Chapter 444 - An Equal Opponent
Behind him, a plume of black smoke billowed up to the sky. And from the dark smoke came the sounds of heavy breathing. Two bright eyes were also visible within it like fireballs!
A huge demonic creature walked out from the dark smoke, it stood and was was like a giant man. It had a wild and ruthless air, and its eyes were calloused and emotionless!
Its presence was virtually undetectable, to the point that even Zhong Yue was unable to see where it had come from.
“Similar to those of the Gui Shen Celestial Race…”
Zhong Yue exclaimed as he thought. The Gui Shen Celestial Race was a race of natural assassins. They could hide inside the dimensions and completely disappear from the senses of others. Clearly, the demon slave had the same talent as well!
Yan Zhen stared coldly at Zhong Yue and said solemnly, “Demon slave, he is mine. You will take care of the girl!”
The demon slave then let out a deep roar, and it disappeared into thin air.
Krong——
Immediately as the beast disappeared, Qiu Jin'er's heart stiffened up. Just right when she leaped backward, the place where she stood before sunk into the ground as an invisible fist punched it!
The young lady was moving backward quickly and left a trail of craters on the ground due to the beast’s punches.
In stark contrast to the Gui Shen Celestial Race that Zhong Yue had encountered before, the Gui Shen experts would have to come out from the void in order to strike. This demon slave able to strikes from within the void itself. It was evident that this demon slave was stronger than the Gui Shen Celestial Race at their own strength!
Suddenly, Qiu Jin’er’s face changed slightly. She pushed her hands out and clashed with the invisible fist. Immediately as the strikes crashed together, the young lady was pushed out and sent flying away!
Qiu Jin'er then muffled a groan, the tip of her feet dipped on the ground, and she forcibly changed directions.
Chi!
A long and narrow line of blood appeared on her light-complexioned neck. It was a wound created from the demonic beast's claws!
Hu——
A wave of breeze blew at her face, and Qiu Jin'er hastily moved backward. A long trail of marks was left on the ground by the demon slave's tail as it chased after her.
Qiu Jin'er was constantly moving and evading the demons slaves attacks.
Even she had the thought of attacking, and she wouldn't be able to do so either as she couldn't see where the demon slave was.
But no matter how quickly and swiftly she moved, it was still impossible to evade all the attacks. Thus, the demon slave was able to inflict wounds on her body time after time.
Its attacks contained the demonic element that corroded her mortal body and inflicted damage even to her Yuan Shen. After all, she wasn't Zhong Yue, and she didn't have the same resistance he did against the demonic element. The demonic element was now suppressing her Immortal Body and impeding it from working. It could be said as the natural counter to the Immortal Body!
Suddenly, the demon slave stopped chasing after her. Qiu Jin'er's heart immediately tensed up even more than before. It was even more dangerous for the demon slave to stop chasing, after all, as if the demon beast stopped moving, she wouldn't be able to detect its movements!
And if the demon slave were to sneak to her side, she would not be able to react its killing blow!
Qiu Jin'er flashed around like a waltzing butterfly, flitting about the nearly five to six-mile-wide battlefield.
Suddenly, she stopped. She heaved a breath of relief and a bright smile radiated across her face.
"【Burying Sword Art】!" Qiu Jin'er mumbled, and suddenly, sword-shaped stone tablets extruded out from the ground. The nearly six-mile-wide battlefield turned into a forest of sword tablets, leaving only little gaps between each other.
“【Planting Sword Art】!”
Between the sword tablets, lively plants were growing vigorously, they filled the gaps and extended out for another five miles out from the sword tablets. These plants were also shaped like the swords, leaves and grasses, stems and roots, swaying along with the breeze.
She then continued chanting.
“【Streaming Sword Art】!”
Water then flowed out from the ground, soaking the grass and connecting the sword tablets together.
“【Burning Sword Art】!”
A fire then burst out from the top of the sword tablets and turned into many little soaring dragons, hovering above the water.
“【Volt Sword Art】!”
Qiu Jin'er opened her mouth, and a golden core exited out of her mouth. She raised her hand, grabbed at the golden core, and swung her hand down with great force.
Vrummmm——
A tens of feet-long dazzling Sword Qi shot out from the golden core!
This was the Great Boundless Sword Array! The five elements of nature engendered one another, and they turned a six-mile-wide space into its sword array formation!
While a loud bellowing sound was resounding in the sword array and blood sprinkled in the air. The demon slave was caught in the sword array and roared in pain. The greatly wounded beast then held itself together and forcibly pressed through the attacks toward as it traipsed toward Qiu Jin'er.
While on the other end of the battlefield, Zhong Yue said placidly, “Brother, your demon slave is dead for sure. My junior martial sister’s sword array is something even I don’t want to tamper with and could only strike from the outside out of the sword array.”
"That's fairly to say the same for my demon slave. I have fed it with many treasures, and thus, its mortal body has become so strong that even I can't compete with it!"
Yan Zhen sucked in a long breath of air, and his body bulged out, and the raging arcane energy surged out to the surroundings, turning into an Avatar of a hundred-armed demon god!
"But my strength is still beyond its level!" Yan Zhen then shouted.
Zhong Yue's face turned solemn. The Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banners flew up into the hands of the demon god Avatar. The demon god clenched on the banners and formed an array formation, powering the godly demonic array formation to its limit!
A strong opponent!
Zhong Yue heaved a breath, slowly pulling out the Golden Peng Sword from his Yuan Shen secret realms.
Yan Zhen was definitely the strongest opponent he had ever come across in the same level of Heavenly Dharma, one that he had never seen before!
Not only was this Heavenly Dharma demon able to cast out his Avatar in such a place like the Returning Ruins, but he had also formed a god-level array formation with the Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banners!
Zhong Yue didn't cultivate his Inner Core and Heavenly Dharma levels to their extremities, but it was clear that Yan Zhen definitely had!
Furthermore, his Avatar was different from that celestial young man Lei Sheng's. Lei Sheng did it by externally manifesting the Avatar's image, while Yan Zhen merged his Avatar with his own mortal body, turning into the 1000-feet tall demon god himself!
In addition to the Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banners, his strength would be beyond that of ordinary Heavenly Dharma cultivators!
"To be able to meet an expert like you, I'm more than gratified. Since you have seen through my traps, then I have no choice but to finish you myself!"
Yan Zhen moved, striking a barrage of punches at Zhong Yue. He had used the force of heaven and earth to form his Avatar and power the Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banner Array. Although he didn't manage to trap Zhong Yue in his array formation, the strikes he launched were still incredibly strong!
Zhong Yue thrust his sword over to counter the attacks. As the golden sword clashed with the slashing banners, the powerful residual force traveled into his body through his sword and sent his body flying backward into the sky.
Yan Zhen strode forward, his hundred arms were wielding the banners and striking at Zhong Yue relentlessly. Thrust, slash, slice, swing, pierce, stab and every other attack was thrown at Zhong Yue while he was subject to the frigid suppression of the immensely cold Xuan Yin Qi from the banners!
Zhong Yue was fluttering through in the air, evading one attack after another while Yan Zhen let out a cry. The Hundred Demon Banners shuddered, and a Xuan Yin beast burst out from the array formation and crashed into Zhong Yue's chest.
Bones cracked, and his rib bones were completely shattered off.
The Xuan Yin beast raised its paws and slammed on Zhong Yue's battered body, slamming him down into the ground from mid-air, creating a 1000-feet wide crater in the ground!
Yan Zhen continued controlling the beast to slammed into Zhong Yue, mercilessly driving him deeper and deeper into the ground.
Suddenly, Yan Zhen stopped. The banners dispersed from the beast and shot up into the sky, returning to Yan Zhen in just the blink of an eye.
Ding——
A high-pitched metal clanging sound echoed out behind Yan Zhen as the banners had just managed to block the Golden Peng Sword from thrusting into him from behind.
Yan Zhen turned back and found Zhong Yue just a few steps away from him. If he had just been a second slower, his body would have been pierced by the sword already!
“How did you…”
While Yan Zhen was shocked; Zhong Yue had dashed forward and morphed into the Zhu Yan Celestial form. He slashed the golden sword down while Yan Zhen blocked with the banners.
Ding——
Another loud ding resounded the sky. Zhong Yue's strength was so strong that it numbed Yan Zhen's arms for a second. For a split moment there, the banners that he was holding up were slightly lowered by the force.
However, that created a flaw in his Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banner Array!
Zhong Yue seized the chance and slipped past the defenses, grabbing onto Yan Zhen's ankle. He upended Yan Zhen before hurling his 1000-feet demon god body into the sky. The massive body made a long arc in the air before crashing into the ground.
In comparison to Yan Zhen's current form, Zhong Yue was only 16 feet tall. Yet, Zhong Yue was able to lift and hurl it away as if it were nothing at all. From this display, one could clearly infer just how appallingly strong the Zhu Yan Celestial Race was!
Yan Zhen continued tumbled across the ground after crashing into it as his momentum going into the ground was too much for him to quickly recover from.
Meanwhile, a loud roar came from Zhong Yue in the Zhu Yan form. A strong force built up within the raging ape's legs, and its long hands also dug into the ground as Zhong Yue used the anchor points from his four limbs to catapult himself toward Yan Zhen at a speed that was imperceptible to the naked eyes!
Immediately, Yan Zhen could feel the imminent danger closing in. He quickly cast out the Xuan Yin Hundred Demon Banners and placed them against the incoming Zhu Yan, forming a wall of defense.
Krong——
The raging Zhu Yan ape rammed on the banners. The impact force launched Yan Zhen who was still tumbling on the ground behind the banners away for another few thousand miles, causing him to crash into a ruined celestial temple. A muffled groan came from the ruined celestial temple, and the temple's supporting pillars were sent crashing down to the ground!
This brat is a Zhu Yan Celestial!, A thought flashed across Yan Zhen’s mind, The Zhu Yan Celestial Race was incredibly strong in strength but also incredibly weak in arcane energy. I just need to draw him into the array…
Roar——
Just as he thought about it, Zhong Yue morphed into the Kui Long form. He stood with one leg and released a loud roar while his hands ferociously beat his chest.
Dong!
Dong! Dong! Dong!——
The percussive sounds thrummed out attacked Yan Zhen, causing blood to trickle from his mouth. The demon was furious, and he swung the banners, sending a huge snake out from the array formation. As soon as it rushed out from the array formation, its head was split in two, then four, then eight. In just a few seconds, the number of snakeheads had increased exponentially to eventually reach a number of a few hundred. And all of them were now gnawing at Zhong Yue.
Zhong Yue quickly retreated while the snakeheads rained down on him. They would keep striking on the ground, lift up, strike, lift up and strike again and again!
Mrang——
Zhong Yue released a loud cry, he transformed into a nine-headed golden dragon and pressed the huge snake to the ground. The golden dragon's claws mangled the snake, and the nine dragon heads opened its mouth and devoured the snake heads.
Yan Zhen stood up, his mortal body had suddenly shrunk back to 16 feet tall while the banners also turned smaller. His face was solemn, and in a grave tone, he said, "You are indeed strong."
Although he was vastly smaller than his previous form, the concentration of force and power in his mortal body had increased by a few folds.
The decision to use a huge mortal body was just him being arrogant, trying to kill Zhong Yue in one strike. But as a bigger body naturally had more flaws, he was suppressed by Zhong Yue who had the gumption to relentless hone in on those flaws. Zhong Yue was stronger than he thought, and it was hard for him to push Zhong Yue back for a moment.
Immediately, he shrunk his body back down and was now fully prepared. After all, keeping a hand in the dark still would only lead to a miserable defeat when battling a seasoned fighter like Zhong Yue!
A body 16 feet tall was the optimal form to fully unleash his power!
"No matter what form you take, your end will still be the same!" Yan Zhen proclaimed as he raised his hand up and pointed at Zhong Yue with the tip of a banner.
Translator Note: Vrummmm—— The sound it was made when the golden Sword Qi came out, I somehow imagined it like to be like the sound a lightsaber made when the plasma blade sliced through the air.