“Nie Tian, thank you.”

That baby-doll faced girl, who was undoubtedly shaking in fear, held her dagger tightly in her hands, as she timidly thanked Nie Tian. 

“I am Jiang Miao from Dark Star City. Dark Star City is not far from Black Cloud City. If you come to Dark Star City in the future, I’ll definitely take good care of you.”

Nie Tian took a glance at her and grinned, revealing his teeth, “You’re at the eighth Lianqi level. The shaft of that sword of yours… is also unusual good. As long as you can concentrate on the battle and be careful of the movements below your feet, you should be able to sense the Earth Lizard. You should pay a little bit more attention to those behind you and not let your mind wander anymore.”

“Yes, I will.” Jiang Miao repeatedly nodded her head. 

- Shasha! -

In this exact moment, unusual sounds came from behind the Black Ice Python. 

“There’re actually Spirit Beasts still around!” The colour on Pan Tao’s face changed.

Once his words had been spoken, ten Grade One Spirit Beasts could be seen appearing in succession from the direction that the Black Ice Python had come from. 

When the Spirit Beasts revealed themselves, Nie Tian immediately understood as to why that Black Ice Python wasn’t in a hurry to attack. 

It was waiting for the arrival of its lackeys! 

Originally, there were more trial takers from the Ling Bao Court than Spirit Beasts in the area. Furthermore, each of the juniors had received Spirit Weapons, that were out of the ordinary, from their respective families. Due to these factors, they were easily winning the initial fight with the original group of Grade One Spirit Beasts. 

However, the appearance of another wave of Spirit Beasts made it so that each and every one of them would have to face two to three grade one Spirit Beasts.

In this way, even if they were relying on the sharpness of their Spirit Weapons, it would still be difficult for them to settle this battle in a short period of time!

Then, the Earth Lizard appeared and the Black Ice Python had appeared shortly after, leaving the trial takers from the Ling Bao Court at an obvious disadvantage.

Their only hope was to let An Ying keep the Black Ice Python busy while the others quickly disposed of their opponents, so that they could help An Ying slaughter the Black Ice Python. 

However, the new batch of Spirit Beasts seemed to throttle the only hope that they had. 

“Ssss!”

The Black Ice Python was sticking out its tongue, relaying a message, as its eyes revealed an ice-cold gleam to them. That gaze… seemed to carry slight intentions of ridicule within them. 

The Black Ice Python, who was previously not hurried in the slightest, finally made its move. 

“Dammit! I should’ve attacked earlier on!”

An Ying had also regained her senses and knew that their cowardice and hesitation had made them miss an extremely fine opportunity.

“We cannot continue to wait any further! No one knows whether there are even more Spirit Beasts rushing over from other regions!” She looked towards the ice-cold earth with a deeply worried expression on her hazy face.

Based on what she knew, grade two Earth Lizards ought to have the ability to summon low grade Spirit Beasts. 

She wasn’t sure whether the appearance of this Earth Lizard would bring about even more Grade One Spirit Beasts from the Barren Earth region. 

Perhaps, the Spirit Beasts from the Barren Earth region were also… gradually approaching them at this very moment.

She didn’t dare to drag it on any longer. 

“Huff!”

Bunches of raging flames suddenly bubbled out from within her scarlet curved blade. After the raging flames flew out, it continuously fluctuated in mid-air and turned into strips of streaming flames that were like lava juice. 

In a flash six streaming flame strips had actually solidified by An Ying’s side. 

These six strips of streaming flames were emitting blazing glows and intertwined with each other, faintly forming a complex flame pattern.

“Flowing Flames, Fire Array!”

An Ying raised her saber high in the air and the saber’s sharp gleam suddenly faced towards the Black Ice Python. 

- Hu! -

The flame pattern, which was floating in mid air, interweaved with the flames in the sky like a strange enormous flame cloud, before it abruptly flew towards the Black Ice Python. 

The huge flame array quivered and as An Ying raised the saber, the huge flame array dashed out in a flash.

“Everyone, quickly attack!” It was also at this moment that Nie Tian shouted out once more, “She’s buying us time!”

Once his words had been said, the trial takers, who were staring fixedly at An Ying, suddenly came back to reality. 

Nie Tian, on the other hand, didn’t continue to watch the battle between An Ying and the Black Ice Python. He was the first to dash towards the approaching Spirit Beasts. 

The first one was an Ice Claw Monkey, which had sharp claws and had a silver coloured fur covering its whole body.

The Ice Claw Monkey was only a grade one Spirit Beast and was famous for its quick-wittedness in dodging. Its only means of attack was a pair of sharp claws, that were overflowing with a cold glow. 

The place it preferred to aim at was the human’s neck and as for the facial features, it especially liked to attack the eyes!

- Zhizhi! -

Seeing as Nie Tian was madly bolting towards it, the Ice Claw Monkey let out a sharp screech and its short and small stature spiralled towards Nie Tian like a clump of green smoke. 

It didn’t move forwards in a straight line, rather it was in a zigzag motion.

When Nie Tian was quickly closing in on the Ice Claw Monkey, its sharp claws pierced into the ground and it suddenly hoisted itself up. 

Lumps of ice and snow were drawn out from the ground by its sharp claws and they crumbled in the air, filling the whole sky with ice shards. They had actually temporarily obstructed Nie Tian’s line of sight.

When the ice and snow were splashing about, a silver coloured shadow suddenly appeared behind Nie Tian.

The next moment, that shadow turned into the Ice Claw Monkey. 

Its sharp claws, that were as sharp as a cold knife, suddenly pierced towards the back of Nie Tian’s neck. 

The neck was also the human body’s weakest area. Once it had been pierced by those sharp claws, the majority of people would have their corpses laid across the ground on the spot. 

It was evident, that the Ice Claw Monkey knew the weak spots of the human body.

- Zhizhi! -

When the sharp claws were about to pierce Nie Tian’s neck, it finally couldn’t help but to let out a sharp screech, feeling pleased with itself.

“You’re courting death!”

Nie Tian coldly scoffed and it was as if he had grown a pair of eyes on his back. Afterwards, both his hands suddenly reached behind his head, as he was incomparably accurate in grabbing ahold of the Ice Claw Monkey’s furry wrists. 

When the Ice Claw Monkey let out a sharp screech, he forcefully swung it over his head and held it in front of his body.

Nie Tian grasped the Ice Claw Monkey’s wrists tightly, leaving it unable to act, before he kicked the Ice Claw Monkey’s thoracic cavity.

This kick of his was him using the full force of his physical body plus the power he gained from utilising the spiritual energy in his body.

- Bang! Kacha! -

The Ice Claw Monkey’s short and small beastly body was sent flying with a kick. As its body was flying away, Nie Tian was still firmly grasping its two arms, which had actually been directly separated from its body!

Nie Tian, who was holding the Ice Claw Monkey’s two furry arms, couldn’t bear to look at the mournfully screeching monkey and proceeded to turn the skinny and shriveled monkey arms in the opposite direction, while minding his own business. 

He faced the sharp claws outwards and used them as his weapon. 

Soon after, he headed towards the next Spirit Beast.

He did this because he knew, that once the Ice Claw Monkey had lost its sharp claws and had broken both its arms, it would no longer pose a threat. 

Even if it was still alive, that Ice Claw Monkey was unable to bring about any change to the outcome of this battle any more. 

- Hu! -

In this moment, that Earth Lizard, that was hiding away deep in the ground, suddenly appeared.

That youngster, who was called Zu Fang, was currently ferociously fighting with a huge spider. When that Earth Lizard revealed itself once again, it suddenly made its killing move, giving the youngster no time to respond.

- Kacha! -

With just one bite, the Earth Lizard broke the bones in his leg and under the acute pain, he was powerlessly facing that huge spider. The spider then used its sharp spidey claws and pierced through his chest and abdomen.

“Zu Fang!”

Pan Tao and Zheng Rui, who were continuously searching for the Earth Lizard, madly howled as they dashed forwards. Unfortunately, they were still too late. 

When they had made it to Zu Fang, he had already stopped breathing. The spider also knew, that it was no match for them, and it had already hid far away.

“Dammit! The Earth Lizard is hidden beneath the surface, yet it can perceive the battle above the ground. It’ll take advantage of the distraction of battle and sneak attack us!” Pan Tao’s eyes were red, “As long as the Earth Lizard is hiding away underground and doesn’t come out, we cannot find it nor do we have the means to kill it!”

“I must quickly think of a way! An Ying, she… she cannot hold on for too long!” Zheng Rui said irritably.

Nie Tian, who noticed that another person had died on their end, didn’t panic over Zu Fang’s death. Rather, he subconsciously looked towards An Ying. 

His expression was one of complete focus, as he seriously said, “Things do not look too well.”

……