Talisman Emperor

Chapter 62 - Li Hu

At the peak of Moon's Embrace Mountain, at the side of the cliff that was covered in a sea of clouds.

"He's here! Senior, save me!" Mu Kui's expression became miserable and unsightly as he heard that voice that came closer and closer, and he kowtowed repeatedly.

Chen Xi shook his head and said helplessly, "If you don't get up right now, I really won't save you."

Mu Kui was overjoyed and once again kowtowed three times before saying with a voice that contained agitation that was difficult to hide, "Thank you, Senior. Thank you!"

In a moment, a red robed youth leaped up the cliff. He had a pink face with lips that were smooth as jade, and he possessed an extremely handsome appearance of starry eyes and sword shaped eyebrows. Most eye catching of it all was the flame tattoo on his forehead that contained a strand of flickering flame, and it added an evil air to him.

"Mu Kui, you kid! I never imagined that you'd actually find help! But, you seem to have been injured, right?" The red robed youth glanced at Chen Xi with a strange gaze, then he locked his gaze onto Mu Kui who was covered in injuries and he silently sneered unceasingly.

Chen Xi was hardly able to believe his eyes, as after he'd heard the powerful and deep voice, he originally thought that the even if this Li Hu had taken human form, Li Hu ought to be a burly fellow, but he never imagined that Li Hu would actually be a handsome youth!

With Chen Xi backing him up, Mu Kui's had become much more courageous, and he shouted out explosively with an angry voice. "Li Hu, you've provoked me repeatedly, do you think I'm afraid of you?"

Li Hu shook his head in disdain, then he pointed at Chen Xi and said in a deep voice, "Kid, I advise you to leave as soon as possible. Don't get yourself injured because of Mu Kui. Grandpa is a perfection-stage Congenital Realm Blaze Tiger greater demon. Killing you is like slaughtering a chicken. Hurry up and fuck off!"

"Audacious! You actually dared insult Senior? You, stupid tiger, are really courting death! Let me tell you, today, just because of what you just said, you, Li Hu, are dead for sure!" Mu Kui shouted out explosively and was about to charge forward.

"Allow me." Chen Xi's calm and indifferent voice sounded out and it carried with it irresistible air, and Mu Kui's heart went cold for no reason. He moved back right away and stood respectfully at the side, and when he recalled his miserable encounter from before, the gaze he shot at Li Hu already carried a trace of pity.

Step!

Chen Xi took a step forward, and along with this step, his entire temperament suddenly changed. Dense killing intent was abruptly emitted from his thin and tall body, like a sharp sword that thirsted for blood had been drawn from its sheath.

Hiss!

Mu Kui gasped, and he suddenly realized. I'm afraid this is Senior's true strength, right? Looks like senior didn't utilize his full strength at all when defeating me earlier…

"Kid, who the heck are you? Quickly speak your name!?"

The unparalleled killing intent that suddenly surged out from Chen Xi's body caused Li Hu to be shocked in his heart, and he knew he'd encountered a formidable opponent, so he decided to sound Chen Xi out.

Mu Kui was able to recognize that I'm a human with a single glance, yet this Li Hu only looks like he took no notice, he's truly a stupid tiger. A trace of pity arose in Chen Xi's heart, and the killing intent in his chest instead became thicker and thicker.

Chen Xi's grandfather, Chen Tianli, had always been a taboo in Chen Xi's heart, and Li Hu calling himself grandpa at every moment had undoubtedly provoked and offended Chen Xi's bottom line.

"Cut off your own tongue and I'll spare your life," Chen Xi said coldly.

"You're actually more arrogant than Grandpa Li Hu, you're truly courting death!" Li Hu burst into rage, the demonic qi on his body suffused out with a bang, and eyes were incomparably blackish red as if they were filled with blood.

Whoosh!

Under the influence of his explosive rage, Li Hu decided to make the first move and gain the advantage. On his hands that were big like fans, the nails on his fingers grew out explosively to become 60 cm long, and they were like 10 sharp sword blades that were suffused with a bloody glow. Then, his body leaped out to claw towards Chen Xi.

Rip!

As he dashed, the red robe on Li Hu's body tore into pieces that fluttered in the air, revealing his upper body that was covered in curved and strong muscles that were like rocks, and his aura explosively increased a level as well.

This tiger demon is actually on the path of the School of Fiendgod Body Refinement?

Chen Xi's eyes lit up. This was the first time he'd encountered a body refining greater demon, and the battle intent within his heart was instantly lit ablaze. Immediately, he didn't utilize his True Essence any longer as he charged straight at Li Hu.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Chen Xi and Li Hu were locked in battle, the Grand Collapsing Fist that was at the unity-stage was exerted to the limit by Chen Xi as he used a purely head-on method to battle Li Hu.

He moved like a drawn bow to explode out like a thunderclap!

Chen Xi's body was like a large bow that had been drawn fully, and the terrifying strength beneath his muscles and skin were gathered at every joint in his body. When he smashed out his fist, it was like a violently shot arrow, like muffled thunder exploding out.

The 'collapsing' within the Grand Collapsing Fist was fully utilized by him, as the formidable strength of his body surged out from his fist to quake the space to the point that circle after circle of ripples that were noticeable to the naked eye had undulated out!

Whereas Li Hu, although he was at the perfection-stage of the Congenital Realm as well, his martial techniques were simple and crude, and they had barely reached the advanced-stage. However, he was a Blaze Tiger and his body was innately extremely strong, and what he cultivated after taking human form was also the School of Fiendgod Body Refinement. So, in terms of the level of strength of the body, he wasn't inferior to Chen Xi in the slightest.

It was precisely because of this that although Li Hu was forced to retreat continuously, it was impossible for Chen Xi to defeat him in a short amount of time.

"The body refinement cultivation of this senior is too shocking. That Li Hu is a tiger demon that innately possesses a strong body, yet he's been beaten to the point he'd unable to hit back. Moreover, if their martial techniques were compared, the fist technique of this senior is extremely formidable as well, and has obviously attained the unity-stage…"

In the distance, extraordinary splendor rippled in Mu Kui's eyes as he watched the battle, and the deeper he understood Chen Xi's strength, the more reverence he felt in his heart towards Chen Xi. He'd already inwardly decided that no matter what, he would stay by Chen Xi's side!

"How is this possible? I've already cultivated this body refinement technique for over 1,000 years, and I'm only a step away from advancing to the Violet Palace Realm to become a demon king. How could I be forced to continuously retreat one step after another?" Li Hu's expression became more and more serious, as every fist that Chen Xi struck out would quake his body to the point his vital energy and blood roiled, and the bones in his entire body ached extremely as well. This sort of feeling was so unfamiliar, unfamiliar to the point it caused him to be incomparably aggrieved.

Roar!

A violent and fierce roar exploded out with a bang atop the mountain peak, and Li Hu's body slightly swayed before he'd already transformed into an enormous tiger that was 6m long and 3m tall. Li Hu's fangs were like sabers, his enormous claws like swords, and savage and raging demonic qi suffused out with a bang from his body that was coiled in blazing flames.

"How many years has it been? You're the first person to force out my original form. I'll let you die a swift death!" Li Hu roared into the sky.

Whoosh!

His entire figure was like a wisp of flames as he pounced towards Chen Xi with a speed that was actually more than double from before!

"Senior, watch out!" Mu Kui shouted out loudly from afar. "After Li Hu's returned to his body of a demon beast, his strength had at least risen explosively by 20%!"

Going all out already?

Chen Xi instead sighed inwardly. The head on battle with Li Hu earlier had allowed his comprehension towards his fist technique to deepen, and his Grand Collapsing Fist that remained at a standstill at the unity-stage even had a faint trace of being about to break through. But he never expected that at this critical moment, Li Hu had instead transformed into a demon beast and changed the method of the battle, and this naturally caused him to feel slight regret.

"Die!" Accompanied by the furious voice, Li Hu had already appeared before Chen Xi, and he opened his bloody mouth to fiercely bite towards Chen Xi's head!

Chen Xi took a deep breath and didn't restrain his strength any longer, under the urging of his body, his fist faintly emitted a mysterious energy that caused one's heart to palpitate.

Ancient, desolate, icy… Since he'd attained the perfection-stage of the Congenital realm, and some mysterious veins of shaman markings had vaguely appeared on his back, Chen Xi noticed that when he utilized the Grand Collapsing Fist purely with the strength of his body, strands of a mysterious energy would surge out from between his flesh and skin. This energy was fine like strands of hair and was incomparably scarce. If he didn't carefully sense it, he would be utterly unable to notice it.

Shaman Energy!

It was recorded on the Universe Starslayer Body Forging Arts that when the body is refined to the Violet Palace Realm, shaman markings and star diagrams would be condensed, and a terrifying and mysterious energy called Shaman Energy would surge out from within the entire body.

Similar to the True Essence that was cultivated by qi refiners, along with the increase in cultivation, the Shaman Energy would undergo a qualitative transformation. Shaman Energy was used to execute the Divine Abilities that could only be cultivated by body refiners at the Violet Palace Realm, and it was able to display an unimaginable destructive force!

Bang!

Chen Xi lowered his head and move his body sideway, dodging the bite of Li Hu's bloody mouth with a speed that was swift as lightning, and at the same time his right arm turned around and a punch rushed out like lightning.

Pu!

Chen Xi's right fist directly broke open Li Hu's lower jaw, then his fist easily made a hole through Li Hu's head from bottom to top, leaving behind a hole that surged with blood.

"Ah!" Dark red and thick blood flew out in the air above the side of the cliff, tainting the drifting sea clouds in red. Whereas Li Hu instead emitted a miserable and suffering shrill cry, and he was directly thrown out a few hundred meters with a swing of Chen Xi's arm. Li Hu then struggled for a short moment but was unable to stand up once again, and he died just like that.

It seemed slow when written out, but in actuality, from the moment Li Hu transformed into his body of a demon beast until Chen Xi broke open his head with a single punch, only an instant had passed. However, within this instant, Li Hu was already dead on the ground.

Mu Kui's pupils went wide, and he nearly thought he was seeing this. But when he saw the body of Li Hu who had died miserably in a pool of blood, he affirmed that everything that had happened was real!

Instant kill with a single strike?

Could it be that this is Senior's true strength?

Mu Kui recalled the scene of Chen Xi beating the daylights out of him from before, a cold stream of air poured out of his vertebrae into his entire body, and he couldn't help but shudder. If Senior had exerted his full strength at that time, I would probably have kicked the bucket like Li Hu since a long time ago, right?

"Let's go." After removing a storage belt from Li Hu's corpse, Chen Xi turned around and walked down the mountain.

"Oh!" Mu Kui abruptly jolted awake and hurriedly jogged to follow up to Chen Xi, and his gaze when he looked at Chen Xi's back carried boundless reverence within it.

"Right, Li Hu is a Blaze Tiger, what about you?"

"Reporting to Senior, this lowly one is a Winged Silverwolf."

"Oh, I heard that Winged Silverwolves possess a strand of the bloodline of the divine beast of ancient times, the Lunarwood Wolf. Is it true?"

"Yeah… It's true indeed. But the bloodline of this lowly one is mixed to a great extent. My father was an Azurewing Windwolf, and my mother was a Winged Silverwolf, so, I'm unsure if I possess the bloodline inheritance of the Lunarwood Wolf."

"Oh, so you're a cross breed."

"…"

"But, you gave yourself the name Mu Kui[1. Mu Kui's name (木奎) and the Lunarwood Wolf (奎木狼) utilize the same characters but in an inverse order.], I presume that you desire extremely to possess formidable strength like the Lunarwood Wolf, right?"

"Senior really possesses an insightful gaze that's like a torch, it truly causes this lowly one to have extreme admiration. The admiration within my heart is like a surging river…"

"…"

They chatted all along the way, and under the lead of Mu Kui, Chen Xi quickly followed along the winding mountain path to circle around for almost the time for an incense stick to burn before finally arriving before Mu Kui's abode.

This abode was situated in an extremely hidden pavement on the mountain side. On one side was a precipice, and the other side was tightly curtained by numerous large trees that were like coiled dragons and required many people to form a circle around it. If it wasn't for Mu Kui leading the way, it was truly difficult to notice.

"Senior, please enter." Mu Kui stood before the abode and bowed in welcome.