The Fierce Tai Sui

The Red-Armored Bat Foxes were endless.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, kept pouring in. The longer they fought, the more appeared. Who knew what they usually ate to grow such a huge population?

Even Wu Dao could no longer take it easy. Scratches covered his body, and he and Zhao Wei had to watch each other's backs. Both were drenched in foul-smelling scraps of flesh and blood.

In theory,

if no one wanted to break the stalemate, the best option was to stop playing altogether: fight their way out, then come back once the others had finished fighting.

But Wu Dao didn't do that.

He wasn't sure whether the Flesh Tai Sui would let anyone leave.

If it wouldn't,

the moment he made a move, he'd become the Flesh Tai Sui's main target. He'd be the one holding the bag for nothing.

For now,

it was a matter of seeing who cracked first.

He'd broken through the limits of the human body twice, after all, and the Tyrant Whale Fist helped temper his body. As long as he didn't get serious,

this kind of "minor scuffle"

could keep Wu Dao going all night without tiring!

At last...

Another ten-odd minutes passed. Corpses littered the ground, and blood and flesh had turned it into a swamp.

Wu Dao's eyes lit up.

He noticed that the green glow around Mao Ba had begun to fade, and his expression was growing more and more grim.

It seemed he was about to crack.

You little fiends!

Perched atop a heap of corpses, Mao Ba looked as if he'd swallowed a turd. He cursed inwardly, though it was unclear whether he was cursing the people or the monsters.

In any case, he was having a miserable time.

Immortal Sect Foundation Establishment focused on cultivating the spirit: meditating and studying the scriptures. It was a slow, quiet practice that nurtured the body and mind and attuned one to heaven and earth, with longevity as its chief aim. As a result, practitioners' physiques tended to be a little weaker.

That was unlike Martial Dao and Soldier Dao, which focused on tempering the body through vigorous training—practicing through the hottest days of summer and the coldest days of winter, without missing a single day. Their blood ran strong, their bodies were powerful, and their endurance was exceptional.

After all this commotion,

Mao Ba was already growing restless and irritable. His breathing had turned shallow, his insides felt stifled, and his strength was running out.

If he really kept exhausting himself against this bunch of brawny fools,

he'd be finished before they even dealt with the Flesh Tai Sui.

Thinking this, Mao Ba gritted his teeth and shouted to Meng Qingshan, who was furiously slaughtering monsters in the distance, "We'll kill the Bat King, and you kill the Tai Sui! If this drags on, we're all done for!"

That was right!

Mao Ba had known for a long time where the Bat King was, but he'd simply refused to make a move.

Why?

Because the moment he attacked the Bat King, every Red-Armored Bat Fox would swarm him to protect their king.

Hundreds, even thousands of Red-Armored Bat Foxes.

Even if he survived, he'd be skinned alive.

So even though he'd decided to act, he'd still played a little trick and said "we."

Frazzled and burning with anxiety,

people's resolve was easily swayed by whoever took the lead in a situation like this. For the sake of survival, they would rally together.

"Haha, Daoist, you haven't let me down!"

Meng Qingshan tore a Red-Armored Bat Fox apart with his bare hands, his dark skin dyed red. He seemed to have been waiting for those words for a long time. He immediately shouted an order: "Uncle Ya, move!"

Boom!

The swamp of flesh and blood exploded!

At Yingsha's command, Yingsha shot forward like a rocket, unleashing a surge of power unlike anything he'd shown before.

In the blink of an eye,

cold light flashed again and again,

and dozens of Red-Armored Bat Foxes along the way were shredded into bloody scraps.

But even more Red-Armored Bat Foxes closed in. They were about to surround him completely, leaving him with nowhere to move.

"Fiends, die!"

At that crucial moment,

Mao Ba kept his word. The Tianpeng Ruler blazed with light, his eyes flashing coldly as he leaped up and locked onto a seemingly ordinary gray Red-Armored Bat Fox in the swarm. It was only about the size of a house cat, but its eyes were dark gold.

"Chii-ying!!"

Killing intent bore down on it, and the gray Bat King shrieked.

The Red-Armored Bat Foxes surrounding everyone from all directions swarmed toward Mao Ba. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from view.

"Brother Yun, help me!"

The last thing they heard was Mao Ba's panicked cry.

"Phew, you two... Hmm?"

Yun Tianliu's blue-green robe was in tatters, and he looked utterly disheveled. Hearing Mao Ba's plea for help, he was about to call Wu Dao and Zhao Wei to join him in the fight.

Who would have thought the two of them had already vanished?

"What utterly despicable conduct!"

He muttered a curse.

Yun Tianliu caught his breath, then resolutely drew his sword and charged into the swarm.

There were some things

other people could do, but he couldn't.

The chivalrous courage instilled in him since childhood, and his principles as a person, wouldn't allow it.

Otherwise, his heart would be haunted by inner demons, his thoughts would never be clear, and his Sword Dao would never advance.

A Dao Heart—

everyone saw it differently; a thousand people could have a thousand different faces.

Different people had different beliefs to support them. Often, you thought someone else was a fool, while they thought you were an even bigger one. Those who followed different paths could never walk together.

Just as Yun Tianliu couldn't understand how Wu Dao and the others could be so shameless and underhanded when they were all human,

Wu Dao couldn't understand why Yun Tianliu was such a fool.

But still,

as the saying went,

Wu Dao's guiding principle was never to care about the means, only the outcome.

If he could reap the rewards after others fought it out,

why would he risk his neck in the thick of it?

Crunch, crunch...

A hundred meters from the battlefield,

Wu Dao sat atop a towering tree, holding a Red-Armored Bat Fox about the size of a stray dog. He tore into it with his gaping jaws, thoroughly enjoying his meal.

His gaze slipped through the gaps in the leaves,

watching Yingsha and Meng Qingshan battle the Flesh Tai Sui nearby, as if he were enjoying a show at the theater.

"Want some?"

Noticing Zhao Wei land beside him, Wu Dao grinned and held out a piece of meat.

"Uh... no, but don't eat its head, Brother Wu..."

Zhao Wei's face twitched. He was usually easygoing, but Wu Dao's primitive, blood-soaked way of eating still made him uncomfortable.

"I already took the head off."

Wu Dao didn't care and kept devouring the meat.

The Red-Armored Bat Fox hadn't been classified as an aberrant by the Attribute Panel, and its meat was dry and gamey.

Still, it was packed with energy. It wasn't as good as medicinal cuisine, but it beat ordinary meat and was excellent for restoring stamina.

The fighting just now had worn him down a little.

It wasn't a big deal, but no matter the circumstances, Wu Dao always made sure to remain in peak hunting condition. You could call it a kind of compulsion.

"Monsters and spirits really are beyond the reach of ordinary strength..."

As they watched the battle, Zhao Wei suddenly sighed.

Wu Dao swallowed another mouthful and gave a slight nod. For the first time, a hint of solemnity appeared in his eyes.

In the distance, in the midst of the fighting,

Yingsha and the Flesh Tai Sui clashed head-on, while Meng Qingshan supported him from the flank. One was as unyielding as iron, the other as sharp as a blade. Their attacks fell like driving rain, yet neither could do a thing to the Flesh Tai Sui.

The Flesh Tai Sui, which had been less than a meter tall, had now taken root and transformed into a hulking mass of flesh, occupying an area more than three meters across and standing four or five meters high. Eyes sprouted all around it, and its root-like tentacles attacked without pause, guarding it so thoroughly that not even a drop of water could pass.

Even if they were lucky enough to break through the tentacles,

their fists and claws were immediately sucked into its blood-red flesh, like sinking into a swamp.

Several times,

Meng Qingshan's entire arm was swallowed. If he hadn't been so brutally strong, he wouldn't have been able to wrench it free.

What was even more horrifying

was that this thing really was like a glob of sticky flesh. They'd tear a gash in it one moment, and the next it would fill itself in again. It was disgustingly hard to deal with.

Wu Dao admitted that he'd be just as miserable in their place. Against a shameless enemy like this, there was no good solution unless he revealed his trump card and crushed it with overwhelming strength.

For now, Meng Qingshan and Yingsha were exchanging blows with the Flesh Tai Sui, and the fight looked fierce.

But they still hadn't reached the kind of desperate fury where one side had to die. Clearly, they were both holding back and testing the waters.

Still, Wu Dao knew

this wouldn't last much longer.

The Red-Armored Bat Foxes couldn't keep Mao Ba and Yun Tianliu trapped forever.

Perhaps the two of them were deliberately delaying the Bat King's death, just to make Meng Qingshan and Yingsha fight the Flesh Tai Sui to the death.

And then there were Wu Dao and Zhao Wei, watching from the sidelines with hungry eyes.

In this situation,

if Meng Qingshan didn't finish the fight quickly, then once he'd worn himself down, even killing the Flesh Tai Sui would just mean he'd be doing someone else's work for them!

If Wu Dao could see this so easily,

how could Meng Qingshan, who was locked in fierce battle, fail to?

So,

after testing the waters, he'd figured out what he needed to know. He was ready to stop holding back and finish the fight fast.

"Ha!"

A thought flashed through his mind.

Meng Qingshan let out a low roar and planted his feet. Like a primordial beast exhaling, he sent a white dragon of breath streaming from his mouth, which condensed without dispersing.

Crackling and popping...

As he exhaled the stale breath,

Meng Qingshan's bones crackled like beans in a pan. His body grew taller and taller, and from nearby, one could even hear his heart pounding like a drum in his chest, along with the rush of blood surging like a river.

It was visible to the naked eye.

His muscles, like Black Iron Stone, seemed to come alive, swelling like they were being pumped full of air. His bulging veins writhed across his body like flood dragons and giant serpents.

In the space of a few breaths,

Meng Qingshan, who had originally stood a little over seven feet tall, became a black-iron mountain of flesh nearly ten feet tall!

His limbs were thick and long as steel pillars. Great tumorous masses of misshapen muscle covered his body, even wrapping around his twisted features. His entire body was pitch-black and glossy, terrifying to behold.

Many thanks to Shi Polu for the helmsman support, and arigato!