Chapter 1133, Think You Can Run?

Translator: Silavin

 

Escape? That was absolutely not something they could permit.

 

The group had already spent far too much time within the Bronze Forest. They did not want to spend more time indefinitely encircling the Bronze Qilin.

 

“Think you can run!?” Lu Fan’s eyes narrowed. With a single sweep of his hand, he drew a Summoning Array into the air before him.

 

The Array took shape, and from within it came the clear, piercing cry of a Dragon.

 

The Dragon itself had not yet emerged, but before it did, a surge of overwhelming, bone-deep cold erupted from the Array and swept outward.

 

Instantly, a series of jagged ice formations rose from the earth, driving forward at a speed that far surpassed the Bronze Qilin’s movement.

 

The Bronze Qilin sensed the threat. It turned its head for just an instant and found the ice already surging toward it like a tide, closing the gap with terrifying speed.

 

This so-called ‘tide’ was composed entirely of razor-edged ice formations, each one radiating a biting, punishing cold.

 

The Bronze Qilin snarled and pushed harder, attempting to outpace them, but before it could gain any momentum, the ice caught up.

 

The lead formation drove up from the ground directly beneath its abdomen, striking it cleanly from below.

 

The Bronze Qilin had no time to react. Its body locked rigid as a thick shell of ice encased it in an instant, layer upon layer sealing it shut, until it stood frozen solid as a perfect ice sculpture.

 

And yet Lu Fan did not celebrate, nor did he signal Lin Dong to stop.

 

“Freezing Walls!” He commanded.

 

Lin Dong burst from the Summoning Array, exhaling a continuous torrent of her icy Dragon Breath.

 

The ice formations seized the Bronze Qilin and then kept spreading forward, pushing farther ahead.

 

As they advanced, they no longer lay flat across the ground. They grew taller. The further they extended, the more imposing they became, until the leading edge towered several thousand metres into the air, forming a solid, inescapable wall of ice stretching a hundred metres ahead, creating a fortress barrier that sealed off every possible route of retreat.

 

The space now resembled an arena, and the Bronze Qilin had nowhere to flee.

 

Even the Bronze Trees surrounding it had been swallowed by the ice. Stripped of access to them, the Bronze Qilin could no longer harvest their components to repair its own injuries. A single Skill from Lin Dong had remade the entire battlefield into her domain and thrust the Bronze Qilin into an absolute passive position.

 

Just as Lu Fan had anticipated, the frozen Bronze Qilin erupted moments later with a terrifying internal force, forcibly breaking the Crowd Control Effect and tearing free from the ice’s grip.

 

Once free, it swept its gaze across the towering glacial walls surrounding it, then turned that gaze back onto Lu Fan’s group and its fury deepened.

 

It understood that flight was pointless. If it wished to survive, if it wished to fulfil its duty to the Slaughter Ancient God and keep the path to the Sacred Jiang Family sealed, there was only one path left.

 

Kill them.

 

Every last one of them!

 

*ROAR!*

 

The Bronze Qilin let out a sequence of thunderous roars, raking its front legs against the frozen earth like an enraged bull. Its glare was solely on the group, laced with piercing predatory intent.

 

After a brief standoff, it was Jian Ying who spoke first.

 

“We’ll go face it. The three of us can combine into the Golden Asura King. Our opponent is a Bronze Qilin. Gold is worth far more than bronze. Do you think we are really going to struggle against it?”

 

The three women each activated their Ancient God Power and summoned the Golden Asura King.

 

The Golden Asura King that emerged was slightly different from before. Hovering at its side, among the array of flying swords, was the newly claimed Bronze Serpent Soul. This was the Epic Grade Item the Bronze Serpent had dropped, and in Jian Ying’s hands, enhanced by Ancient God Power, it possessed power far above its base capability.

 

The Bronze Serpent Soul floated amongst the other blades surrounding the Golden Asura King, each one under Jian Ying’s command, each one carrying genuine power and threat.

 

The Golden Asura King reached out and closed its hand around the weight of the Army Breaker Sword, while its other hand formed a shield. Now, both Offence and defence were unified in a single form.

 

All preparations complete. The Golden Asura King surged forward, sword descending in a sweeping arc toward the Bronze Qilin.

 

In terms of raw size, the Golden Asura King had the advantage. The Bronze Qilin was indeed far smaller than the Bronze Serpent. But as the blade came down, it became immediately apparent that in terms of strength, the Bronze Qilin would not get pushed back.

 

Rather than evading, the Bronze Qilin raised its left claw and batted directly against the edge of the descending greatsword. This was a pure exchange of force against force.

 

Neither side gave an inch. The impact hit with a resonant metallic crash.

 

Sparks detonated in all directions.

 

Lu Fan’s gaze sharpened. He could see that the sword’s edge had carved half a foot deep into the Bronze Qilin’s front leg. But simultaneously, a massive gap had been torn into the Golden Asura King’s greatsword.

 

The two became interlocked where they met. Every micro-movement from either side sent fresh cascades of sparks spraying outward, creating a strange, mechanical beauty. Both brutal and precise in equal measure.

 

The Bronze Qilin’s toughness and strength was clearly on par with the Golden Asura King’s. It was not giving a single millimetre of ground.

 

This degree of structural hardness would have given pause to virtually any existence in this world outside of the Ancient Gods themselves.

 

The three women within the Golden Asura King had not expected the Bronze Qilin to possess this kind of raw Physical Defence. It managed to weather a direct strike with nothing but its own body!

 

The Golden Asura King was still processing that shock when the Bronze Qilin’s other enormous claw swept upward and came down with crushing force.

 

Whatever inexperience Jian Ying and the others still carried, with the intensive training they had undergone the past few months, it had not been meaningless. They still needed more experience in combat, but what they had preserved through had managed to show itself here.

 

Confronted with the Bronze Qilin’s counter, they reacted with speed. They drove the Golden Asura King’s shield up to intercept.

 

Across the shield’s surface, currents of water flowed and spread in response. This was Tao Xiaoman’s Skill, layering additional Defence into the shield.

 

*Boom!*

 

The enormous claw struck the golden shield. Water burst outward in every direction.

 

Tao Xiaoman’s Skill, amplified by Ancient God Power, had elevated its defensive capability to a genuinely extraordinary level. Even so, it was not quite enough to fully absorb the Bronze Qilin’s Attack.

 

After breaking through the Skill, the Bronze Qilin’s Attack continued unabated, pressing down against the golden shield with its full weight.

 

A visible dent formed in the shield’s face. The sheer force drove the Golden Asura King back two full steps, and as it staggered, the locked greatsword and the Bronze Qilin’s claw finally wrenched apart.

 

“Damn it. This Boss is crazy strong!” Tao Xiaoman’s voice rang out from within the Golden Asura King. Currents of water appeared from nowhere and began circulating across the Golden Asura King’s body, flowing over every weapon, every shield, sealing the gaps, repairing the Damage with each pass.

 

The Bronze Qilin was naturally also active. The Slaughter Heart within its chest pulsed with light, Ancient God Power surging outward in magnificent waves, flooding into its body and accelerating its own restoration at a rate that matched the Golden Asura King step for step.

 

Healing one’s own body was simply one portion of the Slaughter Ancient God’s Ancient God Power. If even Ye Xiu had possessed this ability, naturally a member of the Seven Stars of Slaughter certainly could not be without it.

 

And the Ancient God Power stored within the Slaughter Heart was vast beyond measure. That near-inexhaustible reserve of power was more than enough to sustain the Bronze Qilin through a prolonged battle with the Golden Asura King, with no sign of running dry anytime soon.