At this moment, the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis, which had been sent flying, staggered back. Li Yan just chuckled softly and quickly retreated, not engaging the green shadow head-on. As his figure shot backward, the green shadow snorted coldly but did not continue to pursue Li Yan.
However, its long, green nails, already over a foot long, suddenly grew longer again. Their speed was even faster than Li Yan's retreat, and in an instant, they were right in front of him. Just then, the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis, staggering, had recovered its senses. Seeing itself unharmed from the previous collision, the fear in its eyes greatly diminished.
Li Yan's retreating path led right to it. In an instant, Li Yan and the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis crossed paths. The mantis once again blocked Li Yan's path and brought its twin blades chopping down.
This time, a crimson flame flickered on the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis's twin blades. Having lost its fear, a hint of excitement appeared in its eyes. It had finally unleashed its true strength. The next moment, with two soft "hissing" sounds, the green shadow let out a pained grunt. The Flying Sickle Blood Mantis was once again sent flying like a projectile, even farther away. Two large notches were left on the green shadow's long nails.
But this time, the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis that was sent flying was not so lucky. In mid-air, the thick blood shell on its body began to crumble. It spat out a large mouthful of crimson fluid, and its aura rapidly weakened as it tumbled. It was clear that in such a direct confrontation, the gap between an initial-stage and a late-stage demonic beast was too great. Even with the protection of the blood shell, it still had its limits.
The moment the two clashed, Li Yan flicked the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan in his hand, and a jet of flame shot out from the fan towards the green shadow.
Li Yan had planned this long ago. In this battle, he had released the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis mainly to confuse the enemy, to make it think that was the extent of his magical treasure's power. And the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis had indeed done its best. Seizing the opportunity, Li Yan unhesitatingly fanned out a stream of Li Fire.
Although this fire was much weaker than a Golden Core cultivator's core flame, it was more than enough to deal with a second-tier demonic beast. As for whether it would be effective against the python's main body, Li Yan couldn't be sure.
Li Yan's timing was perfect. It was right when the green shadow had just clashed with the Flying Sickle Blood Mantis and was off-balance. Moreover, the green shadow was already injured. Its arm had not even been retracted when it saw a ball of flame rushing towards it. Although the green shadow was struggling with the timing of Li Yan's attack and the pain, it still had no choice but to grit its teeth and form a hand seal. It conjured a half-man-high green Qi curtain in front of it. The flame flashed and struck it.
Immediately after, a sky-shattering scream shot into the air, startling the birds in the forest into flapping their wings and crying out. The green Qi curtain in front of the green shadow, which was a foot thick and looked incredibly solid, now had a fist-sized, transparent hole in it.
Flames were rapidly burning at the edges of the hole. The green shadow behind the Qi curtain was in an even more miserable state. Its hands, which had been forming the seal in front of its chest, had vanished. In the nick of time, it had only managed to quickly turn its body to the side, but half of its waist was still burned clean away.
Although the green shadow had dodged the fatal blow of the Profound Yellow Li Fire, the flames were rapidly spreading across the missing half of its waist. The green shadow let out a continuous, pained sound, its eyes filled with panic. Having lost its hands, it quickly retreated while a great surge of green Qi erupted from its body, showing a tendency to suppress and extinguish the Profound Yellow Li Fire.
Although Li Yan was mentally prepared, having tested the terror of the Profound Yellow Li Fire before, the effect of this first sneak attack was still unexpectedly good. He had directly and heavily injured the Rhino-Horned Green Python's green shadow avatar.
Having gained the upper hand, how could Li Yan let it go? With a raise of his eyebrow, he fanned again. This time, he sent out most of the remaining flames from the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan.
As this fan was waved, the green shadow, watching the rapidly approaching flames, showed despair in its eyes. Its defeat today had come so quickly, all because of the opponent's cunning. This person had first sacrificed the demonic beast essence soul from his magical treasure, making him mistake it for the treasure's artifact spirit. After two attacks, he thought the fan's greatest strength was the blood shell's protection and thus misjudged the magical treasure's power.
The subsequent attack was as swift as a rabbit taking flight and a falcon swooping down. It all happened in the span of two or three breaths. While his brain was still stuck on his previous judgment, the release of the yellow flame from the fan didn't attract too much of his attention. He thought he could easily block it. As it turned out, that was the real killing move.
'Cunning human! That Flying Sickle Blood Mantis wasn't even the most powerful artifact spirit!'
The green shadow was already injured, especially with its waist unable to provide support. Its retreat was much slower than before. Another ball of flame had already stormed its way to him.
The green shadow couldn't help but roar in anger. Its body suddenly shrank, and dense green fog gushed out, instantly turning him into a green ball. The Profound Yellow Li Fire had already struck it squarely. The green shadow mustered all its demonic power to block this fatal blow. The moment they made contact, the dense green demonic fog turned into wisps of green smoke, and the green ball was rapidly shrinking.
Li Yan narrowed his eyes. In this battle, he hadn't used his own abilities but had relied entirely on the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan and the opponent's underestimation. Even so, he still couldn't kill the green shadow directly.
At this thought, how could Li Yan give the opponent such an opportunity? The moment the flame made contact with the green ball, he lightly shot out a palm from a distance. A faint golden thread drifted from his palm. This golden thread was one of the types from his Fragmented Poison Body. Its function was corrosion and penetration, causing unrecoverable physical trauma to the opponent.
Li Yan wanted to open a direct channel into the green ball to let the Profound Yellow Li Fire burn the opponent's insides and end the battle quickly.
But at that moment, Li Yan suddenly withdrew his palm and flashed several dozen zhang away. Then, where he had just been standing, a green claw shadow swiped at empty air. Only after the claw shadow landed in the empty space below did a sharp, ear-piercing sound of something breaking the sound barrier ring out. Its speed had actually surpassed the limit of sound.
Next, a blurry figure gradually became clear. It was also a green figure, holding a person in its hand, staring grimly at Li Yan. It first raised its left hand, and a vast surge of demonic power shot out, transforming into a sea of green that in the next moment enveloped the burning green ball.
The Profound Yellow Li Fire on the surface of the green ball immediately vanished into thin air. A green ball, now only the size of a head, appeared. It transformed into a streak of green light, rose from the ground, and flew towards this person. The moment the green light touched his body, it was like water returning to the sea, and it vanished without a trace.
Only then did the person look back at Li Yan. His cold voice seemed to tear through space, as if coming from the nine hells.
"To think you possess such a great treasure. You nearly caused my Jade Pillow Bone to melt and die. Human cultivator, you must die today!"
This person was none other than the peak second-tier Rhino-Horned Green Python's main body—the green-robed cultivator. At this moment, he was holding the unconscious beautiful woman in his right hand. The woman's skin was a seductive flush in her unconscious state. Her full body would occasionally tremble, and a shimmer of light would pass over the exposed snow-white skin at the torn parts of her clothes.
Glancing at the beautiful woman, a flash of heat crossed the Rhino-Horned Green Python's eyes. Then, with a gentle toss, as if by an invisible pair of hands, the unconscious woman was sent to the side of the pool. After seeing Li Yan's Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan, he no longer dared to be arrogant.
The moment Li Yan had attacked just now, he had felt a slight fluctuation in the space above his head. This had startled him. With his powerful Divine Sense, he had only barely detected someone sneaking up on him.
Li Yan unhesitatingly stopped his attack and drifted several dozen zhang away, just barely avoiding the Rhino-Horned Green Python's attack. Otherwise, he would have been gutted from top to bottom.
Looking at the unconscious woman and considering the time it took for the Rhino-Horned Green Python to arrive, he knew that the beautiful woman had been captured in at most half an incense stick's time after he had left them.
From the Rhino-Horned Green Python's words just now, Li Yan also confirmed that the green shadow was indeed not an External Avatar, but some supernatural art called "Jade Pillow Bone-Splitting." This brought him some relief. But after feeling the formidable power of the main body, Li Yan was no longer confident he could leave easily.
The opponent had not only been able to sneak up on him but had also extinguished the Profound Yellow Li Fire with a mere wave of his hand. This was the first time since advancing to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment that he had felt a fatal threat from an enemy of the same rank. He didn't want to say much more, just looked at the opponent with the same cold indifference. At this point, words were meaningless.
Feeling Li Yan's cold gaze and the gradually rising battle intent from his body, the Rhino-Horned Green Python put away its contempt. If he had been a step slower just now, the "Jade Pillow Bone-Splitting" that he had painstakingly refined for over three hundred years would have been destroyed by this person. He had been careless this time.
"Jade Pillow Bone-Splitting" was the Rhino-Horned Green Python's most powerful innate ability. It was just that he hadn't truly mastered it yet. This art was cultivated by separating the jade pillow bone at the back of his head.
The current green shadow's cultivation was only sixty percent of his own. To reach great completion, he would need to advance to a fourth-tier demonic beast, which was equivalent to the human Nascent Soul stage. This situation meant that the Rhino-Horned Green Python could cultivate an External Avatar ahead of time, and it came with its own materials.
However, although the Rhino-Horned Green Python had this innate ability, it didn't mean that every Rhino-Horned Green Python could successfully cultivate it. But the success rate was far greater than that of human cultivators, and they could start cultivating it as a first-tier demonic beast. This was the terrifying thing about demonic beasts. They rarely had any cultivation methods, but their bloodline inheritance would bestow them with strong or weak inherited abilities.
Another reason Li Yan had succeeded so easily was that the green shadow was formed from the jade pillow bone. Its intelligence was not yet fully developed, and its reactions were much slower. How could it be a match for an enemy as cunning as a fox like Li Yan? If the Rhino-Horned Green Python's main body had been here, the same set of moves from Li Yan might have accomplished nothing.
The Rhino-Horned Green Python was furious. He had thought it would be an easy capture, but in the end, his "Jade Pillow Bone-Splitting," which he had cultivated for hundreds of years, was severely injured. To recover this time, he would need at least thirty-four years of closed-door cultivation.
Although a few decades of seclusion was nothing to a long-lived demonic beast, it was still time, especially time that delayed his enjoyment. Flood dragon pythons were mostly licentious creatures. For them, being without external objects during seclusion was a painful affair.
Although Li Yan's battle intent was surging, his aura remained at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. This made the Rhino-Horned Green Python see him in a new light, but it only slightly raised its vigilance. It was certain that the opponent's actual realm was mid-stage Foundation Establishment.
Suddenly, the Rhino-Horned Green Python's figure blurred from its original spot. Li Yan, however, in the distance, unhesitatingly raised the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan in his hand to block his chest. With a crisp "crack," a large fist shimmering with green Qi appeared abruptly in front of Li Yan's chest, landing a plain punch on the fan's frame.
At this time, where the Rhino-Horned Green Python had originally been standing, its afterimage still remained.