The battle had truly just begun. The Han woman and the Gu person were barely surviving their aggro against the beast now, even with the Iron Foot technique fortifying their defences. Apparently, Chun Hua's sword attacks had lowered its vitality until it activated rage mode.
In rage mode, its overall strength would be increased exponentially at the cost of its vitality being spent twice as fast and its healing capabilities extremely reduced. The group of cultivators were soon forced back into defence with no chance to go on the offense.
Chun Hua frowned deeply as her forehead wrinkled in thought. Zhang had successfully healed Jingbei's arm, and if they were to retreat, there would be no casualties for their respective clans. However, it was a completely different matter entirely for the citizens. Were they to withdraw, then this entire province would become a Mt Tai of corpses and a great river of blood. Closing her eyes tightly shut, Chun Hua winced and made a tough decision.
"Guys!..." She turned around to face her group. "Retreat!! I'll handle it."
Retreat!
Those seven letters were a taboo to mention before any sect. A cultivator does not run, they never do!
However, here Chun Hua was telling them to put their tails between their legs and run away like frightened dogs.
"No!..." The Han lady frowned as she blocked a tail strike from the hideous monstrosity. "I will stay and fight alongside you, Senior sister Chun Hua!!" The Gu guy shook his head in grim resolve. "Senior sister Chun Hua, I shall never turn my back on you!" Zhang and Jingbei silently shook their heads too, making Chun Hua furrow her brows. Why were her cohort mates this stubborn?!
Sure, they had been a team for ten years due to the allied sects decree made by the Immortal Sky Lord, but at the end of the day, they all belonged to different clans. Sighing, she stuck the Song Of Terror in the eye of the beast, earning an agonizing roar from the creature, and leaped off the creature's head. However, as she landed, her cohort floated in the air.
This was Qi manipulation at it's best!
Lee Chun Hua smiled slightly as she stared at their incredulous expressions and waved her hand.
"I'm sorry guys..."
She had used Qi manipulation to make their soul Qi lighter than the universal Qi, creating an antigravity like effect. As she waved her hand, they all went flying into the skies and away from the battle. As she watched them fly by, amused at her own prowess, Seth paled and his expression dropped.
"B... Behind you!!!"
Chun Hua turned around to see what had gotten the noodle boy so spooked, and a massive tail whacked her on the side of her head. Her head rang and she could not think straight, yet she stood her ground. Such was the might of a peak stage cultivator of the Qi manipulation tier! She had not yet gotten her bearings back, leaving her open for yet another heavy strike.
_whack!! _
This time, however, she went flying across the streets and crashed into one of the towering pagodas.
"I... Is she dead?"
Seth raised a brow as he saw no movement whatsoever coming from the sprawled figure. More so, a huge chunk of stones and other debris crashed on the body. "Shit, she's dead!... do I call this witnessing a murder, though?"
Seth paled even more in complexion as he took a step backwards.
This turned out to be a terrible idea as like a guard dog detecting even the slightest movement, the beast swiftly turned it's head to face him. "Uh, nice doggy... good doggy..." Seth continued to repeat as he slowly took more and more steps back. The black haired guy was inwardly surprised. 'So beasts are like pets after all?...' Then he frowned and winkled his forehead in thought. 'Or maybe my cheat is that I can control beasts?!!'
This probability got him really excited. He stopped backing away and stood firm on the ground.
"Sit!"
The beast stood still for a while, then began running towards him with unparalleled madness and a sea of bloodlust gleaming brightly in its eyes. It's fangs snapped with ferocity and its feet moved like lightening. Before he could even blink twice, the creature was above his head with its maw wide open, it had just found yet another addition to it's gruesome dinner. Before it could bite him into two, however, a golden burst of bright Qi energy slammed into the side of it's head, diverting it's harrowing fangs away from the human.
"Hundred dantian Qi wave!"
Seth's eyes widened considerably as that particular attack looked eerily similar to that of a particular anime character, all that was left was just an orange gi and a blue undershirt.
'If I get powerful enough, would I be able to do a kamehameh...I mean, that attack too?!' That thought alone made him even more determined to find his cheat.
Meanwhile Lee Chun Hua knelt down on the floor panting hard. She had borrowed a lot more natural Qi to perform the Qi wave attack than her body was able to carry. Her eyes were bloodshot, her pristine skin bruised and battered, yet she had a smirk on her face. This was the other side of Lee Chun Hua that only the sect heads knew about. A battle hungry fighting machine that never backed down until the enemy was six feet under. A side of her that would only emerge when the sweet, pretty girl was pushed to a corner and became a blood thirsty maniac. This Chun Hua would not hesitate to sacrifice her entire cohort just to get a strike at the beast. This Chun Hua would let it rampage the entire sectdom just to wear it down in order to deliver the final blow. This Chun Hua would not hesitate to lose her life, provided that the enemy would also follow her to the grave.
"Death's Blade!" She called out, and a black scythe with a blade on both it's top and on its bottom flew towards her hand. With a perverse smile on her face, she suddenly appeared in front of the creature.
"Die."
The shockwaves coming from the attack threw Seth off the ground and let him tumble a good twenty feet before coming to a stop. That was no doubt a hundred times more powerful than all get other attacks, but to her consternation, the beast only let out an earsplitting roar before whacking her to the ground once again, creating a massive crater from the impact.