Chapter 227

Bang!

The mountain erupts, and dirt sprays everywhere.

Xiangliu pulls his head out of the mountain.

Nine pairs of frantic, greedy eyes stare at Mu Yi and the others.

In just a moment of eye contact, nine huge mouths open, spewing highly corrosive slime from Xiangliu's mouth in all directions.

Relying on Chu Yi's control of the rocks, the slime is blocked.

Not good!

Mu Yi watches the flood beneath Xiangliu's body with some apprehension.

He notices that the slime hasn't been completely consumed by corroding the rocks; a large portion falls into the flood, which is now gradually turning into a toxic swamp.

The surrounding mountains begin to collapse and sink under the erosion of this toxic swamp.

Chu Yi is using the mountain's power to restrain Xiangliu and drain its strength; anyone can see that this Xiangliu has just broken its seal, even swallowing earth and stone, and is clearly at the brink of exhaustion.

If they can first expend a round by leveraging the terrain, it will be easier to deal with later.

Ao Mo manipulates the water flow, unleashing various water‑evading spells, but they have no effect on Xiangliu; Xiangliu itself is a master of water control, and even this one, though not the ancient rampaging one, is beyond what the young dragon Ao Mo can contend with.

Conversely, Chu Yi, using the Mountain God's power and mountain control, and the Five Elements principle of earth overcoming water, inflicts considerable damage on Xiangliu.

However, regardless of the attack, Xiangliu's wounds heal at a visibly rapid speed.

Unlike the sea monsters they previously faced, Xiangliu's vital point is not on its head.

Chu Yi manipulates earth and stone, delivering a blow that blows up one of Xiangliu's heads, but the next moment it almost fully restores, showing no sign of decay.

After probing for a while, Mu Yi roughly understands Xiangliu's capabilities.

It is stronger than the sea monsters, mainly because it lacks obvious weaknesses and possesses traits that only a Legend creature possesses.

Or simply put, this is a Legend creature; the so‑called main quest failure after the ninth day likely means this guy will regain his full power and trouble the Mountain God.

Thinking that way, the Mountain God of the Hundred‑Thousand Mountains is indeed formidable, being able to continuously suppress such a mountain‑sea beast, and from the Dungeon challenge one can see that the beasts sealed by the Hundred‑Thousand Mountains are far more than just this one.

Hell Path!

When dealing with a weakened enemy, the best method is, of course, to make the opponent even weaker!

Mu Yi opens a barrier, unleashing endless burning fire, scattering it in all directions.

The burning fire, under Mu Yi's control, spreads over Xiangliu and the water area.

But the next moment, Mu Yi sees colored plumes of smoke silently spreading over the steaming water.

"This..." Mu Yi is left speechless.

Then, in the next instant, he realizes that his flames are not ordinary fire, and Xiangliu's toxin is likewise not ordinary poison.

Xiangliu's toxin contains not only physically corrosive and poisonous properties, but also corrosive and poisonous aspects on the level of will.

The clash of the two wills warps reality, instantly causing the toxin to vaporize between heaven and earth.

As the multicolored smoke merges with the water mist, the mist's color becomes bizarre, and an extremely putrid stench begins to spread throughout the world.

Just by inhaling the stench, Mu Yi feels his mind hazy, as if someone is hammering his celestial spirit dome.

How to describe it? It's like a landfill in scorching summer, countless trash piled together, washed and soaked by rain, then baked by the sun, finally fermenting and emitting that foul odor.

Moreover, its stench's potency can be several, dozens, even hundreds of times stronger.

With ordinary trash, simply holding your breath can somewhat alleviate the smell.

But Xiangliu's toxin, like maggots clinging to bone, if you get even a trace, it bypasses human senses and attacks the soul directly.

Before it dissipates, it constantly swirls inside your body, making you wish to cut yourself to avoid such torment.

Seeing this, Mu Yi quickly retracts the burning fire, abandoning his foolish notion of purifying the filth.

No wonder no one wants to deal with Xiangliu.

Mu Yi now begins to regret; this thing truly isn't something people can handle.

However, Mu Yi is probing Xiangliu, Xiangliu is probing Mu Yi and the others, and most importantly, probing Chu Yi who controls the mountains.

Being suppressed and sealed by the Mountain God of the Hundred‑Thousand Mountains is something Xiangliu, even in its confusion, has never forgotten.

And now, it has already gauged Chu Yi's depth.

Chu Yi is indeed a Mountain God, but not in its own world nor on its own mountain; the mountain‑god power it wields is only a fragment, merely a ninth‑rank Mountain God's strength, which to Xiangliu is just a minor nuisance.

As for Ao Mo soaring in the sky, Xiangliu hasn't paid any attention to him at all.

It is well known that in Jiuzhou, dragons are not a particularly powerful bloodline; even the most famous Four‑Sea Dragon King is merely a backdrop or stepping stone in many great deity tales.

As for the great deities Ying Long, Zhu Long, and Qing Long, they have reached a point where dragon blood is revered because of them, rather than dragon blood making them great.

Or put it another way, the dragon bloodline relies entirely on these great deities to stay afloat, otherwise it would have fallen into the streets.

Roar!

Accompanied by snarling snake heads letting out a muffled roar.

Xiangliu begins its assault, massively stirring the filthy magic within its body.

In an instant, the rain, already in Frenzy, becomes even more agitated.

The next moment, nine snake heads simultaneously lunge at Mu Yi and the others.

It's not just a simple bite; as the snake mouths open and close, a large amount of slime is sprayed out along with the motion.

The mingled murky liquid emits a putrid stench, fiercely corroding everything it contacts.

Chu Yi, taking Mu Yi, uses Earth Escape to move several li away, evading Xiangliu's attack.

The circling Ao Mo quickly ascends, but is still a beat too slow and gets tainted by the poisonous water.

In just an instant, its scales melt, the contaminated areas ooze black pus‑blood, and it can no longer maintain its aerial stance, crashing headfirst toward Mu Yi.

Mu Yi quickly draws his Holy Sword, using Holy Light to treat Ao Mo; fortunately only part of it was tainted, the toxicity is low, and under the combined effect of the burning fire and Holy Light, Ao Mo quickly returns to normal.

Just a bit of rain‑mixed toxin nearly cost Ao Mo his life; if it had been hit directly, Ao Mo might have already been melted by the poison now.

Xiangliu's ferocity is fully revealed in an instant.

He gazed at the distant Xiangliu with immense apprehension; this guy is far more troublesome than imagined.

「Boom—」

Like the heavenly river hanging upside down, as Xiangliu raged, the sky above the nearby area seemed as if the heavenly river was pouring down; the valley where Xiangliu stood was filled with the backflowing river, and the whole valley was submerged in flood!

The heavenly river water continuously smashed onto the earth, emitting a deafening roar.

In the distance, it formed several rushing rivers that began to surge in all directions.

At this moment, it seemed as if the entire heaven and earth had become a true marshland.

Between heaven and earth, the clear and the turbid could not be distinguished.

Only Xiangliu remained, roaring to the heavens, a water curtain guarding its flanks.

Between heaven and earth, it seemed as if everything had been swept away, leaving only Xiangliu as king!

The Legend's power showed only the tip of the iceberg, yet it made people shudder.

Mu Yi, however, remained calm; he gazed at the surging flood, nodded—his probe had worked—and the more grandiose the rain curtain on the horizon, the more terrifying the power Xiangliu consumed.

Although the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains have water, achieving the power before Xiangliu—like a world-ending deluge—requires more than water; it demands mana conjured from nothing, which is far from simple.

As for groundwater, the Mountain God is merely asleep, not dead yet; the weakened Xiangliu cannot yet achieve this.

Mu Yi watched the flood surge in all directions; the villages of the Xiangxi tribe were completely washed away.

Amid the vast mountains, myriad beasts fled in panic; everywhere was a scene of chaos.

"The Mountain God's original intention was to have the Xiangxi tribe guard Xiangliu's seal... so did it specially grant the Mountain God's treasure?"

Mu Yi gazed at the flood‑razed villages, feeling he had grasped some truth.

According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Xiangliu's poison is such that even Da Yu could only bind it with the Altar of the Sovereigns; even if the Mountain God could restrain Xiangliu, once Xiangliu breaks the seal it's only a matter of time.

Thus the Mountain God divided its power, letting the Xiangxi tribe's people wield it, then continually reinforced the seal with the power of incense.

The Mountain God's idea was sound, but human hearts are greedy; two major tribes that turned hostile toward the Mountain God's power suffered mutual defeat, directly letting those sealed mountain‑sea strange beasts break the seal and return to the world.

Indeed, fate toys with people...

Because dividing too much power weakened it, weakness invited covetousness, which in turn bred more greed—a vicious cycle that now makes it impossible to recall the spilled water.

But if that's the case, does the Miao border tribe also have a major trouble sealed?

Just as Mu Yi was pondering, a barrage of water arrows fell with thunderous force.

Mu Yi dodged, eyeing the holes in the ground; the water arrows bore strong corrosive traces, and he couldn't help but look up toward Xiangliu.

Only see that the surging flood beneath Xiangliu also mixed with its poison, turning into turbid water snakes that darted skyward; these turbid water snakes swirled on the horizon and fell in all directions.

Any creature targeted is instantly devoured by the water snakes, then melted away leaving nothing.

Mu Yi carefully observed that although these creatures were corroded to nothing and dissolved into the flood, their essence began to gather toward Xiangliu.

"This won't do! If you get your fill, we're doomed!"

Mu Yi made a frame with both hands, encircling Xiangliu's body.

In the next moment, the Six Paths barrier unfolded; Mu Yi pulled Xiangliu from the watery marsh realm into the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

「Roar! 」

Xiangliu roared ferociously, yet there was no sign of a heaven‑flooding deluge—just as Mu Yi had just thought; Xiangliu had artificially created a watery domain merely to establish a home field and an impregnable position.

However, being directly pulled into the barrier by Mu Yi, Xiangliu was left staring blankly.

He now has no power to create another watery domain; before he only managed by borrowing the mountain's hydrological power, now it's utterly impossible—like a skilled cook without rice.

Seeing Xiangliu staring blankly, Mu Yi laughed.

As a Military Strategist, it's about seizing heavenly timing, earthly advantage, and human harmony; playing is about exploiting the strong to oppress the weak.

「Human Path! 」

Mu Yi summoned all his subordinates; at this time we must strike hard at the drowning dogs.

「Formation! Meet the enemy! 」

Accompanying Mu Yi's order, Cloud Energy rose from the ground and formed several chains that moved to bind Xiangliu.

「Cloud Energy suppression complete! 」

「Swift as wind! Four Spirits—White Tiger! 」

The White Tiger spirit leapt from the battle formation; all the soldiers' sides flickered with swirling air currents, making their forms more agile.

Dealing with Xiangliu cannot be like dealing with Typhon; the latter's brutal physical attacks can be blocked by an immovable Cloud Energy mountain peak, but Xiangliu's poison could likely corrode a Cloud Energy‑formed mountain peak in an instant.

Therefore we must maximize mobility; we absolutely cannot be hit by Xiangliu's attacks.

Even after Ao Mo is contaminated, he is instantly severely wounded; ordinary soldiers, even with Cloud Energy protection, would likely not leave a whole corpse.

Just as Mu Yi was thinking that, the Cloud Energy chains binding Xiangliu instantly collapsed under the mucus Xiangliu spat out.

Seeing this, Mu Yi furrowed his brow and raised the battle blade.

「Archers, all ears! Prepare to shoot… fire! 」

「Ha! 」 hundreds shouted in unison.

Dense arrows flashed with metallic golden light, shooting out and covering Xiangliu across the sky, whistling as they fell upon him.

In the blink of an eye, the rapid‑fire archers used arrows to turn the Xiangliu struggling with the Cloud Energy chains into a porcupine.

Yet the next moment, Mu Yi's pupils contracted slightly.

The arrows, under the White Tiger spirit's added metallic aura, had explosive lethality; some even penetrated Xiangliu's body, but the damage vanished instantly.

Even the arrows embedded in Xiangliu's surface dissolved in its poisonous mist.

"Lately we keep encountering these fast‑recovering huge monsters; after returning we must have logistics develop some large siege weapons!"

Mu Yi narrowed his eyes at Xiangliu; frankly, at this time he rather wants to throw two nuclear bombs—this kind of thermal weapon bombardment—since it's just consumption, anything works.

However, his cooperation with the authorities hasn't reached the point where he can directly wholesale nuclear bombs; moreover, recalling the scene when dealing with Typhon, Mu Yi feels the effect of such thermal weapons on these monsters may not be as great as imagined.

Even if one could strike the opponent while they are dazed, it would probably be of little use.

After all, attacks without will are hard to be effective, just as Mu Yi now, relying on his will to twist reality, can easily hard‑resist missiles.

Although Mu Yi cannot achieve continuous invincibility, he can still manage momentary invincibility, or instant damage nullification, and such.

But against this meat mountain, purely physical attacks are still very effective.

That is a point previously overlooked; perhaps when he goes to the White Lotus World, he should bring some high‑yield Nuclear Bombs, maybe could smudge Legend's face?

(End of Chapter)