The dragon breath was razor-sharp. Before it even struck, Wu Yihai felt his face sting as though pierced by needles.
His heart lurched with horror. There was no time to dodge.
Clang!
A crisp ring of metal meeting metal, and a small golden circular shield materialized before Wu Yihai at the critical moment between life and death.
The sword-light dragon breath slammed into the golden shield. In the blink of an eye it tore through, then continued onward toward Wu Yihai's face with undiminished force.
But that moment of blocking by the golden shield had bought him precious time to survive.
He was, after all, a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal with a modest reputation in the Eastern Sea. With a low shout, he unleashed a Transformation Path mortal move.
A flash of light, and Wu Yihai vanished from where he stood, replaced by a colossal turtle.
The giant turtle's four limbs, head, and tail were all tucked tightly inside its shell.
The sword-light dragon breath struck the shell and instantly carved a long, deep gash.
"Terrifying dragon breath! My transformation into the Horned Divine Turtle — an ancient desolate beast whose carapace ranks among the top ten hardest in the Eastern Sea — and it still left such a mark!" Wu Yihai's mind shook. "The enemy this time is far stronger than any of the previous ambushes. Now it all depends on Uncle Zhang and Brother Leng."
Wu Yihai was a Transformation Path Gu Immortal, but the Horned Divine Turtle he had transformed into was enormous. It moved at a decent speed in the sea, but on land it was countless times slower.
Its combat power had dropped correspondingly. All Wu Yihai could leverage was the Horned Divine Turtle's formidable defense.
High defense, low offense — Wu Yihai had survived, but he had completely lost any initiative on the battlefield.
He certainly had other means to shift into different forms. But one must not forget the major drawback of a Transformation Path Gu Immortal:
They could not transform freely at will. Between different forms, there had to be a set interval. A Gu Immortal first had to thoroughly purge all the temporary Dao marks from his body before he could transform again.
Fang Yuan, who possessed the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu, was a special case. He had even been mistaken by Qi Zai as having obtained the true inheritance of the Barbarian Demon Venerable, able to shift forms at will.
So after Wu Yihai transformed into the Horned Divine Turtle, he had saved his life. But for the short term, he was incapable of launching any decent counterattack.
Yet Wu Yihai did not panic.
He knew that beside him were two powerful Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals.
One was Uncle Zhang. The other was Brother Leng. Although Wu Yihai still did not know their full names, he knew both had been dispatched by his mother specifically to escort him to the Southern Border — and they were exceptional fighters.
Along the way, these two Gu Immortals had demonstrated formidable combat ability. They were very reliable, helping Wu Yihai cut his way through several ambushes.
Wu Yihai placed his hopes on Uncle Zhang and Brother Leng — but Uncle Zhang was vomiting blood.
He had no choice but to vomit blood.
Because his golden shield had been shattered by that sword-light dragon breath.
This was Uncle Zhang's defensive mortal move. Once broken, the backlash was inevitable, and he immediately coughed up a mouthful of crimson blood.
Like Wu Yihai, Uncle Zhang was deeply shaken.
"Inside this miasma barrier wall, any immortal move is weakened by the miasma. And yet this sword-light dragon breath punched through the miasma, shattered my golden shield, and still left a mark on the Horned Divine Turtle's shell — just how powerful must that dragon breath be?!"
Uncle Zhang was coughing blood while Brother Leng lunged forward.
Their coordination was seamless.
The young Gu Immortal surnamed Leng knew that Uncle Zhang's defensive move had been broken and he needed time to recover his breath.
He charged with ferocious momentum.
In an instant, his human form shifted into that of a Thunder Fur Giant Wolf.
The Thunder Fur Giant Wolf was an ancient desolate beast. Its entire coat was blue, and the tips of its fur had crystallized into a peculiar blue crystal that emitted a faint electric glow.
The moment the Thunder Fur Giant Wolf appeared, it illuminated the dark purple miasma.
It raced forward along the tunnel carved by the dragon breath.
Four claws dug into the ground. The mighty wolf's muscles bulged with power, granting the Leng-surnamed Gu Immortal tremendous speed.
As it charged, countless electric serpents surged from the Thunder Fur Giant Wolf's body.
The electric serpents coalesced into a single stream, arcing over the giant wolf's head and shooting forward.
This was the Leng-surnamed Gu Immortal activating an immortal move.
Seeing this, Uncle Zhang's heart immediately steadied.
After a few breaths, he forced down the injuries within his body, and a dazzling brilliance erupted from his entire form.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a golden saber-toothed tiger, twice the size of the Thunder Fur Giant Wolf.
So it turned out he, too, was a Transformation Path Gu Immortal.
This was, of course, Wu Duxiu's deliberate arrangement.
Because the environment of the Five Regions' barrier walls was highly peculiar. When crossing a barrier wall, all paths were equal. But if combat broke out within one, Transformation Path Gu Immortals usually held the advantage.
Every time a Gu Immortal used an immortal move inside a barrier wall, it triggered tremors in their immortal apertures — harming oneself before the enemy.
But if a Gu Immortal transformed into a beast and fought with pure physical force, this drawback was avoided entirely, granting far more sustained combat capability.