Chapter 489 - 461: Two Demons Beheaded

Chapter 489: Chapter 461: Two Demons Beheaded

The Tiger Whale nodded and quickly relayed via Divine Sense, "Yes. Yes. Deep in this trench, there are two miniature water-element Spirit Veins."

The Tiger Whale immediately swung its giant tail, preparing to lead the way.

Li Yuan remained noncommittal, about to follow.

The Tiger Whale had only swum a short distance when it suddenly stopped. Its massive body made a clumsy half-turn in the water, a probing glint shining in its crimson eyes.

"Senior..." The Tiger Whale’s Divine Sense transmission carried an ingratiating tone. "Are you interested in an inheritance?"

Li Yuan paused, his eyebrow slightly raised. "What inheritance?"

"The inheritance of a human Cultivator." Seeing that Li Yuan was interested, the Tiger Whale hurriedly explained.

"It’s from an ancient cavern estate, with jade slips and treasures left behind by a human Cultivator. I’ve seen it with my own eyes."

"What’s the catch?" Li Yuan’s tone was flat. ’Once a Demon Beast gains sapience, it’s not much different from a human. To proactively offer a treasure, it must have a motive.’

"All you need to do, Senior, is help me hunt another Tier Three Great Demon." The Tiger Whale’s transmission dripped with unconcealed viciousness and greed. "Kill it, and the Cultivator’s inheritance in the cavern estate is all yours. I only want the flesh and blood of that Demon Beast."

Li Yuan looked at it expressionlessly. "Where is this inheritance?"

The Tiger Whale’s gaze flickered away for a moment before it braced itself and answered, "It’s... it’s in the lair of that Tier Three Great Demon."

Li Yuan’s expression instantly darkened.

’This beast had it all figured out.’

’The so-called inheritance is just the stuff inside that Great Demon’s lair.’

’The Tiger Whale doesn’t dare to steal it, so it’s using the pretense of guiding me to get me to act as its free muscle. It wants to eliminate a competitor and feast on the flesh of a Tier Three Demon Beast while it’s at it.’

"Since you are both Tier Three Sea Demons in this region, why kill it?" Li Yuan asked.

"We’re not kin," the Tiger Whale transmitted, its tone self-righteous. "That damned octopus not only occupies the best Spiritual Qi vortex, but it also frequently crosses into my territory to hunt my prey. It deserves to die."

The law of the jungle—the purest form of Demon Beast logic.

Li Yuan considered it briefly. The Inner Core and materials from a Tier Three Sea Demon were incredibly valuable, and with an unknown Cultivator’s inheritance added to the mix, this deal was a guaranteed win. As for the Tiger Whale’s little scheme, it was a joke in the face of absolute power.

"Lead the way."

Getting the go-ahead, the Tiger Whale excitedly did a barrel roll in the water. Its massive body then shot forward, heading for the deeper part of the trench.

Li Yuan followed unhurriedly from behind.

As they dove deeper, the surrounding seawater turned an oppressive, pitch-black. The water was frigid, and the immense pressure was enough to instantly crush an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator into pulp.

Fifteen minutes later, the Tiger Whale stopped before a massive underwater fault.

Below the fault was a massive, seemingly bottomless cavern. Murky currents constantly spewed from its mouth, and faint but powerful fluctuations of Spiritual Qi spilled out.

"Senior, this is the place." The Tiger Whale stopped dozens of yards from the entrance, not daring to move a single inch closer.

Li Yuan’s gaze fell upon the cavern’s exterior, and he instantly took in the entire scene around the entrance.

Scattered on the rock walls around the entrance were a dozen or so Spirit Stones of various shapes and tattered Array Flags. They were haphazardly stuck in the silt, barely forming a Spirit Gathering Array and a warning Array.

The Array’s construction was so shoddy that Li Yuan couldn’t even be bothered to dismantle it.

Li Yuan drew a line with two fingers of his right hand.

Perfection Stage Void-rending Slash.

Several hairline spatial rifts spread silently through the water, precisely severing the core Spiritual Qi circuits of the Array Discs.

Without even a single ripple from the Array, the crude warning Array was completely disabled.

In a flash, Li Yuan shot directly into the cavern.

The moment he entered, an incredibly potent stench, a mixture of rot and Demonic Qi, assaulted his nostrils.

BOOM.

At the bottom of the once-calm cavern, the silt churned violently. Eight massive tentacles, each yards in diameter and covered in dark-red suckers, shot out from the darkness like eight writhing giant pythons, instantly sealing off all of Li Yuan’s escape routes.

A Tier Three Octopus Great Demon.

The tentacles blasted through the water, carrying a terrifying force sufficient to shatter refined iron as they slammed down on Li Yuan.

Faced with the tentacles converging to crush him from all directions, Li Yuan showed no sign of panic.

He instantly activated Demon Shadow Step.

Li Yuan’s figure left a dozen extremely realistic afterimages in the water as his true body eerily shifted thirty feet to the side, precisely slipping through the gap between two tentacles.

The tentacles slammed hard against the cavern wall, causing the entire underwater fault to tremble violently as large chunks of rock crumbled and fell.

Its strike having missed, the Octopus Great Demon was thoroughly enraged. Two huge, lantern-like yellow eyes lit up in the darkness, and then a jet of ink-black venom spewed forth from the depths of the cavern, instantly turning half the water inside into a toxic dead zone.

The ink was not only highly corrosive but was also laced with Demonic Qi that could block Divine Sense.

Li Yuan snorted coldly.

His Mid-grade Demon Pill spun wildly, and supremely pure Demonic Qi instantly replaced his Spiritual Power.

Dark Erosion Finger.

Li Yuan raised his hand and jabbed three times. Three shadowy beams of energy tore through the thick, toxic ink. With an overwhelming corrosive and penetrating force, they accurately struck the base of three tentacles just as they were preparing to ensnare him.

SZZT. SZZT. SZZT.

The incredibly tough flesh of a Tier Three Top Grade Demon Beast instantly rotted away under the corrosion of the Dark Erosion Finger’s Demonic Qi. The Octopus Great Demon let out a piercing shriek as three of its tentacles went limp.

Just as Li Yuan was about to press his advantage and finish off the Octopus Great Demon, his Divine Sense picked something up.

A vast presence that had been lurking outside the cavern had, at some unknown point, stealthily moved behind Li Yuan.

A cavernous maw filled with fangs, churning with violent Demonic Qi, snapped viciously at Li Yuan’s back from an incredibly treacherous angle.

The Tiger Whale.

Its fangs were less than a foot from Li Yuan’s back.

However, Li Yuan didn’t even turn his head.

Twelve Divine Sense Lines had already locked down the surrounding hundreds of yards of water. Every movement of the Tiger Whale, even the subtle shifts in the water currents, was under his control.

Perfection Stage Teleportation Skill.

Li Yuan’s figure vanished from where he stood.

The Tiger Whale bit down on empty water, its immense bite force compressing the water and creating a deafening BOOM. Before it could react, a soul-shuddering chill descended upon it from above.

Li Yuan appeared above the Tiger Whale.

He made a grasping motion with his left hand, and the vast, pure Water Spiritual Power of his Cold Stream Spirit Fusion Skill erupted.

Ice Seal Skill.

The surrounding seawater froze in an instant. An absolute, deep cold flowed with the current, pouring directly into the Tiger Whale’s gaping maw.

CRACK—

A grating crackle echoed out as the Tiger Whale’s massive body was instantly frozen solid from the inside out, becoming a gigantic ice sculpture, completely locked in place.

Having dealt with the Tiger Whale, Li Yuan’s movements didn’t pause for an instant.

He pivoted in the water, his right hand a blade, and chopped down fiercely at the Octopus Great Demon below, which was still frantically spewing toxic ink.

Void-rending Slash.

This time, it wasn’t a series of fine spatial cracks, but a single, ink-black spatial fracture dozens of feet long.

The spatial fracture tore through the clouds of toxic ink with overwhelming force, severing the remaining five tentacles without resistance before precisely slicing through the center of the Octopus Great Demon’s massive head.

The Octopus Great Demon’s shriek came to an abrupt stop.

Its giant body stiffened for a moment, then split neatly in two down the middle. Thick demonic blood gushed out like a fountain, completely dying the surrounding sea red.

Double kill.

From the Octopus Great Demon’s sudden onslaught to the Tiger Whale’s backstab, and finally Li Yuan’s thunderous counter-kill, the entire sequence was incredibly fast, over in just a few breaths.

The two Tier Three Great Demons, who had reigned as tyrants in this stretch of sea, were reduced to cold corpses in the face of an absolute disparity in power, without even a chance to flee.

Li Yuan waved his hand. His Demonic Qi stirred the currents, forcibly pushing away the thick scent of blood and the toxic ink.

His gaze fell on the two massive Demon Beast corpses.

The flesh and materials of a Tier Three Demon Beast were a hot commodity in the outside world—rare and highly sought-after. This was especially true for the Octopus Great Demon; with its Tier Three Top Grade Cultivation, its Inner Core’s value was comparable to a top-grade magical treasure.

Li Yuan walked forward. A gray light flashed from his hand as he skillfully began to carve up the Demon Beasts’ corpses.

Soon, Li Yuan had extracted two Demon Beast Cores that pulsed with astonishing Spiritual Power.

One belonged to the Tiger Whale. It was dark red, and faint wisps of black Demonic Qi could be seen churning within.

The other, from the Octopus Great Demon, was a deep, ethereal blue, its surface bearing strange, naturally-formed patterns that resembled Array Patterns.

The moment Li Yuan gripped the two Demon Beast Cores, his three-foot perception field was triggered. Two blinding blue lights flared up on the dark seabed.

They were both equippable attribute items.