The First Summoner - Chapter 39

Some contestants charged into the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine’s territory before they had even understood what was happening.

Each feared someone else might get there first.

“There are so many flags!”

The sight destroyed the composure of the others. They hurried after the first group.

Only a dozen or so kept calm and resisted the lure of so many flags.

Even they moved closer, however, intending to observe the situation before deciding what to do.

Nangong Yu remained where he was.

A triumphant smile curled his lips.

*Go in. All of you.*

As long as they distracted the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine, Xue’er would be safe.

Besides, until the competition ended, no one could say who the flags would ultimately belong to.

The contestants flooded into the vine’s territory.

As they pushed deeper to seize the flags, they finally noticed the mutilated corpses and blood hanging from the tendrils.

Cries of alarm erupted.

Then the vine attacked.

“D-dead bodies!”

“It’s an ambush!”

Several contestants spotted the scene farther ahead.

Vines had almost completely bound Zhuge Weiran and Ouyang Hong. Neither man could move.

Their pupils contracted.

“That’s Zhuge Weiran and the others…”

“Get out of here!” Zhuge Weiran shouted hoarsely, blood covering his face.

Too late.

Seventy or eighty contestants were already trapped inside the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine’s territory.

Its main trunk moved.

In the next instant, countless tendrils burst from the ground and swept through the air, attacking every contestant at once.

“Help!”

Many of them were inexperienced youths who had never witnessed true carnage.

Terror filled their young faces.

“I want to go home!”

“I quit! Stop the competition!”

The youths panicked and swung their weapons wildly.

Their minds went blank. For a time, they even forgot the combat techniques they had spent years learning.

They could not withstand the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine’s assault.

Within moments, six or seven were strangled to death.

Panic consumed the rest.

Everyone tried to flee.

The faster they ran, the faster they died.

Shen Yan watched with cold detachment.

She made no attempt to play the hero.

With her current strength, she would not survive long if she entered the vine’s territory.

Her attention settled instead on Nangong Yu.

Her fingers tightened around the Crimson Flame Dagger.

It was time to avenge the original girl.

She was about to leap down from the tree when a powerful pressure crashed over the forest.

Shen Yan nearly lost her footing.

She immediately looked through the gaps in the leaves.

A tall, gaunt elder in green robes had appeared outside the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine’s territory.

Ten Qiutian Sect disciples stood behind him.

Shen Yan’s eyelid twitched.

They had finally revealed themselves.

Joy appeared on the faces of the trapped contestants.

“Elder Yu, save us!”

“Remain calm.”

Elder Yu raised a hand, his expression grave.

Then he addressed the ten disciples behind him.

“Go in and help.”

Their expressions changed.

“And you, Elder?”

“Hold back the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine and give this old man time to prepare the Spirit-Extinguishing Formation.”

Elder Yu’s voice was stern.

“The nine kingdoms’ geniuses are far weaker than I expected. I thought they could at least collect flags from the vine’s territory. It seems I overestimated them.”

The ten disciples exchanged uneasy glances.

None wanted to risk their lives for the contestants.

The Soul-Severing Spirit Vine was an Earth-rank spirit plant, powerful enough to rival an expert of the Earth-rank realm.

Even Elder Yu might not be able to kill it.

And something about this did not make sense.

Why had he placed so many flags inside its territory?

Was that not the same as sending the nine kingdoms’ contestants to their deaths?

The more the Qiutian Sect disciples considered it, the more suspicious they became.

Elder Yu’s face turned grim.

“What is this? Do you intend to defy my order?”

The pressure he released made all ten disciples’ legs weaken.

Nangong Yu limped forward.

He dropped to one knee before Elder Yu, eyes reddening.

“Elder Yu, please save them!”

The elder and the disciples looked at him strangely.

They had been watching from hiding since the beginning.

They had seen Nangong Yu’s duplicity and vicious scheming.

Would a man like him beg for the contestants’ lives?

He clearly wanted something else.

Nangong Yu’s heart lurched beneath their peculiar stares.

Had they witnessed everything he had done?

Elder Yu clasped his hands behind his back and spoke with righteous authority.

“Whether you ask or not, we will save these contestants.”

Nangong Yu opened his mouth to flatter him.

Before he could, Elder Yu ordered the ten disciples inside to delay the vine while he established the Spirit-Extinguishing Formation.

They did not dare disobey.

They could only force themselves forward.

All ten were outer disciples of the Qiutian Sect, most at the second level of the Mystic-rank realm.

They were only somewhat stronger than Zhuge Weiran’s group.

Their arrival could not reverse the battle completely, but the number of contestant deaths fell at once.

Elder Yu stepped forward and began forming hand seals.

A formation barrier took shape.

Overwhelming pressure descended without warning.

The surroundings shook.

Nangong Yu, standing closest, was blasted from his feet.

Crimson formation-light instantly enveloped the entire Soul-Severing Spirit Vine.

It sensed the danger.

Its rage erupted.

The vine thrashed its tendrils toward Elder Yu, only for an invisible barrier to stop them.

A cold smile touched the elder’s lips.

Greed filled his eyes as he stared at the vine.

He wanted the Blood-Devouring Pearl.

With enough fresh blood as a lure, he could draw the pearl completely out of the Soul-Severing Spirit Vine’s body.

The vine flew into a frenzy.

An eerie human face emerged from its main trunk and roared toward Elder Yu.

The piercing shriek carried crushing force.

Every contestant and Qiutian Sect disciple inside its territory was injured by the blast.

Shen Xue spat out a mouthful of blood.

Her beautiful face turned deathly pale.

Panic finally overwhelmed her.

“Master, quickly! Get me out of here!” she cried through their mental link. “I don’t want the Blood-Devouring Pearl anymore!”

The old man sounded bitterly disappointed.

“Can you not endure a little longer?”

“Master, where there’s life, there’s hope,” Shen Xue answered urgently.

The old man fell silent.

He seemed to accept her reasoning.

Then Shen Xue saw Nangong Jin and Lu Shaohuai unconscious on the ground.

She gritted her teeth.

She could not afford to lose those two sources of support yet.