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Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The battle continued. Zhou Hai, Pang Dahai, the Great Elder and the Seventh-Order body-tempering cultivator were just barely fighting Niu Meng to a standstill. The rest of them had spread out so they could attack Niu Meng with their spells and flying weapons from multiple directions as well.
However, Niu Meng just had too much life energy. No matter how many wounds they left on his body, no matter how many times they staggered him, he would recover in the blink of an eye.
If fast recovery was Niu Meng’s only advantage, then they could have devised a way to deal with it a while ago. The problem was that Niu Meng was extraordinarily tough as well, not to mention that they were severely weakened due to the poison. As a result, they only managed to leave superficial wounds on his body most of the time. Not even Lu Ye, the only one who was completely unaffected by the poison, was able to cut deeper than three inches despite having empowered his flying weapons with two Sharp Edges. Out of all of them, Zhou Hai was the only one with enough strength to cut deep enough to expose the bones.
It was useless though. Zhou Hai had tried multiple times to behead Niu Meng to no avail. While Niu Meng wasn’t able to dodge his lightning fast slashes, Zhou Hai was unable to cut off his head either. It was like a mortal attempting to cut not one, but multiple thick steel bars in one strike. It just wasn’t possible.
Their despair grew until it was almost palpable. They could not have anticipated that the final enemy would be so unreasonably powerful. Skill could overcome strength, but only if the gap wasn’t too wide.
Dragging out this fight wasn’t an option either. Niu Meng would outlast them in every scenario because he had more life energy and toughness than all of them.
There were multiple Tyrants on the Spirit Creek Battlefield. They were existences that were absolutely stronger than any single Spirit Creek Realm cultivator. If Niu Meng was on the Cloud River Battlefield, then he would qualify as a Tyrant as well.
And therein lay the problem. Niu Meng was a Cloud River Realm Tyrant. Normally, it would have taken at least a team of dozens to defeat him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he wasn’t a normal Tyrant either. He was also empowered by the life energy of an insectoid nest.
Right now, everyone was feeling bitter and regretful. They would never have come here with such a small team if they knew that their final opponent would be a Cloud River Realm Tyrant. They would have gathered dozens, if not hundreds of fellow cultivators first.
There was a loud bang and an outburst of Spiritual Power. It was the Seventh-Order body-tempering cultivator’s Shield Spirit Artifact shattering into pieces after taking a hit from Niu Meng.
Out of all the people attacking Niu Meng at melee range, the body-tempering cultivator was easily the weakest. Niu Meng might be nothing more than a mindless beast right now, but even in this state he knew to tackle the weakest link first.
The Seventh-Order body-tempering cultivator was sent flying like a rag doll. His entire body looked as red as a boiled prawn, and he sprayed out a mouthful of blood before crashing hard against the floor. He did not move after that. It was impossible to say if he was dead or just unconscious.
The next person to be sent flying was Pang Dahai. The guy screamed the entire way he was sent flying to the nearest flesh wall as if he was being subjected to the cruelest torture or something. He hit the wall so hard that he sank slightly into the flesh before slowly sliding toward the floor.
The defense line that had been keeping Niu Meng at bay was broken. As the monstrously huge sect master sped into a blur, many yells erupted from multiple directions, “WATCH OUT!”
Zhou Hai gritted his teeth and attempted to interrupt the sect master’s charge with a powerful slash, but it didn’t work. The next moment, Niu Meng appeared beside Xia Qianqian and cast a dark shadow over the spell cultivator. He did not react even though his back was being bombarded by all kinds of attacks.
Xia Qianqian conjured a barrier with her Spiritual Power as quickly as she could. At the same time, she leaped away from Niu Meng.
The sect master launched a mighty kick that shattered that barrier as easily as a person might pop a bubble. Xia Qianqian was sent spinning across the air like a top before she crashed heavily against the ground.
Not done yet, he stretched out his hand as if he was reaching for something before suddenly appearing right next to Lu Ye. As it turned out, he was aiming to grab Lu Ye’s head.
Every hair on Lu Ye’s body stood on end at that moment. Death wasn’t breathing down his neck at this point, it was crushing him from all sides and squeezing his heart so hard it might pop at any moment.
Instinctively, Lu Ye swung his saber at the approaching hand. All it did was cause a shower of sparks as metal clashed against metal-like talons.
Niu Meng tightened his grip around the Inviolable’s blade and pulled. At the same time, he threw a punch at Lu Ye’s abdomen. The faint vibration Lu Ye felt on his skin long before the punch even reached him was all he needed to feel to know that he would die if it landed.
He conjured Protection immediately. Lu Ye had no idea if it would be enough to stop the attack, but it was the best defensive measure he could come up with.
It was at this moment that a cultivator dashed in front of Lu Ye. He detonated his Spiritual Power at the same time he crossed his arms defensively.
There was a loud bang before the figure slammed into Lu Ye. The duo rolled across the floor like tumbleweeds.
It wasn’t until Lu Ye had scrambled to his feet that he realized that the person who saved his life was the Great Elder.
The Great Elder also climbed back to his feet, but he spat out a mouthful of blood as soon as his back straightened. His arms were shaking uncontrollably as well. Clearly, that wasn’t an attack he would like to receive a second time.
“We need to think of a way to damage his Beast Imprint, Young Master! Niu Meng is in his Beast Form right now! Only by damaging his Beast Imprint can we cancel his Beast Form and stand a chance at victory!” The Great Elder said hurriedly.
His advice hit them all like a lightning bolt. From the beginning, Lu Ye had been trying to figure out why Niu Meng was so powerful. Sure, he was the sect master of the Black Tortoise Sect, but it didn’t quite explain his physical strength and toughness especially considering that he was being controlled by the parasite.
At first, Lu Ye thought it was because he was empowered by the life energy of an entire insectoid nest. Now, he realized that it was only one of the reasons. It was also because Niu Meng was currently in his Beast Form.
They should’ve realized it sooner. Niu Meng might look like a mutant cultivator, but he was a human through and through. The reason he didn’t look like one was because he had merged with his Chosen Beast.
Beast Form was the greatest technique of a Beast Tamer of the Myriad Beasts Domain. Lu Ye had learned of it while studying the Life Energy Art and the Beast Pact Art. The reason he hadn’t used it was because neither he nor Amber had reached the necessary level yet. Not only did it take time to execute the technique, it could not be maintained for long because it drained a massive amount of energy and stamina from both the cultivator and the Spirit Beast.
Lu Ye did not know why Niu Meng could maintain the technique indefinitely, but he did know that the technique could be canceled. All they needed to do was to damage his Beast Imprint.
Lu Ye looked up. Niu Meng had not been idle while he and the Great Elder were occupied. Kitty Shen was lying in a pool of her own blood. Lan Ziyi was leaning against the wall with her greatswords lying limply by her side. Her aura was in shambles as well.
Everyone in the chamber was injured to a certain degree except Niu Meng. He looked like a god as he stood there without so much as a scratch on his body.
“Why didn’t you…” A weak voice overflowing with annoyance and frustration came from the darkness, “… say this sooner?”
Pang Dahai slowly stepped out of the darkness while panting like a dog and wiping away the fresh blood dripping from his lips. The fat man did not look good, right now. His hair was a complete mess, and there were bloodstains all over his body. If it wasn’t for his eyes, they might’ve thought that he was out of the fight already.
Pang Dahai knew that it wasn’t really the Great Elder’s fault. From the old man’s perspective, they were all cultivators of the Myriad Beasts Domain. Since this was a world dominated by Beast Tamers, they should be well aware of the Beast Imprint and its functions.
However, they were Jiu Zhou cultivators. Forget that Beast Imprints literally did not exist in Jiu Zhou, the Beast Taming faction wasn’t even a major cultivation faction. In fact, the Beast Taming faction was generally looked down upon because it was believed to be the home for unambitious failures and weaklings who would rather rely on their Spirit Beasts to grow stronger than work on their own bodies. It wasn’t until today that they realized that a Beast Tamer could be this powerful.
Pang Dahai’s appearance immediately drew Niu Meng’s attention. The monstrously huge man revealed a rare glimmer of humanity as he tilted his head, seemingly perplexed as to how the fat man was still able to stand after all the beating he had dished out.
In response, Pang Dahai spat on the ground before grinning maliciously at Niu Meng. “The fuck you’re looking at? Come hit me!”
Niu Meng obliged. A blur later, he appeared in front of Pang Dahai and kicked once more. Pang Dahai roared as his vitality and Spiritual Power merged together to form a dazzling aura. Not only that, he abruptly grew a few inches taller and broader as well.
Bang…
There was a dull thud as Pang Dahai shook like a leaf. The fabric behind his back exploded into pieces as a violent shockwave exited his back and slammed into the flesh wall behind him hard. At the same time, his massive belly trapped Niu Meng’s feet firmly just like before.
“Is that—Pwack!” Pang Dahai attempted to taunt Niu Meng, but could not finish before a jet of blood spilled through his lips.
After attempting to withdraw his leg several times to no avail, Niu Meng abruptly threw a punch at Pang Dahai’s face.
Pang Dahai immediately raised his hand and caught Niu Meng’s fist. At the same time, he pulled out a strange Spirit Artifact Lu Ye could not identify before transforming it into a rope and binding their hands together.
Pang Dahai tried to repeat the trick when Niu Meng proceeded to punch with his left hand, but this time the sect master moved too fast for him to catch it. The punch landed squarely on his chest and elicited a strange yelp from him. As Niu Meng landed one successful punch after another, Pang Dahai screeched on top of his lungs, “Are you fucking dead or something, Zhou Hai? I’m going to die if you don’t act soon, you bastard!”
Suddenly, a piercing light emerged from the darkness and stabbed into Niu Meng’s back like a bolt of lightning. It was Zhou Hai finally launching his surprise attack. However, no matter how much Spiritual Power he injected into his sword, the blade just refused to go deeper after penetrating about half of its length.
Meanwhile, Niu Meng was already responding to the threat by tightening his flesh and causing the affected area to become a lot denser than before. There was a brief stand-off until Zhou Hai’s sword exploded with light and penetrated another two inches, but that was all. His Spirit Artifact dimmed like a dying candle after that.
“How useless can you be?” Pang Dahai roared in frustration, “I can’t believe I’m actually going to die because of you!”
Suddenly, a man ran up to Zhou Hai. It was none other than Lu Ye. The despairing Pang Dahai was so surprised by his appearance that he temporarily forgot his rant.
this fight has to one of the best ones this series has provided till now……
Let’s go!