Chapter 204: War Behemoth

“Flower Sect Disciples, hear my command! Do not let the Thousand Illusion Mountain Disciples successfully achieve Phantasmal Comprehension!”

Currently, most Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciples were besieging the Small Zhu Yan.

Meanwhile, most Thousand Illusion Mountain Disciples were observing the Small Zhu Yan’s combat performance, comprehending its posture and Essence.

As for the Flower Sect Disciples, they primarily practiced Wood Spells and had the lowest demand for the opportunities in the Zhu Yan Relic. Therefore, their goal in entering the relic was clearly the Disciples of Thousand Illusion Mountain and the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.

“Hehe, I picked up a Snake Gallbladder!”

“Hee, I snatched a Tiger Penis.”

A group of Flower Sect Disciples were like scavengers; after the Yao Beasts controlled by the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect’s Beast Masters were torn apart by the Small Zhu Yan, the discarded internal organs, fur, and blood became the resources they plundered.

“Damn it.” Although the Beast Masters of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect were disgusted by these people, as long as they didn’t interfere with the siege on the Small Zhu Yan, they tolerated their behavior.

In contrast, the Flower Sect Disciples, who couldn’t gain benefits from the Thousand Illusion Mountain Disciples, had another task: interfering with their attempts to comprehend the Phantasm of the Small Zhu Yan.

After all, if Thousand Illusion Mountain really managed to combine the strength of all its Disciples and eventually integrate a perfect Zhu Yan Phantasmal Beast,

Then the strength of Thousand Illusion Mountain would inevitably increase greatly, and it would be the Flower Sect that suffered!

One after another, Flower Sect Cultivators manipulated vegetation to attack Lin Jing and the other Cultivators who had entered a state of Phantasmal Comprehension.

“Seeking death!” Fortunately, the Thousand Illusion Mountain Disciples were divided into five teams, with a specialized team blocking these madmen for Lin Jing and the others, creating a stable environment for their Phantasmal Comprehension.

Numerous Thousand Illusion Mountain Disciples manifested Phantasmal Beasts and charged toward the Flower Sect Cultivators to fight them.

For a time, the first hall of the Demon Ancestor Relic was exceptionally tragic. The corpses of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect’s Yao Beasts flew everywhere, and the Thousand Illusion Mountain and Flower Sect Disciples fought fiercely. In just a short moment, several people lost their lives, and their belongings were taken as spoils of war by the opposing Sects.

At this moment, before Lin Jing’s eyes was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. This scene made Lin Jing somewhat silent; coming from the Ancient Kingdom, when had he ever seen such a sight?

In the Ancient Kingdom, even if there were disputes between Sects, under the management of the Zong Guan Mansion, such large-scale slaughter and fighting would never occur.

“No need to worry about it; my task now is—” Lin Jing stared calmly at the Small Zhu Yan. In fact, simply simulating the Small Zhu Yan’s appearance wasn’t difficult; all the Disciples of Thousand Illusion Mountain could do it.

But the difficulty lay in how to simulate its Essence. Having only the appearance without the Essence, no matter what Spell it was paired with, would result in zero lethality, as ridiculous as using a painting of a tiger to scare people.

Only a Zhu Yan Phantasm containing Essence could awe the Bloodlines of Demon Kings and Demon Emperors, revealing the true might of a Primordial Species.

However, this step was as difficult as reaching the heavens. It seemed that even after two relic openings, no Disciple in Thousand Illusion Mountain had been able to achieve it.

After half a day of fighting, the Small Zhu Yan of the first trial collapsed and dissipated.

Although this Small Zhu Yan was matchlessly powerful, it also had a limit to its physical stamina. Under the combined assault of Formations, Magic Treasures, and human-wave tactics, it finally fell.

However, to kill it, the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciples paid a tragic price. In the first hall, there were at least several thousand Yao Beast corpses, and several elite Disciples of the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect had also died. As for the Thousand Illusion Mountain and Flower Sect Disciples, even more had died, though they didn’t die at the hands of the Zhu Yan, but rather at the hands of the rival Sects.

Of course, the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, which suffered the greatest loss, also gained the most. The surviving Beast Masters and Yao Beasts all obtained some Zhu Yan blood and were strengthened.

As for Lin Jing, due to that initial Fireball Spell, he also obtained a tiny, tiny trace of Zhu Yan blood. The damage he dealt was too little; the single drop he received couldn’t even strengthen his physique, let alone change his Bloodline.

“The Zhu Yan Bloodline is useless to me; it’s enough just to gain the qualification to leave the relic. The key is still how to manifest the Zhu Yan…”

The air in the hall was filled with blood mist, and the roars from the battle just now seemed to linger in Lin Jing’s ears.

“How is it? Any gains?”

With the first trial passed, the various parties tacitly stopped fighting. Cultivators who had been driven into a killing frenzy were also called back by their fellow Sect members. Ning Shijie also asked Lin Jing and the others, but everyone shook their heads.

“It doesn’t matter—” Ning Shijie said, “There are several more trials to come.”

As she spoke, the world spun, and everyone entered the second hall. Before long, a second Small Zhu Yan appeared. It held a staff, still showing no imposing aura, like an ordinary little monkey, charging toward the hundreds of people.

After the first trial, although this Small Zhu Yan was still at the Foundation Establishment Initial Stage, the eyes of most Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciples already showed a look completely different from the excitement they had when they first entered—it was dread and cowardice.

If not for the Deputy Sect Leader watching outside to deal with deserters, some Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciples would have already started thinking about withdrawing from the relic!

Just like in the first trial, Lin Jing sat quietly in the back, concentrating his mind to observe the Small Zhu Yan that held a stone staff and was slaughtering everyone.

As his Potential Dragon Luck was consumed and he observed the changes in the moods and expressions of the Disciples from various Sects, Lin Jing gained some realization.

“Legend has it that the Zhu Yan portends war calamities and chaos—”

“This relic is a place for the Zhu Yan’s Legacy, yet the relic does not restrict the Thousand Illusion Mountain and Flower Sect Disciples from engaging in meaningless slaughter unrelated to the Legacy.”

“This fits the Cultivators’ understanding of the Zhu Yan beast—rumor has it that in ancient times, once a Yao Beast like the Zhu Yan appeared, it would cause great chaos throughout the world. It is a Calamity Beast, which is why the Zhu Yan clan was nearly driven to extinction.”

“From the current perspective, this Zhu Yan Bloodline left over from ancient times still retains this ability to cause disaster and chaos. Perhaps it is a preference, or perhaps it is something else, but through this Legacy relic, the tragic, war-like scenes before us are likely exactly what the Zhu Yan itself wants to see.”

Lin Jing, standing in the hall that looked like a battlefield, took a deep breath. Looking at the scene of the Small Zhu Yan slaughtering at will and the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect Disciples who were mentally shaken yet forced to face it, he understood somewhat.

“Is it possible that the reason the Zhu Yan controls its own power so well and doesn’t show any ferocity is because it likes chaos, it likes fighting, and it likes to personally participate in war—”

“It doesn’t want its enemies to be terrified and flee upon seeing its terrifying might; instead, it wants to personally crush its enemies with strength and cause their spirits to collapse—?”

Looking at the tirelessly fighting Small Zhu Yan, Lin Jing fell into deep thought.

“The reason the Zhu Yan clan was exterminated was because they repeatedly caused chaos in the world and brought about meaningless wars, causing countless people to fear this race, which eventually led to their collective destruction by the entire Immortal Cultivation World.”

“Precisely because of the Zhu Yan’s ability to bring about war calamities, even if it doesn’t actively show its might, it eventually caused people to feel fear. Just like the massive casualties in the relic now, it has already caused many Cultivators’ hearts to collapse.”

“Therefore, the prerequisite for perfectly manifesting a Zhu Yan with Essence is to be able to manifest an extremely complex, cruel, and tragic war scene. This war scene might involve the deaths of a million Mortals, a million Cultivators, or even the burial of all the immortals. The degree of impact the war scene has on other lives is closely related to the Zhu Yan’s might; it is the spirit of the Zhu Yan. After all, it is the Incarnation of war calamities.”

“When the Zhu Yan’s Essence and the Zhu Yan’s image fuse, the Phantasm will undergo a transformation, revealing the hidden true face of the Zhu Yan. However, condensing a war Phantasm into a Heart of Zhu Yan is a hundred times more difficult than manifesting the might of a Demon King.” Lin Jing seemed to have realized how to shape the Zhu Yan’s Essence; his gaze was no longer limited to the Zhu Yan but also began to observe the lives it tore apart. Although it was difficult, Lin Jing was full of fighting spirit. He had a premonition that if he could manifest a Zhu Yan with Essence and combine it with the Thousand Illusion Mountain’s Reverse Illusion Art, he would obtain an incredibly terrifying phantasmal Pet Beast—a War Behemoth. He hoped no one would interfere with him during this process and that these people would clear a few more trials to create enough material for his Phantasms.