Battle Erupts Beyond the Seas

“Split it evenly with you?” At these words, Extreme Yin’s already grim face wrinkled slightly, as if the offer had piqued his interest.

To Extreme Yin, as long as he claimed his nominal disciple Han Li’s share, no matter how the treasures were divided, his portion would never be too small.

But before he could consider the feasibility of this move, Man Brutal Beard, standing at the front, threw his head back and burst into wild, arrogant laughter.

“Split the Void Heaven Cauldron evenly? Wan Tianming, you’ve got a good imagination! If you want to snatch food from my mouth, first see if your claws are sharp enough!”

With that, he gave a casual signal. The giant leopard that had been lying at his feet rose silently. A low growl escaped its throat, and the third eye on its forehead snapped open, shooting a beam of earthy yellow light straight at Wan Tianming.

“Beast! You’re asking for death!” Wan Tianming barked in fury.

He hadn’t expected Man Brutal Beard to completely ignore his proposal and attack without hesitation. By any measure, his own side—with the Cold Flood Dragon and the Spirit-Turning Turtle—was the stronger force.

Caught off guard, Wan Tianming hastily released a streak of purple light to intercept the yellow beam.

The moment the two collided, the yellow radiance exploded.

A sharp clang rang out. The purple light vanished without a trace, and a pale, ordinary-looking object fell from midair. Before anyone could make out what it was, it shattered on impact with the ground.

The onlookers stared. It was a common piece of broken stone. Most were taken aback, momentarily confused.

Wan Tianming’s face, however, shifted through several shades of shock. His pupils contracted, and he spoke with barely concealed disbelief:

“Anomalous Transformation… your Three-Eyed Leopard is a mutated spirit beast!”

At the words “mutated spirit beast,” both the righteous and demonic cultivators present showed expressions of genuine shock.

At first glance, “mutated spirit beast” and “wild ancient breed” might sound similar—but in truth, they were worlds apart.

“Wild ancient breeds” referred to certain rare spirit beasts from the primordial era that, over long stretches of time, had changed their habits and forms due to various circumstances. They formed new populations that retained some characteristics of ancient beasts but were entirely different from their ancestors. Such creatures were extremely rare, few in number, and generally difficult to find.

Mutated spirit beasts were something else entirely. Every single one was a unique existence.

They were ordinary spirit beasts that, during the process of advancing to a higher grade, underwent an unforeseeable, uncontrollable mutation for reasons unknown, drastically altering their abilities. Such mutations could be beneficial or detrimental, but some conferred powers that were extraordinarily peculiar and devastatingly effective—capable of achieving things ordinary spells could not.

The ability to turn most magical tools and treasures into stone was one of the more famous examples.

This ability was so fearsome that, in recorded history, a single Core Formation cultivator had used his mutated spirit beast’s power to wipe out three or four fellow Core Formation cultivators in a single engagement, shaking the entire Chaotic Star Sea.

Since then, the cultivation world had collectively referred to the strange abilities of mutated spirit beasts as “Anomalous Transformation Arts,” distinguishing them from ordinary spells.

Man Brutal Beard’s Three-Eyed Leopard had originally only possessed the ability to shoot fire-element attacks from its third eye. But now, the beam it had fired had turned Wan Tianming’s unidentified magical tool or treasure directly to stone. This could only mean the beast had undergone a mutation.

The assembled cultivators were stunned.

It was well known that mutated spirit beasts appeared in no more than one in ten thousand cases—and only among high-grade beasts of level four or above. Since the Chaotic Star Sea had begun keeping records, only about a dozen mutated spirit beasts had ever gained any real fame. And among those, only a handful had mutations that proved genuinely useful.

All of this made mutated spirit beasts exceedingly precious.

The last known mutation had occurred over a thousand years ago. As a result, cultivators who nurtured spirit beasts no longer dared to dream of such an outcome during their beasts’ advancement.

Now, both the righteous and demonic factions stared at the Three-Eyed Leopard with very different expressions.

Wan Tianming finally understood why Man Brutal Beard had so rudely rejected the offer of an even split. So this was his hidden card!

With just this mutated Three-Eyed Leopard, Man Brutal Beard could likely offset the advantage of the Cold Flood Dragon and the Spirit-Turning Turtle.

Realizing this, Wan Tianming’s expression turned serious. He raised his head and glanced at Extreme Yin and the Confucian-robed elder.

The two men wore expressions of surprise and delight. Clearly, they had already abandoned any thought of splitting the Void Heaven Cauldron evenly with the righteous side.

Extreme Yin Patriarch, as a demonic overlord, had no intention of being a charitable soul. If he could monopolize the treasure alone, he certainly wouldn’t agree to a fair split.

He exchanged a meaningful glance with the Confucian-robed elder. Without further hesitation, his body began to spin rapidly, and dense clouds of Profound Yin black qi billowed from his form. The dozen or so Heavenly Corpses beside him twisted simultaneously and vanished into the black light without a trace.

The Confucian-robed elder transmitted a single message into Han Li’s ear: “Hang back a bit. Just keep yourself alive. This fight is beyond your reach.”

As he finished, the flock of Blue Thorn Birds above his head seemed to receive a command. With a piercing shriek, they transformed into a volley of cyan arrows and shot toward the righteous cultivators. The elder himself waved his sleeve, and countless strands of green silk shot from his cuff, following the bird swarm in a dense, streaking wave.

Seeing the demonic side strike first, Wan Tianming responded without further civility.

Even if Man Brutal Beard’s mutated beast was troublesome, he wasn’t truly afraid. A mutated spirit beast, no matter how fearsome, was still just a beast.

And he knew well that the Anomalous Transformation Art that turned objects to stone was useless against cultivators themselves. As long as he was careful not to let his magical treasures be struck by that yellow beam, the beast was manageable.

With that thought, Wan Tianming gave a cold snort and uttered two curt words:

“Engage.”

As the word left his mouth, he released the white Cold Flood Dragon. Then he slapped his palms together in front of his chest. Violet flames erupted around his body, and he instantly transformed into a blazing human torch, soaring into the air to meet Man Brutal Beard.

Seeing this, Tianwuzi quickly summoned the Spirit-Turning Turtle and, without hesitation, gave the turtle’s shell a sharp tap.

The giant turtle’s small green eyes flashed with malice. It slowly opened its mouth, and a blinding white torrent of freezing mist surged forth, rolling like an avalanche toward the approaching cyan bird swarm.

The Blue Thorn Birds were not to be outdone. They opened their beaks in unison, shooting thin strands of cyan flame that quickly merged into a single massive pillar of fire, colliding and tangling with the white freezing mist. Cyan fire and white vapor flew in every direction, the two sides seemingly locked in a stalemate.

The old farmer—the gaunt, dark-skinned elder—attacked in a far more peculiar fashion.

With an expressionless face, he flipped his palm open. Between two fingers, he now held a single, vividly green willow branch.

He gave the branch a slight flick. Countless green phantoms spiraled outward from his body, spreading across a range of over ten zhang. The area instantly became a lush, verdant sea.

But within that green radiance, two streaks of black light flashed. Three iron-armored corpse demons were suddenly exposed.

The countless strands of green silk in the area seemed to come alive. They shot toward the demons like lightning, and in the blink of an eye, the creatures were bound tightly in an unbreakable web of silken threads.

These corpse demons were monsters of immense strength, yet under the seemingly delicate green silk bindings, they could not struggle free. They could only roar in helpless fury.

Seeing this, Extreme Yin Patriarch’s face turned icy. He transformed into a large mass of black cloud and shot forward with furious speed.

Every one of his Heavenly Corpses had been painstakingly refined. He had no intention of letting them be destroyed so easily.

Moreover, since the opponent was using such a pronounced wood-element technique, his Heavenly Corpse Fire would be twice as effective against him!

Seeing the Nascent Soul elders’ battle erupt, Han Li did not need to be told. He hastily retreated another ten or so steps.

Although he knew that even retreating a hundred steps would be a pointless gesture, he still instinctively wanted to put more distance between himself and the chaos.

If the righteous side suddenly decided to abandon the Void Heaven Cauldron and eliminate him—the owner of the Blood Jade Spider—what then? He would be dead for sure.

He couldn’t be sure that Man Brutal Beard and the others would be fast enough to protect him. After all, this platform was barely a hundred zhang across—a distance that was nothing to a Nascent Soul cultivator.

At this moment, Extreme Yin was locked in combat with a rival of the same cultivation level. This would be the perfect moment for the Profound Bone Saint to strike. The question was: would the old demon be willing to let the righteous side profit, just to settle his own grudge first?

With this thought, Han Li glanced at the Profound Bone Saint, who was watching from below the altar.

The man’s face was impassive as he watched the chaotic battle. There was no trace of emotion—no way to guess what was running through his mind.

“Old fox,” Han Li muttered inwardly, a note of irritation in his silent curse.

(It’s a new week again. Hope everyone continues to support us with recommendation tickets! Many thanks in advance!)

(End of chapter)