Chapter 98: Intercepting the Armored Beast!

The surrounding area had dense water plants, but only the spot in front of him was missing them, and there were no piles of rubble, clearly indicating a problem—it wasn't naturally formed.

Liang Qu hid in the water plants and asked the two beasts, "You found it here?"

Ah Fei nodded.

Ah Bu gestured vigorously with its claws, indicating that the opponent had a body length as long as the Fatty Catfish but was wider than its own body, with a thick carapace on its back.

Liang Qu circled the ten-meter-diameter mud pit, and the situation was almost exactly as Ah Bu had described.

Long-shaped, no limbs, with a tail, the back covered in thick armor like protruding spikes, and a very long snout.

At first glance, it looked like a crocodile without limbs—a water beast he had never seen before, but the sense of familiarity was very strong.

Judging from its aura, it was slightly stronger than Bu Neng Dong, but not by much; it should be an old spirit monster of considerable age.

That meant it could be dealt with, Liang Qu secretly pondered.

Excluding many common spirit monsters, most spirit monsters could not be defined by obvious characteristics.

For no other reason than that there were too many types.

The characteristics of every type of spirit monster were completely different, and it was impossible to summarize them from their appearance.

If one really wanted to summarize them, just learning them would be enough to cost one their life; one would have to memorize them volume by volume.

Rigidly applying rules certainly wouldn't work; one could only judge by the intensity of the aura.

A Hunting Tiger martial artist would not restrain their own power, and with their aura fully unleashed, ordinary people with weaker constitutions could be scared unconscious on the spot.

Without a complete and developed social organizational structure, great demons, unlike humans, could not develop diverse techniques to achieve countless miraculous effects; occasionally they might know a few, but they were incredibly crude.

Unless it was a truly heaven-defying great demon with high intelligence, whether it was strong or weak could often be known by feeling.

On this basis, those with an aura intensity similar to or inferior to a Wolf Smoke martial artist were called spirit monsters.

Such life forms were already distinguished from ordinary creatures and had some unusual characteristics: scales and armor as hard as refined steel, greatly increased strength, and extremely fast speed.

Horned Wood Crocodiles, Tiger-Headed Catfish, Stone Pincer Crabs, and Heavenly Water Centipedes were all in the first tier of spirit monsters, vastly different from ordinary creatures.

Those stronger than spirit monsters could be called demons, and the appearance of one could cause chaos in a county region. If it were a great demon, it would require the imperial court to take action.

Fortunately, great demons often had their own territory and disdained eating ordinary people. To them, ordinary people were just rough, unnutritious food wrapped in troublesome packaging, making them even harder to eat.

What was a bit interesting was that small spirit monsters were not necessarily stronger than ordinary creatures.

In the Jianghuai marshlands, there were not only Taihua Crocodiles but also other large crocodiles. They were neither spirit nor monster, yet their body length could reach five meters and they weighed over two thousand pounds, easily overturning small boats and swallowing fishermen.

Such large crocodiles, when encountering a spirit grass carp, were not necessarily at a disadvantage.

Liang Qu had learned many things in the martial arts hall, including the discrimination of aura intensity.

Several senior brothers had each demonstrated the differences in aura at different realms to him, especially the Wolf Smoke Realm starting from the third senior brother, which was truly terrifying and left a deep impression.

In two days, Liang Qu would also have to learn how to restrain his own aura fluctuations so that people wouldn't be able to see through him at a glance.

"Ah Wei, you sneak over and bite it once. It's best to bite its belly; it's not armored there."

Liang Qu issued the command. The Heavenly Water Centipede unfolded, turning into a hundred-legged blue centipede, and dove into the silt.

A small bump rose in the silt, extended for a short distance, and then disappeared.

Liang Qu and the three beasts lay quietly in the grass. Half a quarter of an hour later, the flat silt ground suddenly bulged into a huge bump.

"Got it!"

Muddy water poured down like quicksand.

A giant beast, six meters long and armored on its back, pulled itself out of the mud, dancing wildly, sand and dust churning, submerging the entire surrounding area.

It flicked its long tail, whipping the mud angrily, and the ground vibrated like waves, turning the entire mire into a giant, elastic drum.

A blue ball was ejected from the mud and sand, leaving trails of white marks.

The wound caused by the Heavenly Water Centipede was excruciatingly painful. The armored water beast stared fixedly at the ejected blue ball and shot out, the stirred-up water flow rushing over like a tsunami.

The blue ball changed its shape in the water, turning into a centipede and swimming rapidly back to Liang Qu's wrist.

Liang Qu grabbed the Heavenly Water Centipede, the water resistance behind him suddenly disappeared, an invisible thrust burst forth, and with one leap, he flashed three zhang away.

The armored beast missed its target and plunged headfirst into the mud and sand.

It tore at the water plants frantically, its massive body churning the water, shattering rocks, and was about to rush out again when a piercing fluctuation was delivered into its mind, stirring its brain marrow like a sharp blade.

The excruciating pain turned the armored beast's eyes blood-red, and it didn't notice the movement beside it at all.

A cyan beast rushed out from the grass, its scales like refined steel slamming heavily into the armored beast's waist and abdomen.

"Bu Neng Dong" had been lying in ambush for a long time. Its massive body swayed left and right, then used the water's force to ram the armored beast, sending it flying like an arrow and folding it in half.

The armored beast turned its head to bite back, but its tail felt excruciating pain.

The Fatty Catfish bit down hard on the armored beast's tail, its sharp teeth tearing through flesh, blood spurting out. It used the inertia of the armored beast being rammed to shake its head and pull violently, actually tearing off a third of its tail.

The severed tail flicked in the water, and the armored beast went into a frenzy, turning its head to bite "Bu Neng Dong's" neck.

"Bu Neng Dong" did not show weakness and also bit the armored beast, and the two sides began a tug-of-war.

The spikes on the armored beast's back pierced "Bu Neng Dong's" snout, but it didn't have it easy either. The immense pressure crushed its bones, emitting a fragile cracking sound. It wanted to bite off flesh with force, but its body felt waves of weakness.

The venom had taken effect!

The timing was right; Bu Neng Dong used all its strength to lift the armored beast.

The armored beast struggled violently, its long tail sweeping through the water plants, cutting them down in swathes like a sickle, the cross-sections neat.

The Fatty Catfish opened its big mouth, and the invisible fluctuation once again inserted into the armored beast's brain like a sharp knife, stirring it, causing it immense pain.

Liang Qu flashed beneath it, the muscles in his forearm tight as steel ropes, and delivered Fu Bo.

The spear blade cut through the water waves, flowing invisibly, piercing the soft belly.

Liang Qu grabbed the shaft with one hand and pressed with the other, twisting his waist and rotating, the long spear sweeping in a huge semicircle, cutting the white belly and leaving a deep, bloody mark.

Blood spurted out, dissipating in the water, along with a large portion of internal organs protruding from the wound.

A devastating, irrecoverable wound!

"Retreat!"

Liang Qu flashed away again.

Ah Bu and Ah Fei followed closely behind, along with Quan Tou, who had been hiding in the grass. One man and three beasts retreated six zhang away.

The armored beast's eyes turned white, and it completely lost consciousness. It twitched a few times purely by instinct and then stopped moving.

Liang Qu approached slowly, holding the long spear, and thrust it into the armored beast's pupil, piercing through its entire brain without any struggle.

It was finished.

Too simple.

Compared to the danger of dealing with the crab monster for the first time, this time absolutely no one or beast was injured.

No, Ah Bu was injured. When it was biting, its snout was hurt by the spikes on the armored beast's back, and it lost quite a bit of blood.

Overall, it was a great victory!

"Let's go, bring it up, eat meat!"

Liang Qu used the Water Leap three times in succession, consuming quite a bit of physical strength, and let the two beasts carry the armored beast to float up.

Ah Bu and Ah Fei used their heads to prop up the armored beast, flipping it over to prevent all its internal organs from falling out, and then used their strength together to push the armored beast out of the water.

In the water plants, Quan Tou swayed for a while, successfully found a severed tail, clamped it with its pincers, and followed closely behind the two beasts. ===== CHAPTER 99 =====