186 Chapter 186 (1/2)
It was a peculiar sight to behold. The energies that the younger cultivator was exuding, energized the soil, and made the grass and plants grow. On the other hand, the energy that the old man was giving out caused everything in the vicinity to die and rot away.
Somewhat further away there was another large battle taking place. There were four beasts attacking a larger one, the bigger one was a golden dragon that was shooting out lightning bolts from its maw. The four soul-beasts belonged to the four grand elders while the golden dragon was the one Zhang Dong was controlling.
The dragon beast was somehow holding its ground, but it was mostly on the defensive. The other beasts didn't give it much of an opportunity to counter-attack. The opponents varied by size and stature, one looked like a giant crane with a crimson red beak. Another one that was the closest to the golden dragon's size looked like a snapping turtle with an outer shell coated with huge green spikes. The third one was a giant cobra that spit copious amounts of venom, the last one was a giant ox with a fiery mane.
All of those colorful creatures were charging at Zhang Dong's soul beast. The dragon repelled the Ox with its tail only to be attacked by the giant spikes of the turtle that fired them off. One of the spikes connected with the beasts scaly hide and shattered into many tiny pieces unable to pierce it. Before the Dragon could counter-attack with its long-range breathing attacks the cobra spit venom and the crane kicked up blade-like winds. The golden beast could do nothing more than protect itself by curling up with its wings together and focusing its Qi on a protective barrier that deflected the attacks.
”That Soul beast is strong, how can it contend with the four of ours!”
Elder Wan shouted out while the other three elders tried pushing the golden monster back. In response, it roared and produced a storm cloud that started shooting out lightning bolts indiscriminately. The surrounding area was filled by golden thunderbolts that gave Zhang Dong's Soul beast some space but didn't deliver that much damage to its enemies that quickly retreated.
'My Dragon is having problems... I need to beat Skeletor here and go help him out.'
Matt thought while continuing his battle with Yang Guanyu. This old man looked like a walking corpse but was quite strong, he couldn't just blitz him like the other elders with his superior speed and power.
”You have a lot of gall to try and fight me without your soul beast.”
The old man showed an eerie smirk. He pointed out forward with his thin index finger, the reaper behind him swung forward and his scythe looked like it cut open the sky itself. Matt felt a shiver run down his spine the moment he saw that attack, he immediately propelled himself downward. The moment he performed his evasive maneuver, a large scythe appeared behind him aiming for his neck. He was quick enough to evade it but he lost an inch of his hair while at it.
'This guy is strong...'
Matt gulped, sweat running down his forehead as he almost got decapitated. He needed to step it up a notch if he was going to land a decisive blow but he was hesitating to go all out. One reason being the other four cultivators fighting his dragon, if he went all there was a big chance that he would lose against the elder quartet due to the draining nature of his techniques.
'Should I go for it... or should I buy more time for the others...'
He stared focused his spiritual sense behind him, the large armada of ships was heading for his city and the cannons weren't as effective as before. The flying ships had some sort of protective formation, the barrage of Qi bullets couldn't penetrate it effectively enough and they were advancing further and further. If this continued they would get into range and start returning fire.
Before he could make a decision he felt another of those dimensional scythe attacks coming his way. It wasn't one though as the grim reaper looking soul beast started swinging his scythe around at all sorts of angles. Matt finds himself dodging pointy black ghost blades left and right, his armor and clothes even ripping in various spots as he backed away.
”Getting distracted? You really have a death wish!”
Yang Guanyu shouted out while he started waving both of his hands around. The soul beast behind him increased in size slightly while the attacks continued, more ferocious and deadly than before.
”Don't get too cocky, you old fart!”
Zhang Dong's body started exuding a massive amount of Qi, he gave out a loud shout before charging forward. While flying forward he was continuously evading those dimensional blades. His body started transforming, golden lightning wrapped around his whole form and his muscles bulged out.
The scythe blades came from all directions, tiny rifts appeared around Zhang Dong's location. They shot out, going towards his body as they tried to impale him from multiple directions. The only thing they hit was his afterimage that exploded into thousands of tiny electrical sparks that caused some damage to the reaper soul beast.
Zhang Dong appeared right next to Guanyu while in his improved Embodiment of the Thunder God form. He was holding his right hand back and then threw it forward in a palm strike. Everything happened in a fraction of a second, the Dark Palm leader mustered up all of his power to block this attack.
An illusory figure appeared behind Zhang Dong as he was throwing his palm forward. It looked like a giant golden statue, similar to a buddha in appearance. This statue was sitting down in a lotus position and had multiple sets of arms. One of these arms was mirroring the attacking pattern of the Zhang Patriarch as he was pushing his palm forward.
Matt was lacking high-level techniques after ranking up into the nascent soul level. Luck was on his side though, he was able to get a nascent soul technique when he leveled up his body refining into the true golden body. This was an attacking technique that summoned a giant golden statue behind him. This statue looked like a cross between an Ashura and a Buddhist monk.