Chapter 149: Attack and Defense, Naturally Intertwined

"It doesn't matter who I am. I'm telling you now, I can only give you one minute at most to kill that Gold-ranked Level 7 Blood Scythe Demon, or we'll all die here." The mysterious beauty said this calmly, as if it was something natural.

"Pretty lady, you know that's a Gold-ranked Level 7 Demon, right? I'm not God, how can I beat it within one minute?" Yue Yang expressed his helplessness in this situation.

"Do you want to swap and fight the Marquis of Zi Jin instead?" The mysterious beauty was extremely democratic, giving Yue Yang the freedom to choose.

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"Ah... I guess I'll go take down that damned Blood Scythe Demon then." Yue Yang knew that the Marquis of Zi Jin was harder to handle than the Blood Scythe Demon. The more terrifying thing was that the Marquis of Zi Jin knew how to teleport. Once his guard was up, it would be extremely difficult to kill him. If Yue Yang were to fight him, it would probably end up with either the Marquis of Zi Jin chasing after Yue Yang to attack him with his [Heavy Palm], or Yue Yang chasing after the Marquis of Zi Jin to attack him with his Innate Sword Qi. He would definitely not be able to defeat him.

"I'll give you a minute. Take out the Blood Scythe Demon, then come over and help me." The mysterious beauty set up this impossible mission for Yue Yang.

"Okay. Then what about that ugly beast?" Yue Yang pointed towards the other Silver-ranked bat-winged monster with a jackal head.

"Take it out while passing through." The mysterious beauty gave this terrific job to Yue Yang.

"That can be done very easily. However, if you are willing to give me a kiss, I believe that the process would definitely be much simpler." However, before Yue Yang could finish his sentence, the mysterious beauty had already had a foot on his butt, kicking his entire body towards the Marquis of Zi Jin.

A bit of sword qi seemed to break out from the golden brilliance in Yue Yang's hands.

The Marquis of Zi Jin's expressions darkened but did not face the attack head-on.

With a flick of his whip, his figure vanished and he re-appeared ten metres away. Although the sneak attack that was coordinated by the mysterious beauty and Yue Yang was very sudden, to the Marquis of Zi Jin, who could control space, it was not even a threat.

Of course, Yue Yang and the mysterious beauty who knew about this only used it as a feint. The objective was to push the Marquis of Zi Jin back.

Their true target was the Blood Scythe Demon.

At the same time, the mysterious beauty flashed right above the head of the Blood Scythe Demon. With a light touch of her hand, a frost storm that was far colder than Xue Tan Lang's tornado was summoned. Even more mysteriously, the impact from her attack on the area behind the Blood Scythe Demon's heart that she had hit before, only started to show its effects now. Under the echoes of the frost storm, the place where she had attacked before turned into a continuously growing and freezing piece of ice with unparalleled power. In the end, even the flames on the body of the Blood Scythe Demon were sealed up in the ice...

Yue Yang realised that the ice sealing ability that the mysterious beauty had was much stronger than Lich Suo Ge's Demon Crystal Ice Spirit Orb.

The Gold-ranked Level 7 Reaper Mantis was not a fire-element beast. This Blood Scythe Demon, on the other hand, which was also a Gold-ranked Level 7 beast, was actually a fire-element demon.

Her ice could still freeze it solid. From this, it could be seen how terrifying her ability was. Yue Yang figured that her power were already far above the borders of his own imagination. Compared to the other ice cube guy Xue Tan Lang, this mysterious beauty's freezing power was at a much higher level. She also concealed it much better. Yue Yang did not think that her move, which was a momentary burst of an ambush, would have such a high efficiency.

However, his amazement would remain only as amazement.

Yue Yang's reaction was not slow at all.

Currently, it was a matter of life and death. Yue Yang had no room to care about hiding his strength now. The Gold-ranked Level 5 Bloody Queen was instantly summoned. With a single scream, she shocked the ugly beast, causing it to be completely disoriented. At the same time, her Dragon-Slaying Dagger penetrated deeply into the back of the ugly beast's head.

The Barbaric Cow Shadow pulled the leg of the Blood Scythe Demon, and smashed it brutally on top of a rock.

With fragments of ice scattering, Yue Yang flew downwards as if he was dancing. He abandoned his Hui Jin Magic Blade which was blazing with purple flames, and used the Golden Armour Puppet's giant club instead. He aimed straight between the two horns on the forehead of the Blood Scythe Demon and used all of his might to swing the club downwards. Suddenly, without any warnings, the Marquis of Zi Jin appeared behind Yue Yang and struck Yue Yang's back with his [Heavy Palm]. He had been waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack too... The mysterious beauty crashed into Yue Yang's arms and she swapped their positions ingeniously. Using her back, she forcibly withstood the [Heavy Palm] strike that the Marquis of Zi Jin delivered as she cried out delicately.

Unexpectedly, the one who was jolted into midair was actually the Marquis of Zi Jin, whose palm could probably even split rocks into half...

As for the mysterious beauty's back, the clothes around the area where the palm had struck instantly turned into powder and was scattered by the wind, causing a huge patch of snow-white skin to be exposed.

Yue Yang knew that this was her trying to buy some time for him. He violently shouted, his full power exploding. His Innate Qi violently shot out like a sword, with a strength that was several times stronger than the usual! A golden light in the shape of a sword that was almost half a metre long drilled into the forehead of the Blood Scythe Demon, whose forehead was slightly concave after suffering from the heavy blow previously. After that, Yue Yang spiralled his finger, turning the insides of the Blood Scythe's Demon head into a mess.

When Yue Yang was using all of his power to kill off the Blood Scythe Demon, the Marquis of Zi Jin was also using his full power to pounce and kill the mysterious beauty.

The Marquis of Zi Jin could see that although the masked boy was proficient in both attack and defense, he was most suited towards attacking.

On the other hand, although the mysterious beauty was proficient in both as well, she was more suited for defending. If it was a one-on-one against either of them, they would not be his match at all. However, with the two of them cooperating to fight against him, their combined battle power would increase by ten times, making them extremely difficult to handle. So, he had to kill off one of them first... This masked boy was hard to kill. He had a [Binding] Inherent Skill, if he were to try and kill him forcefully, it would be easy for him to counterattack.

The mysterious beauty was even harder to kill, but she had a fatal flaw.

She had to use her body to protect the masked boy, to cover for him so that he could kill the Blood Scythe Demon.

Now, he could not think of anything else. The most important thing to do now was to kill off this mysterious lady thief. Without her powerful battle intuition and almost unexplainable defense, this battle's victory would be his.

The Marquis of Zi Jin moved. His whip was like a poisonous python biting towards the mysterious beauty's head.

A whizzing sound was heard after the whip struck.

The speed was so fast that one could not see the flashing whip at all.

The mysterious beauty used her body to protect Yue Yang who was wildly attacking, without moving back a step at all. Then, a lovable shout was heard as a ripple scattered out from her body, eliminating the shockwaves of the whip, then sending it back with ten times its strength. This was the power of her elemental-type beast "Countercurrent". Along with "Evil Spirit Breeze" and the two other beast she had, they were her four great beasts.

The Marquis of Zi Jin immediately let go of his whip.

Just now, he was enticing the enemy to attack him. The objective was to let the enemy's beast act beforehand. After this, he would use his [Thunder Heavy Palm] to deliver a fatal blow.

As long as there was no assistance from [Countercurrent] who could eliminate and send back the power, the mysterious beauty would be eliminated without a trace if his attack hits..

"Ayaya!"

The Bloody Queen who was in midair pounced downwards rapidly. Her banshee scream exploded right above the Marquis of Zi Jin.

However, the banshee scream that could cause the Demon Commander Ma Li Ang to faint did not have much of an effect on the Marquis of Zi Jin. With a whirl of his left arm, the Marquis of Zi Jin threw his fist backwards, creating a cold wind from his swift fists as he sent the Bloody Queen flying. His right hand had continued to execute his [Heavy Palm], inching closer to the mysterious beauty's head.

What he wanted was to kill her in one blow.

Yue Yang originally wanted to go back and save her, but the mysterious beauty elbowed him and warned him not to lose concentration.

She then held her hand high up. All of her fingers released streaks of white lightning, and with a boom, they landed on the Marquis of Zi JIn.

The Marquis of Zi Jin had vanished.

He had fled a hundred metres away, and his chest was heaving.

His sneak attack had failed and he was even hit by the mysterious beauty's lightning. This could really be called going for wool and coming home shorn*. The Marquis of Zi Jin was a little dishevelled. His left hand that he had used to block the attack was now charred black and smoking. It was obvious that the mysterious beauty's lightning strike was much stronger than him, and it was not easy to receive.

(Shiro: Chinese idiom - trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it)

"Do it again! Shock him until he can't recognise his grandmother!" Yue Yang was very happy.

"Don't bother about me!" The mysterious beauty was angry.

Her form swayed slightly. It seemed like the consumption of spiritual qi in her body was significant. Under the consecutive rounds of fierce fighting, she was quickly reaching her limit.

Yue Yang madly swiped towards the Blood Scythe Demon's heart and head, but this Blood Scythe Demon's body was extremely abnormal. Even though it was completely frozen, had its head blown off, its demon crystal pierced into pieces by his Innate Sword Qi and the Dragon Slaying Dagger piercing through its heart, it still didn't die. Not only that, it continued to recover as well. If it was allowed to recover and continue to fight, combined with the Marquis of Zi Jin's sneak attacks, this battle would be extremely dangerous.

Yue Yang found out that the Marquis of Zi Jin did not care whether the Blood Scythe Demon lived or died. The weird thing was that it wasn't even a Guardian Beast. Yue Yang suddenly had a bad premonition.

It's a trap!

Using normal methods, it might not be possible to kill off this Blood Scythe Demon...

He carried the mysterious beauty on his back, and tied her with a long ribbon, tying her sweet body tightly against his back.

Originally, Yue Yang wanted to use this move to protect Yue Bing. He did not think that he would have to use it on this mysterious beauty who was a stranger. Seeing that the Blood Scythe Demon who could not be killed and had abnormal recovery powers, he instantly fled... If it was under normal circumstances, the last stratagem of the 36 Stratagems, "If all fails, retreat", would probably work under Yue Yang's feet, whose movement was as slippery as oil.

(Shiro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-Six_Stratagems#If_all_else_fails.2C_retreat

However, he just had to meet the Marquis of Zi Jin who could control space. After running over a dozen of metres, not only did he not succeed in escaping, he had even defeated his purpose of fleeing, falling towards the edge of the volcano.

The Marquis of Zi Jin seemed like he was laughing, yet he was not. He looked at him, completely ignoring Yue Yang's attempt to flee.

The Blood Scythe Demon who had suffered serious injuries painfully crawled back up.

Its wounds were recovering quickly.

Seeing that this was not turning out well, he quickly called the Barbaric Cow Shadow and the Bloody Queen back into the summoning grimoire.

Although his repeated blows had greatly shaved off the Blood Scythe Demon's battle power, trying to kill this Blood Scythe Demon that has an incredibly strong recovery power was something that Yue Yang could not do. Yue Yang could not do it now, unless he could use a long sword qi to shatter that Blood Scythe Demon's body that could not be penetrated other than using the Dragon Slaying Dagger.

It was completely impossible to kill this weird Blood Scythe Demon via normal methods.

"You have to use plant-type beasts to defeat the Blood Scythe Demon. Do you have any strong plant-type beasts?" The mysterious beauty asked in an exhausted tone.

"Yes, but you might be disappointed if I say it. The plant-type beast that I can summon is only the Thorny Flower, and it's only a Level 1." The mysterious beauty was speechless. What could a Level 1 Thorny Flower do?

Even though Yue Yang tried his best to play it down, the Marquis of Zi Jin had a premonition of danger.

A ranker's intuition told him that he could not let this masked boy summon his Thorny Flower, otherwise it would be disastrous.

It was a great lesson in the history of the Demon Abyss. Although the warriors of the Soaring Dragon Continent may have already forgotten about it, but in the Demon Abyss, any intelligent life form could still remember it vividly. There was once a single Thorny Flower, that was looked down upon by everyone, who had completely annihilated two Blood Prison Demon Kings and five thousand of the most elite soldiers of the Devil Army...

Hearing that this fellow's plant-type summoned beast was a Thorny Flower, and feeling that he still had energy left to spare, the Marquis of Zi Jin quickly teleported nervously and brought down his demon whip on Yue Yang's face.

When Yue Yang dodged, the Marquis of Zi Jin exploded. He did not conceal his power anymore, and used his greatest power. At the same time, he used his strongest equipment to deal the most powerful blow.

The Demon King's Trident appeared in his hands.

This Demon King's Trident which was clad in the black flames of hell, holding a terrifying amount of demonic qi, was thrust at an extreme speed towards Yue Yang.

The mysterious beauty on Yue Yang's back used Breeze to teleport out, wanting to protect Yue Yang with her body.

However, Yue Yang would never let a lady die for him. He used his legs and kicked her little butt away. With his left hand, he met the Demon King's Trident, risking the danger of getting pierced by it as he rushed towards it. The Innate Sword Qi on his right hand gathered to become a sword, shining with golden brilliance... This was a move that put his life on the line. Yue Yang was prepared to use this move against the Marquis of Zi Jin's and kill each other... Whoever could survive in the end would be the final victor.

The Marquis of Zi Jin's heart shook. He felt that this masked boy was indeed ferocious enough.

Amongst other humans, there really wasn't anyone as fierce as him.

When Yue Yang pounced over to fight him, the Marquis of Zi Jin roared, not budging a single inch. He raised his Demon King's Trident towards Yue Yang's chest and thrust towards it...

He was determined to fight to the bitter end.

If even humans could stake their life in a fight, how could the rankers from the Demon Abyss show their weakness?

Who would emerge victorious?

That would have to depend on whose final attack was stronger, and who was more tenacious.