Chapter 2279 - 2277: You're Not Dao Harmony at All

Time and again, Lu Ye and the others found themselves on the receiving end, gradually wearing down. Even though the Black Tortoise Array remained intact, part of the Frenzy Power from Mad Lion's attacks still landed on them. This was beyond the level of Dao Fusion; even for Lu Ye, his insides were already a chaotic mess. Despite his formidable regenerative abilities, he had suffered severe injuries.

Yan Zhixing, Chen Gushan, Zi Ying, Ho Linglong—all of them were compromised, none remaining unscathed, especially Yan Zhixing. Several times, when Lu Ye had moments to catch his breath, it was Yan who took the lead.

One could say that within the array, Lu Ye bore the greatest pressure, followed by Yan Zhixing. However, Yan's injuries were more severe because each time he took the lead, he faced Mad Lion head-on!

Persisting tenaciously, the Black Tortoise Array granted those in the array a barely sufficient capability to contend with Dao Harmony forces and represented their hope for survival.

But such perseverance can only stretch so far.

After the array formed, barely twenty breaths later, Mad Lion struck again with a powerful attack, sweeping through the array with ferocious force, rapidly weakening its tightly bound energies.

In the depths of everyone's hearts, there sounded a noise akin to something breaking...

The array was broken!

Six figures scattered and flew out uncontrollably, their faces filled with an unwillingness that faded in an instant. Immediately, they urged their powers to stabilize themselves and connected their dispersed energies back to Lu Ye, attempting to reform the array!

But in the next moment, a wave of cold swept over their bodies and minds.

Because, behind Yan Zhixing, a tall and sturdy figure suddenly appeared, delivering a punch.

"No!" Ho Linglong screamed in terror.

Yan Zhixing's body abruptly froze, halted on the spot, then lowered his head to look at the fist protruding from his chest, clutching a beating heart.

"Ugh..." Blood mingled with fragments of organs spewed forth from Yan Zhixing's mouth.

The large hand clenched forcefully, shattering the heart, then slowly retracted!

Yan Zhixing's face turned pale as paper, his entire body went limp, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed, and just as it was about to go out, a raging flame suddenly reignited.

He raised his hands, fiercely grabbing the fist that was being retracted, lifted his head, and roared furiously, "Quick..."

His expression abruptly froze.

He saw Chen Gushan with a cold look on his face, spear in hand, charging in.

He saw Ho Linglong spinning lotus flowers beside her, eyes red, closely following behind Chen Gushan.

He also saw Zi Ying and Lu Ye advancing together, bleeding, closing the distance rapidly.

"...escape."

When Yan Zhixing finally uttered those words, he knew it was futile. Not only would these two old friends never abandon him, but the two young ones had also shown the determination to fight the enemy to the death.

Even though the opponent was in Dao Harmony, exhibiting power that made them despair, an unbeatable foe.

Yan Zhixing suddenly smiled.

This life, it's been worth it!

His power suddenly became violent; he evidently wanted to unleash a secret technique akin to self-destruction. Yet Mad Lion didn't grant him this opportunity, kicking him away effortlessly.

Chen Gushan and Ho Linglong charged in, lotus flowers danced, with powerful magic and spells bombarding Mad Lion, unable to break through his defenses.

Under the cover of magic and spells, Chen Gushan thrust his spear like a dragon. But Mad Lion merely raised a hand, sending him flying like a ragdoll. The desperate fight of this top-tier warrior in Banlan, at this moment, seems as futile as an ant.

Simultaneously, Mad Lion flicked his finger, sending a thin beam of light towards Ho Linglong, piercing straight through her body.

Ho Linglong flew away upon impact.

"Die!"

Following closely behind Chen Gushan and Ho Linglong, Lu Ye and Zi Ying charged in, attacking from both sides.

When Boulder Mountain Saber fell, it not only failed to penetrate Mad Lion's defenses but also left Lu Ye's arm numb from the counterforce. Seeing Mad Lion's fist approaching, at the critical moment, Talent Tree Avatar suddenly appeared in front, blocking the blow.

The avatar shattered once more, while Lu Ye was blasted far away by the aftermath of the strike, his body wracked with intense pain, feeling as if he were falling apart. The repeated confrontations with Mad Lion while maintaining the array had already inflicted heavy injuries on him; this strike made them even more severe.

The place he had just occupied, Dark Butterfly eerily remained, soul power surging, thrusting a longsword towards Mad Lion.

However, Mad Lion merely shot a glance over, and the soul body instantly froze in place.

Faced with such a powerful adversary as Mad Lion, a soul body without the protection of physical form was thoroughly restrained.

Mad Lion raised a hand to grasp at Dark Butterfly, intending to end her life with this grab!

Yet at this critical moment, Zi Ying thrust out a spear, simultaneously pulling Dark Butterfly slightly.

Blood splattered, Zi Ying was stunned.

Because her spear had actually pierced through Mad Lion's protective force, directly skewering him!

She never expected to succeed, because the prowess Mad Lion had displayed before was overwhelmingly powerful, absolutely crushing to everyone present. How could such a foe be injured?

Mad Lion threw another punch, but compared to the previous one, its power was undoubtedly much weaker.

Zi Ying dared not confront it head-on, hastily dodging to retreat.

The sudden exchanges were dizzyingly fast, quick as rabbits and sly as fish, leaving everyone present severely injured. Only Zi Ying remained in the best condition.

Even Mad Lion was injured.

Lu Ye and the others barely maintained their stance, staring blankly at Mad Lion with eyes full of confusion and caution.

No one dared to act rashly again.

The once noisy battlefield suddenly quieted down.

Mad Lion lowered his head to examine his wounds, then raised his hand with a slight sigh: "Time's up..."

No one understood what he meant by that, but the next moment something unbelievable happened.

A phantom suddenly emerged from Mad Lion's body, not Mad Lion at all, but another beast race figure, judging by the beast transformation traces, it seemed to belong to the hound tribe.

As he took steps, his figure became increasingly faint, as if being repelled by some mysterious force from this space.

His gaze shifted and finally landed on Lu Ye: "I'm waiting for you in the inner world, the resentment of Edgeless City won't be forgiven just like that."

After saying that, he bizarrely disappeared, even though Lu Ye and the others were closely observing, they did not see how he vanished.

This scene left everyone bewildered.

"Ah..." a heartbreaking scream suddenly resonated like a lion's roar, but it was Mad Lion's voice. At this moment, he seemed to be enduring great pain, and his flesh suddenly started rupturing, originally a bloodied figure, now in an even more dire state.

Furthermore, the aura from him that once felt towering was now abruptly diminished, growing steadily weaker.

He finally regained his senses, eyes reflecting terror, and turned to flee.

However, a figure already blocked his path—it was Lu Ye, using nimble maneuvers.

Lu Ye was in poor condition, but comparatively, Mad Lion seemed worse.

He looked at Lu Ye with fear and caution, his robust face showing a hint of weakness, and spoke with a rough voice: "Fellow Daoist, spare me, Edgeless City bears no grudges against you all, everything before was a misunderstanding, I can plead with Moon Howl Ancestor for you."

Lu Ye scrutinized him carefully, slowly coming to a realization: "So, you're not Dao Harmony at all!"

Mad Lion was stunned: "Fellow Daoist, you're wise; this city... I'm indeed not Dao Harmony, earlier it was merely the ancestor borrowing my body to display supreme might."

So that's how it is!

The Specter Slayer mentioned the trump card before, and it turns out to be this.

Lu Ye and the others had always believed Mad Lion achieved breakthrough to Dao Harmony during battle, but now it seems he was nowhere near Dao Harmony, it's merely that so-called ancestor Moon Howl descended, using his physical body to wield Dao Harmony power.

And such descent should have been just a projection of partial power.

As for the true extent of Moon Howl's actual strength, and how Mad Lion managed to summon such a trump card, it's beyond Lu Ye's knowledge.

Looking at it now, it's likely after the protective array of Edgeless City was broken, Mad Lion knew he wasn't an opponent, so he hid away and used certain methods to summon his ancestor.

That's why throughout the chaos at Edgeless City, Mad Lion's trace was entirely unseen.

And this ancestor Moon Howl must be a powerful figure rising from Edgeless City.

It makes sense; Edgeless City stood for countless years, throughout such time how could Dao Harmony not have been born? Only, Dao Harmony is not at Edgeless City, but somewhere else.

No wonder Mad Lion was under such immense pressure before; projecting Dao Harmony's power onto a Dao Fusion body—Mad Lion, even as beast race—simply couldn't handle it, and with everyone forming an array against it, Mad Lion's pressure grew even greater.

One might say, Mad Lion's pressure was no less than Lu Ye's, possibly even much greater.

Until this pressure exceeded Mad Lion's limits, the projection of Moon Howl could no longer maintain, and throughout the fight, everyone's resistance and opposition greatly shortened Moon Howl's arrival time.

Zi Ying's last strike made it impossible for Moon Howl to maintain anymore, and the defenses were breached.

Understanding this filled Lu Ye's heart with relief.

Fortunately, Mad Lion did not breakthrough on the battlefield, otherwise, this time would have been truly troublesome, also fortunate they formed the Black Tortoise Array to hold on for so long...

"Where is the inner world?" Lu Ye did not immediately kill Mad Lion; first is to understand Moon Howl's matter, second is to ask about this so-called inner world.

Moon Howl's parting words deeply concerned him; having forged such deep grudges with Edgeless City this time is surely irreconcilable, being targeted by a genuine Dao Harmony is indeed worrisome, Lu Ye must take preventative measures.

"The inner world is a deeper part of Star Abyss, corresponding to the outer world, which is where we are now..." Mad Lion hurriedly explained.

Lu Ye suddenly recalled, at the very beginning when Moon Howl descended, he seemed to mutter something about the outer world, but at that moment, he was concentrating on guiding everyone to form the array and had no time to pay attention.