"Meng Jingzhou, you bastard! Is that how you fight?!" In his tiger form, Lu Yang saw what had happened and flew into a rage, speaking human speech.
Here I am fighting my heart out, and all you do is throw a high-grade spirit stone!
Is that even reasonable?!
"Yeah, is that even reasonable? Why don't you have a single spirit stone on you?" The two demon beasts fighting Lu Yang were quite angry as well.
Lu Yang: "...Could you two just not talk? You've completely ruined whatever intimidating aura you had."
The two demon beasts turned a deaf ear.
They had been fighting for ages and were on the verge of losing, whereas the tiger and lion demon had done nothing at all and gotten a high-grade spirit stone for free.
That was a high-grade spirit stone! In all their long lives, they had never possessed a single one.
Bloodline hatred was certainly important, but one had to consider practical reality as well.
"How about the two of you go beat him up instead?" Lu Yang tried to divert the trouble elsewhere, suggesting the two demon beasts switch targets.
"Hey, hey, hey, Lu Yang, that's not cool!" Meng Jingzhou yelled from not far away. That grandson is just jealous of my wealth!
"Save your shouting for later—those two demon beasts came back!" Lu Yang offhandedly warned, catching Meng Jingzhou off guard.
*Roar—!*
A lion's roar rang out, more terrifying than thunder, detonating right beside Meng Jingzhou's ears and making his head spin.
The lion demon and tiger demon returned side by side, radiating a chilling aura.
"Why did you two come back?"
A greedy expression crossed the tiger demon's face. "Since you could casually toss out a high-grade spirit stone, you must have plenty more. Hand them all over, and I'll spare your life!"
The lion demon's mane bristled. Looking at Meng Jingzhou as if he were a walking treasure bowl, it snarled menacingly, "Otherwise, prepare to be captured by us, and we'll devour every last spirit stone you own!"
Meng Jingzhou frowned and let out a cold snort. "Greedy scoundrels!"
Just because he preferred not to fight did not mean he feared them.
"You're merely two mid Golden Core demon beasts. You wouldn't even qualify to be watchdogs for my Meng Family!"
"Courting death!"
Enraged, the tiger demon and lion demon lunged to tear Meng Jingzhou to pieces!
"Heaven-Shaking Six Forms!" Meng Jingzhou stopped playing around. His eyes widened like the wrathful glare of a deity, imposing and inviolable.
After relentlessly practicing Arhat Fist, he had gained fresh insights into the Heaven-Shaking Six Forms, making them far more potent than before!
Meng Jingzhou moved like a phantom. His footwork was erratic yet swift as he wove through the battlefield, fists swinging like the wind as they smashed into the two demon beasts.
Caught off guard, the tiger and lion demon each took a solid blow, vomiting blood.
Shock filled their hearts. Seeing him scatter money at first sight, they had assumed he was an incompetent young scion of a wealthy clan. Who could have imagined his combat strength would be so terrifying?!
...
The patterned giant python's eyes were bloodshot, thoroughly infuriated by Tao Yaoye. Its serpentine eyes flared wide as it searched for that maddening figure, determined to swallow whole the little chit who had been toying with it all along.
Demon beasts naturally possessed weaker mental power; cultivators like Tao Yaoye, who specialized in illusions, were their natural bane.
Up to this point in the battle, the patterned giant python had failed to even graze the hem of Tao Yaoye's clothes.
*Crack—!*
A crisp sound rang out, like a mirror shattering to reveal the truth hidden beneath its surface.
"Found you!" The patterned giant python finally shattered the illusion and located Tao Yaoye.
Seemingly caught unprepared by this sudden development, Tao Yaoye stood frozen in place, utterly at a loss.
It opened its bloody maw and swallowed the terrified, despairing Tao Yaoye in a single gulp.
Tao Yaoye struggled desperately, yet she was still no match for the patterned giant python and was swallowed into its belly bit by bit.
Not far away, holding a red paper umbrella, Tao Yaoye stood with an ethereal figure, watching the patterned giant python swallow its own tail and gently shaking her head.
To an outsider, Tao Yaoye appeared to be toying with the giant python, but only she knew just how dangerous this truly was.
The patterned giant python was a late Golden Core demon beast; pushing herself to the absolute limit, Tao Yaoye could only keep it lost within illusions.
The slightest lapse in concentration would allow the python to shatter the illusion and step into reality.
If that happened, she would be in grave danger.
"I really lack offensive techniques," Tao Yaoye murmured, recognizing her own shortcoming. Had she possessed Lu Yang's offensive capabilities, she would have defeated this giant python long ago.
Illusions could kill, but only if the target fell into a deep illusion.
Tao Yaoye was confident in plunging any Foundation Establishment cultivator besides Lu Yang into a deep illusion, but doing so to a Golden Core cultivator was exceedingly difficult.
This meant she struggled to kill enemies a realm above her own.
As for the Feathering Immortal Physique, its focus lay in defense rather than offense.
For now, the best she could do was keep the giant python trapped.
...
As Man Gu continuously chanted the Immortal Fairy's name, the long-dormant Ancient Barbarian bloodline within him began to erupt, surging forth like an unstoppable volcanic blast.
Man Gu's physical body steadily strengthened. At the start of the battle, he had been at a disadvantage against the late Golden Core armored demon beast, but now, he fought on completely equal footing.
This was an astonishing feat: a late Foundation Establishment body rivaling a late Golden Core cultivator.
Man Gu realized that in ancient times, perhaps every member of the Ancient Barbarian race had been capable of this. It meant that an immortal's blessing had forcefully elevated the entire race's combat prowess.
"The Immortal Fairy is peerless under heaven!"
The armored demon beast grew hesitant to fight. It felt a sense of dread emanating from Man Gu—not from Man Gu's own skill, but born from bloodline fear.
Previously, the source of its bloodline had harbored both fear and hatred toward Man Gu, with hatred winning out.
Now, however, fear was gradually overpowering hatred.
...
Having transformed into a fierce tiger, Lu Yang dealt with the two mid Golden Core demon beasts with ease.
Just as he prepared to summon his momentum and slay the two beasts in one fell swoop, his beastly hearing detected something amiss.
*Waaah—!*
From the distance came the wailing of an infant, sending chills down Lu Yang's spine.
This was a dense primeval forest, surrounded on all sides by vicious demon beasts. How could there possibly be an infant?
The two demon beasts exchanged a glance, mutual terror showing in their eyes.
"It's here!"
Lu Yang was bewildered. "Who?"
The two demon beasts did not answer, while the infant's wails drew closer and closer.
Suddenly, the crying stopped, and an ancient aura that struck terror into their hearts burst forth.
"Fighting for this long, and you can't even handle a few humans?"
A chilling voice rang beside their ears. Lu Yang reverted to human form, raising his Green Blade Sword on full alert.
The owner of the voice slowly emerged from the woods, revealing its true form: nine serpent heads atop a colossal body over ten meters tall.
Lu Yang slowly exhaled a breath. "Jiuying."
The ancient demon beast, Jiuying.
Judging by its appearance, this was no collateral branch like the tiger and lion demons.
This was a pureblood Jiuying.
"You two, join me in killing this sword-wielding human!" Jiuying commanded. It had also been drawn by the Ancient Barbarian bloodline, and the moment it arrived, it realized Lu Yang was the strongest among the four. To kill Man Gu, Lu Yang had to die first.
Knowing how terrifying Jiuying was, the two demon beasts dared not disobey.
"Fairy, what realm is it?"
"Peak of the late Golden Core stage."
A troubled look crossed Lu Yang's face.
A pureblood Jiuying at the peak of the late Golden Core stage, flanked by two mid Golden Core demon beasts—with his current abilities, he simply could not win.
If the four of them wanted to leave, they could do so at any moment; Meng Jingzhou had not bought those Directional Teleportation Talismans for nothing.
The reason they had not fled stemmed from the tacit understanding between him and Meng Jingzhou.
Both of them recognized that this was an exceptional opportunity to temper Man Gu and Tao Yaoye. The enemies happened to sit right on the borderline between beatable and unbeatable—a chance that was almost impossible to find.
Lu Yang glanced toward Man Gu. Man Gu was clashing with the armored demon beast, his Ancient Barbarian bloodline continuously awakening.
It would be best if that process were not interrupted.
Meng Jingzhou and Tao Yaoye were both tied down.
In that case, handling Jiuying fell entirely to him.
"Hey, hey, hey, you can't beat that thing at all!" the Immortal Fairy fretted on his behalf.
"I can. I still have one move. Theoretically it should work, but I've never used it before. I'll need your help, Fairy."
"Huh?"
In reality, Lu Yang slowly closed his eyes as if drifting off to sleep. His body swayed in a lazy, relaxed posture.
All nine of Jiuying's heads sneered in unison. "Sleeping Arhat Fist? Perhaps once you reach the Golden Core stage, that fist technique might pose a threat to me."
"No, this isn't Sleeping Arhat Fist. It's a style of my own creation: the Lu Clan Imitation Fist."
"Lu Clan Imitation Fist?" Jiuying repeated instinctively.
As Lu Yang's movements shifted, his frame shrank, and his facial features gradually softened, taking on a distinctly feminine grace.
"Bluffing!" One of the demon beasts snorted coldly and charged Lu Yang first.
A delicate, pale fist smashed into the beast's face with blinding speed. Before the beast could even register the strike, the blow sent it hurtling backward through the air.
Jiuying's expression darkened, its eyes fixing intently on Lu Yang.
By now, Lu Yang had completely transformed, appearing as a petite yet breathtakingly beautiful young maiden.
"Lu Clan Imitation Fist—Huang Doudou Fist. Please advise!"
Chapter 261