Chapter 31: Mighty Ox King
After his makeshift weapon was destroyed, Zhou Tai let out a furious roar, picked up and hurled the remaining protective barriers. Then, he used his explosive power and launched forward like an artillery shell, charging straight toward Yu Xian.
This head-on fighting style placed Yu Xian under tremendous pressure. The White Ape had become a pure stat monster, with its strength, speed, and explosive power all at an absurd level. Without Silver Blood boosting his reflexes, Yu Xian would have instantly lost his life.
Furthermore, with the intense heat it was radiating, the White Ape resembled a scorching fireball whenever it drew close. If Yu Xian didn't have the Silver Blood armor, the White Ape wouldn't even need to come into contact with Yu Xian; its blistering drafts alone would have scalded Yu Xian.
Yu Xian shot two silver threads from his hands, latched onto a chair behind him, and pulled. At the same time, he created a bubble under his toes. He lightly stepped onto it, and the resulting force propelled him backward.
A massive fist grazed right past his face. Even though he was wearing a helmet, he could clearly feel the terrifying wave of heat it carried. The punch slammed into the ground and created a new crater.
Yu Xian threw himself into a backflip and landed cleanly on the backrest of a chair. However, before he could even catch his breath, the White Ape utilized the momentum from its previous strike to leap forward once more, flinging its other arm wide in a brutal, horizontal clothesline.
This kind of straightforward, head-on attacking style could put one's overall abilities to the ultimate test. Yu Xian kept his nerves tightly stretched, not daring to relax for even a moment.
He fixed his eyes on the White Ape's movement. When Zhou Tai controlled the creature's arm to smash down at him, he quickly used the force provided by the compression of the bubbles to dodge.
Seeing his punch miss its mark yet again, the White Ape immediately seized a chair with its other hand and hurled it. Yu Xian, who was still in the air, used his silver threads to wrench himself into a series of evasive maneuvers he could never normally perform, narrowly escaping the flying chair.
Following that continuous barrage of attacks, Zhou Tai finally caught on to the truth. "So, you're just a little fly!"
He realized his opponent was not that strong after all and that his outward appearance was a bluff designed to look mysterious and unfathomable. With an accurate gauge of his opponent's true strength, Zhou Tai no longer held back and went all out.
He forced the White Ape back to its feet. Its muscles surged with power as it charged forward like a boulder tumbling down a mountain, hurtling toward Yu Xian, who had landed. One solid hit would gravely injure him.
Yu Xian kept retreating, jumping from the spectator stands into the arena, then from the arena back into the stands. He continuously shifted and dodged around the arena.
Suddenly, both of them froze, their gazes snapping up toward the ceiling. Something was falling from the sky. The next instant, a deafening boom rang out. A five-meter-tall, ox-headed giant smashed cleanly through the ceiling like a devil incarnate and landed heavily in the center of the arena, shattering the floor.
The minotaur cast a glance at the White Ape, his voice echoing with a coarse, domineering tone. "Interesting. To think it could achieve a bloodline awakening to this degree."
In that split second, a profound urge to retreat surged within Zhou Tai. Compared to the bluffing opponent he was fighting earlier, this minotaur was genuinely, terrifyingly powerful. However, before he could even make a move, the minotaur scanned the wrecked arena, his tone igniting with absolute fury. "But you deserve to die!"
Terrifying black flames erupted from the minotaur's frame. Zhou Tai couldn't even process the minotaur's movements when a sweeping strike from the minotaur's battleaxe cleanly severed its head. The Zhou Tai-possessed White Ape's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, unable to accept that his defeat had come so abruptly and with such absolute helplessness.
After decapitating the White Ape, the minotaur's axe slammed heavily into the ground. The entire arena trembled, and dense cracks spread outward from the impact point like a web.
Yu Xian couldn't help but draw in a sharp breath of cold air. The tides of battle had turned far too rapidly. One moment, he was running for his life, and the next, the White Ape was dead.
The minotaur was simply too powerful. But it was only expected of the Mighty Ox King, Tang Dali—the number one powerhouse of Silver City! This man was a household name throughout Silver City. He carried the Bull Demon King bloodline, standing as the strongest supernatural being in the entire city.
Tang Dali had many businesses under his name, but he only held equity stakes without involving himself in management. Clearly, he also owned shares in this arena.
After he had killed the White Ape, Tang Dali's domineering aura instantly vanished. He quickly walked up to Yu Xian, warmly smiled, and grasped his hand without any of the airs of a powerhouse.
He bowed repeatedly. "Thank you, Little Brother, for holding back this ape. Otherwise, the compensation payouts alone would have absolutely drained me. Thank you, thank you, truly thank you. You've got to let me take you out for a meal sometime. We absolutely need to sit down and get to know each other properly."
Yu Xian replied, "There's no need to thank me. It's my duty. But don't blame me if I handle things strictly from here on out."
He couldn't pull his right hand free from Tang Dali's grip, so he took out his badge with his left hand. Only after seeing it did Tang Dali awkwardly let go of him.
Yu Xian called the Combat Police unit to seal off the scene. After completing the necessary procedures, he put away his phone and immediately condensed Blood Energy in his palm, shaping it into a blood-red sword.
He slowly walked over to the White Ape's severed head. Although he was certain a Brain-Clinging Neural Parasite was lodged inside its brain, he needed to perform an autopsy to secure concrete evidence before he could formally report back to headquarters.
Tang Dali refrained from disturbing Yu Xian. Instead, he jogged over to Zhang Shou, who was actively administering medical aid to the injured, and unleashed another barrage of enthusiastic thanks.
Just as Yu Xian raised the blood-red sword to cut into the White Ape's brain, its eyes snapped open. It glared at Yu Xian with pupils drowning in pure hatred. Had its throat not been severed, it would have likely spat out a few curses.
Ignoring its glare, Yu Xian drove his sword into the center of the White Ape's brow, slowly tracing a line to cleave through the cranium. The White Ape's bones were remarkably dense, requiring an immense amount of effort from Yu Xian just to pry the skull open.
The moment he looked inside the White Ape's brain, his eyes widened. Completely unlike a normal brain, the folds and grooves of the White Ape's brain had actually aligned to form ancient characters.
He tried to read the characters. Those who face battle, the soldiers and warriors?
Yu Xian took a photograph of the ancient characters, harboring a few theories in his mind. Then he drove his sword deeper into the White Ape's brain. When he cut through the outer layer, strands of nerves shot out. However, prepared for this scenario, Yu Xian immediately used his silver threads to bind and restrain the writhing nerves.
He nodded. "As expected, it's Brain-Clinging Neural Parasites."
Yu Xian took a photo and sent it to Jin Sheng, describing everything that had happened in the arena in detail. Less than ten seconds later, Jin Sheng replied to the message.
Lion Radiance: Preserve the corpse and await backup!
Salted Fish: Understood.
In less than a minute, a fleet of vehicles carrying officers from the Combat Police unit arrived at the scene with sirens blaring. From Zhou Tai's explosive outburst to his death at Tang Dali's hands, the entire sequence had taken only about three minutes. Everything unfolded at a breakneck pace.
Yu Xian's standoff with Zhou Tai had lasted only a mere ten seconds or so, and the remainder of the time, Zhou Tai had been chasing him around the arena. Had Tang Dali not arrived precisely when he did, Yu Xian would have had to figure out an escape route within a few more minutes.
Actually, the Combat Police unit had not come here after Yu Xian called them. Rather, they had already been rushing to the scene after the initial wave of fleeing spectators called emergency services.
Spotting the team leader, Yu Xian presented his badge and instructed him to have his men seal off the entire arena. No one was to enter or leave.
With Zhang Shou present, anyone who could be saved would undoubtedly be saved. As for those who couldn't, there was no point in attempting a rescue. As a result, when ambulances arrived, officers of the Combat Police unit directed them to wait off to the side.
About half an hour later, a streak of golden light descended from the sky, entering the arena through the massive hole Tang Dali had smashed through the ceiling. The golden light dissipated to reveal a young man with a carefree, somewhat irreverent air.
The young man walked up to Yu Xian and introduced himself, producing his badge. "Hello. I'm a member of the Qilin's Support Department, codename Ether. Here are my credentials."
Yu Xian scanned the badge with the Qilin app on his phone. After verifying its authenticity, he nodded. "Hello. I'm a member of the Wickedness Purging Squad, codename Salted Fish. I hereby transfer custody of this White Ape and the Brain-Clinging Neural Parasite to you. Please ensure they are delivered safely to headquarters."
Ether grinned and patted his chest. "Don't worry. Nothing can go wrong on my watch!"
He turned toward the White Ape's corpse and flicked his sleeve. The massive body instantly vanished. Next, he took out a box, placed the Brain-Clinging Neural Parasite inside, and stored the box within his sleeve.
Yu Xian couldn't help but ask, "Is that Cosmos Within the Sleeve?"
A look of embarrassment crossed Ether's face. "Cosmos Within the Sleeve is a high-level technique. I just stitched a few spatial pouches into my sleeves."
He lifted his sleeve to show Yu Xian. Sure enough, several spatial pouches had been sewn into the lining.
Perhaps because he felt a little embarrassed, Ether hurriedly said goodbye. "Alright, I need to return and report back to headquarters. See you around!"
Golden light enveloped his body, and the next instant, he shot into the sky, disappearing through the hole in the ceiling.