Chapter 109: Internal Conflict

The earth was split open, a three-headed, six-armed ox-headed monster rose from below, growing higher and higher; when it was fully planted on the ground it stood over two zhang tall—about the height of a three‑story inn, tavern, and brothel. Its six arms gripped five weapons: a long‑handed great axe, a heavy sword paired with a shield, and a broadsword plus an iron mace. As soon as it appeared, its aura overwhelmed the giant snake and the great ape.

In the next instant the ox‑headed monster swung its great axe in a horizontal sweep, kicking up violent sand and dust on the ground. Bai Lang dodged the blow, but the monster, clearly able to hit the toad, didn't relent—it chopped "crack!" into the toad's body, sending a huge spray of blood, and the toad let out a pained cry. After that cry the toad fiercely waved its forelimbs, slapping the monster squarely with one palm.

Even after blocking the blow with its shield, the ox‑headed monster still had to dig two furrows with its feet, sliding over three zhang before it could finally hold the attack.

The fight between the two monsters was something nobody present wanted to jump into. Bai Lang sprang up with a carp‑flip, now facing the great ape directly—but this time Murong Hua came to help him—while the others were still looking for a chance to strike those two monsters.

Against the great ape, Murong Hua's swordplay, which flowed like a wandering dragon, together with his lightness skill, worked even better—"it's just like a butcher dissecting an ox, pleasing to watch." Bai Lang instantly felt much lighter; the ape, disturbed by Murong Hua, could not muster its full strength against Bai Lang. This guy, even in a straight‑up clash, was no match for Bai Lang, and now with Murong Hua added, he stood no chance.

The great ape threw punch after punch, but it could not land on Murong Hua; instead, the man used the ape's huge motions to repeatedly find openings, leaving burning wounds all over its body—the talisman‑enhanced treasure sword, whose cut into the yin creature's flesh would ignite...... Bai Lang also, from the side, locked down several of the ape's powerful strikes, contributing to Murong Hua's effort to skin the ape.

The great ape was itself a mass of gathered yin energy, and it looked as if Bai Lang was about to crush it, when suddenly a pair of arms shot out from inside the ape's body and braced against Bai Lang's punch. "The joints lock together, harder than metal...... this yin corpse really can't hold back." Bai Lang exerted force, grabbed and pulled, tearing the yin corpse straight from the ape's chest and abdomen, yet the ape showed no sign of being affected, as if the yin corpse had simply phased through space.

The yin corpse's whole body had locked joints, so joint locks were basically useless—forcing a locked joint was no different from breaking it...... Bai Lang, who relies on fists and feet, once again found himself grappling with the corpse. "Weird, where's that so‑called skinny tall guy with his back turned?" The corpse's martial skill was just that; Bai Lang threw a few boxer's punches while still having the presence of mind to wonder about that.

The toad and the ox‑headed monster were still locked in combat, and no one knew why these two monsters insisted on fighting each other instead of uniting. This let Ma Rulong and his companions watch the show, giving them a chance to try a sneak attack on the monsters from the side. Once the fight got underway, the ox‑headed man, though fierce, still seemed unable to overcome the toad—the toad's size gave it absolute suppressing power. Had the three‑headed, six‑armed ox‑headed monster been merely human‑sized, the toad would probably have found it even harder to deal with, but since it too is huge, the toad's dominance over it is perfectly normal.

A three‑headed, six‑armed ox‑headed monster is formidable against ordinary‑sized foes; a single person can't really handle its successive attacks. Now, facing the huge toad, the monster roared while smashing whatever it held in its hands. "What a brain‑fart......" Bai Lang was still mocking the yin corpse, "Did your creation refuse to obey you, or did you actually mean to kill this toad?"

Bai Lang now felt that the yin corpse before him seemed to be weakening—could it have poured most of its strength into "arguing" with the toad? How did these two idiots end up fighting each other? No need to say, even if they were feuding, they're still tough opponents—at the very least, the gale and force kicked up when the ox‑headed monster swings its weapons are beyond what Ma Rulong and his crew can intervene in; only Bai Lang on the scene can handle it.

Bai Lang's ability to take a hit is strong—punching him feels like punching an iron bean and hurts the striker's hand, and the yin corpse is no different. Even though the corpse possesses divine power and a bronze‑skin, iron‑bone constitution, its own power's recoil has shaken its joints loose——even the locked joints now grind...... Under Bai Lang's relentless pounding, the Golden Bell Shield circulating in his body absorbed the talisman's power, spinning faster and growing fiercer; combined with the White Tiger's killer aura, each of his strikes now carries a tiger's roar, and the aura merges with gang qi to form a razor‑sharp force that begins to pierce the corpse's defenses.

The black yin qi gradually loosened, sucked in and transformed by the White Tiger's killer aura into more killer aura; tigers naturally devour evil ghosts, and the White Tiger, as a heavenly deity, has the power to expel and consume such monsters. Bai Lang's martial arts have now reached the point where he is gradually infusing the White Tiger's killer aura into his Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill—a skill that possesses pure yang power, naturally suited to counter this yin cold, and with the White Tiger's aura added it can devour the yin qi and turn it into yang qi.

Since the black qi is being steadily consumed, the yin corpse now relies on its tendons and bones to clash with Bai Lang. The black qi on its surface will be sucked away, but the yin cold hidden beneath its skin still blocks Bai Lang's punches. "I feel like I'm hammering a nail!" Bai Lang's fists are a bit sore; switching to palm strikes with penetrating force doesn't help either—the corpse's interior is a uniform mass like steel, really tough to deal with.

The yin corpse also finds Bai Lang hard to handle—its attacks likewise can't break through his gang qi—the key is that this guy recovers too fast, while the corpse's movements aren't that quick. In a single breath, the phantom of Bai Lang's internal force, cracked from the Golden Bell Shield, restores itself—just a slight loss of internal force; only the gods know how long one would have to keep striking to exhaust Bai Lang's gang qi. The only option is to let the ox‑headed monster deal with this guy; aside from anything else, its sheer strength surpasses the corpse's.

The great ape is now useless—its constant roars can't even catch Murong Hua, so what's the point of this monkey? The ape's body is wreathed in firelight, its breath growing weaker—no need to say, Murong Jiu Xiu's talisman really seems effective. The toad and the ox‑headed monster have finally come to their senses—the toad has a brain, the ox‑headed monster maybe not, but in any case they've gradually stopped fighting, and this bout has left them in poor shape.

The toad was hacked apart into a mess; its yin cold affects living things, and even if a demon suffers less, it's still affected. The ox‑headed monster lost several arms, needing yin qi to repair them, and just then Ma Rulong and his crew moved in—especially after Murong Jiu Xiu had restored much of her vitality with Qin Lian'er's pills, she could now unleash her own arts again.

"Things seem to be going well...... this Adventure Hall is surprisingly friendly?" Bai Lang muttered.