Mortal: My name is Ma Liang, and I also possess a magic brush.

Just as the man and the python were about to collide, a cold glint flashed in Xiang Zhili's eyes. He swung his fist and smashed it with tremendous force onto the side of the venomous python's head.

"Bang"

The python's head was smashed open, and its massive body instantly turned into specks of spiritual light and vanished—a single, instantaneous kill!

Ma Liang had anticipated this, and as soon as he jumped off the python's body, he unrolled the scroll and began to paint rapidly, his brushstrokes depicting only first-level demonic beasts.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, the three giant bears burst out of the scroll and roared as they pounced on Xiang Zhili.

His pen never stopped, and just as the fourth bear was taking shape, he ordered it to temporarily deflect the attack, while simultaneously tossing over a storage bag containing Soul Nourishing Pills.

The bear immediately tore open the storage bag, scattering a large number of Soul Nourishing Pills all over the ground. Ma Liang didn't care about the loss at all; he grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them vigorously. With the spiritual power replenished by the Soul Nourishing Pills, he could write even faster on the scroll.

Eagles, tigers, lions... one after another, large level-one demonic beasts appeared, roaring and swarming towards Zhili, trying to build a defensive line with sheer numbers!

Xiang Zhili's punch was so powerful that it not only shattered the venomous python instantly, but also ripped his own robes to shreds from the force of the punch, leaving only a few tattered pieces hanging on his waistband.

His naked body was covered in bulging muscles that bulged like iron blocks. Every inch of his muscles exuded the terrifying explosive power of a Nascent Soul stage body. Coupled with his cold and stern expression, his appearance was indescribably frightening.

Xiang Zhili watched as a large number of level-one demonic beasts roared towards him. He merely snorted coldly, and instead of retreating, he advanced, throwing a punch at their faces.

The giant bear at the forefront was instantly blasted into a wisp of light and vanished.

He raised his foot to kick the second bear, but before he could react, the third bear seized the opportunity and bumped into his side!

Unable to gain any leverage, the impact sent Xiang Zhili flying backward. Before he even landed, countless demonic beasts surged toward his landing point like a flood!

Before landing, Xiang Zhili stomped his foot hard.

"puff"

He happened to step on a charging lion, crushing it into a burst of spiritual light!

He immediately dodged and weaved through the horde of demonic beasts, his fists and feet flying. With each strike, a demonic beast was shattered and dissipated, yet he still roared angrily at Ma Liang.

"Young Ma! I never imagined your magic was so bizarre, capable of drawing so many demonic beasts!"

He smashed the tiger in front of him with another punch. Although the surrounding demonic beasts rushed forward fearlessly, they could not withstand the crushing force of his Nascent Soul stage body. In just a moment, most of the demonic beasts turned into spiritual light, and he tore a gap in the encirclement!

Ma Liang had no time to respond to Xiang Zhili at the moment, he was busy drawing frantically, stuffing handfuls of Soul Nourishing Pills into his mouth, and the speed at which the tip of his pen swept across the scroll was so fast that it almost left afterimages.

Xiang Zhili finally tore a gap in the monster horde and caught a glimpse of Ma Liang painting with all his might.

He grabbed the hind leg of a tiger beside him and swung it around, smashing it towards Ma Liang!

The tiger howled and charged straight at Ma Liang against the tide of monsters!

Ma Liang was completely focused on his paintbrush until a shadow fell over his head. Only then did he realize that it was too late to look up!

The tiger slammed into him, the immense impact sending him flying. He coughed up a mouthful of blood in mid-air.

"Thump"

He crashed heavily onto the black crystal throne of the altar, and excruciating pain instantly swept through his body. His vision blurred, and he almost fainted.

Despite the excruciating pain throughout his body, Ma Liang still forced himself to hold the brush and paint.

Suddenly, a vague message flooded his mind, startling him. He stared intently at the small golden pagoda in front of him!

There was no time to hesitate. He forced himself to fall from the throne to the ground and crawled toward the small tower. The moment his fingertips finally touched the tower, Xiang Zhili had already dealt with the last monster.

He kicked the tiger away, and the beast crashed into the jade ground, rolling several feet before finally turning into spiritual light and dissipating.

Seeing Ma Liang's movements, Xiang Zhili pushed off the ground and charged forward!

At the critical moment, Ma Liang's palm struck the top of the golden pagoda.

"puff"

The sharp spire pierced right through his palm, and blood instantly stained the tower red!

Ma Liang glared at Xiang Zhili and shouted hoarsely, "Xiang Zhili! You forced me to do this!"

Before the shout had even faded, the small golden tower burst forth with dazzling golden light. At the point where Ma Liang's palm was pierced by the tower's tip, strands of life force were being frantically drained away and flowing into the tower's body.

Xiang Zhili immediately felt a jolt of alarm, but it was too late to stop.

Five different colored light bands suddenly shot out from the ground.

The five colors of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth intertwined and instantly wrapped around his limbs and torso, pulling him to the ground with a "smack"!

The light strips wrapped around and tightened, eventually binding Xiang Zhili into a five-colored rice dumpling.

As the light band was created, the five light spheres below, corresponding to the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, also lit up with dazzling light, startling the cultivators in each layer of territory.

Li Huayuan, in the metal-elemental territory, was pondering how to break the light sphere with Shi Jingtao of Tianque Fortress when suddenly the large light sphere shone brightly. Both of them were startled and exclaimed, "What's going on?"

This anomaly also appeared in the other four territories. All the cultivators noticed this strange energy fluctuation and looked on with surprise and uncertainty.

As his life force was frantically drained, Ma Liang's black hair turned gray and then white from root to tip at a visible speed, eventually becoming a head of snow-white hair, and fine wrinkles crept up around his eyes and cheeks.

The five-colored light band binding Xiang Zhili tightened more and more, reaching its peak at the last moment.

"Click"

The soft band of light transformed into hard crystal shackles, imprisoning Xiang Zhili within them.

Immediately afterwards, a mysterious magic array suddenly appeared beneath the crystal, and a blinding beam of light shot into the sky, then violently dragged the crystal downwards.

Xiang Zhili struggled frantically inside the crystal, causing the entire crystal to vibrate and shake, but he was unable to break free.

Ma Liang gritted his teeth, increased the amount of life force he injected, and the dragging force of the light beam suddenly surged!

During the stalemate, the crystal was pulled inch by inch into the ground, and finally, with a roar from Ma Liang, it completely disappeared into the magic array.

The next moment, the runes of the magic array rapidly rotated and reorganized, like a lock. After a series of "click-clack" sounds, it disappeared into the depths of the jade ground, leaving no trace.

Seeing that Xiang Zhili had been completely suppressed, Ma Liang immediately withdrew his hand, which had been pierced by the tower's spire, and blood gushed out instantly.

He could no longer hold on and collapsed beneath the black crystal throne, curled up weakly, each breath accompanied by a tearing pain, his vision blurred.

Alarm bells rang in Ma Liang's mind.

Once you fall asleep, you may never wake up again!

He mustered his last shred of consciousness to summon the divine brush, and with trembling hands, drew the smallest level one rat-shaped monster on the ground.

"Go, bite through the storage pouch at my waist!"

The rat immediately darted to his waist and began gnawing at him with its sharp teeth.

Because of its low level, it took a long time to bite a hole in the storage bag.

"Bang"

Spirit stones, elixirs, and magical artifacts were scattered all over the ground.

Ma Liang rummaged around on the ground, picking out the pills that would strengthen his body and nourish his vital energy, stuffing them into his mouth. He also grabbed some spiritual milk and gulped it down. The cool spiritual liquid mixed with the pills went down his stomach, and his lost strength finally returned, and the intense pain in his body was slightly relieved.

After catching his breath, Ma Liang ordered the rat, "Go under the throne and fetch me the Soul-Nourishing Pill!"

The rat immediately scurried to the throne, bringing back Soul-Nourishing Pills one after another. Ma Liang popped them into his mouth, and his depleted spiritual energy slowly returned. Most of the wrinkles on his face faded, and his complexion finally improved.

He leaned back on his throne, gazing at the ground where Xiang Zhili had been sealed.

"Senior, why did you do this? Now we've both suffered heavy losses. You should reflect on your actions! Even if you're at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, you can't break through this restriction even a little bit."

After recovering, Ma Liang was too lazy to think about the follow-up to Xiang Zhili. He simply drew a few more rat-shaped demonic beasts and had them gather up the scattered spirit stones, pills, and magical artifacts.

But just then, he came from the direction he had come from.

Several more flashes of inspiration appeared in succession.