Yunxiao was taken aback. Somewhat speechless, he said, “You must be the fellow disciple of that guy with the lion, right? You even said the same thing. Is your name rubbish as well? And are you from the Rubbish Sect? Well, I’ve never heard of that before.”

　　Li Wenshi’s face flickered as he bellowed, “You’re digging your own grave, boy! Junior Sister, trap that beast! I’ll come and help you deal with it once I’ve killed these two mice! I heard the Darkthunder’s blood is a great tonic. Our cultivation base will surely increase significantly after we’ve consumed it!”

　　With a shy smile, Sun Xiumei darted through the woods as swiftly as a swallow, heading toward the Darkthunder. “I knew you have been waiting to taste the beast’s blood for quite some time,” she chuckled. “Now that Senior Brother Xu is dead, we can finally get what we want.”

　　Sensing the waves of killing intent coming at it, the beast flew into a rage. Without waiting for Yunxiao’s order, it roared and rushed at Sun Xiumei, its body flashing with lightning.

　　Ji Meng’s eyes lit up. The lightning was exactly the same as the one Xu Pinghong had used. ‘He must be taken it from the Darkthunder, but his is much weaker than the beast.’

　　Placing each step on a different tree branch, Sun Xiumei heightened her vigilance. The Darkthunder’s strength was so strong that even she did not dare to underestimate it. She raised both arms over her shoulders, and rings of blue water vapor began to rise from her. Then, with a loud cry, she pushed her hands down. “Aqua hula hoops!”

　　Hoops kept flying out of her body and grew larger and larger in the air, trapping the Darkthunder.

　　“Shrink!”

　　She gave a light shout, and at that the huge hula hoops shrank, binding tightly around the beast. There was a hint of joy in her eyes, and she laughed. “A demon beast is always a demon beast. It is so easy to catch!”

　　The Darkthunder seemed to be unconvinced. It roared furiously, and the lightning around its body crackled and flashed. Soon, the hoops, which were composed of water, began to boil, seemingly having a hard time trapping the beast.

　　“Hmph! You better stop struggling!” said Sun Xiumei as she pointed out a finger, attracting the hoops up into the air and making them hover before her. Suddenly, one of her hands turned into the color of water, and she shoved it into the hoops. It looked like her hand had vanished completely.

　　The beast, who was about to break free, widened its eyes suddenly and growled. The hoops around it began to turn solid and strong once again, and no matter how it struggled, they just would not budge.

　　Looking coldly at the struggling beast, Sun Xiumei smiled charmingly and said, “Oh, don’t move again, you little thing! Senior Brother and Lil Mei will come and drink your blood later. If you struggle too hard, your blood will become toxic and turn bitter, making it not nice to drink.”

　　Her harmless, seductive look was a sharp contrast to the Darkthunder’s savageness, which could be painted into a picture of a beauty and a beast. However, the beauty here was a tigress while the beast was the sheep.

　　“Where are you looking, boy?”

　　Ji Meng suddenly felt a gust of strong wind come blowing at his face. Startled, he swung out his sword and made a straight cut, only then did he find that it was a false attack, and Li Wenshi was looking at him with a mocking expression. Even then, he saw the man’s face begin to turn ugly, with tiny blisters popping up here and there as if someone had just poured some boiling water at him, burning his skin and transforming him into a monster.

　　“You are about to die, and yet you still turn your attention to somewhere else.” Li Wenshi laughed evilly. Not only did his face turn ugly and terrifying, but even his voice had changed completely.

　　‘Not good!’ thought Yunxiao as his pupils constricted slightly. He knew it was an inheritable divine ability of demon beasts, and few human beings could obtain it. But, when an individual obtained it and began to cultivate, he or she would be able to transform into the demon beast form.

　　He quickly took out an enhanced origin blasting pill and gave it to Ji Meng.

　　Ji Meng hesitated, but when he sensed that Li Wenshi’s aura had risen to the level of a Martial King, he clenched his jaws and swallowed the pill. He knew the side effects of the enhanced origin blasting pill. After the battle, he would no longer have the strength to move on, and would have to retreat. Besides, once he lost the strength to fight, Yunxiao would be an extremely dangerous situation.

　　But, the crisis in front of him did not give him time to think further!

　　“Unseal! Peach Blossom Sword Intent!”

　　After taking the pill, his aura rose instantly, from three-stars to four-stars, five-stars, six-stars, seven-stars…and rising constantly. He roared, and not waiting for Li Wenshi’s transformation to complete, he raised his sword and began his attack.

　　Sun Xiumei watched in astonishment as she said with shock, “What pill is that? How can it augment so much strength in such a short time?”

　　The sword moved like a dragon, and by the time it was in front of Li Wenshi, Ji Meng’s cultivation base had already climbed to the level of a nine-stars Martial Lord, stopping just before the next major realm. He did not dare to be arrogant, so the attack was unleashed with his peak strength, with its power unlimitedly close to that of a Martial King. He wanted to kill the man with one strike.

　　Whoosh!

　　A blast of air ejected from Li Wenshi’s mouth. At this moment, he no longer looked like a human being. His head and his body had completely transformed, and he looked like a toad standing on its hind legs, huge, fat, and ugly.

　　He gave Ji Meng’s sword radiance a cold glance and casually raised an arm at it. He wanted to fight against it with his flesh alone!

　　Bam!

　　The sword radiance smashed down, shattering into thousands of pink light dots and drifting away in the air. As for Li Wenshi, a layer of uneven skin appeared on his arm, and he was not hurt at all!

　　“Hmph! When you rely on medicine pills, there’s only so much strength you can obtain! Although you are unlimitedly close to a Martial King, you are still not a Martial King!” Li Wenshi’s eyes flashed coldly, and he said with a bloodthirsty smile, “Whereas I, in this form, am a genuine three-stars Martial King!”

　　“You can die now! Swallowing Heaven and Spitting Earth!”

　　Li Wenshi opened his mouth and inhaled a huge mouthful of Primordial Qi before blasting it out, which turned into a vacuum energy wave, sweeping toward Ji Meng. Under the attack, the surrounding air began to distort and tremble.

　　Bam!

　　The whole woods shook as a straight line with nothing in it tore the woods apart, the energy wave crushing all the trees in an instant. The powerful impact caused blood to ooze out of Ji Meng’s seven orifices and knocked him flying dozens of meters away. The gap between their strength was just too enormous. Even though he had taken an origin blasting pill, he was still no match for him.

　　Ji Meng felt his body about to be ripped apart. He roared in pain and sent all his Primordial Qi into his legs, only then he was able to stop after being pushed tens of meters back. Even then, he was already covered in wounds, as if he was cut a thousand times.

　　At some point, Yunxiao appeared behind him and put a palm on his shoulder, grabbing him and running down the mountain at full speed.

　　The difference in strength between them was so great that there was no chance of winning at all, so their only option now was to retreat and plan again. Moreover, they had obtained sufficient information for the trip.

　　Swoosh!

　　A huge shadow of a toad flew over them and landed in their path. Staring coldly at them, Li Wenshi said, “Now you want to run away? Well, stop dreaming!”

　　He put his palms gently on the ground and began to inhale and exhale deeply. Rings of smoke popped out of his mouth, growing larger as they spread out across the air. With every inhalation and exhalation, his body grew bigger and his appearance became more and more like a toad.

　　Yunxiao and Ji Meng’s expressions changed drastically at the same time. The increasingly powerful demon aura made them feel stuffy in the chests, and their breathing also became difficult.

　　“Young Master Yun!” Ji Meng suddenly grabbed Yunxiao’s arm and said decisively, “Stimulate my potential with the method you used the other day!”

　　Yunxiao’s face flickered, and there was a trace of horror in his eyes. “You’ve just taken an origin blasting pill, and you will die if I use the method on you.”

　　With a resolute look on his face, Ji Meng said anxiously, “If we don’t try, we will really die here! There’s still a chance if we do it now!”

　　The hesitation in Yunxiao’s eyes vanished, and he very quickly pulled out a few five-color divine air needles. Although he had obtained two five-color divine air stones from Lan Fei and Lan Xuan, these were the last few needles he had.

　　Swiftly, he inserted all the needles into Ji Meng’s body. “I’ve only stimulated half of your meridians, but it is still extremely dangerous,” said Yunxiao in a deep voice. “Try your best to control the extent of your power outbursts. Don’t lose control!”

　　Ji Meng instantly felt streams of power spread out from where the needles were inserted, all flowing through his meridians and heading toward his dantian. They were so strong that he began to tremble violently.

　　“HA!”

　　He howled, and in that instant, his aura broke through the barrier of a nine-stars Martial Lord, rushing directly into the Five Elements Realm! The sight made Sun Xiumei’s pupils constrict, and her beautiful face was full of shock.

　　Li Wenshi was stunned too as he watched that happen right in front of him. But, he still wore the same indifferent expression. “Heresy! Now taste my Toad Fiend Technique!”

　　After inhaling and exhaling several times, his body finally swelled to the point where it seemed to have reached its limit. Suddenly, an impact force of unimaginable magnitude burst out of his mouth while his whole body also leaped forward with the sound wave.

　　“The Song of Blue Lotus Sword!”

　　After his strength soared, Ji Meng’s head was clearer than ever, and he was able to understand the martial essence of the Song of Blue Lotus Sword in an instant. A huge blue lotus flower bloomed suddenly, stopping the sound wave!

　　Clang!

　　Li Wenshi’s hands clutched at Ji Meng’s soft sword while two forces crashed into one another, and it seemed that they were equally powerful!

　　“Damnit! How’s this even possible!” Li Wenshi’s face became unusually ferocious as he bellowed, “How can a little piece of rubbish like you stop an attack I’ve unleashed with all my strength! Fine! I’ll now use 120% of my power to crush you to pieces, you foul beast!”

　　“Beast?” Ji Meng’s eyes were shot with blood as he sneered coldly, “We all know who the real beast here is, you ugly toad! Now die, will you?”

　　Boom!

　　The two forces collided again. Both men fought desperately, determined to kill each other.

　　Crack… crack!

　　Suddenly, a discordant noise rang out from between them.

　　Ji Meng’s pupils constricted; his second-tier mystic weapon had given way to the pressure at this moment and begun to crack with lines.