Chapter 394: That's Not How It's Used

Zhu Meng, resembling a fox in appearance, with fish fins growing on its back, entirely white in color.

Its white fur was quite long, swaying in midair like aquatic plants, its body curled up, embracing a yellow, nearly spherical object in its arms.

For a moment it looked somewhat like the Eye of the Black Hole everyone had seen.

The body formed the iris, the object held in its arms became the pupil; once enlarged and blurred, it was the Eye of the Black Hole.

But this Zhu Meng was not a normal Zhu Meng.

It curled its body, and the thing it held was a head.

Yellow fur, protruding mouth, red mouth and eyes, the head of a peculiarly featured ape-monkey.

Yong He!

And at the position of the Zhu Meng's original neck, it was not its neck, but replaced by an upper torso, with yellow fur.

That was Yong He's upper body, abdomen protruding, the Zhu Meng's head drilled out from inside, stained with fresh blood.

The overall physique looked like a fantasy creature such as a centaur.

Near the position of the fish fins on the Zhu Meng's back, two furry legs grew, dangling limply, looking as if dead.

And on the Yong He growing from the Zhu Meng, its neck had been completely torn off, fresh blood continuously bubbling from the severed end.

Sliding over the fur, leaving not a trace on it, only staining the Zhu Meng's head red when it dripped onto it.

One hand gripped a golden ring, obvious fracture marks visible, likewise stained with a large amount of fresh blood.

No longer as massive as when it first appeared, about the size of an ordinary horse.

The cracking sound from just now came from the fracture of this ring, and the tearing of Yong He's head.

The ring was locked on the neck, presumably used to restrain this bizarre fused beast of Zhu Meng and Yong He.

Just now, the ring shattered, and Yong He traded its own head for freedom.

"Master..." Ao Yulie stared at the ring in Yong He's hand, feeling it looked somewhat familiar, "That thing..."

"Should be the Golden Hoop." Tang Luo said.

"It's really the Golden Hoop?" Ao Yulie said, "But shouldn't that be with Shan Cai?"

Shan Cai Tongzi, one of the two child attendants under Guanyin, the other being Long Nu.

Shan Cai Tongzi has another identity: the son of the Bull Demon King, Hong Hai'er.

This brat once styled himself the Holy Infant Great King, established his base in Fire Cloud Cave on Dry Pine Ravine of Mount Hao, ruling the mountain as king.

Later subdued and taken away by Guanyin, becoming her Shan Cai Tongzi.

What Guanyin used to subdue Hong Hai'er back then was the Golden Hoop.

The Golden Hoop, Tight Hoop, and Forbidden Hoop — the three hoops bestowed by the Tathagata to Guanyin; among them the Tight Hoop was placed on Sun Wukong.

The Forbidden Hoop was used to subdue the Bear Monster, the Black Bear Spirit.

The last Golden Hoop, Guanyin split into five, locking Hong Hai'er's four limbs and head, used to subdue that brat.

Although divided into five, in reality it was still one.

Unexpectedly, it inexplicably appeared in this mission world.

Did Guanyin remove it from restraining this special fused beast, or was it Hong Hai'er's doing?

The Golden, Tight, and Forbidden three hoops were indeed originally magic treasures for subduing these "Great Demons," but by the later period they practically counted as magic treasures for their own use as well.

Oh, except Sun Wukong; that guy took it off and pinched the Tight Hoop into a small ball to play with as a marble.

When he wore it back then, Tang Luo never once recited the incantation.

On the contrary, a few disciples thought the Master should wear the Tight Hoop, with Eldest Senior Brother reciting, that would be best.

Of course, that was just a thought, not to be spoken aloud; everyone knew in their hearts.

"Very normal, heaven and earth undergo tremendous change, no one can escape unscathed." Tang Luo said, "Let's see if it'll be like Wu Jing, leaving behind some useful information."

As the two spoke, the Zhu Meng's curled body gradually unfurled, Yong He's ape arms stretched, grabbing its own head and lifting it in hand.

Its body twisted eerily, looking just like a snake.

It placed the head at the severed end, and let go.

The head fell, was caught again by Yong He, placed back on the neck, and fell again.

Repeated over and over, the movements made one's hair stand on end.

At least Ao Yulie and Xiaotian Quan watched with extreme discomfort, simply like a knife scraping over bone, unbearable.

Fearful emotions surged like terrifying waves continuously battering the dam of reason.

Even actively launching an attack became extremely difficult.

For an ordinary person, a casual glance would instantly cause mental collapse and death on the spot.

After repeated efforts several times, Yong He seemed to grow irritable; the head in its hand suddenly opened its mouth and let out a roar.

A blood-colored shockwave spread outward.

Ao Yulie and Xiaotian Quan teetered in the shockwave, clearly struggling to withstand the fear impact of the bizarre beast before them.

Tang Luo raised both hands and clapped once before him.

The sound of the clap rang out, instantly suppressing the sound coming from the skull.

The sharp scream vanished.

Red light blazed in Yong He's eyes; it slithered forward like a snake, speed extremely fast, trajectory erratic, seemingly in front of Tang Luo.

But actually it appeared at his left side, using its own head as a weapon, smashing toward Tang Luo.

The red mouth on the head gaped wide, biting at Tang Luo.

Tang Luo raised his left hand, a white sword light flashed, the Zuan Feng Gu Sword in hand, instantly piercing through and tearing apart Yong He's entire head.

Not only the head, Yong He's body and the Zhu Meng's body also vanished at the same time.

Like chunks of meat thrown into a meat grinder, torn and pulverized.

Tang Luo hovered in midair, hands hanging at his sides, his body beginning to fall downward.

The Flight Talisman's effect had already vanished.

Ao Yulie transformed into a not-too-large dragon form, caught Tang Luo, and let him stand on the dragon's head; Xiaotian Quan also returned to his little cat state, crouching at Tang Luo's feet.

"Master, where did that thing go?" Ao Yulie's dragon eyes swiveled, observing the surroundings.

What Tang Luo had torn apart with a single sword strike just now was not Yonghe and Zhu Min's true bodies.

At the moment the attack came, they no longer were.

Their true bodies had hidden away somewhere unknown.

"Don't know." Tang Luo glanced at Xiaotian Quan.

Xiaotian Quan shook his head; the surroundings were entirely filled with the scent of fear, every inch of space permeated with fear's aura, making it impossible to distinguish Yonghe and Zhu Min's position.

Xiaotian Quan was also striving to contend against this aura.

"Won't it have fled...?" Ao Yulie said.

"Won't flee." Tang Luo said, "Locked up for who knows how long, only able to instinctively release a trace of aura, constantly influencing the outside world; having finally escaped with great difficulty, with such delicious food right before its eyes, why would it flee now?"

"The fear aura emitted by others is, to this thing, like chicken ribs — tasteless to eat, a pity to discard."

"... Its target is Master?" Ao Yulie said.

"No, it's you all." Tang Luo smiled, and thrust out a sword.

This time what was pierced was Zhu Min's mouth as it lunged and gaped open. The fresh blood staining it, as the fur/hair unfurled, throbbed and coalesced into a blood-colored tongue, its tip forking and turning into a snake's head.

At the instant the Zuanfeng Bone Sword pierced into Zhu Min's wide-open mouth, it wound up along the sword, pounced toward Tang Luo's wrist, and bit down viciously.

Tang Luo's expression remained unchanged; his wrist trembled slightly, a shake, and simultaneously the blade turned, flicking upward.

The snake head went from tangible to intangible, shaken apart into a mass of blood droplets; Zhu Min and Yonghe split into two halves and vanished from sight once more.

Tang Luo glanced at his wrist; his clothing now bore four tiny indentations, white dots.

The snake head hadn't truly bitten his wrist at all — it was blocked by the Glazed Pure Garment, unable to breach the Glazed Pure Garment's defense.

Zhu Min and Yonghe appeared in midair not far away.

On Yonghe's chest, there was now a blood mark; the mark was not deep, and no more fresh blood flowed from the wound.

But Zhu Min was different — its head was nearly split in two, looking incomparably miserable.

The ape head of Yonghe in its hand roared furiously at Tang Luo.

Aside from fear's special ability, this special monster formed from the combination of two strange beasts did not have too many profound, flashy attack methods.

Pouncing, tearing and biting — no different from wild beasts.

That bite just now actually wasn't really intending to bite off a piece of flesh from Tang Luo.

The true purpose was to provoke fear in Tang Luo's heart. No, not fear — as long as there was a hint of panic or even nervous tension, it would be enough.

Zhu Min and Yonghe, who wielded fear as a weapon, could then seize the opportunity.

However, faced with this ambush, Tang Luo's heart did not stir up even half a ripple.

Let alone any fear emotion.

Using its own injury to exchange for a useless result, the monster before them began to roar and go berserk.

The hand gripping the Golden Hoop suddenly stabbed into Zhu Min's split head, continuously thrusting in, as if gouging and digging for something.

A moment later, a black spine was pulled out whole.

The Golden Hoop Ring was at one end of the spine; the entire spine became straight, looking like a staff.

Zhu Min's body hung completely limp; if not flying in midair, it would likely have been dragged to the ground.

Pulled along by Yonghe's movements, it swayed; clearly already dead, yet moving like a living thing, making one's scalp tingle.

A bloody aura coiled around its body; this monster "swam" toward Tang Luo.

Ao Yulie's dragon body sank downward; Tang Luo leaped up, taking the initiative to strike, slashing down with a sword.

Yonghe raised its ape arm, using the head in its hand as a shield, blocking in front.

The Zuanfeng Bone Sword sank into the ape head, yet did not completely cleave it apart.

The ape head's eyes blazed with red light; from the torn wound sprouted a mass of flesh buds, writhing, binding the bone sword.

Simultaneously, the staff formed from the black spine brought a swath of black shadow, smashing toward Tang Luo.

Within the shadow, a trace of golden light flickered in and out of sight.

That was the imprisoning power emanating from the Golden Hoop, landing on Tang Luo, making him unable to escape.

Just as the shadow was about to fall on Tang Luo, Tang Luo's right hand grabbed out, firmly seizing the black spine staff.

"A staff isn't used like this."

Looking at the monster before him, Tang Luo spoke, snatched the staff, and backhandedly swung it down!

Speed fast as lightning.

The surrounding space, in a split second, produced a vast number of staff shadows, layer upon layer, thousands upon tens of thousands.

As if frozen still.

The next breath, these frozen staff shadows converged together again.

A sweep of chaos passed over.

Yonghe, Zhu Min, and the spine staff in Tang Luo's hand all vanished without a trace, leaving not a single mark.

Only the Golden Hoop fell into the sea, splashing up a few wavelets on the sea surface.