Chapter 39

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The instant the Bloodline Fruit turned ripe, the surrounding wild demons made their move immediately. 

Crash~ 

Naturally, the fastest to move was the Lightning Zebra pack leader, which was also closest to the Bloodline Fruit. It leaped high into the air and was on the verge of swallowing the Bloodline Fruit in a single gulp. 

Unfortunately, right before it could succeed, a huge ochre hand suddenly coalesced from the surface of the ground and grabbed hold of the Lightning Zebra’s rear hoof. Without giving it the chance to react, the giant hand tossed the Zebra away. 

“An Earth Rhinoceros!” Li Changsheng did not budge. His eyes had not left the battlefield as he observed the situation there. The moment the huge ochre hand coalesced, Li Changsheng instantly locked onto his target. 

This was a massive rhinoceros over ten feet tall and around four meters long. Its body was plump but firm-fleshed, and two horns—one long, one short—grew from the middle of its head. Its entire body was enveloped in solid rock, giving one the impression that it had on a layer of rock armor. 

This was a Middle Order demon without question.

Other than the Earth Rhinoceros, there were several other Middle Order demons as well. This was also the reason Li Changsheng had not made a move right away. If he had, he would not be able to retain the Bloodline Fruit even if he were lucky enough to get hold of it.

The Earth Rhinoceros’ movements were slow. Without waiting for it to shuffle over, a golden figure flashed forward from behind with its mouth open, ready to bite into the Bloodline Fruit. 

It was a Thunder Leopard whose forte lay in speed and instantaneous bursts of power. Like the Earth Rhinoceros, this was a Middle Order demon also. 

As Li Changsheng had anticipated, before the Thunder Leopard could make it to the fruit, thick vines wrapped around the Leopard, trapping it on the spot. 

The Thunder Leopard had been bound by a Bramble Flower Demon, a plant-type demon with a massive flower. In the middle of the flower was an exquisite human face. It had no legs and was formed from over a dozen thick vines, making its entire body a potential weapon. 

Its only flaw was that its movement speed was even slower than the Earth Rhinoceros—this was a common problem among most plant-type demons. 

After temporarily incapacitating the Thunder Leopard, the Bramble Flower Demon directed another one of its vines straight at the Bloodline Fruit to seize it. 

Suddenly, a Turtledove Spider the size of a water tank suspended itself from the willow tree. Its blood-red eyes glittered as it spat out silver spider silk from its mouthparts. This spider silk was extremely sticky and entangled itself with the vines, rendering them incapable of advancing further. 

In the sky, a huge white bird with a wingspan of fully five to six meters saw its opening. Its speed was extremely swift; like a white shadow it dived down from the heavens, its huge hook-like claws extended, and sped toward the Bloodline Fruit.

“A Heaven’s Fowl!” Li Changsheng was obviously startled when he saw the massive bird. It was a fairly rare demon. In particular, its ability to comprehend healing techniques made it very popular among demon tamers, which consequently contributed to the decreasing number of wild Heaven’s Fowls. 

Apart from this, a typical Middle Order Heaven’s Fowl would ordinarily only have a wingspan of around three to four meters. Yet, this Heaven’s Fowl was clearly so large that its wingspan reached five to six meters. One could only imagine how gifted it was. 

Like the rest previously, before the Heaven’s Fowl could reach its goal, an ear-piercing sound split the air as multiple icicles of a foot or so in length shot straight for it. 

The Heaven’s Fowl had been stopped by a Two-Winged Frost Centipede, which was a rather uncommon Ice-type demon. Icy-blue from head to toe, it had an extraordinarily ferocious head and more than ten small legs sharp as knives on its lower body. The most unusual characteristic of this demon was the pair of wings growing from its back, thin as those of a cicada. This granted the demon short-term flying ability. 

Rumor had it that Two-Winged Frost Centipedes had within them the bloodline of the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes. 

Other than these few Middle Order demons, there were around a dozen Lower Order demons of different grades. However, as their strength was limited, the probability of them obtaining the Bloodline Fruit was insignificantly low. 

Under the threat of the icicles, the Heaven’s Fowl had no choice but to give up on the Bloodline Fruit. Retracting its wings, it dodged hurriedly, and the icicles merely brushed its body in passing.

Without any warning, all the wild demons went amok with the willow tree as the center of their focus. In their frenzied struggle for the Bloodline Fruit, they did not forget to attack their opponents as well.

It was an unavoidable, chaotic battle.

For a time, vines, ground spikes, wind blades, fireballs, and icicles flew in all directions. Under such destructive battering, the grassland in the surrounding area disappeared without a trace and was replaced by countless large pits and gullies. 

The willow tree with the Bloodline Fruit was the only exception. 

A gentle breeze began to blow, causing the fresh shoots of the willow tree to rustle.

With everyone restraining each other, for a time, nobody managed to get their hands on the Bloodline Fruit.

This situation did not last for long, though. Soon enough, the Bramble Flower Demon paid a small price in the form of light injuries and temporarily escaped from the Turtledove Spider’s entanglement. It extended one of its vines toward the Bloodline Fruit to pluck it.

At this point, the other Middle Order demons had exhausted their abilities and were unable to stop the Bramble Flower Demon for now.

“Lightning Zebras, with the Bramble Flower Demon as your target, Thunder Strike!” In the face of such imminent peril, Li Changsheng had no choice but to make his move. 

Thunder Strike was the Lightning Zebras’ best long-range attack. 

Before the vine managed to wrap itself around the Bloodline Fruit, lightning wreathed itself around the single horns of all five Lightning Zebras and finally consolidated into five electric currents the thickness of an adult human arm. They shot toward the Bramble Flower Demon. 

Among the main demon types, Lightning-type demons were second only to Wind-type demons in terms of attack speed. 

Crackle~ 

Since the attack came from behind it, the Bramble Flower Demon had no time to react, and the five bursts of electricity struck it squarely. As it let out a shrill screech, it also stopped in its tracks. 

Although the five Lightning Zebras were not on par with the Bramble Flower Demon in terms of level, they had the advantage of numbers. The Bramble Flower Demon suffered severe injuries from the attack. 

It was at this moment that the Turtledove Spider made an extraordinary jump and closed the short distance between itself and the Bramble Flower Demon. Landing in front of it, the Spider extended its hideous mouthparts and bit hard into the Bramble Flower Demon’s face. 

Resisting despite being on the verge of death, the Bramble Flower Demon retracted all of its vines from the Thunder Leopard, while around ten vines continued beating the Turtledove Spider’s back as a warning for the spider to retreat. 

Slap slap slap slap~ 

Unexpectedly, the Turtledove Spider did not loosen its grip but kept biting down on the Bramble Flower Demon. Unlike earlier, the Turtledove Spider’s mouthparts were now suffused in a green glow. It was sucking away the Bramble Flower Demon’s stamina as it suffered the Bramble Flower Demon’s attacks. 

“Ai Xi, dispose of them!” Naturally, Li Changsheng was not about to let this opportunity slip away. At his command, Ai Xi rushed forward. 

Seeing Ai Xi approaching, the Turtledove Spider hastily loosened its grip, intending to retreat. However, Ai Xi was extremely quick and caught up with it in two steps. The moment Ai Xi raised its paw, it brought it down on the Spider in a Claw Crush. 

Bang~ 

As the muffled sound of the blow rang out, the Turtledove Spider had no time to even shriek before its head appeared to have exploded. Large quantities of green and red liquid splattered all over the ground as the Spider met its instant demise. 

At the same time, having escaped the Turtledove Spider’s grasp with great difficulty, the Bramble Flower Demon sensed the world darken in front of it. Under Li Changsheng’s steering, the Lightning Zebras appeared in front of the Bramble Flower Demon. Under its horrified gaze, the Lightning Zebras rose high up on their hooves to use their Trample ability.

Screech~ 

The Bramble Flower Demon screeched in despair. It had already been on the verge of death in the clutches of the Turtledove Spider and was utterly unable to defend itself. Under the impact from the Lightning Zebras’ hooves, the Bramble Flower Demon’s beautiful face exploded instantly. 

In barely the space of a few breaths, Li Changsheng had seized the chance and removed two Middle Order demons from the equation. However, he did not have enough time to extract their demon cores because the situation on the battlefield changed yet again.

Puff~ 

Under the manipulation of the Earth Rhinoceros, a sharp rock erupted from beneath the ground. As the Lightning Zebra pack leader’s injuries were too severe, its speed was affected, so it was unable to dodge on time. The rock pierced through its abdomen, sending innards and fresh blood splattering all over the place. 

Rumble~ 

The Lightning Zebras’ leader struggled with all its might for a while before raising its head listlessly. Its eyes recovered their initial clarity as it gazed at a point somewhere far beyond the cloudless sky and let out its final roar. 

After killing the Lightning Zebras’ leader, the Earth Rhinoceros continued with steady strides and lumbered toward the Bloodline Fruit with all its might. Despite its movements not being fast, it was currently filled with a sense of indomitable aura that was absent before. 

Rumble~ 

After the death of their leader, the remaining Lightning Zebras lifted their heads and let out grieving roars. Ignoring the disparity in strength, the Lightning Zebras threw themselves at the Earth Rhinoceros. 

As it ran, the Earth Rhinoceros opened its large mouth and spat out rock after rock the size of a human head, like a string of firecrackers.

These rocks were fast and accurate, and two Lightning Zebras fell prey in an instant. Right after that, both parties met and engaged in close-quarter combat. Like a tiger in a sheep herd, the Earth Rhinoceros was powerful and unstoppable. Due to its extremely strong defense, the Lightning Zebras were unable to cause the Earth Rhinoceros much harm despite their biting and trampling.

On the contrary, the Earth Rhinoceros fought fearlessly and killed the Lightning Zebras effortlessly. Copious amounts of blood splattered everywhere in an abnormally gruesome manner. 

It took the Earth Rhinoceros merely the space of a few breaths to eliminate the handful of Lightning Zebras. It appeared underneath the willow tree and stood on its hind legs immediately to devour the Bloodline Fruit.