The bond between Jiuxiao and Pengluo was a subtle thing.
Once, neither could stand the sight of the other.
Yet after all this time, the two had become each other's most trusted companions.
By now, they were less like mere allies and more like brothers, like kin.
Pengluo usually loved acting brazen and shameless, but it never dared behave that way before Jiuxiao.
Especially last time, when Jiuxiao had torn open its own heart to offer its heart blood, Pengluo had nearly burned away its very life in turn.
And Jiuxiao had seen everything Pengluo had done.
The creature that appeared the most unreliable had proven, in truth, to be the most steadfast of all.
Seeing Jiuxiao wounded, Pengluo flew into a violent rage. Gripping a hammer in its little hand, it vanished into thin air.
When it reappeared, it burst forth directly between one of the enemy cultivators' legs, its eyes glinting with a chilling gleam.
It raised its hammer, aiming straight between the man's thighs, and swung down with all its might!
Yet all three enemies possessed cultivation far superior to Pengluo's. The instant the spatial ripple appeared, the cultivator noticed it.
A frigid light flashed beneath his mask. Lashing out like a whip, his right leg drove into Pengluo's head with brutal speed!
Bang!
The kick blew off half of Pengluo's head. Shot backward like a kicked ball, Pengluo clutched what remained of its skull and scrambled to flee.
"No good, no good! Brother Jiu! Brother Jiu, I can't beat this son of a bitch!"
Even as it hollered, its little legs spun like windmills.
In just those few breaths, Jiuxiao had suffered several more bloody gashes.
The searing, corrosive sensation nearly drove the dragon mad, yet its colossal form remained steadfast as a boulder!
No matter how savagely the surrounding cultivators struck, it did not budge an inch.
Dragon scales shattered and dragon blood splattered, but Jiuxiao merely let out low, wrathful growls, never once extending a claw in retaliation.
Four of the eight ink flood dragons let out furious roars at the sight!
Their colossal bodies swept through the void, attempting to batter aside the foes before them.
Yet the assassins of Sha knew their duty all too well. Clinging fiercely to their targets, they tangled in close combat to ensure none could break away to reinforce Jiuxiao.
With only Meng Wanshu and her companions, holding off the growing encirclement was becoming nearly impossible!
A fierce glint flashed in Ye Feng's eyes. With a cold snort, he completely unleashed the power of his ghost hand!
Rumble!
A dreadful burst of golden light erupted as Ye Feng blurred into an afterimage, hurtling into the fray with a calm, fearless expression.
Wreathed in ghostly wails, he forced his aura all the way up until it rivaled a mid Body Integration Realm expert!
And he had broken through to this realm less than four hours ago!
Streaking through the air, Cao Yan could not help but send an urgent voice transmission: "Take it easy, Second Brother! The power of your ghost hand is too overwhelming right now—it's even suppressing the strength of your true body!"
Ye Feng gripped his sword with both hands, murderous intent flaring in his gaze as he replied, "It doesn't matter. What matters most right now is raw power! An early Body Integration Realm cultivation isn't nearly enough!"
Around Meng Wanshu, terrifying frost energy surged, her primal energy fluctuating violently.
Clearly, she too was ready to force an immediate breakthrough at any moment.
Narrowing her eyes, she fixed her gaze on three cultivators less than a thousand zhang away.
Glancing sideways, she saw two more Sha assassins rushing in from the flank. Her chest heaved slightly as she said in a cold voice, "I'll hold off the two behind us. Can you handle the rest?"
A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Xiao Chen's mouth. "What do you mean, 'can we'? We definitely will!"
Boom!
"Apocalypse: She Shen!"
Raging flames swept across the sky. Fire coiled around the spear in Xiao Chen's grasp, and with green astral wind churning beneath his boots, his speed surged drastically!
Cao Yan exhaled a breath of turbid air and murmured softly, "Apocalypse: Blood-Sworn Solitary Sun!"
Boom!
Flames wrapped around his arms as he unleashed his full strength. A crushing punch momentum erupted from his body, and heavy fist intent enveloped the void like a descending mountain.
Meng Wanshu abruptly halted and turned to face the two red-robed men closing in.
"Court death!"
"Hmph! You think you alone can stop us?"
Flanking her from left and right, the two darted forward like phantoms!
The chilling glint of their swords lunged straight for her face!
Meng Wanshu took a slow breath and murmured softly, "It has been so many years since I fought the way Gu Li does..."
With a flick of her sleeve, brilliant spiritual lights flared into existence around her one after another.
The two red-robed men had not yet noticed anything amiss.
Cold gleams crossed as their swords sliced forward, aiming straight for her neck!
Clang!
The golden phantom of an ancient bell materialized, enclosing Meng Wanshu completely.
Buddhist Sanskrit runes seemed to drift over the golden silhouette. As the golden light circulated, it turned aside the incoming strikes with absolute ease.
Clang!
The bell tolled.
Ripples of golden light burst outward from the bell, and the resonant peal struck toward the assassins' seas of consciousness like a sound from the dawn of creation!
The two red-robed men shot backward in retreat, yet the toll of the great bell traveled far too swiftly.
They had retreated barely two hundred zhang when their heads snapped back as if struck by heavy warhammers!
Their eyes rolled white, and beneath their masks, blood streamed uncontrollably from all seven facial orifices...
By then, more than a hundred radiant magic treasures and dharma artifacts hovered around Meng Wanshu, each shimmering with vibrant spiritual light!
Watching from afar, Gu Li could not help but swallow hard. Every single one of those was a peerless treasure.
Seeing this, Meng Wanshu was unmistakably a lady of immense wealth!
Was she even richer than he was?
Gu Li glanced down at his wrists and fingers, muttering under his breath, "No way she's richer than me, right?"
Boom!
The words had barely left his mouth when his body was cleaved cleanly in two!
Yet when he reappeared, he was already standing beside Jiuxiao.
Glancing at the stunned red-robed cultivator in the distance, Gu Li's lips curved into an eerie smile.
The cleaved inscribed talisman before the red-robed man was still burning.
Suddenly!
The flaming talisman split open, silver spatial light flashing incessantly within.
In an instant, over ten thousand yellow inscribed talismans swarmed out like a cloud of hornets, enveloping the man within a single zhang of space.
Forming a one-handed seal, Gu Li uttered a chilling command: "Detonate!"
Boom!
A deafening roar shattered the heavens. The void convulsed violently, forcing even the cultivators in the other battlefields to pause their clashes.
The blast wave engulfed a radius of several thousand zhang!
A column of fire surged into the sky, and a battered, miserable figure burst out of the inferno.
Half of the peak mid Body Integration Realm assassin's body had been blown to pieces, and his mask was mostly destroyed.
Behind the shattered remnants of the mask, an unfamiliar face was exposed. The man stared venomously at Gu Li, his eyes dark with murderous spite.
Tucking his hands into his sleeves, Gu Li chuckled and pointed toward the man's back, murmuring, "It isn't over yet."
A trace of the burning talisman still clung to the man's back. In a heartbeat, a dense flurry of talismans swept outward like fallen leaves driven by an autumn gale!
Terror flashed in the man's eyes. He frantically tore at his robes, but his efforts were entirely futile.
Tens of thousands of inscribed talismans flared with searing fire, detonating all at once!
Gu Li stood atop Jiuxiao's head with his eyes closed, his back to the blazing inferno as he waved a hand dismissively.
Amidst the horrifying blast, severed limbs and shattered bone flew everywhere.
The terrifying shockwave caused the void across a hundred li to tremble.
And all this had cost Gu Li was a single shattered ring on the little finger of his left hand.
"I might not have much else, but your brother has more talismans than he knows what to do with."
"Isn't it just burning money? I can afford it!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Li watched three more enemies hurtling toward him. Without hesitation, he crushed three more storage rings on his fingers in rapid succession.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A full three hundred thousand inscribed talismans spread out, blanketing the sky to forge a bizarre talisman barrier that encased Jiuxiao.
Anyone who wanted to lay a hand on Li Guanqi would have to endure the brunt of these three hundred thousand talismans first!
Inside the barrier, however, Gu Li shed his earlier composure. Sneaking his hands about, he began quietly collecting the talismans from the innermost layer.
As he stashed them away, he muttered, "No one can see from the outside anyway. Waste not, want not."
The battle gradually settled into a tense deadlock.
The assassins of Sha had grown wary of Gu Li's tactics. More importantly, none of them had any idea just how many talismans he still had up his sleeves!
Chapter 923