Chapter 199: Blade Puppet, First Intermediate Squad

Great Xia Year 1, May 20th

Red Wood Ridge, three kilometers deep

Below a huge Ice-Shuo Tree, there was a pale golden soft swamp.

Over a hundred meters to the right of the swamp, a cluster of torches suddenly lit up.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle..."

The moment the torches lit up, the swamp seemed to sense it. The previously calm surface of the mud pool immediately bubbled up with huge mud bubbles; clearly, something had awakened.

Pfft...

A pitch-black sharp horn broke through the swamp first, slowly rising upward. Before the sharp horn was fully revealed, a huge bulge rose behind it.

Whoosh...

When the three-meter-long pitch-black sharp horn was fully revealed, the bulge behind it completely broke open, revealing the true face of the creature inside.

It was a huge creature with a pale golden body surface, resembling a rhinoceros, topped with a pitch-black sharp horn. It was nearly ten meters long, and its sturdy limbs were over a meter in diameter. Standing completely upright, it was over three meters long, with knotted muscles, looking just like four pillars supporting the sky.

If Xia Hong were here, he would definitely recognize at a glance that this was a Golden-Armored Lei Kui. Judging by its size, it was clearly an intermediate one.

"Roar... roar..."

After the Lei Kui slowly walked out of the swamp, it let out two low roars first. Seeing no movement around, it walked toward the torches that had just lit up.

It stared straight at the cluster of torches, its two lantern-like blood-red pupils filled with greed and longing.

Step... step... step... step... step...

The Lei Kui's massive body took six or seven meters with every step. As it got closer to the torches and sensed the tempting substance in the firelight, its pace became faster and faster, and soon it was only ten meters away from the torches.

Crack...

However, just as it took the last step close to the torches, a crisp impact sound suddenly came from its left forelimb.

"Roar..."

The Lei Kui let out a painful roar and fiercely lifted its left forelimb. On it, a fan-shaped iron clamp about half a meter in diameter was actually clamped.

The two sides of the iron clamp were filled with sharp iron teeth, which were currently clamped tightly into the flesh of the Lei Kui's left forelimb. Five ropes were tied to the end of the beast trap; as the Lei Kui lifted its foot, the ropes were also fully revealed.

Swoosh...

"Retract strength, do it!"

As an iron arrow accurately shot down and extinguished the torches, Xia Chuan's roar suddenly rang out above the Lei Kui's head.

Bang...

Twenty meters away, five people pulling the ropes leaped down from the tree. Using the big tree as a fulcrum, they gritted their teeth and pulled backward wildly, and the five ropes immediately pulled taut.

"Roar..."

The strength of the ropes was transmitted to the beast trap. The Lei Kui was caught off guard, its left forelimb stumbling, nearly flipping over to the ground. But its strength was still too terrifying. After a roar, it forcibly stabilized its body and forcibly dragged the five people at the end of the ropes back.

Swoosh... swoosh... swoosh...

However, the real offensive had only just arrived.

From all directions, countless iron arrows suddenly attacked, targeting the Lei Kui's eyes, ears, and other important parts, as well as its controlled left forelimb.

Bang... bang...

Sensing the iron arrows coming, the Lei Kui's muscles bulged. Ignoring the beast trap on its left forelimb, it frantically twisted and swung its head and body to dodge, the focus naturally being to avoid being hit in vital parts.

Squeak, squeak...

The five ropes were pulled until they squeaked. Although the five people behind the ropes were pulling them tightly, their strength was simply not on the same level as the Lei Kui. Even with the help of the big tree, they were still dragged left and right, unable to stand steady at all.

Bang... bang...

Not only were the five people's hands ground until they bled, but their bodies were also constantly slammed into the big tree, making loud banging sounds.

But even so, they still gritted their teeth, their legs either slanted against the ground or clamped on the tree, borrowing strength to pull tightly, refusing to let go.

Pfft...

The efforts of the five finally had an effect.

The Lei Kui, whose movements were restricted, was finally hit.

It wasn't hit in the eyes or ears, but in its left forelimb.

To be precise, it was the flesh area of the left forelimb that had been broken open by the beast trap.

Roar...

The flesh, already broken open by the beast trap, was hit by another arrow. The Lei Kui immediately let out a miserable roar, and its body movements slowed by half a beat.

This is the technique of hunting!

Cold Beasts' defensive capabilities are all extremely strong. Although humans know to find breakthroughs from its eyes or ear canals, or even key parts like the grain path, they are not stupid; they also know these parts are critical, so under normal circumstances, they won't easily let you hurt them.

And the beast trap just happened to make up for this point.

Through Mu Dong's constant improvements, Great Xia's high-level beast trap now has an explosive power of over fifty thousand jin when it closes instantly. Combined with the sharp saw teeth that are re-polished after every hunt, breaking open the Skin-Membrane of an intermediate Cold Beast is completely no problem.

And as long as the Skin-Membrane is broken, the next thing is simple!

"Qiu Peng, go!"

Xia Chuan's voice rang out again. That iron arrow just now was shot by him. Hearing the Lei Kui's roar, an excited glint flashed in his eyes. While signaling Qiu Peng to hurry up, his right hand suddenly pulled up on the transparent silk thread.

Whoosh...

A violent blade-light suddenly fell from the tree; it was Qiu Peng, acting on orders.

Qiu Peng held a big blade, his eyes fixed on the Lei Kui's eyes. The position he leaped down from was the Lei Kui's neck, and the position where the big blade slashed down was exactly the Lei Kui's eye.

The Lei Kui's pale golden outer skin had very strong defensive capability. With his base strength of just over twenty thousand jin, it was impossible to break it open.

Qiu Peng knew this very well, so the target of his big blade slash could only be the Lei Kui's eye.

The big blade in his hand was over a meter long. If it were a normal creature, using a blade to slash an eye would clearly be nonsense, but this intermediate Lei Kui in front of him, or rather all Cold Beasts, clearly didn't count as normal creatures.

This Lei Kui was ten meters long. Saying its eyes were like lanterns was not an exaggeration, but a true description.

Pfft...

Qiu Peng's big blade fell in response. The Lei Kui's left eye's horizontal spherical surface was directly split by a blade, and blood plasma and mucus instantly burst open.

"Roar..."

The intense pain instantly incited the Lei Kui's ferocity, which could be heard from this violent roar.

After the roar, the Lei Kui's massive body only stiffened for two breaths, followed by an even more frantic twisting and trampling.

Taut... crack...

"The rope is broken, Leader, be careful."

The five ropes specially made by mixing bamboo silk and Teng Jiao tendons were actually forcibly snapped by the Lei Kui.

The texture of these ropes was, of course, not as tough as the bowstring given to Xia Hong earlier, but they could at least withstand a pulling force of fifty or sixty thousand jin.

The key was that it was tied to the beast trap, and behind the beast trap was only one of the Lei Kui's injured legs.

That an injured leg could erupt with such terrifying strength could only mean one thing:

"This Lei Kui is starting to fight for its life!"

Xia Chuan's heart tightened, and the action of pulling the silk thread in his hand became a few points faster.

Zzz, zzz, zzz...

The pitch-black sharp horn on the Lei Kui's forehead suddenly sparked with lightning. The Lei Kui, whose speed had not been growing, now had movements that became extremely swift and fast.

The Lei Kui's struggle could snap the ropes, make the surrounding ground tremble, and avoid all the iron arrows shot at it, but it couldn't shake off Qiu Peng.

Qiu Peng kept his hands tightly gripping the big blade, and the big blade remained embedded in the Lei Kui's left eye's spherical surface. As the Lei Kui's movements became more violent, the wound brought out by the big blade became larger.

He was actually borrowing the huge force generated by the Lei Kui's struggle to change his grip on the blade, thereby causing it greater damage.

"Roar..."

Crack...

The Lei Kui let out another roar, blood light flashed in its two pupils, and a wisp of electric arc suddenly appeared on the pitch-black sharp horn on its forehead.

The next moment, the Lei Kui's head seemed to flash suddenly.

The inertia generated by that flashing moment actually threw Qiu Peng's body directly into mid-air.

Qiu Peng's hands left the blade, and a flash of panic crossed his face.

Swoosh...

The Lei Kui's head flashed again. The three-meter-long pitch-black sharp horn, like a black lightning bolt, accompanied by the forward thrust of its head, suddenly pierced toward Qiu Peng's body in mid-air.

Boom...

At the critical moment, the snow beneath the Lei Kui's body suddenly exploded.

In the accumulated snow, a vermilion giant lying flat suddenly sat up and slashed a blade at the Lei Kui's abdomen.

"Retreat, go far away and shoot arrows!"

Xia Chuan roared, his right hand pulling the silk thread fiercely, signaling Qiu Peng to retreat while he himself was also retreating frantically.

And as he pulled the silk thread fiercely, the vermilion giant's sitting body also quickly stood up, and its true face completely appeared before everyone's eyes.

The vermilion giant was five meters tall, with a head, torso, and limbs. But strangely, its head had no details, only an open mouth—or rather, a big hole was more appropriate. Its torso occupied a small proportion of its body, but its limbs were unusually sturdy.

Not only sturdy, but the giant's limbs were also attached with countless sharp spikes.

Looking closely, it was discovered that they were not sharp spikes, but one sharp blade after another, revealing cold light and standing upright.

Although those sharp blades were over a meter long, because they were too dense, they looked like a thorn bush of sharp blades revealing sharp light, making people shudder.

And what was most shocking was that the ends of the giant's limbs were not palms or soles, but four giant big blades.

Those four big blades had a blade width of thirty or forty centimeters, and the blade body was over two meters long. The side edges were polished until they were shiny and bright, and the coldness was compelling.

"Look at this skin of yours, can it block my Blade Puppet!"

Xia Chuan let out a sharp shout, his fingertips pulling backward fiercely.

Five colorless transparent silk threads were connected to the Blade Puppet's head and limbs respectively. As Xia Chuan pulled, the Blade Puppet also moved.

Because its hands and feet were all big blades, the Blade Puppet stood up by relying on the double blades of its legs on the ground. Xia Chuan pulled, and its right leg immediately lifted fiercely, slashing fiercely toward the Lei Kui's neck.

(No errors, no omissions, read the content at a glance!)

The Blade Puppet that suddenly appeared in the snow had caught the Lei Kui a bit off guard. It hadn't even recovered from that blade just now.

This blade, how could it react!

Whoosh...

The wide blade-edge brought out a cold light in the snowy night, slashing fiercely across the Lei Kui's neck area, pulling out a bloodstain over a meter long.

Pfft...

"Continue to supplement arrows, greet the wound!"

Seeing the Blade Puppet succeed in one blow, Xia Chuan didn't relax, but continued to manipulate it, leaping forward directly and using its limbs to attack the Lei Kui frantically.

The Lei Kui, naturally, wouldn't sit and wait for death. While swinging its body and using its thick Skin-Membrane to block the blade-edge, the sharp horn on its head was constantly looking for opportunities to stab at the Blade Puppet.

Pfft...

After all, it was an intermediate Cold Beast. The Lei Kui quickly found an excellent opportunity. Borrowing the impact force erupted by the instantaneous flash of its head, it accurately and correctly pierced through the Blade Puppet's abdomen.

Having succeeded in one blow, a trace of violent pleasure immediately surged into the Lei Kui's ferocious pupils.

But this pleasure didn't last even a breath. The next second, it froze, gradually turning into thick panic and fear.

Just because the Blade Puppet's abdomen, which it had just felt was extremely soft, quickly became hard after being broken open by it, and it was still shrinking inward.

Its sharp horn was stuck.

Crack... crack...

The Lei Kui's limbs kept flapping on the ground, its body retreating frantically, trying to pull the sharp horn out of the Blade Puppet's abdomen. But no matter how much strength it erupted, and no matter how it flapped, the sharp horn was stuck tightly in the Blade Puppet's abdomen, not moving a bit.

Its head was already clamped by the Blade Puppet with double blades, and the sharp horn was stuck and unable to move. Its body directly became a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Pfft...

Such a good opportunity, Xia Chuan naturally wouldn't miss it.

His right hand pulled the silk thread frantically. The Blade Puppet used both hands and feet, plus the blades on the rest of its body, and began a round of frantic cutting toward the Lei Kui's body.

Swoosh... swoosh... swoosh...

The others around, as early as the first blade succeeded and the wound appeared on the Lei Kui's neck, had already been shooting arrows frantically toward that bloodstain.

Everyone was shooting arrows while watching the Blade Puppet manipulated by Xia Chuan, their eyes shining with brilliance, and their faces were also full of shock.

"This is only the third time using it, right? The Leader's technique for handling the Blade Puppet is becoming more and more proficient. Why do I feel that the strength erupted by this Blade Puppet is even stronger than the Leader's own strength!"

"Because of the weight. The four big blades on the Blade Puppet's hands and feet are all made of hundred-forged iron. A single blade is estimated to be twenty or thirty thousand jin. Such heavy weapons, when swung, don't even need to slash; smashing could also smash people to death."

"Hiss... just the four blades are over a hundred thousand jin. I remember the Leader's base strength is now only over forty thousand jin. Then how does he manipulate this Blade Puppet?"

"Look carefully. Every time the Blade Puppet attacks, it uses at most the strength of two limbs, which is exactly the Leader's limit."

"So that's how it is. That white silk thread is really magical. If we could use it, manipulating such a big thing, what Cold Beast couldn't be killed!"

"You think quite beautifully. That white silk thread was obtained from the Wood Puppet Ghost. You go kill a ghost; maybe you can also get some treasures."

"This... then forget it. I don't have this blessing."

Pfft!

Discussion is discussion, but everyone's arrow-shooting actions didn't stop at all.

As the Blade Puppet controlled by Xia Chuan broke countless blade cuts into the Lei Kui's body, the people shooting arrows on the side finally had gains.

Qiu Peng was the first to shoot an arrow into the wound on the Lei Kui's neck just now. The intense pain made the Lei Kui's movements increasingly deformed. But at this moment, not only could its body not move, but its biggest reliance, that sharp horn, was also stuck in the Blade Puppet's abdomen, unable to move.

"Roar..."

As more and more iron arrows hit the wounds on other parts, it couldn't make any resistance to the injury on top of the injury, and could only let out an unwilling roar.

And just as the Lei Kui lowered its head and opened its mouth to roar, Xia Chuan's pupils suddenly constricted, and his fingers lifted fiercely.

The Blade Puppet's left leg hooked upward suddenly.

Pfft...

The Lei Kui didn't have time to close its mouth before it was directly stabbed by the Blade Puppet's left leg big blade. The blade body over two meters long was completely submerged, and the tip of the blade even emerged a small section from the back of its head.

The head was pierced through, and the Lei Kui's struggling and flapping body suddenly stiffened. After being silent for over ten breaths, finally...

Bang!

"Hahahaha, dead, finally dead!"

"The fifth type of intermediate Cold Beast, hahaha, we did it."

"Succeeded, succeeded, hahahaha!"

The ten or so people on the trees around suddenly erupted into a burst of excited cheers. They jumped down from the big trees one after another and walked to the Lei Kui's corpse, their eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement and thrill.

Qiu Peng was no exception. Rubbing his sore arms and looking at the big blade that had already rolled its edge, his expression was somewhat fearful, but more of it was excitement.

Everyone was like this, and so was Xia Chuan.

But he didn't look at the Lei Kui on the ground, but at the Blade Puppet that still maintained a standing posture, his face excited, and his pupils full of spirit.

"The two Cold Beasts hunted earlier, I still didn't dare to be sure. This Lei Kui finally allowed me to be sure. This silk thread not only allows my strength to be smoothly transmitted to other things through Vermilion Wood, but also allows it to erupt with destructive power several times my base strength through the object's weight!"

Xia Chuan looked down at the wounds on the Lei Kui's body, his expression increasingly excited.

Among the currently known intermediate Cold Beasts, the Lei Kui definitely counts as the most difficult to hunt. The reason lies in its thick Skin-Membrane.

Xia Hong had done tests before. The Lei Kui's Skin-Membrane, even in the weakest place, could withstand an impact force of over thirty thousand jin. A slightly sturdier part even required the strength of one mane to break open.

The wounds densely covered on the Lei Kui at this moment had already explained everything!

"Leader, from today on, our Cloud Jiao Squad is the first intermediate hunting squad in the whole camp!"

Xia Chuan raised his head, looked at everyone's excited expressions, and nodded lightly.

He knew very well the reason for everyone's excitement.

They had previously hunted Snow Mane, Frostwolf, Blue Moon Essence, and Teng Jiao, four types of intermediate Cold Beasts separately. So this Lei Kui was the fifth type of intermediate Cold Beast hunted by the Cloud Jiao Squad.

The promotion rules originally designed by Yu Wentao required two conditions to be promoted from low-level to intermediate: first, the total contribution value must reach fifty thousand; second, hunt five different types of intermediate Cold Beasts.

The first condition had long been satisfied under their frantic hunting during this period; the second condition was just waiting for them to submit this intermediate Lei Kui.

The first intermediate hunting squad of Great Xia!

The gold content was beyond doubt.

No wonder everyone would be so excited.

Xia Chuan took a deep breath, and a trace of pride appeared on his face.

Others might not understand how much significance this intermediate hunting squad had for him.

In the previous two months, Great Xia's population expanded massively, and the questioning voices toward him, this Si Cheng, also began to grow more and more.

"The Si Cheng's strength is not as good as Yu Wentao's."

"The five leaders Hong Guang, Hong Tian, and Meng Yi are also stronger than him."

"Relying on the Leader being his own brother, he became this Si Cheng."

"The Leader is not as fair as he says, still looking at people."

Although these types of voices were not many, Xia Chuan still felt them harsh to the ear.

Especially noticing that some people aimed their spears at his big brother Xia Hong, he felt even more uncomfortable in his heart.

Therefore, he urgently needed an opportunity to prove himself.

"The first intermediate hunting squad, no matter what, can also make some people shut up first!"

Xia Chuan's gaze was slightly cold. He turned back to look at the Blade Puppet, his expression proud.

"With this Blade Puppet, in the whole camp, except for Big Brother..."

Making those people shut up was only secondary. Surpassing Yu Wentao in strength was the true pursuit in Xia Chuan's heart.

Except for Big Brother Xia Hong, he, Xia Chuan, considered that he would not lose to anyone.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 200 =====