Shi Hao showed no trace of panic when he saw the two of them surrounded. Instead, eagerness flickered in his eyes.
Li Dao regarded the beasts calmly, his expression utterly unruffled. He spoke slowly, as though discussing something that had nothing to do with him. "Take them down quickly."
"Seize the Immortal Spring!"
As his words fell, his body trembled slightly. The golden dao patterns coiled around his bones began radiating divine light, and a faint, glassy sheen flowed over his skin.
Boom! Crack, crack! He stamped hard on the ground. Beneath that single stomp, the solid earth shattered as quickly as glass.
His knees bent slightly, then snapped straight. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from the spot.
Standing warily to one side of Li Dao, Zhujian and Yun Xi felt a primitive, savage pressure bearing down on them. Their expressions instantly changed.
"You don't know your place!"
Zhujian roared and swung a foreleg as powerful as a divine pillar. Its sharp claws tore through the void with a succession of piercing whistles.
A silver Nine-Section Whip appeared in Yun Xi's hand. With a flick of her wrist, its tip lashed toward Li Dao, cutting through the air with a teeth-grating shriek.
Divine light flashed in Li Dao's eyes. He raised his hand lightly and traced a strange path through the air.
Beneath his skin, golden dao patterns slowly spread. His body seemed poised to merge with heaven and earth, every movement carrying the might of heaven itself.
Boom!
He thrust out a fist, colliding with Zhujian's claws with a ringing clash of metal.
Even as he blocked Zhujian's claws, he tilted his body slightly. The whip, gleaming with cold light, swept past his hair.
Li Dao glanced at Yun Xi, then immediately lunged at Zhujian, closing