Chapter 367: Chapter 354: Brilliance Revealed
The small Moonlight Stone in Kou Xiaotian’s hand could only illuminate a ten-meter radius.
In the darkness ahead, two glowing orbs, like bronze bells, moved slowly. A massive, serpentine body could be faintly seen writhing.
It seemed this was their target: the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon.
However, the faintly visible body of the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon seemed quite a bit larger than what their intelligence had suggested.
Both Kou Xiaotian’s and Xia Xiaoting’s hearts skipped a beat, but neither said a word.
They both assumed they hadn’t gotten a clear look at the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon, chalking its immense size up to an illusion caused by the darkness.
"This is too close. Everyone, fall back thirty meters! Stop at the fork in the path behind us!"
Kou Xiaotian transmitted the command with his Divine Thought, and the group immediately began to retreat, falling back to a fork in the path.
"This is as far as we can go. The path curves here; any farther back and we won’t have a clear shot. In a moment, I’ll throw another Moonlight Stone toward the Demon Beast. Then, Shu Lan, you’ll attack from range. Fire three poison-tipped arrows at the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s eyes and the spot three feet behind its jaw!"
"When the Demon Beast charges, we’ll finish it off quickly!"
The Giant Sword in Kou Xiaotian’s hand began to glow with Spirit Light, its edge radiating a startling sharpness.
"Yes!" Shu Lan took two steps forward.
The other three immediately spread out, and sure enough, Shen Lang shamelessly positioned himself right beside Xia Xiaoting.
Seeing that everyone was ready, Kou Xiaotian produced another Moonlight Stone and hurled it with all his might toward the distant Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon!
The Moonlight Stone sailed high through the air, landing near the distant Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon. In that same instant, Shu Lan drew her bow and loosed three arrows in rapid succession!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The three arrows, trailing a faint glow, were still mid-flight when both Kou Xiaotian and Xia Xiaoting cried out in shock.
Illuminated by the Moonlight Stone, the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon was coiled up like a small mountain. Its size was horrifying!
This was no Fourth Level Demon Beast!
This was clearly a Fifth Level Demon Beast, or even stronger...
"Damn it, fall back!" Kou Xiaotian roared, terrified out of his wits.
A Fifth Level Demon Beast was at least equivalent to a Martial Artist at the Spirit Martial Realm Fourth Heaven!
How could their small group possibly stand against such a powerful Demon Beast?
Especially in such a confined space?
The group panicked, immediately turning to flee back the way they came.
Kou Xiaotian hung back, raising his Giant Sword and yelling, "All of you, get out of here! I’ll hold it off!"
In that moment, bathed in the glow of the Moonlight Stone, Kou Xiaotian cut a majestic, indomitable figure.
A halo of earthy-yellow light burst from his body, forming a sturdy barrier that enveloped him completely.
"I’ll help you!"
Xia Xiaoting gritted her teeth and stood at Kou Xiaotian’s side.
Before anyone else could react, a deafening roar echoed from ahead. A foul-smelling wind washed over them as the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon—as thick as a water buffalo’s torso—charged toward them!
’So fast!’ Kou Xiaotian’s hands, gripping his Giant Sword, were slick with sweat.
The Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon had crossed several hundred meters in the blink of an eye!
"There’s no other way! Fortune favors the bold! I’m a Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artist, damn it! I can’t just stand by and watch my juniors be devoured! Come on, you beast!"
"Dragon-Riding Slash, One Sword, Infinite!"
With Kou Xiaotian’s roar, a half-foot-wide beam of Sword Qi lit up the stone cavern, slashing down violently at the rapidly approaching Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon!
CLANG!
A shower of horrifying sparks erupted as the shriek of metal striking metal echoed throughout the cavern.
The next moment, with a WHOOSH, a massive tail whipped toward them with lightning speed!
Undaunted, Kou Xiaotian shoved Xia Xiaoting backward, raised his Giant Sword high once more, and swung at the serpentine tail.
BAM!
The towering Kou Xiaotian was sent flying by the massive tail, his Giant Sword knocked from his grasp. His body slammed viciously against the stone wall to his right, sending blood spattering everywhere!
A dignified Spirit Martial Realm First Heaven Martial Artist, yet he couldn’t even block a single strike before being grievously wounded!
Despair filled the eyes of Xia Xiaoting as she staggered backward.
Just then, the alarmed shouts of Shu Lan and Chen Shiyuan sounded from behind them, growing closer. The two of them had actually run back!
’It’s over. We’re all going to die... No, that kid Shen Lang is probably the only one who escaped...’
In despair, Xia Xiaoting raised her Longsword and poured all of her Spiritual Power into the shield on her left arm.
The shield flared with light and suddenly expanded several times over, becoming a massive, cyan-yellow Giant Shield that stood before her.
However, she had no confidence at all that it could block the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon.
Just then, a hand was gently placed in front of her.
"Allow me."
The voice was as nonchalant and indifferent as ever, seemingly oblivious to the danger.
Xia Xiaoting shuddered. She turned her head in disbelief to see Shen Lang take two steps forward, positioning himself in front of her.
A foul wind washed over them. Amidst a roar so loud it made their ears ache, the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s gaping, bloody maw lunged to devour them both.
In that moment, illuminated by the Moonlight Stone on the ground, Xia Xiaoting saw the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s ferocious appearance with perfect clarity.
The Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon, over a hundred feet long, was covered in gleaming, pitch-black scales. As it charged, it sent countless bits of rubble flying, its momentum utterly astonishing.
Its massive fangs, like sharpened swords, glinted with an unnatural light.
A substance—whether venom or slime, she couldn’t tell—dripped from its fangs; the sight of the viscous, dark-green liquid was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Its forked, barbed tongue flicked in and out. Xia Xiaoting had no doubt that if it were to lash out at her, it could easily rip her head from her shoulders...
To Xia Xiaoting, time itself seemed to slow to a crawl.
But her body was frozen stiff, unable to move. Even though she could see everything happening and her mind screamed at her to turn and run, her limbs wouldn’t respond.
As for Shen Lang, who stood before her, his hands hung loosely at his sides. He hadn’t even balled them into fists.
Nor had he drawn the Single Saber from his back. He just stood there quietly.
It was as if... he’d given up all resistance...
’But what did he mean before? "Allow me?" Allow the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon to eat him? Even if it does, it’s not like it will just let the rest of us go! That kid...’
For a moment, Xia Xiaoting’s mind went completely blank.
’Am I going to die? But I’m still so young... I still want to earn my way into the Inner Sect...’
As she glanced once more at Shen Lang standing quietly before her, a very strange feeling welled up in Xia Xiaoting’s heart.
The light of the Moonlight Stone, shining upward from the ground, made Shen Lang’s figure seem taller and mightier than before, like an unmovable mountain.
’This kid... He’s infuriating, but for him to dare stand in front of me in the face of such danger... maybe he’s not so detestable after all?’
’Maybe I was too harsh on him before. After all, he’s only sixteen or seventeen.’
The thought had barely formed in Xia Xiaoting’s mind when a suffocating, foul stench swept over them.
The Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s gaping maw was nearly upon them!
Faced with the Demon Beast’s overwhelming and vicious momentum, Shen Lang neither retreated nor dodged. Instead, his body trembled, a sound like ringing metal coming from his bones and sinews. An unparalleled blast of Powerful Qi erupted from him, sending nearby stones flying in all directions!
Then...
With a casual flick of his right foot, he sent a massive, spherical boulder at his feet flying, shooting forward like a cannonball!
THWUMP!
The boulder shot into the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s massive mouth, plugging it completely shut!
The savage, tyrannical light in the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a look of human-like astonishment.
Before the Demon Beast could crush the boulder, Shen Lang flashed to the right, evading a strike from its tongue, and threw a palm strike with lightning speed!
"Majestic are the mountains and rivers, vast is the heavens, All Laws Unite First Punch!"
BAM!
The impossibly fast punch landed squarely on the lower jaw of the massive serpentine head as it crashed downward with unabated momentum!
The boulder that had plugged the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s mouth instantly shattered, spraying outward in a gruesome mix of slime and blood!
The Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon let out a heavenward roar, its massive jaw streaming blood as it once again lunged to swallow Shen Lang!
’A Fifth Level Demon Beast actually withstood that palm strike? What a tough body... something’s strange!’
Surprise flashed in Shen Lang’s eyes. Instead of retreating, he advanced, lunging forward two steps. In his right palm, currents of energy like a Five-Colored Divine Dragon swirled together, rotating to form a vortex of astonishing power as he unleashed another palm strike!
"Heaven-Shattering Palm, Gods and Ghosts Fear! Five Dragons Gathering in the Clouds!"
As Shen Lang unleashed this palm strike, a sound like cracking thunder exploded within the cavern, its echoes reverberating endlessly.
The strike was as fast as lightning, as swift as a thunderclap.
The Powerful Qi, sharp as a blade against their faces, swept through the area. The others nearby shielded their faces and scrambled back. The already grievously wounded Kou Xiaotian practically rolled and crawled in his desperate flight, terrified of being caught in the blast wave!
BOOM!
This palm strike from Shen Lang was several times more powerful than the last. It slammed into the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon, sending the massive Demon Beast’s body flying upward to crash violently into the cavern ceiling!
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
The impact from the Demon Beast’s massive body dislodged numerous boulders from the ceiling, which came crashing down!
The recoil sent Shen Lang sliding back three meters, his feet carving a deep trench into the ground!
"Th-this is..."
Xia Xiaoting stared blankly at the scene, thinking she must be hallucinating in her final moments.
Shu Lan and Chen Shiyuan, who had just rushed back, stood nearby, equally dumbstruck.
Before their incredulous eyes, Shen Lang stomped his right foot on the ground. With a BOOM, his figure transformed into a streak of black light and shot skyward!
SHING!
His saber left its sheath. Trailing an unparalleled gleam of light, it traced a brilliant arc through the air before plunging violently into the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s head!
THUD!
Amid the tremendous noise, dust billowed everywhere.
Shen Lang’s saber, having plunged through the top of the Silver Moon Bull Flood Dragon’s head, pinned the great beast to the ground...
