. It flew towards another strange beast that made him feel dangerous, and the breathtaking scene from before was repeated.

Having witnessed Chen Xuan's methods just moments before, the surrounding giants were shocked, but few of them were stunned.

As Loke finished speaking, Remo's bone blade flashed, cleaving a raptor with a wingspan of several dozen feet that swooped down in two. To the giants, this raptor was just a large bird, easy to kill. Blood sprayed all over his face, which he casually wiped away, continuing Loke's words: "Arrow-bone boar is what we call it. It can shoot out bone spikes from its body with immense power, enough to pierce through our city walls. No one without the strength of a warrior can withstand it."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan was astonished. The bone spikes of that thing could actually pierce through the city wall, its destructive power was undoubtedly comparable to that of a grandmaster. No wonder he felt threatened by it.

Remo continued, "Fifteen days ago, a beast tide attacked Sun City, but it was much smaller than this one. That time, the Arrow-Bone Boars drove the tide to attack, causing over three hundred casualties among our people. The situation was very critical. Fortunately, ten warriors returned to rest and joined forces to repel it and overcome that crisis. After that, five warriors died outside the city, and two others were injured and crippled, unable to fight anymore and losing their warrior status. But the Arrow-Bone Boars were also injured that time, otherwise they wouldn't have retreated so easily. So, Chen Xuan from Outer Heaven, now you know why we know each other, right?"

“That’s right. I recognized it from afar because I saw the wounds on the Arrow Bone Boar. I would recognize it even if it turned to ashes. My brother was killed by it. My brother was a warrior, but he died last time. I will become a warrior in the future,” Luo Ke said in a moment of pause. His eyes were complicated, filled with loneliness, hatred, and determination.

Hearing their explanation, Chen Xuan could roughly confirm that the warriors among the giants were likely within the innate level of combat strength, but even within the same level, the difference in combat power was significant. The arrow-bone boar, on the other hand, clearly possessed the combat strength of a grandmaster. Last time, it took ten warriors working together to wound and repel it, suffering heavy casualties in the process. One could imagine how dangerous that battle was. Yet, even with such heavy losses, they only managed to repel it, not kill it. The difference in level was truly not easy to overcome.

'No wonder I killed him with a single arrow before; he was injured. I knew it! Although I'm confident in my abilities, those big and small arrow-bone boars are on par with me, not something I can kill instantly. And now, even with this target at full strength, I couldn't kill him.'

While exchanging information quickly, Chen Xuan was also keeping an eye on the result of another arrow. A brilliant light flashed in the distance, followed by a deafening roar of pain that continued unabated. Clearly, the target was still alive, but had paid a heavy price.

Chen Xuan's arrow was not so easy to withstand. It was locked on by will, and there was no way to dodge it. The arrow could also curve. It would not give up until it achieved its goal, just like a guided missile. Eight arrows were used to annihilate. The word "annihilate" is the key. Although it was not as exaggerated as an absolute hit, every arrow was stained with blood.

A blank area appeared again in the beast tide; the previous ravines had been filled with endless ferocious beasts, as if they had never existed.

The horde of beasts surged up the city walls, and there were also birds of prey in the air. Many beasts had already climbed the walls, and close combat had begun.

At this moment, Du Juan was not idle either. With her innate cultivation, she could act freely without any worries. Facing the attacking beasts alone, she was able to kill most of them. Her blade flashed across the sky from time to time, tearing the beasts apart. Beasts like six-legged creatures could not withstand a single strike from her. She could even take care of the giants around her. A ten-foot-long, tough white silk ribbon flew out from her sleeve, wrapped around the arrows in her pillar, and she swung it around her body. She was quite agile and could kill the weaker beasts.

From the moment the giants climbed the city walls to begin the battle, only a minute or two had passed. Especially as the beast hordes continued to scale the walls, the giants, whose battle lines stretched for an extremely long distance, began to suffer casualties. Some were toppled over by the beasts, their chests ripped apart, while others lost their footing and fell to the ground below, where they were overwhelmed by the beast hordes in a truly tragic manner.

This was no small matter like the skirmish at the entrance camp. Chen Xuan couldn't attend to all the giants at once, so he could only try his best to help reduce the number of casualties among the giants.

Despite his two powerful attacks while drawing his bow, he was actually multitasking. One arrow, guided by his true energy, moved like a phantom within a range of hundreds of feet, quickly reaping the lives of beasts trying to climb the city wall; otherwise, the situation would have been even worse.

Along the city wall, looking across the entire battle line, the area where Chen Xuan and his group were located was under the least pressure, and some giants instinctively went to help from a distance.

Chen Xuan drew his bow again, thinking that this was too inefficient. He should try to eliminate the surrounding beast tide as much as possible. Targeting the strongest beasts in the distance was not cost-effective. He would try the other arrow of the Eight Extinction Arrows.

The next moment, the arrow in his hand no longer shone with a silvery-white light as before, but instead emitted a soft, misty blue light. It was gentle and not dazzling, but the terrifying aura was even stronger than before. The air around him seemed to become viscous, as if everything was tilting and converging towards him.

The sudden change was like a whirlwind, and several giants nearby staggered and almost lost their footing. Fortunately, it came and went quickly. As Chen Xuan released his finger, the arrow disappeared into the void ahead in the blink of an eye. There was no earth-shattering scene, just like a lot of thunder but little rain.

Chen Xuan, having released his grip, stared at the direction the arrow had come from. He summarized the key points of Lei Mo and the others' earlier words and asked, "Captain Lei, does this mean that these beast tides aren't going to fight to the death, only stopping when everyone is wiped out? If we eliminate or force back the leaders, we can also make the beast tide retreat and weather this attack?"

Remo, already covered in blood, was unharmed. Hearing this, he took a moment to reply, nodding and then shaking his head, saying helplessly, "Theoretically, Chen Xuan, you're right, but that's almost impossible. We're having trouble even defending ourselves, let alone going deep into the beast tide to deal with them. Not to mention we don't have the ability, even if we did, those guys are very clever and will hide in the beast tide, making them difficult to find..."

He then realized what Chen Xuan meant and quickly changed his words, saying, "Chen Xuan, don't do anything rash. The beast tide is not something that any one person can handle alone. Such a crisis is naturally beyond our ability to cope with. The wise ones already know about it and will notify the warriors and guardians to come back and deal with it. We only need to do our best to block and delay their arrival... Was that something you did?"

As he spoke, he stared wide-eyed at the horizon ahead, his face filled with disbelief, even more astonished than before.

With a beast tide of this scale, how could the giants possibly withstand it? It seems that powerful giants like warriors and guardians will return to deal with it. For now, all we need to do is stall for time.

However, besides that, eliminating the leaders who are like the chiefs of the beast tide could also resolve this beast tide crisis.

However, can the current situation be stalled until the strongest among the giants arrive?
Chen Xuan is not one to seek the limelight, nor does he take risks easily. To be fair, these giants are not yet worthy of his full support.

'Let's wait for the strongest among the giants to arrive while trying to stabilize the defense. We'll deal with it if things don't work out,' Chen Xuan quickly made up his mind.

As they exchanged their words, the direction of the arrow he had shot out, which seemed to have vanished into thin air, caused the sky to twist and hum as if it were about to collapse. A faint cyan light flashed, then exploded and burst open, transforming into endless cyan light that filled the sky. The entire sky was dyed cyan, as if the celestial phenomena had changed.

Countless people subconsciously looked up in that direction. The next moment, a burst of azure light that filled the sky poured down like a torrential rain, covering the beast tide within a radius of dozens of miles below.

The world lost its color as an overwhelming aura swept across the land. The beast horde within range seemed to be pierced by endless blue raindrops, falling like wheat being harvested and never able to stand up again. Many enormous beasts had their entire bodies riddled with holes.

With a single arrow, Chen Xuan unleashed a rain of azure arrows that annihilated the beast horde within a radius of dozens of miles. Those that were lucky enough to survive were left battered and bruised, unable to continue their attack!
And this arrow is called Torrential Rain.

'This archery technique, especially the first eight arrows, truly lives up to its name with the prefix "extinction." It combines single-target and area-of-effect attacks, and the feeling of unrestrained, free-flowing execution is truly wonderful, unlike the previous times when I felt completely restricted.'

...(End of chapter)