Chapter 1292: A Difficult Victory
The streams of light moved just far too fast, no one could react in time. All Tie Ta saw was a flash of lightning. Then he was struck by the streams of light.
Tie Ta immediately froze as a ball of indigo lightning crackled and wrapped around him. Tie Ta’s skin quickly blackened, no longer a golden luster, while the air filled with a burnt smell.
Boom! Tie Ta collapsed on the ground straight-backed. Sparks flickered around his body. The lightning from the horns of the Xuanhuang beast possessed unbelievable might. The electricity had completely numbed Tie Ta. Even the vast energy within him was slowed.
The Xuanhuang beast produced a shaking roar as it quickly arrived beside Tie Ta. It raised a foot to stomp on Tie Ta. Again, a ball of earthen-yellow light flickered on the bottom of its foot and the weight of anything within the region enclosed by the light rapidly increased.
At this moment, two resplendent, white sword Qis shot out of the bushes. They moved as streaks of light, landing accurately in the eyes of the Xuanhuang beast.
Spurt! Spurt!
Blood was immediately thrown into the air when the Xuanhuang beast’s eyes exploded because of the two sword Qis that had appeared out of nowhere. Its eyes were reduced to two bloody and empty sockets.
The Xuanhuang beast painfully roared while the foot above Tie Ta slowed down. Taking advantage of the moment, Jian Chen leaped from the bush and arrived beside Tie Ta as quickly as he could with the Illusory Flash. He grabbed Tie Ta by the shoulder before throwing him far away.
During the short moment of contact between his hand and Tie Ta’s shoulder, Jian Chen gained an idea of Tie Ta’s condition. He immediately became relieved. Tie Ta was heavily injured, but his life was not threatened. His body had only been stunned by the powerful electricity, causing him to temporarily lose his mobility.
The Xuanhuang beast, which had been blinded and was in excruciating pain from losing its eyes, immediately stabbed a cluster of nerves, decreasing its senses to the lowest point possible. It was a perfect opportunity to deal a heavy blow to it, so after throwing Tie Ta aside, Jian Chen leaped onto the Xuanhuang beast’s head. He used Chaotic Force and his attainments in the sword to condense an extremely powerful sword Qi in his hand. He stabbed it toward the deepest wound on the Xuanhuang beast’s head.
Although Jian Chen managed to stab the sword Qi into the beast’s head, he soon felt a powerful obstruction and only managed to stab it two inches deep before not being able to continue any further.
Jian Chen was secretly shocked. The toughness of this Xuanhuang beast was even greater than the giant red python he had come across before. His attack had clearly already entered its body, yet it still encountered such a powerful obstruction. If the Xuanhuang beast had not been heavily injured and was not covered in countless deep wounds, the two of them would probably not have even been able to get through its hide.
Blue light began to flicker from its horns again, causing Jian Chen to narrow his eyes. He had witnessed the terror of the blue lightning when it hit Tie Ta, so without any hesitation, he leaped off the Xuanhuang beast’s head with a flip in an attempt to dodge the attack.
A spark of electricity shot from between the Xuanhuang beast’s horns, striking the ground ahead. However, the electricity exploded two meters above the ground and expanded into a web-like net that encased a radius of a hundred meters.
Jian Chen had never thought that the Xuanhuang beast would know such a clever trick, so he was immediately struck by a few sparks. His clothes were immediately reduced to ashes while his body blackened where the powerful streams of electricity hit. His body flickered with sparks.
Just like Tie Ta, Jian Chen collapsed on his face. The electricity had numbed his entire body to the point that his limbs froze. Even moving a finger was extremely difficult. The circulation of Chaotic Force within him became extremely slow as well.
Although the Xuanhuang beast had been blinded, it could still sense where Jian Chen was. It raised of its huge feet to stomp on him. The earthen-yellow light from before had already surrounded him, making him feel like a mountain had descended upon him. He felt extremely heavy.
At this moment, Jian Chen was completely incapacitated. All he could do was watch as the foot descended upon him.
Bang! With a heavy sound, the foot landed on him with unimaginably terrifying force. Jian Chen had not been stomped into the ground, but his body still sank.
Spurt! Jian Chen vomited a mouthful of blood as his face became sheet-white. He had almost been flattened by the stomp. All of his organs had been reduced to paste and most of his bones had been shattered. His chest had been reduced to a bloody mess, and he became red all over from the blood.
Even with Jian Chen’s fourth layer Chaotic Body, he could not endure the stomp from this Xuanhuang beast. If it was any other expert, even if they were a Saint Emperor, they probably would have been reduced to meat paste by the stomp.
Jian Chen lay on the ground immobilized. He was so heavily injured that even with his Chaotic Body, he was unable to recover in a short amount of time. However, the numbness he felt rapidly receded, allowing him to slowly recover control of his body and Chaotic Force.
However, the Xuanhuang beast did not give Jian Chen the chance to even catch a breath. It opened its gaping mouth, revealing three rows of extremely sharp teeth. With a single motion, it picked Jian Chen up with its mouth and viciously bit his chest, almost severing him into two. Only two-fifths of his chest held him together.
“Jian Chen, I’ve come!” A furious bellow rang out when Tie Ta had recovered. He quickly ran over at the speed of lightning and radiated a golden light. Battle intent surged into the sky from him.
“Mysteries of War, Form-shatterer!” Tie Ta wielded his axe with his two hands and lifted it high above his head. Immediately, a dazzling golden light shone from it, striking the Xuanhuang beast’s head as a golden afterimage.
The force of the axe was completely hidden within, making it impossible to sense any of the pressure it gave off. However, it seemed to be very heavy when he swung it. The energy within seemed to be unending, pulsing out like waves striking a shoreline. At the same time, it felt extremely unstable, as if it was gunpowder and could explode at any moment.
The golden axe landed on the deepest wound on the Xuanhuang beast’s head and, suddenly, the terrifying energy erupted like a bomb. The golden axe transformed into golden streams of energy that wildly wreaked havoc within the Xuanhuang beast’s head.
The energy within the axe seemed to be unlimited. The golden energy poured out without any signs of stopping as it constantly smashed the Xuanhuang beast’s wound with powerful attacks, causing it to deepen more and more and become more severe. In the end, it broke through the final layer of defenses within the Xuanhuang beast’s head, allowing streams of energy to invade the depths of the beast’s head, completely obliterating its central nervous system.
With that destroyed, the Xuanhuang beast powerlessly collapsed on the ground with a boom. Its heavy body caused the earth to tremble.
Tie Ta exhaled in relief when he saw that the Xuanhuang beast had finally collapsed. Exhaustion appeared on his face as he murmured, “I never thought that using the Form-shatterer would be so terrifying. I can use Mortality-breaker, Void-smasher, and Destruction several times on end without losing my breath, but just a single Form-shatterer drained half of my energy. Looks like this technique created by uncle Aergyns is powerful, but it can’t be used so easily.” Tie Ta put away his axe and arrived before the huge mouth of the beast. He saw that a large portion of Jian Chen’s body was stuck in the sharp teeth, or in other words, the teeth were deeply embedded in his body. Only lower half of his body, from his chest below, was visible. The other part was within the mouth.
Tie Ta crouched down and opened the Xuanhuang beast’s mouth and carefully pulled Jian Chen out. He asked in concern, “Jian Chen, are you alright?”
Jian Chen bitterly smiled. He said with a rather pale face, “I’ve been heavily injured this time, so I’ve temporarily become incapacitated. I need to enter the artifact space to heal.” He then pointed at the Amethyst Spiritual Bamboo in the distance and said, “Tie Ta, there’s an amethyst rock within that region of bamboo. That rock’s extremely important to me, so please collect it for me.”
Tie Ta doubtfully glanced at the Yin Hellstone. He could not understand what was valuable about that rock. It could not be eaten, nor could it be used for cultivation. He did not believe that Jian Chen needed money either. However, he did not hesitate even though he was utterly confused. He immediately walked to the rock after hearing what Jian Chen said.
When Tie Ta returned to Jian Chen’s side with the rock, the Yin Hellstone was no longer the size of a fist like when he had first seen it. Instead, it was even larger than he had imagined and was actually around half a person tall. Most of it had been hidden beneath the ground and only a fist-sized portion had been visible on the surface.
Jian Chen only smiled in victory after obtaining the Yin Hellstone. At the same time, he struggled to suppress the excitement he felt within. He had finally collected all the materials to forge the Azulet swords.