217: Chapter 217 The Oriole Enters the Game

High above the hundred-foot cliff, gale winds whipped through the pine needles of the ancient tree.

Gu Shen's feet were planted firmly on the thick trunk of the ancient pine, which was wide enough for three people to embrace; his blood energy and deep cyan Poisonous Fiend True Qi were already circulating at their Peak.

In the Desolate Valley below, the octagonal Spirit-Locking Cage, radiating endless soul-suppressing power, descended with the force of Mount Tai, aiming directly to envelop the battered and bruised young Kui Ox.

"Deploy!"

Gu Shen issued a cold, hard order of slaughter in his heart, and with a decisive wave of his left sleeve, he unleashed it.

A burst of cyan light erupted from the surface of his Storage Ring.

Nine Demon Bone Iron Guards, as massive as iron towers and covered in dark black titanium-tungsten alloy armor, were fully released into the high sky.

Freed from the constraints of the mustard-seed space, the nine steel behemoths were instantly pulled by the gravity of the real world.

The Formation patterns on Gu Shen's thunder shadow boots activated fully, flashing with deep blue lightning, and he stomped his feet heavily onto the ancient pine's trunk.

"Snap!"

Under this terrifying, extreme recoil force, the ancient pine, which had survived for who knows how many years, had its trunk shatter inch by inch, turning into a sky full of wood fragments.

Gu Shen, together with the nine Demon Bone Iron Guards, formed a perfect conical Breakthrough array and dove fiercely from the hundred-foot height.

The metal bodies, weighing over a thousand jun, tore through the air under the acceleration of gravity and the violent thrust of the micro-fusion batteries in their chests, creating a long trail of deafening sonic boom clouds.

From afar, they looked like nine black meteorites falling from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds, smashing straight toward the Nine Stars Spirit Binding Array below.

At the bottom of the valley.

Core Disciple Qin Wuyan wore a confident smile; the Spirit-Locking Cage was less than three zhang away from the top of the young Kui Ox's head.

Suddenly, the gale winds above became abnormally violent.

An indescribable, lethal sense of oppression caused the protective Spiritual Qi of all the Beast Taming Sect Disciples to flicker frantically.

"What is that?!"

Several Inner Sect deacons leading the Formation looked up in horror, and what met their eyes was a raging tide of black metal, blotting out the sky as it crashed down.

"Boom—!!!"

A sound like the sky collapsing and the earth splitting exploded in the Desolate Valley.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Just as the Spirit-Locking Cage was about to capture the young beast, the Iron Guard No. 7 at the forefront of the charge—the steel behemoth inlaid with the remains of a Tier 3 Golden-Horned Rhinoceros Beast—arrived like a thunderbolt.

It completely ignored the soul-suppressing blood light emitted by that Magical Artifact.

The Demon Bone Iron Guard possessed no consciousness, no Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits; the targeted Law of the Spirit-Locking Cage was useless against it.

The Iron Guard No. 7's thick titanium-tungsten alloy right arm pulled back high, and the red copper wires inside its body flashed with blinding red light from spiritual energy overload.

Carrying the massive kinetic energy from its hundred-foot fall, a high-frequency vibrating heavy punch, unstoppable as bamboo being split, slammed solidly into the bronze side wall of the octagonal Spirit-Locking Cage.

"Clang!"

It was like a giant hammer striking a great bell.

That Spirit-Locking Cage, weighing ten thousand jin and forged from ten-thousand-year cold iron, was instantly and violently deformed by this pure, unreasonable physical force.

The one hundred and eight scarlet talismans engraved on the cage collapsed inch by inch under this earth-shattering kinetic collision.

The massive octagonal cage, like a struck meteor, traced a shrill parabola in the air before smashing heavily into the depths of a cliffside dozens of zhang away, causing a massive collapse of the mountain.

With the first strike successful, the remaining eight Demon Bone Iron Guards also arrived with a roar.

Their landing positions were incredibly precise, hitting exactly the node of the Formation's Spiritual Qi stagnation period that Crab had previously deduced.

A violent shockwave from the fall spread rapidly outward in a ring.

That plant barrier, which had originally used the principle of Wood conquering Earth and was constructed from countless mutated vines and green Formation Flags to suppress the earth veins, was as fragile as window paper in the face of such unreasonable physical impact.

Thick vines were ripped apart and crushed by the titanium-tungsten armor.

The green Formation Flags buried underground could not withstand this destructive physical vibration and burst one after another.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Once the Formation was broken, the Qi backlash occurred.

Hundreds of Beast Taming Sect Disciples wearing starry robes on the periphery simultaneously spat out a mouthful of blood, their expressions listless.

The vast, sky-covering azure light net of the Nine Stars Spirit Binding Array, under the immense pressure of the nine Iron Guards, collapsed like shattered glass, turning into a sky full of scattering light rain.

Air waves rolled, and gale winds howled.

The entire field of Beast Taming Sect Disciples were terrified, having no idea who these black armored monsters that had fallen from the sky—completely devoid of any living aura—actually were.

Amidst the dust and vine fragments flying through the air, a grey-black figure slowly stepped down through the air.

Gu Shen's robes fluttered, and the thunder shadow boots beneath his feet glimmered with wisps of deep blue lightning, supporting his body as he hovered in mid-air, ten zhang above the ground.

His face was hidden beneath the bronze half-mask overlaid by Thousand Faces, revealing only a pair of eyes that were cold to the marrow.

The deep cyan Poisonous Fiend True Qi surging around him hissed as it corroded the remaining Wood-element Spiritual Qi in the vicinity.

In the center of the Desolate Valley, the nine tower-like Demon Bone Iron Guards slowly straightened their bodies, their scarlet electronic eyes lighting up one by one in the smoke and dust, firmly protecting the surviving young Kui Ox behind them.

Core Disciple Qin Wuyan stepped on his jade Flying Sword, retreating several zhang in the violent gale before steadying himself.

His gentle, jade-like face was now twisted and distorted, staring fixedly at the all-too-familiar grey-robed figure in mid-air, and the group of armored puppets below that made him extremely wary.

"It's you?!"

Core Disciple Qin Wuyan gritted his teeth, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, "That day, the Heavenly Fire Mountain-Burning Array actually failed to refine you, this scoundrel, into ashes!"

He never expected that a Loose Cultivator, who had been heavily injured in his internal organs by the mountain-shaking bone zither and burned by the Heavenly Fire, would not only survive but actually dare to brazenly appear under such heavy encirclement to snatch the prey of his Beast Taming Sect.

Gu Shen looked down at this great sect Prodigy from above.

His right hand slowly gripped the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade at his waist, his thumb gently pushing the guard.

"Zheng—"

A section of the supreme ferocious metal blade slid out of its scabbard, emitting a cold, murderous clear ring, with dark cyan electromagnetic arcs dancing ceaselessly on the blade's edge.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, trust you have been well since we last met."

Gu Shen's voice was hoarse and cold, carrying an unquestionable domineering air, rolling and echoing through the silent Desolate Valley.

"I, Alias, have taken a fancy to this calf."

Concise and to the point, with murderous intent fully revealed.

Below, the young Kui Ox, which had originally fallen into despair, seemed to sense that these sudden armored monsters harbored no malice.

It panted heavily, its thick single hoof standing beside the No. 9 Iron Guard, its pair of vertical pupils staring fixedly at Gu Shen in mid-air, actually revealing a hint of extremely human-like hope.

"Extremely arrogant!"

An Inner Sect deacon of the Beast Taming Sect stepped out from the crowd, pointing at Gu Shen and shouting sternly, "A mere Loose Cultivator, relying on a few ingenious Puppets, dares to ruin the important affairs of my Beast Taming Sect. Today, I will certainly extract your soul and refine your spirit, leaving you beyond redemption!"

Gu Shen's gaze turned cold, and his right arm swung suddenly.

The gold-severing saber did not leave its scabbard, but he flicked his finger, and a thread-thin Geng Metal Sword Qi shot out from his fingertip, tearing through dozens of zhang of the Void Realm.

"Puff!"

The deacon couldn't even see the trajectory of the attack before a transparent blood hole appeared between his eyebrows.

His eyes widened, his body fell straight backward, and he died on the spot.

"Noisy." Gu Shen coldly retracted his finger.

Decisive in killing, thunderous methods.

This single move instantly shocked the entire field.

Those Beast Taming Sect Disciples who were originally eager to try their luck all brought out their defensive Magical Artifacts, their steps unconsciously retreating.

Core Disciple Qin Wuyan laughed out of extreme anger.

He summoned back the Spirit-Locking Cage, which had been slightly deformed from the impact, and backhanded a pat on his Storage Pouch.

The white mountain-shaking bone zither, which had once nearly forced Gu Shen into a desperate situation, was once again laid horizontally before him.

"Good! What a tough-lived Alias!"

Core Disciple Qin Wuyan's True Qi billowed around him, his white robes dancing wildly in the wind, "Since you are determined to seek death, I will fulfill your wish today. All Disciples, listen to my order: form the Azure Wood Strangulation Array and trap these iron Puppets to death! This scoundrel surnamed Chen will be transcended by me personally!"

A great battle, at the bottom of this Desolate Valley, was once again explosively ignited.