I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield Chapter 655 - 489: Yamata-no-Orochi, Holy Blood Escape (2)

Qin Tian made a swift decision, forgoing defense as he allowed the spikes to strike his abdomen. Simultaneously, his Thunder Saber swept downwards, its blade light slicing past Shengongsi Hao Er’s shoulder, carving a deep, bone-exposing wound.

The dual assault of searing golden Qi and blood, coupled with the paralyzing effects of purple lightning, simultaneously impacted the wound. This caused Shengongsi Hao Er to emit a muffled grunt, and the serpent shadow coalescing behind him visibly flickered and dimmed.

"Damn it, I underestimated him," Shengongsi Hao Er’s eyes darted, a flicker of surprise crossing his features. This injury was trivial to him; with a mere exertion of his serpent bloodline, the wound rapidly mended.

Boom boom boom!

In the span of mere moments, the two engaged in countless exchanges. Their silhouettes blurred above the ice field, a maelstrom of purple lightning and grey serpent shadows clashing incessantly, their Spiritual Energy explosions echoing without pause.

With each passing moment of combat, Shengongsi Hao Er’s shock intensified. He found Qin Tian’s strength utterly defied his comprehension. A mere Tier Six Spiritualist, an opponent he should have easily crushed, was now matching him blow for blow, preventing him from gaining any semblance of an upper hand.

For a proud Holy Blood descendant like himself, this was an unbearable humiliation.

"Die—!"

Shengongsi Hao Er’s roar reverberated across the icefield. His eyes instantly morphed into blood-red vertical pupils. With a sharp *shhh*, his robe on his back ripped open, and from it erupted five snake heads, each adorned with obsidian scales. The serpentine bodies writhed and coiled, their scales glinting with a chilling sheen under the sunlight. Every snake head bared its bloodthirsty maw, corrosive saliva dripping from its fangs as it lunged towards Qin Tian.

His aura surged multiple times over, grey Spiritual Energy swirling like an unstoppable tide. Fine scales materialized on his face, mirroring the snake heads on his back, radiating a ferocious aura reminiscent of an ancient demonic beast.

This was a formidable trump card of the Shengongsi family: the half-awakened form of the Yamata no Orochi bloodline!

"It’s actually the Yamata form!" Shengongsi’s followers below exclaimed, their faces etched with disbelief and pallor. They had fully expected Qin Tian to be obliterated, yet here he was, forcing a direct descendant of the Holy Blood to reveal such a desperate measure, completely shattering their prior understanding.

In stark contrast, Zhuge Yu and his three companions merely exchanged knowing smiles. Their eyes held a mixture of surprise and understanding. Given that Qin Tian had previously managed to defeat a Tier Seven Frost Kirin, it was entirely plausible that he could force the Holy Blood’s ultimate trump card into play.

Seizing the opportune moment, Taishi Feng swung his halberd, forcefully pushing back the fiery crimson hulk. He bellowed, his voice echoing, "Qin Tian, show them the true extent of your power!"

Swoosh~

Shengongsi Hao Er transformed into a swift grey blur, charging forward. His right fist, encased in serpent-shaped Spiritual Energy, rocketed towards Qin Tian’s face, while the five snake heads simultaneously launched their coordinated assault.

The leftmost snake head lunged for a bite, while the two central heads unleashed a barrage of dark green venom and crackling purple lightning. The remaining two heads spewed forth crimson flames. These elements — venom, electricity, and fire — intertwined, forming a deadly net that sealed off every conceivable escape route for Qin Tian.

Qin Tian promptly raised his saber to intercept. The Thunder Saber first dispersed the incoming lightning, then parried the snake’s biting attempt. However, the venom and flames were already closing in.

He managed to sidestep, narrowly avoiding the main thrust, yet still sustained a glancing blow from the fire on his shoulder, his robe instantly catching alight. Simultaneously, the venom seeped into his nasal passages. Though immune to its toxic effects, the acrid fumes brought on a wave of nausea.

Capitalizing on this fleeting advantage, Shengongsi Hao Er delivered a powerful punch to Qin Tian’s abdomen, sending him staggering backward. Qin Tian’s Thunder Saber retaliated with a chopping motion aimed at a snake head, but it only managed to inflict a shallow white mark, unable to penetrate the protective scale armor.

"Is that all you’ve got? Where’s that arrogance you displayed earlier?" Shengongsi Hao Er taunted, unleashing another ferocious assault.

"Then I shall show you something truly formidable."

"Ah—!" Shengongsi Hao Er shrieked in extreme pain, his face contorted in agony.

In his Yamata no Orochi form, the serpent heads were extensions of his own being; losing one, while not instantly fatal, inflicted an unbearable torment.

The subordinates below watched in utter horror, astonished that a mere Tier Six cultivator could actually inflict injury upon a direct descendant of the Holy Blood lineage who had activated the legendary Yamata form!

Qin Tian advanced through the air, his Thunder Saber crackling with golden electricity. It moved like an enraged dragon ascending from the ocean depths, aiming a direct strike at Shengongsi Hao Er's chest.

Having already suffered severe setbacks, Shengongsi Hao Er hesitated to confront the attack head-on again. His five serpent heads instantly intertwined, spewing forth a shield of gray Spiritual Energy. Simultaneously, his body slithered sideways with a fluid, eel-like motion, artfully evading the saber's lethal arc.

"Sss——"

The Thunder Saber met the Spiritual Energy shield, and the potent golden electricity immediately tore through its surface. However, Shengongsi Hao Er skillfully used the impact's momentum to execute a backward flip, narrowly escaping the blow. A deep wound remained on his shoulder, exposing bone.

As dark snake blood began to profusely spill, it was brutally halted by his potent Bloodline Power. Although the severed snake head did not regenerate, the remaining four heads became even more vicious, alternating between unleashing poisonous fire and crackling lightning, their objective shifting from attack to merely entangling Qin Tian.

Qin Tian's sword momentum remained unbroken. In his Overlord Body state, both his speed and strength far surpassed previous levels. The Thunder Saber weaved through the air, forming a dazzling curtain of purple and gold. When a serpent head managed to slip through, he would swiftly counter with a backhand strike, sending it reeling, shattering scales, and causing viscous black blood to splatter.

Shengongsi Hao Er found himself utterly suppressed, his survival dependent solely on the uncanny flexibility of his serpentine form, his face a mask of both terror and desperate ferocity.

Meanwhile, the scene on the battlefield below began to gradually clarify.

Zhuge Yu stood firmly at the formation's core, the Wuhou Eight Trigrams Array interconnected with the auras of the three combatants, coalescing into a stable Three-Talents Formation.

Taishi Feng, armed with his halberd, stood at the forefront of the formation. Bolstered by the enhancement of golden Qi and blood, he weathered the fierce assaults of the crimson fire brute. Huo Yuansheng, his movements amplified by the array's speed, flitted across the battlefield like a phantom, his longsword expertly targeting the vulnerabilities of the purple fire man and the swordsman, each thrust aimed directly at their throats.

Zhuge Yu's fingers twitched incessantly, and the lightning emanating from the array intensified, growing increasingly violent. Two brilliant pillars of lightning accurately struck the Yin-Yang Master's Shiki-gami.

"No!"

The Yin-Yang Master on the left cried out in misery. His Kamaitachi had just loosed an arrow when it was obliterated by a lightning pillar. The Shiki-gami's physical form disintegrated into wisps of shadowy mist instantly. The Great Tengu's wind-based attack was sealed by chilling Sword Qi, and it finally shattered amidst the converging forces of thunder and fire.

These two Shiki-gami, nurtured over decades with Essence Blood, were now reduced to fragments, causing the Yin-Yang Master immense heartache as if his own blood were being drained.

"Taishi Feng, left flank!" Zhuge Yu commanded in a low voice. The array's luminescence abruptly shifted, channeling Taishi Feng's Qi and blood directly to Huo Yuansheng's sword tip.

Taishi Feng understood the signal. With a powerful swing of his halberd, he forced the crimson fire brute back. Seizing the ensuing momentum, Huo Yuansheng leaped forward. His ice sword, now fully imbued with the array's potent Spiritual Energy, pierced through the purple fire man's defenses with a single, decisive thrust.

Miyaji Koji, observing the unfolding events below from his peripheral vision, noticed several of his subordinates sustaining injuries. While he possessed the means to escape utilizing his Holy Blood lineage's foundational power, delaying further meant condemning these five followers to certain death.

Damn it, at this juncture, I am left with no choice but...

"Die!"

Shengongsi Hao Er suddenly unleashed a deafening roar, his remaining four serpent heads simultaneously parting their massive jaws to spew forth a thick, ink-like gray mist.

The mist rapidly expanded, engulfing the entire frozen plain like a suffocating tide. Wherever its corrosive tendrils reached, the ice surface instantly dissolved into porous, honeycomb-like cavities, and the air became heavy, thick with a fetid stench.

This was the innate ability of the Great Snake's Bloodline, known as "Calamity Mist." It possessed the power to not only corrode Spiritual Energy and flesh but also to corrupt one's very fortune, ensuring that anyone contaminated by it would be plagued by unceasing misfortune.

"Qin Tian, do not come into contact with the mist!" Zhuge Yu's expression shifted drastically. He recoiled, pulling Taishi Feng and Huo Yuansheng beside him. "This is Calamity Mist; if you touch it, you'll be consumed by misfortune. It cannot be stopped!"

Taishi Feng attempted to swing his halberd, intending to cleave through the mist before them, but Zhuge Yu firmly restrained him. "It's futile; this is a curse operating at the bloodline law level. Physical attacks are powerless against it!"

Undeterred, Qin Tian remained unfazed. Within the Overlord Body・Emperor State, all harmful effects were rendered void. The Calamity Mist met his radiant, golden Qi and blood barrier, disintegrating instantly, much like snow succumbing to a scorching inferno.

Yet, his attention turned to the grave situation of Zhuge Yu and the others. Despite their utmost efforts to deploy spiritual energy defenses, the insidious mist continued to wear down their protective shields. Taishi Feng’s golden Qi and blood displayed unsettling tremors, clearly on the verge of collapse.

Without a moment's hesitation, Qin Tian acted. His left hand clenched with formidable power, causing spatial distortions to emanate outward from his position.

In the succeeding instant, Zhuge Yu and his companions experienced a dramatic shift in their surroundings, finding themselves securely transported beside Qin Tian.

Surging with Qi and blood, Qin Tian’s golden barrier suddenly expanded, encompassing the three within its protective embrace. The Calamity Mist crashed against this formidable defense, unable to disturb so much as a single ripple.

"Phew... that was a close call," Taishi Feng exhaled, wiping the beads of cold sweat from his brow. He cast a glance at the pockmarked, icy terrain outside, now being gnawed away by the mist, still visibly shaken. "This brat's abilities are truly wicked."

Zhuge Yu also released a sigh of relief. "Thanks to Qin Tian, or else today, even if we hadn't perished, we'd be forever cursed by this misfortune."

Shortly after, the Calamity Mist that had shrouded the ice plain began to recede gradually, unveiling a scene of desolate devastation.

Shengongsi Hao Er and his retinue of five were nowhere to be found, evidently having seized the cover of the Calamity Mist to effect their escape with their subordinates.

"Qin Tian, they got away..." Huo Yuansheng murmured, his words tinged with a hint of disappointment.

Qin Tian, however, offered a slight, knowing smile at the corner of his lips. "Worry not," he stated calmly, "they won't manage to flee very far."