Chapter 191: Flesh and Blood
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
"That beast trainer is a waste."
Wang Lu didn’t deliberately stress it out, but he also didn’t deliberately hide it. His voice wasn’t big, but everyone present could hear it.
Hovering in mid-air, A Xia’s smile was completely unchanged. However, on his side, Ling Yan could clearly see the hands behind his back shiver slightly as if he was about to clench his fists; obviously, his mind was perturbed.
"Waste? How so?" Xiao Qi could see that Wang Lu wanted to say something, so she purposely gave him a chance.
"A member of a high-rank sect Beast Master School, more than two hundred years of cultivation, yet just a middle-level Jindan. If that’s not a waste, then what?"
Xiao Qi chuckled. "Oh, so you originally mean that his cultivation base is not high. You can’t compare everyone with you, you little devil. In Nine Regions, middle-level Jindan is still considered as a first class strength in the Immortal World. Moreover, cultivation base does not mean everything…"
Wang Lu interrupted, "Usually, only those strong enough that could put cultivation base under their feet, those powerful enough that regard the over rank challenge like it was just eating or drinking, are the only ones entitled to despise the cultivation base stage. But that beast trainer, not to mention the over rank challenge, even among his peers, opponents on the same level as him, he has no advantage in coping with them. From the academic point of view, he is only level-five Jindan -3 dregs."
"He’s a beast trainer and also very resourceful. He might not need to be that formidable…"
"Yes, that’s why, frankly speaking, he’s just a fox that exploits a tiger’s might [1]. A vile character who relies on spirit beast to assume his imposingness. His powerful image is entirely based on bullying spirit beast. You see, without him f*cking that peak Jindan Stage Ling Yan in the ass, relying on himself, who would think he’s strong?"
"This…"
"Even his current superior position in trapping us in the Five Mountain Broken Veins Great Array isn’t based on his own ability. The one sacrificing her eyeball and let you, Seventh Madame, use the raising the dead ability is Ling Yan. The one using life as bait to lure you here and ended up dead with her head exploding is Ling Yan. The one using her own blood to put a curse and polluted the spiritual treasure is also Ling Yan. During this entire process, what did he do? Even launching the Five Mountain Broken Veins technique as a force deterrence might have been done by his other spirit beasts, but not himself."
Xiao Qi smiled. "Able to mobilize so many spirit beasts and able to make peak Jindan Stage Ling Yan risk her life for him, all of these can also be said as an ability."
"Ability? Whose ability? He’s just a mere middle-level Jindan, how could he make a peak Jindan cat girl work for him? With his personal charm? Original skill?"
"Em, maybe he had a hold on that cat girl or something?"
"Do you think he can get a hold on that cat girl with his personal charisma or original skill?"
"This…"
Wang Lu sneered. "It’s because of Beast Master School. In the Beast Master School, he is a professional beast trainer. So naturally, there would always be streams of spirit beasts delivered before him to train. And during this training, the eternal unforgettable pain would be engraved on the body of these spirit beasts. Even if these spirit beasts manage to fully transform into human form and succeeded in their cultivation in the future, they still could not get rid of his control. However, in the final analysis, he’s just a parasitic insect who lives in the body of a colossus that is the Beast Master School!"
Crak!
In mid-air, Ling Yan clearly heard the crackling sound of broken bones. It was A Xia’s finger bones on the hands behind his back that fractured under his immense pinching power when he clenched his fists.
However, Wang Lu still wouldn’t stop gushing, "If he could have the consciousness of being an insect, I have nothing to say against him, but sadly, ‘small’ person tend to be more prone to ego expansion, greed, and vanity. Unwilling to be a waste middle-level Jindan, through his privileges of being a beast trainer, he oppressed the spirit beasts to gain the pleasure of being superior. Over time, this self-deception became even more out of hand and he really think himself as something great! Seventh Madame, you have been roaming the Nine Regions for so many years, and you should’ve seen many such disciples among many sects: perhaps because their talent is limited or their temperament is lacking, their attainment in the road of Immortal Cultivator is inferior than their diligent and gifted peers. However, instead of considering a way to forge ahead, they give up and stop bothering about it. They waste their time and energy on grandstanding. They do things stealthily. They bully the weak and fear the strong. Then they glorify their own name and call themselves as prominent individuals. When other people in their sects are cultivating hard, they either entangle themselves in unnecessary fight or linger in the place of debauchery. When they are cash-strapped, they even steal other people’s flying boat, and even shamelessly justify themselves that stealing a flying boat is better than stealing a country… What is the difference between them and this beast trainer A Xia? He repeatedly declared that he has no malice, that peace is precious, and so on. That’s essentially a grandstanding, no different than those people I previously said, those that we usually call as scum."
This long speech even shocked Xiao Qi that she exclaimed through her primordial spirit to him, "You’re simply divine! Incredible! In just a few words from other people, you’re able to analyze him so thoroughly and with such a convincing conclusion! But, is he really just a small-hearted, grandstanding scum?"
Wang Lu said, "I don’t care if he is or not, in any case, I already said so!"
"…"
"Rest assured. At least, there’s one thing I didn’t see wrong. The man is very proud of himself, and he’s very complacent in his way of doing things. However, the prouder he is, the more my word will rattle him. Therefore, as long as I belittle him like what I just did, he absolutely couldn’t maintain his calm. And as long as his mind in a mess, it will inevitably reveal his flaws."
Xiao Qi looked up and saw, sure enough, A Xia’s body has been extremely stiff. And though the smile still hung on his face, it was even uglier than crying.
"I really can’t think." Xiao Qi sighed with heartfelt emotion. "Wang Wu that cheap person actually took you, this disciple, whose emotional quotient is off the charts."
Wang Lu said, "How could my emotional quotient be off the charts? It’s just that, as a professional adventurer, I have seen many of this villain character. So long as I recognize their routine, I’ll see the outcome in a glance."
As the two people spoke, A Xia really couldn’t bear it anymore.
"Well said. Oppressing spirit beast to establish a sense of superiority is indeed unconvincing." A Xia’s tone became calm and collected. It didn’t reveal a trace of anger even a bit.
"Therefore, in order to avoid being appraised as scum, I also have to suppress human cultivators to establish the sense of superiority. It’s just a pity that I thought I could get along with you peacefully. It seems like I still overestimated you," A Xia said, then he beckoned his hand. There came a burst of roaring sound of wild beasts.
"I am a beast trainer. I am proud of my profession and skill, and if you want to prove that the path I have chosen is worthless, then by all means, use your actual action to defeat me."
While speaking, various species of spirit beasts came after another on A Xia’s side. Though these spirit beasts were of no high rank, and the most powerful among them were just peak Xudan while most of them were middle-level Xudan, but since they were of a large number and were basically in their own backyard, naturally, they didn’t lack arrays to help them.
"Not good. This is like the Ten Thousand Beasts Array." Xiao Qi narrowed her eyes and identified A Xia’s method.
With a large amount of spirit beasts lineup which formed the Ten Thousand Beasts Array, the greatest effect is the multiplier effect. One turned into ten, ten into a hundred, making this huge number become as vast as the ocean. Combined this with the Five Mountain Broken Veins method, even if you have great ability, it would be very easy to be trapped in the array of endless beasts.
Whether or not A Xia was just a grandstanding dregs, now it seemed clear at a glance.
"If we really fight, the odds are not high." After inwardly calculating their chance, Xiao Qi found out the number was far from being good. However, Wang Lu just leisurely replied, "It doesn’t matter, let’s fight first."
… Well, even middle-level Foundation Establishment has sung such emotionally moving elegy, what could a middle-level Jindan senior say anymore? Fight it out first it is then...
Xiao Qi’s spiritual treasure monk staff has been polluted by the cat girl’s blood, so it was temporarily unusable. However, her spare magical treasures were also many. From her sleeve, she fished out a greenish stick, which was thick with the smell of blood; obviously, it has made a lot of killing sins. However, as soon as this magical treasure appeared, many of the spirit dogs that gathered in mid-air instinctively flinched.
"... Indeed Zen Master Dog Meat. Even the equipment is really professional." As the Spirit Sword Sect’s best student, in a glance, Wang Lu immediately recognized that especially-made-to-beat-dog dog beating stick.
However, besides spirit dogs, the other species of spirit beast were vastly more in numbers. With a wave from A Xia, they suddenly multiplied, one into ten, ten into a hundred. Then numerous spirit beasts bolted down, as if there was a meteor shower falling on them from the sky.
"Full on defense, wait it out, and see what else he got."
Wang Lu said, and then his Sword of Mount Kun shook; upon which, the famous invincible sword defense was activated, guarding him, Quan Zouhua and Liu Li.
The next moment, fierce spirit beasts continued to crash at them. The first wave was mainly of cat-type spirit beasts. A few with thunderclap-like roar leopard variant, like a blooming light, roared head-on at Wang Lu; these were the ones with comprehensive strength low to middle-level Xudan, but upon impact would have the strength of middle to high-level Xudan. However, crashing into Wang Lu’s Non-Phase Sword Qi, their roars came to end spontaneously, their muscles ripped and bones fractured, seriously wounded on the spot. However, Wang Lu didn’t even tremble one bit, immovable like a mountain.
After the thunder leopard, there were several stampeding single horned huge green rhinoceros. These can-cut-through-the-mountain-and-split-open-the-rock ferocious beasts awe-inspiringly dropped from the sky. Even those formidable cultivators of peak Xudan Stage in the Beast Master School would find it difficult to withstand this. However, Wang Lu still maintained his composure, silently operating his Non-Phase Sword Art, meeting them with his Sword of Mount Kun.
He didn’t even ask for help from the nearby Xiao Qi.
Ferocious beasts as big as a small house came pounding down like meteors, yet they seemed to bump into an invisible solid barrier. Half of their bodies were squeezed and turned into mud. However, in addition to the ground under his feet that sank down a meter, Wang Lu’s whole body was not in the least bit changed.
This defensive ability was truly against the heaven.
However, would A Xia’s most proud of million beast array be easy to lose out to the sword defense of a middle-level Foundation Establishment? Just now, those two rounds of collisions were just an appetizer. Endless tides of spirit beasts soon followed, each time the impact was stronger and stronger, yet without the care of casualties. These spirit beasts didn’t care if they were to be smashed into pieces, as long as they clashed head-on into Wang Lu’s sword defense. Before long, the blood flowed into rivers of blood and bones piled up like mountains.
From the number of casualties, the number of spirit beasts that were killed in front of Wang Lu has already exceeded their actual original number. Though the spirit beasts summoned by A Xia were many, they were no more than thirty to forty. After all, the number of Xudan Stage spirit beasts under Beast Master School Division were not a dime a dozen. However, currently, the spirit beasts that died under Wang Lu’s sword were already more than fifty.
"This Ten Thousand Beasts Array is really something."
Wang Lu faintly acknowledged. His Non-Phase Sword Defense was still unbreakable, however, when he said those words, he already traced some blood in his mouth, showing that he wasn’t as relaxed as seen from outside.
After all, he was just middle-level Foundation Establishment; to persist this long in the face of array onslaught from a Jindan Stage cultivator was enough to crush the worldview of many people. Though A Xia put on a victor’s smile, his eyes could not conceal his shock.
Him launching the Ten Thousand Beasts Array, the actual target was actually that Zen Master Dog Meat. When designing this trap, he actually designed it to take down an opponent the level of Tiger King. However, at this time, he couldn’t even take down a Foundation Establishment cultivator!? But, the longer the array worked, the more powerful it would be; if the opponent wasn’t able to gradually break the array using the correct method, but only rely on brute force to contend with it… then that would be a dead end. This boundless sea of beasts was, in essence, the spirit mountain the Grand Cloud Mountain longed for to this day—a large scale spell that molded the surrounding spiritual energy along the Feng Shui line, thus it would basically never end.
However, considering the mysterious background of the opposite party, it was possible that long delay would only mean trouble… A Xia was silent for a moment and then changed his gesture. He had decided to force the battle into a quick decision.
Craash!
With a fierce roar, the Five Mountain Cage above them suddenly had a great change. Three gigantic black tortoises with golden shell stepped on the black clouds as they broke through the layers of cloud and the fiery light came burning down with it. Gold, fire, thunder, earth, four elements united into one. Their power had already faintly broken through the peak Xudan, standing on the boundary of Jindan!
Xiao Qi’s countenance suddenly changed; she immediately swung the emerald green dog beating stick, breaking the muscles and fracturing the bones of dozens of spirit beasts that entangled her. Then her eyes flickered with brilliant golden rays of light, ready to use her Jindan Stage power to withstand the blow coming down from the sky. However, at this time, a gust of cold wind blew over on her back. Xiao Qi hastened to turn around and block, barely blocking the sneak attack of this shadowy figure.
It was the cat girl Ling Yan. Though she just came back from the dead, the cat girl still has the strength that of a Jindan; A Xia naturally would not let her just stand idly by. Xiao Qi had too many ways to defeat the cat girl. However, being entangled by her, she actually had no time to care about Wang Lu.
Liu Li took a half step forward, wanting to use the Brilliant Sword Heart to help block for Wang Lu once. However, he reached out to stop her. The next moment, Wang Lu’s eyes turned awe-inspiring and his lips pursed up. His primordial spirit, body, and magical power, under the unprecedented operation of Non-Phase Heart Sutra, suddenly surged up, erupting beyond the proper power level of middle-level Foundation Establishment.
And his Non-Phase Sword Defense also unprecedentedly surged up. That as-everlasting-as-mountain atmosphere became faintly discernible and resourceful. That prefer-to-break-rather-than-bend Sword of Mount Kun changed as it suddenly emitted the faint sound of wind and water.
Bam, bam, bam!
After those three impacts, that line of three black-golden colored meteorite-like tortoises decisively broke, each flying off to different directions, which then subsequently collided with the mountain wall, meeting a cruel death. Wang Lu himself still spun wildly like a gyroscope, digesting the absorbed impact.
Non-Phase Sword Art not only could be blunt, but it could also be nimble and resourceful; the sword art could be quick and exquisitely agile. At this time, Wang Lu had just displayed Non-Phase Sword’s "soft to conquer the strong" to the fullest.
However, when he stopped spinning, on his face, there was that flash of unnatural flush. A Foundation Establishment cultivator was miraculously able to block a simultaneous attack from three Jindan, how could there be no price to be paid? After those three collisions, Non-Phase Immortal Heart almost burst out; primordial spirit, magical power, and flesh each were dispersed out of their power, unable to condense it again, causing his strength to suddenly plummet.
"Wang Lu, let’s go!"
Surprised by Wang Lu’s even more higher attainment of Non-Phase Method compared to his Master, Xiao Qi also didn’t forget to urge him not to show off again.
Ten years would not be late for a gentleman to take revenge. Let alone with Wang Lu’s ability, in less than ten years, he would be able to reach Xudan. By then, it would not be difficult for him to over rank challenge A Xia. Why insist on fighting an opponent that occupied a very favorable condition, which was essentially fighting with emotion? As for how to get away, with that Spirit Sword Sect’s Heavenly Talisman, would a mere Five Mountain Broken Veins Great Array get in the way?
"Leave? If we leave now, that’s exactly what the opponent wants, to force me to use the Heavenly Talisman. Because if we leave now, we would need at least a few days more at least to come back. But by then, they would already cover all their tracks in catching the immortal beast moon spirit. What’s more, as long as we want a bit of face, we can do nothing but to return to try to entangle them endlessly."
Wang Lu gave his explanation to Xiao Qi while trying to control his breathing.
"He knows it’s impossible to really kill us, so he just wants us out of here and claims victory. However, even this discounted victory, I will not give him."
Xiao Qi was speechless. She was too well aware of that stubbornly-refuse-to-admit-defeat mentality of the talented disciples in Immortal Cultivation World. Without experiencing a step back, they would not know how to step back. Wang Lu, after all, has always walked on a straight path and never met a bent path.
If he really insisted on falling head first in doing big somersaults several times, then he’d likely learn survival the way his Master had… Forget it, just let him have his willful way, at worst, I’ll just sacrifice this avatar to protect his life.
"Don’t want to give me victory?" In mid-air, the victory-already-within-grasp A Xia could not help but shake his head with a smile. "In addition to your arguing skill, which I admit I am not equal to, do you have any chance to win against me?"
While speaking, in order to strengthen his imposing manner, he revealed another card.
A fiery-red, blood-red colored demon wolf appeared beside him. That demon wolf has passed through the divine tribulation of form transformation and now was at the human-beast form, with cultivation base of high-level Jindan. And now it has integrated into the Ten Thousand Beast Array. On the comprehensive strength, it was a notch stronger than the peak Jindan Stage cat girl. However, regarding the already powerless Wang Lu, this was enough to crush all their bargaining chips.
Seeing the appearance of this demon wolf, Xiao Qi’s heart sunk. She hurriedly turned to look at Wang Lu. If he still insisted on continuing this, perhaps he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to activate that Heavenly Talisman; she must stop him from that to happen!
However, she saw Wang Lu actually smiled. It was a heartfelt and natural smile.
"Finally, you take the last card out. I’ve been waiting for you to take this card out for a long time."
Then he stopped smiling.
"You shouldn’t have any more card in your hands, right? That being the case, now it’s my turn."
From his mustard seed bag, a silver ray of light flashed through. Under the amazement of the crowd, a sleek silver flying boat appeared in the valley.
The next moment, that silver flying boat, like lightning, crashed into the black-golden tortoise that has just been reborn out of the Ten Thousand Beasts array. That tortoise has just appeared, and before it even realized it, it was already torn apart by it!
This time, it was thoroughly shattered. A Xia felt a tug on his heart. Within the Ten Thousand Beast Array, the tortoise figure actually disappeared forever!
Wang Lu coldly sneered. "How can flesh and blood withstand a tank? A Xia, say goodbye to your beloved pets!"
…
[1] (using powerful connections to intimidate people)