What Exactly Are You Rebelling Against

At that very moment.

It wasn’t just happening here.

The entire region of the Starsea Spectacle had fallen into unprecedented chaos.

Countless monsters crawled out of the sea, brandishing bone blades as they mercilessly slaughtered the cultivators still standing there in a daze.

Screams, cries for help, and curses rose and fell, echoing throughout the Starsea.

On a relatively large platform nearby, dozens of rogue cultivators had gathered.

“Everyone, don’t panic! Form up! Form up!”

A young cultivator in embroidered robes, holding a folding fan, shouted at the top of his lungs. He appeared to command considerable respect, and his cultivation was also at the late Soul Formation stage.

“These monsters may be numerous, but their intelligence is low. As long as we watch each other’s backs, we can definitely hold out!”

“Senior Brother Zhao is right! Everyone, listen to Senior Brother Zhao!”

“Let’s fight these monsters to the death!”

The rogue cultivators seemed to have found someone to rely on. They all summoned their magic treasures and formed a defensive formation back-to-back, resisting the monsters’ assault.

Yet just as everyone was fighting for their lives, “Senior Brother Zhao” quietly retreated to the very center of the group.

He watched as the cultivators on the outer perimeter fell one after another, a vicious glint flashing through his eyes.

“Hold on! You must hold on! I’ve already sent word back—the experts from my sect will be here soon!”

That was what he shouted aloud, but in secret, he crushed a precious Great Relocation Talisman in his hand.

Although this kind of talisman could not penetrate the grand formation and allow him to escape, it could still achieve short-range teleportation within this space.

“A bunch of idiots. Stay here and serve as bait for me!”

Senior Brother Zhao sneered inwardly. His figure gradually faded within a distorted glow of spiritual light.

However—

At the instant he was about to teleport away, a black shadow came hurtling down like lightning and slammed into the middle of the crowd.

It was an elite monster, even larger than the ordinary ones!

“Pfft!”

A massive claw pierced straight through Senior Brother Zhao’s chest without the slightest resistance, pinning his entire body to the ground.

The talisman that was about to take effect fell into the pool of blood and lost its luster.

“You…”

Senior Brother Zhao’s eyes widened as he stared at the snarling monster before him, his gaze filled with unwillingness.

“Why…?”

His head lolled to one side, and he breathed his last.

Without their leader, the rogue cultivators instantly collapsed and were swallowed up by the surging tide of monsters.

…

Su Ji had not witnessed that scene, but he could more or less guess what had happened.

When faced with desperate circumstances, human nature was often uglier than the monsters themselves.

“P-Predecessor…”

Wang Ping shakily climbed to his feet. He looked at the monsters crawling toward them from every direction, his voice trembling with tears.

“W-What are we supposed to do?”

“There are so many of them! Even a Void Refining expert would be worn to death!”

He was genuinely despairing.

If there had only been a few—or even a few dozen—then, with the predecessor’s strength, they might still have been able to fight their way out.

But down there… there had to be at least several thousand!

And judging by the way they advanced and retreated in an orderly fashion, someone was clearly controlling them from behind.

…

“Aaaah!”

Screams rose one after another, only to abruptly cease in the shortest time imaginable, leaving behind nothing but the grating sounds of chewing and the crisp crack of splintering bones.

On a relatively open star-lit platform, dozens of rogue cultivators huddled together back-to-back. The light from the magical artifacts in their hands flickered fitfully, illuminating the deathly pale despair on their faces.

Surrounding them were more than a dozen sea beasts that had crawled out of the ocean.

No—that was no longer something that could be called a sea beast.

They walked upright, their bodies covered in rotting scales and abnormal growths of bone. Some even had several heads, with foul-smelling mucus dripping from their mouths.

“What… What the hell are these things?!”

A young rogue cultivator’s hand trembled so badly that he could barely hold on to his talisman.

“Why won’t they die? Why do they keep multiplying the more we kill?!”

“Stop wasting your breath! Hold the formation!”

At the very front of the group, a burly middle-aged man roared.

His name was Tie Shan. He had become the temporary leader of this group of rogue cultivators because he was known to be dependable.

His early Soul Formation cultivation made him the only pillar holding them up.

“The bastards from the Azure Sea Sect have sealed the space! If you want to live, all we can do is hold out until the formation runs out of energy!”

“They can’t keep the entire region sealed forever!”

But before he had even finished speaking, a chilling, mocking laugh suddenly pierced through the din of battle.

“Hold out? What exactly do you think you can hold out with?”

The voice was cold and taunting, carrying the lofty pity of someone looking down from above.

The group turned around in terror, only to see the seawater outside the encirclement slowly parting.

A gigantic monster, nearly three zhang tall, came striding over the waves. Its upper body barely retained a human shape, but it had four arms, each gripping a blood-dripping bone blade.

Two bloody human heads hung from its waist.

Everyone recognized those heads.

They belonged to the two Soul Formation cultivators who, relying on their superior strength, had abandoned the group and tried to break through just moments earlier!

“Brother Li! Brother Zhao!”

Tie Shan’s pupils contracted violently, and his heart felt as though an invisible hand had clamped down on it.

They had been the only two Soul Formation cultivators in the group, yet they had been hunted down without anyone noticing…

“What exactly are you resisting?”

The four-armed monster tilted its head. Its mouth, split all the way to its ears, opened and closed as it spoke in a garbled voice that was nevertheless intelligible.

It could speak!

This was no beast. It was a sentient killing machine!

Despair spread through the crowd like a plague.

“Run… Run!”

Someone shouted first, and the tightly wound threads of everyone’s mental defenses snapped at once.

Several weak-willed rogue cultivators shrieked and tried to flee through a gap in the monsters’ encirclement.

“Idiots! Don’t move!” Tie Shan roared, his eyes bulging with rage.

At a time like this, unity offered them a sliver of hope. Once they scattered, it would become a one-sided slaughter!

Unfortunately, his warning came too late.

A ghostly flame flickered in the four-armed monster’s eyes, and its figure vanished from the spot.

“Pfft!”

“Pfft!”

Several streaks of black light flashed past. Before the fleeing rogue cultivators could even see their enemy’s movements, their bodies had been torn apart in midair, exploding into a rain of blood.

The monster reappeared, extended its scarlet tongue, and licked the blood from its bone blades. Then it let out a satisfied sigh.

“Fresh… fear.”

Tie Shan’s veins bulged on the hand gripping his heavy sword. He knew it was over.

Against a monster of this caliber, with the surrounding beast horde watching hungrily, there was no chance of survival for a rabble like them.

“Listen to me.”

Tie Shan drew a deep breath and turned to look at a young boy standing beside him.

The boy was his nephew.

“Kid, your second uncle will open a path for you. Run east, and don’t look back!”

“Second Uncle?” The boy froze, his eyes filled with terror and confusion. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me! I promised your father I’d bring you back alive!”

Tie Shan shouted sternly, a look of resolve flashing through his eyes.

He pulled a crimson pill from his robes and swallowed it in one gulp.

Boom!

Violent spiritual energy exploded inside him. Fine beads of blood seeped from the surface of his skin, and his aura forcibly surged to the middle Soul Formation stage!

He was burning his vital essence!

“Roar—!”

Tie Shan let out a roar like a wild beast. His entire body transformed into a blood-red shooting star as he charged, without hesitation, at the four-armed monster.

“You piece of trash! Come on! Your grandpa’s ready to fight you to the death!”

“Uncle!”

The youth let out a heart-wrenching cry and tried to rush forward, but the rogue cultivator beside him held him back tightly.

“Run! Don’t let your uncle’s sacrifice be in vain!”