Chapter 972: Peng Luo Captured

Bathed in a blood-red halo, Pan Ji’s aura turned terrifying. His arms swelled grotesquely, and strange, crimson totem patterns writhed across his skin. His aura climbed until it reached the peak of the Combined Body Realm.

Peng Luo suddenly emerged from somewhere, his mouth stuffed with a large handful of emerald-green spirit plant leaves. Standing on Meng Wanshu’s shoulder while clutching a lock of her hair, he widened his eyes and muttered, “A totem? They actually have something like this in the Human World? Be careful, Mistress. Those blood-rune totems allow him to wield the power of certain great demons. His physical strength is terrifying now, even surpassing that of a pure tier-seven martial cultivator!”

Meng Wanshu’s gaze sharpened, her brows knitting together. The elder’s sudden surge in strength had indeed felt distinctly unnatural.

Pan Ji ran his tongue over his dry, cracked lips. His bloodshot eyes gleamed with a ravenous hunger for blood.

Li Guanqi’s heart tightened. Despite focusing on the climb, he had been quietly monitoring the battle all along.

A tremendous force surged through Li Guanqi’s body, and his climbing speed increased significantly. Bracing himself against the crushing waterfall, he scrambled upward toward the Seven-Colored Glass Flower.

Layer after layer of Lightning Armor shattered. The waterfall had already battered his head into a bloody mess.

Blood flowed down the Spirit Mist River. Yet, even with the Seven-Colored Glass Flower now within reach, Li Guanqi remained remarkably calm.

Meng Wanshu’s expression was grim. Pan Ji had seized complete control of the battle.

The blow hurled her backward, but icy mist gathered beneath her feet and brought her to a steady stop. The next instant, a blood-red sword light was already crashing down on her.

Whoosh!

Meng Wanshu reacted quickly and barely evaded the sword light, but the force still sent her flying several dozen zhang.

Peng Luo grew bigger, grabbed Meng Wanshu, and ran away. She glanced down at the torn webbing between her thumb and index finger. Her entire arm had gone numb.

As they fled, Peng Luo hurriedly explained, “The power of his blood-rune totem must come from the Blood-Oath Savage Bull! That creature possesses monstrous strength and was a notoriously troublesome great demon even in the Ancient Era. A pure-blooded Blood-Oath Savage Bull would dare challenge even the dragon race.”

He continued, “Brother Nine, get him!”

As soon as Peng Luo shouted, Nine Heavens soared into the sky, shrinking to a length of ten zhang. At this size, he could move much faster.

Boom!

His tail whipped through the air toward the elder, tearing space open and leaving a long spatial rift in its wake. The immense tail fell like a colossal axe descending to cleave the heavens apart.

Pan Ji let out a cold snort, his fingers tightening around his sword hilt, his loose hair obscuring the madness in his eyes.

Peng Luo immediately realized something was wrong. With the power Pan Ji now wielded through the blood-rune totem, a single strike might be enough to gravely injure Nine Heavens.

Peng Luo let go of Meng Wanshu and vanished into the void. His body expanded until he was nearly a zhang tall, then he reappeared and slammed headfirst into Nine Heavens.

“Hahaha! Die!”

Slash!

The blood-infused sword came crashing down. With a burst of sparks, the strike broke through Nine Heavens’ defenses and severed part of his tail.

The attack sliced Peng Luo in half at the waist. If he had arrived even a moment later, Nine Heavens might have lost half his body instead.

Roar!

Seeing Peng Luo injured, Nine Heavens let out a furious roar. He reared upright and unleashed a blast of lightning breath at Pan Ji.

However, Pan Ji lifted the severed chunk of Nine Heavens’ tail to his lips and squeezed, gulping down the dragon blood that gushed out.

Boom!

He thrust one massive fist forward and actually dispersed Nine Heavens’ lightning breath by force. The flesh on his fist burned away, exposing white bone, yet his appearance kept growing younger. Even the blood-red patterns covering his arms began to take on a dark-golden hue.

Peng Luo was already halfway into the void when Pan Ji, now resembling a middle-aged man, thrust a hand after him. He seized Peng Luo by the throat and forcibly dragged him back out.

“Hahahaha! Where do you think you’re going?”

Peng Luo’s eyes widened in panic. Gathering his strength, he swung his fist at Pan Ji’s face.

But after absorbing Nine Heavens’ blood essence, Pan Ji had grown even stronger. When their fists collided, Peng Luo’s arm broke.

“Ahhh!”

Crushed beneath the immense pressure, Peng Luo shrank until he was no larger than a palm. Pan Ji grabbed him and tore away half his body with a single bite, making him scream in agony.

Boom! Boom!

Two explosions rang out. Blood-red light surged from Pan Ji’s palm, imprisoning Peng Luo beside him.

As Nine Heavens and Meng Wanshu attacked from opposite directions, Pan Ji’s lips curled into a strange, bloodthirsty smile. Consuming the true dragon essence blood had awakened a hunger and exhilaration unlike anything he had ever known.

Violent qi surged through his body. He watched them approach with a ravenous gleam in his eyes, slowly licking the blood from the corner of his mouth. Then his gaze settled on Meng Wanshu’s slender, snow-white neck. He felt an almost unbearable urge to bite into her flesh and tear her throat open.

Pan Ji opened his left hand while pointing the sword in his right toward Nine Heavens. Blood-red light surged around Pan Ji, and they exchanged blows.

Rumble!

Thunderous explosions shook the mountains.

Roar!

Nine Heavens roared in fury, the sound echoing across the sky.

Meng Wanshu swung the Snow Phantom Sword, unleashing a chaotic barrage of sword lights.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A rapid succession of metallic clashes rang out. The force of each collision twisted and shattered the surrounding void.

To their surprise, Pan Ji had attained remarkable mastery of palm techniques. By drawing on the power of the blood-rune totem, he could neutralize even Nine Heavens’ tremendous momentum.

Meng Wanzhou’s swordsmanship was incredibly fierce, making it difficult even for Pan Ji to defend against her relentless attacks.

Meanwhile, Peng Luo desperately used his special abilities to try to escape, but Pan Ji’s power was far too strange. It forcibly suppressed his ability to manipulate space.

Slash!

With a horizontal slash of her sword, Meng Wanshu came close to bisecting Pan Ji at the waist. The gruesome wound immediately froze over, and the surrounding flesh crumbled into icy powder.

Pan Ji was ruthless enough to endure it. He forced Nine Heavens back with a palm strike, then retreated and used his sword to carve away the flesh around the wound.

Ignoring Peng Luo’s furious curses, Pan Ji bit off another chunk of his flesh. As Pan Ji’s injuries healed before everyone’s eyes, a savage grin spread across his face.

Looking at Meng Wanshu and Nine Heavens, both of whom had also suffered serious wounds, he said coldly, “I can hardly wait to taste your blood.”