"It's only the first earthly tribulation, and having so many desolate beasts and snow monsters was already bad enough, but now an Ancient Ruins Bat has appeared too..." Fang Yuan gazed upward, his face twisted with bitterness.
The Ancient Ruins Bat was enormous. Its colossal shadow blanketed Fang Yuan along with countless snow monsters.
In an instant, the howling winds and driving snow subsided.
The snow monsters ceased their howls and roars, all craning their necks to stare up at the domineering beast reigning over the sky.
"Before leaving Langya Blessed Land, I used a Fortune Path killer move to greatly boost my current fortune. And throughout this tribulation, I've been constantly activating Dog Shit Luck Immortal Gu without rest. With such fortune, the earthly tribulation's power should have been significantly reduced. Even so, this tribulation is still this brutal!"
Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay focused.
The Ancient Ruins Bat traced an elegant arc through the sky, its mountainous body crashing down toward Fang Yuan like an avalanche.
In that moment, its oppressive might was unmatched. Even the air was compressed, pressing down with suffocating weight.
Sword Path Killer Move — Sword Wave Triple Surge!
With no path of retreat, Fang Yuan could only charge forward. He activated the third sword strike with savage determination.
Crash!
A thunderous roar erupted.
The sword waves around him surged from stillness into violent motion, churning and boiling as they whipped up countless sprays of foam.
Every spray shone with a dazzling silver-white radiance, razor-sharp beyond measure, their destructive force terrifying.
The great waves surged heavenward, spreading apart in midair to form a blade of water stretching several miles long. It slammed into the Ancient Ruins Bat with tremendous force.
The Ruins Bat made not a sound, simply shattering the wave-front with its body.
Fang Yuan thrust both palms forward. With another crash, he unleashed a second great wave.
This second wave was even more massive than the first, stretching over ten miles. The crests were adorned with countless silver-white foam, blazing with brilliance, radiating a palpable sense of danger.
Where the sword waves passed, everything was purified. The thick snowfall was instantly swept away, and even the air itself seemed to be cleaved apart.
Clearly, this was an area-of-effect killer move.
At its core was the Seventh Transformation Wave Sword Immortal Gu, supplemented by several Water Path Immortal Gu — Gu that Fang Yuan had borrowed from the Langya Earth Spirit.
The second sword wave collided with the Ruins Bat.
The bat's descent momentarily faltered, and simultaneously it let out a howl as if venting pain.
The sword waves didn't linger long. After they quickly receded, Fang Yuan could see that the Ancient Ruins Bat's body was covered in deep sword marks.
Under normal circumstances, a Ruins Bat would sense danger to its life and proactively retreat. Unfortunately, this particular Ancient Ruins Bat was not a true creature of flesh and blood — it was formed by the earthly tribulation itself. Despite these wounds, it didn't pause for even a moment and continued its dive, determined to kill Fang Yuan.
The Ruins Bat was a Space Path monster. In its presence, Fang Yuan's Sword Escape Immortal Gu was nearly useless.
The space around Fang Yuan had been distorted by the Ruins Bat's power. What looked like a step or two of distance would actually require hundreds, even thousands of steps to traverse.
Blindly dodging was the worst possible strategy. Although the Ruins Bat's flight speed was slow, its Space Path power equally restricted Fang Yuan's speed.
Only through confrontation — meeting attack with attack and destroying the source — was there hope of victory!
Fortunately, Sword Wave Triple Surge could unleash three successive waves, each more powerful than the last.
The third wave!
The sword wave rose to a height of ten feet, surging toward the Ancient Ruins Bat with the force of collapsing mountains and overturning seas. The thunderous roar of the waves echoed between heaven and earth. The foam burst forth with piercing sword light, blindingly brilliant, making even Fang Yuan — its very creator — feel his entire body tighten as cold dread rose in his heart.
Boom!
The sword wave and the Ruins Bat collided violently.
The Ancient Ruins Bat's dive came to an abrupt halt. It threw its head back and opened its mouth, releasing a howl of intense agony.
The sword wave engulfed its abdomen, seeping through the existing wounds and consuming its flesh with ferocious intensity. In the end, only the thinnest thread of water barely pierced through the bat's back.
Thud.
A muffled impact. Great chunks of flesh tore away from the Ancient Ruins Bat's body and scattered in every direction.
Shorn by the third sword wave, the Ancient Ruins Bat instantly "slimmed down." Its colossal frame became strikingly slender.
The terrifying pressure it had radiated — like a mountain bearing down from above — had completely dissipated.
Fang Yuan felt light and free throughout his entire body. The invisible Space Path force that had been distorting the space around him had vanished without a trace.
The grievously wounded Ancient Ruins Bat, like a kite with its string cut, drifted and swayed for a moment before crashing heavily into the ground.
A tremendous impact sent snow flying in all directions.
"It's dead!" Joy surged in Fang Yuan's heart. Then, without warning, his expression changed drastically.
Vast quantities of enlightenment, like a waterfall cascading from the heavens, poured directly into the depths of his consciousness.
This influx of insight far exceeded the sum of everything that had come before.
In an instant, it shattered Fang Yuan's self-awareness entirely.