Chapter 165: Hanging Island (Part 5)

The magnified molar, resembling a pristine mountain of ivory, bore down overwhelmingly, guided by the wisdom tooth. Beneath the snowy mountain base flickered a pitch-black radiance. Before the molar itself arrived, this dark brilliance struck first. Though deflected by the blue lotus plate, the coverage of the ivory mountain was so vast that an increasing number of dark beams slipped past the defense and refracted outward. The Nine-Treasure Lotus Rod erected by Lei Xiang came into play, batting away these stray dark beams one by one.

However, Lei Xiang paid no heed to these, keeping his gaze locked on the distant wisdom tooth. The Forty-Seven Immortal-Shooting Gun in his hands was held steady, its dark muzzle aimed directly at the left chest of the wisdom tooth, who was frantically hurling incantations. With a crisp "pop," a streak of dark light reached the front of the wisdom tooth's chest. Lei Xiang knew the might of this ivory mountain was beyond his personal ability to match, but he also knew that well over half of its power stemmed from the drive of the wisdom tooth. Without the wisdom tooth maintaining control, its potency would be drastically reduced. Therefore, eliminating the wisdom tooth first was paramount—no matter how formidable your magical treasure was, what good was it if he was faster than you?

The wisdom tooth truly did not expect Lei Xiang to be so swift. Just as he raised his gun to take aim, the heavenly crystal bullet had already arrived right before him. Fortunately, being at the Nascent Soul cultivation stage, he remained unfazed in the face of danger. With a thought, his body teleported away. The incantations in his hands remained unchanged, all hurled toward the ivory mountain. That towering white mountain pressed downward by another three feet. The wisdom tooth had already resolved that, come what may, he must first eradicate Lei Xiang, the greatest threat. Just as he formed the next incantation seal with both hands, he discovered with dismay that another heavenly crystal bullet had flown toward his right flank. He had no choice but to teleport once again.

"Will this ever end?"

By the time the wisdom tooth dodged the tenth heavenly crystal bullet, he was exasperated and cursing aloud. Where on earth did Lei Xiang acquire so many heavenly crystal bullets, and how was he able to fire them continuously without channeling incantations? Furthermore, his internal spiritual energy was nearly ninety percent depleted. Now, the wisdom tooth could no longer spare the energy to control the ivory mountain; he was reduced to fleeing desperately to dodge the heavenly crystal bullets. Continuing this way was a dead end. Before he could even devise a countermeasure, the eleventh heavenly crystal bullet arrived, forcing him to expend his last ounce of strength to escape once more.

"Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!"

Lei Xiang fired a rapid succession of shots, completely sealing off all routes of escape for the wisdom tooth. In his prime, the wisdom tooth could have shaken off the heavenly crystal bullets with sheer speed, but now, at the end of his tether, he could only lunge desperately to the left at the cost of crippling one arm. As he evaded those four heavenly crystal bullets, a sharp pain flared in his right arm as though he had been stung by a scorpion. Then, a violent explosion erupted at his right arm, reducing the entire limb to fine powder, and his body was hurled heavily into mid-air.

In mid-air, the masterless ivory mountain paused slightly before plunging downward with accelerated speed. Even so, Lei Xiang dared not meet it head-on. He hurriedly withdrew the Nine-Treasure Lotus Rod and, shielding himself with the blue lotus plate, teleported away. The ivory mountain crashed down with a deafening roar, instantly leveling a thirty-mile radius. The floating island seemed to shudder along with the impact. When Lei Xiang looked back at the struggling wisdom tooth in the air, there was not a trace of him left.

He smiled bitterly, helpless, and drew out the beauty snuff bottle, his thumb rubbing the chest of the engraved beauty. In response, the beauty's vermilion lips parted slightly, and a wisp of cool vapor drifted out. Lei Xiang inhaled deeply through his nose, drawing this ten-thousand-year spiritual essence into his body. Then, he replaced the cap of the beauty snuff bottle, stowed it back into his storage pouch, and felt secure enough to survey his surroundings. It was not that he did not want to eliminate the threat entirely; rather, after firing fifteen or sixteen shots, his internal spiritual energy had dropped below one-third, leaving him incapable of handling sudden emergencies. Moreover, his sole objective was to drive the wisdom tooth away, and he had no compelling reason to annihilate him completely.

By now, the aura of the wisdom tooth had vanished entirely, and the giant ivory mountain before him was shrinking rapidly, reduced to a mere twenty zhang in size. Looking into the distance, Lei Xiang saw that not a single person on the smiling teeth side was left standing to fight. Tian Rui and the other two were fiercely bombarding a side chamber, while Qimenzi sat behind them, tinkering with his bizarre array of bottles and jars. It seemed his physical strength had recovered, allowing him to resume his research. As he adjusted his internal aura, gathering the chaotic spiritual energy back into order, Lei Xiang flew leisurely toward Tian Rui and the others.

Though the distance was merely a thousand meters, it took Lei Xiang a full half-hour to fly across it. What was happening here? When Lei Xiang lowered his head to ponder, he understood. This seemingly thousand-meter distance must actually span several hundred miles in reality. This also explained why the previous impact of the ivory mountain had devastated a radius of dozens of miles while Tian Rui and the others, standing a "thousand meters" away, remained completely unscathed. Seeing Lei Xiang approach, Tian Rui was the first to jump up with joy, giving him a thumbs-up. "Brilliant! You drove the wisdom tooth away. Come quickly and help break this barrier!"

Lei Xiang shook his head. "I cannot break this barrier. Besides, as I said before, relying on brute force to smash the array won't work—we likely wouldn't break it even by the time the Tooth Master comes out of seclusion. We had better wait for Qimenzi to figure out a method; at least if he can locate the array's core, it will be better. For now, I will go stand guard for you." With these words, he casually found an open patch of ground, crossed his legs, and began meditating to recover his spiritual energy.

Suddenly, without any warning, a crisp cracking sound echoed from the northwest corner. The scenery there shifted and rippled, and seven people—five women and two men—materialized out of thin air. At the forefront was the wisdom tooth, whose right arm had just been severed, followed closely by a gloomy-looking decayed tooth. Lei Xiang noticed that the decayed tooth's cultivation had dropped to the late Foundation Establishment stage. How could he dare to return in such a state?

Looking further, those five women were all Foundation Establishment cultivators. The woman in white was recognized by Lei Xiang as none other than Maiden Qingxue. The four women behind her wore attire of cyan, crimson, azure, and earth-yellow respectively, but they shared a single common trait: all of them were expressionless, icy beauties. Though feeling a sense of oddity, Lei Xiang did not question it; instead, he summoned the blue lotus plate and held the Forty-Seven Immortal-Shooting Gun steady, ever ready to handle sudden developments.

"Baixue? Is it... you? Baixue!"

To everyone's surprise, Dugu Yixiao, who had been fiercely attacking the barrier just moments ago behind Lei Xiang, suddenly lunged toward the azure-robed woman as if possessed. Lei Xiang frowned slightly, his gaze meeting the calm eyes of the wisdom tooth, and refrained from stepping in. He guessed in his heart that this azure-robed woman was likely the lover Dugu had been searching for. Over on the smiling teeth side, no one obstructed him either; everyone simply watched as Dugu Yixiao lunged forward.

Just as Dugu Yixiao opened his fervent arms, intending to embrace the woman named Baixue, what awaited him was a fair, jade-like hand. The jade hand gave a gentle tap, and a streak of white Qi shot forward. Dugu Yixiao stood stupidly, staring blankly without evading—or perhaps, unwilling to evade. Logically speaking, since both were at the Foundation Establishment stage, the probability of ending the opponent in a single move was infinitesimal. Yet this time, Baixue's casual and effortless strike landed solidly on Dugu Yixiao's left arm.

*Crack...*

A layer of frost instantly formed over Dugu Yixiao's left arm. He felt his left arm lose all sensation; even pouring his spiritual energy into it frantically proved utterly useless. "Baixue? Why don't you recognize me? Why did you freeze me? Quickly, release me!"

The woman addressed as Baixue still wore a cool, unyielding expression, and her words were harsh and cold. "I do not know you, nor will I release you. Consider this punishment for your impudence. You may scram."

Suddenly, a streak of fire blazed across the ground. Lei Xiang arrived behind Dugu Yixiao, pushed his right palm flat against Dugu's back, hooked his left arm around his chest, and swept his Wind-Fire Boots across the ground at lightning speed, dragging Dugu Yixiao back to a safe distance. This entire sequence occurred in barely half the blink of an eye, leaving even a master like the wisdom tooth with no time to react. Seeing Dugu Yixiao rescued by Lei Xiang, the wisdom tooth smiled faintly and said, "Young Master Lei is overly cautious. Our Tooth Master emerging from seclusion this time is not intended to fight you to the death. The possibility of a peaceful negotiation still exists, so I hope Young Master Lei can show your sincerity and proceed with talks."

Tooth Master?

Who was the Tooth Master? Where was the Tooth Master hiding? A barrage of questions swirled rapidly through Lei Xiang's mind. He was so tense that his grip on Dugu Yixiao's arm tightened forcefully.

From among the female cultivators opposite, a girl as white as snow stepped out slowly. Qingxue wore an inscrutable, profound smile as she spoke calmly, "I am the current leader of the Smiling Teeth organization, and the Tooth Master is none other than myself. What, are you quite surprised?"