Bai Shengyi’s internal organs ached from the exhaustion of her spiritual power, but just as she felt she could no longer hold on, two streams of warm energy flowed from her dantian and her back.
One stream originated from the black mist that had been feigning death in her sea of consciousness.
The other stream came from Qin Si behind her.
Although the spiritual power was from a mutated ice spirit root and was being channeled into Bai Shengyi’s body, she couldn’t feel the slightest hint of cold.
Bai Shengyi smiled gently at Qin Si and summoned the Nine Revolutions Rebirth Brush, tossing it towards the green net in the sky.
In an instant, the giant net’s grip on the ancient demonic beast tightened, erupting with intensely blinding light.
Simultaneously, streams of extremely dangerous flames flew out from within the net, transforming into the most formidable weapons, whistling towards Li Tingyun.
"Aaaahhh!"
Li Tingyun’s pupils constricted, and he couldn’t help but scream.
He had clearly guarded against these flames attacking him through space, and he had even touched their physical forms and dispersed them. Why could they now burn his divine consciousness?
He even felt that the demonic energy and cultivation he had gained from the blood sacrifice were being depleted as if he himself were consuming them, vanishing bit by bit!
This inexplicable situation was as if Bai Shengyi had long ago plotted an "escape route" for his cultivation, leaving him no direction to correct this "escape route"...
Li Tingyun was in a panic.
Just then, he saw the smooth, radiant brush in Bai Shengyi’s hand and was terrified.
"Rong Ku Brush?" Li Tingyun shrieked, "Why do you possess two divine artifacts!"
That sword, and this brush... wait! That sword is—
"Tian Ji Sword!"
Li Tingyun was so shocked he was rendered speechless: "The Tian Ji Sword is actually in your hands?"
The Tian Ji Sword, sought for years by the Wushang Sect and Hua Ling Mountain, was in the hands of an unremarkable female cultivator!
It wasn’t that Li Tingyun was overly shocked. After escaping the vast secret realm, he hadn’t paid any attention to Bai Shengyi’s whereabouts. He disdained female cultivators and naturally assumed Bai Shengyi couldn’t possibly have survived such a situation. Moreover, Yun Youyue was the favored son of destiny; how could anything Yun Youyue wished to accomplish fail?
Therefore, Li Tingyun was unaware of Bai Shengyi's title as Dao Monarch Rong Ku, nor did he know that Bai Shengyi possessed the Rong Ku Brush.
As for the Tian Ji Sword...
After Bai Shengyi acquired the sword, she had very few opportunities to use it in public, so Li Tingyun naturally wouldn’t know about it.
Now, with both divine artifacts attacking, and Bai Shengyi’s spiritual power inexplicably restraining the demonic auras on him and the ancient demonic beast, Li Tingyun finally felt the urge to retreat.
He waved his sleeve, and a treasure pagoda-like artifact appeared, instantly propping up the green net. Then, he leaped quickly, riding on the ancient demonic beast, and commanded, "Quick! Escape!"
"You wish!"
Qin Si’s gaze turned cold, and as he spoke, the Wuji Canghan Sword flew out of his hand, appearing behind Li Tingyun the next moment!
Li Tingyun immediately ducked onto the demonic beast. The Wuji Canghan Sword missed its target but immediately spun back. At that moment, Li Tingyun had just stood up.
"Pfft!"
The sword pierced through Li Tingyun.
"Master!"
The ancient demonic beast let out a furious roar. Forgetting for a moment that Li Tingyun had pushed it away earlier, its scarlet beast eyes concentrated a large mass of even darker demonic energy, and its entire form expanded by double.
Even though Bai Shengyi had quickly set up a barrier, many mortals in Donghui City were still stimulated by this sharp roar and fainted.
"It's gone berserk," Bai Shengyi frowned.
Once the demonic beast went berserk, it lost all reason, revealing its ferocious nature, driven only by the urge to kill.
As expected, the next moment, the ancient demonic beast completely ignored Li Tingyun’s command to flee. Instead, it turned around and ferociously clawed at Qin Si.
This claw strike possessed the power of the peak of the Ling Guang realm!
"Mountain Master, be careful!"
Below, Sun Ling, Li Shiqing, and the others were stunned. They hadn’t expected such a turn of events when victory was so close.
It was Bai Shengyi who decisively pulled Qin Si behind her and held the Tian Ji Sword forward.
"Bang!"
A resounding collision occurred.
The entire city wall, following Bai Shengyi’s retreating steps, instantly collapsed!
"Ayi!" Qin Si didn’t even have time to be surprised that Bai Shengyi’s movements were faster than his. Seeing the ancient demonic beast clawing again without regard, he immediately wanted to switch places with Bai Shengyi and shield her.
However, Bai Shengyi held onto him tightly, not allowing him to move forward.
As the ancient demonic beast was about to confront Bai Shengyi again, a loud, high-pitched roar suddenly came from where Bai Shengyi stood.
"Roar!"
This sudden roar caused the ancient demonic beast to pause.
Immediately after, a brilliant silver light emanated from Bai Shengyi, condensing in mid-air into a majestic white spirit beast. The beast resembled a fierce tiger, with agile limbs and smooth, lustrous fur, appearing incredibly divine and handsome.
"Bai Mao Mao?" Bai Shengyi was surprised. Was this the white, fluffy spirit beast in her sea of consciousness?
At the same time, Venerable Fei Yun, who had come searching under Kui Lanbiao’s instructions, deepened his gaze.
"Has Miao Miao’s divine beast bloodline been activated and returned to its ancestral form?"
"Roar!"
The spirited white spirit beast roared from its low stance, warning the ancient demonic beast not to be arrogant.
"Ancient divine beast White Tiger? No! You’re not!" The ancient demonic beast quickly realized and shook its head repeatedly. "Little girl, I advise you to get out of the way quickly and don’t obstruct me. It would be a shame if you, who have awakened an ancient divine beast’s bloodline, were to perish here today!"
As it spoke, the ferocity in its eyes only intensified. It pawed at the ground, staring at the white spirit beast.
This white spirit beast was Yue Miaomiao, who possessed a trace of the ancient divine beast White Tiger’s bloodline within her.
Yue Miaomiao, at this moment, had not recovered her human consciousness and was acting purely on instinct. Sensing danger to her contracted partner, she naturally came out.
"Roar!" The White Tiger bared its fangs and, without hesitation, pounced.
The ancient demonic beast could no longer restrain the savage factors within its body and met the attack. The two demonic beasts immediately engaged in a fierce battle.
Seeing this, Bai Shengyi retracted the Rebirth Brush and drew a line in the air: "Wind, come!"
A gale swept Li Tingyun off the demonic beast.
Before Li Tingyun could react, he was tightly bound by the green net. Following that, the Wuji Canghan Sword swiftly and decisively severed his hand and leg tendons.
"How dare you, wretch—" Li Tingyun glared at Qin Si with hatred, but halfway through his words, his mouth fell open as if he had seen something utterly terrifying.
"Being merciful to enemies is being cruel to oneself. Li Tingyun, did you really think we would give you another chance to escape?"
Bai Shengyi coughed softly. The exhaustion of her spiritual power caused blood to drip from her lips. Before the blood could fall, Qin Si’s slender fingers wiped it away.
Li Tingyun, unable to see these intimate gestures, stared intently at Bai Shengyi’s hand and the sword in her hand.
Her fair hand was stained with black blood.
The rusty sword seemed to disdain the ominous blood, emitting a blue glow. In a short while, the blood evaporated into black smoke.
And that blood all came from his dantian.
Just moments ago, Bai Shengyi had cleanly and without hesitation shattered his dantian!
Li Tingyun was so furious he was about to go mad: "Bai! Shen! Yi!"