Chapter 437 - 239: Descent 2
Chapter 437: Chapter 239: Descent 2
Only half of Tian Kuan’s head remained; half of his body had vanished as well.
Xiao Yu died with his eyes wide open. His body lay in a heap like soft mud, as if all his bones had vanished.
Only Hu Ze’s upper body remained. The rest of him was gone.
Surrounding the three corpses were several severed limbs, their owners impossible to identify.
A figure shrouded in a black robe stood among the mountain ruins, hands clasped behind his back. Embroidered on his chest was a blood-red lotus—the symbol of a Lotus Envoy of the Blood Lotus Sect.
The man on the Black Panther strode forward, cupped his hands, and said, "This subordinate pays his respects to the Lotus Envoy."
"Where is Zhang Bei?" Li Haifeng’s indifferent voice rang out, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
Zhou Yao’s heart clenched. "He must have gone to hunt down Xu Yang."
He had returned to the cave to check, only to find Hong Lei’s corpse. Xu Yang, who was on the Blood Lotus Sect’s must-kill list, was nowhere to be seen. He had followed the trail for a while and understood that Xu Yang had escaped, with Zhang Bei giving chase.
"Xu Yang?" A flicker of killing intent emanated from Li Haifeng.
Even someone of his stature knew of this Xu Yang from the Purple Sun Sect. The Holy Sect had dispatched assassins to ambush him on numerous occasions, yet he had managed to turn the tables and escape every time.
"Did you manage to kill Gao Lin?" Li Haifeng asked.
He had used his Celestial Essence Cultivation to ambush the group of Purple Sun Sect disciples. But because they were somewhat scattered, he hadn’t annihilated them all in one strike. Two had managed to escape in the chaos: Lu Chuping and Gao Lin.
Li Haifeng had caught up with Lu Chuping and crushed him.
Zhou Yao, meanwhile, was sent to hunt down Gao Lin.
Upon hearing the question, a flicker of fear crossed Zhou Yao’s face. "This subordinate was incompetent. I let Gao Lin escape. He used the Blood Burning Skill, sacrificing his Life Energy to boost his power. This subordinate couldn’t keep up."
"Useless! Go back and receive your punishment," Li Haifeng snorted.
During his initial attack, he had unleashed his strongest blow, and Gao Lin had already been wounded by the force of it. Yet even so, Zhou Yao had still let him escape.
"Yes!" Zhou Yao said, cupping his hands.
"Gather the corpses. This Envoy must use them to replenish his strength," Li Haifeng said.
Zhou Yao’s pupils constricted. He dared not say a word, and quickly began gathering the corpses scattered across the area, not even sparing the severed limbs.
In just a few moments, he had arranged the corpses of Tian Kuan, Xiao Yu, and the others into the grotesque shape of a lotus.
Li Haifeng strode forward and settled into the center of the lotus formation. A bizarre aura began to rise from his body.
His hands danced through the air, finally forming the Lotus Seal.
Li Haifeng’s face was a mask of piety and fanaticism. "We respectfully welcome the Holy Mother’s descent."
A look of both envy and fear flashed in Zhou Yao’s eyes. He retreated with his Black Panther, stopping several dozen feet away before kneeling. He kept his head bowed, not daring to look in Li Haifeng’s direction.
A few breaths later, a bizarre, bloody mist began to seep from Li Haifeng’s body. It formed a blood-red lotus that enveloped both him and all the corpses on the ground.
Time slowly ticked by. The occasional chirp of insects echoed through the mountains. Zhou Yao’s scalp prickled; from within the red mist came the continuous sounds of gnawing and chewing. He felt as if a pair of invisible eyes were constantly fixed upon him.
SCREEE...
An unknown amount of time passed. Suddenly, a sharp eagle’s cry pierced the sky.
Under the night sky, a giant eagle soared in from the distance, accompanied by a second, slightly smaller one.
Most eye-catching of all, however, was the figure on the larger eagle’s back. Radiating a blinding light, the god-like silhouette gazed down upon the earth below.
"The Peak Master of Beast King Peak!" Zhou Yao’s expression changed drastically.
Not far away, the blood mist roiled and contracted, revealing Li Haifeng in his black robes and the bodies of Tian Kuan and the others, which now looked as if they had been mauled.
All the essence had been drained from the corpses, leaving them shriveled and desiccated, their skin wrinkled and puckered.
"Envoy, what do we do?" Zhou Yao hissed. He had never expected the Peak Master of Beast King Peak to arrive so quickly.
"Let’s go, now!" Li Haifeng snapped.
"You beast! How dare you defile the bodies of my Purple Sun Sect disciples!"
A furious roar thundered across the sky. The next moment, the giant eagle carrying the Peak Master of Beast King Peak dove from the heavens like a falling star.
"Help has arrived!"
Xu Yang stood up from his perch in a large tree, spotting the god-like figure on the eagle’s back. ’Can’t sense how strong he is, but damn, what an entrance.’
Without a moment’s hesitation, Xu Yang launched himself into the air like a great bird, speeding toward the direction where the Peak Master of Beast King Peak had appeared.
Soon, a tremendous roar echoed from the distant mountains, as if the very peaks were collapsing and the earth splitting apart. The terrifying commotion could be heard from miles away.
He executed the Stepping on Gang and Chasing Wind Step to retrace his path. He soon reached the spot where he had killed Zhang Bei. After running another few hundred yards, the sound of something whistling through the air suddenly reached his ears.
"Zhang Bei, is that you?" Zhou Yao called out.
The aftershocks from the clash between the Celestial Essence experts had nearly killed him from hundreds of yards away. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and fled fast enough to escape with only minor injuries from the shockwaves.
As he fled, he had planned to find Zhang Bei so they could escape together.
Hearing the sound of movement up ahead, he had assumed it was Zhang Bei, returning from his pursuit of Xu Yang.
"Zhang Bei? He’s already dead."
An indifferent voice replied as an agile figure appeared, stepping lightly from branch to branch.
He was handsome, with a composed air, and carried a longspear taller than himself.
Zhou Yao’s pupils contracted. "Xu Yang? Where is Zhang Bei?"
He never imagined it would be Xu Yang. His eyes were glued to the longspear in Xu Yang’s hand, because it was Zhang Bei’s weapon.
It was almost identical in design to the one he himself carried.
"He’s dead," Xu Yang stated, his face devoid of expression as he drifted down from the tree to the ground.
"I don’t believe you!" Zhou Yao snarled.
How could Xu Yang possibly have killed Zhang Bei?!
"Kill!"
Zhou Yao let out a murderous roar, and he and the Black Panther at his side sprang into action.
The Black Panther let out a low snarl and instantly transformed into a ghostly shadow, lunging forward as if melting silently into the air itself.
With a tremor of his arms, Zhou Yao’s longspear hummed. A sharp glint of spear light tore through the air. His body vanished from the spot, and the spear struck out like a coiling dragon, aimed straight for Xu Yang’s chest.
The ferocity of the spear strike was far greater than Zhang Bei’s had been.
The man and beast attacked Xu Yang simultaneously from high and low, demonstrating incredible coordination and teamwork.
Xu Yang gripped the longspear. He had never trained in any Spear Technique, but faced with the coordinated attack, he simply raised his golden Protective Gang Qi and hurled the spear like a javelin.
BOOM!
The spear became a silver streak, tearing through the air toward the Black Panther. In the same instant, Xu Yang moved.
His body vanished. A violent torrent of energy swept out in all directions as a golden palm shot through the air.
CLANG!
The clang of metal on metal rang out. Amidst a flurry of spear shadows, Xu Yang’s palm struck the longspear with pinpoint accuracy, knocking it clear of the phantoms.
The tyrannical Force was unstoppable, shattering the spear’s aura and sending the weapon flying high into the air.
Fuyue Bear King’s Palm!
Even without summoning his Martial Dao Imagery, the power behind Xu Yang’s casual strike was still unimaginable.
Zhou Yao’s arms trembled. Xu Yang’s palm felt like a ten-thousand-ton hammer, nearly knocking the longspear from his grasp. A sharp, stinging pain shot through the webbing of his hands. He looked down in horror to see that the force of the blow had split the skin open, and blood was already trickling down the spear’s shaft.
"Marrow Cleansing Great Success!" He couldn’t help but gasp.
Only now did he realize that Xu Yang’s Cultivation was no longer at the Marrow Cleansing Minor Achievement level described in their intelligence. He had already reached the Great Success Realm—the same realm as Zhou Yao himself.
A domineering aura washed over him. He finally understood that Xu Yang hadn’t been lying. He might have actually killed Zhang Bei.
Xu Yang’s killing intent surged, his hair whipping wildly in the wind. He was about to press his advantage and kill Zhou Yao, but his senses screamed a warning. The Black Panther, a streak of black light, was lunging for him.
The beast had actually dodged the spear he had thrown earlier. Now it lunged, fangs bared, radiating a ferocious aura.
Hmph!
Xu Yang snorted coldly. He had no choice but to abandon the opportunity to kill Zhou Yao and instead turned to unleash a Palm strike.
BOOM!
The golden palm tore through the air with a deafening roar. In the wake of its violent energy, the surrounding grass and trees disintegrated into dust.
The Palm strike was as fast as lightning and hit with the force of an avalanche.
A hint of fear even appeared in the Black Panther’s blood-red eyes. It tried to dodge, but it was too late. The golden palm tore through the air and slammed into its head.