Chapter 1851

Of course, Elder Ning was no soft target. With a toad-like forward leap—though the movement was ungraceful—he at least bounded out of the staff's wind radius; otherwise, had he remained on the ground, he would inevitably have been affected by the ground-shaking effect generated by the staff's aura. The Ghost Ape's first strike missed, followed immediately by four diagonal slashes so fast they left afterimages. Among ancient demon immortals, those born with immense natural strength—such as tigers, leopards, bears, and apes—mostly played to their strengths, eventually walking the path of proving the Dao through force. Their greatest strength was their most ferocious divine ability, unlike humans who relied more on spells.

Nowadays, as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth recovers, the monsters are once again picking up the wisdom of their ancestors.

He Lingchuan had even custom-tailored a set of "Wind-Splashing Staff Arts" for the Ghost Ape. The first four moves were peerlessly brave, and combined with the Ghost Ape's strength, they could drive an enemy into the dirt like a pile-driver. Adding a final sweep, the result would be either a cracked skull or a fractured spine.

Elder Ning did not excel in physical strength and had no desire to clash head-on, so he seized the opportunity to backhand and fling out his secondary wheel.

His Sun-Moon Twin Wheels were a pair; the primary wheel had been thrown to kill Dong Rui, and now the secondary wheel sought the Ghost Ape.

This object also arrived in an instant. The Ghost Ape hastily changed its sweep into a swing, striking the flying wheel as if hitting a ball.

*Clang! * Sparks flew in all directions.

The flying wheel was knocked into a low arc, heading straight for Xiao Wencheng.

The Ghost Ape itself was also shaken back three large steps, its staff humming, and the webbing between its left thumb and forefinger split open.

As expected of an immortal's technique; a hurried finger-flick still held such great power. It hurriedly lowered its head to glance—fortunately, fortunately, the purple-gold staff was intact.

At this moment, the primary wheel also flew back. The twin wheels combined, dancing through the air and leaving the Ghost Ape in a flurry.

The Black Armor Army on the sidelines couldn't see the wheels themselves at all, only seeing streaks of flying shadows around the Ghost Ape, with the sound of *ding-lang* ringing incessantly and sparks splashing everywhere.

The Ghost Ape roared repeatedly; if Elder Ning could understand it, he would know it was roaring: "Hurry up!"

Because it saw Elder Ning take out another palm-sized feather fan, which clearly didn't look like a benevolent item.

These immortals in the Inverted Sea didn't have to worry about spiritual energy, and they truly possessed many treasures.

Sure enough, Elder Ning grabbed the fan and gave it a shake; it grew to the size of a banana leaf, and then he gave the Ghost Ape two swipes.

A vertical swipe, then a horizontal one.

A gale rose instantly, mixed with countless wind blades and frost swords, surpassing the Noon Divine Wind; the top three feet of soil were instantly scraped away.

Looking at Elder Ning's twin wheels, their flight trajectory remained unaffected.

The Ghost Ape was very clever; the moment the other party waved the fan, it hurriedly side-jumped. Otherwise, being touched by those wind blades wouldn't just be a matter of losing its footing—even with its copper skin and steel bones, it might not have been able to withstand it.

To fight the twin wheels while enduring such wind blades would exhaust it to death.

Elder Ning chased it, fanning through ninety degrees. The Ghost Ape failed to dodge the final strike, and the tail of the wind swept its left leg, causing it to stumble and slide.

Its left leg was dripping with blood.

The Sun Wheel found an opportunity and dove down to slice at its neck.

Thanks to a blur rushing in from the side, the wheel was violently knocked away.

The Bat Demon Puppet finally found an opportunity to strike.

However, those few strands of gale force gathered without dispersing, blowing far away and causing even Zhu Xiuer to tilt to one side.

With a dozen *ding* sounds, over a dozen sharp spikes on the spider legs were shaved off by the frost swords. Although Zhu Xiuer could not close her eyes, her rows of eyes could retract directly into her body to avoid being blinded by the wind and frost.

Xiao Wencheng seized the opportunity, and the Jumang Sword emitted golden light again, pinning Zhu Xiuer in place.

This divine ability couldn't be used at any time, but if it couldn't pin He Xiao, couldn't it pin this giant spider? As the golden light appeared, Zhu Xiuer's form was indeed pinned, motionless.

Xiao Wencheng was just about to urge the golden sword to slay her when the hairs on his back suddenly stood on end: something was attacking from behind! He had his spiritual sense fully open, and the area behind him had been empty, yet somehow a smoke ring opened, and a massive head emerged, biting toward his neck.

This head had spiraling horns, a face five parts like a tiger with a pointed snout, a mane on top, and whiskers under its jaw; it emerged silently, and there was no killing intent before it pounced.

Xiao Wencheng turned sideways without thinking, grabbing his horsetail whisk with his right hand and lashing it toward the monster's eyes.

The creature tilted its head, and the whisk only hit its face, yet it swept the creature directly away!

Only then was it clear: this was a monster like a red tiger, covered in red spikes instead of fur, and the sound of the whisk hitting it was like striking worn leather.

Xiao Wencheng also let out a *hiss*, drawing a cold breath.

It turned out that the monster had also left two long claw marks on his right arm, deep to the bone, with golden blood surging wildly.

An ancient great immortal possessed a body of indestructible diamond; even divine weapons might not be able to cut through a layer of oil, let alone the robe he wore, which was a treasure garment with the three functions of force reduction, defense, and protection.

Looking again, red light flickered within the wound; this was the monster's demonic power lingering, desperately trying to drill into his meridians to wreak havoc.

No, it wasn't just demonic power!

"Hou?" Xiao Wencheng was, after all, knowledgeable; even if this monster's image wasn't exactly like the giant Hou under the Black Dragon God, he could basically recognize it. "No, not just... this is a Ji Beast!"

Lingshan and the Tiangong had been fighting for years; since the medieval period, the Tiangong had always used powerful monsters and divine blood to cultivate some beasts called Ji Beasts. Xiao Wencheng was certainly very clear about this, and just now the Tiangong team had released several Ji Beasts, which he and his fellow disciples had spent great effort to kill off completely.

But those Ji Beasts were not as powerful, agile, or difficult to deal with as these few in Dong Rui's hands!

Then again, the only thing Dong Rui had kept by his side in the Inverted Sea was the small monkey version of the Ghost Ape; no one knew he was still hiding several trump cards.

The Red Light Hou was struck away by the whisk, twisting its body and lashing its tail in mid-air, landing on all fours. It had a long wound from its forehead to its temple, but from the moment it turned to pounce again, the wound hissed and began to heal.

However, it didn't rush out two steps before its body shrank smaller and smaller; originally larger than a leopard, by the time it was about to pounce in front of Xiao Wencheng, it was only the size of a cat.

This was the power of the whisk bestowed by Qianhuan; within the Inverted Sea, that is, within this world created by Qianhuan, the wounds caused by the whisk could make the enemy smaller and weaker, with a duration of up to half a stick of incense.

This whisk was originally used to deal with Shenxi meteorites, and now it was just as effective against flesh and blood.

So Xiao Wencheng's next move was to take out the purple-gold bowl, intending to collect the cat-like Red Light Hou inside.

However, before the bowl could be aimed at the Red Light Hou, this little thing suddenly spat out a smoke ring forward.

It had shrunk, and the smoke ring it spat out was also tiny, looking like it had no power. However, the Red Light Hou didn't expect it to injure the enemy, but rather dove into it itself.

The purple-gold bowl covered it, only brushing away the smoke ring.

The Red Light Hou was gone.

It left inexplicably, just as it had arrived suddenly.

Xiao Wencheng frowned; the Ji Beast's divine ability was very similar to the Goddess Fenghe's spatial folding divine art. Considering that Ji Beasts were monsters transformed using divine blood, was there some connection between the two? However, he had no time to think carefully; the Earth Cave Spider Queen behind him was no soft target, and his true target was He Lingchuan.

Logically, Jumang's golden light could pin Zhu Xiuer for up to seven breaths, but Wanqi Feng, not far away, threw over a Heaven-Turning Seal. This object spun a few times in the air, expanding from a seal to the size of a door panel, and crashed straight into the Jumang Sword.

Wanqi Feng himself couldn't stop this divine sword, but the moment the Heaven-Turning Seal blocked in front of it, the golden light was indeed interrupted. This was, after all, an ancient magic treasure salvaged from True Person Minghui's junkyard; Jumang's golden light couldn't possibly shine through it in a second.

By the time the Jumang Sword split the Heaven-Turning Seal in two, the Earth Cave Spider Queen had also broken free and immediately jumped to attack Xiao Wencheng, just in time to take over from the Red Light Hou.

Entangled tightly by her, Xiao Wencheng couldn't spare a hand to kill He Lingchuan at all.

Give him a little more time, and he would naturally be able to defeat Zhu Xiuer.

But the problem was, the ancestor in his sea of consciousness couldn't wait! Just at this moment, Xiao Wencheng heard Elder Ning shout loudly: "Senior Brother, He Xiao has escaped!"

Xiao Wencheng turned in shock, and sure enough, he saw that the most critical target was missing from the battlefield.

Zhu Xiuer and the Red Light Hou were holding him back, the Ghost Ape, the Bat Demon Puppet, and the Black Armor Army were holding back Elder Ning, yet He Xiao had vanished without a trace.

Just now he had been fighting the Blood Demon; the Blood Demon had fled, and He Xiao seemed to have followed.

Xiao Wencheng was so angry he almost vomited blood, forming seals to summon the Blood Demon, but this summons was like a clay ox entering the sea; the other party simply refused to show its face.

After urging it three or four times, the Blood Demon finally transmitted a trace of palpitation through the contract: "Not coming back, not coming back! The contract I made with you does not include killing He Xiao!"

Therefore, the contract had no mandatory effect on it.

It was difficult to summon the sand table during battle, so Xiao Wencheng had no choice but to point at the Jumang golden sword, letting it fly into the air, where its light flared brilliantly.

The ruins of broken wood and tiles all became transparent under its intense light, while the living beings on the battlefield were plated with a layer of golden light, appearing exceptionally bright.

Under the illumination of this perspective light, if He Lingchuan were nearby, he would have nowhere to hide and would definitely be scanned out.

But Xiao Wencheng released his spiritual sense to check carefully, yet still couldn't find a shadow of this person.

Could he be hiding underground? If He Xiao had run out of the Divine Fire Barrier's range, they would never be able to catch him again—although this possibility was very small.

On this side, Elder Ning was also quite furious at being entangled by the Ghost Ape and the Bat Demon Puppet; these two things were too agile, and their attack angles were quite tricky.

The Black Armor Army wasn't idle either, drawing their weapons and coming up to fight.

In normal times, Elder Ning wouldn't have spent much effort cleaning up these dozen people, but he had consumed too much energy in the previous battle and was held tightly by the two great demon puppets, so the Black Armor Army's attacks were as annoying as bees.

One or two stings wouldn't kill a person, but it hurt to be stung.

The Black Armor Army fought him, but they scattered and attacked desperately.

In less than five breaths, one person was swept away by the gale force raised by the feather fan; the wind blades and frost swords sliced him into a thousand pieces, and when he landed, his flesh and armor flew off together, leaving almost nothing but a bloody skeleton.

An immortal's divine ability was just this sharp; ordinary cultivators found it hard to resist.

But Elder Ning was also secretly shocked; the guards brought by He Xiao were fearless of death, and even with their companions dying miserably before their eyes, they remained focused and orderly in their attacks. *Sigh*, if their Illusion Sect had this quality of military personnel, the Tiangong team would have long since ceased to be their match!

Just at this moment, the Bat Demon Puppet finally made a mistake in the high-intensity battle:

It dodged slowly, was grazed on the wing by the gale force, instantly lost its balance, and crashed to the ground.