Chapter 448: A Hard Blow on The Enemy

　　Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

　　Ao Zu’s eyes grew cold. Ignoring the mark on its claw—which was now scintillating in golden light—Ao Zu went for Shi Mu’s head, possibly aiming to crush the man with brute force the same it did to the crystal skeleton from before.

　　Shi Mu sneered at its attempt. Not even going to dodge it, he balled his ablaze left hand into a swinging fist.

　　A white mirage of a fist about half-foot large and unnaturally corporeal-looking sprang from his motion, which left a series of popping sounds on its path while the air particles twisted and vibrated.

　　Bang!

　　The two attacks met together in the middle, erupting into a racket not unlike a muffled thunder. Then, at the very next second, a clear “snap!” rose above the din.

　　Ao Zu’s gigantic body was flying backward over ten-odd yard away, a large, chilling cavity spotted in the middle of its talons as flesh and blood spurted out from the wound.

　　Shi Mu himself was no better. He was flying with his back first from midair like a fallen asteroid, making an arc in midair before shooting straight into the ocean completed with a sky-scrapping tidal wave.

　　A faint but unmistakable whimper escaped from Ao Zu’s throat. It stared at its battered talon and let out an angry bellow as it turned its nastiest stink-eye to where Shi Mu had fallen, completely consumed by the desire to see this wretched human personally shredded!

　　It was about to make a move when its peripheral vision caught an object from far.

　　Yan Luo was still standing at where she was, her hand flailing and twirling around her as she infused more and more purple flames into the silver armored maiden energy construct behind her. With every new infusion, the figure became clearer and clearer.

　　Ao Zu’s gaze intensified with a cold glint, and started towards where Yan Luo was.

　　It didn’t manage to advance very far—despite having no problem completely powering through hundreds of undead creature getting into its way—because right before its eyes, the ocean broke open with a bang!

　　“You’re not going anywhere!”

　　A figure shot out from within the bursting white blooms of waves like a bolt before landing before Ao Zu. It was Shi Mu.

　　He looked a bit pale on the face while many of the golden scales in his body had shattered and peeled off, but fortunately he was not fatally wounded in any way.

　　Casting aside the used Spirit Stones from his hand, the Meteoric Iron Black Blade once again flashed with a coat of black and white light while the Crimson Ape Energy Construct flashed behind Shi Mu’s body. This time, a few of the white flames in his left hand merged with the Energy Construct as well.

　　Enraged, Ao Zu exhaled a stream of infernal draconic breath while swinging its other talons, projecting several large golden beams at Shi Mu. The latter, meanwhile, reacted by waving his arm forcefully, dispatching his own Energy Construct towards the attack as two gigantic broadswords of flames manifested in its hands.

　　Boom!

　　With the power of the white flame, the Crimson Ape’s strength was further amplified, demonstrated by how easily it was able to slice through the golden draconic breath… though ultimately, the force of the stream did manage to shove it away.

　　Shi Mu took the opening, growling in a low voice while brandishing his black blade. Thirteen blade beams hurled out from his swing in neat layers clashing with the godlen claw attacks.

　　Kerack! Kerack! Kerack!

　　The thirteen blade beams shattered upon impact while the golden claw mirage continued its course towards Shi Mu, albeit in a much slower, dimmer fashion.

　　Shi Mu’s body rocked violently as the attack landed, flying backwards over several dozen yards. His protective golden scales burst as blood gushed out from his mouth.

　　Still, his spirit appeared to be undaunted. Letting out a loud cry, the flaming wings behind his back sprung out and stabilized his body. He flapped his wings and once again charged towards Ao Zu, blocking it on its path.

　　“Hoo, looks like you have a death wish, boy! And perhaps I should grant you that!”

　　Ao Zu was truly apoplectic by this point. In its rage, golden light shone out of its body. The air was cackling with the sounds of electricity.

　　Then rings of golden light spread out to all sides while the space around it vibrated violently, even causing black cracks, exposing the void, to form.

　　Shi Mu froze. Ao Zu’s secret technique was bound to be more than he could take, even if he turned into the white ape at this moment.

　　But still…

　　He turned, spying a glance at Yan Luo, and his eyes were filled with determination once more. His left hand was blazing with white flames as he put every mote of his Real Qi into it.

　　“—Die!” Ao Zu boomed in a low growl, and shot out a single beam of golden light from the tip of its horn. It was a very, very fine beam, which meant that the intensity of the light was supercharged to its maximum, causing the gold to even look like white out of its intense power.

　　Pewwwt!

　　The golden ray melted into the void, causing a few cracks of darkness to tear out of space.

　　Then, at the very next second, a cavity of pure darkness ripped open before Shi Mu and the golden ray shot out from it towards Shi Mu’s head.

　　“Face me!”

　　Shi Mu gritted his teeth, the white flame around his left hand flaring wildly as he balled his hand into a fist, and clouted his hand onto that golden ray.

　　Kaboom!

　　An earth-shaking rumble ensued as Shi Mus fist collided with the golden ray, causing a swirling mix of white and gold to sprout upwards into the sky above, causing the air around it to distort and tremble.

　　In the middle of the collision, the fabric of space was torn into a large gaping hole of pure void. Black cracks jagged out of the hole as spiritual energy from the environment swarmed into the sudden empty space.

　　Shi Mu’s body was cruising backward in a terrible speed, leaving a trail of shattered golden scales in his wake as well as a flying stream of blood oozed out from his wounds as if he was a doll stuffed with blood. He couldn’t even feel his own body.

　　It was fortunate that Shi Mu was an ardent practitioner of the Art of the Almighty Ape Rebirth, who always happened to have golden scales protecting his most vital parts—that single collision could have killed hm several times over.

　　He turned a few unwitting somersaults in the air, blood still gushing out from his mouth as he did and landed about seventy to eighty yards away from the point of collision. The white lights of his flaming wings had already long vanished, reverting to their original size as they tried to stabilize his body.

　　“Huh?” A soft cry of surprise escaped Ao Zu’s mouth as it stared at Shi Mu. In its mind, this puny human should have turned into charcoal-grilled crisp by now.

　　The golden Jiao dragon’s own body was already very dim. It had exhausted much of its strength to perform that terrible technique from before.

　　Nonetheless, its eyes lit up brightly before its gigantic body dashed towards Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu was beyond terrified. He wanted to dodge out of the way, but his reservoir of real Qi in his dantian had already run dry. Not only that, he was being assaulted by an excruciating agony—he was in no shape of evading this at all!

　　Suddenly, a surge of strong undead aura swarmed through the air, engulfing the entire space and stopping even the gales that had broken out from the fight.

　　The surface of the ocean erupted as a large chain, made entirely of skeletons from the undead creatures, rose like a gargantuan python. It coiled, and trapped the golden Jiao dragon within its embrace in lightning speed.

　　The skeleton, glowing in grey light, was letting out a stream of harrowing wails, as if a dozen of banshees were crying out in despair.

　　Shocked, the golden Jiao dragon shone brightly as it tried to struggle. Its light grinded with the creature’s grey aura of death, emitting hair-standing squeaks.

　　The gigantic white bone chain was shaking violently as the Jiao dragon thrashed, but it remained clasped around the Jiao dragon.

　　Freed from the grip of the reaper, Shi Mu was stunned. It was then when a shroud of silver light suddenly descended on him, covering his body from head to toe. With a flash of silver, a figure appeared beside him.

　　Shi Mu’s joy was evident as he cried, “Yan Luo!”

　　As his body was continuously basked in the light, the wounds on his body healed quickly.

　　The silver flames enveloping Yan Luo had vanished completely, but the features of the Silver-armored Maiden Energy Construct had become lucid enough that one could mistake her as an actual person rather than an apparition.

　　On her hand, the long spear radiated dazzling purple light as well as a petrifying mien, as if the entire spear was about to become real.

　　Ao Zu let out a long, livid cry at the sight of Yan Luo and her Energy Construct, struggling even harder. The skeleton creaked and squeaked as jagged lines were starting to form.

　　Yan Luo’s eyes twinkled a little and waved. The Fallen Angel Desk hovering next to her instantly sprouted a gust of grey lights merging into the chain, stabilizing it. Then, she waved her hands and exhaled a single dart of purple light towards the Silver-armored Maiden Energy Construct.

　　The Maiden shone so brightly that she was brightening up half of the sky. Her eyes, gleaming in silver, locked onto the trapped Ao Zu as she raised her right arm where the spear was.

　　The tip of the spear flared in purple light like a sun. Then, the Maiden swung forward.

　　The purple spear shot out of her hand and straight to Ao Zu’s head. It was so fast it made ten-odd yards felt like a dozen inches. In its wake, a straight crack of darkness tore out from the fabric of space.

　　Ao Zu was petrified, but it could not escape nor evade the attack as the gigantic white bone chain had nailed it to its spot. Then, suddenly, a twisted expression crossed its face as it opened it jaw wide.

　　Tscch!

　　A golden fireball about the size of a human adult’s head shot out from its mouth with an ear-splitting racket. It flew, dragging a long golden trail, like a plummeting comet.

　　Shi Mu’s face froze. “Demon Pill!”

　　Kabommm!

　　A loud boom echoed through the sky as the Demon Pill collided with the purple spear. The space around it was instantly fragmenting as all sorts of lights mixed and broke out into a web spanning ten-odd yards as if it was a reenactment of what the world must have looked like when it was first produced from chaos.

　　This patch of ocean had experienced quite a slew of horrible blast, but this one took the cake. The sea and the sky were shaking at the tremor, causing waves of several stories high to rise while the sky darkened as clouds formed instantly. Tornadoes soon formed, scooping up the ocean from below.

　　It was the sight of an Armageddon.

　　As the calamitous combination of wind, waves, and shockwaves swept across, Yan Luo’s body became a blur. She wrapped her hands around Shi Mu, and the two were tossed to about ten-odd yards away like leaves in a storm before she finally managed to regain her footing.

　　It was then, within the chaos of lights, a golden silhouette snaked out shakily—it was none other than Ao Zu. It looked at its absolute worst by now, with majority of its golden scales shattered and peeled off. Even more of an aghast sight was a brand new bloody gash on its neck—it was so wide it could have severed the golden Jiao dragon into two.

　　A single dart of golden light flew out of its mouth—it was its internal orb. It was now dim and marred with a few cracks.

　　Ao Zu had suffered quite a significant blow enough to impair its basic ability of flight a little. It inhaled sharply and swallowed its Demon Pill back into its body.

　　Then Yan Luo pushed Shi Mu to a side, waving with one hand, causing the Silver-armored Maiden Energy Construct to scintillate brightly once more. Purple light encircled around her hand, as if they were about to manifest into another one of those purple spears.

　　A look of terror flashed through Ao Zu’s eyes. Its body was suddenly covered with a large drove of golden light before forming a cloud carrying its body towards the horizon. It was so fast, it only took seconds before it disappeared from sight.

　　Yan Luo’s eyes flashed, but she did not pursue it. She stood there, staring at the direction where Ao Zu headed, seemingly lost in thoughts.

　　Although he had exhausted every mote of his own Real Qi, Shi Mu had healed from much of his wounds. He leaped to her side and asked, “Yan Luo, why not pursue it?”

　　The silver light on her body flickered, and the Silver-armored Maiden disappeared.

　　Then, her body shuddered a little before she tumbled forward, her aura of life quickly dwindling by every second.

　　TL’S MUSING** (to editor: do not delete this part. TL’S THOUGHTS is a legitimate practice one can choose to engage in):

　　This first half of the story is just Shi Mu activating the status-buffing skill “Hormone+”, whereby he is exclusively fueled by the power of seeing a beautiful girl (bonus point: she is icy and only shows very little warmth *occasionally*, which is as rewarding as receiving a bland cup of soup in the middle of a months-long bitter winter. Everyone knows that it makes everything worth it if the unsmiling ice person shows that little bit of care to you, way more than the ones who had always smiled at you, right?). Forget them white ape essential blood or Nine-revolutions-whatever or etc., Shi Mu should just practice the Art of Collecting Girls Into My Harem And Have Them Travel With Me, which would ensure that he would ALWAYS activate Hormone+. Then every day is Heaven-rank, I guess…?

　　Meanwhile, latter half of the story is just Yan Luo being Captain Marvel, dazzling so much silver light that I’m surprised Shi Mu hadn’t gotten cataract yet after that much exposure.