252 A Tragic Battle

Water droplets quickly gathered into emerald waves in midair. These waves were absorbed by black water circling the Monster Core.

Intense surging waves suddenly rushed toward Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi.

Like Tai Shang, Immortals did not have real bodies, so the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow pierced through the water curtain and directly hit Murky's Monster Core.

After Murky spat out the Monster Core, it grew larger, covering Murky from mid-brow down to its throat. Then, the Monster Core was struck.

Pow!

Cracks rapidly spread over the entire Monster Core from the wound at the center, making distinct thunderous sounds.

However, even though it was covered with cracks, it merely shook without breaking.

The fierce waves immediately struck Jiang Zhiwei's sword, blowing her away.

Though it was the best Refined Weapon, the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow was soon fraught with icy cracks. Her right hand lost flexibility, and mouthfuls of blood escaped from her lips. She fell faintly to the ground, failing to stand back up.

Meng Qi drew his sword back. As soon as he was about to wield it, the black waves appeared in front of him.

The continuous black waves were so strong that he could not even use the Immortal Pressing Art to diminish their power. Affected by the waves, he felt pain in his chest and visceral organs.

In the dark golden glow, Meng Qi looked like a bronze Buddhist. In the blink of an eye, the sixth level of the Golden Bell Shield broke with a frying sound.

This Exterior strike with Meng Qi's full strength was insanely strong.

Meng Qi had helped himself avoid the black waves.

The black waves charged forward, washing up against rocks and dust, and disappearing over the cliff, leaving behind a messy trail.

After much wielding of his knife and sword, his head filled with great pain. Though he had a serious headache, and could not concentrate, his spirit rose, thanks to him getting rid of his natural body. The immense pain in his chest would nearly kill him, signifying many ribs had been broken.

Gritting his teeth, he used the Sacrifice Formula. He resumed in his full spirit as if a clear spring gushed from his body, causing his peak genuine Qi to grow much stronger. In addition, the side-effects of the Sacrifice Formula had disappeared when he removed his natural body.

When Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi were blown away by the black waves, Luo Shengyi had approached Murky and punched its head with his right palm. His palm was so powerful that Murky felt as if a mountain was over its head. Meanwhile, Qi Zhengyan had gone close to it from the other side. He wielded the Dragon Stripe Golden Sword shining with crystal ice.

After engulfing the Monster Core, Murky had managed to get rid of the Heavenly Phoenix Cries. However, he did not have enough time to block the palm and the sword. He took a deep a breath and shouted.

The powerful sound filled the air, causing Luo Shengyi to slow down his palm. However, Qi Zhengyan was not affected by the noise. Like an immortal who was surrounded by sun glows and mist, he stabbed it in its neck.

Clang!

Since it was an Exterior monster, its glittering black scales served as its strong armor, and could only be smashed by a Refined Weapon coupled with Dharmakaya moves.

Although the Dragon Stripe Golden Sword was like cutting a piece of gold, the Book of Chaos was extraordinary, cracking its black scales. Then the emerald waves poured out, gathering into a thick water wall, and held the Dragon Stripe Golden Sword.

As the freezing of the sword ensued, cold mist rose toward the sky and delivered an Azure Blizzard into Murky's body.

Murky shivered in the frozen black waves and instantly became rigid.

Having become sober again, Luo Shengyi continued using his right palm to hit Murky on its cheek.

Murky displayed its force to connect Exterior with Interior, assuming the latter. The waves then gathered on its cheek, attempting to reduce the palm's force.

But the palm blew the waves away and landed right on its head, leaving cracks on the black scales.

His left palm closely followed the right palm. With a misty ethereal but strong force, it hit Murky on the same cheek with a smack.

Murky screamed in agony with all of its black scales exploding and its face half-sunken. Its sharp teeth were all knocked out, gushing with blood.

It completely lost control and struck the steel fork with its full force. Then those same powerful waves were flying straight toward Luo Shengyi and Qi Zhengyan.

If Murky had not had a tough body with waves and scales as armor, it would have died with its head smashed. Even though it survived, it did get dizzy, and its head was still in shock.

After two consecutive Exterior punches, Luo Shengyi was on the verge of collapsing. If he had not removed his natural body, he would have broken down earlier. Thus, he merely struggled to shirk off the steel fork, but ended up being swept away by the waves. He then fell to the ground hard, with his Protective Upstanding Qi fading, and broke many ribs.

The sun glows were swirling around Qi Zhengyan, as if they were lotus dancing. He used his power to force the waves away and tried his best to ward off them.

However, the Exterior waves were so strong that he could only protect his weak points, even if he utilized the Rosy Afterglow Swing to soften the force. He held the Dragon Stripe Golden Sword in front of his chest, and used Kunlun Crush , capable of splitting the earth, to defend himself.

After being hit by the waves, the Golden Dragon Stripe Sword cracked immediately, pushing deeply in its body. Qi Zhengyan was also forced to take a dozen steps back spewing blood. All the rosy afterglow disappeared as he weakly sat on the ground with a pale face.

When the now dizzy Murky unscrupulously wielded the steel fork, Meng Qi, who was backed by the Sacrifice Formula, jumped up. With his genuine Qi swelling, he drove his spirit into the Purple Decease Sword, and used it to sense his surroundings. The wind was blowing with terrifying gasps; thunder and lotus were so far away in the center of the Holy Mountain that he could not touch or use them; the earth was tolerant, and the sky was dark while the world operated abiding by certain rules.

In the blink of an eye, Meng Qi appeared to integrate with both heaven and earth. However, since he was brimming with Desperate Hit and the will to win, he could barely achieve Oneness of Heaven and Men. He managed to thrust out his sword at Murky in this state.

After this move, they completely lost their battle force, as some were severely injured and the others were weakened.

If I can't defeat Murky, we'll be at its disposal.

Kill the beast!

The purplish-red Sword Qi popped out and danced in the wind and thunder, tranquilizing the world for a moment.

While Murky aimlessly waved the steel fork around, Meng Qi could not miss its now visible flaws. The Sword Qi pierced through the waves of the weak points, passing the steel fork toward its half-sunken face.

Murky must die!

Otherwise, we'll die!

Lingering between life and death, Murky suddenly regained clear consciousness. With swollen rosy eyes, it spat out the Monster Core again without hesitation.

However, the Monster Core's waves had begun to subside, so the Sword Qi managed to split them and stab the real body directly.

Pow!

Murky spat a mouthful of Blood Essence to wrap up the broken Monster Core and swallow it again.

Due to losing the majority of its 800-year cultivation, it was reduced to a Half-step Exterior Scenery monster, arousing a deep grudge against Meng Qi and the others.

"It's not dead yet?" Meng Qi wanted to strike again but after that move, he had run out of energy, even if he still had enough genuine Qi and physical strength. This resulted in him merely falling to the ground though he wanted to step forward.

At that moment, Meng Qi was overcome with gloom and despair. Murky was so powerful that even a joint attack could only hurt it. "Is this the end of the Death Task?"

Lying on the ground with his face against the surface, Meng Qi regained composure a bit with the ongoing battle.

I can't give up. As long as I'm alive, I still have a chance to kill it.

Murky lost it with their insane attacks. After blocking the Purple Decease Sword, it straight flew into the sky, feeling relieved to see the five lying on the ground weakly. Finally, it had won.

As the Great King of Emerald Waves, it had never fallen into such an embarrassing predicament due to its opponents.

"Haha, Haha." Letting out two loud laughs, it landed on the ground and said to them, "How dare you hurt me! Are you asking to die?"

It approached Ruan Yushu, held her up, and amputated her right arm, allowing blood to dye her white dress red. With a snort, she bit her lip to control her screams. Even as a wisp of blood escaped her lips, she would not beg it for mercy.

"Jerk!" Resentment aroused in his heart as Meng Qi witnessed such a miserable scene.

The reason Murky first destroyed Ruan Yushu was that it had indeed been intimidated by the Heavenly Sounds of Lang Huan and Demon-defeating Arrow. Since it did not know how to hit an acupoint, and still needed them to lead the road, it could only rest assured when she was wounded.

It placed her right arm into its mouth and bit down with its residual teeth, making a heinous sound.

Leaving Ruan Yushu behind, Murky walked over to Jiang Zhiwei and Meng Qi. Taking advantage of this little time, Ruan Yushu managed to hit her acupoints to stop bleeding and took a healing elixir.

"Well, this lady is quite powerful in the sword art. I must destroy her too." Murky held the badly wounded Jiang Zhiwei, tore her right arm and ate it. Since Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow was covered in cracks, it carelessly left the sword to Jiang Zhiwei.

"Bastard!" Meng Qi was so furious that his eyes bulged.

After being thrown next to Ruan Yushu, Jiang Zhiwei stopped her bleeding and took the rest of the elixirs.

"This boy's common in his strength, but his sword is..." Murky glanced at Meng Qi and used its waves to bring the Purple Decease Sword to itself, and then strapped it on its waist.

Murky did not take Luo Shengyi and Qi Zhengyan as a threat. As far as it was concerned, without the other three's cooperation, the physically intact Luo Shengyi and Qi Zhengyan would be far from being its rivals, not to mention they were heavily maimed.

Staring at Meng Qi with a weird smile, it said, "Fool! You are the successor of the Ananda, so you can enter Holy Mountain. Am I right? Well, the Monster Saint has given us a last order, but resuing the Great Sages is priority. Behave yourself and lead the road, if you don't want the others and yourself to die."

Meng Qi gritted his teeth. "Fine."

He had to pretend to be timid, whether to stall for time or wait for another opportunity.

"Hand over all your elixirs!" Murky looked at them with a tyrannical face, as if it would kill them should they refuse.

Without other options, Meng Qi and the others had to surrender their healing pills. Ruan Yushu only handed over the medicines in her hand since it was a common item in the Space Ring.

Becuase Murky had never used the Space Ring before, it did not find anything suspicious. After collecting the elixirs, it swallowed a lot of them, and gave each team member several pills to help them recover. Surely there would be dangers ahead of them, so weak bait would only make things worse.

After a while, it held Ruan Yushu and Jiang Zhiwei as hostages, ordering Meng Qi, Luo Shengyi and Qi Zhengyan to lead the way. They entered a place filled with roaring gales from a nearby entrance.