Third-order Demon Beast, Joining Forces Against Xiantian

Niu Hanshan said, "Quite a few from yesterday's group of the Demon Race escaped back. The news that you are here has likely already reached both Lord Black Mountain and Black Mountain County by now. The next time the Demon Race attacks, a Third-order Demon Beast may well appear. Brother Lu, do you have a way to deal with that?"

Niu Hanshan's expression was somewhat grave.

The Third Realm of martial arts was called the Xiantian Realm.

At this realm, the true qi within a martial artist's body was further refined, the dross removed and the essence preserved.

The whole body was as if in fetal breathing, reversing back to the innate; within the true qi, a trace of innate spirituality had already been born, condensing into Xiantian True Qi.

Martial artists of this realm had keen senses and could read the enemy before they moved; it was known as "Cicadas sense the wind before it moves."

Some powerful Xiantian martial artists, such as Niu Haocheng, had even comprehended "force," and could not be mentioned in the same breath as Houtian Realm martial artists at all.

For martial artists of this realm, even their lifespan increased. If they were free of illness and disaster, they could live to a full one hundred and twenty years!

Whether it was the even keener five senses or the increasingly condensed Xiantian True Qi, both were a kind of qualitative change.

So it was for humans, and so it was for demons.

An ordinary Houtian martial artist facing a Xiantian had no chance of victory at all.

Lu Yang said, "If you used your full strength to draw that treasured bow and loose an arrow, would you be confident of injuring a Xiantian?"

Niu Hanshan first nodded, then immediately shook his head again and sighed. "A Third-order Demon Beast has keen senses and extreme speed. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to hit it!"

"Since that's the case, then we all the more cannot sit here waiting for death!" Lu Yang said. "Why not switch from defense to offense? You and I can join hands and enter the mountains again!"

Niu Hanshan's eyes lit up.

On the trip to White Crane Ridge, he had reaped quite a bountiful harvest.

If they could enter the mountains again and hunt down another wave of the Demon Race, perhaps between life and death, there really would be a chance for him to break into Xiantian.

Once one of the two of them entered Xiantian, perhaps they would be able to preserve Niushi Town!

Just then, a violent tremor came from the ground beneath their feet.

Immediately afterward, a dense chorus of beast roars spread throughout the whole of Niushi Town.

The two looked at each other, and both saw gravity in the other's eyes.

"We're too late. They're already here." Niu Hanshan's voice was incomparably heavy.

Lu Yang frowned and said, "Let's go. We'll head out and take a look first."

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The two had only just walked out of the secret chamber when the world outside shook as if mountains were toppling and the earth was splitting.

Amid flying dust, endless shattered stones rolled down from the fortress.

A huge breach had been smashed straight through the sturdy walls of Niushi Fort.

Half of Chen Fang's body lay on the ground, blood and flesh scattered everywhere, already without breath.

Many of Niushi Fort's guards, as well as the Night Patrol Squad in the town, had also suffered disastrous losses at this moment.

Many civilian houses had been smashed down by brute force, and countless members of the Demon Race were tearing into the flesh and blood of living people.

Screams, furious curses, sobs and shouts, the sounds of desperate fighting, and the sounds of houses collapsing rang out without end.

Wang Kang was currently leading the men under Lu Yang in a bloody battle against the Demon Race, and the scene had fallen into complete chaos.

"Moo!"

"Lowly blood food, you actually dared to kill my son! Today, not one of you should even think of living!"

A massive Bull Demon, its body like a small mountain, spoke in human words.

Its berserk demonic qi turned into rolling black fog that spread outward. Those enveloped by that demonic qi lost their minds within just a few breaths; blood flowed from their seven orifices, and they collapsed to the ground, twitching nonstop.

For a demon beast of this level, merely releasing demonic qi was already more than ordinary martial artists could endure.

"Third-order!" Lu Yang and Niu Hanshan blurted out almost at the same time.

What they had worried about most before was that a Third-order Demon Beast would come to take revenge next time.

They had not expected a Third-order to really come—and to come so quickly, after only a single night.

Aside from that, there were several Houtian Bull Demons rampaging madly through Niushi Town, and at every moment, innocent townspeople were losing their lives.

"Damn bastard!" Veins bulged on Niu Hanshan's forehead, and his lips had gone slightly pale with rage.

Lu Yang, on the other hand, was especially calm at this moment.

In the current situation, losses among the townspeople were already unavoidable.

The only thing the two of them could do was stop the losses as much as possible.

To accomplish that, they had to kill that Third-order Bull Demon.

"Brother Niu, if I can trap that Bull Demon for one breath, would your bow be able to hit it?" Lu Yang looked at Niu Hanshan.

"Leave it to me!" Niu Hanshan gritted out.

"Hahaha!" Outside Niushi Fort, that colossal creature gave a mocking laugh. "With just you? Ant-like trash, and you want to trap this chief for one breath? What a fool's dream!"

The giant bull opened its mouth and spewed out a mass of demonic energy. Rolling black smoke, like dark clouds, blotted out heaven and earth as it bore down on Lu Yang and Niu Hanshan. In the blink of an eye, it had reached the battered fortress of Niushi Fort.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Swift Movement!"

He opened with the Demon Subduing Saber Art, pouring Primordial True Qi into the blade and slashing several times in succession.

The demonic energy that had blotted out heaven and earth, as though it could devour all things, was actually cleaved apart by Lu Yang's long saber.

With a turn of the blade, he whipped up flying sand and rolling stones, completely dispersing that mass of demonic energy.

The Bull Demon kept trampling, and cracks instantly appeared across the ground beneath its hooves, spreading as it pressed closer and closer toward Lu Yang.

Countless shards of stone swept up in a wild roll, spreading into a vast curtain of rock that came crashing straight down amid a violent roar.

Lu Yang moved as if the wind stirred beneath his feet, constantly avoiding the fissures on the ground. He swung his long saber again and again, splitting apart the great stones flying before him.

In the distance, at the tips of its pitch-black horns, demonic power gathered without end, turning into a yellow ball of light that shot out hundreds of needle-thin rays of yellow light.

Wherever those "light needles" passed, boulders were pierced through, the ground was pierced through, flesh and blood were pierced through. It seemed there was nothing in the world that could block their assault.

"Die!"

"All of you, go die!"

Endless ferocity and madness surged in the Bull Demon's enormous eyes.

Ding ding ding!

Ding ding ding!

Primordial True Qi poured out continuously as the long saber in Lu Yang's hand almost danced into afterimages.

He blocked every ray of yellow light that shot before him, one after another. However, the long saber forged from refined iron had also become pitted and scarred, and at last could bear no more, shattering with a bang.

By then, Lu Yang had finally charged to within three zhang of the Bull Demon.

"Brother Niu, strike!"

Lu Yang let out a furious shout, gathering every last trace of true qi in his entire body into his right arm.

"Mountain Shaking, First Form—Mighty Bull Charge Fist!"

In an instant, a violently savage monstrous strength seemed to erupt from the depths of his bloodline. Bolstered by nearly eight hundred streams of Primordial True Qi, it turned into a beast-like fist and slammed head-on into the charging bull's head!

Boom boom boom!

The earth shook violently, and within ten zhang, a raging blast of air swept in all directions.

A sharp pain shot through Lu Yang's right arm, a thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his entire body was instantly sent flying backward.

But the Bull Demon was not in good shape either.

With the support of eight hundred streams of Primordial True Qi, the power of the Mighty Bull Charge Fist had long since surpassed ten thousand jin and broken through the Xiantian barrier.

Even though its defenses were extremely strong, after taking Lu Yang's punch squarely to the head, it was now struck by a tearing agony. Lu Yang's blow had hammered it senseless for an instant, leaving it completely unable to form any effective thought.

Niu Hanshan naturally would not let this chance pass.

He immediately bit the tip of his tongue and spat a drop of vital blood onto the [Azure-eyed Antelope Horn Bow]. His true qi gathered throughout his body, the bow drawn full as the moon, and a blood-colored light arrow shot straight toward the bull's eye!

Niu Hanshan's archery was extremely precise, and that third-rank Bull Demon was currently in a stiffened state, with no way to dodge at all!