“My soul, my Sage spirit is about to leave me again!”
“N-no!!”
The few remaining heads of the Nine-Headed Snakelet yelped in horror.
The Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit had already been reaped once before to refine into the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl. Although his Sage spirit had fused into his body again, there had yet been enough time for it to fully integrate, and coupled with being heavily wounded by Chu Kuangren, the Nine-Headed Snakelet was now half-conscious. Hence, he had no chance to resist the Soul Retriever's attack!
A giant Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit was pulled out of his body crudely by the Soul Retriever. The only thing Chu Kuangren could feel right now was the intense drainage of spiritual power inside his body. Very soon, one-sixth of it had been exhausted.
“Indeed, using the Soul Retriever to pull out a soul of this level really drains a lot of spiritual power,” Chu Kuangren thought to himself. Thankfully, he was now an Honorable Supreme. If he was still an Honorable, he had no guarantee that he could successfully extract the Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit out.
The Nine-Headed Snakelet Sage spirit struggled for quite some time but at last, a bright light radiated on its body. Then, numerous mysterious runes hovered above the Nine-Headed Sage spirit's body before turning into a huge sphere that locked him inside.
“No, no!!”
“D*mn it. I've waited so long to regain my freedom. I don't want to go back to that Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl again and become a slave. Never!”
However, no matter how much the Nine-Headed Snakelet Sage spirit growled in fury, his Sage spirit just kept shrinking under the restraint of the runes.
In the end, it turned into a colorful pearl that was the size of a fist.
Chu Kuangren stashed away his Soul Retriever.
“Oh, this is what they call the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl?”
Chu Kuangren was rather surprised.
It had never crossed his mind that the runes that were responsible for refining the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl would still be present after the Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit had returned to its original vessel.
When the Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit was extracted, the effects of these runes were reactivated to refine the Sage spirit into the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl once again.
“The skills of the Royal Azure Dynasty's Founding Emperor were truly extraordinary.”
Chu Kuangren praised and withdrew the sword formation.
He held the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl up and watched the Nine-Headed Snakelet throw a fit inside before he deposited the pearl into his Yin and Yang Ring.
Then, he turned his gaze to a point not far away. Lan Yu, who was battling Li Ze, had made astonis.h.i.+ng improvements, especially after her painstaking cultivation throughout this period. Even Chu Kuangren felt a little ashamed of himself.
Although there was a gap between Lan Yu's combat strength and the empyrean walker's, she was not much weaker. In fact, she was battling Li Ze with great grit and prowess.
“D*mn it, the Nine-Headed Snakelet Sage spirit has been turned into the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl again!!
Li Ze's expression was extremely glum. He could no longer elicit a reaction from the Craggy Ocean Curse that he had planted in the Nine-Headed Snakelet's Sage spirit. It must have been suppressed by the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl's runes.
“Since the Nine-Headed Snakelet is now gone, it serves no purpose to me anymore!!”
Li Ze inhaled sharply. After he had guided the Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul Kun Whale to throw Lan Yu off her course, he wanted to retrieve his b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul and then flee the scene.
Yet at this moment, a black chain suddenly flung out and hooked itself onto the Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul, Kun Whale firmly, rendering it no means of escape.
To a certain extent, this Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul was like a Sage spirit. They were a similar kind of astral body.
As long as it was an astral body, the Soul Retriever would be able to pull off its effect!
“What's going on?!”
Li Ze's expression sank. He kept on channeling the spiritual power inside his body, but he still failed to summon his Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul, Kun Whale.
“Heh, this Kun Whale is quite fascinating. It's like some sort of summoner's item. Let me have a closer look at how it works.”
Chu Kuangren activated his Eye of Revelation and began to a.n.a.lyze this b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul.
“The Kun Whale, one of the extinct species of ancient strange beasts. Its soul was captured by the Craggy Ocean Tower. Using a secret technique, they had refined it into a b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul…”
After taking a good look at it, Chu Kuangren came to a sudden realization. “It seems the Craggy Ocean Tower has quite a lot of these things. Why don't you take out a few for me to play with?”
“Hmph, b.e.s.t.i.a.l souls are our Craggy Ocean Tower's precious treasures. You're not allowed to access it if you're not a core member. How do you suppose I give it to you?!”
Li Ze sneered back at him.
“If that's the case, then what use is there for me to keep you alive?”
Chu Kuangren said bluntly.
He slowly lifted one arm, where a tremendous spiritual power erupted instantaneously and turned into an enormous golden hand. It was the Giant Palm of Exorcism!
With his b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul restrained, Li Ze had no idea how to react. He channeled whatever spiritual power he had left within his body and struck out a fist.
“Thousand Beasts Art, Manticore!!”
Growl!
A fierce tiger-like strange beast leaped up into the sky.
The Manticore's momentum struck onto the giant gold hand. Nevertheless, with a loud boom, the Manticore's figure was reduced into countless fragments of spiritual power that dissipated.
“Present in its vessel, but empty in its soul. So, this is as far as your Craggy Ocean Tower's Thousand Beasts Art can get,” Chu Kuangren said nonchalantly. He had already fully understood Li Ze's cultivation technique through the Eye of Revelation.
The Thousand Beasts Art was not at all weak. As a matter of fact, it was very close to the level of an Emperor Scripture, but alas, it was not an Emperor Scripture.
Boom…
The enormous hand slammed onto Li Ze's body, smas.h.i.+ng its victim deep into the ground!
The horrifying power instantly crushed Li Ze's bones.
“You… you have the audacity to kill me?!”
Li Ze said, completely terror-stricken.
“Why won't I?” Chu Kuangren replied with indifference.
Unlike the few other empyrean walkers who came to the Black Heaven Sect not long ago, his vendetta with Li Ze went way deeper.
Ye Xin, Feng Yaorao, and the gang merely lost to him in a challenge
However, Li Ze tricked Gu Changge to steal the Nine-Headed Snakelet Pearl and sabotaged the Royal Azure Dynasty. Now that he had painstakingly killed off the Nine-Headed Snakelet, Chu Kuangren reckoned that Li Ze would not let him off so easily.
Since that was the case, he might as well end him right now.
Chu Kuangren threw out another slam, delivering Li Ze a killing blow!
It was right at the moment of Li Ze's death that the Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul, Kun Whale, which Chu Kuangren had hooked onto with the Soul Retriever, transformed into countless little spots of light. They gathered in the sky and formed a fist-sized… egg?!
Chu Kuangren stood on the spot and caressed his chin as he pondered. “This must be that b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul's essence. If I refine it, I'd be able to summon the Craggy Ocean b.e.s.t.i.a.l Soul, Kun Whale again. Wow, who knew that I'd stumble upon this accidental discovery?”
He put away this b.e.s.t.i.a.l soul essence before he used the Glutinous Devouring Technique to exhume and refine Li Ze's remains. After that, he threw it into his Yin and Yang Ring along with the Nine-Headed Snakelet's dead body, cleaning up the scene completely.
Besides, the thunderstorm was still ongoing.
As long as they left the place, nothing would point towards them being here before.
“Cleaning up the scene and destroying the evidence. Mission accomplished!”
Chu Kuangren clapped his hands.
There was n.o.body left at the scene. Those from the Nine Head Clan had long fled the scene, and some unfortunate ones had been devoured by the Nine-Headed Snakelet. After the wanton destruction wrought by the Nine-Headed Snakelet, it was safe to say that the Nine Head Clan was gone. They would never invade the Royal Azure Dynasty ever again.
“Let's go.”
Chu Kuangren took Lan Yu away from the scene.
In the Craggy Ocean Tower.
Incredibly ruthless energy erupted on the top of a mountain.
“Who is it?!”
“Who murdered our Craggy Ocean Tower's empyrean walker?!”
At a mountaintop, an old man was extremely infuriated. There was violent murderous qi in his eyes, and because he was so angry, tightly-knit dragon-scale-like furrows would also appear on his face.
In his hand was a broken jade scroll.
That was Li Ze's life jade scroll.
If Li Ze died, the life jade scroll would break as well.
“Investigate it. Send someone to investigate it!”
“Honorable Teacher, why don't I go?”
At this moment, a green-robed man walked up to him and said, “With Senior Brother's death, the Craggy Ocean Tower would need to send out a new empyrean walker. While I bring fame to our sect in the outside world, I'll find out how my Senior Brother died.”
“Sounds good. Yuan Xian, you're almost as strong as your Senior Brother, so I have full confidence in you. However, you need to be more cautious during your journey to the outside world. Pay extra attention especially to that guy named Chu Kuangren. Don't mess with him if you can.” The old man took in a deep breath and said slowly.
“Understood, Honorable Teacher.”