Zodiac Guardian

Once more, it's been a night of struggle. Right after uploading today's chapter, Little Three needs some rest. To all my esteemed friends out there who enjoy my work, I appreciate your votes and cherished collections that offer support as they are my greatest motivation. Thank you.

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Qi Yue opened his eyes to find himself standing firm on the ground. His legs suddenly gave way, and he sat down abruptly. He breathed deeply and exclaimed, "For the first time, I realize how wonderful it feels to be on firm ground."

Hai Ruyue said in a deep voice, "This time it might get a bit troublesome. This fellow's aura is strong. Be careful and do not interfere." That said, she took flight once again, gliding this time towards the front

After calming his mind, Qi Yue realized that he was standing on a small hill. Hai Ruyue was gliding down from it. Following the direction of Hai Ruyue's glide, Qi Yue noticed that from a pit in the mountain ahead, a tunnel with a diameter of about three meters was producing strands of bluish smoke. The smoke would reach about four or five meters before being scattered by the wind.

Hai Ruyue quickly floated above the cave. Her wings spread wide behind her, under the cover of a white glow. A bright, resonating dragon chant came from Hai Ruyue. Her dark blue hair fluttered without any breeze. Qi Yue was startled by the sudden voice, nearly toppling. He understood later that this was one of the Zodiac Dragon's special abilities, Dragon Power - having a strong deterrent effect on weaker creatures.

The blue smoke dispersed upon hearing the dragon chant. The ground gave a slight tremor and then, a horrifying beastly aura spread out from the cave. Along with a deep roar, a silhouette flashed, a monster had suddenly appeared on the edge of the cave.

As the beast appeared, Qi Yue had a strange sense of familiarity. It was covered in thick, deep black hair, it had bright and lively eyes, and its body was as large as a cow. A shiny black horn protruded from its forehead, wings on its back that spread out but did not take flight. It did not let out a roar, instead, it raised its head to look at Hai Ruyue in the sky. The beast exhaled blue breath from its mouth and nose. Its bright eyes seemed to be contemplating something.

A thought arose in Qi Yue's mind. He suddenly realized why he found the beast so familiar. It was because the beast bore an eighty percent resemblance to the Kirin Pattern on his body, except it had an additional pair of wings. My God! Could Hai Ruyue be planning to kill a Kirin?

"Miss Ruyue, could you refrain from killing it? It seems to be like me, a Mo Kirin." Perhaps due to some relation, Qi Yue reminded Hai Ruyue loudly.

Hai Ruyue indeed has no intention to start. Floating in mid-air, there was a look of surprise, "No, it's not a Kirin. This is Xie Zhi. The Kirin's horn is spiral, but Xie Zhi's horn is radiating with light."

Qi Yue blinked in confusion, "What is a Xie Zhi? Is it like you, a mutated Kirin?"

Hai Ruyue floated backward, maintaining a distance of roughly a hundred meters from the Xie Zhi. Without turning her head back, she said, "Fool, the strength of Xie Zhi is a little weaker than the Kirin, but its fame is no less than that of Kirin. Xie Zhi, famous divine beast known as the 'Judicial Beast' from the ancient trial system, often recognized as 'Law Beast'. According to text from On Balance and Repair Matters Discussed in Huainan, it is as large as a cow or as small as a sheep, somewhat similar to a Kirin in appearance. Long, dense, black hair covers its body and a distinct horn usually protrudes from its forehead. It is believed that the horned ones die when their horns are broken. Some are seen with wings, but most do not have wings. Xie Zhi is known for its high intelligence, understanding human speech, and punished those who are unfaithful or insincere by attacking with its horn. In later generations, common sheep were often bred in temples as substitutes for Xie Zhi. This Xie Zhi is as large as a cow and sprouted wings, it might occupy the same position as you, the king of the Xie Zhis. The strength of a Xie Zhi grows with its age. This Xie Zhi might be over a thousand years old."

"To accurately state it, being the inheritor of Dragon's bloodline, I am exactly three thousand four hundred and sixty-seven years old this year." The sound came from the Xie Zhi itself. Its gaze shifted from Hai Ruyue to Qi Yue.

Hai Ruyue gasped. She was well aware that these ancient and peculiar beasts had their strengths closely tied with their age. Beasts under a thousand years were of one level. Crossing a thousand years, their strength elevated by one rank, followed by another rank after crossing three thousand years. The strongest is the Ten-thousand-year fierce beast, which could only be countered by at least six Zodiac Guardians holding six clouds, varying on the beast's attributes and abilities. Even this three-thousand-year old Xie Zhi was hard to fight with her five clouds. She was unsure, fortunately, the chance encounter this time was Xie Zhi.

Xie Zhi, known as the law beast, had a strong conception of hatred. It only attacked those who were wicked and evil, not causing any harm to humans. Therefore, the successive Zodiac Guardians never took any action against the Xie Zhi.

Hai Ruyue said: "Senior, earlier I detected a strong presence here, I didn't know it was you. Please forgive me for disturbing your rest."

Xie Zhi lifted its huge head, its wings on its back vigorously fluttered, surprisingly, it soared into the air with such speed that it left an afterimage in the sky.

Hai Ruyue was startled when she thought Xie Zhi meant no harm; Xie Zhi's airborne figure had in an instant swept up under her and lunged, like a bolt of lightning, at Qi Yue.

No matter who it was, anyone would feel fear when a huge monstrous beast suddenly pounced at them. Qi Yue saw Xie Zhi's body instantly enlarge. Without hesitation, he gave a loud shout, "Lin—" Three balls of light floated out. Even Qi Yue himself did not know how he had controlled it. The purple, blue, and red swiftly spun in the invisible wind, directly flying towards Xie Zhi.

The wind was not strong, but it had a very high rotation speed within a certain range. The Lin Character Decision instantly depleted all of Qi Yue's cloud power. The small tornado included the other three light balls within, almost instantaneously exploded. Water, fire, and thunder—the three types of energy attributes underwent something unusual within the extreme rotation of the wind.

The three light balls simultaneously converged towards the middle, followed by a transformation into shuttle-shaped light. The front was red, the rear was blue, and purple electric light surrounded the edges. Even Xie Zhi, with its speed, could not dodge it.

Boom! The light shuttle hit Xie Zhi's chest, causing its rushing body to hesitate. A surprised glow flashed in Xie Zhi's eyes. A layer of frost appeared on the black fur at his chest, and it seemed as if the fur inside the frost was charred.

Boom! Xie Zhi fell heavily next to Qi Yue. Qi Yue didn't even have time to react before he was knocked down by Xie Zhi's kick. Xie Zhi's huge claws pressed against his chest. Qi Yue was certain, even the weight of Xie Zhi could crush him to death several times over.

"Senior." Hai Ruyue finally arrived, a three-meter-long white light spear condensed from cloud power had appeared in each of her hands. The spear pointed directly at the black horn on Xie Zhi's head.

Xie Zhi's claws did not drop, but it suddenly swiped downward instead.

Hai Ruyue felt regret, she blamed herself for bringing Qi Yue here and wrongly trusting that Xie Zhi will not harm humans. As that gigantic claw struck down, Qi Yue underneath would inevitably face the hazard of being torn to pieces. She abruptly shut her eyes and forcefully threw out the spears in her hands. The weapons, carrying her cloud power, aimed straight for Xie Zhi's singular horn atop its head.

"Little girl, haven't you heard that though a Xie Zhi's horn is its weak point, it is also its strongest part?" Two flashes of black lightning discharged instantaneously, producing two slight plop sounds. Both of the cloud power-formed spears dissolved simultaneously.

Xie Zhi exclaimed almost inaudibly, "Such strong impact, your ability is somewhat strange."

Hai Ruyue didn't hear Qi Yue's screams. When she opened her eyes, she saw Xie Zhi had countered her attack, and its claw had already swiped over Qi Yue. But Qi Yue was not torn to pieces, only his clothes had vanished. Because he had earlier used his recently formed Kirin Cloud Power, the black and silver Kirin pattern appeared on his chest. The black and silver spiral long horn was extremely conspicuous, emitting a faint glow.

Xie Zhi was staring intently at Qi Yue, and a sudden bright light flashed in his eyes. It looked up to the sky and gave a resounding howl. The howl reverberated upwards, directly shooting to the clouds, and blue smoke ferociously erupted from its mouth and nose.