"Fuck!"
"Screw this bastard!"
"He actually dares to use a sculpture of our deity to defend himself!"
Seeing the sculpture of Lord Tian She Zi being used in such a manner, all members of Nine Lives are enraged.
However, with how dangerous the environment around Long Hua is, not a single person possesses the courage to charge forth.
"Uh?"
Just as Long Hua thought to push back the falling comet, he looks down at his feet to see plant tendrils wrapping around his legs.
The tendrils are gold in color, while emanating with a soft glow.
Making them stand out further are the black floral-patterned tattoos that are present throughout their bodies.
And similarly to leeches, Long Hua can feel these tendrils sapping his strength away by the passing second.
...…
"…"
Standing together with Jiu Sheng, who is giving off a powerful air of life energy, Jing Yao has the same plant tendrils protruding from her arms.
Currently, these tendrils are stabbed into the ground—preventing Jing Yao from moving, unless she chooses to retract them.
Due to Jiu Sheng's Relic being more focused on providing support, she isn't able to participate directly in battle; however, she is capable of strengthening Jing Yao's Relic to attack Long Hua in this manner.
...…
"…"
Seeing the situation that Long Hua is in, Zhen Qing Huai asks—
"Lao Bai, not going to step in?"
Raising a light smile, Bai Wen replies—
"Don't you see him smiling?"
"Uh?"
Examining Long Hua's expression more closely, Zhen Qing Huai widens her eyes.
...…
"Thrilling…"
Chuckling aloud, Long Hua draws in a deep breath of air.
Other than when he was made to fight against Dao He Tian Xue's replica, this is the first time in a while that he's been pushed to his limits.
Heaving a sigh, Long Hua raises the amount of metal elemental energy that is emanating from his body, and mutters—
"Impervious to a thousand blades."
Shrouding the entirety of his body in metal-elemental-energy-reinforced Sword Armor, the tendrils around his feet were shredded to pieces, but rather quickly, they would reform.
Paying no heed to the tendrils, Long Hua goes on to transform this armor into—
"Heart Sword."
As the Sword Armor is cast from his body, it transforms into 120 Heart Swords, and not pausing there—
"Myriad Blades as One."
All 120 swords gather behind Long Hua's back to form a single blade—measuring at over 100 meters in length.
As soon as this blade is formed completely, it stabs itself into the comet that is held up by Long Hua, and—
"Cut!"
Responding to Long Hua's command, the blade tilts itself upwards—dividing the comet in half!
"Tch…!"
Sensing a bad premonition, Xu Tian Kun teleports her Relic back into her hand.
"…"
Lowering the greatsword, Long Hua rotates his cultivation base fiercely, along with the Heaven Creation Mantra.
As if he had transformed into a black hole, spirit Qi is forcefully pried from the invisible spatial rifts nearby, and—
"Cang'e!"
Having chosen to use the water element as a foundation, the dark sea that is fending off the golden flames—flows backwards and engulfs the phantom maw.
Gradually, the phantom maw elongates in length, and—
*Boom!!!* the colossal blade collapses itself into 120 swords, which quickly rearrange themselves around the elongating maw's lips—forming a line of fangs.
Within the blink of an eye, the form of a serpentine maw is nowhere to be seen—having been thoroughly reformed into the jaws of a crocodile.
*Aaaaaaaannnn!!!!!!* as the maw raises an earsplitting roar, causing the air to tremble, it opens wide, and snaps rapidly at the sea of golden flames—devouring it in large chunks at a time!
"…"
With every chunk of the golden flames devoured, Long Hua would feel his mastery over the fire element increase.
However—
"Still not enough…"
*Aaaaaaaannnn!!!* upon devouring the final portion of the golden flames, the maw raises a thunderous howl, as it lunges itself towards Zhou Chen!
"Tch!"
Clicking his tongue, Zhou Chen attempts to evade the crocodilian maw.
Having sensed the elemental power of fire—that is emanating from Long Hua, increasing at a gradual rate; Zhou Chen has seen through the latter's schemes of wanting to use his Qilin flames to gain perfect mastery over this element.
*Pah!!!!!* as the crocodilian maw snaps its jaws together, it just barely misses Zhou Chen's left hand by a centimeter!
"…"
And just as Long Hua thought to take a step forward—
*Boom!!!* another comet is fired in his direction.
Towards the comet's approach, Long Hua swings the weapon in his hands—dividing it apart just as it is less than 20 meters away from him!
As the crocodilian maw vanishes, Zhou Chen lands onto the ground, and shouts—
"Do not-!"
Before Zhou Chen is able to inform the others to not attack Long Hua with fire—
*Siiiiiiiiiii!!!!!* a black rift appears in the air.
"Hm?"
As soon as this rift appears, spirit Qi—in the form of dense green mist, pours out from within.
"So, this is a ruin of the outer domain? Seems familiar."
Accompanied by this mist of spirit Qi, a young lady—dressed in a white changpao, emerges from the rift.
Despite being a weapon spirit, the young lady—Zhou Xiaoyu is able to stand stably in the air without any sort of devices to assist her.
"…"
Seeing Zhou Xiaoyu, a sense of irritation immediately manifests in Long Hua's heart, causing him to tighten his grip over his weapon.
(…)
Sensing Long Hua's change in mood, the Tai Xuan Emperor blinks her eyes, and asks—
(…*-laoban, you know her?)
Breathing out a laugh, Long Hua replies—
"I don't know her. But some people in this world… The moment you meet them, you just know instinctively that you won't get along with them, as just the mere sight of them is enough to trigger a primitive desire in your heart to rip them apart."
(…)
...…
"Ai…"
Blinking his eyes, Yun You glances at Nuo'er, and remarks—
"Just as you've predicted."
"Un."
As Nuo'er nods her head, Xiao Jun mutters—
"Surnamed Zhou, the sore loser is here."