Chapter 54: The Meteor Spell
With only 4 Slaughter Points left to his name, Li Ling could not hold back anymore, especially given the amount that he needed to acquire in order to continue his rapid progression. As such, he decided to tear off the veil of normalcy and engage in a brutal killing like never before!
Immediately, Li Ling disappeared from his courtyard and appeared on the roof of a nearby brothel that was quite tall. He raised his finger to the sky, imbuing all of his magic power into the Meteor Spell, which despite its advancement, required even more than what Li Ling had.
The Meteor Spell was a late-stage Foundation Establishment daoist art that was exactly a tier above its previous iteration, the Falling Boulder Art. The Falling Boulder Art had a documented growth process up to the Perfection stage, and so too did the Meteor Spell.
At entry level, it already possessed all the features of the Perfection-level Falling Boulder Art, but now powered by magic power, it was able to exert enough power to level a small village. At the Advanced level, the Meteor Spell had increased formation speed again, allowing it to spawn as fast as a Fireball despite its size, bonus points if it sucked up ambient matter to fortify its mass.
At the Expert level, the Meteor Spell possessed a suppression effect, meaning that if you were within its range of strike, you would feel as if gravity was pressing down on you, preventing you from running out of range, which was honestly easily achievable if one had body cultivation and was on the ground.
At the Mastery level, the Meteor Spell was now able to ruin an entire town on its own, more akin to a cataclysmic attack than anything else. It could render an entire small zone completely ruined, turning it into a vast wasteland where even grass would struggle to grow.
And now, at Perfection, the Meteor Spell had doubled its density, causing its material weight to be twice as high as before, which meant that even though the size had not changed, the attack power of the meteor had doubled compared to the previous level.
This was a spell meant for late Foundation Establishment, so Li Ling, no matter how monstrous, could not possibly have enough magic power at level 2. As such, even though he formed the meteor, it was only at about 50% of its maximum functionality, and that was only because his magic power was so pure that quality helped stave off quantity, not to mention the higher levels of skill mastery reducing consumption per level.
Otherwise, he would be lucky to get even 20% of its functionality.
The Meteor Spell was not like most Foundation Establishment daoist arts in the sense that it could be spawned anywhere within the range of the user’s spirit sense at the Perfection level, but only vertically. So Li Ling had spawned it exactly 200 meters above the Joyous Number 5 Market so that it would be able to pick up speed and achieve his secondary goal.
Immediately as the spell began to form, alarm entered the hearts of all cultivators in the market. Those at Qi Refinement could not tell why as they either jumped out of their beds or rushed out of their homes, while those in Foundation Establishment used their spirit senses to scan outwards, trying to detect the source of this uneasiness.
They only clued in when screams were heard all over the market, rushing out of their abodes to inevitably look up at the night sky where a giant meteor wreathed in flame was rapidly falling their way. Seeing this, everyone felt absolute horror and fear, knowing that this was an attack on their market but not understanding how anyone would dare.
This region might seem weak, but there were Core Formation and even Nascent Soul powerhouses hidden in various corners, unseen to the public. Just because one only saw Qi Refinement fellows aplenty did not mean that was the only demographic present.
Yet no matter how depraved or greedy such fellows were, they would never dare to drop an entire boulder on the Joy Sect’s marketplace!
Even if you succeeded, had you thought of the aftermath? Could you handle the Joy Sect’s retaliation? When they sent their Core Formation level disciples out, could you resist? What about their Nascent Soul elders? Or their Soul Formation Sect Master and Grand Elders?
Was it worth it to go so far just for our lives?
The despair in the hearts of many Qi Refinement cultivators was boundless, especially those closer to the center of the market. Those nearer the outskirts all fled into the distance using any method they had, but were horrified when the suppression effect took place, causing them to become immobile.
Only Foundation Establishment fellows could somewhat freely move, and their hearts were also filled with shock. However, their number was not small and even though they were overwhelmed by the fact that someone dared to attack—and that the attack was so powerful—they were still able to muster the will to resist.
"Defend! We can’t let this attack land!"
"Pool your powers together, fellow daoists!"
"We have no choice!"
"Joy Sect, where are your market overseers?!"
Every Foundation Establishment cultivator here was someone who had climbed out of the mud, especially since the majority were rogue cultivators. Few above the Qi Refinement realm were Joy Sect disciples because they had better conditions in the sect and its main territories, not a mere external market like this.
As such, they unleashed 120% of their strength at this moment, firing out their best offensive daoist arts to try and smash apart the meteor, because trying to defend against it was useless. They were not nearly as clueless as those Qi Refinement Qing Shan Sect disciples—along with those market guard captains—who had tried to defend, knowing it was impossible.
However, the stereotype held true. Even the strongest Foundation Establishment cultivator here, at the Perfection stage, only released a daoist art at the Expert level. Most daoist arts were at the Advanced level because by this point, one had some experience and familiarity with casting daoist arts, so they could get past the Entry level.
But it was not enough, not nearly enough. The gulf between each level of skill mastery was not so hefty for fun, it was because it represented a completely new tier of power compared to before.
Even the Qi Refinement Fireball Technique, when Li Ling raised it to the Advanced level, was able to kill a score of Qi Refinement cultivators who faced off against him despite using Entry-level defenses to try and block. Using these attacks made things worse as the Meteor absorbed the daoist arts into its mass, increasing its energy for elemental attacks and mass for physical daoist arts.
The pupils of everyone in the market constricted at this, especially those in the know.
"What?! How can this... is that a... Perfection-level Meteor Spell?!" one person roared with disbelief, not understanding why the heavens would be so cruel to him.
Everyone who heard it knew it was over, but there were still those unwilling to give up. A burly man who was Qi Refinement level 6 suddenly exploded with Foundation Establishment Perfection, and not just that, but dual Perfection of qi and body!
"My future lies with the Seven Sins Demon Sect as a Sinner of Wrath, how can I die here after struggling for so long?!" the man bellowed, his aura completely unleashed as he triggered the berserk enhancement that came with the Seven Sins Wrath method.
He immediately leapt into the sky fearlessly and charged towards the falling meteor, unleashing a heaven-shaking punch that formed an avatar-like overlay towards its lower end. Even though he was powerful, he was not confident that he could shatter the powerful art in one blow, so he aimed to strike its edge to divert its trajectory to miss the market.
In truth, his idea was good, because it yielded some results. The meteor skewed slightly, meaning that about 30% of the market to the east would be spared from the direct clash, giving those there more hope of survival as long as they could withstand the shockwave.
PSHHW!
The fellow paid a huge price for this though, as his entire right arm he used for the punch exploded into blood mist, and it wasn’t until he subsequently sacrificed his left arm to make a second punch to break away from the meteor’s gravitational force and plummet towards the freed-up eastern side that he could save his own life.
"Hahaha! Good! If we don’t show our true might, then death might really wait for us!" Another person laughed loudly, shockingly revealing a level 4 Core Formation cultivation from a mere Qi Refinement camouflage.
He wasn’t the only one, as a dozen powerhouses at either Foundation Establishment Perfection, dual cultivators of body and qi at high levels, and one more Core Formation cultivator at the sixth level revealed themselves, all rushing outwards to unleash their power to divert the meteor.
The lineup was grand and completely reinvigorated the feelings of the crowd. Even just one person had managed to divert it so much, despite losing both his arms, so all these powerhouses should be able to achieve much more. Right?
"Li Fire Grand Wave!"
"Diamond Body True Strike!"
"Black Death Hand!"
"Waterfire Torrent!"
Each of them unleashed their strongest power right from the start. While their skill masteries were still the same as the average, their cultivation bases and powers made up for it as the meteor that was oncoming was struck brutally, not only losing 40% of its mass right away, but also being completely skewed from the market.
Looking at the meteor that had been diverted to the forest outside the marketplace, many cultivators cheered loudly. Even though they wouldn’t be able to fully escape the aftermath of the shockwave from the attack, and that the market would definitely be ruined, at least they still had a fighting chance at survival now!
However, while it might seem long in normal time, this period of falling for the meteor was actually even longer in the eyes of cultivators, surpassing two minutes in length, especially considering the waves of attacks unleashed to strike and delay the meteor before successfully diverting it.
KRAKOOM!
When it finally struck the area outside the market, there was a great explosion and earthquake that shook almost every building to the ground, killing countless demon beasts and weaker creatures within the radius and unleashing a shockwave with the power to rip flesh from bone.
In a show of rather shocking camaraderie, cultivators banded together to join their defenses, with higher-tier cultivators even protecting some of the weaker ones near them. Everyone took out their spirit artifacts, their best defensive talismans, and even threw out array plates with defensive capability, layering upon layering everything together.
When the shockwave came, it was surprisingly blocked by the layers of defenses, only a few of the weaker Qi Refinement cultivators losing their lives after being shaken to death. However, more than 95% of cultivators in the market managed to survive this seemingly hopeless cataclysmic attack due to the sacrifices of the powerhouses, as none of them came unscathed from unleashing their full power against the falling meteor.
Not only did some have ruptured meridians from outputting too much power, those who used their physical forms all had broken arms or legs, while those who used artifacts like flying swords or other weapons were spitting blood, their spirit senses damaged from the aftershocks.
Thinking about it, they couldn’t help but feel a hint of fear, wondering who would be so cruel to unleash such an attack. Now that they had blocked it, they would dig three feet underground to find the blasted perpetrator and skin him alive, making sure that no crazy fellow would ever dare replicate something like this again.
It was not until this point that a smarmy voice was heard, distant, yet seemingly nearby, present in the ear of every cultivator.
"Good job dealing with that one, fellow cultivators! Now, what will you do about the second one?"