Lightning and Dragon Transformation

The metal snake "came to life," becoming supple as it coiled around the jade bracelet radiating a bloody glow.

Three pairs of blood-jade serpent eyes flickered, then lit up.

"Whoosh!"

A three-headed snake blood soul, six or seven meters long and as thick as a bowl, flew out from within the metal snake. It bore wide, membranous wings and lunged straight at Li Weiyi as he rushed over.

It was enormous!

The stench of blood qi was pungent, accompanied by a faint wind force, truly terrifying.

Yet it was extremely ethereal, almost mist-like.

Clearly, Director Yang did not know the true method to activate the Three-headed Snake Bracelet. He had merely stumbled upon a way to release a faint wisp of its snake soul through blood sacrifice.

For a mortal, being able to control even a wisp of snake soul was already an extraordinary feat.

"How could there be such a bizarre thing?"

This blood soul was practically a ghostly creature—massive and hideous. Li Weiyi dared not touch it and immediately dodged and fled.

Fortunately, his reflexes, movement technique, and speed were exceptional. Evading the three-headed snake blood soul's attack, he yanked out the Yellow Dragon Sword embedded in the old man's chest.

The image flashed through his mind: "The Yellow Dragon Sword cleaving the White Bone Demon's long hair, causing it to instantly dissolve into mist."

This sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon capable of subduing demons and evil.

Li Weiyi channeled the scorching airflow from the sole of his right foot into the Yellow Dragon Sword.

A faint layer of yellow light appeared on the blade's edge.

As he fled at top speed, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He stopped abruptly and spun around. The long sword in his hand traced a crescent-shaped arc from low to high, precisely slashing into the three-headed snake blood soul that had swooped down in pursuit.

His judgment was pinpoint accurate, as if the blood soul had deliberately collided with his blade.

The leftmost head of the three-headed snake blood soul ignited where the Yellow Dragon Sword struck.

In an instant.

The already ethereal head could no longer maintain its form, dissolving into wisps of mist.

Having landed a blow, Li Weiyi's fear of the unknown vanished entirely. His eyes burned with battle fervor as he strode forward, now chasing the three-headed snake blood soul and hacking at it.

Sand and stones flew across the ground.

The blood soul had wings but could not fly high.

The scene was nothing short of a mortal hunting a demon.

Countless onlookers were stunned by the sight.

A member of Laboratory 705 tried to grab the shotgun again, but Gao Huan and several other unbound research team members tackled him to the ground. The rather attractive female graduate student picked up the shotgun as if it were a burning coal, rushed to the ship's railing, and tossed it into the sea.

By the time Gao Huan saw this and shouted to stop her, it was already too late.

That was a gun—the last one on the ship with bullets.

Startled by Gao Huan's roar, the female student crouched by the railing, clutching her head and trembling.

Regardless, all the research team members had clear eyes. They knew whom to trust. When Xie Tianshu, Chen Hong, and Kong Fan had committed their atrocities, where were the people from Laboratory 705 to stop them?

To sustain the three-headed snake blood soul, Director Yang lost a massive amount of blood. His body continued to shrivel, and he grew so weak that he knelt on the ground.

But it was useless. The three-headed snake blood soul was no match for Li Weiyi.

Soon, it was chopped into several segments and dissipated into smoke.

While Li Weiyi fought the three-headed snake blood soul, the middle-aged woman from Laboratory 705, wearing glasses, calmly took off her coat, revealing a scripture belt tied around her body.

The belt was bright yellow, two inches wide, densely covered with scriptures.

Having observed the Bronze Ship for years, Laboratory 705 had been the first to reach the Bone Humans' location after crashing onto the vessel. Thus, they had taken several immortal objects.

The middle-aged woman pulled out a small vial of Golden Crow Blood and poured it onto the scripture belt.

The "blood sacrifice" method for the Scripture Belt differed from the Three-headed Snake Bracelet—it only required the blood of a dead creature.

"Whoosh—"

The Golden Crow Blood seeped in. Some of the scriptures on the belt immediately emitted a bloody glow, and her entire body seemed shrouded in a faint, misty halo of blood light.

The research team members rushing to subdue her thought they were about to grab her, but with a blur, she appeared several steps away.

Though she was just an ordinary person, under the Scripture Belt's enhancement, her movement speed became eerily supernatural.

Before Li Weiyi had even finished off the three-headed snake blood soul, the middle-aged woman had already closed in.

By the time the three-headed snake blood soul was severed into segments and dissipated, she had pulled out a fist-sized Black Iron Seal and slammed it onto the ground just six or seven steps from Li Weiyi.

"Boom!"

A thunderous roar sounded.

From the bottom of the Black Iron Seal, a bright, winding bolt of lightning shot straight toward Li Weiyi.

Both the Black Iron Seal and the Scripture Belt were obtained from a Bone Human whose skeleton was nearly jade-like in quality. Even without knowing the proper activation method, they could unleash considerable power.

Li Weiyi's perception was sharp. Without time to turn around, he immediately rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the lightning.

The fabric at the left shoulder was scorched black, the cloth carbonized, the skin burning with pain.

A hair's breadth more, and it would have struck his neck or head.

Though the Black Iron Seal was formidable, it required a heavy blow to release its lightning. Moreover, because the middle-aged woman did not truly understand the method of control, while unleashing the electric light, a fine current also surged into her palm, numbing her arm with pain and making it difficult to launch a second attack quickly.

Fortunately, the blood light radiating from the Scripture Belt protected her, or her arm would have suffered far more than just pain and numbness.

After dodging the lightning, Li Weiyi moved like a leaping ape, closing in on the middle-aged woman.

"Shua!"

Her movement speed was like an illusion, evading Li Weiyi's first sword strike, which only cut off a strand of hair.

One must know, Li Weiyi had trained in martial arts since childhood, so his movements and techniques, enhanced by the scorching airflow, had become extraordinary, bearing the demeanor of a martial arts master. Yet she, merely by activating the Scripture Belt, could turn the mundane into the miraculous—it was utterly unbelievable.

The two regarded each other with mutual wariness, sometimes she fled, sometimes Li Weiyi retreated.

On the other side, Gao Huan and the others were eager to untie the Research Team Members, and none noticed that Xie Tianshu, who had been lying in a pool of blood with his arm severed, was undergoing earth-shattering changes.

The Dragon Pattern Ring on his thumb absorbed the blood flowing from his severed arm, its dragon patterns turning blood-red and flickering with a faint crimson glow.

His heart pulsed in resonance with the dragon patterns' flicker, his blood flow slowing more and more.

The wound at the severed arm stopped bleeding.

Fine, icy scales grew across his skin. His forehead bulged unevenly, forming irregular, coral-like ridges.

Li Weiyi soon discovered that the middle-aged woman could not use the Black Iron Seal indefinitely.

After only four uses, her entire hand had turned black and was trembling uncontrollably.

The blood light emitted by the Scripture Belt was also fading rapidly.

"You don't truly know how to use these Immortal Objects. Every time you use one, the damage to your body deepens," Li Weiyi observed, seeing that one more use would ruin her entire arm.

There was no need to fight her head-on; once the Scripture Belt's blood light dissipated, she would no longer be a threat.

"Oooh!"

A high-pitched cry, part wolf, part tiger, part dragon, rang out across the Bronze Ship.

Li Weiyi, the middle-aged woman, and all the Research Team Members were startled, turning to look at Xie Tianshu, who had already risen from the ground.

Their eyes seemed ready to fall out of their sockets.

In the faint Nether Mist, Xie Tianshu was still one-armed, but his body had swelled to over two and a half meters tall, his clothes nearly all torn to shreds.

His skin had turned into fingernail-sized black scales.

His remaining left hand had transformed into a sharp, massive claw.

His feet had also mutated, their soles doubling in width.

The Dragon Pattern Ring was worn on his claw, its light even brighter. A blood dragon woven from dragon patterns slithered across the ring like a living thing.

Some Research Team Members screamed, some went weak in the knees, some fled.

They had already been badly frightened by Xie Tianshu earlier; now this Xie Tianshu was undoubtedly even more terrifying.

"Did he... did he secretly drink the Flood Dragon Blood?"

"Scales, claws, head... it really could be. His body is clearly mutating toward a Black Flood Dragon."

"How dare he?"

"Li Weiyi, this severed arm is your doing. The Black Flood Dragon corpse blood and the Dragon Pattern Ring can't make it grow back."

After his flood dragon-like mutation, Xie Tianshu strode forward with heavy steps, charging at Li Weiyi with increasing speed, his cup-sized eyes blazing with fury.

In an instant, he was upon him, swinging his claw at Li Weiyi's head, stirring up a fierce Wind Force.

Li Weiyi stepped back, the sharp claws grazing past the tip of his nose.

In the past few days, he had experienced too many inexplicable, bizarre events; even if Xie Tianshu had now become nearly demonic, Li Weiyi could still face it calmly.

After dodging this claw, he stepped forward and slashed his sword across Xie Tianshu's chest.

"Ding! Ding! Ding..."

The sword edge clashed against the black scales on his chest, sparking countless flashes, leaving only a shallow mark.

Xie Tianshu retreated quickly, and upon finding himself unharmed, let out a gleeful laugh: "I have Flood Dragon Scales to protect me—what can you do? Don't worry, I won't let you die too easily."

Li Weiyi glanced at the Yellow Dragon Sword in his hand.

"Without channeling that scorching airflow inside me, the Yellow Dragon Sword is indeed only a bit sharper than an ordinary blade—nowhere near able to shatter on contact."

Not far away, the middle-aged woman from Laboratory 705 took out another vial of Golden Crow Blood, preparing to pour it onto the Scripture Belt.

Catching this from the corner of his eye, Li Weiyi closed the distance in a single stride, rushing over at full speed.

"Trying to run?"

Xie Tianshu gave chase with long strides.

His footsteps were heavy, the ground trembling slightly beneath him.

"Pfft!"

With a single stroke of his sword, Li Weiyi cleaved the middle-aged woman's head from her shoulders without a moment's hesitation, then snatched the Black Iron Seal from her grasp. He spun around, dropped to one knee, and looked up at Xie Tianshu as he slammed the seal hard against the ground.

"Boom!"

A thunderclap followed.

A bright streak of electric light—an Electric Shuttle—shot out from the base of the seal and struck Xie Tianshu.

Xie Tianshu was sent flying backward, his body even darker now...

Slightly charred, he was smoking all over.

Li Weiyi wasn't faring well either. The lightning within the seal backlashed, leaving his entire arm numb and aching, at least half of its sensation gone.

"This seal was never meant to be used like this. She was just messing around."