Chapter 260: Four-Armed Ferocious Ape
Just as he rushed out of the formation, a group of massive barbarian beasts charged at Zhang Ruochen, completely engulfing him.
"Blood Qi Condenses into Beasts!"
The blood qi within his body surged out through his pores, transforming into countless strands of blood-red mist that coalesced behind him into the massive phantom images of a divine elephant and a divine dragon.
"Roar!"
The sounds of elephant trumpeting and dragon roaring erupted, unleashing a violent and ferocious power fluctuation that formed ring after ring of sound waves.
The phantom images of the divine elephant and divine dragon simultaneously crashed into the horde of barbarian beasts.
Dozens of barbarian beasts were sent flying backward simultaneously, flesh and blood flying everywhere, scattering in disarray.
Among them, eleven barbarian beasts were shaken to death, while the others were severely injured, either with broken legs or damaged bones.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen took out a space bracelet and, at the fastest speed, stored the eleven dead barbarian beasts inside it.
The internal space of the storage bracelet was instantly filled.
"The internal space is still too small. If I have time, I need to refine a storage bracelet with a larger space."
Zhang Ruochen put away the already full storage bracelet, then took out another storage bracelet and wore it on his wrist as a backup.
After doing all this, Zhang Ruochen charged toward that Four-Armed Ferocious Ape.
Among the five fourth-rank barbarian beasts, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape and the Iron-Armored Black Bear possessed the greatest strength and posed the biggest threat to the defensive formation.
As long as he could kill them, the defensive formation could hold out longer.
"Rumble!"
Under Han Qiu's urging, the first attack formation, the "Eight Dragons Wind and Fire Formation," was activated. The light of fifty-four formation flags interconnected, forming a great wind and fire formation.
From within the wind and fire formation, four flame dragons over a hundred meters long and four storm dragons surged forth.
"Attack!"
The first flame dragon rose from within the city, its body coiling as it soared into the sky, attacking the barbarian birds flying in the air.
With just one strike, dozens of massive barbarian birds fell from the sky.
"Attack!"
The first storm dragon rose from within the city, charging directly at that fourth-rank barbarian bird, the Devouring Cloud Sparrow, colliding with it.
The storm dragon's body split apart, transforming into hundreds of wind blades that completely enveloped the Devouring Cloud Sparrow.
The Devouring Cloud Sparrow was slashed with over a dozen bloody wounds by the wind blades, shedding large amounts of blood rain and feathers. It immediately fled from above Yueji City, diving into the clouds, not daring to approach Yueji City easily.
Even a fourth-rank barbarian bird dared not challenge the power of the formation lightly.
At the same time, Zhang Ruochen had already killed his way to the front of the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape. Along the way, Zhang Ruochen killed over a dozen more barbarian beasts, filling another space bracelet.
The Four-Armed Ferocious Ape noticed the tiny human behind it. Its eyes, as large as washbasins, glared, and it let out a furious roar, revealing rows of enormous teeth.
"Roar!"
A single roar generated a stinking hurricane, stirring up sand and stones on the ground.
The massive stone disc in the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's hand, like a small stone mountain, slammed down toward Zhang Ruochen's head.
Zhang Ruochen stamped his foot, leaping seven meters into the air. Borrowing a slight force mid-air, he shifted his body several meters to the right, dodging the stone disc, and slashed his sword at the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's neck.
The Four-Armed Ferocious Ape swung its arm, punching toward Zhang Ruochen's chest.
Its fist was as large as Zhang Ruochen's entire body.
The Four-Armed Ferocious Ape was a fourth-rank lower barbarian beast.
Its strength was enough to tear apart a Heavenly Extreme Realm mid-stage martial artist. So, when it threw that punch, Zhang Ruochen dared not take it head-on.
Feeling the rushing fist wind, Zhang Ruochen withdrew his movement technique, gripped his sword with both hands, and slashed it at the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's fist.
"Break for me!"
With a swing of the sword, the Abyssal Ancient Sword cut through the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's protective Heavenly Gang, slicing off a large chunk of flesh from its fist and arm.
After feeling the pain, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape realized this human was not to be trifled with. It picked up the stone disc and immediately retreated backward.
In truth, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's greatest strength was its defense; it could even use its fists to clash with seventh-rank True Martial Treasures.
Unfortunately, the Abyssal Ancient Sword in Zhang Ruochen's hand was a ninth-rank True Martial Treasure.
In terms of sharpness, it even surpassed Sacred Artifacts.
Let alone breaking through the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's defense, even the scales of a legendary barbarian dragon might not be able to withstand the Abyssal Ancient Sword.
"Although the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's strength surpasses mine several times over, its reaction speed is very sluggish, and its intelligence is low. With the sharpness of the Abyssal Ancient Sword, I can kill it."
Zhang Ruochen activated the Wind-Riding Flying Dragon Shadow movement technique, stepping with mysterious footwork, turning into a series of afterimages as he attacked the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape.
If he could slay the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape, the blood of a single fourth-rank barbarian beast would be enough to elevate the sacrifice by one level.
Ling Xiansu, sitting on the back of a Three-Headed Fire Crow, saw Zhang Ruochen attacking the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape and immediately issued a command to the Fire Cloud Wolf, ordering it to go deal with Zhang Ruochen.
"Roar!"
True qi flames surged from the Fire Cloud Wolf's body, turning into a patch of fire clouds as it charged toward Zhang Ruochen at top speed.
Zhang Ruochen glanced in the direction of the Fire Cloud Wolf and silently cursed his bad luck.
Just dealing with the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape alone was already difficult. If the Fire Cloud Wolf joined in, Zhang Ruochen would be doomed.
Moreover, given the Fire Cloud Wolf's speed, Zhang Ruochen might not even have a chance to flee back to Yueji City.
"There's no choice but to fight. If I can't kill the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape this time, I'll have even less of a chance next time."
Zhang Ruochen immediately released his Space Domain, covering an area of a hundred meters in radius, completely enveloping the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape.
"Heart of Heaven, Full Moon."
Zhang Ruochen sprang up from the ground, his body arching like a bow, all his bones seemingly connected as one. Gripping the sword hilt with both hands, he exerted force from his wrist and slashed downward at the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's head.
After activating its inscriptions, the Abyssal Ancient Sword weighed several thousand jin. One could imagine how powerful this strike was!
At the same time, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's body emitted a "crackling" sound as its two massive front arms simultaneously shot out, striking toward Zhang Ruochen's chest.
Ling Xiansu watched from afar, a smile curling at the corner of her mouth. "Still too young. He actually thinks he can contend with a Four-Armed Ferocious Ape? How naive!"
Judging by the trajectory of the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's fists, it was clear that Zhang Ruochen would be hit by those massive fists.
A single punch from the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape could kill even a Heavenly Extreme Realm martial artist. Zhang Ruochen, only at the Earth Extreme Realm, would likely be crushed into bloody mud!
But in the next moment, Ling Xiansu was stunned. Watching the Abyssal Ancient Sword slash down on the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's head, she nearly jumped up and roared, "How is that possible?"
Just moments ago, when it seemed the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's fists were about to strike Zhang Ruochen, those massive fists suddenly paused.
Taking advantage of that pause, Zhang Ruochen leaped up and slashed his sword across the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's head, splitting that enormous skull from the brow, cleaving it in two.
"Pfft!"
Its head torn apart, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape became even more ferocious, unleashing dozens of punches in an instant.
The Four-Armed Ferocious Ape was in its death throes, each punch chaotic and disorderly, yet each one stronger than the last.
One of the punches struck Zhang Ruochen, sending him flying backward.
Zhang Ruochen drove the Abyssal Ancient Sword into the ground to steady himself, only to realize that his left shoulder bone had been dislocated by that punch. A searing pain shot through his left shoulder.
"Bang!"
Moments later, the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape finally breathed its last. Its body fell backward, crashing heavily to the ground.
Zhang Ruochen knelt on one knee, enduring the pain in his left arm. Seeing that the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape was completely dead, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Though it had been perilous, he had managed to kill the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape. Even if he was injured, it was entirely worth it.
Not far away, the Fire Cloud Wolf was furious. All its fur stood on end, like countless fiery steel needles.
The area around its throat turned completely crimson, as if a ball of magma was churning in its belly.
Suddenly, the Fire Cloud Wolf opened its massive maw and spat out a fireball three meters in diameter, hurtling toward Zhang Ruochen.
"Not good!"
Zhang Ruochen immediately flipped to his feet and roared, "Heart of Heaven, Sword Bell!"
Although the Fire Cloud Wolf was inferior to the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape in strength, it far surpassed it in speed and intelligence. In terms of overall combat power, the Fire Cloud Wolf was even more terrifying.
Even a Heavenly Extreme Realm mid-stage martial artist encountering a Fire Cloud Wolf would face certain death.
"Swish, swish!"
Zhang Ruochen wielded his sword with one hand, dancing it so tightly that it formed a massive sword bell.
"Bang!"
The fireball crashed into the sword bell, sending it flying.
Zhang Ruochen, inside the sword bell, was naturally thrown as well, tracing a parabolic arc and slamming heavily into the city wall of Yueji City with a thunderous boom.
That three-meter-diameter fireball, upon colliding with the sword bell, immediately exploded, turning into a sea of flames.
The ground within a hundred meters was engulfed in fire, blazing fiercely.
"Zhang Ruochen!"
Han Qiu stood atop the city wall, staring at the sea of flames, deeply worried.
She pressed her hand against the formation patterns, injecting true qi to control the Eight Dragons Wind and Fire Formation, summoning a storm dragon to charge at the Fire Cloud Wolf.
Wherever the storm dragon passed, low-rank barbarian beasts were all slain by wind blades, their blood staining the earth red.
Facing the storm dragon, the Fire Cloud Wolf dared not fight head-on and immediately retreated far away.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a figure completely engulfed in flames burst out from the sea of fire, quickly rushing toward the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's corpse.
After storing the Four-Armed Ferocious Ape's corpse into his space ring, Zhang Ruochen immediately turned back. As long as he could return to the formation, he would be safe.
The Fire Cloud Wolf naturally spotted Zhang Ruochen's figure and was furious. That insignificant human was still alive!
The Fire Cloud Wolf's speed reached the speed of sound. In an instant, it appeared behind Zhang Ruochen, extending a sharp claw to strike down at his head.
Zhang Ruochen hurled two Thunder Pearls simultaneously, turning them into two streaks of lightning that struck the Fire Cloud Wolf.
"Crackle!"
Two loud explosions.
The two Thunder Pearls detonated simultaneously, transforming into two patches of lightning that coalesced into dozens of electric bolts, all striking the Fire Cloud Wolf at once.