Seventy, Beast of Strife

  The dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and the warm sunlight returned to the earth. The majestic aura that had once been at the center of the heavenly power now surrounded Xiao Yao's body, as she stood upright with her feet empty, her posture straight as a pen. The gentle sunlight cast a thin layer of golden light on her, making her seem like a goddess. Suddenly, those low-ranking cultivators who had wanted to take advantage of the situation were filled with fear and could only retreat in disarray.

  In Xiao Yao's view, these low-ranking cultivators were nothing to be feared. The key was the three Cheng Ze who had been stationed here all along.

  As expected, after the onlookers dispersed, the three of them strolled over to him. The small-eyed man was the first to speak, his face beaming with a slightly exaggerated smile: "Ah, isn't this the renowned Re Xing, the Soft and Gentle Daoist? Forgive me, forgive me, are you also after this beast's main body? As they say, those who see it have a share; how about we four split it evenly?"

  Xiao Yao's face maintained a faint smile, but in her heart, she knew that these three people were not harboring good intentions and were intentionally making things difficult for her. With the intention of turning hostility into friendship, she first spoke kindly: "This Transcendence Beast is under my care, not a stray beast, so I'm afraid you three have made a trip in vain. I'm truly sorry about that. When we return, I'll invite all of you to Tian Xiang Lou for a drink to celebrate and apologize."

  The three of them obviously didn't expect Xiao Yao to be so friendly and courteous, and they were all taken aback. Normally, if someone knew that a treasure had an owner, but still wanted to take it, most cultivators would definitely be displeased and on guard, with a bad tone and even a temper, and might even attack without saying a word. But this woman was different, she calmly and politely stated her identity as the owner, and even invited them to join in the celebration. They had originally wanted to pick a fight, hoping that Xiao Yao would lose her temper and take action first, but now they were facing an unreasonable person who was being friendly and reasonable, and their prepared words were useless.

  Not only that, but this demeanor also made Cheng Ze look at her with a higher regard. He had tacitly allowed the little eye male cultivator's actions, not because he wanted to monopolize people's favor, but rather to test his abilities. After all, he too had his own pride. Similarly, the Sun surname male cultivator was also somewhat uncomfortable. What he couldn't stand was that this woman was breaking the rules of the garden, but in doing so, she was ultimately at a disadvantage.

  The two fellow travelers beside him seemed to be wavering, and Xiao Yan couldn't help but curse in his heart: "No loyalty!" Thinking of the rare demon bird below, he gritted his teeth and persisted, "Fellow daoist says this is one's own spiritual pet, then it really is? Is there any evidence?"

  Evidence? Xiao Yao slightly narrowed her eyes, taking in the expressions of the three people, it seemed that the main troublemaker was still this little-eyed man Xiu in front of her.

  The spiritual beast is generally in sync with its master, and if it were an ordinary situation, she would only need to call out once, and the little fox would fly over. This can also prove their relationship as master and pet. However, at this moment, the little fox had just undergone heavenly tribulation and was still weak. This person must have taken advantage of this weakness to attack her. If it were simply because they looked down on her, most of the cultivators in the garden wouldn't have acknowledged her either, but they wouldn't have gone to such an unreasonable extent. It's either a grudge or a desire for personal gain.

  Thinking of this, Xiao Yao smiled and said indifferently: "Actually, getting evidence is not that simple. However, Little Ling has just finished its tempering and is currently in a weak state. I couldn't bear to summon it. If I were to let Daoist friends do it, I'm afraid they would say I'm stalling for time. No matter what I do, Daoist friends can always find fault with me. To be honest, have Daoist friends really set their sights on my Little Ling? Since you've made up your mind to snatch it, why not just take out your magic weapon and attack directly? At least that would be a fair fight, seeing who has the harder fist. Why bother with pretenses and fake attitudes? Are you trying to gain a good reputation or something?"

  As she spoke, her smile grew brighter, and her whole body released its oppressive aura. She drew out a ghostly energy that hovered in front of her chest, assuming a battle stance to greet him.

  But Xiao Yan's thoughts were exposed on the spot, his face turned red and green at the same time, and he was also puzzled: This person was still quite polite just now, how did he suddenly put on a fighting stance in the blink of an eye.

  He didn't know that Xiao Yao's temper was not afraid of things, but felt that the world was so vast, and she could do whatever she wanted, why bother to care about others too much. If it can be said, she absolutely doesn't want to fight, unfortunately, now people just don't understand, really can't say, then there is no choice but to fight, but once the fight starts, she fears no one!

  The little-eyed man, Xiao Yan, glared at Cheng Ze and the Sun surname cultivator again, but saw that they had no intention of helping him. He felt a chill run down his face, thinking he could use their prejudice against this woman to snatch the spiritual pet from her hands. But these people were more cunning than he thought, and instead, he was trapped in an unfavorable situation! Now he was in a dilemma, feeling that his pride wouldn't allow him to back down, yet unwilling to give up such a rare spiritual pet. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to break the pot and shatter it, calling out a large green hammer and saying coldly: "Hmph, I proposed dividing it equally, but you didn't want to, saying this beast is your spiritual pet, yet you can't produce evidence right away. Clearly, you just want to monopolize it! Fine! If you want to fight, I'll accompany you!"

  Xiao Yao didn't look at him at all, but instead cast her gaze towards the other two behind him, "You wouldn't want to take advantage of the minority, would you?"

  Cheng Ze and his fellow Taoist with the surname Sun retreated hundreds of meters in perfect sync, promising: "This is your two people's problem, we swear on our demonic hearts that we absolutely will not intervene!"

  Xiao Yan's face turned even darker with rage, his fiery temper flaring up again as he vented his anger on the two people behind him, but ended up directing all his resentment at Xiang Yu instead, striking out at her with a vicious blow!

  This little Xiao Yan's movement was a single Wooden Spirit Root, not even taking a breath, that dense Wood Element Force and the huge hammer were about to come crashing down on Xiao Yao's head, with a force that seemed almost intent on smashing his skull into pulp!

  Xiao Yao didn't dodge or evade, and didn't even summon any ghostly spirits. He simply clenched his right fist and struck out at the giant hammer, meeting it head-on with a dull "thud". The hammer and fist collided, neither yielding to the other.

  The stalemate lasted for a moment, and then Xiao Yao quickly withdrew her fist and struck the hammer top again with an invisible speed. Suddenly, the big hammer flew out quickly because its strength was no match for her punch!

  Xiao Yan's eyes widened in shock, and the two onlookers were also stunned. Seeing Xiao Yao's fist retracted with only a slight redness, Xiao Yan couldn't help but exclaim: "You're a Body Refiner?!"

  Just as he was about to call out, he felt something was off again. The aura surrounding the other person was indeed genuine and not overbearing, it was unmistakably a Dao cultivator's aura. Could it be that this person was actually a Dual Cultivator of Body and Dao?!

  Xiao Yao looked at his expression of surprise and uncertainty, his appearance comical, and couldn't help but tease him: "Fellow Daoist, don't you know that a typical alchemy master's strength is much greater than an ordinary person?"

  Xiao Yan's eyes widened in shock, but he didn't delve deeper into the matter. Since the artifact was useless, he would use his magic instead! He pinched a seal with his hand, and a soft green glow flashed around his body.

  "All trees wither and flourish!"

  The surging wood element suddenly transformed into countless vines, spreading out in all directions, rushing forth like a tidal wave.

  Xiao Yao's face was calm, and she chanted: "Lei Ping!"

  A purple barrier formed in front of him as the Yuan force surged out from his palm. When it collided with Xiao Yan's wooden Yuan force, a burst of purple and green light shot into the sky, causing the earth to shake and the air to scatter wildly, releasing an overwhelming power! Even hundreds of meters away, Cheng Ze and the others had to take out their magical tools to protect themselves.

  The two of them gazed into the distance, seeing only a purple and blue light locked in a stalemate in mid-air. Neither side was willing to yield, and within a radius of thousands of meters, mountains were shattered and rocks were split, while demonic beasts fled in all directions.

  Just as they thought the two were evenly matched, a green light suddenly flashed and green vines began to climb up the purple screen! The purple light was weakening at a visible speed, and the Thunder Screen was on the verge of collapse.

  Facing this sudden change, Xiao Yao was slightly surprised, while Xiaoyan's eyes gleamed with excitement as he burst out laughing three times. He then loudly and boisterously said: "Haha! Jun Ruo Daoist friend, you'd better admit defeat now. Otherwise, wait till I knock you down from the sky, not only will you lose miserably, but also suffer heavy injuries!"

  Only those who are relatively close to Xiaoyan or have fought against him know that this "Wàn Mù Kū Róng" is not an ordinary technique. Although its rank is not particularly high, it has the advantage of being able to absorb others' yuan force and convert it for one's own use, increasing one's strength and catching the opponent off guard. This is Xiaoyan's unbeatable trick for achieving a surprise victory.

  Looking at the purple lightning screen, Yuan Li's weakness was almost invisible. Xiao Yan glanced at the yellow dog tag on Xiang Yao's waist and felt more confident of winning. His gaze towards Xiang Yao became even more disdainful, and he coldly laughed: "With your mere yellow symbol cultivation level, you think you can compete with me, a cyan green symbol cultivator? It's simply absurd! Even if your strength is greater, it's still not enough to overcome the huge difference in Yuan Li. You're just like a chicken or dog, no match for me! The spiritual beast belongs to me!"

  Xiao Yao remained expressionless from start to finish, ignoring the provocation and disdain, manipulating the evil spirits to rush towards him with a howl.

  Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed as he treated it as his last struggle before death. He let out a cold hum, and the green giant hammer struck again!

  "Clang!" In an instant, two magical treasures collided!

  Xiao Yao Xuan Er smiled and said: "The reaction is not bad, there are a few points of endurance, but if it's like this..."

  The voice had just fallen, the purple lightning screen lit up again, and the color deepened from light to dark. The lightning on the screen was like a dragon's whiskers, winding and walking, making a crackling sound. The vines that were about to swallow the lightning screen retreated a lot in an instant.

  The small-eyed man, Xiuzi, didn't show any weakness and increased his yuan force. "Hmph, let's see who can last longer!"

  This time, the vines continued to absorb the elemental energy from the lightning screen, but unlike before, the lightning screen showed no signs of weakening, and its radiance grew more intense, even seeming to engulf the vines.

  The two yuan forces stuck together for nearly half an hour, but the purple light became dazzling and made people unable to look directly at it. On the other hand, although the green light was also bright and dazzling, it had a kind of unstable feeling that seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

  Xiao Yan's face was covered in sweat, while Xiao Yao looked completely relaxed.

  Besides, Xiaoyan's male repair from prosperity to decline, watching the two of them has always been in sight, and this heart is also a big cry: he wants to lose!