Chapter 558: Su Liu

The massive shadow stirred and gradually rose, twisting like smoke a few times before slowly solidifying.

“Boy of the Youchen Clan, what, can’t hold out any longer? You even have to invite my true form out?” Before the shadow had fully solidified, it already rasped out.

As the voice fell, the purple light within the formation gradually faded, and the giant shadow finally fully solidified, revealing itself to be a massive fox covered in cyan fur, sitting cross-legged like a cultivator.

This cyan fox had long, narrow eyes and brows, with a purple star pattern on its forehead, and three long scars across its right eye, as if torn by some fierce beast’s claws, giving it a rather fierce appearance.

It wore a cyan armor decorated with extremely ornate golden patterns, six enormous tails trailing behind, and its mouth slightly curled into a very human-like expression of disdain.

“Forgive me, Lord Su Liu, but Yifan is in danger. I beg you to rescue her.” Seeing this, Nuo Qinglin quickly bowed and apologized.

“What! Who dares to bully Yifan?” Upon hearing this, the giant cyan fox called “Su Liu” suddenly spun around on the spot, his cyan armor clanking, his six huge tails all rising and waving, as he roared angrily.

“Reporting to Lord Su Liu, the sand beast raised by the chieftain of the Qinsha Clan is currently chasing Yifan. Now that all clans are engaged in battle, we cannot spare enough strength to save her, so we had to invite you out,” Nuo Qinglin said, both anxious and fearful.

Upon hearing this, Su Liu turned his body, searching the battlefield for Nuo Yifan’s figure, and said:

“Nuo Qinglin, how are you being a father? In your Youchen Clan, I only fancy that girl Yifan. If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you responsible.”

As his words fell, his gaze fixed on Nuo Yifan in the distant sky, who was being chased by the sand beast and pushed to the brink.

“Found her...”

Su Liu narrowed his eyes, murmured to himself, then suddenly rose from the ground, his massive form soaring into the air like a flying mountain, heading in that direction, his six huge tails fluttering up and down in the sky.

The Youchen Clan members fighting below, seeing Su Liu’s massive figure above their heads, each had a flash of fervor in their eyes, shouting “Lord Su Liu” wildly, their morale boosted as they fiercely attacked the insect race.

At this moment, Nuo Yifan, hard-pressed by the sand beast, fled in panic onto a cliff face, moving farther and farther away from Han Li.

Seeing this, Han Li frowned, and without hesitation, his figure flickered as he pursued her.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

With a thunderous roar, a loud crash rang out.

That cliff face suddenly exploded and collapsed, and the sand beast that had burrowed underground burst out from the rolling dust and smoke, its body swelling again to its former enormous size. Opening its massive maw, it lunged to swallow the unsteady Nuoyifan.

Seeing this, Nuoyifan was greatly startled.

But this woman had considerable courage; though flustered, she did not panic. Twisting her body sharply in midair, she stomped heavily on a falling boulder, nimbly leaping upward. A streak of遁光 (escape light) rose around her, and she was about to fly away.

Unexpectedly, from within the sand beast's gaping maw, a dark red vortex suddenly materialized, emitting an indescribable tearing force.

This invisible force was clearly far beyond Nuoyifan's imagination. Before she could shift sideways, she was pulled by this force and plummeted downward.

All this happened in the blink of an eye. It seemed that this young master of the Youchen tribe was about to be swallowed into the belly of the giant sand beast along with the falling rocks.

At this critical moment, Han Li's eyes sharpened. With one hand forming a sword seal, he pointed his fingers forward and tapped into the void.

With a sharp "zheng" sound, a cold light flashed!

A streak of azure sword-light flashed across the midair, and a Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarm Sword shot like lightning beneath Noyifan, just catching her plummeting form.

The longsword blazed with brilliant light, its stored sword-aura expanding outward, forcing back the tearing force from the sand beast's mouth. Then, with a flicker of spiritual light, the sword carried Noyifan in a swift dash forward before soaring high into the sky.

With a loud crack!

The sand beast's massive jaws snapped shut, but caught only empty air, enraging it even further.

Its body contracted layer by layer, then suddenly sprang, launching itself like a cannonball, chasing after Noyifan.

Noyifan, who had just narrowly escaped death, had no time to rejoice before she was plunged into a deadly situation once more.

"Don't be afraid, Yifan girl, I'll deal with it..."

At that moment, a furious shout rang out from the high sky. A green shadow flickered, and the massive form of the Six-Tailed Azure Fox descended from the heavens, passing over Noyifan and crashing down toward the giant sand beast that was pursuing from below.

With a thunderous boom.

The two nearly equally massive bodies collided in midair with a resounding impact, and both fell together.

The Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword made a sharp turn in midair and flew back toward Han Li, carrying the startled Nuo Yifan.

"Senior Li, thank you for saving my life. If I ever have the chance, I will repay you handsomely," Nuo Yifan said, his face pale. After composing himself, he spoke to Han Li.

Han Li turned his wrist, recalled the Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, nodded to him, and said nothing.

A loud rumbling sounded in the distance!

Both of them turned their gazes and looked toward the sand beast.

They saw the sand beast's massive body pinned down by the blue fox clad in magnificent armor. Its body writhed and struggled, and it roared incessantly, but it could not break free for the moment.

The blue fox riding atop it curled its six enormous tails, which, like six azure pythons hundreds of feet long, coiled around the giant sand beast's body, constricting inward with a series of cracking sounds like grinding bones.

At the same time, a domain expanded outward from its body, not covering a large area but merely enveloping the sand beast.

"What is this...?" Han Li asked, somewhat surprised as he watched.

"This is Lord Su Liu, a true spirit enshrined by our Youchen Tribe. His cultivation level is comparable to a human cultivator at the early Taiyi stage," Nuo Yifan replied with reverence.

"I see." Han Li was momentarily taken aback, then nodded thoughtfully.

In the human and spirit realms, he had seen many fox demon clans, most of whom specialized in illusion or charm techniques. This was the first time he had encountered a blue fox like this one, whose fierce aura and pure physical combat prowess were no less brutal than the giant sand beast's.

However, he also knew that this blue fox was a true spirit, likely having dwelled in this wilderness for countless ages, and thus could not be judged by ordinary demon standards.

The giant blue fox clenched its hands in the void, and a pitch-black light coalesced into a black staff like a towering pillar, inscribed with star patterns that flickered with dim light.

With a fierce roar, the blue fox raised the black staff with both hands. The star patterns on the staff suddenly brightened, and a brilliant vortex of starlight gathered at the tip, which it thrust heavily toward the sand beast's head.

Though the sand beast's body was temporarily immobilized, it twisted its head abruptly, opened its massive mouth, and a dark red light flared up, mixed with wisps of solid black mist, as it bit toward the black staff.

The staff descended, with nearly half its length plunging into the sand beast's mouth. The vortex of starlight collided with the dark red light.

"Rumble..."

Intense waves of fluctuation emanated from the sand beast's mouth, where countless crystalline starlight mingled with black mist, producing a crackling sound like electric discharges.

The fox and the beast were evenly matched, locked in a stalemate.

Nuoyifan watched from afar, her eyes filled with concern, but she had the good sense not to rush in recklessly to help.

"Don't worry, your True Spirit is of a higher cultivation level; it won't suffer a loss," Han Li said, his eyes flickering as he offered reassurance.

Yet, as his words fell, ring-shaped golden patterns began to emerge on the sand beast's body, and its form, which had been constricted by the green fox's tail, started to expand.

"Bang, bang, bang."

One by one, the green fox's tails were forced apart, and it seemed she could no longer restrain the sand beast.

"Trying to escape? Not so easy!" the green fox sneered, then shouted loudly.

Suddenly, the star patterns on her brow flashed with brilliant light, and her eyes turned pitch black, reflecting a dazzling starry sky.

Immediately after, the aura emanating from her body became profoundly deep.

Watching this, Han Li experienced a brief moment of trance, feeling as if he stood in the boundless starry expanse, facing countless stars, awaiting the baptism of myriad beams of starlight.

In the next moment, all the star patterns on the green fox's staff lit up, as if patches of starry sky adhered to it, emitting strange fluctuations that seemed not of this world, thrusting toward the sand beast's mouth.

A dazzling expanse of starlight shattered simultaneously, and all ripples began to sink and contract toward the center, heavily striking the dark red light within the giant sand beast's mouth.

At almost the same instant, the giant sand beast finally broke free from the green fox's six tails, and from its tail end, rings of golden patterns surged toward its head, as if concentrating all its power into its mouth.

The two immense forces finally collided.

"Rumble."

A deafening roar resounded.

Violent waves erupted in rings from the center of the six-tailed green fox and the sand beast, and the dark red light, like the dying sun, burst apart completely amidst the starlight of a falling galaxy.

The sand beast's massive body exploded with a bang, dissolving into countless grains of sand, sweeping in all directions like a once-in-a-millennium sandstorm, turning hills and forests to dust wherever it passed, blinding all sight.