Boom!!
The earth trembled without cease. In the distance, the beast tide roared like rolling thunder, charging madly toward them.
Inside the stone chamber, Li Huo tore free of the illusion's restraints. His bloodred eyes fixed on the Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull floating in midair, his greed utterly undisguised.
"It's mine!!"
With a fierce shout, he unleashed all the soul power of a level forty-nine Soul Ancestor. Five soul rings flashed violently as he stamped hard against the ground, launching himself at the golden soul bone like a ravenous wolf!
Ning Chengyi's pupils contracted sharply.
This hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year soul bone was the opportunity his Phantom Butterfly martial soul needed to transform. If it fell into this man's hands, the consequences would be unthinkable!
But he was only a level seventeen Soul Master. Meeting a Soul Ancestor head-on was no different from hurling an egg against a rock.
Behind him, however, Bibi Dong swayed on the verge of collapse. The Twin Spider Brightflower had only suppressed the poison, not eradicated it.
The two poisons inside her still rampaged through her meridians. Threads of purplish-black blood kept seeping from the corners of her mouth, and even remaining upright was an immense struggle.
Li Huo was already within a few yards of the Wisdom Skull.
Ning Chengyi clenched his teeth hard.
He did not hesitate for even an instant.
The purple thousand-year soul ring beneath his feet blazed with light. The Desolation-Suppressing God-Breaking Spear hummed and trembled, and instead of retreating, he charged straight at the Soul Ancestor!
"You're courting death!"
Li Huo glanced at the boy rushing toward him, profound contempt flashing in his eyes.
A mere Soul Master dared stand in my way?
His formidable Soul Ancestor soul power became an invisible wave of force, crashing down on Ning Chengyi.
His martial soul also struck at Ning Chengyi with tremendous force, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow.
Bam!!
A tremendous crash rang out.
Ning Chengyi desperately brought his spear across to block. The enormous force struck like a falling mountain, his bones creaking under the unbearable strain. He flew backward like a stone and slammed hard into the wall.
A mouthful of hot blood burst from his lips, staining the front of his clothes red.
Every muscle and bone seemed to have been jolted out of place. Agony surged through his entire body like a raging tide.
"Ning Chengyi!"
Bibi Dong cried out softly, her heart suddenly clenching.
"Boy, you have no idea how high heaven is or how deep the earth runs." Li Huo sneered. Ignoring the gravely injured Ning Chengyi on the ground, he reached again for the slowly floating golden skull.
Looking at the soul bone about to be seized, then at Bibi Dong's sickly pale face, Ning Chengyi's eyes flashed with ruthless resolve.
Enduring the pain tearing through his body, he turned his palm over and silently scattered several streams of butterfly dust from the Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide.
Rather than attacking, the dust instantly enveloped the Wisdom Skull. Using its faint pulling force, he snatched the soul bone back and tucked it into his clothes!
The instant the soul bone entered his grasp, a cool, vast spiritual power flowed through his limbs and bones, soothing a portion of his injuries.
But this act utterly enraged Li Huo.
"What the hell?!"
"Hand over the soul bone!!"
Li Huo's eyes nearly split with rage, his killing intent surging sky-high. With a single step, he reached Ning Chengyi in an instant, driving a thunderous fist straight at his head!
If that punch landed, the boy would die on the spot!
His life hung by a thread!
"No!!"
Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes reddened.
The Twin Spider Brightflower could only suppress the poison for now. If she forcibly unleashed her full strength, the Nether Flower's deadly poison would turn against her, damaging her foundations and perhaps even destroying her origin.
But Ning Chengyi had risked his life to stand before her, and now he was about to die beneath a Soul Ancestor's fist.
The moments they had shared in the cave surged through her mind like a tide.
She could not watch him die here.
"Heh... at this point, what does the price matter?"
Bibi Dong clenched her delicate hands tightly. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, drawing a thin stream of blood down the corner of her mouth.
"Burn!"
She stopped suppressing the two intertwined poisons inside her.
Using her remaining Rakshasa divine power as the spark, she forcibly ignited the deadly poison temporarily held down by the Twin Spider Brightflower.
Humm!!
Black and deep-purple light erupted from her body and shot into the sky!
Eight enormous, ferocious spectral limbs of the Death Spider Emperor spread behind her, defying the restraints of her fallen cultivation!
Her cultivation was still that of a Soul Ancestor, but the reserves of her Titled Douluo origin had been forcibly set ablaze!
The stones around her hissed and corroded into powder the instant they touched the leaking aura of the Spider Emperor!
The temperature inside the stone chamber changed abruptly, one side bitterly cold, the other scorching enough to burn through bone.
That was the price of burning the poison against its course. Every burst of power gnawed at her meridians and flesh.
Agony made her whole body tremble uncontrollably. Beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead, yet her eyes remained as icy as an ancient frozen pool.
Li Huo's fist was already less than half a foot from Ning Chengyi's head.
A purplish-black spectral Spider Spear suddenly thrust between them like lightning cleaving the night!
Bam!!!
An earthshaking collision erupted!
Li Huo's seemingly certain punch was forcibly stopped by the Spider Spear.
Violent shock waves swept outward, and cracks spread wildly across the chamber walls like spiderwebs.
Horror filled Li Huo's face. He staggered back several steps, wisps of black smoke rising from the flesh of his arm where the Spider Emperor's poisonous aura had corroded it.
"Impossible!!"
"Who exactly are you?"
Disbelief filled his eyes. At that moment, panic had plainly begun to take hold of him.
Bibi Dong could not be bothered to answer. In a flash, she swept to Ning Chengyi's side and wrapped her slender arm around his injured body.
Ning Chengyi was covered in blood. Several ribs in his chest were damaged, and his consciousness had begun to drift into a haze.
"Hold on!"
Bibi Dong spoke softly, her voice trembling slightly. The backlash from burning the poison had already begun eating away at her internal organs. Every additional moment she stayed inflicted further harm.
In the distance, the beast tide's howls drew ever closer. The ground shook more violently, and loose stones kept raining from the chamber ceiling.
If they remained, both would be buried here.
"Trying to run? Stop them!!"
Shocked and furious, Li Huo roared.
The remaining members of the Fierce Wolf Group endured the lingering mental pain from the illusion, raised their weapons, and charged, trying to block the pair's escape.
Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes hardened. Several spectral Spider Spears behind her swept out in an overwhelming barrage!
Squelch! Squelch!!
The Fierce Wolf Group members charging at her were swept away by the spears' radiance before they could even finish screaming.
She tore a bloody path straight through them!
But at that moment, the price of burning the poison fully revealed itself.
Bibi Dong gave a muffled groan and spat another large mouthful of purplish-black blood, instantly soaking her clothes.
The two poisons were savagely tearing through her meridians. She could no longer hold on for much longer.
"Go!"
She did not linger to fight. Holding the gravely injured Ning Chengyi, she let the spectral Death Spider Emperor support their bodies and leaped, flying straight through the enormous hole that the beasts' tremors had torn in the side of the chamber!
Whoosh-!
A streak of purplish-black light cut through the heavy night over the Star Dou Great Forest, carrying them into the depths of the dense woods.
"After them!! Don't let them escape!!"
Li Huo stared in the direction they had fled and roared in furious frustration.
But just as he prepared to lead his men in pursuit...
Rumble!!
The overwhelming beast tide finally swept into the valley.
Countless scarlet beast eyes lit up densely throughout the dark forest. The raging torrent of soul beasts swallowed the entire clearing like a black tsunami.
Li Huo's face went deathly pale. Forgetting the pursuit, he could only frantically order his men to scatter and flee.
Deep in the woods.
Bibi Dong raced between the trees with the blood-soaked Ning Chengyi in her arms.
The strength gained from burning the poison was rapidly fading. The Twin Spider Nether Flower's poison surged back wildly inside her, her vision repeatedly darkening as strength swiftly drained from her body.
Ning Chengyi lay dazed in her arms, clutching the warm Wisdom Skull tightly against his chest. He could clearly feel the woman holding him trembling without cease. Blood ran down her sleeves, dripping onto the backs of his hands, drop after drop.
"You... why put yourself through this..." Ning Chengyi struggled to open his eyes, his voice hoarse and faint.
Bibi Dong lowered her gaze to the boy in her arms. Moonlight fell across her pale yet still breathtakingly beautiful face, and emotions too complicated to name filled her eyes.
"You risked your life to protect me. How could I stand by and watch you die?"
As her words fell, she stumbled and nearly plunged from midair. Mustering the last of her strength, she scanned her surroundings and spotted a secluded cave concealed by vines.
Her figure flickered, and she swept straight inside.
The instant she entered the cave, the power she had forcibly ignited collapsed completely.
Bibi Dong could hold on no longer. Her body went limp, and she fell heavily onto the cold stone floor with Ning Chengyi in her arms.
Outside the cave, the beast tide's thundering roars continued without end.
Inside, there was only dimness and silence.
Bibi Dong curled on the ground, her body alternating endlessly between cold and heat. The deadly poison she had forcibly ignited and suppressed now began its furious backlash in full.
Clinging to her last thread of clarity, she looked at Ning Chengyi beside her, unconscious from his severe injuries.
Against the boy's chest, the hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull shone with a faint golden glow.
Before you continue