Chapter Ninety-Eight: Wounding the Wolf-Lion Beast

Upon hearing his master’s command, the wolf-lion beast fixed its fierce gaze on Wang Qingjie ahead, blue fire glimmering in its eyes. It was waiting for the moment Wang Qingjie let down his guard so it could blast him with a burst of sinister wind and send him to keep company with his fallen warhorse.

Wang Qingjie kept his eyes locked on those ghostly blue eyes and on the monstrous jaws, where ivory-white fangs flashed from within the gaping maw. At the same time, he moved swiftly back and forth, left and right, searching for an opening to drive the crescent blade in his hand into the beast’s mouth, then deeper into its throat.

“Earlier, when I tried to stab its belly, I couldn’t get the blade in. The flesh inside its mouth can’t be harder than the skin on its stomach. With a weapon this sharp, I refuse to believe I can’t pierce its mouth,” Wang Qingjie thought as he made feints, hoping to lure the beast into taking the bait.

Zhu Hongxiu and He Xinzhou did the same, pacing back and forth without pause. Every now and then they exchanged glances, one of them making a false move and pretending to attack. The moment Yang Tianbao turned on the one who had shown the opening, the other would strike at once with a swift assault.

Yang Tianbao, astride the wolf-lion beast, lifted his iron hammers high in both hands. His pair of leopard eyes kept scanning left and right, fearing a sudden ambush from either opponent that might catch him off guard and leave him wounded.

From the stances and looks of Zhu Hongxiu and He Xinzhou, Yang Tianbao saw through their intention to use feints and real attacks in alternation. He gave a contemptuous smile. Since you mean to fight this way, why not turn your own trick back on you first and strike you before you strike me?

With that thought, he suddenly hurled the iron hammer in his left hand at Zhu Hongxiu. Before the left hammer had even fully left his grip, his right arm was already swinging toward Zhu Hongxiu as well.

He Xinzhou, seeing both hammers flying in sequence toward Zhu Hongxiu, immediately raised his heavenly halberd and sprang into the air, aiming a crushing blow at Yang Tianbao’s head.

Just as He Xinzhou’s halberd was still about three yards from Yang Tianbao’s head, the iron hammer in Yang Tianbao’s right hand, which had spun halfway around with his arm, suddenly reversed course and came crashing toward He Xinzhou in midair.

What was more, the hammer’s handle was divided into two sections, linked by an iron chain as thick as a finger. That allowed Yang Tianbao to hurl the weapon out to roughly a yard and then draw it back again.

He Xinzhou, leaping high into the air, had not expected the hammer to turn on him so suddenly. His face went ashen. In haste, he withdrew the halberd that had been about to smash into Yang Tianbao’s head and brought it across his chest to block the oncoming hammer.

With a thunderous clang, Yang Tianbao’s right-hand hammer struck He Xinzhou’s halberd. Though it did not hit He Xinzhou directly, the force was so immense that it hurled both He Xinzhou and his weapon backward some three yards, where they crashed to the ground.

On the other side, Zhu Hongxiu, seeing the hammer hurtling toward him, first assumed the handle was too short for the strike to reach him.

Only when he saw the chain trailing from the back of the weapon did he hurriedly cross his pair of golden whips before him and crouch down at once.

That was a close call. The moment Zhu Hongxiu crouched, the hammer struck the crossed golden whips and flew just over his helmet.

Zhu Hongxiu turned pale with fright.

Still, though the hammer had shaken him, his mind remained clear. Seeing it sail overhead, he knew that Yang Tianbao could never reel it back as fast as it had been sent out.

So before Yang Tianbao had time to recover the weapon, Zhu Hongxiu sprang up with both whips raised and, moving at five or six times his normal speed, leapt toward him, bringing the pair of golden whips down in a fierce strike.

“The left hammer hasn’t been recovered, the right one hasn’t either, and Zhu Hongxiu’s whips are about to smash down on my head,” Yang Tianbao thought rapidly. “Who would have imagined this brat could leap in so fast?”

Just as Zhu Hongxiu’s attack was about to land, Yang Tianbao suddenly threw his body backward. Then he hooked one foot around the stirrup, hanging himself off the side of the wolf-lion beast’s saddle so he would not tumble to the ground.

The instant he hung there, Zhu Hongxiu missed his target completely and crashed down not far from He Xinzhou.

He Xinzhou, who had been struck by one of Yang Tianbao’s hammers, struggled to his feet. A bloody taste surged up in his mouth, and with a cry he spat out a mouthful of blood.

As Zhu Hongxiu and He Xinzhou launched their attack on Yang Tianbao, Wang Qingjie also turned the battle to his advantage by using a feint from the east to strike from the west against the wolf-lion beast.

Because the beast was huge and had a thick neck, it could not turn its head very far when looking left and right. Since Yang Tianbao was also riding on its back and engaged in combat with the others, the beast was reluctant to move its body at all. It feared that any motion might disturb its master’s aim and ruin the accuracy of his attacks. Besides, its hide was so thick that ordinary blades could not cut through it, nor could they easily penetrate the skin. Under such conditions, moving about was unnecessary.

Because its neck was so thick and its turning range so limited, Wang Qingjie, in the midst of fighting this beast, saw that whenever it opened its jaws to blast him with sinister wind, he would dart to its side or slip beneath its neck.

The sinister wind it expelled shot straight forward. Thus, whenever Wang Qingjie saw its mouth open, he would swiftly move to the flank and slash at the beast’s gaping jaws with his crescent blade.

Though the blade struck the wolf-lion beast’s mouth, several of the fangs within it were set in the front and were hard as iron. Even when Wang Qingjie’s weapon landed on those teeth, it could do no more than spark off them.

For that reason, Wang Qingjie found it difficult to wound the beast.

In order to injure it, he kept searching for a way to thrust the crescent blade straight into its mouth from the front. Yet he feared that if he aimed too directly, the beast would blast him with its sinister wind.

So even now, Wang Qingjie had still not been able to harm it.

Seeing He Xinzhou vomit blood, Zhu Hongxiu hurried over to help him up, all the while watching Yang Tianbao and the wolf-lion beast.

Wang Qingjie also saw He Xinzhou coughing up blood and quickly called out, “General He, are you all right?” As he spoke, he saw the wolf-lion beast turn toward He Xinzhou and Zhu Hongxiu, apparently preparing to blast them with its sinister wind. At once, he leaped into the air, rising a good yard or two above the beast, and drove his crescent blade into its open mouth.

The wolf-lion beast, just about to unleash its sinister wind, suddenly felt a searing pain and let out a howl. It immediately clamped its jaws down on the blade lodged in its mouth, then violently shook its head. Wang Qingjie and his weapon were flung a yard or so away and crashed to the ground.

After shaking them off, the beast shut its mouth and began thrashing its head from side to side with all its strength, its howls ringing out again and again.

By then Yang Tianbao had already rolled back up from the beast’s flank. The instant he settled back into his seat, he saw that Wang Qingjie had driven the crescent blade into his mount’s mouth, and saw the beast howling and shaking its head. His heart sank.

Damn it. Every part of my mount covered in hide is as hard as iron. Only its eyes, ears, nose, and the flesh inside its mouth are soft enough for a sharp weapon to penetrate. From the way it is howling and shaking its head, it must be injured, and badly at that.