Chapter 359: The Duel of Ex-Immortals
As soon as the killing array of Mount Hua Sect activated, the monster vines emerged from the ground, devouring life essence in the air as food.
Normally, it would have instantly depleted the energy of whatever array within the city and disabled all cultivator's Qi nearby. However, the air and ground were filled with the pylon tower's energy, which continued to replenish the lost Qi and Essence.
As such, the vine monster continued to grow. Within five seconds, its vine tentacles grew 200 meters long and 10 meters thick.
The surviving Mount Hua Sect's disciples and elders laughed as they had accomplished their goal.
"It's done! Y'all gonna die!"
"Hahahaha! No one can match Senior Ling's power and wisdom!"
"Surrender now! You have no chance!"
As they kept shouting, one of the vine tentacles seized one of the Mount Hua Sect's disciples and dragged him to its mouth underground. More vines also tracked the life signature of the local people and extended toward them.
Massive vines swiped and cleaned all structures in their paths. The straggling beastmen and rogue cultivators screamed in a panic, running away from the monster.
Ju Shoufen gazed at this vine monster and snorted as she was familiar with it.
Vine monsters and ents were dryad's pets, and they had a fatal weakness that she could exploit.
"Essence Eaters? These guys are really playing with a dangerous pet."
Ignoring Ma Moxi's request and the commotion, Ju Shoufen summoned her dao avatar, the miniature golden crow. The bird opened its mouth and spat green flame at the vines.
Ordinary plant-type monsters were weak against fire element Qi while some were even vulnerable to poison element Qi. However, they were resilient against water and earth element. The tentacle vine monster's characteristics were the same, but it required a unique element power to completely exterminate it under the current environment.
As soon as the small green fireball hit the vine, the fire instantly spread and ignited it in flame. Still, it continued to absorb Life Essence in the air to heal itself.
The vine monster wiggled in pain as it continued to grow larger despite being enveloped in flame.
Ju Shoufen continued shooting the green fireballs at the monster. She also signaled the other girls to start shooting at the other intruders.
"Surely, they've come prepared. If I weren't here, they could have exploited the tower's power and used it against us. Who the hell is the mastermind behind this?"
…
Ling Cao glanced at the emerging monster inside the city.
Seeing that his colleagues managed to successfully summon the monster through the killing array, he laughed at Zhao Bao.
"You've lost, heretic monk! Soon, your city and your people will be devoured by the Essence Eater!"
The colossus Buddha statue also looked at Mount Hua Sect's members in the city and the vine monster.
Currently, the monster was struggling against Ju Shoufen's green flame. As it kept eating the life essence in the air, the poison flame also continued to corrode and burn it to ash.
As for another battlefield, it was different from what Ling Cao had proclaimed.
BANG
BANG
As they were celebrating their premature victory, the anti-material rifles of the yin slaves took more lives. Ma Moxi was also busy running around and stabbed the invaders with his new heaven-grade dagger, which he had received from Miaomiao through Wei Yuan.
Every time Ma Moxi stabbed a target, the victim was instantly turned into a stone.
Most of the intruders had been killed, yet Ling Cao suddenly proclaimed that he had won. Moreover, he didn't show remorse after most of his colleagues were already dead.
Zhao Bao found Ling Cao disgusting and shady. He clicked his tongue, "Did you sacrifice all your friends to destroy our city? What's the point?"
Ling Cao burst into laughter as he flew backward, retreating from the battle. Without looking back, he fled east.
"You think we've jumped here without a preparation? You think we sacrifice our brothers in vain? Ha! This is why evil cultivators like you are always fools!"
One of the corpses of Mount Hua Sect's disciples, who died the earliest, shrunk and transformed into a human paper doll with the name of the cultivator on it.
A few seconds later, more corpses changed into paper dolls.
The golden Buddha statue furrowed his brows as he understood what had happened now – All attackers were paper clones of Mount Hua Sect's members!
However, these paper dolls couldn't just use their owner's skills or abilities if the original bodies were too far from the clones. The longest range was usually five to ten kilometers.
Therefore, the real bodies of these people were nearby!
"I see. So you're going to attack us for real after this thing weakened us. Is that your plan?"
Zhao Bao sighed and shook his head, finding this tactic sinisterly brilliant. He reverted back to his human form while he maintained the light pillar barrier.
"Too bad, Ling Cao. By now, those cats should have found them. I hope your friends are still alive."
Ling Cao didn't hear what Zhao Bao had said as he already abandoned the battlefield.
…
In the sky, Ling Tianlong also disengaged and flew away from the city. Unlike Ling Cao, Ling Tianlong kept staring at Lu Fengxian as he retreated.
Lu Fengxian stopped pursuing, being wary of a potential tactical ambush by Ling Tianlong's invisible skills. He hovered in front of the eastern outskirt town, looking at the fleeing man in curiosity.
Seeing that Lu Fengxian didn't chase after him, Ling Tianlong stopped flying away and turned around. He raised his chin, looking down on his opponent.
"This time, it's my win. Next time, I'll use 10% of my strength to kill you."
Lu Fengxian chuckled, "You're fleeing, but you're claiming that you've won? How arrogant can you be?"
"You haven't realized it yet. You've been struggling against someone with a lower cultivation base, but you can't even leave a scratch on my skin. The result is obvious."
"Ha! Sure. You win because of your cultivation base, but that doesn't change the fact that you're running away from me. Go ahead and boast to your friends that you won, but you tugged your tail between your legs and fled from the battle."
"Keep talking. In the end, you can't change the result of this battle. Your city is finished."
"Hoh? Are you sure?"
As both men continued to best each other vocally, the vine monster stopped growing and withered as Ju Shoufen's poison flame had destroyed its roots and heart.
SCREEEEEEECH
As if it was in pain, the monster screamed as it was reduced to ash.
Ling Tianlong gazed at the vine monster with a deep frown. Then, he glared at Lu Fengxian.
This reincarnator was aware that poison flame was the monster's greatest weakness, but he had never expected that a cultivator with this unique advanced element Qi was lurking within the city.
The only ones who could learn this element Qi were either people from Poison Pavilion or the vessels of the Sun Crow!
Ling Tianlong miscalculated again. This was his third time after he had encountered Miaomiao!
"I see that someone in that city is a slave of that Golden Crow. You people are indeed demon worshipers!"
"So what? Got a problem with that? At least, we aren't racist enough to massacre random people because of their relationship with the other races."
"Pfft. I heard you even slaughtered your entire family and even killed your father! You don't massacre random people? Talk about hypocrisy, I haven't seen anyone like you."
"Family? Father? Hah! You know nothing," Lu Fengxian sneered and stopped talking. He didn't need to explain or correct himself as it was pointless to talk with this arrogant youth.
After all, Lu Fengxian had sensed the life signature of a certain beast queen, sneaking toward the group of invisible people three kilometers away to the south.
Being sure that Mao Xueyan and Mao Dandan would soon make a short work over the hiding ambush party of Ling Tianlong, Lu Fengxian had the urge to mock the youth.
"Any last word to your friends before their permanent departure?"
Ling Tianlong frowned for a moment, doubting if Lu Fengxian had said it out of spite. But then, he sensed the presence of two strong beastwomen rushing toward his friends.
Worrying about the safety of his allies, Ling Tianlong stopped bickering with Lu Fengxian and flew south, planning to intercept the two beastwomen.
WHOOSH
Lu Fengxian teleported and reappeared in front of Ling Tianlong.
The former's pupils narrowed as they had locked on to the eluding red lines on Ling Tianlong's body. He trusted his soul sword toward Ling Tianlong's chest.
"!!!"
In a panic, Ling Tianlong's backhand parried the incoming sword.
But Lu Fengxian altered the thrust into a slash in an instant, aiming at Ling Tianlong's arm!
SWUA!
Even with the earth dragon physique and the supreme defense, Lu Fengxian's perception and his sword Qi found the flaw in the former's physique and Qi circulation, severing the left arm of the dragonewt!
Getting his left forearm severed, Ling Tianlong widened his eyes in shock. He clicked his tongue and flew backward, keeping the distance from his opponent.
Lu Fengxian pursued and sneered, "Where are you going? Your opponent is me!"
"DING BU!!"
As if Ling Tianlong were Piccolo, his lost forearm was regenerated in an instant. He also created an energy sword in his left hand.
"You've left me no choice. I'll use 30% of my power against you!"
Lu Fengxian also projected and held a blue energy sword in his left hand while his right hand still had the soul sword, "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking. Tell me when you've used up everything. I will be very disappointed if this is all you can do."
Ling Tianlong's presence blurred while the air around him suddenly got heavier.
RUMBLE
The protagonist had activated his unique element domain, the gravity element domain! Now, the gravity around him had increased 1,000 folds, but Ling Tianlong wasn't affected by this power.
Lu Fengxian sensed the gravity of the situation. Yet, he revealed a wide smile and activated his unique power as well.
"Interesting element domain you have there. But do you think you can handle this?"
The air around Lu Fengxian suddenly turned stagnant while the sunlight couldn't go through the one-kilometer element domain. The wind, the dirt, flower leaves, and random object in the air stopped moving as if the time had stopped.
As soon as Ling Tianlong had noticed the change, his expression was distorted in shock.
"Time-and-space law!?"
Lu Fengxian grinned, but he didn't bother answering. While his opponent was restrained by the time suspension, he charged forward and swung his soul sword down, aiming at Ling Tianlong's dragonewt head.
CLANK
Unfortunately, Ling Tianlong broke free and blocked the strike at the last second. He coughed a mouthful of blood because of the backlash.
Although Ling Tianlong was internally injured because he forcefully moved his body under the time-and-space restriction, he unleashed his best sword technique.
Death Fortress Sword Technique, Innumerable Sword Strike!
Over 100,000 energy swords appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Lu Fengxian and Ling Tianlong.
The latter shoved Lu Fengxian's soul sword away with Plum Emperor broadsword, after which he ordered all energy swords to fly toward them.
The energy swords flew through Ling Tianlong without harming him. However, all of them emitted sword intent and sword Qi as they threatened to turn Lu Fengxian into a porcupine.
Calmly, Lu Fengxian snorted, and the energy swords stopped moving toward him. Even Ling Tianlong couldn't move his body again.
"Nice try. Well, I have to admit. I would have died had I never learned this trick. I guess I owe my apostle a favor now."
Lu Fengxian gently pushed and moved the energy swords out of his way as he floated toward Ling Tianlong, who had been struggling to move and speak.
The restrain was harsher this time, and Ling Tianlong felt powerless under this strange domain.
Lu Fengxian got close to Ling Tianlong again. This time, without mocking the latter, he shoved the soul sword into the chest of his opponent. Then, he twisted it and slashed horizontally, causing a fatal wound.
"Correction, this is my win. The next time I see you again, I'll make sure to destroy your main body and your soul."
"…"
Ling Tianlong glared at Lu Fengxian in resentment as his body slowly shrunk, turning into a paper doll like other Mount Hua Sect's colleagues.
The energy swords disappeared as they had lost the source of energy. The gravity domain power was also dispersed.
"Hoo…"
Lu Fengxian exhaled and closed his eyes. Five seconds later, blood gushed from his stomach and went up to his throat.
COUGH
Despite achieving the victory, Lu Fengxian vomited several mouthfuls of black blood and red blood. His hands struggled to sheath the soul sword and disabled the energy sword in his left hand.
'Time-and-Space Techniques are too dangerous! I only used it twice, and most my internal organs are destroyed while 90% of my Life Essence is depleted! This is not practical in combat!'
Lu Fengxian glanced at the south, where Mao Xueyan and Mao Dandan were. Both women's presence fluctuated as they were in the middle of combat at the moment.
There was nothing to worry about over there as they had the upper hand.
In exhaustion, Lu Fengxian slowly flew back to the city, planning to recuperate from the backlash of using the supreme time-and-space technique from the book that he had gotten from Ju Xie.
The first battle of Siren City was over. The rest was up to Mao Xueyan and Mao Dandan to counterattack and kill as many Mount Hua's men as possible.
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