The metallic snake that had “come to life” grew soft as it slithered around the jade bracelet which emitted a dull blood glow. Three pairs of blood jade snake eyes twinkled, then flared to life.
“Whoosh!”
A three-headed snake blood soul—six or seven meters long and as thick as a bowl—burst out from within the metallic snake. It sported wide, strong wings as it surged straight toward Li Weiyi. It was enormous!
A potent aura of blood mixed with a fierce wind surged from it, evoking terror, yet its form was insubstantial, like swirling mist. Apparently, Director Yang had no idea of the true method to trigger the Three-Headed Snake Bracelet. In his fumbling attempts, he accidentally discovered that a blood sacrifice could release even a trace of the snake soul.
For an ordinary mortal, being able to control even a wisp of a snake soul was an achievement in itself.
“What is this bizarre thing?”
This blood soul was nothing less than a ghostly creature; massive and grimacing, Li Weiyi dared not touch it. He immediately dodged and fled. Fortunately, his reflexes and agile footwork were extraordinary.
Swift enough to sidestep the blood soul’s attack, he tore out the Yellow Dragon Sword planted in the elderly man’s chest. In his mind flashed the scene: “The Yellow Dragon Sword slicing through the long hair of a bone demon transforms it into mist in an instant.”
That sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon designed to counter monstrous and evil beings. Li Weiyi focused the searing warm energy in the sole of his right foot and let it surge into the Yellow Dragon Sword. A thin layer of yellow glow appeared along its edge.
While dashing away at high speed, as if an eye had grown in the back of his head, he abruptly halted and spun around. With the sword held in his hand, he flicked upward, drawing a crescent-shaped slash that struck squarely at the three-headed snake blood soul charging from behind.
His judgment was so precise that it seemed the blood soul itself collided with his sword edge. The leftmost head of the three-headed snake blood soul caught the blade and burst into flames. In an instant, the originally insubstantial head began to lose form, disintegrating into tendrils of mist.
Having struck a decisive blow, Li Weiyi felt no more fear toward this unknown entity. His eyes burned with combat intent as he strode forward and began to relentlessly hack at the three-headed snake blood soul. In one moment, dust and debris swirled about on the ground.
Though the creature had wings, it could not fly high. The scene looked as though a mere mortal was fearlessly chasing down a monster. Many present were shocked by the display.
One member of the 705 Laboratory had already wanted to pick up the shotgun but was held down by Gao Huan and several other freed expedition members. A rather pretty young graduate student, upon picking up the shotgun as though it were glowing embers, quickly ran to the ship’s rail and hurled it into the sea.
When Gao Huan saw this and shouted to stop her, it was too late. That was no ordinary gun—it was the last one on board with live ammunition. The startled young woman, terror-stricken by Gao Huan’s roar, crouched at the rail, trembling and covering her head.
Everyone among the expedition team had eyes as sharp as they were well aware of whom to trust. They knew full well that when Xie Tianshu, Chen Hong, and Kong Fan were perpetrating their violence, none of the 705 Laboratory folks had come forward to stop them.
Director Yang, in a desperate bid to maintain control over the three-headed snake blood soul, suffered massive blood loss. His body withered and he eventually collapsed to his knees. But it was useless—the three-headed snake blood soul was no match for Li Weiyi.
In no time at all, it was severed into several pieces, its smoke and mists dissipating. While Li Weiyi battled the snake blood soul, a middle-aged lady from the 705 Laboratory, wearing glasses, calmly removed her coat, revealing the scripture belt tied around her waist. The belt was bright yellow and two inches wide, inscribed densely with scriptures.
Having observed the bronze ship for years since it had fallen on board, they had been the first to arrive at the spot where the white-boned humans lay. As a result, several of the immortal relics had been seized by them. The middle-aged lady took out a small vial of Golden Crow Blood and poured some onto the scripture belt.
Unlike the Three-Headed Snake Bracelet, this blood sacrifice method on the scripture belt required only the blood of the dead.
“Whoosh—” As the Golden Crow Blood soaked in, parts of the scriptures on the belt immediately emitted a bloody glow.
It was as if she was enveloped in a faint, blood-tinged mist. Those expedition members who had rushed to seize her found, in an instant, that she had moved several paces away. Although just an ordinary person, empowered by the scripture belt, her movements became strangely supernatural.
Li Weiyi had not yet finished defeating the three-headed snake blood soul when the middle-aged lady had already closed in. Just as the snake blood soul was broken into several pieces and vanished, she produced a fist-sized Black Iron Seal and stamped it onto the ground only six or seven paces from Li Weiyi.
“Boom!”
A crack of thunder sounded. From the bottom of the Black Iron Seal, a bright, serpentine bolt of electricity shot forward directly toward Li Weiyi. Both the Black Iron Seal and the scripture belt had been obtained from that nearly golden bone human.
Their quality was exceptional even without knowing the specialized method to trigger them, allowing them to release impressive power. Ever alert, Li Weiyi barely had time to roll to the side to avoid the bolt. It narrowly missed him, scorching the left shoulder of his garment—the fabric turned to charcoal and his skin burned with pain.
Had it hit his neck or head, the result would have been much worse. Although the Black Iron Seal packed remarkable power, it needed a heavy impact to release its thunder.
Moreover, because the middle-aged lady didn’t truly master its control, as she unleashed the electricity, fine currents also surged into her palm, numbing her arm and making it difficult to launch a second attack quickly. Fortunately, the protective glow from the scripture belt’s blood light shielded her arm; otherwise, the damage would have been far graver.
After narrowly evading the lightning, Li Weiyi, as agile as a leaping ape, closed in on the middle-aged lady immediately.
“Swish!”
Her speed, as if cloaked in illusion, allowed her to evade Li Weiyi's first sword strike, slicing off nothing more than a stray lock of hair.
Mind you, Li Weiyi had been training in martial arts since childhood, and with the aid of the searing energy, his movement and technique had reached an extraordinary level, befitting a grand master of martial ways. Yet, by merely activating the scripture belt, she could transform decay into something wondrously powerful. It was truly incredible.
Both fighters eyed each other warily, sometimes she would retreat while at other times Li Weiyi pulled back in kind. Elsewhere, Gao Huan and the others, anxious to free the expedition members from their bonds, had not noticed that Xie Tianshu—who had been left on the ground with his arms severed in a pool of blood—was undergoing a dramatic transformation.
The Dragon Pattern Ring that adorned his thumb absorbed the fresh blood oozing from his severed arm. The intricate dragon pattern turned blood-red, flickering with a faint bloody glow. His heart began to resonate with the pulsing glow of the ring, and his blood flow slowed noticeably.
The bleeding from his severed limb ceased. Where his skin had been, fine, frost-cold scales began to break out, and the swollen, uneven flesh on his forehead formed irregular, coral-like patterns. Before long, Li Weiyi realized that the middle-aged lady could not continue using the Black Iron Seal indefinitely.
Having used it only four times, her entire hand had turned black and trembled uncontrollably. The blood glow from the scripture belt was also fading rapidly.
“You don’t understand how to use these immortal objects at all. With every use, the damage to your body deepens,” Li Weiyi observed.
It was clear that if she used it again, her entire arm would be ruined. There was no need to contend with her further; once the blood glow faded from the scripture belt, she would no longer pose a threat.
A long, high-pitched roar—at once wild like a wolf, fierce like a tiger, and powerful like a dragon—broke out across the bronze ship. Li Weiyi, the middle-aged lady, and many of the expedition members were taken aback and turned to look at Xie Tianshu, who had already risen from the ground.
Their eyes looked as though they might pop out in disbelief. Amidst a thin mist of nether fog, Xie Tianshu, now one-armed, had grown to a height of nearly two and a half meters, his clothes stretched almost to the breaking point. His skin was now covered in tiny black scales the size of fingernails.
The only hand he had left had transformed into a gigantic, razor-sharp claw. His feet had changed also; the soles had grown twice as wide. The Dragon Pattern Ring, still clutched on his claw, shone even more brilliantly.
A blood dragon, woven of dragon patterns, slithered along the ring as if it were a living creature. The expedition members reacted in terror—some screamed, some went weak in the knees, and others ran for cover.
They had already been frightened by Xie Tianshu before, but now, the way he had transformed left no doubt that he was even more terrifying.
“Did he… did he secretly drink Flood Dragon blood?”
“His scales, claws, head… it really must be so. His body is clearly mutating in the direction of the Black Flood Dragon.”
“How dare he?” …
“Li Weiyi, thanks to you my severed arm, neither the Black Flood Dragon Corpse Blood nor the Dragon Pattern Ring can restore it.”
The transformed, malformed Xie Tianshu advanced steadily, each heavy step growing faster than the last as he charged toward Li Weiyi, his eyes, the size of wine cups, burning with rage. In the blink of an eye, he was upon him, swinging his claw at Li Weiyi’s head and sending a fierce gust of wind in its wake.
Li Weiyi stepped back, narrowly evading the sharp claw as it skimmed the tip of his nose. Though the past few days had been filled with too many inexplicable events—such that even though Xie Tianshu now appeared almost demonic—Li Weiyi managed to remain calm. After dodging the claw, he stepped forward and struck with his sword at Xie Tianshu’s chest.
“Cling! Cling! Cling…”
The sword met the black scales on his chest, sparks flying with each contact, yet only leaving a shallow mark. Xie Tianshu quickly retreated a few steps. Realizing he was not injured, he laughed heartily, “I’m protected by Flood Dragon scales.
What are you going to do to me? Don’t worry, I won’t let you have it easy.” Li Weiyi glanced at the Yellow Dragon Sword in his hand.
“Without that searing energy driving it, the Yellow Dragon Sword is really only a bit sharper than an ordinary blade, incapable of dissolving an opponent upon contact.”
Not far off, the middle-aged lady from the 705 Laboratory retrieved another vial of Golden Crow Blood, preparing to pour it onto her scripture belt once more. Sensing this with his keen awareness, Li Weiyi advanced with long, sure strides toward her.
“Trying to escape?”
Xie Tianshu chased after him, his heavy steps causing the ground itself to tremble.
“Thump!”
In one swift move, Li Weiyi severed the middle-aged lady’s head with his sword without any hesitation, and then snatched the Black Iron Seal from her grasp. He turned on one knee, raised his head to face the approaching Xie Tianshu, and pressed the seal forcefully into the ground.
“Boom!”
Accompanied by the sound of thunder, a bright bolt of electric light shot forth from the bottom of the seal, striking Xie Tianshu. Xie Tianshu was flung backward, his body darkened in the impact… some parts even scorched, with smoke rising from him all over.
Li Weiyi felt the backlash from the seal’s thunder on his own arm, which now throbbed with numb, painful shock, leaving him with only half of his arm’s senses.
“This seal is not meant to be used like that. She’s just messing around!”
(End of Chapter)