Chapter 348: Chapter 333: Tragic and Heroic!
After cutting down Duanmu Yong, both Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Without Duanmu Yong, even if the purple-robed middle-aged cultivator Lin Ruihua refined the "Outer Dao Golden Core", the three of them joining forces were not without a chance of battle.
Immediately, the two didn’t have time to tidy up the treasures left behind by Duanmu Yong after his death and directly charged towards Lin Ruihua.
At this time, Xiao Feng had already held off Lin Ruihua for a quarter and a half. The magical power obtained through the burst of secret technique had dissipated, and now he was completely resisting with sheer bravery.
Now seeing Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian coming to help, a gleam of joy finally appeared on his old, blood-stained face.
"No need to say anything, let’s take care of this person first!"
A fleeting smile appeared on his face as Xiao Feng proactively spoke out to stop Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian from inquiring about his situation.
Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian exchanged a glance and indeed said nothing, immediately using their magical artifacts to attack Lin Ruihua together.
"Duanmu Yong, that useless fool, couldn’t even handle two juniors like you!"
"Very well, since you killed him, I will kill you in return as revenge. Then, even if the Profound Cauldron Sect blames me in the future, I will have an explanation for them!"
With a cold, sweeping gaze over Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian, Lin Ruihua, facing the siege by three people, not only showed no fear on his face but rather an expression of certainty and confidence.
He was a "Fake Golden Core" cultivator and had a Tier Five Spiritual Artifact in hand. What does it matter how many people Zhouyang and others have?
At most, they would only fight him to a draw!
In such a war of attrition, how could several Purple Mansion Stage cultivators outlast him who had refined the "Outer Dao Golden Core"?
Zhouyang and the three were naturally aware of this situation, so they had no intention of delaying at all. From the start, they launched the fiercest attack, determined to defeat Lin Ruihua before their magical power was exhausted.
Boom!
Thunder roared as golden Divine Thunder, triggered by Zhouyang’s spell, fiercely struck Lin Ruihua’s protective spiritual artifact.
The next moment, a golden flame dragon roared into the air from his hand, "rumbling" as it clashed with Lin Ruihua’s controlled Tiger Head Saber Spiritual Artifact.
Following that, he opened his mouth, and with a flash of golden sword light, a Sharp Gold Sword instantaneously appeared in front of Lin Ruihua, slashing harshly at the purple protective body divine light around him.
Under these three consecutive hits, any ordinary Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion Cultivator would be injured if they were slightly careless.
But Lin Ruihua, with his "Fake Golden Core" strength, merely paused slightly and withstood this round of combined attacks.
However, before Lin Ruihua could retaliate, Jiang Fengxian’s attacks followed closely, linking up seamlessly.
A flash of colored light, and first, the "Seven-Colored Cloud-Swallowing Python" spat poisonous liquid in a water column onto him, leaving a sizzling wisp of colorful poison smoke on the purple protective divine light on his body.
Then Jiang Fengxian pointed gracefully, and a "Wood God Thunder" immediately struck him, shattering the purple protective divine light on the spot.
A perfect opportunity!
Seeing the purple protective divine light shatter and dissipate from Lin Ruihua’s body, the three of them exchanged bright-eyed glances, then each activated their magical artifacts to launch a fierce assault, completely unconcerned whether doing so would cause their artifacts to be destroyed by the Tiger Head Saber.
As long as they could kill Lin Ruihua, no amount of magical artifact loss was unacceptable to them.
However, to their dismay, Lin Ruihua was wearing a Tier Four High-Grade Defense Spiritual Artifact Inner Armor beneath that purple protective divine light.
When their attacks landed on him, that piece of defensive magical artifact armor immediately, under Lin Ruihua’s urge of magical power, blocked their round of attacks.
Then, with a flash of purple-golden light, the Tiger Head Saber Spiritual Artifact instantly swept back in retaliation, cutting three of their magical artifacts in succession.
Zhouyang’s "Great Derivation Divine Light Sword" experienced damage for the first time since its successful refinement.
However, at that moment, he had no time to mourn for his flying sword, which was cut in two because after the Tiger Head Saber’s blow severed their three magical artifacts, Lin Ruihua suddenly waved his hand, fiercely activating a Tier Four Spirit Talisman towards the three of them.
It was a handful of Tier Four Spirit Talismans, not just one!
It’s not to say all, but over ninety percent of Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivators who refine "Outer Dao Golden Core" are definitely top figures in some medium or small force, and naturally, such figures do not lack magical artifact spirit talismans and other treasures.
Earlier, when Lin Ruihua fought Xiao Feng, he hadn’t used a single spirit talisman because he was completely overpowering Xiao Feng, and there was no need to waste spirit talismans, each worth thousands or tens of thousands of spirit stones.
But now, the siege by Zhouyang and the others had already pressured him enough that he would no longer have any thoughts of "saving money".
Anyway, as long as he killed Zhouyang and the others and monopolized all the treasures in the valley basin, he would profit regardless.
And this sudden counterattack indeed caught Zhouyang and the three off guard.
Using spirit talismans in magical combat is perfectly normal, but apart from Lin Ruihua, who had "Fake Golden Core" strength, even Xiao Feng, a Ninth-Layer cultivator, couldn’t activate a dozen or so Tier Four Spirit Talismans all at once.
It’s not that they didn’t possess that many talismans, but the magical power required to activate Tier Four Spirit Talismans isn’t low, and they simply couldn’t activate so many at the same time.
It’s like a battery can keep an electric bicycles running for several hours, but it can’t power a dozen such bikes simultaneously for ten minutes.
If a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator has the ability to simultaneously activate more than a dozen Tier Four Spirit Talismans, then what use are magical artifacts?
Simply convert the spirit stones used to purchase magical artifacts into spirit talismans, and when facing an enemy, just throw them all at once.
Surely, few Purple Mansion Stage cultivators can survive the simultaneous attack of more than a dozen Tier Four magics!
However, it’s different for fake Golden Core cultivators. The magical power of a fake Golden Core cultivator is equivalent to that of a Golden Core Stage cultivator, surpassing the Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator both in quantity and quality.
Therefore, a fake Golden Core cultivator can simultaneously activate more than a dozen Tier Four Spirit Talismans, just as Zhouyang can simultaneously activate more than a dozen Tier Three Spirit Talismans.
It’s just that because fake Golden Core cultivators are so rare, and everyone’s attention is usually focused on the fact that fake Golden Core cultivators can fully unleash the power of a Tier Five Spiritual Artifact, they fall into a cognitive trap, ignoring their ability to simultaneously activate more than a dozen Tier Four Spirit Talismans.
After all, when there are Tier Five artifacts to use, who would want to use the much weaker and single-use Tier Four Spirit Talismans?
Now Lin Ruihua suddenly broke the misconception and executed this move to great effect.
At that moment, seeing various Tier Four magics flying toward them, Zhouyang and his two friends reflexively resorted to their own tactics, either retreating or defending with all their might, instantly destroying their united momentum.
And just then, Lin Ruihua struck again.
His target was still Xiao Feng!
With a flash of blade light, Xiao Feng, who was desperately defending against those magic attacks, was suddenly struck by the Tiger Head Saber and sent flying.
Then, before he could stabilize himself and regroup, the Tiger Head Saber, emanating purple-gold light, accelerated once more and slashed at him again.
One slash!
Two slashes!
Three slashes!
In just a few breaths, the Tiger Head Saber continuously caught up with the backward-flying Xiao Feng and slashed him three times, and all three slashes landed on the same spot!
It was these three continuous slashes that thoroughly shattered the Heart-Protecting Mirror Talisman Treasure that Zhouyang had given him for protection, scattering it into countless fragments of spiritual light.
Without the protection of this defensive talisman treasure, made from a Tier Five Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact, when the Tiger Head Saber struck for the fourth time, Xiao Feng’s life came to a complete end!
"Fellow Daoist Xiao!"
"Brother Xiao!"
No one expected that Xiao Feng, who had held his ground against Lin Ruihua for over a quarter-hour without falling, would perish after his teammates came to assist.
This sudden change stunned Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian, his two teammates.
Unlike the first casualty, Li Zhengwei, Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian shared a deep bond with Xiao Feng, a senior cultivator with a good personality and temperament.
Now witnessing their battle companion’s death before their eyes, genuine sorrow appeared on both of their faces.
"Die for me!"
Zhouyang roared in anger, and pure golden Qianyang True Flame suddenly surged from his body, a sign that, in his fury, he had tapped into the power of the Qianyang Treasure Pearl.
He swiftly performed a spell with his hands, and the pure golden flame rapidly transformed into a Golden Flame Dragon, fiercely charging at Lin Ruihua.
The Flame Dragon soared, and upon sensing its power, Lin Ruihua’s expression drastically changed, quickly casting a spell onto the Tiger Head Saber.
Instantly, the Tiger Head Saber emitted a burst of purple-gold light, its blade wrapped in sword light, transforming into a purple-gold divine tiger that roared as it intercepted the oncoming Golden Flame Dragon halfway.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted, engulfing both the Golden Flame Dragon and the purple-gold divine tiger in their destruction, leaving only the dimly glowing Tiger Head Saber flying out from the explosion’s center, returning to Lin Ruihua’s front.
At this moment, the Tiger Head Saber, not only lacking the spiritual light befitting a Tier Five artifact, had a layer of scorched black on its purple-gold blade, with faint cracks appearing in some areas.
This situation left Lin Ruihua shocked and angry once more.
It was easy to imagine if he hadn’t decisively activated the divine power of the Tiger Head Saber to block Zhouyang’s attack, what disastrous outcome the Golden Flame Dragon would have caused upon landing.
"Dare to harm my artifact, I’ll have your life!"
With a furious shout, he flipped his hand to store the Tiger Head Saber into his storage ring and brought out a spare Tier Four High-Grade Flying Sword to strike towards Zhouyang.
However, Zhouyang, after having drawn on the power of the Qianyang Treasure Pearl and executed the Flaming Dragon Burst, coupled with the exhaustion from using powerful techniques during the battle, now had less than one-tenth of his full magical power.
Facing Lin Ruihua’s rage-driven attack, he couldn’t withstand it at all, and could only turn his eyes to Jiang Fengxian.
All his efforts earlier were to buy time for Jiang Fengxian.
Now everything depended on this teammate!