"Qin Hu, throw me your sword!"
Ye Long's roar was laden with boundless fury, carrying far and wide to echo through the entire valley.
Swish!
A piercing sound tore through the air as a flash of sword light came hurtling toward him, stirring up a sudden tumult of wind and clouds.
With a cold expression, Ye Long reached out and firmly grasped the hilt.
At that exact moment, he drove the Qingshi Formula to its absolute limit.
When he looked back at the Silver Python, his eyes burned with lethal, freezing intent.
With a sudden burst of movement, his compact frame transformed into a gale of wind, whipping up a cloud of dust and debris across the ground.
Spiritual energy from the heavens and earth surged toward him from all directions, pouring straight into his body.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Long underwent a startling metamorphosis, turning into a man carved of blue stone.
With wind and thunder rumbling beneath his boots, the very earth seemed to tremble in terror.
Meanwhile, the figure in black had learned her lesson, darting and weaving around the periphery of the Silver Python.
She knew that unless she could get close enough to the beast, she would never find an opening for a fatal strike.
Ye Long, however, was decisive. Since there was no opening, he would create one, choosing to seize the initiative and launch a direct attack.
"Mountain-Crushing Force!"
He could no longer afford to hesitate.
If he stood by and watched others die right before his eyes, what good was this power of his?
Spotting a precise window of opportunity, he launched himself forward like a runaway boulder.
Man and sword merged into one, turning into a spinning, lethal drill.
Seeing the incoming attack, the berserk Silver Python lashed out with its massive tail without a second thought.
Ye Long suddenly leaped into the air, dodging the horizontal sweep by a hair's breadth as he plunged downward like a falling boulder!
"Mountain-Crushing Fall!"
The air currents in mid-air instantly solidified, unleashing a crushing, suffocating pressure!
The Silver Python reared its head, opening its jaws to unleash a barrage of radiant beams in an attempt to intercept him.
Boom... Boom!
Dragon-like shockwaves of wind slammed into Ye Long one after another, erupting into a deafening chorus of explosions across the sky!
A violent tremor wracked his body and mind. Swallowing down the warm blood rising in his throat, Ye Long fed the blazing fury in his chest.
"Fall! Fall! Fall!"
Sensing the danger, the Silver Python panicked slightly, though rage quickly reasserted control over its fractured wits.
Roar!
Boom!
A thunderclap split the ground as the serpent's tail made violent contact with Ye Long.
A sudden spray of blood bloomed like red rain in mid-air.
Ye Long had drilled a bloody crater right through the snake's tail, but the immense force of the impact hurled him dozens of yards away.
Awooo!
Seizing the exact moment, the figure in black hurled her sword with all her might.
Before the Silver Python could react to the approaching danger, the blade pierced straight through its left eye.
"Awooo..."
Silver blood spewed in all directions as the Silver Python let out a sky-shaking cry of agony.
Even battered and covered in wounds, the beast was utterly enraged by the repeated provocations of these mere mortals.
On the other side, Ye Long was covered in a flickering blue glow. A web of cracked lines spread across his skin, and misted with blood, he looked like a man carved from flesh and crimson in the blink of an eye.
Seeing that the Silver Python was still in a berserk frenzy, a wave of shock washed over him.
"Such stubborn vitality! This beast is far more formidable than the Bright Moon Heavenly Wolf."
A Silver Python at the Xiantian Realm was truly invincible on the battlefield!
Yet Ye Long had no intention of falling here.
Since the figure in black could no longer inflict fatal wounds on the beast, their defeat was only a matter of time.
Driven to desperation, he flew into a rage:
"Qin Hu, are you lot all dead?!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a wave of suffocating pain wracked his body. Gritting his teeth, he threw himself into circulating the Qingshi Formula, racing against time to heal his injuries.
Remarkably, the Qingshi Formula was as domineering as it was wondrous: the heavier the injuries, the smoother and more effective the cultivation became.
As the blue light spread across his body, fueled by the ambient spiritual energy pouring from the sky...
A strange, tingling power coursed through his limbs and bones.
Right at that moment—
"Charge!"
Qin Hu and the two others burst into view, blindly mimicking Ye Long's technique as they transformed into spinning drills and falling boulders!
The tide instantly turned, plunging the battle back into a desperate melee.
Seizing the precious opportunity, Ye Long gritted his teeth against the searing pain and forced himself into a cross-legged meditative stance.
As a canopy of spiritual energy descended, washing over his cracked body time and time again, the granulation tissue within his wounds began to writhe—a sight chilling enough to make one's hair stand on end.
A sudden realization dawned on Ye Long.
"So the true mastery of the Qingshi Formula can only be unlocked through near-fatal trauma!"
From a distance, he looked like an immortal descending from the heavens, solemn and majestic.
Boundless vitality surged forth, weaving through his torn flesh like a needle and thread to knit the wounds shut, filling him with ecstatic joy.
The Qingshi Formula had advanced to a whole new level!
It was a true rebirth of body and soul!
Layers upon layers of blue-toned patterns surfaced on his skin, resembling a suit of armored scales.
With a sudden flash of light, Ye Long sprang up in a fluid, single motion.
By now, Qin Hu and the other three had been battered flat by the Silver Python.
Though the beast was completely deranged, its feral instincts still drove it to launch wave after wave of brutal counterattacks.
Seeing this—
"Mountain-Crushing Force!"
With his fighting spirit reignited, Ye Long cut a striking figure, resembling an unsheathed saber radiating razor-sharp intent.
As the two forces collided head-on, the Silver Python suddenly whipped its massive body into a coil!
Trapped within the tightening encirclement, Ye Long's expression shifted.
Everyone watching gasped, their hearts leaping into their throats.
Ye Long couldn't help but offer a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
Yet in the nick of time, his gaze caught sight of the pools of blood staining the ground, and his eyes glazed over in sudden realization.
"Since you're so hell-bent on a fight to the death, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
With that, Ye Long abandoned all reason and went completely wild.
At the same time, the Silver Python coiled into a towering wall, wrapping around him like a tightly bound rice dumpling.
Despair flickered in the eyes of the onlookers.
After all, the Silver Python's strength was simply too terrifying—it was an invincible force of nature!
Suddenly, a roar shook the surrounding hills, echoing through the air for miles around.
The Silver Python began to thrash about frantically on the spot, driven completely mad.
Boulders shattered, and the terrain was torn to shreds. The earth itself became the target of its devastation...
Watching the beast plunge into such mindless frenzy, Qin Hu and the two others stared in wide-eyed bewilderment, utterly baffled.
Boom!
A muffled thunderclap echoed sharply, lingering in the air for a long time.
Only then did the realization dawn on them.
Even the figure in black widened her eyes in disbelief, letting out a sharp cry:
"Young hero... he's inside the Silver Python's stomach!"
In truth, when Ye Long had spotted the blood on the ground earlier during that brush with death, he had noticed the bloody crater left by the sword on the snake's tail.
When the serpent closed in, acting on pure instinct, he had dived straight through that gaping, bloody wound.
His compact stature at that moment had proved to be a stroke of sheer luck, granting him a narrow path to victory!
And the rest, naturally, followed...
Unleashing a storm of fists and kicks, Ye Long threw everything he had learned into practice, unleashing the ultimate technique of the Qingshi Formula: "Mountain-Crushing Force!"
That was the baffling spectacle Qin Hu and the others had just witnessed.
The Silver Python was thrashing and rolling like a dragon in agony...