Chapter 323: Chapter 310: Not a Single One Left!
Murong Qianqian is dead!
Her forehead was pierced by the "Netherworld Bone-Eroding Needle" and she died without the need for the poison to take effect.
However, the battle was not over yet, as there was still a Netherworld Cat, whose owner had died, waiting for Zhouyang to deal with it.
Originally, with Murong Qianqian’s demise, the "Demonic Soul Contract" between her and the Netherworld Cat was automatically dissolved, and the Netherworld Cat could completely refuse to continue following her orders and could fight Zhouyang.
But this Netherworld Cat had been raised by her since it was young and had deep affections for her. Even without the constraint of the "Demonic Soul Contract," it didn’t want to abandon its master and leave alone. Instead, it wanted to kill Zhouyang to avenge its master.
Meow~
The Netherworld Cat let out a loud cry, a layer of blazing "Nether Flame" suddenly rose from its body, and then its figure moved, pouncing fiercely towards Zhouyang once again.
Seeing this, Zhouyang couldn’t help but shout, "Damn beast! Since you want to die, I will fulfill your wish!"
Before his voice fell, his body gleamed with golden light, and in an instant, he transformed completely from hair to nails into gold.
Then, he spread his arms, and a "Great Derivation Divine Light Sword" appeared in his hands. Next, he crossed the twin swords in front of him, and a layer of golden flames quickly rose on the scarlet red blade.
Having done all this, he leapt into the air, holding the swords with both hands, and slashed heavily towards the pouncing Netherworld Cat, engaging in physical combat with a Tier Four Demon Beast!
Zhouyang had no choice.
If he could choose, he would certainly prefer not to take the risk of close combat with a Tier Four Demon Beast.
However, the battle had reached this point, and due to the continuous use of major moves, his magical power consumption was huge, now only less than 30% remaining!
This amount of magical power, if used for major moves that consume a lot of power, would only suffice for one strike. If the strike failed, he might be overturned, which was unacceptable to him.
Therefore, he was willing to take a little risk, utilizing the less magical power-consuming "Qianyang Golden Body" divine technique to engage the Netherworld Cat in close combat.
Under the empowerment of the "Qianyang Golden Body" divine technique, his physical defense temporarily reached the extent where even a Tier Four Spiritual Artifact couldn’t hurt him. At this time, he leaped into the air and, after clashing his twin swords with the Netherworld Cat’s claws, was rapidly swatted away by the cat but remained unharmed.
On the contrary, the "Qianyang True Flame" burning on his twin swords fell onto the Netherworld Cat during the clash, leaving the beast with difficult-to-heal burn scars on its claws.
However, a Demon Beast is a Demon Beast; being injured not only doesn’t make them fear or retreat, but rather arouses the beastly nature in their blood, making them more violent and frantic.
Once its claws felt the pain, the Netherworld Cat merely paused slightly before pouncing at Zhouyang once again.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Zhouyang’s twin swords waved like a peerless swordsman, in the air, flaring out dazzling sword lights, continuously battling the pouncing Netherworld Cat.
Not all cultivators simply hide behind magical artifacts or protective shields and control magic devices or cast spells like a "mage." At least not cultivators from small clans like Zhouyang’s.
Zhou family descendants, during their cultivation in the Innate Realm, equally practiced all kinds of close combat techniques.
The primary reason for doing this was, of course, to temper the fighting will of family descendants, nurturing a warrior’s heart unafraid of battle from a young age.
Another reason is to enable these clansmen to have some self-defensive capability when genuinely facing dangers.
Due to memories from his past life, Zhouyang was very earnest in practicing these close combat martial skills back then, definitely the most devoted among all his peers in the Zhou family.
Now these martial skills, after more than a hundred years, finally came in handy again.
Unfortunately, while these martial skills might let him put up enough of a defense against the Netherworld Cat to not be utterly helpless, thinking they could help him defeat a Netherworld Cat that was many times stronger and faster than him was simply out of the question.
After being burned by the "Qianyang True Flame" initially, the Netherworld Cat no longer made direct contact with his twin swords, only using magical power to transform into claw slashes for attacking him.
Thus, after just a few dozen breaths of time, Zhouyang’s "Qianyang Golden Body" divine technique was starting to be pushed to its limits.
While this divine technique consumed relatively little magical power, once the force of attacks it endured became too great, the duration would significantly decrease, placing a considerable burden on the body, rendering it unusable again in a short period.
The Netherworld Cat obviously noticed this, so the intensity of its attacks was further increased.
Then, after another dozen breaths of time, Zhouyang, once again swatted away by the cat, suddenly had his throat move, and he violently spat out a mouthful of blood. His golden skin and golden hair quickly reverted to black and white colors.
Meow~
A flash of joy flickered through the ghostly green eyes of the Netherworld Cat. Unable to resist, it opened its mouth and let out an excited yell, then moved towards Zhouyang, continuing to pounce eagerly.
Now is the time!
As Zhouyang plummeted swiftly from the sky, he suddenly opened his mouth, spitting out a Flame Sword towards the Netherworld Cat charging at him.
This sword had been prepared for a long time, and everything preceding it was merely for this one strike!
He wasn’t crazy. If not for having his own plan, why would he engage in close combat with a Tier Four Demon Beast?
It was precisely because he understood the Netherworld Cat’s eagerness to avenge its master that he chose to engage in physical combat to numb its heart, making it think he had truly exhausted all his cards in the previous battle, incapable of further combat.
Now, seeing his divine techniques dissipate and sustaining injury by spitting blood, the Netherworld Cat’s vigilance had dropped to the lowest point, desperately pouncing to kill him for revenge.
And he was waiting for this moment!
Whoosh!
With a flash of sword light, the unprepared Netherworld Cat was immediately struck by Zhouyang’s "Qianyang Celestial Sword," sent crashing towards the ground, its body quickly engulfed in blazing golden flames.
At the same time, Zhouyang’s mind moved, pouring all the remaining magical power in his body into the "Great Derivation Divine Light Sword" in his hand. Then he raised his hand and pointed at the Netherworld Cat, which was screaming miserably on the ground, and with a swoosh, the Flying Sword sliced over.
The Netherworld Cat, wrapped in Golden Flame, was desperately trying to extinguish the "Qianyang True Flame" on its body, not expecting Zhouyang to have the strength to launch another attack.
In an instant, the crimson Flying Sword descended from the sky, piercing through the Netherworld Cat’s throat in a flash, leaving it stuck in its neck—a piercing throat slash!
With such a severe injury, it was almost impossible for the Netherworld Cat to survive.
After struggling for a while, the Netherworld Cat’s massive beast body was burned by the "Qianyang True Flame" until only a Demon Pill and two cat eyes remained.
The Demon Pill and cat eyes were intentionally preserved by Zhouyang; otherwise, with the overbearing nature of the "Qianyang True Flame", the Netherworld Cat would have been burned to ashes.
It had not even been a quarter of an hour since Murong Qianqian engaged with him, completely contrary to the common occurrence of Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator battles lasting an hour or even several hours.
But anyone who witnessed this battle firsthand wouldn’t think anything was amiss.
In a life-and-death duel, it’s rare for fights to last several hours or even days.
Long-lasting battles between two cultivators usually occur when their strengths are evenly matched, and neither is fighting with all their might or taking risks.
However, when a fighter, like Zhouyang today, unleashes a full-force attack from the start, it’s impossible for the battle to last long.
Although Zhouyang won this fight, it was by no means an easy victory.
Murong Qianqian was by no means a weakling; had he not risked everything with his full arsenal from the start, the outcome of today’s battle would be uncertain.
Fortunately, he won, and a victor naturally enjoys the right to deal with the defeat.
Thus, after a brief rest following the Netherworld Cat’s death, Zhouyang quickly got up to clean the battlefield.
First, he used the Storage Ring to collect the Demon Pill and cat eyes left behind by the fallen Netherworld Cat. Then he collected the Flying Saber Talisman Treasure, which had reverted to a talisman after Murong Qianqian’s death.
The power of this talisman treasure had not yet been exhausted, perhaps usable for one or two more times, which could barely offset his loss of the "Golden Light Celestial Stabilizing Mirror" talisman treasure.
Afterward, he approached Murong Qianqian’s corpse.
Since she had just died, Murong Qianqian’s body had not yet turned cold, and her delicate face still retained a look of unwillingness and fear from her final moments.
"If only you knew it would come to this, why start in the first place!"
Shaking his head, Zhouyang first opened all the Storage Bags on the corpse, then used a Flying Sword to destroy and discard items like the Beast Taming Sect’s Inner Sect Disciple Identity Token and Sect’s Magical Robe, incinerating them over Murong Qianqian’s body.
The only things he kept were Spirit Stones, Elixirs, Magical Artifacts, Jade Scrolls, and materials.
As for the blue Spiritual Eagle and "Nether Crow" in Murong Qianqian’s Spirit Beast Bag, after hesitating for a moment, Zhouyang gritted his teeth and killed and burned them too.
He couldn’t guarantee whether the Beast Taming Sect had placed any tracking Forbidden Techniques on these two demon beasts. If so, carrying them with him was like carrying two time bombs.
Naturally, the main reason was that these two demon beasts were Spirit Pets tamed by others; even if he took them, it would be challenging to tame and utilize them again.
This included the deceased Netherworld Cat as well.
If it weren’t for a demon beast being able to only sign the "Demonic Soul Contract" once in its lifetime, he wouldn’t have killed such a rare Netherworld Cat. After all, the rarity of such a beast is in no way inferior to his yet-to-mature "Golden-winged Thunder Eagle".
After completing all these tasks, Zhouyang immediately tossed his Flying Sword and swiftly left the scene.
Meanwhile, the moment Murong Qianqian fell, her Soul Token left in the Beast Taming Sect exploded with a bang.
A Purple Mansion Stage Cultivator holds a certain status in any sect, and with Murong Qianqian’s death, the cultivator guarding the Soul Token dared not neglect and quickly informed the sect’s higher-ups.
As the message was relayed up the ranks, it soon reached Han Yu, a Golden Core Cultivator of the Beast Taming Sect, who was on his way back.
As Murong Qianqian’s master, upon receiving the news, Han Yu’s body shook violently, his face turning extremely grim.
"How dare that brat!"
Holding a communication Flying Sword tightly, Han Yu’s plump body trembled violently, and he couldn’t suppress a thunderous roar of rage.
Upon hearing the news of Murong Qianqian’s demise, Zhong Chuming, who was traveling with him, first had a change of expression, with a hint of gloom flashing in his eyes.
Then, as if recalling something, his eyes showed a flash of joy, and he immediately began to beat his chest and wail:
"It was I who harmed Junior Murong!"
"Junior Murong was just over three hundred years old and had contracted a rare Tier Four Middle-Grade Demon Beast Netherworld Cat. The probability of forming a Golden Core in the future was high. Her fall is a massive loss for our Beast Taming Sect!"
"We must avenge Junior Murong, capture the villain who killed Junior Murong, and draw out his Divine Soul to be burned with Yin Fire to comfort Junior Murong’s soul in heaven!"
Hearing Zhong Chuming’s words, the fat on Han Yu’s face quivered, fuming with even more rage.
No matter Zhong Chuming’s intent in saying these words, he wasn’t wrong about one thing: Murong Qianqian’s fall was a significant loss to the Beast Taming Sect, and a personal loss to Han Yu.
Han Yu had taken in over a dozen disciples in his life, but only two or three achieved the level of accomplishment that Murong Qianqian had.
Moreover, as a relatively rare high-tier female cultivator, Murong Qianqian was evidently more cherished by Han Yu than her other fellow disciples, or else he wouldn’t have brought her to Immortal Sun City for exposure.
In his fury, his face turned ferocious as he shouted, "A blood debt must be paid in blood! I will immediately communicate and petition the Sect Leader to issue a kill order, offering a Tier Four High-grade Spiritual Artifact as a reward for that kid’s head!"
Upon hearing this, Zhong Chuming was overjoyed and promptly chimed in, "This matter stemmed from me, and I am willing to join Brother in a memorial to the Sect Leader, further adding a Tier Four High-Grade Demon Pill as a reward for killing that kid!"