Chapter 143 — A Clash of Titans

The Scarlet Scale Beast recognized that human in an instant. It was the one human it most wanted to kill.

Over the past twenty-odd days, martial artists had indeed come down to search, and those who came down — above all those who entered the tunnels and ran into this Scarlet Scale Beast — had all become its meals. It had only just finished its transformation; its scales had turned wholly red, and its strength had risen enormously.

It was utterly certain it could kill the human before it.

Death.

The Scarlet Scale Beast walked silently out of its lair on four hooves. Its pair of red eyes, larger than bronze bells, held an undisguised will to kill.

"Hm — it's seen me." Teng Xuanji watched the Scarlet Scale Beast come striding toward him, and that killing intent in its eyes made his heart sink. Then he gave a cold smile. "But this Scarlet Scale Beast probably doesn't know that I've seen it too." He glanced at it once and looked away.

Pretending not to see it, he secretly gathered his strength.

The Scarlet Scale Beast closed in without a sound. When it was ten zhang away, its pupils suddenly contracted.

"Closer. Closer." Teng Xuanji relaxed his whole body to the utmost.

Whoosh.

Teng Xuanji felt the Scarlet Scale Beast in an instant become a vast red blur and come pouncing.

"—"

Teng Xuanji suddenly gave a furious shout. His eyes flew wide. His body, relaxed to the extreme, burst out with terrifying power like a released bowstring. Beneath his feet the rock crumbled to powder with a low, deep rumble. The astonishing force shot along both legs to the pivot of his waist; the trousers on his legs were abruptly strained taut. As Teng Xuanji turned —

The force passed in an instant to both hands. The muscles of his arms knotted and split his sleeves, baring powerful arms with a faint trace of dark red.

"Whoosh."

A silver bolt of lightning stabbed into that vast red blur.

Body: two hundred and ten thousand jin. The Great Boa Ox Grand Art, ninth layer, fully unleashed.

Shadow Follows Form spear technique — two hundred and seventy thousand jin of explosive force.

"Clang!"

A shrill shriek of metal striking metal.

"Boom!"

Teng Xuanji's Reincarnation Spear slammed into those red claws. The air, compressed to its limit, burst apart and flew outward like invisible blades of qi; there came a ceaseless chain of rumbling. Broken stones flew, deep grooves opened in the surrounding rock walls, and dust covered everything.

"Roar —" The Scarlet Scale Beast's whole body was flung back more than a zhang by the shock. Its vast bulk rolled over the ground and then nimbly scrambled up again. Its eyes turned crimson, and as though maddened it roared in fury and charged once more at Teng Xuanji.

It had already transformed.

The might of a demon beast brooked no trespass.

That powerful impact also sent Teng Xuanji staggering back three steps. "What a beast. Its claws are huge — those claws are like four sharp divine weapons, and they can actually clash head-on with my Reincarnation Spear." In that instant of combat Teng Xuanji had realized: the beast's weapon was its claws, and the fact that the Scarlet Scale Beast could block the Reincarnation Spear in so short a time meant its reactions were extremely fast as well.

Great strength. Fast reactions. Strong defense.

This was the Scarlet Scale Beast.

Facing the beast's mad charge —

"Beast!" Teng Xuanji bellowed. Like lightning he charged too, the Reincarnation Spear leveled straight at the Scarlet Scale Beast.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "—"

The Reincarnation Spear — one thrust after another, fast as lightning, each one heavy and savage, carrying terrifying force. And every thrust held an astonishing vortex of power. When that inexhaustible spear technique was linked together, even a foe as fierce as the Scarlet Scale Beast felt its enormous body sink into an invisible great whirlpool.

"Thud!"

Teng Xuanji's body smashed into the rock wall beside him; the wall cracked and powder came rattling down.

Yet Teng Xuanji, as if nothing had happened, rushed at the Scarlet Scale Beast once more.

"Thud!" The Scarlet Scale Beast's massive body likewise slammed again and again into the tunnel walls beside it. There was no help for it — the tunnel was only so wide, and with a body that huge, fighting Teng Xuanji in the dim passage, it simply could not move over any great range.

Both of them were confined to this narrow space.

"This beast — after one transformation, its strength has grown this much?" Teng Xuanji was astonished as well.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, Teng Xuanji truly did not want to use the "Dragon Drill."

Because once used — especially against a "Scarlet Scale Beast," a colossus like this — even if it pierced through, it would be hard to kill. Given the beast's reaction speed, it would simply claw Teng Xuanji, and at that moment he would be in enormous danger.

The "Shadow Follows Form" spear technique was somewhat less powerful than the Poison Dragon Drill.

But its strength lay in being endless and unbroken, with no flaw.

"Roar —" The furious Scarlet Scale Beast bellowed. It was enraged. It had already transformed, and still it could not deal with a single human. Mad with fury, it charged at Teng Xuanji again and again like a moving fortress of steel; the eight claw blades on its two forepaws were divine weapons.

It would tear Teng Xuanji apart.

One man, one demon beast.

Madly they fought, again and again. At this moment the Scarlet Scale Beast stood nearly two zhang seven or eight chi tall, and five or six zhang long. A body so vast held astonishing power. And Teng Xuanji, seven chi six cun — one meter ninety — looked frail, yet he too held power not one whit inferior to the Scarlet Scale Beast's.

One man, one beast — both at the very pinnacle of strength.

Thud thud thud thud.

Wherever their fight passed, thin rock walls collapsed with a crash, and thick stone was shattered as well. Broken rocks flew wildly, and the fierce pressure shaped blades of qi that flew about at will.

From the place where man and beast had first begun fighting, Teng Xuanji's "Shadow Follows Form" spear technique, endless and unbroken, had formed a vast invisible vortex that completely suppressed the beast. With every collision Teng Xuanji could advance, and the beast had no choice but to fall back. By now the Scarlet Scale Beast had already retreated to the entrance of its lair.

"Now!" Teng Xuanji's eyes lit up.

This was the Scarlet Scale Beast's lair.

Here Teng Xuanji could dodge the beast's claws and unleash his ultimate move.

"Whoosh —" Circulating the Tianya Travel movement art within him, his bodily strength exploded to the limit. In a single motion Teng Xuanji darted to the Scarlet Scale Beast's flank. Then, mercilessly, he poured power into his right arm, and the Reincarnation Spear in his hand instantly became an awl, stabbing ferociously at the back of the beast's skull. In the instant of closing in —

Boom!

The Reincarnation Spear abruptly produced a fierce, outward-spinning force born from within. The spear's force was so strong that even Teng Xuanji could scarcely keep his grip on it.

Whoosh.

The spear was like silver lightning.

"Roar —" The moment Teng Xuanji flashed to its flank, the Scarlet Scale Beast sensed the danger and roared in fury. At the same time its vast body struggled to dodge, and its tail — which in the tunnel could never reach Teng Xuanji — now became a whip, lashing at him like a long cord.

"Chi —"

The tip of the Reincarnation Spear was forged of purple-glowing cold iron, incomparably sharp.

With difficulty it pierced the outer scales, then sank into the dense muscle beneath the armor. Blood at once seeped out over the cracked surface of the crimson scales.

"Not good."

At the very moment Teng Xuanji thrust, the Scarlet Scale Beast's tail arrived before him.

There was no time to pull the spear back and block.