Chapter 431: A Turning Point in a Desperate Situation

The pain made it somewhat difficult for Chengkai to concentrate, and the White-Headed Hou clearly had no intention of letting him go.

The long whip whistled toward Chengkai with fierce momentum; Chengkai bent his waist to dodge, but before he could even stand up, a pair of giant claws descended from the sky, pressing down upon him without mercy.

Chengkai had no defense; he struggled to roll over, barely managing to evade, but the wounds on his back were torn, causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

Just as he was panting heavily, a gust of wind struck; before Chengkai could react, the long tail of the phantom lashed out mercilessly.

Chengkai was slammed against the stone wall; the immense impact caused the stone wall to crack, and bits of gravel fell continuously with a rustling sound, as if it were about to collapse at any moment.

The White-Headed Hou did not stop; the tail of the phantom behind her raised high once more, and while Chengkai had yet to fall, it smashed heavily onto his body again, strike after strike, with no intention of pausing.

Gurgling blood spilled from his mouth, yet Chengkai's consciousness remained clear; he braced himself and endured, until he spotted the moment the tail raised again, then he pushed off with the Jinglei Staff, leaped with all his might, and hung upside down, planting his feet against the stone wall.

When the phantom's tail smashed down again, Chengkai pinched a Thunder Formula, used the momentum to flip, and pointed a finger at the tail.

Yet this finger pointed at nothing; although that tail struck with real force, its substance remained a phantom.

This was strange; since it hurt so much when it hit him, why couldn't he strike back?

Chengkai felt perplexed, but the excruciating pain in his body left him no room to think; holding his breath, he changed his finger seals and performed the Cloud Treading Step.

Suddenly, wind rose beneath his feet, and Chengkai leaped lightly, shifting his position.

Seeing Chengkai attempt to cast a technique on the phantom, the White-Headed Hou smiled contemptuously: "How truly stupid, to actually attempt to cast a technique on 'Chu', how laughable."

What the Demon Race cultivates all relies on the intent of Chu; those with refined cultivation can manifest their Chu, whether it be their own demon form or something like a weapon.

So, for Chengkai to treat it as a mount was truly underestimating her.

Chengkai did not know what the "Chu" the opponent spoke of was, but after a brief calculation in his mind, he understood seven or eight parts of it.

It was likely Spirit Qi, and the phantom behind her could also be understood as a type of technique.

Since that was the case, it was easy to handle.

As long as it was a technique, there was a way to break it, either by opposing it with another technique or by disrupting its heart pulse.

For the current plan, one could only compare whose technique was more powerful; the Demon Race lacks the Five Elements, so he figured this was the only advantage he had as a mortal.

After all, a practitioner takes the Dao as the rule and the heart as the law; those without a heart have no Dao, and those without Adao have exhausted their techniques.

In a flash, Chengkai understood; he immediately put away the Jinglei Staff, formed seals with both hands, and while dodging the White-Headed Hou's offensive, he silently recited the Dharma Technique.

The White-Headed Hou was only focused on the pursuit and did not notice Chengkai's movements, and Chengkai was not dodging randomly, but circling the opponent according to a specific pattern.

With the support of the Cloud Treading Step, dodging was much easier, but Chengkai was already injured, and having to cast a technique while being careful of the enemy made his movements show signs of fatigue.

Fortunately, not long after, Chengkai stopped, looking completely exhausted.

Seeing Chengkai like this, the White-Headed Hou felt a surge of joy in her heart.

Scuttling around like a rat, now he had finally become obedient!

The White-Headed Hou used both whip and tail, attacking Chengkai from both sides, but Chengkai seemed not to notice, squatting on his knees and panting heavily.

Seeing that she was about to hit Chengkai, the corners of the White-Headed Hou's mouth stretched to her ears, yet at this moment, Chengkai pinched a finger seal, suddenly raised his head, and shouted loudly:

"Array, rise!"

A flash of thunder appeared before the White-Headed Hou's eyes; she dodged alertly, and her move missed.

However, after retreating two steps, she discovered that everywhere around her were roaming bolts of lightning, the sizzling sound endless to her ears.

Looking down again, she realized that at some point, she had fallen into an Array Formation.

Chengkai grinned, braced his body, turned his head to spit out the blood in his mouth, but the finger seals on his hands remained perfectly still.

This was the Dharma Array he had laid out step by step while dodging just moments ago.

"Eight Extremes Thunder Drum!"

As the name implies, it is an array arranged according to the Eight Trigrams, where the practitioner steps on the Zhen position and uses the power of the Five Elements to control the Thunder Method from all eight directions. This was the thunder array Zhaoming Zhenren taught Chengkai, and it was his most prized array.

Seeing the situation, the White-Headed Hou secretly thought it was bad, but it was already too late; just as she was about to escape, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck her head-on.

Chengkai only spat out one word: "Boom!", and a whirlwind suddenly blew up in the Xun position, as bolts of lightning roaming within it whistled toward the White-Headed Hou's face.

The White-Headed Hou hurriedly bent her waist to dodge, but the phantom behind her could not evade in time and was struck squarely by the Thunder Method, right on its raised rat head.

Chengkai was secretly pleased: It worked.

Although a technique cannot hit a phantom, the Spirit Qi of an array can disrupt it, making it difficult to maintain the so-called "Chu".

The phantom was like a stone dropped into still water, its form shaking and becoming somewhat illusory.

"You actually hit my face!" The White-Headed Hou covered her left cheek in disbelief, and then a scream erupted.

The shrill sound resounded through the Netherworld, spreading in all directions.

To protect Sangmu, Xin Yi could only stay in place, but facing the enemy head-on was not his strength, and after a few moves, he began to show signs of defeat.

Fortunately, just as he blocked a blade strike from Feilian, the White-Headed Hou's scream arrived; taking advantage of Feilian's distraction, Xin Yi swung his blade with all his might to throw him off, finally gaining a moment to catch his breath.

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Although Feilian was repelled, he was not angry; he only frowned and looked toward the place where the sound came from.

This was not Feilian's style, but he seemed to be concerned about something, so much so that even Sangmu standing up did not interrupt his train of thought.

Sangmu rested for a moment and recovered slightly, but his ribs still hurt terribly; he figured a few bones were broken, but with a formidable enemy in front, he could not worry about that.

Dragging it out like this was not a solution; Sangmu knew Xin Yi's capabilities, so he decided to face Feilian alone to create an opportunity for Xin Yi.

Sangmu secretly tugged at Xin Yi's robe and gave him a look; Xin Yi understood, but he was worried and hesitated for a moment before nodding.

This was the best method at the moment.

When Feilian regained his focus, Xin Yi had already disappeared, leaving only Sangmu, who stood in a bow stance with his blade raised, in the posture of listening to the blade.

This time, Sangmu did not hold back his consciousness but gave himself over to the blade spirit wholeheartedly.

Although he knew it was dangerous to do so, given his current injuries, it was better to surrender himself and take a gamble.

"Heh! Truly courting death!"

After hearing the White-Headed Hou's howl, Feilian was already feeling impatient, and upon turning back to see Sangmu's provocation, he was instantly consumed by rage; ignoring where Xin Yi had gone, he vented his anger and slashed toward Sangmu.

Feilian flashed and disappeared, and then the sound of "clang-clang" rang out incessantly.

Sparks suddenly flew from all around Sangmu; the blade spirit had actually kept up with Feilian's speed, and although it did not catch every move, it still blocked seven or eight out of ten.

Yet even so, blood continued to seep from Sangmu's body, with one wound after another appearing as if out of thin air, but he remained indifferent, responding to Feilian's offensive with an expressionless face.

Meanwhile, Xin Yi, who was hiding in the shadows, discovered something unusual.

This time Sangmu was further away, and by the time he lowered his figure, Sangmu and Feilian were already fighting.

Xin Yi saw through Sangmu's Blade-Listening state at a glance, but from his perspective, although Sangmu's movements appeared normal, they were much slower than when he was at Ding'anju.

Even if Sangmu was injured, Blade-Listening was the blade spirit using its master's body to execute moves according to its own will; therefore, unless the master's bones were shattered and meridians damaged, there should not be the slightest hesitation.

And looking at Feilian's speed again, although the offensive was still astonishing, it seemed not as fast as before.

Hiss...

Strange, it really is strange...

What on earth is going on?