Chapter 712: Prioritize Hostage Rescue

After Lin Jin cut down the two pet beasts, his next slash was aimed at the Beast Deity Cult priest.

Possessing near-immortal strength, the priest was pretty powerful for a human being. Together with his three pet beasts, he alone could have dominated the mainlands.

However, when pitted against Lin Jin who had just returned from the extraterritorial land, the priest posed zero threats.

He was just slightly harder to finish off at most. Lin Jin didn't even need to borrow his pet beasts' powers as Clear Wind alone was more than enough.

Lin Jin was confident the enemy couldn't block this attack. After unleashing it, he darted towards the enemy army formation.

He had a bad feeling about the black clouds. They looked familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. That was why for the time being, his number one priority was liberating the hostages.

Only after releasing Shang'er and the rest could he truly be at ease.

He wondered if Shang'er was captured by this priest. After analyzing the enemy's strength, Lin Jin found it to be impossible.

The priest was powerful. With his combination of Rank 5 pet beasts, he might even be on par with the Master Abbot of Daluo Temple.

However, Shang'er was no weakling. Furthermore, she had strong allies on her side.

Goldy was one such example.

If Goldy went on a rampage, even Shang'er couldn't stop him.

If Shang'er and Goldy teamed up, even if they couldn't defeat the enemy priest, they should at least be evenly matched.

And yet, Shang'er was captured, alongside everyone else.

This confused Lin Jin.

He wanted to rescue them, just to clarify what happened. Something told him her reply was the key to solving this mystery.

Clear Wind Sword lived up to his duty. With its first slash, he cut apart the insect beast that was guarding the priest. Then, he sliced his bone scepter in half. In the end, he slashed the priest into two at the third slash. 

By now, Lin Jin had entered the enemy's formation.

How could the soldiers even put up a fight?

Their beasts crouched down fearfully the instant the Visitation Hall's door opened up behind Lin Jin. No creature dared to move a muscle as Lin Jin's Beast Deterrence was released at maximum capacity.

Since just now, Lin Jin had been using a unique spell to pinpoint Shang'er's location. He only moved because he was confident that he could rescue them all unharmed.

Now that he was on the move, he would make sure he succeeded in his first attempt.

Fire clouds rolled as Lin Jin summoned Xiao Huo. Although it was a bit excessive in this situation, reliability took precedence when it came to rescuing hostages. Even if it was the equivalent of using a cannon to kill flies, Lin Jin would do it if it ensured a higher chance of success.

Within several minutes, Xiao Huo killed thousands of enemies. Simultaneously, Lin Jin was able to rescue Shang'er and the rest who were captured.

Among them were Ye Yuzhou and Zuo Wentang. They had all been locked up inside a wagon made from large bones. Most of them were unconscious when Lin Jin found them, but they weren't in danger.

After confirming that they were unharmed, Lin Jin breathed a sigh of relief.

The moment he woke Shang'er up, she could not contain her excitement. 

"Master Lin, be careful of immortals!"

Immortals?

Lin Jin was stunned.

Before her word of warning, Shang'er deliberately checked their surroundings. However, they were in the mainlands, so how could immortals possibly exist here? Whoever had the audacity to venture beyond the extraterritorial lands would be immediately annihilated by the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast. 

Hence, Lin Jin denied the possibility without hesitation.

The next instant, he recalled something which prompted him to look up at the sky. Everything within ten miles was surrounded by black clouds.

Something clicked in Lin Jin's mind.

He finally remembered what the clouds reminded him of after hearing Shang'er mention the word 'immortal'. 

Aside from the color, it looked exactly like the miasma found in the extraterritorial land.

"This is bad!"

Lin Jin's heart began to pound. He quickly invoked a spell and pointed one finger forward.

The Cosmic Ink!

Rumble! 

A large black hole appeared out of nowhere. With a wave of his arm, he brought Shang'er and the rest of the rescued hostages inside. 

If his assumption was correct, these black clouds should have the same effect as the miasma – it was able to seal off any aura within its area of influence.

This would prevent the immortal devouring beast from finding them. Lin Jin finally understood why the priest had summoned the black clouds upon seeing Lin Jin. So his attempt to buy time was for this very purpose?

Lin Jin finally understood why Shang'er and Goldy suffered an overwhelming defeat. No matter how strong they were, they couldn't compete against an immortal.

In other words, they lost to this mysterious immortal.

Although the Grassy Continent coalition consisted of more than ten thousand soldiers and beasts, they weren't the main fighting force.

Whoever that wanted to take Lin Jin down knew they couldn't win with just these.

Their trump card would be the immortal who would soon emerge under the protection of those dark clouds.

To think they had such an option!

Lin Jin was dumbstruck. Leaving the outcome of the battle aside, the enemy's ability to come up with such a brilliant plan left him speechless.

Wait.

Not only could they defeat him, but if these black clouds continued to loom over the mainlands, the enemy would be invincible here.

Taking that into consideration, Lin Jin decided to take everyone into the painting realm. He was unsure if the enemy had other arrays that would prevent him from escaping.

Sure enough, after sending Shang'er and the others away, he was stopped by an invisible force when he tried to leave.

It was probably an array that sealed off his escape routes. The level of this spell was high enough that it forced the people Lin Jin sent into the painting realm back into the real world.

Lin Jin was shocked when he saw this.

Clearly, the enemy had come with the intent of finishing off Lin Jin. Even if he managed to leave this area, he would never be able to get away from the enemy. 

"Blood realm!"

Lin Jin held up his palm and a blob of blood ghost appeared. He tossed the blood ghost into the air and it expanded into a large bubble that encased Shang'er and everyone else inside.

After expanding, it resembled a house made of blood. One could even vaguely see strange worms crawling around the structure from time to time.

The blood house was the blood ghost and the insects were the ghost worms.

Lin Jin had unleashed one of his trump cards. Whoever tried to touch his friends again would face a tragic end. Even profound immortals would find themselves at a disadvantage against such a potent combination.

Now, Lin Jin was sure the immortal enemy would appear soon. The latter had sealed off this area so that Lin Jin couldn't even use the painting realm. This was sufficient information to tell Lin Jin that his upcoming opponent would be a challenging one.