Chapter 550: The Art of Transformation

Having made up his mind, Niu Xiukong was determined to slay Zhang Nuo here, even if it meant suffering heavy injuries! If he were allowed to escape, the grudge for today would be set in stone! If they were to meet again in the future, it might well be his own doomsday!

Seeing two gusts of fist wind rushing toward him, the surrounding void trembled and shook from the force! Niu Xiukong's escape light flared, and he shot up into the high sky! The two gusts of fist wind grazed past the soles of his feet!

With a sudden flip of his hand, a three-foot-long sword appeared in Niu Xiukong's grip. He took a sharp breath and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the blade! Instantly, the seemingly ordinary sword let out a soft chime, and after a few transformations, it actually took the form of an Azure Dragon!

With a light flick of his wrist, the Azure Dragon's body rapidly elongated and bit down toward Zhang Nuo! Having just retracted his Flying Sword, Zhang Nuo saw the opponent unleash a Magic Treasure again! Zhang Nuo did not show weakness; he grabbed at the void with one hand, and a small green axe immediately appeared in his palm, infused with the Spirit Power from his body!

With the "Heaven Opening Axe" flashing green light, a blazing axe ray slashed out! Facing the axe ray that was dozens of feet long, the Azure Dragon unleashed by Niu Xiukong did not dodge at all! Instead, it opened its maw wide, and a mass of pale green glow swept out from within.

In one wrap, it trapped the unstoppable green axe ray! Then, a bizarre scene occurred: the axe ray, enveloped in the pale green light, slowed down in its flight speed instantly, and in the end, it was dragged bit by bit into the Azure Dragon's mouth!

Zhang Nuo was greatly shocked; he had not expected this Magic Treasure of the Niu-surnamed cultivator to be able to devour attacks! Thinking of this, he moved his Divine Sense, and the Phantom Immortal Dharma Image above his head flew out. The four black meridians in his body flashed simultaneously, and a mist interwoven with Golden Light and black Qi rapidly covered the entire Dharma Image!

In just a few flashes, the Dharma Image reached above the Azure Dragon, stretched out five fingers, and grabbed at the dragon's head! However, the Azure Dragon transformed from Niu Xiukong's Flying Sword reacted quickly! It dove its head downward to dodge the Dharma Image's strike, and then, with a twist of its body, it actually transformed back into an arm-thick green rope!

After circling the Phantom Immortal Dharma Image a few times, Niu Xiukong retracted his palm, and the green rope tightened instantly, binding the Dharma Image in mid-air!

The green light and the Golden Light on the Dharma Image constantly canceled each other out, emitting a harsh "pop-pop" sound! Zhang Nuo's Divine Sense sensed that the Dharma Image was temporarily safe, so he ignored it. With his four wings flapping in unison, his figure vanished from the spot and charged at Niu Xiukong from the side!

At the same time, he flipped his hand, and a small silver ruler was unleashed! In an instant, the sky was filled with silver ruler shadows, raining down upon the old man!

The old man, who had been smug just moments ago because he had trapped Zhang Nuo's Phantom Immortal Dharma Image, saw that the opponent had abandoned the Dharma Image to attack him instead, and a cold sneer appeared on his face! He backhanded the Green Gourd into the air.

At the mouth of the gourd, Heaven and Earth Origin Qi gathered rapidly. In the blink of an eye, with a loud boom, a green beam of light dozens of feet thick sprayed toward Zhang Nuo! The speed of this beam was comparable to lightning; not only did it instantly shatter the sky-filling silver ruler shadows, but it also reached right before Zhang Nuo's eyes!

Just as the beam was about to strike Zhang Nuo, purple electric arcs surged wildly from his body. After a rumbling thunderclap, his entire person turned into a slender electric arc and vanished from the spot!

One breath later, high in the sky a hundred feet away, a purple electric arc flashed, and Zhang Nuo's figure appeared! As soon as he appeared, he reached out and cast two incantations, which merged into the Phantom Immortal Dharma Image!

The Dharma Image tilted its head and let out a strange cry. Its Golden Light flared, and with a forceful exertion of its arms, a "pop" was heard, and the green rope was snapped apart alive!

Afterward, with a flash of Golden Light, the Dharma Image returned above Zhang Nuo's head! With his chest heaving slightly, Zhang Nuo felt unprecedented pressure. It seemed that with a Spirit Transformation Mid-Stage cultivation, forcibly dealing with an Integration Stage cultivator was indeed very strenuous!

At this moment, Niu Xiukong was even more astonished than Zhang Nuo! The youth opposite him was simply an existence that defied heaven! Every divine ability he possessed was extremely bizarre! Especially that Dharma Image Golden Body; even an Integration Stage cultivator probably couldn't cultivate such a thing! It seemed that even if he could slay this person today, he would have to suffer some hardships!

Just as Zhang Nuo stopped, his Divine Sense immediately sensed Chen Shuang'er below! During the time he was exchanging blows with Niu Xiukong, the remaining Spirit Transformation stage cultivators from the Human Emperor Palace had launched an attack on Chen Shuang'er!

Besieged by dozens of peers, Chen Shuang'er could not fend them off even after using the White Tiger True Spirit Bloodline! Zhang Nuo frowned; dealing with Niu Xiukong alone was already very taxing, but seeing Chen Shuang'er in danger, he had to save her!

Thinking of this, Zhang Nuo rolled violently in mid-air, and several rays of fire burst from his body. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a dark red Fire Phoenix!

This was a transformation art he had added to the Beast-Taming Unity Phantom Immortal Technique after fusing with the Red Glow Fire Spirit! Almost any demonic beast he fused with could be transformed into, and he even mastered a portion of their power!

Niu Xiukong did not know what technique Zhang Nuo was cultivating. Upon seeing the dark red Phoenix emerge, he thought the youth was from a True Spirit Family! His heart suddenly tightened! It seemed this brat really had a powerful background!

While his mind was momentarily stunned, Zhang Nuo, transformed into the Fire Phoenix, dove down. A phoenix cry erupted from his mouth, and he instantly reached the heads of the cultivators besieging Chen Shuang'er! His two-foot-long fire wings bent, and several feathers burning with dark red flames emerged from the surface of the wings!

These feathers shot toward the Human Emperor Palace cultivators without pause! They had assumed Niu Xiukong could pin down Zhang Nuo, so none of them had guarded against such a move! By the time they realized it, it was already too late! Several cultivators were immediately struck by the Fire Phoenix's feathers!

The flames burning on the feathers were Red Glow Fire; the moment they touched blood, they immediately burrowed into the cultivators' bodies! Following several screams in the sky, the struck cultivators instantly turned into flying ash, and even their Nascent Souls vanished into smoke!

Before the remaining cultivators could recover, Zhang Nuo rolled on the spot and changed back to his original appearance. He quickly extended his right hand, a bloodstain split open on his palm, and thousands of green branches and leaves extended from it. With a swirl, several more cultivators were entangled by the branches of the Divine Tree! At the same time, their Spirit Power was drained dry by the Divine Tree, leaving them unable to move like puppets!

A chorus of painful sounds rang out in mid-air. Zhang Nuo closed his five fingers, and the green branches and leaves retracted rapidly, shrinking back into his palm while carrying those cultivators!

In just a moment, nearly half of the cultivators Niu Xiukong had brought were slaughtered by Zhang Nuo! The remaining people retreated wildly, pulling back a full several hundred feet before stopping, each looking at Zhang Nuo in mid-air with lingering fear! Cold sweat appeared on their faces!

While fearing Zhang Nuo's divine abilities, they were also cursing Niu Xiukong in their hearts: as a dignified Integration Stage cultivator, he couldn't even pin down a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator, completely losing face for the Human Emperor Palace and causing over a dozen companions to perish for no reason!

After being relieved, Chen Shuang'er let out a long breath and looked up at Zhang Nuo. Her beautiful eyes were filled with gratitude; she had not expected that while dealing with an Integration Stage cultivator, he could still turn back to save her!

At this moment, Niu Xiukong wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Regardless, he was an Integration Stage cultivator; how could he fail to keep an eye on a Spirit Transformation stage brat? In a fit of rage, he let out a long whistle, and with a slight movement of his Divine Sense, the green rope that had been snapped by the Phantom Immortal Dharma Image reconnected and restored itself to the appearance of a Flying Sword!

He spat another mouthful of essence blood onto the Flying Sword. With a flash of green light, this time the Flying Sword transformed into a set of green armor, which directly donned itself onto Niu Xiukong's body! On the other hand, he unleashed the Green Gourd. Right there above the void, the gourd rapidly grew larger, eventually reaching a size of a hundred feet!

The gourd's mouth tilted downward; inside the pitch-black opening, Spirit Power was chaotic, as if it could erupt at any moment! With a sway of his body, the Spirit Power on Niu Xiukong's body surged, and a faint Azure Dragon phantom appeared on the surface of the green armor he was wearing!

Zhang Nuo watched him finish all this, and a sense of fear suddenly rose in his heart! It seemed this old fellow was playing for real! Only now had he used his true techniques, which meant that before, he had at most been playing with him, and now he was getting serious!

High in the sky, the giant Green Gourd began to rotate slowly. With every rotation, waves of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi gathered at the gourd's mouth! The previously pitch-black gourd mouth was now glowing with streaks of green light!

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Nuo pointed at the Nine Dragon Sword Case in front of him. Immediately, eighty-one Flying Swords filed out. Under the constant urging of his incantations, the water-like blades began to divide into sword shadows. In an instant, the area within a hundred feet was filled with crisscrossing sword Qi!

The "Ten Thousand Sword Flow Formation" was activated by Zhang Nuo! With a point toward the old man in the void, the ten thousand Flying Swords in the formation converged into a torrent and charged toward the old man!

A cold sneer appeared on Niu Xiukong's face. Green light exploded from his body, and that faint Azure Dragon phantom emerged once again. Charging forward, he did not dodge the torrent gathered by Zhang Nuo's sword formation and plunged straight into it!

A series of rumbling explosions followed. Niu Xiukong, wearing the green armor, moved through the torrent as if walking through an empty space! He flipped both hands simultaneously, unleashing a small white flowing-light shield and a foot-long giant refined steel spear!

With a charge and a retreat, Zhang Nuo's torrent of Flying Swords was scattered.