Chapter 492 - 489 Sky-Opening Earth Splitting Duanshan River
Duan Shanhe’s expression changed.
He had not expected that Qin Feng’s Lifebound Spiritual Snake would be so domineering, its teeth so sharp, that it could bite through and damage his copper hammer with just one bite!
This was a Spirit Treasure Level treasure, and to increase its weight, many precious materials had been added, yet it had been ruined by a bite from the opponent’s Lifebound Spiritual Beast.
If it weren’t for the fact that he had been cultivating this pair of Spirit Treasures for several years, bonding them with his own aura, he might have thought that someone had switched his copper hammers with crisp and tasty green radishes.
“Hehe…”
Qin Feng chuckled, “I told you one wasn’t enough, you might as well leave both copper hammers behind!”
The muscles on Duan Shanhe’s face twitched a few times, “How can your Lifebound Spiritual Beast be so powerful that it can easily destroy a Spirit Treasure?”
“Hmph, hmph, the strength of our Beast Taming Sect is not something your naive Giant Spirit Sect can comprehend.”
“You…”
Hearing Qin Feng’s extremely sarcastic words, Duan Shanhe immediately became furious, “Qin Feng, don’t be arrogant. Do you really think I’m afraid of you!”
He snorted coldly, his wrist twisting in an attempt to retract the copper hammers, but the Jiao Dragon Skull clenched tightly onto them, making it difficult for him to retrieve the hammers.
Ordinarily, this might have been fine, but at this moment, the other Jiao Dragon Skulls behind Qin Feng also started biting towards him.
Even though Duan Shanhe was confident in his robust physical body and had full faith in his powerful Defensive Divine Power, believing that even others at the same Purple Mansion Realm could not breach his defenses and harm him in a short time,
Even so, he didn’t believe his body was tougher than a Spirit Treasure Level copper hammer!
Seeing the copper hammers he regularly used pitted and dented, bitten fiercely and showering sparks while being devoured enthusiastically, Duan Shanhe felt a chill in his heart.
How exactly did Qin Feng train his Lifebound Spiritual Beast to be so formidable? It was truly alarming.
Seeing the Defensive Divine Powers surrounding him being continuously broken and shredded by the Jiao Dragon Skulls, with some even piercing through multiple layers of defense with their sharp horns, Duan Shanhe didn’t dare continue the standoff and quickly let go and retreated, avoiding the onslaught of the Jiao Dragon Skulls.
As he retreated, the remaining Jiao Dragon Skulls did not pursue, but instead twisted their heads and together bit down on the two copper hammers.
In an instant, there were continuous loud crunching noises that made even Qin Feng’s mouth water, and in no time, the two massive copper hammers were devoured by the nine heads!
Qin Feng watched contentedly, but Duan Shanhe was a different story.
His face clouded over as he watched, even the last of the hammer handles swallowed by one of the Jiao Dragon Skulls, his heart filled with both anger and shock.
However, he was after all the strongest True Disciple of the current generation in the Giant Spirit Sect. The strength Qin Feng had displayed so far was still not enough to scare him away.
“Good, indeed worthy of being one of the three most talented True Disciples of the Beast Taming Sect, your strength is truly exceptional!” Duan Shanhe praised.
“Three True Inheritances? I don’t deserve such credit. Among the cultivators of the same generation in the Beast Taming Sect, there is an abundance of talent, I can’t be certain to rank within the top three!” Qin Feng shook his head humbly, but in his heart, he thought of Gu Wumou from the Profound Turtle Lineage.
Although he did not know which Technique Gu Wumou was cultivating, nor did Qin Feng know to what Realm Gu Wumou had cultivated, but just the fact that Gu Wumou was the first among the younger generation to become a True Disciple in the Beast Taming Sect, always able to make people overlook him or even pretend he did not exist, was enough for Qin Feng not to take him lightly!
Outsiders might not know the details, but Qin Feng would not dare to ignore Gu Wumou’s presence.
“You’re being modest!”
Duan Shanhe sneered coldly, “But what you rely on is these Nine-Headed Flood Dragons! I can’t deny that your Lifebound Spiritual Beast is indeed fierce, but with just this ability, it’s still not enough to defeat me.
Today, I will let you understand why my Giant Spirit Sect has stood in the Southern Domain for tens of thousands of years. If you really think my Giant Spirit Sect only knows brute force, then you can go die!”
“Oh?”
Qin Feng burst into laughter upon hearing this, “What’s the matter, you have more Spiritual Treasures? By all means, bring them out and let my Ruyi Golden Snake have a feast!”
Duan Shanhe’s forehead veins bulged as he took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the rage in his heart, “Fine, since you’re looking for death, I’ll grant you your wish!
The Red Lotus Lineage’s treasured inheritance of Taiyi Mountain is also in your hands, isn’t it? Hmph, the true disciples of this generation of Taiyi Mountain are really a disgrace, having not reclaimed the Red Lotus Immortal Sword to this day. Today, I’ll take the liberty of taking this Red Lotus Sword away, and then we’ll see what Taiyi Mountain has to say about it!”
“Braggart!”
Qin Feng sneered at his words, “It seems that the Giant Spirit Sect has no tiger in the mountains, and the monkeys think they’re the king. To think that someone as boastful as you has become a true disciple. If all you can do is talk tough, then you might as well not leave here today. This place, with its clear mountains and beautiful rivers, will make a fitting burial ground for you!”
“I’m afraid you don’t have what it takes!”
Duan Shanhe sneered coldly, his already formidable stature swelling once more, his aura violently surging, causing the massive boulders around him to tumble down the mountain in a most frightening display.
“Today, I will let you witness the might of the Giant Spirit True Body!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled out a three-zhang long Xuanhua Axe from behind him, its broad blade wide like a millstone, shimmering with a sharp edge.
“Sky-Opening!”
He bellowed, raising the Xuanhua Axe and slashing it towards Qin Feng.
This axe struck with the force as if heaven and earth were cleaving apart, separating the clear from the turbid, with an awe-inspiring momentum!
“Eh?”
Qin Feng, seeing such a formidable attack, was genuinely taken aback, not expecting Duan Shanhe to truly have some skills. Not to mention anything else, just the power of this strike alone made him consider not taking it head-on.
He stepped back a hundred zhang, trying to dodge the edge of the axe.
But unexpectedly, Duan Shanhe had firmly locked onto Qin Feng’s aura, making it difficult for him to escape. Unless he could retreat a full ten thousand zhang in an instant, a speed far beyond what Duan Shanhe could achieve, there was simply no escaping the edge of this axe.
Thus, as Qin Feng took three steps back, Duan Shanhe’s figure, pulled by the aura emanating from Qin Feng, also drifted forward several hundred zhang.
Seeing that there was no escaping, Qin Feng suddenly let out a thunderous roar, the sound shaking the void and causing stones to fly. The mountains and valleys echoed his roar, making every beast within a hundred li bow their heads.
His roar also shook Duan Shanhe’s spirit, almost causing him to break free from that Sky-Opening state.
Seizing the opportunity, a Ruyi Spiritual Golden Light rapidly formed in Qin Feng’s hands, turning into a fist over ten zhang in size, gleaming with golden light, and met the Xuanhua Axe head-on.
With a crisp snap, the massive fist was cleaved in two by the opponent’s Sky-Opening Axe.
Qin Feng frowned, Duan Shanhe at this moment was indeed formidable. The combination of his mighty Giant Spirit True Body and powerful war skills made it difficult for Qin Feng to resist, even for a moment.
However, with his deep and profound foundation, he was not injured by the opponent’s strike.
He continuously flicked his ten fingers as if blooming lotuses, pushing the Golden Hole Finger to the extreme. In an instant, he fired hundreds of golden rays, producing a continuous metallic sound as fine as rain hitting banana leaves. After the dense and continuous ringing, the force of Duan Shanhe’s axe was finally spent.
Qin Feng severed his opponent’s lock on his aura and easily stepped out of the reach of the Sky-Opening Axe’s power.
However, before he could even catch his breath, Duan Shanhe unleashed another axe strike, its momentum no lesser than the previous.
“Earth Splitting!”
As Duan Shanhe shouted again, Qin Feng felt his scalp go numb.
His aura was locked upon once more.
“Damn it, where did this guy get such a powerful inheritance of martial skills?”
Qin Feng cursed silently, his feet moving frantically backwards in an attempt to pull away from his opponent and withstand this attack.
As a member of a rival sect, Qin Feng was not only deeply familiar with the sword dao inheritance of Taiyi Mountain but also knew quite a bit about the techniques of the Giant Spirit Sect.
He had never heard of the Giant Spirit Sect possessing such a formidable axe technique inheritance; otherwise, with the power Duan Shanhe currently displayed, this war skill would surely not be unknown and uncelebrated.
Duan Shanhe, seeing the expression on Qin Feng’s face, couldn’t help but let out a proud cold sneer, “In my life, I’ve had countless opportunities, how could you comprehend them all? This is a war skill I obtained from the Ancient Battlefield in my early years called the ‘Sky-Opening Axe Technique’. I usually keep it as a trump card, not using it without good reason. Today, you should consider it your good fortune to die under my axe!”
As he spoke, his figure approached Qin Feng once again; the Xuanhua Axe in his hand shone brightly as he ferociously chopped down towards Qin Feng.
A single axe strike, splitting the earth and cleaving the ground, its power boundless!
“Go to hell with your ‘good fortune’!”
Qin Feng was infuriated by his words, “Nonsensical rubbish, do you really think that’s all there is to my ability?
To dare call such a war skill ‘Sky-Opening’ is truly clueless!
Waving around some martial skill you dug up from who knows which grave and acting mighty in front of me, today, I will show you why the flower is so red!”
In his rage, Qin Feng no longer retreated but suddenly stood still in the void, neither dodging nor evading, and spat out a stream of golden wind.
Not just him, but also the nine Jiao Dragon skulls behind him opened their mouths in unison, blowing out nine streams of golden wind towards Duan Shanhe.
“Hmm?”
Faced with such a formidable force, Duan Shanhe couldn’t help but feel shocked.
Although he had never seen the Spirit Transformation Golden Wind before, it did not prevent him from recognizing the tremendous power of this divine skill at first glance!
The Spirit Transformation Golden Wind was inherently subtle, harsh, and venomous, capable of damaging bones and souls, and, combined with the ever-changing Ruyi Golden Light, the combined divine powers greatly enhanced its potency.
Duan Shanhe dared not continue chasing after Qin Feng with shouts of attack, and he quickly turned his axe, that possessed Earth Splitting power, toward the Ruyi Spiritual Golden Wind in an attempt to extinguish all ten streams of golden wind!
However, the power of the Ruyi Spiritual Golden Wind surpassed his imagination, and its variant tactics made it seem impossible to defend against.
The ten streams of seemingly similar golden wind underwent different transformations upon being struck by his Earth Splitting axe.
Some were fiercely aggressive, merely wild winds, others dissipated upon contact, deceitfully subtle as if the wind concealed thousands of needle-thin golden threads, piercing towards him.
Some directly evolved into various divine weapons—swords, spears, blades, halberds—dazzling to the eye and causing a multitude of divine skills bifurcated from the golden wind to hit him.
Had he not promptly utilized Protective Divine Power and had his body been less robust, he might have been blown to mud and had his soul scattered by these strands of golden wind.
Even so, he was left dizzy and disoriented by Qin Feng’s barrage of divine wind, and many hair-thin golden winds burrowed into his body through his pores, causing damage to his flesh and blood.
He was only able to withstand this because he was a true disciple of the Giant Spirit Sect and had even a step ahead in cultivating the Giant Spirit True Body, otherwise, even if Qin Feng’s divine wind could not harm him fundamentally, he would not have come out unscathed.
Of course, the most critical factor was that his prior Earth Splitting axe strike was so powerful that it had dispersed much of the ten streams of golden wind, otherwise Duan Shanhe would have been seriously injured.
“What divine skill is this, and why is it so formidable?” Duan Shanhe’s voice was shaky as he looked at Qin Feng.
“Hmph, there are countless methods in my Beast Taming Sect, how could someone like you, who has gained a bit of luck and become complacent, possibly understand!” Qin Feng saw the effectiveness of the Golden Wind and was in high spirits.
Although he hadn’t been able to blow his opponent away with a single breath of divine wind, he had at least disrupted the other’s headache-inducing attacks, preventing himself from being caught in a dilemma where he couldn’t advance or retreat.
Moreover, he had discovered that splitting the Ruyi Spiritual Golden Wind into ten streams increased its variability, but correspondingly, the power was more dispersed. If he concentrated them into one, it certainly wouldn’t be so easily dispersed by Duan Shanhe!
“Hmph, even if your divine powers are astounding, so what? If I’m not mistaken, this divine power should belong to your lifebound spiritual beast, right? I don’t believe that you, with such a massive divine ability, can perform it many times over!” Duan Shanhe was a well-informed individual, naturally aware that many Demon Beasts possess powerful Bloodline Divine Powers. However, such mighty divine abilities definitely had some limitations and couldn’t be used in uninterrupted succession. After all, Qin Feng’s lifebound spiritual beast was just an exotic species, not a Divine Beast. In his view, it couldn’t have as profound a foundation as a Divine Beast, so this powerfully divine wind should only be able to be expelled a few times.
He shook his neck and spat out a golden light, the golden wind that had penetrated his body was gathered and then expelled all at once.
Having driven out the internal threat, Duan Shanhe sneered coldly, “Qin Feng, take another axe from me. If you can withstand this move, I, Duan, will admit I’m inferior and won’t trouble you further. If you cannot handle it, heh, enjoy this feng shui treasure land yourself!”
Qin Feng’s eyebrows raised upon hearing this, he hadn’t expected this guy to have the skill of a ‘three-hit combo’.
Previously, his opponent’s Sky-Opening and Earth-Splitting War Skills were formidable, and if Duan Shanhe’s strength were a notch higher, reaching the Late Stage of Purple Mansion Realm, he might even possibly put a slightly weaker Dharma Image Cultivator at a disadvantage when challenging across levels, not to mention those of the same level.
After all, his Cultivation Realm had not yet advanced to Purple Mansion; his foundation in the Golden Core Realm was certainly among the top tier, but Duan Shanhe, also a top-level True Disciple of a major sect, might not have been much weaker than him during the Golden Core Realm. Now that he had advanced a step ahead, his strength was naturally stronger.
Although he still had Ruyi Spiritual Golden Wind available inside his body, he did not want to use all his Golden Wind on this person.
That was his most powerful Divine Skill, which he always treated as his trump card, and if he used it all now, it would take him a long time to recover to its original state.
Moreover, he was a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect, and the Beast Taming Sect was not best at fighting one-on-one!
The Body Cultivation disciples of the Giant Spirit Sect liked to show off their muscles during fights to display their powerful individual strength, but aside from Li Miao Zhen, the battle maniac, there were not many disciples in the Beast Taming Sect who liked to exchange hard blows with opponents!
Therefore, in the middle of Duan Shanhe’s stunned gaze, Qin Feng waved his hand and summoned a pile of Spiritual Beasts.
A Peak of Purple Mansion white dragon, a ferocious Ghost-Faced Spider, a half-human half-vine Soul Devouring Vine Demon, and a monstrous bird with golden feathers all over – these were all beings of the Purple Mansion Realm.
In addition, there was a crow with a completely black body exuding an ominous aura, a toad the size of a fist, and a brilliantly colored Qingluan – although these few Spiritual Beasts were not as domineering as the white dragon, they were all at the Peak of Demon Core, and they could even hold their own against beings of the Purple Mansion by relying on their formidable Lifebound Divine Abilities.
“Roar…”
As soon as the white dragon appeared, it let out a dragon roar and spewed a blazing Dragon Breath at Duan Shanhe.
“Screech…”
The Ghost-Faced Spider let out a strange call, lifted its abdomen, and sprayed out strands of spider silk. While entangling Duan Shanhe, it also emitted a Soul Burning Demon Flame that clearly looked incredibly powerful.
The Soul Devouring Vine Demon swung its sturdy and tough vines at Duan Shanhe, confident in its Divine Skills and unafraid of harm, it took the role of a tank-like brawler despite being a plant spirit.
The golden-feathered monstrous bird was the Golden Crow that Qin Feng had stolen from Princess Anna. Because he wanted the Death Curse Crow to accumulate a more profound foundation, he hadn’t rushed to fuse it, and now it was the perfect opportunity to use it as his minion, truly maximizing its use.
As for the Death Curse Crow, it flew across the sky with harsh cries. Each wing dropped a feather, and immediately an eerie Curse Power wrapped around Duan Shanhe, chilling him to the bone and filling him with a sense of dread.
The Swallowing Sky Toad moved silently and unexpectedly appeared behind Duan Shanhe for a surprise attack. If it weren’t for his sturdy physique, he might have been pierced through the chest and abdomen by the Swallowing Sky Toad’s long tongue.
The Qingluan spewed out a flame that seemed the least powerful, but it contained a never-ending flame. Once touched, unless forcibly extinguished, one would certainly be burned to charcoal by this flame!
“You… you’re shameless!”
Duan Shanhe cursed out loud in anger.
Hadn’t we agreed you would take my axe head-on?
How come you summoned so many Spiritual Beasts to besiege me?
With so many Purple Mansion Realm Spiritual Beasts, and so many top-level Spiritual Beasts with exceptional talents comparable to the Purple Mansion, how could he fight them all by himself?
“Ignorant!”
Qin Feng uttered a cold snort: “Aren’t you aware that I am a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect? Isn’t it natural for me to use Spiritual Beasts to fight against you?
If using Spiritual Beasts is considered shameless, then why don’t you put away your Physical Body Divine Power, and try fighting me with Spells instead?”
“…”
Duan Shanhe had no words to retort.
He knew the rationale; the other party was a Beast Taming Sect cultivator, and it was indeed appropriate to use Spiritual Beasts, just as he relied on his formidable physical body!
He did not dwell on this any further; in fact, he had no time to do so, as the attack from Qin Feng’s Spiritual Beasts was already upon him, and he had to respond to the immediate onslaught.
“Three Axes Duanshan River!”