荒墟牧神 - 第1496章 我乃自由之風 - 錦書坊

Long Xiao hesitated, forcibly suppressing the urge to flee, and descended from the sky once more, his voice rolling through the air like thunder: "Let me say this plainly first — if I find I cannot win, I will leave at once, and I will not throw my life away! Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you understand?" Shen Mu did not look at him; his gaze remained locked on that gaunt, towering stranger. "As you please," he said, light as the wind. Long Xiao's enormous body tore fully free of the Beast World and lunged at the gaunt stranger, churning up wind and thunder. His nine heads blotted out the sky above the Ancestral Court; eight of them visualized and worked their arts, and their spirit-consciousness divine powers burst forth, blasting at the gaunt stranger, while the ninth head cried aloud: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, remember this — my son Long Pi is on good terms with you. If I die, with his present cultivation and strength he cannot inherit my position! He will surely be torn to pieces by the other giant beasts of the Beast World!" His talons thrust out; even as his spirit-consciousness powers hammered the gaunt stranger, his mighty flesh — which had endured the sacrifices of countless Creators — erupted with unparalleled force, and his talons, like the sharpest of blades, tore at the gaunt stranger! Times had changed. The Long Xiao of old had clung to his own ways, sunk in silence on the far side of the Ancestral Court, ruling the ancient giant beasts and lording it over them; but now he had plainly learned much of Jing Ping's knowledge from Long Qilin, and both the might of his divine powers and the strength of his flesh were far greater than before! At his level of cultivation, progress was exceedingly hard; but Long Xiao differed from others — the knowledge he possessed was only the knowledge of the Creators' age, and when he studied the fruits of Jing Ping's transformations, his foundations erupted and his cultivation and strength leapt forward! He too was an existence of the Heavenly Venerable rank. In those years he had been the being the Creators used to overawe the ancient gods; even the Heavenly Duke and the Earth Lord had to yield him a measure of respect. Now, with wings added to a tiger, as he swooped down his very flesh shrank rapidly! Shrinking his flesh allowed his power to condense to a high degree, making his physical attacks stronger. He had also seen that the strange eye in the Black Mountain of the Ancestral Court, and the strange man within the eye, were no small matter; therefore he struck with his full strength from the very first! The gaunt stranger's appearance was pitiful — one arm severed, his brow smeared with blood, wounds everywhere on his body — yet he showed only contempt for Long Xiao's ferocious assault. Boom — Long Xiao's spirit-consciousness powers, highly condensed, rushed into his body, seeking to visualize within him and burst his flesh apart; but when the spirit-consciousness powers unleashed by Long Xiao's eight heads entered the gaunt stranger's body, there came eight muffled thuds in succession — before his spirit-consciousness could even begin to visualize, it was crushed alive by the gaunt stranger's powerful flesh! Chi! Long Xiao's talons fell; the gaunt stranger raised a hand to meet the claw, closed his five fingers, and seized Long Xiao's great talon. Long Xiao howled and strained with all his power; the gaunt stranger strained as well, and there came a crack-crack of sound. Long Xiao was in such pain that tears streamed down; his nine heads whirled, and suddenly he opened his great jaws and bit down at the gaunt stranger! The gaunt stranger's body was half in the past universe and half outside the riven Black Mountain; he could not easily dodge, and was bitten on the body, the sharp teeth sinking into his flesh! Suddenly the power of the vertical eye at the stranger's brow erupted; he turned his head and swept it, and a beam of light slashed out level and flat. Blood fountained skywar