Chapter 312

Slaughtering the Demonic Tiger

Just when Liu Ming and Han Li were planning by transmitting secret voices, the Blood Tiger, who had been crouching in midair, suddenly moved its nose, raised its head and flashed a glance at the direction of the two with a cast of doubt in its still healthy eye.

The beast seemed to have sensed something at even such a distance.

"Now," whispered Liu Ming to Han Li, noting the Tiger's reaction. He waved his sleeve, and a dagger of light gold emerged in his hand.

He ran a finger over the blade, and the dagger immediately shone with glimmers that gave one chills.

Meanwhile, Han Li gave a small jerk of a short white ruler which he had taken out earlier, and in no time, chilly winds were blowing wildly. Out of nowhere, circles of luminous white rings appeared around his body before they immediately blurred and disappeared.

The next second, the blood-red beast in the distance seemed to have sensed danger. It let out a deep roar and with a move of its limbs, quickly sprang up to its feet.

Just at that moment, a whirl of cold air suddenly enclosed the beastly body. And out of thin air appeared several white glimmering rings, which, with an abrupt contraction, turned into thick crystal ice chains.

"Bang!"

The Blood Tiger, who had just gotten up, was caught off guard and fell hard back onto the muddy ground.

Enraged, the monstrous beast reared its head and roared with wrath. Scarlet sheets of flames burst madly from its body. All ice chains that had touched the flames melted defenselessly away.

Just then, astonishing power erupted from Liu Ming's body. With a quick blur, the small golden dagger in his hand lengthened into a sword of several chis. Immediately, Liu Ming empowered it with a sign of sword, turning the sword into a two-zhang (a unit of length, equals about 3.33 metres per zhang) golden arc shooting into the sky.

The Blood Tiger had only just noticed a golden flash in the distance when the arc effectively arrived at its head. Turning into a sword shadow, it went slashing at the monster in a golden glow.

Visibly at the center of the zhangs-long shadow was a golden dagger of mere inches.

The beast, constrained by the ice chains, was completely disabled to dodge the attack. With that being said, no way would it lay back and await the slaughter when its life was at stake.

It let out another deafening roar and suddenly millions of blood strings ejected from the beast's furry body. The scarlet flames around its skin swelled several times larger, from which a blood-red tiger shadow emerged and leapt towards the sword shadow.

Meanwhile, the Blood Tiger opened up the crown of its head and ejected an egg-size blood-red crystal core.

But the Golden Moon Sword, having the top ranking among all swords, could not possibly be thwarted by a mere shadow formed by a puff of demonic spirit and its essential blood.

Thus with a loud "Crack!", the blood-red tiger-shaped shadow expired at the attack of the golden sword shadow. The sword then struck hard on the soaring crimson crystal and,

Boom!

The crimson crystal exploded into a blood-red radiating sun. Instantly the golden sword shadow was pierced by innumerable beams of blood and disintegrated.

But right at that moment, there came the sound of a sword's call!

With a flash of light amidst the shattered sword shadows, a golden crystal arc came sweeping down, slashing the blood-red sun in two effortlessly, and while descending still deeper, coiled itself around the monster's neck.

Subtly and silently, a blood-red line appeared in the furs of the demonic beast.

And with but a few tremors, the huge skull of the Blood Tiger came rolling down onto the ground.

But that was not all. The crystal arc blurred again and threw out large casts of sword shadows, enclosing the Blood Tiger's headless body, and cut it into pieces.

The tiger head, rolling away for several chis on the mud, suddenly emitted a gush of green gas from its nose, driving the head upwards, as if intending to escape through the air.

Liu Ming, however, seemed to have well anticipated this. With a simple flick of arm, he made a gesture of grabbing at the distant air. Then,

Poof!

Amid a cloud of black haze, a huge hand of several zhangs' large emerged in the distance and, with the speed of a lightning, reached down and grabbed the Blood Tiger's head. Then it slowly descended.

At the surface of the wound, where the head and the body were joint, the flesh, the blood and the bones were eerily visible. But not a single drop of blood was spotted. With the wild biting, flames of blood were constantly spewing from the tiger's mouth and nose.

Just then, Liu Ming stamped the ground with one foot and his figure rocketed like an arrow. His figure flickered, and the next second, he was right in front of the beast head seized by the giant hand. Without hesitation, he flexed his arms and launched a string of punches onto the head.

The Blood Tiger's head could not withstand Liu Ming's enormous force. After just a few punches, it lost consciousness.

Only then did Liu Ming hold his fists. He flicked his sleeves, and a few ready-made talismans sprinted out and stuck onto the beast's skull, buzzing and revealing multicolored spells.

The head quickly shrank under the charm of talismans and eventually became as small as a fist, still unconscious.

"My brother Liu, you do have your ways! You have really killed this middle stage Blood Tiger at first strike! This sword must be a spirit weapon of top quality!" Han Li revealed his figure and walked towards Liu Ming. He thus asked, with shock and hesitation on his face after scrutinizing the short golden dagger suspended in the midair before Liu Ming.

"Brother Han, you do have an eye for weapons! I am also somewhat taken aback to have succeeded with such facility. Now it seems that this Blood Tiger has indeed been severely injured battling with the Big Wind Bird, otherwise it would not have been so easy for me to take it," Liu Ming smiled and said, recollecting the golden dagger into his sleeve with a simply wave.

Then, with a turn of his hand, he took out a chilly jade box smoking cold air and put the tiger's head in it. Cautiously, he secured the box with a few more talismans and put it away.

The young man shook his head and said, "Haven't brother Liu heard? The more serious the beast is injured, the more dangerous it becomes. Demonic beasts are the same! However serious it was injured, it was, after all, a demonic beast of Liquid Middle Stage. But for your remarkable competence and this extraordinary sword, one would never have completed such an undertaking as this." Then with a change of face, he asked in a serious tone: "By the way, was that the legendary Sword Technique you had employed?"

"That's right. It was indeed the Sword Technique. But I am only a beginner in this," said Liu Ming, evading his eyes.

"In that case, brother Liu is also a Sword Cultivator!" Now even the arrogant Han Li could not help but gasp.

"I am far from qualified as a Sword Cultivator. I have practiced some Sword Cultivator's techniques, that's all." Liu Ming shook his head.

"If he who knows how to use Swords Techniques does not count as a Sword Cultivator, then I'm afraid there is no real Sword Cultivator in this world. So, it turns out that brother Liu is practicing swords technique, sign forming AND body cultivation and have been very accomplished in all three. With such admirable talent, I'm surprised that you are not listed among the Six! Or are there disciples even more extraordinary in your distinguished Sect?" Han Li could not help but ask with disbelief.

"Actually my alchemic talent is rather inferior in the Barbarian Demonic Sect. It is only too natural that I was not recommended for the Six. But Han, my fellow alchemist, even with such remarkable abilities, you have not participated in the selection, either," answered Liu Ming calmly.

"Inferior huh? No one will believe it seeing what you can do. Brother Liu, you are the second most talented alchemist under the age of thirty I have ever seen. And as for the selection for the Six, I have other reasons not to have participated. But in terms of talent, I am second to no one except for him," answered the young man, frowning.

"Ah, should that be the fellow alchemist who has the Earth Spiritual Pulse? It is him whom my brother you would acknowledge to be better, isn't it?" Liu Ming asked, with a squint of eyes.

"Darn, who else can it be but this fucking Mr. Ye!" Han Li exclaimed. Then he said with mixed feelings: "Though we belong to the same Sect, I've never got along with him. I do, however, admit the superior strength of his Earth Spiritual Pulse. Just seven or eight more years of cultivation, and he has already become an advanced alchemist! Nevertheless, since brother Liu you have such amazing abilities in wielding the sword, the sign and the body, you must not be too far from him in talent, if not yet his equivalent. Well, that's actually good news to me. Now I feel we have better chances in completing the mission."

Only then did this genius young man of Yuan Mo Sect admit, though reluctantly, that Liu Ming was the more competent.

At this, Liu Ming's smile waned. He gazed at the young man for a while, suddenly sighed and said: "Even now, my fellow alchemist Han, would you not tell me the truth?"

Hearing these words, Han Li's expression slightly altered. His eyes became somewhat evasive. "The truth? Brother Liu, what do you mean?"

For a while, Liu Ming did not say a word. Then he said pensively: "If it is only an ordinary advanced stage beast, you and I, in collaboration, have certain chances of winning, if not 100%. Yet brother Han still looked worried. So I figured that this advanced stage demonic python must be much more capable than ordinary ones, or that it is somehow special, isn't it?"

Hearing Liu Ming's unequivocal demand, Han Li's heart sank. His face was somewhat sullen and he kept his silence.

"My guess is that brother Han is afraid that on hearing this I would change my mind and refuse to go to the sixth floor. Please have faith in me, brother Han. Since I am here, I would go to the sixth floor for sure. Plus, I have got my promised reward already! I am putting this on the table simply because I want to know what the demonic python is really capable of, so that I can prepare and have higher chances of succeeding. I can swear an oath to go if you do not believe me!" Liu Ming said emphatically, staring at the young man.

Han Li's face changed and changed again. In time, he sighed and, regaining his composure, finally said: "No need for oaths. In any case, brother Liu, you have once saved my life. There is no reason whatsoever to keep you in the dark. I was planning to reveal the matter when we arrived at the sixth floor. But it doesn't hurt anything if I tell you a little earlier. Indeed, that demonic python on the sixth floor is not a Liquid Advanced Stage beast in its ordinary sense. It is a Fiendish Python, much more powerful than an ordinary Liquid Advanced beast!"