As soon as Long Hua's attack lands—
*Boom!!!!!* the ground beneath the weapon spirit's feet shatters!
"…"
Landing onto the ground, knives dangle from Tian Cheng's left sleeve, and swinging her left arm, she sends the knives towards the weapon spirit's third tail.
Binding the weapon spirit's third tail, and preventing it from moving, Tian Cheng takes aim at the former's joints, and fires off the Spirit Armament in rapid succession.
*Aaaaaaannnn!!!* raising a roar, the weapon spirit slaps the ground with its right hand—throwing Long Hua into the air.
As the dagger-like blades, which protrude from the side of its hands, extend in length to become colossal scythes, the weapon spirit endures the numbness of its joints to stand on its hind-legs—in preparation to slice Long Hua in half.
"…"
Just as Long Hua glances in her direction, Tian Cheng mutters—
"Overdrive."
Following the muttering of this command, Tian Cheng's eyes narrow, as she takes aim at the weapon spirit's right leg, and pulls the Spirit Armament's trigger.
*Bang!!!!!* what is shot out of the maw-like barrel of the gun isn't a blue streak but a red streak, and upon this red streak landing onto the joints of the weapon spirit's right leg—
*Kakaka!* cracks appear on the joints and spread outwards.
*Boom!* and with its damaged leg incapable of supporting the weight of its upper body, the weapon spirit falls onto the ground—landing onto one knee!
"…"
Rotating the colossal sword in his hands, and pointing it downwards, Long Hua descends from above, and plunges the weapon directly onto the weapon spirit's head with his full body weight behind it!
...…
"…"
Observing the situation, Duanmu Chen narrows his eyes, and remarks—
"They're doing… Surprisingly well."
"Let skills do the talking, was it?"
Muttering this, Shao Tianming also narrows his eyes.
To let one's skills do the talking, this is a common belief in the inner domain; and recalling what Hui'er had said about Long Hua—Shao Tianming begins to think that the latter may have been a native of the inner domain with a case of amnesia.
...…
"Uh?"
*Aaaaannn…!* despite being unable to raise its head, and open its maw, energy begins to gather within its throat, as the weapon spirit—
"Tch…!"
*Boom!!!* allowing the energy inside of its body to detonate, a powerful blast of energy goes off!
"Bastard!"
*…!!!* emerging from dust clouds, a spherical wall is positioned in front of Long Hua, along with droplets of mercurous liquid.
In the same instance—
"…Uh?"
Sensing herself about to be lifted off her feet, Tian Cheng severs the line that is binding the weapon spirit's tail, and—
*Aaaaaaaaaannnnn!!!!!* as a deafening roar goes off, the dust cloud is blown apart to reveal the weapon spirit's figure—shrouded in flame-like red mist, as the damage that it had sustained begins to mend.
Snapping its head in Long Hua's direction, the weapon spirit folds its somewhat distorted limbs, and—
*Boom!* launches itself off the ground!
Soaring over Long Hua's head, the weapon spirit lands itself onto the walls of the chamber.
*…!!! …!!! …!!!* and in a rapid manner, the weapon spirit begins to move from one part of the wall to the other, as it looks for an opportunity to attack.
"…"
"…"
Standing with their backs facing each other, Long Hua and Tian Cheng pay careful attention to the weapon spirit's whereabouts.
(I see. Its movement speed while bouncing around is indeed fast. However…)
However, the weapon spirit's speed is still a bit too slow for Long Hua, as the former's movement is still within the trackable-range of his divine senses.
"Hmm."
Glancing at the droplets of mercurous liquid, Long Hua orders—
"Gather the droplets, and form a separate weapon."
Doing as told, the White Serpent King gathers the droplets, and forms a pale white sword.
"Tian Cheng."
"…Un."
Glancing at Long Hua, who is gesturing towards a specific direction with his head, Tian Cheng replies with a nod.
Taking hold of the pale white sword by its handle—
"Well then…"
Utilizing the full strength of his physical body, Long Hua abruptly hurls the sword in the direction of the Spirit Extracts, while Tian Cheng takes aim at the weapon with her Spirit Armament.
*Bang!!!* pulling the trigger, and landing a blast of energy onto the sword's pommel, the momentum behind the weapon's flight increases by an exponential amount, causing those who are looking on from above to widen their eyes!
(The amount of force behind that sword right now-!)
(Is that barrier even going to hold?)
Just as Ye Chen and the others were thinking of this—
*…!!!* the weapon spirit drops down from above, and positioning itself in front of the sword's trajectory of flight, it swings its blade!
*Klang!!!!!!* as the two sides clash—
*Boom!!!* it is the weapon spirit that wins out in the end, as it shatters the pale white sword!
"Oh?"
As droplets of mercurous liquid scatter, Long Hua raises an eye, while thinking—
(I figured that it'd react, but to react this strongly to those extracts being in danger… Assuming this site is actually a genuine experimental ground, then those extracts are probably there to toy with its instincts.)
Thinking of this, Long Hua exploits this opportunity, as he has the larger portions of the White Serpent King gather together to form a rifle.
Adjusting his aim, while Tian Cheng gets into position to support him, Long Hua recalls his theory of how fully Apotheosized weapon spirits would continue to actively seek out their peers to devour them, as a means to strengthen themselves further.
(Specialized chains and a series of magic arrays; as if those weren't enough, the builder of this setup had even gone as far as to use this thing's instincts to suppress it further… What a distasteful genius really.)
Raising a subtle smile—
*Bang!!!* Long Hua pulls the trigger—allowing a pillar of red energy to blast towards the weapon spirit!
In the next instance—
*Aaaaaaaannnn!!!* hit in the chest, the weapon spirit raises a howl, as red mist erupts from the wound!
Disregarding the amount of pain that it should be in, the weapon spirit assumes a pouncing posture, to which—
"Tch."
Seeing how persistent this creature is, Long Hua clicks his tongue, while thinking—
(Seems like I've really underestimated this thing…)
Heaving a sigh, Long Hua turns his full attention to the door that is behind the stand, and says—
"Tian Cheng, aim guidance. Target, limb joints."
"Understood."
Loosening the tension on his arms, Long Hua allows Tian Cheng to aim the rifle, while he is charged with pulling the trigger.
*Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!* in a rapid manner, the rifle is fired off to shatter the limb joints of the weapon spirit.
And upon the weapon spirit being forced to stand on its knees and elbows, Long Hua and Tian Cheng make a dash towards the door.
*Aaaaaaaannnn!!!* just as the two rushes pass it, the weapon spirit roars, as it lunges its three tails outwards!
In terms of labor division, one of the tails chased after Tian Cheng, whereas the remaining two tails chased after Long Hua.
Following Tian Cheng's evasive maneuver, one of the two tails closes in on Long Hua's back, to which, he blocks it off with the White Serpent King in the form of a round-bodied barrier.
However, before this barrier is able to perfectly wrap itself around Long Hua, the third tail—which extends from weapon spirit's tailbone, charges in from the front.
"…Hm?"
Detecting something falling from above, Long Hua doesn't bother to evade the incoming attack, and momentarily—
*Boom!!!* whatever that had dropped from above managed to pin a segment of the third tail onto the ground—just as the bladed tip was a meter away from Long Hua's head.
Reaching the door ahead of time, Tian Cheng pushes it open, while Long Hua follows a second after her.
Without looking back behind them, the two steps through the entrance.