Within the hurricane formed by the Fire Demon Beast, the vague, strange laughter started intermittently, becoming clearer and clearer towards the end.
This Fire Demon Beast had previously shown a half-human, half-beast form, much like a demon beast entering the transformation stage. But it hadn't spoken human language until now, when it suddenly did.
Old Demon Blackwater and the others exchanged surprised glances.
Immediately after, green and red light flashed within the hurricane, and the Fire Demon Beast's roar was heard. "Since this body is so useless, this尊 will take over this demonized form."
This voice didn't seem to belong to the Fire Demon Beast's original consciousness, as if it were possessed or taken over by something.
At this moment, the Fire Cloud Elder, who had been smashed away earlier, reappeared, but his aura had weakened significantly. His hair was disheveled, and his chest and abdomen were caved in. He was covered in blood, and one arm was missing.
He was severely injured in this state.
The previous strike was powerful and sudden. If he hadn't been carrying an autonomous protective treasure from his clan that blocked most of the force, he would have been destroyed, even if it wasn't his physical body.
The Fire Cloud Elder gasped for breath and quickly took out a purple jade bottle. He crushed the bottle and swallowed a purplish-red pill inside.
He manipulated hand seals and patted several magic seals onto his body, finally stabilizing his aura. His gaze immediately fell on the hurricane formed by the Fire Demon Beast.
With his considerable spiritual power, he could see the Fire Demon Beast flashing with green and red light. Its aura was changing.
In a short time, a layer of bloody baleful aura covered the Fire Demon Beast. Its ten-zhang-tall body shrank again, returning to its half-human, half-beast form. The deer head on its neck turned blood-red, and a vague blood-colored grotesque face grew on the top of its head.
At first glance, it looked like it had two faces on its head.
The black-red long staff that had suddenly attacked him was also stuck in front of the Fire Demon Beast, with a ball of five-colored spiritual light flashing beneath it. It was the Demon Sealing Disc that had originally been in his hand.
Seeing the Demon Sealing Disc, the Fire Cloud Elder's expression changed drastically. He quickly manipulated hand seals, casting spells to control the Demon Sealing Disc.
However, the magic light from his spells couldn't reach the Demon Sealing Disc, as it was deflected by the hurricane around the Fire Demon Beast.
At the same time, Old Demon Blackwater, the Purple Mountain female cultivator, and the others attacked it, creating a series of booming sounds.
But this only weakened the hurricane slightly, and they couldn't break through it for a while.
Seeing this, the Fire Cloud Elder dared not delay. He gritted his teeth, and a flash of fire appeared in his mouth as he spat out the Skyfire Bottle, spraying a ball of essence blood onto it. The bottle swelled up instantly, emitting terrifying fire spiritual power.
Because he had to rely on Old Demon Blackwater's Profound Water divine power against the Fire Demon Beast, the Fire Cloud Elder hadn't used powerful fire-attribute attacks in the previous battle, to avoid damaging Old Demon Blackwater's divine power.
But now that he was seriously injured and the Demon Sealing Disc had been snatched, the Fire Cloud Elder naturally couldn't care about anything else. While offering the treasure bottle, he shouted loudly to the others, "Fellow Daoists, this fiend is unusual. It's definitely not an ordinary demon beast. If it escapes, none of us will survive. Use whatever means you have!"
The Skyfire Bottle emitted a large amount of firelight, transforming into a two-zhang-tall flame treasure bottle. From inside, it spat out streaks of purple fire.
The fire streaks intertwined and transformed into a hundred-zhang-long fire dragon, shaking its head and tail as it rushed over.
With a loud rumble, the firelight collided with the hurricane, and a violent wind-fire force scattered in all directions.
Old Demon Blackwater in the sky also let out a sharp roar. With a flick of his hand, a white light shot out. Although he was skilled in ice and water attribute divine powers, this white light wasn't water-attribute demonic energy. Instead, it burst with sharp energy.
Wrapped in the white light was a grayish-white object. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a claw or tooth of a demon beast, with golden runes engraved on it. It seemed to have been specially refined.
With a flash of light, it instantly struck the wind sphere. Immediately, a golden light flashed, and countless golden runes exploded.
It shattered a small portion of the wind sphere.
The Purple Robed female cultivator and the other two also released several powerful attacks simultaneously.
A long, cyan ribbon wrapped around in the air, and cyan flying birds flew out from it. These birds opened their mouths and emitted piercing cries.
Circles of visible cyan sound waves impacted the wind sphere.
The gray-haired old man spat out a cloud of gray mist. Upon closer inspection, it contained densely packed gray flying ants.
These flying ants charged into the wind sphere and all self-destructed, turning into a cloud of green gas. A fishy stench spread.
Although the gaunt youth didn't offer other treasures, he controlled the golden brick magic weapon. Under the urging of his magic, it expanded and contracted, transforming into a huge gold brick thirty to forty zhang tall. He moved it to the top of the Fire Demon Beast and smashed it down hard.
Under the joint efforts of the five, the hurricane protecting the Fire Demon Beast was broken, even if it was transformed from true demon energy.
The golden brick magic weapon that arrived last crashed down, directly pressing the Fire Demon Beast underneath it.
The gaunt youth immediately revealed a look of joy. Although his golden brick magic weapon was slow, its power was enough to be decisive.
With this strike, even a ninth-order demon beast would be smashed into meat paste.
But the next moment, his golden brick magic weapon bounced back with a bang. Incredibly, it uncontrollably smashed back at him.
Before the gaunt youth could react, he was smashed away by his own magic weapon. His entire body immediately turned into blood foam. Not even his nascent soul was left behind, disappearing from the world.
The golden brick magic weapon dimmed and turned into an ordinary gold brick, falling to the ground.
Seeing this scene, the Fire Cloud Elder and the others' expressions changed drastically. Looking at the Fire Demon Beast's location, it was now empty.
The Fire Demon Beast was gone.
The group quickly searched for the Fire Demon Beast's whereabouts.
Suddenly, another scream of agony was heard.
A flash of cyan and red light appeared behind the Purple Robed female cultivator. The humanoid Fire Demon Beast silently appeared behind her, and with a wave of the red-black long staff in its hand, it shattered half of the Purple Robed female cultivator's body before she could react.
The Fire Demon Beast's demonic claws lightly shook and grabbed a purple nascent soul from the female's remaining body. It directly sent it into its mouth and swallowed it.
This scene happened in an instant. Two early-stage nascent soul cultivators died tragically on the spot.
The Fire Cloud Elder's eyes were about to burst with fury. He inverted the Skyfire Bottle and spat out a blinding purple fire directly towards the Fire Demon Beast.
The Fire Demon Beast smiled strangely, and with a flap of its wings, its entire body turned into more than a dozen afterimages and disappeared, easily dodging the attack.
This strange speed was much faster than before.
For a moment, the Fire Demon Beast's phantoms were everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish the real from the fake.
The gray-haired old man was terrified, losing all will to fight. He shuddered and turned into a gray light, fleeing as if trying to leave this place.
This scene immediately attracted the Fire Demon Beast's attention.
The phantoms formed by the Fire Demon Beast all turned their heads, and countless eyes stared at the man, giving a strange laugh.
"Hehe, trying to escape?"
As soon as the voice fell, more than a dozen phantoms of the Fire Demon Beast immediately merged into a shooting star and shot out.
The gray-haired old man seemed to sense the danger, and quickly threw out a blue, glittering shield, blocking it behind him.
However, with a loud bang, the blue shield was directly knocked away by a black-red staff shadow.
The old man cried out in alarm, and gray light flashed in his mouth, as if he wanted to use some means. He heard a piercing scream in his ear, causing him to tremble and freeze in place.
The black-red long staff swept over again with terrifying power. It looked like this person was also about to die tragically.
Just then, the black-red long staff suddenly flipped over, not hitting the gray-haired old man, but hitting the empty space behind him.
The void rippled, and a figure wrapped in red spiritual light flew out.
"There's still one hidden," the humanoid Fire Demon Beast said with a strange laugh, staring at the figure in the red light. This person was a cultivator wearing red armor.
It was about to kill the gray-haired old man when it suddenly felt a strange aura hidden behind it. The Fire Demon Beast was naturally shocked. It immediately changed its attack target and hit the hidden person.
With a wave of the staff in its hand, dense staff shadows struck the red-armored cultivator who was flying backwards.
A golden light flashed in the red-armored cultivator's hand, and a thick black-green wooden shield appeared. Although it was being pushed back, it blocked the staff shadows' attacks.
Seeing this scene, the Fire Demon Beast let out a surprised sound. The staff in its hand was a demonic weapon with extraordinary power.
Ordinary magic weapons could be shattered with one blow, proving that the cultivator's shield had actually withstood its attack.
Black light flashed on the humanoid Fire Demon Beast, and strands of true demon energy wrapped around its two long arms. The black-red long staff vibrated and quickly waved. It knocked the red-armored cultivator away along with the shield.
With a flap of its wings, it was about to chase after him, determined to give the red-armored cultivator a fatal blow.
But at this moment, the Fire Demon Beast suddenly felt an extremely cold force erupting below. A huge black ice ball bounced up, hitting it with ice flowers.
Without time to think, the Fire Demon Beast instinctively waved the staff in its hand, and a huge staff shadow swept out. With a loud bang, the staff shadow shattered the ice ball.
However, to its surprise, a mysterious tortoise with an extraordinary aura was hidden in the ice ball. Judging by its aura, it was a ninth-order tortoise demon.
The Fire Demon Beast immediately felt that something was wrong. How could there suddenly be an extra cultivator and a tortoise demon? And their strengths were not ordinary.
It hadn't sensed the auras of these two guys at all earlier.
It could be said that one of them had secret divine powers and could deceive it, but judging from the situation, these two guys seemed to have been hiding here for a long time.
And at this moment,
Amidst countless broken ice pieces, the mysterious tortoise bit the long staff in its mouth, and the power of extreme cold erupted, covering the staff with thick black ice crystals, quickly spreading towards the Fire Demon Beast.
It also pulled hard, and a huge force came, almost causing the Fire Demon Beast to lose its grip on the staff.
The Fire Demon Beast quickly opened its mouth and spat out a ball of cyan wind, dividing into large cyan wind blades that swept out.
The mysterious tortoise remained motionless, still pulling on the staff. The tortoise shell on its back flashed with silver light, covering its body with a layer of silver-black spiritual light, resisting these wind blades.
With a series of clanging sounds, the silver-black light shield on the entire tortoise was scattered by the large wind blades, but the power of the wind blades was also reduced by seventy to eighty percent. The remaining wind blades hit the tortoise shell, only creating white marks.
It was impossible to cause fatal damage to the mysterious tortoise.
At the same time, the mysterious tortoise shook its entire body and transformed into a human, turning into a black-faced youth. With a slight wave of one arm, two silver arcs slashed out, directly cutting towards the Fire Demon Beast's head.
The two silver arcs were extraordinary in power and arrived in an instant.
The blood-colored face on the Fire Demon Beast's head revealed a look of shock and anger, and roared. Its two arms swelled several times as if they were filled with blood, and it took back the staff, dancing it into a whirlwind, blocking the two arcs. The mysterious tortoise was also knocked away by a thick staff shadow, directly smashing a large pit in the ground.
But before the Fire Demon Beast could be happy, it saw that the red-armored cultivator who had been knocked away earlier had actually rushed to the front. A giant axe flashing with red light in his hand was splitting down.
The Fire Demon Beast spread the wings on its back, about to dodge this attack. But it immediately discovered that its body had become somewhat heavy, and with a sweep of its gaze, it turned out that a large area of yellow light had been spread around it at some point.
Before it could think about what was happening, the red light giant axe had already reached the top of its head.
The Fire Demon Beast quickly placed the staff in its hand horizontally, blocking the giant axe. But its body was also pressed down to the ground.
At the same time, the mysterious tortoise that had been smashed to the ground appeared unscathed, with a bronze long spear in its hand, waving it upwards.
The bronze long spear transformed into a giant two-headed snake more than ten zhang long, rushing towards the Fire Demon Beast that was being suppressed.
The Fire Demon Beast was also fierce, and the blood light flashed on the wings on its back, releasing countless blood-colored light thorns, piercing through the yellow light that was pressing on it.
The yellow light dimmed and weakened, and the pressure on its body was greatly reduced. Its entire body turned into an afterimage and dodged the attack.
However, it instantly revealed its form again because it crashed into a quicksand.
After the Fire Demon Beast revealed its form, the meridians on the blood-colored face on its head were abnormal. Looking around, it found that large groups of quicksand were flowing everywhere, and it was as if it were in a sandstorm.
At this time, the sand and dust in front of it suddenly separated, and cyan light flashed inside, and streaks of sword light flew out.
The Fire Demon Beast danced the staff in its hand wildly to block the sword light, but at the same time, beside its head, a light flashed, and a translucent silver flying needle suddenly appeared, stabbing straight at it.
With a clear sound, the sound was not loud, and the silver flying needle pierced into the Fire Demon Beast's right head.
The Fire Demon Beast immediately let out a scream, and its entire body stiffened. The staff in its hand also slowed down.
Streaks of sword light directly struck its body, and the Fire Demon Beast immediately had blood marks on its body. The scales and feathers attached to its body were cracked.
At this time, Zhang Ling's figure flew out of the quicksand behind him. Staring at the Fire Demon Beast expressionlessly.
At the same time, the red-armored cultivator was also beside him. This red-armored cultivator was naturally none other than the repaired headless puppet.
This puppet was fused with Phantom Spirit Soft Jade and had some transformation powers. It would be difficult for even great cultivators to notice that this was a puppet without careful observation.
With a thought, the giant axe in the puppet's hand flashed with red light, and immediately split out a dazzling red light. It immediately cut off the Fire Demon Beast's head from behind.
By killing this beast, he could immediately obtain the wind and fire attribute magic crystal within the Fire Demon Beast.
Zhang Ling revealed a hint of joy, but his expression instantly darkened.
Because the Fire Demon Beast, whose head had been chopped off, was not dead yet. A bloody tentacle suddenly shot out from the beast's bloody chest, quickly缠绕(chán rào - entwining), and the top of the tentacle split open, actually growing a bloody head again.
But this head was no longer the Fire Demon Beast's deer head; instead, it was a human head covered in black scales, with two inch-long blood-colored curved horns growing on it, making it look even more terrifying.
This strange head suddenly flipped over completely, staring fiercely at Zhang Ling. Its blood-red gaze swept over Zhang Ling, revealing a hint of surprise.
"So, it's you."
