Chapter 280: Total Suppression

Bone-breaking sounds continued, and Taotie Tu let out painful groans.

He drew a deep breath, his clothes silently shattered, and large amounts of black scales rapidly rolled out beneath his skin; a pair of jet‑black, shining horns sprouted on his forehead, and the nails on his hands and feet turned into sharp claws.

"Close‑quarters combat?"

Taotie Tu looked at Wu Tie and burst into wild laughter: "The Taotie clan never fears close‑quarters slaughter… You think, when the Taotie divine beast devours all things, the divine beasts and birds it swallows are willing to be eaten by it?"

"No! It's hunting, hunting, hunting!" Taotie Tu thrust a claw at Wu Tie's chest: "Taotie regards all beings under heaven as prey."

At such close range, Taotie Tu's claw swing immediately produced an air blast. The dull, thunder‑like roar dazed people, the shock wave even penetrated the five viscera and six bowels, shaking meridians and bones.

If an ordinary person were shaken by this shock wave, they'd surely see black, feel weak all over, lose seventy‑to‑eighty percent of their combat power, and be at Taotie Tu's mercy.

Wu Tie merely smiled, his huge metallic wings fluttered behind him, and the golden‑light long rainbow he had transformed into shot backward violently.

Taotie Tu's claw grazed past Wu Tie's nose tip; it was only a hair's breadth from touching his flesh, yet that hair's breadth was a world apart, and the claw missed entirely.

Taotie Tu let out a low, muffled curse, his voice muddy and rough, like that of a huge beast.

He kept waving his hands, continuously kicking with his feet, and sharp black protrusions sprouted on his shoulders, elbows, knees, etc.; he continually side‑slammed, elbow‑blasted, and knee‑struck, his attacks pouring down on Wu Tie like a violent storm.

Each strike shattered the air, shook the void, and emitted a thunder‑like roar.

In the high sky, two thousand‑zhang‑long golden lights twisted together, thunderous booms continuing without cease; Taotie Tu's movements reached the extreme—hundreds of strikes in a finger‑snap, quickly rising to thousands, then tens of thousands…

After Wu Tie dodged Taotie Tu's first claw strike, in just three or five breaths, their golden‑light long rainbow avatars had already flown a full circle around the huge Three Linked City; in three or five breaths they covered over a hundred thousand li—the speed of the "Unbound Earth Golden Light" was simply shocking to hear.

Fortunately the complete form of the Three Linked City is vast; if it were ordinary caves only a few li, dozens of li, or hundreds of li in size, who knows whether they'd crash into something, and how much damage they'd wreak on those caves.

Taotie Tu's attack frequency had reached tens of thousands per finger‑snap; a cluster of golden light enveloping a black shadow ceaselessly lunged at Wu Tie in frenzied assaults.

Wu Tie's huge metallic wings behind him fluttered easily; his soul fluctuations were not strong, his soul power like a sensitive spider‑web, constantly sensing every stir in the outside world.

No matter how fast the speed, how strong or chaotic the surrounding air shockwaves, all movements and stillness around them were like a high‑altitude moon reflected in the Life Pond.

His body swayed subtly left and right, and countless black shadows brushed past his body time and again.

Claws raked wildly, fists pounded, knees jabbed, elbows smashed, shoulders rammed, and even the black sword‑like light that Taotie Tu occasionally spat from his mouth all scraped tightly against Wu Tie's body.

Each strike seemed destined to hit Wu Tie's body, yet none could actually touch him.

"Yo, yo, the Taotie clan's close‑quarters combat is indeed formidable." Wu Tie adapted to Taotie Tu's frenzied attacks, letting out a low, mocking laugh.

Taotie Tu's eyes turned blood‑red, he stared fixedly at Wu Tie, who was within arm's reach, his mind momentarily unable to grasp the situation.

Although he was the pampered lord of the Taotie clan, Taotie Tu had personally hunted and killed many genius cultivators in his youth, seizing their bloodline abilities. Although he hadn't personally engaged in combat for many years after becoming chief, his strength remains as stated.

"Old man, I am in the Fetal Storage Realm…" Taotie Tu looked at Wu Tie, bewildered.

"But the Fetal Storage Realm and the Life Pond Realm are essentially no different," Wu Tie said calmly while dodging Taotie Tu's attacks: "The Life Pond Realm is like an infant, the Fetal Storage Realm like an adult—essentially the same. This is not like breaking through from the Chonglou Realm to the Life Pond Realm, which is the divide between immortal and mortal."

Taotie Tu continued his frenzied attacks.

"That's right, the Foundation Establishment and Sensual Mystery realms are all mortal… the Chonglou Realm, in antiquity, was also called the True Person… the Life Pond Realm and the Fetal Storage Realm, especially the Life Pond Realm, once broken through, are called 'Immortal'." Taotie Tu roared angrily: "But the Life Pond Realm is merely a seedling of the immortal, while the Fetal Storage Realm was called 'Heavenly Immortal' in ancient times…"

"Immortal or not, huh, I remember now." Wu Tie, drawing from Lao Tie's inherited knowledge, found this passage recorded about Taotie Tu.

He quickly assimilated this part of the knowledge, deepening his understanding of the Life Pond and Fetal Storage Realms even further.

"More precisely, the Life Pond Realm is an embryonic body, the Fetal Storage Realm a mature one… You are indeed cultivated in the Fetal Storage Realm, while I am merely in the Life Pond Realm." Wu Tie's eyes suddenly shot out two crimson flames, which scorched Taotie Tu's face with a 'hiss'.

Taotie Tu's face, covered in dense black scales, was instantly burned with two wounds deep to the bone; a scorched smell assailed the nose, and Taotie Tu howled in pain, spitting out a mass of black qi from his mouth.

Hidden within the black qi was a tremendous suction, and faintly a strange force that pulled tendons and sucked marrow surged forth.

Wu Tie's body swayed, moving behind Taotie Tu to evade that strange black qi.

"But are a flood‑dragon's hatchling and a ground rat's adult the same thing?" Wu Tie's heart swelled with boundless confidence.

Cultivating the Primal Scripture, he smoothly broke through the Heaven‑lock Chonglou, condensed a Life Pond, giving him the feeling of a carp leaping the Dragon Gate and transforming into a dragon. Though he was only a nascent flood dragon, lacking a mature juvenile form, a flood dragon is still a flood dragon—its foundation lies there.

As for Taotie Tu, who cultivates inheriting the Taotie bloodline, even if he reached the Fetal Storage Realm, compared to Wu Tie likening him to a ground rat would be an insult; he might be considered a prowling, variegated tiger of the mountains and forests.

Even if the tiger were stronger, larger, having slain more prey with richer experience, a tiger is merely a mortal creature, while a flood dragon is a divine being.

Even an adult tiger, even a tiger king, would not be a match for a newly born little flood dragon.

This is a crushing of life‑level hierarchy.

A tiger running and leaping on the ground can never harm a flood dragon soaring in the high skies.

A tiger's sharp teeth and claws, even if they can snap ancient trees and shatter rocks, pose little threat to a flood dragon's scale armor.

It is an absolute disadvantage in terms of life level and evolutionary tier.

Unless this 'tiger' Taotie Tu can devour more superior bloodlines, master more heavenly mysteries and arcane laws—similar to a 'demonic transformation'—undergoing a fundamental evolution of life level, he will never be able to catch up to Wu Tie.

"I am a giant dragon, and you are merely a ground rat." Wu Tie roared loudly, his right fist exploding forward to heavily strike Taotie Tu's lower back.

With a tremendous boom, Taotie Tu's back scales shattered, broken shards piercing his muscles, blood spraying all over him. He shouted in anger, turned, and slammed an elbow at Wu Tie's face.

This time, Wu Tie did not dodge.

He stood in mid‑air, his right arm likewise bent, and his elbow slammed hard into Taotie Tu's elbow.

Wu Tie's skin was fair and moist, his elbow lines smooth—just what a normal person should have.

Taotie Tu's arm was covered in black scales, his elbow bearing a half‑foot‑long sharp horn, jet‑black and flashing with a ferocious cold light.

Their elbows clashed head‑on.

With a muffled thud, flesh flew from Wu Tie's elbow; Taotie Tu's horn pierced his flesh and struck his hand bone. Then Taotie Tu grunted, Wu Tie's bones were extraordinarily hard, and his elbow's horn shattered with a piercing crack under the impact.

Sharp pain surged, and both Wu Tie's and Taotie Tu's faces twitched simultaneously.

Taotie Tu's other elbow then came down.

Wu Tie's left arm rose to meet it.

Likewise the flesh split, the horn shattered. Wu Tie suffered only a flesh wound, grunting, while Taotie Tu felt the pain down to his marrow, he couldn't help but howl, driving his right knee upward with force.

Taotie Tu's knee likewise sprouted a sharp horn.

Likewise just over half a foot long, but much thicker than the elbow horn, jet‑black and resembling the tip of a siege hammer—truly terrifying.

Wu Tie's right fist followed through with a downward strike.

A dull thunder‑like boom, Wu Tie's fist burst open with large patches of flesh, his dark knuckles landing on Taotie Tu's knee, shattering the horn there; the heavy punch rumbled on like a muffled thunder, continuing forward to crush Taotie Tu's knee into a mangled mess.

Taotie Tu's face twitched; he drew a deep breath, behind him a large expanse of black qi surged, the surrounding heaven and earth primordial energy frenziedly poured into his body, the Taotie Clan's devouring talent was displayed to the fullest. His right knee healed quickly, in a snap it was unscathed, and the broken horn grew back.

Taotie Tu's body swayed slightly; his left knee lifted viciously high, aiming diagonally upward at Wu Tie's temple.

Wu Tie tilted his body slightly; the Eagle God Armor's helmet swooshed down the visor, the fully enclosed helmet flashing with black divine light, Wu Tie turned his head and slammed his forehead hard into Taotie Tu's knee.

The Eagle God Armor's design was strange; its helmet was a lifelike eagle head.

The sharp eagle beak was about a foot long, much longer than the horn on Taotie Tu's knee; before Taotie Tu's knee could reach Wu Tie's head, the long eagle beak had already pierced the scale armor on his knee, severely injuring his left leg.

Taotie Tu howled in pain, he hastily pulled back his left leg, gritting his teeth his fists flew like wind, smashing down at Wu Tie like meteors.

Wu Tie did not dodge or evade; he likewise swung his fists, colliding head-on with Taotie Tu.

Fist shadows filled the sky like meteors.

Meteors collided with each other, emitting a terrifying roar.

Black scales cracked, flesh exploded, blood mixed with scales and flesh fragments sprayed far away, the sharp sound of breaking bones continuously rang out.

Wu Tie's fists repeatedly struck Taotie Tu; the skin on his fists was almost worn away, leaving only dark bone and tough tendons. His bones suffered no damage, while Taotie Tu's fists, bare of flesh, continuously emitted the sound of breaking bones.

Taotie Tu kept drawing deep breaths, he frenziedly, hysterically swung his fists, colliding repeatedly with Wu Tie's fists.

After all, he was in the Womb Storage Realm; after all, he had lived many more years than Wu Tie, his combat experience slightly exceeded Wu Tie's; Taotie Tu's fist speed was faster, his fist trajectory more mysterious, each strike could preempt Wu Tie's fist and hit him at the angle where he could least exert force.

Even so, after tens of thousands of heavy blows, Wu Tie turned the tables and suppressed Taotie Tu.

Their strengths were roughly equal.

Although Wu Tie had only just condensed his Life Pool, his physical strength was already not inferior to Taotie Tu's.

Wu Tie's bones were harder.

Wu Tie's eyes were dazed, as if he had fallen into a trance.

He watched Taotie Tu's fist technique; gradually, Wu Tie's punching speed grew faster and faster, his fist speed increased, and his fist trajectory became ever more exquisite.

Suddenly, Wu Tie unleashed a punch of exquisite perfection.

As he threw this punch, Wu Tie's mind flashed with the image of Pangu splitting the dark void, a spark of fire tracing its path across the void.

Without the slightest hesitation or thought, Wu Tie imitated that spark's trajectory and threw a punch.

Wu Tie's fist ignited, a blaze of fire clung to it.

This punch, Wu Tie easily broke through Taotie Tu's heavy fist defense, slipping between his fists and landing heavily on his chest.

With a tremendous boom, the three-inch-thick black scales on Taotie Tu's chest shattered, the heavy fist broke through his flesh and bone, the fist nearly touched his heart.

Seeing that Wu Tie could shatter Taotie Tu's heart with a single punch, Wu Tie suddenly withdrew his fist, stepped back a few paces, and smiled at Taotie Tu: "Continue."

Taotie Tu stared blankly, then he abruptly retreated tens of li, black qi roiling around him, the wound on his chest writhing rapidly as it healed quickly.

"Slash!"

After a frenzied exchange of blows, Taotie Tu's confidence in the Taotie Clan's close-quarters combat was utterly destroyed by Wu Tie.

He gritted his teeth, no longer daring to rush forward to fight Wu Tie in close quarters; with a fierce swing of his right hand, a black arc-shaped blade of energy shot up, instantly slicing across a radius of tens of li, descending upon Wu Tie from above.

"Heaven is not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs... Kill!" Taotie Tu dared not engage in close combat; he began to unleash divine abilities.

Wu Tie smiled, employing almost the same divine ability; likewise a blade of energy tore through the air and slashed.

The two blades of energy collided in the void and then quickly vanished.

Afterward, two clusters of fire flickered and then likewise extinguished in the air.

Two sword beams tore through the void and collided.

Dozens of phantom mountains shot up into the sky, colliding and exploding into countless points of light.

Fourteen strange arrow flashes flickered in midair, upon contact they vanished instantly.

…………

For a full hour, Wu Tie and Taotie Tu clashed with divine abilities for an hour. Each time Taotie Tu struck first, then Wu Tie responded first with a counter, using virtually the same divine ability, always matching Taotie Tu blow for blow.

In terms of cultivation level, Taotie Tu had already suffered a crushing defeat.

Taotie Tu looked at Wu Tie in disbelief; his mana was exhausted, while Wu Tie still appeared brimming with power.

"You, you too have Taotie blood? Otherwise, how could you have learned so many divine abilities?"