Yu Ci turned his head, just in time to see a colossal simian skull rising from the edge of the slope, quickly followed by a body as robust as a mammoth. The ground shuddered again as the two-story-tall Giant Ape leaped onto the slope, half crouched, its furry arms supporting its weight on the ground, and a fierce light flashing in its copper-bell-like eyes.
Ye Tu let out a gasp of surprise, while Yu Ci, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. He had seen such Giant Apes a few times in the Divine Map, and reassured, "It's alright, though it may appear mighty, it's merely brute strength..."
He abruptly stopped mid-sentence, his following words choked off.
A grey-green claw suddenly pressed down on the Giant Ape's skull, covered with elongated plush fur, yet also bearing talons sharp as blades.
The talons were indeed "blade-like" in size. The Giant Ape's head was already massive, but the five long talons effortlessly enclosed the colossal skull. With a single squeeze, the skull was shattered into pieces. A mixture of red and white brain matter splattered everywhere, then the claw casually twisted, and everything above the Giant Ape's neck vanished. Only the blood and air from the chest cavity burst out, splashing every corner of the slope.
Ye Tu's breathing abruptly halted next to him. Yu Ci took a deep breath, pulling the young man behind him. It was then he realized that the surroundings were eerily quiet, the previous panic and chaos had disappeared, or perhaps the negative situation had escalated to its peak, plunging into a deadly silence.
Apparently, the latter was more realistic.
The grey-green claw moved, pushing the headless body of the Giant Ape down the cliff like brushing aside a small grass. Then, another claw of the same size reached up, slapping the edge of the slope.
With a "slosh" sound, the slope seemed to have been trampled on one side, a large amount of soil and rocks tumbling down. But the two claws still held firm. Then, with a visibly forceful push, the body still hidden outside the slope was hoisted up. The first thing that emerged was another enormous skull. Clearly, the previous Giant Ape's skull was incomparable to this one.
Absurdly, at this moment, Yu Ci thought of an unrelated character, the "kindred spirit" he met months ago in a ruined temple thousands of miles away. Just as Ye Tu had said, some things are just buried deep in consciousness, stirred up by the stimulation of reality, and clearly revealed:
"When Old Daoist killed it, the skull alone was as big as a millstone, and its body was as large as this Daoist temple..."
That fraud named Xuanqing obviously didn't expect his flippant nonsense to become reality in front of Yu Ci's eyes. Just by sight, the beast's head was definitely comparable to a millstone, and the not-yet-fully-emerged body, if not as exaggerated as a building, wouldn't be far off.
What Yu Ci first noticed about this beast was the three short, thick horns in the center of its forehead. The term "short and thick" was relative, as each horn was half a foot long, arranged in a triangle. They didn't appear sharp, but their light blue color was eerily strange.
The beast's face resembled both a fox and a wolf, strictly speaking, it wasn't ugly. However, an enlarged face always gives people a strong sense of oppression. Moreover, its eyes were like burning coals, the fiery-red color radiating scorching heat. But when you looked directly into them, you felt a chilling coldness within.
Aside from this, Yu Ci felt an indescribable wildness in the beast's eyes.
Whether it was fortunate or not, the colossal creature, whose full form had yet to be revealed, paid no heed to the two insignificant beings on the slope. It extended its massive body, occupying a significant area of the slope. Upon close observation, the body of the ferocious beast was indeed as robust as a mountain.
Its physique resembled that of a tiger or leopard, elongated and grounded on all fours, yet standing taller than a giant ape by seven to eight feet. It dragged behind it a fluffy tail that was about a yard long. What was truly awe-inspiring was the light mist that seemed to hover over its greyish-green fur, like smoke from a burning fire, enveloping its body and lingering for a long time. Even without considering its size, people could instinctively distinguish it from ordinary beasts.
The strong wind in the canyon blew over, bringing with it the scent of the beast. Upon close contact with it, she always felt that there was something else amidst the stench, and more importantly, this scent was somewhat familiar.
Not long after, Yu Ci woke up abruptly, "Ghost Beasts!"
Once the words were spoken, all his past memories came flooding back. The behemoth before him was the Ghost Beast that Viper Monk and others had been scheming against. A few days ago, Yu Ci had detected its residual scent in a distant pine forest, and the impression was still vivid.
Yu Ci was somewhat annoyed. He had been careless. Although the scents of various birds of prey and beasts in the Sky Rift Valley were mixed together, interfering with his sense of smell, and he had been engrossed in the cultivation knowledge taught by Ye Tu, being approached by such a dangerous scent was an unforgivable mistake.
But regret was too late. So Yu Ci decisively suppressed all useless thoughts, protected Ye Tu, and took small steps backward. He was ready to seize the opportunity to jump off the cliff with Ye Tu, using the speed of the fall to escape the sight of the Ghost Beast, and then escape with Ye Tu's Taoist robe that could float in the air.
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The plan was good, but at this time, the Ghost Beast finally moved. As for how it moved, Yu Ci didn't see clearly.
All he felt was that the smoky mist around the Ghost Beast suddenly blurred, and his eyelids were in severe pain. His reaction was instant. At the moment of the accident, he fell straight down, while reaching back with his arm to pull Ye Tu down.
But, his arm clutched at thin air!
The young man's cry of pain rang out, accompanied by the crisp sound of a bone breaking. Yu Ci's scalp tingled, and he inevitably thought of the unfortunate ghost named "Hu Ke", whose body was almost smashed to pieces. He bounced up from the ground, before he could figure out the directions, he ran into a wall - he ran into the Ghost Beast.
Unbeknownst to him, the Ghost Beast had already pounced to his side. Its muscles were as hard as steel, and although it was covered with a layer of long fur, a violent collision was still unbearable. This creature was truly bizarre to the extreme. Its mountain-like body moved as swiftly as lightning and without any sound, shattering Yu Ci's common sense formed over more than twenty years.
Now he understood why the Herb Gatherers would say that the Ghost Beasts appeared as if they were riding the clouds and piercing the fog. With such speed, coupled with the smoke that often enveloped them, Yu Ci felt the same way.
Perhaps feeling an itch, a growl resonated, and a tail, about a yard long, lashed out like one would swat a pesky fly. Yu Ci didn't have a chance to dodge. He could only raise his Nine Yang Talisman Sword in time to be squarely hit by the tail.
The next moment, he felt as if he was riding the clouds and piercing the fog, soaring into the air, then crashing into the cliff wall at the end of the slope. He bounced back to the ground, barely managing to prop himself up. However, his internal organs felt as if they had been completely upended twice, causing an unbearable discomfort. He wanted to vomit, but nothing came out.
Fortunately, the Nine Yang Talisman Sword didn't slip from his hand. When he gripped the sword, his hand was extremely sensitive, timely dissipating some of the impact. Even so, his palm had split open, blood dripping.
He cursed under his breath, gritted his teeth and stood up. Using the momentum, he swung his sword at the joint of the Ghost Beast's forelimb. But even though the sword cut through the air like a streak of fire, it didn't even singe the Ghost Beast's fur.
"What kind of monster is this?"
Yu Ci couldn't help but think. In that pine forest, Hu Ke had set up such a powerful trap. A plot of land had been scorched, but it hadn't hurt the Ghost Beasts at all. This indicated that the creature before them was far beyond their level, and should only be a demon that could be bred in the legendary Underworld!
And those three, Viper Monk and his companions, just how foolish must they be to provoke such a creature!
Despite his thoughts, before any deeper negative emotions could stir, Yu Ci had already leaped up. In the brief moment his body was suspended in the air, the Ghost Beast's flexible and strong tail lashed out again. This time, Yu Ci had calculated the angle correctly, using a more skillful method to divert the force. He didn't end up in the same dire straits as before, nearly vomiting out his internal organs, and even managed to crash onto the back of the Ghost Beast.
The back of the Ghost Beast was considerably wide, enough for seven or eight people to sit comfortably. But having someone jump onto its back clearly upset the creature. Even earlier, Yu Ci had already groaned in pain.
When the monster's long fur hardened, it was comparable to steel needles. What was worse, the smoky haze that enveloped it was terrifyingly hot. Just the moment of impact nearly roasted him. Strangely enough, his clothes remained intact.
Yu Ci didn't dare to linger. He sprung up again, flipping towards the top of the Ghost Beast's head. The Ghost Beast didn't swing its tail again, but merely shook its body, as if to shake off lice. But just this movement caused the smoke around its body to roll like waves. The heat steamed up, causing Yu Ci's hair to curl up.
At this moment, Yu Ci had already vaulted over the top of the Ghost Beasts, suppressing the searing pain in his innards. He glanced downwards and saw that Ye Tu was indeed pinned to the ground by the massive claw of the Ghost Beasts, his fate unknown. Yu Ci pursed his lips, casting aside all useless thoughts, and once again drew his sword.
The crimson light of his sword swept horizontally, aiming directly at the eyes of the Ghost Beasts.
Yu Ci had confidence in his hand-eye coordination, but this stroke of the sword, surprisingly, missed its mark. The sword light clearly passed over its target, yet he felt nothing beneath his hand, only a gradually blurring image in front of him, mocking him in an unspeakable way.
His expression remained unchanged. In an instant, he shifted his strategy, relying purely on his sense of smell to locate the most pungent spot on the Ghost Beasts. Without using any muscular strength, the True Qi within his body surged, resonating with the True Spirit shining within his Brain Palace, reaching the state of “embracing the divine” as Ye Tu had described.
The aura of the Nine Suns Sword flickered, a line of fire cut through the air, followed by a metallic clang, as if the sword aura had struck something hard.
"That's... a tooth!" By this time, Yu Ci's flying power had been exhausted, and his body inevitably began to fall, but his eyes remained fixed on the blurry image in front of him.
The state of “embracing the divine” still persisted, and his deeply hidden Original Soul became active under this state. Suddenly, Yu Ci felt that everything outside his body had changed. His Divine consciousness and Divine Sense became the tentacles of the Original Soul, dancing in the air, carving out a very limited, yet extremely clear space in the boundless void.
At that moment, Yu Ci saw the coal-burning pupils of the Ghost Beasts, hidden behind a thin veil of smoke, revealing no discernible emotions. The Beast simply lifted the forelimb that was pinning Ye Tu down, intending to swat away the "pest" in front of it.
To the Ghost Beasts, the "fluttering" Yu Ci was nothing more than a pest.
Soon after, the only clear space was also engulfed by the smoke, becoming hazy and unclear. The abilities of the Ghost Beasts could even block the probing of his Divine consciousness. Now, all Yu Ci could rely on was his fleeting memory and his still capable body.
Using the strength of his waist and abdomen, he arched his body and changed his angle. Just as he completed this movement, the massive claw swung towards him. But Yu Ci coordinated his movements with exquisite skill, a single turn of his body allowed the overwhelming force to merely graze him. The sweeping force instead became the source of his power, propelling him towards the enormous face of the Ghost Beasts.
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