I leaped onto the shore.
I quickly caught my breath.
At this moment, the old monster followed me onto the bank.
He was covered in black energy, with four or five fish-headed minion monsters trailing behind him.
Those specters were remnants of souls from the water, unable to come ashore.
At this moment, only their glistening white heads could be seen on the surface of the water, their eyes like black holes watching me.
I looked at the old monster before me and smiled faintly.
"You thought you had me cornered?"
As I spoke, I touched the wound on my waist. Blood continued to flow.
In just a short while, it had already soaked down to my thigh.
The old monster, smelling the scent of my blood, was exhilarated.
"Buddha's compassion is boundless. My eating you is merely to defile you. Your soul is too pure. Come! Stop struggling. Let this Buddha devour you properly!"
After saying that, a long tongue extended from his mouth.
He smiled coldly at me.
But I remained unmoved, simply adopting a fighting stance.
"It seems, this Buddha must first cripple you."
The old monster finished speaking, raised his twin blades, and charged.
Seeing the old monster attack, I didn't retreat. Instead, I moved to meet him.
But what he didn't notice was that in my left hand, I was already clutching a talisman.
The Divine Fire Talisman.
I had already imbued the fire talisman with my power, ensuring it would be impervious to water for the next two hours.
The reason I had led this old monster step-by-step onto the shore,
And at the cost of multiple injuries, was to make him lower his guard.
Moreover, only on land could I best unleash the Divine Fire Talisman.
It was impossible to use effectively in the water.
Of course, I only wished to fight with my own strength to achieve the best outcome.
If I had simply wanted to kill him,
This old monster with his limited cultivation would have been dead seventeen or eighteen times over.
In the blink of an eye, the old monster and I were locked in combat again.
The remaining fish-headed monsters also surged forward menacingly.
"Bang!" I blocked his twin blades with my sword.
The old monster continued to give me a sinister smile.
But at this moment, a slight curve appeared on my lips, mocking him.
The old monster perhaps sensed something was amiss.
But before he could figure out why I was wearing such an expression,
I violently slapped the Divine Fire Talisman, clutched in my left hand, onto the old monster.
A sudden strike, a planned strike of mine, at such close range.
This old monster couldn't react at all, his body rapidly trying to retreat.
But it was half a beat too late. My talisman,
With a "slap," I pressed it down.
It was aimed at the old monster's head and chest.
At the critical moment, he dodged, and it landed directly on his right arm.
But it didn't matter. As long as it made contact and left a mark,
The Divine Fire Talisman could be activated.
The old monster was greatly alarmed.
But I had already let out a low growl:
"Divine Fire Talisman, haste as the law commands, CH!"
In an instant, the talisman light flashed.
"Boom!"
The talisman turned to dust.
A burst of talismanic fire erupted instantly from the talisman,
Swallowing him whole.
Two fish-headed monsters beside him were caught in the blast, suffering the same fate.
The scorching heat made the surrounding ten meters feel intensely hot.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
The screams of the old monster and the fish-headed monsters echoed.
They tried to extinguish the talismanic fire on their bodies.
However, a talismanic imprint had been placed on the old monster's right arm.
Above their foreheads, three balls of fire condensed.
They rapidly expanded from the fingertips to the size of human heads.
The searing heat, the fiery brightness,
Illuminated the river surface.
The high temperature made me, ten meters away, feel the scorched smell of my own hair follicles.
The old monster was terrified, especially when he saw the three flames hovering above his head, his face turning even paler.
He continuously retreated backward, turning and leaping into the river, attempting to extinguish the fire.
However, the talismanic fire remained fiery and bright even in the water.
The three balls of flame hovering in mid-air now buzzed with a "hummm" sound, and with masses of fireballs, they directly plunged into the river water.
Each ball of flame made a muffled "boom" sound as it hit the river surface.
And the fireballs followed, burrowing into the riverbed. Wherever they passed, the dead fish and specters were instantly incinerated.
The fleeing old monster was also struck by the three balls of flame at the riverbed.
"Ah! Ah..."
Wails of tragic misery continued to resound.
The riverbed seemed to glow red from the heat. From the bank, I could see the flames beneath the water.
As the caster, I was also shocked.
I never expected the Divine Fire Talisman's fire to be so powerful.
It could still burn like this in the water.
As for the surrounding fish-headed monsters, they had already submerged, and the specters dispersed.
I looked at the fiery riverbed.
Taking a deep breath, I plunged back into the water.
I wanted to see if the old monster, after being hit by the Divine Fire Talisman, had been burned into a charred corpse or ash.
The flames burned at the riverbed for about ten seconds.
When I dived to the riverbed, I was astonished to find that the old monster was still alive.
He lay at the bottom of the river, his life hanging by a thread.
The area around the riverbed had turned completely black.
The old monster's entire body was scorched and ruined, and he was missing an arm.
Judging by the wound, he had severed it himself.
Seeing this, I understood.
At the critical moment, this monster must have severed the arm bearing the talisman's imprint, thereby evading the final three bursts of scorching flames and narrowly escaping death.
However, the Divine Fire Talisman's power was immense.
Even without being directly hit by the three divine fires, he was burned to a charred state, half-dead.
Seeing him again.
I asked him with a hint of amusement,
"Is your Buddha still compassionate?"
My question almost made the old monster die of anger.
He let out continuous "croak croak" sounds, like a toad.
"You, you win. You, you actually possessed such a potent talisman. It, it was this Buddha, this Buddha's carelessness."
The old monster spoke with unconcealed resentment.
However, I noticed.
Despite his severe injuries and weakened state,
His scorched body was healing at a visible rate.
I frowned slightly.
How could this be? Even in this state, you could still recover?