Chapter 275: Battle to the Death (1)
Chapter 275: Battle to the Death (1)
Everything that needed to be said had been said. The fiend fox stopped chattering and shot toward Tang Jie as a white streak of light.
This white light moved so quickly that even Tang Jie didn’t have time to react. He brought his saber up to protect his throat entirely on instinct, and there was a clang as the fox’s claw struck the blade, forcing Tang Jie to retreat a step.
Tang Jie’s heart turned cold.
So fast!
The fiend fox let out a soft gasp of surprise that Tang Jie had actually managed to block its claw. This attack having failed, the fox withdrew as a faint wisp of smoke, and as Tang Jie pursued and swung his saber, it easily dodged.
As it drew back, the fox howled and shot a wind blade at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie hadn’t thought that it could attack while retreating. Caught off guard, he let the wind blade hack into his chest. Fortunately, Tang Jie had activated the Formless Golden Body and Aquagel Shroud before this, and the wind blade wasn’t some powerful spell. Thus, it only managed to leave a wound on his chest.
Just when he thought that he had weathered the assault, the fiend fox suddenly went from rapid retreat to rapid advance, its claw once more grabbing at Tang Jie, completely ignoring inertia. It was such a savage attack that it instantly broke through Tang Jie’s saber net and stabbed into his chest, leaving five bloody holes. But at the moment of contact, the fox instantly retreated again.
Before Tang Jie had time to catch his breath, the Illusion Fox came back from its brief retreat, five claws making its way toward Tang Jie’s face.
Tang Jie was alarmed by the fiend fox’s constant attacks, and he instinctively raised his left hand to protect his face. Plush! The back of Tang Jie’s hand now also sported five claw marks.
A moment later, before Tang Jie even had time to put down his hand, the fiend fox shrieked, turned around in the air, and then once more rushed at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie was ready this time, hastily backing up as he unleashed a Windcleaver, halting the fiend fox’s momentum. The fiend fox suddenly flew upward, but its long tail lashed at Tang Jie.
It struck Tang Jie like a whip and caused him to spin like a top.
“Big Brother!” Yiyi shrieked in alarm. She raised her hand, and a large number of flowers rose into the air.
The fiend fox laughed. “These things are useless against me!”
It faced the flower formation and charged straight at Yiyi.
The flower vines shot at the fiend fox like hundreds of tentacles, but the fiend fox moved so quickly that not a single one was able to hold it down, only striking the afterimages it left behind.
Yiyi was left dumbfounded by the sight. She had never imagined that anyone could travel this fast. As the fiend fox rapidly approached, she couldn’t even muster the thought of fleeing. Just when it seemed like she was going to die under the fiend fox’s claw, a figure flew out in front of her: the little tiger.
Pa!
The fox’s palm sent the little tiger flying in a spray of blood.
The fiend fox didn’t give chase, instead flipping onto a distant tree. It laughed, “And here I thought that you had some skill, seeing as you were able to kill my vice king, but you aren’t that impressive at all.”
Tang Jie wiped the blood from his mouth and snorted, “Illusion Fox… you really live up to your reputation.”
This fiend fox bore the name of “Illusion” not merely because its natural gift was Illusion Thousandform, but also because its attacks were so fast that it left illusory afterimages in its wake.
Tang Jie had mentally prepared himself for the Illusion Fox’s speed, but he hadn’t expected “fast” to extend to its casting speed as well.
Not only could it move quickly, it could change speeds quickly and cast quickly. It was fast to an absurd level, so fast that it practically made speed an art, perfectly merging close combat with spell casting and causing Tang Jie’s heart to shiver.
He had thought that although the fiend fox was of upper grade, it wasn’t naturally gifted in battle and wouldn’t be much stronger than the lion king. Thus, if they combined all their strength, they stood a chance of beating the fox.
Now, he realized that he was probably wrong. While this fiend fox might not be the strongest upper-grade Mind Opening fiend, it was still an upper-grade Mind Opening fiend. It was an entire realm above him and thus no easy opponent.
Thus, Tang Jie next said, “What are you still waiting for? Together!”
He spoke these words to Qin Zhou’s group.
That string of attacks had happened so quickly that they hadn’t even had time to react. It was only when the fiend fox fell back and Tang Jie spoke that they realized, Oh, it seems like this battle is our business too.
The four Green Hill disciples knew that there was no easy way out of this. When facing the fiend fox, they would die unless it died first.
Qin Zhou clenched his teeth, and then his flying sword left its sheath and slashed at the fox.
The fiend fox laughed and blinked through the air. The flying sword couldn’t keep up. Meanwhile, the fiend fox slashed at Chen Yao, tearing off his arm.
This attack wasn’t that powerful against Tang Jie and could only inflict light wounds, but to the Green Hill disciples, it was terrifyingly lethal.
“Aaah!” Chen Yao yelled in pain as he spat out a mouthful of energy at the fiend fox.
The fiend fox flitted away like a ghost. Spell arts and weapons from the others came down, but all of them missed.
It hissed as it flitted around in the air. Up, down, left, right—it traversed air like it was flat ground, and for a moment, it was everywhere, its countless afterimages all smugly laughing.
“My precious, pin it!” Zhang Chengyun shouted, throwing out his Eight Trigrams Token.
The Eight Trigrams Token let out a light, and the high-speed figure of the fox froze for a moment.
Qin Zhou’s sword, Tang Jie’s golden needle, Yiyi’s vine, the little tiger’s lightning, and the puppet’s iron fist all converged on the fiend fox at the same time. Just when it seemed like there was no dodging this attack, the fiend fox’s body flashed with light and rippled like water. It was just like when it had escaped Tang Jie’s previously lethal encirclement.
Just like before, the fiend fox exploded into countless motes of light and then reformed.
Shadowflight!
This was the strongest protective spell art the fiend fox had. Once activated, the body would become a phantom, and all attacks that landed on it would strike this phantom while the real body fled.
Shadowflight made all the attacks ineffective, and the fiend fox laughed as it slashed its claw at Zhang Chengyun. Zhang Chengyun had a protective barrier, but to his surprise, it was completely useless against the claw. As the claw struck him, Zhang Chengyun became so frightened that his soul practically left his body. But the claw simply touched him and drew back without harming him.
Zhang Chengyun froze for a moment, and when he saw that he was fine, he exhaled in relief. He was about to say something when he was seized by a sudden impulse. As he looked around at the others, he found all their faces hateful and repulsive, so he raised a hand and cast a spell at Qin Zhou.
This came so suddenly that Qin Zhou was actually hit. Fortunately, he had a protective barrier. He angrily said, “Zhang Chengyun, what are you doing?”
“It’s the Maddening Claw. The fiend fox has taken control of him!” Luo Yin shouted as she strummed her stringless pipa.
Fortunately, the fiend fox’s spell arts focused on speed and variety. In terms of power, they couldn’t even compare to those of a middle-grade fiend like the lion, so Luo Yin’s Clear Heart Melody was effective. As the pipa released its sound, Zhang Chengyun’s eyes began to clear up.
The fiend fox refused to give her a chance to undo its curse, and with a howl, it thrust a claw at Luo Yin.
Its energy took the form of a giant steel claw as it flew at Luo Yin.
The Shadowrend Claw!
Luo Yin was just about to get hit when Chen Yao rushed up in front of her, roaring like a tiger.
The steel claw slammed into his body and instantly shattered his barrier. The five sharp claws pierced through his throat, and a moment later, his head went flying into the air.
“Senior Brother!” Luo Yin bitterly wailed at the gruesome death of Chen Yao.
“Bao’er!” Tang Jie called out.
The little tiger let out a roar, the Tiger Roar that was his innate spell.
All fiends would be intimidated by this tiger roar.
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The little tiger was many tiers below the fiend fox, so there was no guarantee that the Tiger Roar would work. Tang Jie was just trying, but to his surprise, the fiend fox really was affected, its high-speed figure freezing again. Tang Jie seized this chance and used the Violet Lightning Lunge to its full extent, swinging the Heartbreak Saber at the fiend fox.
He was so close this time that the fiend fox didn’t have time to dodge. As the Heartbreak Saber neared, the fiend fox’s eyes erupted with light, and fiend power exploded from its body, blasting Tang Jie back.
Fiend power explosion!
But as Tang Jie flew back, three golden needles shot at the fiend fox. The fox hadn’t expected Tang Jie to be able to counterattack while being blasted back, and in its haste, it was only able to dodge one needle. Two needles managed to pierce into its body.
Hiss! In this battle, it had finally been injured.
Tang Jie calmly said, “I learned it from you.”
As he spoke, he once more tried his earlier trick, the golden needles forming into a thread and slicing back at the fiend fox. Just when it seemed like the fox was about to be cut into, the fox suddenly smiled.
It was a strange smile that alarmed Tang Jie and set off alarm bells. A moment later, the fiend fox scattered into a mist.
The golden thread passed through the mist, not injuring the fox in the slightest.
The fox said in a ghostly voice, “I saw how you killed that lion.”
It was no wonder it had used Shadowflight to dodge the golden needles the first two times. As expected, it possessed some secret art that allowed it to observe what was happening in the formation.
It had seen all of Tang Jie’s tricks, so it knew to guard against the golden thread.
This was the golden needle’s greatest problem. The size limit meant that it could only be used as a concealed weapon, not an actual weapon. Once discovered, it lost much of its efficacy.
The mist reformed into the fox, which blinked up to Qin Zhou and swung a claw. Qin Zhou had barely blocked this attack when the fiend fox rushed over to Yiyi and swung its tail at her. Fortunately, Yiyi dodged it with Snakeslither. But the fiend fox moved on to Luo Yin and assailed her.
The fiend fox moved quickly and seemed to ignore inertia in how quickly it changed directions. Though it was alone, it seemed to be attacking everyone at once, only ignoring Tang Jie and the puppet.
While the puppet was powerful, in terms of speed and reaction time, it couldn’t compare to a human. Even the Thousand Mile Windchaser Formation only supplemented its speed, doing nothing for its reaction time.
The fiend fox’s strong point was precisely reaction time, shifting around so quickly in a small area that it ran circles around the puppet. The puppet flailed its fists in the air and hit nothing, only drawing the brazen laughter of the fox. “You’re nothing special!”
It casually lashed out at Luo Yin, who screamed as she was thrown back. The fiend fox didn’t use its Shadowrend Claw this time, so Luo Yin’s protective barrier saved her from severe injury. Nevertheless, the impact had her throwing up blood.
“Bastard!” Qin Zhou clenched his teeth. The flying sword that had been chasing the fox this whole time flew back into his hand, and Qin Zhou shouted, “Brother Tang, help me by holding it down.”
He began to chant while his hand formed signs. It appeared that he was preparing some powerful spell art.
The fiend fox clearly realized that it couldn’t let Qin Zhou keep casting.
While Qin Zhou wasn’t as strong as Tang Jie, he had the highest cultivation level, at the Mortal Shedding Realm. If he were allowed to brazenly cast spell arts, he could deal even more damage than Tang Jie and the puppet.
Thus, with a howl, the fiend fox charged at Qin Zhou.