Chapter 174: Fierce Battle on the Lake

The combined attacks from Su Che and the others were like scratching an itch to Feng Huo—completely unable to penetrate his protective energy field.
Of course, Su Che and Yu Qing also realized that Feng Huo’s robe was a high-grade defensive magic artifact, at least a top-tier spiritual weapon, and possibly even a treasure-level artifact.
If it truly was a treasure-level robe, then the attacks from the ghost servants and combat puppets would be utterly ineffective; approaching too closely would only mean certain death…
So, Su Che and Yu Qing changed their strategy, calling back their ghost servants and puppets to stand in front of them as living shields.
“Are you ready?”
Feng Huo’s casual tone carried an air of mockery. “Then it’s my turn.”
As soon as he spoke, with two swift movements, he wielded two streams of energy derived from his own vital force, transforming them into two crescent-shaped blades that targeted Su Che and Yu Qing respectively.
Block!
In such a situation, dodging was even more dangerous, as it would expose them to Feng Huo’s subsequent attacks.
Su Che and Yu Qing had no choice but to let their living shields take the hits.
Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss!
In a row of five consecutive sounds, ten ghost servants were pierced by those crescent blades—five of them were struck, until the sixth one managed to block them.
Ghost servants had no physical form and were essentially aggregates of energy. Although pierced by the blades, causing their translucent bodies to dim significantly, they did not vanish immediately.
With a thought, Su Che quickly summoned the five frontmost ghost servants into the Immortal Prison and sent them to the Netherworld of Ghosts.
In the normal world, such injuries would take months for the ghost servants to recover, but in the Netherworld of Ghosts, they could recover in less than fifteen minutes by devouring a few ghost guards.
On the other side, one of Yu Qing’s combat puppets managed to block the blade, but it wasn’t as lucky as the ghost servants.
With a loud crash, the blade vanished, but the combat puppet shattered into pieces, clearly beyond repair.
Combat puppets at the Foundation Establishment stage were extremely rare in the cultivation world. At least, Su Che had never seen anyone selling such things, nor did he know how Yu Qing obtained one.
Seeing such a valuable combat puppet destroyed, Su Che felt pain inwardly, while Yu Qing remained unperturbed.
“Good, six fewer at once,” Feng Huo said with a smile. “I wonder how long these remaining ‘toys’ can hold out.”
As he spoke, there were two more swift movements, with equal force.

As he wished, the remaining five ghost servants were also taken back to Immortal Prison by Su Che, and another puppet of Yu Qing was completely destroyed… This was the formidable power of the Golden Core stage—tormenting those at the Foundation stage was like an adult strongman deliberately teasing a five-year-old child. Such a comparison was by no means an exaggeration. With the ghost servants and puppets gone, Su Che and Yu Qing couldn’t bear to let their spiritual pets serve as human shields. What should they do next? Feng Huo slowly said, “It’s not necessary to kill you both. If you’re willing to surrender, not only will you survive, but you might even gain the favor of some important figure, which would be extremely beneficial for your future—far better than staying in Tianxuan Sect.” While trying to persuade them to surrender, he didn’t forget to threaten them either. Feng Huo raised his hands, with yellow-brown mist rising from each palm. Clearly, if Su Che and Yu Qing dared to say no, the next attack would be his true killing move. “What do you say?” Yu Qing turned to ask. “No surrender until death,” Su Che replied with his usual answer, though it was unclear what he was thinking. Yu Qing hesitated slightly and said in a low voice, “But I still don’t want to die.” “Senior brother, what are you doing…?” Su Che was stunned. “I surrender.” Without waiting for Su Che to say anything else, Yu Qing turned to Feng Huo and said, “It’s very easy for Senior Feng Huo to kill us. I believe he has no need to deceive us.” “Of course,” Feng Huo nodded with a smile. Tap, tap, tap, tap… Yu Qing shamelessly sealed his meridians, locking away all his vital energy, truly surrendering himself. “Very good. Young people with a bright future should know when to act wisely.” The yellow-brown mist in Feng Huo’s left hand dissipated, and with another wave of his hand, he pulled the defenseless Yu Qing over from dozens of feet away. “Senior brother!” Su Che was extremely shocked, unable to believe his eyes. “Your senior brother is smart. What about you, kid?” Feng Huo pressed, “I’ll give you ten seconds. Once ten is up, I’ll…” “Count to hell!” Before he could finish, Su Che rushed forward with blood-red eyes; the Snake Woman swished her tail but failed to stop him. “Seeking death!” Feng Huo narrowed his eyes, about to unleash the yellow-brown mist from his right hand… Boom! Catastrophe! Yu Qing, who had been lying there weakly, suddenly lunged forward with a punch, leaving a huge fist mark on Feng Huo’s chest at close range. “Ah!” Feng Huo cried out in shock, his expression suddenly changing. His originally rosy face turned pale. He was injured!

This Great Collapse Divine Fist actually injured him!
This Great Collapse was several times more powerful than before, leaving Feng Huo extremely surprised.
Soul Seizure!
Su Che rushed forward, blue light bursting from his forehead, causing Feng Huo’s focus to scatter once again, his spiritual essence shaken once more.
Great Collapse!
Blood gushed from Yu Qing’s nose and mouth as he chased after Su Che, delivering another close-range punch with all his strength.
Feng Huo roared in anger, awakened by this Great Collapse Divine Fist, but the pallor on his face deepened even more.
Soul Seizure!
Su Che didn’t dare relax; blue light appeared once more.
Great Collapse!
Yu Qing threw another punch, but this time…
Feng Huo resisted Su Che’s Soul Seizure, waved his left hand, and instantly formed a Shield of the Earth to protect himself.
Bang!
The Shield of the Earth shattered into sand, giving Feng Huo a chance to catch his breath. The yellow-brown mist still gathered in his right hand and was launched at Su Che.
For him, the greatest threat wasn’t the Great Collapse Divine Fist that could injure him, but Su Che’s unstoppable Soul Seizure light.
Although it was a mist attack, its speed was incredibly fast, and it spread rapidly. Even though Su Che managed to dodge, some of the mist still touched his body.
What was even more terrifying was that this mist wasn’t an energy attack. Neither the flames of the Wind-Fire Dao Robe nor the Dragon Soul’s Scale could protect him.
Su Che felt his body go numb and his limbs stiffen, instantly losing the ability to move.
“Petrification Art!”
Although he didn’t know the exact name of this art, since Feng Huo specialized in earth-based techniques, his powers must belong to the earth category. This state of complete stiffness and loss of sensation was undoubtedly petrification.
Despite not yet turning into a stone statue, Su Che lost all ability to act, even unable to fly on his vessel.
Like a heavy stone, he fell vertically, plunging into the lake with a splash, creating a large wave.
At this moment, injured Feng Huo stared at Yu Qing with a fierce expression and demanded angrily, “Your punching power could actually injure me?”
“That’s right,” Yu Qing replied calmly, wiping the blood from his face. “At first, my junior brother and I deliberately weakened the power of our arts to deceive you, making you underestimate us as much as possible. We only unleash our true strength at critical moments.”
With that, Yu Qing smiled. “How does it feel? Not pleasant, right?”
“Great! Great!” Feng Huo laughed loudly. “It’s my fault for underestimating you. I can’t blame anyone else.”

By the time he lowered his head, the pallor from his face had completely vanished, and even Yu Qing could no longer tell just how serious his injuries were.
“To be honest, those two punches of yours really hurt me badly,” Feng Huo said with a cold expression, each word carrying a frosty edge. “But even so, killing you would still be effortless for me.”
At this moment, Feng Huo was filled with murderous intent. He was willing to risk being punished by his senior upon returning just to kill these two brats right away.
With a twist of his wrist, a war hammer-like magic weapon appeared in his right hand.
Determined to kill Yu Qing in one strike, he finally took it seriously and used his magic weapon.
“To be injured by two kids at the Foundation Establishment stage—this shame must be washed away with your lives,” Feng Huo said viciously, as his war hammer instantly grew much larger.
“Whatever,” Yu Qing replied with a smile, though he was extremely nervous. He knew full well that he might not be able to withstand the devastating attack to come.
“Die!”
Just as Feng Huo was about to activate his war hammer, suddenly…
Whoosh!
Waves surged below, and dozens of dark green vines, like the thick tentacles of a giant beast in the lake, rushed upward toward Feng Huo.
“What is this?”
Feng Huo was shocked. For a moment, he couldn’t identify what they were.
The unknown is the most terrifying, so he could only temporarily set Yu Qing aside and focus on dealing with these vines.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap…
The vines struck repeatedly. Feng Huo dodged left and right, avoiding contact with them, while still trying to figure out their origin—without success.
These were Witch Clan vines from the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm, which hadn’t appeared in the cultivation world for millions of years. No matter how knowledgeable Feng Huo was, he couldn’t recognize them.
Whoosh!
Feng Huo tentatively released a petrifying mist to cover a few vines, only to find that it had no effect on them at all, failing to even cause any obstruction.
Taking advantage of Feng Huo’s struggle with the vines, Yu Qing dived vertically downward and plunged into the lake.
Yu Qing guessed that these vines must have been created by Su Che, but he was still very worried about Su Che’s safety.
Through his spiritual sense, Feng Huo saw everything Yu Qing was doing clearly. But as long as Yu Qing hadn’t escaped, what did it matter if he went down to save the other boy? So he didn’t stop him.
A few breaths later, Yu Qing lifted Su Che to the surface using a spiritual artifact shield.

By now, Fenghuo had figured out their capabilities. Although these vines were extremely tough and difficult to cut, they had no other skills beyond swatting and entangling, so they posed no serious threat. Moreover, a way to deal with them had been found—it was simple: just rise higher, above thirty zhang, and they wouldn’t be able to reach one. Clearly, these vines had a limited length.