Chapter 252 — A Third Bloom

While the crowd argued, down on the field, Qu Lishi saw that Shi Jin and the others had yet to move, and struck first!

Though that was not quite accurate.

Both sides should have acted together.

It was just that on Qu Lishi's side, it was the Bull-Headed Beast King that erupted with its intimidation.

While on Shi Shuo's side, it was Shi Jin who made the move!

Everyone's gaze went blank for a beat, then turned to Cen Yu's hand.

Shi Jin spread his fingers, and there rested ten black metal spheres, shaped like chess pieces.

Shi Jin simply tossed all ten metal beans onto the field.

The next instant, the black metal beans absorbed the ambient energy like seeds, white light wreathing them as they grew and evolved, one after another, into little Iron-Eating Beasts identical to Eleven.

Each of them held just over forty thousand in energy value.

"Ying ying ying."

This pack of bean bears clustered around Eleven, a whole chorus of yings.

On one side, the peerless trash-clearing intimidation skill, made to sweep away minnows; on the other, a whole batch of minnows had been conjured out of thin air.

For a moment, it was clear most people could not quite process what they were seeing.

"ROAR!!!!"

In the blink of an eye, as the Bull-Headed Beast King let out a great roar, its erupting flame intimidation swept out across the field, and soon faces in the crowd shifted.

The Bull-Headed Beast King's expression turned savage as it bellowed, heat waves shuddering around its body, the materialized red intimidation turning the whole field crimson—a perfect-grade intimidation like a tornado of fire, devouring its way toward the opponent in an instant!

And yet, against such a mighty skill, the power the eleven little pandas across the field displayed left everyone stunned.

"Ying ying ying."

Amid that chorus of yings, on the field, golden light immediately wreathed the bodies of all eleven little Iron-Eating Beasts; then the golden light on each resonated into a vast golden domain that cloaked them all.

BOOM!

The Golden Domain was like a colossal illusory citadel, unbreakable, radiating astonishing brilliance, its golden aura blinding-bright—Panda King Eleven stood at its center, its technique-nearing-the-Dao grade Impregnable triggering the ten little Iron-Eating Beasts' proficient-grade Impregnable, unleashing a legion resonance skill outright!

In that instant, intimidation and Impregnable collided—and an astonishing sight appeared.

Under the protection of the golden citadel, to say nothing of Panda King Eleven at the center guarded by its ten bean-bear soldiers, even the ten puny bean bears, facing a Monarch-level spirit beast's perfect intimidation, came away entirely unscathed!

For the instant the overwhelming intimidation struck Impregnable, it was annihilated with a "boom."

"How is that possible!"

"ROAR!!"

At the sight, Qu Lishi and the Ox-Head Beast King stared wide-eyed.

Holy shit.

What the hell was this?

"In this eleventh evolution, three super-rank racial skills awakened in total. One of them is Bean Soldiers, from the gold and wood dual elements."

"This skill is rather special. Once released, so long as the distance from the beast's true body is not too great, the beans can be preserved for a period—a special skill of Shi Heng's."

Shi Zhaozhong was thrilled. This was the proper way to use Bean Soldiers.

Prepare the Bean Bear soldiers in advance, release them at the critical moment—as long as the original's stamina has been restored beforehand, it was essentially ten retainers for free.

At present, though each of the eleven little Iron-Eaters on the field was far weaker than the Ox-Head Beast King, with the legion resonance skill Impregnable Fortress, their strength not only pooled together but produced power greater than the sum of its parts!

The only drawback was that this move could only defend, and it drained no small amount.

"ROAR!!!" The Ox-Head Beast King's eyes flew wide, and it looked to its own beastmaster.

Wasn't this fucking cheating???

Stockpiling Bean Bears in advance was one thing, but how the hell did they also have a resonance skill—and wield it together so fluently?

"I..." Seeing the battle open so badly, Qu Lishi's heart lurched. How the hell was it that in Shi Tan's hands, everything turned into such monstrous super-rank skills?

This Bean Soldiers, like Veiled Edge, was clearly another cheat of a skill!

"Awoo!!!" The next second, Panda King Shi Yi swept one hand down; it advanced a step, and the ten Bean Bears clustered around it advanced a step too, and the vast Golden Citadel that enveloped them pushed forward a step as well.

Straight toward the Ox-Head Beast King!

"ROAR!!"

At the sight, the Ox-Head Beast King's eyes bulged, and in a fury it brought its axe down!

Yet!

BOOM!!!

Its axe struck the Golden Citadel and only split open a single crack, failing to break the defense; instead, the tremendous recoil forced it back several steps!!

Impregnable Fortress—never mind mental, physical, or elemental attacks; even soul attacks could be blocked just the same!

Holy shit.

At this sight, Feng Jin and the others watching from the stands were beaming.

"This..."

Their mouths fell slightly open. So it really was Bean Soldiers?

"Bean Soldiers, like Veiled Edge, is one of the top-tier gold-element skills."

"I know this move—an extremely rare legion skill. I never expected..."

Clearly, no one was unfamiliar with this skill.

But the same skill in different beasts' hands had different tactical value; the actual combat effect was what mattered most!

Take the present case: the Iron-Eater possessed the legion resonance skill Impregnable Fortress, and when it used Bean Soldiers, the effect was superb!

This skill was practically tailor-made for the Iron-Eater that possessed the racial skill Impregnable Fortress!

"You... you little rascal."

Meanwhile, on the field, Qu Lishi's expression shifted again and again, plainly astonished by this combination.

But did they think a defensive legion resonance skill alone could stand against a monarch?

Nothing was that simple!

"Old Ox!"

"Go!"

Having been shown off a little by Shi Jin and the others, Qu Lishi abandoned any pretense of warrior ethics and had the Ox-Head Beast King unleash its full mastery of the super-rank skill Battle Soul of the Flaming Fire!

BOOM!

Once the Ox-Head Beast King steadied itself, a colossal phantom of an ox-demon wreathed in flame appeared behind it.

This was a super-rank fire skill: it summoned a flame battle soul to fight alongside the user, and while the soul endured, it boosted the user's strength, defense, speed, flame power, will to fight, and rate of injury recovery!

Though not as brutally extreme as Veiled Edge, it was a skill that amplified combat power across the board.

"ROAR!!!" With the battle soul upon it, the Bull-Head Beast King split the ground beneath its hooves and leaped high, then brought its axe down again in midair, meaning to shatter the Impregnable Fortress once and for all.

It glared at the eleven little Iron-Eaters shielded by the Golden City, and its fury boiled over.

But then.

While it was gathering its flame battle soul, Shi Jin's side had not been idle either.

Eleven stood where it was and vented hardened matter directly, spreading its own hardened substance through the earth to coat every one of the Doudou Bears.

To be precise, this was no ordinary hardened matter—it was hardened matter to which Eleven had imparted the property of a lightning rod!

At the same time, the hardened matter on Eleven's own body was likewise wreathed in crackling light.

Kacha.

At first, no one quite understood why Eleven was reinforcing the Doudou Bears with hardened matter, but the next instant, as a rumble rolled across the sky, Bai Xi and the others looked up, mouths falling slightly open.

BOOM!!!!