Chapter 197: Evil Fire

You ate Wu Tie, and still ask Wu Tie not to resist?

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak, a fierce wind rose around Taotie Ying; his body flashed and he appeared before Wu Tie, grabbing Wu Tie's neck in one swift motion.

"You are Wa Yao's younger cousin; you will surely receive preferential treatment..." Taotie Ying laughed and snatched: "You cannot be like them, swallowed so roughly."

Taotie Ying's five fingers were engorged with blood, his palm bright red like blood jade.

Fine scales kept sprouting from the backs of his fingers and hands, delicate and small, resembling dragon scales; the blood-colored scales' edges were inlaid with a thin black line, exquisite yet revealing a hint of evil and ferocity.

Wu Tie flipped his right hand, slapped and grabbed Taotie Ying's palm, then pressed down hard.

Taotie Ying smiled, looking at Wu Tie: "You are worth my… chewing slowly."

Likewise, Taotie Ying flipped his palm and pressed down hard.

Wu Tie's and his five fingers intertwined, palms striking together. A dull thud sounded; the surrounding earth violently trembled once, and countless spiderweb-like cracks spread from beneath their feet in all directions.

The boots Wu Tie wore, a gift from Osiris, suffered no damage.

The boots Taotie Ying wore, seemingly forged from light‑blue 'soft crystal', cracked with a 'crack' sound, splitting into countless hair‑line fissures.

Threads of black smoke rose from both palms; their palms collided violently, kinetic energy swiftly turning to heat, the skin and flesh on their palms instantly ground to rawness, then rapidly carbonized in the high heat.

After Wu Tie fused with that broken bone fragment, each time his bones mutated he burned until his skin split and flesh tore; he had fought many times, and whenever he clashed his whole body's skin and flesh were beaten to a pulp, so he had long grown accustomed to the pain of such 'flesh wounds'.

Taotie Ying, by contrast, was clearly a pampered scion of a wealthy family, the sort who had led a smooth, untroubled life.

The skin and flesh of his palms were painfully ground raw, scorched, and turned to charcoal; the intense pain made his eye sockets redden, and tears actually seeped out.

With a 'crack‑crack' sound, their palms violently tangled; terrifying force burst from their palms, and as their skin and flesh split, blood kept flowing out, then quickly dried in the heat of their palms.

Wu Tie's finger bones emitted a faint sound, while Taotie Ying's finger bones were noticeably weaker by one grade; his finger bones underwent obvious deformation, the meridians attached to them protruding like strings and emitting a resonance like a plucked string.

To be precise, in pure physical strength Taotie Ying actually, surprisingly, exceeded Wu Tie by a notch.

Moreover, in terms of flesh‑and‑blood strength, Taotie Ying was also considerably stronger than Wu Tie.

The problem is that Wu Tie's bones, having undergone multiple mutations, strengthening, and assimilation from that broken bone fragment, are now far tougher than refined steel; in bone strength Wu Tie surpasses Taotie Ying by a large margin.

Thus, although his flesh was weaker by a notch and his strength lower by a grade, backed by his formidable bones Wu Tie managed, in a pure test of bodily strength, to fight Taotie Ying to a draw.

These past few years, Wu Tie had never before met an equal in a pure strength contest; he couldn't help but widen his eyes, staring hard at Taotie Ying and saying, "Your strength is truly not small…"

Taotie Ying stared at Wu Tie as if seeing a ghost, then instinctively let out a hoarse scream: "You fool, I am a Life Pool Realm cultivator, I am of the Taotie Soul Clan…… how mighty the Life Pool Realm of my Taotie Clan is…… you, you, you are merely a Chonglou Realm…"

"Crack!"

Wu Tie's and Taotie Ying's fingers dislocated at the same time.

Joint after joint of finger bones dislocated outright; their palms were completely deformed, and beneath the torn flesh the twisted bones looked especially ferocious and frightening.

Both cried out in pain, yet their eyes flashed with murderous light as they viciously slammed a palm at each other.

Their palms could no longer exert force; their wrist bones slammed together with a crisp crack, dislocating both wrists and elbows at once, then their right shoulders deformed and protruded, both right arms drooping limp, while they simultaneously swung their left arms.

A White Tiger Rift hovered beside Wu Tie; he released his left hand from the White Tiger Rift and threw a punch at Taotie Ying's handsome face.

Taotie Ying likewise threw a punch; their fists, like two meteors, violently collided.

"Boom!"

Vast layers of rock beneath their feet shattered, boulders breaking apart like sand, and everything below their knees sank into the gravel.

Their heavy fists smashed together, blood and flesh flying from their knuckles; their bodies jerked, then they simultaneously retracted their fists and launched another punch.

The deafening noise continued unabated; wave after wave of fist‑generated gusts rolled rapidly in all directions, forcing Wa Yao to stagger backward in disarray.

The worst off was Sun Zuo, whom Wu Tie had just stepped on; although Wu Tie's foot had left his back, wave after wave of fist‑generated gusts howled, continually pressing down on him—he was like an orange in a mortar, being pounded repeatedly by the pestle, constantly spitting out blood.

In the flash of lightning and spark, Wu Tie and Taotie Ying exchanged dozens of punches.

The blood and flesh on both fists flew off completely, exposing the bones beneath the flesh.

Taotie Ying's bones were overlaid with an ancient, ferocious black‑red hue, bright and shiny as if forged from some metal.

Wu Tie's bones, at first glance, seemed unremarkable—just dark and dull, exuding a mysterious ancient aura.

Their finger bones, lacking any flesh protection, slammed together again and again with heavy blows.

Taotie Ying already had two streams of hot tears rolling down his face without cease.

Wu Tie's expression remained unmoving, as if the splattered blood and flesh did not belong to him, as he kept throwing punch after punch.

Wu Tie's entire left arm had completely assimilated with that broken bone fragment, becoming identical in texture to the fragment; every bone in his left arm was far, far, far stronger than the rest of his skeleton.

As he swung heavy punches, Wu Tie's left‑hand bones suffered no damage, while Taotie Ying's left‑hand bones twisted and deformed, then suddenly split into countless hair‑line cracks.

Taotie Ying howled in pain with a hoarse cry, yet he stubbornly kept throwing heavy punch after heavy punch.

An extremely vicious murderous aura surged from Taotie Ying's body; at this point he was no longer like a person but resembled an enraged, utterly berserk primordial demon beast, having lost all reason.

He roared, baring his teeth and snarling at Wu Tie, his teeth faintly tinged with red, as if ready to devour Wu Tie alive and tear him apart.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

Taotie Ying's left‑arm bones cracked segment after segment; finally, accompanying a heavy blow, he let out a shrill wail as all the bones in his left palm shattered, exploding into countless bone fragments that sprayed outward.

His entire left arm, from the shoulder down, had all its bones break apart at once.

But wrapped in thick, pliable flesh, the shattered bones did not fly out; instead they lay jumbled, like a multitude of tiny daggers driven deep into the flesh.

The large bones of his left arm split into three or four pieces; the black‑red bones resembled small daggers, piercing the arm's muscles, piercing the sleeve, and lay exposed to the air.

Taotie Ying could no longer endure the pain; the madness in his eyes vanished instantly, he staggered back two steps, then his body gave a violent shake.

Waves of blood‑qi rolled out from within him, violently writhing across his body's surface.

His dislocated left arm gave a 'crack‑crack‑crack' as all its joints snapped back into place, and the wound on his right palm healed rapidly.

The shattered bones of his left hand also returned to their original positions, piecing themselves together; under the surge of mighty essence‑blood aura, they fully healed in the span of a single breath.

Even his completely pulverized left hand merely needed a flash of Blood Light to regrow.

In the time of a breath his injuries healed; Taotie Ying expended a vast store of essence‑blood energy, and his aura suddenly weakened considerably.

He fixed Wu Tie with a death‑stare, grinding his teeth: "Wa Clan? Does the Wa Clan possess such formidable flesh? No, your mighty physical strength does not come from Wa Clan blood…… you have fused with the blood of other divine beasts?"

Wu Tie pulled out a large handful of Primordial Grass and stuffed it into his mouth.

The primordial herb was quickly digested in his belly, wave after wave of potent medicinal power transformed into essence-blood energy, rapidly absorbed by his body. Just like the Gluttonous Bird, Wu Tie's wounds were also swiftly healing.

However, in terms of healing speed, compared to the Gluttonous Bird, Wu Tie was much, much slower here.

After the Gluttonous Bird finished speaking, and several more breaths passed, Wu Tie's shattered palm finally healed completely.

Looking at Wu Tie's 'slow' healing speed, the Gluttonous Bird suddenly burst into an arrogant, abnormal laugh: 'No, no, you are not of divine beast bloodline…… It's the same logic—how could someone born in a poor, remote backwater possibly possess such a supremely noble divine beast bloodline?'

Then, when you broke open the Heavenly Lock Heavy Tower, did you obtain some wondrous body-refining method?' the Gluttonous Bird narrowed its eyes, sizing up Wu Tie up and down: 'The Buddhist Golden Body? The Daoist Dharma Body? The Witch Clan's Indestructible Form? The Demon Clan's Myriad Marvelous Demon Body? The Monster Clan's Undying Monster Body? Or……'

Shaking its head, the Gluttonous Bird muttered: 'Your qi and blood blaze like fire, pure yang to the utmost, and extremely overbearing…… Surely not the myriad calamity ghost body of ghost cultivators…… But then again, it's hard to say—ghost cultivators do have some oddballs, refining the pure yang great path with a yin-ghost body; such bastards do exist……'

The Gluttonous Bird chatted away happily to itself.

His words were like a bunch of tiny keys, 'swish swish swish' unlocking the inherited knowledge in Wu Tie's mind.

Among the knowledge that Old Iron passed on to Wu Tie, some intermediate-level knowledge had been deliberately sealed by Old Iron; unless Wu Tie encountered the specific corresponding factor, this knowledge would not be transmitted to him.

This was also because Old Iron feared Wu Tie's distraction would affect his cultivation of the Primal Beginning Scripture.

But after the Gluttonous Bird's lecture, knowledge about the Buddhist Golden Body, Daoist Dharma Body, Witch Clan's Indestructible Form, Demon Clan's Myriad Marvelous Demon Body, and the like simultaneously opened in Wu Tie's mind, with some superficial corresponding knowledge continually flowing into his mind.

Whether it's the Buddhist Golden Body or the Daoist Dharma Body, or other such things, they are all a collective term.

For example, within the Buddhist Golden Body, Wu Tie now possesses the 'Pure Bodhi Golden Body', the 'White Lotus Ninefold Golden Body', the 'Arhat Indestructible Golden Body', and so on—hundreds of strange and wondrous body-refining methods.

Unlike the fundamental scriptures of the Diamond Sutra transmitted to the Sixfold Palace Master, what Wu Tie now obtains are the various cultivation methods of the Buddhist tradition.

For a Buddhist sect, those scriptures of the Diamond Sutra are the supreme ultimate treasure.

But for a cultivator, it is these Golden Body cultivation secret arts that are truly the most valuable.

These body-refining methods left by Old Iron to Wu Tie, any one of them could drive countless people mad, drawing countless to come hunt him down.

A layer of cold sweat broke out on Wu Tie's back; he swiftly decided he would absolutely not leak even a bit of these techniques.

Unless, like a companion such as Shi Fei, Wu Tie could consider passing on one of them at an opportune moment.

'Not any of them.' Wu Tie interrupted the Gluttonous Bird's muttering, coldly saying: 'I possess an extraordinary innate talent, born with a bit of savage strength…… Moreover, it seems I am not too strong; rather, you are too weak, right?'

The Gluttonous Bird stared blankly.

He abruptly lifted his head and glared fixedly at Wu Tie: 'I'm weak? I'm weak? I am the Third Prince of the Gluttonous Clan, having just stepped into the Life Pool Realm, my pure physical strength is nearly three hundred billion catties…… I'm weak?'

Wu Tie licked his lips.

Three hundred billion catties of pure physical strength?

No wonder he had such a hard time dealing with it just now; that strength far surpasses Wu Tie's current power.

However, Wu Tie's bones are far, far harder than the Gluttonous Bird's, so in this contest of brute strength, Wu Tie still won.

'You little brat, there's something odd.' The Gluttonous Bird laughed: 'Hmm, perhaps you are not of divine beast bloodline, but obtained the essence of divine beast blood from the remains of a divine beast? That's also possible.'

'You don't need to be too strong; the essence of blood and vitality remaining in the body of an ancient heavenly dragon could forge you…… Your luck, kid, is truly not bad.' The Gluttonous Bird shook its head: 'But in the end, this is all my luck, my luck!'

With a flick of the hand, a pitch-black bone spear, radiating boundless overbearing aura, appeared in the Gluttonous Bird's grasp.

The spear is over three meters long, as thick as an ordinary person's arm; on its black shaft, strange divine patterns like whorls occasionally appear faintly, and an extreme overbearing devouring suction constantly emanates from the shaft.

'This is a divine weapon forged from the rib of a true primordial divine beast, the Gluttonous.' The Gluttonous Bird sneered at Wu Tie: 'You also use a spear? What a coincidence—I use a spear too…… Let me use this Gluttonous Divine Spear to teach you, as a person, don't be too arrogant.'

Wu Tie coldly regarded the Gluttonous Bird, gripping the White Tiger Rend with both hands.

'Don't be too arrogant as a person? Are you talking about yourself?' Wu Tie glanced at the distant Wa Wa: 'For the sake of such a woman, you'd go this far? You've become utterly indiscriminate in your hunger.'

The Gluttonous Bird laughed, his sinister chuckle: 'She is merely a plaything, but she promised that if I dispose of you, all the little cuties of Wa Valley will be mine……'

The Gluttonous Bird lowered his voice, chuckling softly: 'Right, you know why I happened to encounter her, and also Gong Sun Sheng?'

Without waiting for Wu Tie's reply, the Gluttonous Bird muttered to itself: 'Because I, too, am a Heaven's Chosen…… They relied on the power of the Heavenly Divine Artifact to flee, and the Heavenly Divine Artifact automatically sent them to the side of the strongest Heaven's Chosen in the surrounding great domains……'

'And among those surrounding great domains, the strongest Heaven's Chosen is me!'

The Gluttonous Bird laughed loudly, thrusting its spear toward Wu Tie.

Wu Tie's face suddenly stiffened, a surge of evil fire erupting from his heart.