The Teng Snake's body arched like a bow, suddenly darting forward. Before it even got close, its tail had already coiled up, and with a snap like a whip, it lashed directly at Su He.
Su He was taken aback, seemingly unable to react in time. Su Huanian's expression changed by his side, her realm unfolding, with heavy snow swirling above the dark clouds to shield Su He. Each snowflake was rampant with sword energy; this was the sword formation she had set up for most of the day. It was with this sword formation that she had stood off against the Teng Snake for so long.
The realm enveloped them, but it was already too late. The space around Su He shattered as if it were a broken mirror.
Su He's face registered shock as he was fragmented along with the space.
In the distance, the Toad seemed unable to believe what it was seeing, its mouth agape in astonishment.
Su Huanian's face was icy as she pointed her Fairy Sword into the air, aiming at the Teng Snake. The sword didn't pierce through space but seemed to compress the space between her and the Teng Snake. With one thrust, the sword had already struck the Teng Snake.
This strike, filled with resentment, pierced straight through the Teng Snake.
The Teng Snake let out a hiss, coiling its body as a massive snake shadow rose from it, spiraling into the sky, and with a sudden sweep, space collapsed.
Su Huanian, having battled it for a long time, quickly closed her realm the moment the Teng Snake's phantom appeared.
This phantom was the Teng Snake's Divine Ability: Entwine Heaven, capable of crushing everything. An adult Teng Snake, with Entwine Heaven encircling the world, could even crush a small realm with its head and tail connected.
The Teng Snake forced Su Huanian's realm back, its own Netherworld Realm instantly unfolding. The Netherworld churned with wailing ghosts and demons, their ghostly claws tearing and roaring as they rushed towards Su Huanian.
Su Huanian's Fairy Sword hummed softly, thunder and lightning raged in the sky, as lightning has always been the nemesis of ghostly beings.
This battle between the snake and the woman had lasted for a long time, and they both had a deep understanding of each other's methods. The Teng Snake clan has always been sneaky and cold, not fond of talking. If they can kill, they won't say an extra word.
Su Huanian was even colder in temperament, only speaking to her enemies through her sword.
This Teng Snake had pursued Su He in the Seven Extremes Secret Realm and now attacked his daughter in her beast form; it was a fight to the death.
Why bother with more words?
The Teng Snake looked at Su Huanian, a glint of sharpness flashing in its eyes! The sword realm that the woman had been condensing for a long time dispersed, and her realm shrank under the pressure of Entwine Heaven.
The Teng Snake, having existed for ten thousand years, would not miss such an opportunity. With a roar, it plunged into the Netherworld and rushed towards Su Huanian.
The Netherworld collided with the flying snow, and the two realms clashed. Su Huanian's realm immediately became unstable and was about to disperse.
The Teng Snake was overjoyed, ready to press on and completely shatter Su Huanian's realm. The Netherworld surged, and the ghosts howled.
But at that moment, a streak of golden light flashed by, and a dice burst out from the snow.
As soon as the golden light appeared, the dice broke through space and appeared directly in front of the Teng Snake, suddenly enlarging and striking with a thunderous impact.
The Mountain God Seal, at six times its full strength, was still a sneak attack. This strike was extremely solid.
It hit the Teng Snake right in its vital spot. The massive Teng Snake instantly went limp and fell from the sky.
It stared at the Dragon Turtle emerging from the snow.
Despicable!
This Dragon Turtle was not a clone! It hadn't dissipated with the shattered space but had taken the opportunity to hide within Su Huanian's realm, waiting for the chance to launch a sneak attack!
Su He and Su Huanian had been battling non-stop for months, and they had long established a tacit understanding. How could Su He not cooperate when the Teng Snake tried to cut him down as a clone?
It's a pity he didn't know illusion techniques himself; otherwise, the act would have been more convincing.
Take advantage of its illness to claim its life.
With the strike successful, the man and the turtle didn't hesitate for a moment, their sword light and Mountain God Seal striking down directly.
The Teng Snake's body went limp, but its consciousness was clear. In a critical moment, it barely opened its mouth and sacrificed a golden pagoda, spinning to block above its head.
Boom!
The Mountain God Seal smashed onto the pagoda, pressing the sphere of light emanating from the pagoda inward. Through the barrier, it struck the Teng Snake's head.
Thump!
With a muffled sound, the Teng Snake's eyes went blank, the effect even better than Divine Might.
The entire snake smashed into the ground, creating a crater and stirring up dust and smoke.
Su Huanian's Fairy Sword followed closely, pointing into the dent made by the Mountain God Seal, piercing the barrier and stabbing in.
The Teng Snake struggled to shake its head clear, contorting into a strange posture to dodge the vital points and withstand Su Huanian's sword.
A slight cut from the sword, just a piercing hole, would heal in a while.
Taking advantage of Su Huanian's sword running out of momentum, the Teng Snake flicked its tail, and the barrier around the golden pagoda instantly disappeared. It opened its mouth and a torrent of poison gushed out, charging straight at Su Huanian.
This was the same tactic it had used in the Seven Extremes Secret Realm, capable of eroding even realms.
"Retreat!" Su He shouted urgently. With a flash of divine machinery, he was already by Su Huanian's side, a tidal wave meeting the poison head-on.
At the same time, a hand of water condensed, pulling Su Huanian back as they flickered away.
With the Divine Machinery used, the man and the turtle appeared five miles away in an instant.
Hiss…
On Su He's turtle shell, a corroding sound was heard, and foam bubbled and burst on the shell.
"Where's the external appearance?" Su Huanian asked in a clear voice. Su He had come without unfolding his external appearance. She spoke while slicing the poison off the turtle shell with her sword.
"Take Yaya into your cave world. You rest for a moment; I'll deal with it," Su He murmured softly, a strike of the Mountain God Seal landing on the Teng Snake's heart. The Teng Snake was already severely injured, and Su He was confident he wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
He unfolded the outward space and floated Feng Yaya's body out.
After pondering and cultivating the Barbarian King's Refinement of Realms for several months, although he still couldn't refine the world, not even the gate of the world, it was still possible to upgrade the external space a bit.
The external space was originally different from the ordinary storage space. Even before he had transcended the heavenly tribulation, he could store crocodile eggs, so a slight upgrade to store a slumbering being was not difficult.
The only problem was that with Feng Yaya in the external space, the external appearance could no longer be worn on the body. Otherwise, a strike from the Teng Snake could potentially shake Feng Yaya to death within the external space.
Su Huanian was slightly startled, taking Feng Yaya into her own cave world. She rarely did this; her cave world was a sword realm, with rampant sword energy within. Anyone entering carelessly would be slashed into ash.
Only after absorbing the thunder pool of the Seven Extremes Secret Realm did thunderclouds begin to gather in the sky.
Feng Yaya was never afraid of thunder and could sleep in the thunderclouds. With Feng Yaya's consciousness returning, she would wake up in two or three hours.
After sending Yaya away, a thin film appeared on Su He, and the external appearance condensed. He stepped forward, and his figure disappeared.
When fighting the Teng Snake, one must use every means available. Even if the snow hiding state couldn't fool the Teng Snake with its realm fully open, it could still exert strong psychological pressure.
Despicable!
The Teng Snake's eyes narrowed. It rose and let out a hiss towards the sky. In an instant, the sky, previously covered with dark clouds, cleared, revealing the bright moon. The eerie moonlight spilled onto the ground.
A shadow that was both visible and invisible appeared on the ground.
Su He frowned: "Moon Shadow!"
One of the Teng Snake clan's more famous Divine Abilities. Under the bright moon, there was nowhere to hide, claiming that any stealth or concealment technique would be revealed under this Divine Ability.
A Teng Snake with unrestricted Divine Abilities indeed had some tricks up its sleeve. Having survived three hundred thousand years of being hunted by the Dragon Turtle clan, the Teng Snake clan still had some resources.
If it were according to the myths of the previous life, the Teng Snake's rank was not below that of the Dragon Turtle clan.
"Roar!"
Su He let out a roar of Divine Might, charging straight at the Teng Snake. Any Divine Ability required a clear consciousness to be released, and indeed, Divine Might was the normal state of battle for the Dragon Turtle clan.
Once Divine Might was unleashed, the Mountain God Seal followed closely behind.
The Teng Snake was instantly dizzy, its eyes unfocused. But its expression was not panicked; it used its tail as a whip, snapping in the space in front of it, and in an instant, a dense web of spatial cracks surrounded the Teng Snake.
The Mountain God Seal bombarded the spatial cracks, collapsing a section of space but also allowing the Teng Snake to escape disaster.
The Teng Snake shook its head, trying to shake off the dizziness. But it couldn't do so; the Divine Might of the Dragon Turtle struck directly at the soul. With the divine beast's soul and body united, Divine Might struck directly at the Sense Realm and Mind's Eye.
At this moment, inside its Sense Realm, the Mind's Sea churned, with giant waves battering the barriers of the Sense Realm, as if it were the end of days.
The soul was even more violently agitated!
The Dragon Turtle had advanced too quickly. It had only been a year and a half since it had transcended the heavenly tribulation, but now every move it made carried the momentum of the world. This was the opening of the heavens!
During this time, the Teng Snake had been like a rat crossing the street. It dared not even touch another divine beast, fearing it would be caught and offered up to the Dragon Turtle. It had been cut off from news for nearly two years and didn't know what had happened at the Dragon God Sacrifice.
In fact, for divine beasts, it was quite normal to be ten or eight years late in receiving news. Who doesn't sleep for a hundred or eighty years at a time?
Such astonishment flashed through its mind in an instant, and the Teng Snake had already recovered its combat state, letting out a roar as the Netherworld fell from the sky.
"Underworld!" The Teng Snake let out a very low hiss like a bellows.
Su He: ?
Underworld…
There was no existence of the underworld in this world, Su He was absolutely certain. Calling the Teng Snake's realm the Netherworld was just a name he came up with casually.
But the words "Underworld" couldn't possibly be obtained so casually!
Within the Netherworld, the river surged, whirlpools everywhere, and ghosts roamed. These ghosts actually howled as they broke free from the Netherworld, roaring as they attacked Su He and Su Huanian.
Without the Teng Snake's control, these ghosts had basic Spiritual Intelligence and could distinguish friend from foe.
This wasn't Divine Ability; it was more like a technique, but not the current popular techniques. It was more like the witchcraft recorded in the Dragon Turtle's ancestral inheritance. Su He had not looked into it in detail and didn't understand it well.
Summoning?
Su He let out a roar of Divine Might, turning a wave of incoming ghosts into ash. Divine Might was not a single-target attack; when it first appeared, it did not distinguish between friend and foe!
When dealing with ghosts, Divine Might was the right choice!
The Netherworld surged, the number of ghosts decreased, but they were still dense, and the newly emerging ghosts were increasingly powerful. Su He couldn't determine their realm; their aura was too strange, neither the three realms and seven steps of cultivators nor the seven heavens of divine beasts.
But it didn't matter; fighting was the right approach.
Su He let out another roar of Divine Might, annihilating the ghosts in front of him. Su Huanian, who had been sitting and meditating behind him, rose up and grabbed a bolt of lightning to throw into the Netherworld.
Crack!
It was as if the utmost yin of the world had met the utmost yang, and the entire Netherworld boiled over, a wave of ghosts perished, but even more powerful ghosts were born.
The Teng Snake hid at the bottom of the Netherworld, swallowing elixirs to heal its wounds.
Su He narrowed his eyes at the dense ghosts, his gaze slightly focused. He let out a roar, using Divine Might, but did not break any ghosts.
Instead, an invisible net enveloped the ghosts in front of him and pulled them back.
Divine Ability: Soul Sacrifice!
A branch of Divine Might, it could pull back the souls of the dead and imprison them. When released, the souls could deliver their strongest strike of their lifetime.
The net pulled a ghost back, and Su He felt something extra on him that he had to expel.
With a roar, he spat it out, and the pulled-back ghost turned into a black light shooting towards the Netherworld, holding a rusty broken sword in its hand, slashing through the air.
Hum!
A heavy sword hum, and a crescent moon sword energy slashed out from the broken sword, landing on the Netherworld as if a hand had smoothed it over.
Countless whirlpools instantly stilled, followed by half of the ghosts being split from the brow down. In an instant, they turned into black smoke.
Su He was dumbfounded. He could feel that the ghost he had sacrificed had the strength of only the first step of Traverse Heaven, not much different from the other ghosts.
But that strongest strike was simply explosive. The effect completely surpassed Su He's Divine Might.
This was not cultivation.
Su He looked at the ghost he had sacrificed. After the strike, the pitch-black ghost seemed to have exhausted its ghostly power and revealed its true appearance—a half-bodied warrior, in tattered armor, with half-unraveled hair, smiling at Su He.
"Thank you, Basalt Deity, for liberating us…"
After he finished speaking, he completely dissipated.
Su He's heart was in turmoil. It took a long while for him to calm down, inadvertently receiving significant news.
Teng Snake! Su He looked towards the bottom of the Netherworld.
The vast sea domain opened up, turning into a surging sea, colliding with the Netherworld. The most direct realm collision method of divine beasts.
The Netherworld surged, blocking the vast sea.
At the bottom of the water, the Teng Snake opened its eyes, a hint of cold light flashing in them. The Dragon Turtle clan's Soul Sacrifice! It had accidentally caught a dead mouse, and it turned out to be a powerful weapon.
It didn't know where these ghosts came from. It had just accidentally obtained a witchcraft that communicated with the Underworld.
As for where the Underworld was, who cared about that? It just so happened that these ghosts matched its realm extremely well, so naturally, it didn't hesitate to use them.
It hissed, flicking its tongue at Su He, and despite being a snake, it made a smiling face, which was extremely eerie.
Without Bailings' suppression, how could the Dragon Turtle's ordinary realm break through its realm covered by Underworld ghosts?
At this moment, its realm was unbeatable!
To break through the realm, one must first kill the Underworld ghosts.
Su He's strike was unsuccessful, so he retreated. Looking down at the Teng Snake, he roared again, capturing a ghost with Soul Sacrifice and spitting it out. The ghost struck out with a palm, shattering three ghosts of similar strength.
After the strike, it immediately dissipated, not saying another word to Su He.
Su He tried again with the same result.
After dozens of ghosts, only one said a word of thanks to him. Su He hurriedly asked, "Who are you?"
The ghost looked up at the sky but did not answer, completely dissipating.
Continuing the trial, not a single ghost could speak again.
Su He was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath: "Senior Sister, leave this place."
Today, he was determined to take the Teng Snake's Underworld witchcraft!
Su Huanian looked up. She knew Su He too well and knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to use the Chaotic Blade to wipe out all the ghosts at once.
Su Huanian's brows furrowed slightly. The Teng Snake had already been severely injured by Su He's sneak attack, so why use this mutually destructive method? Grinding it down slowly would eventually kill the Teng Snake.
After that ghost saluted Su He, Su He's state became somewhat unstable.
Could it be that an old acquaintance had been refined by this Teng Snake into a sinister ghost?
Su Huanian was silent for a moment, then flew outward, not resting anymore. Her Fairy Sword glowed with an icy light, watching the intersection of the vast sea and the Netherworld.
Su He stepped forward, the mountain shadow on his back fully emerging. During this time, he hadn't just been comprehending and cultivating the Barbarian King's Refinement of Realms; he had never stopped absorbing treasures.
He didn't know to what extent his external defense had reached, but he himself had a hard time breaking through the external appearance. This was the normal state of the Dragon Turtle clan. Defense had always been greater than offense.
Su He didn't stop moving, taking another step forward. Where the dark clouds gathered in the sky, a crescent moon blade suddenly appeared, slashing downward.
Countless blades of light fell from above.
Su He shrank into his shell, with only his dragon head sticking out—actually, there was no need to shrink, as there was no weak point in the external appearance, whether it was the eyeballs or the tip of the tail, the protection was the same.
But it was the instinct of turtles; when attacked from above, they wanted to retract into their shells.
Blade after blade struck the ghosts, one if not two, two if not three. They kept slashing until death.
This This was also why Su He generally disliked the Chaotic Blade; it was clear he wanted to attack someone, yet he ended up taking the most hits himself.
But today, he had company.
The Chaotic Blade directly slashed into the Netherworld, striking the Teng Snake, and a mist of blood rose from the Teng Snake's body, staining the Netherworld.
The Teng Snake's expression turned icy.
A blade light passed by, and a Small Worm on the Teng Snake's body was split in half in response. The Teng Snake's icy face grew even colder.
It leaped up, breaking through the Netherworld, soaring into the sky, its tail whipping towards Su He. Su He, far from being alarmed, was delighted. With a roar, the water waves beneath him rolled, charging directly at the Teng Snake.
But the Teng Snake turned around, slipping behind Su He with a slick move, biting at Su He's hind leg.
In this place where the two realms collided and chaos reigned, Divine Machinery couldn't be used for a moment. The Teng Snake actually wanted to rely on its agility advantage for a drawn-out fight.
This creature had actually abandoned the dignity of a divine beast, biting and tearing like a wild animal.
How could Su He do the same? As the mountain shadow of the external appearance emerged, the Spirit Snake hidden within the cave poked its head out. A layer of dragon head phantom, like a transparent helmet, covered the snake's head.
Divine Ability: Gluttonous Feeding.
Biting down from above with incredible speed, almost breaking through space. The Teng Snake had no chance to dodge and was bitten at its vital spot, with a tearing sound, a large piece of flesh was ripped off.
The Teng Snake hissed, but its ferocity intensified. It bit into Su He's hind leg, its sharp fangs piercing through the external appearance and scales, a cold poison seeping into the body.
Above, the Chaotic Blade kept hacking, striking both the Teng Snake and Su He.
Su He roared, exerting force with his hind leg, snapping the snake fangs with a crack, and finally used Divine Machinery, not to escape but to swiftly turn around and bite the Teng Snake's throat.
Still using the Gluttonous Feeding, the Gluttonous dragon head nearly overlapped with the Dragon Turtle's dragon head, biting down hard. Cold fresh blood poured into his mouth, and with a shake and a pull, Su He tore off half of the Teng Snake's throat.
The Teng Snake couldn't even hiss anymore, looking down at Su He as the words Elder Moon faintly emerged above its head.
These two words were very powerful; they had never appeared when the Teng Snake was strong, but now that it was severely injured, they emerged as if seeking a new master to devour.
It's late to say, but everything happened in an instant. As Su He's turtle body tore at the throat, the Spirit Snake's body had already bitten the Teng Snake's vital spot again.
With a snap, the spine was severed.
The entire Teng Snake went completely limp.
The Spirit Snake shook its head. The snake's structure was not suited for such large and open tearing; if it weren't for the Gluttonous Feeding forming the beast's head, a similar-tier tearing would be more like the Teng Snake's approach, with two sharp fangs penetrating and injecting venom.
But the Spirit Snake had no venom.
Or perhaps it would have to wait until the Spirit Snake was fully condensed and no longer ethereal for the venom to appear?
The words Elder Moon above the Teng Snake's head became more prominent, protruding out. The Teng Snake collapsed to the ground, staring straight at Su He. The Netherworld Realm could no longer be maintained and disintegrated.
The Teng Snake was severely injured but not dead; it was just a broken spine, which could heal in thirty to fifty years with rest.
But would Su He give it such a chance?
He retreated, and the Mountain God Seal descended from the sky. From one to six times the strength, it bombarded the Teng Snake without missing a beat.
The Mountain God Seal was Su He's strongest attack now. Six times the strength of the Mountain God Seal far exceeded his attack limit. If it hadn't been for the successful sneak attack at the beginning, directly hitting the Teng Snake's heart with six times the strength of the Mountain God Seal, this battle would have been much more difficult.
For the first time, panic flashed in the Teng Snake's eyes as it spread its wings, a mist swirling around it, carrying its limp body as it fled backward.
"I concede!" It sent a Divine Sense message.
Su He was taken aback and even more furious. You damn well fight a woman and say you concede? Ask Su Huanian if she agrees with the wounds on her body!
He slammed down with a seal, and the Spirit Snake leaped out, tearing off one of the Teng Snake's wings with a hiss.
The Teng Snake's surrounding mist instantly dispersed. Its Divine Sense trembled violently: "I can buy my life, what do you want?"
"Underworld!" Su He said sternly. Hand over the Underworld and die quickly.
The Teng Snake fell silent, unable to speak. Witchcraft was special; once a qi mechanism landed on it, it was understood, and it didn't even understand the principle, so how could it hand it over?
Unless it was killed and forcibly stripped away. As one of the strongest divine beasts, the Dragon Turtle, with its ancient heritage, wouldn't it know this? You just want to kill me!
But a fierce light flashed in the Teng Snake's eyes.
"I die, and you won't live either. The Teng Snake's deadly poison has no antidote!" Its Divine Sense trembled.
Outside, Su Huanian's gaze suddenly focused, and she flew over with her sword, not caring about the Chaotic Blade above her head. She placed a pill furnace next to the Teng Snake, ready to throw the Teng Snake into the furnace to refine it into a pill.
The implication was very clear. All things with deadly poison must contain their antidote within.
Refine it!
Su He looked at the silent Fairy, hastily withdrawing the Chaotic Blade. The current Chaotic Blade was no longer the same as last year; it would definitely hurt Su Huanian.
Especially in her injured state, she couldn't block it.
Just as he was about to speak, the words Elder Moon above the Teng Snake's head finally fully condensed, breaking free like mud, and suddenly flew high, with a trace of the Teng Snake's bloodline, hitting a distant Flying Boat, right between Green Snake's brows.
The words Elder Moon did not enter as they had on the Teng Snake's body. Instead, they turned into a trickle, flowing into Green Snake's body.
Nourishing her.
Green Snake was baffled, a strong fear coming over her. She just saw the human-shaped innate Dao shadow in her Mind's Eye slowly change.
The lower half of the human body gradually condensed and merged, slowly turning into a snake's body.
Half-human, half-snake, with wings emerging behind her…
Proofreader&Editor: Lotas