Under Han Li's control, the Golden Light Brick Talisman Treasure revealed its true form after a short while. The colored brick floated into midair, radiating dazzling light.
The spiritual power within Han Li poured into the brick without end, like an overflowing river. Before long, one-third of his magical power had been siphoned away. This made the golden light above his head even more dazzling, so bright that it was nearly impossible to look at directly.
The girl kept the Ink Flood Dragon trapped with all her strength while watching Han Li's every move. When she saw the golden brick appear, the unease in her heart finally settled. She now knew that Han Li had not been lying: this talisman treasure truly could break through the demon beast's defenses.
The Ink Flood Dragon seemed to sense that things were going badly. Its two claws clutched the sides of the ring tightly, and it struggled with even greater force, making the girl's Vermilion Bird Ring tremble faintly. Her expression changed, and she hurriedly shouted to Han Li, "Hurry! It is about to break free!"
Hearing this, Han Li did not dare delay. He pointed at the talisman treasure above his head, and the golden brick shot toward the Ink Flood Dragon with a whoosh. Halfway there, it suddenly expanded until it was as large as a small mountain, then smashed down viciously upon the Ink Flood Dragon.
The Ink Flood Dragon was still struggling and knew that the situation was dire. Its two green eyes suddenly flashed with a vicious light. It opened its mouth and sprayed out the purple liquid that Han Li dreaded so much. The stream met the descending golden brick head-on, actually preventing it from falling for the moment.
The girl and Han Li were both startled. Han Li could only stare helplessly, since he had to control the golden brick. The girl, however, bit her tender lip, pulled a yellow bead from her robe, and tossed it at the demon beast locked in a stalemate with the golden brick.
With a soft bang, the bead touched the Ink Flood Dragon's head and immediately burst apart. A small cloud of yellow mist enveloped the dragon's head, making the Ink Flood Dragon let out an alarmed growl. Naturally, the purple liquid it had been spraying stopped as well.
Without the purple liquid to hold it back, the golden brick, whose radiance had dimmed somewhat, immediately fell and landed solidly on the Ink Flood Dragon's head. A world-shaking boom erupted. Blinding golden light illuminated the entire underground world, then quickly faded, returning everything to normal.
The golden brick shrank back to its original size, transformed into a streak of golden light, and flew back to Han Li's side.
Only the dying demon beast remained suspended in midair.
Half of the Ink Flood Dragon's head had been smashed into a mangled ruin. One of its eyes had burst completely out of its socket and no one knew where it had been flung. The other eye was still there, but blood kept seeping from it. The entire Ink Flood Dragon looked utterly miserable.
It seemed that the demon beast was not far from death.
The girl was overjoyed. She hurriedly took a small crystal bottle from her storage pouch, muttered an incantation at it, and then pointed at the Ink Flood Dragon. Several thin strands of black energy shot from the bottle's mouth and wound ominously around the beast's body.
Before long, a small green flood dragon identical in form to the Ink Flood Dragon was forcibly drawn out of its body by the black energy. It struggled desperately, baring its teeth and waving its claws, but was gradually pulled into the small bottle all the same.
After sealing the bottle, the girl carefully examined the miniature Ink Flood Dragon inside. Unable to conceal the delight on her face any longer, she broke into a broad smile. Then her autumn eyes glanced at the Ink Flood Dragon's body, now completely devoid of life, and she fell into thought.
Seeing what the girl had done, Han Li immediately understood that she had taken the flood dragon's primordial spirit. Although he had no idea what use the Ink Flood Dragon's primordial spirit might have, her jubilant expression made it clear that it was certainly worth a great deal.
At that moment, the girl raised a hand and drew the Vermilion Bird Ring back into her body. The Ink Flood Dragon's corpse immediately fell from the air and landed right in front of Han Li.
"Since I have taken this flood dragon's primordial spirit, you can keep its body. After all, the two of us killed it together!" The girl flew down beside Han Li and spoke with complete generosity.
Han Li looked at the satisfied girl, then lowered his head to examine the Ink Flood Dragon's flesh. A wave of gloomy resentment rose in his heart as he muttered inwardly, "Right. After all, we both know very well how tough this Ink Flood Dragon's tortoise shell is! She must just want to see me make a fool of myself."
With that thought, a flash of cold light appeared in Han Li's hand, and a huge silver sword materialized there. It was the extremely formidable magical instrument that had once belonged to the barefoot man.
Without saying a word, Han Li swung the huge sword down with all his strength. With a wet squelch, the silver sword sank three inches into the Ink Flood Dragon's body. It had not cut very deeply, but it had finally breached the flood dragon's defenses. The girl beside him stared in astonishment, her mouth slightly open and unable to close for a moment.
Han Li found her expression rather amusing. He continued to swing the sword and was about to make another cut when the girl, having recovered, slowly said, "Wait. Let me take a look at that sword!" Her surprised tone made Han Li pause.
"What are you afraid of? I am a dignified Core Formation cultivator. What kind of treasure have I not seen? It is just that your sword is rather strange, and I am a little curious." Seeing Han Li hesitate, the girl rolled her eyes at him and spoke irritably.
Although the girl looked young, that single glance was so alluring that Han Li's heart began to race, completely beyond his control.
"There is indeed something wrong with this sword. For some reason, I have been unable to drive it since obtaining it. Otherwise, I would not have been in such a sorry state when fighting the Ink Flood Dragon just now." Since the girl had put it that way, Han Li could only hand her the sword while explaining slowly.
He did not want to fall out with the girl yet. After all, she had remained completely calm despite being trapped in a desperate situation, so she should be confident about how to leave this place. Besides, the girl acted as though she had no guard up against him, which suggested that she understood his thoughts perfectly and was not afraid of a sudden attack.
"Tsk, tsk! Just as I thought. What a waste!" The girl took the silver sword and carefully felt and examined it. Her face filled with the expression of someone lamenting a priceless treasure being squandered.
"What is going on?" Han Li asked when it seemed that she had truly discovered something.
"Nothing much. The reason this silver sword is so sharp is that silver essence, a material used only when refining magical treasures, was mixed into it. There is quite a lot of it, enough to bring the sword's material quality close to that of an ordinary magical treasure." The girl returned the sword to Han Li casually and spoke in an indifferent tone.
"Silver essence?" Han Li was slightly taken aback.
"Even if I explained it, you would not understand. Only the true fire of a Core Formation cultivator or someone above that level can extract it from a large quantity of pure silver. It is an extremely precious material for refining treasures. My Vermilion Bird Ring contains some as well." The girl sounded a little impatient.
Han Li grumbled inwardly, "I asked because I did not know! If I knew, why would I ask you?"
Although he could see that the girl did not want to say more, Han Li ignored it and continued asking, "Why can other people make this sword fly into battle, while I cannot control it at all?"
Seeing that Han Li intended to get to the bottom of the matter, the girl felt slightly displeased, but still answered coldly, "The sword's original owner refined it using the heart-refinement method. That method is extremely sinister, so naturally outsiders cannot use the sword. Unless you reforge it from the beginning, it is nothing but a useless object to anyone else."
Han Li's expression grew ugly. He had originally held great hopes for this sword. If what she said was true, all those hopes had gone up in smoke.
"Useless? Not necessarily. Am I not making use of it right now?" After a moment of silence, Han Li suddenly replied coldly. He then swung the silver sword without the slightest courtesy and hacked repeatedly at the flood dragon's body. In the blink of an eye, he had ripped open the Ink Flood Dragon's abdomen.
The girl frowned at Han Li's rough, butcher-like manner and stepped back several paces to put some distance between them. Then she spoke in an icy voice: "Although this Ink Flood Dragon has only just evolved to the second rank, every part of its body is a precious material. Its hide can be refined into excellent armor. Its horns and claws are the best materials for refining top-grade magical instruments, and the remaining pill liquid is essential for refining certain precious pills."
For some reason, the girl explained everything to Han Li in extraordinary detail. This surprised him and made him uneasy at the same time; he had no idea what she was planning.
"What a pity. If this flood dragon had evolved to the third rank, the flood dragon pill inside its head would definitely make countless Core Formation cultivators fight over it. It would be extremely useful whether for refining pills or refining treasures." The girl suddenly sighed.
"A flood dragon pill? What color is it? Is this it?" Han Li suddenly pulled a fist-sized red sphere from the Ink Flood Dragon's abdomen. Holding it up, he spoke to the girl, whose face was full of surprise.
"Oh? What is this? Did you take it from the Ink Flood Dragon?" Greatly surprised, the girl moved closer to Han Li and examined it carefully.
"It really does look somewhat similar. But this Ink Flood Dragon has clearly only evolved to the second rank, so it could not possibly have produced a flood dragon pill. Besides, the Ink Flood Dragon is a water-attribute evil flood dragon, so its inner pill should be blue. Let me touch it and see what this is." After looking at it for a while, the girl could not resist. She took the soft, limp sphere from Han Li's hand and stroked it several times.
Just then, the sphere suddenly burst open on its own with a pop. A vast cloud of pink smoke immediately enveloped both the girl and Han Li.