Chapter 137: Internal Injury

Lin Hao hastily summoned his Metal-attribute spiritual root to construct a golden bell shield.

With a loud clanging sound, the White Tiger's claw struck the golden bell shield.

True to its lineage as a divine beast, the White Tiger shattered the golden bell shield with a single blow.

Due to the immense impact, Lin Hao was sent hurtling downward.

As he fell, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, as he had not expected the White Tiger to be this formidable.

Seizing the opportunity while Lin Hao was falling through the air, Zheng Xi pressed his attack, drawing his sword to strike Lin Hao down.

Lin Hao spun in mid-air, establishing a telepathic connection with the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, which quickly flew to catch him.

With a whoosh, the sword soared into the distance.

Allowing Lin Hao to regain his footing in the air, he stretched his muscles and let out a sigh of relief.

He had narrowly escaped being slain by Zheng Xi's sword just moments ago.

At this point, Lin Hao's expression turned grave, and he no longer underestimated Zheng Xi.

A trace of wariness flickered in his eyes as he looked at the White Tiger.

Moreover, after these two exchanges, Lin Hao still had no idea what attribute the White Tiger possessed, leaving him unable to employ a counter-attribute.

The golden bell shield, built from his Metal-attribute spiritual root, had been shattered by the White Tiger with a single slap.

Lin Hao remained unsure of the beast's true strength.

Seeing Lin Hao flee in such a disheveled state, Zheng Xi burst into loud laughter, taunting, "Coward, Lin Hao!"

"If you have the guts, don't run! Today, I'll make sure you truly taste the power of my White Tiger."

With that, Zheng Xi patted the White Tiger on the head.

The White Tiger spat out a ray of light from its mouth, shooting straight toward Lin Hao.

The light was blindingly bright, causing Lin Hao to instinctively close his eyes. When he opened them again, the light had transformed into a razor-sharp blade flying right before him.

Lin Hao instantly raised his hand, materializing an ice spike.

With a crisp ding, he met the white blade head-on.

Only then did the white blade dissipate.

Following that, a blossoming ice flower whooshed toward Zheng Xi.

However, blocked by the White Tiger in front, the ice flower plastered itself directly against the beast's head.

With a loud bang, it detonated instantly.

The White Tiger let out an angry, thunderous roar.

Yet, the ice flower only managed to singe some fur on its forehead, leaving a shallow split that faintly oozed blood.

The White Tiger had not suffered any significant injury.

Even so, Lin Hao's attack had thoroughly enraged the beast.

In a flash, the White Tiger lunged right in front of Lin Hao, its jaws agape, attempting to swallow him whole.

Seeing this, Lin Hao's expression turned icy. With a stomp of his foot, the Cloud-Swallowing Sword darted backward at incredible speed.

As he retreated, Lin Hao flicked his wrist, hurling a strand of strange, otherworldly fire straight into the White Tiger's open mouth.

The White Tiger swallowed it down with a roar.

Instead of swallowing Lin Hao, it had swallowed the strange fire instead.

Then came a roar—not one of fury, but of agonizing pain.

The otherworldly fire detonated inside the White Tiger's mouth, and blood began to spill from its jaws.

Howling in pain, the beast spat the fire back out, but its head and mouth were left in a complete mess.

Seeing this, a light dawned in Lin Hao's eyes; it appeared the White Tiger was vulnerable to fire.

Pressing his advantage, Lin Hao shouted, "Flame Lotus!"

The strange fire condensed into the tangible form of a child, though no longer an infant, but having grown to the size of a youth.

It flew toward the White Tiger.

Landing directly upon the White Tiger's head, the youth conjured flames beneath its feet, scorching the beast's eyes blind.

By the way, it also sent a blast of fire toward Zheng Xi, who was standing dazed on the tiger's back, knocking him plummeting downward.

With a heavy thud, Zheng Xi crashed straight onto the ground of the Qingfeng Sect.

Meanwhile, the White Tiger thrashed about wildly in the sky like a headless fly, roaring in fierce and furious agony.

Ignoring the fallen Zheng Xi, Lin Hao kept his gaze fixed on the rampaging White Tiger in the air.

The beast crashed about blindly, several times nearly colliding with Lin Hao's Cloud-Swallowing Sword.

With no other choice, Lin Hao directed the Cloud-Swallowing Sword to maintain a safe distance from the tiger.

Lin Hao was genuinely curious about the White Tiger, whose eyes had now been completely burned away.

Having injured the beast's eyes, the Flame Lotus flew back into Lin Hao's hand.

Watching the White Tiger struggle in mid-air, Lin Hao had a sudden flash of inspiration. Controlling the Cloud-Swallowing Sword, he maneuvered himself directly onto the beast's back.

With its eyes injured, the White Tiger was already in a state of extreme agitation. Combined with the excruciating pain, the beast had gone completely berserk.

Sensing a weight upon its back and checking the aura to find it did not belong to its master, the White Tiger grew even more frantic.

It flipped upside down in mid-air with a swift twist.

Fortunately, Lin Hao's reflexes were sharp; though he nearly fell off, he managed to grip the tiger's fur tightly with both hands.

The White Tiger let out a cry of agony and shook its body violently.

Yet Lin Hao clung like a tenacious plaster, impossible to shake off, while his weight only caused the beast more pain.

Ultimately, with no other option, the White Tiger flipped itself back over.

Even so, it continued to thrash and twist through the air.

After tossing and turning for a while, the White Tiger lowered its altitude, sensed its direction, and charged directly toward the grand hall.

Realizing what was happening, Lin Hao reacted instantly, kicking off the beast's back.

With a powerful push, the White Tiger's momentum carried it crashing straight into the grand hall.

Meanwhile, Lin Hao hovered safely in the air atop the Cloud-Swallowing Sword.

The massive bulk of the White Tiger slammed into the hall, causing the entire structure to collapse instantly.

Boom, boom, boom!

Everyone inside scrambled out in a panic.

The White Tiger let out a few weak roars before its entire body collapsed motionless amidst the debris.

When Zheng Xi struggled to his feet, he saw the White Tiger lying prone on the ground, utterly exhausted and weak.

With his eyes spliting with rage, Zheng Xi shouted, "White Tiger!"

He rushed over immediately, ignoring the ruins entirely. Reaching the tiger's side, he felt its weak pulse.

His eyes bloodshot, he cast a look of intense hatred toward Lin Hao.

He quickly fed a medicinal pill into the White Tiger's mouth and, with a wave of his hand, retrieved the beast back into his storage space.

In truth, the White Tiger's innate strength was not weak. However, as its master, Zheng Xi shared a connection of shared strength. Especially after Zheng Xi had been knocked down from the sky by the Flame Lotus and suffered internal injuries, the White Tiger's power had plummeted accordingly.

Compounded by the tiger's own injuries, it dragged down Zheng Xi's combat prowess as well. That was why the two of them had been so miserably thrashed by Lin Hao.

However, the sudden collapse of the grand hall caused a panic among those members who were still fighting the Qingcheng Sect inside.

Everyone was thrown into an uproar and scrambled to flee outside.

"Whoa, what's going on?"

"Yeah, that scared me to death! I almost didn't make it out!"

"What happened?"

Those who had just fled outside had no idea what had taken place and began to discuss the matter with disgruntled voices.

Furthermore, because the hall's collapse had come without warning, some had escaped while others remained trapped inside, throwing the scene into absolute chaos.

Realizing the situation was dire, Lin Hao inwardly cursed and immediately turned to look for Qingyun and the others.

He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Qingyun and his companions emerge in disarray from the ruins of the hall.

Shortly after, he spotted a figure flash by among Qingyun's group. Taking a closer look, he recognized it as Cao Yi.

Feeling even more reassured, he realized Cao Yi must have contributed quite a bit just now.

Without making a fuss, Lin Hao quickly descended to Qingyun's side.

Together with Qingyun, he helped support the sect master, flanked by the various elders.

At that moment, less than half of the Qingfeng Sect's disciples remained.

Though Lin Hao had drawn a massive amount of fire inside the grand hall earlier, a faction had stayed behind to deal with Qingyun and the others—particularly the members of the Red Lotus Sect.

They excelled in the use of poison, and many Qingfeng Sect members had fallen victim to it.

Qingyun was already poisoned and injured, yet he continued to grit his teeth and push through.

Seeing Qingyun's pale complexion and furrowed brows laden with concern, Lin Hao asked, "Eldest Senior Brother, can you still hold on?"

Qingyun gritted his teeth and nodded, "Don't worry."

Just then, a loud shout rang out from the crowd, and a rush of wind flashed past Lin Hao's side.

Raising his hand instinctively, he swung his palm outward and knocked away an incoming projectile with a sharp clang.

Turning his head to look, he saw it was Zheng Xi.

Having taken a beating, Zheng Xi seemed oblivious to the pain as he staggered to his feet, glaring at Lin Hao with bitter hatred. "Damn you, Lin Hao! You dare harm my White Tiger? Today, I'll fight you to the death!"

A look of madness flashed across his eyes as he spoke.

For reasons unknown, a sudden wave of unease welled up in Lin Hao's chest at the sight.

He immediately raised his guard and watched Zheng Xi closely.

He saw Zheng Xi produce a massive disk, striking his own chest twice with his palms.

Extracting two drops of his vital heart blood, he smeared them onto the disk, which immediately began to glow.

With a wild expression, Zheng Xi stared at Lin Hao and shrieked, "Die! All of you, go to hell!"

He hurled the disk high into the air.

The disk expanded to block the sun, plunging the sky into darkness as fierce winds began to howl.

The disk grew larger and larger.

Slowly, it began to emit a pallid, black-purple mist.

Once the disk completely blotted out the sunlight, it began to vibrate frantically in the sky.

To Lin Hao's dismay, under Zheng Xi's control, the disk drifted directly above their heads before he could even move to stop it.

"Rise!" Zheng Xi roared suddenly. In an instant, the disk released a powerful suction force, spinning wildly in the sky like a formidable vortex.

Every member of the Qingfeng Sect was pulled toward it by the suction.

Even Lin Hao felt an overwhelming force attempting to drag him into the disk.

The weaker disciples of the Qingfeng Sect were sucked upward with a whoosh.

They barely had time to let out a single scream before vanishing entirely.

Seeing this, Lin Hao lunged forward to grab Qingyun on one side and the sect master on the other.

As for the others, he was powerless to save them.

Following that, he swept his hand outward to rapidly construct a new golden bell shield, while fiercely plunging the Cloud-Swallowing Sword tip-first into the ground.