The Dark Tortoise Devouring Array sprang into action.

This was a killing array developed by the Black Tortoise Sect, designed for the sole purpose of eliminating the enemy for good, to the point where not even a trace of them would be left behind.

Without any knowledge of their opponent and fighting in a location that he was unfamiliar with, Zhao Yunxiao dared not get careless.

Despite this array’s high energy consumption, Zhao Yunxiao would not hesitate to use whatever means necessary, especially in such a situation where there was a real risk of losing their lives.

After all, what was the point of holding back if it meant that they could lose their lives as a result?

Yes, they were orthodox cultivators, so killing should be avoided whenever possible. Since young, they had been taught that subduing the enemy was the way to go.

However, Zhao Yunxiao still firmly believed that ideals were always secondary to the concept of self-preservation.

If the only way to ensure their survival was to kill Old Niu, then he would choose to do so without a moment’s hesitation!

Old Niu immediately sensed the stirring of energy behind him and spun around to look.

Before his very eyes, world origin energy was quickly condensing into ten different streams, each stream quickly taking on the form of a tortoise head that stared him down directly.

This condensation of energy had unexpectedly sucked in the surrounding fog, not only increasing the visibility in the area, but also causing these tortoise heads to look more tangible. If one did not look closely, it would be easy to mistake this for a real ten-headed giant golden tortoise monster.

Old Niu was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his cool.

Though to put it accurately, it was not composure, but a different feeling that took over instead.

“Come at me!” Old Niu roared.

He had only been chasing shadows since the start of the fight. At this point, he was truly struggling to hold in the frustration and rage that had accumulated within him.

Zhao Yunxiao did not need to be told twice.

In fact, he did not need to be told at all.

The ten golden tortoise heads shot forward all at once, their jaws wide open as each aimed at a different part of Old Niu’s body.

Four limbs.

Both shoulders.

Head.

Neck.

Torso.

Waist.

Each tortoise head was around two metres wide, large enough to devour an entire deer in one go.

In the face of this grand assault, Old Niu’s huge physique suddenly appeared really small in comparison.

However, Old Niu did not despair simply because of that.

On the contrary, his demonic aura erupted as he summoned forth his essence energy. Rather than standing there and waiting to be attacked, Old Niu charged forward to meet the tortoise heads head-on.

Bang-!

Digging his hooves in, Old Niu slammed his horns into the tortoise head that was aiming at his head, the loud collision reverberating through the entire prairie.

He stood firm, not taking a single step back despite the thunderous impact, successfully stopping the tortoise head from proceeding any further.

Unfortunately for him, this only stopped the tortoise head from proceeding any further, not eliminating the threat for good. If he were to turn his attention away, there would be nothing stopping the tortoise head from resuming with the assault.

And that was just one out of the ten tortoise heads headed his way.

“Damn you!” Old Niu cursed and punched out with both fists.

Bang-! Bang-!

His powerful punches found the two tortoise heads that were aiming at his arms, stopping them dead in their tracks.

Three down, seven more to go.

Chomp-! Chomp-! Chomp-!

The jaws of the remaining seven golden tortoise heads connected directly with his body, though they actually failed to instantly penetrate his metal-like skin.

Or at least, not just yet.

The golden tortoise heads latched onto Old Niu’s body, their jaws closing slowly but surely, digging deeper with each passing second.

With his arms and horns being held down, Old Niu could only watch in horror as his tough skin was gradually being ripped through.

Even then, this was enough to cause Zhao Yunxiao to widen his eyes in shock.

To stop even the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array, this Old Niu’s defences were incredibly tough!

Pierce-!

An arrow of energy directly penetrated the tough skin on Old Niu’s back.

It might not be a deep wound, but this arrow definitely punctured the skin to reach the flesh. Blood started flowing out from this wound – marking the first injury that Old Niu had gotten since the start of this battle!

“Damn it! Fight me man to man if you dare!” Old Niu struggled to break free, but the tortoise heads were latching onto him so tightly that he could no longer move.

Pierce-!

The only response he received was in the form of another arrow of energy, striking the exact same spot as before to deepen the wound.

Pierce-! Pierce-! Pierce-!

Nie Hanchang released arrow after arrow, silently gathering his energy to ensure that each arrow was strong enough to deal significant damage.

Tear-!

The giant tortoise heads were finally starting to get through Old Niu’s tough skin, causing small streaks of blood to emerge from seven different spots on his body. And this was excluding his back, where Nie Hanchang’s arrow was starting to create a huge gash.

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Not far from him, the bald man from the Iron Sabres barely propped himself up after getting struck by the earlier shockwave, only to be confronted with the scene of a giant bull demon being restrained by ten golden tortoise heads.

He could not help but lose all strength in his limbs, collapsing back to the ground.

Had he known that this would be the kind of frightening scene that awaited him, he would never have set foot out of Green Bull Inn this morning!

Zhao Yunxiao naturally noticed that the bald man had regained consciousness, but he could not care less right now.

In fact, despite how things might look to be overwhelmingly in their favour right now, he understood that the situation could change at any moment.

What Zhao Yunxiao loved the most about arrays was the fact that not only were they allowed a cultivator to exhibit a level of strength far beyond their own, but they could also draw upon the surrounding world origin energy as their source of power.

However, the latter was only achievable through careful calculations, mainly due to the sheer complexity of integrating the arrays with their surroundings.

But with how urgently he had to set up the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array, Zhao Yunxiao had no choice but to abandon this step, opting to use spirit stones as the array’s main source of energy.

And spirit stones only had a finite amount of energy contained within.

Old Niu’s defences were simply too tough, and it had taken unexpectedly long for the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array to draw blood.

At this moment, Zhao Yunxiao could already sense the various spirit stones starting to dim, a clear testament to how the energy contained within was rapidly depleting.

While he still had some spare spirit stones left, it remained to be seen if they could take down Old Niu before everything was expended.

“Wait! Hold on! Let’s talk things out!” Old Niu called out in desperation. “I admit defeat! You win! If you spare my life, I promise to give you everything I have, including the stash of treasures that I have hidden away in the valley!”

“What a joke! What kind of treasures can a drunkard like you possibly have?” Lou Yuan scoffed.

“You’ll be surprised! I have lived here for a long time, and this allowed me to gather tonnes of treasures that you have probably never seen in your life!” Old Niu continued. “It’s true! At least give me the chance to show you. You can decide after seeing it for yourself. If you are not satisfied, it’s not too late to deal with me then!”

“Oh yeah? Fat hope!” Lou Yuan immediately declined. “Who knows what other tricks you have up your sleeves? We have to be as brainless as you to let you go!”

“Didn’t you mention earlier that you were concerned about karma? Now that I think about it, you are absolutely right! It is indeed an important issue!” Old Niu immediately turned to Zhao Yunxiao after seeing a dead end with Lou Yuan. “If you let me go, I promise to devote the rest of my life to doing good! That would also translate to good karma on your end, since you would have created an avenue of constant good deeds for the masses!”

“If you really have my interests at heart, just stop struggling and let karma catch up with you for good!” Zhao Yunxiao retorted.

Old Niu widened his eyes in surprise at this point, aware of the sudden accumulation of an immense amount of energy behind him.

Nie Hanchang appeared to have become dissatisfied with the energy arrows from earlier, and was currently gearing up to fire an even more powerful shot.

“Damn it, this is your final warning! Don’t force me to the edge, or I will take you down with me!” Old Niu finally cursed.

“Damn it, this is your final warning! Stop now, and I promise not to pursue this matter any further!” Old Niu cursed. “If you push your luck any further, I would be forced to play my cards as well. If that happens, it will only result in huge losses for both parties!”

“Do your worst!” Lou Yuan taunted. “What more can you possibly do in your current situation?”

“I see...” Old Niu said through gritted teeth. “There’s no helping it then. Let me show you just what happens when you act with too much arrogance!”

As he said that, his muscles bulged further and his eyes turned deep red, as though a fire had been lit in his eyes.

Zhao Yunxiao frowned.

Old Niu was burning his blood essence to gain a temporary boost of strength!

Whoosh-!

Nie Hanchang released an enormous arrow of energy, and it headed straight for the deep gash that already existed on Old Niu’s back.

“Don’t even think about it!”

Old Niu pushed forward with his horns, completely sending back the golden tortoise head that had been contending with them.

And with two powerful punches, Old Niu pushed another two golden tortoise heads back a good distance, then slammed his fists upon the other golden tortoise heads that were trying to rip the flesh off of his body.

He did not have time to shake them off completely, but he managed to at least loosen their grip a little. That was all he needed to turn around with brute force and face the oncoming arrow of energy!

But just as he was about to turn, Old Niu noticed Zhao Yunxiao charging straight at him with his halberd raised.

It was a frontal charge – something that Old Niu would have deemed a foolish endeavour under almost any other circumstance.

Even prior to burning his blood essence, Zhao Yunxiao had not been a match for him in a direct contest of strength.

Now that he had gained a huge boost to his strength by burning his blood essence, it was practically suicidal for Zhao Yunxiao to charge at him like this!

The problem here was that if he chose to deal with Zhao Yunxiao, that would leave his back open to Nie Hanchang’s arrow.

And if he turned around to deal with Nie Hanchang’s arrow, that would leave his back open to Zhao Yunxiao’s direct attack.

Zhao Yunxiao’s attack was not too strong, incapable of penetrating his tough defence. However, the situation had changed due to the huge open wound on his back.

His skin might be tough, but his flesh was not!

It would appear that Zhao Yunxiao had seen through this, and was now forcing him to make a choice.

Sir, would you prefer to be shot by an arrow or struck by a halberd?

This was the question that Zhao Yunxiao was posing to him by blatantly charging at him with his halberd raised!

The common answer would always be to defend against the stronger attack. In this case, that would be Nie Hanchang’s arrow of energy, without a doubt.

However, Old Niu understood that doing so would change nothing.

Yes, that would mean taking less damage during this singular exchange of moves.

But if he were to defend against Nie Hanchang’s arrow of energy, that would only allow Zhao Yunxiao to strike him and retreat for free, and then things would be back to square one.

However, that would not be the case if he chose to deal with Zhao Yunxiao instead. With Zhao Yunxiao coming into close proximity, this was actually a golden chance to directly take Zhao Yunxiao out of the equation!

He had already endured so many arrows to his back. As long as he could endure just one more, albeit a much stronger one, there was a real possibility of completely turning things around and making it a one-on-one fight!

Old Niu made up his mind.

After allocating a small amount of essence energy to defend his back, he gathered most of his energy in his fist, charging up to punch forward with every last bit of excess strength he could muster.

Such an opportunity was unlikely to come around again – he had to end Zhao Yunxiao in one move!

Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes upon seeing Old Niu’s raised fist, but he did not slow his advance one bit.

Right from the very start, he had expected Old Niu to choose to deal with him instead.

If he were to retreat, Old Niu would be able to divert most of his energy to defend against Nie Hanchang’s attack, reducing the resulting damage dealt.

This meant that the battle would drag on even longer, thereby risking the eventual depletion of the spirit stones that were sustaining the Dark Tortoise Devouring Array.

That was not a risk that Zhao Yunxiao was willing to take, which was why he had chosen to take this gamble instead.

Zhao Yunxiao knew himself well. Even with a direct hit using his halberd, that would not have been enough to either overpower or take down Old Niu. So, from the very beginning, he had looked at this as nothing but a distraction attempt.

When it came to physical endurance alone, Zhao Yunxiao had absolute confidence in himself.

Old Niu was gambling on being capable of taking Zhao Yunxiao out in one move, while Zhao Yunxiao was gambling on his own endurance – that he would be able to endure this one move!

Just like that, all three of them went for what they deemed was the optimal move.

Zhao Yunxiao pierced forward with his halberd, colliding with Old Niu’s all-out punch.

And at just about the exact same moment, Nie Hanchang’s highly charged arrow of energy struck Old Niu’s back, finding its way straight into his flesh through the existing open gash!