Chapter 312: Golden Core Demon

About a dozen breaths later, He Pingsheng piloted the flying vessel to the location of the Rift-Metal Thunder Fruit.

On the golden tree, lightning crackled fiercely.

Three silver fruits stood out prominently.

He Pingsheng glanced left and right—the valley held no one else.

Nor did it harbor any guardian beast.

So without hesitation, he leapt forward in a single motion toward the Rift-Metal Thunder Fruit.

Yet his body had barely crossed half the water's surface.

The mirror-smooth water suddenly shattered under immense force.

With a splash, a colossal tail—thick as a man's embrace and dozens of zhang long—shot up from the water, then swung down like a club toward He Pingsheng's head.

The tail gleamed bright silver.

As it struck, a crushing pressure simultaneously engulfed He Pingsheng.

"Open…"

He Pingsheng dared not underestimate it—he immediately summoned a black divine spear.

Divine Spear of Tianque!

This was his first time using the Divine Spear of Tianque.

The spear elongated to three zhang, and as he thrust it slightly forward in his hand, immense spiritual power exploded outward—the black spear pierced the void and collided with the massive tail descending from above.

He Pingsheng had no time to extend his spiritual sense to gauge the opponent's cultivation base—he reeled back with all his strength.

He crashed back onto the Eight Treasures Boat with a thud.

The black Divine Spear of Tianque, spewing crimson fire spiritual power, pierced straight through the silver giant tail with a wet *puch*.

Boom…

The giant tail missed He Pingsheng and slammed into the calm water.

A towering wave erupted, spreading as vast ripples down the river.

He Pingsheng waved his hand—the distant Divine Spear of Tianque turned and flew back into his grasp.

"Roar…"

A furious roar rose from beneath the water, and an enormous silver serpent burst forth, rising into the air to stand dozens of zhang tall.

Water rained off its body.

In the dim valley, two beings—one large, one small—faced each other.

Only then did He Pingsheng realize it was no giant serpent, but a dragon-jiao.

The dragon-jiao's tail had just been pierced by his Divine Spear of Tianque, yet for such a colossal beast, the wound was merely superficial—not enough to strike bone or muscle.

He Pingsheng assumed a defensive stance and swept his spiritual sense over the dragon-jiao.

The moment he did, his heart turned cold.

Golden Core!

Yes—the dragon-jiao was a Golden Core beast, and worse, it was at the late stage of Golden Core.

"Roar…"

The dragon-jiao, standing atop the water, opened its massive mouth—over a zhang wide—and roared straight at He Pingsheng.

Then, with lightning speed, it lunged its colossal head straight toward him.

Boom…

He Pingsheng had no time to react—he was blasted away.

The massive head, undiminished in speed, slammed into the Eight Treasures Boat.

The Eight Treasures Boat flipped over.

The good news: He Pingsheng was unharmed.

The bad news: the force of that blow had completely dissolved all seven layers of defense on his Seven-Clasp Sharp Metal Armor.

No time to retrieve the Eight Treasures Boat!

He Pingsheng seized the chance to land on the opposite cliff, then activated his spiritual sense—the spiritual technique 【Formless Northern Dipper Nail】.

Seven divine nails flew from his mind sea.

Coincidentally, at that moment, the Golden Core demon's head charged toward him again.

"Go…"

The seven divine nails struck precisely toward the dragon-jiao's mind sea.

This time, he had not ingested the Twin Soul Pills—he attacked purely with his own spiritual sense strength.

After releasing the spiritual assault, He Pingsheng moved his feet and instantly accelerated fivefold.

He shot off the cliff in a blur, leaping to land on another sheer wall.

Boom…

The dragon-jiao's massive body slammed its head into the cliff and let out a cry of agony.

The pain was not from the impact—it was from He Pingsheng's spiritual attack.

But He Pingsheng's unenhanced spiritual assault was insufficient to shatter the demon's spiritual sense across a rank gap; after a brief moment of agony, the giant demon stood again atop the water.

"Boom… boom… boom…"

From the demon's body surged countless water spiritual energies, forming nine towering water columns.

Boom…

One water column blasted straight toward He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng's feet flashed golden light as he shifted position.

The moment he landed, a second water column struck.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The nine water columns struck him in sequence.

He Pingsheng had no chance to breathe.

The Golden Core demon's attacks were too powerful—in this instant, He Pingsheng nearly gave up.

Damn it!

If only he had a third-rank defensive talisman.

He'd had two Ice-Origin Talismans, but he'd given them to Qiao Huizhu when she crossed her heavenly tribulation.

Now he had none left.

"Open…"

After dodging all nine water columns, He Pingsheng leapt upward and flicked his wrist swiftly.

Technique: Poison-Ice Spike Art.

The waters here were vast—he needed no spiritual power to condense water.

Around the demon, dozens of ice spikes erupted—each tipped with deadly poison.

Though the dragon-jiao's body was massive, it moved with startling agility.

All one hundred and eight poison-ice spikes were evaded.

"Roar…"

As He Pingsheng's spell ended, the giant demon whipped its tail—snapping all one hundred and eight poison spikes into shards of toxic ice arrows that flew back at him.

"Damn it…"

He Pingsheng had almost nowhere to dodge.

"Crystal World…"

His second spell launched.

The incoming toxic ice arrows aimed directly at him were sealed by the Crystal World technique.

With a thud, a massive block of ice formed and plunged into the water.

As golden light blazed from his feet, He Pingsheng drew a talisman.

Third-rank talisman: Shattered Thunder Talisman.

No choice!

He could not defeat the opponent with his own strength—it was too powerful.

Not only could he not win, if he kept fighting, he might not even escape.

He Pingsheng had two options.

Ingest the Twin Soul Pills and kill the demon with his spiritual sense.

Or use the third-rank supreme talisman.

He had two such talismans.

One was the Shattered Thunder Talisman; the other was the 【Soul-Draining Talisman】.

Forget it—the Soul-Draining Talisman was too slow. Use the Shattered Thunder Talisman.

"Fall…"

He Pingsheng activated the Shattered Thunder Talisman in a single breath and hurled it at the Golden Core demon.

Boom…

A thunderbolt, as thick as an arm, materialized in midair and crashed onto the dragon-jiao.

The dragon-jiao rolled over and landed on the water.

The surface of the water was covered in lightning.

The dragon writhed and thrashed endlessly in the water.

Still alive?

He Ping was also taken aback.

He thought this talisman alone should have killed any Golden Core—why hadn't the dragon died?

Could it be that the water absorbed the lightning's energy?

Hmm…

That's quite possible.

Don't rush!

He Ping waved his hand and pulled out another Thunder-Disintegration Talisman.

If one doesn't kill you, I'll use two.