Aspiring to the Immortal Path
Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 705: Group Battle

In cultivator battles, the relationship between quality and numbers had always been a very interesting mathematical problem.

In the Great Stellar Chiliocosm, numbers had never been irrelevant. There was no such thing as reaching a certain cultivation level that allowed one to look down on the entire universe and handle as many lower-class cultivators as there could be.

The Great Stellar Chiliocosm's advancement system was one of gradual progress. While each advancement in cultivation realm had its own meaning, there was no massive gap between them. If one had to take a hard look at the numbers, then the difference between Violet Palace and Soul Transformation was the greatest. However, even this was not something that could be overcome by numbers, and several dozen Soul Transformation cultivators working together could still take down a Violet Palace cultivator.

Perhaps this was why the Great Stellar Chiliocosm had always been a very ordered place: when numbers had meaning, the weak could join together and make their voices heard. Sovereigns, balancing pros and cons, and management methods also retained their meaning, and from there, a hierarchical society with very distinct classes was born, not some savage society where fists did all the talking.

But in this aspect, numbers also weren't absolute. The strength of a cultivator could greatly minimize the strength of numbers.

Using Soul Transformation as an example, not considering individual differences, around five Heart Demon cultivators could fight against a single Soul Transformation cultivator. Did this mean that twenty-five Spirit Ring cultivators could fight against one Soul Transformation cultivator? And 250 Cognitive Creation cultivators could fight against a Soul Transformation cultivator?

The answer was "No."

In cultivator battles, the basic idea was that the greater the gap of cultivation, the less effective the power of weaker cultivators became, and numbers gradually started to lose significance as the gap widened.

While five Heart Demon cultivators could deal with one Soul Transformation cultivator, thirty to fifty Spirit Ring cultivators might be needed to deal with the same person. And if one switched them out for peak Cognitive Creation cultivators who had been through the Three Witherings, the number needed would rocket into the thousands. As for Nine Revolutions, no number could make it work.

Thus, a core concept of cultivator math was that numbers only mattered within a single cultivation realm. Anything bigger made numbers irrelevant.

On this basis, if one was dealing with a top-class existence among one's peers, the gap was even greater and more frightening.

And Sang Hongmei was one of these top-class existences.

As a chief, even if she were facing opponents of the same tier, Sang Hongmei could deal with two or three Soul Transformation cultivators without a problem.

In these circumstances, Xu Miaoran's group, despite its greater numbers, didn't actually have much of an advantage.

What really gave Xu Miaoran confidence was the individual strength of the likes of Bei Canghan, Cai Junyang, and Qi Shaoming. Just like how Sang Hongmei was an outstanding Soul Transformation cultivator, they were geniuses of their tier, so the gap between them was smaller. In addition, Xu Miaoran had converted her immense wealth into combat power.

At this moment, Sang Hongmei had used her dragon spear to send a wave of lethal energy at the group.

Xu Miaoran grunted and threw out an item.

It was a piece of gauze, and as it flew out, it dissolved into motes of spiritual light, which in turn congealed into little silver fish that pecked away at the dragon spear.

She then threw out a jade bottle, out from which poured a sea that engulfed the skies.

The fish swam within this water, slamming away at the wave of spear energy and making it difficult for it to advance.

"The Clear Stream Bottle! Silver Fish Gauze! That's quite the trick you have," Sang Hongmei grunted. These two were both ultimate-grade art relics that had their power doubled when combined. It was only because Xu Miaoran had money that she had been able to get her hands on them.

But Sang Hongmei wasn't the kind of person who would be stopped by such a little trick. With a laugh, her dragon spear swelled with power, shattering the fish and pushing back the sea. These two ultimate-grade art relics couldn't stop her assault.

"Let me!" Peng Yaolong shouted. He thrust his hands forward, and the massive image of Heavenly King Mara appeared behind him.

As Peng Yaolong's eyes widened, that towering figure sent a single finger at the dragon spear.

The light of the dragon spear clashed with the Heavenly King's finger, unleashing a blinding radiance that penetrated through the clouds.

The dragon spear's beam of light then began to push through, obliterating the giant finger chunk by chunk, this powerful incantation unexpectedly failing to take on the spear that Sang Hongmei had thrown out. Peng Yaolong's entire body shuddered, and he let out a furious bellow. "RAAAA!"

His face turned blood-red, and a stream of energy erupted from the giant and stopped Sang Hongmei's spear cold: Energy-Blood Simulflow!

For Peng Yaolong to singlehandedly stop Sang Hongmei's attack was a glorious feat, but as a price, the giant shattered, and Peng Yaolong was sent flying backward. This one strike had consumed 80% of his spiritual energy, and he would need to recover it before he could head back into the fray.

But the others had used this opportunity to complete their own spell arts.

"Tianshang!" Qi Shaoming shouted as he charged forward.

Ye Tianshang understood and sent a sword gale sweeping out in the direction Qi Shaoming was charging.

The sword gale opened a path for Qi Shaoming, who charged up at Sang Hongmei like a lightning bolt. As he drew close, he split up into nine, all of them attacking Sang Hongmei at once. The eighteen Blood Plum Blossoms bloomed, working together to block this strike.

But the moment Qi Shaoming's attack was blocked, Cai Junyang mysteriously appeared behind him. It turned out that Qi Shaoming was just a cover, and Cai Junyang was the real attacker.

A blast of sword light tinged with the power of Slaughter flew at Sang Hongmei.

The plum blossom armor erupted with light, but it couldn't block Cai Junyang's power of Slaughter, crumbling away upon contact. The sword light cut into Sang Hongmei's body, causing her to cry out in pain.

She had finally been injured.

"Bastard!" Sang Hongmei barked, thrusting out her palms, one blow to destroy his barrier and the other to kill. But Cai Junyang's body flashed with golden light from a protective talisman. It had activated the moment Cai Junyang's barrier had shattered, fending off the follow-up attack.

And a moment later, Zhou Peng, He Songxu, and Luo Anbo charged in.

Once Sang Hongmei had dealt with this trio, Meng Shixue, Liu Hongyan, and Su Xinyue charged in.

Xu Miaoran had teams of three taking turns attacking. Rather than seeking to do damage, she sought to minimize casualties. As twenty-some cultivators took turns fighting and recovering, they used all sorts of medicines and talismans, caring nothing for the cost.

These things didn't come cheap, and they normally wouldn't have dared to use them so carelessly, but as they were backed by Xu Miaoran's preposterous wealth, they cast aside their concerns. As for Xu Miaoran, she stood on the side and threw out various treasures to attack Sang Hongmei.

Only in an actual fight would one realize how strong Sang Hongmei was, and only in an actual fight would one realize how wealthy Xu Miaoran was.

Under a watery blue sky, a fierce battle played out.

Twenty-some Celestial Heart cultivators surrounded Sang Hongmei and barraged her with spell arts and treasures, water, flames, and lightning flying through the air.

Sang Hongmei was like a majestic warrior goddess, fearlessly taking on their attacks, her dragon spear thrusting out like a lightning bolt and her armor glistening like blood. Her every move exuded immense power that weighed on everyone.

It was only in an actual fight that one could understand the massive disparity in strength. With a single attack, Sang Hongmei could easily shatter barriers and armor, but her attackers often needed to combine their powers to break her defenses just once, and the occasional success resulted in only a small wound. But a successful strike from Sang Hongmei meant either heavy injury or death.

After a while, another All-Talent Society cultivator was killed, and three were heavily injured.

Fortunately, the heavily wounded could take medicines while being covered by the others, allowing them to quickly rejoin the battlefield.

On the other hand, Sang Hongmei had no chance to rest, so even small wounds could accumulate into big problems. She didn't have Tang Jie's freakish recovery ability.

If both sides had HP bars, one would be able to see that the HP bar for Xu Miaoran's group basically either didn't move, or else almost emptied out before quickly going back up when the injured retreated to heal.

As for Sang Hongmei's long HP bar, it was very slowly and steadily draining.

As time went on, Sang Hongmei began to lose her patience.

She knew that she had already fallen into Xu Miaoran's tempo, and in a battle of attrition, even if she traded every one point of her spiritual energy for one hundred of the other side's, she would never be able to beat out Xu Miaoran's fortune.

There was no telling how long she had been preparing for this battle, and she had accumulated a terrifying number of pills, talismans, and art relics. She seemed intent on establishing her Dao through wealth, her art relics alone sufficing to make one green with envy, and she had yet to use the same one twice. Alas, she wasn't good at formations, or else she would have already deployed Tang Jie's Treasure Cosmos Formation.

Not willing to let this continue, Sang Hongmei suddenly drew back her spear and let out a shriek.

This piercing shriek shook everyone's souls and made their heads feel like they were about to split open.

Xu Miaoran paled and shouted, "Watch out! She's using her Divine Will to use the Haunting Demon Screech!"

The most significant way in which Soul Transformation cultivators were superior to those of lower tiers was their powerful Divine Will. Any spell art activated with the Divine Will would be much stronger. It was just that this consumed a lot of Divine Will, so it wasn't to be done recklessly. But it was only when Sang Hongmei used it that the true power of a Soul Transformation cultivator was put on display.

Xu Miaoran didn't dare to be careless with this attack, throwing out a small golden bell.

This bell let out a cling, and Sang Hongmei's Haunting Demon Screech was greatly weakened. It seemed like Xu Miaoran had brought the bell specifically for this purpose.

But Sang Hongmei was just too powerful, and this Heartguard Bell bought specifically to counter her could only partially neutralize her attack. The piercing sound still lingered, making everyone dizzy.

Of course, Sang Hongmei didn't fare much better, essentially hurting herself to hurt the other side.

While Sang Hongmei's face paled from all the power she had used, quite a few of Xu Miaoran's people had blood coming from their noses and mouths, with some of the weaker ones even fainting.

Both sides were momentarily paralyzed. Sang Hongmei seized this chance to take a pill to restore energy, and Xu Miaoran's people also took medicine to treat their wounds.

Sang Hongmei and Xu Miaoran exchanged glares.

Xu Miaoran said, "Sang Hongmei, are you still not going to give up?"

Sang Hongmei laughed. "What a joke! Why should this fairy concede? I will be the ultimate victor of this battle!"

"Stubborn to the end!" Xu Miaoran snorted.

As they stared at each other, they suddenly shouted in unison:

"Strike now!"

All of a sudden!