Chapter 116: The Might of the Heaven-Devouring Python!
The Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine—an extremely dangerous plant. It emits a colorless, odorless, hallucinogenic mist, dragging the prey that fall into its territory into the illusions it weaves.
Then, through its vines, silently and without a trace, it lets its prey die within the illusion, completely unaware.
"How dangerous!"
Having heard Jiang Yun's explanation, Zi Yan and Medusa, who had now seen through the illusion with Jiang Yun's help, looked at the eerily glowing tree with lingering fear in their hearts.
Bang!
The black leaves covering the ground suddenly flew upward. Several streaks of black light shot out violently, wrapping themselves around the waists of the people in midair with lightning speed, yanking them directly onto the ground.
It could no longer wait!
The sudden turn of events startled everyone who remained. Then, they saw black vines dancing wildly across the earth.
On those vines, fresh blood still flowed, and as the vines writhed, it was devoured clean.
"Damn it! It's the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine!"
Once they realized what was happening, everyone frantically attacked the vines wrapped around their waists. However, their attacks, powerful enough to cleave mountains, only left shallow blood marks on the vines. The vine's defensive power was exceptionally formidable.
Tch!
One end of a vine suddenly shot out a black thorn about half a zhang long. With a swoosh, it left an afterimage as it ruthlessly stabbed toward everyone's throats.
"Ah—"
As one miserable scream after another rang out, the scene unfolding before the trio's eyes resembled a living hell. One figure after another was rapidly drained dry, reduced to white bones.
Toward the crowd's screams, the three paid no heed. Jiang Yun's gaze fell upon the heart of the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine. There, a strange fruit, like a beating heart, was about to gestate and emerge.
"Xiao Yun, let's go!" Watching one person after another die and seeing no profit to be reaped, Zi Yan spoke up.
"Wait!" At that moment, Jiang Yun answered. Under the two women's curious gazes, he said, "The Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine, though fearsome, has a tree heart that is a rare treasure. It can nourish the bloodline within the body and strengthen one's physique!"
"You mean..." Hearing this, Medusa's eyes brightened. What mattered most to magical beasts? Their bloodline! If this item were taken to the Dou Qi Continent, it would undoubtedly draw countless magical beasts into a frenzied scramble.
"Indeed. This tree heart is about to mature. No wonder it's been so proactive upon seeing these people. It couldn't hold back any longer!"
Jiang Yun's eyes blazed as he watched the pulsing tree heart. Zi Yan had accidentally activated her bloodline without undergoing the proper baptism, which was already somewhat problematic. She had also rashly used a Heaven Class Dou Technique just moments ago, nearly damaging her bloodline.
Though she had stopped in time, a slight deficiency remained within her. This tree heart had come at the perfect time!
"Trying to escape?!"
At that moment, Medusa suddenly looked toward the center of the field. She let out a cold snort. Nine-colored radiance condensed in her palm, and a nine-colored serpentine longsword appeared. Vast spiritual energy erupted violently from within her. With a single sword slash, a massive sword aura nearly a hundred zhang in size shot directly toward a figure that was charging away.
"Roar— Who?!"
His escape route blocked, the man's violent spiritual energy spilled everywhere. He continuously scanned his surroundings and instantly locked onto the figures of Jiang Yun's trio.
"Bastard—"
With a furious roar, he had no time to counterattack. The sharp sound of rushing wind rang out behind him. The man could only raise his blade and turn to slash at the pitch-black vine attacking his back.
And Medusa's strike immediately drew the attention of the few people still alive in the field!
"Seems like trouble." Noticing the unfriendly gazes of the few men, Jiang Yun said with a light chuckle, but his tone carried not a trace of worry.
"Hmph, what's there to fear? Perfect chance to test my current strength!" Zi Yan looked at a few of them, her fighting spirit surging, her eyes brimming with eagerness.
Medusa said nothing, but her sliding longsword spoke volumes about her current mood.
Looking at the two battle maniacs beside him with a slight headache, Jiang Yun had no intention of blaming them for how things had developed!
It was just three at the Fleshly Tribulation and six at the Heaven-Connecting Realm. Not enough to make them retreat!
"Don't get tangled up with them for too long later. Coordinate with the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine. Stall them. I'll arrange something big for them!"
"Mm!" The two women had no objections to Jiang Yun's arrangement.
"Be careful!"
"Tch!"
Right then, the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine grew increasingly frenzied. It began to tremble madly. In the next instant, black vines shot out from the giant tree in overwhelming numbers, blotting out the sky as they swept toward the figures in midair.
Everyone was horrified. Spiritual energy erupted from within them. Various spirit artifacts flashed into existence. Streak after streak of fierce attacks shot forth to meet the incoming vines.
The group's attacks were mighty and did manage to block all those vines. The ground around them was practically carpeted with severed vines.
However, the onslaught of vines seemed endless. That spectacle was terrifying to the extreme.
"At this rate, we'll die here sooner or later! Let's join forces and break out together!" One of the Fleshly Tribulation experts spoke up.
"Fine, we break out together! If anyone dares cause trouble, we attack them together!"
"Heh, looks like those three are practically courting death!"
"Hmph—one Heaven-Connecting Realm, two Heaven Transformation Realms. If they come again, we'll make sure they die without a burial site!"
Although the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine's strength was extraordinary, under the combined breakout efforts of the group, it was still somewhat inadequate. They managed to rush out of its layered encirclement.
Right at that moment, Medusa and Zi Yan exchanged a glance. Then, their graceful figures moved, blocking the path ahead of the escaping group.
One wielded a Purple Crystal Battle Spear, the other a longsword. A gentle breeze blew, stirring the young women's hair. That sight possessed a breathtaking, heart-stirring beauty.
But, confronted with this heart-stirring scene, the escaping crowd had absolutely no thoughts of going easy on them just because they were beautiful women . Vast spiritual energy attacks surged toward the two women.
Immense spiritual energy swept out like a storm at that moment. That kind of powerful spiritual energy pressure—even experts at the Fleshly Tribulation dared not meet it head-on, forced only to evade its sharp edge.
"Hmph!"
However, facing such pressure, Medusa merely let out a cold snort. Her jade-like hand gripped the longsword. Dazzling, brilliant nine-colored divine light swept out from within her.
Faintly, it seemed like the roar of both tiger and lion rang out from within that nine-colored divine light.
"Roar—"
A roar sounded. A giant nine-colored python, overwhelmingly impactful, appeared before the crowd's eyes.
"Hiss—" Gazing at the nine-colored giant python spanning heaven and earth, the sound of indrawn cold breaths immediately rose and fell one after another. Shock flooded the eyes of the group.
"This is... a Heaven-Devouring Python?!"
"How can a Heaven-Devouring Python appear here?! And how could it be a nine-colored one?!"
"Are you people from the Divine Beast Continent?"
The nine men stared, dumbfounded, at the dazzling giant python. The python was entirely nine-colored, brilliantly multicolored. Snake scales the size of a human head, gleaming with a riot of colors, covered its colossal body.
As the serpentine body slowly writhed, it faintly exuded a sense of rugged power capable of easily crushing even mountain ranges—a soul-shaking sight!
The giant python's entire body displayed nine colors. Sunlight sprinkled upon its form, reflecting nine-colored rays of light. At a glance, it was quite beautiful.
But at this moment, the crowd had no mind to appreciate this beautiful thing. Instead, turbulent waves had risen in their hearts. Though their strength was lacking, their knowledge was not.
They were well aware of the famed divine beasts of the Divine Beast Continent. And this was a Heaven-Devouring Python from the Divine Beast Rankings!
To have refined a Heaven-Devouring Python to advance to the Divine Soul Realm—just how profound must her backing be? Were they not afraid of being hunted down by the Heaven-Devouring Python Clan?!
At this moment, all they felt was ice-cold in their hands and feet. Their previous ferocious demeanor had completely vanished.
The nine-colored python appeared. Its lively, spirited gaze swept over Jiang Yun and Zi Yan. A flash of delight surfaced in its serpentine eyes, and it let out a somewhat crisp hiss.
Its thick serpentine tail wagged joyfully in midair!
"This is... Xiao Jiu?!" Seeing that lively gaze, Zi Yan said with some hesitation. She naturally could also do as Medusa had, summoning a phantom of the Taixu Ancient Dragon to battle. This was a unique trait of the Divine Soul Realm.
But the lively demeanor of this Nine-Colored Heaven-Devouring Python—it didn't look at all like a mere beast phantom summoned at the Divine Soul Realm!
Facing Zi Yan's question, Medusa gave a light nod of her head. "I don't know how it happened. After breaking through to the Divine Soul Realm, the Heaven-Devouring Python's soul has existed in this form. It's one with me, yet unlike before, we can no longer appear together."
Nodding, Zi Yan didn't dwell on it. Instead, her eyes shone brightly as she looked at the opponents' figures. Spatial power gathered around her. With a low shout: "Let's go!"
"Void Prison!"
The spatial power in the surroundings surged. In the blink of an eye, before the nine men could recover from their shock, an illusory spatial cage had instantly locked them inside.
The sudden change jolted everyone awake. No time to lament encountering yet another monster, one man roared.
"If you don't want to die, stop thinking so much! Break it together!"
"Boom—"
But Medusa gave them no time to react. Her colossal serpentine tail, carrying unmatched, heaven-supporting force, swept directly toward the group!
"Bang!"
This serpentine tail struck solidly and fiercely. The group immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot. That fearsome force nearly displaced their internal organs from the impact. Their bodies shot down like cannonballs.
Forcing themselves to stabilize midair, before they could even settle their displaced organs, the pitch-black vines followed closely behind, tangling around them once more.
The group could only fall back into entanglement!
Having completed their task so easily, Zi Yan and Medusa were both somewhat stunned. Exchanging a glance, Zi Yan asked quizzically, "Is the Heaven-Devouring Python so famous in the Great Thousand World too? Why do they look like they've never seen the world?"
Medusa was equally filled with questions. But then she recalled the legends of the Heaven-Devouring Python. The Heaven-Devouring Python was the sovereign of all serpents. A seven-colored one already had the potential to reach Dou Sheng. And a nine-colored Heaven-Devouring Python was a divine beast that only existed in ancient myths.
In some respects, it was even more powerful than the Ancient Heavenly Snake, the progenitor of all serpent-type magical beasts.
Seen this way, the Nine-Colored Heaven-Devouring Python was a divine beast with the potential to become a Heavenly Sovereign. And she had also just learned from the men's words that a Divine Beast Continent existed in the Great Thousand World, home to a Heaven-Devouring Python Clan.
With that, everything made sense. Since the Heaven-Devouring Python Clan existed in the Great Thousand World as magical beasts with the potential to grow into Heavenly Sovereigns, even in the Great Thousand World, they were by no means nameless!
Simultaneously, Jiang Yun had not been idle. Although matters had turned out somewhat unexpectedly simple, he still methodically remained hovering in midair. Around him, streaks of light crisscrossed intricately—clearly the prototype of an extremely formidable spiritual array.
Terrifying spiritual energy fluctuations emanated from it.
The process didn't matter. These fellows, including the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine—he was swallowing them all!
Under the heightened state of the Heart Eye, Jiang Yun swiftly completed the array's arrangement. He glanced at the entangled figures of the men and the Demon King Vine.
Without much more to say, he merely formed a seal with one hand. That colossal spiritual array was activated instantly.
Boom!
The massive spiritual array erupted with blinding light. Countless intricate rays of light interweaved. At the same time, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to riot as well, surging madly toward this point.
Whoosh whoosh!
A fierce gale howled. Streaks of spiritual energy storms took shape within the array, their winding forms like twisting dragons.
"A Spiritual Array Master!"
Gazes shot toward Jiang Yun's figure in midair. Those gazes, however, were mostly filled with shock and disbelief.
Upon clearly seeing, they could not suppress the shock in their hearts and cried out in alarm. Who could have imagined this guy also possessed the hidden identity of a Spiritual Array Master!
Spiritual Array Masters were an exceedingly rare profession even in the Great Thousand World. To encounter one here today—they didn't know whether to lament their luck or not.
Watching the commotion stirred up by Jiang Yun's spiritual array, even Medusa's beautiful eyes narrowed. She had seen Jiang Yun deploy spiritual arrays before, but they had all been auxiliary. She hadn't expected the offensive array he laid down now to possess such might.
Spiritual energy storms took shape within the array. In the next instant, the large and small storms began spinning at high speed, ultimately condensing into five larger vortexes.
Wooo.
The entire heaven and earth filled with the ear-piercing sound of the spiritual energy storms rotating at high speed. The space around the array was even beginning to ripple.
"Roar—"
Accompanied by several deafening roars, in the next moment, several colossal figures strode out from within the spiritual energy vortexes.
Seeing the five giant beast phantoms of the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Qilin in midair, the men's faces shifted again and again, shock surging forth in their eyes.
"Five Spirits Imperial Boundary Array!" Jiang Yun's faint voice spread out on the wind.
The five divine beasts, as Jiang Yun's hand seals changed, abruptly let out long roars. Then, at that moment, carrying the swirling spiritual energy storms, they charged directly toward the crowd below and the Bloodthirsty Demon King Vine. The spiritual energy of the entire realm rioted because of this.
Before they even drew near, the ground below was already being gouged with deep furrows by the terrifying pressure.