allonlinenovel Chapter 292 Elder with Nine Bags
Chapter 292 Elder with Nine Bags
Chapter 292 The Nine-Bag Elder
Iron Bridge's palm strike was incredibly powerful, containing at least ten thousand jin of terrifying force. Such immense power could easily shatter even the hardest rocks into dust. However, when this palm strike landed on the Flame Lizard, it only caused it a sharp pain and failed to inflict any real damage.
The flame lizard, in pain, let out a shrill roar, its massive body rolling wildly on the ground. After just one lap, it regained its footing and, enraged, lunged at the iron bridge.
The Flame Lizard opened its gaping maw, and a torrent of dark green venom gushed towards the iron bridge like a raging flood. At the same time, its dark purple tongue, which had been hidden in its mouth, suddenly shot out, instantly becoming thin and long, like an incomparably sharp spear, and stabbed straight at the iron bridge's face with lightning speed!
On the other side, the Flame Lizard's thick and agile tail was also busy. It transformed into an extremely sharp iron whip, slicing through the air with a series of piercing whistling sounds, and swept fiercely towards Mo Yuming with lightning speed!
Although the Flame Lizard's physical movement speed is relatively slow, its attack speed is astonishing. Even more impressive is its ability to launch attacks on both Tie Qiao and Mo Yuming simultaneously without appearing flustered. This demonstrates that the Flame Lizard possesses not only formidable attack power but also remarkably skillful combat techniques.
However, it underestimated the enemy's strength. A second-level Heavenly Rank cultivator couldn't be effectively countered by such an attack. Although Iron Bridge was less than ten feet away from the Flame Lizard, it calmly blocked the attack. The blackish-red, blood-like venom was enveloped by a ball of scorching flame spiritual energy less than a foot from Iron Bridge. Under the intense heat of the flames, it hissed and burned to ash. The tongue that followed was caught by Iron Bridge, and its other hand followed suit, grabbing the hindquarters. Without giving the Flame Lizard a chance to react, Iron Bridge twisted its hands, tying the lizard's slender tongue into a knot. Even if the tongue was slippery, Iron Bridge held it firmly, unable to escape.
Just as the man and the beast were pulling at each other, Mo Yuming, who had just dodged the attack of the Flame Lizard's iron tail, immediately guided the Soul Sword to stab again. The Soul Sword pierced straight towards the Flame Lizard's head like lightning.
With a clang, the Soul Sword was knocked away again, failing to penetrate the Flame Lizard even a fraction of an inch.
"The scales of the Flame Lizard are comparable to black iron. Apart from spiritual treasures, ordinary spiritual weapons can hardly pierce its scales. We can only attack its weak points." Tieqiao held the Flame Lizard's tongue tightly with both hands, not daring to loosen his grip even slightly. If it broke free, the Flame Lizard, having suffered a loss, would definitely hide and escape, and it would take a lot of effort to catch it again!
After his two attacks were thwarted, Mo Yuming realized the problem and immediately controlled his Soul Sword to shoot at the Flame Lizard's eyes. The Flame Lizard's entire body, except for its eyes, was covered in dense scales, making it impossible to find any other vital points. Its eyes were particularly difficult to target, as they resembled two spheres embedded in its massive triangular head, covered in fine scales. Furthermore, its eyes were incredibly agile, able to rotate rapidly up, down, forward, and backward. When open, they appeared as narrow slits; when closed, they were spherical protrusions. Mo Yuming's Soul Sword struck twice but failed to hit any vital points.
Moreover, the Flame Lizard was incredibly strong. Iron Bridge could only restrain its slow movement with all his might and could not hold it firmly. In just a short time, the Flame Lizard had dragged him several meters away, and Iron Bridge's feet had dug a deep groove in the hard ground.
Although Mo Yuming was trying his best to find an opportunity to attack the Flame Lizard, the Flame Lizard's tail, which was nearly ten feet long, was like a sharp iron chain that kept sweeping towards Mo Yuming, making it impossible for him to get close.
Seeing that his attacks had no effect, Mo Yuming became somewhat annoyed. He seized the opportunity and used his earth-elemental profound technique to erect several earthen walls behind the Flame Lizard's long tail. These earthen walls, several feet thick, were the best defensive technique among Mo Yuming's current earth-elemental techniques. Although they were made of spiritual energy, their hardness and strength were comparable to that of a stone wall.
Mo Yuming used the earthen wall to temporarily block the gaps in the Flame Lizard's long tail, quickly closing in on its back and grabbing the scales and bone spikes on its spine with both hands. He then straddled the Flame Lizard's back. He swiftly pulled out a black iron short sword and plunged it into the gap between the scales.
With a 'plop', the ox-horn knife, more than a foot long, was inserted to the end of the blade, and a spurt of scarlet blood shot out from the blade, splattering all over Mo Yuming's face.
"Whoa!" The Flame Lizard let out a low howl. The two-zhang-long and several-thousand-jin Flame Lizard kicked off with its four legs, its long tail violently shattering the earthen wall set up by Mo Yuming, and it rolled violently on the ground. Tie Qiao did not expect the Flame Lizard to react so violently. Before he could react, he was pulled to the ground by the Flame Lizard's tongue and had a close encounter with the earth.
Iron Bridge was furious. If he hadn't wanted to protect his scales from damage, he would have already used his profound skills to fight. Why would a second-level Heavenly Realm expert need to use brute force against a magical beast? A few Fiery Sun Palms roasted it half-cooked.
It seems Mo Yuming's seemingly unintentional strike earlier hit the Flame Lizard's vital point; otherwise, the Flame Lizard wouldn't have reacted so strongly. Seeing this, Tie Qiao stopped engaging and seized the opportunity to clench his fists, instantly unleashing spiritual fire from his hands. The scorching fire began to fiercely burn the Flame Lizard's tongue. Although the Flame Lizard is a fire-type magical beast with some fire resistance, it doesn't mean all its organs are highly fire-resistant. Its long, flexible tongue naturally couldn't withstand Tie Qiao's Heavenly Rank Fire Spiritual Power. With a Xuan Power nearly two levels higher, the Flame Lizard's tongue quickly emitted a burnt meaty aroma.
The Flame Lizard thrashed about even more violently, its limbs and long tail whipping up sand and stones across a radius of several dozen feet in the forest. Had the Fire Spirit Tree not been exceptionally sturdy, a large section of it would have been broken off.
With a soft 'snap', the long tongue that the iron bridge had been gripping snapped, and a large amount of blood gushed from the severed end. The Flame Lizard finally broke free from the iron bridge's grasp.
But the Flame Lizard could no longer hide and had to flee quickly into the depths of the dense forest. Even with its desperate escape, its crawling speed was still not fast enough. Mo Yuming leaped onto its back again, grabbing the bone spurs on its spine to steady himself. Before the Flame Lizard's long tail could sweep across, he swiftly and accurately thrust the Soul Sword into the short knife beside it. Then he flipped over and leaped again, dodging the Flame Lizard's iron tail sweep.
The Soul Sword was different from the Xuan Tie Short Sword. Mo Yuming could control it with his mind. Soon, the Soul Sword swung a few times among the Flame Lizard's scales and bone spurs before withdrawing from the blade. The wound caused by the Soul Sword had almost ripped open half of the Flame Lizard's spine, and blood gushed out like a spring from a wound more than a foot long. Finally, the Flame Lizard slowed down and collapsed a dozen feet away, unable to move any further. The blood on the ground formed a stream more than a dozen feet long.
Mo Yuming and Tieqiao arrived at the corpse of the Flame Lizard. After removing the knife from the wound, they turned the Flame Lizard over. Tieqiao skillfully took out a butcher's knife and began dissecting the lizard, starting from its abdomen and following the seams of its scales. The skinning and bone removal were done in one swift and fluid motion, like that of a seasoned butcher.
"Don't be fooled by the Flame Lizard's tough scales that make it impervious to blades and spears; its meat is incredibly tender, just like the Fire Dragon's meat, and it's quite delicious. Let's take some of the best pieces back and share them with the children. Besides the magic crystals, its long tail has a long, exceptionally flexible tendon, which is also an excellent material for refining weapons."
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Tieqiao had removed all the usable parts. The remaining bones, flesh, and internal organs were piled up and covered with some weeds. There were many small carnivorous animals in the forest, and it wouldn't be long before the two of them left and all the remains were devoured, leaving not even bones behind.
"It's still early, shall we continue exploring ahead?"
"Let's call it a day. The fight just now alerted some high-level magical beasts in the surrounding area. Magical beasts have a very keen sense of smell, and I estimate that all the magical beasts within a dozen miles are already on guard. It's unlikely we'll encounter any more valuable magical beasts. Let's go back now. We can take advantage of the fresh lizard meat and prepare a good meal to reward ourselves. Also, it will be much easier to process the scales of this Flame Lizard as soon as possible. Once the blood has dried, it will be much more troublesome to process. Moreover, this Flame Lizard's scales can be used to refine at least five to eight spiritual treasures, which can solve our immediate problem!"
"That works too. Anyway, there are still many things to finish, so it won't take up much time."
Not long after the two left, on a large fire spirit tree about three arm spans thick, ten miles away, a crimson leaf began to move without wind. Then, the color began to fade, and after a moment, the figure of a phantom flame lizard, even larger than the one Mo Yuming had hunted, appeared and began to slowly crawl down to the ground. At the same time, in another fire spirit cedar forest, a semi-transparent figure was crawling in the same direction.
Half an hour later, the pile of lizard remains, hidden by branches and weeds, was uncovered. Five lizards, each over two zhang long, revealed their true nature, fighting over the remains and entrails of their own kind. They even tore and fought each other for food. Within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, over a thousand jin of scraps of flesh and remains had been completely devoured by the five lizards.
But the fire lizards did not leave. They fought even more fiercely, but their scales were too hard. After fighting for half an hour, the fire lizard did not seem to be defeated, nor did it seem to be injured at all.
But a quarter of an hour later, all five fire lizards collapsed and lay motionless on the ground, exhausted.
"Why are they doing this? It's understandable for them to fight over food, but why are they still fighting even after all the food has been eaten?"
Two hours later, Mo Yuming and his companion, who had already left, returned to the forest. Mo Yuming looked at the five Flame Lizards lying motionless on the ground and asked curiously.
"The Flame Lizard is cold-blooded, unlike other magical beasts that don't eat their own kind. Sometimes, when food is scarce, they will even hunt and eat the young of their own kind. Although adult Flame Lizards rarely fight with their own kind, this is because they are usually solitary magical beasts, each maintaining a certain territory. As long as their own kind doesn't encroach on their territory, they won't attack each other unprovoked. However, this doesn't mean they won't fight. For example, if two lizards find food at the same time, they will definitely fight for it; this is the nature of magical beasts. Most magical beasts are similar, fighting each other for food. But magical beasts that eat their own kind are relatively rare."
The second point is territorial disputes. For example, five fire lizards continued fighting after finishing their food, battling to divide up new territory. After all, this mangrove forest is limited in size, and gaining more territory means more space to hunt for food.
"Grandpa Iron Bridge, how did you know that there would be Phantom Flame Lizards here? We don't think we've ever seen any magical beasts like Flame Lizards when we've been in and out of this mangrove forest before."
"The Phantom Flame Lizard is a rather special magical beast. It is cold-blooded and prefers to be alone. Although its magic power level is not high, due to its special hiding method, it is difficult for ordinary magical beasts to find it, so it has few natural enemies."
Previously, there were indeed very few magical beasts above level five in this mangrove forest, but since that beast tide, the rules here seem to have been broken, and magical beasts below level six have begun to appear. However, due to the special attribute restrictions of the mangrove forest, except for fire-attribute magical beasts, other attribute magical beasts are rarely willing to stay in this forest for long.
But the Phantom Flame Lizard is different. It is a fire-attribute magical beast, so it thrives in this forest. This environment is its favorite. Therefore, I think it is no coincidence that a Flame Lizard appeared in this mangrove forest. Perhaps other Flame Lizards have also discovered this mangrove forest and settled here. "Iron Bridge replied.
"I never expected that my guess would actually come true. It's usually so difficult to find even one Flame Lizard, but I caught five without lifting a finger!"
"We need to act quickly. These guys are level six magical beasts after all. The medicine might not be strong enough, and they might wake up prematurely, which would be troublesome!" Tieqiao said, drawing his bone-dissolving knife.
"Don't worry, I put a whole bottle of anesthetic in those organs. That's enough to keep hundreds of people asleep for three days and three nights! Even if these Flame Lizards have strong resistance, they'll still be lying there for at least several hours," Mo Yuming said proudly. The anesthetic was a formula Mo Yuming obtained from Mo Wen. Originally, Mo Wen concocted it to reduce the pain of the injured. Later, Mo Yuming modified it, enhancing its effects, turning it into a colorless and odorless anesthetic that could be used to inflict pain. Mo Yuming had tested it; just a small amount was enough to incapacitate a peak Earth-rank Xuan Gong master, rendering them unconscious for at least two or three hours. While the effect on magical beasts was slightly less, with sufficient quantity, most magical beasts were no match.
"Alright, be on guard. After all, the smell of blood has spread quite far here, and it might attract some high-level magical beasts. Dealing with these five magical beasts will take quite a while."
"That's easy. You just need to take care of them all at once, then I'll put them in my storage bag, and we can deal with them slowly once we get to Yishi Valley, right?"
"Haha, I forgot you're a nine-bag elder, you may not have much else, but you have a lot of bags!"