Cultivation is Creation-Chapter 187: Fight!

You know you've been in the cultivation world too long when you start recognizing facial expressions on giant bugs.

The Mantis's blade descended toward Yan Ziheng's unprotected back, and I swear the insectoid beast's mandibles twitched in what could only be described as a smirk.

But the smirk didn't last long.

My vines erupted from the ground like angry serpents, each one wrapping around one of the Mantis's bladed limbs. The beast's momentum carried it forward for a moment before the vines went taut, holding it in place just long enough for what came next.

My scorpion tail shot out from beneath my robes.

Four feet of bark-scaled, vine-tendoned death, moving faster than most eyes could track.

The Mantis didn't even have time to struggle against my vines before the tail's tip punched through its core.

The strike was perfect: just enough force to shatter the core without damaging the rest of the beast.

A clean kill, and more importantly, an intact specimen.

These things were worth good money to the right buyers, especially the higher-stage ones. Before the corpse could hit the ground, I'd already stored it in my ring.

"Interesting," Yan Li's voice came from directly in front of me.

I hadn't even seen him move: one moment he was across the battlefield, the next he was studying me with an intensity that made me slightly nervous. His eyes lingered on where my tail was already retracting back into my lower spine, hidden beneath my robes.

But it was the golden energy swirling around him that drew my attention, it felt... different from normal qi. Heavier somehow, as if each particle carried the weight of ancient authority.

Then, to my surprise, he bowed. "You have my thanks for saving my clan member.”

Behind me, I heard Yan Ziheng make a choking sound as he finally processed what had just happened. The young formation expert spun around, his face pale as he realized how close he'd come to having an extremely bad day.

"I... you... how did..." Yan Ziheng struggled to form complete sentences. "That was a Stage 7 beast! How did you..."

"Just lucky timing," I shrugged, trying to downplay the whole thing.

The last thing I needed was people asking too many questions about how a Qi Condensation Stage 6 cultivator had so casually dispatched a Stage 7 beast.

Yan Li's eyes narrowed slightly at my response, but he didn't press the issue. Instead, he glanced back at the main battle, where the other Stage 9 beasts were still engaged with our strongest cultivators.

"Shouldn't you be helping with those?" I asked, nodding toward where Liu Chang was trading earth-shaking blows with the Alpha Wolf.

"I would love nothing more than to help eliminate those beasts," Yan Li replied, his tone carrying an edge of frustration. "But the time required to properly deal with Stage 9 opponents... too many of our people would die while we focused on those fights. Sometimes leadership means making unpleasant choices."

I nodded, understanding his logic.

A Stage 9 beast might take several minutes to defeat even for someone of Yan Li's caliber, and during those minutes, dozens of lower-stage beasts could break through our defenses.

"Stay alert," he advised as he prepared to return to the main battle. "Your Symphony Shield is impressive, but no barrier is perfect. Gaps, like the one that allowed that mantis to strike, will appear." With that, he vanished back into the chaos of combat, his movements leaving trails of golden light in the air.

"I can't believe I didn't even sense it coming," Yan Ziheng muttered, still looking shaken. "If you hadn't been there..."

"But I was," I cut him off. "And now you can focus on maintaining the barrier instead of wondering about might-have-beens."

He nodded, though I noticed his hands were still trembling slightly as he reformed the seals necessary for barrier maintenance. I decided to give him something else to focus on.

"Watch this," I said, pulling out a stack of explosive talismans. "See that cluster of beasts trying to overwhelm Su Yue's position?"

I activated the first talisman, letting my qi flow into the carefully drawn patterns. The paper began to glow with a deep red light. Most cultivators would throw one, maybe two at a time. But then, most cultivators didn't have my particular talent for aggressive resourcefulness.

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I threw the entire stack.

The talismans scattered through the air, each one trailing fire qi as they arced toward the densest clusters of lower-stage beasts. When they detonated, they turned those clusters into... well, significantly less dense clusters.

The explosions wouldn't do much against Stage 5 or higher beasts, but they did an excellent job of thinning out the cannon fodder, which would save my fellow cultivators a lot of hassle, and it might even save a few lives.

It was then that I noticed something odd.

Chu Feng was doing... something... with the Dreamwalker corpse he'd killed outside the village. The one he'd hidden in his storage ring.

Now he was just casually dropping it among the other beast corpses like it was perfectly normal.

"Master," Azure’s voice interrupted my thoughts. "Mole. Underground. Moving fast."

I didn't hesitate.

My left palm slammed into the ground as I activated the shockwave rune inscribed there. The earth rippled outward from the point of impact, and a very surprised Stage 7 Earth Digging Mole found itself forcibly evicted from its tunnel.

And because the heavens apparently decided I hadn't been having enough fun, a spirit wolf of the same stage chose that moment to come charging through a gap in our defensive line.

Yan Ziheng made a sound that somehow combined a whimper, a curse, and what might have been a prayer.

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"Relax," I told him, already moving away from the barrier. "Just focus on maintaining the formations. I'll handle our guests."

Fighting two Stage 7 beasts at once wasn't ideal. But fighting them near the barrier would be worse: one good hit from either of them would shatter a section of the Symphony Shield, giving the lower ranked beasts an opportunity to break through.

Better to draw them away, use the space to my advantage.

The mole moved first, its claws leaving trails of light as they sliced through the air. I activated Aegis Mark, the hexagonal barrier absorbing most of the impact, but the force still sent me sliding backward several feet.

"Master," Azure called out, "the wolf is circling to your left, likely attempting to flank while the mole holds your attention."

"Thanks," I nodded, already calculating angles and distances.

I sent out a spray of razor-sharp leaves with the Leaf Storm rune, not really expecting to hurt either beast but needing to control their movement options. The wolf was forced to dodge right, while the mole burrowed underground to avoid the attack.

Perfect.

I slammed my palm down again, this time using the shockwave rune at full power. The mole burst out of the ground once more, but this time I was ready. My scorpion tail lashed out, aiming not for its core but for its eyes.

The beast recoiled, giving me just enough time to activate Titan's Crest.

The strength enhancement rune on my left hand flared with power as I drove my fist into the mole's chest. Even with the extra hundred points of Physical Essence combined with Phantom Strike, it was like punching a stone wall. But I felt something crack under the impact.

The mole stumbled backward, dark blood leaking from its mouth. Its crystalline claws had actually chipped from trying to block my punch. I pressed the advantage, using Blink Step to appear directly above it.

"Careful," Azure warned. "The wolf is—"

I had to burn another Blink Step charge immediately, barely avoiding the wolf's lightning-wrapped fangs. The beast's attack left a crater where I'd been standing, electricity arcing between the impact points.

This was getting annoying.

I activated Explosive Seed, creating three red sun energy-infused seeds that I flicked toward the mole. It tried to dodge, but I used Vine Whip to restrict its movement just long enough...

The explosion was more impressive than the stack of talismans.

The mole's already-damaged chest cavity couldn't take the focused blast. Its core shattered, the beast's body didn’t even get a chance to drop to the ground before I swept it into my storage ring.

One down.

But the wolf didn't give me time to celebrate my victory over the mole.

Its first strike came low: claws charged with enough electrical energy to power a small city, aiming to disembowel me.

I activated Aegis Mark, the hexagonal barrier materializing just in time to absorb the hit. The wolf didn't hesitate, immediately transitioning into an overhead bite aimed at my shoulder.

The barrier immediately shattered under the impact.

The world blurred as I appeared ten feet back, trying to create space to set up a counter.

But the wolf had clearly been waiting for this.

It moved the instant I reappeared, its lightning-enhanced speed matching my teleport perfectly. Its claws raked through the space where my head had been a split second after I ducked.

As the wolf closed in, I activated my shockwave rune.

A visible ripple of force burst out from my palm, catching the wolf mid-lunge. The impact wasn't enough to seriously hurt a Stage 7 beast, but it did throw off its balance for just a fraction of a second.

That fraction was all I needed.

My scorpion tail lashed out, aiming for its exposed flank. The strike connected, neurotoxin coating the bark-scaled tip piercing through the lightning armor just enough to deliver its payload.

The wolf's qi flared, burning away most of the poison, but I saw its movements become slightly sluggish - the toxin had at least partially taken effect.

The beast's counter-attack was still devastating, though not quite as precise as before. It twisted in mid-air, its entire body becoming a conduit for lightning as it launched a full-power bite at my throat.

I had to activate another Blink Step charge to avoid being simultaneously electrocuted and decapitated.

The beast pressed its advantage, not giving me a moment to recover. Each of its strikes was faster and more precise than the last, as if it was learning my patterns in real-time.

Actually impressive, in a trying-to-kill-me sort of way.

I needed to end this quickly.

My red sun energy reserves weren't infinite, and this wolf was proving to be annoyingly resilient.

I activated Titan's Crest, Vine Whip, Leaf Storm simultaneously, wrapping my fist in layer after layer of sharp reinforced plant matter.

My intention was to end the battle in one final strike.

The wolf saw the technique forming and lunged forward, its lightning-charged bite aiming to interrupt my preparation.

Perfect.

I met its attack head-on, my enhanced fist colliding with its electrified fangs. The impact created a shockwave that cracked the ground beneath us, our techniques straining against each other in a deadlock of raw power.

Just a little more and I could slash its neck...

That's when I felt it: a massive spiritual pressure descending from above.

I glanced up to see an eagle-type beast, its wingspan easily twenty feet across, dropping out of the night sky like the world's most aggressive diving instructor.

But what was more concerning was its cultivation level: a Stage 8 beast.