Bronze Bull

"Summon Shadow Leopard!" Bright-Eyed Thief swiftly pressed his palm over the Silver Codex, preparing to summon his third battle beast.

"Too late!"

The triangular-eyed man who had just flashed out from the doorway sneered, his voice brimming with smug triumph.

Without making any summoning gesture, a little monster wreathed in black flames appeared behind him. Yue Yang had seen the battle beast guide Yue Bing had brought back from the academy, and this little monster looked somewhat like the Fire Sprite depicted in it. According to the guide, Fire Sprites were not very powerful, but they excelled at casting long-range fireballs. Fire Sprites originated from the Demon Abyss; such evil creatures did not exist at all on the Dragon Soaring Continent.

When the mercenaries saw that the triangular-eyed man had a Fire Sprite following him without summoning it, they all erupted in uproar.

They were not marveling at his strength, but despising him.

Among mercenaries and in warrior duels, there was an unwritten rule: in public duels, everyone fought openly and fairly with summoned beasts.

Only the most vile and shameless scum would secretly summon battle beasts and then ambush their opponents.

This triangular-eyed man named Evil Fire must have secretly summoned this Fire Sprite inside the Kuailinhuo building. He had stayed hidden until Wu Yi fell into a disadvantage, then emerged to reap the benefits. Interrupting a one-on-one duel was already infuriating enough, but he had even summoned his battle beasts beforehand. It was truly unbearable to watch. If the mercenaries had not all known this man and known they were no match for him, they would have rushed forward and hacked him to death.

When another Demon Bee appeared behind triangular-eyed Evil Fire, everyone was so helpless that they did not even have the strength to curse him anymore. Someone this shameless ought to be struck dead by heaven's thunder; he should never have been allowed to remain in this world.

If Evil Fire claimed that this Fire Sprite had not been specifically meant to counter Bright-Eyed Thief's Bewildering Butterfly, perhaps one or two fools among the mercenaries might have believed him.

But once this Demon Bee with its yellow-and-black striped abdomen appeared, even a fool could understand.

This Evil Fire, whose appearance was exceptionally wretched and whose character was utter trash, had clearly targeted Bright-Eyed Thief. Combined with his earlier demand for the right to her first night, everyone suddenly felt that although they were no saints themselves and were rotten to the core, compared with Evil Fire, they were practically saints.

They had seen trashy people before, but never trash this bad!

Insect-type flying battle beasts like the Bewildering Butterfly feared fire and frost most of all. That Fire Sprite's fireball could absolutely kill a defenseless Bewildering Butterfly in one blow.

And the powerful Spider Demoness had only one natural nemesis: the Demon Bee.

The Demon Bee was agile enough to evade spiderwebs and was not afraid of spider venom. On the contrary, its sting could paralyze the Spider Demoness to death... At the sight of Evil Fire's two battle beasts, Bright-Eyed Thief trembled all over. At her command, the Bewildering Butterfly hurriedly flew up, intending to return to the light barrier and be recalled into the Silver Codex. But it was already too late.

The Fire Sprite spat out a ball of black fire, which traced a curving arc through the air as it pursued the butterfly before exploding against its wings.

Boom!

The Bewildering Butterfly was blasted into pieces by the black fireball, scorched to charcoal, and reduced to ashes.

Having lost the Bewildering Butterfly's control, the Rock Golem immediately began moving. It strode toward them, raised its massive stone fist, and slammed it heavily toward the Shadow Leopard Bright-Eyed Thief had just summoned. Though its movements were too slow for it to hit a Shadow Leopard renowned for speed and stealth, the Shadow Leopard could not contend with the Rock Golem either and could only dodge frantically.

The Rock Golem's heavy fist smashed into the ground.

Its immense force boomed like thunder, making the earth tremble.

On the other side, the Spider Demoness let out a terrified shriek and fled toward the light barrier. With several short leaps, it barely managed to escape into the barrier before the Demon Bee could catch it.

Although it had escaped with its life, it still trembled violently in terror, clearly deeply afraid of its natural nemesis.

"So this is how summoned battle beasts duel. Interesting!" Yue Yang watched with great fascination. At last, he had witnessed a battle beast duel between summoners.

A battle required not only strength, but wits as well.

Battle beasts were not omnipotent. Tactical combinations and countermeasures based on mutual restraint were what mattered most.

For example, a Bewildering Butterfly could never defeat a War Eagle, yet it was highly effective against a Rock Golem. The Spider Demoness was the nemesis of flying battle beasts, but the Demon Bee was an exception. And while a Fire Sprite's fireball could instantly kill a Bewildering Butterfly, its true combat power was not even one percent of the Rock Golem's.

After watching this duel, Yue Yang came to a conclusion.

Everything had its bane!

There were no invincible battle beasts in the world, but there were near-invincible tactical combinations and tactical counters!

Now Yue Yang understood why warriors with a Summoning Codex held such an overwhelming advantage.

The reason was simple. First, warriors with a codex possessed a Life Guardian Beast that would never truly die or betray them. Second, as long as they had a codex, there were few restrictions on the battle beasts they could contract, allowing them to use more battle beasts for targeted tactical counters. If Evil Fire had not suddenly entered the battle and interfered, Wu Yi, whose tactics had been completely suppressed, would likely have been torn to pieces by the Shadow Leopard by now!

As for now, Bright-Eyed Thief's situation was extremely dire...

"Run! Wu Yi is about to summon a powerful summoned beast. I can't hold on much longer!" Bright-Eyed Thief had no time to soothe the terrified Spider Demoness. She quickly stuffed an exquisitely crafted scroll into Yue Yang's hands. "This is a 'Teleportation Scroll.' Unfold it and channel spiritual energy into it to activate it, just like summoning a battle beast normally!"

"Summon a battle beast?" Yue Yang blinked his star-bright eyes innocently.

"Ah, you don't even know how to summon a battle beast?" Bright-Eyed Thief felt as if a bolt from the blue had exploded over her head. Had this brat spent all his time chasing girls? Could it be that he did not even have a single summoned battle beast?

No wonder he had only applied to become a mercenary a few days ago!

They were done for!

"You want to leave? It won't be that easy!" triangular-eyed Evil Fire sneered darkly.

He made an extremely strange hand gesture, then swiftly drew a bloody pattern across his palm with a dagger.

The pattern flashed red. Two points of red light shot into the sky and burst like fireworks, scattering specks of red light in every direction. At that moment, a wave of intent echoed in Yue Yang's mind:

Your enemy has forcibly initiated a 'Death Duel' against you. Neither party may leave the bounds of the 'Deathblood Realm' until one side dies. Otherwise, divine punishment will descend, and all the meridians in your body will burst, killing you.

Bright-Eyed Thief's jade-like hand trembled slightly. Clearly, she had received Evil Fire's Death Duel message as well.

Triangular-eyed Evil Fire had not initiated this Death Duel without paying a price. His face was pale as paper, and his bloody hand seemed to be devoured by some invisible monster. The wound kept splitting and bleeding, even rotting and giving off a foul stench.

"Dying in my place is your honor, hahahaha!" Evil Fire pressed his bloody hand against the Fire Sprite's head. The Fire Sprite exploded with a bang, spraying flesh and blood everywhere.

"Well done, cough, cough. I can finally summon it. Your time to die... has come!" Blood gushed from Wu Yi's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, making him look utterly terrifying. Excessive depletion of spiritual energy and the forced summoning beyond his limits caused his body to rapidly collapse. Strangely, all the blood flowing from his body turned into bloody light and streamed toward the red crystal in his fist. Finally, after absorbing enough blood and spiritual energy, the red crystal emitted an eerie crimson glow that stained a large stretch of the surrounding space blood-red.

The mercenaries around them all felt an inexplicable terror rise from the depths of their hearts. The more timid ones began to chatter their teeth uncontrollably.

As though they were standing amid ice and snow, the mercenaries all shivered.

The powerful battle beast that Wu Yi had spent a full three minutes summoning with his blood was finally summoned successfully.

Moo!

A terrifying bellow sent the Demon Bee circling overhead crashing straight to the ground in fright. Trembling, it crawled and writhed along the ground, no longer able to spread its wings and fly into the sky. Even the Spider Demoness, safely hidden inside the light barrier, could not resist its fear. It turned into a streak of green light and automatically burrowed into the Silver Codex, directly abandoning its master and fleeing the battlefield.

Yue Yang saw a gigantic bull with dark green, snake-patterned hide and blood-red eyes being summoned by Wu Yi.

The mercenaries scattered in terror. Not a single one dared linger any longer.

Even the warriors watching from the balcony of the Kuailinhuo building turned pale with fright and cried out repeatedly, "Heavens! Wu Yi actually summoned a Bronze Bull!"

"Bronze Bull?" Yue Yang curiously asked Bright-Eyed Thief, "Is that the legendary bull with Death Gaze?"