The Battle for Phoenix Marrow

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

Forget about Pang Jian.

Even a Xisui Realm cultivator like Hong Tai, or even an expert a realm higher than him, would have absolutely no possibility of successfully refining the Phoenix Marrow!

At most, one could only merge with the Phoenix Marrow and maintain the integrity of one's own spirit.

But that would merely result in a higher-level "Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard."

According to Luo Hongyan's understanding, the youth named Pang Jian was nothing more than a novice in the Qi Refining Realm.

"Strange..."

Though she was filled with doubts, the moment she sensed the aura of the Heavenly Phoenix upon him and felt that he had already refined a drop of Phoenix Marrow, she immediately regarded Pang Jian as a figure who could not be ignored.

"Whoosh!"

As Pang Jian rode the serpent toward her and Ouyang Duanhai drew ever closer, the Phoenix Marrow within the Phoenix Bone hurriedly darted upward.

The thoroughly transformed Ouyang Duanhai had finally become a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, taking the form of a bizarre, blood-colored phoenix.

It clearly sensed that while the serpent-riding youth possessed a drop of Phoenix Marrow within his body, it was not of its own kind.

However, it could refine the power within Pang Jian's body and turn it into nutrients to strengthen itself.

This Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, its intelligence gradually awakening, hesitated for a fleeting moment, but ultimately chose to seize the Phoenix Marrow first.

Thus, beneath the Blackwater Pool, there were now two entities vying for the Phoenix Marrow.

Pang Jian and the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard surged toward the top of the Phoenix Bone simultaneously, and the strength of the transformed Divine Guard seemed to have achieved a breakthrough.

Yet, its speed still lagged behind Pang Jian, who was riding the Dark Giant Python.

"So, it really is coming for me."

Luo Hongyan sighed, knowing that the Phoenix Marrow, driven to desperation, finally intended to invade Ning Yao's heart and turn her into a Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard as well.

If not for Ouyang Duanhai, and not for Pang Jian and the Dark Giant Python beneath him, she would have been more than happy to absorb this drop of Phoenix Marrow.

But now...

Watching the Phoenix Marrow fly toward her, with the serpent-riding youth and the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard in hot pursuit on either side of the Phoenix Bone, she felt a pang of regret.

"Fine."

Luo Hongyan shook her head bitterly, and in the body of Ning Yao that she occupied, she shot into the air like an arrow released from a bow.

Under the dim sky, she soared high from the peak of the Phoenix Bone, shooting straight toward the firmament.

"Swish!"

A cluster of amber-colored, liquid, mysterious glimmer flew out from the Phoenix Bone, shooting straight toward her.

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

The Amber Glimmer shifted miraculously, transforming into a fluttering, crystalline phoenix that shot toward "Ning Yao" with extreme ferocity.

"Splash!"

A python with black and white patterns broke through the water surface and suddenly shot out, its serpent eyes filled with madness as it lunged at the Phoenix Marrow, fearless of death.

A bizarre scene suddenly unfolded above the Blackwater Pool.

"Ning Yao" was shooting straight toward the sky, pursued from below by a crystalline phoenix glowing with brilliance, while an even larger python leaped out from further below.

On the head of the python, the tall youth suddenly tore open the clothes on his chest, revealing the Green Jade Lotus Leaf covering his heart, bracing himself to welcome the Phoenix Marrow into his chest.

Beneath the water, a blood-red shadow was still charging rapidly toward the surface.

Around the Blackwater Pool, only the hovering Spirit Sha watched this spectacle with hollow eyes.

They appeared at a loss, and the serpent-riding youth in this scene was equally bewildered.

—Pang Jian did not know why the python had suddenly gone mad.

But since the struggle had already begun, he could not afford to care about such things; he attempted to use the method Jin Yang had envisioned, using the lotus leaf to capture the so-called Phoenix Marrow.

At this moment, two distinct sensations emerged within his chest.

The Bronze Gate Pendant, with its primitive design, grew increasingly hot, scalding his chest as if it were on fire.

The lotus leaf he had seized from Jin Yang, however, grew increasingly cold, allowing him to remain clear-headed and calm in such a scorching moment.

Above the pool, the upward momentum of "Ning Yao" slowly came to a halt, her gaze fixed firmly below.

She was Luo Hongyan.

If the situation took a turn for the worse, she could leave Ning Yao's body in the form of a soul at any moment.

As a soul, she could instantly flee several miles away.

Staring intently at the Phoenix Marrow and at Pang Jian, who was charging toward it, she prepared for the worst.

At worst, she would abandon Ning Yao's body, give up her greed for the Phoenix Marrow, and escape with the lightness and ethereal nature of a soul.

Another strange phoenix cry rang out abruptly!

The drop of Phoenix Marrow that had flown away from the Phoenix Bone seemed to be pulled by a magnetic force, or perhaps as if its wings had been pinned, and it suddenly flew backward toward Pang Jian's chest!

Pang Jian immediately bared his chest, brazenly exposing the cool, verdant lotus leaf to wait for the Phoenix Marrow to throw itself into the trap.

"It's really coming!"

He felt a sudden surge of nervousness, thinking that if Jin Yang was wrong, he would end up transformed into a monster just like Ouyang Duanhai.

"Swish!"

The Amber Glimmer, in the form of a crystalline phoenix, truly shot toward him, yet it did not land on the lotus leaf that Jin Yang regarded as a treasure.

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

This time, with his full attention focused on the wait, Pang Jian clearly saw the destination of this drop of Phoenix Marrow.

From his angle, he could not see the bronze gate quietly opening a sliver as the Phoenix Marrow slipped inside.

He only knew that the Phoenix Marrow, in the form of an ice-crystal phoenix, had disappeared into the Bronze Tablet.

However, "Ning Yao," who had been staring intently at the movement of the Phoenix Marrow, saw clearly that the Bronze Pendant he wore had suddenly opened a door.

The Phoenix Marrow had been instantly sucked in by that door!

At that very moment, the Bronze Gate Pendant rapidly cooled, as did the "Dark Giant Python," which had been driven mad by its frenzy.

Having broken through the fear in its heart, the "Dark Giant Python" realized, once it regained its senses, that it had already leaped out of the Blackwater Pool.

Still soaring into the high sky due to momentum, it gazed at the dim, hazy firmament with the body of the "Black-White King Python," looking at a scene completely different from the Fifth Realm.

Terror suddenly surfaced in its eyes; it thought of the restriction placed upon the Blackwater Pool by that terrifying existence.

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

In mid-air, it twisted its body in a panic, desperately trying to fall back toward the pool water.

It knew deep down that the person's warning was absolutely no joke.

It was convinced that this would surely come to pass, and it had to escape back to the Blackwater Pool as quickly as possible to prevent death from truly descending.

"Splash!"

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

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

Seeing the python carrying Pang Jian falling toward the Blackwater Pool, it abandoned its current shell the instant it fully cleared the water.

A strange, blood-red phoenix, its feathers like dripping blood, flew out from the possessed husk.

As it left that body, Ouyang Duanhai's already dead, silent frame turned to dust at the first touch of the wind.

This blood-red phoenix kept shrinking, darting toward Pang Jian's heart like a line of blood.

From beneath the water, it had not seen that the drop of Phoenix Marrow had ultimately vanished into the Bronze Gate Pendant on Pang Jian's chest.

It assumed that the Phoenix Marrow had merged into Pang Jian's heart, using Pang Jian as a target for possession.

"Swish!"

The blood-red phoenix, transformed from the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard, also vanished abruptly into the bronze gate, following right behind the drop of Phoenix Marrow.

"It even sent a bonus?"

Pang Jian looked down at his chest with a stunned expression.

"Splash!"

The python fell back into the Blackwater Pool.

After entering the water, the "Dark Giant Python" suddenly realized, upon finding itself still alive, that it had left the Blackwater Pool in the body of a "Black-White King Python"—strictly speaking, it was already dead.

—Yet it was still terrified of that person's restriction!

"Go to the place where we first met."

Suddenly, it heard Pang Jian's command in the depths of its heart once more, and because of this, it saw Hong Tai crashing toward the surface of the pool.

It chose to obey Pang Jian, and without waiting for Hong Tai to adjust his direction, man and python plunged back toward the bottom of the pool.

"Splash!"

"Ning Yao" also fell into the water from high above.

Hong Tai finally broke through the surface.

He was so furious he gnashed his teeth, watching helplessly as the man and the python fled back to the bottom of the pool once again.

—He had wasted his efforts yet again!

"Little girl of the Ning Family, you're actually still alive?"

With nowhere to vent his frustration, Hong Tai looked at "Ning Yao," who had stopped on the water's surface just like him, a fierce light gleaming in his eyes: "My people are all dead; you shouldn't be alive."

Luo Hongyan, having lost the Phoenix Marrow, looked at the spineless wretch that was Hong Tai and said coldly in annoyance: "A bunch of old fossils, played in the palm of a wet-behind-the-ears brat—it's truly laughable."

"You even let someone else take your own spirit beast as their own; how do you have the face to speak to me?"

After throwing out these taunts, she headed toward the edge of the pool, unwilling to remain in the water any longer.

"What kind of divine object is that pendant shaped like a bronze gate, anyway?"

She kept thinking about how the Bronze Gate Pendant had displayed miraculous visions twice, which was why she dared not venture deep into the pool water.

The Dark Giant Python already knew of her existence, and she lacked absolute certainty in fighting a ferocious beast that was on the verge of transforming into a flood dragon at the bottom of the water.

More importantly, after Pang Jian swallowed the Phoenix Marrow and the essence blood of the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard through the bronze plaque, he showed no signs of mental derangement.

It was also highly unlikely that she would find an opportunity to subdue Pang Jian at the bottom of the pool and seize the Phoenix Marrow from his hands.

"If you are seeking your own death, then you cannot blame me."

Knowing he could not catch up to the Black-White King Python underwater, Hong Tai slowly approached the person he believed to be Ning Yao, intending to silence her here to prevent news of his crushing defeat from spreading.

If that happened, not only would the Seven Great Families mock him, but he would also lose all face before the Dark Ghost.

"Why would I blame you? I never intended to let you live either."

Luo Hongyan, who had stepped onto the shore, held a cold glint in her eyes.

"Spirit Sha" similar to Luo Meng emerged one by one from the corners of the pool bank, whistling through the air above the water and manifesting behind her: "A Xisui Realm expert like you should be even more useful once refined into a Spirit Sha."

"You are not Ning Yao!"

Hong Tai reacted abruptly.

"Since you hail from the Dark Ghost, I would like to see how many secrets of this lower-realm organization are hidden within your soul." As Luo Hongyan's thoughts turned, a Spirit Sha flew out from beneath the water and burrowed into Hong Tai's body.

Hong Tai's entire body turned icy cold, and he immediately felt his consciousness descend into chaos, suddenly unable to distinguish who he was.