Watching the bloom of crimson spray burst apart in the air, the Ghost-Soul Eagle King burst into triumphant laughter. "Big Brother, I took one down! Little Sister Qingyue, your big brother is coming to help!" he roared, his body suddenly flipping mid-air as he shot toward Qingyue a hundred meters away.

The two who had finally snapped out of the shock induced by the words "Spirit God" barely spared a glance for their companion who was still shrieking, and without a word, they abandoned Nie Kong and Qingyue, fleeing toward the distance.

It was a pity that, at this stage, leaving was no simple matter.

The Serpent Spirit Clan expert managed to break free from Qingyue's Entangling Illusory Heart Orchid entanglement and dashed out barely ten meters when the Ghost-Soul Eagle King swooped down with mocking amusement, blocking his path.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Seeing the old man across from him preparing to use the technique of "Body Merging with the Void," Nie Kong sneered. He instantly executed a step that spanned dozens of meters of space, appearing precisely where the man had begun to merge with the void. His right fist shot up, slamming into the still faintly rippling void with blinding speed.

"Whoosh!"

A murky green "Spirit Cave" erupted from Nie Kong's fist, rapidly expanding in the air. The inner walls of the "Spirit Cave" simultaneously burst forth with dazzling golden light, shooting forward in a fan shape.

"Ah!"

A cry of agony suddenly pierced the air.

Twenty or thirty meters away, the old man, his face streaked with blood, was bizarrely ejected from the void. Before he could even regain his footing, Nie Kong was already in front of him, stamping his foot down. The massive sole of his boot almost completely enveloped the old man's body, leaving only his head exposed.

The old man's reddened eyes were filled with terror and disbelief. He rasped, "Nie Kong, my comrades and I underestimated you. We never imagined that in just over two months, you would break through from the Elixir Spirit realm to the Cave Spirit realm, and that your Cave Spirit cultivation possesses the strength to contend with a Heaven Spirit Master! What surprised us even more was that besides that ninth-rank Peak Spirit Beast next to you, you actually have two such powerful helpers."

Nie Kong leaned slightly forward, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "So, you are prepared to pay the price for that?"

"Indeed."

Glancing over to see his companion completely engulfed by the blood-red aura, the old man seemed to finally accept his fate, his expression gradually settling into a calm. The matter he thought was a sure thing had taken such a drastic turn; he brought this upon himself and would not die unjustly. "However, before I die, can you answer a few questions for this old man? It would allow me to die with my eyes closed in peace."

This Serpent Spirit Clan expert held too many questions: How did Nie Kong discover their tracks in advance to launch a preemptive strike? Was the beautiful woman emerging from Nie Kong's body truly a Spirit God? And how did Nie Kong force him out of the void with a single punch...

"No," Nie Kong replied, drawing out the two words with a smile. With that, Nie Kong brought his right foot down with full force. Amidst cracking and crunching sounds, the old man's body dissolved into a bloody pulp, leaving only his intact head lying alone, his eyes wide open—truly unable to close them in death.

Thud! The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed.

Not far away, the body of the other, gaunt old man dropped down. The blood-red aura instantly condensed into a ball, reshaping itself into Tai Yan's tall and graceful figure.

Nie Kong lifted his foot, frowning slightly at the crimson stain on his bare sole, then his gaze swept rapidly around. Dozens of meters away, the Ghost-Soul Eagle King and Qingyue had driven the last remaining Serpent Spirit Clan expert into a corner. Nie Kong's gaze passed over the skirmish and fixed on the shallow sea nearby.

There was one more Serpent Spirit Clan member there; Nie Kong had kept a thread of his spiritual sense focused on him the entire time.

Beneath several meters of seawater, the giant serpent lay still in the soft mud, utterly stunned. A perfect ambush, which they had been certain of winning, had turned into a dramatic reversal, with the outcome completely inverted. From Nie Kong's initial surprise attack, the battle had become a one-sided slaughter.

In less than half a minute, three of the four Serpent Spirit Clan experts had perished, and the last one remaining could fall at any moment. How could such a well-conceived plan devolve into this? Didn't Nie Kong only have one ninth-rank Peak Spirit Beast? Where did these two powerful helpers suddenly appear from?

"Hiss!"

Sensing Nie Kong's gaze, the giant serpent jolted awake, an involuntary shiver running down its spine. Flee! I must send word of this situation back to the 'Myriad Serpent Immortal Nest'! This thought flashed almost like a reflex in its mind. The giant serpent twisted its body and swam frantically toward the deep sea.

"Trying to escape?"

A cold light flashed in Nie Kong's eyes. Having noticed these four Heaven Spirit experts, he had already decided to eradicate them entirely; how could he let this one flee?

With a thought, a murky black great bow and a black arrow leaped out of his pet pack, materializing in Nie Kong's palm.

This bow and arrow had been seized in the Underworld Earth.

Nie Kong had taken them out to study on the journey from the Flower Butterfly Secret Realm to Spirit Sovereign City. This set of archery gear was peculiar. Using Spirit Treasure essence or sheer brute force to fire the arrows yielded results no different from ordinary bows and arrows, only with slightly greater range. They were fine against ordinary Spirit Masters, but useless against formidable figures like the Void Spirit level and above.

However, when he tried applying Divine Power, the resulting effect was so miraculous that even Nie Kong was pleasantly surprised. Nie Kong guessed that the eighth-rank archer who had pursued him was likely endowed with some degree of Divine Power by the Great Evolution Spirit Venerable, which allowed him to threaten a spirit beast like the Ghost-Soul Eagle King with archery.

"Hum!"

He plucked the black bowstring, gripped a black arrow tightly, and drew the great bow into a full moon shape. The black shaft of the arrow was now wreathed in a brilliant golden glow.

In the next instant, Nie Kong abruptly released the string.

"Swish!"

The long arrow shot out like a streak of golden light, whistling as it pierced the void. In the blink of an eye, it plunged into the sea surface, the radiant golden light flashing and vanishing beneath the waves.

At that moment, the giant serpent had already swum several hundred meters, feeling as if it had escaped a cage. The distance to the surface exceeded fifty meters, and seeing no pursuit, it breathed a sigh of relief, a flicker of (luck/wishful thinking) appearing in its mind that Nie Kong had not detected it.

"Shhh!"

A strange sound faintly echoed from behind it.

The giant serpent instinctively turned its head, only to see a golden streak of light shooting toward it. Terror seized its mind, and it thrashed wildly to evade. But the golden light seemed to possess eyes; it followed relentlessly, and in an instant, it pierced through its body, pinning it to the seabed.

"Boom!"

The golden light exploded, spraying blood that dyed the surrounding water crimson. The giant serpent opened its mouth, letting out a muffled cry, and its thick body convulsed violently a few times before going limp, devoid of any further movement. Moments later, the serpent's body retracted, transforming back into an old man.