by <unknown>
After a crack, the giant sword dissected itself into more than ten pieces, each connected to one another via spiritual gas tubes, soft ropes crafted out of the veins, and nerves of demon beasts.
Driven by spiritual gas, the sword had become a whip more than ten meters long. It looked both like a swift boa and the deadly tail of a scorpion!
How could the armor be named Sky Scorpion without a tail? The giant sword's name was exactly 'Scorpion's Tail'!
Shua!
The giant sword took a turn like a scorpion that was waving its tail, and the tip of the sword lunged toward Xiong Zhenzhen's back like the sting of the scorpion!
Chapter 575: One Punch Is Enough! |
Xiong Zhenzhen did not expect Li Yao's weapon to be so sordid despite its simple and straightforward appearance. The strike was aiming at the blind spot on her back, and there was no time for her to block it with her swords. She frowned in anger.
However, she was an expert in the 79th level of the Refinement Stage after all, and her combat ability was close to that of a high-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivator. Faced with danger, she did not panic, but summoned her spiritual gas, which formed an invisible swirl behind her and stalled Li Yao's sword.
In the meantime, her two soft swords shivered like two hissing vipers and swiped at Li Yao's throat!
The dissected Scorpion's Tail was controlled via the ropes and spiritual gas tubes. It relied on the swinging force to maximize the damage of the attack. But mired in Xiong Zhenzhen's swirl, the tip of the sword was not able to move any further. Even though it managed to break through the swirl in the end, it would have lost all its momentum and could in no way pierce through Xiong Zhenzhen's armor.
But Xiong Zhenzhen's sword would penetrate through the gap between Li Yao's helmet and breastplate within the next half second!
Right then, an earsplitting shriek burst out from the tip of Scorpion's Tail. A long blue needle darted out from there!
As it turned out, the tip of Li Yao's sword was hollow, in which a deadly venomous needle had been hidden. Now that it was ejected by high-pressure spiritual gas, it broke through the swirl instantly and crashed into Xiong Zhenzhen's armor brutally!
Shua!
Three stabilizer fins as thin as paper opened up on the back of the needle. Exhaust flames squirted out and the needle started revolving rapidly!
The venomous needle was much thinner than a chopstick. Yet, Li Yao had been able to empty the back end of the needle and fill it with crystals, thereby transforming the needle into a super mini rocket!
Pushed by the gushing spiritual gas and the exploding crystals, the venomous needle revolved rapidly, drilled into Xiong Zhenzhen's armor without trouble, and passed through her chest!
In the next moment, blood was spraying in the air!
Thankfully, since it was merely a test, Li Yao did not really smear deadly poison on the needle, nor had he aimed the needle at Xiong Zhenzhen's heart. The needle pierced into her body but avoided her vital organs.
Otherwise, his attack could've blown up Xiong Zhenzhen's heart directly!
Even so, Xiong Zhenzhen's face still turned pale in shock. She grunted and fell out of the sky.
In the meantime, Li Yao sensed that a mountain, or more exactly, an erupting volcano, had moved below him!
He kicked Xiong Zhenzhen's breasts mercilessly. With the counterforce and his surging spiritual gas, he altered his direction weirdly!
Where he had been about to land, four Wolf Fangs exploded at the same time, raising a raging tide of flames and chaos.
However, another Wolf Fang that was even larger had been tossed to his new direction and was rushing right in his face.
Li Yao did not even bother to blink. The result of the hard training over the past month was fully demonstrated. A huge amount of spiritual gas surged out of his right arm and tangled together like multiple white dragons. It formed an enormous shield three feet in front of his fists and smashed at the Wolf Fang!
BOOM!
A startling fireball was raised in midair, which Li Yao crawled out from. Although his armor was blackened, his speed was as high as before.
He had blown up a Wolf Fang directly!
"Excellent!"
Earsplitting roars were echoing on the ground. Shi Meng, captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, couldn't have been more excited. He squatted deeply. Spiritual gas surged out crazily from his legs as if he had bound two shrieking True Qi trains to them!
He exerted his strength. Centering at his feet, a vast spider net of cracks that looked like a super weird rune array appeared instantly on the ground covering fifty square meters!
Huala!
The ground within fifty square meters was pressed down brutally by his spiritual gas. A shallow pit more than half a meter deep had been left!
Shi Meng soared to the sky like a rocket and punched. Squeaking noises were resounding in front of him. Even the air turned extremely fuzzy!
Li Yao's eyes were bloodshot, his face hideous, while he shouted like the primordial beasts had.
If he were to take off his armor, everybody would be able to see that the muscles all over his body were bouncing crazily like furious flames. Those on his back had even formed an angry face of fire!
"Hu!"
Li Yao punched, too. White light seemed to appear on the edge of his fist as the air had been compressed to the point that it was about to explode!
Iron fist versus iron fist!
For a moment, all the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team held their breath and stopped moving, waiting for the result of the collision dumbly.
One of them was the super strong man Shi Meng, who boasted the most physical strength in his generation of the Furious Bears Tribe, while the other one was a mysterious monster who could withstand spiritual gas set to fifty times the standard pressure. At this moment, even the most experienced teammates of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were not certain that their captain would be the final winner!
BOOM!
Before the fists of the two parties collided, the air currents raised by them had crashed heavily, leading to a visible blast that rippled out rapidly like manic gales!
Brightness resembling flames were vaguely blinking on them. It was not spiritual energy but their hot, mad, unstoppable fighting will!
The fighting will enchanted Li Yao's soul and bewildered his mind. Giant gaps were appearing on the plate of his right arm, revealing countless reckless silver iron balls inside.
It was not until the last moment that Li Yao's head was clear briefly again. He managed to lock his armor again, but his movements were disrupted as a result.
BOOM!
An explosion that seemed to suggest that a weapon factory had exploded broke out between the two fists.
Due to the 0.1 seconds of delay, Shi Meng's spiritual gas flooded out and swallowed Li Yao instantly.
Everybody felt that their head was dizzy. Then, they saw that Li Yao was blown away like a kite whose string had been cut off before he hit the ground brutally. The flag that he'd been carrying had fallen some twenty meters away.
They were dazed for almost three seconds, before they realized what had happened and lunged at the flag after a shout.
Li Yao did not come back to himself until ten seconds later. He shook his head hard but still felt that his ears were ringing. He blinked slowly, but the ground was still leaning toward the left.
What an impressive punch!
His spiritual gas pierced into my armor, muscles, and bones and attacked my internal organs and cerebrum directly!
Although I am not wounded on the surface, my internal organs and my cerebrum are vibrating at a high frequency inside my body!
My cerebrum is bashing my skull in each direction. I feel that somebody is smashing my head with a giant hammer more than ten times per second right now. His one punch has resulted in a severe brain concussion. If it were someone else, they would've been beaten into a coma or killed on the s
pot!
Captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, Shi Meng…
Li Yao sat on the ground for over half a minute before he staggered to the edge of the test field, where he sat down and took a long breath in relief. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
The battle was truly entertaining and gratifying!
He tried his best to hold back his nausea and observed the competition between the two elite teams quietly.
Xiong Zhenzhen's lung had been punctured by him, and she had lost most of her combat ability. The Iron Bears Detonation Team took the advantage and attacked under the lead of Shi Meng. Eventually, they brought the flag back to their home camp.
The test was ended!
However, there were no cheers on the winning side, and those who failed were not depressed, either. Everybody was staring at Li Yao in shock and respect.
Although he had been defeated in the end, he had put down more than ten elites by himself and almost finished the captain of the Fierce Storm Assault Team.
It was also safe to say that his defeat was because of Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng's collaboration.
Such a failure was definitely worth being proud of. They were both shocked and amazed!
Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng walked forward and eyed Li Yao in a complicated way.
"You went easy on me just now."
Due to the huge loss of blood, Xiong Zhenzhen's lips were somewhat pale. She was still in a trance right now and could not believe what had just happened.
"It's just a test," replied Li Yao with a coarse voice and weird tone.
After a month of interaction, he had picked up the accent of the Iron Plateau natives a bit. However, he did not dare speak as fast he used to and could only utter a sentence word by word. Thankfully, there were not many traces of the space residents in his words, although they did sound somewhat different to the natives' ears.
"It's been a long time since I last enjoyed such a satisfying match! The strength of your fists is only slightly lower than that of mine!"
Shi Meng burst out into laughter contentedly. He extended his hands to Li Yao as he remarked, "Your name is Sand Scorpion? You are truly an expert. Welcome to the Furious Bears Tribe. We are lucky to have you to fight side by side with us to challenge the apocalypse!"
Li Yao hesitated briefly. Then he grinned and extended his hand, too.
…
An hour later, in a desolate factory on the west side of the weapon factory…
It was the place where the previous weapon factory had been established more than five decades ago. But the factory had been burnt to the ground in an accident and abandoned ever since. When Li Yao proposed to build his own armor, Xiong Wuji asked someone to clean up the area and install several simple tools. It was Li Yao's shabby refining chamber right now.
The Sky Scorpion Armor that Li Yao built was almost exclusively based on the ancient techniques forty thousand years ago that did not demand much on the facilities. Therefore, he could make do with what he had.
In front of the giant mirror, Li Yao examined the Sky Scorpion Armor with great satisfaction. But an urge popped up in his mind again when he thought of the fierce battle previously.
The heritage of the Titan Warriors is indeed terrifying. It can soak people in the pleasure of killing all the time. No wonder so many experts of the Furious Bears Tribe became mentally deranged and slaves to their killing intent.
My brain went blank when I was enjoying the fight just now. I almost couldn't help but perform 'that move' before my fist and Shi Meng's fist collided!
Thankfully, I didn't. Otherwise…
Four metal statues were placed in the middle of the debris. The more Li Yao thought of the punch previously, the more untamable the fighting will deep in his bones got. He suddenly blinked to the front of one of the metal statues. He crouched, with his legs widened like a long bow, before he put his right arm behind his back. The plate on his right arm revealed a crack from which nine iron balls rolled out. The iron balls were concentrated on the surface of his fist controlled by his spiritual gas!
The nine iron balls were, in fact, mini crystal bombs with magnetic shells. They could be absorbed to the surface of the armor and roll around without falling.
"Explode!" Li Yao bellowed and punched the chest of the metal statue brutally with his right fist.
The nine mini crystal bombs were immediately detonated. But before their damage was fully triggered, it had been wreathed by the trailing wind resulting from the punch and pierced through the chest of the metal statue like a focused, super-compressed magma!
BOOM!
The punch mixed with the damage of nine crystal bombs did not stop until it reached dozens of meters away. The upper half body of the metal statue had been completely destroyed, and a valley more than half a meter deep had appeared in the ground.
It looked as if a meteorite had brushed past the ground. Hot steam was still popping up nonstop!
The strength of his iron fist together with the damage of the crystal bombs was so overwhelming!
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao looked at the traces left by his previous punch in fulfilment and finished his thought.
Otherwise, Shi Meng wouldn't be able to join the battle of apocalypse!
Chapter 576: Charging at the Apocalypse! |
At midnight, deep below the temple of techniques, inside Xiong Wuji's personal training chamber…
Bright silver starry brightness was blinking vaguely on the Black Star Stone floor that was as deep and dark as ink, as if the night sky had been reversed and paved on the ground.
Li Yao was standing right on the 'night sky'. He was wearing a pair of pure white linen pants, and his upper body was naked. His eyes were half close, his breath long and stable. Spiritual gas leaked through the pores all over his body and spread out like ripples. The furthest had reached more than thirty meters away.
The field of spiritual gas around him was now 77 meters in diameter, suggesting that he was in the 77th level of the Refinement Stage!
Li Yao suddenly opened his half-closed eyes and took a deep breath. His chest rose high, almost expanding to double its size.
All the air inside the training chamber seemed to be absorbed by him!
As he took in the air, the spiritual gas around his body also marched at his heart unstoppably under the motivation of his muscles and veins!
Crushing the Black Spider Death Curse with spiritual gas of the 77th level!
The black tattoo on Li Yao's chest was writhing and wriggling like snakes that were burnt by fire. It was fleeing toward the deeper part of his heart with haste!
Li Yao grunted and fell to one knee, smashing a tile of the floor into pieces, before he vomited a mouthful of black blood.
The splashing blood shivered like an evil creature and did not die down for a long time.
Still can't.
But the Black Spider Death Curse has been somewhat moved. I can sense its… fear!
Li Yao grimaced and stopped attacking. He dispersed his spiritual gas evenly around his body to nurture his muscles and veins.
Although the previous trial had not worked out, the reaction of the Black Spider Death Curse had given him new hope. He would definitely be able to break through all the shackles as long as the spiritual gas inside his body was stronger!
Xiong Wuji's surprised voice came over. "One month ago, I never would've believed that anybody could break into the 77th level of the Refinement Stage from the 14th level, nor would I have expected that a qi-trainer in the 77th level could heavily wound Xiong Zhenzhen and almost draw with Shi Meng."
Li Yao lowered his head, watching the tattoo on his chest reappearing, as he replied confidently, "My capability was close to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage in the beginning. Gauged in the metrics of Iron Plateau, it was well above the 90th level of the Refinement Stage. It's just that my heart has been locked by the Black Spider Death Curse, and I cannot liquefy my spiritual energy.
"However, my brain, my limbs, and all my internal organs except for my heart are all in the Building Foundation Stage.
"So, I did not break into the 77th level of the Refinement Stage in the past month; I merely trained myself crazily in the qi-trainers' way and learned to wield the same strength inside my body in a different form!
"It's a shame that one month is still too short. If I had three months, I might have been able to reach strength equivalent to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage while at the Refinement Stage. Chances are that I would have made it into the 95th level of the Refinement Stage or even higher!"
Li Yao was enticed by the idea.
Now that he was in the 77th level of the Refinement Stage, he had sensed clearly that his combat ability was not far from when he was in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage.
Based on the deadly skills and the technique to release his killing intent that he had learned in the Titan Illusionary Land, together with the instantaneous damage when his spiritual gas burst out, his combat ability was even surpassing that of the old days.
He pondered for a long time and concluded that, although he seemed to be at a lower Cultivation level right now, he had in fact only switched to a different combat mode!
Manipulating the spiritual energy in the gas form was one combat mode, and manipulating that in the liquid form was another. There were no rules that the latter was necessarily stronger than the former.
But Li Yao was still desperate to know how strong he would become if when he was able to switch between the two combat modes freely at will or even combine them into one after he resolved the Black Spider Death Curse!
Thinking about that, Li Yao said earnestly, "Thank you very much, Chief Xiong. I don't think every native of Iron Plateau would be so open-minded and unbiased as to provide all their secret training techniques generously for a space resident!"
Xiong Wuji smiled casually. "The apocalypse is coming. The more top warriors we have in our tribe, the more likely we will be able to survive. In the critical times of life and death, prejudice is the least of my concerns.
