After giving orders to all the disciples, the girl turned back to look at the swamp before her and murmured, “It seems that thing should be inside this box! The earlier places were a wasted trip. All I found was trash!”
The girl’s voice was so faint that no one but herself could hear it. The other disciples were all excited about the great battle that was about to begin.
After the girl’s order was passed down, the male and female disciples of the Yan Yue Sect immediately stood shoulder to shoulder with their cultivation partners. With practiced ease, they each reached out and clasped one another’s hands.
At once, the two overlapping palms emitted strange blue and red lights. The radiance then traveled along their arms and spread throughout their bodies. The six pairs of dual-cultivation disciples were completely enveloped in red light if they were men, while blue light streamed from the women, creating a strange spectacle of interwoven blue and red. The remaining two women and one man had already lost their cultivation partners, so they could only take out several magic tools and make ordinary preparations.
Han Li lay prone on a mound of earth. Although he had not heard the girl’s murmur, he had heard every word when the female disciple addressed her as “Grandmaster.” He was so startled that he nearly bit his tongue!
“Grandmaster of the Yan Yue Sect”—what did that mean? Han Li was no longer a novice who had just entered the cultivation world, so he understood it perfectly. She was a Core Formation expert, just like Grandmaster Li of his own sect! In this forbidden area, where cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage were not supposed to enter, such a formidable person had actually appeared. Han Li’s mind was thrown into complete confusion!
By then, the young girl saw that all the disciples under her command were ready. Satisfied, she took action.
The girl parted her lips slightly and spat out her magic treasure, the Vermilion Bird Ring. The object flew into the air above the swamp, spinning rapidly until it grew as large as a house. In an instant, the ring’s color shifted from pink to the fiery red of flames. Specks of fire appeared within its inner circle, gathering in increasing numbers and growing ever brighter. Before long, several hundred high-temperature fireballs, each the size of a fist, had formed inside the huge ring, causing the temperature of the underground world to rise several degrees at once.
Han Li stared from the mound, dumbfounded. Such a spectacle and such power—if this was not a magic treasure, he would not believe it even if he were beaten to death.
Since the young girl could command a magic treasure, there was no doubt that she was a Core Formation cultivator. But how had she entered the forbidden area, and why was the spiritual power in her body only at the peak of the Qi Condensation stage? These questions rolled through Han Li’s mind again and again, yet he still could not find an answer.
Before the girl could take her next step, the swamp below began to stir. The mud around a certain spot started to churn, with the disturbance spreading wider and the surging mud rising higher. Gradually, it formed a towering bulge whose momentum was astonishing.
A flicker of doubt crossed the girl’s face. In her memory, the Black-Scaled Python did not seem to possess such imposing momentum!
But seeing that the demonic beast was about to emerge, the girl did not dare delay. She formed an orchid hand seal with both hands and used it to command the enormous Vermilion Bird Ring connected to her mind. The ring began spinning in midair, becoming indistinct within moments from its tremendous speed. The several hundred fireballs inside it instantly turned into a sea of crimson flames and fused into one.
“Go!”
The hand seal in the girl’s hands suddenly stilled, and she spoke the word aloud.
In a flash, the ring’s rotation came to a dead stop. The sea of flames within it abruptly transformed into a massive whirlwind of fire, which shot downward with terrifying force and blasted straight at the high mound rising from the swamp.
Before the pillar of flame could reach the swamp, however, a black water column as thick as a bowl burst from the bulging sludge with a sharp splash. It met the incoming flames head-on.
Sizzling sounds erupted between them. Great masses of water vapor sprang up in sheets, and in the blink of an eye the area was shrouded in mist, blurring everything from sight.
“This isn’t the Black-Scaled Python!”
The girl’s doubtful expression changed dramatically as soon as she saw the pitch-black water column, and she shouted the words.
As if responding to her, an exceedingly strange shriek rang out from the vast white mist. Immediately afterward, a scorching gale sprang from nowhere, sweeping up all the white vapor nearby and revealing the demonic beast’s true form.
A black, snake-shaped demonic creature covered in enormous scales appeared before everyone’s eyes.
The beast looked like a snake, yet not quite like one. It was not particularly large, measuring only three or four zhang in length, but its entire body was shrouded in a faint black mist, making it look extraordinarily sinister. From its head to its tail, it otherwise resembled an ordinary black python. Of course, its huge, glossy black scales were an exception.
“Black Flood Dragon!”
The moment the girl saw the beast clearly, she cried out in shock. Her face revealed both worry and delight.
The dozen or so disciples standing behind her were completely baffled. Wasn’t this the “Black-Scaled Python”? How had it suddenly become a “Black Flood Dragon”?
The girl had no time to explain. The demonic beast, hovering several zhang above the ground, had already found the culprit who had disturbed its rest. A vicious glint flashed in the small green eyes on either side of its head. It opened its mouth, and another black water column lunged straight toward everyone from the Yan Yue Sect.
“You beast! You’re courting death!”
The girl knew just how powerful the Black Flood Dragon was. Although the demonic beast still appeared very young, she did not dare treat it carelessly. She hurriedly pointed at the Vermilion Bird Ring in the air. The ring immediately flared with red light, then flashed into position before her. A string of fireballs flew from within it and stopped the black water halfway there.
“Collect, Hasten, Bind, Seal, Lock!”
The girl held both hands as though embracing a full moon, her expression solemn as she spat out the five-word incantation.
As soon as the five words left her mouth, the enormous Vermilion Bird Ring began to tremble rapidly in midair. It then gave a low hum and vanished into thin air, leaving the Black Flood Dragon, whose intelligence had only just awakened, blinking its small eyes in bewilderment.
But in the next moment, the ring reappeared above the demonic beast’s head with a buzzing sound. Before the beast could react, it plunged downward and rapidly shrank. In the blink of an eye, the Vermilion Bird Ring had forcibly encircled the middle of the Black Flood Dragon’s body. Flames erupted from the ring, wrapping half of the beast’s body in blazing fire.
“Attack quickly! I won’t be able to restrain the Black Flood Dragon for long.”
Although the Vermilion Bird Ring had firmly trapped the beast, the girl showed no relief. Instead, she issued the order to the disciples behind her with a trace of urgency.
The disciples of the Yan Yue Sect did not know why the Black-Scaled Python before them had suddenly become the Black Flood Dragon spoken of by their Grandmaster, but that did not stop the attacks they had been charging up for some time.
“Attack!”
Under the lead of an older woman in white, more than a dozen interwoven red and blue beams of light burst from the bodies of the male and female disciples with a frightening hiss as they tore through the air. Every one of them struck the immobile demonic beast without fail.
A succession of thunderous explosions rang out. The moment the beams reached the beast, the faint layer of black mist around its body forcefully blocked them, producing violent detonations.
“Keep attacking! The Black Flood Dragon’s protective Ink Cloud won’t hold out much longer!” the girl commanded rapidly, her sharp eyes and quick tongue leaving no room for delay. At the same time, she continued to drive the Vermilion Bird Ring’s red-flame technique, making the fire around the beast burst forth with even greater ferocity.
Under the girl’s successive commands, the disciples of the Yan Yue Sect continuously fired red and blue beams into the air and pounded the demonic beast’s body. Although they had not yet broken through the black mist, they had already driven the beast into a frenzy. It bared its teeth and thrashed the upper and lower halves of its still-mobile body, desperately trying to break free of the ring. It was useless. Under the girl’s full-strength restriction, the ring remained motionless in midair, locking its body firmly in place.
Han Li watched from the side, his heart pounding. He had never witnessed a scene in which such a large group of cultivators joined forces against an enemy. The appearance of a magic treasure, combined with the fact that they were facing a demonic beast of considerable strength, opened his eyes even wider.
Han Li had also made up his mind. Whether the demonic beast defeated its enemies or the people of the Yan Yue Sect killed it, he would wait until the battle was over before quietly slipping away. This was absolutely not the time to recklessly reveal his presence!
“Wuu…”
Just as Han Li’s thoughts were running wild, the Black Flood Dragon suddenly let out a long cry, several times louder than before. The cry was filled with pain.
Han Li was startled and hurriedly focused his gaze on it.
The black mist around the demonic beast had completely dispersed. A bloody hole as thick as a bowl had appeared in its black-scaled body, clearly inflicted by the red and blue beams. The pain had driven the beast to struggle even more violently!
“It seems the people of the Yan Yue Sect have the upper hand after all!” Han Li thought when he saw this.
“Not good! Be careful! I can’t restrain the Black Flood Dragon any longer!”
But at that very moment, the girl’s voice rang out. Han Li was slightly stunned. It seemed that it was truly impossible to say who would win in the end.