"That's the head of a dragon! The head of a true dragon; definitely not the head of a mere wyrm!" Han Li was shocked as he looked up at the gargantuan creature in the distant sky.
The massive head in the sky was completely identical to the heads of true dragons he'd seen in tomes. Furthermore, the entire head was a shimmering golden color, as if it had been constructed entirely from gold. There were also a couple of tree-like golden horns on its head, and it was quite an intimidating being to behold.
"But it's not a true dragon? Its aura does indeed possess the might of a true dragon, but the spiritual power within its body is only comparable to a mid-Body Integration demonic cultivator at most. How could a True Spirit level being possess such paltry spiritual power?" Ye Chu exclaimed.
A cold light flashed through Ye Ying's eyes upon hearing Ye Chu's words, and she murmured to herself, "It's not a True Spirit level being, but it can reveal the body of a true dragon, which means its forcibly activating the blood of a true dragon, thereby allowing it to manifest such a form."
"The blood of a true dragon? Then the Long Family must be involved here." Ye Chu's brows furrowed with a cold expression.
"That is indeed most likely the case. I've always found it strange that the young master of the Long Family was assigned this mission not long after I was assigned the same mission. It looks like he's coming after me," Ye Ying chuckled coldly.
"He's coming after you, Young Mistress? Could it be because of that rumor…" A thought occurred to Ye Chu, and a stunned look appeared on her face.
"What rumor?" After activating his Great Development Technique, Han Li had finally recovered from that indescribable sense of intimidation, and he turned to Ye Ying with a dark expression.
"Hehe, all you have to know is that the young master of the Long Family is behind this, and that he's after the heavenly phoenix spirit blood in my body. However, seeing as they've decided to attack me here, they naturally aren't intending to let me escape alive. Our true spirit families had set up an agreement long ago, strictly prohibiting true spirit families from going after the true spirit bloodlines of other such families. If caught doing so, all of the other true spirit families would join forces to destroy that family. No matter how bold the young master of the Long Family is, there's no way he'd dare to attack me in human territory, which is why he followed me all the way to this place before setting his scheme into motion. However, a Deity Transformation cultivator like him won't be capable of activating true spirit blood alone. It's most likely the case that other Spatial Tempering cultivators from the Long Family have also come to this place," Ye Ying analyzed in a remarkably calm manner.
After hearing this and thinking back to the special attention Long Dong had paid to Ye Ying along this journey, he was mostly convinced that Ye Ying had struck the nail on the head.
"I can understand it if he was going after some type of normal true spirit blood, but for ancient true spirit families like our Ye Family and his Long Family, the spirit blood has already been deeply entrenched in our family bloodlines for countless years, so theoretically, there's no way for it to be taken. The Long Family should also be aware of this." A hint of befuddlement flashed through Ye Chu's grave eyes.
"I'm not sure what's going on, either, but seeing as the Long Family is attacking us right now, I can only assume that they've worked out some type of solution to this predicament. However, even if that's the case, they'll have to be able to defeat my heavenly phoenix body first. I'll require your assistance to activate my spirit blood, Big Sister Chu. Brother Han, I'll have to trouble you to protect me during this process," Ye Ying said with a grave expression.
"Seeing as I can't detach myself from this matter, I'll be sure to assist you to the best of my abilities." A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he looked at the approaching dark clouds and that massive dragon head.
All of them remained completely unflustered, as if they weren't wary of that supposed true dragon body at all.
"I'm glad you understand the situation, Brother Han. I'll set up a formation first, then activate my spirit blood to battle this true dragon body. Let's see if the power of our Ye Family's heavenly phoenix is superior or if the true dragon blood of the Long Family is purer," Ye Ying said as her expression eased slightly.
She then swept a hand over her storage bracelet, and a thick stack of formation flags of all different colors appeared. She swept a hand through the air, and several tens of streaks of light shot forth in all directions before disappearing into the nearby ground.
A purple layer of light had appeared out of thin air in the blink of an eye before circling around in the air above.
For the time being, Han Li was unable to identify what kind of abilities this formation possessed.
At this moment, Ye Ying sat down with her legs crossed at the center of the formation in a casual manner. She then opened her mouth to expel five balls of light, all of which were of different colors, and those balls of light began to circle around her body.
Each ball of light was roughly the size of a human fist, and they contained miniature treasures of different forms. Those treasures consisted of a flute, a zither, a lute, a saber, and a ring.
Among them, the lute in the yellow ball of light was none other than the Lute of Wisdom that Han Li had seen once before. He had witnessed the power of this treasure in person, and he knew that this was a rare spirit treasure replica.
As such, those four other treasures were most likely treasures of the same caliber as the Lute of Wisdom. If that was indeed the case, then Ye Ying truly was incredibly wealthy.
Just as these thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, Ye Ying summoned a pristine white jade vial with a grim expression. She removed the lid of the vial, and an extremely pleasant-sounding phoenix cry erupted from within. Immediately thereafter, a miniature rainbow phoenix that was only around an inch in size emerged from the vial, then attempted to fly away into the distance.
However, Ye Ying opened her mouth to blast forth a burst of five-colored light, which immediately ensnared the phoenix.
The brightness of the five-colored light intensified, and spiritual light flashed all over the rainbow phoenix's body, following which it reverted back to a five-colored spirit pill that was emanating a strong fragrant aroma.
Ye Ying pointed a finger at the pill in an expressionless manner. The five-colored spirit pill immediately flew toward her, and she swallowed it before closing her eyes.
At this moment, Ye Chu appeared beside her in a flash and also sat down onto the ground. She then made a hand seal and opened her mouth at the same time, expelling a yellow pillar of light. The pillar of light was filled with extremely pure wood-attribute spiritual Qi, and it was injected directly into Ye Ying's body.
Almost at the exact same moment, azure spiritual light began to emanate from Ye Ying's body, following which an azure halo that was several feet in diameter appeared above her head before slowly rotating on the spot.
Not only was this halo of a remarkably circular shape, there were also white flames flashing along its edge, rising up to around a foot in height. At the very center of the halo was a humanoid projection seated with its legs crossed. It bore a slight resemblance to Ye Ying, but it had been shrunk down several times, and it also had its eyes closed while making a series of hand seals.
The projection within the halo abruptly opened its eyes to reveal five-colored light swirling within its pupils, presenting an extremely peculiar sight to behold.
At this point, the dark clouds in the distance were only several kilometers away from them. Right at this moment, Ye Ying's skin began to take on a remarkably red hue. A layer of extremely vibrant light surfaced over her face before surging into the halo in a frenzy as wisps of light.
The azure halo in the air above immediately shuddered before instantly being stained red, making it as exuberant as blood.
As soon as the projection in the halo came into contact with this crimson light, it instantly absorbed the light into its body, and five-colored spiritual light began to simultaneously emanate from its body.
Following the vast influx of crimson light, the five-colored spiritual light swelled and began to become more dazzling and piercing to behold.
The entire projection was transformed into a piercing five-colored sun.
All of a sudden, the cry of a phoenix pierced directly into the heavens, and the halo swirled before completely disappearing into the five-colored sun. Immediately thereafter, brilliant five-colored spiritual light began to radiate from the artificial sun, and it transformed into a five-colored rainbow phoenix that was around 10 feet in size. The phoenix let loose a clear cry before spreading its wings and flying directly toward the dark clouds.
Along the way, its body swelled drastically, virtually doubling in size with each and every flap of its wings. Following just a few flaps, the entire rainbow phoenix had swelled to over 1,000 feet in length. An intimidating aura that was not inferior to a giant dragon's also began to emanate from its body.
The giant phoenix appraised the dragon head amid the dark clouds with a frosty light in its silver eyes.
In the instant that the giant rainbow phoenix appeared, the golden dragon head's roar abruptly cut off, and it adopted a solemn expression, as if it were preparing to face a powerful foe. The dark clouds and lightning flashed, following which a golden body that was over 2,000 feet in length was finally revealed.
This true dragon body appeared to be around twice the size of the five-colored rainbow phoenix.
Even though the phoenix was clearly significantly smaller than its enemy, it wasn't fearful in the slightest as it flapped its wings.
Gusts of gale-force winds were swept up as thick pillars of wind rose into the air. Meanwhile, countless specks of white light surfaced close to one of its wings. Following a rapid string of spluttering sounds, the specks of light transformed into balls of white flames that quickly began to swell in size, forming a sea of white flames in the blink of an eye.
As such, a peculiar scene appeared.
With the rainbow phoenix's wings as a boundary, one half of the sky was filled with howling winds and violent azure wind-attribute power, while the other half of the was ignited by a sea of tumbling white flames, emanating scorching temperatures that made the air shimmer and warp.
Upon seeing this, the golden dragon's aura also abruptly became more chaotic and violent. Loud thunderclaps erupted from within the dark clouds up above, and countless bolts of lightning came crashing down. These bolts of lightning transformed into silver lightning wyrms, each of which was over 100 feet in length, and countless such lightning wyrms began to gather around the golden dragon.
Just as Han Li was looking on from down below in a flabbergasted manner, the roar of a dragon and the cry of a phoenix rang out in unison. The golden dragon opened its mouth to blast forth a golden pillar of light, and the silver lightning wyrms around it also immediately surged toward the phoenix. Meanwhile, the rainbow phoenix swept both wings forward at once, sending forth an azure typhoon and a white sea of flames in retaliation.
Explosive rumbling booms instantly rocked heaven and earth as the two true spirit bodies finally clashed.
Han Li looked on at the battle unfolding up above with narrowed eyes, but most of his spiritual sense had been released to the area near the formation in case any unforeseen circumstances were to arise.
The silver arcs of lightning, azure gusts of gale-force winds, and white flames intertwined with one another. Amid the clash of the three different types of powers, glimpses of the bodies of the golden dragon and the rainbow phoenix could be gleaned from time to time, and they were engaging in a physical brawl just as normal beasts would.
Of course, their powers and abilities were far beyond those of normal beasts. As the golden dragon swept its claws through the air, it was able to easily tear through space, while the rainbow phoenix was able to make space twist and deform with a flap of its wings.
Resounding booms rang out incessantly between the two creatures, and it was as if the entire sky could be torn apart at any moment.
Han Li was feeling quite astonished as he witnessed this battle.
If these so-called true spirit bodies were already this devastatingly powerful, then just how unfathomably destructive would true dragons and heavenly phoenixes be?
The records on the tomes suggested that true dragons and heavenly phoenixes were beings that defied the natural order, and that they didn't even have to fear the true immortals of the True Immortal Realm. It appeared that those claims could indeed be true.
