The Nine Phoenix Valley Lord glanced at the locations where sword flowers brushed past. Flower emblems bloomed one after another all over his body, causing blood to spurt out from them.
"Pu!!" The Nine Phoenix Valley Lord spewed a mouthful of fresh blood from his mouth. His knees softened as his strength diminished, dropping to the ground into a kneeling position.
"I!" Till this very moment, he found it hard to believe that he ended up losing his life here, dying under the hands of a Xiantian First Order, a person with the same level of strength as himself.
"Tell me, what's the name of that move you executed just now?" He looked at Fei Hou and asked, his voice hoarse.
"Flower of Death." Fei Hou answered icily.
"Flower ….of Death?" The Nine Phoenix Valley Lord repeated the name to himself, and then his body tumbled onto the dirt. With a single twitch, all signs of life dissipated.
Seeing this, the last remaining Nine Phoenix Valley Elder battling with Huang Xiaolong was terrified! After swinging a powerful attack with his sword directly at Huang Xiaolong, he turned around and seized the opportunity to escape with his life.
Watching his actions, Fei Hou sneered. Summoning his Silver River martial spirit, it turned into a river of swords. Abruptly snaking out like quicksilver, it encompassed the Nine Phoenix Valley Elder's body. The river of swords made a complete loop around the Elder, then returned to Fei Hou's side, floating behind him.
The Nine Phoenix Valley Elder plummeted from the air. Halfway down, his head separated from his shoulder with blood spurting out all over as two body parts smashed onto the ground below.
With his death, every single person from the Nine Phoenix Valley that came to the Enlightenment Lake, was annihilated.
The Nine Phoenix Valley was considered one of the bigger sects in the Baolong Kingdom, but they only had one Xiantian expert and that was their Valley Lord, Lei Tianxing. Now that he was dead, the Nine Phoenix Valley would fall from their ranks in the Baolong Kingdom.
The warriors spectating from afar had previously formed a drastically different impression when observing Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou.
In fact, before the Nine Phoenix Valley disciples made their move, there were some other forces that took a fancy to the same spot Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou were at and had the intention of snatching it away from them. Now, seeing the lifeless bodies of the Nine Phoenix Valley Lord, Elders, and the disciples scattered on the ground, cold sweat trickled down from their foreheads whereas inside their hearts, they were secretly saying a thankful prayer that they did not act rashly.
If it wasn't for the Nine Phoenix Valley disciples shielding the calamity in front of them, the ones lying on the ground at this moment would likely be them instead!
After solving the problem that was the Nine Phoenix Valley, Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou ignored the many shocked and fearful looks directed at them. Finding another clean spot some distance away, they sat cross-legged, waiting.
Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou's battle with the Nine Phoenix Valley caught the attention of the Big Sword Sect's people. They watched the battle from the very beginning, all the way until the very end.
At this time, the people from Big Sword watched from a mountain peak several hundred meters away.
Yu Chen turned back towards one of the Big Sword Sect Elder's behind him, "That little kid… is that Huang Xiaolong?"
The Elder answered respectfully: "Yes, Old Sect Leader, he is Huang Xiaolong. The other one is called Fei Hou, and previous Sect Leader Liu Wei died in the hands of Fei Hou's Senior Brother Haotian!"
Yu Chen nodded. The expression on his face became cold and gloomy while watching Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou's silhouettes: "I didn't expect this kid's strength to grow so fast to the point that even an Elder from the Nine Phoenix Valley died in his hands. If this continues, in another ten years or so, wouldn't our Big Sword Sect face annihilation?!"
"Master, then seizing the current advantage, should we…?" Lin Zhiren stepped up, gesturing with his hand by sliding a thumb across the neck.
Yu Chen pondered the situation briefly before shaking his head, deferring: "No rush, wait until the great treasure appears first, and then we will look for an opportunity. No matter what, we must not let this malignant seed leave Enlightenment Lake!"
With Fei Hou's presence, to kill Huang Xiaolong in broad daylight would be a difficult act. Because of that, Yu Chen decided that when the great treasure appeared in a few days, Fei Hou would be distracted and would be the most opportune time.
Two days passed.
The strange crying sounds coming from the Enlightenment Lake increased in frequency. Almost at every half hour interval, the strange cries would become louder and louder, accompanied by intense fluctuations on the calm lake surface, making the water surge and splash.
Some of the lower peaks around the Enlightenment Lake were swallowed by the rising water levels during these strong fluctuations.
By the third day, the Enlightenment Lake's water level actually rose two to three hundred meters, and it continued to rise even further, albeit slowly, until it reached around five hundred meters before it finally ceased. However, this time, unlike many previous times, the water did not recede.
At the same time, pillars of resplendent light shot up to the sky from the clear lake surface, which everyone believed was the indication that the great treasure was about to appear.
Watching this scene, the gathered forces were in a state of giddy elation.
"The great treasure is about to appear!"
Some could not keep their excitement in check and they rushed out, diving head first into the lake.
However, when these people touched the water, miserable shrieks echoed in the air, and they saw an enormous bull head emerging from the water. Its deadly angled horns protruding from its head skewered two human bodies, piercing into their chests and through their backs, dripping fresh red blood that seeped into the lake, staining it red.
This enormous bull head had a pair of glowing red eyes, and its massive physique reached the size of five giant boulders combined!
"A monster, quickly run!"
The rest of the warriors that had jumped into the lake wanting to explore the great treasure were petrified when they saw the enormous bull head. Screaming in fright, they fled from the water in terror.
But at this moment, the enormous bull head opened its mouth and let out a shrill, strange roar, shaking the entire Enlightenment Lake. A horrifying penetrating force came from the roar, striking all the warriors from different sects that were about to flee.
As if struck by a hurricane, their bodies limped and started to sink into the lake.
In the next moment, the enormous bull head's jaw stretched open like a whale's mouth opening wide and flooding with water as it sucked all the warriors' bodies in.
There were some expert warriors that still intended to jump into the lake, but they hesitated as they watched this scene. All of their actions halted as cold sweat dripped down their foreheads, and they swiftly retreated in fright.
Huang Xiaolong and Fei Hou were astounded. Neither of them imagined that there would be such a strange monster living in the depths of the Enlightenment Lake.
"It's the guardian spirit beast of the great treasure!" Fei Hou's eyes squinted as he spoke his opinion.
When demonic beasts broke the shackles of Stage Ten and entered the Xiantian realm, they would be able to speak in the human tongue, becoming a spirit beast.
Spirit beast!
Huang Xiaolong stared at the massive bull head: "Can you recognize what kind of spirit beast this is?"
"It should be the Savage Green Bull Python!" Fei Hou explained solemnly, "Savage Green Bull Pythons are an extremely rare Spirit Beasts– they are the offspring from the coupling of two different spirit beasts – the Green Bull and the Savage Python. It is extremely vicious, cruel, and brutal in nature, and its attacks are very powerful, especially in a water environment. It was said that as long as the Savage Green Bull Python remains in the water, it is nearly invincible!"
"Invincible in the water?" Huang Xiaolong looked at Fei Hou inquisitively.
Fei Hou nodded, "The Savage Green Bull Python has a unique ability that allows it to recover its strength and injuries rapidly while in the water. The one in front of us should be a Xiantian Fourth Order or a Fifth Order, and inside the water, even a human Xiantian Sixth Order would have difficulties killing it!"
Huang Xiaolong observed the spirit beast, the Savage Green Bull Python; it could quickly recover its strength? This bore some similarity to his martial spirits' third ability, Instant Recovery!
It was just that Huang Xiaolong's Instant Recovery could only recover his depleted battle qi currently.
After swallowing no less than twenty people around it, the Savage Green bull Python's huge head sunk back into the lake.
Dead silence lingered in all four directions.
Groups of experts exchanged looks with their comrades, and none dared to venture into the lake again recklessly.
Suddenly, from the peak of Arxan Mountain, a human silhouette flew down, stopping above the Enlightenment Lake in less than a second. A fist struck down, splitting the waters right down to the bottom of the lake.
"Roar!!" A dismal roar resounded from the lake, the Savage Green Bull Python had apparently been injured. Once again, the enormous bull head rushed to the lake surface, mouth opened wide in an attempt to swallow the human attacker whole. But, that person floating above the water avoided it with what seemed like a simple sway to the side while he sent another punch out at the Savage Green Bull Python, hitting its lower belly. Its huge body flew out, and the Enlightenment Lake broke out in another uproar.