Li Chongshan felt his scalp tingle when he realized just how tough the Desolate Beasts really were. At that moment, Su Chen spoke up. “Let me give it a try.”
He pulled out his Lightless Blade and unleashed a simple Dimensional Slash at that Desolate Beast.
Unexpectedly, he missed.
Su Chen’s sword strike had actually struck nothing but thin air.
Even so, missing was not exactly strange. Both Desolate Beasts were still flying around with incredibly hard-to-predict motions as they relied on their singular air hole for propulsion. Even they had a hard time figuring out which direction they would go next, let alone Su Chen.
The ten thousand Boundless Sect disciples had been able to effectively attack the Desolate Beast simply because of how many of them there were. Naturally, Su Chen’s accuracy was much lower, since there was only him launching a single attack.
The same principle applied to when the ten thousand swordsmen concentrated their attacks to increase their attacks’ might, as the total number of swords would diminish, making it hard to hit the Desolate Beast.
Su Chen frowned when he saw that his attack had missed. In response, he swung the Lightless Blade three times in rapid succession, followed shortly by two more. Unleashing five Dimensional Slashes in a row consumed a large amount of his energy, and Su Chen’s face paled considerably as a side effect.
This time, one of the Dimensional Slashes finally made contact with the Desolate Beast.
Even so, yet another shocking scene unfolded.
The Desolate Beast that had been struck by a Dimensional Slash continued to fly around as chaotically as ever, as if it were completely unaffected.
How was this possible?
Even Su Chen’s eyes widened in surprise.
Throughout his entire life, he had always been the one surprising others. And yet, here deep underground, it was finally his turn to make a surprised face.
Dimensional Slash was a spatial technique that rent space itself apart. Any creature with mass should also be rent apart. In other words, this attack should ignore any and all physical defenses. As long as its target took up an area of space, it would be affected.
Su Chen had already experimented and validated this theory on a number of materials. In the end, only Void Starmetal had been able to resist his Dimensional Slash at all. His research had eventually revealed that Void Starmetal was actually coated in a thin layer of spatial distortions. It was this infinitesimally thin coating that redirected the energy in his Dimensional Slashes, making it impossible for the slash to affect the space occupied by the Void Starmetal.
And now, this Desolate Beast’s body was the second substance that had ever blocked his Dimensional Slashes.
Could the creature possess similar redirecting properties as the Void Starmetal?
However, Su Chen quickly realized that this conjecture held no water.
Because the Desolate Beast did not redirect his Dimensional Slash, but rather seemingly absorbed it.
The disappearance of his Dimensional Slash was quite mysterious. It was as if the attack had merely ceased to exist.
To confirm that this was indeed how it was being blocked, Su Chen unleashed a few more Dimensional Slashes.
The same phenomenon occurred. The Dimensional Slashes were well and truly disappearing. The violent spatial power, which was more than enough to tear through space itself, vanished without a trace as soon as it met the Desolate Beast’s skin.
Without its characteristic destructive spatial power, how would Su Chen’s Dimensional Slashes harm the Desolate Beast?
“So you also possess some understanding of spatial Method Power, then?” Su Chen muttered under his breath.
Originally, this Desolate Beast’s only unique characteristics seemed to be its iron-like skin and its erratic movements. Now, however, this creature had also seemed to demonstrate a deep use of spatial Method Power. Additionally, its spatial Method Power seemed to only have defensive abilities, not offensive ones.
If that was the case......
Su Chen thought for a moment, then activated his Seven Bloodline Microcosm Aspect. A flaming dragon appeared behind him once again.
ROAR!
The flaming dragon howled as it flew forth, slamming into the Desolate Beast’s body and sending a flurry of sparks showering out in all directions. The Boundless Sect’s disciples all cheered at its magnificent power.
But when the flames dissipated, everyone saw that the Desolate Beast was still rampaging about as if nothing had happened.
Su Chen’s attack, which could easily melt any known metal, was completely ineffective yet again.
Everyone was simultaneously dumbfounded.
How could such a powerful attack have done nothing to it?
Desolate Beasts couldn’t be invincible, could they?
“It’s not spatial walls,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
In the moment that the flaming dragon had collided with the Desolate Beast, Su Chen had been able to confirm that his attack had actually landed. It had not been “cut off” by any kind of spatial technique.
But Su Chen still wasn’t able to understand how the Desolate Beast had managed to withstand his attack without taking any damage whatsoever.
Attacking and defending were not equivalent actions. The person attacking possessed an inherent advantage. Even a child attacking an adult could cause tremendous pain to the adult. In other words, it should not have been possible for the creature to maintain its defenses.
By the same reason, a Light Shaking Realm cultivator’s attack could still do some damage to an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator even if the Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator was more than capable of flattening the Light Shaking Realm cultivator with a single finger.
This inequality was inherent to the action of someone attacking and someone defending.
If the attacking party couldn’t break through the opponent’s defenses at all, then that implied that the two parties’ gap in strength had widened to an insurmountable level.
For example, if a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator tried to attack an Ultimate Emperor Realm cultivator.
Desolate Beasts were ridiculously powerful, but there was no way for there to be such a gap between the current Su Chen and a typical Desolate Beast that Su Chen couldn’t even wound the Desolate Beast.
There was something else going on if his attacks were seemingly all ineffective.
And that was not even mentioning that there were two of these Desolate Beasts.
Su Chen glanced at the other Desolate Beast off in the distance and saw that it was also chasing the Ravagers around without any real resistance.
Even though Danba’s reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet, it was quite obvious that they wouldn’t make a difference even when they did. Thankfully, the chaotic flight paths of the Desolate Beasts meant that they advanced relatively slowly. The Ravagers had been able to retreat in time and avoided excessive casualties. However, their formation had been completely dismantled as a price.
Thankfully, the Astrals were just as afraid of these two Desolate Beasts, and they hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.
“Husband, let’s attack together!” Gu Qingluo flew over, wanting to attempt what they had used against the Darkness Devil King.
“There’s no need,” Su Chen said as he shook his head.
He was sure that the Desolate Beast’s defenses were impossible to understand or penetrate with conventional logic. Even if he and Gu Qingluo did join hands, it was unlikely for their attack to do much.
After a moment’s thought, Su Chen gathered his consciousness energy and attempted to invade the Desolate Beast’s Sea of Knowledge.
Using consciousness techniques against a Desolate Beast was extremely risky. Most Desolate Beasts relied on their physical strength, but there were a rare few that had incredibly powerful consciousnesses. If Su Chen accidentally stumbled upon one of them and tried to invade their mind, he would undoubtedly die.
Thankfully, this particular Desolate Beast didn’t seem to have an overwhelmingly powerful consciousness. In fact, there was virtually no resistance when he invaded.
Su Chen was excited for a moment, but that excitement soon gave way to shock.
If the Desolate Beast’s mind was this easy to invade, then why hadn’t the Astrals done so?
As soon as he realized this major point, Su Chen immediately retreated from the creature’s mind.
At that same exact moment, a violent tide of willpower suddenly surged in from nowhere, threatening to envelop him and smash his consciousness to pieces.
As soon as Su Chen sensed the overwhelming willpower, he decisively severed his connection with the consciousness energy that he had sent to invade the Desolate Beast’s mind.
This forceful severing caused Su Chen’s expression to pale as his consciousness power permanently decreased. Even so, his decisive action had saved him from being struck by that powerful wave of willpower. If he had been forced to bear the brunt of that attack, then he would have become a vegetable if not killed on the spot.
“Hmph, consider yourself lucky!”
A sinister voice echoed in Su Chen’s heart.
Menelaus.
That slippery bastard.
Obviously, Menelaus had used some kind of strange technique to conceal the Desolate Beast’s true consciousness power in an attempt to trick Su Chen into invading. Thankfully, Su Chen had discovered that something was off and retreated in the nick of time, which forced Menelaus to take action sooner than planned and gave him a way out.
Even so, this had wounded Su Chen considerably.
He couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow over losing the consciousness energy that he had spent so long accumulating.
Even so, this was the reality of war. No one could profit endlessly; a price always had to be paid.
Thankfully, Su Chen’s consciousness was strong enough that this loss wouldn’t affect him too much. However, the Desolate Beast was still alive and kicking, and it had gotten much closer after breaking through the Boundless Sect’s formation. By now, the Boundless Sect was already beginning to suffer some casualties.
Although it inflicted casualties quite slowly, its invincible defense and the constant stream of air that it emitted meant that it could fight continuously without taking a break.
As the Desolate Beast rampaged through the Boundless Sect’s formation, the disciples felt a sense of overwhelming despair when faced with its impenetrable defenses.
Su Chen had failed to do any damage with three different attacks. He could only try to think of something else.
He stared intently at the Desolate Beast, his microscopic eyes beginning to whir into action.
His microscopic eyes were normally not very useful in combat, so this showed that he really was using every resource available to him.
But as soon as he activated them, he was immediately taken aback by what he saw.
Or rather, what he didn’t see.
He couldn’t see the Desolate Beast!
Su Chen felt like he had suddenly become blind again after he activated his microscopic eyes. Everything around him was completely shrouded in darkness.
What was going on?
Su Chen was stunned.
He deactivated his microscopic eyes, only to see the Desolate Beast still rampaging through the ranks of his soldiers.
It was obviously there, but for some reason, his microscopic eyes were completely incapable of seeing it.
What could this mean?
Suddenly, an incredible idea flashed through Su Chen’s mind.
Consciousness power!
How could what appeared to be nothing more than a ball of meat possess such a frighteningly powerful consciousness? And how was Menelaus able to influence it? If the creature was under his control, then why did it seem like he could barely control it?
Su Chen finally realized what had happened.
He sighed. “We’ve been had.”
Su Chen then flew into the air and loudly declared, “Everyone, focus all of your attacks on the Desolate Beast!”
Upon hearing his words, the Boundless Sect’s disciples, who had just been fleeing in disarray, immediately turned around and hurled attack after attack at it.
Streaks of sword light seemed to disappear harmlessly as they collided with the Desolate Beast, which was still flying around haphazardly.
Su Chen, however, seemed to have steeled himself. He ordered his disciples to continue attacking without respite.
Because they were now also attacking, the disciples’ ability to evade the Desolate Beast had greatly decreased. As the Desolate Beast careened wildly through the disciples’ ranks, quite a few of them were smashed to death.
Li Chongshan felt his heart ache when he saw this take place, and he quickly flew over to Su Chen and said, “Sect Master, there’s no point to attacking like this. We simply cannot injure this creature!”
“No! It is useful,” Su Chen said, “We have been wounding it the entire time. We just weren’t able to see it, is all.”
“What?” Li Chongshan was greatly taken aback.
What was that supposed to mean?
The Desolate Beast was obviously uninjured.
However, Su Chen replied very seriously, “We have been injuring it this whole time. It is not actually some kind of ultra-defensive Desolate Beast. In fact, it might not even be a Desolate Beast at all.”
Li Chongshan was completely dumbfounded when he heard this.
It’s not a Desolate Beast?
Was this some kind of sick joke? How could it be so powerful if it wasn’t a Desolate Beast?
Su Chen, however, continued explaining. “I know that I am right. This is not a Desolate Beast — in fact, it’s not even a Beast. It’s an extremely unique and special creature that is being supplemented by the Astrals’ illusion techniques. I don’t know what exactly it is, but I do know that there is no chance it’s invincible.”
After Su Chen revealed what he had found out, he reached out and grabbed Gu Qingluo’s hand. “Come, my wife. Let’s deal this creature a harsh blow and drag its true appearance out!”
The two of them joined hands, and a white-hot fireball appeared on the battlefield yet again.
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