Han Xin was taken aback by the sudden blow. His cultivation base was far weaker than King Yang Qiu to begin with, so he could not see the fist incoming. Along with a hint of black mist, the fist smashed through a helmet that suddenly appeared around his head and landed heavily on his face. He gave a terrible cry, and was thrown into the inner area of the tent.
The air rang with soft cries. The flap which separated the tent into two spaces was torn open, revealing dozens of elegantly dressed female Immortals. Upon seeing that Han Xin flew tumbling to them with a red, swollen face, these female Immortals shouted angrily and immediately attacked King Yang Qiu with various flying swords and magical treasures.
King Yang Qiu grunted, his eyes twirling with black flames as countless fine dark rays shot out of his pupils, hitting the female Immortals' vital acupoints. Immediately, all the flying swords and magical treasures halted in the air. "How dare you, b*tches? On your knees, now!" Like puppets manipulated by threads, they fell on their knees, their eyes blank as they posed like they were at King Yang Qiu's disposal.
'This is it! This is the same restrictive spell!' Wu Qi thought as his eyes brightened up. The dark rays that shot out of King Yang Qiu's eyes were exactly the same as the one Yan Dan had shown him, the nasty spell entangling their souls! Clearly, King Yang Qiu had an inseparable relationship with the mysterious figure who had shackled Yan Dan and the others; a secret spell such as this was generally passed down by the ancestors in Great Yu's powerful clans, and it was unlikely that many people would have learned it.
Wu Qi began to figure out how he could subdue King Yang Qiu and learn the restrictive spell. But, when he looked at Yu Gu, the Supreme Oracle who sat quietly in the bed, and then at King Yang Qiu, who was shrouded in a layer of faint dark mist while emanating a towering killing intent, he wisely dismissed the idea of forcibly robbing them. Both of them were too strong, and he was not their match at the moment.
After knocking Han Xin down and bringing the dozens of female Immortals under his control, King Yang Qiu grinned hideously, reaching out his hand to grab Liu Bang's neck.
Standing nearby, Xiao He sighed softly and cried out in a low voice, "Do you really have to be so aggressive, King Yang Qiu? Do you dare look into my eyes?" As he said that, the tricolored pupils in his eyes whirled rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into a screen of brilliant light. A gloomy, evil force was gradually emanating from his eyes as the surrounding void suddenly shook. It seemed that something queer had just happened.
King Yang Qiu turned and stared at Xiao He. "Why not?"
As soon as their gazes met, a tremor ran through King Yang Qiu's body. His movements became painfully slow and stiff, as if both his soul and body were frozen in ice, losing the vigor that had been so aggressive. Gradually, the black flames in his eyes dimmed, and his aura faded. It was as if his soul was being pulled into some unknown space, causing him to lose control over his body and power.
Suddenly, Xiao He gave a snort. A gash, fine as a hair and no more than an inch long, cracked open on his forehead with blood seeping out that trickled down his cheek. At about the same time, a larger gash appeared on King Yang Qiu's forehead, about the size of a thumb and half a foot long, deep enough to even see his skull bone. A great deal of blood gushed from it, and in the blink of an eye, smeared his upper body bright red.
King Yang Qiu made a deep cry in pain as his hands slowly raised in an attempt to seize Xiao He's throat. But, the three pupils in Xiao He's eyes were spinning faster and faster, and as soon as the former's hands got half a foot high, they slowly lowered again. Then, Xiao He's body shuddered, and an arrow of blood that was as thick as a finger shot out of his chest and through his clothes. Meanwhile, a fist-sized hole burst open in King Yang Qiu's chest, and a stream gushed out of the hole. His body trembled and he abruptly fell to the ground.
Xiao He's face grew paler and paler. Gradually, his face became transparent like a crystal. Through the transparent skin and muscles, one could see that his skull was a magnificent golden-black in color, with countless runes wrapped around it. His skull was no longer a normal skull, but a powerful immortal item! This was a frightening divine ability — with himself as the raw material and with the heaven and earth as the furnace, he had refined himself into an immortal item! Even the three pupils in his eyes were refined by himself!
Next, Xiao He's legs snapped together. King Yang Qiu cried in pain as all the bones in his legs were shattered from the top of his thighs all the way down to his toes, then twisting into a weird shape. His face was blue with pain, as cold sweat kept streaming from all over his body, yet he just couldn't escape Xiao He's control.
The weakness of the human soul was laid bare at this moment. Before he could do anything to protect his soul, and before he could even wake up the beast soul that was sleeping deep in his soul, King Yang Qiu was controlled by Xiao He's weird eyes and suffered a serious injury instantly.
Off to the side, Yu Gu slowly rose to his feet. He opened his eyes, the ghost flames burning ragingly in them. The two bloodshot pupils in them almost filled his entire sockets while wild dragon roars kept rising out of them. Grinning coldly, he said, "How dare you hurt the member of Great Yu imperial clan in front of me? Hehe… Do you really think that I wouldn't hurt you because you are the Celestial Ambassador?"
Even as he said that, he slowly pointed a finger at Xiao He.
At that moment, Zhang Liang, who had been standing nearby, let out a sudden cry; a gleaming white writing brush, four feet and nine inches long, appeared in his right hand. As soon as it appeared, he swung it vigorously forward. A melodious man's voice came from the brush, "The sea raged, the mountain crumbled… The stars scattered, the sun vanished!"
Like a blacksmith, Zhang Liang forcefully smashed Yu Gu in the back with the writing brush. "Yu Gu, are you trying to provoke a war between Great Yu and the Heaven by assaulting the Celestial Ambassador?" he snapped.
It was unknown what the writing brush was made of and how, but it possessed a terrible power. Wu Qi could even feel that the energy ripple emanated from it was as strong as Patriarch Miao Ying. A dull thunderclap filled the ears of everyone present, and Yu Gu, who was caught off guard, gave a terrible howl as ghost flames burst out of his orifices at the same time. As a matter of fact, there was not much blood left in his body, and the green flame was what had kept him alive. It was like an ordinary man had blood rushing out of his orifices; the blow had brought him a serious injury.
Roaring furiously, he turned around and snapped, "A Primordial Immortal item! Which almighty expert lent it to you? Damn you! Is there any shame left in the Heaven? Are you crazy? How dare you hurt me and King Yang Qiu? Are the Heaven really going to war with Great Yu?"
Holding the writing brush tightly, Zhang Liang stood beside Xiao He as he stared at Yu Gu and said with a faint smile, "How could we have done this if King Yang Qiu hadn't kept pushing us? King of Han had been badly wounded, yet King Yang Qiu still wants to be so rough on him. If the matter gets out, I believe we, the Heaven, will be found standing on the right side. Don't you think so?"
With a haughty smile, Zhang Liang said, "Even if we bring this matter to those few, I don't think we, the Heaven, are the ones who'll receive a lesson!"
'Those few?' Wu Qi's eyes darted from side to side. Who were the people Zhang Liang talked about? Were they a group of people or some unique existences?
Zhang Liang's vague remark apparently scared Yu Gu. He hesitated for a moment, then suddenly dismissed the attack which he had prepared to strike. "In any case, stop hurting him now! If you really wounded him severely, you will have to face the nasty consequences even if you are backed by some Primordial Immortal!"
Zhang Liang smiled. As he was about to ask Xiao He to let go of King Yang Qiu, a dragon roar abruptly erupted from inside of King Yang Qiu's body.
The roar began faintly like the chirping of insects in the middle of the night, but in the blink of an eye, it became sonorous and vigorous, like the first thunderclap when the world had just been created. Accompanied by countless deafening rumbles, it spread across the void.
The tent was ripped, countless other tents around it were blown away, and tens of thousands of soldiers were thrown into the sky by the powerful sound waves. Even the four walls of the newly rebuilt Yuaya City were shattered; the buildings of all sizes in the city crumbled and collapsed, and boulders were blown out into the distance.
The thunderous roar had also shaken the mountains in the rear, causing hundreds of miles of mountains to collapse. A massive wave, ten miles in height, swept across the surface of the lake, killing countless fish, shrimps, crabs and other creatures in the water.
Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Fan Kuai, and the others were all bleeding from the dreadful roar, while Liu Bang screamed and jumped up from his bed. Wu Qi, who was hiding on Han Xin's shoulder, felt as if ten thousand thunderbolts were bursting in his ears at the same time. His eardrums were ripped, and stars were flying before his eyes. For a long time, he was thrown into an utter confusion.
Ao Buzun poked his head out of Wu Qi's hair, looking thoughtfully at King Yang Qiu as he muttered, "His beast soul is a Pu Lao 1 ![1] No wonder the roar is so loud!"
The person with the most serious injury was actually King Yang Qiu. An arrow of blood poured out of his mouth like a fountain, as if the roar was squeezing all the blood out of his body. His opponent, Xiao He, however, had two of his pupils split in half; it was clear that his divine ability had been badly damaged.
Accompanied by a ruthless laughter, King Yang Qiu floated up slowly.
Staring grimly at Liu Bang, who was standing on the bed and picking his ears, King Yang Qiu sneered, "This is what you call severely wounded?"
A jade knife suddenly emerged in King Yang Qiu's hand as he guffawed and swung it down at Liu Bang's neck.
[1] Pu Lao is a Chinese dragon, and one of the 9 sons of the dragon. It is said in Chinese mythology that he likes to "roar". And therefore, he is traditionally depicted on top of bells in China, and used as the hook by which the bells are hung.
Pu Lao is a Chinese dragon, and one of the 9 sons of the dragon. It is said in Chinese mythology that he likes to "roar". And therefore, he is traditionally depicted on top of bells in China, and used as the hook by which the bells are hung.