Chapter 2378: Achilles’ Heel

This guy always uses all kinds of strange and mysterious skills, and he has brilliant combat instincts. He always manages to catch me off guard just when I think victory is already at hand.

If this had been a fair battle, the Monster Lord definitely wouldn’t feel so many unnecessary emotions. But this battle had just been too unfavorable for him from the very beginning. He had to fight away from his home territory, and this world was also extremely special, thus restricting a large portion of his strength. It forced him to fight at the limit this world would tolerate. That was why his strength was only on par with Zu An’s.

At first, he hadn't thought it was that big of a deal. He had conquered countless worlds, after all. Even if his strength was restricted, his understanding and usage of power, insight, skills, and magic weapons were all at his disposal. Thus, he'd thought capturing a weak world’s native would be extremely easy. After growing to this extent, he was already the main character of his era. Which main character couldn’t defeat an opponent on the same level?

And yet, after they really started fighting against each other, he realized that this youngster was far more devious than he had imagined.

The Monster Lord suddenly felt real regret about underestimating Zu An when they were still in the underground city. He'd had countless chances to kill Zu An back then, and it was a mistake to have coveted the things that the Lord of Slaughter left behind. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been placed in such an awkward situation.

He hadn’t even realized that even though the things Zu An had said initially didn't mean much to him back then, a seed had been quietly planted. Now that the situation was unfavorable, that seed naturally began to sprout. Now, he was experiencing a massive amount of regret. He even wondered whether it would be best to escape Zu An. After all, once he recovered his true strength, killing Zu An would be too easy then. Why did he have to take such a huge risk here?

At first, he'd been extremely confident in being able to kill Zu An. Even if he couldn't kill the latter, he'd figured defeating Zu An wouldn't be too difficult. But after suffering setback after setback, to the point that his head was even destroyed twice, he was now actually scared.

As such, he abandoned his prior aggressive stance and instead said in a moderate tone, “Regent, after our earlier clash, it seems neither of us can do much to the other. If we keep fighting, in the end, someone else will end up reaping all the benefits. How about we just leave the matter at this? Our conflict is something that can easily be settled through negotiation.”

Zu An raised his eyebrows and replied, “Neither of us can do anything to the other? Just who had his head destroyed twice earlier?”

The Monster Lord was speechless.

You have successfully trolled the Monster Lord for +110 +110 +110...

He endured the anger bubbling inside of him. He said coldly, “That’s right, you did manage to do that, but do you really think you can win against the two of us if we fight together?”

Zu An remained quiet. He did have to continuously defend and counterattack at the same time. Even though he'd managed to neutralize some of their advantage, their combined strength was still above his own.

When she saw that, Salamay immediately grew nervous.

Weren’t they about to fight to the death? Why do they suddenly look as if they're about to shake hands and get along? Doesn't this put me in a really difficult spot?

Mojard knew what she was thinking. When he heard the two combatants speak, he called out loudly, “Tsk tsk, the glorious Monster Lord has now been beaten down like a dog, even taking the initiative to compromise with someone from the younger generation? You really have lost face for our entire world.”

Zu An couldn't help but grow amused when he saw that.

This guy really is just creating drama from the sidelines!

The Monster Lord’s face twitched. He gave Mojard a cold look and retorted, “Why don’t you come and fight against me if you're still discontent? Why are you barking over there?”

If this were any other time, he would’ve just killed Mojard and called it at that, but his powerful enemy Zu An was right there. If he acted rashly and pushed Salamay’s group toward the other side, things would become troublesome. He was actually on guard against Zu An and didn’t want the latter to gain even the slightest bit more assistance.

Mojard laughed loudly. “I just find it hilarious that the insufferably arrogant Monster Lord actually suddenly became so reasonable. What do you all think? Maybe he’s scared!”

“You’re courting death!” the Monster Lord yelled, finally unable to endure the resentment he was feeling. He swung his hand in Mojard’s direction. Suddenly, it expanded and a giant palm imprint struck at the top of Mojard’s head.

Mojard was already prepared for the attack, however. He immediately used all of his protective treasures, and he also mustered all his strength to raise his hands to defend himself.

However, in front of that massive imprint, all of his efforts were extremely insignificant. All of the treasures shattered almost instantly. He was crushed and forced to kneel by the giant palm. All of the bones in his body creaked and groaned.

Fortunately, Salamay’s other subordinates reacted and tried to help him. All of their power together finally neutralized the Monster Lord's seemingly nonchalant attack. They'd already had to fight against the Monster Lord for many years, so they already bore a grudge that could only be appeased through blood. Their movements were almost instinctive. Additionally, the Monster Lord’s attack was so large it would have killed all of them, so they had no choice but to interfere too.

Salamay’s face turned white. She'd never expected the gap between them to be so big. They'd been trying to be the fisherman who gained the most from a fight between two fish, but they were all just fish themselves!

However, she soon became excited, because she saw Zu An act just then. The Monster Lord couldn't hold himself back from attacking Mojard’s group, so Zu An naturally didn't pass up the opportunity created by the distraction.

The Monster Lord hadn’t expected his earlier words to not have done a single thing. He couldn't help but feel shocked and angry. “Are you really insisting on fighting me to the death?!”

Zu An’s sword released a resplendent brilliance as he replied, “I just wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t fight it out properly.”

The Monster Lord dealt with the terrifying sword radiance, but he felt a bit numb.

What is the meaning of this?

Don’t tell me he actually thinks he has a chance of killing me? Is that why he wants to give it a try?

Is he only going to try to compromise after he's certain that he can't win against me?

He immediately felt conflicted. He had to worry about Zu An’s ferocious attacks while also making sure not to offend him too much. That way, there would still be a chance of negotiation later. However, because he was worrying about so many things, he was suddenly open to a one-sided attack even though he clearly had twice the opponent's strength.

Zu An had spoken ambiguously on purpose before. He'd keenly detected that the Monster Lord didn’t have much fighting intent. That was why he'd made sure to leave the latter with a tiny bit of hope.

He fell for it, as expected!

It seemed that any powerful individual who lived in luxury for too long would end up losing the courage to put their all into the fight.

As the Monster Lord continued to deflect hits again and again, more and more injuries appeared on his body. He was a powerful being who had experienced many things. He finally realized what was going on.

This guy is planning to beat me to death! He doesn’t have any plans of negotiating!

Once he realized that, he gritted his teeth and said, “In that case, don’t blame me for not playing nice anymore.”

A hint of ferocity appeared in his eyes. He found a chance to pressure Zu An, then rushed at Pei Mianman and the other women. He knew that they were Zu An’s Achilles’ heel. The reason he'd never touched them all this time was because he wanted to wait until a crucial moment to do so. Meanwhile, he left behind the three-headed bird to hold up Zu An.

When they saw him run at them, the women were shocked.

Jing Teng’s hands quickly formed a seal as she chanted, “The valiant should join the ranks of war. The army is to the north; the black tortoise awaits its summons!”

A black tortoise appeared above the women's heads, protecting them within.

The Monster Lord sneered. “Just an insignificant trick!”

The Treasure Sinking Coin quickly turned in his hand. Then, his palm smashed through the tortoise barrier and Jing Teng’s face turned pale. A trickle of blood flowed out from the corner of her lips.

Just then, Jiang Luofu, Yun Yuqing, and Suolun Shi all reacted. They all launched their own most powerful attacks at the Monster Lord. Unfortunately, all of their techniques lost their power with a casual wave of the Monster Lord’s hand.

Using the time they bought, however, Pei Mianman had finished preparing her Flame Butterfly Domain[1]. Red spider lilies appeared one after another, and black butterflies fluttered through the air.

“That’s...” The Monster Lord was a bit surprised. Even though Pei Mianman was still quite weak, the natural quality of the power she unleashed was extremely high. It was to the point that even he felt some fear. If this kind of power was allowed to grow, it could really threaten his life.

1. Pei Mianman has reached grandmaster rank cultivation, the wisdom mortal soul stage. ☜