Within the sand and earthen power clusters that blocked out most of the sky, both Myria and Leon could be noticed with their bodies erupting with their peak First Level True Foundation Realm energies.
Feng Yu, Dai Lin, Miren Fei, and the others watched this scene from afar with calm looks on their faces, but as for Squad Leader Tao and his men, they shivered due to the devastating scenes around them.
'It's using the fabled Earth Sand Breath, were finished if they can't prevent it!'
Squad Leader Tao thought as sweat rolled down his cheeks, he knew that so long as this party of strangers fell, their group would be finished. The merchants inside of his carriage trembled as they too knew this fact, which is why they stared at the scene with hopeful eyes.
As if it finally gathered up enough power, the eyes of the Black Scaled Desert Lard King flashed ruthlessly as its mouth opened wider before it blew out a savage breath of earthen power.
With the sound of its piercing roar, a giant blast of earthen power with clusters of sand that spiral around it beamed through the void towards both Myria and Leon; it occupied a space of a few dozen meters, blocking out all routes for escape.
Feng Yu narrowed his eyes as this; he knew that he would have to put in a good deal of effort to eradicate this attack. Dai Lin also made a stern look as he felt that he would end up in the losing position if he tried to block it unless he revealed all his cards.
Lang Kuang and the others watched in silence with their thoughts unknown but based on their appearance, they didn't seem to have a trace of panic towards the incoming disaster.
As if to prove them right, Myria's tiny body that shone with bright blue lights started to change as she pointed her wand towards the Black Scaled Desert Lard King's Earth Sand Breath, her eyes glowing in a cyan-blue light as much like the tip of her wand that glittered with magical power.
Suddenly, she opened her mouth and chanted as rather than her voice, an ancient voice resounded from the depths of the world.
"I am the mother of spring, keeper of the tides, call on my endless fury, and wash clean the earth's impurity - Aqua Tide!"
Following the resonant sound, a gush of water came from nothingness, forming a cyclone around Myria's form. This stream of endless waves swept towards the incoming Earth Sand Breath before colliding with it in mere moments.
Bang! The two attacks crashed into each other with full power, but unlike its overwhelming appearance, the Earth Sand Breath seemed to have met its nemesis as it began to whittle away due to the endless stream of waves the spiraled from the cyclone to counter its force.
With this collision, ripples of power scattered across the sky as bits of stray energy had evens started to fall towards the ground.
"Damn! Everyone, take evasive actions!" Squad Leader Tao shouted as he saw the many different blots of lights that fell downward.
He didn't even hesitate as he placed his right palm over his left hand's golden wristbands and spun them by sweeping his hand. In moments a series of thin threads unfurled from the wristbands as the cloth on his body started to flutter due to his Third Tier True Foundation realm energies.
"Slaughtering Thread Array!" Squad Leader Tao yelled as his sharped eyes glowed in a bright light, his arms now coated with his auras, which oddly enough, started to affect the many unfurling threads, forcing them to spread out across the area as if they had a mind of their own as they moved like rays of light.
Suddenly, a few of the raining stray from Myria's and the Black Scaled Desert Lard King's attack had fallen in their range; they crashed into each other, creating a few explosive booms before vanishing, leaving behind the threads that continuously swept about the area.
Not only himself, but his team also acted, some using strange techniques whereby tossing flying golden disk into the sky that glowed with energies that shattered anything in their paths.
The auras of these dark, brown-skinned men and women were not weak as they were ranked high in the Aura Disciple realm with a few amongst them being at its peak.
On the side of Feng Yu's party, everyone had easily resisted the dangers. Feng Yu's body sent out a sharp sword power that cut apart anything that came in his sight, destroying bundles of the stray energies.
However, as for Lang Kuang and the others, they occasionally struck out an attack that cleaned up most of the dangers from the sky.
As if he noticed something, Feng Yu looked at Squad Leader Tao with keen interest. His eyes narrowing as he recollected something when he thought to himself, 'Hmm, that technique, it's different, yet the name sounds a bit familiar... very much like that woman from the darn Wuya Shashou's group. It looks like I'll need to speak with them after this battle's conclusion... but for now, they need a bit of help.'
Feng Yu saw that the scattering energies were only increasing and that Squad Leader Tao's group wouldn't be able to completely resist them; he glanced at his right and spoke, "Dai Lin, help them out."
Dai Lin, who had been easily mitigating the attacks with his arms behind his back while using his thunderous energies, looked at Feng Yu and replied, "As the young master wishes."
Following those words, his eyes flickered with countless bolts of blue lightning as he pointed his finger towards one part of the sky and spoke, "Shockwave Thunder Field."
The moment he invoked his technique, a bright blue field of lightning bolts scattered from his body towards all directions; it quickly shrouded all of the surroundings as the myriad of lightning crashed into all nearby stray energies.
"This, what the heck?" Squad Leader Tao exclaimed in alarm as he saw the current change.
His companions also looked at the shock on their faces as they stared at the catastrophic lightning bolts that danced around them. Yet, before they could even get a good look, the blue lightning field had vanished as all had returned to normal.
'Such a monstrous ability, this guy isn't even at the True Foundation realm, yet he can produce such a dominant offensive skill. For him to have such mastery of that rumored difficult Lightning Martial Path, it's likely that he's a genius from a top faction,' Squad Leader Tao thought as he finally reigned in on his mood, staring at Dai Lin and Feng Yu's party with a complex look.
At this point, he noticed that Feng Yu was staring at him with a smile. Squad Leader Tao made an awkward look as he didn't know how to deal with them, he was about to greet him, but suddenly, he heard his companion shout out in alarm.
"Leader, look at the sky, just what the hell?"
Squad Leader Tao was a bit puzzled, but as he looked at the scene above, his mouth couldn't help but widen in alarm.
Now, the Black Scaled Desert Lard King had an even angrier look on its face as it saw that its Earth Sand Breath was mitigated by Myria's ancient aquatic spell. Its body glowed in even more energies as it closes its mouth, finishing its attack.
In this instance, its mouth released a steam series as it prepared itself to try another assault method. However, before it could do so, its body trembled as it sensed a dangerous power from above.
A confused look came over the eyes of the Black Scaled Desert Lard King, but as it saw that one of its targets had vanished from before it, leaving behind only the floating Myria that looked at it with a sly and adorable smile, its mood turned to one of panic. It tried to escape the area with a loud roar, but sadly, it was already too late.
"Bright Hamer Smash!"
Leon's voice sounded from beyond the clouds as his figure fell towards the Black Scaled Desert Lard King. He held the Bright Hammer's giant form handle in his hands with enlarged muscles as he struck it towards the creature with full force.
The hammer then made a loud screech as its giant head swept down through the wind with immense power, carrying an utterly destructive might.
Not long after, the hammer smashed into the head of the Black Scaled Desert Lard King before creating a horrendous sound. With a loud pop, its hardened body exploded into bits of flesh that scattered about the area, creating a rain of bloo
d.
The remainder of the corpse fell from the sky like a rocket as it crashed into the dunes, forcing up a large gush of sand into the atmosphere that soon after covered a section of the entire area.
"Quite strong." Dai Lin uttered as he watched the demonstration of utter might.
"Heh, I wouldn't have minded trying this myself; such a scene is always to my flavor." Lang Kuang said as he licked his lips.
"Savior Lang truly has the right tastes," Toram said with a grin, his sharp teeth giving him a savage look.
Tira looked at the two with flashing eyes as Tiana had a tinge of excitement; as beastkind, they were naturally attracted to bloody combat, say not of Lang Kuang's true ancient lineage.
Tuzi Baoli didn't seem to mind this; even if she was from the more docile rabbit kind, she didn't shy away from such violence.
Feng Yu looked at this scene with a smile on his face as he thought to himself, ‘So he’s truly found his way; he almost resembles his father.'
As he watched, he couldn't help but see the image of Zyne superimposed with Leon based on the way he used the Bright Hammer.
Following this, the hammer in Leon's hand returned to normal size as he fell from the sky, landing on top of his Desert Prowler, which swooped over to pick him up as they glided and stopped before Feng Yu and the others.
He gave the hammer a good swing, splashing off the excess blood with a smirk on his face as he spoke, "Heh, it looks like it's not such a bad thing to act like a brute for once; I can see why that ‘Old Bastard’ liked to fight in such a manner."
Feng Yu gave Leon a look as he spoke in a mocking tone, "Oh really, haha, you better be careful, you never know if he's listening somewhere."
Leon made a pensive look before he snorted and twirled the hammer, putting it over his shoulder as he stared behind him at the dusty chaos and replied, "Hmph! He can stare all he wants; I don't care."
Feng Yu made a light chuckle and said nothing as he knew that Leon was only putting up a front; he glanced above and saw Myria turned into a flash of light before flying downwards. She glared at Leon for a moment but said nothing as she flew towards Miren Fei's bosom.
Miren Fei sighed as she thought to herself, 'Here we go again...'
Feng Yu could hear the sound of her complaining, but he paid no mind to it; right now, he had another objective in mind; he turned towards the direction of Squad Leader Tao and the others.
The other party looking at them in bewildering as they had yet to recover from the seemingly easy victory, the harsh winds of the desert blew across the surroundings sending dust about the area as if bringing closure to the savage battle.
Chapter 294
Tao Shen, Traveling Together
Squad Leader Tao was still a bit dazed due to the disastrous battle that had only just transpired; he only came back to his senses when he saw Feng Yu's party arrive directly before his group.
His allies gulped as they held only their weapons; they didn't dare to let their guard down even if it seemed like they were saved by strangers; no one knew better than them the real dangers of the south. Naturally, this has its reason for if asking any random southerner, the same question; they would each give a similar reply - the greatest danger is none other than other humans.
Feng Yu looked at this with a smile; no one in his group took offense; they knew that these men were perfectly able to be cautious and showed their depth of experience.
Though he was previously dazed, Squad Leader Tao had promptly recovered back to his norm; he used the moment Feng Yu arrived and the tense atmosphere to judge his reaction towards his men.
Noticing that Feng Yu didn't show any strange looks or malicious intent, he sighed with a hint of relief. Keeping a layer of caution as he smiled and greeted with a customary greeting for practitioners in this world, placing both of his palms together and made a light bow before speaking.
"I, Tao Shen, would like to offer my greatest gratitude to you saviors; if it weren't for you today, I doubt we'd be able to make out of that scene alive."
Feng Yu looked at Tao Shen and greeted with a slight bow as he spoke, "Greetings, fellow Practitioner Tao. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but while I would like to gratefully accept your thanks, I'll have to ask you to take it back, for you see, you wouldn't have gotten into this mess if it wasn't our group. Those Desert Lards were chasing us from the chasm."
When Tao Shen heard those words, his eyes flashed as he finally made a look of understanding; he stared at Feng Yu with a complicated look before speaking again.
"Haha, I see, I see, then fellow practitioner, I will hold your word for it. I can see that you and your company are traveling towards our direction; what say we travel together?"
Feng Yu smiled and replied, "Fine with me, we are indeed headed to the Oasis, but that's only a temporary stop."
Tao Shen made a pensive look, but he no longer pressed the matter; he smiled and spoke, "Great, then let us be off; the Oasis is right upon us."
Feng Yu nodded as he stared at Dai and the others, giving them a look; everyone then properly organized their Desert Prowlers around the traveling group, merging with their company.
Tao Shen looked at this in with satisfaction as he raised his arm and slapped his own Desert Prowler, "Onward!"
Following his shout, everyone slapped their mounts, causing the hawk-like head of everyone's Desert Prowlers to raise it released a piercing cry.
Instantly, the group stormed off into the distance, along with the carriage that brought the merchants, pulled by two Desert Prowlers. Their mounts leaving behind a long trail of dust clouds, fading from this sector into the distance scene.
∞ ∞ ∞
While traveling, everyone finally managed to catch their breath; the previous battle had been a bit exhausting, not to mention with the south's unusual heat.
If there was anyone amongst the group that didn't even work up a sweat due to the humidity, then it was Feng Yu who relished the fresh hot air as if he was somewhere in the tropics.
"Ah, such fine air, it truly is a blessing to be in the south."
Feng Yu uttered in a low voice as he closed his eyes in satisfaction.
However, Lang Kuang and the others merely looked at him with strange looks, some rolling their eyes as they snorted.
'Truly a monster.'
Lang Kuang thought to himself, lowering his head to not dare and share his thoughts the slightest.
Tuzi Baoli giggled as she saw his pondered to herself, "Hehe, so he's afraid of the young master. Looks like I've found nice material to tease him with later."
Dai Lin gave Feng Yu a look that seemed as if it were normal before he looked away into the distance. Much like Feng Yu himself, he was unphased, but in his case, it had to do with something else entirely different from his state of being.
Dai Lin had a strange look in his eyes as he continued peer far away; he couldn't help but get a strange feeling ever since he ventured into the south, a feeling that reminded him of his youngest years from the distant past.
'How could I feel that presence here? I'm far away from that place... no, that world shouldn't exist anymore.'
Dai Lin thought as he shook his head, he knew that right now, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn’t be able quite to understand it.
Tiana had a bored look on her face as she held her cute puffed out cheeks with both her arms, sitting between Tira's legs on her mouth.
Tira snickered at this as she elbowed Toram and hinted towards her with her mouth; Toram looked over curiously and almost laughed, seeing her extremely sullen look.
He decided to poke fun at her by speaking, "Eh? My little Tiana, what's wrong? Why do you have such a ‘coiled’ mouth?"
Tiana frowned as she looked at her father and spoke in a tone of complaint, "Father, I wanted to fight too, everyone got all the action, but all I could do was watch from behind."
Toram hearing her words, released a light laugh before he hardly patted her head,
messing up her hair as he replied, "Gah-gah! So what? It's only a minor battle; besides, what would it do for you to help in such a scuffle? Did you want to fill the teeth of that monster? I'm sure it wouldn't be satisfied with you as a snack."
Tiana angrily slapped away Toram's hand as she glared at him and spoke, "I don't care! I still wanted to fight; it's unfair that I had to wait and do nothing in the end!"
"Hmm..." Toram uttered as he took a stricter look, his hair rising slightly as once could tell that he was about to grow angry because of Tiana's words.
Tira glared at him and hinted with her eyes, causing Toram to sigh and calmed down, he thought for a moment, and his eyes flashed as if he got an idea.
"Tiana, since you want to fight that much, then how about this, your Seamless Void Physique is starting to fully awaken; if you can completely awaken before the time of the Ruin Openings, then mother and father will let you fight in our battles, is that a deal?"
Tiana's large innocent eyes lit up as she heard those words, but she made a suspicious look as if she didn't dare to believe her father; she asked, "Really?"
Toram looked at her with a gentle look as he replied, "That's right."
In the end, even if smart and capable, a child is still a child, Tiana smiled and replied, "Yay."
Ignoring the family's acts, Miren Fei was busy in a predicament of her own, a ruthless subtle stare down between the adorable Myria that rested in her bosom and Leon, who rode his mount nearby.
It seemed that this time conflict was based on the fact that Leon had not praised her efforts. Especially after all her timely aid in the battle against the Desert Lard Kings.
"Hmph!" The two snorted, having just completed a fierce verbal spar with their minds.
However, despite this scene, Miren Fei's eyes seemed to be locked onto Feng Yu's form, wholly glazed over, as she licked her lips. It appeared that she imagined herself like the blazing winds that swept across Feng Yu's body, having a tinge of jealousy at this moment for the very forces of nature.
Dual Sword God: Book 7: The Crimson Devil of the Redlands Page 7