Chapter 999: Kill Him!

Surprise flashed through the black fox's eyes. Niu Youdao's repeated lack of reaction before had lulled it somewhat, and this sudden attack had nearly caught it completely off guard.

But its reaction was quick. Its agile body flashed away like a wisp of black smoke and darted behind another tree.

Niu Youdao's lunge missed. He immediately struck with a palm from a distance.

The trunk of the shielding tree exploded in the middle, and the whole tree toppled.

Amid the burst of flying wood chips, the fox shot away, racing across the falling trunk before springing toward the night sky above the woods.

Niu Youdao came flying after it. The tip of his foot touched the collapsing trunk and he shot onward in pursuit. Unlike the small-bodied Demon Fox, he could not weave through the violently thrashing branches of the falling tree, so he struck out with another palm from a distance.

Boom!

Leaves and branches exploded everywhere. Niu Youdao burst through the flying debris and swept into the night sky above the treetops.

In the blink of an eye, one fled and one pursued, both moving so quickly the eye could barely follow.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie stood stunned.

Hadn't Elder Niu said he did not want to offend the Demon Foxes?

This sudden attack left both men completely baffled.

Niu Youdao's repeated reversals had long since left them unable to make heads or tails of him. Qin Guan looked back and asked, "Should we help chase it down?"

Ke Dingjie sighed. "Didn't he leave us instructions and tell us to wait here?"

The two looked at the blood-soaked scene on the ground and felt strangely lost.

Only now did they seem to finally understand what Niu Youdao had told them before: once they chose to follow him, some things would no longer be theirs to refuse.

Now they understood.

"Looking at it now, he planned to move against Misty Pavilion's people from the beginning." Qin Guan wore a bitter expression.

Hearing the rumble of fighting in the distance, and judging that the pursuit was still continuing, Ke Dingjie sighed again. "Isn't that obvious? From the moment he led everyone in the direction Misty Pavilion had taken and told them to watch for Misty Pavilion's traces, he probably already had this in mind."

Qin Guan said, "He killed two Misty Pavilion men as easily as that and dragged us into it too. Everything was within his calculations. Elder Niu's schemes run frighteningly deep! Junior Brother Ke, if we go find Misty Pavilion now and try to redeem ourselves by rendering merit, do you think they'll let us off and pretend none of this ever happened?"

"You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?" Ke Dingjie smiled miserably.

Would someone forced into killing Misty Pavilion personnel receive lenient treatment?

Even if they did, how lenient would it be?

Neither man knew.

There was one thing they did know.

In Misty Pavilion's eyes, the two of them were insignificant. They carried no weight at all.

Qin Guan's face was full of anguish. "Why? Why is he doing this? We don't have the strength to oppose Sacred Realm at all. Why refuse to live a perfectly good life and commit an act of such monstrous defiance?"

They could not understand because they did not know Niu Youdao's true situation.

Only Niu Youdao himself knew the kind of predicament he was struggling within.

A crisis was about to arrive.

Having sensed it in advance, Niu Youdao had no intention of waiting for disaster to reach his doorstep.

He would strike first!

The pursuit continued.

The fox's shadow flickered over the treetops like a phantom while Niu Youdao stayed relentlessly behind it, darting in and out among the trees as one great trunk after another was blasted down.

Driven onto the canopy, the black fox suddenly dove back into the dense woods.

At the same time, it opened its mouth and spat out a raging cloud of black mist that swept outward in all directions, concealing its body inside.

Niu Youdao held his breath and charged into the mist.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly, listening.

Cold light flashed in his hand.

Shing!

His sword left its sheath, and a streak of sword qi slashed savagely toward one spot.

Crash!

A great tree was cut cleanly in two.

The black fox hiding inside a hollow in the trunk narrowly avoided the strike and fled again. The vertical eye between its brows had already opened.

Niu Youdao burst through the black mist after it.

He still refused to let go.

Sword qi hacked and slashed from the weapon in his hand, every attack fiercer than the last.

Wherever man and fox passed, leaves and branches exploded and trees crashed down.

At last, the black fox reached the edge of the woods. With a powerful leap, it sprang out over the vast marsh shining beneath the moonlight.

"Watch the sword!"

Niu Youdao warned it as he came sweeping after.

Brilliant silver light bloomed from the sword in his hand beneath the moon.

The Taiyi Light-Splitting Sword!

In an instant, flying sword qi spread like a great net, enveloping the black fox in midair.

Warned in advance, the black fox turned its head while airborne. Astonishment showed in all three of its eyes.

As its four limbs seemed to step through empty air beneath the moonlight, its form suddenly changed in a bizarre transformation.

In the blink of an eye, it became a long-haired man dressed in black.

Two iron chain-claws appeared in his hands and spun into phantom streaks.

Boom after boom sounded as the claw-chains shattered the incoming web of sword qi.

Descending from above, Niu Youdao was surprised.

He had actually encountered a Demon Fox capable of transforming into human form.

As far as he knew, after losing the Fox Immortal Fruit, the Demon Foxes had lost the ability to assume human form.

He had never expected to meet one that still could.

Perhaps the legends, including even the hunting information Sacred Realm had provided, were wrong.

The situation before him made that much obvious.

Had Niu Youdao not driven this Demon Fox into a corner, it probably would never have transformed to resist him. No matter how he had chased and attacked before, it had stubbornly refused to change shape.

He had already noticed long ago that this black fox was abnormal.

Its color differed from ordinary Demon Foxes, and it had encountered him again and again.

How could that possibly be normal?

Now that it could even transform, that only confirmed how extraordinary it was.

Niu Youdao's spirits rose.

His earlier effort had not been wasted.

All the more reason not to let it escape now.

Since it had already revealed its human form, the black-clad fox-man no longer held back either.

The two chain-claws twisted like tornadoes and came tearing toward Niu Youdao as he descended.

Sword light rained from Niu Youdao's hand.

A chaotic series of sharp metallic clashes rang out.

Realizing Niu Youdao's swordsmanship was far too formidable and that even his dense web of chains could do nothing to him, the black-clad man abruptly retracted the chains and rose into the air.

The two withdrawn chains streamed behind him like a pair of tails.

No longer fleeing on all fours as before, he now skimmed over the marsh in human form.

Niu Youdao immediately pursued.

One in front, one behind, the chase continued without pause.

After pursuing him for a while, Niu Youdao sensed something was wrong.

The other man seemed to be trying to lure him somewhere.

The reason was simple.

The black fox had actually abandoned its greatest advantage.

What place was this?

The Desolate Marsh Deadlands.

A place even the Nine Saints could do little about, terrain the Demon Foxes could exploit better than anyone.

The fox could have burrowed into the swamp and escaped.

Instead, it was deliberately tempting Niu Youdao to keep chasing.

There was unquestionably something wrong.

Niu Youdao did not care.

He continued pursuing without hesitation.

As expected, once they reached a stretch of seemingly endless mire, the black-clad fox-man suddenly dropped down and turned around, standing atop the swamp.

"Awooo..."

He threw back his head and released a long howl.

Niu Youdao flashed down opposite him. "Friend, I mean you no harm. We can sit down and talk properly."

The black-clad man spat. "Talk to your ancestors! Cunning human! So you deliberately held back before to lure me in. I fell for your trick! Now that you've seen me transform, don't even dream of leaving alive today!"

Niu Youdao said, "I've already told you I mean no harm. Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. This Desolate Marsh Deadlands may make life difficult for others, but to me it's nothing!"

The moment the words left his mouth, vigilance abruptly entered his expression.

The swamp to his left and right began bubbling.

Two gray-furred foxes sprang out.

Under the moonlight, both transformed directly into two disheveled old men.

The two gray-robed elders each carried a weapon.

One held something resembling a death-god's scythe.

The other held an enormous chopping saber.

The three had already taken positions around Niu Youdao in a triangle.

Niu Youdao was genuinely surprised.

It was not merely one Demon Fox capable of transforming.

There were three.

Then the swamp all around them began bubbling.

Demon Foxes emerged by the hundreds and thousands, every one baring its teeth fiercely at Niu Youdao the moment it appeared.

Sword in hand, Niu Youdao looked around.

He really had been lured into a trap.

"Clan Chief, what's the situation?" asked the old man carrying the scythe.

"Clan Chief?" Niu Youdao turned toward the black-clad man, interest entering his eyes. "You're the clan chief of the Demon Foxes?"

The black-clad man pointed an iron claw at him and stamped his foot.

"Kill him!"

"Good!"

The other two old men stamped their feet as well, sending muddy water splashing across the swamp.

"Awooo..."

Hundreds upon thousands of foxes around them raised their cries one after another.

Niu Youdao was watching the surroundings warily when his expression suddenly changed.

He looked sharply at the ground beneath his feet.

Something below had shifted.

His body shot upward.

Splash!

A vast sheet of mud and water erupted.

Countless tentacles suddenly burst from the swamp surface and lashed into the sky like demons reaching with clawing arms.

As Niu Youdao's upward momentum faltered, he flipped in midair.

Head downward and feet above, he plunged directly toward the writhing mass of tentacles below, hideous as a monstrous flower in bloom.

Sword light erupted from his hand.

The Taiyi Light-Splitting Sword struck again.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Razor-sharp sword qi screamed downward.

Puff after puff sounded as countless tentacles were severed and sent flying, blue sap and broken lengths scattering everywhere.

But the moment that sword technique ended, the surrounding swamp churned violently.

An even larger mass of tentacles surged up with the force of overturning rivers and seas.

They blotted out the stars and moon.

Like a dumpling being wrapped shut, they instantly enclosed the descending Niu Youdao from every side.

Niu Youdao looked around.

The sky had gone completely dark.

The Demon Foxes rushed forward one after another and leapt onto the coiling tentacles.

Clinging to them and swaying their tails, the foxes emitted hazy radiance visible to Dharma Eyes and poured demonic power into the tentacles.

The vines visibly became tougher and more powerful.

Trapped inside, Niu Youdao swung his sword again and released a storm of sword qi.

A dense series of thudding impacts sounded.

This time, however, the sword qi could no longer sever the tentacles completely.

It merely tore them open and sent sap bursting outward.

The Taiyi Light-Splitting Sword was formidable, but using it consumed enormous amounts of spiritual power.

Niu Youdao could not recklessly exhaust his reserves.

The moment he realized the attack would not work, he gripped the sword with both hands inside the rapidly contracting space and slashed furiously toward the ground.

Boom!

Mud and water exploded.

Niu Youdao shot downward through the air, man and sword as one, driving straight into the opening he had cut through the swamp.

The displaced mire immediately collapsed back over him and buried him.

Just as Niu Youdao had expected, once he forced his way beneath the swamp and followed the tentacles toward their source, he found their enormous root tens of zhang underground.

It was like some monstrous underground dragon.

He shifted his sword behind his back.

With his free palm, he blasted the surrounding muck apart and slammed one hand directly onto the root.

The Qiankun Palm was divided into yin and yang.

This was the yang palm.

Pure yang spiritual power surged violently into the tentacle root.

Where his palm landed, the tissue blackened and carbonized at visible speed.

The colossal mass before him immediately began convulsing violently.

The tentacles on the swamp surface shook even harder.

As though they had suddenly lost control, the enclosing mass came apart in chaos and spread open, every tendril thrashing wildly.

The black-clad fox-man had already climbed to the very top of the tentacles.

The violent whipping tossed him back and forth as he shouted from above, "Hold it steady! Hold it steady!"

The Demon Foxes flared with light.

They desperately poured in demonic power to control the plant.

The more they tried, the more violently it went mad.

One tentacle after another thrashed wildly in every direction while rapidly retracting underground.

Little foxes flung toward the swamp surface yelped in panic and fled for their lives.

[End of Chapter 999]