Chapter 1896: 【Kill Without Mercy】 (Upper)

Li Chang'an's greatest strength was not his martial arts, but his ability to command birds; however, this ability had no effect against Hu Xiaotian. When Hu Xiaotian's mount, the Flying Roc, appeared, the flock originally summoned by Li Chang'an fell into chaos. Although Li Chang'an was called the Feather Demon, he could not control the Flying Roc.

Xiong Tianba and the three giant bears were meant to draw their attention, while Hu Xiaotian waited in the sky for an opportunity; once the enemy's main force appeared, he would launch an attack, showing no mercy.

The Heaven-Splitting Sword struck at Li Chang'an with unstoppable momentum. In his panic, Li Chang'an dared not block it head-on; he had wanted to command the Snow Eagle to lead him away, but the Snow Eagle's speed was far inferior to the Flying Roc's. Li Chang'an blew his silver flute, trying to use the birds in the air to form a barrier behind him to block Hu Xiaotian's attack. If he could block Hu Xiaotian's assault, he would gain a chance to catch his breath and escape from under his eyes. However, those birds had already been frightened out of their wits by the Flying Roc, completely losing control. They would not obey his command to form any decent barrier. Without the Flying Roc's aid, Xia Zhangming would never have agreed to let Hu Xiaotian come for revenge. In understanding birds' habits, Xia Zhangming's ability was no less than that of his senior brother Li Chang'an, and in many respects surpassed it. His knowledge of the Flying Roc was second only to Hu Xiaotian's; he knew the Flying Roc was the king of birds, impossible to tame. The way to get the Flying Roc to help was to treat it as a friend and earn its recognition—only Hu Xiaotian could do that.

Seeing the situation turn bad, Li Chang'an, in a panic, leapt up from the Snow Eagle's back, shouting at the same time. Though frightened, the Snow Eagle still remembered to protect its master, hurling itself at Hu Xiaotian and the Flying Roc without regard for its own safety.

As Li Chang'an leapt into the air, Hu Xiaotian also shot upward. The Flying Roc let out a low cry, the black feathers on its neck standing on end. Though the Snow Eagle was about half its size, it showed no fear, throwing itself at the Flying Roc like a moth to a flame.

Though the Flying Roc's body was huge, its movements were swift as electricity, like a black arc of light. It dodged the Snow Eagle's attack, flew to its rear, and clamped its talons onto the Snow Eagle's wings. Its hard, powerful beak seized the Snow Eagle's neck, twisted hard—with a crack, the Snow Eagle's neck bone snapped. Its talons tore the corpse in half, and as the night wind blew, it seemed as if blood rained in the void.

Just as Li Chang'an had dismounted from the Snow Eagle's back, he witnessed the Flying Roc brutally slaughtering the Snow Eagle. His heart filled with indescribable grief—for him, the Snow Eagle was the dearest thing in this world. Had it not been to save his own life, he would never have abandoned it. Yet even so, he could not escape Hu Xiaotian's killing range. A cold light flashed down from above. Hu Xiaotian's Heaven-Splitting Sword followed like a shadow. Li Chang'an swung his long sword to block, but his inner strength was no match for Hu Xiaotian's; short of being forced, he would not choose to clash head-on with Hu Xiaotian.

The Profound Iron Sword was shrouded in a bluish haze, even covering Hu Xiaotian's body. Li Chang'an felt as if a giant sword several zhang long had appeared in the air, wind and thunder accompanying its descent toward him. Knowing he could not block it, he still had to brace himself. His long sword shattered on contact with the Profound Iron Sword, breaking instantly. Li Chang'an watched helplessly as his sword broke; the remaining flesh of his left arm was minced by sword qi. He smelled his own blood and shouted, "Wait!" trying to buy a sliver of life with that cry, but Hu Xiaotian, whose killing intent was set, gave him no chance at all.

The Profound Iron Sword split Li Chang'an's body in two, his corpse falling almost simultaneously with the Snow Eagle's. The Flying Roc swooped down beneath Hu Xiaotian and steadily bore him up.

Zhan Peng fired repeatedly, providing aerial cover for Xiong Tianba and the three giant bears. In fact, this ferocious Four Great Vajras needed no such cover—one man and three bears charged into the wolf pack as if entering an empty land. The wolves quickly realized how terrifying their opponents were; although they kept coming in waves, fewer and fewer dared to approach the inner circle and clash head-on with the four of them.

The wolf pack ahead parted like rolling waves as the Beast Demon Yan Huyao, mounted on a black leopard, shot toward Xiong Tianba like a black lightning bolt.

Xiong Tianba immediately spotted the enemy, let out a beast-like roar, and leapt into the air, landing steadily on Big Bear's broad back. Big Bear bellowed and, with a slap, sent a blue wolf intent on sneak attack flying into the air—half its brain was smashed to pulp, clearly doomed. Big Bear, carrying Xiong Tianba, charged forward with all four legs toward the Beast Demon Yan Huyao. The wolves scattered, and Xiong Tianba swung his twin hammers like windmills; wherever they passed, blue wolves were struck down and fell dead.

The Beast Demon Yan Huyao raised his wolf-tooth club high, murderous light flashing in his eyes, his throat emitting a strange howl like a bear's roar. In the art of commanding land beasts, Yan Huyao was unrivaled under heaven; he sought to control the giant bear beneath Xiong Tianba's crotch.

Yan Huyao and Li Chang'an, both Beast Tamer Grand Masters, made the same mistake: they believed their abilities could, in a short time, command any nearby birds or beasts, easily achieving a encirclement battle where the many surrounded the few, turning any solo fight into a many-over-few scenario. Yet they failed to anticipate that the enemy's companion beasts all possessed special traits—needless to say, the Flying Roc's might, and even Xiong Tianba's three giant bears, raised from youth, had been specially trained by Xia Zhangming to resist other beast tamers; thus the bears' psychological defenses were extraordinarily strong, and even Yan Huyao could not subdue them in a short time.

Seeing his beast-taming arts fail against the giant bears, Yan Huyao's heart sank. As the two drew near, he confident in his strength—rarely matched under heaven—raised his wolf-tooth club and swept it sideways at Xiong Tianba.

Xiong Tianba's every battle was a hard, head-on clash. He bellowed "Wah‑yah‑yah!" and brought his twin hammers down on the wolf-tooth club. The weapons collided in mid‑air with a loud "Bang!" that numbed Yan Huyao's arms, heated his chest, and left a sweet taste in his throat—he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

His body swayed, and he could not stay seated on the black leopard's back; losing balance, he fell off.

Seeing him fall from the black leopard, Xiong Tianba leapt from Big Bear's back in a single stride, raising his great hammer to strike Yan Huyao's head.

Seeing its master under attack, the black leopard opened its bloody maw and lunged at Xiong Tianba's arm. Big Bear would not yield; he swung his paw to knock the leopard away, but the leopard, surprisingly agile, twisted its head and neck and clamped onto Big Bear's right foreleg. Though Big Bear's thick hide prevented the sharp teeth from piercing his skin, he still winced in pain and let out a anguished cry.

Hearing Big Bear's anguished cry, the Second and Third Bears turned toward the spot, saw Big Bear in danger, and rushed over to help.

The black leopard clung tightly to Big Bear's foreleg and would not let go. The Third Bear arrived first, his massive body slamming the leopard to the ground. The Second Bear followed, seizing the leopard's vital point in his jaws. Seeing his brothers come to his aid, Big Bear's spirits lifted; he raised his free left foreleg and repeatedly smashed it against the leopard's head.

Though brave, the black leopard was completely outmatched by the three burly bears of the Bear family, being utterly crushed by them. In its howls, it had already been castrated alive by the Second Bear; the Third Bear seized the moment and bit into the leopard's neck.

Surrounded by the three bears, the black leopard left the Beast Demon Yan Huyao in no better state. Xiong Tianba pressed step by step, striking with three more hammers. Although Yan Huyao blocked each with his wolf-tooth club, each block took more effort; Xiong Tianba's strength far surpassed his, and Yan Huyao finally spat out a mouthful of blood, crying out, "Wait, I have something to say…"

"Speak of your mother!" Xiong Tianba would not give him a chance to talk, and with a melon‑sized iron hammer he smashed Yan Huyao's skull open with a "Pfft!" The two top beast tamers in the world thus lost their lives without exchanging another word, dying in a confused daze.

With their deaths, the birds and beasts they had summoned naturally scattered in flight, and the Blue Wolf formation collapsed without being attacked.

Xu Fengwu lacked beast‑taming ability, which ironically gave him a bit more time to live. He had expected to watch another grand slaughter, but before long he realized the situation was wrong: first he saw Li Chang'an killed by a single sword, then he saw the wolf pack flee in disarray. Though he did not personally witness the Beast Demon Yan Huyao's death, from the battle lines he could guess that Yan Huyao had almost certainly met with misfortune.

Xu Fengwu dared not approach to see what had happened; taking advantage of the moment, he slipped quietly deep into the Maple Forest, hoping to get away before the attackers noticed him. Just as he was about to escape the forest, he saw a figure standing ahead. His heart leapt in surprise; he had to stop, focus his gaze—and there was Hu Xiaotian, smiling narrowly, blocking his path.

Xu Fengwu was always a smiling tiger; he also replied with a narrow smile, "Who did I think you were? Turns out it's you, little Tian!" Judging by Xu Fengyi, he was actually Hu Xiaotian's maternal uncle.

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, "Who did I think you were? It's you."

Xu Fengwu said, "Indeed, life brings us together everywhere. Little Tian, take a good look at me—don't you recognize me?" He was skilled in soul‑capturing technique; if Hu Xiaotian paid attention to his eyes, he could seize Hu Xiaotian's spirit when he was off‑guard. How could he know that Hu Xiaotian had beside him Weisa, a master of soul‑capturing? Although Hu Xiaotian's soul‑capturing was not great, he had learned from Weisa many ways to resist mental control, just in case.

Hu Xiaotian indeed looked at him.

Xu Fengwu secretly rejoiced and said, "My eyes feel itchy—take a look, what's in my eyes?" Under the moonlight, his eyes actually glowed with a greenish oily sheen. (To be continued~^~)