"Die!"
Killing intent flashed in the Ba Serpent's eyes as she abruptly rubbed her hands together.
Two brilliant blue lightning spheres appeared in her palms, rumbling incessantly and radiating an utterly terrifying aura.
The Ba Serpent flung both hands upward. With two thunderous booms, the spheres transformed into blue lightning pythons over a hundred feet long, blazing with dazzling light as they struck at the gray-haired elder.
The gray-haired elder suddenly stopped struggling. All the anxiety vanished from his face, replaced by the look of someone whose scheme had succeeded. He spat out a gray bead, which conjured a round gray barrier around him.
The two blue lightning pythons struck the barrier with an earth-shaking thunderclap. Countless blue arcs exploded outward, but the unassuming gray barrier proved incredibly sturdy. It did not shatter, stoutly withstanding the assault of blue lightning.
Seeing the gray-haired elder's expression, the Ba Serpent's heart lurched, and she was about to scan her surroundings.
Space rippled on the other side of the Ginkgo Divine Tree, and a translucent figure appeared out of thin air. It was the grand elder. Somehow, he too had slipped inside.
The surrounding blue threads of light immediately coiled toward the grand elder, but a layer of transparent white light shimmered over him. As soon as the incoming threads touched it, they slid aside, unable to bind him at all.
The grand elder passed through the blue threads in an instant and approached the Ginkgo Spirit Fruits. With a swift sweep of his hand, he sent out a streak of white light, fast as lightning, toward the fruit nearest him.
"You thief, how dare you!" Alarmed, the Ba Serpent opened her mouth and spat.
A thick bolt of blue lightning tinged with bloody light shot from her mouth. With a crackle, it