175: Working together to defeat the ferocious beast, forging a bond of friendship.

The Golden Scaled Hou's terrifying Demonic Qi, at the Early Nascent Soul Stage, pressed down like a tangible wave, overwhelming everything. Gongsun Yu and Yun Shang instantly turned pale, their breathing becoming difficult. In those cold, vertical pupils flashed cruelty and mockery, as if it were savoring the final struggle of its prey under its claws.

"Form up!" Lin Xuan shouted in a low voice. Facing a Nascent Soul monster, he dared not show the slightest negligence.

The Taichu Sword Domain expanded instantly. Although it only covered a ten-zhang radius around him, the essence of evolving all laws and destroying all Daos within it forcefully carved out a relatively stable space amidst the Golden Scaled Hou's demonic Domain, greatly alleviating the pressure on everyone.

Su Wanqing and Qu Feiyan reacted extremely quickly, occupying the left and right sides of the sword Domain.

Su Wanqing's frost silence sword clanged as it left its sheath. Cold moonlight surged, and with the sword tip pointing at the Golden Scaled Hou, her frigid Sword Intent condensed without dispersing. She was not rushing to attack, but acting like the calmest hunter, searching for an opportunity for a one-hit kill. Her Taiyin Power had a subtle restraining effect on the violent blood energy of the Yao Beast.

Qu Feiyan placed the yaoguang immortal sound zither before her, her jade fingers plucking rapidly. It was no longer the bewitching, seductive music, but transformed into sharp, ear-piercing sound blades that pierced straight into the soul. Like invisible arrows, they struck first at the Golden Scaled Hou's head and eyes! She wanted to disrupt its Divine Sense and create opportunities for the others!

"Roar!"

The Golden Scaled Hou, annoyed by the irritating sound waves, let out a furious roar. Its massive body was exceptionally agile; it suddenly stood upright, and a giant claw covered in dark golden scales brought a shrill whistle that tore through space, smashing down towards Lin Xuan, who was at the very front! Where the claw wind passed, deep gullies were plowed into the ground!

Facing this claw capable of shattering a mountain peak, Lin Xuan's eyes were cold; he did not dodge or evade! The sin-severing sword appeared in his hand. He did not activate the War Intent of the Thunder Emperor, but instead condensed the power of the Taichu Sword Domain onto the blade, slashing diagonally upward against the descending giant claw! The sword light was like Chaos, seemingly capable of decomposing all things!

"Clang—!"

The ear-piercing sound of metal clashing rang through the mountain forest! Sparks flew everywhere!

Lin Xuan's figure shook violently, his hand numbed, and the ground beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, sinking half a foot! But relying on the weakening effect of the Taichu Sword Domain and his own formidable Physical Body, he forcefully blocked this claw! Although he was at a disadvantage, he had not been defeated!

A flash of surprise appeared in the Golden Scaled Hou's eyes; it seemed not to have expected this seemingly weak human to be able to block its strike.

Just as its old strength was spent and new strength had not yet arisen!

"Now!"

Su Wanqing moved! Her body transformed into a moon-white radiance, merging with her sword. The frost silence sword turned into a thread of cold energy condensed to the extreme, silently piercing toward the soft spot under the Golden Scaled Hou's armpit, exposed slightly by its strike! The scales there were relatively weak!

At the same time, Qu Feiyan's zither music changed again, turning into layers of illusions and seductive sounds, attempting to confuse the Golden Scaled Hou's mind and interfere with its judgment of Su Wanqing's fatal strike!

The Golden Scaled Hou was indeed disturbed by the illusory sounds, its reaction slowing by half a beat! By the time it sensed the fatal chill under its armpit, Su Wanqing's sword tip had already arrived!

"Puchi!"

The frigid Sword Qi instantly broke through the relatively soft scales and pierced into the flesh! Extreme cold spread crazily along the wound, causing the Golden Scaled Hou's movements to freeze abruptly, and it let out a roar of pain and anger!

"Thunder Gang Seal!"

Gongsun Yu, who had been ready for a long time, gave a sharp shout and smashed the thunder talisman—about the size of a baby's fist, with Chaos thunderclouds rolling inside—that she had been condensing for a long time, fiercely onto the joint of the Golden Scaled Hou's forelimb, which had been injured by Su Wanqing and was now sluggish!

"Boom-crack!!"

The Chaos Thunder Gang exploded! The thunder power, which was both supreme yang and supreme rigid, and contained the intent of destruction, surged wildly into the Golden Scaled Hou's body along the wound, forming a destructive attack of ice and fire together with Su Wanqing's Taiyin Power!

"Awoo—!!"

The Golden Scaled Hou let out an incomparably miserable howl. That forelimb was instantly blown into a bloody mess, scales flying, and its massive body staggered, nearly falling to the ground!

"Yun Shang!" Lin Xuan shouted.

"There... three inches below its reverse scale, there is an obscure node in its demonic power flow!" Yun Shang endured the pressure of the Nascent Soul demonic energy and, relying on the Star Spirit Body's keen perception of energy flow, quickly pointed out a weak spot in the Golden Scaled Hou's demonic power core!

A brilliant light exploded in Lin Xuan's eyes! Now was the time!

His spiritual power and blood energy surged to the extreme. The Taichu Sword Domain retracted and condensed onto the sin-severing sword. The rusty blade seemed to come alive, emitting a low and excited hum! He transformed into a chaotic sword rainbow that tore through the heavens and earth, following the sword, piercing directly at the node Yun Shang pointed out—below the Golden Scaled Hou's neck reverse scale!

This sword strike contained all of Lin Xuan's understanding of the Way of Primordial Beginning; it was evolution, and it was also the end!

The Golden Scaled Hou had just suffered heavy injuries, its demonic power was not flowing smoothly, and because its reverse scale had been exposed, its mind was greatly shaken. It was too late to dodge or defend!

"Puchi—!"

The chaotic sword rainbow, like a hot knife through butter, pierced into that node without any resistance!

The Sword Gang instantly exploded within its body, the Taichu Power frantically evolving, decomposing, and destroying its majestic demonic power and vitality!

The Golden Scaled Hou's roar came to an abrupt end. Its massive body began to twitch violently, and the cruelty and violence in its eyes were quickly replaced by disbelief and fear. It never imagined that it, a dignified Early Nascent Soul Stage monster, would fall into the hands of a few Golden Core Stage humans!

A moment later, the Golden Scaled Hou fell to the ground with a thud, its aura completely cut off. Only its wide-open single eye still retained the terror from before its death.

The battle ended, and the scene was a mess.

Lin Xuan panted slightly, his face somewhat pale; continuously invoking the Taichu Sword Domain at high intensity was quite draining for him. Su Wanqing and Qu Feiyan also had more than half of their spiritual power depleted. Gongsun Yu was almost exhausted, but her small face was full of excitement and pride. Yun Shang also breathed a sigh of relief, sitting on the ground with a pale face.

The five looked at each other, seeing in each other's eyes the relief of surviving a disaster, as well as a firmer trust and tacit understanding tempered by blood and fire.

"We... won?" Gongsun Yu still couldn't believe it; they had actually slain an Early Nascent Soul Stage monster!

"We won." Qu Feiyan walked to the Golden Scaled Hou's corpse, kicked the hard scales, her charming eyes shining with brilliance, "These are good things; the Golden Scaled Hou's scales, demon core, and essence blood are all rare treasures!" She had already begun to dissect it skillfully.

Su Wanqing walked to Lin Xuan's side, handed over a Medicinal Pill to restore spiritual power, and the concern in her cold eyes was clearly visible: "Are you okay?"

"It's fine, just a bit of overexertion." Lin Xuan took the Medicinal Pill, swallowed it, and smiled at her.

Watching Qu Feiyan dealing with the spoils, Su Wanqing caring for Lin Xuan, and Gongsun Yu also crowding to Lin Xuan's side, looking up with a face full of admiration: "Big Brother Lin, that sword strike of yours just now was amazing!"

Looking at the three women surrounding him, each with different styles but deep affection, Lin Xuan felt full of warmth and heroic spirit. He reached out, gently wrapped his arm around Su Wanqing's slender waist, rubbed Gongsun Yu's head, and smiled at Qu Feiyan who was busy: "Hard work, Senior Sister."

Su Wanqing's body stiffened slightly, but she didn't pull away, her ears turning slightly red. Gongsun Yu smiled sweetly, enjoying Lin Xuan's touch. Qu Feiyan looked back and rolled her eyes at Lin Xuan, humming: "It's good that you know your Senior Sister has worked hard~ The best Materials later must belong to me!"

After some rest and harvest, everyone's condition recovered quite a bit. The Golden Scaled Hou's corpse was cleaned up by Qu Feiyan, and all valuable Materials were collected, especially the demon core of the Nascent Soul, which contained massive demonic power and was worth a fortune.

After this battle, the team's confidence and cohesion reached a new height. Even an Early Nascent Soul Stage monster could be killed together; the depths of this Ten Thousand Monster Mountain Range no longer seemed so desperate.

After adjusting their breath, the five continued to head towards Qiwu Valley. Only this time, their footsteps were firmer, and the trust and bonds between them had been tempered to be more unbreakable in this dangerous Yao Domain.

However, they did not know that the moment the Golden Scaled Hou died, in an ancient cave deeper in the mountain range, a pair of even more terrifying eyes, like two blood-colored lakes, slowly opened and looked in their direction...