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The instant the three from Evil Moon Valley made their move, Liu Yan acted decisively, summoning the Sacred Spirit's Feather to shield Zhang Ruoxi. Only with that protection in place could she fight without restraint.
"Kyeee—!" A piercing cry rang out across the surrounding wilderness, snapping Hua Gu and the others out of their shock and dread. The three looked up and saw that Liu Yan was nowhere to be found. In her place soared a bizarre firebird over a dozen zhang in length, its entire body wreathed in blazing crimson flame.
Within the strange bird's body, bolts of lightning crackled and raced — it possessed both the domineering attributes of fire and lightning.
"She's not human!" Zhou An finally bellowed, belatedly coming to his senses.
Liu Yan revealing her true form finally explained the odd feeling he'd had from the start. The moment he'd laid eyes on Liu Yan, something about the woman had struck him as different from an ordinary person — she didn't seem to be made of flesh and blood. Now he could say with absolute certainty: Liu Yan was no living creature.
"This is an Artifact Spirit!" Hua Gu reached the same realization. The fear that had been in his eyes moments ago abruptly gave way to greedy brilliance, and he burst into hearty laughter. "Hahahaha, the heavens truly smile upon me! I've been wracking my brains over how to elevate the grade of my Karmic Fire Pestle, and now I stumble upon an Artifact Spirit right here!"
As he spoke, he turned sharply to the other two and roared, "Junior Brothers — this Artifact Spirit is all I ask for. Once I've claimed it, you two may divide everything else however you please. No objections?"
Zhou An and Xiong Ning exchanged a glance and both nodded. "We'll defer to Senior Brother's judgment."
"Good!" Hua Gu nodded and fixed Liu Yan with a cold, sinister stare. "Judging by your form, you've already developed independent sentience. To have cultivated to this level — truly not easy. Out of the goodness of my heart, I'll leave you a path to survival. Behave yourself and enter my Karmic Fire Pestle, and I swear I won't erase your spiritual consciousness. What do you say?"
Even as he spoke, he summoned a pestle-shaped Artifact. The object radiated a dense aura, brimming with spiritual energy — it was unmistakably a Dao Source Grade high-tier Artifact.
Such an Artifact was already an extraordinarily rare treasure. If a Spirit like Liu Yan were to inhabit it, and Hua Gu then refined it further, the Karmic Fire Pestle might very well qualify for promotion to Emperor Treasure!
Moreover, as a third-level Dao Source Realm cultivator, Hua Gu could potentially harness the power of an Emperor Treasure to peer into the mysteries of the Emperor Realm.
That was why, despite knowing the Mystic World Bead was immensely valuable, he'd been willing to let it go — all he wanted was to subdue Liu Yan. After all, one's own cultivation base was the most fundamental source of power.
But Liu Yan's answer to his proposal was a pillar of fire.
The infernal column plunged down from above, as though intent on melting the earth itself, carrying with it searing, devastating heat.
The three from Evil Moon Valley scrambled to dodge.
Hua Gu refused to give up. He barked harshly, "Don't be so foolish as to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! If you had kept that thing for yourself and used it against us, I might have shown some caution. But now you've turned it into a barrier to protect this girl — what have you left to fight us with!"
The "thing" he referred to was, of course, the Luan Phoenix Feather.
In his view, Liu Yan had committed a fatal blunder by using her most powerful treasure purely for defense. True, she could protect Zhang Ruoxi this way, but she was no match for the three of them working together. Once they dealt with Liu Yan, how could Zhang Ruoxi possibly survive on her own?
She would have been far better off ignoring Zhang Ruoxi's fate entirely and using the Sacred Spirit power within the Luan Phoenix Feather to attack them head-on.
"Whoosh—" Another pillar of fire plummeted from the sky.
"Playing with fire in front of me?" Hua Gu snorted coldly. The Karmic Fire Pestle spun and rose to meet the onslaught, and the fire pillar Liu Yan had launched was completely absorbed by the pestle without a single drop escaping. Only then did he speak with the air of a man who had already won. "It seems your sentience is rather limited after all."
"Kyeee!" The clear cry rang out once more. Liu Yan opened her beak and spat out fireballs the size of washbasins, raining them down in a torrential barrage.
"I just told you it was pointless, and you still come back for more!" Hua Gu roared in irritation. The Karmic Fire Pestle surged forward once again.
Boom boom boom…
A chain of thunderous explosions tore through the air, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth descended into violent chaos.
"What?!" Hua Gu's expression changed drastically. He formed a hand seal, hurriedly recalling his Karmic Fire Pestle, and looked down — to find arcs of lightning dancing across the surface of his Dao Source Grade high-tier Artifact. The moment he touched it, the pure lightning force surged into his body, leaving him tingling from head to toe.
"Such tremendous lightning power as well?" The greed and avarice in Hua Gu's eyes blazed even brighter. An Artifact Spirit like this was the find of a lifetime — perhaps once in ten thousand years. If he could subdue it, his Karmic Fire Pestle might not only ascend to Emperor Treasure status but also gain lightning-attributed power!
"Senior Brother, stop wasting words with her! Since she won't submit, we'll just beat her until she does!" Zhou An had dodged two attacks already, and his patience had run out.
"Fine — but be careful. Don't damage her spiritual essence!" Hua Gu nodded but couldn't help adding a word of caution.
Zhou An snorted coldly. "If my strikes are a bit heavy-handed and she ends up getting hurt, that's her own fault."
With that, Zhou An flicked his wrist and a long spear materialized in his hand. Blossoms of spear-light erupted as he charged at Liu Yan.
And the ever-silent Xiong Ning finally unleashed his own killing technique — palms pressed together, he channeled his Source Force and thrust them forward with explosive force.
"Primordial Divine Spear!"