The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Leng Shanyue simultaneously lashed out with all nine of its tails, each tail tip transforming into a crimson scimitar. The nine scimitars wove a net of blades in the air, enveloping Wu Xingyun.

Wu Xingyun's black flames transformed into a fire shield in front of him. The scimitars struck the fire shield, scattering black flames. Three scimitars were deflected, while the remaining six pierced through the fire shield, leaving six deep, bone-revealing wounds on his chest.

The black robe was soaked in blood.

Wu Xingyun looked down at the wound on his chest, then looked up at Leng Shanyue.

"The nine-tailed fox demon truly lives up to its name."

Leng Shanyue ignored him. Her nine tails retracted behind her, the red light at the tips dimmer than before, and several charred patches remained on her tails from the scorching black flames.

On the other side, the fight between Bai Lu and Wu Xingyu was even more direct.

Bai Lu's lower body transformed into a snake's tail, which swept horizontally, striking Wu Xingyu with immense force.

Wu Xingyu dared not take the bait.

He moved swiftly, and each time the snake's tail was about to strike, he would transform into a wisp of black smoke and slip through the gap.

The black smoke reformed into a human shape in the air. Wu Xingyu clasped his hands together, and black flames surged from his palms, condensing into a black chain.

The chains slipped from his grasp and wrapped around Bailu.

The white dew snake lashed its tail, striking the chain. The chain was jolted off course, but didn't break. The chain end twisted and wrapped around her snake tail.

Bai Lu frowned slightly.

She reached out and grabbed the chains, her palm gripping the black flames directly. The sizzling sound of burning flesh filled the air, but her expression didn't change.

With a sharp tug, the chain snapped in two. The black flames slipped from her grasp, fell to the ground, burned for a moment, and then extinguished themselves.

Wu Xingyu took a step back.

"You snake, you're pretty ruthless to yourself."

Bai Lu had only recently reached the Great Perfection stage, and her strength was actually comparable to Wu Xingyu's. Furthermore, Wu Xingyu's black flames were truly formidable. They burned over a dozen wounds on her body. Her shoulders, arms, and waist—the edges of each wound were charred, emitting black smoke.

But she didn't even frown.

When Bai Lu rushed to within three steps of Wu Xingyu, her right hand transformed into a claw, with her nails extending to half a foot, like five curved knives.

It swiped down with its claw.

Wu Xingyu dodged to the side, her claws grazing his throat, leaving a bloody gash on his neck.

While Wu Xingyu's side was evenly matched, Wu Xingyun's side couldn't hold on any longer! He was forced to retreat step by step by Leng Shanyue's nine curved blades.

Wu Xingyu suddenly turned to Wu Xingyun and shouted, "Merge!"

The two brothers immediately stood back to back.

The two simultaneously formed hand seals, and black flames surged from their bodies, enveloping them.

Leng Shanyue's tail stood up.

"Bai Lu, interrupt them..."

Before Leng Shanyue could finish speaking, Bai Lu's snake tail had already lashed out, the silvery-white tail slamming into the ball of black flames with a whooshing sound.

The snake's tail lashed out at the black flames, drawing some of them away and revealing a human figure within. But the dispersed black flames immediately gathered back together, thicker and denser than before.

Leng Shanyue's nine curved blades followed closely behind. The blades slashed into the black flames as if they were slashing into a wad of cotton, unable to exert any force.

The black flames began to contract.

It shrank from more than two people's height to one person's height, then to half a person's height. Finally, it solidified into a black cocoon with lava-like patterns flowing on its surface.

The cocoon split open.

A vertical crack split open in the middle, letting in a dark red light. A hand reached out from the crack, grabbed the edge of the cocoon, and tore it apart.

Shen Yifei saw the hand clearly.

His skin was dark red, his fingers were twice the length of an average person's, and bone spurs protruded from his joints. His fingernails were jet black with barbs at the tips.

The cocoon was torn open, and the person inside came out.

The black clouds and black rain have vanished. Standing in place is a monster.

It was over ten feet tall, with dark red skin all over its body, the color of skin that had been peeled off and new flesh had grown back. It carried two heads on its shoulders, Wu Xingyun on the left and Wu Xingyu on the right.

Four arms, two growing from the clouds and two from the rain.

Each hand held a ball of black flame, within which was a skull, its eye sockets glowing with a dark red light.

Leng Shanyue's expression changed.

"Early stage of Mahayana Buddhism."

Bai Lu's snake tail retracted.

"The Golden Crow Sect also possesses such evil arts."

"It's not an evil technique," Wu Xingyun's head spoke, its voice sounding like two people speaking simultaneously, one high and one low overlapping, "It's a forbidden technique. After merging, our cultivation will temporarily rise to the early stage of the Mahayana realm. The price is a hundred years less of lifespan. Dealing with you two demon kings is worth a try."

The moment the words left his mouth, the monster moved.

All four arms swung out simultaneously. Four balls of black flame wrapped in skulls flew from their hands and struck Leng Shanyue and Bai Lu respectively.

Leng Shanyue unfurled all nine tails simultaneously, the red light at their tips forming a curtain of light. Two balls of black flame collided with the light curtain, and the skull's mouth opened, biting down on the light curtain.

A hole was bitten into the light screen.

Leng Shanyue groaned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Bai Lu's situation was even worse. She lashed out with her snake tail, deflecting one ball of black flame, but managed to dodge another. The black flame grazed her side as it flew past, and the skull opened its mouth and bit her just as they passed each other.

A piece of flesh was torn from his waist.

Bai Lu looked down at the wound. The flesh around the wound had turned black, and black energy spread outwards along the blood vessels.

"The black flames contain corpse poison."

She reached out and touched around the wound a few times to seal the blood vessels and prevent the poison from spreading.

The monster gave them no chance to catch their breath. Its four arms lashed out in rapid succession, and black flame skulls rained down like a barrage of bullets.

Leng Shanyue's light barrier was riddled with holes, and with each new hole, her face paled further. The red light on her nine tails grew dimmer, and more and more charred marks appeared.

Shen Yifei stood by the pool, clutching the Cauldron of All Things in his hand.

The early Mahayana period.

Two Nascent Soul cultivators at the Great Perfection stage fighting against a Mahayana cultivator at the early stage may seem to be only one minor realm apart, but in reality, they are separated by an insurmountable chasm.

Leng Shanyue's light screen finally gave way.

The black flame skull bit through the light barrier and slammed into her chest. The skull's mouth bit into her shoulder, and the black flames drilled into the wound.

Leng Shanyue spat out a mouthful of blood.

She took two steps back and knelt on one knee. Her nine tails dragged on the ground, the red light at their tips almost invisible.

Bai Lu rushed forward to block her path. Her snake tail swept across, swatting away the three balls of black flame that were chasing after her.

The monster's two heads laughed simultaneously.

"Bai Lu, the poison in your waist is almost uncontrollable. If you continue, the corpse poison will attack your heart, and your cultivation will drop by at least one small realm. Is it worth it for a fox demon?"

Bai Lu didn't speak. Her lips had already begun to turn black.

Leng Shanyue stood up from the ground. Black smoke was still emanating from the wound on his shoulder.

"Bai Lu, step back."

"I won't back down." Bai Lu stared at the monster. "If we're going to die, we'll die together. We've been fighting for three hundred years anyway, dying together will at least give us company."

Leng Shanyue paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Who wants to die alongside a snake like you? If you're going to die, die somewhere else, don't get covered in my snake stench."

As soon as the words left its mouth, the monster raised all four arms above its head simultaneously. Four balls of black flame converged in the air, condensing into a gigantic skull.

The skull opened its mouth and bit down on the two of them.

Bai Lu and Leng Shanyue attacked at the same time.

The silvery-white snake tail and nine blood-red scimitars crashed into the skull.

The skull was blocked in mid-air, its mouth open, its teeth less than three feet from Leng Shanyue's head.

The snake's tail was trembling during the White Dew solar term, and scales were falling off one by one.

Three of Leng Shanyue's nine tails had already drooped down and were unable to move. The remaining six tails were barely supporting the curved blade, the red light on the blade flickering.

The skull was pressed down inch by inch.

The two were on the verge of giving up!

Just then, a figure darted out from between the two.