Divine Transcendence

Chapter 263: You don’t need to help

Yuan Ming watched the scene unfold, not rushing to act but instead donning a grey cloak and stepping back from the wooden pillar to avoid the imminent lightning strike.

As the rain outside intensified, a thick bolt of lightning soon burst from the dark clouds, illuminating the night sky.

The purple wooden pillar emitted faint lightning, attracting the storm’s fury, which struck the pillar and conducted into the dungeon’s array.

The Winged Bird Egg greedily absorbed the pure lightning power, and with its shell already cracked, it shattered completely, and a wet, black chick emerged, falling onto the stone platform with a "plop."

The chick was only half a foot long, but its wings were unusually wide, stretching over a foot when unfurled, with lightning patterns faintly visible on its skin.

Despite just hatching, the black chick flapped its wings twice and took flight.

Gu Qiulong was overjoyed and waved his hand, releasing a white net artifact towards the black chick.

He was so focused on capturing the Winged Bird that he didn’t notice two purple-black vines silently emerging from a corner above the dungeon, blooming with several purple spirit flowers and rapidly spreading a faint fragrance throughout the dungeon.

Gu Qiuming, lying on the ground, inhaled the scent and felt his already weak body go completely limp, his face showing a look of intoxication.

Just as Gu Qiulong grabbed the black chick, preparing to tame it with beast-controlling techniques, he too smelled the toxic flowers, feeling his limbs weaken.

The newly hatched black chick was also affected by the fragrance, growing drowsy and lying down.

"Who’s there!" Gu Qiulong suddenly realized something was amiss, his face changing dramatically as he summoned a purple crystal bead.

A purple light shone down, forming a protective circle around him, keeping the intoxicating fragrance at bay.

Gu Qiulong felt weak.

But before he could react further, the dungeon walls exploded, and thick purple-black vines shot out from all directions, entwining towards Gu Qiulong, weaving a dense vine sea within the space.

Gu Qiulong’s face changed drastically as he quickly intensified the power of the purple light circle.

The approaching purple vines flashed with green light at their tips, transforming into green swords.

Dozens of green swords pierced the purple light circle from all sides, leaving it riddled with holes and causing it to collapse with a loud crash.

The purple bead also shattered into pieces, falling to the ground.

Gu Qiulong quickly chanted a spell, his body glowing blue as he transformed into a blue rainbow and shot out, passing through the dense vines to a corner of the dungeon.

"Water Form Technique!" Yuan Ming, hiding nearby, let out a soft exclamation. The Water Form Technique was a spell that allowed one to change their physical form into an intangible stream of water, evading enemy attacks.

Similar transformation techniques existed in the Five Elements spells, which could be incredibly effective in combat when used correctly.

Yuan Ming had always wanted to learn such techniques, but they were advanced spells, difficult to obtain and master. He was surprised that Gu Qiulong knew it.

Curiosity aside, Yuan Ming didn’t hesitate to act, activating an Earth Escape Talisman to approach the dungeon wall, placing the Stealing Heaven Cauldron inside, with a lit Enchanting Incense and a Seven-Step Down poison inside. With a thought, he directed his spiritual consciousness to guide the toxic fumes towards Gu Qiulong.

Gu Qiulong had just steadied his mind and taken an antidote elixir when he sensed Yuan Ming’s move and summoned a yellow short halberd and a blue feather fan.

The yellow short halberd transformed into a long yellow rainbow, slashing towards the Stealing Heaven Cauldron, while the blue feather fan sent out a dozen wind blades the size of doors, spinning as they cut towards the cauldron.

Yuan Ming felt the powerful magical fluctuations from the two high-grade artifacts and quickly retracted the Stealing Heaven Cauldron, activating the Earth Escape Talisman to flee into the distance.

With several loud booms, the dungeon wall was battered into ruins, especially by the yellow short halberd, which easily pierced through the wall and soil.

Gu Qiulong, filled with rage, was about to strike again when his body softened once more, his consciousness quickly fading.

Hua Zhi and Yuan Ming had fought together many times, their coordination seamless. Purple-black vines shot out again, and dozens of green wooden swords slashed down.

Gu Qiulong bit his tongue to stimulate his senses with pain and slapped his waist.

A golden figure shot out, landing in front of him—a golden tiger about a zhang long, with the aura of an early second-level beast.

The tiger had a large mouth, a flat nose, drooping ears, and crooked fangs. Its body was shriveled and skinny, looking extremely ugly and lacking the majesty of the king of beasts.

The golden ugly tiger roared, its shriveled body bursting with dazzling golden light, becoming strong and majestic. Its claws extended a zhang long with golden light, tearing apart all the green swords with ease.

The tiger then let out a roar that could pierce gold and stone, shooting out sword qi-like golden light towards the distant purple-black vines.

The sharp golden light, with continuous "puff" sounds, nearly cleared the dungeon of the demonic vines, leaving only a pile of broken branches and debris.

Gu Qiulong breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.

He had been affected by more than one Enchanting Incense, his will on the verge of collapse. Relaxing slightly, he sat cross-legged, taking another elixir and applying a rune talisman to his body, instructing the golden ugly tiger to protect him.

Just then, the scattered branches and vines in the dungeon rose up, glowing with a faint green light, encircling Gu Qiulong and the golden ugly tiger.

The next moment, the broken vines shot out like arrows from a bow, striking at Gu Qiulong and the golden ugly tiger with a formidable force!

This was the high-level Wood Element spell, Thousand Wood Arrow Technique, which could control thousands of woods and turn them into arrows. Yuan Ming had secretly learned it from the Shuijing Palace elder, Luo River Fairy, and later taught it to Hua Zhi.

Gu Qiulong faced the incoming vines without dodging, focusing on resisting the Enchanting Incense in his body. With the golden ugly tiger by his side, he believed the broken vines posed no threat.

Unexpectedly, the golden ugly tiger ignored the vines attacking from all directions, its eyes becoming hazy before suddenly turning towards Gu Qiulong.

With a flash of golden light around its mouth, the already large maw doubled in size and lunged at Gu Qiulong.

Gu Qiulong stood up in shock, realizing through his spiritual consciousness that his spirit beast had fallen under an illusion, mistaking him for an enemy!

However, he had not yet expelled the Enchanting Incense from his system and felt weak. Before he could act, the golden ugly tiger pounced, biting off one of his legs and swallowing it whole, then slapping his body away with a paw, sending him crashing into the wall and knocking him unconscious.

But right after the golden ugly tiger did this, the confusion in its eyes dissipated, puzzled as to why it had bitten off its master’s leg instead of an enemy’s.

At that moment, thousands of vine arrows whistled through the air, engulfing the tiger’s form.

With continuous "rumbling" sounds, the solid ground collapsed like rotten wood, creating a deep pit several zhang wide, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The air in the dungeon was damp, and the dust quickly dispersed, revealing the ugly tiger crouched at the bottom of the pit, its body riddled with holes from the Thousand Wood Arrow Technique, many vines still embedded in it, its body soaked in blood.

"Crack"

The ground beneath the golden ugly tiger split open, and several bowl-thick vines shot out, rapidly entwining the tiger’s body. These vines had dense wood patterns and were covered in blood-red lines, distinctly different from the previous ones.

The ugly tiger roared in shock and anger, its fur standing on end like quills, shooting out fine golden light as sharp as the previous golden sword qi, hitting the surrounding vines.

But these vines were different from before; the golden light only penetrated halfway before dissipating.

The blood-patterned vines quickly wrapped around, casting Wood Prison Technique, and in the blink of an eye, the ugly tiger was bound like a rice dumpling.

Not only that, but the vines also shot out thin blood-colored tendrils, piercing the ugly tiger’s body.

The majestic body of the golden ugly tiger rapidly shrank, its flesh withering and its aura weakening.

The tiger roared in rage, spewing out a thick black mist that wrapped around its body and quickly merged into it.

Not far away, Yuan Ming let out a light exclamation upon seeing this. The aura of the black mist was something he had experienced in the underground palace of Snake King Valley, very similar to the black mist emitted by the black stone pillar.

The golden ugly tiger’s body absorbed the black mist, and spiral black patterns appeared on its surface. Its body rapidly swelled, doubling in size in the blink of an eye, and its aura surged several times, reaching the peak of the mid-second level, nearly approaching the late second level.

Hua Zhi was shocked by the ugly tiger’s transformation, then filled with joy.

Its emotions fluctuated wildly, affecting its magical power.

The golden ugly tiger sensed this and immediately struggled fiercely. A terrifying force erupted, causing the air to tremble, and the blood-patterned vines binding the tiger cracked.

Yuan Ming, seeing this, quickly summoned the white ape and threw it into the dungeon space.

The white ape was also excited, its wide mouth splitting into a cackle as it landed and shot out like a white shadow, heading straight for the golden ugly tiger.

"!" Hua Zhi, seeing the white ape appear, reached up with its right hand, which grew exponentially.

The ground beneath the golden ugly tiger burst open, and a wooden vine hand the size of a house emerged, grabbing the tiger’s body as if it were a small cat or dog, rendering its struggles futile.

The white ape arrived, reaching for the golden ugly tiger.

"Get lost!" Hua Zhi roared in anger, and the ground split again as a second vine hand emerged, slamming towards the white ape with a gust of wind.

The white ape showed no sign of backing down, punching out with a fist that produced a tangible wind, its terrifying power causing the ground to tremble. The giant hand and fist collided!

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