Chapter 82 ~ Xia Juetian (3)
If Liu Xing were an inner disciple with a master, his master would have given him some kind of treasure or talisman to communicate directly. But since he was merely an outer disciple, he didn't have anything to communicate directly with the sect. The indirect method was to reach the nearest sect, nation, or empire and ask them to relay a message to the sect. Liu Xing had never used this method before, but he remembered one of his seniors sending a distress call after a mission went wrong, and he had been sent to help.
Elder Xia Juetian began to walk, and the silver sword with the red handle moved and attached itself to his back. For a moment, Liu Xing could see the handle pulse.
They walked silently through the forest of white bones. Liu Xing predicted that they would soon encounter whatever had killed Xia Shizi and Xia Hongyi. Somehow, this place felt fitting for a creature that killed people and left their limbs behind.
As he followed Elder Xia Juetian, Liu Xing summoned his gun and prepared himself. He had no doubt that whatever was inside this forest was strong. Liu Xing guessed their cultivation was higher than the Lock Opening realm. The real question was whether Elder Xia Juetian could defeat them.
Liu Xing glanced at the white-haired old man in front of him. He tried to sense the vast qi radiating from Elder Xia Juetian. The elder was immensely powerful, far stronger than the moss Liu Xing had fought before. Liu Xing suspected the grand elder had at least seven cores and might soon combine them to create a sun. If the enemy was still in the Core Splitting realm, there was a good chance Elder Xia Juetian would win.
Liu Xing's mind wandered to what might happen afterward. Elder Xia Juetian had said he would kill Wei Yi and wipe out his clan. If Wei Yi truly was the mastermind behind all these murders, wouldn't that mean Liu Xing's mission from Bai Lin would be completed?
Thinking this, Liu Xing inhaled deeply. Though excitement flickered in his heart and a smile threatened to appear on his face, he controlled his expression. If Elder Xia Juetian killed Wei Yi, Bai Lin's request would be fulfilled, and Liu Xing would receive the Heaven Grade Technique. After all, Elder Xia Juetian came to kill Wei Yi based on Liu Xing's information.
The issue was Elder Xia Juetian's intention to destroy the entire Wei clan. It felt wrong to Liu Xing—after all, a father's sin wasn't his son's, and the same logic applied to the rest of his family. But this was a xianxia world, where clans and sects could be annihilated because one person offended someone from a bigger, stronger group, leading to revenge from the survivors. Sometimes they succeeded, sometimes they died horribly.
Shaking his head, Liu Xing stopped overthinking. The fate of the Wei clan was out of his hands. He was too weak in the grand scheme of things to do anything about it. Besides, what if they had helped Wei Yi kill people? A clan leader's strength benefited the whole clan.
If Liu Xing wanted to play the hero, he needed power, backing, and information to uncover the truth—and right now, he had none of those things. The best he could do was witness Elder Xia Juetian confront the killer behind these murders and then report back to the Purple Moon Sect.
As they walked deeper into the forest, Liu Xing started seeing strange creatures. When they passed a tree as big and wide as a house, with leaves that looked like human teeth, Liu Xing saw butterflies that seemed to be made of human ears flying around it. Each creature had yellow eyes like those of a snake. In another place, he spotted something that looked like a sea anemone made entirely of veins, with blood oozing from the tips.
After encountering more bizarre creatures, Liu Xing and Elder Xia Juetian arrived at a narrow clearing. The perimeter was lined with dozens of giant, straight bones that resembled pillars. One bone pillar stood out. It was so massive that if ten people joined hands to circle it, they wouldn't reach all the way around.
Ten meters above the ground, three human feet protruded from the bone, as if they had been chopped off and attached there. A rope was tied around the ankle of the middle foot, and hanging from the rope was a man, suspended by his neck.
Liu Xing's eyes widened. But as he studied the figure more closely, he felt a familiar prickle of energy.
Narrowing his gaze, he realized the figure wasn't fully human. Its skin was bright red, like that of a drunkard, and its wide grin made it seem like it could unhinge its jaw like a trash can lid. Its hands and feet were made entirely of yellow snakes, resembling noodles, and its ears were orange fruits. Peeking out from its clothing was a hand with a yellow eye in its palm.
"What an unsightly creature," Xia Juetian remarked.
In response, the spirit beast, which looked almost human, began to cackle as if it had just heard the funniest joke in the world. It swayed from side to side, and after a few moments, the rope around the ankle came loose. The creature landed gracefully on its two snake-like feet.
"W-what an unsightly creature," it mimicked, still smiling.
Xia Juetian snorted. "Who is your master? Is he truly Wei Yi?"
At the mention of Wei Yi's name, the beast's smile vanished. Its eyes narrowed, and its expression turned furious. "Wei Yi! Wei Yi! Wei Yi!"
The spirit beast kept shouting Wei Yi's name with a rage that suggested Wei Yi had wronged it deeply.
Xia Juetian clicked his tongue. "A half-coherent abomination made from stitched-together spirit beasts and humans. It'll be hard to get any useful information from it. Let's just kill it."
Liu Xing could sense the creature's vast qi, like a thousand tiny thorns pricking his skin. Sweat formed on his forehead. This thing could probably kill him easily. Yet despite his rising anxiety, Elder Xia Juetian's presence calmed him. The grand elder was clearly stronger.
"Elder Xia Juetian, what should I do?" Liu Xing asked. He didn't want to be expected to fight something so far beyond his own strength.
"You'll observe. Engrave everything you see in your heart. But if you get careless and find yourself in danger, I won't save you."
Liu Xing nodded. That was reasonable. He thought about making himself invisible, but after glancing at Elder Xia Juetian, he decided to leap into the air instead. He flew above the white bone forest and summoned his shield, hovering dozens of meters overhead. Although he wasn't on bad terms with the Xia clan now, he knew how dangerous Xia Juetian could be. Showing his invisibility technique to a potential future enemy didn't seem wise.
Peering down, Liu Xing saw the grand elder standing calmly, his back slightly hunched. The spirit beast, meanwhile, had begun laughing again, emitting a sound so joyful it was hard to believe it had been furious just moments ago.
Now seemed like the right time. Liu Xing pointed his gun at the spirit beast, willing it to become transparent before extending the invisibility to cover himself.
As he did this, the spirit beast looked up at him. Its eyes narrowed, and the eye in the palm of the hand peeking out from its chest fixated on him like a predator spotting its prey. But the beast seemed to forget that Liu Xing wasn't the real threat. When it looked upward, Xia Juetian appeared right in front of it, his fist flying toward its face.
As the spirit beast turned its head toward the suddenly appearing Elder Xia Juetian, the elder's fist connected with its face, crushing it inward. The impact sent the creature flying like a cannonball toward the massive bone pillar.
Liu Xing thought that it would crash into the pillar and knock it down, but with a quick movement, the spirit beast twisted its body in the air. Its yellow snakes feet coiled like a spring, and upon impact, it immediately shot back at Elder Xia Juetian. Its two yellow arms, made of snakes, elongated suddenly, whipping toward the elder and leaving deep gouges in the ground as they lashed.
When the creature reached Elder Xia Juetian, he calmly parried each whip-like strike. The yellow snake arms and the human hands became a blur, moving faster and faster, until even Liu Xing could no longer follow their movements. All he could perceive was a rapid blur, much like when he used his Lightning Cloak technique, but the speed was beyond what his mind could fully grasp.
Watching from above, Liu Xing inhaled deeply. These two were merely warming up, and yet their simple, straightforward movements already revealed the immense gap between them and himself.
Determined to learn from their fight, Liu Xing decided to sit on his shield, observing every exchange below. While he couldn't fully comprehend the speed of their movements, he hoped he could elevate his own fighting style by studying them.
Chapter 83 ~ Xia Juetian (4)
The battle below raged relentlessly. Elder Xia Juetian launched punch after punch and kick after kick, his attacks appearing almost elementary in form. Each strike seemed telegraphed, but the sheer speed and power behind them made them nearly impossible to evade. As a result, the spirit beast was repeatedly sent flying like a cannonball. Yet, the creature was incredibly resilient. Despite being struck over and over, it shrugged off the elder's attacks and continued its assault with ferocious tenacity.
The spirit beast bounced off bone pillars, the ground, and even trees with ease, as if its snake-like feet were the world's strongest springs. Its fighting style was brutally simple—relentless and stubborn, like a bull ramming its horns against a wall, intent on creating a crack and eventually demolishing it entirely.
In just thirty seconds, they had exchanged thousands of attacks. Bone trees and pillars fell one by one, devastating the area as brown dust clouds began to fill the air. The sound of their fight was akin to repeated, loud thunderclaps, occasionally punctuated by the crash of falling pillars and trees.
Liu Xing's eyes followed them as fast as he could. When the grand elder held his position a bit longer than usual, Liu Xing knew this fight was transitioning to become more serious.
The spirit beast lunged at the grand elder, its laughter eerie, like a madman unleashed after a thousand years of imprisonment. It opened its mouth wide, as if trying to chomp on the grand elder's face. A golden aura shaped like a tiger's head encased the elder right fist, and with a smooth motion, he unleashed a powerful punch right into its stomach.
Instantly, an explosion boomed as if hundreds of giant boulders had fallen from the sky. A powerful shockwave spread out from the fist, causing the entire area around the two fighters to ripple as if the ground was just water. The spirit beast folded in half, then was launched horizontally like a jet taking off.
"A Tiger Fist," Liu Xing muttered.
It was almost similar to Xia Hongyi's attack, yet Liu Xing knew comparing the two was like comparing clear, refreshing water to mud. The elegance of its simple motion captivated him, and he knew that if he were to receive this attack, he would be blown to smithereens like a popping balloon.
Liu Xing's eyes tracked the spirit beast. As it flew horizontally a meter above the ground, it started spinning in the air. Then, it shot its two snake feet to the ground, the heads of the snakes biting into the earth, creating a trail and successfully slowing its momentum.
Several moments later, it stood nonchalantly with a smile still so wide, while there was a hole right in its stomach. It didn't even look like it felt hurt. The yellow eye nestled on the palm of the hand jutting from its clothes suddenly narrowed, and as if time were rewinding, the hole closed instantly.
"D-disgusting," it cackled, then opened its mouth so wide that its upper head looked like it would be ripped off. Two yellow snakes emerged from its mouth like parasites disturbed from their slumber. After that, the creature jumped toward the grand elder with renewed vigor.
The grand elder snorted, and then with both hands now encased in aura shaped like tiger heads, he punched the air repeatedly. Each punch created a ball of air encased with golden aura. In a fraction of a second, the grand elder shot several hundred punches, creating many golden auras that shot toward the spirit beast like hungry golden fishes.
The two snakes jutting from the spirit beast's mouth began to glow green and opened their mouths. Shining silver swords emerged from the two snake mouths, and when the golden attacks came, it slashed and stabbed at them, destroying them.
Liu Xing turned his head toward the elder. The elder's black eyes now looked pissed as he unleashed thousands of similar attacks. As Liu Xing looked downward, it appeared as if he were a fisherman atop a boat, seeing thousands of golden fish pass swiftly below. He tried to feel the qi from each of the golden balls, and when he realized each attack contained more qi than he possessed, his eyes widened. Yet, when he turned his head toward the spirit beast, it was spinning its two snake hands, two snake feet, and two snakes jutting from its mouth so fast that it looked protected by a blurry dome.
The sound of collision made the world and every bone tree around their fight tremble. Even in the air, Liu Xing could feel the chaotic wind created from this collision repeatedly hit his face and make his black hair sway.
"Terrifying," Liu Xing muttered. He was confident he could destroy several of these golden balls, but with the intensity of the attack, he would soon be overwhelmed and die. And the most terrifying thing was, he knew that both combatants were still not unleashing their strongest attacks.
The elder relentlessly shot thousands of golden balls at the spirit beast, while the spirit beast destroyed every attack that came. Liu Xing's eyes focused on Elder Xia Juetian, wondering what he would do next. If he were the one unleashing all these golden balls and knew the enemy could handle it, he would try to come up with a new strategy.
The elder was still unleashing powerful punches into the air, but this time, Liu Xing saw a slight difference. Before, each of the golden balls was as big as a bucket, but now, Liu Xing felt the attacks were becoming bigger and bigger, until they were as big as human torsos. Moreover, some of the golden balls also transformed into tiger heads with ferocious eyes, roaring as they traveled through the air.
The spirit beast stopped cackling. Instead, its red face was now also furious. It whipped its arms, feet, and the two snakes with blades jutting from its mouth even faster, but these bigger golden balls, as well as some of the golden tiger heads, were stronger, faster, and tougher. Moreover, each of the golden balls exploded. While their explosions were not big, they successfully broke the rhythm of the spirit beast's movements, making it slowly but surely pushed back, some of the golden balls hitting its body.
The spirit beast began to screech. Its screech sounded ugly, like the sound of a chicken being choked to death. It retracted snakes in its mouth, as well as its two snake hands and snake feet. Its body fell to the ground, and golden balls rushed toward it like a swarm of piranhas smelling blood.
Seeing the spirit on the ground, Liu Xing's heart beat faster. He knew that this spirit beast was not suddenly surrendering, evidenced by its hateful gaze toward Xia Juetian. More likely, it would do something bigger to match the ferocity of Xia Juetian.
As the foremost golden ball with a tiger's face approached it, the spirit beast suddenly opened its mouth wide and shot something long and yellow from its mouth. That long, yellow thing hit the golden ball, making it explode in the air. Then, another long yellow thing shot from its mouth, again and again, until there were thousands of them, matching the golden yellow barrage shot by Xia Juetian.
As he watched from the air, Liu Xing realized that each of those long yellow things was actually a snake. Some of the snakes held short swords in their mouths, and these kinds of snakes actually pierced several golden balls before their momentum was killed and they died.
As Liu Xing glanced at the spirit beast, he saw that it was no longer on the ground. Instead, a pale hand peeking from its clothes now acted like a foot. It connected its palm to the ground, pushing the now armless and footless spirit beast upward. Its mouth was open so wide, like a snake trying to swallow a baby cow, but instead of swallowing something, it spat yellow snakes like a machine gun.
As Liu Xing held his breath, he could see that these golden balls and yellow snakes looked like two waves colliding. These two waves wanted to win and swallow the other party.
Xia Juetian looked really angry, and the spirit beast also narrowed its eyes, as if it really hated Xia Juetian. This fight was now equal again, but Liu Xing was sure this condition would not last.
"Enough!" Xia Juetian shouted. He suddenly stopped his relentless punches to the air. Instead, he held his stance and his golden fist glowed so brightly that it shone like the morning sun.
Then, with a shout, Xia Juetian unleashed one punch that shook the world. From his golden punch, a giant tiger with a size almost similar to the inverted triangle leaped forth. This golden tiger roared while it bulldozed through every little snake that tried to pierce it. Its fur was glowing, its fangs were bigger than Liu Xing, and it opened its mouth so wide it looked like it wanted to swallow a small mountain.
Chapter 84 ~ Xia Juetian (5)
The spirit beast stopped shooting snakes from its mouth and cackled maniacally, as if it had seen the funniest joke in the world. When the giant golden tiger hit the spirit beast, a huge explosion erupted. A dome of yellow light, dozens of meters wide, suddenly bloomed. The ground surged like a wave, and the large bone pillars toppled, making the world tremble and creating more clouds of dust.
Liu Xing's heart raced. The energy emitted from the dome was so vast, he felt like a tiny fish that had lived its entire life in a pond suddenly encountering an ocean. His hands trembled, yet there was fire in his gaze. He now had no doubt that Xia Juetian was a cultivator with seven cores, which meant he was on the verge of breaking through to the Sun Refining realm.
The power of seven cores was tremendous, but while impressive, Liu Xing reminded himself that this wasn't the pinnacle of power. Many inner disciples in his sect had equal or even greater power, and he had no doubt that he could achieve this level as long as he got his gun.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Xing wondered if the spirit beast was still alive. After all, that creature probably also had several cores.
As if to answer his question, the yellow dome, now receding, suddenly split into two, then four, then eight. More lines divided the yellow dome, and it suddenly collapsed.
At the center of the explosion, where the ground had collapsed several dozen meters below, the spirit beast chuckled. It was still the red-faced creature. It now had two snake arms and two snake legs again, with no clothes on, revealing its torso to the world. The pale hand protruded from its chest, as if a person was reaching out from inside its body.
The two orange fruits that served as its ears split open, with yellow liquid gushing out like tiny waterfalls. Each drop of the liquid transformed into a snake, which grew so fast that the area around the spirit beast was now full of yellow snakes, each one opening its mouth to reveal a blade.
Xia Juetian narrowed his eyes. "You're a mere spirit beast. Die!"
As he shouted, he launched two punches. Each punch transformed into a giant golden tiger that lunged at its enemy. The spirit beast pointed its right snake-arm. The arm opened its mouth, revealing a dagger with a green handle. The dagger glowed green, and each of the yellow snakes suddenly opened its mouth and turned its face toward the two giant tigers. Then a green ball flew out of the dagger, followed by more green balls shot out by each of the surrounding snakes.
Compared to the two giant tigers, these orbs looked like raindrops trying to repel enemies. They seemed weak, yet when the green orbs hit the two golden tigers, the tigers' faces and forms melted like candles.
Seeing this, Liu Xing tried to sense the energy emitted from the green orbs and felt a weird, slimy sensation. It was actually similar to the stable energy produced by his necklace, but it felt fouler, as if each orb was created from buckets of poison.
Xia Juetian shouted and punched relentlessly, creating dozens of smaller tigers, but the green orbs blocked all of his attacks as if the tigers were made of sugar facing a wall of hot water.
"Those attacks are useless. You need to fight at close range," Liu Xing muttered.
He had no doubt that each of Elder Xia Juetian's attacks was strong, but there was no point if they didn't connect. Still, he believed this elder had more experience than him and suspected there were still many tricks the elder hadn't revealed.
After several moments of the same exchange, the frustrated Elder Xia Juetian finally did something different. He adjusted his stance, lowering his hips and reducing the number of attacks he unleashed. A golden aura encased him fully, as if he had transformed into a bonfire, with a hint of a tiger floating around that golden aura.
Seeing this, Liu Xing realized it was the same technique Xia Yongzhi had used when he tried to kill him, yet Liu Xing knew it was in a different league.
When Xia Juetian punched the air again, a giant golden tiger materialized, but unlike before, this tiger looked more real. The spirit beast cackled and shot green orbs toward the tiger, but unexpectedly, the giant tiger leaped into the sky, dodging all the attacks, and then descended like a meteor from above. The spirit beast and every snake it created tried to dissolve this giant tiger. The tiger's face began to lose its form, and Liu Xing suspected this stronger attack would also dissolve in seconds.
But as Liu Xing saw Elder Xia Juetian begin to run, he knew the attack was a distraction. The elder ran so fast he looked like a black blur, yet even from afar, Liu Xing realized that his footsteps were soft, like those of a tiger stalking its prey. When the giant orange tiger made entirely of energy was dissolving, Xia Juetian was now right behind the spirit beast.
His right fist glowed with a golden aura, with some orange stripes on it, as if this golden aura was a tiger compressed into a ball.
The spirit beast turned its head like an owl, its neck twisting.
"Die!" Xia Juetian shouted. His fist turned into a golden and orange tiger head. Its eyes were yellow and shining, its fangs long and gleaming, and it roared, making the air tremble.
Some of the snakes around the spirit beast lunged at the punch, but each yellow snake that did so was shredded into little bits, like paper through a grinder. Not long after, the punch landed right on the spirit beast's face, and its head suddenly exploded.
Red, green, and yellow liquid splashed everywhere, chunks of meat and flesh flying in all directions, some staining Elder Xia Juetian's black robe.
"You filthy creature! How dare you kill my grandchildren?!" Xia Juetian pulled back his right fist and unleashed his left. While there was no tiger head on it, it still glowed golden, and he aimed for its chest as if he wanted to destroy every little bit of this spirit beast.
As he watched this, Liu Xing realized that the elder was actually furious about Xia Shizi and Xia Hongyi's deaths. While his black eyes looked like pools of tar laced with madness, it seemed that deep down, he too was a normal grandpa who cared about his grandchildren.
Liu Xing realized that this fight was almost over and wondered what Elder Xia Juetian would do next. Would he attack Wei Yi and his clan right away, or would he take some time to prepare? When that happened, what would Liu Xing do?
But before he could think much further, before the golden fist hit the spirit beast's chest, the pale hand suddenly caught the old man's wrist.
Seeing his hand caught, Xia Juetian's eyes widened, as did Liu Xing's. It seemed this spirit beast wasn't truly dead!
As the pale hand held the elder tightly, the surrounding snakes lunged at him with daggers in their mouths. Elder Xia Juetian's expression turned furious. Veins popped up on his forehead, as if he had been insulted by a beggar. The elder tried to pull his left hand from the clutch of the pale hand, but when it didn't budge, his eyes widened slightly.
Some of the snakes successfully stabbed the elder with their daggers in his shoulder. A second snake lunged at his chest, trying to pierce his heart, but Elder Xia Juetian crouched low, and the snake passed above him.
He tried to pull his left hand again, but when the pale hand wouldn't let go, Elder Xia Juetian's right arm glowed golden again, and he unleashed a strong strike right into the spirit beast's side. This attack was enough to shatter the rest of the spirit beast's body, and even the pale hand flew off from this attack.
Free from the pale hand, Elder Xia Juetian jumped high into the sky and unleashed a barrage of punches that sent thousands of little golden balls, targeting each of the yellow snakes on the ground. Some of the snakes successfully spat out green orbs to defend themselves, but the majority were hit by the golden balls and blown to smithereens.
As the attack subsided, there were thousands of little craters in the ground, with bits and pieces of flesh strewn around.
Liu Xing's eyes scanned the area, searching for the pale hand. Liu Xing suspected that the spirit beast was actually still alive, and that pale hand was the key to its recovery. After searching for a moment, Liu Xing finally spotted the pale hand.
The hand was now attached to the back of a yellow snake. The snake was hiding behind a large upturned mound of earth and half-melting like a candle burned by fire. From the remnants of this melting substance, a head emerged. Its face was pale, its eyes wide as if in perpetual shock, and it had a large mustache above its lips. Its ears were two red apples, and instead of a rope around its neck, it now wore a chain.
Chapter 85 ~ Xia Juetian (6)
After the head, the torso emerged, and then two blue snakes sprouted from its shoulders to become its arms, with two more snakes emerging to form its feet.
Seeing this, Liu Xing narrowed his eyes. He realized that the real spirit beast was the pale hand with a yellow eye in its palm. To kill it, Elder Xia Juetian needed to target this pale hand. Otherwise, it would regenerate a new body.
Turning his head, Liu Xing saw Xia Jueatian land in the crater full of snake remnants. As his feet touched the ground, he sprang toward the newly formed spirit beast, as if he knew about its regenerated body.
Elder Xia appeared right above the newly regenerated spirit beast, his fist glowing golden as he tried to strike its new head.
The spirit beast looked up. As the elder's fist drew closer to its face, its right arm opened its maw. A blue wall suddenly materialized between the spirit beast and Elder Xia Juetian. This blue wall looked almost transparent, as if created from compressed air and colored blue. For a moment, Liu Xing thought the wall would be fragile, but when the elder hit it with his punch, only cracks appeared around his fist. The blue wall still stood.
Its left arm opened its maw, and a thin blue wall suddenly materialized near the elder. It floated in the air, then moved like a flying blade, targeting the elder's neck.
The elder glanced at it. He rotated his body, kicked the wall in front of him, and jumped into the sky, successfully dodging the flying blue wall.
The two snake arms then danced, creating a rotating motion. They shone with an eerie blue glow. As they danced and glowed, the cracks in the wall in front of the spirit beast mended themselves. After the wall recovered, it hovered into the sky and rotated like a saw blade.
The spirit beast smirked, its eyes holding a hint of arrogance, as if it knew it would win.
Seeing this, Liu Xing's heart raced so fast he felt it might explode at any moment. Even at a glance, this spirit beast was incredibly strong. Its ability to regenerate a new body after being destroyed made it hard to defeat, but after processing the information before him, Liu Xing knew this spirit beast was more dangerous than his initial assessment. After all, it could change its fighting style.
Most spirit beasts had abilities akin to bloodlines, and usually their fighting styles revolved around them. This spirit beast was the same at first. Its snake arms and legs had blades in their mouths, and each blade could shoot green orbs that seemed capable of corroding anything. But now it has an entirely different ability. The blue snakes could create some kind of wall. It could change how thick or thin the wall was, essentially creating walls for defense and blades for offense.
The spirit beast created more and more walls, some of them spinning while others did not. Each and every wall moved towards Elder Xia Juetian. He tried to hit a wall in front of him, but his punches only cracked it.
When the elder sent a golden ball towards the spirit beast, another wall intercepted them, and although it cracked, it wasn't destroyed.
Seeing this, Liu Xing assessed that the still-smirking spirit beast was actually winning. Its new fighting style was somewhat slow. The walls, while able to move freely in the air, didn't move as fast as Elder Xia Juetian. But each wall could withstand the elder's punches, and it created more walls every second, filling the entire devastated area with floating blue walls, making a maze that was hard for Elder Xia to traverse.
This fighting style was eerily suitable for combating Elder Xia, who, while impressive, was actually just using his punches, either up close or from a distance.
Elder Xia's face grew increasingly angry, but Liu Xing could see several beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Elder Xia Juetian must have another trick, right?" Liu Xing muttered. He worried about the worst-case scenario unfolding.
As if Elder Xia had heard Liu Xing's question, the elder moved from left to right, using the blue walls as stepping stones. This way of moving was similar to Liu Xing's, and since there were so many walls, Elder Xia Juetian could move in three dimensions. Still, the sheer number of blue walls now approached almost a thousand. There weren't many gaps between walls, and if this continued, Elder Xia would be trapped.
"Wait a minute."
Liu Xing, still invisible, jumped high into the sky. Then, he summoned his shield right before gravity pulled him down and peeked below. Seeing the view below, Liu Xing licked his lips.
His position before was close to the ground, but now Liu Xing felt as if he were on the thirtieth floor of an apartment building, able to see everything below. Elder Xia Juetian wouldn't be trapped later; he was already trapped. Seeing from this height, Liu Xing could see that those almost thousand walls were slowly converging around Elder Xia Juetian, creating a prison ball that would ensure the elder couldn't escape.
Liu Xing could see a giant golden and orange tiger manifested inside the blue prison. Some of the walls were actually destroyed, but not enough to make a difference. That tiger's punch attack had looked so strong before, but now it felt like throwing a bucket of water onto a burning house.
Liu Xing's heart beat faster and faster. He worried about Elder Xia and was wary of the spirit beast. That spirit beast was supremely dangerous. It could adapt to its enemy, as if it had multiple abilities that could be used against certain opponents.
He thought that these blue walls almost looked like a technique strengthened by a bloodline, which, if true, meant that the spirit beast might have taken this ability from another cultivator, suggesting it could steal bloodlines and use them.
Liu Xing knew that anything that could become stronger by killing its enemies and stealing aspects from them was dangerous. Its power progression would be exponential. That spirit beast needed to die!
Liu Xing descended from the sky. As he fell, Liu Xing's brain worked hard to come up with a solution. Obviously, Liu Xing couldn't win against it. He was too weak, cultivation-wise. But Elder Xia wasn't. He had enough power to kill it. What the elder needed was a chance.
As the blue prison made of thousands of walls drew closer, Liu Xing inhaled deeply. He was invisible now, his presence thin, and he could move stealthily. But what could he do to give Elder Xia a chance?
Liu Xing landed on one of the blue walls. As his feet touched it, he felt a kind of elasticity, as if the blue wall was made of some kind of jelly. Feeling this, he understood why it was so hard for Elder Xia to destroy it. These blue walls could probably absorb shock.
Looking down, Liu Xing saw Elder Xia desperately moving around. His left hand was now only a stump with blood gushing out, but before Liu Xing could become more worried, Elder Xia flicked his hand. A yellow paper talisman appeared in his hand, and as he stuck the yellow talisman to his stump, his flesh began to regenerate, creating a new arm.
As he regenerated, several pills appeared in his palm, and the elder ate all of them. They were probably pills to regenerate his qi as well as strengthen himself.
It seemed the elder had many pills and talismans that could aid him, but since he hadn't pulled out any weapons, what he had was probably only meant to support him.
Liu Xing moved silently from wall to wall with his Lightning Cloak active. Each time he used a wall as a stepping stone, he glanced at the still-smirking spirit beast. Its two blue snake arms danced in the air, but it didn't seem to notice him.
"All right," Liu Xing said while standing atop the wall. This prison almost looked like a sphere, and he was now right on top of it. Right below him, the elder unleashed several tiger punches to destroy some of the walls, giving him room to move and destroy some of the rotating saw-like walls. Curiously, all of these attacks were unleashed using his left hand, while his right hand glowed. It didn't shine too brightly, but Liu Xing could feel the immense strength from his fist. It seemed the elder was trying to gather strength to destroy all of these walls, and possibly the spirit beast, in just one attack.
Liu Xing activated his lightning blade. "Let's see how strong these walls really are."
Since the wall almost felt like jelly, he thought that perhaps while it could absorb impact, it might be weak against a blade. After all, the spirit beast had changed its fighting style to counter Elder Xia Juetian's techniques, not him.
Inhaling deeply, Liu Xing tried to pierce the wall where his foot rested. When the tip of his lightning blade touched it, Liu Xing felt a small bit of resistance, but ultimately, his blade successfully pierced through smoothly.
Liu Xing glanced at the spirit beast. It was still smirking, its eyes focused on Elder Xia Juetian. It seemed unaware that one of its walls had been successfully stabbed.
A ferocious grin spread across Liu Xing's face as a simple plan formed in his mind.
Chapter 86 ~ Xia Juetian (7)
He sprang into action, jumping silently from wall to wall. When he saw gaps between the blue walls, Liu Xing leaped through them, moving left and right, up and down between the slowly shifting barriers. For him, maneuvering in three dimensions wasn't difficult, as he was used to it. The only challenge in navigating this maze of blue walls was finding a way to get closer to Elder Xia Juetian, but even that wasn't too daunting a task.
Several minutes later, Liu Xing arrived at the center of this prison. From the inside, the prison was actually beautiful. The blue walls above filtered the sunlight, creating a myriad of colors as if they were prisms and the walls moved harmoniously, as if dancing slowly.
There weren't many rotating walls attacking Elder Xia, only about thirty, but every time he destroyed one, the other walls would replace it.
At first glance, it seemed the spirit beast was toying with the elder, but he knew better. The spirit beast was trying to wear down the elder. After all, while Elder Xia Juetian had vast qi, it wasn't unlimited. Liu Xing suspected that this fight would last for hours. The spirit beast was trying to chip away at the elder's stamina, while Elder Xia Juetian tried to gather all his power to unleash one attack.
Liu Xing took several slow steps, trying to be discreet and avoid being hit by the elder. After a few moments, he finally arrived right behind the elder and whispered, "Elder Xia Juetian, I think I can give you a chance to unleash your attack."
Elder Xia's eyes twitched slightly, and Liu Xing glanced at the spirit beast, trying to judge whether the elder's expression had given him away. But there was no change. Its snake arms still danced in the air, and it was still smirking.
Elder Xia Jeutian punched a rotating wall that tried to split him in two. The wall flew to the side, hitting other rotating walls. More blue walls moved toward the elder from the left and right, and another rotating wall came from above, forcing the elder to move either forward or backward.
Elder Xia chose to leap forward, and Liu Xing rolled backward. He then zigzagged away while observing Elder Xia Juetian, trying to read the elder's movement pattern.
Liu Xing was pretty sure the elder had heard him, and there was a fifty percent chance that he would cooperate. The elder didn't reply because he understood that answering could alert the spirit beast to Liu Xing's presence inside this prison of blue walls. There was also a chance that Elder Xia Juetian was simply ignoring him. After all, Liu Xing was a junior, and an elder might consider it beneath him to accept help from a younger person. But Liu Xing gave Elder Xia Juetian the benefit of the doubt, hoping that he would accept the assistance. After all, Elder Xia Juetian was losing.
Liu Xing took a deep breath and tried to time his attack. His Lightning Cloak looked the same as before, but after consuming the Diamond Pills, this technique now consumed more qi in exchange for greater body enhancement. He didn't know exactly how fast he was now, but he could move at least twice as fast as before.
As Liu Xing moved, he encased his feet with stable qi. There were no yellow lines on his feet, but he could feel them becoming more durable and strong. The lightning blade in his hand crackled with electricity, waiting to be used. His eyes tried to track all the movement around him, his senses attuned to the qi from Elder Xia Juetian's right fist and the moving walls.
He only had one chance, and he intended to use it to end that spirit beast.
Finally, after several moments of waiting, the time came.
Everything aligned perfectly. Ignoring the blue walls, a line could be drawn from the spirit beast, through Liu Xing, to Elder Xia Juetian's position. Liu Xing focused his gaze ahead of him. There were hundreds of blue walls in front of him, some rotating in the air, most just moving slowly.
Liu Xing inhaled deeply and shouted, "Now!"
As he shouted, he kicked the ground as hard as he could, moving so fast that the air around him exploded. Yet, Liu Xing could still process everything around him. When he met the first wall, he slashed it twice. As expected, the wall split easily. He flew between these split walls, repeating the process again and again. Each blue wall in front of him was cut into several pieces.
While the walls weren't completely destroyed, Liu Xing could now see a small tunnel behind him, connecting Elder Xia Juetian and the spirit beast.
In front of Liu Xing, only one wall remained. The spirit beast was still smirking, but it looked annoyed at the same time. Liu Xing split the wall in front of him in two. He was still invisible, but he had no doubt that his presence was known.
The spirit beast screeched, its cry sounding horrible, like that of a wailing ghost. It stretched its two snake arms forward as if it knew Liu Xing was there. Seeing this, Liu Xing jumped into the sky.
"Your problem is not me," Liu Xing shouted as he flew upward. Looking down, he saw Elder Xia Juetian move like a train. A cloud of dust trailed behind him and he extended his glowing right arm.
"Die!" As the fist struck the snake's arms, they shattered into pieces like a cardboard house hit by a truck. The glowing fist was unstoppable, targeting the pale hand in the spirit beast's chest. A cloud of dust suddenly rose around the elder and the spirit beast, and when Liu Xing summoned his shield and looked down, he did not hear any loud sound, neither the sound of the explosion nor the sound of the spirit beast being shredded into smithereens, as if Elder Xia Juetian's fist had missed.
A cold fear began to fill his heart, and when the dust settled, what he saw made his blood run cold. Instead of the elder standing victorious and the spirit beast destroyed, he saw the opposite of what he wanted to see.
The spirit beast, with its pale hand, bushy mustache, and apple ears was standing, smirking. The elder, with his black eyes, looked shocked. His fist was mere centimeters from hitting the pale arm of the spirit beast. But it didn't reach. He was stopped by another spirit beast. It looked like a giant worm with a human face, and on its back were hundreds of terrified faces, as if there were people inside the worm pressing their faces to get out.
This worm-like spirit beast emerged from the ground right where the elder was standing. Its mouth swallowed the elder from feet to chest, and then it closed its teeth. Elder Xia Juetian was cut in two. The lower part was inside its mouth, and from chest to head, he was balancing on the lips and teeth of the oversized worm. Blood dripped from the elder, painting the humanoid face of this worm red.
A gust of wind pushed the remaining part of the elder to the side, and he fell to the ground, his eyes still filled with shock.
"How dare you! How dare you!" the elder shouted, blood gurgling from his mouth. He tried to stretch his arms toward the worm, but the worm, with its blood soaked face, smiled. Then, like a dolphin, it jumped into the air and descended head first onto the elder with its mouth wide open.
Liu Xing was frozen in place as he watched the elder being eaten by the worm. Now, there was a hole where the elder had lain, and next to this hole, the elder's arms remained.
"There are two of them," Liu Xing whispered.
He had never considered this outcome. He thought the elder would kill this spirit beast, collect the remains as proof of Wei Yi's sin, and then kill Wei Yi and destroy his clan. At that time, the elder would probably try to kill him too. After all, he knew about the clan's secret, Xia Weiyuan. He had already been planning for this eventual betrayal, but all of his preparations and expectations were thrown out the window because he never thought Elder Xia Juetian would die.
The giant worm, as big as a cow, resurfaced again in front of the still-smirking spirit beast. They looked at each other as if communicating, then the blue walls suddenly vanished, as if they were sandcastles washed away by a wave.
Liu Xing's heart beat so fast it felt like a drum. His palms were sweaty, and he tried to hold his breath. Though invisible, his shield wasn't, and if they looked up, they would see it.
The worm then opened its mouth so wide it looked like a tunnel big enough for a child to crawl through. From its mouth rolled a ball of meat. The ball was pink, yellow, and red, resembling different meats crushed and packed into one. Beneath this ball of meat, dozens of little worms carried it, like ants trying to bring food to their queen.
Soon after, the ball of meat was right in front of the spirit beast with snakes for arms and apples for ears.
"D-disgusting," it said in a hoarse voice, as if it were a human who had chosen to stop talking for years and decided to speak again. Yet despite what it said, its newly regenerated two snake arms reached for the ball of meat. The snakes caressed it as if it were the most precious pearl in the world and brought it to the spirit beast's mouth.
Chapter 87 ~ Meatball
The smirking beast opened its mouth so wide it looked like half of its head would be torn off. As Liu Xing saw this, his heart beat faster and faster, as if it would explode. The ball of meat, while disgusting, was full of qi. It was like an entire ocean of qi compressed into a ball shape. Not only that, but this qi was familiar. It belonged to Elder Xia Juetian. There was no doubt that the ball contained the entire cultivation of Elder Xia Juetian, and if Liu Xing's suspicion was correct, it also contained his Golden Tiger bloodline.
If that spirit beast ate the ball of meat, its cultivation would soar greatly. It would probably break through from the Core Splitting realm into the Sun Refining realm.
"What do I do?" Liu Xing's voice trembled.
He was tempted to jump and snatch the ball of meat. But by doing so, he would commit suicide. Yet, he needed to do something. Otherwise, this spirit beast would become a threat he couldn't contain.
As the ball of meat got closer and closer to its mouth, Liu Xing's brain filled with doubt and dilemma. Half of his mind rationalized that he could flee right here and now. He was too weak. He would die if he was reckless. But the other half screamed that if he fled now, he would undoubtedly become a coward. Let alone becoming a legend, he wouldn't even become a great inner disciple if he chose the easy way out.
Ultimately, Liu Xing realized that he needed to find a compromise that fulfilled all that his brain wanted. He wanted a way to prevent the spirit beast from eating the meatball and to live. That was the true thing he wanted.
As the meatball was right in front of its mouth, its white teeth wriggling like excited maggots about to be fed, Liu Xing still didn't know what to do, but he had to do something.
He stood atop his shield and aimed with his gun. This time, he held the gun with both hands, afraid he would miss. Then, he filled his gun with bullets infused with Exploding Fist. He could feel the six bullets with his senses. While they didn't differ too much from his usual exploding bullets, these were stronger after he had consumed one and a half Diamond Pills. Liu Xing understood that these bullets couldn't kill the two spirit beasts. But at the very least, they could give him time. Time that could be used to think of a better solution.
As the spirit beast tried to bite the ball of meat, Liu Xing pulled the trigger repeatedly. Six blue glowing bolts shot through the air. At the same time, the two spirit beasts snapped their heads. The worms tunneled into the ground, while the spirit beast with blue snakes as its arms jumped to the side.
Liu Xing decided to jump off the shield and free fall to the ground, his mind racing to find a solution. Obviously, he couldn't kill them. The winning condition was to snatch or destroy the ball of meat. As he thought about this, he remembered his fight with the moss. In a sense, this fight would be similar. The difference was he didn't need to consume anything.
"Or, I can," Liu Xing muttered.
Obviously, eating a ball of meat filled with qi from a Core Splitting cultivator and probably containing their bloodline would be too dangerous. There was a possibility he would die if he consumed that ball of meat. Moreover, there was also the moral aspect to consider. What he thought of consuming was actually the Diamond Pills. He had three left, and it seemed like those three pills would increase his chance of survival.
Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He snatched the three Diamond Pills from his spatial bag and consumed them one by one. As the qi exploded from his mouth, he felt like a frog falling into a pit of lava. The pain was unbearable, but it also made him more alert of his surroundings.
When he landed softly on the ground, behind a toppled white bone tree, he peeked at the spirit beast with snakes as its arms. It still looked up at his shield.
He bet on his invisibility and ran as fast yet as softly as possible toward the spirit beast. His bullets could be detected, his lightning blade would also be detected. Which meant the only thing he could do was to get as close as possible and take the meatball with his own hand.
It was a stupid and terrifying plan, and yet, he couldn't think of another more sophisticated solution.
As he got closer to the spirit beast, he could clearly see its pale body and torso, its four snakes as limbs, and could also smell a sweet aroma emanating from its apple-like ears. The pale hand jutting from it had a yellow eye, and this yellow eye looked left and right, as if searching for him. Then, as if Liu Xing crossed a boundary, the yellow eye and the spirit beast snapped their eyes toward him, and he felt the ground tremble.
With wide eyes and a panicked heart, Liu Xing realized that his position was busted. He kicked the ground as hard as he could. A giant worm with a human face emerged from the ground with its mouth wide open.
He focused his gaze on the remains of Elder Xia Juetian and activated his lightning blade. He willed the blade to become so thin that it looked like a thread, and then swung it directly at the meatball.
A blue wall appeared right in front of his whipping thread, but the wall split into two, and his lightning thread came right at the meatball. For a moment, he thought he would succeed. While this spirit beast was so strong, its technique was tailored to fight Elder Xia Juetian, not Liu Xing. He thought he had a chance, but one of the blue snakes came at his thread, opened its maw, and snapped its jaw. His lightning thread was easily destroyed like a scissor cutting a thin thread.
The spirit beast smirked, using one snake-hand to drop the meatball into its mouth.
Liu Xing filled his gun with exploding bullets and shot rapidly at the spirit beast. But the blue snake opened its maw widely, moved its body rapidly, and swallowed his six bullets. Its stomach bulged for a moment, as if there was an explosion on its stomach, but it didn't die. Liu Xing shouted and shot rapidly again, desperately trying to stop this spirit beast from eating the remains of Elder Xia Juetian. But each of his bullets was swallowed by that snake, and even one that luckily passed that snake was caught by the pale hand.
As gravity pulled him down, Liu Xing summoned his shield, and as his feet touched down, the ball of meat was already in the spirit beast's mouth. It closed its mouth, looking like a squirrel stuffing food inside its cheeks. Then, it swallowed hard. The ball of meat traveled from its mouth to its throat and into its belly.
The spirit beast started laughing. This laugh was different from the cackling of a madman. It was more like a bully desperately trying not to laugh and failing after shaming his junior.
Seeing this, Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He had failed. Not only had he let that spirit beast eat the remains of Elder Xia Juetian, but he had also wasted the Diamond Pills. While the pills weren't entirely wasted, the chance of him becoming an inner disciple was reduced.
Then, a golden aura suddenly spread from the spirit beast's belly. This golden aura seemed like the aura of Elder Xia Juetian, and it grew stronger each second. The golden aura surrounded the spirit beast, which was now cackling madly like before it changed bodies, and Liu Xing felt its qi surge like a lake from a broken dam. He didn't know whether this spirit beast was undergoing a breakthrough or trying to evolve, but the certain thing was, this spirit beast had now become stronger than before.
As he observed with his heart beating fast and dread filling his heart, the giant worm spirit beast emerged from the ground and jumped like a launching rocket toward him. Its pink body moved so fast it looked like a blur. Seeing this, Liu Xing kicked the shield as hard as he could, launching himself high into the sky. As he launched himself, and the worm tried to take a bite of his shield, Liu Xing dismissed the shield.
As he flew into the sky, he still observed the spirit beast now surrounded by a golden aura. The golden aura shone so bright it looked like a second sun had suddenly emerged below. And then, this shining aura split into seven smaller golden auras.
As Liu Xing's head touched a white cloud, he could see that these seven glowing auras were receding, and what he saw made his blood run cold. Liu Xing summoned his shield, stood atop it, and tried to peer below like a man trying to see the street from the top of an apartment building.
"There's no way, right?"
Chapter 88 ~ Tiger Punch (1)
Even from a distance, he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Now, instead of one spirit beast with snake limbs, there were eight. Each had a different face and complexion. One had red skin, one black, one green, one blue, and the others had equally unnatural skin colors. Their ears also differed, each resembling a different kind of fruit. There were apples, avocados, bananas, oranges, and other strange fruits. Honestly, their appearance looked ridiculous, but as some cackled madly, some laughed silently, and others smirked, he could feel the boundless qi emanating from each of them. They still felt like they were in the Core Splitting realm, but each was stronger than Elder Xia Juetian.
Then, as if trying to kill him with a heart attack, the pink worm also shone with a golden aura and split itself into eight different worms with different faces.
Liu Xing's heart almost stopped beating. This was bad, really, really bad. Two of them were enough to kill every single person in Second Gray Cloud City, and now there were sixteen of them.
He had a gut feeling that these spirit beasts would start wreaking havoc in the Twelve Sun Empire, killing people and stealing bloodlines. But the most terrifying thought was that each spirit beast, after eating a sufficiently strong cultivator, could split itself.
This meant there was actually a high chance the Twelve Sun Empire would be annihilated.
"This is not my fault," Liu Xing tried to reassure himself.
While this was happening right in front of him, he needed to steel his heart and sincerely believe it wasn't his fault. This way, he couldn't be weighed down by the irrational guilt spreading in his heart right now.
"I need to report this. I need to warn everyone!"
Reporting them to the Purple Moon Sect was the best course of action. The direct method would mean he'd need to return to the sect and bring disciples from the inner court to deal with them, or even an elder, while the indirect method was for Liu Xing to run straight toward the capital of the Twelve Sun Empire, warn the royal family about these spirit beasts, and create a team to subdue them while also reporting to the Purple Moon Sect.
The second method is better, and he nodded, thinking about doing just that when he suddenly felt a strong qi coming from behind him. The qi prickled his skin, and the amount was as if he had suddenly drowned in a lake of qi.
Turning his head, he came face to face with one of the newly born spirit beasts. This spirit beast was standing on the back of a floating golden tiger. It had golden snakes as its arms and legs, its skin was pitch black as if submerged in ink, its wriggling teeth were yellow, its nose was as big as Liu Xing's fist, and its ears were made of two green coconuts. The arm jutting out from its chest was also pitch black, but that yellow eye was the same as the original spirit beast's.
It smiled so widely at him, as if it were a greed-filled emperor finding fertile soil occupied by a simple and traditional tribe, ready to be conquered.
Liu Xing was still invisible, but it seemed this spirit beast either had a really high sense that could feel his thin presence, or it had deduced his position using his shield. Either way, Liu Xing knew, beyond doubt, that he was in deep trouble!
As his heart beat so fast that he felt his chest bursting, his still transforming muscles ready to leap at any moment, he felt the other spirit beasts begin to move. At first, he thought they were coming for him, but he soon realized that they were splitting up and moving in pairs in every direction. As he felt their qi move away, he felt relief, then sudden realization knowing they would kill many people, and then irrational guilt for letting them go.
Still, his eyes were laser-focused on the spirit beast floating atop the golden tiger's back in front of him. He tried to clear his mind and purge every useless thought, focusing on one thing and one thing only: Survival!
The spirit beast began chuckling, covering its laugh with a golden snake as if it were a fan concealing a maiden's smile. Still, this chuckling, while soft, came from a spirit beast that would undoubtedly kill him. In the end, Liu Xing deduced that there weren't many things he could do to survive. He needed to run. But he also felt that if he moved, he would die instantly.
For a moment, he and the spirit beast faced each other. The wind grew stronger each second, making his black hair flutter. He was still robeless, and beads of sweat on his skin were blown by the wind, making his back feel as cold as if caressed by a winter breeze.
After a moment, the spirit beast stopped chuckling, then smiled so wide, showing its wriggling teeth and black tongue. Then a golden snake emerged from its mouth, its body slimy and soaked in a disgusting yellow liquid. It opened its mouth and a wind ball surrounded by golden energy formed in front of it.
Seeing this, Liu Xing knew that he had to take action. He activated his lightning blade and slashed. His slash was lightning fast, powered by the body still forged by the Diamond Pills as well as the adrenaline coursing through his body. It soon arrived right below the snake's mouth, but when it hit the snake's lower jaw, he didn't dare hope to split its head in two, but he at least thought his attack could shut its mouth. Instead, his blue lightning blade shattered as if made of glass.
Liu Xing's eyes widened, and the snake launched its golden ball toward him. Liu Xing reflexively jumped backward as hard as possible. The wind rushed around him, and when the golden ball was right in front of his nose, he dismissed his shield and resummoned it right in front of his face. The shield arrived just in time. The golden ball hit his shield, and a golden explosion erupted, accompanied by a loud tiger roar. His shield hit his face with such force that it made Liu Xing fall like a meteor from the sky.
In just a mere fraction of a second, his back hit the ground. The earth around him surged, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and he bounced several times before coming to a stop.
He felt his body tremble, his nerves in shock. But he didn't dare to dally. He stood right back up, reactivated his Lightning Cloak, checked his surroundings, and kicked the ground so hard his kick made a spider-web crack in the earth.
The forest made of white bones soon became blurry. He embraced this blurriness. It was a sign that meant he was moving as fast as possible, and hopefully, his speed was enough to escape that spirit beast.
He zigzagged left and right, trying to make it hard to follow him, while his brain tried to digest what had just happened.
The golden ball shot by the golden snakes and the orange tiger made of golden aura looked like Elder Xia Juetian's technique. This was concrete proof that this spirit beast really did steal bloodlines and could use them!
As he thought that, a roaring tiger sound could be heard. He stopped running and looked up. A giant golden tiger made entirely of qi leaped down toward him. This giant golden tiger had ferocious eyes, and it opened its mouth, baring its fangs. Its tongue was a golden snake, which also bared its fangs.
Seeing this, Liu Xing's eyes widened so much they looked like they would pop out of their sockets. He began to run straight ahead. His heart beat so fast, his brain screaming at his body to move faster!
From an outside perspective, this giant golden tiger looked like it was about to crush a fleeing flea. When it crashed to the ground, a loud explosion could be heard.
Liu Xing turned his head and saw a wall of earth extending dozens of meters into the sky decorated with white bone trees surging toward him like a tsunami. A shockwave so strong hit his back, and he was flung like a ragdoll thrown by an angry child.
He rotated his body in the air, using his shield to maneuver around. When he saw several giant bone trees hurling toward him, he used his lightning blade to slash at them, but a branch of white bones hit him in the back, making him lose his balance. Soon, Liu Xing was bouncing like a ball, hitting several rocks and bones and even anemone-like structures made from veins.
He tried to regain his balance, only for the spirit beast with pitch-black skin and golden snake limbs to appear dozens of meters from him.
It laughed slowly, its mouth curved like a crescent moon, with a stance to unleash a simple punch with its golden snake.
Chapter 89 ~ Tiger Punch (2)
Seeing this, Liu Xing's heart stopped pumping blood for a moment, and his face turned pale. He desperately summoned his shield, but before he could kick it, he was already in front of the spirit beast. It executed a simple blow with its right limb, aiming at his face.
He gritted his teeth and sent a surge of stable qi into his face, making it decorated with spiraling yellow lines. When the snake arm hit his cheek, it felt like the world suddenly went dark. Sound ceased to exist, and he felt like he was suddenly submerged in the depths of a lake in the middle of the night. And yet, he knew this darkness was not normal.
He tried to open his eyes, and when he did, the sound of rushing wind filled his ears. He tried to check his surroundings and realized that he was in the sky. Looking down, he could see several clouds below him and the ground was so far away, like he was a rocket trying to reach outer space. When gravity pulled him, there was a moment of weightlessness, and at this time, he could see a mark on the ground in the form of a tiger's face. He realized that this was the mark of the attack that spirit beast had unleashed.
Soon, intense pain radiated from his face. He touched his right cheek and realized that perhaps his cheekbone was now destroyed. It was hard to move his mouth, but luckily, his left eye was okay. His skin was still red now, the Diamond Pills had not finished transforming his body further, and the wound on his right cheek seemed to be mending.
That attack was so strong, too strong. He suspected that if he hadn't eaten the remaining Diamond Pills and hadn't enhanced his face with stable qi, his head would have exploded like a watermelon hit by a hammer. Fortunately, it seemed the spirit beast was toying with him. If it were to use the Tiger Punch instead, no matter how much stable qi he sent to his face, he would still die.
He summoned his shield and kicked it, moving high in the sky. Suddenly, a glowing ball shone on the ground. It looked tiny from above, but he knew it was gigantic when seen up close. Adrenaline coursed through his body and his brain screamed, warning him that this was not over. Then, the sound of a tiger's roar could be heard. It reverberated in all directions, even making the air around him tremble. That giant golden ball suddenly transformed into a gigantic golden tiger, and it leaped toward him in the sky.
Liu Xing's eyes widened like saucers. He kicked the shield repeatedly, trying to accelerate faster and run away from that golden tiger. But as he started to move, the golden tiger took another leap in the air as if using the air as a stepping stone. On its forehead, he could see that the ink-black spirit beast laughing maniacally, stance wide, and its two snake arms started to repeatedly punch the air, sending many golden orbs at him. Each of the golden orbs was in the shape of a tiger's head with open mouths, and feeling the qi from them, he knew he would die if even one of them grazed him.
With his heart still beating so fast, he decided to rotate his body so his head pointed downwards. He summoned his shield and kicked it, making him fall like a meteor. The sky was a bad place for him. It was too open, and nothing could hide him.
Liu Xing spread his body and tried to glide in the sky, finding a nice clearing that was untouched as a place to land. Suddenly, he saw a pink worm with the face of an old lady with jutting fangs as if made from sharp glass emerge from the ground in the middle of the clearing and shoot right at him like a guided missile. It flew so fast that in a mere fraction of a second, it was already in front of him. Its mouth opened wide as if it were a fish jumping to eat a fly.
Seeing this, he gritted his teeth and summoned his shield, kicking it so he moved the side. The pink worm passed by his side as if he had successfully dodged a runaway truck.
Liu Xing turned his body, aimed his gun, and shot the worm's back repeatedly with exploding bullets. When six bullets hit the worm's back, six explosions blossomed and merged into one explosion, but even though it was strong, he knew that this attack probably wouldn't hurt it. Suddenly, the worm curled into a ball, and whether by coincidence or not, a golden orb shaped like a tiger's head struck it. The worm plummeted like a meteor, falling even faster than him, before diving back into the ground.
As the ground drew closer, just a few dozen meters away, he rotated his body in the air and successfully landed while rolling. Shortly after, he stopped and looked up to see the golden tiger in the sky descending headfirst toward him accompanied by thousands of golden orbs around it. The ink-black spirit beast cackled while falling from the sky, the chain tied around its neck fluttering in the air
Seeing this, Liu Xing's heart filled with despair. He kicked the ground and moved as fast as possible amidst the white bone trees.
"Is there anything I can do?" he shouted. "Come on, think! Think!"
As he shouted, the golden tiger hit the ground, and as he turned his head, he saw the ground rise and create a black tsunami that tried to swallow everything around him. Suddenly, a pink worm dozens of meters long emerged from the ground in front of him. It moved above the ground like a train, its mouth open wide.
With a worm ready to devour him from the front and a tsunami of earth closing in from behind, a sudden idea struck him. He didn't have much time to think about it, so he just executed it.
Instead of summoning a shield, he summoned the woman statue. As the statue materialized before him, Liu Xing kicked it toward the worm's mouth, sending it barreling forward while propelling himself backward.
As the world around him became blurred, he tried to hold his breath and thin out his presence even more. He was soon engulfed by the earth tsunami behind him, and before he was completely consumed by the tsunami, he could see the worm chomping on his statue before his vision went dark.
He didn't try to escape the earth tsunami; instead, he allowed his body to roll and spin, carried by the shifting earth. Several times he felt his face hit something hard, and he felt his arms, feet, and body being crushed by something big. But he endured and endured, until everything slowly came to a stop.
He didn't know how deep he was inside the ground. Everything around him was pitch black, and he didn't dare to move. It was hard to breathe here, and he cupped his hands around his mouth, thinking it would make it easier to breathe, as well as make his breath less loud.
He waited, feeling his body hugged by earth as if he were a buried corpse. There was no difference between keeping his eyes open or closed, so he shut them and focused on minimizing his qi, breath, heartbeat—everything. He was thankful that he had so much practice when he was being bullied daily by his seniors in the sect.
His body felt no pain now, a sign that he had been successfully transformed by the Diamond Pills. However, he was still inferior to those two spirit beasts and didn't dare to fight them.
As he tried to minimize his presence, he thought the worm must have some way of detecting enemies. He suspected it used vibrations in the ground and also in the air. But since he had used his statue as bait, hopefully the worm thought it had successfully killed him, would tell that spirit beast with snake limbs, and go away. Although they seemed to be intelligent spirit beasts, hopefully they were not too intelligent.
He waited and waited. Each second felt like an eternity, especially when he felt vibrations on his skin, and he feared that the worm would appear and eat him, turning him into a meatball to be eaten by that spirit beast with snake limbs. Luckily, the vibration subsided, and he felt a little relief, but he didn't dare to go out.
From here, Liu Xing waited as long as he was capable. Then, when he felt hours had already passed, he finally decided to move. He wriggled his body around, trying to decide where was up and where was down. Then, after knowing where to go, he used his lightning blade to cut his way out.
Several moments later, he emerged from the ground. He inhaled deeply, then checked his surroundings. The sky was dark, with only the moon hanging overhead. Around him, there was nothing—no trees, no boulders, no greenery. However, he noticed a crater several dozen meters away. He suspected that if he saw this crater from above, it would resemble the shape of a tiger's face.
Chapter 90 ~ Xia Weiyuan (1)
As Liu Xing lay on the cool ground, he sighed. The area around him looked barren. No white trees, no greenery, and no plants. Yet, he knew this place was once a white bone forest, with the ground now flipped inside out.
"I almost died," Liu Xing muttered.
His breath and heartbeat gradually stabilized, and while fear still lingered in his heart, he also felt relief. It seemed his plan to use that statue of a woman had succeeded.
Liu Xing wanted to lie down and sleep, to regain his strength and qi. Yet, he didn't have time for it. After all, there were threats that could annihilate the Twelve Sun Empire, and he needed to report this to the emperor as well as his sect.
Still invisible, Liu Xing got up and began to run. He didn't dare use his shield, afraid that the spirit beasts were still around. And he ran as fast as he could.
As he ran, he wondered about the Xia clan. For a moment, he thought about visiting them to tell them about their elder's death, but he decided against it. While they deserved to know about Xia Juetian's death, visiting them would be time-consuming. He felt guilty for about five seconds, then he inhaled deeply and steadied his heart. They would find out about their elder's death sooner or later. Hopefully, they wouldn't be too upset, although the chances of that were slim. An elder's death was always a big deal.
***
The Xia clan compound was located far from Second Gray Cloud City. Several green peaks surrounded it, with their main compound situated on the widest peak. The buildings looked old and dignified, as if the clan had existed for a thousand years. And indeed, it had, although comparing it to the mighty Xia clan of the past would be like comparing a mighty tiger to a little rabbit.
On one of the highest peaks, walking to the edge of a cliff, was a girl in a purple robe. She had silky black hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to see through every truth. She wielded a thin black sword in her right hand, and as she walked slowly, the green grass and colorful flowers around her began to freeze.
When she reached the edge of the peak, Yan Yu looked down at the Xia clan compound. Servants were busy tidying the garden, cleaning the roof and floor, and sweeping the stairs that connected to the main gate of the compound as if their lives depended on it.
She stepped off the cliff and began to fall. The peak was quite high, with several white clouds below her. She controlled the air and water vapor around her, gliding through the air right into the main compound.
As she fell, she steadied her heart and readied her blade. This race had actually come at the right time. She remembered this event from her sisters' tales. Although at this time in the past, while she had already been scouted by her master, she was still trying to gather as much qi as possible to take a step into becoming a cultivator. She remembered the tales of the annihilation of several nations and sects because of the conflict caused by this race. But what she remembered most from her sisters' tales was a demonic cultivator who rose to power, controlling a terrifying spirit beast with a thousand arms and a thousand faces.
Soon, she landed right in front of the clan compound. As she touched down, all the servants eyed her before rushing inside. Their reaction was understandable; even though her face was calm, anyone could see the intensity in her eyes, the shadow casting half of her face, and the hostile aura she emitted toward the Xia clan. Yan Yu gripped her black blade so tightly that if it were a normal sword, it would have frozen and shattered.
Several dozen guards quickly surrounded her. They were all weak. While some had reached the sixth stage of the Lock Opening realm, their foundations and cultivation were pitiful. Even if they cultivated for a thousand years, they could never reach the Sun Refining realm.
She thought they would attack her. After all, she had barged into their clan without invitation. But as they observed her, some of their eyes showed hints of respect and fear, as if they already knew she was a disciple from one of the great sects. It was surprising, considering that while the Purple Moon Sect and this compound weren't geographically far apart, the proper path between them was actually long, circling several hostile mountains and dangerous forests.
She stood aloof in the center of the circling guards. She eyed each of them, thinking about how she would slaughter them all, when a man suddenly rushed from the clan, parting the guards, and stood across from her.
"A Purple Moon Sect disciple," he said, eyeing her with suspicion but not outright hostility. "Are you a friend of Liu Xing?"
Hearing that name, Yan Yu's eyebrow rose a little. So Liu Xing had already arrived here? That guy sure was fast, but what was his connection to the Xia clan?
She decided not to answer. Instead, she asked about the person she needed to kill. "Where is Xia Weiyuan?"
After she asked, the man in front of her suddenly frowned. His eyes sharpened, veins popped up on his temple, and his nostrils flared. "To think that I almost believed the Purple Moon Sect was respectable. I was wrong! No, I was right from the start! You people from the great sects are always despicable, and that bastard Liu Xing is too cunning! He knows the worth of Xia Weiyuan, and now the great sect comes knocking at my door!"
Inwardly, Yan Yu was surprised. He wondered about what Liu Xing knew about Xia Weiyuan. But ultimately, it didn't matter. She had one goal in coming to this place, and she would achieve it.
She noticed some movement at the back of the crowd and found her target. The child wore yellow clothes and hid behind a guard as if he were the shyest person in the world. His complexion was pale and weary, with several bruises on his face.
Seeing him, Yan Yu couldn't hold back her killing intent. The air around her suddenly dropped in temperature, and the ground she stood on started freezing. The ice spread, and the guards began to jolt and prepare for confrontation.
Yan Yu's eyes didn't leave Xia Weiyuan, and he trembled like a newborn deer. Seeing this, Yan Yu compared him to the Xia Weiyuan she knew. That bastard had been tall and muscular, with proud eyes and an arrogant personality and always making sure the world knew he was better than anyone. One of her sisters had been raped and killed by him, and another had died while this man sat on her chest and beat her face relentlessly. All of this already made her blood boil, and this man had chosen to ally himself with that scum, making him one of the people who she hated the most.
This boy looked so innocent now, but she knew the terrible things he would do later. Moreover, his bloodline was so potent, able to pierce the truth and predict the future. Killing him was a sure way to cripple the alliance of the Heavenly Thunder Sect in the future.
"Xia Weiyuan, I have come here to take your life," she declared coldly.
"You're courting death!" shouted a man across from her. As he shouted, Yan Yu suddenly remembered an old man with white hair and skin so wrinkled. He was pitiful and disgusting, always thinking what Xia Weiyuan did was the best thing. He praised him when he raped women. He encouraged him when he annihilated other clans. And he was the one who taught him the deadly technique he used to assert his dominance.
That old man's face overlapped with this youthful and weak cultivator, and Yan Yu realized that this was Xia Yongzhi, the man responsible for raising Xia Weiyuan to become the vile man so hated by both his enemies and allies, except for that scum, since he was cut from the same cloth.
"Xia Yongzhi, prepare to die," she said calmly.
"Guards, attack!" he shouted.
All the guards, some wielding spears, some flashing out talismans, and some with bare hands, lunged at her. Seeing this, she flicked her thin black sword. Instantly, several dozen ice flowers materialized around her, then each flower transformed into an elegant ice arrow, complete with engravings. She seized control of these arrows, infused them with more of her qi, and willed them to attack.
The arrows moved through the air in an instant. Each arrow aimed for the forehead of an enemy. Some widened their eyes and tried to dodge or deflect the arrows, but her arrows were too fast and strong. The spears they used to deflect the arrows were destroyed, and the arrows lodged themselves in their heads. Those who dodged met the same fate, as did the other guards who couldn't react.
A moment ago, dozens of guards had circled her. Now, they all lay on the ground, pools of blood gushing from their heads. Each of these dead men had wide eyes, as if they couldn't believe they were now mere corpses.
Only Xia Yongzhi remained alive, and that was because she hadn't tried to attack him. Xia Yongzhi didn't deserve the mercy of a quick death like these guards. No, he needed to writhe in pain before he died.