Chapter 561: Slaying

The moment that eerie crimson eye emerged from the candied hawthorn stick, Li Luo knew he had guessed right.

The true body of this "Heart-Bewitching Other" was not the old crone before him at all, but the candied hawthorn stick she held in her hand, bound together with black straw.

Hum!

Li Luo's gaze turned icy, his blade light swift and fierce, slashing viciously toward the crimson eye that had suddenly appeared.

This time, however, a venomous, resentful expression surfaced on the old crone's face. In the next instant, countless blood threads surged out from within the crimson eye. These threads burrowed out of the eyeball and actually condensed into a hand of mangled flesh and blood, which grabbed at the incoming blade light.

Hiss!

The two collided. The blade edge sank deep into the mangled hand, but the hand proved extraordinarily tough—black straw within it writhed like snakes, constantly blocking the force of the blade.

It couldn't be cut through in a single slash!

Clearly, this "Heart-Bewitching Other" had also sensed the danger, so it no longer dared let Li Luo slash at will.

"I thought you weren't afraid at all!"

Li Luo gave a cold laugh. The next moment, his five fingers tightened around the hilt.

"Elephant God Power, First Layer!"

His arms instantly swelled by a size, veins bulging upon them, muscles trembling as they released terrifying force.

"Thunder Roar Body!"

It didn't end there. Immediately after, Li Luo activated the Thunder Roar Body once more. A resounding thunderclap erupted within his body. Wherever the thunder-sound waves passed, flesh, meridians, and bones all strengthened amid their trembling.

"Elephant God Power, Second Layer!"

Li Luo roared low in his heart. His arms trembled violently, his skin showing faint signs of tearing, as terrifying force—like an ancient wild elephant—rushed through the flesh of his arms.

"Break for me!"

Feeling that incomparably majestic power within his arms, Li Luo twisted his blade edge, and force poured forth like floodwaters.

Crack!

Accompanied by a crisp sound, the blood hand that had caught the blade was severed in an instant. The black straw within was also sliced apart, the broken ends smooth as a mirror.

The blade light, carrying the vast, crashing force of a wild elephant's charge, hacked directly toward the crimson eye madly spinning within the black straw.

The blade light was icy, rippling like water waves, bright and chillingly cold.

The blade light flashed past in an instant.

Broken black straw flew about in all directions.

Squeak!

An extremely shrill, unpleasant sound suddenly erupted at this moment.

But that sound did not come from the old crone—it came from within the splitting candied hawthorn stick.

The black straw shattered apart at this moment, the candied hawthorn stick disintegrating along with it, and the scene beneath the straw was exposed.

A mass of crimson flesh and blood was revealed, writhing, with the vague outlines of hands and feet visible. At the center of the mangled flesh, an eye covered in blood threads spun madly.

Squeak!

As this eerie mass of eye and flesh was exposed, the old crone holding the stick beside them—

her body instantly melted, rapidly turning into a puddle of black liquid.

Clearly, this mass of eye and flesh was the true body of the "Heart-Bewitching Other."

One could tell that this "Heart-Bewitching Other's" true body did not possess great power. Once truly exposed, its strength was perhaps only equivalent to an ordinary Red-Erosion-class Other.

So after being exposed, the "Heart-Bewitching Other" could only cast an extremely venomous gaze at Li Luo, then it actually leapt down from the stick, transforming into a streak of blood light that darted across the main street—it was actually trying to flee.

"Trying to leave?"

Li Luo gave a cold laugh, drew out the "Light Falcon Bow" with a backhand motion, drew the bowstring taut, and in the next instant, a stream of light tore through the air of the long street with a sharp whistling sound. In a flash, it pinned that mass of flesh and blood firmly to the floor.

Squeak squeak!

The "Heart-Bewitching Other" let out shrill cries, struggling madly.

But Li Luo remained unmoved, continuing to draw his bow. One streaking-light arrow after another shot forth violently, peppering the "Heart-Bewitching Other" into a porcupine. And as arrow after light-arrow came, this "Heart-Bewitching Other" finally could not bear it any longer, and at last went poof, bursting apart into a floorful of foul-smelling black sludge.

The instant the "Heart-Bewitching Other" burst apart, those originally ferocious-looking Polluters charging down the main street suddenly seemed to freeze, solidifying on the street just like that, not moving at all, like a row of human statues—looking rather eerie.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's figure also came to a halt.

Lu Ming and Sun Sun Dasheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief, both casting astonished gazes toward Li Luo.

"Li Luo, how did you know the 'Heart-Bewitching Other's' true body wasn't the old crone, but was hidden inside the candied hawthorn stick?" Lu Ming asked, her beautiful eyes wide with great surprise.

Li Luo's series of operations earlier had clearly been witnessed by them as well.

"It's just a Red-Erosion-class Other, it hasn't even reached Calamity-class. What ability does it have to take so many of my slashes completely unscathed? So there's only one reason—I was cutting the wrong place." Li Luo put away the Light Falcon Bow and laughed casually.

"And the true body couldn't possibly be far from this controlled body, so thinking it over, only this candied hawthorn stick stood out."

Hearing Li Luo's analysis, both Lu Ming and Sun Sun Dasheng were somewhat impressed. It sounded simple when said, but to make such a meticulous analysis amid that kind of perilous battle, find the "Heart-Bewitching Other's" weakness, and decisively break the situation—this kind of composure, even the two of them had to admit some admiration.

"This damned thing—although its rank hasn't reached Calamity-class, its trickiness is no less than some Small-Earth-Calamity-class Others." Sun Sun Dasheng cursed.

Lu Ming also nodded. Although this "Heart-Bewitching Other" seemed unable to withstand a single blow once its true body was discovered, its special ability was quite troublesome. If Li Luo hadn't seen through it early this time, they might really not have been able to break through.

"This Red Stone City is truly fraught with danger," Lu Ming sighed. Clearly, those powerful Others had already been held off by other teammates, yet they had still nearly fallen victim. Obviously, the current Red Stone City was indeed a forbidden ground for those of them at the Diviner Stage.

Retch!

While they were speaking, violent retching sounds suddenly came from behind them. Turning their heads, they saw Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan sprawled on the ground,

vomiting madly, black liquid spewing from his mouth, incredibly foul-smelling.

The three of them immediately stepped back two paces, watching Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan warily.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan vomited until he nearly passed out. After quite a while, he finally raised his deathly pale face, his hollow eyes staring blankly at the three of them.

"Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, have you recovered?"

Li Luo gripped the Profound Elephant Blade, his gaze sizing up Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, then said unhurriedly: "If you haven't recovered, how about we send you on your way? After all, that would count as saving you."

Lu Ming and Sun Sun Dasheng glanced at Li Luo. It seemed this Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan didn't have a good relationship with Li Luo.

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's face twitched, and he said through gritted teeth, "I'm fine right now!"

Li Luo was visibly disappointed when he heard that, and let out a sigh.

Seeing this, Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's forehead veins were popping. You bastard, is this really how much you wanted me to get corrupted so you could take the chance to cut me down?!

"Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan, your performance this time was terrible. Do you have any idea? You just ate a 'candied hawthorn,' and then got corrupted. That's caused us a huge amount of trouble," Li Luo said solemnly.

"Do you still remember that 'candied hawthorn'? It was actually a shriveled eyeball, and when you bit down there was black liquid — probably corpse water... with a burst-in-your-mouth effect too. How did it taste? Was it a little bitter?"

Urk!

Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan's face alternated between green and white, then he turned his head and retched violently, nearly throwing up his very innards.

Lu Ming also looked at Li Luo speechlessly. This guy really was insufferable, going out of his way to describe that disgusting thing all over again.

Sun Sun Dasheng cast a sympathetic look toward Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan. This incident was probably going to leave a deep psychological shadow on the guy.

Li Luo, meanwhile, wore a beaming smile. This kid Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan had always given him trouble back at the academy, and now that he had the chance, of course he had to take it and get his payback.

Still, he didn't want to provoke Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan too much, lest the guy suddenly get corrupted again. So he simply turned around and said, "Let's move. We're almost at our spot — hurry up and set down the first Purification Spirit Pearl."

With that, he took off running.

Lu Ming and Sun Sun Dasheng hurried to follow, and Senior Zhu Zhu Xuan also struggled to his feet, his face iron-blue, and trailed after them.

The four of them streaked across the streets, but this time they didn't run into any more obstructions. A few minutes later, they arrived at the designated spot.

Li Luo flipped up onto a rooftop and cast his gaze toward the rear. Far down the street, terrifying waves of energy were erupting, sweeping through like a raging storm — the commotion over there was far greater than on their end.

Li Luo didn't hesitate. He pulled a Purification Spirit Pearl from his spatial pearl, then activated it with a specific hand seal. The Purification Spirit Pearl slowly rose, and the next instant, a curtain of purifying light began to spread rapidly outward, using this spot as its source.

And as the purifying light curtain spread, Li Luo noticed that the scenery around them began to change.

The bustling, roaring crowds on the street were simply erased.

The intact buildings and streets gradually turned into ruins everywhere, along with desolate broken walls.

Clearly, this was what Red Stone City truly looked like now.