As soon as this individual uttered the words, everyone commenced cursing and hastily flew in the direction of the area where the Eight-Winged Purple Python was. The sword glows were like a tempestuous downpour whipped up by a gale, hurtling towards the Eight-Winged Purple Python with the swiftness of lightning.
Nevertheless, the Eight-Winged Purple Python completely disregarded the assaults in the void. It merely stared with its purplish-red python eyes wide agape, covetously gazing at the two red and white inner cores of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel suspended in the air.
Just as the sword glows of the people in the air were on the verge of reaching it, the Eight-Winged Purple Python emitted a strange squeak and darted towards the red and white inner cores of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel floating in the air.
This sequence of alterations might seem intricate to depict, yet in truth, it transpired in the twinkling of an eye.
As early as when the Eight-Winged Purple Python manifested, the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel had become perturbed. Their animal instincts enabled them to sense the menace from the Eight-Winged Purple Python. Although the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel were regarded as peculiar creatures, in comparison with the Eight-Winged Purple Python, an archaic and exceedingly fierce entity, they were evidently of an inferior grade. Despite having cultivated for ten thousand years, they still harbored a certain trepidation towards this newly adult Eight-Winged Purple Python.
Perceiving the Eight-Winged Purple Python charging towards them, they exerted greater force, endeavoring to retrieve their inner cores floating aloft. But it was more facile to expel the inner cores than to reclaim them. By this juncture, the Eight-Winged Purple Python was drawing nearer and nearer.
After their attacks all missed the mark, everyone hastened over. Their flying velocity was extremely rapid. The individuals from the Taoist and Demon sects managed to arrive above the two inner cores prior to the Eight-Winged Purple Python.
After only a brief moment of hesitation, the two groups of people assailed the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel respectively. It seemed that they also coveted the inner cores.
The two creatures, which were already tardy in retrieving their inner cores, were further impeded by the attacks of the people. Their inner cores quivered in the air but scarcely shifted. Observing this transformation, both groups of people were elated and ceased attacking and instead rushed towards the inner cores.
At this moment, the Eight-Winged Purple Python, which had lagged behind, finally arrived. It opened its maw, and a cloud of black smoke that obscured the heavens and emitted a pungent stench sprayed towards the several people who had arrived first.
"Return speedily! That black smoke must not be touched under any circumstances!" The people in the rear hollered from a distance.
The few people in the front were also highly astute. Although the inner cores were precious, one had to be alive to relish them. Before the others shouted, they had already retreated explosively. The sky filled with black smoke entirely enveloped this area of several yards.
At this moment, everyone overheard two plaintive cries. Moments later, when the black smoke dissipated, the two red and white inner cores floating in the void had vanished without a trace.
The Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel, bereft of the support of their inner cores, gradually lost their luster and became severely enfeebled. The strange plaintive cries were precisely from the mouths of these two creatures. And the Eight-Winged Purple Python in the distance was nearly like a minuscule dot.
"Accursed beast! It has reaped all the benefits. Haibo, you and the others attend to the corpses of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel. I shall pursue the Eight-Winged Purple Python!" Mei Tianli said to one of the individuals on Ding Hao's side.
After speaking, he hurriedly rushed in the direction where the Eight-Winged Purple Python had disappeared. The people from the Taoist sect were also disinclined to trail behind. They had already embarked prior to Mei Tianli concluding his speech.
The strange flower and its fruit, the two inner cores of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel, and the newly adult Eight-Winged Purple Python. Any cultivator would find it arduous to resist such allurements!
Several figures streaked across the firmament like meteors and vanished instantaneously.
At this time, although Ding Hao's countenance remained unchanged, his heart was brimming with wild jubilation. The strange flower and its fruit, and the two inner cores of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel were already within his grasp. How could he not be overjoyed? In the Boundless Swamp, if the Eight-Winged Purple Python deliberately concealed itself, no one would be capable of detecting it. In this place rife with strange creatures and swamps, the Eight-Winged Purple Python was akin to a dragon entering the sea. Just now, were it not for Ding Hao's mental summons, after the Eight-Winged Purple Python seized the inner cores, as long as it plunged into the swamp, these people would presumably not even be able to descry a vestige.
Witnessing that the people from his sect had all departed, the few Demon sect disciples remaining here also stared rapaciously at the two creatures that had forfeited their inner cores.
As soon as the two creatures initiated movement, attempting to swim into the swamp, the disciples from both the Taoist and Demon sects moved almost concurrently. They rushed towards the two creatures like dragonflies skimming the water's surface. They already held various magic implements in their hands.
The cultivation levels of the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel, devoid of the support of their inner cores, plummeted precipitously. The beasts seemed to dread entanglement no longer and accelerated their flight towards the swamp. The intense fire and ice arrows that had resembled a violent tempest just moments ago were nowhere to be espied.
This was truly seizing the opportunity of their weakness to deal a lethal blow.
Were it not for the loss of the inner cores' support, these people would not dare to assail so blatantly. But even a withered camel is still larger than a horse. After all, the two creatures had cultivated for ten thousand years. Although their inner cores were absent, their physical forms were still highly alluring to cultivators. If the two creatures swam into the swamp, with the Boundless Swamp spanning thousands of miles, it would be impossible to search them out even with prodigious abilities.
Therefore, the disciples from both sides each targeted a creature and attacked to forestall the escaping two creatures.
At this time, Ding Hao ambled slowly towards the several people as if taking a leisurely promenade. Everyone beheld Ding Hao approaching, but they paid scant heed. A cultivation level at the Fusion stage was of no avail at this moment. They ignored him and still fixated intently on attacking the fleeing Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel.
Perceiving that their escape route was blocked, the two creatures flew into a rage and spat out intense fire and cold rays from their mouths. But merely by observing the feeble rays, it could be discerned that without the support of their inner cores, their attacks no longer posed a hazard. The several people merely dispatched sword qi and dispersed the intense fire and cold rays in the air.
After two mournful cries, the Mysterious Yang Toad and the Yin-Lie Water Eel were slain on the spot by the disciples from the Taoist and Demon sects. It was truly a case of "endeavoring to pilfer a chicken but ending up forfeiting the rice." The two creatures not only failed to obtain the strange flower and its fruit but also lost their inner cores first and then their lives. They were truly extremely unfortunate.
At this moment, another transformation occurred in the field. A purple qi with a fishy odor abruptly erupted from the hand of the disciple named Wang Haibo and rolled towards the several people from the Taoist sect.
"Haha, Wang Haibo! I knew you would act thus. What utility does the Purple Qi Demon Smoke of the mid-Heart-Awakening stage possess for us? It is merely a vainglorious display!" A man in white from the Taoist sect jeered.
After speaking, a hurricane instantaneously condensed with a wave of his hand and dissipated the approaching demon smoke in an instant.
At this moment, another male disciple from the Demon sect suddenly materialized in the area where the demon smoke had dissipated. He snorted disdainfully, and a green astral qi shot out with his fist, with an astonishing momentum.
The visage of the previously smug Taoist disciple altered. He twisted his body forcefully to elude this fierce fist astral qi. The countenance of the man who threw the fist brightened with delight. He modified the posture of his fist, and the astral qi trailed like a shadow.
At this time, the body movement of the Taoist disciple had reached its limit. His face underwent a drastic transformation. Perceiving that he could not evade it, a light shield suddenly descended from the air and entirely enfolded him. With a dull thud, the fist astral qi struck the light shield and vanished, while the light shield remained stationary.
The panicked Taoist disciple, beholding the light shield encasing him, immediately pacified his panicked expression. He clasped his hands and said to a woman in green five yards behind him, "Thank you, Senior Sister Liu, for rescuing me with the Profound Heaven Glazed Shield. Otherwise, I would truly have been injured by this despicable man, You Yongming."
The woman in green raised her hand and summoned the Profound Heaven Glazed Shield into her hand. She smiled softly and said, "Junior Brother Jiang, you are welcome. This is what Yuting ought to do."
Ding Hao observed from a distance and witnessed everything. Among the five people, the comely woman named Liu Yuting boasted the highest cultivation level and should have attained the late-Heart-Awakening stage. The other four were merely at the mid-Heart-Awakening stage. But in terms of might, it was not the three from the Demon sect who held the ascendancy. Instead, the two from the Taoist sect with a late-Heart-Awakening stage expert ought to be more potent. Just now, the several people from the Demon sect had strived arduously to deceive the man surnamed Jiang, but were salvaged by Liu Yuting at the critical moment, resulting in the failure of the sneak attack.
The two people from the Taoist sect, who had regained their composure, ceased prattling and assailed the three from the Demon sect without even proffering a greeting. Witnessing this transformation, the countenances of the three from the Demon sect altered. Among them, You Yongming and the male disciple named Wang Haibo confronted Liu Yuting, while the female disciple from the Demon sect who had responded to Ding Hao previously faced the man surnamed Jiang from the Taoist sect.
The fierce battle recommenced. Liu Yuting was already a notch superior to the others and had the Profound Heaven Glazed Shield to safeguard herself. Facing two adversaries, she not only did not fall behind but grew more and more valiant. The attacks of You Yongming and the other man were all repelled outside by her glazed shield, and they could do naught to her.
On the other flank, the female disciple from the Demon sect was also compelled to retreat incessantly by the man surnamed Jiang. It seemed that she could not endure for long.
The several people were so engrossed in combat that no one even cast a glance at Ding Hao. Ding Hao surmised that it was approximately time. The Eight-Winged Purple Python should have eluded the people in pursuit. By now, the people should be en route back.
"You disciples from the Taoist sect are truly excessively haughty. I have been standing here for an extended period, yet no one has even greeted me. It is truly disrespectful to me!"
Ding Hao laughed uproariously and strode briskly towards the several people engaged in combat.
Hearing Ding Hao's words, no one paid any attention. What could a cultivation level at the Fusion stage achieve? Only the female disciple from the Demon sect snorted.
Ding Hao overheard it. He laughed heartily and said, "Senior Sister, be not impatient. I am hither to express my gratitude for your answering my queries just now."
After speaking, he advanced towards the two people locked in combat. An ordinary-looking black sword glow, accompanied by the Reverse Heaven Demon Sword, streaked towards the man surnamed Jiang from the Taoist sect.
Beholding the sword glow, the man evinced disdain and sneered, "Since you are courting death, do not blame me. My master was correct. You are truly witless. No wonder you dared to venture into the Boundless Swamp alone with a cultivation level at the Fusion stage."
While speaking, he was still contending with the female disciple from the Demon sect and still maintained the upper hand. Observing Ding Hao's ordinary sword glow approaching, he said harshly, "Hehe, you should be grateful that you have survived until now. I am about to dispatch you to your doom!"
A gray fierce qi shot out with his hand, whistling towards Ding Hao's sword glow. The female disciple from the Demon sect engaged in the fray seemed to display a look of reluctance, but she was also in a parlous situation herself and could only watch helplessly as this man acted thus.
A strange smile abruptly manifested on Ding Hao's lips. The ordinary sword glow suddenly surged with a copious demonic qi. It pierced through the gray fierce qi dispatched by this man and, without a moment's respite, the surging demonic qi like a mountain directly engulfed this man.
After the demonic qi passed, this man's body had been reduced to a mass of minced flesh, with flesh and blood flying in all directions.
The other several people ceased fighting and stared in horror at Ding Hao, who was brandishing a sword and enveloped by surging demonic qi.