The clash between the two false kings only grew more volatile by the second with its scale of destruction exceeding the half-mile radius it had started with. The ground violently shook with tremors spreading vastly around the forest with trees and everything in between being eviscerated to dust.

The spirit beasts from earlier had retreated even further with trembling fear as they looked back at the fight that was still ongoing. Li Lun and Liao Ying couldn’t be seen but what was clear as day for miles was a huge black mass clashing with an equally huge green mass with explosions and destruction following everywhere they went. The battlefield kept changing in the time it took to blink. Nowhere seemed safe as the battle would crisscross a few miles within seconds. Spirit beasts who were slow, those too curious, or those with the worst luck ended up getting caught up in the battle. Their deaths were swift and painful. A loud yell was heard from an earth claw bear that was in deep hibernation in its cave. It was at the fifth stage of core formation realm and was known for its sturdy defense. However, the fight between Li Lun and Liao Ying had shifted towards its cave and before it even had a chance to put forth its defense it was blown to bits leaving behind a record of the shortest yet loudest yell.

A mass exodus soon started spreading out throughout the eighth zone as a result of the fight. Spirit beasts within a 50-mile radius could feel the tremendous shockwaves and pressure from the battle between the two false kings. None of them had any hesitation as they all started fleeing not caring about anything else other than ditching this powder keg with their lives and limbs intact.

They all fled in different directions but most fled towards the lower zones. This in turn caused mass hysteria in those zones as the creatures there were weaker and were surprised to see all these core formation big shots invading their tuff. They did the prudent and most respectable thing they could do at that moment which was to give up their own homes and help welcome the visitors while they graciously went to find accommodation elsewhere most likely in the final zone, zone ten. What happened in zone nine repeated itself in zone ten except those in zone ten had no other zone to go to.

This movement resulted in what later came to be known as the zone shuffle migration. The core formation spirit beasts who made their way to the ninth zone waited for a long while to move back to the eighth zone while some decided to permanently settle in the ninth zone out of fear of what they had seen or experienced in the fight of the two false kings. This led to a sudden increase in the number of core formation beasts there and the foundation level spirit beasts from zone nine took up permanent residence in zone ten. This added further dreadfulness and eeriness to the green fog region as the uninformed speculators assumed it was the beasts in those zones that had massive leaps in cultivation. This train of thought led to further speculation that there must be a powerful treasure at play which then drew droves of human cultivators to zone nine and ten in search of the treasure. The spirit beasts and those humans clashed making the area more volatile than normal for a treasure that didn’t exist. However, all these happened years later and become a black mark for the cultivators of the southern continent once it spread that thousands of cultivators had died for a treasure that wasn’t even there.

The battle between Li Lun and Liao Ying was still ongoing with no signs of stopping soon as the scale only grew larger. The human sects in the area had to burn spirit stones to power their sect formation arrays once they detected the violent qi fluctuations of the fight. Some that had weak illusory arrays had their locations exposed which was a death sentence to them in a place filled with spirit beasts.

This was the day that changed the eighth zone forever. What had been a norm for centuries had been upended with a new era being ushered in with a reshuffling of hierarchy and powers all from the fight of two false kings. On this day one or two kings would fall it was uncertain which but one thing was certain, at the end of the fight the eighth zone would never be the same. Whether that was a good thing or bad only time would tell for the residents of the area.

………………………………………….

A couple of miles northeast of the green fog swamp sect a dragonfly could be seen bursting through the forest with tremendous speed. There was a human standing atop the dragonfly with a long sword drawn. This was Haishi and Feng Xin. Haishi deftly moved around the forest with speed and finesse. She had improved control of all her body thanks to the lotus dew she drank which increased her maneuverability as she moved each of her four wings in independent directions with such ease that she didn’t have earlier.

It was at this moment that a sticky grey tongue rushed towards her with speed aiming to strike her down. The moment the tongue was a few inches away from Haishi it was sliced cleanly in half as the strike still full of momentum slashed at the rest of the body that was neatly camouflaged in a nearby tree. A geyser of blood sprayed out as the creature was soon revealed once it fell on the floor.

The attacker was a large green chameleon with silver-like needles spread out through its whole back down its tail. It lay dead on the ground, body split apart with its eyes wide open with a look that said it had no idea that it was dead. Feng Xin didn’t bother to collect it as Haishi did as she was ordered before, not to stop for a thing.

“This was the eighth one already, don’t these spirit beasts learn? I can’t release my full pressure here to avoid attracting some palace stage beast but this is getting tiring. Haishi you need to pick up the pace a little more,” Feng Xin gently said as he carefully monitored his surroundings.

Haishi obeyed the instructions as she pushed herself even further. The wings were moving so fast that one would think they were absent if they ignored the powerful wind gales produced by them. Spirit qi from all over was constantly flooding her body from all over. The effects from the primal lotus dew were in full effect at the moment with qi being effortlessly drawn towards Haishi’s body. Every qi she expended was replaced within seconds later. This helped her burn wantonly through her qi without fear of her internal reserves running out.

At the rate she was pushing herself Haishi’s body from before would have been injured from the strain even before she was halfway through the journey. However, the bonus effect of refining the dew had greatly strengthened and altered her body. Her body could handle the intense speed and her meridians were strong and ductile enough to handle the huge volume of qi that was flooding and coursing through her body especially the meridians attached to her wings made them sturdier than before.

Haishi had an exhilarated almost euphoric look at the moment as she burst through the forest with speed she never knew she had. It felt like some part of her had been unleashed after being shackled for a long time. All her life Haishi had always been reserved, watching and calculating her every step as she hid in her mirage. This was the first time in her whole life that she acted without caution as she flew with reckless abandon. It was a new experience for her that left her heart racing wildly. She didn’t have to worry about being attacked as there was a powerful fiend above who would take care of it. All she had to do was be carefree and fly to her heart’s content and fly she did. The more she lost herself in her flying the more she felt certain concepts tugging at her. At first, they were almost opaque but with time the longer she pushed herself the clearer those concepts became. She kept having the same feeling she had in the river, moving with the flow instead of against it. Her movements became even nimbler than before.

Feng Xin noticed her situation as he smiled in admiration. Haishi’s movements had become smoother and more efficient. Before she was a brute forcing her speed using the copious qi flowing in her but currently she was integrating the qi to achieve the best results with minimal effort. Her speed had increased by several notches. Feng Xin nodded in satisfaction as this meant they’d reach the location of the swallow birds earlier than he had expected. This would help reduce the number of variables he would have to deal with. Within ten minutes or less they would be close to the edge of the green fog region and closing in on the rogues from the green fog swamp sect. .

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