Chapter 264: Demonic Lion

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two sounds of breaking through the air rang out; the two prayer beads shot by the bone skeleton aimed straight for the heart of Nanxuan Laozu. As if he had been prepared beforehand, the White Disc in front of Nanxuan Laozu moved, blocking the two incredibly fast prayer beads.

"Hum! Hum!"

There was no loud sound of impact; the prayer beads collided with the White Disc and immediately rebounded, bypassing Nanxuan Laozu to strike at Zhuo Zhiyan and Leng Xinghun behind him.

Seeing this scene, everyone finally understood that the previous attack on Nanxuan Laozu had been a feint; the skeleton's true target was these two!

A black figure emerged from Leng Xinghun's robe sleeve, waving a hand like a ghost. With two "slap" sounds, he spread his five fingers and firmly caught the two incoming prayer beads.

"Hmm?"

The bone skeleton let out a soft sound of surprise. Although the force of these two prayer beads had been blocked by the White Disc, they should not have been easily caught by a junior. Two black lights flashed within the skeleton's deep eye sockets, and he couldn't help but be slightly stunned as he looked at the thing that had caught the beads!

It turned out that the one holding the prayer beads was not a cultivator at all, but a Corpse Refining in a black robe. The black robe almost covered the entire body of this Corpse Refining, with long black hair draped down. On both sides of its face were drawn mysterious runes never seen before, and its eyes were completely white, with not even the pupils visible.

As for the cultivation of the Corpse Refining, it was even more terrifying, almost comparable to a Nascent Soul Early-stage cultivator! Its five fingers exerted force, and faint Spirit Power surrounded the prayer beads, preventing them from flying out of its grasp!

"I didn't expect that among you, there is someone who knows how to create a Corpse Refining?"

The skeleton muttered in a low voice, as if talking to himself. Zhang Nuo and the others ignored him, their figures flashing several times to surround the skeleton in a fan shape. Each of them had their Magic Treasure spinning in their hands, all gathering their strength, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.

With a soft "hum," the White Disc in front of Nanxuan Laozu released a burst of spiritual light, transforming into a Fowen the size of a peck, and charged toward the skeleton.

The skeleton seemed to still be thinking about Leng Xinghun's Corpse Refining and did not notice Nanxuan Laozu's attack at all. One bone hand flicked gently, and a certain prayer bead beside him flashed with green light to meet it.

"Boom!" The moment the green light and white light intertwined, Nanxuan Laozu's White Disc trembled and spun back. However, the green prayer bead did not stop there; as its form spun in mid-air, the surrounding Demonic Qi surged toward it like a tide. After absorbing this Demonic Qi, the prayer bead transformed in the blink of an eye into a monster filled with sinister Demonic Qi!

The monster was like a giant lion, only its entire body was composed of Demonic Qi. After two long "awoo" howls, the Demonic Lion turned its head and pounced toward Zhang Nuo!

His nerves had been taut the whole time. Seeing the Demonic Lion pouncing on him, Zhang Nuo had no time to think; he flicked his hand and released all the several white lights circling his palm.

"Swish!" These white lights were all transformed from Flying Swords. After leaving several white lines in mid-air, they all slashed onto the Demonic Lion. The next moment, a bizarre scene occurred.

Several Flying Swords slashed directly through the Demonic Lion's body, but the Demonic Lion remained completely unharmed, its speed not decreasing in the slightest as it pounced on Zhang Nuo even more fiercely.

Frowning, Zhang Nuo could hardly believe his eyes. The combined strike of several Flying Swords had no effect, as if they had just sliced through air. He quickly dodged to the side, and the Demonic Lion pounced on empty air. It turned its head, emitting a sinister roar, and locked its eyes on Zhang Nuo once again.

"Why won't this thing just go away!"

In his surprise, he moved his Divine Sense to retrieve the Flying Swords that had missed, wanting to try slashing at the Demonic Lion again.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, I'll help you!"

After Ye Yuemiao realized something was wrong, she jumped directly to Zhang Nuo's side. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, preparing to deal with the Demonic Lion in front of them together!

"No need to rush! Everyone will have their turn!"

The skeleton let out a ferocious laugh. As he spoke, his fingers flicked several times, and several more prayer beads beside him transformed into the shape of Demonic Lions, numbering several dozen in total!

This time, everyone was dumbfounded. The Demonic Lions transformed from prayer beads could not be attacked by Magic Treasures at all; was there any way to fight this battle?

"Awoo!"

At this moment, a Demonic Lion jumped high in a rage, pouncing toward Zhuo Zhiyan. She gave a light shake of the Seven Treasures Glazed Lamp in her jade hand, and a surging flame poured out from the wick, wrapping the attacking Demonic Lion in an instant. However, a scene that shocked everyone appeared again.

The Demonic Lion in the flames paused slightly, then ignored the engulfing flames, jumped out from within, and pounced on Zhuo Zhiyan again! If even the flames of the Seven Treasures Glazed Lamp couldn't hurt the opponent, what else could be used?

With no time to think, Zhuo Zhiyan flashed away to a safe place. Her willow eyebrows stood upright and her apricot eyes widened; although she was angry in her heart, she still had no way to deal with the Demonic Lion in front of her.

At the same time, dozens of Demonic Lions were crazily pouncing toward the crowd. Inside the entire great hall, black shadows flickered everywhere, and even the attacks from Nanxuan Laozu could not cause any damage to the Demonic Lions!

"Laozu, please think of a way!"

As Xiao Zhengxing flashed and dodged an attack from a Demonic Lion, he shouted loudly toward Nanxuan Laozu not far away.

Hearing this, Nanxuan Laozu sighed heavily. These Demonic Lions appeared to have form, but were actually formless. No matter what the attack was, as long as it hit them, it was like hitting the air, with no sense of impact at all!

"Hehe! Think of a way? Today, no one is leaving; all of you stay here!"

The skeleton let out a cold laugh. Suddenly, he reached out and pointed at a certain spot. Immediately, more than a dozen Demonic Lions rushed over. That was exactly where the remaining five Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators were staying. Although they had the protection of Nanxuan Laozu's Fowen, the Demonic Lions entered as if there were no one there, charging directly inside.

A series of shrill screams rang out; the five cultivators were bitten to death on the spot by the Demonic Lions in the blink of an eye, and blood flowed out from their bodies. A large area of the ground turned red!

Several Golden Core stage cultivators turned pale at the sight. They couldn't attack the Demonic Lions, but the Demonic Lions could attack them freely; this was simply a one-sided slaughter!

"The small ones are finished, now let's start with the big ones!"

The skeleton had no face, and one could not tell his expression at this moment. The only thing that could be felt was the Demonic Qi rolling incessantly within his dark eye sockets.

Before his voice had even faded, more than ten Demonic Lions charged toward Xiao Zhengxing simultaneously. As black shadows flashed, Xiao Zhengxing relied on his incredibly fast Body Refining movement technique to dodge several waves of attacks, but his face had already turned ugly to the extreme! If he didn't find a way, he had no confidence in surviving a second wave of attacks.

With a look of longing for help in his eyes, he looked toward Nanxuan Laozu! He had been entangled by three Demonic Lions the whole time, but he had also seen the scene that just happened.

"Since the Demonic Lions cannot be broken, then attack the skeleton's main body!"

One sentence awakened the dreamer. Several cultivators immediately realized it. Although the Demonic Lions were powerful, they were released by the skeleton transformed from the old monk. Perhaps if the skeleton were destroyed, the Demonic Lions would collapse on their own!

"Drink!"

The white-haired old man who came with the purple-clad girl heard Nanxuan Laozu's words and jumped high, leaping over the two Demonic Lions under his feet. At the same time, he shook his sleeves, and two Flying Swords a zhang long shot out. As the blades on both sides shimmered with light, the surrounding air was rubbed into sparks of fire wherever they passed while slashing toward the skeleton.

"Courting death!"

Seeing the white-haired old man make a move, the skeleton let out a cold snort. His two bone hands raised quickly, and with a series of "clack" sounds, the two bone hands grew several zhang long in a bizarre way, grabbing the two large swords before they could even reach him!

The bone hands looked fragile, but the moment they touched the twin swords, they immediately became as hard as diamond! Wisps of Demonic Qi leaked out from between the bone fingers.

"Boom! Boom!"

After two loud bangs, the Flying Swords released by the white-haired old man were crushed into powder by the bone hands with what looked like ease! Seeing this scene, the old man's heart sank. These two Flying Swords had been refined with Pill Fire in his body for decades; he hadn't expected them to be destroyed so easily by the opponent!

It seemed that the skeleton transformed from the old monk, besides having no physical body, still had a cultivation level at the Nascent Soul Late Stage! With his Flying Swords destroyed, the white-haired old man's mind was in a state of chaos! Before he could make any reaction, the two bone hands extended again, and this time, the speed was comparable to a Flying Sword!

"Puff! Ah!"

The two sinister bone hands gradually enlarged in the old man's eyes, and finally pierced through his body! Ignoring the old man's pained expression, the bone hands turned slightly inside his body, directly dug out an object, and then abandoned the old man's body, retracting.

When the five-fingered bone hand opened, a Golden Core of a cultivator emitting a faint Pill Fire appeared in the bone skeleton's hand.

"Hmm! The first one!"

Nodding slightly, the skeleton seemed very satisfied and directly fused the white-haired old man's Golden Core with the Fo Sheli in his body! Nourished by the Golden Core, the Relic shone brightly, and the green flames rose even higher.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; many people saw it, but had no chance to step in and help!

"Elder Zhu!"

The girl in purple let out a heart-wrenching scream as she watched the white-haired Elder perish, yet she was completely helpless; facing the powerful cultivation of the bone skeleton, a Golden Core stage cultivator was no better than an ant in his eyes!

A purple shadow flickered, and Ye Yuemiao arrived before Elder Zhu, ignoring the bloodstains on his body and pulling him directly into her embrace!

"Young... Master! This old man can no longer look after you! In the days to come, you must be... care... ful!"

At the very end of his life, the old man was still thinking only of the girl before him; what a loyal person he was!

"Elder Zhu! You will be fine!"

Extending her jade hand, she gently wiped the bloody foam from the corner of the old man's mouth, crystal-clear tears shimmering in the girl's eyes! After her body trembled violently a few times, a faint smile appeared on Elder Zhu's face, and then, with his eyes closed, he departed to the other world!

"Elder Zhu..."

The girl looked up and let out a long cry, the shrill and piercing sound shaking the entire great hall!

"Roar!"

A lion's roar rang out, and just as the girl was overcome with grief, a demonic lion charged toward her back! Completely immersed in her sorrow, Ye Yuemiao did not make any reaction!