The change happened in an instant. Tang Xing was almost about to crash into the Demon Vine.
"Whoosh!" A flying knife cut through the air.
A delicate-looking short knife streaked across the sky. Its handle struck Tang Xing, who was still in midair, with pinpoint accuracy, knocking him away.
At that very moment, a highly dangerous vine burst out of the ground ahead of Tang Xing's original charge.
"Watch out. These monsters are acting strange. The electric current was probably installed by someone."
Shen Xingyue stepped on the Rock Bull and sprang backward.
She caught the short knife again as it flew back to her.
"All right!"
The spectators around them grew excited. The situation changed in an instant, and they cheered wildly whenever either side fell into a disadvantage.
"We can't keep wasting our strength. Neither of these monsters has taken any serious damage so far."
Xu Ziming tightened his grip on his sword and spoke to the other two with a grave expression.
"Let's focus our attacks and kill the bull first!"
Tang Xing was the one who said this.
And he was right. If they kept fighting separately, they might really lose.
No matter how weak a creature that had undergone Life Evolution was, it had still undergone Life Evolution.
Even at their strongest, the three of them, whose Life Energy Levels had not yet reached that of a Martial Artist, could only match a Martial Artist in combat power.
"Then let's kill the Rock Bull first!"
The three exchanged glances. Xu Ziming once again assumed the stance for Dragon Trap, aiming at the distant vines and pretending he was about to attack them.
Shen Xingyue also raised both her blades, looking ready to attack the vines.
Only Tang Xing charged at the Rock Bull, sparks already trailing from his legs.
In a dark corner where no one could see, the sly-faced man appeared again. "They've switched their targets? But all they've done is swap one person out. What difference can that make?"
He chuckled, but his face froze before he had even laughed for two seconds.
Xu Ziming's Sword Qi had shot out, but it wasn't aimed at the Demon Vine as the man had expected.
Xu Ziming launched Dragon Trap a second time, spending nearly half his strength.
But the dense Sword Qi trapped the Rock Bull completely, leaving it unable to move.
Dragon Trap wasn't merely a control skill. After the Sword Qi struck the ground, a storm of damage also formed at its center.
This battered the Rock Bull's body relentlessly, sending fragments of stone scattering everywhere.
"Don't let the Demon Vine react. Finish it quickly!"
Xu Ziming shouted. Just before Tang Xing kicked the Rock Bull, all the Sword Qi contracted and slammed into the creature.
As the Sword Qi dispersed, Tang Xing's foot followed seamlessly.
Scorching heat erupted between his feet as he struck the part of the Rock Bull most heavily wounded by the Sword Qi.
"Boom!" A tremendous cloud of dust billowed up between them.
The dust obscured both Tang Xing and the Rock Bull, leaving them impossible to see.
But a Martial Artist's senses were incredibly sharp. The Rock Bull's presence hadn't vanished.
The Demon Vine had already reacted, though. If they didn't finish off the Rock Bull now, they wouldn't get another chance this good.
But Xu Ziming had just overdrawn his strength using Dragon Trap for a second time. For the moment, he couldn't unleash an attack of that caliber again.
Just then, Shen Xingyue, who had been keeping the Demon Vine at bay, sprang into action. She moved so fast that she completely outpaced Xu Ziming.
Only then did Xu Ziming remember that Shen Xingyue was one of the top-ranked high school students in Pengcheng and even across Suzhe Province. Her strength was probably enough to contend with a true Martial Artist.
She must not have been using her full strength earlier, which was why she had gone back and forth with the Rock Bull.
Shen Xingyue moved like a gale, sweeping away all the dust raised by the impact. Tang Xing stood in front of the Rock Bull, struggling to stay upright.
It was obvious that the last strike had taken a great deal out of him, too.
The Rock Bull was in even worse shape. Its entire body was covered in cracks and on the verge of crumbling apart.
"Xu Ziming! Hold it off and buy Shen Xingyue some time to attack!"
As if he had spotted something, Tang Xing shouted, his voice suddenly strong despite his earlier exhaustion.
Xu Ziming reacted instantly. How could the Demon Vine just stand by and watch Shen Xingyue attack its companion?
In a flash, dozens of vines appeared again, whipping wildly across the arena and thrusting toward Shen Xingyue.
"Stop right there!"
Xu Ziming attacked almost instinctively, but Jinghong moved before he did.
The Sword Saint Body Technique proved immensely useful at that moment. Countless vines surged toward them, blotting out the sky.
But with just himself and his sword, Xu Ziming used nothing more than the most basic sword techniques to block nearly all of them.
Tang Xing took care of every remaining vine, one by one.
By now, Shen Xingyue had clearly pushed herself to the limit.
When she reached the Rock Bull, she brought her two blades together. A giant seemed to materialize in the air as she carved out a ten-meter blade of light.
Like a warship racing at full speed, it slashed toward the Rock Bull in an instant.
"Boom!"
A tremendous crash rang out across the arena. The Rock Bull exploded. There wasn't a drop of blood inside it; it was made entirely of stone.
Under that earth-shattering strike, it was instantly blown to pieces.
"We did it!"
A smile tugged at the corner of Tang Xing's mouth. All that was left was the Demon Vine.
"How are these foreign races so useless?! At this rate, we won't even see any blood!"
"Damn it, I bet three million that those three brats would lose. You monsters, get them for me, will you?!"
The spectators in the stands didn't cheer at the trio's teamwork. Instead, they glared furiously at the arena.
They wanted to see despair and pain, not victory.
Besides, plenty of them had bet on the trio dying. If they lost their bets, they'd be out a fortune!
"You people?!"
Tang Xing looked at them, clearly furious.
After all, the three of them had just saved these ingrates. Yet barely ten minutes had passed, and now these animals wanted them dead.
"We shouldn't have saved you people. My teacher was right. Every pitiful person has something about them that deserves it!"
He turned away in anger. Now they had to face the real threat before them: the Demon Vine, a creature that had undergone Life Evolution.
So far, the Demon Vine didn't seem very powerful, but none of the three had managed to land a single attack on it.
That was a fact.
The moment Shen Xingyue shattered the Rock Bull, she had already reached the Demon Vine's left side.
Xu Ziming was on its right, while Tang Xing stood directly in front of the monster.
Perhaps sensing that its companion was truly dead, the Demon Vine began to grow taller and taller.
In just three breaths, a gigantic plant five or six meters in diameter burst out of the ground. It looked like a root.
But the root opened a bloody maw.
"Xu Ziming, do you have enough strength to use that sword move again?"
Shen Xingyue stared at the monster and asked without looking back. There was no fear on the young lady's face.
Instead, there was a trace of... excitement?