229 Chapter 228 Ambush and Containment (2 in 1)
The carriage moved forward slowly, after an unknown amount of time.
"Swoosh." A figure rose up in the sky from the left side of the mountains behind the carriage and flew in the other direction.
An hour later, the figure landed in the forest beneath a mountain.
"Master, the old slave believes it would be best to set up an ambush in this valley. This is the place they must pass through on their route back to Heaven Dou City, going around would take most of the day, so I don't think they would choose it."
"In addition, this place is surrounded by rocky mountains on both sides, with no forests or bushes around, so we can prevent those girls from utilizing the terrain to escape. On the other hand, we can stand at a high position and hide in a rock crevice or on the top of the mountain, which they will definitely not be able to see when they raise their heads. Besides, if we move now, we can definitely reach the valley before they enter it." After listening to the report from the Speed Clan's disciple, Tai Tan's eyes instantly brightened, looking down at the map on the stone surface and pointing his finger at a red cross that marked a place.
"Well, then start moving."
Tang Hao responded indifferently.
Soon, the silhouettes leapt up or soared, quickly dashing off in one direction.
When the crowd left, "Kiki." A magpie bird flew out from between the trees overhead and flew in another direction.
After a long flight, it eventually arrived over a carriage.
It slowly landed in the palm of Lin Manshan's hand, who had stopped the carriage to wait.
In a moment, it spread its wings again and flew away.
"Go!" With a soft shout, the carriage ran once again.
It wasn't until the sun was setting in the west, and the mountains could already be glimpsed in the sky ahead, that the carriage slowly stopped at a shady spot in the forest on the side.
Inside the carriage, Zhu Zhuyun, Zhu Zhuyu, and Shui Yue'er simultaneously stretched out their hands and placed them on Lin Manshan's back and shoulders.
Only when their faces gradually turned pale with the passage of time did they pull back.
Lin Manshan slightly turned his head and softly said, "Zhu Zhuyun, Zhu Zhuyu, Yue'er, next you three will wait here first."
"Well, you take extra care." The three of them nodded, and while instructing, they got up and followed Lin Manshan out of the carriage. At the same time, Shui Zilu and Bai Xue also followed out, the two of them just landed on their feet, then spread their wings behind them, and one flew away to the side.
Lin Manshan was sitting in the driver's seat, watching the three women walk into the forest, and then pulled the horse's reins and headed back to the road, continuing forward.
About half an hour later, when he looked up, there was a valley surrounded by mountains, the entrance was tens of meters wide, and the hills on both sides were also quite low.
However, as the line of sight continued to go deeper, the mountains gradually towered up, and the road began to become narrower.
And, the forest-covered dirt hills gradually turned into bare stone hills.
From afar, one could only vaguely see a few gnarled pines and Cupressus as well as a large area of low shrubs and weeds growing between the cracks in the rocks.
'Heh, it is indeed a natural ambush spot.' Feeling the more than a dozen souls on the tops of the mountains on both sides in front of him, Lin Manshan inwardly laughed coldly, but his complexion was calm as he paced the carriage to maintain an even speed. Gradually, the road became narrower, the widest position was less than twenty meters, and the mountains on both sides became extremely steep. The valley wind was pleasant, echoing a ghostly low whistle through the narrow crevices of the mountains.
The horse seemed to be startled by the sound, raising its head in panic and neighing.
At that moment, a horrifying aura erupted above his head, and Lin Manshan looked up and saw Tang Hao hovering in the midair directly above him, as well as a huge dark hammer more than ten meters long on top of his head. The moment he glimpsed it, it turned into streams of light and smashed down.
Even Clear Sky Nine Absolutes is used, he wants to kill me with a single blow. Lin Manshan frowned slightly.
"Tang Hao, how dare you!" With a stern shout, the curtain of the carriage rose slightly, and Dugu Bo bolted out of the carriage. "Martial Soul True Body!" Instantly transforming into a turquoise-coloured dragon and raising up, his palms were instantly tinted with glittering jade colour, featuring dragon scale-like patterns, his body twisting, swinging his fist in a peculiar posture to meet the giant hammer in the air.
Lin Manshan had long ago incorporated the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes Power Generating Technique into the Capturing the Dragon Technique, which he had also learned.
By using it in conjunction with Refining Jade Hands, both defence and strength would be greatly enhanced.
"Eighth Spirit Skill, Time Freeze."
On the way to flight, a semi-circular light curtain spread out, enveloping the shadow of the hammer above his head as much as possible, and Tang Hao's figure suddenly froze. Immediately, the dragon's head arrived, fist meeting hammer surface, "Boom!" An explosive sound came from the air, and a powerful air wave then swept away, instantly fracturing the mountains on both sides, rocks flying, and Tang Hao was also knocked back into the air, along with the hammer.
'Dugu Bo has actually broken through to level 94!?' Tang Hao was astonished.
If he failed to use the ring explosion, the level 94 Dugu Bo using the eighth spirit skill was already enough to control him for a short period of time.
Between his thoughts, the horse on the ground, which was originally scared by the might of Dugu Bo's martial soul and didn't dare to move, was startled on the spot by the sudden loud noise and stomped its legs.
With a harsh neighing sound, in just a blink of an eye, the horse passed through the area of falling rocks and ran wildly towards the front.
Seeing this, Dugu Bo immediately dashed to follow, waving poisonous mist while flying, blocking Tang Hao's line of sight.
"Stay for me." Tang Hao's eyes revealed a brilliant light, his tone was indifferent.
No matter how fast the carriage could move, how could it be faster than a Titled Douluo?
Between his thoughts, his feet stomped continuously, speeding up again, bypassing the poisonous fog and rushing straight in the direction of the carriage.
The carriage couldn't be faster than Tang Hao, of course, Dugu Bo knew it clearly and also knew that Tang Hao was making a sound, the real purpose was to force him to intercept, delaying him from catching up with the carriage, so that he could pull the distance apart, and make it convenient for Bai He and the Tai Tan to act.
"Damn it!" Feigning anger, he let out a low shout and twisted his body to strike a divine dragon swinging its tail 'skill'.
Tang Hao, who had already flown to the side, flung his hand to strike a hammer.
"Boom!" There was an explosion in the air again, and the horse in front ran even faster.
After all, Clear Sky Hammer was a weapon martial soul, and Tang Hao himself couldn't fly but relied on his strong cultivation to step in the air. Receiving the dragon tail whipped by Dugu Bo with all his strength, the spirit power under his feet which was maintaining the stepping in the air move was immediately a bit disturbed, and his body became unsteady, and he was inevitably shaken back a bit by the aftershock. On the other hand, Dugu Bo was also jolted by the Clear Sky Hammer and pushed to the side for some distance.
"Dugu Bo, today you will definitely die." Tang Hao snorted lightly, glancing at the carriage with his afterglow, which had already raced away, and raised the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand fiercely.
"Ring Explosion!" As the words fell, the spirit rings under his feet burst one after another, and his body's aura suddenly skyrocketed.
"With me in this state, your control will not be effective against me." His tone was disdainful and confident.
"Indeed, my spirit skill control is indeed difficult to take effect on the current you. However, my innate poison, do you dare to face it head-on?" Dugu Bo responded coldly.
"That big battle back then left you with a hidden wound in your body, don't think I can't see it."
"If you were the one who took that Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng, perhaps I would still be worried about you. But now that you are still injured, what do I have to fear!"
"With the strength of my innate poison, if you inhale just one breath of it, the hidden injuries in your body might flare up."
"Tang Hao, do you dare to gamble with your own life?"
"That depends on whether your poison is faster, or my Clear Sky Hammer is faster!" Tang Hao's eyes flickered.
Then, he turned into a black light and rushed straight towards Dugu Bo.
"Hahaha, well said." Dugu Bo laughed instead of being afraid, "Tang Hao, it's just perfect timing to borrow you to try out the results of my cultivation over the past two years, I also learned a few moves from my grandson-in-law." After saying that, his hands violently closed, and the originally huge martial soul's true body instantly compressed, and in just the blink of an eye, it shrunk back to the same size as Dugu Bo. In the next moment, the entire dragon's body merged into Dugu Bo's body.
"Take this!" With a loud cry, the clothes on his body exploded.
"This is?!" Tang Hao frowned.
Within his line of sight, Dugu Bo had a dragon horn on his head, vertical pupils in his eyes, the exposed upper half of his body, including his arms, was covered in dragon scales, and his hands as well as his exposed toes were all transformed into dragon claws. Behind him was a long dragon tail. His body was surrounded by a light turquoise mist, and the whole thing was suspended in the air, like a light cloud.
'Dragonization of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?'
There was a sudden guess in his heart.
"Tang Hao, from now on, all of my attacks will come with a poison attribute, I'd like to see how much you can dodge?" Dugu Bo bluffed in a cold voice.
His current form was the second stage of his martial soul's true body, the dragonized form.
He had named it himself.
When Lin Manshan learned that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul possessed the Dragonized talent, he observed the effects on Zhu Zhuyun, Dugu Yan, Shui Bing'er, and several other spirit masters who possessed beast martial souls after they had performed their martial soul possessions.
When a spirit master with a Beast Martial Soul activated his or her Martial Soul Possession, his or her body would have a certain degree of animalistic characteristics, such as a Cat Martial Soul, where his or her eyes would change to vertical pupils and grow a cat's tail. Rabbit martial soul, grow rabbit ears. And so on.
Some spirit masters will transform after awakening their martial arts souls and show their animalistic characteristics.
And it is an irreversible transformation.
In the Heaven Dou City Auction House, there were records of cat women and snake women being auctioned off, and all of them suffered such conditions.
In Lin Manshan's opinion, these were all manifestations of some kind of fusion between the spirit master and his or her martial soul.
Subsequently, Lin Manshan found him and had him manifest his martial soul's true body, and then asked a question.
Why is it that when a Beast Martial Soul Spirit Master activates his Martial Soul Possession, although his body will display beastly characteristics, the impact will be minimal and his main form will still be that of a human.
But as soon as the Martial Soul True Body manifested, the body must shift more towards the beast form?
For example, when it comes to bear martial soul, when you display the martial soul's true body, the body will expand several times, and the hair on the whole body will rise, almost identical to a real giant bear. In this way, although the physical attributes were enhanced, won't the overly large body size be a drawback?
When fighting, not only would the surface of the body that would receive blows increase dramatically, but the flexibility of being a human would also be greatly reduced.
Another example is the Dragon Martial Soul, if you really transformed into a dragon form, wouldn't you become a target? And the consumption of soul essence to maintain it would also increase greatly, which was obviously not a good deal.
So why couldn't one maintain the increase brought about by the martial soul's true form, but still have a form that is human-oriented?
So Lin Manshan guessed that perhaps this was a manifestation of the fact that the integration between the spirit master and the martial soul had not yet been perfected.
Martial Soul True Body might also have another form in which the Spirit Master realizes a high degree of fusion with the Martial Soul and even connects it with his or her own bloodline, achieving a form that returns to the basics and returns to the true self. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Dragonization Talent may be a manifestation of the spirit master himself, enveloping and expanding his bloodline, achieving a high degree of integration with his martial soul and achieving a fusion. Although the Martial Soul True Body hadn't been displayed, the effect was already visible.
If the first stage of the martial soul true body is an external manifestation, then the second stage is internalization.
After a Beast Martial Soul Spirit Master manifests his Martial Soul's true form, no matter what kind of beastly form he manifests, at the root of it all, it is still the energy of the Spirit Master himself that is producing the effect.
Exposing these energies and consuming them quickly and uncontrollably in battle, would not it be a waste?
Would it not be more beneficial to incorporate these energies back into the body and only use them when needed?
The increase brought about by the Martial Soul's true body remained unchanged, the strength of the attack was even higher, but it consumed less, and the body was more flexible. And so on.
When Lin Manshan initially proposed these ideas, he was shocked for a long time. However, Lin Manshan didn't have a Beast Martial Soul, so he couldn't experiment. However, he had been constantly experimenting, and after that, when Dugu Yan and Shui Bing'er had used the Martial Soul Fusion Skill to manifest their Martial Soul True Bodies in advance, and then used it to comprehend the ability to fly, it was considered to be a confirmation of this possibility all over again. Thus, he increased his research efforts.
After the successful condensation of the Poison Core in his body, his spirit power control made another breakthrough.
After returning to the academy, with just a small try, it sort of succeeded.
During those days, he felt as though even going to the toilet smelled good.
Between his thoughts, he glanced at Tang Hao with his afterglow, secretly thinking, Tang Hao, this form of me can last much longer than the normal martial soul true body state. Next, let's have some fun!
At that moment, Tang Hao swung the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand.
Dugu Bo's toes pointed in the air, and with a borrowed force under his feet, he directly drifted to avoid it.
Borrowing power in the air is still inferior to treading on the ground. Thinking like this, he quickly turned back and flew to the side of the mountain top, while flying, he thought, 'Clear Sky Hammer is after all a weapon martial soul, with a limited range of attack. Moreover, it is heavy and bulky, and with the Purple Haze pupil, the attack trajectory can be easily discerned. By utilizing the Blinking Steps on the ground, my speed will be faster than flying in the sky, and it won't be hard to avoid it.'
'Unless Tang Hao blows up his 100,000-year-old spirit ring, it's almost impossible to catch up with me.'
'Heh, you're holding me back, how am I not holding you back?'
'It's not like I'm a fool to engage in a hard fight. When Bai He and the Tai Tan are taken care of, let's see if we surround you or not and be done with it.'
On Bai He's side, he should have almost made his move, Tang Hao chased after him while glancing into the distance with his afterglow.
Then he turned back, inexplicably feeling suffocated inside, he felt that the current Dugu Bo was like a loach, all kinds of words were spoken, but he didn't fight head-on.
After changing form, his flexibility was also truly higher, and his entire body felt light and airy.
The lingering mist around his body should be poisonous mist, he really didn't dare to get too close. Moreover, the strike he dodged just now gave him a very strange feeling.
It was as if, Dugu Bo had predicted his strike in advance, that dodge was just too timely.
'If it wasn't for the fact that I have a hidden injury which makes it inconvenient to utilize my full strength, and I don't have the certainty of being able to do a one-strike kill...' He couldn't help but clench his teeth, 'Blowing up three spirit rings in a row is enough to hold Dugu Bo in check at this speed. With the strength of Tai Tan and Bai He, they should easily be able to take care of Lin Manshan and the others, when they bring the people over. I'll be able to find an opportunity to explode in strength to settle the fight.'
And just then, "Boom!" Another section of the valley suddenly burst with violent spirit power fluctuations.
Dugu Bo's face, whose feet had just landed on the stone wall, changed at the right time, and he hurriedly rushed there.
"Fourth Spirit Ring, Explosion!" Just as the words fell, Tang Hao's figure suddenly appeared on the stone wall up ahead.
"Dugu Bo, your speed is indeed amazing, but it's not enough to bypass me." With an indifferent face, he said.
"A dignified Clear Sky Douluo even carried out an interception, and also sent someone to bully the small with the big, it's really despicable!" Dugu Bo cursed loudly.
"It's useless to talk more." Tang Hao's tone was flat, and he swung his hammer to attack, extremely fast.
This time, Dugu Bo barely dodged it and continued to run.
Tang Hao sped up and struck from behind, which was dodged again, but Dugu Bo was also held back and could only dodge.
One was acting, and the other was truly worried that erupting too much strength at once would rapidly deplete the energy returning to himself after blowing up the ring, and at the same time cause the speed increase to weaken, or even cause the body to fall into weakness or induce hidden injuries.
The crux is, he still can't land a single hit.
Both sides immediately entered the slow rhythm of chasing you and catching up with me.
***
PS: Damn, the more I write, the more I expand plot points unintentionally. I will strive to write this battle faster.
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