94: Chapter 94 Encirclement and Kill

Wang Chongyang stood with his hands behind his back, his gray robes motionless in the heat waves, and said indifferently: "You are running out of steam, while this old man is still going strong."

"Stubborn." Master Qingfu's mouth twitched slightly, and six Formation Flags silently flew out from his sleeves, landing respectively at the six corners of the cave.

An ink-colored light barrier rose silently, enveloping the entire magma lake along with the auras of the six people within it.

The moment the Formation was completed, the scorching Qi current in the cave seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand, and even the bubbling gurgles of the magma quieted down by a few notches.

Wang Yaowu felt his whole body lighten, and the stifling heat pressing against his chest dissipated by more than half. He couldn't help but give Master Qingfu another look—this old Daoist looked unremarkable, yet the Formation he casually set up was so exquisite. The person invited by Sixth Uncle was indeed no ordinary Mortal.

Wang Chongyang did not waste any words. With a tap of his feet, his figure dashed straight toward the center of the lake like a gray shadow.

Before he even arrived, the Scarlet Flame Palm of the Foundation Establishment Stage had already been struck out, and a crimson palm print carrying a high temperature capable of melting gold and iron blasted toward the serpent's head.

With this palm strike, he held back no strength, because he knew better than anyone that facing a thick-skinned Tier 2 Yao Beast, probing was meaningless; he had to strike down its arrogant Qi right from the start.

The Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python snapped awake the moment the palm wind approached. It had been sleeping soundly, and for so many years no one had ever disturbed it. Aside from that human ant a few days ago, it never expected anyone to break in.

Reflecting the scorching palm print in its vertical pupils, the serpent's head jerked to the side, and the Scarlet Flame Palm grazed its neck, slamming into the magma and exploding a spray of plasma several zhang high.

It let out a deafening hiss, its serpent tail whipping out a dark red afterimage as it swept horizontally toward Wang Chongyang's waist.

The force of that single tail strike was more than tens of thousands of jun; even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator would break a few bones if hit head-on.

Wang Chongyang did not dodge or evade. His left hand drew a half-arc in front of him, and a fire shield condensed from scarlet flames materialized out of thin air.

The serpent's tail smashed onto the fire shield, sending sparks flying everywhere. The fire shield shattered with a sound, but the momentum of the serpent's tail was also largely neutralized.

At the same time, his right hand struck out with another palm, hitting the serpent's body squarely. A dazzling flash of fire exploded on that layer of dark gold rock armor, leaving a charred palm print.

Stung by the pain, the Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python abruptly contracted its body, turning instead to spit a dense mouthful of fire fiend-qi toward Wang Chongyang.

That fire fiend-qi condensed into something substantial, and wherever it passed, even the air was burned into distortion and deformation.

Wang Chongyang retreated rapidly, the hem of his robe licked by the tongues of fire, charring a small patch. With a cold snort, instead of retreating, he advanced, hacking another palm toward the serpent's neck.

"Qingfu!"

Master Qingfu had long been waiting for this opportunity.

With hand seals formed by his hands, the spiritual power around his body turned into countless cyan lights as fine as spider silk, entangling the Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python from all directions.

Those cyan lights were as thin as gossamer, yet as tough as fine iron, wrapping layer upon layer around the serpent's body, tightening until that layer of rock armor clicked and creaked.

The Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python twisted frantically, swinging its tail, shaking its head, and spitting fire fiend-qi. Those cyan lights were snapped layer by layer only to be wrapped around again, endless and unceasing.

Master Qingfu's beard trembled slightly, and a fine layer of sweat seeped from his temples. Using the power of Foundation Establishment to trap a peer-level Yao Beast consumed a tremendous amount of energy, but he could hold on.

In his lifetime, he had dealt with more Yao Beasts than humans. The thicker-skinned this kind of beast was, the less one should confront it head-on; one had to slowly wear it down with a soft knife.

"Shouren, right now!"

Wang Shouren had long been waiting on the flank for quite some time.

Behind him, Wang Yaowu, Wang Yaowen, and Wang Shouyi formed hand seals simultaneously. Four rays of spiritual light soared into the sky from the four of them, intertwining in the air into a rapidly spinning wheel of light.

The Lesser Five Elements Combined Attack Array lacked the metal position, reducing its power by a certain discount, but the four of them made up for the shortcoming using the principle of mutual generation among the four elements of thunder, fire, earth, and wood.

Thunder generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates wood, and wood in turn feeds thunder. The spiritual powers of the four elements circulated repeatedly within the Formation, stacking layer upon layer, and finally poured entirely into Wang Shouren's body.

Wang Shouren felt the spiritual power surging through his Meridians swell by nearly double. Clenching his right fist, scarlet-gold thunder light condensed into a layer of dark-gold thunder film on his fist edge.

The true intent of Fierce Thunder was urged to the extreme, and the thunder light spread from his fist to his entire arm, with electrical arcs snapping and crackling.

He stepped forward, his body lowering slightly, and his fist thrust out like a dragon. Scarlet-gold thunder light exploded from his fist edge, transforming into a thunder pillar as thick as a bucket, striking squarely at the fissure under the neck of the Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python that had been scorched by the Scarlet Flame Palm.

The thunder light penetrated right through the armor, piercing the Yao Beast's neck and exploding a ball of charred blood mist from the other side.

The power of this punch had faintly surpassed the limit of the Qi Refinement Stage. Although it still fell short of a Foundation Establishment strike, it was enough to break open the Yao Beast's weakest defense.

The Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python let out an extremely miserable hiss, its serpent body suddenly tensing straight, snapping all the cyan light wrapped around its body.

Under the excruciating pain, it completely fell into madness, raising its serpent head with vertical pupils full of fury and unwillingness, opening its bloody maw to bite straight down at Wang Shouren's head.

That bite was as fast as lightning, and the venom dripping from its fangs sizzled upon falling into the magma. If bitten solidly, let alone Qi Refining Cultivators, even Foundation Establishment Cultivators would lose a layer of skin.

Having succeeded with a single blow, Wang Shouren's figure had already retreated rapidly backward, but how swift and fierce was the death throe counterattack of a Tier 2 Yao Beast? The serpent's head had chased to above his head in an instant.

His pupils constricted slightly, and just as he was about to urge the Fierce Thunder True Body to hard-resist this strike, a gray shadow had already blocked in front of him.

"Do not harm my grandson!"

Wang Chongyang let out a cold snort, striking out with both palms simultaneously.

Two Scarlet Flame Palm prints slapped the sides of the serpent's head from left and right, knocking that massive serpent head into a violent deviation to one side.

His timing for this strike was grasped just right; it was precisely the lateral gap exposed when the serpent's head pursued Wang Shouren.

The Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python was dazed and dizzy from these two palms, its serpent body tottering, and the rock armor scales at its seven-inch fatal spot also revealed an extremely thin fissure amidst this swaying.

Master Qingfu had been waiting for this very instant.

Unbeknownst when, he had closed in to the side of the serpent, holding an ink-green short blade in his hand. The blade body was barely a foot long, yet its edge gleamed with a heart-palpitating cold light.

His figure flashed like a ghost, and the blade light precisely stabbed through that rock armor fissure, sinking all the way to the hilt. Then his wrist turned, and the blade body violently twisted inside the serpent's body.

The hiss of the Ridge-backed Fire-scaled Python abruptly ceased.

The madness and unwillingness in its vertical pupils froze into two hollow blood holes. Its massive serpent body twitched violently a few times, and then crashed heavily into the magma lake, stirring up a sky-full of plasma splashes.

Wang Shouren landed on the lake shore, his chest rising and falling slightly. The sleeve of his right arm had been scorched into flying ash by the thunder light, revealing the crimson skin beneath.