Chapter 527: Chapter 527. Finally Serious
While fighting An Guan, Huang Zhan never stopped interacting and giving commands to his subordinates. He knew his people had found Huang San. He knew they were at an advantage on all fronts. However, one of the enemies was still missing.
His side also still had one man free. He now sent a mental message to this man, "Xian Lu, have you found their missing member?"
He received a reply almost immediately, "Not yet, Your Highness. I’m still searching."
"Search away from where we are fighting. I’m sure if their missing member has not turned up to assist in the battles, he must be working to complete this stage. That will allow them to escape. We can’t let that happen."
"I will increase the speed of my search. I’m confident I will find him soon," Xian Lu replied.
Huang Zhan was about to give another response, but a bright light nearby attracted his attention. He turned and saw Da Niu being engulfed by Wu Di’s Evil Destroying Light.
This momentary distraction was exploited by An Guan, whose glaive turned into a crisscrossing net of light. Huang Zhan was at a safe enough distance, so he could react by twirling his rope dart into a shield sphere. An Guan failed to land any successful hits but forced Huang Zhan to retreat.
An Guan used the chance to rush forward. He came behind Da Niu, who was bathed by Wu Di’s light. He could see Da Niu within the light beam. The general wasn’t hurt, but the pressure from the beam kept him rooted. An Guan capitalized on the opportunity and used a strong arcane art.
Several giant metal swords materialized in the air above Da Niu. These metal swords fell around Da Niu’s perimeter. He couldn’t avoid being encircled by the swords because he couldn’t move. More and more metal swords were summoned.
Wu Di’s Evil Destroying Light finally waned, but by then, the metal swords around Da Niu had already formed a cage.
"No one can escape my Iron Death Cage once they are trapped!" An Guan exclaimed. The last group of metal swords appeared and stabbed into the inner part of the cage, where Da Niu was locked inside.
An Guan expected the sound of flesh being severed by sharp iron and blood flowing out from the crevices between the metal swords. Instead, the resulting sound was the sound of metallic items hitting a hard object. No blood flowed out of the cage.
An Guan watched the sword cage with uncertainty. Suddenly, he sensed a tremendous spiking of energy from within the cage. He knew then that his arcane art failed to defeat Da Niu. He lifted his glaive, preparing a powerful attack. A giant metal blade materialized from the tip of his glaive. He slashed this gigantic blade down toward the cage.
He channeled all his aether into this slash. Since the giant iron blade had his aether signature, the metal cage didn’t resist the blow too much. The blade sliced through the metal cage but stopped when it hit a hard object. Cracks appeared on the surface of the blade. The metal swords forming the cage also exhibited many cracks. A powerful explosion blew the blade and the swords apart, revealing a small rock mountain.
An arm blasted through the rock mountain and grabbed An Guan’s glaive before he moved away. Something was different about the arm. It was covered in dark hide and crimson hair.
"Hehe, Da Niu is finally serious. You people are toast!" Huang Zhan laughed.
The hairy arm twisted. The glaive it held was bent instantaneously. This shocked An Guan. His glaive might not be in good condition anymore, but to bend it like that with one twist required extreme strength. He quickly let go of the glaive and moved away, just as the rock mountain exploded.
When the dust settled, Da Niu was visible again, except he looked completely different. He had the head of a bull. Two horns jutted out of his head, and his body was covered in crimson hair.
He puffed. When he spoke again, his voice was raspy, "I don’t like using this art. My fight is over too soon every time I use this."
"Shit... He is truly a giant bull now," Wu Di remarked. He almost ran out of energy after using the Evil Destroying Light. He felt his body was heavy. Thankfully, his Saintly Ape could still last for some time. His deformed right arm was slowly healing.
Da Niu looked at An Guan, who had put a safe distance. "I’m coming."
After he spoke, the ground under him exploded and he vanished.
An Guan was alarmed. Da Niu not only vanished from his sight but also his Spirit Sense. At first, he thought Da Niu was using a concealment art, but he realized soon that the general was simply moving too fast. His Spirit Sense was like his eyes, it failed to pick up Da Niu’s movements. By the time his Spirit Sense registered Da Niu again, the general was already right beside him.
He ducked at the last moment. He felt a strong burst of wind passing above him. With how close he was to Da Niu, he could properly sense how fearsome his aura was. He saw Da Niu’s leg moving up in a kicking motion. He placed his two arms to block the kick.
*CRACK!*
His arms broke upon contact. He screamed in pain as he was sent flying by the kick. His flying momentum suddenly stopped when he felt a second kick hitting his back. His backbone snapped from the impact. His scream stopped abruptly because he couldn’t breathe.
Da Niu grabbed the back of An Guan’s neck before he fell to the ground. Da Niu was like holding a helpless child in his hand. An Guan couldn’t speak due to the intense pain. His eyes were wide as sweat filled his face. He struggled to breathe.
"Tutor...!" Wu Di yelled. He felt weak, but he couldn’t stay quiet at the sight. He used Jet Dash and charged toward Da Niu.
His attempt to save An Guan was cut short by a rope dart that pierced his leg.
"Aahhh...!!" He stumbled and crashed to the ground. In his haste, he didn’t notice Huang Zhan targeting him.
The rope dart that pierced Wu Di’s leg was covered in vines and leaves. These vines and leaves grew from the point of impact. Before Wu Di could react, the vines and leaves spread all over his body and bound him.
"Raarhh...! Let me go!!" Wu Di tried ripping the vines using his strength but failed. The vines became tighter, and he could hardly move.
Da Niu didn’t pay Wu Di any mind. Even if Huang Zhan didn’t stop Wu Di, Wu Di would still be unable to change An Guan’s fate. Da Niu stared at An Guan with disregarding eyes.
"Any last words?" Da Niu asked.
An Guan struggled to open his mouth, but only a whizzing voice came out.
"I’m sorry. I guess I hit you too hard. Well, let me end your suffering."
With one hand still holding An Guan’s neck, Da Niu’s other hand stabbed into An Guan’s chest. His hand pierced the whole body and came out of An Guan’s back. An Guan vomited blood a few times before he stopped moving. Da Niu pulled his bloody arm out before tossing An Guan like trash.
"Nooo...!!!" Wu Di shouted. His body was shaking as he struggled to free himself, but the vines were tightly wrapped around his body.
Huang Zhan came over and stood over Wu Di. He chuckled at the sight of Da Niu killing An Guan. He looked down at Wu Di and said, "There goes your only Spirit Stage protector. You dumb fucks shouldn’t have joined this trial in the first place."
Huang Zhan placed his foot atop Wu Di’s head, ready to crush it.
A terrible roar drew his attention. He recognized his pet’s roar, but this one was unlike any the Qing Lion ever let out. He turned in his tamed beast’s direction and his eyes turned wide.
*
*ROAR!!!*
Against the Qing Lion and Gan Xi, Amon didn’t lose. The problem was, he wasn’t winning either. All his weapons had been destroyed except for the Xian Cloth and ceremonial dagger. His most powerful assaults were not available unless he was willing to expose his infernal cultivation.
While his ceremonial dagger was sharp and could cut most things, the Qing Lion had multiple layers of protection. It had the nature armor from Huang Zhan’s nature assimilation. It also wore metal armor customized for its body. Even without those protections, its natural hide was hard enough that it could withstand most weapons.
Due to those protections, Amon had difficulty wounding the Qing Lion even when his ceremonial dagger successfully hit it. To wound it, Amon must hit it at the same spot. With the Qing Lion constantly moving at high speed, that was a tall order.
Gan Xi was not as durable and strong as the Qing Lion but was smarter. He stayed in the Qing Lion’s shadow and acted when he saw a chance.
Thus, the fight between the three ended in a stalemate, or so Gan Xi and the Qing Lion thought. The two didn’t realize they were slowly falling into Amon’s trap.