Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 798: Seeing the Yellow Springs Again

"Something's off."

The moment Tan Qingfeng lifted the seal, Chu Liang felt that something wasn’t right.

If the iron-eating beast truly had such immense spiritual energy, Tan Qingfeng could have lifted the seal earlier and there would have been no need to let it get beaten by the golden peak beast.

By concealing the iron-eating beast’s strength, who was he trying to fool? The Jiuli Tribesmen outside? No. He wanted to keep it hidden from the people of Mount Shu!

If the Mount Shu Sect had known the iron-eating beast possessed such power, they would never have allowed Tan Qingfeng to bring it along. They might have even assigned an eighth-realm cultivator to keep it under control, ensuring that Tan Qingfeng had no opportunity to make any sly moves.

Now that he had only unsealed it after arriving here, whatever he was planning must have been something the Mount Shu Sect would never approve of.

"Stop!" Xu Ziyang shouted, raising his polearm as his index and middle fingers pointed forward, unleashing a surge of sword qi toward Tan Qingfeng.

In an instant, Tan Qingfeng's figure was engulfed by the blinding sword light.

Xu Ziyang caught on just as quickly as Chu Liang. Since he had been closely watching Tan Qingfeng, he reacted even faster. The instant the iron-eating beast unleashed its powerful spiritual energy, Xu Ziyang had already sprung into action!

Pfft!

As the sword light struck him, he shouted frantically for the Supreme Harbinger of Doom to break the seal, completely ignoring the blood that splattered from his own body.

Yet, the iron-eating beast’s first strike was not aimed at the seal. It was a punch directed at Xu Ziyang. Even in its frenzied state, it still saw Tan Qingfeng as important and would not allow anyone to harm him.

This punch, far stronger than before, carried a dense aura of vicious energy. There was no way to dodge this attack, and Xu Ziyang barely had time to raise his sword in defense. With a resonant clang, hundreds of swordlights converged, forming a radiant shield of sword qi!

Boom!

The iron-eating beast’s punch struck with overwhelming force, shattering the sword shield upon impact. The sheer power of the punch sent Xu Ziyang hurtling through the air like a shooting star until he disappeared into the distant sky.

Despite being covered in wounds and dripping with blood, Tan Qingfeng remained unfazed. He roared again, "Supreme Harbinger of Doom! Break the seal!"

At the same time, Jiang Yuebai swiftly formed a series of hand seals, casting a restriction that locked Tan Qingfeng in place.

Upon seeing her strike at Tan Qingfeng, the iron-eating beast let out an enraged roar and threw a powerful punch toward Jiang Yuebai!

Unlike Xu Ziyang, she lacked the powerful physique of the Dao Attainment Realm. If that punch struck her, she wouldn’t merely be thrown into the air.

Boom!

Yet, as the iron-eating beast’s punch surged forward with a howling gust, it passed straight through her. She had become an apparition!

The Jiang Yuebai standing there had been nothing more than an illusion. She had already slipped away using a stealth technique, reappearing a hundred zhang away on the bronze ground.

Boom! Boom!

With a thunderous stomp, the iron-eating beast shifted sideways, locking onto its target. In the blink of an eye, it unleashed another devastating punch!

At the critical moment, a powerful gust swept in, enveloping Jiang Yuebai. The figure that emerged was none other than Chu Liang, who had activated the Mystical Winged Divine Dragon Transcendent Form. Spreading his wings, he shielded her and pulled her close, standing between her and the iron-eating beast.

As soon as the iron-eating beast saw that its attack was now aimed at Chu Liang, it instinctively tried to hold back. But the punch’s momentum was unstoppable, and it was too late to withdraw. In the end, the strike still landed on Chu Liang’s back.

Boom!

In an instant, Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai were sent flying, following Xu Ziyang’s path and disappearing into the distant sky.

The wind howled around them as they were flung through the sky. At last, they struck something and crashed into the ground, gouging a deep trench hundreds of feet long before skidding to a stop amid a swirling cloud of dust.

…

Jiang Yuebai waved away the dust and was the first to rise from the crater. "Cough, cough..."

Just before they hit the ground, Chu Liang had shifted their positions midair, taking the impact on his back so that she could land safely on top of him.

A moment later, Chu Liang bounced back up.

Although the iron-eating beast’s strength was absurdly powerful, it had held back somewhat. Chu Liang’s corporeal body was as tough as a True Dragon’s, so he had endured the strike without suffering any real damage. The only reason he had been sent flying was his inability to absorb the impact while airborne. Now that he had landed, the remaining force had faded entirely.

However, instead of landing directly, they collided with something just before impact. Chu Liang looked down and realized there was already someone else lying in the crater.

The figure, clad in an animal-hide robe, grimaced in pain. His face looked as though he had just survived an explosion.

The figure was none other than the soot-covered priest.

Chu Liang couldn't help but chuckle. Life was full of unexpected encounters. Somehow, he had managed to land right on top of this guy.

"Ugh..." The soot-covered priest let out a pained groan before springing to his feet in anger. But upon seeing them, his fury melted into stunned disbelief. "You actually got down from the mountain...?"

He had been convinced they were dead, caught in the trap he had carefully laid. Yet, as he continued his patrol and stepped out of the bronze city happily, these two suddenly plummeted from the sky and crashed into the crater.

The priest thought, How are they still alive?

Chu Liang ignored him and turned toward the bronze city. Faint ripples of spiritual energy pulsed from that direction, a clear sign that something unusual was happening. They had to move quickly and find out what Tan Qingfeng was up to.

However, the thunderous crash from their landing had already drawn the attention of several squads of Jiuli warriors.

The moment they spotted the soot-covered priest, they hurried over and asked, "What happened?"

Immediately, the soot-covered priest roared, "These humans are spying on Jiuli City. Kill them!"

With the iron-eating beast no longer protecting them, he had no reason to hold back. He was fully prepared to kill these two insolent humans right then and there!

Before Chu Liang could react, Jiang Yuebai furrowed her brows and formed a new set of hand seals. Spiritual qi surged, and in an instant, the surrounding trees grew wildly. Their branches and vines stretched out like tentacles, capturing more than a dozen Jiuli warriors in an instant.

Seeing this, the Jiuli priest swiftly stepped back, dodging the wildly growing trees. At the same time, he raised his staff and chanted loudly, "Aruba!"

Whoosh!

A powerful gust surged from behind him, brushing past Jiang Yuebai and Chu Liang harmlessly. Yet, when it swept over the Jiuli warriors, their bodies underwent a startling transformation. Their limbs lengthened, muscles bulged, and their eyes gleamed a menacing crimson.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!"

The Jiuli warriors howled madly as their half-human, half-beast bodies underwent a rapid shift, becoming completely beast-like.

Had the soot-covered priest just awakened the beast bloodline of these Jiuli warriors?

Chu Liang immediately grasped the nature of the priest’s divine spell. Without hesitation, he flickered forward, closing in on the priest in an instant. The priest attempted to fight back, but how could he possibly match Chu Liang in close combat?

Boom!

Chu Liang turned into a blur as he spun behind the priest and knocked him out cold with a single brick.

The Jiuli warriors’ berserk transformation came to an abrupt stop. The vines, which had been on the verge of snapping, tightened once more, binding them securely in place.

Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai exchanged a glance before leaping into the air, soaring swiftly toward the bronze city once more.

But before they could reach it, the entire city began to quake uncontrollably.

Rumble!

The city shook and crumbled as everything inside, from buildings to the Jiuli Tribesmen, began to break apart, dissolving into ghostly strands of qi. These wisps drifted upward, all converging toward the towering bronze mountain at the center.

It seemed as though everything in the city had been nothing but an illusion conjured from these drifting wisps of qi. However, Chu Liang knew better. At that moment, he finally remembered where he had felt this energy before.

"The Breath of the Yellow Springs!" Chu Liang gasped. "How could there be so much?!"

Back then, the Dark King Sect had obtained a small amount of the Breath of the Yellow Springs, attempting to fuse it with the True Form of Ksitigarbha to create a temporary weapon on par with the ninth realm. Later, that small amount of the Breath of the Yellow Springs was stolen by Granny Meng, who used it to revive her son and the young girl that had accompanied the Whale-Riding Immortal.

However, the amount of the Breath of the Yellow Springs here was far greater than what had been seen back then. If it fell into the hands of someone with ill intent, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Wait, Chu Liang thought. The Dark King Sect also extracted their Breath of the Yellow Springs from the Jiuli Hidden Realm… Could there be a connection between the two?

Urged on by what they saw, the two of them quickened their pace, rushing forward. By the time they reached the halfway point, the bronze city had already crumbled away, leaving behind nothing but scorched earth.

…

At the center of the scorched earth stood a massive, irregularly shaped bronze chunk, roughly the size of a ship. Its surface was covered in rust, nearly obscuring the entire piece. It was hard to tell how many years had passed, but the rusted patterns still radiated an undeniable spiritual energy.

A lone figure sat atop the massive bronze chunk.

Seated upon the bronze chunk was a burly Jiuli Tribesman, his upper body bearing the features of a tiger or leopard, and his form faintly translucent. His gaze remained locked on the towering bronze mountain, filled with the sorrow of one who had watched the world change through the endless flow of time.