A tiger roared behind them—it was a man-eating tiger. The saying goes that a tiger's pounce covers three zhang and nine zhang (approximately 10 meters), and this tiger demon's pounce was no weaker than the "Fragrant Elephant Crossing the River."
"Brother Tiger, save me!" Wolf King Tudu howled pitifully. His left arm had been torn off, greatly reducing his strength. He was already no match for Xie Chou alone, and now that the two of them were attacking together, he had no chance to fight back.
"You all seem to be treating this old man like he doesn't exist! Men, charge!"
The warrior at the Innate Realm suddenly opened his eyes, a golden light bursting forth from them, his killing intent shooting straight out like a sharp arrow.
Sword draw and slash!
A blade of light flashed towards Xie Chou in an instant, attempting to stop the decapitation strike by attacking Wei from attacking Zhao.
However, he clearly underestimated Xie Chou's defensive capabilities and his fearless determination to kill the Wolf King.
Having taken the blow head-on, Xie Chou's back was ripped open with a bloody gash, while Xuanhua's great axe continued to whistle down.
The wolf king's eyes were bloodshot as he barely dodged the axe blade. He kicked sharply, his blood energy surging, and he barely avoided the decapitation strike. He slid towards Jiang Liu, blood gushing from the wound on his left arm.
At the same time, the priest, with a reed flute in his mouth, began to play a mournful tune, sometimes high and sometimes low.
As the sound echoed, all the warriors' eyes turned bloodshot, reaching a state similar to berserk. Moreover, as if they were half-drunk, their reaction to pain became dulled, and a faint layer of blood-red light protected their skin and muscles. The extra protection they gained was roughly equivalent to wearing an extra piece of high-quality leather armor.
The secret technique of the East Sea High Priest has an extremely large range, capable of affecting nearly a hundred people in an instant.
Under the influence of this secret technique, the warriors' fighting power increased exponentially.
Wolf King Tudu revealed a hint of joy at surviving. He saw the tiger demon pouncing from the darkness. As long as he could dodge the human's attack, he could live.
A life-or-death moment!
In a desperate attempt to survive, the wounded wolf king's eyes turned bloodshot, and it charged forward with even greater ferocity. Blood gushed from its left arm, but it paid no heed. Its right claws shot out, and it fought to the death!
"As long as I can survive this attack, I can live! I can live!" In an instant, the Wolf King gathered all his blood energy.
Jiang Liu took a step back, his movements like a gazelle leaping from its horns, and with his hand held like a knife, he slashed diagonally. The force of his palm struck the air, producing a slight whistling sound, much like the metallic clanging of a real large knife vibrating in the air.
He didn't use any vital energy, only physical strength. With a press, a drag, and a pull, he was just like a butcher wielding a large door and a butcher's knife, gutting a fat pig.
As the hand was dragged along, it seemed to pull the air apart, emitting a piercing, whistling sound.
In the blink of an eye, the wolf king's incredibly thick leather was easily pierced as if it were tofu, and then, as it was dragged, its belly was ripped open.
Jiang Liu launched a surprise attack, dodging to the side. The wolf king's charge continued, and Jiang Liu gave it another boost from behind, smashing it at the tiger demon that was pouncing on it at an even faster speed.
A voice from Jiang Liu echoed slowly in the night sky: "Killing you is like slaughtering a dog."
Both the tiger demon and the East Sea official were terrified.
To truly defeat someone, you must strike them with courage. Jiang Liu's move of dragging his knife to kill the wolf stunned everyone!
"I hope you can still laugh under my Tiger Devouring Blade!" The tiger demon threw the wolf demon, who was already on the verge of death, and roared like a ferocious beast with his tiger-headed greatsword.
A layer of bloody light and malevolent aura emanated from the blade, a reflection of the resentment and malevolent energy of those who died at his hands.
"Old Niu, how long can you hold off this tiger demon?"
Xie Chou gripped his giant axe and said in a deep voice, "Master, you can rest assured to kill that old monkey from the East Sea. I am no match for this tiger demon, but he can't kill me in a short time either."
After saying that, Xie Chou laughed loudly and strode towards the tiger demon, saying, "Tiger Devourer, I escaped from your clutches ten years ago. Today I want to see what level you have reached in these ten years!"
"Killing you is enough!"
...
Seeing the East Sea warriors surrounding him, Jiang Liu suddenly moved, rushing towards the leading innate warrior. As he moved, a white light surged from his skin, followed by crackling sounds, and countless arcs of electricity snaked wildly across his body.
Lightning covered his entire body. Although he had lost the formidable destructive power of "Chidori," the lightning defense throughout his body could paralyze his opponents. It was perfect for dealing with these warriors who had reached the Acquired Realm. Even if they had obtained secret techniques that made them immune to pain, how could they hold their weapons if their hands were paralyzed?
The Thunder Tribulation Peach Wood Sword was unleashed, instantly plunging into the ranks of the warriors.
Swords flashed and blood and flesh flew everywhere.
At the second level of Refining Essence into Qi, Jiang Liu could kill nearly a hundred elite warriors. Now, with the successful cultivation of the "Cloud Light Stone Flowing Pill," his strength has skyrocketed, reaching the fifth level. Naturally, he has no fear of these less than a hundred warriors. Even with the divine official's secret technique, killing them is only a matter of time.
But Jiang Liu kept a close eye on the strange priest's movements. Seeing that he was slaughtering everyone and cutting down the East Sea warriors as easily as slicing melons, the priest remained unmoved and even showed a faint smile on his face.
"There's a conspiracy!" This was Jiang Liu's first reaction. After beheading the swordsman at the Innate Realm with a single sword strike, Jiang Liu stopped killing the warriors and instead charged towards the priest.
Chapter Seventy-Six: The Divine Messenger
"Mortal, repent for your sins!"
The priest sat atop a white horse, a cruel smile playing on his lips.
Jiang Liu suddenly had a bad feeling. He turned his head and saw that the remaining samurai had stopped attacking and instead began to expose their chests. Then, they simply pointed their samurai swords at their abdomens and stabbed themselves open.
The battlefield was instantly covered with colorful, foul-smelling entrails.
The atmosphere was extremely eerie.
"What's going on? Are they going to use evil magic? A sacrifice?" Jiang Liu's brows furrowed into a deep frown, a sense of impending doom rising in his heart.
"Go to hell!"
Jiang Liu thrust his sword forward, intending to kill him in the blink of an eye, giving the East Sea official no chance to continue casting spells.
"Too late!"
The priest snorted and leaped from his horse into the air, a feat that was astonishing given his old age.
Even more unbelievable is that he remained suspended in mid-air and did not fall!
At that moment, an extremely eerie laugh echoed from the sky.
"Great Heavenly Demon Hero, I... a high priest of the Heavenly Demon Cult, am willing to offer thirty years of my lifespan and the soul of this devout believer as the price, so that the great will may descend upon me..."
As soon as he finished speaking, an immense will suddenly descended upon the white-haired priest in the sky. This will arrived so suddenly, and its pressure was so astonishing. It was an instinctive fear from the bottom of his heart. Jiang Liu wanted to unleash his lightning magic, but he couldn't raise his hand no matter what he did.
"Tianmo Xiong?! Who is that?"
At this moment, even Xie Chou and the tiger demon, who were locked in a fierce battle, stopped and looked at the sky with furrowed brows.
Xie Chou, covered in wounds, seized this brief opportunity to swallow a pill and gasp for breath.
After a long while, that will dissipated. Jiang Liu looked closely and saw that the appearance of the East Sea official under the moonlight had changed drastically. A pair of wings resembling poisonous moths had grown on his back, and the powder on them showed strange black patterns. It looked like a skull with a grinning mouth. The old man's head had been deformed into a triangle with huge compound eyes, turning into the shape of an insect. His two arms had also been deformed into extremely sharp scythes, looking incredibly sharp!
Furthermore, he had three long bony tails growing from his rear end, two long and one short, fluttering like ribbons on his sides, suggesting he was agile assassins.
"The third divine messenger under the Heavenly Demon King, Ghost Crow... Hahahaha... Thirty years of lifespan! How many thirty years does one have in a lifetime? I, Tsuruta Ghost Crow, am only thirty years old, thirty years old! I'm already too old to go see the God of the Underworld!"
After a moment of reflection, the self-proclaimed divine messenger fixed his insect-like compound eyes on Jiang Liu, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. He licked his lips with his bright red tongue and roared, "But, I'm willing to exchange thirty years of my lifespan for this immense power... You'd better let me eat you!"
"I'm just afraid you'll break a tooth!"
Jiang Liu sneered. Without the pressure of that will, he immediately unleashed his lightning technique. A thunderclap resounded in the sky, and a huge blue lightning bolt struck down, like an incredibly thick and ferocious lightning serpent!
"Just flying around in the sky like an idiot, spouting so much nonsense! Don't they know that bad people die from talking too much?"
The lightning raged in the air for a few seconds before finally dissipating.
"Damn it!!"
Jiang Liu suddenly swung his Thunder Tribulation Peach Wood Sword horizontally, barely blocking the slash from the divine envoy's scythe-like arm. A clear dent was visible on the sword. The immense power carried by this strike forced Jiang Liu to stagger back several steps! The divine envoy let out a strange cry, and with a flash of its wings, a layer of grayish-black scales was immediately thrown at Jiang Liu. Just by looking at the color of this stuff, it was clear that getting it on Jiang Liu would not end well.
A long, thin, bony tail stabbed out from an undetectable spot, extremely cunning. Jiang Liu was already careful enough to dodge the two tailbone spurs, but he was still instantly pinned to his chest by one of them, which produced a loud sound like striking a bronze bell.
Jiang Liu froze, then swung his sword and severed the bony tail. With a swift movement, he used the Doubu Gang technique to escape the poison powder's reach, even holding his breath.
However, some of the powder still stuck to his body, leaving dense black spots on his clothes and turning his exposed skin a fiery red. The poisonous powder was fiery, capable of corroding steel; if inhaled, it would be enough to burn a person to a crisp from the inside out.
Jiang Liu ignored the attack of the fire poison and looked at his chest, where blood had already stained his outer clothes. The Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield, the Dragon Roar Iron Shirt, and the cauldron body he had obtained by refining the "Cloud Light Stone Flowing Pill" had all failed to stop the tailbone's attack, the bone spur deeply embedded in his lung.
Moreover, the bony tail embedded in his body was covered with barbs, so Jiang Liu dared not pull it out carelessly.
"This monster exists solely for fighting! Its body is covered in weapons, making it impossible to defend against!"
The divine messenger flapped his wings and took to the air again. He could only unleash his terrifying power by diving; if he stood on the ground, his abilities would be reduced by at least half. This was both his strength and his weakness.
Jiang Liu looked closely and saw that the severed tailbone was growing back at a speed visible to the naked eye. The previous lightning strike hadn't been without damage, but it hadn't caused him a fatal injury. His back had a magnificent, lush flower of flesh and blood, like a strange hole the size of a basketball, a bloody mess, with even the pale white broken bones visible.
Such an injury would be fatal to an ordinary person. However, the muscles at the wound site of the divine envoy began to writhe and twist at a visible speed, and after circling the sky once more, it had almost completely recovered. Jiang Liu then realized just how terrifying his enemy was; its powerful regenerative abilities made it virtually invincible.
Jiang Liu only had one move against this flying monster: lightning magic!
He drew talismans to summon thunder again, but fortunately, the divine messenger was not flying fast, and Jiang Liu's thunder technique was well-developed, so the attack landed on the divine messenger again.
After the lightning subsided, the divine messenger once again swung his scythe-wielding arm and attacked.
Its momentum was like a tiger pouncing on its prey, or a dragon soaring into the sky.
When he flew away again, a cross-shaped wound appeared on Jiang Liu's chest, dripping with blood.
"Hehe...hehe...I can't be killed. Let me slowly cut you into a thousand pieces! Your soul, your flesh, I will devour them bit by bit..." The divine messenger licked the blood on the scythe on his arm and let out a piercing, unpleasant laugh.
Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Power of One Province
"I am immortal!"
"I am the third divine messenger of the Heavenly Demon Hero!"
"Below the Earth Immortals, I am the most revered!"
"Just let me eat it!"
"Blood...soul...it's so delicious!"
"Hahaha...hahahaha..."
Looking at the so-called divine messenger laughing maniacally in the sky, Jiang Liu pulled out an inconspicuous object from his pocket! A piece of purple bronze, a fragment of the Yangzhou Cauldron!
"Let me show you my true power! This is my trump card, my last life-saving strike! You're really lucky! It's a great blessing for you to die from this strike!" Jiang Liu muttered, then threw a punch at the swooping divine envoy!
Destroy the "Zhen" (震) character in the Six-Character Mantra!
A flash of light appeared on the bronze fragment in his hand, and an illusion of an ancient map appeared on his outstretched fist. The "power of one province" displayed by the "vanished one" was activated. This illusion of an ancient map was the map engraved on the Yangzhou Cauldron, one of the Nine Cauldrons of ancient China!
One punch can destroy an entire province! The sheer power of an entire province from ancient times is enough to crush it down—how desolate that is!
How profound is this?!
"I offer my blood to Xuanyuan!"