Chapter 166: Beastization—Cheetah Form

Everyone reacted differently to Lin Yao’s extreme state, but he was the first to be attacked because of this.

When Lin Yao unleashed his strength tremendously, unlike his past opponents, Quan Lei didn’t remain on the spot or guard himself against Lin Yao’s impending move. Instead, he took a step forward and rushed toward Lin Yao like a cheetah.

This was not an analogy. While he was pouncing on Lin Yao, his humanoid body suddenly became distorted and shiny hair and spots grew on it. Within a short time, the man named Quan Lei had transformed into a therianthropic creature that was part human and part cheetah in form.

After he became half-human, his basic attributes skyrocketed. In one breath of time of Lin Yao’s blessed state, he had covered a distance of over 10 meters and closed in on Lin Yao. His pair of sharp claws was so fast that one could only see their afterimages. They were tearing across the air toward Lin Yao’s head.

“That’s really fast.”

As the electric current flowed in his mind, Lin Yao’s eyes also flashed with thunderlight. Amid this intense thunderlight, everything in the world was slowing down in his eyes.

In the past, everything had been in slow motion in this vision mode, but it was different this time. Even though his thinking speed had accelerated, Quan Lei’s claws were amazingly fast.

‘If I can’t block him… I won’t do so!’

When the electric current was connected to the brain, Lin Yao’s arithmetic ability and reaction speed also increased tremendously. As soon as he decided not to block the attack, Lin Yao, who had been in a sword-drawing posture, suddenly twitched and drew out thunderlight.

The dazzling thunderlight swept across the two sharp claws and sliced toward the middle of the half-human’s chest and abdomen. Of course, during this movement, the two sharp claws no longer faced any obstacles and took Lin Yao’s head directly.

‘Do you want to perish with me as soon as the battle starts? Unfortunately, I guessed your move.’

As the sword gleam approached him, Quan Lei’s vertical beast pupils contained no trace of fear. There was only calmness and cruelty for his prey in them.

A moment later, when the sword gleam reached the body, the spots on the cheetah transformed by Quan Lei suddenly darkened, and a strange scene occurred. When the spots became dark, Lin Yao could not detect the cheetah’s whereabouts. The long sword with the striking thunderlight had also disappeared after flashing down on the cheetah, as if it had hit an illusion.

‘Clone technique?’

When he suddenly encountered this situation, Lin Yao was also taken aback. However, he quickly came back to his senses and realized that the cheetah had not dissipated. When its spots lit up after it went past Lin Yao, Lin Yao could sense its aura again. This made him understand what had happened.

‘It’s not a clone technique. It’s phantomization.’

By relying on the acceleration of the nerve conduction of the electric current, Lin Yao fiercely swung the sword he had drawn backward the moment he sensed that something was amiss. He was trying to stop the cheetah transformed by Quan Lei. However, it was too late.

After dodging the Thunderlight Sword-Drawing Technique and moving past Lin Yao, Quan Lei’s sharp pair of claws grabbed Lin Yao’s torso from behind.

“It’s going to be over soon.”

“His abilities are fairly good, but he has too little combat experience. Instead of moving away after failing to strike his opponent, he remained on the spot and retaliated immediately. This goes to show that he hasn’t encountered any setbacks before.

“He’s fighting in the arena, yet he didn’t guard himself against Quan Lei. That’s really insolent of him.”

Both Lin Yao and Quan Lei moved very fast, and many people in the venue couldn’t catch a clear glimpse of the battle. Nevertheless, there were powerhouses present, and they knew that Lin Yao had missed a move.

In addition, he was a low-level martial artist who had too few vital energy seeds. One mistake would be enough to make him lose. Therefore, many people passed judgment before the end of the battle.

However, soon, the scene before them made them squint.

Quan Lei had struck Lin Yao with his surprise phantomization attack. However, when the move landed on Lin Yao, there was no sound of flesh tearing but the sharp noise of claws scratching steel.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The sharp, shrieking sound soon dissipated. By the time the sound receded, the bodies of Lin Yao and Quan Lei had already separated.

When he felt the back of his holy light garment being torn apart, Lin Yao’s heart had a lingering feeling that…

Well, there was nothing. He was very convinced of the function of the light holy garment. Besides, his body was also very tough after being activated by the light energy.

This ability of his was precisely why he hadn’t wasted time listening to the explanation of Instructor Tu Hong.

When one is strong and powerful, one is fearless.

Upon sensing the light energy healing his body, Lin Yao was even in the mood to reflect on the earlier moves during the battle.

‘I shouldn’t have swung the sword backward after failing to win with one strike. At the time, I should have rushed forward and distanced myself from Quan Lei. His attack would have missed me then. Sure enough, I have too little combat experience.’

Lin Yao had fought several times in his martial arts journey. However, those battles had been either won by taking others by surprise with his combat skills or by crushing the enemy with absolute strength and speed thanks to the sudden outburst of power. Lin Yao had seldom had nerve-wracking battles with his peers.

Although this was the first time, this battle had exposed his lack of combat experience.

In stark contrast with Lin Yao’s reflection and regret, his opponent’s face looked extremely ugly, as if his father had passed away.

“I didn’t break down your defense with one strike despite going all out. What is that thing of yours?”

“It’s a defensive combat skill. Your attacking power is very strong. If I had not comprehended the profound meaning of this combat skill, I couldn’t have defended myself.”

As he felt the crack on the light holy garment repairing itself thanks to the actions of the light energy, Lin Yao felt at ease again.

However, while his heart was at ease, Quan Lei was about to suffer an emotional meltdown at the sight of Lin Yao covered in his light holy garment.

“Scoundrel, how can this have a profound meaning? It is impossible for a combat skill at the profound level to last for that long.”

Quan Lei, who had turned into a shadow cheetah, was unafraid of defensive combat skills at the profound level. To his knowledge, except for some special people, most low-level defensive combat skills at the profound level were indeed powerful. However, due to energy consumption, these profound meanings could often be used only for a short time.

Still, this was very terrifying. The profound meaning of defensive combat skills could block all forms of low-level attacks within a few breaths of time. Powerful martial artists would use it to block the ultimate moves and then reverse the situation to their advantage.

Nevertheless, they could only reverse the situation. The outcome of the battle would still depend on one’s wit and courage, and they were competing for the ability to seize the most opportune moment.

However, Lin Yao was rather shameless. He had guarded his entire body against someone else’s ultimate move. Most terrifyingly, this was a sustained type of defense, and Quan Lei didn’t know where to begin.

“I don’t believe this. You certainly won’t be able to hang on for a long time.”

Despite being reluctant or afraid to believe it, Quan Lei turned into a cheetah once again and rushed toward Lin Yao.

He was charging forward madly, but Lin Yao wouldn’t be hit by the same move a second time.

‘Breathe in…’

As he took a deep breath, Lin Yao’s abdomen bulged slightly. Quan Lei, who knew Lin Yao’s moves, instantly turned cold. His pair of cheetah ears drooped and blocked his hearing.

“You’re really guarding yourself against me.”

Upon seeing Quan Lei’s movements, Lin Yao didn’t holler furiously after taking a deep breath. Instead, something that looked like a round mirror rose from behind Lin Yao and eventually stood on top of his head.

“What’s that?”

This doubt formed in the hearts of many people, and they soon found out what it was. After the round mirror rose, a light ray burst out of the mirror without the slightest delay.

The dazzling light ray shot 100 meters away and hit Quan Lei, who had been dashing forward.

‘What a pity. I have not condensed enough light energy. Otherwise, this would have been a high-power laser cannon… But it will do for now.’

It was indeed feasible for now. The light in the round mirror was shining continuously. What made people uncomfortable was that although this light didn’t have the power of a laser, its brightness was astounding. It was akin to a flash bomb. Quan Lei couldn’t open his eyes at all.

In comparison to ordinary flash bombs, which could last only for a short time, the round mirror was shining constantly. Irradiated by this strong, bright light, Quan Lei was blinded, and this was a sustained effect.

Most tragically, he was charging straight ahead, and Lin Yao’s mirror rose at this opportune time. He had been plotted against while closing in on Lin Yao, and there was no chance that he would escape.

‘What will you do? Use phantomization or charge ahead?’

Holding the hilt in his hand, Lin Yao was ready to launch his next move.

He didn’t have to wait long. Blindness still had a great impact on people. As he panicked, the spots on Quan Lei’s body dimmed again, and his aura disappeared from Lin Yao’s sense of perception.

After two breaths of time, Quan Lei’s figure flashed past Lin Yao before returning from its phantomization state again.

As soon as he appeared, the stone slab under Lin Yao’s feet suddenly shattered, and his entire body dashed forward like a thunderbolt.

The two of them were extremely close to each other, and Quan Lei almost had no time to react. He could only turn his head and prepare to fight Lin Yao.

Then, he was stupefied. The round mirror-like light ball had not disappeared. In tandem with Lin Yao’s movements, it was releasing light ahead constantly. Quan Lei, who had turned his head, happened to feel the light shine on him. He was blinded instantly, unable to see a thing besides the bright light.

Clang.

The sound of the sword being unsheathed was heard. Lin Yao drew the thunderlight again and slashed in front of him.

As Quan Lei couldn’t see now, Lin Yao thought he would not face any hiccups during his attack. However, something happened again. Closing his eyes, the half-human transformed by Quan Lei wielded a pair of sharp claws and successfully blocked Lin Yao’s Sword-Drawing Technique.

[Beast Intuition]

Crack!

The sword collided with the sharp claws. Both Lin Yao and Quan Lei were doing their best to subdue each other.

During the collision, Lin Yao was surprised to discover that his opponent’s basic attributes were only slightly weaker than his own.

This was normal, not to mention that Quan Lei had advanced to a peak martial artist 1.5 years ago. His current Iron Body had likely exceeded 150%, and beastization had given him the upper hand.

Beastization was a kind of talent that belonged to the physical awakening category. At low levels, people who had the beastization ability could metamorphose, and this would greatly improve their physique.

Based on the different awakening bloodlines, the basic attributes of the martial artist after the beastization would differ, but most of them would improve multifold. Besides, as illusory beasts, they could also obtain some talent.

Unfortunately, with the exception of some rare phantom beasts and divine beasts, most of those who were beastified had their limits. Thus, this kind of talent was not highly rated.

Nevertheless, this low potential concerned the future. Beastified people were truly strong in the early phases. Lin Yao was now facing a situation like this. The cheetah or the shadow cheetah were not considered weak beasts, and Lin Yao had only suppressed the blessing of the opposite side slightly.

The stalemate lasted for a moment. A moment later, the floor under Lin Yao’s feet exploded again. In a flash, Lin Yao’s entire body smashed forward like a cannonball with the Thunderbolt Sword-Drawing Technique once more.

The flesh bombs then reappeared.