Chapter 159: Divine Artifact

It is just like how Zhou Heng was grabbed and beaten by Qianjun Douluo at the Spirit Hall a while ago; once the Medusa Empress wants to gather her state to release Time Stasis, Zhou Heng will begin to violently attack the Medusa Empress's vital points, forcing the Medusa Empress to abandon the idea of releasing Time Stasis.

Time passes bit by bit, and the advantage in the battle gradually begins to tilt toward Zhou Heng and his companion.

Of the three Snake Emperors and two variants, one Red-Refining Snake Emperor was finished off by Zhou Heng at the very beginning, two variants were crippled, and one Nether Snake Emperor had its life-saving skill exhausted; the only remaining Jade Phosphorus Serpent Emperor, which was still in decent condition, was like a grandson in front of Dugu Bo, having long since started observing from the sidelines.

The potent poison that is the primary trait of snake-type Spirit Beasts is completely useless against Dugu Bo, who has already reached level 95; Dugu Bo even began trying to mobilize the venom of the surrounding snakes to increase the power of his own soul skills as he fought.

The main force fighting Dugu Bo is still that group of Medusas, but although these Medusas have high quality due to inheriting a portion of Divine Beast bloodlines, their age is not quite enough; apart from posing a slight threat and causing some damage to Dugu Bo at the start, they have been unable to pose a threat to Dugu Bo for the rest of the time.

Even the two Medusas with the lowest age have already died in Dugu Bo's potent poison, and two black soul rings have emerged on their bodies.

The Medusa Empress has a massive body and thick skin, but her combat experience is truly too poor; her innate high intelligence deprives her of the ferocity and combat experience of normal Spirit Beasts, and during the battle, she often misses opportunities to strike due to pain, causing her to be gradually devoured by Zhou Heng as if he were fighting a boss.

The low temperature of Extreme Ice is gradually eroding the Medusa Empress's body, nibbling away at the Medusa Empress's vitality and soul power bit by bit, weakening this Spirit Beast's upper limit and base attributes.

With her state gradually declining, the fear in the Medusa Empress's heart once again overwhelmed her greed and anger.

The fearful Medusa Empress had wanted to open her mouth to threaten these outsiders to leave her territory, and that the other Spirit Beasts within her territory, even including her own children, could become the other party's soul rings.

But before this Medusa Empress, who resembled an old empress dowager, could speak, that brief hesitation became an opportunity for attack in Zhou Heng's eyes; Zhou Heng suddenly erupted, and the Dark Gold Terrorclaw, which had finished cooling down, was released once again, nearly severing the Medusa Empress at the waist.

Feeling the threat to her life and realizing that the enemy would absolutely not let her go, the Medusa Empress became enraged, and the string in her mind called reason snapped completely.

Her massive body sluggishly remained in place, and the Medusa Empress crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly enduring Zhou Heng's attacks while beginning to call upon the power within her body.

Because the Medusa Empress was simply too tanky, even though Zhou Heng tried his hardest to finish her off before she could release her skill, he only left behind wounds deep enough to see bone, still a distance away from killing her.

The power of sin surged from within the Medusa Empress's body; the Medusa Empress's originally emerald-green snake hair and eyes were infected by this evil power, turning into an eerie dark red, and the mass of snake hair began to swell rapidly.

Feeling the evil power radiating from the Medusa Empress, the many Snake Emperors and Medusas who were fighting Dugu Bo on the side could not help but lower their bodies, no longer resisting even when faced with Dugu Bo's lethal attacks.

Several Medusas were killed by Dugu Bo while he seized the opportunity, the Nether Snake Emperor that had lost its life-saving skill was killed by Dugu Bo, and the two major variants were beaten to their last breaths.

At this very moment, the Medusa Empress's body suddenly surged, changing from her original height of around thirty meters to nearly fifty meters, her body taking on a blood-colored, illusory state.

The power of sin erupted, and the snake hair atop the Medusa Empress's head danced incessantly, but every pair of eyes stared deeply at Zhou Heng, the gazes filled with pure malice.

Various forms of malice impacted Zhou Heng's brain, making Zhou Heng involuntarily think of the Rakshasa God's Divine Power he had encountered before.

Although the power displayed by the Medusa Empress was far inferior to that of the Rakshasa God, in a certain sense, the malice within it was even purer than the malice within the Rakshasa God's Divine Power.

The soul rings of the dead snakes on the ground were gathered by an invisible force and surged into the Medusa Empress's body, and the blood flowing during the battle was collected by an invisible force and injected into the Medusa Empress's body.

If the original Medusa Empress was an emperor among snakes carrying Divinity, then the current Medusa Empress was undoubtedly a demon that had walked out of hell.

"Not enough, not enough!"

The Medusa Empress let out a lethal scream, her massive spiritual power wantonly impacting every corner of the small island.

Under the Medusa Empress's Death Scream, a large number of snake-type Spirit Beasts died instantly, and the soul rings and blood surging from within their bodies flew rapidly toward the center of the island, injecting into the Medusa Empress's body.

Although Zhou Heng had tried his best to stop it, most of the soul rings and blood still injected into the Medusa Empress's body, and her originally illusory figure became increasingly solid.

The Medusa Empress's chest split open, and a tablet emerged from within.

That was precisely the Divine Artifact held by the God of Sin Medusa during her lifetime—the Soul-Absorbing Tablet.

It was a gray, dull iron tablet; on the surface of the iron tablet appeared an eerie snake, and this snake was twisting its body, its entire form appearing gray-black, with a massive snake head right in the center of the iron tablet.

Accompanied by the release of the Divine Artifact, the Medusa Empress's originally massive body instantly shrank to a height of less than thirty meters, looking even thinner and weaker than before she released the Divine Artifact.

The moment Zhou Heng saw the Soul-Absorbing Tablet, he could feel a wisp of Divine Sense forcibly intruding into his mind.

It was a massive figure over a hundred meters tall, a magnified version of the Medusa Empress, her entire body filled with the Divine Power of sin.

"A high-quality sacrifice."

The wisp of Divine Soul hidden within the Soul-Absorbing Tablet by the God of Sin Medusa felt Zhou Heng's Spirit Sea and revealed a greedy smile; a long, forked tongue like a snake's flicked out from her mouth, greedily licking the corners of her lips, wanting to completely devour Zhou Heng's spirit and soul.

Looking at this figure in his Spirit Sea, Zhou Heng was somewhat amazed, then he waved his hand, and a Five-Finger Mountain descended from the sky, directly suppressing this remaining wisp of the God of Sin Medusa's Divine Soul.

Zhou Heng's spirit surged, following the connection between this wisp of Divine Soul and the Soul-Absorbing Tablet to inversely invade the Soul-Absorbing Tablet; inside the Soul-Absorbing Tablet lay dormant a large amount of Faith Power and a small wisp of Immortal Spiritual Qi converted from Faith Power.

Although this wisp of the God of Sin Medusa's Divine Sense frantically tried to block him after discovering that Zhou Heng was inversely invading her Divine Artifact, and even wanted to take Zhou Heng with her by self-destructing, all of it was suppressed by Zhou Heng.

Inside the Soul-Absorbing Tablet was an imprint belonging to the God of Sin Medusa, but after losing the control of the Divine Soul, this imprint was nothing more than rootless duckweed, and it was dragged by Zhou Heng into his own Spirit Sea and suppressed.

Outside, the Soul-Absorbing Tablet had just emitted a red light, and before the Medusa Empress could utter any curses or angry rebukes, the originally aggressive Soul-Absorbing Tablet fell from mid-air as if it had lost all its power, landing right into Zhou Heng's hand.

Watching this scene, the severely injured Medusa Empress not only had the expression on her face become twisted, but even the mass of snake hair on her head hung with a distorted look.