Chapter 172: The Blood Lotus Slowly Blossoms
Translator: Strivon Editor: Geoffrey
"Click!"
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis had been forced to retreat step by step with its flesh and blood scattered through the air and its severed limbs dying the ground with blood. Suddenly, an ear-piercing mechanical sound came screeching from the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon. The unrestrained torrent of fire came to a sudden halt, seemingly as if the dance of a berserk flame was forcefully severed.
Out of ammo!
Li Yao's eyebrows creased slightly. He now understood why Ding Lingdang and other close-combat cultivators didn't like to use firearms.
The firepower of firearms was ferocious, but the consumption rate of ammunition was a bit too much. Even several hundred rounds of ammunition weren’t enough to completely slay an intermediate level demon soldier.
If this was a high level demon soldier, a demon general, or even a demon king, how many rounds would he need?
Only the troops that ensured resources to logistics were able to pour down a torrent of firepower in a completely unrestrained manner.
It was impossible for a tiny combat squad formed by cultivators to bring several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition for each mission when they engaged in close-quarters slaughter day in and day out in the Wasteland.
On a small scale with a long timeframe, the fist or the sword was more reliable in high-intensity combat.
"Hisssssssssss!"
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis's shrieking was incomparable ear-piercing, sharp, and berserk.
It hadn't been killed, but it had received serious injuries. Not only was its carapace split in half, but three of its eight jointed limbs were severed, and even its right forelimb that carried a sawtooth edge had been severed, causing a stinky purple fluid to flow out from the wound.
There was no longer the imposing air of a mantis king. It was simply like a stray dog with a broken leg.
Although the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was seriously injured, it turned even more crazy, violent, and bloodthirsty. It painfully swallowed its last bit of reason and its scarlet compound eyes seemed to drip with blood!
It also discovered that Li Yao had exhausted the last of his rounds. Its shriek turned incomparably ruthless. It withdrew its limbs and backed up two steps—it was about to come charging over!
"Not good!"
Everyone's expression suddenly changed, realizing that Li Yao's display of firepower, of Li Yao pressing forward step by step, had caused him to be faintly separated from their protection. A lone soldier had deeply entered enemy lines, walking to the front of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis.
It didn't matter if he was a refiner or a heavy firepower user, he was in a defenseless state close to an injured and berserk demon beast. The consequences were going to be very serious!
Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan glanced at each other and nodded at the same time. They were just about to go save him.
"Wait!"
Ding Lingdang suddenly stopped them. A calm smile hung on her face. She nodded with her chin: "Don't be impatient. Let's see what happens next."
In their moment of hesitation came a shocking development right in front of them.
Li Yao tossed the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon to the side and placed down the metal box he had always carried on his back.
A boom sounded. The heavy weight smashed against the earth, causing dirt to go flying.
Li Yao muttered to himself as his pair of hands transformed into a gray cloud. He was working at lightning-fast speeds.
The several dozen array glyphs all around the metal box suddenly flared to sketch the criss-cross structure of a profound and complicated glyph.
The large metal box made a smooth mechanical sound as all sides of the box suddenly unfolded open, revealing countless crystal gears.
The entire structure went through a transformation as the gears operated at high speeds—it actually transformed into a portable weapons rack!
Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, hatchets, axes, hooks, tridents... 18 classes of bladed weapons of every variety were available, all of which were flowing with brilliant light. They were all dauntless close combat magical equipment!
"This is way too excessive!"
Everyone looked at each other in dismay. They never expected that Li Yao would carry this many close combat magical equipment.
He really deserved to be called a refiner!
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was intimidated by the cold aura of the weapons. It was stunned for a long time before being stimulated by the savage nature of a beast from its pain. It brandished its sickle-like forelimb and suddenly came charging over!
Li Yao was composed as he reached out with his left arm towards the weapons rack and put a black iron ring on his wrist.
Then, he whistled. Five black shields the size of palms flew into the air and revolved slowly around him. Occasionally, they would combine together to form a large shield in front of his left arm. Occasionally, this large shield would disperse back to smaller shields that protected every vital point on his body.
Li Yao shot out with his right hand and grabbed a flaming saber. It was as if he was wielding a raging and burning flame. The corners of his mouth curled up as he charged at the Gold Armored Saber Mantis with a chuckle.
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis greatly displayed its mad nature. It shrieked and it heavily rammed over!
Li Yao didn't hide or dodge. The five shields on his left arm combined to form a single large shield, forcefully blocking the Gold Armored Saber Mantis's ramming attack.
With a boom, Li Yao flew seven, eight meters away.
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis also reeled back by four, five steps. It staggered and was somewhat disoriented.
"This ability to resist blows is far too terrifying! It can actually match the full force of a demon beast!"
Everyone, including the mighty Lu Tieshan, was scared witless at the sight of this scene.
The strength of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis didn't necessarily fall to the level of a low level demon beast even if it was seriously injured. Demon beasts were known for their great strength, and after being injured, the mantis greatly displayed its mad nature.
Li Yao was actually able to meet it head on?
And...
After turning his body mid air and landing on the ground, Li Yao squatted deeply with his legs and let out a long whistle. He sprung up and pounced. The flaming saber's tip was released to be over three meters long. It went to ferociously cleave through the Gold Armored Saber Mantis!
He was actually the first to recover from the Gold Armored Saber Mantis's ramming attack!
"Hiss!"
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was still dizzy. It never thought that this human would be this dauntless.
Having been caught off guard, it was cleaved by the saber.
Even though its carapace was incomparably hard, this saber penetrated deeply into its body and a giant gush of purple fluid spurted out, which was then evaporated in an instant by the flaming saber, letting out a "Tsss".
"For its temperature to be this high, what kind of saber is this? And it can even split the carapace of a Gold Armored Saber Mantis with a single swing!"
All the freshmen had gradually gotten used to Li Yao's strong and fierce body.
However, they were curious about the model of the peculiar saber.
Most notably were the sword cultivators of the Chaos Edge Hall. Their eyes flared when they saw just how sharp this flaming saber was. They discussed spiritedly, but in the end, they were unable to think of just which sect had refined that masterwork weapon.
With this one strike hitting its target, Li Yao knew to quit when he was ahead. He instantly retreated five meters to avoid another dangerous and explosive attack from the Gold Armored Saber Mantis. He put the flaming saber back to the weapons rack and took out a chainsword.
Not only was the sword blade of this chainsword especially large and wide, the sawteeth looked to be like the fangs of wolves and had a slight curvature to them. It was unknown what kind of forging technique was used to have a faint color of blood be infused in the tips of the sawteeth. Its imposing air was extremely terrifying.
With a shaking of his hand, the wolf sawteeth began to vibrate at high speeds to cut through the air, letting out a terrifying purr.
Li Yao, wielding the chainsword, pounced at the mantis once again!
After the dazzling display of firepower, Li Yao devoted the next ten minutes to demonstrating his wonderful, brilliant, and varied close combat magical equipment!
Aside from the flaming saber and the wolf fang chainsword, he took out battle-axes, great hammers, spears, and etc from the weapons rack one after another. He had taken out a dozen or so close-combat magical equipment.
Every type of weapon was a strange model and was far different from the close combat magical equipment commonly seen on the market.
The astonishment in Zhao Tianchong's and Lu Tieshan's eyes grew more and more intense.
The others were shocked by Li Yao endlessly producing all sorts of magical equipment, but they were shocked by the essence of Li Yao's incomparably strong and fierce body.
The two discovered that it didn't matter what magical equipment Li Yao wielded. Li Yao had only one pattern of attack.
And it was not fancy at all; it was just meeting force with force. First, he would use the shield to ram the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, and then he would take advantage of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis's dizzy state and pounce on top of it at flying speeds to unleash an attack.
And before the Gold Armored Saber Mantis could recover, Li Yao would quickly retreat and switch to a different weapon.
These tactics were utterly simple and crude, but they were absolutely effective.
However, only Li Yao, with his monstrous transformation of being able to resist blows, was able to use this kind of tactic.
If it were anyone else, even if they had a shield for protection, they would only be able to withstand up to three to five collisions before spitting up blood.
"What do you think of Li Yao's combat strength? If he was facing us two versus one instead of a demon beast, who do you think would win?"
Zhao Tianchong whispered to Lu Tieshan.
Lu Tieshan silently muttered to himself before saying:
"Li Yao's strength and ability to resist blows is completely enough to shock me. His instantaneous burst strength is also very powerful. Just look. He's deep in his squat when he suddenly explodes forth. His speed instantly reaches his maximum like a hurricane. Even the Gold Armored Saber Mantis is finding it hard to react to."
"Other than this, he's a complete expert in defense. He must have cultivated in a technique that specializes in defense. A strange protective film formed from his spiritual energy covers his entire body. The deadly offensive displayed several times by the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was all dispersed by this protective film!"
"He has this layer of spiritual energy protective film. Combine this with his steel-like physique, and Li Yao's defensive power might dreadfully be higher than that of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis. Even if I land my Thunder Devil Fist, I don't have the confidence that I would be able to blast apart his defenses."
"However..."
Lu Tieshan made a change in topic. He spoke somewhat befuddled, "Compared to his defenses, his attacks are simply a mess. I can't even stand to directly look at it. It’s completely at the level of an amateur!"
Zhao Tianchong nodded and said:
"I agree with your views, but I feel that Li Yao has chosen wisely."
"Wisely?"
Lu Tieshan scratched his hair and asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhao Tianchong chuckled and explained:
"A person's time and energy are limited. It's impossible to learn everything. For fellow student Li Yao to be able to modify and produce a 1st Generation Tai'e crafting furnace, clearly, he has put in a great amount of time and energy into refining techniques, so how much time would he have left to spend on combat cultivation?"
"Even if he doesn't have the time, he should first learn more practical skills."
"With his great strength, he can carry more magical equipment and items than us and he can display the superiority of being a 'massively equipped man'."
"His ability to resist blows is strong and he has a superior defensive technique. These can all help raise his survival rate on the battlefield."
"As for offensive techniques, it doesn't matter if he learns them or not. In the end, he's a refiner, not the main force of combat."
Lu Tieshan let out a long breath after listening. He spoke with some anxiety in his heart:
"I understand now after your explanation. It looks likes this kid is still a normal human. He doesn't know everything. His greatest weakness is being not good at attacking."
Zhao Tianchong replied:
"You can't really say it’s a weakness. Everyone has chosen a different specialty, so certainly, everyone has different paths of development. If someone knows how to refine, has extraordinary strength, and is a master in close-combat, then that's simply..."
He shook his head and didn't continue speaking.
Then, a sudden change occurred at this time.
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis, with cuts all over its body, was nearly drained of all its purple fluids. It finally was unable to endure the frontal standoff against Li Yao. Letting out a shriek and a "swoosh", two thin transparent cicada-like wings suddenly unfolded from its body
With a light leap, the Gold Armored Saber Mantis flew a dozen or so meters—it fled in a panic!
"Li Yao was able to force a Gold Armored Saber Mantis to retreat all by himself?"
Even now, there were still quite a few freshmen who couldn't believe their eyes.
Li Yao calmly felt out a small remote control from his waist. A smile filled his face. He aimed it at the direction the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was fleeing in and lightly pressed.
B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Boom!
The Gold Armored Saber Mantis suddenly shivered, and then its entire body exploded.
Several dozen balls of fire suddenly expanded, transforming into slow blossoming lotuses of blood one after another!