Astral Dragon Monarch

The battle had truly just begun.

The Han woman and the Gu person were barely surviving their aggro against the beast now, even with the Iron Foot technique fortifying their defences.

Apparently, Xin sword attack had lowered its vitality until it activated its rage mode.

At rage mode, its overall strength would be increased exponentially at the cost of its vitality being spent twice as fast and its healing capabilities extremely reduced.

The group of cultivators were soon bloodied and battered, such that they were forced back into defence with no chance to go on the offense.

Xin frowned deeply as her forehead wrinkled in thought.

Zhang brother had successfully healed Elder Su's arm, and if they were to retreat, there would be no casualties for their respective sects.

However, it was a completely different matter entirely for the citizens. Were they to withdraw, then this entire province would become a Mount Tai of corpses and a Great River of blood.

Closing her eyes tightly shut, Xin winced and made a tough decision.

"Guys!..."

She turned around to face her group.

"Retreat!! I'll handle it."

Retreat!

Those seven letters were a taboo to mention before any sect.

A cultivator does not run, they fought to the death!

However, here Xin was telling them to put their tails between their legs and run away like frightened dogs.

"No!..."

The Han lady frowned as she blocked a tail strike from the hideous monstrosity.

"I will stay and fight alongside you, Xin sister!!"

The Gu guy shook his head in grim resolve.

"Xin sister, I shall never turn my back on you!"

The Zhang guy and Elder Su silently shook their heads too, making Xin furrow her brows.

Why were the hell were her cohort mates this stubborn?!

Sure, they had been a team for almost two years due to the allied sects decree made by the Immortal Sky Lord, but at the end of the day, they all belonged to different clans.

Sighing, she stuck the Phoenix Terror in one of the many eyes of the beast, earning an agonizing roar from the creature, and leaped off the creature's massive body.

However, as she landed, her cohort floated in the air.

Sāi manipulation was a special technique that oy the most talented of talented people could learn, and currently, Xin was using sāi manipulation at it's best.

Xin smiled slightly as she stared at their incredulous expressions and waved her hand.

"I'm sorry guys..."

She had used sāi manipulation to make their soul sāi lighter than the universal sāi, creating an antigravity like effect.

And as she waved her hand, they all went flying into the skies and away from the battle.

"But I can't risk your deaths..."

As she watched them fly by, amused at her own prowess, Shen paled and his expression dropped.

"B... Behind you!!!"

Xin turned around, surprised at the unwanted audience, but she was a second too late and a massive tail whacked her on the side of her head.

Her skull rang and she could not think straight, yet she stood her ground. Such was the might of a peak Rank 1 cultivator of the second stage of the lower mortal tier.

She had not yet gotten her bearings back however, leaving her open for yet another heavy strike.

whack!!

This time, however, she went flying across the streets and crashed into one of the towering pagodas, and the surrounding buildings crashed on her.

"I-Is she dead?"

Sheb raised a brow as he saw no movement whatsoever coming from the sprawled figure.

More so, a huge chunk of stones and other debris crashed on the body once again.

"Shit, she's dead!... do I call this witnessing a murder, though?"

He paled even more in complexion and took a cautious step backwards.

However, this turned out to be a terrible idea as like a guard dog detecting even the slightest movement, the beast swiftly turned it's head to face him.

"Uh, nice wormy... good wormy..."

Shen continued to repeat as he slowly took more and more steps back.

But the black haired guy was inwardly surprised.

'So beasts ARE like pets after all?...'

Then he frowned and winkled his forehead in thought.

'Or maybe my cheat is that I can control beasts?!!'

This probability got him really excited.

He stopped backing away and stood firm on the ground.

"I command you to sit!"

The beast stood still for a while, then began running towards him with unparalleled madness and a sea of bloodlust gleaming brightly in its eyes.

It's fangs snapped with ferocity and its feet moved like lightening.

Before he could even blink twice, the creature was above his head with its maw wide open as if it had just found yet another addition to it's gruesome dinner.

Before it could bite him into two, however, a golden burst of bright Qi energy slammed into the side of it's head, diverting it's harrowing fangs away from the human.

"Hundred dantian Qi wave!"

Shen's eyes widened considerably as that particular attack looked eerily similar to that of a particular anime character, all that was left was just an orange gi and a blue undershirt.

'So... So powerful..."

The sight of that awesome attack alone made him even more determined to find his cheat.

Meanwhile Xin knelt down on the floor panting hard. She had borrowed a lot more natural sāi to perform the energy wave attack than her body was able to carry.

Her eyes were bloodshot, her pristine skin bruised and battered, but for some strange reason, she had a dark smirk on her face.

This was the other side of Xin that only a select few among the sect heads knew about.

A battle hungry fighting machine that never backed down until the enemy was six feet under.

A side of her that would only emerge when the sweet, pretty jade beauty was pushed to a corner and became a blood thirsty maniac.

This Xin would not hesitate to sacrifice her entire cohort just to get a strike at the beast.

This Xin would let it rampage the entire province just to wear it down in order to deliver the final blow.

This Xin would not hesitate to lose her very own life, provided that the enemy would also follow her to the grave.

However, Shen saw things differently.

"Am I seeing things, or is her spirit standing beside her?!"

In front of his very eyes, an ethereal version of Xin was standing beside her maddened body.

"Death's Blade!"

She called out, and a black scythe with a blade on both it's top and on its bottom flew towards her hand.

With a perverse smile on her face, she suddenly vanished from her spot, moving at speeds that surpassed the sonic barrier, and appeared in front of the creature in a flash.

"Die, creature."

The shockwaves coming from the attack threw Shen off the ground and let him tumble a good twenty feet before coming to a stop.

That was no doubt a hundred times more powerful than all get other attacks, but to her consternation, the beast only let out an earsplitting roar before whacking her to the ground once again, creating a massive crater from the impact.

"A really strong one, huh?..."

Xin smirked darkly and wiped blood from her face.

"...I like it."