Thick columns of sand shot skyward from the undulating desert expanse. A piercing roar erupted from the shifting sands, accompanied by a colossal surge of demonic beast aura.
An earthquake? No! A great beast! Gan Jing felt the very sand beneath his feet churning. His internal Battle Qi instantly exploded to its zenith. He lunged forward, seizing the nearest figure, Fen Tu Kuang Ge, and tossing him clear!
Duan Feng Bu Er sprinted through the sands, moving like a viper weaving through water, instantly racing toward the edge of the tremor zone. Ceflidel, already at the periphery, merely leaped and flew clear as well.
The golden sands writhed at incredible speed. Lucifer Flow was even faster; she surged toward the epicenter amidst the rolling dunes. Pillars of sand formed massive hands descending from the sky to seize her. Yet, through rapid adjustments of her wings, she evaded them all, pressing deeper into the heart of the disturbance.
A Rank Ten Battle Crystal! A crystal radiating a brilliant, golden luminescence! Only a Rank Ten Battle Crystal could emit light of such an arresting hue!
“Got it!” Lucifer Flow’s five fingers clamped around the crystal. The joy on her face lasted less than a hundredth of a second before astonishment flooded her features—the crystal wouldn't move! It seemed fused to something.
The sands parted around her, and Gan Jing rapidly closed in on Lucifer Flow. Simultaneously, he saw clearly the bizarre object beneath their feet. A Flame Violent Cactus! Indeed! It was a colossal Flame Violent Cactus! Vastly larger than the ten-meter specimen they had encountered before!
The Rank Ten Battle Crystal was embedded precisely at the apex of the giant Flame Violent Cactus’s head! As Lucifer Flow stood stunned, spiraling columns of sand wrapped around her ankles, arms, and waist like gigantic pythons, frantically surging toward her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—intent on flooding her entire being with sand.
The sand coils tightened instantly, like steel binding her flesh. The intense pain momentarily shattered Lucifer Flow’s concentration, preventing her from releasing the Demonic Eye of Destruction.
Damn it! Lucifer Flow glared, forcing her eyes open. If she had both Demonic Eyes of Destruction, she wouldn't need to concentrate to release them! Having lost one eye, the Demonic Eye of Destruction now required a startup sequence!
“Open!”
The Zhanmadao transformed into a torrent, a single beam of rainbow light condensing the Seven Styles of Blood War into one, slicing through the binding sands at high velocity.
Gan Jing pulled Lucifer Flow to his waist with one arm, and with the other, he merged the Seven Styles of Blood War again, cleaving through the descending sand hammer, muttering fiercely, “Greedy!”
Held in Gan Jing’s embrace, Lucifer Flow looked up at him. “That was a Rank Ten Battle Crystal, a Rank Ten Battle Crystal! If I take it and drain it, I can rapidly coalesce my Battle Heart and step into the ranks of a Third Order Demon Martialist. Then... I could crush you beneath me…”
A heart-wrenching roar erupted from within the Flame Violent Cactus. Its body abruptly spewed forth a hundred fire rockets. Gan Jing, clutching Lucifer Flow, dashed frantically through the gaps between the projectiles.
Suddenly, the sky above Gan Jing darkened. The Flame Violent Cactus’s massive fist, carrying an astonishing wind pressure, slammed down viciously.
Before it even made contact, while still several meters above the ground, the yellow sand below was violently displaced by the punch’s vacuum, scattering everywhere. Gan Jing felt as though he were inside a raging tornado.
Damn it! Time to risk it all! Myriad Shadows!
The muscles in Gan Jing’s legs vibrated intensely with Battle Qi. Behind him, where he had just been standing, a monstrous, roaring sound erupted like crashing waves. A powerful thrust came from the earth beneath his feet, as if he were treading not on sand, but on a surging, churning ocean.
A wave of sand surged ten meters high, crashing toward Gan Jing!
A streak of black light suddenly appeared in the sky. The light pierced through the yellow sand and stabbed violently into the Flame Violent Cactus, instantly penetrating the body of the massive plant-type demonic beast. Green ichor sprayed from its interior. In the next instant, the bleeding stopped, and the wound turned black and charred.
This wasn't the Flame Violent Cactus stopping its own bleeding; it was the intense heat generated by the black streak instantly cauterizing the injury after breaking through its body.
Demonic Eye of Destruction! Ceflidel sprinted at high speed, subtly adjusting his wings, weaving several changes in direction mid-air to dodge the rockets spat out by the Flame Violent Cactus.
Although the Flame Violent Cactus was a fire-aligned plant-type beast, it was still injured by the Demonic Eye of Destruction! Duan Feng Bu Er dodged and weaved, slightly irritated by the unique ability he had recently acquired: poison!
Against beast-type demonic beasts or human demon foes, the poison of the Sand Serpent was highly effective! Against plants? Duan Feng Bu Er felt a surge of dejection. Next time he activated his bloodline power, he absolutely had to consider the existence of rare plant-type demonic beasts.
Clang! Thud!
Gan Jing spun around and brought his blade down on the Flame Violent Cactus’s descending fist. Metal collided with the thick hide, first sparking a metallic clang, then the Zhanmadao bit deep into the cactus’s fist. The sheer force caused his legs, rooted in the sand, to slide backward.
A rocket shot directly toward Gan Jing! Simultaneously, a black flame erupted from the space within Gan Jing’s embrace. This flame arced across the sky, instantly melting the incoming rocket before fiercely piercing into the body of the Flame Violent Cactus.
Only then did Gan Jing clearly perceive the Flame Violent Cactus that had erupted from the sand, and he finally understood why it hadn't released its strongest specialized weapon: its stingers!
The massive Flame Violent Cactus, standing fifteen meters tall, was completely devoid of any stingers. It resembled a giant, smooth-skinned red watermelon that had been completely depleted of its seeds.
No stingers! Gan Jing finally understood why those other Flame Violent Cacti hadn't fled just now—they were guarding this gargantuan specimen!
Although he didn't know what it was doing here, he knew this Flame Violent Cactus required the Nine Yang True Flame Iron!
Evolution? A thought crossed Gan Jing’s mind. If this gargantuan Flame Violent Cactus were to split apart under these circumstances, becoming countless small Flame Violent Cacti, a frantic barrage of stingers would surely impale everyone present on the spot.
Yet, it steadfastly refused to divide! These plant-type beasts, lacking high intelligence, always pursued the most effective means of victory. This one, however, was not doing so.
This could only mean one thing! It could not split! Or rather, it was physically unable to split!
No stingers, incapable of division—it was a bizarre Flame Violent Cactus like a colossal fruit. Gan Jing didn't know if the legendary Flame Violent Cactus that could never evolve had truly entered a phase of advancing into a high-tier plant-type beast, but he knew this massive plant-type monster was in an unprecedented state of weakness.
Otherwise, how could such an enormous physique display combat power noticeably weaker than the ten-meter Flame Violent Cactus from before?
Two consecutive beams from the Demonic Eye of Destruction struck the Flame Violent Cactus, leaving two fist-sized, completely transparent holes in its body, though neither hit the beast’s Core. It only served to provoke the creature into a greater frenzy.
The enlarged Flame Violent Cactus’s Core was not located in its usual position, unlike other cacti.
Awooo... The massive Flame Violent Cactus roared toward the sky. The desert within a fifty-meter radius around it suddenly erupted with streams of scorching flames shooting up from below, forming a small sea of fire!
The fire sea appeared, forcing the warriors to retreat rapidly outside its perimeter. The Flame Violent Cactus’s attack then enveloped Gan Jing once more, completely disregarding the two Fallen Angel bloodline Demon Martialists who had injured it with the Demonic Eye of Destruction.
Its thick, ox-body-sized arms blazed with intense heat, smashing down on Gan Jing like a collapsing, burning edifice. The flames that constituted the sea seemed to have received a summons, rapidly swirling toward Gan Jing to form a massive, tornado-like column of fire that shot up over thirty meters high.
Flame Violent Cactus Innate Magic: Fire Tornado!
The flames rapidly contracted. A massive hand, like a pillar supporting the starry firmament, pierced through the pillar of fire, carrying the force of ground-shattering impact as it smashed down!
The intense heat instantly consumed all oxygen within the Fire Tornado, simultaneously creating a cage. The Flame Violent Cactus was supremely confident that this time it could severely weaken its prey through suffocation, then use one punch to crush this opponent to death, reclaiming the critically important, strange hot iron.
It was precisely because of this piece of hot iron that over five hundred Flame Violent Cacti had gathered here, forming this unique entity. Furthermore, by continuously absorbing its heat over a long period, it was certain to become the very first higher-order Flame Violent Cactus.
Reclaim it! Reclaim it! Kill this thief who stole the hot metal!
Four Battles to Slay a Demon! Even more than four! Pan Hong Ji subtly turned his wrist, his sharp gaze piercing through the Fire Tornado to focus on Gan Jing within, ready to intervene at any moment to save him from the terrifying beast whose power had escalated to the level of Five Battles to Slay a Demon.
Gan Jing stood at the center of the Fire Tornado, feeling the air around him rapidly vanish. His Battle Heart forced the remaining oxygen into his lungs. The Battle Qi within his one hundred and eight Battle Acupoints spun wildly, surging toward thirty thousand rotations!
Not enough! Not enough! Facing a monster like this, his current strength was insufficient! Gan Jing rooted his legs into the sand, knowing that trying to smash through the wall of fire to escape would only invite endless pursuit. If he could only withstand this ferocious strike, the attacks of the others would resume.
The Fire Tornado showed no sign of stopping its contraction. In a blink, every area except the space where Gan Jing stood was boiling with intense flame. The scorching heat seemed intent on tearing open his pores and invading his body.
Gan Jing probably won’t last through this strike! Pan Hong Ji’s spirit stirred, and his internal Battle Qi surged, just as his Eye of Utter Understanding suddenly brightened. What was this?
The dormant Iron Forging Breathing Technique—the one hundred and eight Dead Battle Acupoints—were triggered once more by the intense heat. In an instant, the Battle Qi in all one hundred and eight acutopoints acted like whales in the sea, sucking in massive amounts of superheated airflow into Gan Jing’s body, then surging from the one hundred and eight Dead Battle Acupoints into the one hundred and eight Live Battle Acupoints!
Unknowingly, this has already exceeded a million characters! I originally planned to shout a celebration for reaching one million words and ask for monthly votes, but I was so focused on the monthly ticket count that my brain failed me. I completely forgot.
Ah, ah, ah—is there anyone around who can help me catch up? Let me make up for the monthly ticket count, thank you all.
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