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A colossal hand that blotted out the sky wrapped itself in a faint gray airflow and descended.
Shriek!
No matter how much the nine-headed serpent phantom twisted or struggled, it couldn't break free from the invisible restraint of that giant hand. Then, the enormous hand suddenly clenched around the serpent's remnant soul and squeezed.
Creak!
The serpent phantom's entire body went rigid, its eighteen scarlet eyes bulging outward. Immediately, faint gray streams of energy spread over it, coiling tightly around its ethereal body. The serpent's massive form began to shrink at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The giant hand slowly drew back.
Soon, when the hand that grasped the serpent's remnant soul retracted to float before Wei Yang, it had returned to normal size, and the serpent had been reduced to the size of a small household snake, pinched between his fingers.
Wisps of gray energy wrapped around its entire body like a strong net, sealing and restraining it completely. At this point, it truly looked like a little snake tangled in a fishing net, unable to move at all.
Holding the struggling creature in his hand, Wei Yang lowered his head and stared into its eighteen blood-red eyes. The nine-headed serpent no longer had its former viciousness—it looked more like a pitiful mudfish being pinched by the neck.
However, after its size was reduced, its form did appear more solid and compact.
Hiss!
Its nine heads lifted slightly, emitting a faint hiss filled with stubborn defiance.
"Behave." Wei Yang's expression darkened slightly as he flicked his wrist: "Otherwise, I don't mind refining you into a mass of pure essence."
As he spoke, thin tendrils of black flame rose from his palm, coiling lazily upward. The terrifying heat radiating from it immediately made the serpent fall silent, becoming obedient in an instant.
"Good. The wise know when to yield." Wei Yang nodded in satisfaction.
Opening his palm, he gently closed his fingers again. A gray vortex appeared in his hand, swallowing the entire nine-headed serpent and transforming it into a gray sphere of light. It looked like a piece of amber, with the serpent trapped and immobilized inside.
Wei Yang then lightly brushed his hand across it, coating the gray sphere with a layer of black flame. Afterward, he took out a jade bottle, placed the gray-black orb inside, sealed it with several hand signs, and stored it into his storage ring.
After finishing that, Wei Yang finally turned his gaze toward the massive dried corpse before him. He rubbed his palms together, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
This time… I'm really going to strike it rich!
Stretching both hands forward toward the corpse, his thoughts stirred.
Buzz!
A wave of invisible spatial force spread outward, enveloping the entire dried corpse.
"Rise!" he commanded softly.
Rumble!
Space quivered violently as the enormous serpent corpse slowly floated upward, finally hovering in mid-air.
Wei Yang's hand began to form seals rapidly. Gradually, a massive transparent light sphere enveloped the entire skeleton, then began to shrink.
Soon, the sphere had compressed to only about two meters in diameter, suspended before Wei Yang. He smiled slightly and stepped forward, his body vanishing as he entered the transparent sphere.
Inside the spatial light sphere.
A colossal nine-headed serpent's dried corpse hovered quietly in the center. Wei Yang stepped inside, walking slowly toward the corpse while carefully examining it from head to tail. The corpse's entire body was a dark crimson color, faintly tinged with pale hues.
This ancient variant serpent had clearly been dead for an unknown number of years. Yet for its body to be preserved in such a state—it was truly rare!
Though its flesh and skin were shriveled tightly, it was in far better shape than those corpses that had already decayed into bare bones. Wei Yang lightly brushed his palm along the corpse's withered skin.
The touch was icy cold—yet within that coldness, there was an indistinct hint of warmth. It was almost inconceivable that a corpse dead for countless years could still give off such a feeling.
"It must be because some blood essence still remains inside," Wei Yang murmured to himself. He tapped lightly on the surface.
Thump, thump, thump!
It sounded like knocking on a taut drum. Then, his fingers straightened like a sword, and a sharp black gleam condensed at his fingertips as he slashed down hard.
At once, though the skin was tough, a fine cut appeared. Through the slit, he saw the strange dark-red flesh beneath—yet not a single drop of blood flowed out.
Wei Yang studied it carefully for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.
"It seems the blood essence left within this corpse isn't nearly as much as I had hoped."
Wei Yang shook his head, then sat down cross-legged. He opened his mouth slightly and exhaled.
Whoosh!
A torrent of black flame spewed out, expanding rapidly as it met the air. It surged upward, completely engulfing the massive corpse. A terrifying heat instantly spread through the area, turning it into a sealed furnace.
Sizzle, sizzle!
As the black flames burned, the dried, shriveled skin on the corpse's surface began to twist and writhe slightly, producing continuous sizzling sounds. Plumes of gray-black smoke rose into the air, carrying with them the acrid stench of char and decay.
The smell was so corrosive that it made the surrounding space tremble faintly. Yet under the intense heat of the black flames, those noxious fumes soon dissipated into nothingness. A faint gleam of anticipation flickered in Wei Yang's eyes.
Such a massive holy corpse… just how much blood essence could still be refined from it?
With that thought, he slowly closed his eyes.
Time passed quietly.
Even though this corpse had long since lost all traces of life, its flesh remained incredibly tough—and the bones within were even more durable.
If an ordinary seventh or eighth-tier beast flame—or even a weaker Heavenly Flame—were used, it would be difficult not only to refine its contents, but even to pierce its defenses.
Fortunately, Wei Yang himself was a Ban Sheng and possessed an extremely powerful Heavenly Flame. Accomplishing this was not difficult—only time-consuming. The black flames roared, tempering the entire corpse.
As the extreme heat seeped inward, the outer layer of desiccated flesh crackled continuously. The massive body slowly shifted and contracted within the flames, gradually separating from the underlying skeleton.
Half a day later—
The flesh had completely peeled away from the bones. Now, the refinement had split into two parts. One part was a mass of dark-red flesh, which had been condensed and compressed into a shriveled sphere about ten meters wide.
That dry, withered meat ball continued to shrink as the black flames burned ever hotter. The other part was a gigantic skeleton, shining faintly white with intricate dark-red markings running along its surface.
Wei Yang's eyelids twitched slightly before he opened his eyes, cast a calm glance toward the remains, then closed them again. He slowly entered a meditative state, though most of his focus remained on the refinement process.
The temperature of the flames began to rise steadily.
Under this seemingly slow yet relentless tempering, three full days quietly passed. When Wei Yang finally withdrew from his meditative state and opened his eyes again—
He looked at the enormous skeleton wrapped in black flames, now turned a grayish-black hue, and couldn't help but smile faintly.
"The timing should be about right." After observing the bones carefully, Wei Yang nodded in satisfaction.
Then his gaze shifted to the other side. There, within the flames, floated a small, condensed mass of dark-red liquid—about the size of a man's open palm. It hovered silently, nurtured and refined by the black flames.
This… was the blood essence of the mutated Ancient Heaven Serpent!
From that colossal corpse, from all that shriveled flesh, only this tiny cluster of essence had been extracted. Yet within it was concentrated the purest and most precious power of all. That palm-sized drop of blood essence radiated an astonishingly vast and majestic energy.
Even Wei Yang himself was a little stunned by its intensity. Not far from that drop of blood floated a dark-red magic core about the size of a fist. It too pulsed with immense energy—and an aura of savage, violent ferocity.
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