Chapter 245 Moon Wheel: She Can Die, But She Cannot Lose

As the talisman paper caught fire, the Jiao Pearl set in the blade of the Wealth Bringer sword released a wave of icy cold. A hair-thin black line shot out and, suspended in midair, swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The Black Flood Dragon revealed its true form. Its fierce, domineering head swept rapidly around, and the resentment born of its long imprisonment exploded all at once as it hunted for a target to vent upon.

The first thing it saw was the black Horned Lion Beast. Smelling the same Spirit Beast aura on the other’s body, it hesitated for a heartbeat.

Lian Mu knew what it was thinking and said to it, “Kill them, and you will be free.”

The Black Flood Dragon seemed to understand. It turned its head, baring sharp fangs at the black Horned Lion Beast in provocation, then swept its tail across, striking straight at it.

The black Horned Lion Beast did not dodge. It took the blow head-on, but its recovery was far too fast. This level of injury was nothing more than an itch.

Lian Mu’s gaze sharpened. She tossed the Spirit Summoning Talisman into the air and let it burn suspended high above, then drew her sword and rushed in another direction.

She had very little time, only a quarter of an hour.

After that, the Black Flood Dragon would be pulled back once more, and when that happened she would have even less of a chance.

She did not expect the Black Flood Dragon to actually kill them. So long as it could hold them off for that quarter of an hour, it was enough.

Once it received its order, the Black Flood Dragon immediately entangled itself with the black Horned Lion Beast. Two Spirit Beasts wrestled together, the fluctuations of their spiritual power shaking the entire ground.

It was obvious that the Black Flood Dragon’s cultivation was no weaker than that of the black Horned Lion Beast, but it had been confined for too long and had no companion to help heal its injuries, so it was slightly at a disadvantage.

Its long body coiled around the black Horned Lion Beast. Its scales parted slightly like rows of sharpened blades, so that any movement drew blood.

Perhaps realizing that they were evenly matched, neither side made any further earth-shattering moves. Under the suppression of the Heavenly Return Palace, they chose the most primitive way to decide victory.

Seizing the chance, Lian Mu sprinted toward the Heavenly Return Palace. Her feet were as swift as if wind had been born beneath them. The Spirit-Slaying Sword Array flew along with her. She guided one sword shadow up toward the Moon Wheel on the silver dais. The instant the sword shadow struck the Moon Wheel, a crisp yet deafening sound rang out.

The sound jolted Lian Mu awake as well. Being closest, she felt as if her ears were bleeding.

In the pool, the white Horned Lion Beast’s eyes snapped open. It turned its gaze toward her.

Realizing her intent, it roared toward the black Horned Lion Beast. The black Horned Lion Beast twisted its head around. Two vicious, malignant gazes shot toward her like arrows.

The black Horned Lion Beast let out a roar. It no longer cared about the consequences of cannibalizing its own kind. Its blood-filled maw opened and bit down on the Black Flood Dragon’s long body. Teeth as thick as a child’s arm clashed against the flood dragon’s scales as it tried to bite the body in half.

The Black Flood Dragon was enraged as well. Its tail coiled, whipping out with gale-force winds. The cold wind swept past, and everything it touched turned to frost. One of the black Horned Lion Beast’s legs was frozen solid and glued firmly to the ground.

The black Horned Lion Beast’s frenzied eyes rolled once, but it did not struggle. Instead, it lowered itself and closed its eyes.

Lian Mu’s first strike had failed to break the Moon Wheel, so she could only unleash a second. This time she sent out three sword shadows, staking everything on one throw.

There was another thunderous crash. A hairline crack finally appeared on the Moon Wheel, and the tiny stars within the river of light began to dim.

Yet at that exact moment, the Moon Wheel began to turn, flipping to its bright side. The river of light shifted from pitch-black to dazzlingly bright.

A sense of foreboding surged in Lian Mu’s heart. She looked back, and sure enough, the white Horned Lion Beast in the pool had stood up. Under the washing of the river of light, its old, timeworn scales fell away, and a brand new coat grew over its body, gleaming like armor.

Unlike the black one, it seemed to be under no restrictions. The moment it moved, it used a spiritual power technique.

Caught off guard, the Black Flood Dragon was struck by a beam of light. Black scales flew off, and wounds appeared.

The white Horned Lion Beast seemed even stronger than the black one.

Seeing this, Lian Mu’s hands moved faster. She drove the last few remaining sword shadows, sending them all against the Moon Wheel.

The spiritual power in her body was circulating too fast. She spat out a mouthful of blood, and a dull ache throbbed in her chest.

The talisman paper had already burned halfway through. Time was running out.

When the white Horned Lion Beast saw her strike at the Moon Wheel yet again, it abandoned the Black Flood Dragon outright and turned its attack on her.

Its claw slammed down like a thousand-jin weight crashing to the earth. Deep cracks split open in the ground. Lian Mu felt a violent tremor. Both her legs went numb.

“Stop it!” Lian Mu shouted at the Black Flood Dragon.

The Black Flood Dragon hesitated. The wounds on its body made it fully aware of how powerful the opponent was. Its cultivation was not low, yet the other could heal injuries instantly, while it could only endure them. Even if it had the strength, it would eventually be worn down and killed.

Risking its life for the sake of two sentences from a human did not seem worth it.

Seeing that it did not move, Lian Mu was briefly speechless.

As expected, an untrained Spirit Beast was not obedient at all. She suddenly found herself missing Green Bean.

With life and death on the line, Lian Mu showed no mercy. She spoke quickly again, “If you don’t stop it, it will eat my sword. If the Jiao Pearl shatters, you die too.”

Proven once more, shared interests were the greatest driving force for cooperation. The Black Flood Dragon turned its head again and flew toward the white Horned Lion Beast. Its jaws opened wide and sucked the pool water straight in. Yet this effort was little more than a show of assistance. The pool water gushed out endlessly. There was no way it could drain it all.

Spiritual power exploded under the white Horned Lion Beast’s claws, forming a massive net of light that spread across the entire ground.

Like a spiderweb, the net of light expanded in all directions, with Lian Mu at its center.

Lian Mu had no idea what this technique would do until a beam of light pierced through her shoulder and blasted open a hole.

She was about to leap into the air to evade when another beam shot through her other shoulder, drilling a bloody hole straight through.

By this point in the fight, she had taken too many hits. She was almost numb to the pain.

Her sword shadows, however, moved to guard her on instinct. The moment the white Horned Lion Beast attacked, they forcibly wheeled back.

Lian Mu fell silent.

So this was the damage even after the sword shadows had blocked it. If she had taken the attack completely unguarded, it would have been far worse than a few bloody holes.

However, her spiritual power was too depleted. Summoning the Spirit-Slaying Sword Array again would be extremely difficult.

Lian Mu looked at the blood on her hands. This was the first time she had been in such a sorry state. She had often been beaten before, but she had always been able to control the outcome.

This time, things seemed to have slipped beyond her expectations.

Only by crossing this threshold would she have any chance to obtain an opportunity to mend her dantian. No matter what, she could not give up.

Having made up her mind, Lian Mu thrust her sword into the ground at her side.

Since a sword forged from demonic beast materials was useless against a Spirit Beast, then she would go with her bare hands. Whether she could win or not, she had to fight.

As she thought this, spiritual power gathered in her hands. Metal qi spread to cover her entire body, as if she had donned a layer of spirit armor. When she flexed her fingers, her joints emitted the grinding sound of metal against stone.

A body of pure metal qi, solid as a fortress.

If thunder, fire, and wind were the most offensive among body cultivators’ attributes, then metal and earth spiritual roots had the highest defense.

She was not a body cultivator, but her studies were eclectic. She had spent a lot of time with Wen Yun and had secretly picked up some basic body cultivator techniques.

Back then, it had been out of simple curiosity. She had never expected to one day use her half-baked skills against an enemy.

Once her back was covered with three layers of metal qi, Lian Mu did not hesitate. She pivoted on her heel and swung a punch at the white Horned Lion Beast. The white Horned Lion Beast did not care about her attack at all. It merely cast her a sidelong glance full of condescension.

Its horn collided with her fist, and a clear metallic clang rang out.

With her level of cultivation, striking at it at all was sheer overconfidence.

The White Horned Lion Beast shook its head, its sharp bony horn stabbing toward her, but it was blocked by a solid force.

It instinctively tried to lift its paw. In the next instant, a Wood Spirit Vine burst from the ground and coiled around its leg.

The White Horned Lion Beast slowed for a heartbeat. Lian Mu seized the opening, leaped up, and drove her fist toward its eye.

There were barbs around its eye, but without spiritual power behind them they were not enough to pierce her Metal Spirit Body.

After she used the power of solid metal to break through the obstruction, her entire hand punched straight in without the slightest hesitation. Flames ignited at her fingertips, burning outward from within and searing off half its face.

A deep roar of agony rumbled from the White Horned Lion Beast’s throat, its eyes almost splitting with rage.

This time it stopped holding back. With pressure alone, it blasted the person before it back ten steps. The fluctuation of spiritual power, heavy with anger, focused into a single point and struck squarely against Lian Mu’s chest.

In that instant, Lian Mu felt as if all her organs had been shattered. Blood poured from her mouth.

Before, it had not taken her seriously and had let her succeed in a sneak attack. Now that they were pitting true strength against true strength, she was nothing but an ant before it.

The White Horned Lion Beast, its face ruined, let out a roar toward the Black Horned Lion Beast. The two beasts immediately began channeling the pool light.

Under the treatment of the pool light, its eye gradually returned to normal.

Grievously wounded, Lian Mu could no longer stand firm. Her aura was weak. She dropped to one knee, forcing her body not to collapse.

She turned her blood-smeared face to the side, glanced toward the Wealth Bringer’s position, and shifted slightly in that direction, but still could not reach it.

She stopped moving. The hair at her brow was a wet, tangled mess, glued to her skin with blood and covering one of her eyes.

Kneeling in the pool of blood, she lifted her head and gave a mocking smile. “Is that it? A thousand years of cultivation and this is all you amount to. You can’t even kill me.”

The White Horned Lion Beast had human-level intelligence and could understand her words. At that, its tail lashed fiercely. A wild gale rose and swept toward her.

Lian Mu did not resist. She let the blast of wind slam into her and send her body flying.

The White Horned Lion Beast snorted through its nose in a cold, dismissive breath. Clearly, this did not even count as one of its techniques, yet it could so easily destroy a person.

In the next moment, surprise flickered in its eyes.

That direction was the Moon Wheel.

“Bang!”

With another thunderous crash, Lian Mu’s back slammed into the Moon Wheel above the palace. The Moon Wheel, already veined with cracks, had a whole piece shattered off by this impact.

With the Spirit Artifact damaged, the river of light stopped flowing.

“Kill them!”

Half hanging from the Moon Wheel, Lian Mu mustered the last of her strength and roared.

Seeing the perfect opportunity, the Black Flood Dragon cooperated with flawless understanding. It bared claw and fang as it lunged at the White Horned Lion Beast. Without the Moon Wheel’s protection, the difference in strength between the two sides was immediately apparent.

It had wised up as well. Using its ability to fly to full advantage, it battered the White Horned Lion Beast so hard the latter could not even counterattack.

The Black Flood Dragon had been starving for over a thousand years. Trapped inside the Penglai barrier, it could not even absorb spiritual energy. If not for Spirit Beast Changsheng, it really would have starved to death.

It had failed to eat the Red-eyed Five-form Beast last time. The two beasts before it were of the same kind as itself. It could not eat them, but the spiritual energy in their bodies was enough for it to gorge itself.

After the Moon Wheel shattered, the Black Horned Lion Beast immediately fell into deep sleep. It seemed the two beasts could not attack in the same period.

This gave the Black Flood Dragon a golden opportunity. As it dove to attack the White Horned Lion Beast, it did not forget to harass the Black Horned Lion Beast, and with one savage bite tore away a huge chunk of flesh.

It did not eat the meat. Instead, in a show of provocation, it flung the bloody lump onto the White Horned Lion Beast’s head, further inflaming its fury.

The White Horned Lion Beast was beaten until its body was covered in wounds. It could only watch helplessly as the Black Flood Dragon taunted it again and again, until at last it was pinned beneath the dragon’s claws and its horn snapped clean off.

Battles between beasts were crueler than those between humans. They felt no sympathy for their opponents and had no concept of “cruelty” at all. Once they locked onto a target, there was only merciless slaughter left. They used every possible means to kill the other side.

Watching the White Horned Lion Beast being stripped of its scales, its flesh torn and bones broken, Lian Mu finally let out the breath she had been holding.

She looked at it and said with a smile, “Bet you didn’t see that coming. This was my real attack route.”

She put on an air of bravado, but in truth she could not move at all. At such a decisive moment, though, she could not afford to lose face.

Even with three layers of armor stacked across her back in advance, her injuries were still severe.

It had to be said, the White Horned Lion Beast was simply too powerful. By challenging it across realms, she had already prepared herself to end up half-dead. In this round, she could die, but as long as she had one breath left, she could not admit defeat.

Lian Mu tried to circulate her spiritual power again to pry herself free from the Moon Wheel, but she could not. After the Three Spirit Root was unsealed, her spiritual power had been draining quickly to begin with. With those few moves just now, she had been wrung completely dry.

At this point she did not even have the strength to take out a spirit replenishing pill.

Just as Lian Mu was trying to think of a solution, the Moon Wheel behind her suddenly gave off one last beam of light, like a final flare before scrapping.

This beam of light did not flow down along the river of light. Instead, it followed the closest path and poured directly into her body.