Swift as the wind, the most fierce straight thrust sword move in the Clear Wind Sword Technique.
In an instant, Gao Xian urged the Dragon's Lightning Hand, activating the sharp golden runes on the Stone-Cutting Sword, concentrating all the strength of his muscles, bones, and qi onto the blade.
Although the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger noticed Gao Xian, his sword was too fast.
The timing of this thrust was exceptionally good, leaving it no time to evade.
The Stone-Cutting Sword, as fast as lightning, accompanied by a sharp sword cry, parted the iron-blue scales, tore through the tough skin and flesh of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, and directly pierced its neck.
Gao Xian could clearly feel the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger contracting its muscles and scales, causing the Stone-Cutting Sword to become increasingly sluggish as it penetrated only about a foot and a half before losing its momentum.
He had originally planned to pierce through the neck of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger with one sword, but he didn't expect its muscles and scales to be so resilient, clamping down on the blade with the force of muscle contraction.
Fortunately, the sword pierced deeply, and the neck being a vital spot, even if it didn't kill the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, it was enough to cause serious damage.
Gao Xian chose to thrust instead of slash because the thrust had greater power and speed.
If he had used a slashing move, at most, it would have broken through the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's scales, making it difficult to truly harm the beast.
After successfully landing the strike, Gao Xian immediately let go and retreated.
The heavily injured Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger was too dangerous, and he had to create enough distance.
The reaction of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger was faster than Gao Xian's.
Its long tail, like an iron whip, lashed out towards Gao Xian.
The sharp and forceful sound of the tiger's tail splitting the air made Gao Xian feel as though the air had been shattered by the tail.
With the assistance of the Great Occult Art, Gao Xian could see the trajectory of the tiger's tail strike, but he had just exerted all his strength in the sword attack, and his body couldn't react in time.
Fortunately, his reaction was fast enough, and he immediately activated the Azure Cloud Cover and the Wood Shield.
As the tiger's tail struck, the transparent Shadowless Garment burst into thousands of water droplets, and the faint blue aura of the Azure Cloud Cover also exploded, with the blue aura spraying out to the sides along with the tiger's tail.
After the consumption of the Shadowless Garment and the Azure Cloud Cover, the force of the tiger's tail strike noticeably weakened.
The four overlapping Wood Shields were burst by the tiger's tail strike, with three of them shattered, but the fourth Wood Shield blocked the tail.
Taking advantage of the force of the tiger's tail strike, Gao Xian swiftly retreated several meters with his shield.
The strike of the tiger's tail shattered the heavy defenses, and he narrowly escaped death.
At that moment, all he wanted was to create as much distance as possible.
He secretly thanked the toughness of the Wood Shield that came with the Azure Wood Armor, "Shopkeeper Zhu, thank you for your Azure Wood Armor!"
Enraged by the heavy injury, the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger went berserk and pounced towards Gao Xian.
Seeing the tiger charging towards him, Gao Xian's heart seemed to stop beating out of fear, which was far beyond his expectations.
However, Lan Jie's presence in his mind helped him remain calm and not let fear affect his judgment.
"The Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger is fast and strong, he can't outrun it. The protective spells on the Azure Cloud Robe and Azure Wood Armor cannot be activated again in a short time.
Without a sword, he can only rely on spells to have a chance! If all else fails, he can use the Shadowless Garment to escape and hide."
Gao Xian's thoughts quickly turned, and he made a decision in an instant.
He pointed his finger, and the Ice and Fire Dual Realm empowered the Ice Arrow Technique, instantly unleashing a foot-long ice spike directly towards the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's red eyes.
The Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger shook its head and closed its eyes, as a layer of dark blue flames appeared on its body once again.
The ice spike was shattered by the steaming dark blue flames, causing no harm to the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger.
The Fireball followed, accurately hitting the spot where the ice spike had pierced.
The optimized Fireball was only the size of a ping-pong ball, smaller in form and faster in speed, but with a more destructive power of concentrated fire magic.
The erupting Fireball made the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's head jerk back, and the dark blue flames on its body also shimmered, neutralizing the power of the Fireball.
The second ice spike followed, then the second Fireball.
The Ice and Fire Dual Realm allowed Gao Xian to instantly unleash two ice arrows and two Fireballs.
In this critical moment, Gao Xian used all his abilities.
The dark blue flames on the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's body once again surged, completely blocking the ice spikes and Fireballs.
Gao Xian knew that the dark blue flames were actually the manifestation of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's powerful magic.
This method of using magic was very crude, wasting most of the magic power.
However, the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's magic power was too strong to resist.
Even with two ice arrows and two Fireballs consecutively launched, they couldn't penetrate the protective flames of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, leaving Gao Xian feeling a bit desperate.
The two spells were too low-level to pose a threat to a Foundation Establishment level demon beast.
Although he could instantly cast the Ice Arrow Technique and Fireball, performing four consecutive casts was already his limit.
To cast again, he would need to adjust, but the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger wouldn't give him the time.
Gao Xian was starting to regret now, realizing that it might be too late to activate the Shadowless Garment.
"I'm done this time! If I had known earlier, I would have just enjoyed my time with Qiniang and the others, instead of pretending to be a righteous gentleman..."
Feeling despair in his heart, but also maintaining a cold composure under Lan Jie's influence, Gao Xian thought, "I still have the True Yang Spear to try!"
A glint of gold shone in Gao Xian's eyes as the True Yang Spear, condensed in his sea of consciousness, took shape.
He knew that the spiritual awareness of a Foundation Establishment level Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger was definitely much stronger than his, something that his True Yang Spear might not be able to shake.
But in a desperate situation, even if he knew it might not work, he had to try!
Seeing Qiniang rushing over, he knew that delaying a bit more might give him a chance!
In the extreme emotions of despair and the utmost rationality, he unified his mind while condensing the True Yang Spear.
While operating the True Yang Spear, he also tried to activate the Fireball.
In this extremely special state, Gao Xian felt as if some invisible barrier had been broken, giving him a whole new understanding of the Ice and Fire Dual Realm.
How could the Ice and Fire Dual Realm be so simple? It needed to reach the Nine Realms!
The nearly stagnant magic power within Gao Xian's body surged like a river once again.
As he was accumulating the True Yang Spear, it dissipated in an instant, and all his magic power was transferred to the Fireball and Ice Arrow Technique.
Understanding the Nine Realms of Ice and Fire did not increase his magic power, but it allowed him to operate his magic more efficiently.
This almost mystical technique enabled him to break through his limits and cast spells again.
Pointing at the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, he instantly unleashed five consecutive Fireballs, all hitting the exposed hilt of the sword on the tiger's neck.
Although he had been calm earlier, he wasn't quite clever.
But now, a flash of insight made him realize that the exposed blade on the tiger's neck was a vulnerability.
Because a foot and a half of the sword blade was exposed, the protective flames of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger couldn't cover this part.
The successive explosions of Fireballs, with their raging fire magic, caused large patches of red flames to erupt, even burning the blade of the Stone-Cutting Sword to a bright red.
The impact of the Fireballs made the red-hot blade tremble continuously.
While the protective flames of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger could withstand the Fireballs, they couldn't withstand the high temperature conducted by the blade, causing intense pain and making it emit a painful roar.
The intense vibration of the blade once again tore open the wound on its neck, causing massive damage.
The intense pain made the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger instinctively stop in its tracks, tightening its scales and muscles to suppress the pain, and its protective flames dimmed significantly.
Without hesitation, Gao Xian immediately launched five Ice Arrows, all five ice spikes hitting the exposed blade on the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's neck.
The Ice Arrow Technique was not only powerful like an arrow but also contained icy magic.
When the red-hot blade met the ice arrows, the temperature dropped sharply, and the icy power penetrated into the body of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger.
The combination of high temperature and icy power, the alternating changes of ice and fire, made it difficult for the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger to endure.
A layer of frost appeared visibly on the wound on its neck, and its body became noticeably sluggish and stiff.
Most importantly, the protective flames around its body dissipated.
The sixth ice spike, piercing precisely into the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's eye.
Empowered by the Ice and Fire Nine Realms, the Ice Arrow Technique's power had significantly increased.
This ice spike directly burst the red pupils of the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, penetrating several inches deep into the eye socket.
This blow once again severely wounded the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, causing it to instinctively howl in pain.
As the sixth Fireball shone, it shot into its wide-open mouth.
The ping-pong ball-sized fireball exploded violently, expanding the red flames a thousand times.
The internal explosion of the Fireball, even with the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's strong body, was unbearable.
Half of its face was blown to pieces, and the tremendous impact flipped its massive body to the ground.
The Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger was completely stunned, losing all sense of the outside world.
Zhu Qiniang, who was swiftly approaching, witnessed this scene.
She was greatly shocked.
Although the Fireball and Ice Arrow Technique were low-level spells, even Qi cultivators needed to form seals, chant incantations, and use talismans to cast them, requiring preparation to complete the spells.
Even if using a spell talisman, it still required forming seals, chanting incantations, and was impossible to cast instantly.
Gao Xian's Ice Arrow Technique and Fireball were not only instant but were also consecutively cast in an instant, like a storm, flipping over the Foundation Establishment level Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger.
Zhu Qiniang also saw an opportunity as the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger had completely lost its ability to resist.
She raised her sword high in anger as she approached the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger, and the Azure Frost Sword left a beautiful blue semicircular arc in the air.
With a sharp and piercing sword cry, the Iron-Scaled Demon Tiger's neck was completely severed by the Azure Frost Sword, and its massive head rolled several yards away.
With disheveled hair, covered in blood and wood chips, Zhu Qiniang also breathed a sigh of relief.
She looked up at Gao Xian and saw him flashing a neat row of white teeth at her...
(End of Chapter)