Accompanying the howls, over a dozen roars of wild beasts echoed from the blood-filled water below.
A wild beast resembling a minotaur with a lion's body burst out of the water, its body glowing with a bloody light. However, it appeared gaunt, as if it had just awakened from an icy slumber. Yet, the aura it emitted was that of a fifth-order wild beast.
Subsequently, a black-furred leopard, a crimson serpent with two heads, and a silver-armored centipede fifteen or sixteen zhang in length all emerged from the water.
With continuous splashing sounds, more than a dozen different wild beasts emerged from the water. These beasts were the very ones that had been sealed within the Ice-Fire Jade, and they had all awakened simultaneously.
Ordinary wild beasts would have been manageable, but a large portion of these were high-level beasts. The sudden appearance of over a dozen wild beasts below caused Zhang Ling and his companions' expressions to darken immediately.
Woo-ooh.
A series of roars echoed as these wild beasts began to slaughter each other indiscriminately.
The minotaur-lion, the first to awaken, opened its mouth and bit into a green-skinned crocodile that had just emerged from the water. As a large amount of blood splattered, this peak fourth-order wild beast was instantly devoured.
The bloody aura on the minotaur-lion's body immediately intensified.
Regardless of their original attributes, the numerous wild beasts that surfaced from the blood-filled water all had a layer of bloody light, similar to that of the middle-aged male cultivator.
However, the bloody light on their bodies didn't seem to provide any defensive capabilities.
The area below descended into chaos, and those wild beasts that were not of high-level strength were instantly devoured.
A bloody scene unfolded.
A sixth-order blue-skinned fish with a mouth full of sharp teeth bit into a blood-colored serpent.
The serpent, in pain, quickly twisted its body, but as its long form moved, another bloodied maw bit down on its torso.
With a loud tearing sound, this fifth-order blood-colored serpent was instantly devoured by the two wild beasts.
For a time, the high-level wild beasts tore at each other in a frenzy of slaughter.
All of this happened in the span of a breath or two. Seeing this, a strong sense of crisis immediately arose in Zhang Ling's heart.
The middle-aged male cultivator, who was being attacked by the trio, had blood-red eyes and seemed to lack intelligence like the wild beasts, attacking wildly.
Unfortunately, his first target was none other than Yangshan Old Taoist.
This male cultivator was strange, moving as swift as the wind. His body glowed with blood-light, transforming into a bloody shadow. His hands, like the claws of a ferocious beast, grew inch-long nails, which he brandished, creating streaks of bloody light.
His aura was three times stronger than that of Yangshan Old Taoist as he chased and attacked him.
Madam Cao was also being attacked by a sixth-order two-headed serpent, leaving her unable to break free.
Zhang Ling was naturally not spared. The enormous silver-armored centipede instantly flew out of the water, opening its mouth and spraying a large cloud of green mist towards him.
In an instant, the entire space became a scene of carnage.
The two flying swords released by Zhang Ling rapidly circled around him, creating a series of cyan sword lights, protecting him tightly.
At the same time, a mass of Heavenly Star Sand was released by him, condensing into giant sand spheres that attacked.
These sand spheres flickered with yellow light, each carrying over a thousand jin of gravity, smashing heavily towards the silver-armored centipede.
This silver-armored centipede was five or six zhang long and possessed the strength of a sixth-order wild beast. Its body was covered in silver armor, providing strong defense. Numerous attacks landed on it, resulting in a series of clanging sounds.
Then, the silver-armored centipede quickly circled a few times, emitting a cloud of green mist from its body. A sizzling sound came from within the mist, accompanied by a foul stench.
The mist sprayed by this beast seemed to be highly poisonous.
He did not panic in the slightest. With a flick of his hand, a gray-green vine grew out. Then, a cyan and red colored bead appeared in his left hand, releasing a layer of two-colored spiritual light.
Under the illumination of the light, the vine in his hand instantly detached from his arm and intertwined, transforming into a thick wooden snake.
Zhang Ling tossed the bead in his left hand, and it instantly merged into the wooden snake. The wooden snake then hissed like a real snake demon, transforming into a black shadow that instantly engaged the silver-armored centipede.
The round bead was the Human Origin Fiend Pill that he had refined. After so many years of nurturing, it had long become another one of his natal treasures.
In combination with the vine parasitizing his arm, whether for defense or attack, its power was enhanced by a third.
The wooden snake transformed from the vine looked similar to a high-level cultivator's Spirit Condensation Technique, using a treasure to transform an attack, but it was different. This was a new attack method he had developed from studying the Fiend Demon Art.
Using the Spirit Condensation Technique would consume his own spiritual power, but the spiritual power needed by this wooden snake was replaced by the Human Origin Fiend Pill, so Zhang Ling himself did not consume much power.
The wooden snake instantly entangled the silver-armored centipede, its vines rapidly waving, countless vines wrapping around it, making it look more like a monster, suppressing the sixth-order wild beast.
The silver-armored centipede was also very fierce, screeching a few times, and a large cloud of green mist emerged from its body. The vines wrapped around it sizzled and bubbled, rapidly being corroded.
After throwing out the vine, Zhang Ling did not idle. His hand seals rapidly changed, and the yellow quicksand in front of him intertwined, transforming into a sand sphere with a diameter of three or four zhang.
He even opened his mouth and spat out a cloud of yellow essence, submerging it into the sand sphere. The yellow light on the sand sphere flickered, instantly solidifying, turning into a yellow-black boulder.
"Rise!"
He roared in his heart, and the sand sphere smashed towards the centipede. At the same time, the two cyan flying swords beside him quickly merged together, forming a cyan light giant sword two zhang long.
With the increase in strength, his spellcasting speed also accelerated a lot, and he could also control two natal magic treasures at the same time.
The stone sphere, carrying heavy pressure, directly smashed into the upper body of the centipede with a loud bang. The silver-armored centipede wailed, and most of its body went limp.
Then, with a flash of cyan light, the centipede was directly cut in half. The two halves of the centipede's body were still writhing madly, but it was powerless to reverse its fate.
This scene was long in the telling, but in reality, killing this sixth-order silver-armored centipede only took seven or eight breaths.
With a thought from Zhang Ling, the wooden snake entangled by the vine, although half of it was corroded, instantly disintegrated, turning back into vines that submerged into his hand.
The Human Origin Fiend Pill was also instantly retrieved by him.
Then, a rustling sound was heard as yellow sand wrapped the two sections of the centipede's corpse and pulled them in front of him.
The upper half of the centipede's body was smashed to pieces, but most of the body was still intact, and the silver back armor on its body flickered with spiritual light. This was a very good material, enough to refine two or three good defensive shields.
Zhang Ling was overjoyed and waved his hand to collect the centipede's corpse.
