Chapter 485: Elites

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　“Qing Zhang Tian! This isn’t over between us!” Chi Ni Zi screamed hotly, infuriated.

　　He was obviously pissed off, but unlike Qing Zhan Tian and his incredibly nimble movements, dodging the attack was no longer one of his options.

　　So, with a furious bellow, the flames around his body tumbled and formed a shield of fire similar to a tortoise’s shell. Runes floated and coursed through the surface of the protective shield as it sprung right before himself.

　　A stream of rapping, similar to a hailstorm hitting on the roof, erupted without a pause!

　　Half of the hundreds of golden wooden thorns struck relentlessly on the flaming red shield erected before Chi Ni Zi; And as the flames on its surface blazed and shimmered, these thorns sank into the shield and was promptly incinerated.

　　Still, the combined shock of the attack had thrown both Chi Ni Zi and his elemental shield several distances away. The fighter, in particular, had to cross his arms before his body and flew over at least a hundred-odd yards before finally regaining his footing.

　　The Golden Root Colossus’s footsteps were heavy, but it proved to be of no hindrance to its effective speed. In a flash, it had lunged towards Chi Ni Zi, its gigantic hand striking downwards right for Chi NI Zi’s head.

　　Meanwhile, massive green vines had sprouted from the Green Root Colossus’ body, swiping and sweeping through the space around it like an enraged octopus’s limbs. Coupling with that indiscriminating attack was a barrage of Green Root Colossus’ greenish energy balls spat from its mouth, which was quickly proving themselves as an effective combo to keep both Shi Mu and Lu Jing at bay.

　　The two powerhouses worked together yet they couldn’t seem to find any of the creature’s weak spots. The good news was that at least neither of them were truly hurt from any of its attacks, as well.

　　As they deftly evaded and maneuver around the Green Root Colossus’ attack, they easily noticed the progression of the other battlefield with their spare attention.

　　“Dang it, that Qing Zhang Tian’s Umbra Movement has achieved that state already!” Lu Jing mumbled, his eyes belying his anxiety.

　　As he talked, his body continued to ooze thick shroud of his poisonous green fog, causing every single green vine snaking towards him to instantly wither and break down under the fog’s corrosive nature, indirectly mitigating the effectiveness of their attacks. However, curiously, Lu Jing seemed to be especially avoidant of the barrages of green energy balls, putting most of his evasive maneuvers on them.

　　Shi Mu quickly averted his attention from the other team’s battle and back to his own. With a flare of fiery light, a pair of flaming wings sprung from his back, allowing him to dodge several attacks of the vines and the energy balls as his own thoughts raced.

　　On the way while traveling with Qing Zhang Tian and co., Shi Mu had heard that the Sylvan King had numerous powerful derivative avatars, each of them possessing dangerous powers; Yet the Sylvan King’s true body was almost completely devoid of any significant offensive capabilities—so much so that even a normal Earth-rank fighter could stand a chance to overwhelm it…

　　His attention was brought back to reality by a stream of raucous screeches behind him—five or six massive vines had spread out and lashed towards him like a serpent’s tails, with a few shimmering, disc-shaped green energy balls hovering between the spaces.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes narrowed, golden light flickering in his pupils briefly, before his body turned into a blur of red silhouette weaving in and out of the salvo of energy balls and vines, dodging every single attack with terrifying precision and grace.

　　Despite that, Shi Mu could not catch a break from the attacks either as the vines and the green energy balls kept rushing towards him whenever he moved.

　　Shi Mu and Lu Jing tried all of their might but it was soon becoming obvious that this Green Root Colossus was more powerful than its simple-looking attacks may have suggested; With its innumerable green vines filling up most of the space and the green energy balls taking up the rest of the space, the Green Root Colossus had basically entrapped the two into an area of inescapable zone. It would seem that the two of them would remain trapped for quite a while.

　　At this very moment, the green shadow that was Qing Zhang Tian was dashing towards the root of the enormous tree where the Sylvan King resided. Everyone’s eyes were strained on his every move, yet their body had remained helplessly trapped by the Root Colossuses’ attacks.

　　“Hee hee hee! Take your time, my beloved friends… Please don’t mind this lowly one excusing himself!” Hidden inside the shadow, Qing Zhang Tian let out a burst of humorful laughter, the elongated green shadow flashing through the environment and merging with the shadows nearby to increase its speed. Faster and faster, Qing Zhang Tian’s green shadow climbed up the enormous’ tree trunk and slithered towards where the Sylvan King was hiding in.

　　The elegant, gentle-faced human youth’s expression darkened. Suddenly, his pupils shone in dazzling blue lights before projecting out of his eyes into two blue light beams seeing through the Root Colossus hindering himself.

　　The blue light beams melted into the space around the Root Colossus, causing the space to crease violently, with large ripples coursing through its surface.

　　The elegant youth started to mumble an incantation under his breath, waving his hands.

　　Ripples of space started to spread from the point zero where the blue light beams had melted in and shadowed the Yellow Root Colossus until suddenly—the Root Colossus stopped moving altogether as if it had been frozen in mid-action.

　　The elegant youth waved again. Countless white fibers burst out of his body at his command, glowing in luminous, pearly light yet giving off a sense of matchless durability.

　　The white fibers of light shot towards—and sank right into—the Yellow Root Colossus’s body.

　　At the very next second, the last of the spatial ripples had traveled through the Root Colossus’ body, freeing it from the elegant youth’s freeze-frame ability. Infuriated, this Root Colossus let out a bellow and lunged towards the elegant youth.

　　His eyes were steely as he quivered his hands.

　　At his signal, the white luminous fibers that spread inside of its body suddenly constricted and tightened until the Colossus’ innards sliced through the fibers under the balling pressure—

　　On the outside, the Yellow Root Colossus once again froze in mid-lunge before its gigantic burst into countless pieces completely.

　　Just like that—a Heaven-rank being had been felled in such a simple, almost-unflashy fashion.

　　Landing a lethal blow on the Root Colossus seemed to have taxed the elegant youth quite a little, causing his face to turn pale. However, now that he was freed from his enemy, his body turned into a blurry silhouette bolting towards the direction of the enormous tree.

　　In a blink of an eye, the youth had crossed thirty to forty yards in distance so quickly that one’s eyes may have mistaken him to be shrinking into an inch-sized figure instead of running off into a distance.

　　He was on Qing Zhang Tian’s feet. Yet, Qing Zhang Tian had the advantage of running first.

　　The latter had now reached the top of the ancient tree where the Sylvan King was. The green shadow flickered, and he emerged from it, his eyes briefly glinting in mad delight as he extended his hand into a grapple.

　　A large drove of green light rose and formed a large greenish hand making the same grappling motion at the Sylvan King’s Primordial Spirit.

　　The target did not move. It remained in place, its shoot raised towards the sky as it swallowed the pillar of silver light, almost as if it did not notice the fast-approaching green hand.

　　Just as the hand was suspending less than a yard away from the Primordial Spirit, there was a sudden wave of golden lights as an incalculable number of roots suddenly filled the space around it. They were as fine as fibers, but each of them was glistening brightly in gold as they laced and built upon each other to form a barrier of roots, protecting the tiny green tree and the Primordial Spirit residing on top 0f it.

　　Pwang!

　　The large green hand’s grapple ended with a scratch on the surface of this root barrier. In a flash of golden light, the hand shattered—yet the barrier remained, not a single crack in sight.

　　Qing Zhang Tian’s feet shuffled back a little at the force. His expression turned stormy, and his small dagger appeared in his hand again.

　　He struck the air, his dagger reflecting cold gleams of light. Hum! A single ray of bling light projected out from the dagger’s blade as the sound of howling gale filled the air. In a millisecond, the small dagger had expanded several sizes larger to turn into a ten-yards long silver saber.

　　Misty silver halo emanated from the saber and spread out to an area of ten-odd square-yards. The aura was so sharp it was as if one look on it could pierce a man’s eyes blind.

　　The space where the saber had cut through tore, exposing an abyss-like black gash.

　　Qing Zhang Tian let out a cry, his hand clutching together into a ball as if he was holding an invisible bat, and swung downwards.

　　The large silver saber sailed downwards, leaving trails of its own afterimages as well as a large gash in space, before crashing into the golden root barrier—

　　Boooooooooommmmmm!

　　The silver light halo flashed so brightly it had completely consumed the golden root barrier, obscuring it from everyone’s sight. Quite unsurprisingly, those who were still locked in an inescapable melee with the Root Colossuses could only stare at the scene in horror.

　　Shi Mu had unleashed almost every card in the deck to free himself from his opponent to no avail. With his left hand, covered by his leathery glove, balled tightly, Shi Mu gazed deeply into the sky, his eyes flashing gold as his pupils constricted.

　　His gaze relaxed at the very next second when the blinding silver halo finally receded. The golden root barrier remained intact, with not a single jagged crack on its surface!

　　The large silver saber, despite its pulsating lights and sharp, skin-cutting halo, was completely blocked on the outside of the barrier.

　　Qing Zhang Tian’s eyes cracked out an expression of shock before his tranquil fury replaced it.

　　It was then when a new silhouette emerged next to him—the elegant youth had arrived while Qing Zhang Tian had tried and failed at his attempt to grab the Sylvan King.

　　“Sod off!” The elegant youth hissed, his one hand quivering before a streak of purple light manifested in his hand, revealing itself to be a large purple ax… which was then used to strike right at Qing Zhang Tian’s head!

　　The purple ax looked jarringly plebian, with only a few simple purple engravings of some sort on its blade to separate itself from being mistaken as an average farmer’s wood-chopping tool; Yet, what made the ax terrifying to behold was its thick mien of indomitability, as if centuries of time were stored inside it.

　　Twcch! A massive wave of purple light projected out from the large ax and hurled towards Qing Zhang Tian. As it raced towards him, space around it ripped and torn open as if it was made of paper.

　　Qing Zhan Tian’s heart skipped a beat and made a grabbing gesture with his hand, summoning his large silver saber back to himself before placing it defensively before his head.

　　Baaaang!

　　The purple large ax light beam clashed with the large silver saber in full force!

　　The silver saber shimmered erratically—and an unmistakable sound whispered from its blade, “Ke-rack…”

　　A single jagged line emerged on the saber as Qing Zhang Tian and his weapon were thrown by the explosive force, flying backward over ten-odd yards before finally stopping.

　　He turned to his silver saber and its new crack, his expression pained and rueful, before assuming a handsign.

　　The silver light of the saber faded and shrank, returning to its small dagger form. However, newly etched on its luminous blade was a noticeable crack.

　　With its light now dimmed, one could even hear the dagger whimpering low.

　　“You… You’ll pay for this!” A jolt of pang stung Qing Zhang Tian’s chest before being let out as a scream at the elegant youth standing before him. He swallowed the little dagger back into himself and looked at his opponent, his eyes now mired with hatred.

　　The elegant youth did not continue his attack on Qing Zhang Tian despite his successful first hit. Instead, with his body shimmering in great light, a surge of powerful, unbridled spiritual energy burst out from his body, showcasing a power level edging closer and closer to Heaven-rank itself.

　　The large purple ax in his hand flared brighter and brighter, its lights even overshadowing the sky as the ax itself became more and more transparent.

　　The elegant youth let out a loud battle cry and swung his arm, smacking his ac towards the golden root barrier.

　　Pschh! Pschh!

　　A single broad purple ax light flung out from the ax with an intimidating, untamed force!

　　The elegant youth did not stop there. He spun like a top and hurled once more, flinging out two more apparitions of his large ax towards the golden root barrier following the first projection 0f the ax.

　　The three projections merged into a single seven to eight yards large crescent-shaped purple light. Dancing among the light were countless runes, each of them emanating an indescribably appalling mien of dominance that caused even the space to wrinkle and back away!

　　Within the area, clouds and winds started to tumble at the force as spiritual energy from every corner of the surrounding swarmed towards the flying crescent-shaped projection and joining into it, allowing the purple beam to expand one size larger.

　　Now, cackling on its surface were bolts of purple lightning.

　　It sounded elaborative, but everything was happening only in a blink of an eye.

　　—Thooooooooommpppppppp!

　　The purple crescent-shaped ax beam struck at the golden root barrier.