Of course, the violent shaking of the Heavenly Emperor's treasury and the furious roars outside made it clear to Li Xiu that this was not the opportune time to comprehend the third volume of the heavenly book and perfect his own cultivation technique.
Li Xiu scanned through the thousands of words on the wooden platform twice before reaching out to grab the wooden cup on it.
With a swift motion of his fingers, he cleaved the platform and cup in half with a sword light, catching the cup in his palm before swallowing the spiritual liquid and the Heavenly Emperor's Dark Stone in the cup together.
Immediately, a strong and gentle surge of vitality burst out inside Li Xiu's body. He sat cross-legged and began to refine the Heavenly Emperor's Dark Stone and the spiritual liquid containing the vitality of the Jianmu tree, which had been condensed for tens of thousands of years.
Outside the Heavenly Emperor's treasury, Yun Yilan and others kept their distance and watched in horror as the two ancient beasts fought on the trunk of the Jianmu tree.
The once vibrant and lush Jianmu tree now looked desolate and ravaged, with its sturdy trunk covered in gnarled holes and claw marks.
The Black Water Mystic Snake coiled tightly around the trunk of the Jianmu tree, its enormous head roaring towards the sky, occasionally spewing out mysterious venom that looked like a rushing river towards the Yellow Bird.
The Yellow Bird flapped its cloud-like wings and soared high into the sky. With each flap, orange and yellow rays of light burst out, turning into fierce winds and tornadoes that fiercely dispersed the Black Water Mystic Snake's venom.
At the same time, the Yellow Bird kept looking for an opportunity to swoop down and use its sharp talons and cold, shimmering beak to tear apart the Black Water Mystic Snake's body. The Black Water Mystic Snake, on the other hand, shook its head, revealing its fierce fangs as it half-defended and half-counterattacked.
The two beasts fought fiercely, causing the sky to darken and the earth to shake. The wind and clouds changed, and the sound of thunder echoed.
At the end of the battle, the mighty Black Water Mystic Snake was covered in wounds. Its once monstrous and massive body was torn open with huge, terrifying wounds from which dark red blood flowed incessantly. The blood stained the tree trunk underneath it, turning it a dark red color. As the snake moved, blood rained down and dripped onto the clouds, creating a horrifying and gruesome scene.
The Black Water Mystic Snake was heavily injured, and the Yellow Bird did not seem to have gained any significant advantage. Its originally mystical and extraordinary orange-yellow feathers had been bitten off by the Black Water Mystic Snake several times. Not only had it lost countless feathers, but it also had several deep wounds from which blood oozed out, exposing bones. Blood gushed out, covering most of its orange-yellow body, making it a pitiful and gruesome sight.
At this moment, both giant beasts had temporarily stopped their attacks. The Black Water Mystic Snake coiled itself around the tree trunk, while the Yellow Bird perched on a nearby branch, screeching and whistling incessantly. They were threatening each other and neither side showed any sign of retreat.
The Black Water Mystic Snake was left hanging in mid-air and could only tightly coil around the tree trunk, while the Yellow Bird had the advantage of soaring high and attacking from any direction with exceptional agility. As the natural enemy of the Black Water Mystic Snake, the Yellow Bird was immune to its Black Mystic Poison, depriving the snake of its most reliable means of attack.
Sensing that the situation was not in its favor, the Black Water Mystic Snake's huge and eerie green eyes flashed with a hint of worry. Suddenly, it turned its head and, taking advantage of the Yellow Bird's position on a distant branch, fiercely slammed into the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury.
This impact was the culmination of all the Black Water Mystic Snake's strength. The tree trunk shook violently, and the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury was hit so hard that several cracks appeared.
After enduring countless terrifying impacts from the Black Water Mystic Snake's formidable strength, the gray and white strange stones that composed the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury had finally reached their limit.
Upon witnessing this scene, the Yellow Bird let out an urgent cry and flew up into the air. Suddenly, it dove down towards the Black Water Mystic Snake with its sharp beak, resembling a spear, striking fiercely.
The Black Water Mystic Snake roared loudly, and from its huge snake eyes, an endless stream of ferocity and hostility shot out. It ignored the attack of the Yellow Bird and once again slammed into the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury with all its might.
"Boom!"
In an instant, sand and stones flew, dust filled the air, and the sound of cracking and shattering resounded throughout the heavens and the earth. Finally, after a loud noise, almost half of the Heavenly Emperor's Treasury's dome and walls collapsed.
Almost at the same time, the Yellow Bird, full of anger, descended rapidly towards the Black Water Mystic Snake. Everyone could only hear a deafening roar from the Black Water Mystic Snake, its voice was sorrowful, as if it had suffered some enormous damage.
As the dust slowly settled, everyone looked over and saw that the Black Water Mystic Snake's huge snake head was covered in blood, with blood gushing out from its right eye like a fountain. The Yellow Bird had pecked out one of its eyes.
Suddenly, the two fierce beasts that were supposed to engage in a life-and-death battle seemed to sense something and froze. Despite being injured, the Black Water Mystic Snake did not retaliate, and the Yellow Bird did not pursue its advantage after gaining the upper hand. Instead, they both turned their heads to look at the half-collapsed Heavenly Emperor's Treasury.
As the dust was blown away, a huge figure with a fierce aura emerged. It was over ten zhang high (approximately 33 meters), had a human body with wings, was covered in dragon scales, and had a pair of majestic qilin horns on its head.
Li Xiu revealed his snowy-white teeth and smiled brilliantly at the two fierce beasts, whose size was dozens of times larger than his own.
The two beasts only felt the eerie suppression of bloodline and a strong sense of a threat to their lives surrounding them, and instinctively wanted to escape from Li Xiu.
The Black Water Mystic Snake was the first to move, twisting its snake body and trying to crawl down the trunk of Jianmu to escape.
As the Yellow Bird let out a shriek of alarm and was about to fly away, Li Xiu moved swiftly. His brilliant red phoenix wings flashed behind him, and he disappeared from his original position.
When he reappeared, he was already standing firmly atop the Yellow Bird's head. Li Xiu threw a punch, splitting the air, and viciously struck the Yellow Bird.
"Bang!"
Under this fierce and unparalleled force, the Yellow Bird's massive head violently turned and collided with the Jianmu tree hole. Its momentum didn't stop, and the bird's head smashed open the hole.
As splinters flew, the Yellow Bird's mind became confused and disoriented as it fell. Its giant eyes had just regained some clarity when it was overtaken by unrelenting fear. It hastily flapped its wings and flew away.
With no further restrictions from the tree hole, the Yellow Bird soared several li (1 li = 0.5 km) away in just a few flaps, beyond Li Xiu's reach. He gave up the pursuit.
At this moment, Yun Yilan and the others in mid-air were filled with suspicion and bewilderment, wondering why such a powerful monster had suddenly appeared from the Heavenly Emperor's treasury.
Where had the Red Demon, who had gone in earlier, gone? Had it been devoured in one gulp? Or was it possible that the treasures inside the Heavenly Emperor's treasury could transform a person into this monstrous form?
Although even the Ghost King was perplexed, there was no time for further contemplation. He waved his arm and led the other elders of the Ghost King Faction, along with Qing Long, in pursuit of the Yellow Bird's direction.
Yun Yilan and Pu Kong had just thought of peeking inside the cave when they suddenly saw the monster looking in their direction. However, both of them did not take it seriously, thinking that the monster was only taking advantage of the fact that the two ferocious beasts were severely injured.
Pu Kong and Yun Yilan exchanged a glance, both emitting a strange light as they launched an attack at Li Xiu, trying to force him back into the cave for inspection.
With a resounding shout, Pu Kong's monk robe fluttered as he suddenly hurled the Floating Buddhist Golden Bowl in his palm at Li Xiu. The bowl glimmered with a brilliant golden light, extending in the wind as it soared towards its target...