The echoes of the shattering illusion still vibrated through the stale, toxic air of the cavern as the true horror of the Forbidden Mountain core revealed itself. The sweet scent of thousand-year-old herbs was entirely gone, replaced by the suffocating, metallic stench of ancient blood and rotting marrow. Down in the pit, the two Foundation Establishment disciples screamed as the black, bubbling mud rose to their knees, pinning them in place while the skeletal remains of long-dead cultivators shifted and cracked beneath their frantic movements.
Above them, the two guardian Golden Serpents fully descended from the shattered cavern roof. Their massive, thirty-meter-long bodies were covered in thick, interlocking plates of glittering golden scales that scraped against the stone pillars with a terrifying, metallic screech. Though these were mere offshoots guardians rather than the true Tier Five beast Old Lady Shen had feared, their sheer presence exerted a heavy, crushing aura that easily rivaled Early-stage Core Formation masters.
"Fools!" Old Lady Shen hissed, her voice cutting through the panic as she locked eyes with Hei Zun. "Your arrogance has brought us into their jaws! Watch the flanks!"
Hei Zun's face twisted in a mixture of rage and bitter embarrassment, but as a late-stage Core Formation expert, he refused to let fear paralyze him. "Silence, old hag! They are just beasts. We kill them and move on!"
With a deafening, synchronized hiss that rattled the teeth of everyone present, the two massive serpents struck. The air split apart as the beast on the left lunged straight toward Old Lady Shen and Doctor Lu Cheng, its maw opening wide to reveal rows of jagged, ivory fangs dripping with a corrosive, pale-green venom. The beast on the right swept its massive tail horizontally, aiming directly to bisect Hei Zun, Han Yue, and the two trapped disciples below.
Old Lady Shen didn't retreat. Instead, she took a half-step forward and slammed her gnarled wooden walking stick hard into the stone ledge.
BOOM!
A massive, deep-blue shockwave of pure spiritual energy erupted from the base of her staff, expanding into a heavy, layered barrier of dense, liquid Qi. The left serpent crashed headfirst into the blue shield. The impact was monumental; a concussive blast of wind ripped outward, tearing loose rocks from the ceiling, but Old Lady Shen's feet remained absolutely rooted to the spot. Her late-stage Core Formation cultivation base was an immovable mountain against an Early-stage opponent. The beast's snout crumpled slightly against the barrier, its golden scales sparking violently, unable to pierce her defense by even an inch.
"Doctor Lu, now!" Old Lady Shen commanded calmly, her eyes fixed on the writhing monster.
"On it," Doctor Lu Cheng replied with practiced, clinical precision.
As a peak-stage Foundation Establishment master specializing in wood-attribute Qi, his combat style lacked raw, brute force but excelled in absolute accuracy and elemental control. He flicked both sleeves forward. Dozens of glowing, emerald-green Qi needles materialized in the air around him, humming with a high-pitched vibration. With a sharp wave of his hand, the needles shot forward like a swarm of hornets, bypassing the armored head of the serpent and targeting the softer, pulsing skin just beneath its jawline where the scales overlapped.
Puch! Puch! Puch!
The needles buried themselves deep into the beast's flesh. The serpent roared in agony, its massive body thrashing violently against Old Lady Shen's barrier. The green Qi inside the needles instantly began to disrupt the beast's internal energy flow, acting like a paralytic toxin that numbed its muscles and slowed its rapid movements.
The serpent, realizing it couldn't breach Old Lady Shen's defense, whipped its tail around in a blind fury, attempting to smash Doctor Lu Cheng from the side. The speed of the tail was blinding, cutting through the air with a whistling scream.
"Careful!" Old Lady Shen barked. She raised her left hand, tracing a rapid circle in the air. The liquid blue Qi from her shield instantly detached, forming a swirling vortex that intercepted the oncoming tail. The moment the golden scales hit the vortex, the immense kinetic force was safely redirected upward into the cavern ceiling, causing a minor cave-in that buried the serpent's tail under tons of debris.
Doctor Lu Cheng didn't waste the opening. He leaped into the air, his long robes fluttering as he drew a pair of gleaming silver scalpels from his medical pouch. Infusing them with dense, concentrated wood Qi until they elongated into glowing green blades, he executed a flawless downward cross-slash right across the beast's exposed underbelly. A deep, dark wound opened, spraying black, corrosive blood across the rocks, but thanks to Old Lady Shen's preemptive positioning, not a single drop touched the doctor's medical robes.
On the other side of the cavern, the battle was far more chaotic and violent.
Hei Zun unleashed a cold, mocking laugh as the second serpent's tail swung toward him. "A mere worm dares to show its teeth?"
He didn't bother dodging. He raised a single, dark-shrouded hand, letting his late-stage Core Formation aura explode outward like an erupting volcano. Black, malevolent Qi coalesced into a massive, spectral demonic claw that intercepted the thirty-meter serpent's tail mid-swing.
CRUNCH.
The demonic claw gripped the golden tail with terrifying strength, completely halting the beast's momentum. The sheer force of the collision sent a shockwave through the ground, but Hei Zun didn't budge. He sneered, flexing his fingers, and the spectral claw squeezed harder, shattering several layers of the beast's golden scales and drawing a guttural shriek of pain from the monster.
"Han Yue! Stop watching and kill it!" Hei Zun barked arrogantly, maintaining his iron grip on the thrashing serpent.
"Right!" Han Yue roared.
Wanting to test the absolute limits of his full Calamity Lightning strength as a mid-stage Core Formation master, Han Yue threw his hands forward, channeling his true Qi to its absolute threshold. The ten identical swords flew from his storage ring, hovering around him before beginning to spin violently, creating a localized hurricane of sharp, whistling wind.
"Calamity Sword Array, Second Form, Thunder Burst!"
He pointed his fingers, and the ten swords shot forward as a single, devastating beam of white-hot lightning and steel, aiming directly for the serpent's glowing crimson eye.
However, the beast was desperate. Sensing mortal danger, it opened its mouth and exhaled a massive, concentrated cloud of golden, metallic mist. The mist was incredibly dense, filled with millions of microscopic, razor-sharp golden shards that shredded everything they touched.
When Han Yue's sword array collided with the metallic mist, a series of violent, deafening explosions tore through the air. The sheer counter-force of the golden mist was far greater than Han Yue anticipated. The shockwave shattered his sword formations, sending the physical blades flying back, and a stray wave of the razor-sharp golden shards bypassed his defenses, slicing cleanly through his protective mid-Core Formation Qi layer.
"Argh!" Han Yue groaned, gritting his teeth as several deep cuts opened across his shoulders and chest, staining his robes with fresh blood. The metallic energy inside the mist began to invade his meridians, burning like liquid fire.
"Useless trash," Hei Zun muttered, his eyes cold. He was about to let Han Yue suffer more, but he realized that if Han Yue fell, the serpent might break free and damage his two trapped disciples below—who were his property, after all.
"Master! Save us!" the two Foundation Establishment disciples wailed from the pit. The bubbling black mud was now up to their chests, and the stray metallic shards from the serpent's mist were raining down on them. They were entirely defenseless, their pale faces covered in superficial cuts, completely paralyzed by the overwhelming aura of the battle.
Before the falling shards could shred the disciples into mincemeat, a brilliant green barrier suddenly materialized over the pit. Doctor Lu Cheng, despite fighting his own opponent, had kept an eye on the entire battlefield. With perfect timing, he had thrown out a seed infused with his wood Qi, which rapidly grew into a thick, protective canopy of reinforced spiritual vines over the helpless disciples, deflecting the lethal shards.
"Focus on the enemy, Han Yue!" Doctor Lu Cheng shouted across the cavern, his voice steady despite the chaos. "I will stabilize your meridians from afar. Move now!"
A surge of warm, soothing green light drifted from Doctor Lu's position, sinking into Han Yue's chest. Instantly, the burning sensation in Han Yue's meridians subsided, and his bleeding wounds began to rapidly knit together.
Feeling a sudden rush of renewed strength mixed with deep humiliation for being rescued by a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, Han Yue's eyes turned bloodshot. A Foundation Establishment trash is helping me? What an utter humiliation!
He glared at his opponent. "Beast, you will pay for that!"
With his wounds closing up, Han Yue unleashed his full power. He recalled his principal sword, biting his index finger and smearing his own essence blood along the edge of the blade. The weapon ignited with a fierce, blood-red calamity lightning that crackled with destructive madness.
"Hei Zun, hold it steady!" Han Yue yelled.
"Do not order me around, boy," Hei Zun snorted, but he complied nonetheless. He channeled more dark Qi into the spectral claw, slamming the giant serpent flat against the cavern wall and pinning its head firmly against the stone, preventing it from exhaling any more mist.
Han Yue leaped into the air, his body fully aligned with his blade. Like a falling star wrapped in white and red lightning, he descended from the ceiling. "Die! Calamity Piercer!"
The battle had reached its absolute climax. On the left side, Old Lady Shen had completely immobilized her serpent under a massive, crushing weight of blue Qi, while Doctor Lu Cheng stood poised directly above its neck, his elongated scalpel blades aimed perfectly at the fatal junction where the head met the spine.
As he looked down, a sudden, breathy laugh escaped Doctor Lu's lips. I never thought I would live to see a Tier Four environment, let alone fight alongside such masters, he thought, a fleeting memory of Wang Fang bringing back a Tier Two beast crossing his mind. That child truly is a blessing. I do not know when my lifespan will end or if I will ever breakthrough this realm... but he has let me see a world I have long yearned for. My only wish now is that you are still alive, little Fang.
On the right side, Hei Zun's black claw held his serpent pinned against the wall, while Han Yue descended like a vengeful sword god, his blood-infused sword inches away from piercing the beast's brain.
Through perfect, subconscious teamwork and the overwhelming dominance of the peak and late-stage experts, the entire party was on the verge of total victory. Not a single person had suffered lasting damage; even Han Yue's minor injuries were already completely healed by Doctor Lu. The two terrifying guardian beasts were nothing more than prey waiting for the final blow.
Old Lady Shen's eyes narrowed as she watched Doctor Lu's blades plunge downward. It's over, she thought with a small sigh of relief. Once these two fall, we can extract the disciples and find a safe way out of this illusion trap.
But just as Doctor Lu's scalpels and Han Yue's lightning sword were a hair's breadth away from delivering the fatal strikes, a terrifying change occurred within the eyes of the two dying serpents.
The crimson glow in their eyes didn't fade; instead, it turned entirely, abyssal black.
The two beasts didn't try to dodge or defend themselves. Instead, they simultaneously stopped resisting. Their bodies bloated rapidly, their golden scales expanding until they stood on end like pinecones. A strange, high-pitched, vibrating hum resonated from deep within their lineages.
Old Lady Shen's heart stopped. Her centuries of experience instantly recognized that look, it wasn't a standard self-detonation. It was something far worse. It was a cold, icy dread that gripped her soul, a feeling of absolute mortality she had not felt in centuries.
"Stop your attacks! Get back! NOW!" Old Lady Shen screamed, her voice cracking with a sudden, uncharacteristic panic that sent a chill down Doctor Lu's spine.
But it was too late. The momentum of their ultimate attacks was too great to halt.
SPURT! CRACK!
Doctor Lu's scalpels severed his serpent's spine, and Han Yue's lightning sword pierced his serpent's skull cleanly. Both guardian beasts died instantly.
But as their life force extinguished, the bloated, black-veined blood inside their bodies didn't spill onto the floor. Instead, it shot upward into the air, coalescing into a singular, massive, burning rune of pitch-black blood that hovered directly in the center of the cavern roof.
The two dead serpents didn't drop to the ground; their massive bodies instantly withered into dry, dusty husks, every drop of their ancient essence, soul, and spiritual power entirely drained to fuel that single, terrifying black rune.
The rune flashed once, releasing a sound that wasn't a hiss, but a deep, rumbling roar that echoed through the entire spiritual frequency of the mountain.
It was an alert. A summons to the true master of the Forbidden Mountain core.
For one brief, horrifying second, there was absolute silence.
Then, the world shattered.
BOOM!!!
The entire Forbidden Mountain didn't just shake; it groaned as if the very foundations of the earth were being torn asunder. Massive boulders, the size of houses, began to rain down from the darkness above, smashing into the pit below and obliterating the skeletal remains.
Suddenly, an unimaginable, suffocating spiritual pressure descended upon the cavern like the weight of an entire world being dropped onto their shoulders.
CRACK.
The protective green canopy Doctor Lu Cheng had placed over the disciples instantly disintegrated into dust. The blue shield Old Lady Shen held shattered into a million sparkling fragments.
"Ahhhhh!"
The two Foundation Establishment disciples didn't even have time to cry out before the sheer, radiating pressure forced them flat into the black mud. The bones in their shoulders and ribs began to audibly crack under the invisible weight. Blood erupted from their eyes, noses, and ears as their cultivation bases instantly collapsed under the terrifying aura.
Han Yue fell to his knees immediately, his sword slipping from his numb fingers. He clutched his chest, his face turning a horrific shade of purple as he gasped for air that felt like solid lead. He felt as though his very skin was splitting open along his meridians, tiny beads of blood leaking through his pores as his mid-stage Core Formation Qi was violently suppressed until it could barely circulate.
Doctor Lu Cheng staggered, falling hard onto both knees, using his medical pouch just to prop himself up. His face was stark white, his breath coming in ragged, painful gasps as his Foundation Establishment cultivation threatened to implode under the pressure.
The two experts at the peak of Core Formation fared little better. Hei Zun's arrogant smile vanished instantly, replaced by a profound, paralyzing terror. His legs trembled violently as he forced himself to stand, his dark Qi completely crushed back into his body, unable to manifest even a single inch outside his skin.
Old Lady Shen gripped her wooden staff with both hands, her knuckles turning bone-white as she leaned heavily against it just to keep from being flattened against the stone. A thin trickle of dark blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.
This pressure... Old Lady Shen thought, her mind screaming in absolute, unadulterated horror as the entire cavern continued to tremble and warp around them. This is...
From the massive, bottomless abyss at the very back of the shattered valley, two golden lights began to rise. They weren't the size of torches; they were like twin suns. The sheer intensity of the light blinded them, radiating a divine, ancient malice that made their souls feel as though they were being torn into shreds.
Old Lady Shen's mind went blank with terror. This... This...
The true Golden Scale Serpent. The Tier Five beast.