Chapter 144: The Great Battle
Just as the Blood Ghost Old Demon was raging, Yi Tian’s second arrow came tearing through the air once more. In an instant, it pierced his skin again and embedded itself in his chest.
Thud, thud, thud…
Struck by Yi Tian’s arrow once more, the Blood Ghost Old Demon staggered back more than a dozen steps, the wound so deep that bone could be seen.
“Ah…”
The Blood Ghost Old Demon’s eyes immediately reddened.
He was a grand elder and towering figure of the Demon Palace, yet he had been wounded and humiliated in this insignificant place. It was something he could not tolerate.
In an instant, his gaze fell upon Yi Tian.
That unknown and terrifying young beast no longer had the strength to continue fighting. At last, his attention turned to Yi Tian, this human-level ant who had injured him time and again.
“Die!”
The Blood Ghost Old Demon abruptly pointed at Yi Tian.
Boom!
A finger hundreds of yards long tore through the void and appeared above Yi Tian in the blink of an eye, striking down like lightning.
Dodge!
That was Yi Tian’s only thought.
He had nearly been gravely wounded by one of the Blood Ghost Old Demon’s ordinary attacks. How much less could he withstand this technique of his—the Demon King Finger?
Yi Tian did not believe that his strength was enough to resist this mighty strike from a terrestrial-level powerhouse.
That heaven-shaking finger pierced through the place where Yi Tian had stood, utterly obliterating hill after hill in the distant landscape and carving out a ravine riddled with cracks that stretched for more than a dozen miles.
Hundreds of yards away, Yi Tian stared in shock at the attack’s power, unable to suppress a chill.
If he had been struck, he feared not even a fragment of his remains would have been left.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon was somewhat surprised to see Yi Tian evade his attack.
He could tell that Yi Tian had cultivated a movement technique of considerable subtlety—one that could even draw upon a trace of spatial power.
“No matter what, all of you will die today!”
The Blood Ghost Old Demon flew toward him at once, moving like lightning. The speed of a terrestrial-level powerhouse was far beyond anything a human-level expert could hope to match.
Yi Tian repeatedly employed the Divine Shift Secret Art, evading the Blood Ghost Old Demon’s attacks again and again.
Even so, Yi Tian felt immense pressure. A single mistake would be enough for his opponent to kill him.
As for Xiao Hei, it was extremely weak and no longer capable of fighting. It could not battle alongside Yi Tian.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon had also noticed Xiao Hei’s weakness. Yet he still harbored a trace of fear toward the terrifying young beast and did not dare attack it recklessly. He intended to kill Yi Tian first.
Having lived for several centuries, the Blood Ghost Old Demon possessed extraordinarily rich combat experience. No matter how many times Yi Tian used the Divine Shift Secret Art, he could not escape his pursuit.
Each time he unleashed the secret art with all his strength, Yi Tian had only one thought:
Faster. Faster!
Amid repeated brushes with death, Yi Tian could clearly sense the instant his thoughts turned.
As his mind raced frantically, the time needed to activate the Divine Shift Secret Art gradually shortened. It seemed that with the slightest stir of his will, he could instinctively cast it—the moment he thought of moving, he arrived.
This sensation grew increasingly distinct at the boundary between life and death.
At last, when the Blood Ghost Old Demon attacked once again, Yi Tian’s mind stirred, and his body appeared a hundred yards away in an instant.
The Transformation Realm!
Yi Tian had finally cultivated the Divine Shift Secret Art to the Transformation Realm, achieving true divine movement.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon’s expression immediately darkened.
He naturally sensed the change in Yi Tian. Under his relentless pursuit, the boy had actually broken through and gained new insight into his battle technique.
With this development, it became exceedingly difficult for the Blood Ghost Old Demon to approach and kill Yi Tian.
Slash!
The Blood Ghost Old Demon once again reached Yi Tian in an instant. Just as Yi Tian was about to use the Divine Shift Secret Art to move away, the old demon suddenly opened his mouth and unleashed the Heavenly Demon Roar.
Roar…
An invisible, boundless roar shattered the void in an instant, forming layer upon layer of unseen ripples. Wherever it passed, countless rocks, trees, and plants were immediately reduced to dust and scattered upon the wind.
Yi Tian, who had appeared several hundred yards away, suddenly paled.
This time, he had employed the Divine Shift Secret Art with all his strength, moving seven or eight thousand yards in one breath.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yet the Blood Ghost Old Demon’s Heavenly Demon Roar was simply too terrifying. Even though Yi Tian had appeared two or three miles away, the dreadful roar still sent his blood and vital energy surging violently. His ears rang without cease, and for a moment his consciousness could not gather, leaving him dazed and bewildered.
At this critical juncture, Yi Tian heard an anxious cry resound in his mind.
The next moment, he returned to his senses.
He did not even have time to look at what was happening outside before his thoughts stirred and he once again cast the Divine Shift Art.
When Yi Tian appeared a thousand yards away, he saw the Blood Ghost Old Demon standing where he had been.
The old demon looked both puzzled and furious.
He could not understand how Yi Tian had resisted his Heavenly Demon Roar. The distance had indeed been considerable, but Yi Tian was only a human-level cultivator. Escaping death beneath the roar should have been the best he could manage. The old demon had expected Yi Tian either to be stunned unconscious or to suffer such injuries that he would be unable to resist.
Yet Yi Tian had withstood the Blood Ghost Old Demon’s Heavenly Demon Roar.
How terrifying!
This was Yi Tian’s first battle against an existence of such stature. He had narrowly escaped death again and again and possessed no strength to fight back at all.
As the Blood Ghost Old Demon came at him once more, Yi Tian resolutely brought out his trump card.
In the next instant, Yi Tian’s consciousness descended into his astral-clay avatar.
The star of the three-headed demon hound suddenly blazed with dazzling radiance, and the three-headed demon hound appeared in midair.
Black energy coiled around it, while terrifying pressure bore down in every direction.
“Woof!”
Xiao Hei, which had already recovered its original appearance, could not help revealing a trace of affection and yearning.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon, however, was shaken more profoundly than ever before.
What was this three-headed demon hound that had suddenly appeared?
At a glance, he could tell that this three-headed demon hound was of the same species as the unknown young beast that had fought him earlier. Clearly, the one before him had evolved far further.
Roar!
With Yi Tian now in control of the three-headed demon hound, one of its claws instantly tore toward the Blood Ghost Old Demon.
“Demon King Finger!”
The Blood Ghost Old Demon drove his finger into the enormous claw.
The three-headed demon hound shattered the finger, but a gash also split open across its claw, leaving the flesh drenched in blood.
“Haha, is that all?”
Seeing this, the Blood Ghost Old Demon could not help laughing aloud.
The three-headed demon hound before him had given him quite a fright, but he now discovered that it was still somewhat weaker than the young beast from earlier. It was not nearly as terrifying as he had imagined.
“Die!”
The Blood Ghost Old Demon immediately unleashed his full power.
Yi Tian, transformed into the body of the three-headed demon hound, engaged the Blood Ghost Old Demon in a fierce battle.
The three-headed demon hound he had transformed into was a step weaker even than Xiao Hei’s true body. In his clash with the Blood Ghost Old Demon, deep wounds appeared across him one after another.
After the astral-clay avatar advanced to the black grade, it allowed Yi Tian to maintain the form of the three-headed demon hound for a prolonged period. He no longer had to fear being unable to sustain the transformation because of excessive energy consumption.
As the three-headed demon hound, Yi Tian gradually mastered its methods of combat. The Blood Ghost Old Demon suddenly felt that the beast had become more cunning and more ferocious, and the pressure upon him increased sharply.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon was unwilling to bring out his Blood River Myriad Ghost Diagram, lest the three-headed demon hound damage it again.
Thus, when facing Yi Tian in the form of the three-headed demon hound, he was unable to defeat him for the moment.
Yi Tian knew very clearly that every instant he remained transformed into the three-headed demon hound consumed vast quantities of energy. A meaningless prolonged battle was extremely disadvantageous to him. Only a swift victory was the wisest choice.
Roar!
The Devouring Head of the three-headed demon hound suddenly opened its jaws. Its innate devouring ability erupted, and a terrifying suction seized the Blood Ghost Old Demon, who had been battling it. The dreadful force of devouring dragged him involuntarily toward the unfathomably vast maw of the Devouring Head.
At that critical moment, an overwhelming aura erupted from the Blood Ghost Old Demon, and he instantly steadied his body.
The devouring force of the three-headed demon hound could no longer pull him closer.
But at that very moment, the Death Head of the three-headed demon hound suddenly opened its jaws wide.
A hazy gray beam of death abruptly shot forth, striking at the Blood Ghost Old Demon, who had stabilized himself within the terrifying suction.
The Blood Ghost Old Demon’s expression changed drastically.
He could not dodge. The dreadful devouring force made movement nearly impossible. The moment he lost his balance, he would be swallowed.
Thus, the Blood Ghost Old Demon could only resist the attack head-on.
“Blood-Pupil Demon Light!”
At the brink of life and death, two terrifying beams of blood light burst from the Blood Ghost Old Demon’s eyes and shot toward the approaching light of death.