Chapter 110: The Might of the Ferocious Beast

Once Judas had assessed the situation, he realized they had indeed reached the location of the Divine Spring. However, when he gazed down at the pool below, his heart sank with disappointment.

The pool was not small, filled to the brim with a verdant liquid, but this was not the true Azure Sea Divine Spring. It was merely liquid energy condensed from the dense, profound essence of the Azure Sea. The true Divine Spring was pitifully scarce; only about a dozen pounds of it sat within a stone trough roughly a meter in circumference. "This is a cruel joke! Such an endless, vast ocean, yet it only condensed this tiny bit of divine spring? How can there be any left for me?" Judas stared at the meager amount of spring water, his face crumpling in despair as his plans crumbled along with it.

He had originally intended to hoard some of the Divine Spring to rapidly bolster his own strength. While the Phantom Demon relied on devouring souls to grow, divine power was also a potent tonic for them; a single sip was worth more than the souls of ten thousand living beings. But seeing how little there was, he abandoned the thought. Leng Tian would never share it with him, and if he were to sneak a gulp now, he would surely expose himself. At that point, seizing the spring would become nearly impossible, and Leng Tian would certainly show him no mercy. He forced his desire back down.

After finding a hidden spot, Judas released Leng Tian from his body and returned to the plaza, concealing his presence once more. When he saw the six mountain-sized demonic beasts, he was stunned into silence. "These are several times larger than Max! Once they start moving, who could possibly withstand them?"

Meanwhile, the dozens of human experts present were growing impatient, edging closer to the pool. They moved with extreme caution, terrified of waking the six beasts slumbering with their eyes closed. They proceeded carefully, and with a few nimble leaps, they successfully reached the edge of the pool. Gazing at the viscous, deep-green liquid flowing slowly within the stone trough, their eyes burned with greed—an intense, insatiable greed.

Li Tianzheng and Wang Mang exchanged a look and simultaneously launched themselves toward the trough. Seeing their move, the others followed suit, unleashing their full offensive power, all targeting the two men.

"Idiots..." Seeing the barrage of attacks heading their way, Wang Mang was not angry about the group assault, but rather that their reckless actions would surely wake the six beasts. Once awakened, the only way to obtain the spring water would be to slay them.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Six blurred phantoms swept across the area. With muffled thuds and grunts, the experts leaping toward the spring were sent flying toward the corners of the plaza. In mid-air, a black shadow flickered, darting lightning-fast toward the trough.

*Bang!*

A massive, white-gold fist erupted from the void, striking the shadow squarely in the ribs. The sound of cracking bones echoed in An Ye's ears. Before he could see who had ambushed him, a leg glowing with white and gold light swept across his waist in mid-air. Leng Tian delivered a downward strike, slamming him out of the sky and directly into the center of the six beasts.

Li Tianzheng and Wang Mang did not escape unscathed, struck by the massive tails of two beasts. Fortunately, they were no ordinary experts of the Profound Realm; they possessed ancient defensive artifacts. Although the blow made their blood boil and their essence energy churn, they were not injured. The others, however, had few such artifacts, and only a handful were protected by heirlooms gifted by their sects.

Those without defensive artifacts hit the ground coughing up blood, suffering significant internal injuries. As experts of the Profound Realm, they were exceptionally talented—otherwise, they would not have reached the True Martial Realm at such a young age—and they had instinctively released their protective qi during the beasts' tail attacks. Yet, their usually impenetrable protective qi shattered like glass against the beasts' onslaught.

In a single strike, a portion of the experts lost their ability to fight. Among them were the old man with the goatee and the fair-skinned man who had been frolicking in the lotus pond; both now lay on the ground, spitting blood and desperately circulating their inner arts to heal.

Leng Tian had hidden himself beside An Ye as soon as Judas alerted him to the assassin's presence, waiting for the moment he emerged to seize the spring so he could deliver a decisive blow, eliminating one rival in the shadows. He did not fear the experts in the open, but those in the dark were a different matter. He had to remove the potential threat before he could act.

"Roar! Roar!"

The commotion awakened the six slumbering beasts. Their massive bodies stood tall, like six mountains standing in the plaza. No one present recognized these creatures; they were bizarre, belonging to no known category of spirit or demonic beast.

"Brother Li, these fierce beasts look like they won't be easy to deal with," Wang Mang said, shaking his numbed arms as he stepped beside Li Tianzheng with a grave expression.

Li Tianzheng did not respond. His entire focus was fixed on the six beasts, the fires of battle burning within him. Seeing this, Wang Mang knew the battle-crazed sect leader was itching for a fight. He could not let Li Tianzheng lose himself to the carnage; obtaining the Divine Spring was the priority.

"Brother Li, the spring is what matters. We must figure out how to snatch it from under the noses of these beasts!"

Just as Wang Mang finished speaking, a beast attacked. With a thunderous roar, a massive wind blade flew from its maw, slicing toward them. The other five beasts moved as well, launching fireballs at the crowd.

What shocked Leng Tian most was one beast exhaling a wave of frigid air that instantly encased the fallen assassin, An Ye, in a human-shaped ice sculpture. With a flick of its tail, the beast sent the frozen An Ye sliding across the ground, crashing into a wall hundreds of meters away. The ice shattered, revealing a deathly pale An Ye.

Though massive, these beasts were incredibly fast. One expert, facing a fireball, roared and unleashed deep-red protective qi, swinging his hammers at the projectile. To his horror, his full-force strike merely scattered the fireball into several smaller ones that instantly slammed into his protective qi. The counter-vibration did not disperse them; instead, the fireballs clung to his qi like roots, relentlessly eroding it. In panic, the martial artist withdrew his qi, only to seal his own fate. As the qi vanished, the fireballs attached to it vanished as well—only to reappear inside his body. Within moments, his dantian was incinerated, and he was consumed by a sea of flames.

The beast that had launched the fireballs approached the burning man, opened its maw, and inhaled the flames, then crushed the dying man beneath its massive foot.

"Such overbearing fire!" Leng Tian, still concealed, was stunned.

"Boss, if my senses are correct, the fire of these beasts is imbued with the Laws of Heaven and Earth, triggered from their very bloodline. It is highly likely their bloodlines were modified by a deity; otherwise, their bodies couldn't withstand the power of the Laws!" Judas whispered.

"You're right. No wonder a Profound Realm expert's protective qi couldn't shake it off."

"Boss, look..." Judas suddenly pointed toward An Ye, who was slumped against the wall, his voice filled with surprise.

Leng Tian looked to see white frigid mist venting from An Ye's body. Black demonic energy flickered erratically, drifting from his mouth and being sucked back in with every breath, each cycle carrying away more of the freezing frost.

"He's purging the cold energy. He’s much tougher than the last one," Leng Tian noted, then looked toward the pool. Two beasts remained motionless, watching the stone trough with wide, unblinking eyes.

"Boss, let's move! While they are distracted by the others, we can sweep the spring clean!"

"It’s not that simple. If you can move without being detected by those two, I can instantly store the spring in the Purgatory. But if you are spotted, it will be a failure."

"Boss, I’ve found *him* too," Judas said, glancing toward An Ye’s direction.

"Who are you talking about?" Leng Tian asked.

"Ling Wushuang, the one you met on the grasslands! He’s hiding his presence and moving toward that frozen fool. It looks like he wants to finish him off while he's weak!"

Leng Tian remained unmoved. "That is not our concern. Focus on the spring."

Judas fell silent, lost in thought, but his eyes never left An Ye and Ling Wushuang, eager to see if his hunch about the assassination was correct.