Its body towered like a mighty mountain, every scale shimmering with mysterious purple-gold light. Its powerful limbs were pillars that held up the heavens, and every step sent ripples through the void, as though even the Great Dao bowed beneath its feet! Its dragonlike head radiated majesty, a pair of imposing horns pointing straight at the firmament as if they could pierce the nine heavens! Its eyes revolved like the sun and moon, blazing with divine light as it looked down upon all creation!
"Roar!"
The Qilin threw back its head and roared, its voice shaking the nine heavens and setting the entire sea of blood boiling!
The Fierce Beast Fusion facing it refused to be outdone. Baleful energy surged around him, lightning coiled over his body, and his hideous maw opened in an earth-shaking roar!
"Rumble-boom!"
The two peerless Fierce Beasts charged at the same instant! The Qilin strode through the air, purple radiance filling the sky, while the Fierce Beast rushed forward amid raging lightning storms! The instant they collided head-on-
"Bang!!!"
A blinding explosion of light erupted above the sea of blood. Terrifying waves of energy swept in every direction, tearing the entire sea apart! Waves tens of thousands of feet high surged skyward, only to be vaporized into crimson mist by the savage force in midair!
The void shattered inch by inch, and runes of the Great Dao were annihilated and reborn within the collision!
"Boom!"
Amid the earth-shaking crash, the purple Qilin forcibly drove the Fierce Beast Fusion back hundreds of feet. His enormous body, formed from countless remnants of Fierce Beast souls, shuddered violently. Fine cracks actually appeared across his shell of interwoven lightning and baleful energy.
"Roar!"
The Fierce Beast roared in defiance, shock and fury flashing through his crimson eyes. He had never imagined that, with the combined strength of so many Fierce Beasts, he would lose a contest of raw power. But in the next instant, the vicious gleam in his eyes intensified. The baleful energy around him suddenly drew inward, and his enormous body shrank severalfold in a flash!
Shi Yi's pupils contracted slightly. The Fierce Beast's body became slender and agile, three pairs of blood-red wings sprouting from his back as his limbs transformed into sharp, bladed claws. More astonishing still, multicolored runes began flowing across his body-the innate gifts of the Fierce Beasts slain long ago, now perfectly fused within him!
"Whoosh!"
A bloody shadow flashed past as the Fierce Beast's speed suddenly increased tenfold! He no longer clashed head-on with Shi Yi, instead becoming a bolt of blood-red lightning that constantly shifted position in the void. Each time he flashed into view, he unleashed an entirely different Treasure Art attack:
At times, he roared like a Thunder Flood Dragon, shaking the void until it warped;
At times, his fists fell like raindrops, pummeling the sea of blood until it boiled;
Though Shi Yi's Qilin True Form possessed unmatched might, these elusive hit-and-run tactics left him unable to pinpoint his opponent's true body for the moment. Worse still, the Treasure Art attacks came from cunning angles, often striking from blind spots and forcing him to repeatedly abandon offense for defense.
"You want to fight a guerrilla battle with me?"
Shi Yi suddenly dispersed the purple energy around him, and the Qilin True Form dissolved like mist. He stood suspended in the air, his robes utterly still amid the violent currents of energy. His exceedingly rare Double Pupils abruptly blazed with divine light of chaos, their depths seeming to hold endlessly unfolding visions of heaven and earth being created.
"Chaos heaven and earth!"
His invocation rang out like the decree of heaven, and endless chaotic mist poured from his Double Pupils. Though the mist appeared gentle, it contained the most primordial laws of heaven and earth. In the blink of an eye, the entire Medicine Cauldron was enveloped in hazy white mist, and fine runes of chaos even condensed within the void.
To his horror, the Fierce Beast discovered that some mysterious power was suppressing the extraordinary speed he took such pride in. Every beat of his blood-red wings met crushing resistance; when his sharp, bladed claws swept through the void, they trailed ripples through space. More terrifying still, the multicolored Treasure Art runes flowing within him began to slow, as though frozen in the river of time.
"Do you know what true speed is?"
Shi Yi's voice came from the depths of chaos, carrying supreme authority. He walked upon the chaotic mist, each step secretly aligned with the rhythm of the Great Dao. The purple Qilin True Form condensed once more, but this time, wisps of chaotic energy coiled around its scales, and divine light capable of cleaving heaven and earth flickered at the tips of its dragon horns.
The Fierce Beast roared in defiance and struggled with all his might to break free. Blinding blood-red light erupted around him, forcibly tearing a rift through the domain of chaos. Yet before he could escape, an enormous Qilin claw wreathed in chaotic energy slammed down upon his head!
"Boom!"
That strike carried the mighty power of creation, instantly shattering the defensive runes on the Fierce Beast's body. His enormous frame was sent flying backward, plowing a shocking trail of blood through the chaotic mist. His body, formed from countless remnant souls, was now visibly falling apart.
Shi Yi pressed his advantage, and the Qilin True Form threw back its head in a mighty roar. The chaotic mist churned with the sound, transforming into countless Order Divine Chains that bound the Fierce Beast fast. This earth-shaking battle had finally reached its closing moment...
"Qilin Step!"
The purple Qilin Shi Yi had become stamped its forehoof heavily upon the void. As that step landed, all the chaotic mist within the Medicine Cauldron shuddered. The shadowy forms of three thousand demon gods could faintly be seen manifesting within it, roaring with fury that shook heaven and earth.
When the seventh step thundered down with the power to cleave heaven and earth, the phantoms of all three thousand demon gods unleashed world-annihilating roars in unison. In that instant, even the river of time seemed to be severed. The entire space containing the sea of blood twisted violently, and the Fierce Beast's final howl of anguish cut off abruptly.
"It's over..."
Shi Yi dispersed his Qilin True Form, and the chaotic mist within his Double Pupils slowly receded. He was just about to channel his pupil power to heal his injuries when something suddenly changed!
The scattered remains of the Fierce Beast suddenly transformed into myriad streams of blood-red energy, pouring madly into his body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. Worse still, each stream contained the lingering will of a different Fierce Beast, now rampaging through his meridians.
"This is bad!"
Shi Yi gave a muffled groan as blood seeped from all seven orifices at once. He could feel countless savage wills raging within his sea of consciousness. Those slain Fierce Beasts were actually trying to be reborn through his flesh! Patterns of various Fierce Beasts began appearing across his skin, sometimes resembling a demonic wolf howling at the moon, sometimes a Zhu Yan beating his chest, as though myriad Fierce Beasts were slaughtering one another inside him.
"Aaargh!"
Shi Yi groaned, veins bulging across his forehead like coiled horned dragons. Enduring the excruciating pain that seemed to tear his soul apart, he sat cross-legged in the void. Divine power surged madly within him as he tried to construct a final line of defense. Yet the instant it touched those strange currents, it dissolved like snow meeting boiling oil!
Those currents, refined from the remnant souls of myriad beasts, now became countless hideous Fierce Beast phantoms rampaging inside him. More terrifying still, they could penetrate his barriers of divine power and roam unchecked through the depths of his marrow.
"Crack!"
Shi Yi heard a faint cracking sound from the bone in his arm. Tiny beads of blood began seeping through his skin, no larger than pinpricks at first, then gathering into streams in the blink of an eye. When the first thumb-sized bead of blood fell into the sea of
blood, the entire sea suddenly began to boil, as though celebrating the completion of some ritual.
Amid the agony, Shi Yi suddenly realized that these currents were destroying every part of his body. His meridians were ruthlessly torn apart, and his bones, crystalline as jade, were shattered.