Li Tian's bones crumbled into dust in his palm, then seeped through his pores into his body, condensing on the surface of his bones into dark green poison scales.
Meng the Hunchback's belly swelled high, and a muffled, bloated rumble followed. The flesh he hadn't digested began reshaping itself inside him.
Several tentacles covered in pustules sprouted from the corners of his mouth, greedily coiling around the slime left on the ground and devouring it.
The air in the entire room began to boil. Poisonous miasma surged madly through the cracks in the door, gathering around Meng the Hunchback into the solid phantom of a poisonous flood dragon.
When the last piece of flesh vanished into his mouth, Meng the Hunchback threw back his head and roared in pain. The sound waves shattered the surrounding walls. From a distance, he now bore a striking resemblance to Li Tian Toad as it had been moments before.
Staring at Meng the Hunchback, who had suddenly reached the Great Perfection of the Spirit Severing Realm, the Hurricane Beast King cried in shock, "You actually devoured the inner core of a high-grade spirit beast!"
"I raised it for a thousand years, nurturing it all the while until it reached the peak of high grade. Now it's a lesser Desolate Beast, just one step away from becoming a Desolate Beast!"
"It was you! You, you beast, forced me to devour Li Tian!"
The Hurricane Beast King gave a scornful laugh. "What a joke. From beginning to end, it was loyal to you, while you only raised it as a pill-treasure to increase your strength!"
"So what if I did? What if I didn't? There's no point talking. This old hunchback is also at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Severing Realm now. Come and fight!"
Meng the Hunchback suddenly raised his hand. Dark green miasma roiled in his palm, and several tentacles covered in pustules shot from his sleeve, lunging at the Hurricane Beast King with a pungent stench.
The tentacles writhed nimbly in the air, their tips splitting into tiny mouths. Dark green poison sprayed toward the Hurricane Beast King like a torrential downpour.
The Hurricane Beast King beat its wings, summoning a howling gale. It had meant to blow the poison away, but the moment the droplets hit the ground, they corroded deep pits into it. Even the gale was tainted with poison, transforming into mist-laced wind blades that turned back on the beast.
Its pupils contracted. It hurriedly shielded itself with its wings, but the poison still splashed onto their edges, burning several black holes through the patterned membrane and filling the air with a charred stench.
"Hahaha, you beast! Taste my Rot-Bone Poison!"
Meng the Hunchback laughed maniacally. His belly swelled again, and several dark green phantoms of poisonous flood dragons burst from around him, gaping their jaws at the Hurricane Beast King.
Wherever the poison dragons passed, the air seemed to melt, and deep fissures split the ground, their bottoms flowing with dark green poison.
The Hurricane Beast King roared in fury. Gales surged around it, transforming into countless wind blades that slashed toward the poison dragons.
But the moment the blades touched them, the poisonous miasma corroded them away. The poison dragons only grew stronger, one of them biting into the Hurricane Beast King's shoulder.
Dark green poison immediately poured through the wound and into the beast's body. A piercing pain shot through its shoulder, and the spiritual energy within it began to run wildly out of control.
A vicious glint flashed in Meng the Hunchback's eyes. He blurred forward and appeared before the Hurricane Beast King, bringing his poison-scaled palm down on its chest.
"Die!"
Just as Meng the Hunchback's poisoned palm was about to touch the Hurricane Beast King's chest, he suddenly hurled a small, pitch-black cauldron from his storage ring.
The cauldron instantly grew to several zhang in the air. Its body was carved with twisted poison patterns, and thick black smoke poured from its mouth, dyeing even the gales around the Hurricane Beast King black.
It was the Poison King Cauldron, the magic treasure he had kept as his trump card.
"Die!"
Meng the Hunchback activated his spiritual energy. The Poison King Cauldron crashed toward the Hurricane Beast King, and the poisonous smoke at its mouth became countless poison needles, shooting densely toward the beast's wounds.
But a look of resolve flashed in the Hurricane Beast King's eyes. Ignoring the poison eating away at its body, it suddenly spread its batlike wings. Silver-white wind glimmered along their edges, turning them into two enormous blades that slashed at Meng the Hunchback and the Poison King Cauldron at once.
"Shrrk—"
A wind blade struck the Poison King Cauldron. With a sharp crack, it split a fissure in the hard metal.
The other blade landed precisely on Meng the Hunchback's waist. He didn't even have time to scream before his body was cleaved in two, dark green blood and entrails spilling across the ground.
"Impossible..."
Meng the Hunchback's upper body crashed to the ground. His eyes filled with unwillingness as the spiritual energy within him drained away like floodwaters. Yet as he watched the Hurricane Beast King draw closer, a crazed smile suddenly spread across his face.
"Even if this old hunchback dies, I'll drag you down with me!"
With the last shred of strength he had, Meng the Hunchback activated the remaining poisonous miasma and spiritual energy in his body. A dark green glow suddenly blazed around him.
"Explode! Explode! Explode!"
In an instant, several deafening blasts rang out. Meng the Hunchback's remains exploded, and the poisonous miasma and spiritual energy formed a massive dark green shock wave that swept toward the Hurricane Beast King, making even the surrounding mountains tremble violently.
The Hurricane Beast King could barely resist. Its enormous body collapsed to the ground as the concentrated poison corroded it, and it ultimately perished.
Meng the Hunchback knelt on the ground, his whole body trembling. He immediately looked toward Luo Chuan in the distance and snarled, "Luo Chuan, you brat! Once my cultivation recovers, I'll personally tear out your tendons and strip the flesh from your bones!"
Luo Chuan walked over with one hand behind his back and smiled. "Heh. Do you think I'd give you that chance?"
"I'd advise you to think carefully. Even with my strength greatly diminished, I'm still at the Great Perfection of the Spirit Severing Realm. If you want to die, I'll take you down with me!"
Meng the Hunchback gritted his teeth as he spoke.
Luo Chuan gave a scornful snort and appeared before Meng the Hunchback in an instant. He grabbed his neck with his right hand and lifted him bodily off the ground.
"How is this possible? You—you're not afraid of my Heavenly Crippling Poison!"
Seeing Luo Chuan dare to touch his body directly, Meng the Hunchback was utterly stunned. He couldn't believe that a mere junior at the Mid Spirit Severing Realm could possess such strength!
Luo Chuan smiled. "Who said I was only at the Mid Spirit Severing Realm?"
As Luo Chuan released his energy, the spiritual power of the Late Spirit Severing Realm surged outward like towering waves. The instant it touched the space on either side, it seemed to bloom and transform!
"Late Spirit Severing Realm? You brat—you've been hiding your true strength this whole time, you bastard! If you kill me, I'll make you pay!"
Luo Chuan tightened his grip around Meng the Hunchback's neck and said coolly, "Meng the Hunchback, you're already at the end of your strength. Now, you can die."
"No, don't kill me! I don't want to die!"
Meng the Hunchback tried to fight back with all his might, but Luo Chuan gave him no chance. In an instant, he shattered his soul and Nascent Soul Realm, ensuring he would never be reborn.
Luo Chuan took Meng the Hunchback's storage pouch and examined it. He nodded. "As expected, a Spirit Severing Realm cultivator's storage pouch is full of magic treasures."
"Next, we can head to the third trial."