198: Chapter 197 Captured Alive! What exactly was this monster made of?

The humanoid Void Creature shook its right claw, which had been numbed by the impact against the Taixu Shield.

Its five pitch-black nails emitted a buzzing vibration in the air.

It didn't rush to launch a second attack; instead, it stepped through the Void Realm, moving laterally to put some distance between itself and Lin Feng.

Its walking posture—pausing every two steps and changing direction on the third—carried a certain probing rhythm, as if it were measuring the optimal attack distance between itself and Lin Feng.

Lin Feng did not give chase.

The monster's speed was much faster than his; a reckless pursuit would only expose more openings.

Based on the speed and power the monster had displayed earlier, its combat strength was at least at the Domain Lord Level or higher.

But he felt something was off—from the moment it appeared until now, the monster had been observing him, and its strikes felt more like probes than a full-out life-and-death struggle.

He drew the dragon slaying sword with his right hand, the golden patterns on the blade lighting up under the grey, gloomy sky.

His left hand rested on the taixu sword scabbard on his back, but he didn't draw it yet.

This sword had a restraining effect on Void Creatures. His battle with the Taotie had proven that the taixu sword's Void Authority could deal extra damage to dark-attribute and earth-attribute creatures. Although the humanoid creature before him wasn't a pure Void creation, at least part of its body was composed of components made of Void energy.

He would first confirm if it could be killed, then consider capturing it alive for proper study.

The thing suddenly accelerated.

It didn't sprint in a straight line; instead, it performed zigzag maneuvers through the air, its figure trailing afterimages across the dark sky.

In the span of two blinks, it had already circled to Lin Feng's right side, its right claw splayed open as five blade-like nails lunged straight for his temple.

The speed was so great that the air was torn apart with a sharp sonic boom, but Lin Feng's Elemental Perception was faster than his eyes—the moment the thing began its zigzag, he had already captured its movement trajectory.

He sidestepped to avoid the claw blades while simultaneously swinging the dragon slaying sword upward in a diagonal slash, the golden sword light precisely cutting toward the opponent's wrist joint.

The angle of this strike wasn't particularly tricky, but the timing was perfect—right at the moment the opponent had fully extended its claw, its center of gravity leaning forward, its old momentum spent and new strength not yet gathered.

Clang!

Sparks flew in all directions.

The edge of the dragon slaying sword collided with the five pitch-black nails, the sound of clashing metal making the air vibrate with a hum.

Lin Feng felt the counter-shock force travel back through the blade—he had used seventy percent of his strength in this strike, but the feedback was much larger than expected, indicating that the monster's arm strength was at least several times stronger than a human of the same size.

The humanoid creature was knocked back two steps, and one of the nails on its right claw was sliced off by the dragon slaying sword.

No blood flowed from the break; instead, a wisp of extremely thin, grey-white mist seeped out.

The mist drifted in the air for less than two seconds before being assimilated and disappearing into the dense surrounding Void energy—exactly like the grey-white husks on the Single-Horned Dogs he had just slain.

This indicated that its nails were not actual biological tissue, but rather products of solidified Void energy.

“The nails are solidified Void energy, just like the tail of a Void Stone Scorpion.”

Lin Feng quickly noted this characteristic in his mind.

He had previously seen in the bestiary that the Stone Scorpion's petrification ray was a result of solidified Void energy; once destroyed, it wouldn't bleed but would instead evaporate.

However, this monster's nail strength was much higher than a Stone Scorpion's tail. Although he had sliced off a small section with that strike, the counter-shock from the blade left his wrist slightly numb even now.

In other words, the strength of Void energy after it solidified varied between different creatures.

The “Materials” of this monster were more Advanced than those of a Stone Scorpion.

The humanoid creature looked down at its partially severed nail, then looked up and bared its teeth.

The ball of grey-white Void energy in its mouth suddenly brightened, spinning rapidly and emitting a humming sound.

The next second, it spat, and a shockwave of Void energy as thick as an arm shot from the energy ball in its mouth, blasting straight toward Lin Feng's face.

The power of this shockwave far exceeded the short pulses released by those Single-Horned Dogs at close range—if the Single-Horned Dogs' pulses were drops of water, then this thing was a bucket of high-pressure liquid silver splashed right in his face.

Lin Feng chose not to take it head-on.

He tapped his toes and flew backward and to the side; the Void shockwave grazed his chest and slammed into the collapsed steel frame of the television tower behind him.

There was no explosion; the part of the steel frame that was hit seemed to be erased at a molecular level, vanishing instantly.

The break was as smooth as if it had been cut by a laser, with a ring of dark purple Void energy ripples slowly diffusing around the edges.

This scene made Lin Feng even more certain of his judgment—this wasn't an ordinary Void Breath. This annihilation effect was an Advanced ability only possessed by mid-tier creatures of the Void Corridor.

“This thing can spit Annihilation Breath!”

Xiao Guang cried out in alarm from Lin Feng's shoulder.

“Lin Feng, be careful! This kind of attack is on the same level as the Taotie's Dark Breath. Although the Taixu Shield can block it, the consumption will be enormous!”

“I know.”

Lin Feng steadied himself, his left hand simultaneously tracing a circle in the air before him.

The golden light shield expanded once more.

He couldn't keep taking hits passively; this fellow had more offensive means than expected—claw blades for close combat, Annihilation Breath for long range, and incredible speed.

He had to find a way to restrict its movement, otherwise, the rhythm of the battle would be entirely in its control.

“Xiao Guang, set up an array to trap it! Use the Six Harmonies Heaven-Sealing Array, don't let it run around!”

Xiao Guang immediately hopped off his shoulder and hovered in mid-air, hands forming seals and mouth chanting incantations.

A dozen golden light beams shot from its fingertips, weaving into a massive net of light in the air.

After spinning twice in the Void Realm, the light net suddenly expanded, spreading out in all directions like a cage that was slowly closing in.

The Six Harmonies Heaven-Sealing Array—one of the strongest enemy-trapping Formations of the Taixu Dojo. Previously, during the decisive battle with the Zhou Family, Xiao Guang had used this Formation to trap Zhou Tiannan in his blood-boiling state. Although it was eventually forcibly burned through by his Heaven-Burning Purple Flame, that was Xiao Guang's first time setting an array in modern combat, and the mana transitions hadn't been smooth.

Now, after that battle, Xiao Guang's mastery over Formations had improved significantly. The density and closing speed of the light net had been upgraded—the golden light beams were woven much tighter. In the past, one could see the trajectory of each strand of light with the naked eye, but now the entire net looked like a piece of translucent amber rapidly solidifying in the air.

The humanoid creature sensed the golden light beams closing in on the surrounding space and alertly tried to charge out.

Its speed was indeed fast; in an instant, it reached the edge of the light net and slashed its right claw fiercely against it.

But the defense of the Six Harmonies Heaven-Sealing Array was omnidirectional—the section of the net it struck immediately lit up with a triple backlash of lightning, frost, and fire, blasting its right claw into a charred mess.

It let out a low, angry growl, and the Void energy ball in its mouth lit up again as an Annihilation Breath slammed into the light net.

The golden light net vibrated violently where it was hit, several layers of runes being annihilated by the breath, looking as though a hole was about to be breached.

But this time, Lin Feng wouldn't give it another chance.

Taking advantage of the moment the monster's figure stalled from the backlash explosion, he turned into a golden afterimage and charged into the interior of the light net.

He naturally couldn't use the Law of Heaven and Earth, as his Meridians hadn't recovered yet.

But he still had speed—the acceleration effect of the light element stacked with the Wind Wings, more than doubling his sprint speed.

The dragon slaying sword slashed down diagonally from the upper right, aiming straight for the humanoid creature's neck.

Lin Feng was playing for keeps with this strike, holding nothing back—the golden patterns on the blade glowed to the extreme, with the faint shadow of a flood dragon swimming within the blade.

The humanoid creature had just recovered from the backlash when it saw a longsword wrapped in golden flames already slashing before it. In its haste, it could only raise its left claw to parry.

Pshht!

The sword edge cut into the carapace of solidified Void energy, producing a sharp cutting sound.

Grey-white mist gushed from the wound, many times denser than when the nail was severed earlier.

With this one strike, Lin Feng nearly severed its entire left claw—cutting in from the wrist and slicing through to the middle of the forearm before being caught by its bone.

It wasn't a bone made of solidified Void energy, but a real biological bone—when the blade cut in, he clearly felt the specific resistance of dense bone matter.

This fellow had real bones inside, and they weren't human bones—human bones couldn't possibly have such high hardness to go toe-to-toe with the dragon slaying sword.

The humanoid creature let out a shrill howl, ignoring its wound and opening its mouth to fire an Annihilation Breath point-blank at Lin Feng's head.

The distance was too close, less than half a meter.

Lin Feng's pupils suddenly contracted, and the Taixu Shield instantly appeared before him.

Boom!

Both of his hands were numbed by the shock as the Taixu Shield took an Annihilation Breath head-on, dense cracks appearing across the surface of the shield.

But it managed to block it.

Lin Feng didn't dare to continue the close-quarters struggle, using the recoil from the block to dart back over a dozen meters, re-establishing distance.

He glanced at the Taixu Shield—that point-blank breath had directly depleted nearly half of the shield's durability.

At this rate of consumption, the Taixu Shield would shatter after blocking at most one more shot.

“This guy is much tougher than expected.”

Xiao Guang gritted its teeth while maintaining the Formation nearby, its voice sounding a bit strained.

“But I'm fine on my end—although its Annihilation Breath can damage my light net, the mana cost to repair it is much lower than setting up a new array. As long as you don't let it stand there and keep blasting the same spot, I can lock it down for at least ten minutes.”

Just as Xiao Guang finished speaking, Xiao Jin, who had been perched on Lin Feng's right shoulder, suddenly let out an urgent squeak.

Its purple antennae stood high, with faint purple electric sparks dancing at the tips.

It was warning Lin Feng—something was rapidly approaching.

Not from the sky, not from the ground, but from underground.

And they were extremely fast, with more than one of them.

Lin Feng looked down at the ruined ground beneath his feet.

The Void Stone Scorpions that had been lurking in the deeper layers had, at some point, all floated up to a position about ten meters underground.

Their senses had mostly been covered by the Breath-Hiding Array, but now they were no longer hesitating—why?

Because they had heard the roar of that fused monster when it was slashed by the dragon slaying sword.

That wasn't a cry of pain.

It was a summons.

Just as the leader-class Single-Horned Dog had commanded its pack to retreat, this humanoid monster was also using its own method to summon more distant Void Creatures to come and support it.

“Can't delay any longer.”

Lin Feng gripped the hilt of the dragon slaying sword with one hand and drew the taixu sword from his back with the other.

Holding both swords, silver-white ancient runes appeared on the blade of the taixu sword in his left hand, while the golden patterns of the dragon slaying sword in his right hand lit up simultaneously.

He took a deep breath and pushed off hard with both feet, charging into the golden light net like a cannonball.

The taixu sword swept horizontally from the left, the silver-white runes leaving traces along its trajectory that slightly distorted the space itself.

The humanoid creature, having suffered greatly from the dragon slaying sword, dodged to the side to avoid the taixu sword's sweep.

But just as it dodged to the left, Lin Feng's dragon slaying sword in his right hand already slashed down.

The twin swords didn't attack in turns—the taixu sword's sweep and the dragon slaying sword's downward slash were launched almost simultaneously, one to seal its movement and the other to deliver the killing blow.

Pshht!

The dragon slaying sword slammed into its right shoulder, the blade cutting into the shoulder blade as grey-white mist and red blood sprayed out together.

Red blood—it wasn't human blood, but it was indeed the blood of some biological creature.

This proved that its skeleton and tissues were actual biological parts, not Void creations made out of thin air.

The humanoid creature was forced to one knee by this strike, letting out a low, muffled groan.

It looked up at Lin Feng—for the first time, the look in its eyes changed from its previous coldness to genuine confusion.

Like a hunter encountering something even more ferocious than itself, it couldn't reconcile the human before it with the prey it had anticipated.

Lin Feng didn't give it a chance to breathe.

The tip of the taixu sword touched the ground as he used the leverage to halt his forward momentum; meanwhile, the dragon slaying sword was held against its throat—the blade pressed against its skin, pushing down slightly without piercing through.

“Don't move,”

Lin Feng said.

The humanoid creature knelt on the ground, blood still seeping from its right shoulder wound, its left arm nearly severed, and the wound on its chest from the taixu sword also bleeding.

But these injuries no longer affected its actions—because the golden light net of the Six Harmonies Heaven-Sealing Array had already shrunk to be only slightly larger than its body, every strand of the light net pressing tightly against its skin. Any slight movement would trigger the quadruple backlash of electricity, lightning, ice, and fire.

It stared into Lin Feng's eyes, the Void energy ball in its mouth still spinning, but it no longer had the space or time to fire it.

Xiao Guang descended from the air and stood on Lin Feng's shoulder, hands still maintaining the seal position, looking down at the completely trapped monster.

“Caught it. This fellow's skeleton, heart, and even some of its internal organs—they're all pieced together. Arm blades from an Iron Bone Clan warrior, a monster's tail hook, and some parts I can't even recognize right now, all solidified and bonded together by Void energy. Lin Feng, what on earth is this thing? Who would use so many parts from different races to piece together a thinking monster?”