Chương 15: A Harvest of Blood

· 19 Apr Both of these men were from the Hu Family! The middle aged cultivator had reached the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm. The young man in the blue shirt was at the fifth level. The same stage as Zhang Huaijin. The two cultivators commanded their Spirit Artifacts without hesitation and charged at the Iron Armored Lion, surrounding it from both sides. They had only been passing through when they stumbled upon this once in a thousand years opportunity.

It was as if the heavens themselves had gifted them these resources! The Black Armored Fanged Hound and the Purple Spirit Tiger had already fallen. The Crimson Blood Bear was severely wounded, its combat strength drastically reduced. Only the Iron Armored Lion remained. In the hands of these two cultivators, it was nothing more than fish on a chopping block. Fear flickered across the Iron Armored Lion's eyes, but deep in its heart, rage and unwillingness burned fiercely.

One of its enemies was at the seventh level of Qi Refining Realm. The other was at the fifth level. How was it supposed to fight this…? Roar! But just then, the severely wounded Crimson Blood Bear struggled back to its feet and began limping away into the distance.

"Xinyi! Kill it!" the middle aged Hu Family cultivator roared. A sixth level Qi Refining Realm Spirit Beast was a walking treasure trove, from its nose to its tail. There was no way he was letting it escape. Hu Xinyi was at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm. The Crimson Blood Bear was badly injured. Dispatching it would be easy. But the Crimson Blood Bear, cornered and facing death, refused to go down quietly. It erupted with a desperate, powerful offense.

Its bear paws struck like forged iron hammers, slamming relentlessly against Hu Xinyi's Spirit Artifact sword. Hu Xinyi's face turned pale. He didn't have much real combat experience. Faced with such a frenzied beast, fear flashed in his eyes. Still, he gritted his teeth and held his ground, searching for any weakness in the bear's defenses. The Crimson Blood Bear was already at death's door. All Hu Xinyi had to do was hold on a little longer, and the beast would exhaust itself and collapse.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged Hu Family cultivator, a true late stage Qi Refining expert, had the Iron Armored Lion on the defensive within a dozen breaths. If not for the beast's incredibly tough hide and natural armor, it would have been killed on the spot. But the Iron Armored Lion was, after all, a sixth level Qi Refining Spirit Beast. The middle aged cultivator couldn't finish it off immediately. Their attacks collided again and again. Spiritual energy seethed and exploded outward.

The noise of the battle grew louder and louder. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Hidden in the shadows, Zhang Huaijin gazed at the Spirit Beast corpses lying on the ground. A fierce, burning ambition ignited in his eyes.

"Forgive me, both of you," Zhang Huaijin whispered. Swish! A Yin Yang Divine Needle no thicker than a strand of hair, shimmering with swirling black and white light, shot through the air. Silent. Invisible. It pierced through space at tremendous speed and passed directly through the back of the middle aged Hu cultivator's head. Boom! The Iron Armored Lion's claw crashed down. The cultivator's black dharma sword was sent flying. The savage lion's claw, packed with explosive power, slammed into the man's chest.

Crack! The middle aged Hu Family cultivator's chest caved inward. His mouth flew open, and blood sprayed from his lips. His soul shattered. He died instantly. His body was blasted away by the Iron Armored Lion and hit the ground, blood splattering across the dirt. The Yin Yang Divine Needle's soul attack was naturally silent and invisible. Locked in fierce combat with the Iron Armored Lion, the middle aged Hu cultivator had no time to react.

By the time he sensed something was wrong, his divine soul had already been shattered by the needle. The Iron Armored Lion had been constantly suppressed by the middle aged Hu Family cultivator and had taken serious damage itself. Blood was already seeping through the gaps in its metallic hide. But when it saw the Hu cultivator go flying from its claw strike, its eyes froze in confusion. It stared at its own paw, bewildered. Since when was he this strong…?

The Iron-Armored Lion tensed, watching the now lifeless Hu cultivator warily. Then, moving like lightning, it charged forward and reached him in an instant. Bam! Its lion claw came down, stomping directly on the man's head. Crunch! The middle aged Hu Family cultivator's skull shattered. He became a headless corpse, deader than dead. Excitement flashed in the Iron Armored Lion's blood red eyes. Haha! He really was dead! The next moment, those blood red eyes locked onto Hu Xinyi. Pfft!

Hu Xinyi, dressed in blue, swept his azure Spirit Artifact sword in a wide arc. The gash on the Crimson Blood Bear's neck tore open further, and the beast's head thudded to the ground. The Crimson Blood Bear's eyes filled with endless unwillingness as its massive body crashed down. Hu Xinyi was overjoyed. This was a sixth level Qi Refining Realm Spirit Beast! A walking treasure trove from head to toe! But killing the Crimson Blood Bear had exhausted him considerably.

Confident that his uncle had the Iron Armored Lion handled, Hu Xinyi didn't bother checking his surroundings. He quickly popped a pill into his mouth to restore his spiritual energy. But then, something felt wrong. It was too quiet. The sounds of battle had vanished. And behind him… a faint, foul, bloody stench. Clang! Hu Xinyi spun around, retreating as fast as he could, his azure Spirit Artifact sword shooting forward. Boom! The Iron Armored Lion lunged, its massive body slamming into him.

The azure Spirit Artifact sword was swatted aside like a toy. The lion closed the distance in an instant. Crack! A horrific, clawed gash ripped across Hu Xinyi's chest. The bones inside shattered. The explosive force sent him flying more than ten meters through the air. A cultivator's body could never match a Spirit Beast's. Especially a strength-focused monster like the Iron Armored Lion. Excitement blazed in the Iron Armored Lion's eyes. It had no idea why that human cultivator had suddenly become so weak…

But it knew one thing for certain, it was the victor. Pfft! Blood sprayed. Hu Xinyi's throat was torn open, his windpipe and flesh scattering across the ground. His eyes were filled with despair. But the light in those eyes slowly dimmed. He fell silent forever. The Iron Armored Lion was ecstatic. It spun around and charged back into the purple tiger lair. And at that moment, Zhang Huaijin appeared like a ghost.

He collected the corpses of the Purple Spirit Tiger, the Crimson Blood Bear, and the Black Armored Fanged Hound. The next moment, Zhang Huaijin rushed into the Purple Spirit Tiger's lair. Clang! Nine streaks of the attack from the Metal Finger Art, struck the Iron Armored Lion from behind. One of them pierced directly into a weak spot in its armor. Blood spurted. The excitement on the Iron Armored Lion's face froze. The Yin Yang Divine Needle materialized silently and pierced the lion's skull.

The Iron Armored Lion didn't even have time to cry out before it crashed to the ground. The power of the Yin Yang Divine Needle was terrifying. The twisting force of the Primordial Yin Yang Force shattered the lion's divine soul. Zhang Huaijin's face remained expressionless as he collected the Iron Armored Lion's corpse. The death of two Hu Family cultivators here would surely trigger a frantic search by their family.

To be safe, Zhang Huaijin didn't touch the bodies of Hu Xinyi and his uncle, nor their storage pouches. The Iron Armored Lion had never been a match for Zhang Huaijin. But to avoid any complications, Zhang Huaijin had used the Yin Yang Divine Needle to extinguish its soul directly. Using a Technique would have left traces, like the Zhang Family's Heavenly Fire Blaze Art that were well known to the surrounding families. If the Hu Family searched the battlefield, they might find some clues…

And that would cost the Zhang Family dearly. It might even spark a war between the two families.