The forests stretched endlessly in the mountain.
Varieties of trees that couldn't be found anywhere interwove with each other and created a thick canopy. With the black fog and demonic qi surrounding it, the mountains looked like a slumbering beast.
Under the little amount of moonlight that managed to sneak through, one could see the shadows drifting amongst the sea of vegetation.
Amongst them was the shadow of a huge python upon which a golden ape was sitting. There was a vicious gleam on the python's eyes as it released a cloud of green poisonous smoke in front of him.
When the ape saw the scene before him, his expression turned one that of amusement. Taking taken out a massive battle-axe, he casually swung it in front of him.
BOOM! CRACK!
Although the strike destroyed all trees within the scope of 200m, it couldn't harm the man running in front who blocked the attack with a swing of his blade. Even so, the might behind the strike caused his arms to go numb and flung him tens of metres away from the original position.
Clearly, in terms of physical strength, the two weren't a match.
Gritting his teeth, the man continued to dash past the trees with a pale face. But no matter how meticulously Tianlong cleaned himself, there was a faint lingering smell of blood on his body which the python could easily follow.
With the incredible smelling sense and the essence boost from Qin Houzi, its speed could even match Tianlong who was constantly turning into a gust of wind. Doing this while also driving away the poisonous gas consumed a lot of his spiritual energy.
To Qin Houzi, Tianlong's running seemed like a failed effort of a caged beast. Sooner or later, he would succumb to injuries and fall in his hands.
As the thrill of the hunt assaulted his mind, he almost didn't want this to stop. However, the rational part of his brain reminded him to end this as soon as possible.
This turf belonged to the rank two demonic beasts. Even though they had put a formation to cover the grounds, something unexpected might happen.
"Snort! If I was not afraid of his last desperate attack, I would've long since captured him. No worries, once Xuan Yi comes here, it'll all be over." Thinking back to Xuan Yi's abilities, his expression relaxed.
With a peal of laughter, he sent another slash towards Tianlong. It caused him the latter to stagger and look extremely pathetic.
However, the situation was far from what it looked like. Tianlong's face might be pale but he was still in fighting condition.
The expression that he was putting up was all just an act.
He had recently used his lightning sense for exterminating a lot of aquatic beasts. It left his sea of consciousness a lot dimmer than before. If it wasn't for that, he would've already attacked Qin Houzi.
Tianlong was just waiting for the other Yin Yang Cleanser to show up. He was the one who made Tianlong most wary.
"I can't give him the chance to finish his soul crying technique. As soon as he comes in vision, I'll immediately strike to kill him. Sadly, I lack divine abilities that can release my power in one explosive move.
"My parting wind slash does heavy damage over an extended period, but it is not suitable for this kind of situation. Even with my newfound understanding of gases, I can only slowly whittle down their endurance…
Just when he was contemplating these, his vision finally caught on to the last bandit – Xuan Yi.
It was an old emaciated man holding a golden bell. His bare bony chest had a tattoo of a chubby sleeping little boy that looked incredibly lifelike.
The moment Tianlong came in 300 metres range of him, the man ringed the bell and started chanting in a strange language. His exposed teeth were all black and there seemed to be maggots crawling inside his mouth.
When the bell started ringing, a strange sound of laughter filled the place. However, the laughter didn't come from any living creature, but from the tattoo on the old man's chest!
If one looked closely, one would see that the boy was moving his arms around along with the sounds of the bell; a crazed expression was there on his face!
When the laughter mixed with the chanting, the grass and small plants around him started to wither.
The tattoo in his chest was something he had refined after absorbing the corpses of hundreds of babies. Once it let out a cry, it could directly attack someone's sea of consciousness and damage their soul. Even Jade core cultivators were forced to stop in front of him, not to mention Tianlong who wasn't even a Yin Yang Cleanser.
Looking at the vicious smile on the man's face, Tianlong let out a sneer. All of his fearful expression vanished and his eyes glowed with a silver light.
"Hmph! I've seen through that trick of yours already. How can just a mere soul attack of that level affect my–"
Before he could finish his thought process, he saw the baby's tattoo stop laughing and let out a pained cry. The cry was extremely heart wrenching and could severely damage anyone's soul.
Having seen all of this in Hei Diao's memory, he was already prepared for it. Blocking his sense of hearing, he concentrated on wiping out the evil tattoo.
After all, his sea of consciousness was augmented by his extreme yang physique, making his lightning sense was the bane of all yin related techniques!
"Aargh!!" Along with the cries of the baby, his body kept spasming and losing all lifeforce.
All of this happened so fast that Qin Houzi had no time to react.
He couldn't let Xuan Yi die.
With a roar, he jumped off the back of the python and punched towards Tianlong. His body turned completely golden and expanded into a 30 m tall ape!
It was a body expansion art that could tremendously increase his physical strength!
Under this assault, Tianlong had two options – he could either take the attack head-on and kill Xuan Yi, or he could choose to give up his attack on Xuan Yi and escape Qin Houzi's fist.
If he chose the first, he would get heavily injured or even die but if he chooses the latter, Xuan Yi would escape!
Tianlong unhesitatingly chose the first option. No matter what, he had to kill Xuan Yi. His soul was in an injured state, he couldn't risk being attacked.
Moreover, he had another way to deal with Qin Houzi.
A golden light that looked similar to the one Qin Houzi radiated, came from his hands. It was the same body locking talisman that Hei Diao had got from Qin Houzi.
When he released the talisman's power towards Qin Houzi, a 30 metres tall virtual ape with the power of the golden body stage of the Diamond carapace realm emerged from it.
BOOM!
Due to the radiance of their golden bodies, it looked like two suns had crashed into each other, causing the area to be void of darkness for a few moments. It created a huge crater in the area and filled the ground with web-like cracks.
Silence reigned the area as dust and fragments of wood and stones flew everywhere.
As the dust from the explosion settled, Qin Houzi's massive figure became visible. Disregarding his injuries, he looked at Tianlong with bloodshot eyes.
"It was you! This is the talisman I refined with my blood essence and gave to Hei Diao. I understand now. You were the one who killed him and lured us here!"
"Kill if you want to kill, why is there a need to talk?" Tianlong coldly responded.
Injecting his spiritual qi in the Thunder spirit blade, he caused the violet sparks to become berserk. Eyes burning with battle intent, he rushed towards Qin Houzi.
"Die!" Qin Houzi similarly raised his axe and chopped towards Tianlong. Similar to the blade, it also carried a bolt of lightning.
After devouring the core of a Lightning serpent, Qin Houzi had achieved intelligence and transformed into a demon from a beast.
This also allowed him to gain an understanding of lightning arts. With the one bolt of golden lightning he could produce with his cultivation base, he could reign supreme among most in his cultivation base!
CRACKLE! A thunderbolt created by cultivation base and a thunderbolt created by treasure. Usually, the former was more superior. But when the latter was supported by an extreme yang physique and reinforced by lightning sense, it became a different matter altogether.
As the two clashed continuously, rumbling sounds echoed out causing the weaker beasts to run away in fear and the more powerful ones to roar.
Hundreds of trees were destroyed within a few breaths. It allowed the muddled moonlight to reach inside and illuminate the scorched ground.
The two opponents were separated, coldly eyeing each other.
The giant ape was uninjured except for only a few scratches on his body. While his face remained calm, inwardly he was shocked.
How can a Qi refiner, possess such physical strength? What kind of cultivation art would allow such a thing?
Moreover, the golden lightning coursing through his battle axe was being slowly destroyed and even consumed by the violet lightning!
That blade was an absolute treasure!
A far thicker killing intent clouded his eyes. He must kill this enemy today!
While Qin Houzi was shocked by the happenings, Tianlong was cutting a sorry figure. In terms of strength, he was obviously wasn't the latter's match.
If it was before, Tianlong would've immediately used his bloodline suppression to deal with Qin Houzi. But there was a part of him that wanted to know the difference between them and thus wanted an honest clash.
Hidden in the depths of the earth, the python silently observed everything. When it sensed Tianlong's current condition, it rushed at a lightning-fast pace to gobble him in its poisonous maws.
"It's time to end this."
As the massive ape and the python rushed towards Tianlong, he took a deep breath and let out a roar!