Soul Land 5: The Rebirth of Tang San

Chapter 119: Winged Tiger Battle

The attacks manifested by the Wind Astral were as substantial as reality itself, and as their power was significantly enhanced by the wind elemental physique, they far surpassed Tang San's wind blade. This was evident as the ice shields formed by Wu Bingji shattered one after another.

A bizarre scene then unfolded; Tang San's wind blades, upon colliding with the wind blades of the Wind Astral tier, quickly dissipated. They couldn't entirely withstand the impact. However, the Wind Astral Blades also changed direction upon collision, striking other Wind Astral attacks instead. A chorus of shrill whistles filled the air, yet no attack could get close to Tang San and Wu Bingji.

Wu Bingji effectively blocked only the frontal attacks. Tang San's sequence of wind blades deflected the other surrounding Wind Astral attacks.

Tang San was undoubtedly the best in his class in terms of mid-range attacks. This display of his ability to control the trajectory of his attacks left Gu Li and Cheng Zicheng, who were watching from the air, utterly astounded.

In their brief encounter, Tang San had already deduced that the Winged Tiger, with its formidable physique and natural aptitude for wind control, was certainly above Wu Bingji, even though the latter was also at the sixth order. Ending the battle swiftly was necessary to avoid casualties.

"Senior brother, buy me some time!" Tang San shouted, retreating backward while moving his hands in front of him like dragons swimming in a sea of clouds. A green light swiftly gathered in his palms. Tang San's eyes turned completely a vivid green, a clear sign that he was pushing his energy to its utmost limit.

At that moment, Wu Bingji also erupted with power. With Tang San having dealt with most of the Wind Astral attacks, Wu Bingji swung his right hand, releasing another icicle using Flicking Dart.

The Winged Tiger, with one eye destroyed, was in a frenzy. Right after its explosive attack, without a moment's pause, it pounced, already in front of its target.

The icicle was shot at close range, and the Winged Tiger swung its paw, attempting to swat it away. At that moment, the launched icicle exploded on its own.

With a loud bang, the explosion sent the Winged Tiger's paw flying back. In the next instant, Wu Bingji had formed an ice spear in his hand and thrust it fiercely, aiming for the Winged Tiger's other eye.

The Winged Tiger roared in anger, gathering the wind elemental energy around its body once more, ready to unleash a burst of wind blades.

At this moment, Gu Li finally caught his breath.

"Freeze!"

The Winged Tiger stiffened for an instant. The energy it had just gathered almost instantly dispersed, and it failed to form the blade storm it had intended on. Meanwhile, Wu Bingji's ice spear was already before its eyes.

Their coordination under immense pressure was incredible.

The ice spear was about to pierce into the Winged Tiger's eye socket. Suddenly, a burst of green light surged from the Winged Tiger's body, and the Wind Astral erupted in response, forcefully repelling the ice spear.

However, this action was hasty and less ferocious than the previous outburst. The Wind Astral gave in inch by inch under the full force of the ice spear.

The Winged Tiger's wings flapped violently, creating a fierce wind that blew Gu Li away. It drifted up and backward, and rich wind elemental energy swiftly converged toward it at an astonishing speed.

How tough! Wu Bingji thought, shaken. Despite being of the same sixth order, this juvenile Winged Tiger, not even a mature beast, surpassed him in both elemental control and physical strength. Such was the innate gift of demonic beasts—and the talent of the demon race.

But at this moment, he couldn't retreat; his junior brother and sister were behind him, and he had to buy time for Tang San. He had a blind trust in Tang San, believing that as long as he could hold off the Winged Tiger in this head-on clash, Tang San would surely deliver a battle-ending blow.

He took a deep breath, and with that, he started radiating an icy blue glow, causing a noticeable drop in the surrounding air temperature. His entire body instantly turned ice blue, a sign that he had pushed the Ice Nymph Transformation to its limit and he was initiating his ice elemental body.

He thrust the ice spear in his hand violently into the ground, and in the next moment, numerous icicles erupted around him.

As these icicles emerged, they released a bone-chilling coldness in a wild burst.

Finally, the wind element around the Winged Tiger erupted, transforming into a massive whirlwind that swept downward.

The icicles shot up from the ground, hurtling toward the whirlwind. They were each over two meters long, and they whistled piercingly as they shot forth.

The icicles penetrated the whirlwind, and it almost instantly engulfed them. The whirlwind, now filled with icicles, immediately became far more threatening.

But then, Wu Bingji shouted, "Explode!"

With a series of booming explosions, the ice crystals within the whirlwind detonated, their powerful explosive force disrupting the concentration of the wind element. The entire sky filled with a vast expanse of icy mist. The whirlwind continued to howl, but its advancing force had dissipated, scattering in the air.

Wu Bingji's face flushed. This move he had just used was the pinnacle of his ice attribute abilities. This was the Ice Blast technique—something he had developed from what Tang San had taught him. Not only was the ice elemental explosion itself powerful, but the resulting shrapnel could cause significant damage to everything around it.

His attempt had managed to block the Winged Tiger's whirlwind.

At that moment, a ball of orange-yellow light descended from the sky with a piercing screech, striking the Winged Tiger right on the head. The attack was perfectly timed, as the beast had just unleashed its whirlwind and was trying to catch its breath.

With a dull thud, the orange-yellow figure rebounded and shot upward, but the Winged Tiger was also smashed down from the sky, landing on the ground with its skull sporting a fresh, bleeding crack.

The one who struck was Cheng Zicheng.

Since the beginning of the battle, she had been looking for an opportunity.

Without a doubt, she was far outmatched by the Winged Tiger in strength, and a frontal battle gave her no chance of even staying alive, much less winning. However, the recently learned Golden Wing Wind Splitting Slash had her eager to try.

Cheng Zicheng cleverly waited for the right moment, which was undoubtedly bound to appear during the most vigorous collision between the Winged Tiger and its two opponents. At such a time, the Winged Tiger's cultivation would be significantly weakened, as would its attention.

Cheng Zicheng chose to strike from the side where the Winged Tiger was blinded. She rapidly rolled and spun in the air, driving a pair of golden wings, and unleashed a nine-consecutive Golden Wing Wind Splitting Slash.

Cheng Zicheng's approach on the Disorder Wind Splitting Hammer was different from Gu Li's. Although the golden wings were tough, they fell far short in terms of weight and power compared to the meteor hammer that was Gu Li's tail. Therefore, she couldn't repeatedly use the spinning momentum to enhance her attack power, at least not with the current state of her golden wings.

But Cheng Zicheng had her own ways. Although she didn't have a terribly robust physique, her speed was unmatched among the students of the Redemption Society. After continuous trials, she found that leveraging her speed was a good solution to her problem.

Spinning around nine times seemed to be the optimal number, allowing her to maintain a stable form and maximize her speed without getting dizzy.

Therefore, her first Golden Wing Wind Splitting Slash strike was executed after nine rotations. The attack and cutting power were formidable, actually surpassing Gu Li's strike after five rotations.

However, with Cheng Zicheng's current physical strength and cultivation, she could only do one slash; she couldn't go for the second one no matter what.

The main reason was that after one strike, her golden wings were so numb from the shock that they needed time to recover. How could she possibly use the momentum to spin and attack again?

Thus, it was a single, charged strike for her. But even this one attack was enough to come down upon the sixth-order Winged Tiger from the sky and leave a wound—something she, a mere fourth-order child, could unquestionably take pride in.

The Winged Tiger crashed to the ground, and the intense pain in its forehead made it roar angrily, bellowing at the sky again.

It was at this moment that a shadowy figure quietly approached.

This shadowy figure seemed to exist between illusion and reality, its faint dark green color blending with the night. If one didn't look carefully, they might not even notice its presence.