Chapter 170: Curious
Embedded on the canyon walls, Hastor groaned, as he tried to understand what just happened. It was then he felt a powerful aura filling the Grand Canyon and shivered.
This was the reason he hated Skinwalker.
A Tier 4 Spiritual Creature controlling a Tier 5 Spiritual Creature was just pure crime. How was this even fair?
He forcibly pulled himself forward and shook his head to get his body in balance again. He was still mid-air, after all. After getting a perfect balance, he raised his head and looked at the being who emitted such a terrifying aura and had also sent him flying with just one attack.
It was a gigantic, armored beast with skin as tough as steel. Just a single glance at it was enough to tell Hastor the identity of the Spritual Creature. It was a famous predator, after all.
The Ironhide Rhinox.
It usually charged through the battlefield like an unstoppable juggernaut, its horn capable of piercing the strongest defenses. Its hide was resistant to most physical and Qi attacks, making it a formidable opponent.
Hastor's face turned grim. This was the reason he feared Skinwalker so much. Nobody could tell just what kind of beast or even humans that creature was hiding.
He sighed, as he quickly understood the situation.
'That guy knew about me so he specially prepared this Spritual Creature to fight me. The Ironhide Rhinox is way too strong even for Skinwalker, but it's not like it needs to defeat it directly.'
With narrowed eyes, Hastor took a step forward and charged at the gigantic creature whose horn was already coming at him, ready to tear him apart.
The Ironhide Rhinox was just a skin Skinwalker wore, making it just one of the many vessels. So, he didn't think it would make any difference if he took down the young man or the Rhinox.
"Seven-Mountain Shattering Palm!!"
With a wave from his hand, Hastor sent Seven palms made of dense Qi and formed specially due to his secret technique, towards the incoming beast.
However, it seemed as if the Ironhide Rhinox didn't even acknowledge the attack as it simply charged forward. The seven palms collided with its hide, and were completely unsuccessful as they couldn't even make a mark on it.
Hastor clicked his tongue and joined both of his palm together as a golden ring formed around him. But it wasn't the end as several other rings like it formed around him, revolving around him rapidly.
He was going to attack but felt something soft touching his hand. He frowned and shook his hand, as every anomaly in a battle could change the outcome.
When he looked down, he found a strange red bee sitting on his finger. Suddenly, he felt a pang of pain and a sense of dread washed over him.
Without wasting even a second, he straighten his other hand and chopped at his wrist, cutting it perfectly. Blood dripped from his arm but his focus was on something entirely different.
He looked horrified at his hand that had fallen on the ground. It had began rotting from inside out and he could even seen little insects crawling out by making many holes in that hand.
Just imagining what would have happened if he didn't cut his hands sent shivers down his spine. His body trembled but he calmed himself down. He was a veteran expert so even this didn't faze him for long.
He just raised his hand and made a small ball of the golden rings he had produced earlier. They began to condense and just when the Ironhide Rhinox was going to slam on him, he released which hit the giant Creature on the face.
The whole canyon shook as the giant Ironhide Rhinox backed away, after it was pushed by the might of the Golden rings. Not only that, but blood was dripping out from the wound Hastor caused.
Hastor looked at the Ironhide Rhinox and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
'So, even this was only enough to injure it slightly? No wonder nobody could defeat it unless they formed a team. This guy is just too overpowered.'
But he also had an advantage of being agile. After all, the Ironhide Rhinox was best in defence, not in only areas.
"You're truly impressive. Even after getting bitten by my Crimson Death Bettle, you were able to tank the big guy. No wonder, you were chosen to be the Princess's gaurd."
Hearing the compliments the young man was giving from the top of the canyon, a wary smile appeared on Hastor's face.
He was actually very weak compared to other guards as he was just an Early-Stage Nascent Soul Realm expert. The reason he was chosen was that the Empress trusted him.
He looked at his bleeding hand and noticed something in the Young man's words. His eyes narrowed at the wound as he thought.
'Crimson Death Bettle? I have never heard of such thing so where did the Skinwalker get such a skin who could control such legal bug?'
He quickly whipped out a healing pills and swallowed it, while also taking out some bandages to cover his arm as it was unusable now.
The young man sitting above noticed his actions and laughed.
"You're going to die anyway so why are you bothering with your body so much? Don't worry, I'll heal you once I get your body."
His eyes then turned cold as he continued.
"Let's not waste our time here. I'll give you a chance considering you have impressed me. Just give me your body and I'll give you a quick death, otherwise there are multiple ways of taking over someone's body hehe."
Hastor shook his head and didn't even take a second to answer.
"Don't bother. I'm all alone here so I might as well die trying."
"Who said you're gonna die?"
A voice sounded from behind him, just when he was about to self-destruct to atleast keep his body away from the Skinwalker. At first, he thought it was Skinwalker who was playing with him, but then another voice sounded, which was much more familiar to him.
"What are you doing, Hastor?"
His body trembled as his head snapped backwards, only to have his eyes widened in shock.
Behind him, a beautiful young woman with long purple hair tied into beautiful braids was standing, looking at him with concerned face. Beside her, a young man matching her aura was standing, his eyes however were looked at the Ironhide Rhinox.
Apparently, the Ironhide Rhinox was charging it him but it had suddenly stopped. Hastor knew that the young man possessed unparalleled powers so he wasn't that surprised.
He heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that he was saved. He has given up, sure but who wanted to truly die. He had just decided to fight to death because there was no way around.
"Huh! How did you come here?"
The young man was also surprised, as he even didn't detect their arrival. It was as if they had appeared out of nowhere. There was no malice, or greed in his eyes but just pure curiosity.
Shen Yu was analysing the situation when he heard the childish voice. He raised his head and met the young man's curiosity filled eyes.
A slight surprise shone in his eyes as he thought.
'What is that? It's like an amalgamation of two different person or should I say souls housing a single body?'
He could see a mass of darkness flowing in an endless loop within the young man, but there was also a white strange miss which was trying to fight it but was clearly on the losing side.
The darkness was overpowering but the white mist was slowly growing as the more he looked at the young man. However, then something unexpected happened and the darkness retaliated, taking back the dominant side it held earlier.
The curiosity was also gone from his eyes as a grin appeared on his face.
"You're strong and I really need your body. But I also know that I can't beat you now so bye bye."
Saying that, he stood up and ran away.
Shen Yu just continued to look at him with a strange look, and didn't do anything even when the young man's silhouette almost disappeared from his vision.
It was then he raised his hand and flicked his fingers, making the distant figure of the young man vanish.
The young man was just running away with his full speed when he sensed something amiss. Before he could understand what happened, he was once again face to face with Shen Yu.
He sighed, and raised his hands in the air.
"Fine! I give up! Do whatever you want."
Shen Yu didn't reply and simply raised his hand, trying to touch the young man's forehead. But he failed as the young man withdrew.
His face was of terror as he muttered.
"W-What are you?"
"Just a curious being, like you "