Chapter 242 - 239: Golden Talent, Condensing Sand into Armor
Wei Shang fought the Soaring Sand Snake for more than ten minutes.
BOOM—
Wei Shang was sent flying out of the sandstorm.
He crashed heavily onto the ground.
PFFT...
He spat out a mouthful of blood, wiped his arm across his mouth, and was about to charge back in.
But Lin Yi came up behind him.
Gently placing a hand on his shoulder, Lin Yi said, "Let me handle this."
"Damn it! If my realm wasn't suppressed, I could've crushed it with my bare hands!"
"This thing is tough. If you can't beat it, just run. Don't throw your life away here, or I won't be able to answer to the Town Martial Department!" Wei Shang said hurriedly.
Lin Yi chuckled and nodded. "Understood. You should fall back for now."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yi, saber in hand, slashed directly into the tornado.
In an instant, the blade's energy ripped an opening in it.
Lin Yi took advantage of the opening before it could close.
He dashed inside...
Seeing this, the worry in Wei Shang's eyes grew more apparent.
He raised a hand and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth again.
Just then, the students who had just been rescued ran over.
"Hey man, are you okay?"
"We told you not to be heroes! That Demon Beast is too strong!"
The group helped Wei Shang to his feet and quickly retreated.
Wei Shang glanced at them. "That's a Soaring Sand Snake. It's basically the overlord of this desert."
"If we don't kill it, no one's getting away. It'll just keep chasing us.
Your stamina is almost gone, right? Do you really think you can outrun a Soaring Sand Snake hiding in a sandstorm?"
Hearing Wei Shang's words, all the students fell silent.
During their escape, several of their classmates had been swept into the storm.
Wei Shang was right. If they hadn't run into him and Lin Yi...
...it was likely none of them would have escaped. They would all have died here sooner or later.
None of them spoke, all staring intently at the tornado.
In their hearts, they all prayed that Lin Yi, who had just entered, would be able to kill the Soaring Sand Snake.
If the Soaring Sand Snake didn't die, they could all imagine their fate.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of powerful strikes landed on the Soaring Sand Snake's body.
Besides the wind and sand, the area was also suffused with the Power of the Stars.
Lin Yi's punches all landed on the Soaring Sand Snake, clearly causing it considerable damage.
But killing it wouldn't be that easy.
Lin Yi wasn't using his saber. The moment he entered...
...he discovered that his blade was completely ineffective against the Soaring Sand Snake.
The Soaring Sand Snake was covered in armor formed from condensed sand.
No blade could break through it.
Unless he could shatter the armor on its body, there was no way to kill it.
But that was easier said than done.
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH—
Suddenly, several wind blades shot out from the surrounding tornado.
Lin Yi, who had been about to press forward and continue pounding the Soaring Sand Snake's armor...
...was forced to retreat hastily. He dodged rapidly, barely avoiding the wind blades.
The space here was tight; it was entirely the Soaring Sand Snake's home turf.
Lin Yi had no terrain advantage whatsoever.
In fact, not just the tornado, but the entire desert was its home ground.
And as the overlord of the entire desert, killing it was no simple task.
Having just dodged the wind blades, Lin Yi saw his chance.
Just as the Soaring Sand Snake was gathering power for a second attack...
...Lin Yi charged forward, a golden light coalescing around his fist.
BOOM—
He struck the same spot again.
The Soaring Sand Snake could be seen letting out a sharp, pained shriek.
CRACK—
A crack appeared on its armor.
Seeing this, a flash of joy appeared in Lin Yi's eyes.
Just as he was about to press his advantage and shatter its "shell"...
Suddenly, the Soaring Sand Snake twisted its body, its thick tail sweeping horizontally toward Lin Yi.
The tail whistled through the air, and a sense of danger flared in Lin Yi's mind.
He quickly retreated to dodge, and the instant the tail swept past...
...Lin Yi sprang off the ground, his body shooting forward like an arrow released from a bow.
He closed in on the Soaring Sand Snake, his fist glowing with golden light, and once again smashed it down on the cracked area.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The continuous barrage of Golden Light Fists made the Soaring Sand Snake howl in pain.
Its sharp shrieks were loud enough to pierce eardrums.
Lin Yi didn't rush to stop. He seized the opportunity while the Soaring Sand Snake was distracted by the pain.
He hammered fist after fist onto the cracked spot...
CRACK... Suddenly, two more cracks appeared.
The sand-forged armor was on the verge of shattering.
Just as Lin Yi was about to land another punch...
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—
Several wind blades shot out from the tornado.
The corners of Lin Yi's mouth lifted as he calmly retreated, dodging the blades.
This time, however, the wind blades seemed to have locked onto him. No matter how he dodged, he couldn't shake them.
After a few unhurried evasions...
...Lin Yi suddenly rushed toward the Soaring Sand Snake.
Just as the Soaring Sand Snake sensed the impending danger, its thick tail swept out horizontally again.
It wanted to force Lin Yi back or severely injure him.
Seeing this, the smile on Lin Yi's lips widened.
Just as the snake's tail and the wind blades were about to corner him with no room to escape...
...Lin Yi leaped into the air, landing gracefully on the other side of the Soaring Sand Snake.
THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!
Just as Lin Yi had predicted, the wind blades struck the Soaring Sand Snake's tail with perfect accuracy.
Immediately, a series of pained shrieks rang out.
Lin Yi seized the opportunity to once again unleash a frantic assault on the cracked area.
The old saying goes: to kill a snake, strike its vital spot. No matter the snake, that vital spot is its weak point.
And the spot Lin Yi was relentlessly striking was indeed the snake's vital point.
As punch after punch landed on that spot...
...the Soaring Sand Snake's body began to writhe.
The surrounding wind and sand grew increasingly frantic and unstable.
Seeing this, Lin Yi rejoiced inwardly. He knew his gamble had paid off.
'The Soaring Sand Snake's weakness is what's under its armor. Its actual defense isn't that impressive; it relies purely on the armor condensed from sand. Without this layer of armor, a single slash could kill it.'
When he first entered the storm, Lin Yi had been searching for the Soaring Sand Snake's weakness.
If it didn't have this flaw, then given its attack methods...
...no Demon Beast or student could possibly stand against it.
Although Wei Shang's realm was suppressed, preventing him from using his full strength...
...his combat experience was not.
Even with such rich experience, he couldn't kill the Soaring Sand Snake.
'If this big guy didn't have a weak point, wouldn't it be defying the heavens?'
Fortunately, Lin Yi's gamble was correct. Beneath its armor, the Soaring Sand Snake was a glass cannon.
As long as he could break its armor, it would be an easy kill.
CRACK—
Another crack appeared.
The armor in that spot was about to be breached.
Lin Yi quickly took half a step back. The golden light on his fist dissipated.
In its place rose an indescribably terrifying power.
It was as if his fist had become the center of the entire universe.
"Break..."
Lin Yi roared, and his fist, imbued with the Power of the Stars, slammed heavily into the Soaring Sand Snake's body.
CRACK...
SHATTER...
When Lin Yi's final punch landed on the cracked area...
...the armor of condensed sand completely fell away.
It revealed the Soaring Sand Snake's green skin and scales.
In that instant, even the surrounding winds began to die down.
Only the Soaring Sand Snake's sharp shrieks remained...
The next moment, Lin Yi quickly drew his long saber from his storage space.
Without hesitation, he plunged it into the Soaring Sand Snake's body.
SQUELCH...
Bright red blood sprayed out.
Lin Yi sliced upward from that point.
And the armor, now compromised, seemed to become as fragile as paper.
When the blade's edge touched that layer of armor...
...it shattered on contact.
The Soaring Sand Snake's blood gushed out...
...until the blade split the Soaring Sand Snake's head.
The sharp shrieking stopped abruptly.
The giant snake, over ten meters long, went completely limp.
And the tornado it had created slowly began to subside.
Until it dissipated completely, the yellow sand settling back to the earth.
[Congratulations on slaying a 3-star Demon Beast]
[Plunder Talent Entries: 'Wind Blade (Purple)', 'Sand Armor Condensation (Gold)', 'Wind Evasion (Blue)']?
"Plunder!"
Lin Yi nodded without hesitation.
He had gone through all this trouble precisely to plunder the Soaring Sand Snake's talents.
Especially the Wind Blade ability.
'That can be used like a hidden weapon. Wind is omnipresent, no matter the location. As long as there's wind, it can be used as a weapon. With an ability like that, I can catch any opponent off guard.'
What surprised Lin Yi was that the Soaring Sand Snake's ability to condense sand into armor was actually a Gold-tier talent.
'No wonder it was so hard to break. If it had been a Red-tier talent, the highest quality... I probably wouldn't have been able to break through the armor even if I worked myself to death.'
'It's a shame. Talents like these are rare finds. If I want to collect three to upgrade it, I'll have to rely on fate! If I can run into more Soaring Sand Snakes in the future, collecting the other two Sand Armor Condensation talent entries won't be too hard. It's just that Soaring Sand Snakes are rare to begin with. It's not often you find one...'
Lin Yi thought to himself.
Little did he know, as he stood there plundering the talent entries...
...Wei Shang and the students, not far away, were all completely dumbfounded.
Even Wei Shang hadn't expected that Lin Yi could actually kill the Soaring Sand Snake all by himself.
Although the Soaring Sand Snake was a 3-star Demon Beast...
...killing it was by no means easy.
Even a 4-star or 5-star practitioner would be considered impressive just for driving it away.
Who would have thought that Lin Yi would just kill it outright?
Ultimately, the Soaring Sand Snake's Wind and Sand Array was difficult to breach.
And the armor it condensed was even harder to shatter.
Otherwise, the Soaring Sand Snake wouldn't have been that difficult to kill.
"Holy shit, the Soaring Sand Snake is dead?"
"Its armor was so tough, but he actually broke through it?"
"What's with that guy? He's such a beast!"
"Good heavens, is that guy a new student? He killed the Soaring Sand Snake all by himself..."
None of the students could believe that Lin Yi had killed the Soaring Sand Snake.
But the corpse was lying on the ground, and Xiaoqi was circling low overhead.
Lin Yi, on the other hand, stood there perfectly unharmed, seemingly lost in thought as if contemplating the meaning of life.
The next moment, the Soaring Sand Snake's corpse vanished into his storage space.
Only then did he turn back to look at Wei Shang and the others.
He started walking toward them, and just as he was about to speak...
THUD...
THUD...
THUD...
...the students all dropped to their knees.
In that moment, in their eyes, Lin Yi had become an impossibly towering figure.
Like a god descending before them.
They looked up at Lin Yi, their eyes filled with tears of excitement.
Just as Lin Yi was wondering what on earth they were doing...
...one of the students choked out, "Bro, please, take us with you.
We'll carry your bags, hunt for you, warm your bed... we'll do anything!"
"Yeah, yeah! From now on, we're your followers! Wherever you go, we'll go!"
"We're latching onto you, our mighty thigh-master! Take us with you!"
Lin Yi: "..."