"What?!"
The moment the blood lake ignited with azure flames and rapidly spread almost turning all the crimson into blue Realman Whitebone had already sensed that something was going wrong.
Then, when Li Ye raised his hand and unleashed that divine thunderbolt, obliterating Daoist Feiyu on the spot, Realman Whitebone cried out in shock.
Without a moment's hesitation, he waved his white-bone banner. A thousand howling souls surged back, wrapping around him like a dark cloud as he turned to flee.
"You think you can run?! No chance!"
The black flood dragon, who had endured endless torment under Whitebone's ghostly arts, was still standing only because of the sheer tenacity and vitality of his beastly body.
Now, seeing Li Ye unleash such incredible powers and even kill Daoist Feiyu outright, the flood dragon knew the tide had turned.
There was no way he'd let Realman Whitebone escape now!
As dragons follow the clouds and tigers follow the wind
When it came to speed, the black flood dragon was no slouch either!
With a roar, he surged with demon energy, turning black water into cloud-like mist, propelling himself forward at high speed to close the gap behind Whitebone.
Opening his jaws, he spat out a stream of black water crackling with lightning. It shot straight at Realman Whitebone, striking him squarely in the back and blasting apart the ghostly cloud made of countless souls, breaking his escape momentum.
"You bony bastard, didn't you beat up your grandpa here quite fiercely just now? Why so quiet now, huh?!"
The flood dragon snarled, closing in immediately. With a swipe of his tail enveloped in lightning, he struck Realman Whitebone hard again, sending him flying.
A chorus of ghostly wails followed as countless souls scattered!
"You damned beast…"
Though the black flood dragon was severely injured, those two attacks were his full power but they only managed to slightly injure Realman Whitebone, not enough to cripple him.
Still, being swatted around like a ragdoll enraged Realman Whitebone. More importantly, it delayed his escape!
In that brief moment, even if Li Ye had spent considerable energy killing Daoist Feiyu, he would likely have recovered enough to pursue again.
Li Ye's spiritual power was even more refined and deeper than Whitebone had expected.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, streaks of divine light some fierce and some gentle carrying the might of thunder and fire, streaked across the sky and rapidly formed an array.
In a flash, they twisted into illusory grass, flowers, and trees, shrouded in a pale blue mist, forming a Sea of Trees under a Clear Sky, trapping him inside.
Though not as powerful as a complete Tier-3 formation, it was more than enough to delay him temporarily.
Realman Whitebone scanned the area with his divine sense but couldn't immediately find a weakness.
With a flick of his wrist, he threw out several near-tier-3 Formation-breaking talismans.
In an instant, silver and blood-red lights burst in all directions, breaking the illusion array.
"Whoa! That many Tier-3 Formation-breaking talismans?!"
The black flood dragon exclaimed, but showed no fear, charging once more.
Times had changed now with Li Ye backing him up, he had nothing to fear.
He was determined to make Whitebone pay back the wounds he had suffered just moments ago with interest!
"Hm?"
Even though his illusion array had been broken, Li Ye didn't move. From a distance, he calmly manipulated his spells to hinder the enemy.
Seeing the Formation-breaking talismans, he was a little surprised but quickly understood.
If even that Foundation Establishment cultivator Bihuozi had been able to use blood sacrifice talismans, it was no surprise that Realman Whitebone had near–Tier–3 items.
Still, Li Ye remained focused, forming hand seals as he drew back the essence blood now purified by divine wood fire condensing it into glowing droplets and collecting them into a pure essence bottle artifact.
Even while doing so, he could still split his mind to pursue the enemy.
Though the illusion formation was broken, the divine light and thunder remained potent.
Realman Whitebone had no chance to escape again.
Before he could even react, two divine attacks struck him one from below, and one from the sky converging on his body in a blinding flash.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion erupted.
More than half of the thousand ghost souls were annihilated. Even the false Core Soul of Master Zixuan grew faint and nearly transparent.
Realman Whitebone's true essence shield shattered. His skeletal armor cracked and burst into flames.
All his layered defenses were utterly destroyed. Under such thunder techniques, he was grievously wounded on the spot.
"Damn it! I sacrificed my blood kin just to break through to the Golden Core realm! I still have over three hundred years of life left to chase the Great Dao how can I die here?!"
He roared in fury, face twisted with unwillingness and resentment.
His flesh rapidly withered away, until he was nothing more than a skeleton draped in a thin layer of human skin.
And yet his wounds were mostly healed, and his aura grew stronger. Bones cracked as he surged with power again, his energy rapidly rising!
Facing the charging black flood dragon, the nearly skeletal Realman Whitebone let out a hoarse roar and, with a flick of his hand, threw out a talisman oozing with twisted demonic energy.
From it burst a swarm of grotesque-faced insects, merging into a black cloud that surged toward the black flood dragon.
The swarm managed to block the dragon's furious strike, even counterattacking and latching onto its body, gnawing through scales and flesh while injecting demonic poison bringing it unbearable pain.
Taking advantage of the opening, Realman Whitebone turned into a pale streak of light and fled again. This time, however, his speed was far beyond what any early-stage Golden Core cultivator should have been capable of!
"Don't even think about escaping!" roared the black flood dragon, but with the insect swarm all around him, he couldn't match the man's speed even if he tried.
But just then, a flash of golden light appeared in front of Realman Whitebone then instantly transformed into a stream of dark blue water, as vast as rivers and seas, all concentrated into a single bead.
It shot directly at Realman Whitebone's skeletal figure!
This strike, though appearing light and fluid, carried the immense weight of profound water gentle in form, yet heavy as a mountain.
Crack!
At that moment, Realman Whitebone had pushed his body to its limits with secret techniques and was at his weakest.
The water bead hit him squarely, shattering his escape light and breaking his skull on impact sending his remains crashing to the ground.
Just like that, Realman Whitebone died without even understanding how!
Whoosh
As the bead burst, it turned into surging black water, sweeping up his corpse and belongings.
The waters reformed, revealing a figure with a sunken chest holding a black orb and golden cauldron, clad in armor that obscured its head and face.
It gathered Realman Whitebone's remains and loot, then flew straight toward Li Ye.
"You… it's you…"
The black flood dragon, having just burned away the demonic insects with a thunderous blast, caught up and saw the whole scene momentarily stunned.
Looking closer, he was utterly dumbfounded.
With no grand formation of Thousand Island Water City to conceal it this time, he finally realized the one who had saved their city at its most desperate hour had been… a puppet!
The life-bound puppet flew past him and returned to Li Ye, handing over its collected items before vanishing into the ring in Li Ye's hand.
"Th-this is…"
The black flood dragon turned to Li Ye, watched everything unfold and suddenly, it all made sense.
"Do you have something to say, Fellow Daoist Black Flood Dragon?"
Li Ye turned to him with a faint smile.
By now, the lingering green flames had finally swept up all the scattered essence blood.
Though much of it had been refined during the process and transformed into energy, the quantity was still immense.
Staring at the gently flickering, seemingly harmless green fire and the faint smile on Li Ye's face, the black flood dragon suddenly shivered.
Forcing a flattering grin, he said,
"No… nothing at all…"
"Realman Li, your divine powers are truly astounding this little dragon is deeply impressed!"
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