Chapter 573 551: First Sight of the True Rootless Wood

The Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul raised its arm to block. Several cracks split across its armor from the impact, and ghostly fire flared out, causing everyone's souls to tremble and hum.

In a full-power battle between High-star Pet Beasts, even bystanders would be injured if caught in the crossfire.

Teacher Tang didn't retreat a single step, his presence steady. He used the momentum to pivot, his second punch following instantly.

This time, he aimed for the densest cluster of wooden vines wrapped around the dragon's neck.

BOOM!

A large hole was blasted through the wood fibers, revealing the ghastly white, eroded bone beneath.

But the opening was filled almost instantly by newly grown black wood. The darkness behind the dragon bones was like a bottomless pit, providing a ceaseless, despair-inducing supply of energy.

"This thing recovers way too fast."

Teacher Tang murmured, his tone unhurried and his presence still steady.

Master Xiao took over the assault.

The tentacles of the Dark Star Jellyfish vibrated at high speed in the void, releasing great clouds of stardust-like Dark Energy Particles.

Instead of releasing them immediately, he first wove the particles into a starlight net, casting it over the group's path of retreat.

Any of the puppet Ancient Dragon's wooden tendrils that tried to cross the line of defense in pursuit would be ensnared and incinerated by the net's surging starlight, emitting a piercing shriek.

The puppet Ancient Dragon's movements, however, did not slow in the slightest.

The massive bone claw shattered a corner of the starlight net, punched straight through, and came crashing down toward the group.

Master Xiao snorted. The Dark Star Jellyfish abruptly contracted its bell, then violently snapped it open.

A visible shockwave of Dark Energy blasted outward with the jellyfish at its epicenter.

BOOM!

The bone claw was knocked back dozens of feet, but the Sea Beast beneath Master Xiao's feet also sank abruptly.

Seizing the opportunity, Teacher Tang once again closed in to attack.

A Ghostly Long Blade materialized in the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul's hand. Deep blue soul-flame patterns swirled across the blade's surface, its ethereal fire shining like starlight.

He leaped, and in mid-air, the long blade split into seven phantoms that simultaneously slashed at the tangled vines on the dragon's neck from seven different directions.

Each slash brutally tore into the grain of the vines. With a series of CRACKS, several thick, parasitic vines snapped.

More purplish-black wood fibers immediately surged from deep within the dragon bones, attempting to refill the opening, but Teacher Tang had already used the recoil to return to his original position.

Master Xiao locked onto the opening. The Dark Star Jellyfish condensed a stellar vortex once more. It formed a spiraling sphere of energy, using it as a nucleus to rapidly draw in the dissipated Dark Energy from its surroundings.

In the span of a few breaths, the vortex's volume expanded severalfold. The light flowing across its surface shifted from dark purple to nearly pure black, and its edges began to tear tiny rifts in space.

This attack was clearly no longer a probe; he intended to use its full power to pierce the opponent's defenses and strike its very core.

Teacher Tang felt the rapidly escalating Energy Fluctuation behind him. He again spurred the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul forward, forcing it to burn its own Spiritual Power to keep the puppet Ancient Dragon's full attention.

The Ghost Soul's armor repeatedly shattered under the relentless barrage of the dragon's claws, only to reform again, each time more tenuous than the last.

In this exchange, the puppet dragon controlled by the Rootless Wood gained the upper hand, completely shattering the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul's armor.

Meanwhile, the strange stirrings inside Cyan Treasure flared up again, and it reeled in distress.

It couldn't suppress the rampaging Power within its body.

Because of the agitation from the Seed of Rootless Wood Grass, it felt its perception shift. A predictive understanding of the way of the Rootless Wood began to crystallize in its mind.

It could clearly see the trajectory of the enemy Rootless Wood's power, and it corresponded perfectly with the method of control it had just comprehended.

Teacher Tang might not have been able to discern the enemy's methods, but Cyan Treasure saw them with perfect clarity. It could even perceive the weaknesses in its opponent's attacks.

Cyan Treasure flicked its forked tongue and quickly communicated with Gu Ming using Divine Sense.

Gu Ming made an immediate decision. He spoke to Master Xiao, who had gathered all his power and was preparing to unleash his strongest attack.

"Master Xiao, the Rootless Wood Ancient Dragon's weakness is in the void! It's an Energy Singularity in the void next to its root core."

"Don't attack the Ancient Dragon directly. Hit the singularity in the void."

At the same time, Gu Ming used his Divine Sense to share a set of spatial coordinates that Cyan Treasure had intuitively calculated, along with a predictive formula.

That location had to be the power source for the enemy's Rootless Wood. The flow of void energy there was extremely fast, and it was expanding and moving at high speed.

As an Eight-star Beastmaster, Master Xiao had no reason to listen to a Four-star Beastmaster.

But he glanced at Cyan Treasure, sensed the rampaging Power of the Rootless Wood inside it, and had a sudden insight. Without asking any questions, he chose to trust Gu Ming.

When he extended his Perception into that patch of void, he did indeed see an Energy Singularity, rapidly expanding and moving at high speed.

Using the formula Gu Ming had provided, he was miraculously able to predict its trajectory one second into the future.

'This is my chance!'

The Dark Star Jellyfish flared with light. Several of its massive tentacles moved as if plucking the strings of a nebula, redirecting the enormous, spiraling sphere of energy that had been compressed to its absolute limit.

A rift tore open in the space before it. The stellar vortex disappeared silently within, leaving a dark scar in the void that refused to heal.

A second later, everyone heard a deep, muffled boom that vibrated across the entire surface of the sea.

Although nothing was visible on the ocean's surface, they could feel a violent tearing and shuddering deep within the unseen space behind them.

Immediately after, the layers of Rootless Wood enveloping the Ancient Dragon peeled back, one after another, all of them withering away.

In an instant, its robust body of roots shriveled into a withered husk.

The massive skeleton, now devoid of support, crashed into the sea.

The battle was over in a flash, yet it didn't feel short at all.

It felt as though they had been fighting for over ten minutes, but in reality, only thirty-some seconds had passed.

As the goosebumps on his skin finally subsided, Master Xiao used the Dark Star Jellyfish to scan the area. He could no longer sense the terrifying malice of the Rootless Wood in the void.

That attack must have truly hit its source.

He let out a long breath and laughed heartily.

"Gu Ming, you were a huge help this time."

"If you hadn't calculated its spatial coordinates, this battle, honestly, I wasn't confident I could bring you all back in one piece."

After speaking, Master Xiao reached a hand behind him and found it came away covered in sweat.

The combination of the Rootless Wood from the Inner World and the Ancient Dragon's corpse from the Dragon Transformation Pool left him with a lingering fear.

'Its Power wasn't just at the Seven-star level; it was at least at the Eight-star level.'

'No!'

'That couldn't have been its limit!'

Master Xiao thought back carefully. 'The potential of the puppet dragon was limited, but the Rootless Wood that enveloped its body was another matter entirely.'

'It could draw energy from the void and even from its opponent's attacks. It's a monster that's still growing.'

'If it had been given time to grow, with the way it moved at such high speed... without that formula, I would've been no match for it at all.'

'Terrifying!'