Chương 222: Sea Serpent III - Final Strike.
The ground rumbled as the sand shifted and a sandstorm rose up into the air blocking the vision of the surrounding cultivators, everyone had split up after hearing Shu He's shout in order to decrease the likelihood of being targeted.
All of them understood the threat of an unseen enemy, some of the cultivators were attempting to use earth techniques to track the serpent underground, but they seemed unsuccessful as sweat began to pour from their brows.
"Can anyone find it?!" Yi Yijun yelled in desperation; he hadn't expected this beast to prove such a challenge, so his composure was beginning to crack.
"It's too deep!" One of the others complained.
Shu He placed his hands on the ground as he activated <<Earth's Pulse>>, he had confidence that this technique would work, there was a reason Wu Zhong had an interest in it after all, rather than using your Qi to directly scour through the earth like most earth based techniques, it emulates echo-location, or a magnetic pulse that is then read to form a map in the users mind, it's range is much greater than the former.
The only disadvantage is that each activation only returns one image, so it's not great for tracking moving targets, however-
'If I use it multiple times I can gauge the movements of the serpent!'
A pulse echoed from his palm and entered deep into the sand, there was no hole left by the beast as the sand had collapsed in on itself after it passed through so he couldn't rely on finding the tunnel.
'?!' His brows furrowed; he had caught the serpent right at the edge of his range, which was odd since none of the combatants fighting it were near its location.
'That bastard snake, it's not even going for us!'
Without even bothering to continue tracing it, he started moving as he yelled "It's going after the other disciples!"
"What?!"
"You're sure?!" One of them yelled, watching the ground with a nervous expression, it's clear they still held doubts and didn't want to risk killing themselves.
"Stop dawdling, if that beast goes on a rampage among the others, our juniors will die!" Yi Yijun was the first one to follow along among the other disciples, he watched Shu He with a keen eye as he followed behind.
"Don't look into its eyes! It'll freeze you!" Shi Le who had recovered slinked across the sand, his eyes narrowed with anger "I'll pay you back for this disgrace, snake!".
"What he said is true, it's a rather unpleasant sensation" Na Xue announced as she casually strode along Shu He having returned to her normal form, Shi Le stared at her with sheer fear.
"You were fine after that?!"
"I'm not weak like you" she replied almost causing the lanky man to cough up blood in annoyance.
*RUMBLE*
"Shit, it's surfacing!"
"All of you, disengage and run!"
The disciples fighting off the wave heard the call and turned around in confusion, they saw the group of disciples running towards them and were about to ask what was happening-
But it was too late.
The sand burst open like a geyser as the serpent shot out like a black river that divided the wave, screams and yells echoed as a fine red mist sprayed over the battlefield wherever the river passed, its gaping maw swallowing whatever was in its path.
"Ah-a….h" One lucky cultivator that managed to avoid the river was about to yell out in relief, yet he felt an odd pain from his side, as he looked down he saw a gash the side of a dagger in his flesh that was quickly turning black.
"N…ooo…" within seconds, he dropped dead as his flesh began to decompose.
"Poison?! We were too late!" They couldn't help but watch the result of the beast's speedy rampage as they stood amongst the disaster, the disciples that had survived began to gather near them, it was clear without a headcount that at least thirty percent had fallen in that one strike!
It wasn't just their side that has suffered, of course, many of the smaller beasts had fallen to the reckless rampage as well, right now the wave of beasts was cowering as the serpent coiled, its body bulking from the flesh it had just swallowed.
"It's greedy, does it think it can fight after eating all that?!" Someone yelled.
"Certainly… does it have confidence to fight us like that?" Yi Yijun said as he eyed the serpent with caution, they had just dealt heavy damage to it, even if it was still healthy, does it not think they were capable of dealing with it when it's weighed down by its greed.
"This thing is smart, but this is our best chance to kill it! Yi Yijun, can't you pierce its scales?" Shi Le asked, to which Yi Yijun's expression changed.
"What do you mean?".
"Don't give me that, you've mastered the second stage haven't you?".
Yi Yijun's eyes narrowed for moment before he sighed "I guess it's not the time to hold back, yes, I should be able to pierce its scales with that, but I don't have the confidence in killing it" he then turned to Na Xue and asked "What about you? With your ridiculous strength, can't you finish it off?".
Na Xue placed a finger on her lips in thought "I can kill it, for sure, but in an instant? It's rather durable, if I was allowed to pummel it to death then yes, but I don't think I'd be able to crush it in one blow".
A flash of disappointment crossed Yi Yijun's eyes as they traced Shu He's figure, Na Xue was the highest-level cultivator here, so he doubted Shu He could do it either.
Yet to his surprise-
"I can do it" Shu He answered plainly.
"You can?" Yi Yijun paused as he couldn't believe his ears "Really?".
Shu He ignored his doubt and turned to Na Xue "I just need it held still for about 10 seconds, you can do that, can't you?".
A hint of surprise rested in Na Xue's eyes before she smiled "Of course, if Shu He wants me to I can" she then crossed her arms "But it probably won't take the bait like last time, so it'll take a bit more than just me".
"I'll lead the others in restraining it" Shi Le said.
"My technique should weaken it as well, the only question is when we should attack" Yi Yijun questioned, the serpent hadn't moved as its fat form was still coiled and watching them.
"Right now" Shu He answered simply.
"Why? We still don't know what it's doing".
In response, Shu He pointed to the few corpses infected with the venom of the serpent, their flesh and bones had decomposed into a black slime that was beginning to emit a black vapor.
"It's likely that thing isn't eating at all but preparing to attack" Shu He's words echoed in the minds of those that listened, the faces turned sheet white.
"It's- it's using the bodies to-?!"
"We need to move- NOW!" Yi Yijun shot towards the serpent, after realising what was happening, they couldn't let it have its way, the rest of the cultivators followed along in preparation to take it down.
The moment the serpent saw the group approaching, its scaly eyes blinked as it hissed, shaking its body and kicking up sand; It was trying to burrow again!
"Shit, I'm not in range yet!" Yi Yijun clasped his hands in a hand sign, yet they were still more than fifty meters away! If it escaped underground, they wouldn't be able to do a thing!
"It's my turn now, snake!" A yell came from a different direction as a figure shot across the sand before-
GONG
A sound resembling a massive drum being beat echoed across the sand as the serpent's body was rolled across the beach in confusion, a man was stood in its original location with his fist out, breathing heavily.
His clothes were tattered, with blood covering his skin yet his bald head stood pristine.
"Ri Kong, you lived?!" Gasps of surprise were heard as Ri Kong yelled back "I used all I had left, do it!"
"You don't need to tell me!" Yi Yijun's hand sign shifted as seventeen purple spikes surrounded him before shooting out.
"<<Seventeen Violet Spines!>>" a dreadful aura began to crawl off the violet bone like spikes that resembled a black fog, the serpent that had just been knocked over struggled with confusion as a black liquid leaked from its mouth, it sensed a sensation of crisis, yet its body was still reeling from the strike to respond!
"Pierce!" The seventeen spines shot from the sky and struck the snake's scales, for a moment, they resisted, yet a second later cracks could be heard as they pierced the flesh! A faint black colour began to penetrate the already black flesh of the snake!
"Hurry! I can't use this for long!" Blood had already begun dripping from his nose, eyes and mouth as the backlash from the technique struck Yi Yijun.
"Use all your binding techniques!" Shi Le yelled as a spiky green plant grew from his arms, wrapping around the snake and tightening, tens of other techniques from earth techniques to wood techniques constricted the scales in order to hold it still.
"I don't really have any binding skills so…" Na Xue on the other hand, put all her power in to striking the serpent's head "If I can't bind it, I can give it a concussion!"
Meanwhile, Shu He had landed on the snake, right above where the spirit heart was located, his eyes blowed with gold as he began to focus, the snake was squirming, but all the bindings were managing to keep it in place.
He lowered his hands and placed them on top of one another, the metallic scales brushed against his skin as his mind began to sink in to his territory.
The fact was, Shu He didn't have a technique that could pierce the scales with his current power, but that wasn't his goal in the first place, it was to destroy the spirit heart.
To destroy the spirit heart, one would have to destroy the scales; That would normally be the case.
Yet…
'Focus'
He said it to himself, over and over, this technique was something he had been slowly developing, ever since that day in Sunnyside, it was something only he could use.
His territory contracted, changed and morphed in order to focus its strength, to him, it became a second pair of hands, it was like he was wearing a large pair of gauntlets.
And these gauntlets ignored the physical world, they reached out, and each inch caused Shu He's brow to gather more sweat. Eventually, they embraced the spirit heart that was the size of a football.
He breathed out as he prepared himself.
"What are you doing?! I can't hold it any longer!" The purple spines faded as Yi Yijun collapsed, the serpent began to struggle causing the bindings to snap.
Yet, it was already over.
<<Divine Territory – Manifestation; Destruction>>
Seemingly out of nowhere, a flow of power entered the snake's spirit heart, a gold flood of absolute power that emanated from a single drop of pure gold. The already cracked spirit heart couldn't last for more than a second, it shattered into tens of pieces.
The serpent squirmed for another ten seconds before it went still, a mixture of black and red liquid leaked from its mouth and orifices as the tension dropped.
"It's… dead?"
"It's dead!"
"IT'S DEAD!"
Cheers resounded as the cultivators breathed a sigh of relief, Shu He sat on the serpent's carcass overlooking the battlefield, a heavy headache and sense of weakness overcame him, yet he managed to remain sober as a smile grew on his face.
'That was the first time I've used it on something… it worked… it worked!' He had his doubts, but to see his technique work on an enemy for the first time was oddly exiting.
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