Chapter 448: Dying Together!!

The massive body of Fu Hai Qiu suddenly sank, as if bound by invisible shackles.

Its control over the water element was clearly disrupted; the towering waves it raised lost much of their power, and its icy breath became intermittent.

Instantly, it let out a roar of shock and fury, its golden vertical pupils snapping toward Elder Mo, brimming with violent killing intent!

"Both of you—now! Strike three inches below its inverted scale! That is the weak point where its water element circulation connects with its soul!"

Elder Mo urgently transmitted his voice while spitting a mouthful of essence blood onto the array plate, forcibly maintaining the disruption field—his face turned instantly as pale as paper.

Elder Han and Elder Wan's spirits surged.

They had long been frustrated and terrified by their inability to break through; now that Fu Hai Qiu was restrained, how could they miss this once-in-a-millennium opportunity?

"Go!"

Elder Han bit his tongue, spattering essence blood onto his flying sword; the Cloud-Piercing Sword let out a clear, ringing cry, its silver radiance exploding several-fold, transforming into an ultra-condensed silver thread that ignored spatial barriers, striking at three inches below Fu Hai Qiu's inverted scale—where the skin was slightly lighter and golden patterns converged—at a speed more than double its previous velocity!

"Die!"

Elder Wan, frenzied, poured all his remaining primal toxin into the three nearly disintegrating toxin blades, fusing them into a single, solid, needle-thin toxin cone whose tip glowed with a deep, profound black—following closely behind the silver thread, striking the exact same target.

This strike contained the essence of his lifetime's toxin arts and a ruthless curse force—not aiming to pierce deeply, but to inject the most potent, most corrupting poison into its body!

Fu Hai Qiu sensed the mortal threat.

It thrashed wildly, churning the entire deep pool as if boiling; its terrifying physical strength clashed violently against Elder Mo's disruption field, producing grinding, cracking sounds.

It tried to twist its head, using its harder skull or thick forelimbs to block—but the array's interference slowed its movements by half a beat.

Puch!

The silver thread struck first.

The weak point beneath the inverted scale indeed had greatly reduced defense; the thread pierced nearly half a foot deep.

Dark blue blood streaked with specks of golden light erupted like a geyser.

Almost simultaneously, the slender toxin cone also pierced precisely into the same wound, vanishing entirely into its hilt!

"Aaang—"

Fu Hai Qiu let out the most agonizing, most pained roar since the battle began.

Its massive body writhed and rolled wildly, as if mountains were collapsing and earth was splitting.

Dark blue blood mixed with purple-black toxin gushed from the wound, rapidly staining a vast expanse of the pool black.

The terrifying pressure receded like a tide, replaced by decay and frenzied rage—life essence severely wounded, soul corroded by poison.

Elder Mo's array, under Fu Hai Qiu's final, desperate thrashing, finally collapsed with a thunderous crash.

All array devices exploded simultaneously.

Elder Mo was struck as if by a heavy hammer, spewing blood, collapsing backward, his aura instantly withered to the brink—he had clearly suffered severe damage to both soul and body.

Elder Han and Elder Wan were also shaken, gasping for breath.

That all-out strike had nearly drained half their true qi and vital essence.

Seeing Fu Hai Qiu gravely wounded and near death, their eyes flared with greed once more; ignoring their own exhaustion and injuries, they rushed toward the writhing, blood-soaked Fu Hai Qiu at the same moment!

Their target: its head and heart!

Yet they had all underestimated the terror of an ancient beast at death's door—and overestimated the fragility of their "alliance."

Just as the two were about to reach Fu Hai Qiu, the seemingly dying giant suddenly ignited the last flicker of ferocity and madness in its golden vertical pupils.

Its head, about to fall, used its final strength to snap upward!

Crack!

A dark golden horn, covered in spiral patterns, atop its head, spontaneously snapped off!

The broken horn became a streak of dark golden light, faster than thought, carrying Fu Hai Qiu's final life essence, eons of hatred, and a shard of its shattered ferocity—like an ancient judgment spear—it instantly pierced through the chest of Elder Wan, who was charging ahead, utterly defenseless!

Puh~!

Elder Wan's forward momentum froze; he looked down in disbelief at the bowl-sized, through-and-through hole in his chest—his internal organs already pulverized, dark golden energy and the dragon-qiu's vengeful malice madly eroding his life force.

He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but only black blood gushed out; his eyes dimmed rapidly, his body collapsing like a rag into the churning, toxic blood below.

"What?!"

Elder Han turned pale with horror, recoiling violently.

He had never imagined Fu Hai Qiu possessed such a terrifying last-ditch suicide technique.

Watching Elder Wan die instantly, icy dread surged through him.

Yet, after unleashing this final strike, Fu Hai Qiu had utterly exhausted all its life force.

Its massive body slumped lifelessly, crashing into the pool with a colossal splash, raising towering waves—dark blue blood nearly dyed half the deep pool a strange blue-black.

Its dual golden vertical pupils finally lost all luster, becoming hollow and lifeless.

The ancient beast, Fu Hai Qiu, perished!

Elder Han, still shaken, stared at the floating corpse of Fu Hai Qiu and the rapidly sinking corpse of Elder Wan, then at Elder Mo, lying motionless and unknown alive or dead in the distance—his greed once again overcame his fear.

The cost had been immense—but the reward would be unprecedented!

Fu Hai Qiu's entire body was treasure; the inheritance light orb still floated. Though Elder Wan was dead and Elder Mo critically wounded, as long as he lived, all of it would be his!

A ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes; he shot toward the inheritance orb first, preparing to claim this most vital treasure.

But the instant he was about to touch the dim orb—

Sudden change!

The once-still dark golden inheritance orb, deprived of Fu Hai Qiu's sustaining power and battered by the prior battle's energy surges, finally reached its critical threshold—suddenly contracting inward, then—

Boom!

An indescribable, violent chaos of spatial currents and ancient forbidden fragments erupted from the orb like a detonation.

Like a ruptured ancient leather sack filled with high-pressure gas!

Elder Han was hit first.

He was too close, and having lowered his guard due to successive battles and his greed, he had no time to fully evade when he sensed the eruption of destructive energy.

"No—"

He could only let out a desperate scream before being utterly swallowed by the terrifying spatial turbulence and shards of ancient prohibitions.

Hiss-hiss-hiss! Puff-puff-puff!

His protective aura shattered like paper, and his flesh and bone were instantly riddled with holes under the spatial shearing and the power of the ancient prohibitions!

He didn't even manage a full cry of pain—his entire body was torn apart, disintegrated, and mostly annihilated within the burst of destructive light!

The remaining half-blackened remnant, like a ruined leaf, was violently flung outward and slammed into the distant cave wall, silent and still.

The self-destructive explosion of the inheritance orb took Elder Han and exhausted its final power, dissolving into specks of light dust that faded into the air.

Only a slowly rotating, dimly gleaming dark-gold crystal remained, gently falling to the edge of the pond below, tainted by the blood and venom of the Fuhai Qiu.

Inside the cave, an absolute, deathly silence suddenly fell.

Only the pond's gurgling remained, the stench of blood and the acrid reek of annihilated energy thick and unyielding.

Three Tiangong realm experts, united in battle against the ancient beast Fuhai Qiu, ended with Fuhai Qiu dead! Elder Wan dead! Elder Han dead!

Elder Mo lay gravely wounded, unconscious, hanging by a thread between life and death.

Throughout it all, Chen Mu, hidden in the shadows of the rock crevices, had not once disturbed his breathing.

He waited a little longer in the corner.

Only then did Chen Mu step out silently.

He approached the corpses—

【Corpse detected. Collect?】