Sure enough, the large monster’s pursuit faltered for a moment.
But it was only for an instant before the monster’s tail swept toward Lian Li from behind.
Hearing the sound, Lian Li lashed out with his whip, striking the monster’s body. This move was not intended to wound the creature, but rather to use the counterforce to dodge through the air.
Just as he successfully evaded the tail and was considering his next move, Yun Huizhou arrived.
He lunged straight for the monster’s head, the slightly upturned tip of his blade piercing toward its remaining intact eye.
Having already lost one eye to him, the large monster was now formally wary of him, haunted by the psychological shadow of the previous strike. It also knew that its eyelids could not withstand Yun Huizhou’s blade.
Therefore, it did not choose to close its eyes in defense. Instead, it retracted its entire head, trying to pull away from Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou, naturally unwilling to let this opportunity slip, continued his pursuit.
Just as Yun Huizhou was about to succeed, the monster’s tail took advantage of the momentum to slap toward his back.
If Yun Huizhou insisted on continuing his attack now, he would certainly be struck heavily by the tail, resulting in a situation where both sides suffered grievous wounds.
If he turned to use his blade to block the tail, the monster would surely use that window of time to lunge forward and bite him to death.
From this perspective, Yun Huizhou seemed to have only one choice: to dodge to the side.
However, Lian Li was right behind him. If he dodged, the monster would certainly seize the chance to attack Lian Li.
Nevertheless, Yun Huizhou dodged.
As he expected, the monster’s tail shifted its direction to attack the position where Lian Li had been previously, yet it struck nothing but air.
Lian Li was no longer in that spot. Though the monster’s attack failed, it did not freeze in surprise like a human would; a second later, its tail swung toward Yun Huizhou again. Simultaneously, its head looked around, searching for Lian Li’s silhouette.
At that moment, Lian Li appeared like a phantom from the direction of the monster’s blinded eye.
Because the monster could not see what was happening on that side, it did not realize Lian Li was already very close. As Yun Huizhou attacked again from the side of its healthy eye, the monster’s head instinctively dodged toward the other side.
It was at this moment that Lian Li raised the lotus and struck out with his internal energy, firing it toward the top of the monster’s head.
Lian Li simply wanted to test what effect this lotus actually had on the creature, given that the monster was so wary of it.
The force he used to strike it out wasn’t great, and he had calculated the angle so that the lotus would bounce back into his hand after hitting the monster.
To his surprise, the moment the lotus touched the top of the monster’s head, the creature let out a shrill scream.
When the lotus landed on the monster’s head, it was like a red-hot iron ball dropping into water, producing a sizzling sound. The hard scales on the monster’s head began to melt like plastic touching high heat.
Driven by the force of Lian Li’s strike, the lotus became embedded into the top of the monster’s head.
The monster screamed and writhed frantically, its tail lashing the ground and creating one crater after another. It was a terrifying sight; one could hardly imagine what would happen if those blows landed on a person.
Because the monster had gone mad with pain, the two of them could not get close for a time.
The monster rolled around on the ground; though it was in agony, it showed no signs of dying.
As time passed, the monster’s writhing and screaming diminished, and it began to launch attacks at the two of them again.
However, the pain remained. Although it attacked, its movements were even more disorganized.
Yun Huizhou raised his blade to charge again, saying to Lian Li, “Find an opportunity to take the lotus back.”
Lian Li nodded. The lethality of this lotus against the monster was far stronger than the two of them combined.
Yun Huizhou couldn’t even break the monster’s defense elsewhere, yet this lotus melted it with ease.
If they wanted to kill this monster, they had to make good use of the lotus; otherwise, relying solely on the two of them, there was no telling how long it would take to wear it down.
More importantly, there were many horse bandits gathered above them. If they took too long and the commotion became too loud, it would be disastrous if those above noticed.
The bandits were numerous; once entangled with them, it would be extremely troublesome.
The two coordinated once more. Yun Huizhou attacked the monster while Lian Li attacked and looked for a chance to seize the lotus.
The monster was in a frenzy. Perhaps the pain from Yun Huizhou’s attacks didn’t even amount to a ten-thousandth of the pain caused by the lotus; as long as Yun Huizhou wasn’t attacking its eyes or its wounded scalp, it didn’t dodge at all, relying on its suit of scales to tank the hits.
As for Lian Li, who was harassing it from the other side, it ignored him entirely.
Without the lotus in his hand, Lian Li couldn’t even break through its eyelids, let alone harm it in the slightest.
The monster’s desperate fighting style caused both men to sustain injuries.
Lian Li was struck by the monster’s tail several times while trying to get close, sent crashing into the stone walls until blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
The wounds on Yun Huizhou’s body gradually increased, and his chest felt tight.
The wounds were caused by the horns on the monster’s head, while the tightness in his chest came from being struck by the monster’s brute force.
It was at the moment he was struck that Lian Li found his opening. He used his whip to yank the half-embedded lotus out from the top of the monster’s head.
The monster screamed in pain again and turned to attack Lian Li, but it was blocked once more by Yun Huizhou. The tip of the blade stabbed into the monster’s mouth, and blood flowed down the blade onto Yun Huizhou’s hand.
Yun Huizhou felt as if his hand had been buried in freezing ice; it was on the verge of losing sensation from the cold.
Lian Li immediately flew over to catch the lotus and returned to Yun Huizhou’s side, clutching the lotus as if he were about to press it onto the monster again.
Terrified, the monster shook its head violently, throwing Yun Huizhou off. It then turned and dove into the tunnel, heading into the depths.
Both men were injured, and the tunnel was not as spacious as this area. They didn’t dare chase it inside and could only watch the monster leave.
After a long while, the two finally slumped to the ground. Lian Li tilted his body and lay his head on Yun Huizhou’s lap, saying, “Fortunately, we stood between it and the lake. If it had dived into the lake to hide, it would have been trouble.”
Yun Huizhou wanted to stroke Lian Li’s hair, but then remembered his hand was covered in the monster’s blood.
Even now, his hand felt icy cold, as if it were submerged in ice water.
He moved his hand to the side and shook it, only to find that the monster’s blood had already begun to dry and wouldn’t shake off.
Left with no choice, he said to Lian Li, “I’m going to wash my hand. It’s covered in that monster’s blood.”
