Lord of the Desert

Chapter 571 Sand Colossus

The battlefield was in complete chaos.

As everyone watched, the majestic metal giant rose straight from the smoke and dust, and stepped down.

Dragon Soul Fruit.

The thought is sent out.

In the next instant, two thick, yellow sand arms, as thick as giant trees, emerged from the ground, spread their five fingers to block the iron stomping vessel, and forcefully pushed it back.

Despite the excruciating pain, Lü Yunshi was helped up by his subordinates and saw that the giant arms were pressing down on the ground, pulling out his body.

A long wind blew away the dust.

A 20-meter-tall golden giant rose from the boiling, churning earth, kneeling on its shoulders, while Hong Fan, his robes stained with blood, sat atop its shoulders.

"Damn it, Kofi..."

He cursed under his breath as he straightened his dislocated arm bone.

Precisely manipulating hundreds of tons of sand is an enormous burden on both the body and mind. If it weren't for the Dragon Soul Fruit and the Spirit of No Thought, Hong Fan would not have been able to withstand it at all.

Even so, because the true essence is being output at a power far exceeding the meridians' capacity, he is constantly in a cycle of torment and healing.

The endless suffering could only be transformed into a fighting spirit.

boom!
The sand giant stepped forward and threw out his right fist, which was caught by an open palm.

The ground subsided.

The stalemate lasted only a moment before Tie Zun, with his superior physical strength, crushed the fist in his palm; the high-speed sand that splattered between his five fingers even cut several approaching Red Sand Army soldiers in half at the waist.

The sand giant did not retreat.

It actively softened its right wrist and used liquid sand to lock the iron vessel's arm.

"Anyone below the Heavenly Realm, get as far away from me as possible!"

Hong Fan shouted a warning, then manipulated the Sand Giant to press forward.

The giant sand flow blade originated from the left arm.

The golden waterfall cascaded over the iron statue's chest, sending up brilliant fireworks tens of meters high.

[Energy multiplier: 320 percent.]

Shuo Shui heard the voices of three compatriots saying "overload" and "exhausted" in succession in his consciousness, and then sensed that they had broken out of the circuit.

Iron Venerable kicked out, breaking the Sand Giant's left knee and revealing the red, hot wound on his chest that was writhing and healing.

The sand flow cut through the rocks, washing away the innocent stones that passed by, leaving them smooth in two pieces.

[Spiritual energy load increased to 56%...]

Tie Zun exerted his strength, forcing the Sand Giant to his knees. He slammed his right arm down, shattering the sandstone that was restricting his left hand. His faceless features looked down at Hong Fan, who was standing close by.

The latter's true energy circulated wildly throughout its body, its capillaries bursting and healing, and golden and red blood dripped from the tip of its nose. It was in so much pain that it had lost the ability to feel touch.

He had to sink into the sand giant's body to conserve energy for maintaining his stance.

The knee joint repair is complete.

The Sand Giant suddenly stood up and smashed his head against Iron Lord's face with such force that the top of his skull shattered.

Tie Zun staggered back a few steps, and just as he was about to attack, he felt a violent tremor beneath his feet.

The sound of a giant creature running approached from behind.

It turned around at the sound and saw a giant from the underworld, several meters tall and made up of countless bones and flesh, rushing towards it.

Tie Zun parried with a backhand punch, shattering the bone arm that was thrusting at him, and then stretched out his right palm to grab the man's neck.

Two hundred meters away, Song Qiwu's eyes were yellow and his pupils were no longer visible, and his veins were bulging and throbbing all over his body.

The Yellow Spring Giant continued to press forward, its remaining bone claws haphazardly carving out large handfuls of metal fragments. Unfortunately, all the momentum it had accumulated was only enough to push Iron Lord back two steps before it was exhausted.

Fortunately, Hong Beom seized the opportunity.

The Sand Giant stepped on the Iron Venerable's knee, forcing it to kneel on one knee. Then, it pressed down on the Iron Venerable's shoulder with one hand and used the other hand to condense sand drills to press against its side.

The piercing buzzing sound was loud enough to kill any mortal who got close.

Inside the main hall in the mountainside, dozens of giant spirits trembled violently due to the overload of the circuit.

[Energy multiplier of 330%...]

Tie Zun clenched his right hand and tore off the head of the Yellow Spring Giant. As he struggled to get up, he saw that the giant's chest and abdomen had several rows of ribs that opened like mouths and bit his forearm.

The metal rubbed against the bone, producing a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

[Spiritual energy load increased to 59%...]

A giant steel hand gripped the spine and emerged from the back.

Twist the wrist, snap it off, and the flesh bursts open like a flower.

Iron Venerable bent his leg and kicked the paralyzed Yellow Spring Giant away, while using the force to overwhelm the powerful enemy behind him.

The golden drill is still penetrating deeper. [Energy multiplier: 340 percent.]

[Shuoshui, I've reached my limit...]

Several more voices faded and disappeared in the space of consciousness.

On the battlefield, innate spiritual energy spiraled and condensed into a storm hundreds of meters high, penetrating Iron Venerable's chest.

Martial artists who have achieved a level of communion with the heavens and man seem to be in a raging storm.

Iron Lord's joints liquefied and reversed, turning from facing away from the Sand Giant to facing it. He forcibly sat up, pressed the drill bit with his left hand, and slammed down with his right elbow at the six o'clock position.

With a loud thud, the barren sand exploded into mist.

Mingshen and the red-faced Suanni fought left and right.

Iron Venerable ignored it, shattering the sand giant's regenerated head twice with his elbow, then stabbing it into its chest with his fingers like knives, stirring and searching for Hong Fan's true form.

Lu Yunshi, who had used all his strength to harass Lü Yunshi with Hunyuan Qi, could not see any effect from his efforts and felt his heart sink into despair.

Two hundred meters away, golden flames flickered.

Tie Zun turned his head and saw the afterimage approaching in the air, striking his right shoulder.

"Load!"

Xu Yuntao, who had personally aimed and fired, roared and soared through the air towards the second 33-cannon.

Iron Giant was deflected by the cannon fire; Sand Giant took advantage of the situation and overturned it.

He stumbled to his feet, only to be struck in the chest by another shell.

Four more giant spirits left brief final words before breaking the circuit.

Shuoshui had no more responses.

Amplified tenfold by its senses, the heavily wounded Wang Xiaodan fiercely attacked the palace gate, killing six of his comrades in succession.

Death is an ongoing process measured in seconds.

The battlefield is like a gambling table, and the 122 remaining external circuits within the great formation are the chips that Shuoshui can use...

Including itself.

The fierce battle lasted for another two minutes.

The chaotic battlefield of the three behemoths was beyond the reach of ordinary innate beings. Lu Yunshi, Hong Lie, and Hong Bo tried several times to help but failed, and had no choice but to follow Xu Yuntao's example and retreat to operate the artillery.

"Overheating, cool down immediately."

The order was given to penetrate the soldiers' numb ears after the cannons had fired.

Two hundred meters away, Tie Zun extended his left arm into a sharp blade, slashing at the left leg of the Yellow Spring Giant, and then turned around to cut off the incoming cannonball.

The projectile, along with its fuse, split in two and exploded in mid-air.

The sand giant hurled a fireball from another direction.

Iron Venerable was about to dodge when his ankle was grabbed by flesh and bone claws, forcing him to endure the attack.

The highly concentrated fiery true essence exploded, softening the metal surface; at this moment, two more cannonballs arrived, and the flying golden-red iron streams embedded themselves into the sky.

Surrounded by heavily armed guards, Song Qiwu knelt on the ground, blood flowing from his mouth, nose, and eyes.

Clench both fists together.

The bodies of the Yellow Spring Giants coalesced remotely, their flesh and bones biting each other, and suddenly they locked onto the Iron Venerable, forcing it to face the artillery position.

The three cannons fired simultaneously, creating a series of thunderous roars as they struck the barren cliffs of Xuandan Mountain before turning back.

Beneath the Sword Gate, Wang Xiaodan and Wei Zheng finally led their personal guards into the main hall, where they saw the unfinished array circuits shining brightly, with over a hundred giant spirits standing motionless within.

In less than three hundred seconds, more than forty giant spirits had sacrificed their lives, scattering into a pile of rocks.

"ended."

Wang Xiaodan gritted his teeth and grinned maliciously, then picked up a heavy club and slammed it into a core circuit.

Outside the Hanging Gall Fortress, the invisible vortex of innate spiritual energy dissipated; Iron Venerable, who had been struggling in the arms of the Yellow Spring Giant, suddenly lost his strength, and the wounds all over his body stopped healing.

A giant sand-flowing blade covered its waist.

After a few breaths, the metal hardened and broke apart, completely losing its activity.

The sun is at its zenith.

Hong Fan landed from the collapsed sand giant, feeling his countless internal and external injuries rapidly repaired by the tail effect of the Dragon Soul Fruit.

Above the spiritual platform, the life force captured by the destiny star has reached its maximum limit.

P.S.: This last chapter was written today, so it feels a bit rushed.

Almost 600 chapters, and finally Hong Fan got to pilot a Gundam.

(End of this chapter)