Chapter 426 (1/2)

'They do have me outnumbered quite a bit, that is… if I allow them to get here…'

Zhang Dong floated in the air while the smoke subsided. The bone spears that were thrown his way were now nothing but smoke. These organic projectiles produce a strange-looking smoke after their destruction but it didn't seem that it would be lethal even if he let his spirit shield down.

It seemed that the diplomatic approach was off the table, perhaps if he demonstrated some of his might to these attackers they would deem it smart to retreat. Some luck was at his side, even though this bridge was about one kilometer in width there wasn't that much space for this army to move.

”You can't move to the sides, now can you?”

A decision was made to produce a large wide-area attack. Before they could attack him again Zhang Dong's aura exploded. Golden lightning bolts started to coil themselves around his arms and slowly traveled towards both his hands.

He slowly opened up his hands, his fingers spreading appart while a small orb of light appeared between them. The more he concentrated the larger this light became, from a tiny dot it expanded into something the size of a basketball. The energy was hard to contain but as he charged up he continued to compress this round sphere of light.

The cultivators that were fleeing could feel it, something was happening. Most of them were too afraid to look back, but even without doing so they could see the light bursting from behind them.

”T-this… what kind of terrible attack is that… we must flee! We will surely perish if we don't get far enough!”

While Zhang Dong was mostly paying attention to his attack, out of the corner of his eye he could see his targets reacting to this turn of events. While they were quick to attack him beforehand, it seemed that they were now scared. Some of them even started to quickly increase their speed to get past the tunnel, it was clear that they were intelligent enough to know what his intention was.

Some of them were in luck as Zhang Dong did need some time to charge up this attack but most of them were still stuck in that bridge. It was somewhat in his favor that he appeared in this location at this point in time, it now gave him the perfect opportunity to blast these invaders.

The sphere of energy was now rumbling and pushing against his palms. He had trouble holding it in place, the energy wanted to burst through. But, this wasn't the end of his technique, before he released it he looked forward. His eyes glowed and along with this sheen a magic circle formed in front.

This magic circle was followed by another larger one and then more. They numbered about a hundred magic circles that formed a sort of compact cone that was aimed at this gap. Only when the circles were formed did he point this orb of spiritual energy forward to release a blast of concentrated spiritual Qi.

A torrent of force exploded, it submerged everything in a golden glow that was a combination of Zhang Dong's holy and lightning Dao. The screams of his enemies were quickly silenced by the massive sound of explosions that followed after.

Zhang Dong's hands trembled slightly as he continued to pour all of his spiritual energy into this attack. His wrists were touching together while he pointed his palms at the magical circles that continued to enhance this ranged attack.

From the outside where the group of fleeing cultivators was, a massive hurricane sprung forth. It was as if a nuclear explosion went off in the distance. Any plant life and trees that were there were uprooted in a matter of seconds.

It didn't take long, he wasn't able to keep pumping out Qi without any end. After about fifteen seconds at the maximal output, he started to feel weaker. He couldn't just gas himself out at the first attack thus he started to end it, the bright light started to subside and the radiance vanished after half a minute of the initial explosion of energy.

As always there was now a giant dust cloud covering the whole area. His beam attack had grazed some of the earth below and created a large crater in its wake. His aim was true as he managed to push his attack into the middle of this wide passage.

While the bridge was one kilometer in width it also possessed a ceiling. The attackers couldn't just flee upwards to evade the attack and after the smoke had cleared he was glad to see that he had managed to deliver a devastating blow to the beings that attacked him.

'That's quite the devastation…'

This was probably the most devastating attack that he had ever delivered, the casualties were immense but without his old system, he would not be able to capitalize on points.

Just a moment ago the tunnel had been swarmed by many flying objects big and small, now, on the other hand, only one remained. It was the gigantic flying worm that was similar to the native sandworms living in this area. Even though it was there, it was clearly injured.

While he couldn't see it well, he was sure that the cultivators that were on the giant work had used all of their might and resources to somehow protect themselves from this wide area blast.

Even though he wasn't able to kill them all, this wasn't a concentrated attack, in his mind, it only proved that his opponents wouldn't fare too well against him. If they bȧrėly took his long-ranged technique, how would they fare in a close-quarters combat situation?

'They didn't give me much of a choice but what will they do now…'