The Scum Is A ***

While the Huakai Sect disciples anxiously watched Pai Lie battle against Wu Ran, everyone on the ship is anxious, too. 

"Fortunately, we have array mages here…" Li Nanzi spoke as he sighed in relief while they watch Cheng Sheng and Li Tian heal the injured people through the Healing Array. 

"And they are both from Xinfaxian Sect." Tang Teng helplessly smiled. 

"That just shows we have to keep up to find gifted students!" Li Nanzi patted Tang Teng's shoulder. "But, that's another gifted there…" he said as he looked outside. 

Tang Teng turned and saw the big cage of arrays made by Pai Lie. "Yes." He nodded in agreement. "Elder Pai paved the way for the array mages. Unfortunately, it is very dangerous so everyone who are interested on arrays immediately quit." He sighed in regret. "That left elder Pai brokenhearted and became the only mage on land." He said. 

"Yes. Fortunately, Cheng Sheng appeared." Li Nanzi said. "Now, there's Li Tian." He smiled and turned to Cheng Sheng and Li Tian, before his smile faded when he turned to Cheng Sheng. "Unfortunately, though, Cheng Sheng would be limited to use the other areas of alchemy, as drawing an array is too big of a task for him now." He sighed in regret. 

Tang Teng nodded and looked at Cheng Sheng with his eyes filled with sympathy. Such a great talent would have to be wasted because he was suddenly flawed. 

"Gifted people are rare." Qian Shan spoke beside them after he heard what are they talking about. "But gifted people who could stay in the limelight and remain in the limelight until the end are rarer." He said. 

Li Nanzi and Tang Teng turned and saw Qian Shan looking at Cheng Sheng's back. Obviously, he is talking about Cheng Sheng who can't remain in the limelight until the end. 

… 

"Elder Pai… he's so amazing!" Tang Yun exclaimed when they saw Pai Lie dodged Wu Ran again after he teleported. 

Guo Cheng nodded in agreement. "Array takes up time too to draw and activate. But, elder Pai can cut the time short enough for him to dodge Wu Ran's attacks." He said when there was another explosion inside the cage. 

The cage shook once again, and its walls rippled. 

"But – " Tang Zhe frowned when he saw the light surrounding the cage dimmed after it rippled. 

"This isn't a long-term solution." Shan Lu, who has been silently watching on the side, spoke. 

Tang Yun and Guo Cheng turned to him. 

"You also know that mages need more supply of qi than us, sword cultivators. That's because they use more qi in alchemy." Shan Lu said. "And in order to cut the time of executing it, elder Pai uses more qi than usual. Not to mention the fact that he also has to keep the cage to trap Wu Ran inside… he'll be consumed first than Wu Ran." He explained. 

To mages, what matters to them isn't their physical strength but their ability to absorb qi. The more skills they find to absorb qi, the more powerful they will be. This is Pai Lie's case. Although he's already old, compared to the sword cultivator Zheng Fu Gong, Pai Lie's body just becomes sturdier the more he absorbs qi. 

But, if this is just it is, mages would become immortal. So, of course, they have weakness, and it is the amount of qi they can absorb. And there are two key factors of this: one, the amount of qi their body can hold. Although physical strength doesn't matter to mages, but you still can't fight against aging. 

The second key factor is, the amount of qi in the area. No matter how strong the body of a mage is, but if there is just a measly amount of qi in the area, then his alchemy is useless. This also applies to the sword cultivators when they are meditating. So, the cultivators find secret dimensions which are abundant in qi to cultivate. 

Pai Lie, no matter how good he is in absorbing and using qi, but like Zheng Fu Gong, his body is also his limit. The only difference between them is that Zheng Fu Gong is using his body as another weapon while Pai Lie is using his body as a container for qi. Although Pai Lie simultaneously absorb and use qi, but like any containers when frequently used, it'll soon wear and worse, tear. 

The evidence of Pai Lie's condition is the cage he is keeping Wu Ran. It is slowly weakening. 

"Elder Pai…" they worriedly called. They are afraid that in this battle of attrition, Pai Lie would lose. 

And it is likely that what they fear will come true, since the light of the cage started to lose its color. 

"ELDER PAI!!!" they cried when they saw Pai Lie's figure momentarily staggered and Wu Ran finally landed his attack on him. But, Pai Lie immediately recovered and teleported, barely missing to avoid his neck being cut. 

Pai Lie reappeared somewhere far from Wu Ran and he finally can't hold it anymore. He fell on his knee. Blood splattered out of his shoulder where Wu Ran has cut him, intending to cut his neck. 

"ELDER PAI!!!" they cried in horror when they saw Pai Lie spat out a mouthful of blood. 

"You can't stop me." Wu Ran spoke as he stood in his place. But, he didn't need to attack Pai Lie as he punched the wall next to him. 

The Huakai Sect disciples felt their hearts broke at the same time the cage broke. 

"ACK!" Pai Lie spat out another mouthful of blood. His body was about to fall on the ground when Wu Ran suddenly appeared in front of him!

"ELDER PAIIII!!!" the Huakai Sect disciples cried when they saw Wu Ran kicked Pai Lie, sending him flying! "ELDER PAI!!!!" they screamed. 

Pai Lie felt his whole body ached. But, his spirit is floating. He smiled bitterly when he noticed he's flying towards the Millennium Ship. Wu Ran really knows how to piss them off. He wants the others to feel disheartened if they'd see him battered and is half-dead. 

He sighed. He lifted his shaking fingers, trying to make another teleportation array while mid-air when he felt someone pulled him and his back hit a solid chest. "?" he weakly raised his gaze and saw a familiar face. "!!!" his eyes widened in shock when he saw it was Zheng Fu Gong. He's finally awake?! He thought as he stared at him. 

Wu Ran naturally saw Zheng Fu Gong appeared. Then, Chen Jing, Xie Lan and Qian Tian. Jing Rui bore the brunt of his attack earlier so he was the most injured of them and still hasn't woken up. "What? I thought you all died." He gloomily said before he grinned. "So, I only managed to kill one?" he asked. He's referring to Jing Rui who didn't appear. 

They know better not to feel provoked by Wu Ran, who is expecting it to happen. "Take them away." Zheng Fu Gong spoke, talking to Chen Jing, Xie Lan and Qian Tian. 

"Yes." The three men answered. 

Before Wu Ran, Pai Lie and the sect disciples could react, Chen Jing, Xie Lan and Qian Tian moved to take Tang Zhe, Tang Yun and Guo Cheng while Zheng Fu Gong who was carrying Pai Lie flew down together with Chen Jing, Xie Lan and Qian Tian and picked Shan Lu up by the back of his collar. 

After a second, in the blink of their eyes, they heard a loud shaking. They lowered their gazes and saw that the ground is shaking, and the shaking becoming stronger as time passed by. 

Wu Ran got a bad feeling and he was about to fly when the ground beneath his feet suddenly loosened and a hole appeared, bringing him along with the sand down the hole! "AARHHH!!!" he screamed after he was caught off-guard and then fell. 

Meanwhile, Zheng Fu Gong, Chen Jing, Xie Lan and Qian Tian calmly flew bringing Pai Lie and the Huakai Sect disciples, who were dumbstruck from what had just happened, back to the Millennium Ship that ascended. 

Pai Lie and the Huakai Sect disciples watched as the whole ground collapsed, leaving a large gaping hole. "Abyss…" they muttered under their breath as they stared at it wide-eyed. 

"Don't look." Zheng Fu Gong spoke as they brought them to the flying ship. 

'Don't look at the abyss since it looks back at you'. Tang Zhe, Tang Yun, Guo Cheng and Shan Lu knows these words and so they looked away. 

Pai Lie raised his head and looked at Zheng Fu Gong. "What happened?" he asked. 

"Cheng Sheng said that beneath the sand is a hollow ground. Since the sand is a loose soil, naturally it easily collapses." Zheng Fu Gong answered. "So, it only needs a slight shake and everything above that it holds will collapse along with it." he explained.