The Golden-Winged Bird didn't spare a glance at the other spiritual lights. Its sharp golden eyes flashed, instantly locking onto the light orb enveloping the Transformation Fruit.
An excited cry escaped its beak, and a black light flashed beneath the Golden-Winged Bird's abdomen as two black iron claws shot out, seizing the Transformation Fruit.
Just as Zhang Ling thought the demonic bird was about to succeed, a foot-long colorful light barrier appeared before it, directly obstructing the Golden-Winged Bird's advance.
With a deafening boom, the light barrier exploded, transforming into a gust of wind that blasted the Golden-Winged Bird back several dozen feet. Subsequently, a similar layer of colorful light descended from above, instantly trapping it.
For a moment, the Golden-Winged Bird was confined to the spot.
A white flash appeared nearby as the seventh-order White Deer swiftly ascended to the top of the mountain pillar. The White Deer, equally excited at the sight of the Transformation Fruit, quickly tossed its head, and its luminous antlers shot out a ray of light that ensnared the fruit.
The light orb surrounding the Transformation Fruit instantly melted upon contact with the spiritual light, like snow meeting the spring sun. The Transformation Fruit was immediately enveloped in the ray. The White Deer opened its mouth, seemingly ready to devour the spiritual fruit.
But at that moment, a loud bang echoed.
The Golden-Winged Bird, trapped within the light, let out an enraged cry, unleashing a golden flame that shattered its confinement.
Freed, the Golden-Winged Bird flashed into the sky, its body radiating black and gold spiritual light. Its wings spread wide, causing the feathers to bristle and emit a series of whooshing sounds, as it launched black spiritual feathers like sharp arrows toward the White Deer.
As a seventh-order demonic beast, the White Deer possessed exceptional spiritual senses and instantly detected the attack from behind. In other circumstances, it could have easily dodged the attack with a simple shift.
However, with the Transformation Fruit within reach, the White Deer couldn't afford to retreat. A flash of light enveloped its body, and its four snow-white hooves stomped on the ground, causing a layer of light to rise, transforming into a several-foot-tall barrier of colorful ice crystals.
The Golden-Winged Bird's attack struck the barrier, producing only a metallic clang.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the light enveloping the Transformation Fruit reached the White Deer's mouth. Just as the spiritual fruit was about to be inhaled, another change occurred.
A layer of black light had unknowingly risen within a three-foot radius of the ground where the White Deer stood, causing the White Deer's body to tremble and stiffen slightly.
In that instant, a black tentacle, as thick as an arm, appeared out of nowhere, whipping out like a long lash to seize the Transformation Fruit and pull it in another direction.
The black tentacle retreated to the location of the half-demon girl riding the strange fish.
Seeing the Transformation Fruit snatched from its grasp, the White Deer roared in fury, its body flashing with spiritual light as it broke free from the black light's restraints. Simultaneously, the Golden-Winged Bird shifted its target, screeching as it lunged toward the half-demon girl.
The fish beneath the girl emitted two gurgling sounds, its large mouth spewing a stream of black water. The black water, like viscous fluid, wrapped around several times, instantly dividing into a dozen black tentacles that intercepted the two demonic beasts, provoking their enraged roars.
The girl reached out and grabbed the incoming Transformation Fruit, sneering, "Heh heh, you two fools, the Transformation Fruit is mine! Little Fish, put in more effort. After we deal with these two, the Transformation Fruit will be your reward…"
The Transformation Fruit held little allure for them half-demons. The girl seemed to be holding it solely for the sake of the strange fish beneath her.
Hearing its master's promise, the strange fish's aura surged once more, and it spewed out several more streams of black water. In an instant, countless black tentacles formed around the human-demon pair, sweeping toward the two demonic beasts.
The half-demon girl turned her head toward the other treasures, a flash of green light emanating from her body as she extended a delicate hand, making a grasping motion in the air. This formed a foot-wide green light hand that reached for the many treasures.
"Don't even think about it, here I come!"
Suddenly, a burst of maniacal laughter echoed as a mass of blood-colored light hurtled forward. With a thunderous crash, the blood-colored light collided with the light hand, both dissipating into waves of air.
At the same time, a gigantic ball of flesh, three zhang tall, appeared beside the girl. It was the obese half-demon who had followed close behind.
The fatty's eyes gleamed with malice as he rapidly swung his fan-like hands toward the girl, launching a series of blood-colored handprints that whistled through the air.
The fatty's sinister voice accompanied the attack, "You stinking brat, your appetite is too big! Dreaming of taking all the treasures, what a fool's errand!"
"Damn it, you fat cow!"
The girl's expression darkened as she flicked her arm, releasing a mass of black light that transformed into several copper ring-like black hoops, spinning rapidly and firing a series of arc-shaped light blades that intercepted the fatty's attacks.
Simultaneously, the White Deer and Golden-Winged Bird launched a furious assault.
Bolts of lightning-like colorful electricity shot out from between the antlers atop the White Deer's head, striking the black tentacles and causing them to revert into puddles of black water on the ground.
The Golden-Winged Bird was even more agitated, golden flames erupting from its wings as it flapped them wildly, sending volleys of golden fireballs.
The golden flames landed on the black water-formed tentacles and ignited, the tentacles writhing wildly but unable to extinguish the blaze.
Under the assault of the two powerful demonic beasts, the strange fish could barely hold its ground, continuously spewing black water. The situation seemed dire.
After all, the strange fish was only at the sixth-order, while its opponents were two seventh-order demonic beasts, and not ordinary ones at that.
Black and golden lights flared, accompanied by continuous booming sounds. The half-demon girl was trapped in place, unable to escape.
At the same time, the fatty, who was constantly attacking, suddenly extended his left hand. A bizarre event occurred as his left hand stretched out like a spring, extending over a dozen zhang to grab the remaining nine clusters of treasures.
But as his left hand grasped several clusters of treasures, the spiritual lights surrounding them shone brightly, revealing a series of lightning bolts. The fatty's large hand was instantly charred black, causing him to cry out in agony.
But the fatty was no ordinary person. Enduring the searing pain, his body flashed with blood-colored light, covering his left hand with a layer of blood-colored flames. He released the other treasures, focusing only on three.
A fist-sized black stone, a purple jade bottle, and a piece of blood-red wood.
His left hand first touched the black stone, and the spiritual light surrounding the treasure shattered instantly, offering no resistance, as if the previous lightning had never existed.
As he reached for the purple jade bottle, the spiritual light on it erupted once more with arcs of electricity, but the power was weakened by half compared to before. The blood-colored light on his left hand crushed the arcs, causing them to dissipate.
When he reached for the blood-red wooden shard, the spiritual light enveloping the treasure immediately manifested streaks of azure lightning, accompanied by crackling sounds, as if the power had increased significantly.
The fatty dared not touch it directly with his left hand. With a thought, the blood-colored light on his left hand surged, transforming into three or four black shadows that coiled toward the blood-red wooden shard.
The black shadows contacted the azure lightning, producing a series of muffled sounds. But the shadows, densely packed, continued to coil and negate the azure lightning.
The fatty was overjoyed. The blood-colored light on his left hand released a dozen more black shadows, directly entangling the third treasure and retracting it.
The rules of the treasure-snatching competition they were participating in were unique.
Whether half-demon or demonic beast, there would be no obstacles when taking the first treasure in one go, but taking the second treasure would face some resistance. The resistance would be even greater for the third treasure.
Of course, this only applied to situations where multiple treasures were grabbed at once.
If they were taken one by one, there would be no such obstacles. Also, once the spiritual light surrounding a treasure dissipated, it truly became an unowned object, and anyone could snatch it without any restrictions.
Having acquired three treasures at once, the fatty was overjoyed.
Just then, a ripping sound tore through the air as a streak of azure sword light slashed at his left hand.
The fatty cried out in pain and quickly retracted his extended left hand. The three treasures he was holding wobbled and fell downwards.
But the man instantly regained his senses and cried out inwardly, realizing something was wrong. He retracted his hand and flicked it out again, stretching it to grab two of the treasures.
Suddenly, a beam of yellow spiritual light fell from above. Although the fatty had grabbed two treasures, his arm was frozen in mid-air, unable to retract it for a moment.
The fatty felt a strange pressure surrounding his left hand, coming from all directions, confining his arm in the air.
At the same time, two figures appeared nearby: Zhang Ling and Huang Ying.
Huang Ying waved her hand, and a beam of white light wrapped around the blood-red wooden shard that was still in its light orb, quickly collecting it in her hand. Her expression instantly lit up with joy.
Zhang Ling was pinching a sword incantation, and three flying swords in front of him shot out a series of sword lights, attacking the fatty.
It was he who had interrupted the fatty's actions when the fatty was taking the treasure, allowing Huang Ying to take the opportunity to collect the Bloodwood Heart.
This fatty cultivator had taken three treasures at once, and the third treasure he had chosen was the Bloodwood Heart. If possible, Zhang Ling would never want to face a half-demon strongman comparable to a late-stage Golden Core cultivator.
But the purpose of coming here was for the Bloodwood Heart, so he could only take a gamble.
At this time, the fatty's left hand was covered by the Heavy Yuan Profound Light released by Zhang Ling, unable to move.
Zhang Ling also flicked his hand, and several thick cyan-black vines shot out instantly, entangling the two treasures left in the air.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, he also wanted to seize these two treasures.
"Looking for death."
The fatty roared angrily, his body glowing with blood-colored light as he charged forward, enduring the many sword lights. The sword lights struck him as if they were hitting steel, unable to break through the man's defensive light shield.
Zhang Ling's heart moved, and several vines entangled the two treasures.
But the fatty flashed and arrived next to the two treasures. His left hand twisted strangely like a noodle, as if it had no bones, turning into a long leather rope that whipped around and broke free from the yellow light's restraints.
At the same time, he also grabbed the black stone and the purple jade bottle, retracting them. Zhang Ling's vines were a step too slow and could only return empty-handed.
Then, the fatty clapped his hands fiercely, and a black-red blood light appeared in his palms. This blood light instantly became thicker, turning into a black giant axe seven or eight zhang long.
The fatty gripped the giant axe and spun it around, then chopped it down fiercely, a semicircular blood-colored axe light slashing toward Zhang Ling.
Zhang Ling naturally did not dare to be negligent. He flicked his fingers and shot out a dozen deep yellow spiritual lights, turning them into a fist-sized yellow light ball to meet the blood color.
When the yellow light and blood light came into contact, they exploded with a powerful roar. Zhang Ling's expression suddenly changed, and he flashed to a position dozens of zhang away.
As soon as he left, a blood light instantly slashed at the position where he had just been. Zhang Ling's face was gloomy. The yellow light ball he had just waved out was not an ordinary attack, but a new use of the Heavy Yuan Profound Light that he had recently tested.
The Heavy Yuan Profound Light he cultivated was like a gravity restriction. Anything covered by it, whether cultivator or attack, would be temporarily imprisoned. Its power was enhanced many times when compressed and released, but he did not expect that it would still not be able to block the blood light that the fatty had chopped out.
Zhang Ling was secretly shocked. This man was indeed worthy of being a seventh-order powerhouse. This was the first time he had faced a late-stage Golden Core expert.
Although it took a long time to describe, this was actually just what happened in a short moment.
Although he was vigilant in his heart, Zhang Ling did not hesitate at all. The magic formula changed, and three flying swords rotated and transformed into a continuous stream of sword light.
The fatty also snorted coldly, raising the giant axe in his hand, seemingly wanting to attack again. But suddenly, the fatty seemed to sense something and quickly turned around, chopping the giant axe fiercely behind him.
With a thunderous crash, the giant axe blocked several black copper rings that had been sneaking up from behind.
There were several crisp sounds of resistance, and the fatty cultivator took a few steps back.
This attack was launched by the half-demon girl riding the strange fish. The girl only snorted coldly, issued only one blow, and without looking at the fatty, she rode the strange fish into the sky, seemingly wanting to leave.
On the other side, the Golden-Winged Bird and White Deer were actually trapped in a black water ball, unable to break free for a while.
"Want to leave?"
The fatty snorted coldly and threw a red thing up with one hand. Before he could see clearly what it was, the thing released a layer of blood light, and then transformed into a three-zhang-sized blood-colored bat, attacking the girl.
The half-demon girl's face turned cold. Her arms waved, and she controlled several copper rings to transform into a series of phantoms, scattering the blood-colored bat all at once.
But the blood-colored bat did not disappear. Instead, it turned back into mist, and then a series of sharp chirps rang out, and thirty or forty blood bats about a zhang in size rushed out of the blood mist.
The girl's face changed, and a cyan light flashed on her body. A white treasure pearl in her hand spun around, and then released a large piece of white flame, instantly turning all the blood bats that were besieging her into green smoke.
The girl flashed and wanted to fly away again, but this also wasted her one or two breaths of time.
Only the sound of a loud bang came from below, and a thick golden fire line shot directly at the strange fish under the girl's feet.
