Word Count: 2,791 Words
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A muffled pfft rang out as a soul slash erupted without warning and hacked straight toward Huang Tian's soul.
Asura Soul Reaping Technique!
Huang Tian's expression changed drastically. His physical body was incomparably tough, but his Spiritual Strength was pitifully weak by comparison. Even though this was only a single soul slash Xiao Yan had left behind, he did not dare take it lightly.
"Demon Phoenix Radiance!"
There was no time to think. He flung Feng Qing Er aside at once. The instant that black soul shadow materialized, a sharp sense of danger surged through his heart. His hand seals shifted with lightning speed, and a pillar of demon phoenix light descended from the sky to envelop him.
Clang!
The black soul slash shot forward like a blade that could split the heavens and slammed toward Huang Tian.
BOOM!!
The soul slash and the radiance collided, and space exploded in an instant. Terrifying spiritual ripples spread in every direction. Even with his late 5-star Dou Saint cultivation, Huang Tian was driven back again and again, each retreating step crushing the surrounding space beneath his feet.
Feng Qing Er fared even worse. Already heavily injured, the soul shockwave sent her flying as well. Worse still, no one even bothered to catch her!
She crashed into the Yellow Springs Mountain Range with a heavy boom. On the verge of collapse, she reverted to her true form and lay in a massive crater, barely clinging to life, her breathing thin as a thread.
There was no doubt that the soul slash had come from Xiao Yan. The Asura Slave Seal he had left behind could not only imprison souls; it could also transform into a soul slash at a critical moment to save a life.
Feng Qing Er struggled to open her eyes and gazed at the black shadow slowly fading from the sky. She had never expected Xiao Yan would save her. Not long after, the severity of her injuries finally dragged her into unconsciousness.
"That's Young Master Xiao Yan's Spiritual Strength." Qing Lin recognized it the moment she sensed it.
"Bring that woman inside first." Cai Lin cast a cold glance at Feng Qing Er lying in the crater. Given her temperament, there was no chance she would show concern for someone who was little better than a stranger.
Even so, Feng Qing Er had rendered some service to the Yan Alliance. Cai Lin would not simply let her die.
Her snake tail swayed as she looked up at the stunned and bewildered Huang Tian hovering in midair, her expression perfectly calm. "You seem to think that you and that absurd Northern Dragon King already have victory in hand."
Huang Tian's brows drew together. He stared at Cai Lin, unable to grasp what she meant.
"Perhaps it's better that you don't understand. Sometimes, knowing too much brings no benefit." A multicolored light slowly rose from Cai Lin's body. Nine dazzling colors surged upward, and a terrifying power shook the world.
"Seven-colored? No, nine-colored?!!" Sensing the overwhelming might of Cai Lin's bloodline, Huang Tian cried out in shock and stumbled half a step backward in fright. "You! You actually evolved into a Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python!!"
Cai Lin had completed her evolution more than two years ago, but aside from the one battle in the Demon Flame Space, she had never revealed it. The only people who knew she had become a Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python were experts of the Dou God Clans, existences Huang Tian could not come into contact with.
Buzz!
Cai Lin was not the only one whose aura erupted. Qing Lin's eyes flashed with jade-green light as her own power rose in tandem. The Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent and two Rank 9 Nine Serene Deep Ground Pythons appeared one after another. One of the pythons immediately slithered over to the unconscious Feng Qing Er and carried her back toward the Snake-People Tribe for treatment.
Cai Lin and Qing Lin stood atop the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent's massive head. Its eighteen scarlet eyes locked onto the enormous demon phoenix beneath Huang Tian's feet. His mount was only at the Half-Saint level, while the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent was a terrifying late 2-star Dou Saint. Under that predatory gaze, the demon phoenix trembled uncontrollably!
The contrast alone was enough to strip Huang Tian, Tribe Leader of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe, of much of his imposing presence.
Even his mount was inferior!
A strange feeling crept over him in that moment. He had believed victory was firmly in hand, yet the sickening realization was dawning that he had long since stumbled into a trap someone else had carefully laid, that he had been dancing in another's palm all along.
A pair of invisible black hands had already seized both him and the Northern Dragon King! They simply had no idea!
He and the Northern Dragon King had always assumed Feng Qing Er was a spy under Zi Yan's control, or perhaps one planted by Queen Medusa of the Snake-People Tribe to gather intelligence.
What they had never realized was that neither the Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe nor the ruler of the Snake-People Tribe was the true mastermind.
The mastermind was someone else entirely!
"Anyone who trespasses into my nation's territory dies without mercy!" Cai Lin's eyes sharpened, and for an instant it was as though the bloody queen of old had returned, the woman who had once intimidated four great empires single-handedly, slaughtered without equal, and ridden across battlefields wreathed in carnage.
Those words seemed to carry the stench of blood itself!
Back in the desert, Cai Lin had killed enemies beyond counting. Beneath her feet had once lain heaps of white bones piled high as mountains. Before meeting Xiao Yan, every step of her rise had been carved through slaughter.
Becoming his wife, and later a mother, had restrained her considerably. But restraint did not mean she had changed!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
In an instant, countless Snake-People and serpent-type magical beasts rose into the sky from every corner of the Yellow Springs Mountain Range. Qing Lin summoned all of her snake slaves as well, and the sky filled to the brim with serpents and Snake-People, a dense, seething tide that blotted out the light.
The Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe might be somewhat stronger overall, but in sheer numbers the Snake-People Tribe surpassed them by a vast margin.
Moreover, every Snake-People warrior had blood-red light flickering in their eyes, each one wearing the fearless air of those willing to die defending their homeland! At Cai Lin's command, they charged skyward toward the Heaven Demon Phoenix tribesmen without the slightest hesitation.
In the same breath, Cai Lin pointed through the air. A gigantic yellow finger tore through space and descended from above, blasting directly toward Huang Tian.
Yellow Spring Finger!
Over the past two years, Cai Lin had completed her cultivation of the Yellow Spring Three Forms. She was a true member of the serpent race, after all, and in a certain sense even more suited than Xiao Yan to inherit the Yellow Spring Demon Saint's legacy.
RUMBLE!
"Yellow Spring Finger?!" Huang Tian recognized the Yellow Spring Demon Saint's famous skill at once and did not dare take it lightly.
"Demon Phoenix Step."
Golden afterimages instantly flooded the sky. Fierce fist winds spread in every direction, and the terrifying pressure from those punches shattered the space within a thousand feet radius into fragments. Countless golden fist projections shot forward and smashed Cai Lin's Yellow Spring Finger apart.
The full-scale war between the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe and the Snake-People Tribe naturally drew out Yao Ming and the experts of the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe as well.
"What terrifying speed." Yao Ming's expression turned grave. "The Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe already excels in speed to begin with. If Huang Tian pushes his Demon Phoenix Step to its absolute limit, even a 6-star Dou Saint may not be able to catch him."
He himself was still only at the late 2-star Dou Saint level. Against Huang Tian, he likely would not last even three exchanges!
Countless onlookers watched the dazzling battle in the sky and quietly shook their heads.
Yao Ming frowned as well from his distant vantage. He still did not know Xiao Yan had returned, so he naturally did not dare offend the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe too severely. If Huang Tian emerged victorious, the Nine Serene Deep Ground Python Tribe would be the next to suffer.
Cai Lin watched the countless afterimages Huang Tian's Demon Phoenix Step produced, his speed generating an endless cascade of golden phantoms. Lightning flickered through her beautiful eyes, and then the Spiritual Strength of the former generations of Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Pythons began to surge from within her. Her perception climbed steadily, and the afterimages in the sky gradually slowed before resolving into clarity.
"So this so-called Demon Phoenix Step is only this much."
"Nine-Colored Lightning Light."
Her aura surged sharply. She pressed two fingers together, and Nine-Colored Heavenly Lightning rapidly condensed at her fingertips until it became a half-inch beam of light that looked almost like solid crystal. She pointed it toward one of the many light figures charging at her.
Sizzle!
The instant she locked onto her target, the Nine-Colored Heavenly Lightning shot out like a divine bolt. The golden light filling the surrounding sky dimmed at once. All those countless golden figures vanished into thin air, leaving only Huang Tian himself, his face full of shock.
He had never expected Cai Lin to see through the Demon Phoenix Step and expose his true body directly.
That attack, formed entirely from Nine-Colored Heavenly Lightning, was something only Cai Lin, fully evolved into a Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, could unleash.
When that seemingly weak strand of lightning collided with Huang Tian's golden fist, the vast golden Dou Qi mantling his hand dissolved at an astonishing speed. Then Cai Lin's lightning became like an incomparably sharp awl, tearing through the remaining Dou Qi on his fist and viciously boring into the bones within.
"Ah!! You bastard!"
The sudden, piercing agony made Huang Tian's face darken in an instant. The enormous golden wings at his back slashed through the sky like blades and hacked toward Cai Lin with lightning-like speed.
Against a late 5-star Dou Saint, Cai Lin showed not the slightest intention of retreating. A longsword of lightning condensed in her hand, and she slashed straight at the golden wings.
The two terrifying attacks collided in midair.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
Dozens of blows were exchanged in the span of a single breath. Golden light and lightning splashed in every direction. Mountains collapsed, the earth split, and space shattered again and again. Even the Nine Serene Yellow Spring far below was stirred into monstrous, churning waves.
"How is this possible?!" Huang Tian's eyes widened with disbelief. "You're only at the early 4-star Dou Saint level! How can you unleash strength this powerful?!"
Cai Lin's fighting power was not the slightest bit weaker than his own, a late 5-star Dou Saint!
It made no sense. In the Dou Saint realm, even a single sub-rank was like the difference between heaven and earth, and here the gap was far greater still. By all logic, he should have crushed her completely!
Cai Lin did not deign to answer. The Nine-Colored Heavenly Lightning in her hand swept out in arc after arc, streaks of lightning sword Qi spreading through the sky and matching Huang Tian's golden Dou Qi blow for blow.
Huang Tian had clearly underestimated both her and the Snake-People Tribe. After all, Cai Lin was not fighting alone.
"Triple Flower Demon Pupils, open!"
A third Triple Jade‑Green Snake Flower Pupil surfaced on Qing Lin's forehead. A jade-green beam shone onto Huang Tian, and a wave of disorientation surged through his mind. It lasted for only a thousandth of a second, but that was more than enough to shift the course of battle.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!!
The Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent opened its jaws and spat out blood-red beams of light. The terrifying attack swept across the sky and engulfed Huang Tian in an instant.
"Demon Phoenix Holy Statue!"
Huang Tian threw his head back and roared in the face of the combined assault. His body rapidly swelled as golden light burst outward A demon phoenix, vast enough to blot out the sun, materialized beneath the sky. Terrifying pressure rolled out like collapsing mountains and crashing seas, making many of the watching experts tremble in fear.
Huang Tian had reverted to his true form.
"Get lost!"
He beat his wings once with a thunderous boom. The terrifying force deflected the Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent's beams off course, sending them blasting into the mountain range behind and triggering a massive explosion.
The Nine-Headed Heaven Serpent's gaze turned even colder. It had once dominated an entire era, yet now it could not even defeat such a mongrel bird! One could only imagine the devastating blow this dealt to its pride.
"Hmph!"
A cold snort rang out. In the next instant, a massive nine-colored pillar of light shot into the sky, its brilliant radiance painting the surrounding world in dazzling colors.
Then the pillar's surface exploded apart. A gigantic nine-colored snake tail, nearly ten thousand feet long, shot out from within and wrapped tightly around Huang Tian's body in a single coiling motion. The pillar shattered, and a colossal nine-colored python, even larger than Huang Tian's true form, appeared before countless stunned gazes with breathtaking impact.
If he could revert to his true form, Cai Lin could do the same!
The serpent tail constricted instantly.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones snapping rang through the air. The crushing force broke many of Huang Tian's bones in his true form. With one violent swing, Cai Lin hurled the enormous golden phoenix down from the sky. Blood sprayed from his body as he plummeted.
"The Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python is actually this terrifying!" Yao Ming had known Cai Lin's evolution had succeeded, but this was the first time he had witnessed her fight at full strength.
The sight was deeply shaking. That enormous body possessed power enough to crush mountain ranges and lash the sky apart.
Huang Tian stared at the colossal python wreathed in nine-colored light. Only when he sensed that her colorful scales were formed from the soul bodies of dozens of Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Pythons did he finally understand where her strength came from!
"Cough..."
Under countless gazes, Huang Tian coughed violently and returned to human form. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and fixed a dark, brooding stare on Cai Lin and Qing Lin in the distance. A trace of panic flashed through his heart.
He had never imagined that Cai Lin had not only evolved into a Nine-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python but had also gathered so many soul bodies of Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Pythons. Every single one of those souls had been Rank 9 in life! With their power, she could temporarily bolster her own strength to an astonishing degree.
As for Qing Lin, her cultivation might be lower, but after Xiao Yan had refined her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils with the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, their soul-shaking power had grown vastly stronger. That kind of soul manipulation was the most lethal weapon imaginable against magical beasts!
"How is this possible... why is it like this?!" Fear finally gripped Huang Tian. Cai Lin was only an early 4-star Dou Saint. He should have crushed her effortlessly. Once the Northern Dragon King completed his refinement, their two tribes would dominate the entire Beast Region and no longer fear even the so-called Dou God Clans.
The Northern Dragon King had already reached 6-star Dou Saint. Feng Qing Er had been nothing more than a pawn, deliberately fed information to lure Zi Yan in. Huang Tian himself had emerged from seclusion far stronger than Cai Lin. By all rights, everything should have been perfect!
So where exactly did it all go wrong?! He could not understand it!
Cai Lin saw the dazed look in Huang Tian's eyes and felt not the slightest shred of pity. Terrifying Nine-Colored Heavenly Lightning gathered around her body. This time, the Heaven Demon Phoenix Tribe had to be cut down!
Huang Tian sensed the killing intent surging from her and his heart lurched. Even if he fought to the death and dragged one of them down with him, how could he possibly want to die here?!
"Demon Phoenix Blood Escape Technique!"
He smashed a fist into his own chest and spat out a mouthful of blood. His body instantly transformed into a streak of red light as he tried to flee...