Before the Phoenix stood a strange beast roughly a thousand zhang long, shaped like a loach. Other than mud, its entire body was covered in a glossy, oily hide. At this moment, that hide already bore some torn gashes, from which dark emerald blood seeped. Yet once the blood flowed onto the sludge, it slowly congealed, far better than the crisscrossing wounds across the Phoenix's belly and back!
"Hiss, hiss..." The strange beast shrieked. Before the Phoenix's despairing gaze, it attacked again. The earth trembled, the mire boiled, and several black pillars of mud, each larger than the Phoenix herself, burst from the muddy water and lashed toward her. Wherever those mud pillars extended, space had already been torn apart, and strands of an incomparably foul stench surged from the void, enough to shroud a hundred li of space!
"Caw..." The Phoenix gave a clear cry, suppressing her despair. Her wings fluttered, and countless powers of stars and moon appeared from nowhere, transforming into splashes of water that shielded her. At the same time, more than a dozen brilliant Phoenix feathers flew out from her wings, waist, belly, and other places. "Boom, boom..." Several small clusters of flame rose from the Phoenix feathers. The ignited feathers turned and fell back into the Phoenix's body, and then, with another tremendous "Boom...", the Phoenix's flesh exploded. Within the radiance, several identical Phoenixes flew out. With several clear cries of "Caw, caw...", they flew in all directions...
"Hiss, hiss..." Seeing the Phoenixes fly away, the black mud pillars that had erupted earlier let out shrieks at the same time. From within those black mud pillars, several blood-red long tongues shot out like lightning!
The long tongues pierced into the void faster than flying swords. In an instant, cries of agony rang out again