As the fiend fox attacked, Tang Jie threw out the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman once more.
The small golden mountain appeared, bathing the fiend fox in its light.
The fiend fox shuddered, and then it let out a howl.
Finally, it manifested the strength of an upper-grade Mind Opening fiend. As it howled, fiend energy overflowed out of its body, surging upward and fending off the golden light.
It turned out that the fiend fox also possessed prodigious magic power. It was just that its opponents had been so weak that it hadn’t felt like unleashing all of its strength.
Even if it wasn’t a fiend gifted in battle, even if it was a fiend that emphasized speed, it was still an upper-grade Mind Opening fiend. Now that it was going all-out, finally displaying the strength that a fiend of this class should have, it managed to fend off the talisman.
But with this resistance, it slowed down, allowing the puppet to rush up and stop the fiend fox.
The fiend fox shrieked, “A dumb object is trying to stop me?”
It immediately tried to move around the puppet.
But at this moment, Tang Jie threw something at the puppet: the gelatinized lynx soul.
The moment the lynx soul collided with the puppet, it merged like a drop of water into the ocean. The puppet’s eyes suddenly flashed red, and it looked at the fox with a look of disdain.
The fiend fox saw this and instantly sensed an ill foreboding.
The puppet swiftly grabbed at the fiend fox, and the fox quickly turned to dodge this grab. But to its surprise, the puppet’s arm extended and bent in the air. It was clearly an arm of stone, yet it was as pliable as a snake. This bending and extending arm grabbed onto the fiend fox with incredible speed, and with a mighty roar, the puppet slammed the fox into the ground.
This massive blow was something that not even the fiend fox’s upper-grade Mind Opening constitution could withstand. It shrieked and threw up blood. Meanwhile, the puppet turned its hand into a claw and thrust it at the fiend fox’s face.
“Lynx!” the Illusion Fox instinctively shouted.
It felt like it could see the lynx’s soul attached to the puppet through its actions, bestowing the puppet with sharp wits and formidable adaptability.
The clumsy puppet’s greatest flaw had been filled in, and the puppet unleashed a brutal assault, punching the fiend fox twelve times in a row.
“Aaagh!” With a bitter cry, the fiend fox once more used Shadowflight.
There was a series of explosions as the substitute illusion was blasted into motes of light by the puppet. As the fox was escaping, it heard a gust of wind behind it.
The fiend fox knew that this wasn’t good, but didn’t have time to use Shadowflight again, so it lunged forward.
Whoosh!
A bloody line swept out as Tang Jie’s golden thread cut away a large chunk of the fox’s flesh. Alas, the fox had a truly impressive reaction time, and it had once more managed to avoid the fatal attack.
But in all this running around, Qin Zhou had managed to complete his spell.
Qin Zhou thrust out his arm and pointed at the air. “Heaven’s Reach Sword!”
The ancient sword in his hand exploded with light and flew into the sky. It began to madly spin, countless sword phantoms appearing in the air. Qin Zhou pointed at the fiend fox and said, “Go!”
The countless sword phantoms instantly merged together and slashed at the fiend fox.
Seeing this, the fiend fox instantly accelerated to its maximum speed, leaving behind a blur as it shot into the distance.
But that light sword seemed to ignore distance, appearing above the fiend fox’s head and slashing down.
The fiend fox once more used Shadowflight and instantly created some distance, but the moment it reappeared, the light sword continued to pursue.
The fiend fox froze. “How…”
Thud!
The light sword struck the fiend, and it flew back and threw up blood.
This Heaven’s Reach Sword was unaffected by Shadowflight, targeting its attacks on the main body.
Once activated, it would not rest until it had reached its goal.
But for this reason, its power was limited. While the slash had hit the fiend fox, it hadn’t killed it. Even so, it was a serious wound, one of its foreclaws having been almost hacked off. This combined with the puppet’s furious barrage had left the fiend fox badly wounded.
Seizing this chance, Tang Jie, Yiyi, the little tiger, Zhang Chengyun, and Luo Yin charged in.
The fiend fox’s eyes glinted with a savage light. “You really think this is enough to deal with me?”
It let out a bitter wail and suddenly transformed into a human, but this was a woman wearing white gauze, with her left arm hanging in front of her chest, blood coming from her shoulder, and a storage bag tied to her waist.
Tang Jie was startled when he saw this bag, but he quickly understood and shouted, “Don’t let it touch that bag!”
But his cry had come too late. The fiend fox thrust its hand into the bag and took out a small bottle. It dumped a pill into its hand and threw it into its mouth. As Yiyi and the little tiger lunged, the fiend fox casually tossed out a jade bottle. Water gushed out of the bottle and toward its attackers. Finally, it waved its hand again, but this time, countless talismans came pouring out of the bag, creating a storm of spell arts that made it impossible to get close.
All of this had come very suddenly, the fiend fox instantly turning into a wealthy spendthrift and catching everyone off guard. These treasures came from the numerous cultivators it had killed over the years, and it had taken human form precisely so it could use them.
This wasn’t to say that it couldn’t use them in its original form.
Whether it was art relics or spell arts, there was no absolute barrier between humans and fiends.
While there was nothing that could be used by everyone, there was also no firm dividing line.
To be more precise, whether a fiend could use a cultivator’s treasures or learn a cultivator’s spell arts depended on how well the treasure or spell art suited the fiend’s form.
For example, though the lion had been in fiend form, it could use that golden mace precisely because this item suited the lion fiend’s form.
And Tang Jie could cultivate the secret Blood Refining Spirit spell of the Tiger Tribe—and Yiyi, the spells of the Divine Firmament Sword Classic—for the same reason. There was no smooth sailing, but there was also no impregnable fortress. Anyone with a will could make the breakthrough.
But to use human treasures with complete freedom, the human form was still ideal.
This was something that could normally only be done at the Transformation Level, but the Illusion Fox had Thousandform and was skilled at disguise. Thus, even though it was only at Mind Opening, it could already do this. This was the main reason it had been able to hold its ground in this spot. While at Mind Opening, it already possessed some of the privileges of Transformation great fiends.
The fiend fox used its treasures with abandon, simultaneously consuming all kinds of spirit medicines, and its heavy injuries began to heal.
Tang Jie knew that defeat was certain if this kept up, so he charged through the storm of spell arts.
The fiend fox sneered and drew back. With its speed, it could exhaust Tang Jie to death so long as it didn’t allow Tang Jie to catch up.
But at this moment, a gray streak shot out of the ground and hugged its legs.
The fiend fox blurted out in shock, “Gray Wolf? You’re not dead?”
The one hugging its legs was none other than the gray wolf.
The gray wolf savagely smiled. “For your own freedom, you didn’t mind letting the vice king, Black Bull, and the others die! Even if it takes my life, I won’t let you go!”
It desperately clutched the fox’s leg, not permitting it to move even half a step.
“Oh no!” The fiend fox was aghast.
It was known for its speed and had survived because of it. Without this speed, it essentially lost more than half of its power.
Frantic, it clawed at the wolf’s head.
But the gray wolf had already made up its mind to die, so it refused to let go no matter how much the fiend fox attacked.
At the same time, Tang Jie charged over, pushing the Violet Lightning Lunge to the maximum.
The fiend fox knew that this meant trouble, so it instantly hardened its resolve, took out a blue pearl from its Mustard Seed Bag, and tossed it at Tang Jie.
This item was called the Supreme Lightning Pearl, and it was one of the fiend fox’s most valuable treasures, obtained from someone it had killed at Old Crow Ridge thirty years ago. It could unleash 81 bolts of Celestial Lightning on the opponent, but it would be destroyed on use. At this point, the fiend fox had no other choice than to use it.
As the little pearl flew out, it flashed with lightning, and what seemed like hundreds of bolts of Celestial Lightning descended upon Tang Jie. It was said to be 81, but there appeared to be hundreds, forming a cage of lightning that instantly engulfed Tang Jie.
Seeing this, the fox smugly laughed, “You lot plan to kill me? You’re still far from that level!”
In its eyes, this lot and itself were like the mud and the clouds. It could easily take care of them, with the only problem being the price. It was quite humiliating that it had been forced to use the Supreme Lightning Pearl to take care of them.
Luo Yin and the others also shivered in fear at this sight.
Only Yiyi was unconcerned, pursing her lips.
She was also the only one who knew how freakish Tang Jie’s lightning resistance was.
Sure enough, as the fiend fox laughed, the figure of Tang Jie shot out like a bolt of lightning.
“How is this possible!?” the fox yelled in disbelief.
But whether it believed it or not, Tang Jie was charging over, pushing through the storm of spell arts and sea of lightning to swing his saber and cast his thread at the fox.
The fiend fox couldn’t dodge with the gray wolf holding its legs, nor could it use Shadowflight. Thus, it clenched its teeth and moved its head to the side, avoiding the more fatal golden thread. The Heartbreak Saber hacked at its chest, causing it to fly back while throwing up blood. With this strike, many of the injuries that it had just healed from returned.
With a shriek, it snatched at the gray wolf’s head with its left hand, five claws almost piercing through the wolf’s skull. Meanwhile, its right hand fired off a chilling light at Tang Jie.
Tang Jie heedlessly charged forward, choosing to return attack with attack.
He resisted his foe’s attack and thrust out his finger at the fox’s left shoulder.
The Jade Shattering Finger!
This was a severe wound for the fox, and it screamed as it countered with a Shadowrend Claw.
The Shadowrend Claw ignored barriers and impacted directly against Tang Jie, leaving behind five claw marks on his body as it sent him flying.
But as Tang Jie flew backward, Qin Zhou and Zhang Chengyun pounced.
Qin Zhou flourished his ancient sword: “Heartslayer Sword!”
It stabbed into the fiend fox’s back, injuring it once more. It waved its hand and threw out two streams of light that stopped the attacks of the little tiger and Luo Yin. At the same time, while dragging the gray wolf with it, it dodged the combo attack of Luo Yin and Zhang Chengyun.
As it dodged these attacks, the puppet controlled by the lynx soul appeared like a ghost behind the fiend fox and punched it in the back.
The fox hissed in pain, “You push me too far!”
As it cried out, a snow-white fox appeared behind the transformed woman, much larger than the actual body, dominating the area with its size.
Tang Jie shouted, “Back away!”
He pointed at the air, and the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman once more released its golden light at the fiend.
The snow-white fox phantom opened its mouth and spat a wave of flame at the golden light, stopping it cold. But the flame was different this time, overcoming the golden light and beginning to melt down the golden mountain.
Not even the Fiend-Sealing Mountain Talisman could suppress the fiend fox.
The golden talisman flashed as it unleashed all of its power.
But after holding out for a few seconds, the golden light dimmed and dwindled, and then with a pa, it exploded into dust.
In those few seconds, the talisman had used up all of its spiritual energy.
The power of the fox’s flame was not at all reduced. It came roaring back to the ground, sweeping through the area with a frightening momentum.
The little tiger, Yiyi, Qin Zhou, Luo Yin, and Zhang Chengyun were all blown back by the flames. Luo Yin even cried out, for she was the weakest in this group, and the torrent of flame had annihilated her defensive barrier and engulfed her in flames. She was heavily burned and could no longer get back up.
Only the gray wolf and the puppet were unaffected. The gray wolf continued to doggedly hug the fox, and the puppet’s heavy body resisted being swept away. It charged in and punched the fox in the face.
“Die!” the fox furiously cried out, thrusting its left claw down into the gray wolf’s head, almost penetrating through all of the upper half of its body. At the same time, the right claw attacked the puppet. Bang! Bang! Bang! In a flash, they had exchanged ten-some blows.
The fiend fox had drawn on some hidden reserve of strength and was managing to hold off the puppet’s furious assault, but each punch made its face turn whiter, and after ten-some punches, its face had gone snow-white.
Am I really going to die here? the fiend fox couldn’t help but think.
At this moment, this puppet that almost had the fox suffocating from the pressure suddenly stopped with a clank.
Qin Zhou said in shock, “Why did it stop fighting?”
Tang Jie bitterly replied, “It’s out of power.”
Yes, the puppet was out of power.
It had used up all of its energy.
The constant battle had been an enormous burden on the puppet, and it had only been able to last this long because Tang Jie had been very conservative in his calculations. However, once the lynx soul attached itself, the puppet now had its own will and no longer conserved power like before. While its power went up, its energy consumption spiked. Thus, the show of strength it had just put on was its final frenzy.
While this guy appeared clumsy and unable to strike the fiend, its blows were so powerful that each punch was an enormous threat to the fox, forcing the fox to defend with all its might. While the ten-some punches had used up all the puppet’s energy, it had also badly drained the fiend fox’s physical power. However, without the puppet, the combat power on Tang Jie’s side had dropped by a third.
Upon seeing the puppet stop, the fiend fox also realized what was going on, and it smugly laughed, “Let’s see how fierce you are now! All of you will die!”
It reached out with its left claw, smashing at the gray wolf’s head like a pounding pestle.
The gray wolf’s head was almost completely pulped, but even so, it still wasn’t dead.
Wolves had tenacious natures. Its other abilities were lacking, but it was truly formidable when it came to life force. Its deformed face savagely smiled as it said, “I will die, but don’t think about getting off easy… Cruel Wolf Strike!”
It gathered all of its power in its claws, erupting with a frightening strength that pierced through the legs of the fox and broke its leg bones.
“Nooo!” The fiend fox hissed in pain. It sent all its fiend energy into its left arm, releasing an explosion that turned the wolf into a rain of gore. No matter how tenacious its life force was, there was no possible way it could survive this.
But after this, the fiend fox staggered and then fell to the ground.
“Go!” Everyone’s eyes shone upon seeing this chance.
Zhang Chengyun charged over, his ice saber swinging at the back of the fox’s head. But just when the blow was about to hit, the fox suddenly turned its head, two fingers of its left hand jabbing at his eyes and plucking them out. It proceeded to throw the eyeballs into its mouth and eat them.
“Aaagh!” Zhang Chengyun howled in pain as the fiend fox thrust out its hand again, stabbing into his throat…
“Junior Brother!” Qin Zhou cried out in anguish, his ancient sword releasing a bright light.
This move was the Execution Form of the Green Hill Sect’s 16 Ancient Sword Forms, and the strongest of these 16 forms. He had never been able to master it, though he cared not for this right now.
The brilliant ancient sword pointed at the fiend fox.
Just when it was about to be hit, the fiend fox transformed into Ling Jing, who called out, “Senior Brother…”
“Junior Sister…” Qin Zhou’s heart trembled. He had always loved Ling Jing, but he had been too shy to admit it. He had been the one most affected by Ling Jing’s death, and Ling Jing’s sudden reappearance made his mind turn blank. His sword froze for a moment, unable to strike.
He was just about to say something when Luo Yin shrieked, “Senior Brother, watch out!”
Qin Zhou felt a sudden chill at his chest and saw a snow-white fox claw plunge into his body, tug, and pull out something red.
It was his heart.
Qin Zhou froze for a moment, but his rigid mind didn’t seem to notice. His sword pressed forward, stabbing into the cunning fox. His life force exploded at this moment, gathering in an astonishing brilliance.
Boom!
A sun seemed to rise as the fiend fox shrieked.
“Execution Form… succeeded,” Qin Zhou muttered. He looked down at his chest, at the giant bleeding hole, and then he smiled. “Only in desperate straits can one achieve success. I get it now…”
He fell onto his back.
“Senior Brother!” Luo Yin wailed, clutching at her face.
“Aaaah!”
The Illusion Fox let out a howl of disbelief. Qin Zhou’s move had so heavily wounded it that it could barely stand.
Tang Jie swung his Heartbreak Saber again, and the fox’s eyes glinted with a savage light. “You can’t kill me!”
The snow-white fox phantom appeared again, but it was much less intimidating than before.
However, Tang Jie didn’t have the fiend-sealing talisman anymore.
The fox phantom soared into the sky, staring at Tang Jie with cold eyes.
Tang Jie coldly said, “What are you looking at?”
He threw away his saber and punched.
One punch to seal the heavens!
Devil Crushing Fist!
A giant golden gauntlet appeared out of nowhere, surging up with a worldly pressure toward that phantom fox.
Boom!
Like a meteor crashing into a lake, it unleashed a massive shockwave of spiritual energy.
The snow-white fox phantom shattered like a moon in the water, a flower in the mirror.
“Aaaah!” There was a bitter scream.
The fiend fox let out an irrepressible wail of sorrow.
It was finally afraid.
This punch that had pierced through the heavens had supreme momentum, and not even this peak Mind Opening fiend fox at its full strength could unleash such a move.
This punch had annihilated the snow-white fox phantom and heavily injured the fox. Crucially, it had shattered the fiend fox’s confidence.
This was by far the most fatal, for it had given up.
It screamed, “You’re not Spirit Platform Realm! You can’t be!”
It turned back from a human into a fox, and then into three white foxes that ran off into the distance.
It wanted to flee.
It was an Illusion Fox with the innate spell of Thosuandform, so it was most adept at this kind of phantom clone spell art, with this particular clone spell art being one that it was proud of. Unlike other illusion spells, the white foxes created by this spell art were real, but their strength would decrease in proportion with the number, so it wasn’t suited for battle. But so long as one of the bodies didn’t die, the fiend fox wouldn’t die. At most, it would just drop in grade, but it could cultivate it back, and it would do so at an even faster rate.
Besides its illusion transformation gifts, this clone spell was one of the other reasons it had been able to escape from the pursuit of cultivators 28 times.
As it divided into three and fled with all its might, the little tiger and Yiyi each chased after one. The fiend fox was fast, but its legs had been badly wounded, so it was impossible for it to outrun the little tiger and Yiyi.
But this was precisely why it had turned into three. It had planned to lose two of its clones from the very start.
As for Luo Yin and Tang Jie, the former could barely get up from her heavy injuries while the latter was still weak after unleashing that punch. If the fiend fox’s confidence hadn’t been shattered, if it had instead elected to not use the clones and fight them to the end, the outcome of this battle would have still been uncertain.
But it was precisely for this reason that the Illusion Fox was confident that it could escape.
The clone that wasn’t being chased shouted as it ran, “I’ve remembered you! I’ve noted your scent! When I come back, I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”
It was angry, angry that it had lost to a Spirit Platform child.
The Illusion Fox could lose, but not to such a low-level cultivator.
Just wait.
Three months!
In at most three months, I’ll have fully recovered, and then I’ll find you and kill you.
No one will be able to stop me!
The Illusion Fox angrily thought to itself.
Of course, this was precisely why it didn’t notice Tang Jie sympathetically looking at the fox, whispering, “You can’t run.”
And then, the Illusion Fox charged into the illusion formation set up next to the stream.
Seeing this, Luo Yin dragged herself up and looked at Tang Jie. “That’s the illusion formation you laid down?”
“Mm.”
“How did you know it would run there?”
Tang Jie chuckled. He thought it over and replied, “I naturally didn’t know what direction the fiend fox would run, but I can at least decide to chase down or not chase down the fiend foxes running in any particular direction.”