Chapter 272: Execution
Chapter 272: Execution
The Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman was one of the talismans Tang Jie had gotten from Madam Shui. It was an extremely powerful “art” talisman, and was specifically made to vanquish evil and counter fiends.
The battle at the Devil Crushing Path had involved only students, and the occasional minor fiend he had run into had been of average strength, so Tang Jie had yet to use this talisman. But this time, the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman that had lain unused this whole time was bound to play a major role.
The Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman could be used five times in all, and this was Tang Jie’s very first time using it.
The talisman flashed, and a golden mountain manifested, radiating light.
Everything dimmed under the light of this spell, and the majority of the fiend attacks instantly disappeared. Even the wolf’s fiend-pellet-empowered wind blade greatly dimmed, no longer capable of threatening Tang Jie.
Only the lion king phantom remained as vicious as ever, continuing to bite down at Tang Jie, its massive maw biting down on the small mountain like it was eating a walnut. Crack! Crack! The clash of golden light and teeth produced thousands of sparks that rained down.
The lion king’s mane bristled as it roared at the heavens, and the giant heaven-spanning phantom continued to bite down. The Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman flashed as it held off the lion king phantasm.
At the same time, Tang Jie pointed a finger at the ground.
A thick vine emerged, coming up to Tang Jie’s feet, holding him up and carrying him toward the lion fiend.
In truth, this was changing opponents, which was a taboo in battle, but the lion fiend was now even more threatening than the bull fiend. Moreover, this fellow’s spell arts were powerful, and it was currently focusing all of its efforts on the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman. However, the talisman was just a talisman, so in a real fight, even all five uses of the talisman might not be enough to completely exhaust the lion fiend’s magic power. Thus, Tang Jie decided to kill it first. Even drawing away some of its spirit power was good enough.
The Heartbreak Saber unleashed a pale flame as it slashed, and while the bull and wolf fiends roared, they were powerless to help. Just when it seemed like this attack would heavily wound the lion fiend, the lion fiend suddenly looked at the golden mace next to its hand.
The golden mace rose up on its own, and clang! It blocked the saber.
“Weapon control?” Tang Jie was startled.
He hadn’t expected the lion to be capable of controlling weapons. A moment later, the golden mace created countless phantom maces that pelted at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie didn’t dare to take these attacks. He controlled the vine under his feet to take him flying backward. At the same time, several vines went to bind the golden mace, but the mace exploded with light that obliterated them.
Fiends were mostly stronger in body than in spell arts, so they were weaker once restrained. But in this situation, the lion fiend could fight back against the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman and even control a weapon to strike back against Tang Jie, forcing him to retreat. It was clear that it was probably stronger in spells than in body.
But with this distraction, there was a burst of golden light, and the lion phantasm in the sky was pushed back. Those teeth that were clearly made of spiritual energy began to collapse as the majestic power of the talisman pressed down.
The lion fiend shouted, and the light behind its back grew even brighter, and only then did it manage to stop the talisman’s assault. But this action caused the mace phantoms to instantly disappear.
Tang Jie waved his hand, and three golden needles flew at the lion fiend—needles created using the Weapon Mantra.
Without the mace to block them, the three golden needles penetrated into the lion fiend’s head, leaving three small holes. The lion’s head jolted, and not only did it not die, it let out a giant roar and unleashed a swell of power. The golden light of the fiend-sealing talisman was pushed back, and the golden mace flew up to once more attack Tang Jie.
But Tang Jie didn’t panic. On the contrary, there was a faint smile in his eyes as he shook his head and pointed at the lion fiend. “Link!”
The three golden needles that had penetrated through the lion connected into a golden thread and came slicing back.
The wolf and bull felt their hearts grow cold, and they shouted in unison, “Vice King, watch out!”
But the golden thread swept across the lion fiend’s neck, coming away a thin red line.
Whoosh!
Time seemed to stop. First, that lion phantom in the air flailed and flickered before transforming into countless motes of light. Following that, the dancing golden mace plopped to the ground, devoid of its former ferocity.
Finally, the golden lion king swayed, and then its large head slid off its body, and blood fountained out of its neck!
“No! How could this be?” The wolf and bull stared at the lion.
They did not dare to believe their eyes.
The bull fiend bellowed, “No! Big Brother, stand up! You can’t die! You’re the Icewind Lion King! Your ice extends for a thousand kilometers and your tornadoes can sweep away all clouds! Your Raging Sandstorm! Your Infinite Ice Armor! You still have so many lethal techniques that you haven’t used yet! You’re so strong, so how could you just die like this!? Hurry and stand up!”
But the Icewind Lion King was no earthworm. No matter how much the bull yelled, it would not stand up again.
However, this death had been both ignoble and noble.
It was ignoble because it had some powerful spell arts that it never got the chance to use, yet noble because Tang Jie had used two powerful moves in the fiend-sealing talisman and the golden thread to deal with it, with the former using up two of its uses in this short time and the latter having its existence exposed. While the golden thread was sharp, it had a pliable body and was easily stopped. Thus, it was better for sneak attacks than direct confrontations. This was precisely why Tang Jie had not used it against the black bull. And to ensure the kill against the lion fiend, Tang Jie had even used the golden thread’s shapeshifting power.
It could be said that Tang Jie had used two of his trump cards to kill the lion king, and his real opponent, the upper-grade Mind Opening Illusion Fox, was still nowhere to be seen.
Tang Jie exhaled now that his attack had succeeded, and all the fiends trembled. The bull fiend was still bellowing in disbelief while the wolf fiend shrieked, “Great King! Great King! Hurry and come! This kid is too hard to deal with!”
This high-pitched cry penetrated straight into the clouds, and even Tang Jie was taken aback at the wolf fiend’s range. But in the end, he just chuckled. Just when he was about to say something, he heard a mighty howl.
Twisting his head, he saw the black bull bulging with muscle, a massive energy vortex forming around it.
Within this vortex, the black bull grew larger and larger. Snap! Snap! The several dozen vines instantly snapped apart.
The vines snapped so suddenly that even Tang Jie didn’t have time to rebind the bull. The black bull descended toward the ground, its body still growing larger and larger. The bull that had stood like a man had gone back to being on all fours, and the moment it hit the ground, it pointed its horns at Tang Jie and charged.
“Shit!” Tang Jie cursed. There was no time to have the vines bind the bull, so he could only raise his saber to block.
Boom! The bull horns collided with the saber, and a giant chunk was knocked out of the Heartbreak Saber while Tang Jie himself was thrown back several dozen meters.
The bull fiend bellowed, and countless rocks rose off the ground and shot at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie raised a hand, and large numbers of vines rose up, some of them blocking the stones and others winding around the bull fiend.
But as the vines wound around it, the bull fiend stomped its hooves, emitting a powerful shockwave that blasted apart the vines. Tang Jie knew that this wasn’t good. This bull had seemingly entered some special berserk state and now had the power of a middle-grade. He decided to give up on using the formation to bind the bull, instead having the vines pull him aside to avoid the bull’s attacks. He wound the golden thread around the Heartbreak Saber and stared at the wound on the back of the bull’s head, looking for an opportunity.
This berserk bull was still charging around, waving its head here and there, its scythe-like horns slicing through the surroundings and destroying any plant or stone unlucky enough to be in their path. But Tang Jie was moved around by the vines, forward and back, up and down, so while the black bull had the advantage in momentum, it couldn’t harm a hair on Tang Jie’s head.
The gray wolf was in a panic. “This won’t do anything! Old Black, release me first!”
But the black bull had already taken leave of its senses and was deaf to the wolf’s cries. It continued to run around, even disregarding the other fiends that were imprisoned. A small fiend was right in front of the black bull, but the black bull kept charging, its horns goring the fiend. In a flash, the fiend was blasted apart by the fiend energy running through it.
Even Tang Jie was shaken by this sight.
He decided to run in the direction of the other fiends, and sure enough, the black bull pursued, trampling all in its path.
The screams of countless fiends ensued as they fell under the black bull’s horns or hooves.
The ones lucky enough to not die received an Energy Needle from Tang Jie to end their lives.
In the blink of an eye, there were numerous corpses spread around the Yi Wood Azure Heaven Formation, and the black bull was still stomping around, chasing and roaring after Tang Jie, its eyes red and bright.
But behind this ferocity, Tang Jie noticed that it was gradually weakening.
The berserk strength was not limitless, and in this endless pursuit, the black bull was growing tired, rationality returning to its reddened eyes.
Upon seeing this, Tang Jie pointed at his feet, and the vines sent him above the bull’s head.
“Old Black, watch out!” the gray wolf shouted, unleashing a wind blade.
But Tang Jie simply activated the Aquagel Shroud and the Formless Golden Body while he hacked at the black bull.
The black bull bellowed and stabbed its horns upward.
But Tang Jie suddenly drew back his saber and shot to the bull’s back. That attack had been a feint. This was the real one.
The old bull roared and tried to throw Tang Jie off, but more vines had appeared below it.
While it could break these vines with a single shake, it still required a shake. That split second was enough for Tang Jie to stab the Heartbreak Saber, not swing. The tip of the blade penetrated into the wound from earlier, the golden thread opening the way, and the slender edge was able to pierce all the way, almost running through the bull’s head.
“Raaaaa!” The bull raised its head and let out a heaven-shaking cry, and a yellow light erupted from its body. This was the bezoar’s healing power.
“It’s useless!” Tang Jie grunted and thrust out his left index finger, which now had the appearance of white jade.
The Jade Shattering Finger!
He was much more proficient with the Jade Shattering Finger now than when he had battled Daoist Fuyu, and he no longer needed ages to cast.
His finger stabbed forth and gouged out a bloody wound on the bull’s back.
This wound wasn’t very wide. After all, the Jade Shattering Finger wasn’t the golden thread, and its slicing ability was limited. But this was enough for Tang Jie.
For Tang Jie plunged his entire arm into the bull’s back and seized the bezoar inside.
This was the old bull’s weakness. It was so powerful and vicious because of the power provided by the bezoar. It had refined its fiend pellet into the bezoar, making it its core. By seizing it, Tang Jie had essentially cut off its power source, and all of its energy leaked out while its iron defense instantly dropped.
Tang Jie started to cut instead of stab with the Heartbreak Saber, starting from its neck and going all the way down its back. The bull was dissected down the middle, with only half of its head still connected.
With a grunt, the black bull finally dropped to the ground. Even with its tenacious life force, it could no longer keep up its offensive.
“Old Black!” The gray wolf shut its eyes in sorrow and rage.
As a fiend, it was a savage fellow, but even it felt its heart chilling at Tang Jie’s methods.
Tang Jie was covered in blood, and most of the fiends were now dead. Tang Jie had killed some of them, others had been sucked dry or crushed by the formation’s vines, and still others had been slain by the black bull. In this Yi Wood Azure Heaven Formation, the only one still in good condition was the gray wolf.
The gray wolf seemed to know that it didn’t have long to live, but it showed no fear. Glaring at Tang Jie, it said, “Human, kill me if you want, but my Great King will avenge me!”
“‘Avenge’?” Tang Jie chortled at these words.
Carrying his saber, he walked up to the gray wolf and said, “You really think that stupid fox cares about your life?”
“What did you say?” The gray wolf was taken aback.
“Did you not understand me? I’m saying that your Great King, that stupid fox, doesn’t care at all about your lives… On the contrary, it might even be borrowing my hands to get rid of you.”
“Bullshit!” the gray wolf roared.
“‘Bullshit’?” Tang Jie snorted. “You’ve been crying for help for so long, so why hasn’t it appeared to save you?”
“The Great King just hasn’t arrived yet!”
“Or perhaps the exact opposite… It’s been here for a while.”
The gray wolf savagely smiled. “Cunning human, you’re trying to pull me and the Great King apart…”
“You’re going to die soon, so why would I bother doing that?” Tang Jie asked.
The gray wolf was dumbfounded. Tang Jie casually said, “Why don’t we have a bet?”