Serpent's Horn

Beneath the pool.

Gazing up at the heroic posture of the youth riding the serpent, Ning Yao felt dazed, lost in a moment of infatuation.

It was only when her body began to sink that she snapped back to reality, hurriedly scrambling upward with a truly unsightly swimming style.

Unlike Pang Jian, who was well-versed in the water and moved like a fish, this young lady of the Ning Family swam with a clumsy dog-paddle, her movements stiff and lacking any fluidity.

Seeing the youth with his legs clamped around the python's neck, his body as straight as a sword, and his Dragon-Patterned Spear repeatedly thrusting at Jin Yang, Ning Yao secretly regretted not having learned to swim properly.

The youth, a master of the water, cleverly utilized the python's momentum, each spear thrust against Jin Yang heavy and forceful.

Jin Yang, a man whom even Hong Tai had to serve with caution, was now fleeing in a panic, his body blooming with fresh flowers of blood.

How could a youth who was merely a hunter possess such tiger-like courage, daring to strike down a high-ranking Dark Ghost from the Fourth Realm?

Was he not afraid of the Dark Ghost's subsequent insane retaliation, or of being captured and subjected to inhumane torture?

Reflecting on the past, Ning Yao suddenly realized that from the moment they entered the Cenji Mountains, throughout her time with Pang Jian, this seemingly ordinary youth of the same age had occupied the initiative at every turn.

Her noble status as a young lady of the Ning Family had failed to carry any weight.

The way Pang Jian looked at her had always been neither humble nor arrogant; he had never viewed her as anyone particularly extraordinary.

This was fundamentally different from the mundane, worldly people she had encountered in Linshan Town.

He must have hidden so much from me!

She became increasingly certain that Pang Jian's background was not simple.

Perhaps Pang Jian was truly a survivor from the Blood Moon, Galaxy Alliance, or Yin Spirit Temple of the Upper Realm, who had killed the real Pang siblings after stepping out of the Cenji Mountains, waiting for a search party like hers to arrive.

Ning Yao could not help but ponder: "What exactly is he plotting?"

At the peak of the Phoenix Bone protruding from the water.

The graceful figure shrouded in blood mist was both nervous and excited, her pair of captivating, bewitching eyes fixed intently on the ground beneath her.

Below the Phoenix Bone, a cluster of liquid amber light, representing the Phoenix Marrow, was slowly rising toward her position.

Luo Hongyan, who lacked real flesh and blood, habitually struck a pose of taking a deep breath, forgetting that she had no need to breathe at all.

"The moment the Phoenix Marrow fully formed, it sensed the existence of Ouyang Duanhai, whose heart had been eroded. To avoid being refined by him, it had no choice but to float upward."

"That boy named Jin Yang, his cultivation talent is clearly only passable, so how did he avoid becoming its target for heart-erosion?"

Luo Hongyan frowned in thought.

She knew some of the characteristics of the Phoenix Marrow.

Legend had it that when a Heavenly Phoenix suffered heavy injuries, its shed feathers and bones would spontaneously seek out beings with vast vitality. After killing them and gathering their immense flesh and blood essence, it would condense new Phoenix Marrow.

If the Phoenix Bone was too far from the Heavenly Phoenix's true body, once the Phoenix Marrow formed, it would choose a nearby living creature to inhabit, completing the primary awakening of its self-consciousness by devouring the host's soul and flesh.

Within every Phoenix Bone, whenever Phoenix Marrow condensed into form, it possessed an independent intelligence.

In the same area, every drop of Phoenix Marrow would choose a living creature to inhabit, and they were all independent individuals.

The Phoenix Marrow would instinctively slaughter and devour one another, merging to form the strongest "Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard."

The duty and obligation of a "Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard" was to protect the Heavenly Phoenix; they would eventually be summoned to return to its side.

Once the "Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guards," scattered across various lands and formed through mutual slaughter, returned to the Heavenly Phoenix, they would transform into a new feather bone filled with divine power, becoming part of the Heavenly Phoenix's wings once more.

If a Phoenix Bone that fell into the Cenji Mountains successfully killed a fierce existence like the "Dark Giant Python" the moment it hit the ground, a drop of Phoenix Marrow could be produced within it.

For every fallen Phoenix Bone, as long as Phoenix Marrow formed within, it would choose someone nearby, like Ouyang Duanhai, to inhabit.

Every host inhabited by Phoenix Marrow would instinctively seek out other Phoenix Bones and Phoenix Marrow, either to refine the marrow within or to swallow those who, like themselves, had been eroded.

This was their mission.

Because the Phoenix Marrow possessed an independent self-intelligence the moment it formed, it would avoid being refined by its own kind and would seek to quickly find a suitable living creature to inhabit.

"As a spirit body without a fleshly shell, I will definitely not be its choice."

Luo Hongyan pondered, her heart agonizing as the Phoenix Marrow within the Phoenix Bone drew closer.

In her soul form, she had the ability to enter the Phoenix Bone beneath her and descend rapidly; she was confident she could intercept that cluster of Phoenix Marrow and claim it as her own, turning it into the vital nourishment for forging her own shell.

However, the moment she merged with the Phoenix Marrow, she would inevitably clash with the intelligence born within it.

The period before she dissolved the Phoenix Marrow's self-intelligence would be her weakest moment, and the moment she descended from above onto the Phoenix Bone, her soul form would have nowhere to hide and would certainly be seen by those with keen eyes at the bottom of the pool.

She always felt that the entity who had captured the "Dark Giant Python" from the Fifth Realm and kept it in the Blackwater Pool was waiting for greedy seekers of the Phoenix Marrow like her to reveal themselves.

Her inner desire was nearly overflowing, yet she forced herself to remain still, not daring to move.

She prepared to wait a little longer.

In the air around her, "Spirit Sha," refined from Pulse-Opening Realm cultivators like Luo Meng, hovered one by one, all awaiting her command.

"Pfft!"

In the water, Pang Jian gripped the Dragon-Patterned Spear tightly, utilizing the momentum of the "Dark Giant Python" as it surged through the water, combined with his own surging divine power, to pierce several bloody holes into Jin Yang's body.

History is always shockingly similar.

Before falling into the water, it was Jin Yang who controlled the seven "Cicada Wing Swords," chasing him and stabbing repeatedly.

Now, the roles were reversed; he gripped the Dragon-Patterned Spear tightly, continuously tearing bloody holes into Jin Yang's body.

It was not that he wanted to torture Jin Yang slowly—he lacked the leisure for that—but Jin Yang, having cultivated to the Pulse-Opening Realm, could often shift his position in the water the instant the spear tip pierced his heart.

His supposedly fatal spear strikes could only leave bloody craters in non-lethal parts of Jin Yang's body.

Pang Jian quickly recognized the reality: Jin Yang was not one of those Qi Refining Realm Dark Ghosts who could be killed with a single thrust.

A practitioner one realm higher, it turned out, possessed the ability to avoid vital spots even while underwater.

Fortunately, Jin Yang was not faster than the Dark Giant Python, so every time Pang Jian swept past him, he could adjust his direction and execute another assassination attempt.

Jin Yang, who had been swimming upward while clinging to the Phoenix Bone, had bloody holes in his waist, abdomen, legs, and shoulders, yet he still refused to stray too far from the relic.

The Dark Giant Python, controlled by Pang Jian's intent, also kept its distance from Jin Yang, as if wary that the Phoenix Marrow within the Phoenix Bone might seize the opportunity to fly out.

After a while, Pang Jian and Jin Yang, one chasing and one fleeing, had yet to break through the surface of the Blackwater Pool.

Instead, Ning Yao, who had the poorest swimming skills and the most awkward posture, was so focused on reaching the surface for air that she actually leaped out of the water first.

She surfaced, shook her long, wet hair away from her face, and gasped for air.

Suddenly, she felt something and turned to look.

She saw gray, ghostly shadows floating around the Phoenix Bone, and among them was the burly man who had been loyal to Shangguan Qin.

At the pinnacle of the Phoenix Bone, surrounded by these gray shadows, stood a bewitching figure shrouded in blood mist, mysterious and powerful.

"The Demoness from the stone pile!"

Ning Yao shrieked, realizing instantly that the surface was no safer; it was better to be underwater.

Perhaps, she is also an option.

She has a physical body of flesh and blood. Before, when I had just broken the seal, my power was insufficient to possess her. But now...

"Whoosh!"

A beam of blood-colored electric light shot toward her.

Caught in hesitation, Ning Yao saw the light fly out from the blood mist, and it was already too late to retreat back into the pool.

The light flashed and vanished into the center of her brow.

Immediately, the image of a devastatingly beautiful woman appeared in her mind, laughing with a voice so sweet it was intoxicating: "Apologies, I will borrow your body for a moment. Please, bear with me for a few days."

As soon as these words were spoken, Ning Yao realized she had been imprisoned within her own body, though she could still vaguely see the scene before her through her own eyes.

However, her consciousness could no longer control her limbs, nor could she even speak.

"Rest assured, you will not die for now."

Luo Hongyan whispered softly, and using Ning Yao's body, she leaped out of the water and landed lightly atop the Phoenix Bone.

Once she stood firmly on the ground in Ning Yao's form, Luo Hongyan thought that with a physical vessel, if that drop of Phoenix Marrow—which now possessed independent intelligence—could not find a better choice, it would surely crawl inside when it ran out of options.

At that moment, she would give the Phoenix Marrow a big "surprise."

"Scatter."

She waved her fair, jade-like arms elegantly, and the crowd of "Spirit Sha," like Luo Meng, drifted to various edges of the Blackwater Pool.

She then crouched down and, using Ning Yao's eyes, looked down into the pool.

Jin Yang was still swimming upward, closely pursued by Pang Jian on the snake; the two were now so close to the surface that she could see them clearly.

At a glance, she saw the Dark Ghost youth named Jin Yang get stabbed by Pang Jian once more.

Having lost too much blood, Jin Yang was suddenly struck by a moment of dizziness, his limbs becoming incredibly limp underwater.

"Dead."

She shook her head lightly.

As if she had pronounced his death sentence, the boy riding the snake saw his eyes brighten suddenly; his spear aimed for Jin Yang's vital point, stabbing repeatedly into his neck and heart.

Confirming that Jin Yang was thoroughly dead, the boy lunged off the snake, reached the corpse, and pulled a Green Jade Lotus Leaf from its chest.

A look of satisfied joy appeared in the boy's eyes as he pressed the large lotus leaf against his own heart like a treasure.

Only then did the boy head toward the Black-White King Python, which seemed to fear getting too close to the Phoenix Bone and was waiting at a distance.

Luo Hongyan, using Ning Yao's eyes to look down from the Phoenix Bone, suddenly felt a surge of intense dread and could not help but stare at the "Black-White King Python" in her mind.

The Black-White King Python, which originally had green snake eyes, now had eyes of pure black, as if the pupils had become two deep, dark pools.

In the depths of the Black-White King Python's strange eyes, she saw tiny black snakes, as thin as hair, swimming quietly.

Luo Hongyan gathered her divine sense, bolstering Ning Yao's eyes with her power to examine the obsidian-like pupils of the Black-White King Python.

She saw it clearly in an instant.

Deep within the pitch-black, pool-like pupils, every slender little snake possessed olive-green scales, with tiny black spots on their bodies.

Moreover, on the forehead of every little snake, a tiny, sharp horn was just beginning to emerge.

"When a python grows scales, it becomes a giant python; when a giant python grows horns, it is on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon; and when a flood dragon grows claws, it becomes a dragon!"

Luo Hongyan's expression changed abruptly.

"Inside the body of the Black-White King Python is actually the beast soul of a Dark Giant Python! The Dark Giant Python pierced to death by the Phoenix Bone already had faint horns growing on its head; it was clearly in the stage of transforming into a flood dragon!"

Having grasped the truth, Luo Hongyan was suddenly seized by panic.

She finally understood why that "Black-White King Python" was so formidable, capable of devouring even her refined "Spirit Sha."

She also suddenly realized that the reason no sharp horns were visible on the massive snake skeleton of that "Dark Giant Python" was because when the Phoenix Bone fell from the sky, it had been aimed directly at the Dark Giant Python's newly emerging, formidable horns.

The Phoenix Bone had first shattered the Dark Giant Python's horns, then pierced through its skull to pin it to the bottom of the pool!