The battle began.
Groups of lightning falcons swooped down from the sky towards Xiao Wu, aiming to tear her apart.
Er Ming, seeing this scene, hurriedly ran towards Xiao Wu, wanting to protect her and prevent any harm from coming to her.
"Boom, boom, boom~"
The tremors caused by Er Ming's running reverberated around, but the lightning falcons continued their pursuit of Xiao Wu.
Feeling overwhelmed by the approaching lightning falcons, Xiao Wu stood frozen in place, unsure of what to do.
Er Ming was still a step too slow. By the time he reached them, the lightning falcons were already in front of Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu, possibly intimidated by the imposing presence of the lightning falcons, remained motionless where she stood.
But just as the lightning falcons were about to reach her, Xiao Wu suddenly disappeared.
Confused by the sudden disappearance of their target, the lightning falcons showed signs of doubt. However, at that moment, the Titan Ape Er Ming had already arrived.
Letting out a mighty roar, Er Ming's eyes turned blood-red, and a peculiar energy enveloped the area within a five-meter radius. Then, wave after wave of lightning falcons fell to the ground.
They tried to take flight again but found themselves burdened by a heavy gravitational force. Though they could still fly, it became extremely difficult.
As they struggled to regain their flight, Er Ming's massive fist had already reached them.
Under the colossal fist, one lightning falcon after another was sent flying, like ants being swatted away.
Just as a large wave of lightning falcons had flown towards Xiao Wu, blocking Er Ming's view as he rushed towards Xiao Wu, they suddenly disappeared. In Er Ming's eyes, it seemed as if a group of lightning falcons had flown towards Xiao Wu, and then she vanished. Did that mean...
Er Ming couldn't accept this thought. He was furious and restless. He wanted to kill every single one of these beasts that had harmed Xiao Wu.
The lightning falcons began to adapt to the initial gravitational force.
The lightning falcon king let out a loud cry to its kind, and then all the lightning falcons ascended. Those with higher cultivation levels flew out of Er Ming's gravitational range. They began to gather lightning in their mouths.
Soon, one bolt of lightning after another struck Er Ming's body, creating a dazzling white light that briefly illuminated the surroundings.
"I will avenge Xiao Wu! I will definitely avenge her!!!"
This was the only thought in Er Ming's mind, even as the lightning falcons continued to inflict damage upon him. He paid no attention to the injuries and only knew to relentlessly throw punches.
With Er Ming's powerful physique, the hundred-year and thousand-year lightning falcons couldn't cause him much harm. However, let's not forget that the lightning falcon king was a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
At the same time, seeing that the damage caused by the lightning falcon king wasn't significant, it let out another cry towards its group. Then, one bolt of lightning after another converged together.
The lightning strikes on Er Ming became less frequent, but the damage inflicted grew higher. One bolt of lightning after another broke through his defense.
Er Ming's aura gradually weakened under these bolts of lightning. Witnessing this, the lightning falcon king commanded the lightning falcons to launch a final attack against Er Ming.
They gathered a tremendous bolt of lightning and struck it directly at the Titan Ape. However, they found that his figure suddenly disappeared.
The lightning falcon king was puzzled, but with its intelligence, it couldn't discern what had happened. It assumed that Er Ming had been annihilated by its soul technique. Finally, it led the lightning falcons to prepare for retreat.
Hidden away, Er Ming, the Titan Ape, saw that the lightning falcons were about to leave. He prepared to use every ounce of his strength to catch up to them.
"Er Ming!!!"
The Titan Ape turned abruptly towards the direction from which the voice had come, and he saw a familiar figure.
The blood-red color in his eyes gradually faded away. Then, he extended his hand towards that figure and smiled.
"X﹏X, Butterfly Fairy, what should we do next?"
Sobbing, Xiao Wu asked while tears streamed down her face. She had witnessed how Er Ming had been injured.
If it weren't for not wanting to endanger Ye Die Die, she would have rushed forward when Er Ming lost control.
It wasn't that Ye Die Die didn't want to disguise Xiao Wu and the Titan Ape Er Ming earlier, but it was difficult for her to accomplish that.
Ye Die Die's disguise, as a core ability of the Illusion Butterfly, wasn't particularly strong. It only appeared powerful because her spiritual power far exceeded that of other soul beasts at the same level.
In essence, her soul technique of disguise relied on influencing other soul beasts' perception and concealing their aura through spiritual power manipulation.
However, in the face of so many soul beasts just now, it wasn't easy for her to influence them all with her spiritual power alone.
It was like her individual spiritual power had to contend against all those lightning falcons, and their combined spiritual power wasn't as simple as one plus one. It was undoubtedly a difficult task.
If she were the only soul beast present, it would have been much easier. However, simultaneously concealing Xiao Wu, a ten-thousand-year soul beast, added insult to injury.
During the concealment, she also had to replenish her spiritual power from time to time. As a result, she had almost exhausted the half-spirit herbs she had saved over the years.
In the end, even if she wanted to disguise and conceal Er Ming, she was powerless. After all, Er Ming was a thirty-thousand-year soul beast with extremely powerful spiritual power.
Initially, Ye Die Die had planned to give up on the Titan Ape because rescuing Xiao Wu had already consumed most of her energy. Although she had read the novel and knew the importance of the Titan Ape, she could only prioritize her own survival. Now, she could barely ensure her own safety, so how could she have the mood to save other soul beasts? The reason she rescued Xiao Wu was simply due to her fondness for her.
Perhaps Xiao Wu had also realized that Ye Die Die seemed somewhat powerless and that Er Ming was struggling to hold on.
Xiao Wu was truly sobbing and crying. She even let go of her... haughty personality and looked at Ye Die Die with a pleading gaze.
Ye Die Die sighed. The only way to save Er Ming now was to temporarily enhance her own spiritual power.
Looking at the last remaining trace of her spiritual power, she used her consciousness to control a half-spirit herb and then used that trace of spiritual power to amplify it with her special ability.
She enveloped the herb with the remaining trace of her spiritual power, unable to control it any further, and sent it into her own mouth.
At this moment, she was already sitting weakly on the grass. With her depleted spiritual power, her disguise was becoming unstable.
Ye Die Die looked at the amplified herb and then glanced at Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu seemed to understand something and picked up the herb, putting it into Ye Die Die's mouth.
Ye Die Die's depleted spiritual power was rapidly replenishing and breaking through her own limits. She felt the immense spiritual power flooding her mind.
She was now facing great difficulties. She forcefully guided this spiritual power, exerting it on her soul technique, trying to expel the overwhelming spiritual energy.
A continuous flow of spiritual power entered Ye Die Die's body from the herb. In that moment, she immediately used her soul technique to disguise Er Ming and used her spiritual power to make him evade the lightning falcon king's area of effect.
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AUTHOR:
Xiao Yu has something to say: I know that upon reaching this part, some readers might criticize the story, saying that Ye Die Die is too cruel and questioning why she initially gave up on Er Ming.
What I want to say is that although Ye Die Die has read the novel and knows about Er Ming's significance, she only knows about him in the context of the novel. Fiction is different from reality, and this is her first encounter with Er Ming. She couldn't jeopardize herself for a soul beast she met for the first time.
Furthermore, some may say, "Xiao Wu actually went to seek help? What kind of writing is this?" There may be criticisms like that.
I want to say that Xiao Wu still has feelings for Er Ming. Even though she may be stubborn, she would still set aside her... haughty personality to save Er Ming because Xiao Wu and Er Ming can be considered life-and-death friends.
So please try not to impose prejudices from the Douluo Continent novel and thank you for your attention!!!