Chapter 501 - 457: Slay

"Strike!"

Chu Mu let out a low shout. His figure flickered, moving in a flash. He broke through the swirling ripples of Spiritual Qi and appeared before the ferocious Red Cloud Beast, slashing down with his blade.

HISS!!!

The shadow of his blade descended, crashing into the wispy, poisonous cloud tentacles of the charging Red Cloud Beast.

BANG!

Under the cold glint of the blade, the poisonous cloud tentacles burst apart one after another. With a flick of his wrist, he struck again with lightning speed. The spreading cloud tentacles tried to block him, but another large swath of them was blasted away.

Chu Mu flicked his fingers. The original Fireball transformed into streams of Fire Dragons that instantly engulfed the spreading tentacles and plunged directly into the main body of the poisonous cloud.

BOOM!

A massive explosion suddenly ripped through the air as a giant, crimson Fireball detonated. Amidst the flames that filled the sky, Chu Mu charged out, blade in hand. He raised his arm and slashed down again. This time, without the cover of the poisonous cloud, the chilling edge of his blade met no resistance and landed squarely on the Red Cloud Beast's body.

The crimson Demon Body flickered between solid and ethereal like a cloud, its form twisting and difficult to discern.

The slash drew a piercing, agonized shriek. Black blood splattered as the dense cloud of tentacles solidified. The tips of the tentacles morphed into countless jagged, crimson fangs, biting viciously at Chu Mu, who had just heavily wounded it.

Before Chu Mu even turned around in midair, he swung his blade backhanded. The crimson blade light streaked like a meteor, leaving a fiery afterimage. In an instant, it severed all the incoming tentacles. The True Flame spread, following the severed appendages in that same moment and surging toward the Red Cloud Beast's twisted Demon Body.

The shrieks grew even more harrowing. The searing True Flame was the natural bane of all things foul and evil.

The Red Cloud Beast's cloudy form was highly toxic, making it severely suppressed by the True Flame. In a mere instant, the raging True Flame had enveloped more than half of the Red Cloud Beast's Demon Body.

True Flame and poisonous mist intertwined amidst piercing screams. In just a few short moments, it was clear this Red Cloud Beast was on the verge of death.

Just as Chu Mu was about to press his advantage and slay the Tier Three Demon Beast, the Golden-winged Bird descended from behind him. A rain of swords fell from the sky. Simultaneously, the Golden-winged Bird appeared suddenly behind Chu Mu, its chilling giant talons silently swiping at his back.

Without looking back, Chu Mu let out a low cry. A faint phantom of an Ancient Tower appeared above his head, seemingly reacting instinctively to the threat. The phantom tower erupted with crimson flames. Several roaring Fire Dragons shot straight toward the descending golden talons.

BOOM!!!

This development seemed to exceed the Golden-winged Bird's Spiritual Wisdom and capacity to react. Caught off guard, with a deafening roar, the Fire Dragons slammed into its giant talons. The exploding flames then transformed into countless smaller Fire Dragons.

Each Fire Dragon moved as if it were alive. Under some mysterious control, they swarmed relentlessly, forming a great net that swept toward the falling rain of swords and the Golden-winged Bird.

The sword rain crisscrossed and the golden wings thrashed, but within the great net, they were like prey caught in a spider's web. A terrifying Power erupted, only to be immediately blocked by an unseen force. The Fire Dragons spiraled and flickered as countless mystical patterns interwove.

In the blink of an eye, the net became a Grand Array. It contracted rapidly, suppressing and refining...

The Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array, merely an evolution of the Ancient Tower's phantom, was now beginning to show its formidable might!

Chu Mu divided his attention. He spun around, flickered, and slashed down once more. The Red Cloud Beast had just expended great Power to barely suppress the encroaching True Flame, only for the dense mass of poisonous mist tentacles it had manifested to be shattered again by this new attack.

This time, with the Golden-winged Bird no longer a distraction, his next slash viciously carved out a massive gash. Black blood flew, and the poisonous Demon Body finally revealed its true form.

It was a humanoid monster about ten feet tall, its body covered in writhing tentacles. Its limbs were slightly thicker tentacles, and with every movement, wisps of crimson poisonous mist billowed out.

Under Chu Mu's blade, the Red Cloud Beast shrieked in agony, continuously waving its poisonous tentacles in an attempt to parry and block the fatal assault.

But with every slash, besides the sharpness of the blade itself, a blaze of True Flame would erupt, suppressing the formation of the poisonous mist and blasting apart the hideous tentacles. The Red Cloud Beast was unable to mount an effective Defense from start to finish.

Chu Mu pressed forward relentlessly. True Flame coalesced on his blade, and with every strike, a blade combining the real and the illusory descended, wreathed in roaring True Flame.

A long blade of True Flame, several feet in length, left a massive, blackened gash on the Red Cloud Beast's body, blasting countless tentacles apart.

In just a few breaths, the Red Cloud Beast, forced to reveal its true form, was covered in wounds and its aura was fading fast!

"Die!"

Finally, with a thunderous roar from Chu Mu, the blade transformed, extending from several feet to tens of feet long. He brought it down...

A brilliant blade, wreathed in sweeping crimson flames.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ten-foot-tall, hideous Demon Body instantly exploded!

A wisp of its Demon Soul remained, trying to flee, but in the next second, it was swept up by an invisible force—captured, suppressed, and sealed, all in an instant.

Chu Mu stood with his blade in hand, his gaze fixed on the Golden-winged Bird suppressed within the Nine Dragon Array.

At that moment, several Low Tier Demon Beasts, seemingly driven mad by the scent of blood, charged wildly toward him.

The transformation of the Bone-Transforming Beast was still fresh in his mind. Chu Mu's heart instinctively tightened. Sure enough, in the next instant, the auras of the charging Low Tier Demon Beasts changed abruptly.

Their original Demon Beast auras transformed almost instantly into the cold, murderous intent of a machine.

'Puppets! Tier Three!'

This time, Chu Mu undoubtedly saw it more clearly.

These Puppets were clearly a fusion of flesh and mechanical puppetry!

Subconsciously, Chu Mu recalled the Giant Eagle he had encountered years ago—a creature of flesh and blood refined with machinery, or perhaps a Magical Treasure...

At this moment, Chu Mu had no time for further thought. These several Demon Beasts, fused with puppetry, were mere inferior, one-time-use Pseudo Tier Three products.

But if they self-destructed, even as Pseudo Tier Three, they could unleash a Power far exceeding their normal strength.

"Rise!"

He could no longer afford to hide his true abilities. With a low shout, the flickering phantom of the Ancient Tower suddenly shot upwards. The phantom rapidly contracted and solidified. In a brief moment, a tangible Ancient Tower with Nine Dragons spiraling around it was hovering above Chu Mu's head.

The Ancient Tower hung high above. As the Nine Dragons spiraled, the tower's phantom projection formed a crimson barrier, protecting him from all angles.

Meanwhile, as if receiving a simultaneous command, the several Pseudo Tier Three Demon Beast Puppets' Demon Bodies violently contorted, transforming into various twisted shapes in an instant.

The huge Demon Bodies, like mountains of flesh, reached Chu Mu. Their blood-red eyes were devoid of any Spiritual Wisdom or emotion. One after another, the hideous Demon Bodies began to violently explode!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, immense and terrifying waves of Power burst forth!

A turbulent wave of Spiritual Qi fluctuations surged out, a tide mixed with roiling blood and the cold glint of metal.

While countless Demon Beasts were caught in the blast, the terrifying wave was also controlled by some force, directing it to sweep toward Chu Mu.

The Nine Dragons spiraled and Crimson True Flame churned. Under the surging tide, countless ripples spread out. The majestic phantom of the Ancient Tower stood firm in the deluge, like a Stabilizing Needle in the heart of the sea.

"Suppress!"

Chu Mu chanted softly. Dragon roars echoed as boundless Crimson True Flame surged around the Ancient Tower, instantly forming countless Array Prohibition Inscriptions that interwove and extended into the surrounding tide.

The terrifying Mighty Power unleashed by the self-destruction of the several Pseudo Tier Three Puppets seemed to freeze in place at that moment.

Countless Array Prohibition Chains extended and crisscrossed. The stalemate lasted for only a few breaths before the surging tide was abruptly annihilated, leaving no trace.

True Flame swept across the sky. In that same instant, the Golden-winged Bird, which had been clinging to life while suppressed in the Nine Dragon Divine Soul Formation, was also engulfed by the True Flame. Countless Array Prohibition Chains tightened, and within a few breaths, all signs of life were extinguished.

With a thought from Chu Mu, the Fire Dragons swirled. The bird's Demon Soul, along with its Demon Pill and shattered Demon Body, were heavily sealed and vanished into his Storage Space.

Only then did he have a moment to spare. He glanced around. The great battle was still raging, a boundless and bloody Bloodbath.

The Beast Tide was still endless. From the Demon Suppression Islands, a steady stream of reinforcements poured into the Bloodbath, fighting back against the boundless, surging Beast Tide.

The stalemate held firm, showing no signs of tipping in either direction.

The fall of two Tier Three Demon Beasts seemed to be nothing more than an insignificant change amidst the endless Beast Tide.

Only the majestic Grand Array of the Demon Suppression Islands, having gained some breathing room from this proactive strike, began to glow brightly once more, its previously dimmed Array Prohibition light restored.

Chu Mu looked up at the sky, sensing gazes from the unseen void converging on him. He pondered for a moment, then leaped into the air. A streak of crimson fire shot across the blood-red sky, and in an instant, he plunged back into the endless Beast Tide...

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