The Battle for Phoenix Marrow

Luo Hongyan stared blankly beneath the water, unable to believe the truth she had sensed.

Let alone Pang Jian.

Even a Xisui Realm cultivator like Hong Tai—or a powerhouse of an even higher realm—could never successfully refine Phoenix Marrow!

At most, they could merge with it and keep their own spiritual awareness from being extinguished.

But that would only make them a higher-level Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard.

As far as Luo Hongyan knew, the youth named Pang Jian was merely a little fellow who had just entered the Qi Refining Realm.

"Strange..."

Though she had many doubts, the moment she sensed the aura of the Heavenly Phoenix within Pang Jian and realized he had refined a drop of Phoenix Marrow, she immediately began to regard him as someone not to be underestimated.

"Whoosh!"

As the drop of Phoenix Marrow within the Phoenix Bone saw Pang Jian riding the serpent toward it, with Ouyang Duanhai drawing ever closer, it hurriedly darted upward again.

Ouyang Duanhai, completely transformed at last, had finally become a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, taking the form of a bizarre Blood-Colored Phoenix Bird.

It clearly sensed that although the serpent-riding youth had a drop of Phoenix Marrow within him, he was not one of its kind.

However, it could refine the power within Pang Jian and turn it into nourishment to strengthen itself.

This Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, whose intelligence was gradually awakening, hesitated for an instant, but ultimately chose to seize the Phoenix Marrow first.

Thus, beneath the Blackwater Pool, two beings now sought to obtain the Phoenix Marrow.

Pang Jian and a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard charged toward the top of the Phoenix Bone at the same time, while the transformed Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard seemed to have reached a breakthrough in strength.

But it was still no match for Pang Jian riding the "Dark Giant Python."

"It really is coming for me."

Luo Hongyan sighed. She knew the drop of Phoenix Marrow, driven to desperation, had finally decided to invade Ning Yao's heart and turn her into a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard as well.

If not for Ouyang Duanhai, Pang Jian, and the "Dark Giant Python" beneath him, she would have gladly absorbed this drop of Phoenix Marrow.

But now...

As the Phoenix Marrow shot toward her, the serpent-riding youth and a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard pursued it relentlessly through the water on either side of the Phoenix Bone.

"Forget it."

Luo Hongyan shook her head bitterly. In Ning Yao's body, which she had taken over, she shot toward the surface like an arrow loosed from its string.

Beneath the murky Sky Canopy, she soared from the peak of the Phoenix Bone, shooting straight toward the heavens.

"Whoosh!"

A cluster of mysterious, liquid amber light followed her out of the Phoenix Bone, shooting straight at her.

In the silent valley, a strange phoenix cry suddenly rang out.

The Amber Glimmer shifted wondrously, transforming into a radiant, crystalline phoenix that shot toward "Ning Yao" with astonishing speed.

"Splash!"

A black-and-white-patterned python burst through the surface, its eyes wild with madness as it fearlessly lunged at the Phoenix Marrow.

A bizarre scene unfolded above the Blackwater Pool.

"Ning Yao" shot straight into the sky. Beneath her, a radiant phoenix pursued her in a blaze of light, and farther below, a giant python suddenly leaped out.

On the python's head, a tall youth suddenly tore open his shirt, exposing the Green Jade Lotus Leaf covering his heart as if preparing to welcome the Phoenix Marrow into it.

Underwater, a streak of blood was still hurtling toward the surface at full speed.

Around the Blackwater Pool, only the hovering Spirit Sha watched the astonishing spectacle with vacant eyes.

They seemed at a loss, and the serpent-riding youth in the middle of the scene was just as bewildered.

—Pang Jian had no idea why the python had suddenly gone berserk.

But now that the struggle had begun, he had no time to worry about it. He tried to use the method Jin Yang had devised, using the lotus leaf to seize this so-called Phoenix Marrow.

At that moment, he felt two different sensations in his chest.

The archaic Bronze Gate Pendant grew hotter and hotter, scorching his chest as if it were on fire.

The leaf he had snatched from Jin Yang, on the other hand, grew colder and colder, allowing him to remain clearheaded even in such a feverishly tense moment.

Above the pool, "Ning Yao," who had been rising toward the heights, gradually slowed to a stop. Her gaze remained fixed below.

She was Luo Hongyan.

If things went awry, she could leave Ning Yao's body at any moment in the form of a soul.

As a disembodied soul, she could dart several miles away in an instant.

Keeping her eyes on the Phoenix Marrow and Pang Jian as he charged to meet it, she prepared for the worst.

At worst, she would abandon Ning Yao's body, stop coveting the Phoenix Marrow, and escape as a weightless, ethereal soul.

Another strange phoenix cry rang out!

The drop of Phoenix Marrow that had flown away from the Phoenix Bone seemed to be drawn by a magnetic force, or perhaps pinned down by an invisible hand. It suddenly flew backward toward Pang Jian's chest!

Pang Jian immediately bared his chest, brazenly exposing the vivid green, icy-cold lotus leaf and waiting for the Phoenix Marrow to come straight into his trap.

"It really is coming!"

He suddenly grew nervous. What if Jin Yang was wrong? Then I'll turn into a monster like Ouyang Duanhai.

"Whoosh!"

The Amber Glimmer, in the shape of a radiant phoenix, truly shot toward him, but it did not enter the lotus leaf Jin Yang regarded as a treasure.

Instead, it vanished directly into the Bronze Gate Pendant on Pang Jian's chest!

This time, Pang Jian, who had been waiting with all his attention fixed on it, clearly saw where the drop of Phoenix Marrow went.

From his angle, he could not see the Bronze Gate silently opening a crack as the Phoenix Marrow slipped inside.

He only knew that the crystalline phoenix-shaped Phoenix Marrow had disappeared into the Bronze Tablet.

But "Ning Yao," who had been watching the Phoenix Marrow closely, saw it clearly: the Bronze Pendant he wore had suddenly opened a gate.

The Phoenix Marrow had been sucked in by that gate in an instant!

At the same moment, the Bronze Gate Pendant quickly cooled, and so did the "Dark Giant Python," whose madness had clouded its mind.

Once the "Dark Giant Python" had overcome its fear, it finally came to its senses and realized it had leaped out of the Blackwater Pool.

Still surging upward from sheer momentum, it stared at the murky Sky Canopy in its Black-White King Python body, looking upon a scene utterly unlike anything in the Fifth Realm.

Terror suddenly filled its eyes as it recalled the prohibition that the terrifying being had placed on the Blackwater Pool.

That person had once warned it that the moment it left the Blackwater Pool would also be the moment of its death.

In midair, it twisted its body awkwardly, desperately trying to fall back into the pool.

It knew that person's warning had been no idle threat.

It was certain the threat would be carried out. It had to hurry back into the Blackwater Pool before death truly came for it.

"Splash!"

Ouyang Duanhai, transformed into a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, burst through the water!

Before leaving the Blackwater Pool, he had seen everything that happened and knew Pang Jian had obtained the most precious Phoenix Marrow.

Seeing the python carrying Pang Jian fall toward the pool, he abandoned his body the instant he had completely left the water.

A bizarre, blood-red phoenix emerged from the body it had possessed, every feather seeming to drip with blood.

As it left the body, Ouyang Duanhai's long-dead corpse crumbled to dust at a mere breath of wind.

The crimson phoenix kept shrinking, becoming a streak of blood that shot toward Pang Jian's heart.

Underwater, it had not seen the drop of Phoenix Marrow disappear into the Bronze Gate Pendant on Pang Jian's chest.

It thought the Phoenix Marrow had entered Pang Jian's heart and chosen him as a vessel to possess.

"Whoosh!"

The blood-colored phoenix formed from the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard also vanished into the Bronze Gate right after the drop of Phoenix Marrow.

"It sent another one in?"

Pang Jian stared down at his chest in astonishment.

"Splash!"

The python fell back into the Blackwater Pool.

Only when the "Dark Giant Python" was back in the water and realized it was still alive did it suddenly understand: it had left the Blackwater Pool in the body of a "Black-White King Python." Strictly speaking, it was already dead.

—And yet it was still afraid of that person's prohibition!

"Go to the place where we first met."

Suddenly, it heard Pang Jian issue another command in its mind, and it also saw Hong Tai charging toward the surface.

It chose to obey Pang Jian. Before Hong Tai could change direction, the man and python headed for the bottom of the pool again.

"Splash!"

"Ning Yao" also fell from the sky into the water.

Hong Tai, meanwhile, finally burst through the surface.

He gritted his teeth in fury, watching helplessly as the man and python fled back to the bottom of the pool.

—He had wasted his efforts again!

"Little Ning girl, you're still alive?"

With nowhere to vent his anger, Hong Tai glared at "Ning Yao," who was floating on the water just like him. His eyes gleamed with murderous intent. "All my people are dead. You shouldn't be alive."

Having lost the Phoenix Marrow, Luo Hongyan looked at the useless Hong Tai and said coldly, "A bunch of old fossils, played like puppets by a green boy. What a joke."

"You even let someone else claim the spirit beast you raised. How do you have the nerve to talk to me?"

After mocking him a couple of times, she headed for the pool's edge, unwilling to remain in the water.

"What kind of divine treasure is that pendant shaped like a Bronze Gate?"

She kept thinking about the two times the Bronze Gate Pendant had displayed its wondrous power, so she did not dare venture deeper into the pool.

The "Dark Giant Python" already knew she was there. She had no confidence she could fight the vicious creature in the water, which was on the verge of transforming into a dragon in the Fifth Realm.

More importantly, after Pang Jian swallowed the Phoenix Marrow and the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard's essence blood through the Bronze Tablet, he showed no signs of losing control.

She was unlikely to find a chance to subdue Pang Jian at the bottom of the pool and take the Phoenix Marrow from him.

"You asked for death yourself. You can't blame me for this."

Knowing he could not catch the "Black-White King Python" underwater, Hong Tai slowly approached the person he believed was "Ning Yao," intending to kill her here and silence her before word spread about his crushing defeat.

Otherwise, not only would the Seven Great Families mock him, but he would also lose face before the Dark Ghost.

"How could I blame you? I never planned to let you live, either."

Luo Hongyan stood on the bank, her eyes icy.

Spirit Sha like Luo Meng emerged one by one from the corners of the poolside, howling through the air above the water before appearing behind her. "Once a Xisui Realm cultivator like you is refined into a Spirit Sha, you should be even more useful."

"You're not Ning Yao!"

Hong Tai suddenly realized.

"Since you're from the Dark Ghost, I'd like to see how many secrets of this lower-realm organization your soul holds." As Luo Hongyan turned this over in her mind, a Spirit Sha flew out of the water and burrowed into Hong Tai's body.

Hong Tai's whole body turned cold. His consciousness immediately grew chaotic, and he suddenly could no longer tell who he was.