The Golden Light Spell, one of the Eight Great Divine Spells of the Profound Gate, can manifest Golden Light using Qi to cover a cultivator's body, acting like a physical armor with powerful defense. The higher a cultivator's Realm and the purer their Qi, the stronger the defense. Furthermore, some powerful cultivators can use the Golden Light to shapeshift into various weapons for attack, making it a versatile skill for both offense and defense.
Di Yi Ye's Golden Light Spell was taught to him by the mysterious old man who found him. Of course, that wasn't the only method he taught him; there was also the Buddhist Golden Bell Shield, the Confucian Righteous Sword Qi, and even some Demonic Cultivator techniques. This once made Di Yi Ye doubt the old man's identity, but it also added to his mystique.
As Di Yi Ye cast the Golden Light Spell to cover his entire body, the Fire Mane Rat opened its mouth and spewed a stream of air that immediately ignited upon contact with the atmosphere. The flames were incredibly hot, causing a small tree about a Zhang Xu away to rapidly wither and char, demonstrating the terrifying nature of these flames.
However, Di Yi Ye, familiar with this tactic of the Fire Mane Rat, easily dodged the spewing flames. Instead of retreating, he advanced, gripping his Tang Heng Saber with both hands and thrusting it directly at the Fire Mane Rat's neck.
The Fire Mane Rat's belly rapidly deflated, and a more powerful stream of air appeared, quickly permeating the surrounding space for several Zhang. Di Yi Ye was also enveloped by this stream of air.
This stream of air was naturally not ordinary air but was expelled by the Fire Mane Rat using its Qi. The Fire Attribute Qi rapidly ignited upon encountering the air, engulfing an area of several Zhang in flames. The scorching flames seemed intent on burning everything to ashes. Under normal circumstances, a mortal like Di Yi Ye would be unable to withstand it.
Of course, that was the Fire Mane Rat's assumption. Di Yi Ye, covered head to toe in dense Golden Light, easily withstood the flames. Not even his clothes showed any signs of scorching, and his movements did not stop. He charged forward through the flames, his speed even faster than before.
As if it hadn't expected Di Yi Ye to survive in the scorching flames, the Fire Mane Rat sensed a figure rushing towards it from within the flames and felt a deep sense of dread. By then, it was too late. The Tang Heng Saber pierced directly into its neck and out through its body, and the stream of air it was expelling abruptly ceased.
Although the surrounding flames were still burning, they were now like a tree without roots and would soon be extinguished.
After killing the Fire Mane Rat, Di Yi Ye did not stop. His body spun rapidly, and the next moment he had leaped in front of another Fire Mane Rat. Before he even arrived, a sharp saber energy had already struck its abdomen. The intense pain caused it to instinctively leap backward, but the saber energy pursued like a persistent shadow, and at an even faster speed.
The intense pain caused the Fire Mane Rat's body to contort. It roared and spewed a ball of flames, but the flames were blocked by the Golden Light and could not harm Di Yi Ye. It could no longer move, for after the saber energy sliced through its mane, the long saber pierced through its body and directly into its heart.
The heart is the source of power and life for exotic beasts, second only to the Crystal Core within their heads. The Fire Mane Rat, with its heart directly pierced, suffered a more severe injury than having its neck penetrated. After a few twitches, it could no longer move.
Having killed these two Fire Mane Rats, Di Yi Ye let out a long sigh of relief. However, he knew it was not yet time to rest, as the Fire Mane Rat whose front leg had been shot was not far from him, not to mention the strongest Fire Mane Rat still in the deep pit.
Sticking his long saber into the ground, Di Yi Ye picked up the longbow beside him, drew the bow, and nocked an arrow. He unleashed the Consecutive Three Arrows once more. The Fire Mane Rat, already hampered in its movement, was immediately shot in the neck and body, then pinned to the ground. It would soon die.
As soon as he put down the longbow, Di Yi Ye felt a deep sense of dread. An extremely dangerous aura emanated from behind him. Without hesitation, he pushed his Golden Light Spell to its limit, and with his right hand, he grabbed the Tang Heng Saber beside him before retreating to the side.
As Di Yi Ye retreated, an intensely scorching flame pursued him. These flames were even hotter than those spewed by the previous two Fire Mane Rats. Even with the protection of the Golden Light Spell, he felt an unbearable heat. His expression immediately turned solemn, especially when he saw out of the corner of his eye that a steel plate about an inch away was directly melting from the flames.
That's right, the steel plate sealing the deep pit had a large hole about a Zhang Xu in diameter melted through by the flames. A fiery red figure then leaped out from the large hole along with the flames. Without a doubt, it was the Tier 2 Fire Mane Rat that had fallen into the deep pit earlier.
Seeing the corpses of its companions, the Fire Mane Rat's rolling eyes flashed with a terrifying light. It charged at Di Yi Ye like an arrow released from a bow. Before the rat even arrived, a powerful stream of air was spewed out. The pure Fire Attribute Qi quickly transformed into scorching flames upon contact with the air, rapidly engulfing Di Yi Ye.
Not only that, but the flames soon covered an area of over ten Zhang, and Di Yi Ye was almost in the center. Under the intense flame erosion, he not only felt the scorching heat but also discovered that his Qi was being consumed at an alarming rate. The Golden Light covering his body flickered intermittently, on the verge of dissipating at any moment.
Once the Golden Light dissipated, with Di Yi Ye's current Physique, facing the scorching flames would likely turn him into charcoal in an instant—he didn't believe his Physique was comparable to a steel plate an inch thick.
Calculating rapidly in his mind, Di Yi Ye found that it would be difficult to escape the range of the flame erosion before his Qi was completely depleted. Moreover, even if he escaped, without the support of Qi, facing the pursuit of a powerful Tier 2 exotic beast would still lead to death, merely delaying the inevitable.
After assessing these factors, Di Yi Ye made a swift decision. He stopped retreating, gripped his saber with both hands, and raised it towards the sky. His entire aura changed; the previous sense of killing intent and sharpness transformed into a majestic and righteous presence. Behind him, a phantom vaguely appeared, and Cosmic Energy converged madly, even suppressing the surrounding flames, making them dim.
"This is my strongest attack right now. If I can't kill this Fire Mane Rat, then..." Di Yi Ye muttered. He didn't finish his sentence, but it was easy to imagine what he meant.
With a loud shout, he brought his long saber down. An extremely dense sword qi whistled out, cleaving through the flames wherever it passed, revealing a path.
That's right, it was sword qi. Di Yi Ye condensed sword qi with his long saber—Righteous Sword Qi. A Gentleman cultivates Righteous Qi, and with Righteous Qi, he condensed this heaven-shattering sword qi.
The sword qi surged forth, striking directly at the Fire Mane Rat. The incomparably sharp sword qi easily split its head open, also causing the powerful stream of air from its mouth to dissipate.
Its head was directly split open, and he could faintly see the Exotic Beast Crystal Core within the skull shattered. The Fire Mane Rat immediately died. However, after unleashing this strike, Di Yi Ye collapsed, weak. He looked at the Fire Mane Rat, or rather, the shattered Crystal Core within its head, and gave a wry smile, "What a pity for a Tier 2 Crystal Core. How much food could it fetch."
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