Above the pool, atop the Phoenix Bone.
Luo Hongyan, who had been sealed away by the Yin Spirit Temple for hundreds of years, was so furious she stamped her feet.
In her spirit form, her jade feet had sunk into the Phoenix Bone. When she realized what had happened, she jolted and hurriedly pulled her delicate feet free.
Her pair of eerie red eyes turned as cold and sharp as bloodstained blades, fixing on the clear surface of the pool.
Ever since breaking free of her seal, she had yearned to recreate a flesh-and-bone body, and the Phoenix Marrow was something she was determined to obtain.
Once she got the Phoenix Marrow and fused it into her spirit body, she would be able to reforge her physical form, recover the power she had lost, and unleash bloody vengeance on those who had plotted against her.
She was wary of the mysterious being that had raised the Dark Giant Python. Still in spirit form, she didn't dare enter the water herself.
If she possessed a Dark Ghost cultivator with Spirit Sha and sent him to the bottom of the pool, she wouldn't need to take the risk, and no one would know she was watching from above.
Who could have guessed that the young man favored by the Blood Moon's Eye of Imprint would emerge from the shadows astride a serpent? As he assassinated the Dark Ghost cultivator, the Black-White King Python that had belonged to Hong Tai swallowed the Spirit Sha she had painstakingly refined.
"A mere second-level Black-White King Python. Its intelligence has only just begun to awaken. It shouldn't be able to sense the Spirit Sha, let alone absorb the Spirit Sha I refined."
After her fury subsided, Luo Hongyan gradually calmed down. The more she thought about it, the more something felt wrong.
"The Black-White King Python belongs to Hong Tai. What gives that brat the right to claim it? And now that it has changed masters, it can even swallow my Spirit Sha. There must be something unusual about this."
She suspected that the mysterious being keeping the Dark Giant Python at the bottom of the pool was hiding in the shadows, using that young hunter to carry out some scheme.
Once her agitated state had completely settled, she grew even more reluctant to act rashly.
"I left a few more Spirit Sha patrolling outside the ravine. Looks like I'll have to summon them back."
Unable to use her eyes, she sent a thought out to the Spirit Sha wandering outside. They were to find living creatures they could possess, hide within the bodies of beasts, and wait for her further instructions.
At the bottom of the pool.
"Gurgle!"
As Hong Tai fought around the Phoenix Bone, a string of bubbles escaped his mouth. He turned and stared blankly at Pang Jian, who was riding his Black-White King Python while hunting down his disobedient subordinates one by one.
Hong Tai shouted in shock, but no sound came out. Only a great many bubbles escaped his mouth.
He was utterly baffled. He had fed and cared for the Black-White King Python for seven or eight years. How long had it even been since it had gained spiritual awareness?
He couldn't understand why the Black-White King Python had suddenly turned on him and started treating the young hunter as its master.
And he had clearly forbidden his subordinates from entering the water. How dare they disobey his orders?
Hong Tai racked his brains but still couldn't find an answer.
Jin Yang and the two other leaders whose cultivation had reached the Pulse-Opening Realm were just as dumbfounded by Pang Jian riding the python. They kept shooting Hong Tai questioning looks.
With a grim face, Hong Tai shook his head under their questioning gazes, signaling that he didn't know either.
Just then, Jin Yang suddenly grew excited again and pointed at a section of the Phoenix Bone.
All the gleaming white specks had gathered into a cluster of mysterious, amber-like light while they were locked in a fierce battle with Ouyang Duanhai. Now it was floating upward from the base of the Phoenix Bone, along its vertebrae.
"Phoenix Marrow!"
Jin Yang's uncontrolled cry sent out another large bubble.
He gestured frantically with his hands and feet, telling Hong Tai and the other two to help him stop Ouyang Duanhai.
He himself chased after the rising white light, intent on seizing the Phoenix Marrow as quickly as possible!
"Mm!"
After assassinating all the Qi Refining Realm Dark Ghost cultivators while riding the serpent possessed by the Dark Giant Python, Pang Jian also noticed the mysterious glimmer that had strengthened his body appear once more.
He immediately gave the Dark Giant Python beneath him a command through their mental link.
But the strange serpent, whose pupils had turned pitch-black, disobeyed him for the first time.
Pang Jian lowered his head. In its obsidian-like pupils, he saw boundless hatred—and beneath it, a profound fear.
You hate the Phoenix Bone because it devoured your flesh and used your body to produce these strange changes.
Afraid? You no longer have a body of flesh and blood. You're just possessing the body of another of your kind, yet you're still afraid of that bone?
Pang Jian thought silently. He didn't know whether the strange serpent could hear a thought that wasn't an order.
He suddenly realized that if even the serpent feared the strange power forming around the Phoenix Bone, then Jin Yang, who wanted to seize that power, might not get his wish either.
Pang Jian's thoughts shifted. He only told the Dark Giant Python to approach the upper end of the Phoenix Bone, following close behind Jin Yang as he hurried upward.
This time, the Dark Giant Python obeyed.
It carried Pang Jian toward Jin Yang near the upper end of the Phoenix Bone, at a much slower pace than before.
Pang Jian watched Jin Yang's movements, then glanced now and again at the monster whom Hong Tai and the other two were pinning down at the python skull.
He had noticed long ago that once the mysterious glimmer took shape, the unknown inhuman creature went berserk, struggling desperately to reach it.
But under the fierce assault of Hong Tai and the other two, the inhuman creature had been unable to break free.
Hong Tai now held a Spirit Sword gleaming with golden light. The masked man gripped a Bamboo Flute, and Xu Rui held a black iron shield.
The three fought together against the inhuman creature. Even so, when it tried to break through their encirclement, they were still left in a rather sorry state.
Xu Rui, who held the shield, seemed dissatisfied with the weapon. After seeking Hong Tai's approval with a glance, he withdrew from the fight and went to Ning Yao, who was wrapped in a Silver Net.
He gripped the iron chain and gave it a gentle tug. Ning Yao slipped free of the net.
After retrieving the weapon he was accustomed to, Xu Rui didn't spare Ning Yao a glance. He immediately swam back toward Hong Tai.
He swung the Silver Silk Giant Net high above him. It whooshed through the water like a cloud of silver and swept toward the inhuman creature.
Clearly, the Silver Net that had imprisoned Ning Yao was the weapon best suited to him, and a fine treasure for restricting the inhuman creature's movements.
At the same time, Pang Jian noticed Jin Yang swimming toward the surface surreptitiously take a lotus leaf from inside his robes.
The Green Jade Lotus Leaf gleamed with a crystalline sheen in the water, its fine veins seeming to conceal some mystery.
Jin Yang lifted the front of his robe and pressed the leaf reverently against his heart, using it to shield the organ.
After that, he covered his chest with his robe. A little more confidence appeared in his eyes, and only then did he speed up and charge toward the mysterious light rising above.
Jin Yang, who had choked on water earlier, was still moving his lips, repeating something over and over.
He had been repeating it excitedly from the start. Though no sound came out, Pang Jian could still make out the words from his lips.
He was saying two words: Phoenix Marrow.
Pang Jian immediately realized that the Amber Glimmer forming within the Phoenix Bone was the marrow inside the Heavenly Phoenix's bones!
Thinking of Jin Yang's string of strange actions and the Green Jade Lotus Leaf he had used to protect his heart, Pang Jian looked at the monster with a phoenix tattoo on its chest and understood. The Phoenix Marrow was searching for a body of flesh and blood capable of bearing its power, so it could burrow into its heart and take root.
It seemed that if it succeeded, anyone whose heart was invaded by the Phoenix Marrow would become another monster.
Jin Yang knew what happened to those whose hearts were devoured by the Phoenix Marrow. That was why he covered his heart with the Green Jade Lotus Leaf. He must have believed the leaf could protect him.
"Help me kill that man."
Unable to make the Dark Giant Python approach the Phoenix Marrow, Pang Jian suddenly changed tack. The target of his mental command was Jin Yang!
Among all the Dark Ghost attackers, only Jin Yang, with his seven thin, Cicada Wing Swords, had stabbed Pang Jian's hand bones and back several times. Jin Yang had inflicted the greatest pain on him.
He had decided to make Jin Yang the first Pulse-Opening Realm cultivator he killed.
"Splash!"
The Dark Giant Python twisted its body, sending ripples across the bottom of the pool. At last, it was willing to exert itself again, carrying Pang Jian straight toward Jin Yang.
Beneath the water, everyone's strength and speed were greatly weakened by the resistance.
The python was entirely unaffected. It was even faster than on land, so it soon brought Pang Jian alongside Jin Yang.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
After Ouyang Duanhai had battered them, the Cicada Wing Swords had lost much of their spiritual nature. Controlled by Jin Yang's power, they shot toward Pang Jian.
But having already been weakened and now submerged in water, both their power and speed were greatly diminished.
With the Dark Giant Python's help, Pang Jian swung the Dragon-Patterned Spear, striking the Cicada Wing Swords until they fell back to the bottom of the pool.
Using the Dark Giant Python's momentum, Pang Jian gripped the Dragon-Patterned Spear with both hands and took aim at Jin Yang from afar.
When they were close enough, the power in his arm bones erupted. He thrust with all his might.
"Bang!"
A mass of ice rock, frozen by the Cold Chi Jade Pendant, had formed just in time, but Pang Jian's heavy strike with the Dragon-Patterned Spear still shattered it.
Jin Yang gave a muffled grunt. He saw cracks spread across the pendant he relied on to save his life. Unless an expert repaired it, the item would never again regain its former power.
He pulled away to dodge for the moment, but when he looked back, he saw Pang Jian astride the serpent charging at him again, full of murderous intent.
With the python's speed behind him, its powerful charge alongside Pang Jian's own divine strength, and the Dragon-Patterned Spear's crushing force, Jin Yang—no longer protected by the pendant—couldn't help but feel a chill of dread.
He cursed Hong Tai in his heart, calling him a useless fool.
Hong Tai had painstakingly tamed a Black-White King Python, yet it hadn't just refused to serve him—it had even helped an outsider attack Jin Yang.
Though he cursed, Jin Yang still couldn't bear to abandon the Phoenix Marrow. With no way back, he chose to keep swimming upward.
He thought that if he truly couldn't shake Pang Jian, he would simply escape Blackwater Pool, find a way to scheme for the Phoenix Marrow from outside, then turn around and kill Pang Jian.
Underwater, both the Cicada Wing Swords and Jin Yang himself felt as if their strength had nowhere to go. It was a suffocating frustration.
On shore, the second-level Black-White King Python might not be able to get the better of him.
"Splash! Splash, splash!"
The moment Xu Rui freed Ning Yao, she too did everything in her power to swim upward.
She had only recently reached the Pulse-Opening Realm and couldn't compare with old hands like Hong Tai and Xu Rui. She was close to her limit for holding her breath. If she didn't get to the surface for air, she would die at the bottom of the pool.
As she struggled upward, she naturally kept her head raised—and saw Pang Jian, riding the serpent, hunting down Jin Yang.
After killing every Qi Refining Realm Dark Ghost cultivator who had entered the water after them, Pang Jian was now hunting at the bottom of the pool like a predator, taking on an opponent of an even higher level.
Ning Yao stared at Pang Jian, waves surging across the lake of her heart. She even began to doubt herself.
She wondered whether Pang Jian was really the original owner of those three stone houses.
Was the Pang Jian the people of Linshan Town talked about truly this ferocious, bloodthirsty young man before her?
If he really was the young hunter who had depended on his younger sister, why hadn't they seen her when they arrived at the courtyard?
Could he be some genius from the Upper Realm, a master of profound cultivation who borrowed Pang Jian's identity and waited there to lure us into a trap?
Ning Yao's thoughts wavered.
Two chapters have been posted today, young heroes. Remember to vote—any kind of vote will do~
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