“Woah! Look, Zijian, that monster has come out again! It has come to save this monster!” Hua Chenglu grabbed Yu Zijian’s arm and shook it around.
Hua Chengzan smashed her over the head. “Don’t move about.”
The three of them currently sat on a paper crane. The paper crane was covered with glyphs as it flapped its wings and soared through the air, just like a real crane.
After her initial fright, Hua Chenglu had calmed down. Unaware of the implications, she completely treated the battle below as a show to watch.
Yu Zijian asked, “Do daemons have ties of friendship too?”
“All living creatures, as long as they live in this world, do. How can they not have ties of friendship? I just never thought that there would be such a strong bond between daemons of different types, such that they’re willing to risk their lives for each other,” Hua Chengzan said suddenly. His eyes were filled with emotion.
Yu Zijian said, “Then, is it still right for humans to punish and put daemons to death?”
“Of course. Even among humans, we have people trying to kill each other, let alone with other races. And, if it weren’t for the pressure from humans, why would daemons band together? Killing each other is the norm. All living creatures, as long as they live in this world, will. How can they not kill and compete with one another?” Hua Chengzan’s expression then became desolate.
Bonds? Killing? Right or wrong? Yu Zijian’s mind was in a mess.
The battle in the pit had already begun.
Hua Chenglu watched in a fixed trance. She did not divert her attention to listening to Hua Chengzan at all.
Milliped grabbed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell with his mouth and pulled Li Qingshan out from the ball of vines. The three elders rejoiced.
The golden pheasant flapped its wings, the green vines grew and spread while the Ancient Bronze Corpse General controlled its corpse qi, leaping up.
The encirclement was complete. They would not be letting this wretched daemon escape this time.
Milliped twisted his body like a dragon swaying its tail. With enough force to destroy an entire army, it collided against the golden pheasant.
The golden light shattered, and the Golden Pheasant Elder shot off like a broken kite, smashing into the rock head-first and becoming deeply embedded. Only a sky filled with pheasant feathers was left behind.
The Ancient Bronze Corpse General rushed forward at a time like this.
Li Qingshan released the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell and gathered all of his daemon qi, which raged like a river. Unconcerned, he threw out a punch.
The Ancient Bronze Corpse General felt like a great, dark cloud had enveloped it above before a black bolt of lightning struck it.
The fist was anything but ordinary. It was the size of a boulder, so no matter how skilled the corpse was, it was difficult to dodge, let alone the fact that the corpse was mid-air. With its viciousness aroused, the Ancient Bronze Corpse General let out a roar, and its fangs protruded as it threw out a punch as well.
The Lone Grave Elder sneered inside, Just like an ant trying to shake a tree, overconfident! Do you really think you’re a Daemon General that can compete with the Ancient Bronze Corpse General in physical strength? Daemons are all this foolish, thinking that they can win just because they’re bigger. Once I refine you into a daemon corpse, you might be a little cleverer under my control.
The two fists collided and actually froze up in the air. The corpse qi and daemon qi clashed violently, pushing aside the smoke and gas and creating an empty region.
The Lone Grave Elder was slightly surprised. Was it actually able to match the Ancient Bronze Corpse General with its brute strength?
However, the Ancient Bronze Corpse General gave way just a while later, falling to the ground with a great thump and creating a huge pit.
Having reached the second layer of the ox demon, he possessed a huge advantage from his size alone, and he had the advantage of height too. If he lost to a Corpse General in terms of physical strength, even if he would not hang himself, the black ox would hang itself.
Although the Ancient Bronze Corpse General had lost the clash, it was not injured either. It let out an explosive roar, and just when it had straightened itself out, the black cloud descended from the sky again.
I’ll attack while you’re weak! How could Li Qingshan let such a great opportunity slip by? From above, his iron hoof landed heavily on the Ancient Bronze Corpse General.
The bottom of the pit raged and stirred like the surface of the ocean. Tonnes of rock and soil were thrown about. Only the ground where the hoof stood rapidly sank down.
Innate ability, the Ox Demon Tramples!
All of his power was concentrated on the Ancient Bronze Corpse General. Only after passing through its body did it spread to the surrounding ground.
Cracks immediately began to appear on the Ancient Bronze Corpse General’s seemingly-indestructible armour as it produced a twisted sound. In reality, the Ancient Bronze Corpse General’s internal injuries were much worse than the damage on the surface. The bronze armour was extremely effective when it came to blocking flying swords, flying blades, and other sharp weapons, but against the most primitive, most barbarous blunt weapons, it was much less effective.
On the ancient battlefields on Earth, the weapons used by generals rapidly changed and evolved with the development of the technology of armour. When blades or swords failed to pierce armour, a swing of a mace would be enough to crush the enemy’s organs and make them spew blood.
Li Qingshan raised his hoof, but he was definitely not foolish enough to give the opponent any chances to do anything. He unleashed the Ox Demon Tramples once again. From afar, it just seemed like a daemon with the horns of an ox and the tail of a tiger stomping around furiously, while the ground surged like boiling water, rising and falling constantly.
Above the pit, the vines did their best as they extended towards Milliped, wanting to bind and constrain him once again. However, Milliped was prepared this time, and he was quite a distance away from both the rock face and the ground, so it would take some time for the vines to reach him.
Milliped broke free from a few vines and swung his tail against the rock face. A huge breach appeared in the pit again. Milliped borrowed the force to rush towards the Green Vine Elder. He moved with startling speed while his sharp mandibles were on full display.
The Green Vine Elder was shocked. As the sect master of the Green Vine mountain, it had been many years since he last clashed with people on the same level as him. Although he was full of great power, he had still declined with his advanced age, so how could he engage in close combat against such a terrifying daemon? He flew in a hurry and climbed up the sky steeply, dodging and weaving.
Milliped suddenly twisted his body and wrapped around the Green Vine Elder several times before suddenly closing in on him as an insect ball. He used his colossal body to keep the Green Vine Elder trapped.
His many legs were like spears. Using his powerful joints, he stabbed at the Green Vine Elder from every direction. All he needed to do was land a single attack, and he could inject him with venom, which would rapidly eat away his body.
The Wood Spirit Protects the Body, Providing a New Lease of Life!
The Green Vine Elder formed a seal with his hand, and he became encased in withered wood. The legs stabbed into it and produced a series of thumps.
The withered wood was condensed from pure wood spiritual energy, but it was being rapidly depleted as the venom in the legs ate away at it.
The Green Vine Elder called out, “Save me, fellows!”
Without the restraint of the vines, Milliped immediately unleashed his terrifying strength, demonstrating the great power of a carapaced Daemon General.
The golden pheasant flapped its wings and flew into the air again, landing on the insect ball and unleashing a series of pecks. The Golden Pheasant Elder threw his life on the line, without any regard for his spiritual energy. As such, he produced a series of bloody holes on the insect carapace.
If these holes had appeared on human cultivators, every single one of them would be fatal, disemboweling wounds. However, Milliped’s body was huge, so these wounds could only be regarded as grazes. And, with his powerful vitality as a carapaced daemon, he recovered extremely quickly.
Over half of the Green Vine Elder’s spiritual energy had been depleted now. Pieces flew off from the withered piece of wood, turning back into spiritual energy and dispersing. It grew much thinner in the blink of an eye. He was just about to be stabbed by the legs and injected with venom.
In the blink of an eye, the tables had turned completely, which amazed Hua Chengzan. “Carapaced Daemon Generals truly are impressive!” If it were not for the fact that the three elders’ techniques could be used together, with the Green Vine Elder’s vines being especially troublesome with how they could restrict Milliped’s movements, it would be very difficult for three regular Foundation Establishment cultivators to defeat it. Instead, the slightest of carelessness could result in them being killed.
Hua Chenglu asked in surprise, “Brother, are those three s- seniors going to lose?” Although she disliked the Green Vine Elder, she could not help but feel sad over the loss of her own kind now that these powerful human cultivators were about to die to the hands of daemons.
Hua Chengzan shook his head. “That hybrid daemon has only managed to gain a temporary upper hand. How can it actually win against a Foundation Establishment cultivator? Once it’s killed, they can reestablish their encirclement and emerge victorious.”
His gaze suddenly turned to the clouds. And, that person has yet to interfere! He had probably failed to anticipate something like this earlier, so the Daemon General had almost escaped. However, he would never make this mistake a second time.
The Lone Grave Elder’s expression finally changed. He looked at the Ancient Bronze Corpse General he had refined after so much effort in disbelief. Why was it being beaten up by a mere daemon in a one-sided fashion?
The Ancient Bronze Corpse General should have managed to break free a long time ago, but the Ox Demon Tramples caused violent vibrations too. With each tremor, it would momentarily affect the Ancient Bronze Corpse General’s movements, which would be enough for Li Qingshan to unleash a second the Ox Demon Tramples.
The Ancient Bronze Corpse General was clearly extremely powerful, but due to its carelessness, it had fallen for this move. This was clearly a mere coincidence, yet it seemed like it had all been planned. Li Qingshan was truly suited for actual battle. He was not very smart most of the time, but in battle, he would always be so clever and be able to erupt with one hundred and twenty percent of his battle prowess.
“Die, wretched daemon!”
The Lone Grave Elder, who had yet to directly interfere, finally took action. He also wore a bronze bangle on his withered wrist, but the lustre was much better than the first senior brother’s. The glyphs on the bangle lit up and twelve Steel Plate corpses appeared in an orderly array, all rushing towards Li Qingshan.
With these twelve Steel Plate corpses, he could deal with any regular daemons as easily as winking. The reason why the Lone Grave Elder had not summoned them from the very beginning was because Steel Plate corpses were not particularly useful against a Daemon General, and it was very easy for them to be corroded and get destroyed by the gas. Now that Li Qingshan was trying to destroy his very lifeblood, he immediately unleashed all the strength he had.
The Steel Plate corpses lunged over together. Li Qingshan frowned. He could sense that the corpse qi of the Ancient Bronze Corpse General below his feet had been scattered many times already, but it had not sustained any fatal damage.
If he used the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell, it would obviously resolve the issue temporarily, but the Ancient Bronze Corpse General would be able to break free too, which would free up the Lone Grave Elder to save the Green Vine Elder. He needed to make time for Milliped.
Li Qingshan grabbed a Steel Plate corpse and stabbed its throat with his thumb. His sharp, tiger claw forcefully pierced the steel plating and black corpse qi leaked out. The Steel Plate corpse immediately crumbled and stopped moving like a broken rag doll, which Li Qingshan tossed aside.
However, the other Steel Plate corpses used this opportunity to throw themselves on Li Qingshan. Some climbed onto his shoulders and attacked his ears, some bit his neck while others grabbed his legs. They all tried to limit his movements so that the Ancient Bronze Corpse General could break free.
Li Qingshan felt like a tree covered with monkeys. He extended his hand, but the Steel Plate corpses could climb to another part of his body nimbly to make trouble. His entire body itched and pricked with pain, but the Steel Plate corpses struggled to rip through his ox hide that was a hundred times tougher than the steel plates.
