Chapter 61: Chaotic Battle in the Mountains, Fang Xu Is Kidnapped!

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Chaotic Battle in the Mountains, Fang Xu Is Kidnapped!

After these ferocious beasts appeared, they surprisingly did not slaughter each other. Instead, they all stared fixedly at Fang Xu and the others with fierce glares!

"Crown Prince, this is the method of the witches!" Xu Liang said with a solemn expression.

The witches’ methods were highly bizarre, including one that could manipulate ferocious beasts, known as the Beast Taming Art.

These ferocious beasts were not of the same species and should have naturally fought each other upon meeting. However, under the control of that mysterious Beast Taming Art, they could coexist peacefully and unite against an external enemy, demonstrating the art’s miraculous nature.

SHING!

Li Xun suddenly drew two weapons from his back—they were sword-like yet not quite swords, appearing more like daggers!

Once unsheathed, these weapons actually emitted a faint, gloomy light; they were clearly no ordinary items!

Fang Xu also wanted to summon the wooden stick from his Acupoint Space to face the enemy. However, his hands were originally empty. If a wooden stick were to suddenly appear now, he feared it would immediately provoke Li Xun’s desire to slice him open for research.

He figured being barehanded was fine. Besides, everyone else present was an expert. He only needed to hide and watch the battle, avoiding any action if possible.

With a plan in mind, he immediately took a slight step back, hiding directly behind Xu Liang.

ROAR!

A bizarre roar suddenly rang out from the back of the beast pack. Upon hearing this sound, the ferocious beasts surrounding the group immediately lunged forward!

More than half of the hundreds of ferocious beasts were high-level beasts, with strength comparable to a Martial Master among Martial Artists. The remaining ones were slightly weaker, barely possessing the strength of a peak-stage Martial Disciple.

"Sir, leave that Tier Entry Sword Tiger to me!"

Li Xun’s figure flashed as he charged straight at the fierce tiger with bone spurs on its back!

Tier Entry? Sword Tiger?

Hearing Li Xun’s words, Fang Xu was slightly taken aback. Before taking Lu Zhiyuan as his master, he had no other teachers, nor had anyone ever taught him about ferocious beasts.

He had thought that ferocious beasts were simply divided into ordinary beasts, high-level beasts, and demons. It turned out that these creatures not only had specific strength classifications but also names. It seemed he would need to find time to learn more about these things in the future.

While thinking this, his gaze remained fixed on Li Xun.

This Li Xun seemed to be about the same age as him. Yet, perhaps due to his monstrous talent and being cultivated with the best resources since childhood, he was already at the peak strength of a Martial Master.

In contrast, Fang Xu was just a rookie in the Second Realm of a Martial Disciple.

Under Fang Xu’s watchful eyes, Li Xun, wielding twin blades, moved like a phantom. He dashed in front of the Sword Tiger, leaped high into the air, and slashed twice at the beast’s back!

The pitch-black blades sank in right to the hilt, clearly extremely sharp!

Succeeding in his strike, Li Xun used the momentum to kick off. His petite frame, like an agile monkey, continuously circled the Sword Tiger’s massive body. From time to time, a dark gleam would flash, drawing lines of blood and causing the Sword Tiger to roar repeatedly in pain!

"This guy is like an assassin!" Fang Xu marveled, stroking his chin as he watched Li Xun’s fighting style.

Li Xun’s speed was incredibly fast. If he didn’t concentrate fully, Fang Xu could only see a series of afterimages. That Sword Tiger appeared exceptionally ferocious, but facing the attacks of a Martial Artist renowned for speed and possessing a peak Martial Master cultivation, it was quickly killed.

After slaying the Sword Tiger, Li Xun didn’t stop; he charged straight toward the next ferocious beast.

"How fierce..." Fang Xu couldn’t help but mutter. He retreated a few more steps to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the battlefield.

However, just as he took those steps back, he suddenly smelled a faint stench of a rotting corpse wafting from behind him!

Fang Xu was horrified. He spun around, only to be grabbed by the throat by a pair of slender hands and instantly dragged into the depths of the forest!

"Crown Prince..."

Fang Xu shouted with all his might. Not far away, Li Xun, who had just slain a ferocious beast, heard the commotion and looked slightly startled.

Having already found the witches’ hiding place, Fang Xu seemed to be of no further use to him. However, the one who abducted Fang Xu was definitely a witch. In Li Xun’s view, his purpose in coming to Fenglin Town was to capture all the witches entrenched here in one fell swoop.

"Sir, I’ll be right back!"

On one hand, he feared the witch might escape; on the other, he was curious as to why the witch had merely abducted Fang Xu instead of killing him.

With a few flashes of his figure, Li Xun chased directly in the direction Fang Xu had been taken!

THUD!

He hadn’t chased far when a massive figure suddenly leapt down from an ancient tree nearby, blocking his path.

Li Xun dodged with a few backward leaps. His brows furrowed deeply as he looked at the figure before him—nearly ten feet tall and completely wrapped in a tattered cloak.

"A Corpse Refinement?" Li Xun muttered. "Judging by the luster, it’s a Copper Armor Corpse."

Corpse Refinement was also one of the witches’ methods. Using a Secret Technique, they refined dead bodies with various materials, granting the corpses a simple consciousness while making them invulnerable to weapons.

A low-level Corpse Refinement was called an Iron Armor Corpse; ordinary Martial Artists at the Martial Disciple realm could hardly harm it in the slightest. The towering Corpse Refinement standing before Li Xun was one level higher than an Iron Armor Corpse—it was a Copper Armor Corpse.

If Wang Erhu were still alive right now, he would have recognized this Copper Armor Corpse as the very monster that attacked them that night!

"This Crown Prince doesn’t have time to play with you!"

A Copper Armor Corpse was far more troublesome than an Iron Armor Corpse, to the point that ordinary Martial Masters were helpless against it. It was nearly impervious to ordinary swords and sabers, knew no fear of death, and felt no pain. Short of dismembering it completely, there was simply no way to kill it.

He cultivated the Assassination Art, which was ill-suited for a drawn-out brawl with such a thing.

With a flash of his figure, Li Xun prepared to bypass the Copper Armor Corpse’s interception and continue his pursuit of Fang Xu’s abductor.

However, this Copper Armor Corpse was bizarre; it lacked the stiffness typical of ordinary Corpse Refinements and intercepted Li Xun with incredible speed!

Seeing this, Li Xun’s brows knitted tightly before he looked at the Copper Armor Corpse before him with a heavy expression.

"You’re not a Corpse Refinement!?"

The corpse remained silent for a long time. Its head, hidden beneath the tattered cloak, slowly lifted to reveal a grotesque bronze mask.

"I heard you are Zhao Wuji’s disciple... I will start by extracting a measure of the blood debt owed to the Dusk Cloud Kingdom’s eighty-four thousand Royal Race members and a million of our people—from you."

"Who exactly are you?" Li Xun’s expression turned ugly.

He faintly sensed that everything today was a trap—one set specifically for him. The thing before him... he might as well call it a person for now. This person had endured the agony of Corpse Refinement with a living body, forging their own flesh into a Copper Armor Corpse. The torment they must have suffered was simply unimaginable.

"Did you specifically lure this Crown Prince here?" Li Xun asked again.

He needed to stall for time now, waiting for Xu Liang and the Golden Scale Guards to finish off those ferocious beasts and come to his aid. Otherwise, relying solely on himself, he would have no way of defeating this freak.

"How could we easily discard such a precious Dharma Artifact as the Fog Catching Bowl?" The Copper Armor Corpse freak didn’t seem to be in a hurry either, actually possessing the patience to chat with Li Xun.

Hearing this, Li Xun’s expression turned rather dark. His apprenticeship to Zhao Wuji was known by very few people in the entire Central State.

Now, even the Witch City hidden in Tilan Mountain had received this news. Clearly, a traitor had appeared in the Central State. Of course, this news might have also been leaked by the Eldest Prince’s faction, with the intention of using the witches’ hands to eliminate him.

As Li Xun thought this, his gaze involuntarily drifted behind him.

"There is no need to wait; they cannot get away," the Copper Armor Corpse said, its deep voice carrying a hint of mockery, as it seemed to know what he was waiting for. "It has been ten years. Since taking on this form, this is the first time I have spoken.

"I had planned to give Zhao Wuji a surprise when the time came, but now... you can test it out on that butcher’s behalf!"

As soon as the words fell, the massive figure leapt high into the air. Its two arms, which had been modified into bone blades, swiftly slashed toward Li Xun’s body!