Chapter 371: Chapter 244: True Form! Balenzuo’s Transformation

The Red Hare Warhorse leaped, soaring two or three meters into the air.

Riding the Red Hare Horse, Fang Zhen bore down with crushing force, leaning forward and unleashing a descending spear thrust at Balenzuo from above.

Balenzuo, entangled by the Magic Thorns, was unable to dodge and could only force himself to meet the attack head-on.

Balenzuo raised his Alien Snake Sword to meet the descending Fang Zhen.

"BOOM!"

A sound like a muffled thunderclap rang out.

A violent gale blasted outward, and a massive sonic boom erupted. The shockwave was so powerful it sent the wreckage of a nearby carriage flying.

Wood splinters flew and gravel scattered. In the wake of that single clash, the shockwave had turned the surrounding area into a field of debris.

Fang Zhen’s Red Hare Horse landed.

He was riding the Red Hare Horse, but there was no need to control it. The mount was a construct of crystal-bone energy that moved according to his will.

At this moment, Balenzuo was in a wretched state. Forced to clash head-on while entangled by the Magic Thorns, he had suffered considerable damage despite his extremely high-grade Alien Snake Sword. Blood seeped from the nostrils, the corners of his mouth, and the corners of his eyes, marring his once-perfectly handsome face.

Balenzuo’s blood was different from others—it was purplish-red, not bright red.

Balenzuo had suffered a major loss in this exchange, but the force of the collision had also weakened the Magic Thorns restraining him. They looked as if they were about to disappear.

The Red Hare Horse that Fang Zhen was riding suddenly reared up, stomping its front hooves down heavily toward Balenzuo’s chest!

Fang Zhen and the Red Hare Horse were as one. His control was superb, allowing their movements to flow like running water, perfectly linked into a seamless combination of attacks.

Just as he broke free of the Magic Thorns and regained his mobility, Balenzuo began dodging with extreme agility, evading the Red Hare Horse’s stomp.

"BOOM!"

The Red Hare Horse’s front hooves stomped heavily on the ground.

The spot where Balenzuo had just been standing had been forcefully indented by several dozen centimeters from the clash between the Power Mountain Seal and the Alien Snake Sword, leaving a crater in the ground.

After stomping, the Red Hare Horse immediately broke into a run, charging toward Balenzuo.

Enraged from suffering continuous setbacks and now at a disadvantage, Balenzuo let out a loud shout. Three black Shadow Whips materialized from his hand.

Fang Zhen activated his Super-Sense Premonition, seeing the three whip-like shadows twisting toward him like long snakes.

He calmly activated the Gang Zan Seal and had his Red Hare Warhorse take a few steps back.

The Shadow Whip lashed out from Balenzuo’s left hand.

The Shadow Whip was not a physical whip, but one made of fluctuating shadow energy. This energy formed a fan-shaped wave; the farther it traveled from Balenzuo, the wider its range became, making it all the more difficult to dodge.

However, the position Fang Zhen had moved to was perfectly at the edge of the Shadow Whip’s attack. Though the whip’s effective range had widened, it still couldn’t touch him.

A few of Balenzuo’s foolish soldiers saw this as an opportunity and charged forward to ambush Fang Zhen.

But before they could even get close, the Red Hare Horse lashed out with its hind legs, sending four or five of the soldiers flying.

Several other soldiers charged too recklessly, their reaction speed and understanding of the battlefield far too poor. Before they could even reach Fang Zhen, they entered the Shadow Whip’s attack range.

The shadow energy instantly struck the soldiers in their chests and heads.

The skulls of three or four soldiers instantly caved in, their heads flattened by the formless yet substantial shadow energy. The breastplates of two other Iron Armor Soldiers were crushed, shattering their sternums. They all spat up blood and collapsed, dead.

Fang Zhen, on horseback, remained perfectly positioned just outside the Shadow Whip’s range, as steady as a mountain, watching Balenzuo.

"You’re pretty quick at cleaning up your own soldiers," Fang Zhen taunted, completely at ease.

Balenzuo was thoroughly enraged.

"Get lost! Don’t interfere with my fight!" Balenzuo also knew the Shadow Whip couldn’t hit Fang Zhen. To vent his fury, he swung it in a wide arc, sweeping away all of his own soldiers who were coming to his aid.

It was a disastrous turn of events for Balenzuo’s soldiers. They had come to lend a hand, but now their bones were shattered and their armor crushed. It was impossible to know how many were dead and how many were severely injured.

Seeing how volatile Balenzuo was, the surrounding soldiers no longer dared to advance.

This was simply Balenzuo’s temperament: incredibly willful and self-centered, with absolutely no regard for things like the "bigger picture."

After creating some distance, a blur flickered in Fang Zhen’s left hand, and the Desert Viper Handgun appeared.

Maintaining his distance, he began firing the Desert Viper in short, controlled bursts.

Balenzuo tried to defend himself with an Alien Snake Arrow, but the handgun’s rate of fire—even with just nine-millimeter bullets—was faster than his reactions. Dodging was impossible.

With a pair of grunts, Balenzuo took a bullet to his left shoulder and another to his torso.

However, Balenzuo also had a protective Extraordinary Item on him. A purple light flashed, neutralizing most of the bullets’ kinetic energy. It caused him pain but prevented any serious injury.

But those weren’t the only two bullets.

From atop the Red Hare Horse, Fang Zhen found his rhythm, firing at Balenzuo with an almost musical cadence. He continuously shot at Balenzuo’s torso, the easiest part of his body to target.

Balenzuo moved constantly, trying to use his exceptionally fast Body Technique to dodge the bullets.

But how could it be that easy?

Balenzuo’s Body Technique was exceptionally quick and agile.

But no matter how fast he was, he could not outpace premonition.

Fang Zhen’s marksmanship was incredibly skillful. Each shot he fired seemed to be aimed at empty air.

Yet every time Balenzuo dodged, it was as if he was intentionally moving into the bullet’s path. No matter how hard he tried to evade, he would land exactly where the bullet was headed every single time.