Chapter 462: Escalation
Meng Tingfeng struck the large, plate-like scales on Donghai Longzi’s stomach. A thunderous crack echoed even in the emptiness of the Vast Void. Starlight exploded off the point of contact like endless rays. Though weakened and dispersed, they still carried tremendous might, forcing the immortals to move out of the way, lest they receive friendly fire.
Most of the starlight rays struck the dimension barrier of the Hundred Pill Realm. However, a few stronger rays pierced the dimensional barrier and struck the land and sea of the realm, bringing unneeded disaster to the denizens.
Donghai Longzi roared, more in surprise than pain, but he wasn’t the only one surprised. Even Meng Tingfeng’s fellow sword monarchs were confused by his abrupt explosions, much less the immortal monarchs from the Immortal Court.
Meng Tingfeng flew away in a burst of light. The fiery rage had left his face, replaced by an icy fury, one that would bring those with weak hearts chills. He didn’t retreat for long as he made an abrupt turn and charged toward Donghai Longzi again. His sword flashed, unleashing countless sword lights upon the black dragon.
At first, Donghai Longzi didn’t take them seriously. He allowed them to strike wantonly, but soon, he couldn’t do so anymore. The airy light belied the sword light’s terrifying power. They pierced through his scales and entered his flesh. They didn’t get very far, but the moment they entered, they exploded, almost like miniature novas, wreaking havoc in his body.
Although his flesh and muscles gave him tremendous strength, they didn’t have the same defensive power as his scales. So, the sword light dealt substantial damage despite using up the majority of their energy penetrating his scales and the destruction demon qi in his body destroying it as fast as possible.
The interaction between dragon and immortal occurred in a short amount of time, and by now, the eight immortal monarchs took action. They didn’t attack Donghai Longzi, but Honglin, who was shielding Jiaohu with her body. In their eyes, Meng Tingfeng seemed to be handling Donghai Longzi fine enough.
Even an immortal emperor would need to use a lot of effort to kill Donghai Longzi, even if there was no danger. Since they couldn’t kill him, they had to trap him, and that would take far more effort. So, it was better to kill the new demon monarch before focusing on Donghai Longzi. Compared to the black dragon that radiated an aura equal to a fifth-step monarch, the red dragon only had the aura equivalent to a first-step monarch.
Naturally, Donghai Longzi noticed the situation and rushed to aid her. But first, he had to get rid of an annoying gnat.
Black demonic qi encased the claws on all four of his limbs. Not just his claws, but all the spikes on his body and especially his twin horns. Donghai Longzi unleashed several claw strikes toward Meng Tingfeng. Those claws pierced toward the swordsman, as if a human finger squishing a mere ant.
Meng Tingfeng could sense the destructive power behind that seemingly simple attack. Still, he did not back down. The fourth star on the Seven Star Sword started to flash with light. However, unlike the previous three stars, it dimmed and lit up in a pattern, never quite lighting up all the way. He slashed toward Donghai Longzi.
Once again, claw and sword collided.
The moment the two clashed, an invisible ripple exploded from the contact point. It launched Meng Tingfeng thousands of meters back. Not just that, he felt his internal organs shift from the ripples and a sweet yet metallic taste rising up his throat. It was only through sheer force of will that he forced it down.
“An immortal emperor’s attack!” Meng Tingfeng shouted. “This bastard was hiding his true strength! Not only does he have the defensive capabilities of an immortal emperor, but his attack is on par, too! Once he enters the next realm, he will become a major threat. We must kill him at all costs!”
Reasoning and sound logic filled every single of the sword monarch’s words, but simultaneously, so was the overflowing hatred within them.
The seven monarchs’ actions didn’t stop or slow down at Meng Tingfeng’s warning. So what if Donghai Longzi had the attack and defense of an immortal emperor? That didn’t change their plan. They still needed to get rid of the red dragon first before focusing on the black one.
The two groups attacked in sequence. The three immortal monarchs of the Immortal Court attacked first. Two of them united their techniques and unleashed a spell of fire and water, while the soul monarch unleashed a soul attack. When he sensed the barrier protecting Honglin’s soul, he couldn’t help but want to curse. When did soul defense artifacts become so common?
Honglin used a true dragon’s innate control over water to deflect most of the water portion of the fire and water attack while attempting to dodge the rest. However, the soul monarch’s attack still caused her to pause for a split second, even if it didn’t cause any harm. This allowed a portion of the fire to blast a part of her serpentine body, leaving it black from the heat.𝘧𝑟𝓮𝓮𝓌𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝑚
She didn’t have time to catch her breath as the four sword monarchs from the Numinous Sword Sect arrived. Their swords shone with brilliant glimmers as sword light flashed. It didn’t take long for the beautiful scarlet scales to be sullied with gashes, cuts, and blood.
The red dragon felt her heart clench. Truth be told, she had expected to dominate her opponents even if she was outnumbered. Although her grandfather told her to be wary of humans, she never fully digested his advice. Her brain knew, but her heart refused to accept. And now, she finally knew not to underestimate humans.
Still, being passively beaten was not in her nature. Honglin roared. Her heartbeat increased, pumping the blood through her veins even faster. Her originally white sclera took on a red tone, becoming indistinguishable from her red iris.
As a practitioner of the Law of Blood, not only could she manipulate her foes’ blood, but also her own. Her scales thicken and her muscle mass increased. With her newfound strength, she duked it out with the four sword monarchs.
Honglin’s actions were crude and unsightly, the epitome of beastly violence in comparison to the refined techniques of humans. However, she only needed a few strikes to injure or kill them while they needed to attack tens, if not hundreds of times.
Their situation became worse as Donghai Longzi arrived. He instantly separated Honglin from the sword monarchs and used his body to shield Honglin from the spells of the Immortal Court’s monarchs. “They discovered this location. We have to retreat.”
Honglin nodded.
But before they could even start retreating, Meng Tingfeng had already arrived. His face seemed a bit pale, but the killing intent in his eyes only increased. Donghai Longzi released a displeased glare and sent out another claw. If it was a secluded location with no interference, he didn’t mind killing Meng Tingfeng, but the situation wouldn’t allow it. So he wanted to push Meng Tingfeng away again.
Unlike the previous clash, Meng Tingfeng’s body transformed into an energy body. When the claws arrived, it split into ten streaks that dodged the claws and streamed toward Donghai Longzi’s head. Before reaching, the starlights converged and turned back into Meng Tingfeng.
Donghai Longzi snorted. He rammed his horn at Meng Tingfeng. The black light encasing the horn revealed a terrifying sharpness and destructive might. When horn and sword clashed, a standstill occurred, surprising the dragon. His horn was more powerful than his claws, yet Meng Tingfeng, who had been blown away before, could stand his ground.
The four sword monarchs didn’t just stand still, either. Since they failed their initial plan, they would do their best to kill Donghai Longzi. Unfortunately for them, none of them even reached the strength of a half-emperor. With one swipe of Donghai Longzi’s claws, he sent them thousands of meters away, with many injuries. The unluckiest sword monarch also spat out a mouthful of blood as his face paled dramatically.
He also ignored the spells from the three monarchs from the Immortal Court. Instead, he focused all his attention on Meng Tingfeng. In just a few seconds, the two exchanged hundreds of blows. “What’s wrong with you? You acted like I killed your father or something.”
Hearing Donghai Longzi’s words, Meng Tingfeng finally couldn’t suppress his anger anymore. “You’ve committed a far worse sin! You killed my son.”
“Your son?” Donghai Longzi repeated. He tried to recall when Meng Tingfeng went berserk and, upon linking the cause, he couldn’t help but show an abnormal expression. It was obvious to the humans, even on a dragon’s face. “That guy, Ba Shifang? How could he be your son?”
Not just Donghai Longzi, but the other immortal monarchs also sent questioning glances at Meng Tingfeng. However, the subject of everyone’s glares didn’t want to answer their silent queries. “They are already intent on escaping. We have to trap them and kill this scourge before he becomes a greater threat. We have to deploy the trapping formation!”
Although still curious, none of the immortal monarchs thought he said anything wrong. Under their commands, the true immortals hiding in the Hundred Pill Realm flew out one after the other.
Of course, Donghai Longzi wouldn’t allow them to do as they wished. Meng Tingfeng and the other monarchs were doing their best to delay him and Honglin as much as possible. At the very least, Jiaohu had already fled very far into the distance.
A thin black bubble grew from Donghai Longzi’s body and continued to grow. Within his domain of destruction, everything started to tremble, as if threatening to break. Immortal monarchs had enough strength to resist it, but the same couldn’t be said for the true immortals. If they couldn’t even defend themselves, they could not start the formation.
To combat the domain of destruction, several immortal monarchs also unleashed their own domains. It took several domains to combat Donghai Longzi’s domain. This was because his domain focused on one aspect: destruction. It interfered with the capabilities of all domains within its range, but ultimately, it was only a single domain.
The Immortal Court’s three monarchs formed the Fire-Water-Wind-Earth Containment Formation, while the Numinous Sword Sect formed a degraded version of their Ten Thousand Sword Formation. They had just formed, so it would take time for them to reach their height.
The Ten Thousand Sword Formation already started attacking the dragons of black and red, while the Fire-Water-Wind-Earth Containment Formation expanded its range. Its goal wasn’t just to trap the two demon monarchs, but also eliminate Jiaohu, this future scourge.
Jiaohu did his best to flee the formation’s range, but he was ultimately too slow.
“No!” Jiaohu shouted. The space distortion around increased again, but it was for naught. Desperation filled him. He had always prided himself on his innate abilities. Even if he couldn’t defeat his opponents, he could always flee. Sure, the other demons called him a coward, but what did they know? Staying alive was the most important.
Suddenly, the space distortion vanished. No, it didn’t disappear, but became sublimated, improved. Under the pressure, Jiaohu’s mastery over the Law of Space had improved to a new level. His speed increased threefold, and he slipped out of the Fire-Water-Wind-Earth Containment Formation’s range. His speed increased until he was fast enough to escape the formation’s encompassment.
“Haha, I knew there was no way I, Lord Jiaohu, would fall here!”
Alas, he was too happy, too fast. The space around him distorted, and he discovered that his ability to control space greatly diminished. A young man wearing white with a peerlessly handsome face appeared in front of him. It was Ba Shifang, who had ‘died.’
He pointed at Jiaohu and a beam of five-colored light shot toward the toad dragon. Jiaohu resisted, but he discovered that he only moved a few centimeters at most with the space confinement, far from enough to dodge the light. Just as he despaired again, a man with two jade-like horns growing out of his forehead appeared in front of him and blocked the beam.
“Dragon Lord Yujiao!” Jiaohu shouted with happiness.
Yujiao ignored him and stared at Ba Shifang. “With me here, you won’t be able to kill him.”
Ba Shifang simply smiled.
Yujiao didn’t understand the meaning behind that smile, but he soon realized it. Jiaohu suddenly screamed in pain and his vitality disappeared. He died mysteriously before Yujiao could react.