The spirit beast stopped shooting snakes from its mouth and cackled maniacally, as if it had seen the funniest joke in the world. When the giant golden tiger hit the spirit beast, a huge explosion erupted. A dome of yellow light, dozens of meters wide, suddenly bloomed. The ground surged like a wave, and the large bone pillars toppled, making the world tremble and creating more clouds of dust.
Liu Xing's heart raced. The energy emitted from the dome was so vast, he felt like a tiny fish that had lived its entire life in a pond suddenly encountering an ocean. His hands trembled, yet there was fire in his gaze. He now had no doubt that Xia Juetian was a cultivator with seven cores, which meant he was on the verge of breaking through to the Sun Refining realm.
The power of seven cores was tremendous, but while impressive, Liu Xing reminded himself that this wasn't the pinnacle of power. Many inner disciples in his sect had equal or even greater power, and he had no doubt that he could achieve this level as long as he got his gun.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Xing wondered if the spirit beast was still alive. After all, that creature probably also had several cores.
As if to answer his question, the yellow dome, now receding, suddenly split into two, then four, then eight. More lines divided the yellow dome, and it suddenly collapsed.
At the center of the explosion, where the ground had collapsed several dozen meters below, the spirit beast chuckled. It was still the red-faced creature. It now had two snake arms and two snake legs again, with no clothes on, revealing its torso to the world. The pale hand protruded from its chest, as if a person was reaching out from inside its body.
The two orange fruits that served as its ears split open, with yellow liquid gushing out like tiny waterfalls. Each drop of the liquid transformed into a snake, which grew so fast that the area around the spirit beast was now full of yellow snakes, each one opening its mouth to reveal a blade.
Xia Juetian narrowed his eyes. "You're a mere spirit beast. Die!"
As he shouted, he launched two punches. Each punch transformed into a giant golden tiger that lunged at its enemy. The spirit beast pointed its right snake-arm. The arm opened its mouth, revealing a dagger with a green handle. The dagger glowed green, and each of the yellow snakes suddenly opened its mouth and turned its face toward the two giant tigers. Then a green ball flew out of the dagger, followed by more green balls shot out by each of the surrounding snakes.
Compared to the two giant tigers, these orbs looked like raindrops trying to repel enemies. They seemed weak, yet when the green orbs hit the two golden tigers, the tigers' faces and forms melted like candles.
Seeing this, Liu Xing tried to sense the energy emitted from the green orbs and felt a weird, slimy sensation. It was actually similar to the stable energy produced by his necklace, but it felt fouler, as if each orb was created from buckets of poison.
Xia Juetian shouted and punched relentlessly, creating dozens of smaller tigers, but the green orbs blocked all of his attacks as if the tigers were made of sugar facing a wall of hot water.
"Those attacks are useless. You need to fight at close range," Liu Xing muttered.
He had no doubt that each of Elder Xia Juetian's attacks was strong, but there was no point if they didn't connect. Still, he believed this elder had more experience than him and suspected there were still many tricks the elder hadn't revealed.
After several moments of the same exchange, the frustrated Elder Xia Juetian finally did something different. He adjusted his stance, lowering his hips and reducing the number of attacks he unleashed. A golden aura encased him fully, as if he had transformed into a bonfire, with a hint of a tiger floating around that golden aura.
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Seeing this, Liu Xing realized it was the same technique Xia Yongzhi had used when he tried to kill him, yet Liu Xing knew it was in a different league.
When Xia Juetian punched the air again, a giant golden tiger materialized, but unlike before, this tiger looked more real. The spirit beast cackled and shot green orbs toward the tiger, but unexpectedly, the giant tiger leaped into the sky, dodging all the attacks, and then descended like a meteor from above. The spirit beast and every snake it created tried to dissolve this giant tiger. The tiger's face began to lose its form, and Liu Xing suspected this stronger attack would also dissolve in seconds.
But as Liu Xing saw Elder Xia Juetian begin to run, he knew the attack was a distraction. The elder ran so fast he looked like a black blur, yet even from afar, Liu Xing realized that his footsteps were soft, like those of a tiger stalking its prey. When the giant orange tiger made entirely of energy was dissolving, Xia Juetian was now right behind the spirit beast.
His right fist glowed with a golden aura, with some orange stripes on it, as if this golden aura was a tiger compressed into a ball.
The spirit beast turned its head like an owl, its neck twisting.
"Die!" Xia Juetian shouted. His fist turned into a golden and orange tiger head. Its eyes were yellow and shining, its fangs long and gleaming, and it roared, making the air tremble.
Some of the snakes around the spirit beast lunged at the punch, but each yellow snake that did so was shredded into little bits, like paper through a grinder. Not long after, the punch landed right on the spirit beast's face, and its head suddenly exploded.
Red, green, and yellow liquid splashed everywhere, chunks of meat and flesh flying in all directions, some staining Elder Xia Juetian's black robe.
"You filthy creature! How dare you kill my grandchildren?!" Xia Juetian pulled back his right fist and unleashed his left. While there was no tiger head on it, it still glowed golden, and he aimed for its chest as if he wanted to destroy every little bit of this spirit beast.
As he watched this, Liu Xing realized that the elder was actually furious about Xia Shizi and Xia Hongyi's deaths. While his black eyes looked like pools of tar laced with madness, it seemed that deep down, he too was a normal grandpa who cared about his grandchildren.
Liu Xing realized that this fight was almost over and wondered what Elder Xia Juetian would do next. Would he attack Wei Yi and his clan right away, or would he take some time to prepare? When that happened, what would Liu Xing do?
But before he could think much further, before the golden fist hit the spirit beast's chest, the pale hand suddenly caught the old man's wrist.
Seeing his hand caught, Xia Juetian's eyes widened, as did Liu Xing's. It seemed this spirit beast wasn't truly dead!
As the pale hand held the elder tightly, the surrounding snakes lunged at him with daggers in their mouths. Elder Xia Juetian's expression turned furious. Veins popped up on his forehead, as if he had been insulted by a beggar. The elder tried to pull his left hand from the clutch of the pale hand, but when it didn't budge, his eyes widened slightly.
Some of the snakes successfully stabbed the elder with their daggers in his shoulder. A second snake lunged at his chest, trying to pierce his heart, but Elder Xia Juetian crouched low, and the snake passed above him.
He tried to pull his left hand again, but when the pale hand wouldn't let go, Elder Xia Juetian's right arm glowed golden again, and he unleashed a strong strike right into the spirit beast's side. This attack was enough to shatter the rest of the spirit beast's body, and even the pale hand flew off from this attack.
Free from the pale hand, Elder Xia Juetian jumped high into the sky and unleashed a barrage of punches that sent thousands of little golden balls, targeting each of the yellow snakes on the ground. Some of the snakes successfully spat out green orbs to defend themselves, but the majority were hit by the golden balls and blown to smithereens.
As the attack subsided, there were thousands of little craters in the ground, with bits and pieces of flesh strewn around.
Liu Xing's eyes scanned the area, searching for the pale hand. Liu Xing suspected that the spirit beast was actually still alive, and that pale hand was the key to its recovery. After searching for a moment, Liu Xing finally spotted the pale hand.
The hand was now attached to the back of a yellow snake. The snake was hiding behind a large upturned mound of earth and half-melting like a candle burned by fire. From the remnants of this melting substance, a head emerged. Its face was pale, its eyes wide as if in perpetual shock, and it had a large mustache above its lips. Its ears were two red apples, and instead of a rope around its neck, it now wore a chain.