Xiang Beifei was lucky to have the Qi-Controlling shield protecting him, but even so, he was dizzy and disoriented. He had just been struck by the third arm of the blade ape, and it felt like his bones were all out of place.
This was the first time he had been in such a sorry state. In his previous excursions into the outer desolate wilderness, he had relied on his knowledge of desolate beasts to kill them directly; even the last time he encountered the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage, he had forcefully killed it with fire.
But the problem was that this blade ape was not at all like the desolate beasts Xiang Beifei had imagined. Its abilities were not as recorded in the books!
At that moment, a deadly blade light approached chillingly, and the blade ape roared and closed in again, slashing towards Xiang Beifei.
Xiang Beifei supported himself with his hands on the ground and quickly put some distance between them.
The blade ape's sword struck where Xiang Beifei had just been, slashing a five-meter-deep trench into the ground!
Damn! This creature's blade intent is so powerful, almost comparable to an Awakener of the blade cultivator system.
Its body was a phantom but that attack was certainly not.
When did the blade ape mutate?
Xiang Beifei's brows furrowed deeply. To him, this Three-Armed Saber Ape was a phantom, but to it, he was tangible.
A normal blade ape didn't have this ability. So what was this blade ape in front of him, real or fake?
Thoughts raced through Xiang Beifei's mind.
"You can ask me for advice."
Elder Luo's voice leisurely reached Xiang Beifei's ears.
[You watch Xiang Beifei getting thrashed by a desolate beast, leisure value +66]
He was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle from the sidelines.
When Xiang Beifei turned his head and saw this task prompt pop up on Elder Luo's system interface, three black lines appeared on his forehead.
"Let's talk after I've crushed it,"
Xiang Beifei's fighting spirit was aroused!
Although he knew nothing about this seemingly mutated desolate beast, asking Elder Luo for advice was a good idea. However, he was here to train and in the future, he would inevitably face many unknown desolate beasts without Elder Luo always by his side to offer reminders.
So he still planned to figure out a way to deal with this desolate beast on his own!
Once he figured out how to deal with this desolate beast, he would get to know it better.
"You really are stubborn," Elder Luo said with a slight smile when he heard Xiang Beifei's words, "but that's the spirit a young man should have."
He was quite appreciative in his heart.
People always need to go through various hardships in order to grow. Unknown challenges can swiftly foster growth.
Xiang Beifei paid no attention to Elder Luo. He was fully focused on the Three-Armed Saber Ape in front of him, which was even harder to deal with than the illusory sand rat he had encountered earlier.
He could at least strike the illusory sand rat, but he couldn't even land a hit on this Three-Armed Saber Ape.
The Three-Armed Saber Ape, as if enraged, was determined not to stop until it killed Xiang Beifei. Each of its slashes gouged trenches into the ground, terrifying to behold. Xiang Beifei blocked one of its slashes, but the force sent him flying; he wasn't faring well at all.
Xiang Beifei crashed to the ground, a mouth full of sand, and then again leaped to his feet, throwing a punch towards the creature's body.
However, his fist brushed past the ape's body, utterly failing to connect with the target. But the blade ape's swinging arms came slashing over again, heading straight for his neck. He had no choice but to block again, raising the Qi-Controlling shield to defend—
Xiang Beifei was once again sent flying by the blow, and with a "bang," smashed the ground into a deep pit.
"This isn't a normal blade ape. What's gone wrong?"
Xiang Beifei spat out the sand in his mouth, panting heavily as he stared at the Three-Armed Saber Ape.
This kind of fight was uncomfortable for him; the blade ape's cultivation level was a tier above his own, and he simply couldn't withstand it.
This frustrated style of fighting was much like when he had dealt with Julong Cruise slayers; Zhu Xinjue couldn't hit him, but he could hit Zhu Xinjue. Back then, Xiang Beifei had taken advantage of the opponent's system space flaw, where their attacks were asymmetric, so he had used his Qi-Controlling cultivation to forcibly defeat Zhu Xinjue, who was at the Meridian Opening stage.
Now, facing the blade ape, the situation was similar. He couldn't hit the blade ape, but the blade ape could hit him; their attacks were asymmetric.
Wait, the attacks are asymmetric?
The books mentioned that the blade ape did not have the ability to make attacks asymmetric, and there was nothing unusual about the space here, so it was not the same situation as last time. If it was not about the space, it must be something else.
The wind in the Gobi was still blowing through the gullies, making a pleasant sound that kept echoing.
If anything was amiss, it seemed to be just these sounds.
A spark seemed to flash through Xiang Beifei's mind.
What type of desolate beast could produce asymmetrical effects in its attacks?
He suddenly remembered that Elder Luo had explained some special desolate beasts to him at the beginning of the school year, many of which had very odd attacks that were not so easily countered. One such beast was very representative, which Xiang Beifei remembered vividly.
That desolate beast was called Meng Huai.
In an instant, he understood.
"So that's it," he said, "I thought you were incredibly powerful, turns out you attack in this manner."
Xiang Beifei spat out the sand in his mouth and then stood up, calmly staring at the Three-Armed Saber Ape that was once again slashing towards him.
The terrifying blade light of the ape tore through the howling emptiness, as if it wanted to split the windswept, sandy desert in front of it into a crevice. Its blade light thundered towards Xiang Beifei's face.
But this time, Xiang Beifei did not dodge but stared fixedly at his opponent. As the blade light split the wind and sand, his eyes gleamed faintly!
The air around seemed filled with an invisible ripple, and all the sand near Xiang Beifei appeared to stand still.
The domineering blade edge of the Three-Armed Saber Ape thundered towards him, chopping at Xiang Beifei's head.
Xiang Beifei did not dodge!
He did not need to dodge. The terrifyingly domineering blade edge that had cut at him felt as though it had sliced through a shadow!
Xiang Beifei was unharmed.
It was as if he had controlled the weighted sand to counter the Three-Armed Saber Ape just moments ago; he could not hit the ape, and this time, the ape couldn't hit him either!
"Since you can use asymmetric attacks," he said, "I will turn it into a symmetric attack, which makes things simple."
Xiang Beifei's eyes sparkled with a strange glow, and his spiritual power quickly spread out.
The white ape was clearly stunned when it failed to hit Xiang Beifei. However, Xiang Beifei did not give it the chance to recover, leaping forward and charging at the Three-Armed Saber Ape.
A nearly invisible wave spread from his hand, and the flames on his fist seemed to transform, all the flames appearing to stop and yet spread rapidly.
Xiang Beifei, faced with the blade light of the Three-Armed Saber Ape, punched directly at it.
The exploding flames stirred a strong ripple in the air, twisting the wind and sand around, and a domineering aura enveloped the ape.
The Three-Armed Saber Ape also roared angrily, raising its two blades once more. The blade edges, mixed with an immense force, seemed as if they would tear through the void, even making the air muddy as they chopped down.
The ape's blade cut at Xiang Beifei's shoulder, still slicing through Xiang Beifei's body!
However, Xiang Beifei's fist landed squarely on the chest of the Three-Armed Saber Ape!
The Three-Armed Saber Ape was sent flying by Xiang Beifei's punch, heavily slamming into a rock wall and creating a massive hole!
The ape struggled to stand up, but Xiang Beifei's gaze was already fixed on it, his spiritual power swept up—
A burst of exploding flames suddenly engulfed the Three-Armed Saber Ape; the flames burned so intensely that they quickly consumed the entire body of the ape.
It roared angrily, but it was to no avail, as it couldn't escape the flames. In an instant, its body turned into strange, rapidly burning waves and disappeared into the sand wind.
"It's not only you who knows how to use asymmetric attacks against others."
Xiang Beifei watched as his spiritual power burned the Three-Armed Saber Ape into nothing, then he reached into his pocket, took out a sunflower seed, and put it in his mouth.
He calmly spat out a sunflower seed shell.