The old man in black slapped his storage pouch, and a golden flying sword shot out. The blade, only a few inches long, expanded rapidly in the wind. In the blink of an eye, it had grown several feet long.
"Go!" The old man in black formed sword arts with both hands, pressing the index and middle fingers of his left hand together before pointing forward.
The golden flying sword flashed and shot toward the Demon Boar King.
The Demon Boar King swung its head. Its two tusks collided with the golden flying sword, ringing out with a clear clang. The Demon Boar King let out a triumphant cry, spread all four hooves, and charged madly toward the old man in black.
"This Demon Boar King is actually this powerful!" The bearded man and the others' expressions changed drastically. They had all seen clearly how sharp the old man in black's golden flying sword was, yet the Boar King had merely swung its head and knocked the golden sword flying, without being affected in the slightest.
"Bearded Man, help me!" A trace of fear flashed across the old man in black's face as he shouted.
"Fall back!" the bearded man yelled. Of the four, he was a cultivator of the earth element and had the strongest defenses. Only he could withstand the Demon Boar King's charge.
The bearded man recited several incantations, and an earthen wall more than a zhang high and over a foot thick appeared just in time in front of the old man in black.
Bang!
The Demon Boar King slammed into the earthen wall. The tremendous impact was deafening, sending dust spraying everywhere.
Huff, huff! The Demon Boar King panted heavily. The earthen wall had not made it give up. After its charge was blocked, the Demon Boar angrily snorted and rammed the wall again.
Bang, bang!
Once, twice, three times.
Under the Demon Boar King's repeated impacts, the enormous earthen wall developed crack after crack.
"This beast is truly formidable. Everyone, stop holding back. Put some strength into it! Capture the ringleader first—let's join forces and kill this evil beast. The remaining Demon Boars will naturally scatter! Otherwise, these Demon Boars will wear us to death sooner or later!" the old man in black cried out.
"I'll unleash my strongest attack, but I need several breaths of time."
The bearded man cleaved to death the Demon Boar in front of him, then said while gasping heavily, "Although these Demon Boars aren't very intelligent, they're extremely wild. Once they become entangled with an enemy, they simply charge in a frenzy. Their attacks are monotonous, but with so many Demon Boars, they've still thrown us into complete disarray. What's more, there's a third-stage Demon Boar King. Its defensive power is several times greater than ours."
Even though the group had already reached the Qi Refining Late Stage, with the old man in black at the Qi Refining Great Perfection stage, they were still rather battered after killing nearly ten Demon Boars earlier.
"I'll restrain this Demon Boar King. I can buy five breaths of time. Make the most of it." After whipping her purple silk ribbon around and sending another Demon Boar flying, the young woman in the green dress recognized the gravity of the situation and shouted.
"Blood Dwarf, hold back the other Demon Boars. Five breaths is enough to kill this evil beast!" The old man in black gave a sinister smile.
Bang! The Earth Wall Art cast by the bearded man ultimately failed to hold back the Demon Boar King for long. It was smashed to pieces, chunks of earth flying everywhere as dust filled the surroundings.
The Demon Boar King burst out of the dust, swishing its tail triumphantly as it charged toward the old man in black again. That man's flying sword had struck its teeth just now, leaving them aching unbearably. How could it not avenge itself?
At that moment, the young woman in the green dress withdrew her purple silk ribbon and flung it with her left hand. A black sphere flew above the Demon Boar King, then burst apart with a puff, spreading a huge black net that descended from the sky.
"Bind!" the young woman in the green dress shouted softly. The falling black net wrapped itself securely around the Demon Boar King.
Huff, huff.
The Demon Boar King was furious. It had just smashed through an earthen wall, only to be bound by a net. It let out a furious roar and struggled violently.
"This Boar King is so strong! Hurry, I can't hold on much longer!" As the Boar King thrashed violently, the young woman in the green dress's face went pale. After shouting, she no longer dared to spare any attention and continued pouring magical power into the black net.
Pop! As the Demon Boar shook its head and kicked wildly, it forced open a gap more than a foot long in the black net. It was clearly about to break free.
Blood Dwarf brandished his twin wheels and slew all the nearby Demon Boars, then anxiously glanced toward the old man in black and the others in the midst of the chaos.
The old man in black shouted harshly. He bit through the tip of his tongue, touched the blood welling from it with one finger, then rapidly changed the sword arts formed by both hands and barked, "Swift!"
The golden flying sword that had been knocked away by the Demon Boar expanded by nearly double once more. Golden light flashed, and the enlarged sword shot straight toward the Demon Boar King's head.
The bearded man shouted harshly, raised the great axe in his hands with both arms, and hacked viciously at the Boar King, which was on the verge of breaking free from the black net.
Puff! The golden flying sword plunged directly into the Demon Boar King's skull. At the same time, the bearded man's sharp axe struck its abdomen, cleaving a huge, deep gash that exposed bone. The Demon Boar King's intestines and organs spilled out together with its blood.
The Demon Boar King let out a shrill howl. The tremendous force it unleashed before death tore the battered black net into dozens of pieces. The young woman in the green dress's face went pale, and she spat out a mouthful of blood. With her spiritual artifact destroyed, her spiritual sense had suffered some damage.
After sustaining grievous injuries, the Demon Boar King's several-hundred-kilogram body crashed to the ground.
The pungent stench of blood spread everywhere. Once the Demon Boar King died, the other Demon Boars, most of which were only first-stage demonic beasts, saw their leader slain and fled in all directions in fright.
"This beast is truly formidable. If I encountered it alone, I'm afraid I wouldn't be its match either. The hide and these tusks from the Demon Boar King would be worth quite a few Spirit Stones if we took them to the market and traded them with other cultivators. What a pity that we still have to hole up here. They won't be of much use in our hands."
The bearded man put away his axe and panted heavily. That fierce battle had consumed a great deal of his magical power.
The old man in black beckoned with one hand, and the golden flying sword shrank back to a few inches. However, its golden sheen had dimmed considerably, and the old man in black immediately wore a pained expression.
"Huh? Look, something's changed!" Blood Dwarf had expended the least energy in the battle and was secretly enjoying himself. He was the first to notice the changes in their surroundings.
The young woman in the green dress wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, having no time to lament the destruction of her black net. Seeing the fog around them sweep rapidly toward the northwest, she immediately said in astonishment, "The celestial phenomenon has undergone a drastic change. Could it be that some rare treasure is about to appear?"
Blood Dwarf and the others immediately perked up. Hadn't the four of them joined forces to venture into the canyon precisely for its spiritual objects—and for the treasures that might exist there? What kind of rare treasure could create such an astonishing phenomenon?
The group saw all the spiritual mist in the canyon surging madly toward a single direction. The canyon, originally shrouded in fog and impossible to see through with the naked eye, began to grow clear as the mist vanished.
"It looks like the maze formation has disappeared!" Blood Dwarf exclaimed in delight when he discovered that the surroundings had stopped changing. After being trapped in the formation for several months, he had nearly been driven mad.
The young woman in the green dress also cried out joyfully, "Yes, the damn formation really is gone."