Tier Five Magical Beast

"Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!!!"

Mo Cheng stared grimly at the many venomous snakes around him. Naturally, he knew something about his target this time, but he had never imagined that the continent's number one extraordinary pupils would be so terrifying. Qing Lin had only awakened them recently, yet she could already control so many snake-type magical beasts.

Mo Cheng surged his Dou Qi and blasted away the surrounding Fire Ants. With a leap, he shot straight toward Yan Qingshan in midair, only for Yan Qingshan to evade him with ease. Yan Qingshan let out a whistle, and countless snake-type magical beasts poured down toward the enemies in the sand pit. The pursuers, who had already been in dire straits, found their situation worsening even further.

The Sand Mercenary Group's higher-ups and the Mo Clan's many experts were all besieged by snake-type magical beasts several times their number. With troublesome Fire Ants continuously attacking from below, they were immediately placed in grave danger.

"Mo Cheng, if you don't go down and save them, all your men are going to be finished!"

Yan Qingshan spread his wings and hovered in the air, continually widening the distance between them as he flew in curving, swaying arcs. He never gave Mo Cheng the slightest opportunity, refusing to relax for even a moment despite the immense consumption of Dou Qi.

"Brat, I'll remember you."

Mo Cheng glared viciously at the fellow before him. A Dou Ling could leap through the air, but changing direction was difficult and its range was limited. Landing from too great a height was also unbearable for a Dou Ling. It was nowhere near as flexible as a Flying Dou Skill, nor could it reach such heights.

Faced with Yan Qingshan, who never relaxed, always widened the distance, and never flew in a straight line, instead darting about with slippery, serpentine movements, he had no solution.

Mo Cheng swept his gloomy gaze across the surroundings, yet found no place where anyone could be hiding. However, the secret technique showed that the target he sensed was nearby.

He truly could not understand where the other side had hidden her. He could neither catch this slippery brat nor locate the precise whereabouts of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, so he could only choose to descend into the sand pit and save his people.

He did not care about the Sand Mercenary Group's people, but the Mo Clan members he had brought were all his trusted subordinates within the clan. Mo Cheng was the Mo Clan's strongest expert, yet he was merely the Grand Elder. The clan still had a patriarch and a number of higher-ups who held considerable grievances against him.

The people he had brought were the Mo Clan's elite, including three Da Dou Shi. They were all elder-level figures in the Mo Clan. If they were lost here, he would have a hard time explaining himself upon returning to the clan, and others might seize the chance to make trouble for him.

"Mo Cheng, Mo Cheng, you still fell for it in the end!"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Yan Qingshan's lips. The trap he had laid was naturally not so simple. Although the sudden arrival of the enemy had prevented him from truly setting up the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the schemes Mo Cheng and the others had encountered along the way had indeed been interlocking traps, one after another.

At the beginning, Yan Qingshan had faced Mo Cheng and the others alone. One reason was to scatter poisonous powder mixed with pheromones against them; the other was to test Mo Cheng's intentions. If Mo Cheng had relied on his strength and pursued alone, Yan Qingshan would have used a different plan, luring Mo Cheng farther away before dealing with him.

Through Shuguang, Yan Qingshan had devised two sets of plans for two different situations.

The first possibility was that Mo Cheng, confident in his superior strength, would see through Yan Qingshan's ruse and chase after him alone. As a Dou Ling, Mo Cheng might not have been as agile in the air as Yan Qingshan, but he could still keep pursuing him. Compared to Mo Cheng, a Dou Ling, Yan Qingshan was only a Dou Zhe. In a prolonged chase, he certainly could not match the other man.

This possibility had initially seemed rather likely. Yan Qingshan had thought from the start that Mo Cheng would come alone. After all, none of his subordinates, whether Dou Masters or Da Dou Shi, had the ability to move through the air. Against Yan Qingshan, they would only be a burden.

But perhaps Mo Cheng had guessed something. He had not separated from the main force, instead choosing to bring his men along to search. Thus, Yan Qingshan had used his second plan.

In the first plan, after Mo Cheng pursued him, Yan Qingshan had intended for Qingling and Xuelan to secretly control Yellow Sand Demonic Scorpions and a large number of snake-type magical beasts, delaying everyone else's movements while he himself lured Mo Cheng away.

The second plan was the current situation. Mo Cheng and his men had fallen into the trap together. Mo Cheng himself could easily escape, but his subordinates lacked that strength. At that point, it would depend on what he chose to sacrifice.

Just as Yan Qingshan had expected, after searching fruitlessly in the air, Mo Cheng might not have cared about the Sand Mercenary Group, but he would still return to save his trusted Mo Clan subordinates if he could. The moment he descended, he stepped into another trap Yan Qingshan had prepared for him.

Rumble...

Stone Desert City in the Tagore Desert was destined for an extraordinary day. First, the Sand Mercenary Group's main force had traveled far into the eastern desert, apparently searching for something. Then, in the afternoon, a shocking boom suddenly came from that eastern wasteland. A crimson pillar of fire rose into the sky, clearly visible even from Stone Desert City dozens of miles away.

"What a choking smell!"

Yan Qingshan covered his nose as he reached the upwind side, only then feeling slightly better. Below him were billowing smoke and scorching magma. The former sandy ground had become a crimson fire pit, with magma constantly bubbling up from underground.

However, this magma vent was clearly not very large. After the crimson magma surged out for a while, it receded again.

"Ah!!! You little bastard, I'll definitely kill you!"

At the center of the magma eruption, Mo Cheng was a bloody, mangled mess, carrying the stench of burnt flesh. His clothes had been set ablaze by the magma.

Although his Dou Qi Armor had protected his entire body, the scorching magma had broken through most of its defenses and severely injured him. Had he not sensed the danger and used the force of the magma surge to escape the center, he might have become a charred corpse like the others here.

Yan Qingshan looked down at Mo Cheng and said calmly, "Mo Cheng, I warned you from the very beginning not to provoke me. You refused to listen. The hundreds of lives in this pit all died because of you!"

This magma eruption had naturally been meticulously calculated using Shuguang. He had destroyed the underground structure to create a sinkhole, then detonated it again at a specific time, causing magma to surge violently and flood this place, creating a tiny magma eruption.

Yan Qingshan had been responsible for planning and calculating the timing, while Xuelan and Qingling underground had carried it out. The specific moment was when Mo Cheng turned back to save his people. When the sand slope first collapsed, Mo Cheng would certainly have been on high alert. If they had detonated it then, it would have been difficult to severely injure him.

Only when Mo Cheng had searched without success and then seen the terrible casualties below, choosing to descend and rescue them, would it be the best opportunity. At that moment, although Mo Cheng was still wary, he would never have expected the danger to come from underground.

Mo Cheng's earlier sensing had indeed been correct. Qingling was nearby, but not on the surface. She was beneath the seemingly empty desert. Yan Qingshan had arranged everything through signals, and Qingling and Xuelan had carried it out.

"Little beast, this old man won't let you go."

Mo Cheng gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand and roared. His whole body trembled. His charred clothes and flesh were tightly stuck together, while the exposed skin was red and ulcerated. Even his face had almost no intact flesh left.

Yet he still had not died. Though heavily injured, a Dou Ling possessed formidable vitality, and he still retained some Dou Qi. He remained someone Yan Qingshan could not confront head-on.

"Mo Cheng, do you think you can still escape!"

Yan Qingshan slowly descended a little, still maintaining a certain distance from Mo Cheng. "I told you before—if you weren't afraid of death, then come. Since you've come, I'll grant you death!"

"You? Brat, I admit you're good at scheming, but do you think these petty tricks can deal with a Dou Ling?"

Right before Yan Qingshan, Mo Cheng took healing pills from his Storage Ring and swallowed them. "If I want to leave, you can't stop me. Brat, today's matter isn't over."

After delivering his threat, Mo Cheng immediately prepared to leave. He could no longer care about the other people crying out in pain. All he wanted was to get away from this little bastard as quickly as possible and return to the Mo Clan for treatment.

"I told you, you're dead!"

Yan Qingshan sneered. "Weren't you looking for the snake girl with the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils? Then how about I let her come out!"

Yan Qingshan merely clapped his hands. Two figures burst from a sand slope several hundred meters away beside the magma pit: two girls, one older and one younger. The younger girl, only eleven or twelve years old, wore an emerald-green dress, and her eyes shone as brilliantly as jade.

"Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils!"

Snake-type magical beasts emerged one after another from the nearby sand, surrounding the girl in green and guarding her at the center. Mo Cheng watched the scene and could not help muttering. The next instant, he leaped toward her.

Bang...

Unfortunately, Mo Cheng was sent flying again midway through his charge. A massive magical beast over seven zhang long burst from the sand. It had two snake heads, each with a jade-green divine flower pattern on its brow. After directly ramming Mo Cheng away, it affectionately rubbed against the girl in green.

Yan Qingshan descended from the sky and looked at Mo Cheng calmly. "I told you, you're definitely going to die today!"

The Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake glanced at him, swayed its heads, and spat out a section of jade-green plant brimming with dense life-filled Wood energy.

"A Tier Five Magical Beast. So this is your trump card? This old man does not deserve to die unjustly. But if you want to kill me, I'll leave a few scars on you first!"

The instant Mo Cheng saw the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake, he went completely mad. This Tier Five Magical Beast had an unstable aura and seemed to have only recently advanced, but even if it were merely Fourth-tier, it would be enough to take his life in his heavily wounded state.

Thus, having stepped into this trap, he truly was doomed to die today. But it also stirred the savage nature within him.

Mo Cheng gave a ferocious smile. His curled body suddenly shook, and he flew toward Yan Qingshan. His left arm exuded a savage, beastlike aura. On the arm exposed to the air, veins bulged and throbbed like little snakes, while his nails grew half an inch longer and turned pitch-black.

In a brief instant, redness gradually spread over Mo Cheng's left arm until it was completely crimson, as though scorched by fire.

"Mountain Breaking Arm. Too bad I won't give you the chance!"

The moment Mo Cheng moved, Yan Qingshan shifted his gaze to the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake. Having received its orders, the Fire Spirit Snake's other head had long been holding a mouthful of Magma Flame. It immediately spat it out, completely engulfing Mo Cheng.

"Ah!!!"

Mo Cheng had only just risen into the air when a pillar of magma fire struck him head-on. Amid his screams, he was blasted away by the magma and finally collapsed into a sea of flames.

Since Yan Qingshan remembered the original story, he naturally knew that Mo Cheng had transplanted the forelimb of a Tier Five Magical Beast, the Blazing Mountain-Breaking Rhinoceros, onto himself.

With the forelimb of a Tier Five Magical Beast and his high-level Dou Ling cultivation, Mo Cheng's full-force strike was likely no weaker than that of a Dou Wang. Moreover, no one knew about this forelimb, so it was easy for him to catch opponents off guard in close combat.

In the original story, the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake had likely been defeated by Mo Cheng because he used a trick to get close, then used the Mountain Breaking Arm of the Tier Five Blazing Mountain-Breaking Rhinoceros to deal with it before abducting Qing Lin.