155: Chapter 155 Slaying the Demon General, Arriving at the Front Lines (2)

Lu Changyuan stood in the very center of the tightened formation. His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword—the blade had not yet been drawn.

The layer of Geng Metal Sword Intent around the mouth of the scabbard was steadily thickening—transforming from an extremely faint golden light into a pale golden film visible under the moonlight.

This film spread from the scabbard mouth toward the hilt—the speed of its spread synchronized with the speed of the Qi flowing into the soles of his feet from the Qi-guiding position.

The Geng Metal Sword Intent was not his own. Luo Qingcheng had lent him this sword strike by sealing a seed of Geng Metal Sword Intent within his Dantian—the seed could only be used once.

After one strike, his Meridians would need half a cup of tea's time to calm the shock caused by the Geng Metal Sword Intent—within that half cup of tea, he could not unleash a second strike.

This was why he could not fight solo. Every trump card he could use only had one shot—once unleashed, it was gone.

The Yao Beast moved. It did not charge from the front—it bypassed the frontal shield wall of the First and Second Squads, choosing instead to cut toward the center through the gap in the formation positions of the Third Squad and Fourth Squad on the left.

Its webbed feet stepped onto the deck—the deck planks emitted crisp cracking sounds with every step it took.

The rhythm of the cracking sounds was extremely fast—one sound for every step, advancing half a zhang with each step.

It turned its body sideways—its pectoral fins tucked against its sides, its belly pressed against the deck, moving along a low, diagonal path.

It intended to smash that row of shields—once smashed, there would be a breach in the formation, and with a breach, it could charge directly to the formation's eye.

Lu Changyuan saw its path. He saw the Yao Beast's right forelimb—the right forelimb extended half an inch further when it started to cut to the left.

That extra half inch shifted the Yao Beast's center of gravity slightly to the right—the shift was less than half a palm's width, but on the deck, a half-palm shift meant that its next step would land nearly two feet to the left of its original intended direction.

"Everyone—" Lu Changyuan's voice was not loud. His voice was steady—steady enough to suppress the cacophony of shields and bone blades colliding on the deck. "Shift two steps to the left. Now—move."

The formation moved.

The nine small circular formations shifted two steps to the left simultaneously—the feet of two hundred and seventy people stepped down and lifted from the deck in unison.

The movement differed by only a breath—some positions were a breath faster, while others were a breath slower. But overall—two hundred and seventy people had moved nearly two feet to the left.

The Yao Beast's pouncing direction was thrown off by the shift in the formation—the position of the Third Squad's flank, which it had originally aimed for, was now empty by half a zhang.

That half-zhang gap—when its mouth snapped down, it bit into the empty deck, its teeth shattering the deck planks, wood splinters splashing out from its mouth.

Its head surged forward due to momentum—its body's center of gravity pressing forward along with it.

Lu Changyuan drew his sword.

The moment the blade left the scabbard—the Geng Metal Sword Intent exploded outward from the spine of the sword.

It did not burst—it condensed into an extremely thin golden thread suspended at the very tip of the blade.

The golden thread was extremely thin—as thin as a spider's silk, but the edges of the golden thread shimmered with a cold light under the moonlight.

The cold light illuminated the mist at the tip of the blade—the mist swirled around the golden thread and was then cleaved into even finer water droplets.

The Geng Metal Sword Intent could only strike once. Where this strike landed on the Yao Beast—would determine everything that followed.

The Yao Beast's head was still surging forward. Its left neck was exposed under the moonlight—the scales on the side of its neck were nearly half as thin as those on its belly, and the gaps between the scales were wider.

The golden thread of Geng Metal Sword Intent sliced into the Yao Beast's left neck—sinking to a depth of about two fingers.

The scales were sliced open—after the scales were cut, the flesh beneath was torn open by the Sword Intent, creating a gash that extended from the ear fin toward the shoulder.

The gash was about a foot long—it injured the subcutaneous muscle layer, but did not damage the major blood vessels of the neck.

Blood surged out from the wound—the blood that poured out was dark green, shimmering with fluorescence under the moonlight.

The Yao Beast shook its head—the action of shaking its head scattered a few wisps of the remaining Geng Metal Sword Intent near the wound.

The scattered fragments of Sword Intent pierced into the nearby deck—gouging out several finger-sized shallow pits.

On the Yao Beast's side neck—next to the wound sliced open by the Sword Intent—there was another old wound.

The old wound was located below the Sword Intent wound—about three fingers lower.

The old wound was a bite mark—the upper and lower rows of tooth marks crisscrossed on the neck skin, forming an irregular oval.

The tooth marks were extremely deep—deep enough that the tips of the teeth had pierced the epidermis and dug into the subcutaneous fat layer, tearing nearly two inches.

The bite had injured the edge of the major blood vessel in the neck—the outer fascia of the major blood vessel wall had been grazed by the teeth, and after the fascia ruptured, the vessel wall had bulged outward, forming a small lump.

This was a wound left from three days ago.

Three days ago—in this sea area, two Yao Beasts at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage were fighting over territory.

Wulin and another subordinate beast had been biting each other for nearly half an hour—territorial disputes between the same species did not use spells, only their bodies.

Teeth, skulls, body weight—whoever could pin the other to the bottom of the water first would win.

Wulin's opponent was a subordinate beast of similar size—during the struggle, the other Yao Beast had bitten Wulin's right neck.

After biting down, it began to shake its head—the action of shaking its head tore nearly three inches of skin and subcutaneous muscle from Wulin's neck.

The depth of the bite had injured the edge of the major blood vessel in the neck—but it had not bitten through the major blood vessel.

Wulin shook it off—and used its tail to whip it back three zhang. Then Wulin bit the base of its tail fin—shattering the tail fin bone. That territory belonged to Wulin.

The Yao Beast's self-healing ability focused on fighting infection on the first day after the bite—after soaking in seawater for three days, the bacteria on the surface of the wound burrowed inward along the tooth marks.

The self-healing ability encased the bacteria in the subcutaneous tissue into small white nodules—and then expelled pus from the edges of the wound.

On the second day, it began to stop the bleeding—the effect achieved was not to heal the wound, but to seal the breach so that the blood vessel would no longer ooze blood.

However, restoring the epidermis required a large amount of Qi—Yao Beasts did not prioritize restoring the epidermis during battle.

After being injured, it would keep the wound open—allowing the residual toxins from the teeth in the wound to be expelled through the open gash.

On the third day, the surface of the wound finally managed to form an extremely thin scab—the color of the scab was nearly half as light as the surrounding scales, and the flesh beneath the scab was still soft.

The thin scab had already cracked during the Yao Beast's head-shaking motion just now—a fissure had opened along the deepest part of the tooth marks, the fissure penetrating from the scab surface down into the subcutaneous muscle layer.

That position was exactly where the major blood vessel wall in the neck bulged outward.

The wound torn open by the Geng Metal Sword Intent had happened to tear the thin scab open as well.