Chapter 752 - Pressure

Surrounded by twenty three Nascent soul realm beasts was very uncomfortable for all the elders.

Not to mention, there was an even stronger beast, the Twin Lights Liger King who was at the Dao Shell realm staring them down as well. Just the Nascent soul realm beasts were enough to kill them all, adding the Twin Lights Liger King to that was an overkill.

They wouldn't last more than a few minutes under the attack of the Twin Lights Liger King and any struggle would just be prolonging the inevitable. The cogs in their minds turned quickly, trying to figure out a way to get out of their predicament.

Unfortunately for them, their earlier actions had made a lot of possible solutions invalid. Regardless of this though, Minister Ting decided to try.

"W-wait! We'll leave. Don't do anything." Minister Ting spoke hurriedly.

~GRRR~

But that was only met with a growl from the Twin Lights Liger King. The beast didn't seem to be in agreement and looked at the monkey beasts.

"The Twin Lights Liger King says that why should we let you leave? You lost that privilege when you decided to commit immoral acts." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

The Monkey beasts were the only ones who could communicate in the human tongue, thus they were designated as the translators. All the others beasts would just stay there as a suppressive threat.

"Don't you dare attack us! If you kill us, don't forget that the powers behind us will all act. Even if you all are at the Nascent soul realm and the Twin Lights Liger King is at the Dao Shell realm, the combined strength of our powers is not something you want to mess with." One of the sect elders said.

"Yeah! If you don't want all to be wiped out, don't even think of doing anything to us." The arrogant elder added.

"SHUT UP!" Minster Ting yelled. "Do you want to mess this up even more?" He shouted.

"What? Do you want to negotiate with beasts, Minister Ting? Really? BEASTS?" The arrogant elder scoffed.

~GRRR~

~SHING~

But those words were the last that the elder ever spoke. In the next moment, two beams of light struck him and directly bore holes through his head and chest. The arrogant elder's expression was stuck as it is and he didn't even realize when he was hit.

~thud~

Under the stunned eyes of all the elders, the now dead elder's body collapsed to the ground like a rag doll.

"Y-You… you killed him!" the other sect elders cried in fear.

"He deserved it! Do you all want to join him, too?" The Demon Spine Ape king roared.

His sharp fangs and burning eyes were enough to strike fear into the hearts of the elders even more.

They could only look at the dead body and swallow the rest of their words. They were sure that the beasts would truly attack and kill them.

"Do you think we care about the powers behind you? DO YOU FORGET WHAT THIS PLACE IS? THIS IS OUR FOREST!" The Demon Spine Ape King declared.

A hot burst of air came along with his shout, almost pushing back the elders.

"W-what do you want?" Minister Ting asked carefully.

He knew that they were far too deep into this and there was possibly no other way to leave this place alive rather than negotiation. 

'Damned fools! Now we'll lose more than we ever gained by coming here.' Minister Ting thought.

They had set out to find more about the changes in the forest, but now they were going to regret it for all their lives. If… they managed to continue living. 

Some of the sect elders secretly gazed at the dead body of the arrogant elder, wondering if the Nascent soul managed to sneak away or not. But when they checked the body with their spirit sense, they were surprised.

'The Nascent soul was eradicated by the same attack!' They finally understood.

The Nascent souls were the final trump card of most cultivators and would allow them to survive death once. Even if their bodies were killed, they could live on in the Nascent soul realm form.

And if they were lucky, they could find a compatible body and take over it.

Their sects even had some people prepared for this very thing. These would either be criminals of the sect or those that were especially picked by the elders. They would have the most compatible body for them or the closest thing possible.

Some of these people were even blood relatives of the elders. Many of them that were living freely in the sect didn't even know that they were merely there to serve as a backup in case an elder lost their body.

The sects also had many methods to let their Nascent souls escape if they were killed. After all, if an enemy surrounded them and killed their Nascent soul when it was coming out of their body, all that they cultivated for would have been a waste.

The elders were hoping that the dead elder's Nascent soul could escape. That way, even if they were taken hostage, the Nascent soul would be able to alert their respective powers. 

They did have a plan in case some of them died in the forest. It was a contingency plan, and they had never expected that they really needed to use it. They were simply hoping that they could escape from any other trouble relying on their numbers.

It was why they had picked fifteen members, three times the number of rulers in the Millennium forest.

But they were mistaken by the old rules that didn't apply to the forest anymore. They dreaded that they hadn't found out about it earlier and now they needed to pay a great price.

'If they can kill our Nascent souls at the same time as our bodies, we are doomed…' A cold feeling went down the spines of everyone here.