Chapter 96: A Lone Blade Striking the Armor
The massive body of the fifth-tier scaled beast trembled violently, its entire carapace undulating like ocean waves. It shook frantically, desperately trying to fling Lin Yan, who was clinging to its back, to the ground.
Lin Yan dug his five fingers deep into the ravines of the armor. The hard, rough shell scraped his palms raw, and warm blood seeped along the patterns of the carapace into the dark green mucus, bringing a stinging, burning sensation. He clenched his jaw tightly, circulating the inner qi of his ancient martial arts through the meridians of his limbs, firmly anchoring himself to the behemoth's spine. No matter how the beast bucked and pitched, his form never loosened in the slightest.
Below, the three fourth-tier scaled beasts had already rushed to the side of the giant beast. They raised their heads and roared, their sharp claws and fangs tearing upward continuously, trying to reach the figure on its back.
"Stop them!" Zhou Lin commanded. Leading the remaining Imperial Guard cultivators, he pounced forward. His majestic Sea of Consciousness spread out, transforming into several psychic shackles that wrapped around the Seas of Consciousness of the three fourth-tier scaled beasts.
Jiang Tao followed closely behind, layering his psychic power to share Zhou Lin's mental consumption. However, restraining three fourth-tier beasts at once was too heavy a burden for his already injured Sea of Consciousness. Blood instantly gushed from his nasal cavity, and his vision darkened in waves.
"Hold on!" Old Chen swung his long knife in wide, sweeping arcs, taking the brunt of a fourth-tier scaled beast's pounce head-on. The blade struck the carapace, sending sparks flying everywhere as he stubbornly forced back the behemoth's assault. On the wasteland, two battles raged simultaneously: one was the ground-level entanglement and interception, and the other was a life-and-death strike on the giant beast's spine.
Hidden in the underground rock cave, the Ancient Progenitor poured all its consciousness into its fifth-tier personal guard. Its icy will slammed directly into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
"Foolish mortal. You think climbing onto my personal guard will grant you a sliver of hope?"
A bone-chilling coldness instantly flooded Lin Yan's mind. Countless fragmented illusions materialized out of thin air. The scene of his master's death in the deep mountains, the faces of comrades who had sacrificed themselves during rift missions flashed by in succession, attempting to shake his mind and break his will. This was the Ancient Progenitor's most adept psychic trick—the Sea of Consciousness illusion, designed specifically to shatter the human heart.
Lin Yan's mind wavered slightly, but the mental fortitude forged by years of bitter cultivation in the deep mountains prevented him from sinking into despair. He discarded all distracting thoughts, calming his mind and guarding his spirit. The fine threads of his Sea of Consciousness wrapped around his core in layers, protecting it. Letting the illusions surge and swirl, his gaze remained firmly locked on the target ahead—the dark cyan soft membrane beneath the fifth-tier scaled beast's neck armor, half-obscured by thick scales.
That is the spot.
Sensing Lin Yan's target, the fifth-tier scaled beast violently retracted its neck inward. The surface active scales overlapped layer by layer, like the protective collar of a suit of armor, completely shielding the soft membrane. Simultaneously, it twisted its massive head backward as far as it could, its maw filled with fangs snapping viciously toward its own back. A foul-smelling hot wind rushed to his face, the fangs gleaming with a biting, cold light.
Lin Yan had anticipated this. He fiercely kicked off the carapace, his figure darting horizontally, barely evading the snapping bite. The giant jaws clamped shut hard, the teeth colliding with its own back armor and chipping off tiny stone fragments.
Seizing the brief moment while the behemoth turned its head, Lin Yan caught the fleeting second when the scales momentarily parted. Channeling all his inner qi into his right hand, he raised his short blade above his head and thrust it with all his might toward the exposed soft membrane!
Puff——
The short blade pierced deep, and thick, dark green blood gushed out, splashing across Lin Yan's arm and shoulder.
The fifth-tier scaled beast let out a deafening, agonizing roar. Its massive body rolled violently, twisting madly as it tried to crush the invader on its back against the earth. A violent tremor rippled through the Ancient Progenitor's will; this single strike had severely wounded its personal guard.
"Got it!" Jiang Tao caught sight of this, a flash of joy rising in his heart. But he did not expect that, in a fit of rage, the Ancient Progenitor's psychic power would suddenly erupt. A frenzied psychic shockwave exploded outward from the fifth-tier scaled beast's Sea of Consciousness.
Jiang Tao took the brunt of it. Letting out a muffled groan, he fell straight backward, losing consciousness on the spot, his Sea of Consciousness suffering a devastating blow. Zhou Lin was also shaken by this impact, stumbling as blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. The psychic shackles restraining the three fourth-tier scaled beasts instantly loosened.
The three fourth-tier scaled beasts immediately broke free from the束缚 (restraints). Ignoring Zhou Lin and the others on the ground, they all pounced toward the rolling fifth-tier scaled beast, intending to support their personal guard and kill Lin Yan.
Seeing this, Old Chen tried to rush to his aid but was viciously swept across the chest by the claw of a fourth-tier scaled beast. His thick combat suit tore open, and a long, deep wound instantly bloomed. The massive impact sent him flying backward, crashing heavily onto the scorched earth. His long knife slipped from his grasp and rolled away.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse once again.
The fifth-tier scaled beast rolled wildly, its back crashing heavily toward a massive rock on the ground. If it was crushed by this, Lin Yan would be instantly reduced to minced meat.
Lin Yan did not greedily cling to his success. The moment his short blade pierced the flesh, he let go. Borrowing the momentum of the behemoth's roll, he leaped backward into the air, adjusted his posture mid-flight, and landed heavily on the scorched earth dozens of meters away. He rolled several times to dissipate the impact force, tearing the wounds on his palms and leaving his entire body aching and powerless.
The short blade was still lodged in the wound on the giant beast's neck.
The fifth-tier scaled beast roared in agony, shaking its head continuously, trying to dislodge the short blade embedded in the soft membrane. Dark green blood flowed endlessly, staining a vast expanse of land red. But the fatal blow had not completely pierced its life core. This fifth-tier behemoth still retained its combat power, though its movements were noticeably sluggish, and its Sea of Consciousness fluctuations had become chaotic.
Deep within the underground resonance rock cave, the consciousness of the Ancient Progenitor's true body fluctuated wildly. Its personal guard was severely wounded, and the psychic link continuously transmitted waves of excruciating pain. That human youth from the barren mountains had actually managed to wound the ultimate weapon it had spent endless years cultivating.
"I will tear all of you to pieces." The Ancient Progenitor's icy will spread across the entire wasteland. Every scaled beast received even more frenzied orders, and the offensive intensified to a maddening degree once again.
The fifth-tier scaled beast slowly turned around. Its eerie green vertical pupils locked onto Lin Yan as it slowly raised its injured head. Blood continued to drip from the wound on its neck, yet it still carried an unyielding, do-or-die intent to kill. The remaining three fourth-tier scaled beasts formed a triangular formation, slowly closing in to cut off all of Lin Yan's escape routes.
On the wasteland, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and blood soaked the scorched earth.
Lin Yan stood alone in the center of the encirclement. He raised his hand to wipe the blood and grime from his face, his gaze calm as he watched the four high-tier scaled beasts closing in step by step.
There was no path of retreat, and no reinforcements could arrive immediately.
Lin Yan dug his five fingers deep into the ravines of the armor. The hard, rough shell scraped his palms raw, and warm blood seeped along the patterns of the carapace into the dark green mucus, bringing a stinging, burning sensation. He clenched his jaw tightly, circulating the inner qi of his ancient martial arts through the meridians of his limbs, firmly anchoring himself to the behemoth's spine. No matter how the beast bucked and pitched, his form never loosened in the slightest.
Below, the three fourth-tier scaled beasts had already rushed to the side of the giant beast. They raised their heads and roared, their sharp claws and fangs tearing upward continuously, trying to reach the figure on its back.
"Stop them!" Zhou Lin commanded. Leading the remaining Imperial Guard cultivators, he pounced forward. His majestic Sea of Consciousness spread out, transforming into several psychic shackles that wrapped around the Seas of Consciousness of the three fourth-tier scaled beasts.
Jiang Tao followed closely behind, layering his psychic power to share Zhou Lin's mental consumption. However, restraining three fourth-tier beasts at once was too heavy a burden for his already injured Sea of Consciousness. Blood instantly gushed from his nasal cavity, and his vision darkened in waves.
"Hold on!" Old Chen swung his long knife in wide, sweeping arcs, taking the brunt of a fourth-tier scaled beast's pounce head-on. The blade struck the carapace, sending sparks flying everywhere as he stubbornly forced back the behemoth's assault. On the wasteland, two battles raged simultaneously: one was the ground-level entanglement and interception, and the other was a life-and-death strike on the giant beast's spine.
Hidden in the underground rock cave, the Ancient Progenitor poured all its consciousness into its fifth-tier personal guard. Its icy will slammed directly into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness.
"Foolish mortal. You think climbing onto my personal guard will grant you a sliver of hope?"
A bone-chilling coldness instantly flooded Lin Yan's mind. Countless fragmented illusions materialized out of thin air. The scene of his master's death in the deep mountains, the faces of comrades who had sacrificed themselves during rift missions flashed by in succession, attempting to shake his mind and break his will. This was the Ancient Progenitor's most adept psychic trick—the Sea of Consciousness illusion, designed specifically to shatter the human heart.
Lin Yan's mind wavered slightly, but the mental fortitude forged by years of bitter cultivation in the deep mountains prevented him from sinking into despair. He discarded all distracting thoughts, calming his mind and guarding his spirit. The fine threads of his Sea of Consciousness wrapped around his core in layers, protecting it. Letting the illusions surge and swirl, his gaze remained firmly locked on the target ahead—the dark cyan soft membrane beneath the fifth-tier scaled beast's neck armor, half-obscured by thick scales.
That is the spot.
Sensing Lin Yan's target, the fifth-tier scaled beast violently retracted its neck inward. The surface active scales overlapped layer by layer, like the protective collar of a suit of armor, completely shielding the soft membrane. Simultaneously, it twisted its massive head backward as far as it could, its maw filled with fangs snapping viciously toward its own back. A foul-smelling hot wind rushed to his face, the fangs gleaming with a biting, cold light.
Lin Yan had anticipated this. He fiercely kicked off the carapace, his figure darting horizontally, barely evading the snapping bite. The giant jaws clamped shut hard, the teeth colliding with its own back armor and chipping off tiny stone fragments.
Seizing the brief moment while the behemoth turned its head, Lin Yan caught the fleeting second when the scales momentarily parted. Channeling all his inner qi into his right hand, he raised his short blade above his head and thrust it with all his might toward the exposed soft membrane!
Puff——
The short blade pierced deep, and thick, dark green blood gushed out, splashing across Lin Yan's arm and shoulder.
The fifth-tier scaled beast let out a deafening, agonizing roar. Its massive body rolled violently, twisting madly as it tried to crush the invader on its back against the earth. A violent tremor rippled through the Ancient Progenitor's will; this single strike had severely wounded its personal guard.
"Got it!" Jiang Tao caught sight of this, a flash of joy rising in his heart. But he did not expect that, in a fit of rage, the Ancient Progenitor's psychic power would suddenly erupt. A frenzied psychic shockwave exploded outward from the fifth-tier scaled beast's Sea of Consciousness.
Jiang Tao took the brunt of it. Letting out a muffled groan, he fell straight backward, losing consciousness on the spot, his Sea of Consciousness suffering a devastating blow. Zhou Lin was also shaken by this impact, stumbling as blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. The psychic shackles restraining the three fourth-tier scaled beasts instantly loosened.
The three fourth-tier scaled beasts immediately broke free from the束缚 (restraints). Ignoring Zhou Lin and the others on the ground, they all pounced toward the rolling fifth-tier scaled beast, intending to support their personal guard and kill Lin Yan.
Seeing this, Old Chen tried to rush to his aid but was viciously swept across the chest by the claw of a fourth-tier scaled beast. His thick combat suit tore open, and a long, deep wound instantly bloomed. The massive impact sent him flying backward, crashing heavily onto the scorched earth. His long knife slipped from his grasp and rolled away.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse once again.
The fifth-tier scaled beast rolled wildly, its back crashing heavily toward a massive rock on the ground. If it was crushed by this, Lin Yan would be instantly reduced to minced meat.
Lin Yan did not greedily cling to his success. The moment his short blade pierced the flesh, he let go. Borrowing the momentum of the behemoth's roll, he leaped backward into the air, adjusted his posture mid-flight, and landed heavily on the scorched earth dozens of meters away. He rolled several times to dissipate the impact force, tearing the wounds on his palms and leaving his entire body aching and powerless.
The short blade was still lodged in the wound on the giant beast's neck.
The fifth-tier scaled beast roared in agony, shaking its head continuously, trying to dislodge the short blade embedded in the soft membrane. Dark green blood flowed endlessly, staining a vast expanse of land red. But the fatal blow had not completely pierced its life core. This fifth-tier behemoth still retained its combat power, though its movements were noticeably sluggish, and its Sea of Consciousness fluctuations had become chaotic.
Deep within the underground resonance rock cave, the consciousness of the Ancient Progenitor's true body fluctuated wildly. Its personal guard was severely wounded, and the psychic link continuously transmitted waves of excruciating pain. That human youth from the barren mountains had actually managed to wound the ultimate weapon it had spent endless years cultivating.
"I will tear all of you to pieces." The Ancient Progenitor's icy will spread across the entire wasteland. Every scaled beast received even more frenzied orders, and the offensive intensified to a maddening degree once again.
The fifth-tier scaled beast slowly turned around. Its eerie green vertical pupils locked onto Lin Yan as it slowly raised its injured head. Blood continued to drip from the wound on its neck, yet it still carried an unyielding, do-or-die intent to kill. The remaining three fourth-tier scaled beasts formed a triangular formation, slowly closing in to cut off all of Lin Yan's escape routes.
On the wasteland, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and blood soaked the scorched earth.
Lin Yan stood alone in the center of the encirclement. He raised his hand to wipe the blood and grime from his face, his gaze calm as he watched the four high-tier scaled beasts closing in step by step.
There was no path of retreat, and no reinforcements could arrive immediately.
