Lightning and Flood Dragon Transformation

The metal snake, brought to "life," softened and slithered across the blood-glowing jade bracelet. Three pairs of blood-jade serpent eyes flickered, then blazed bright. Whoosh! A three-headed snake blood spirit, six or seven meters long and thick as a bowl, flew out from within the metal snake. Bearing broad wings, it pounced straight toward Li Weiyi as he charged forward. It was massive! A pungent stench of blood filled the air, carrying faint gusts of wind—a soul-chilling spectacle. Yet it was exceedingly tenuous, like mist. Evidently, Director Yang did not know the true method of activating the three-headed snake bracelet. Through fumbling experimentation, he had merely stumbled upon using a blood sacrifice to unleash a faint wisp of its serpentine soul. For a mortal, commanding even a single wisp of a snake spirit was already an extraordinary feat. "How can there be such a bizarre thing?" This blood spirit was practically an apparition—massive and hideous. How would Li Weiyi dare touch it? He immediately dodged and fled. Fortunately, his reflexes and footwork were extraordinary, and he moved fast enough. Evading the attack of the three-headed snake blood spirit, he yanked out the Yellow Dragon Sword lodged in the old man's chest. In his mind flashed the memory of the Yellow Dragon Sword severing the long hair of the skeletal demon, reducing it to mist in an instant. This sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon meant to vanquish demons and supernatural evil. Li Weiyi channeled the scalding current from the center of his right sole, sending it surging into the Yellow Dragon Sword. A faint sheen of yellow light emerged along the blade. While sprinting at full speed, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, he stopped on a dime and whipped around. The longsword in his hand swept from low to high, trailing a crescent arc that struck with dead accuracy against the three-headed snake blood spirit swooping down in pursuit. His judgment was so pinpoint that it seemed as if the blood spirit had thrown itself against his blade. Where the Yellow Dragon Sword struck the leftmost head of the three-headed snake blood spirit, flames burst forth. In an instant, the already tenuous head could no longer hold its form, dissolving into wisps of mist. With that strike hitting home, any lingering dread of the unknown vanished from Li Weiyi's heart. Battle intent flared in his eyes. Striding forward, he actually turned the tables and gave chase, hacking at the three-headed snake blood spirit. For a time, dust and stones flew across the deck. It had wings, but could not fly high. The spectacle looked for all the world like a mortal hunting down a demon. No telling how many onlookers were awestruck by this scene. A member of Lab 705 attempted to retrieve the shotgun again, but Gao Huan and several other untied expedition members pinned him to the ground. That rather pretty female graduate student picked up the shotgun as if handling hot coals, scurried to the ship's railing, and flung it into the sea. By the time Gao Huan saw what she was doing and shouted to stop her, it was already too late. That was a gun—the ship's last remaining firearm with ammunition. Startled by Gao Huan's roar, the female student crouched by the railing, clutching her head and trembling. Regardless, the expedition members saw things with crystal clarity; they knew very well whom to trust. When Xie Tianshu, Chen Hong, and Kong Fan were committing their atrocities, why hadn't anyone from Lab 705 stepped forward to stop them? To sustain the three-headed snake blood spirit, Director Yang lost a massive amount of blood. His body withered further, until he grew so weak he collapsed to his knees, prostrated on the ground. Yet it was futile. The three-headed snake blood spirit was no match for Li Weiyi at all. Before long, it was hacked into several segments and vanished into thin air. While Li Weiyi was fighting the three-headed snake blood spirit, that bespectacled middle-aged woman from Lab 705 calmly took off her coat, revealing a scripture belt tied around her waist. The belt was bright yellow, two inches wide, densely inscribed with scriptures. Lab 705 had observed the Bronze Ship for years. After crashing onto the ship, they had been the first to reach the site of those human skeletons. Thus, several imperishable items had been taken by them. The middle-aged woman produced a small vial of Golden Crow blood and poured it onto the scripture belt. The scripture belt's method of "blood sacrifice" differed from the three-headed snake bracelet's—blood from an inanimate or deceased source was enough. Whoosh— As the Golden Crow blood soaked in, a portion of the scriptures on the belt immediately emitted a bloody glow, enveloping her entire body in a faint, misty shroud of blood-colored light. The expedition members who rushed forward to subdue her were just about to grab her when their vision blurred, and she appeared several paces away. Though merely an ordinary person, empowered by the scripture belt, her agility and speed became eerily supernatural. Before Li Weiyi had even finished slaying the three-headed snake blood spirit, the middle-aged woman was already closing in. By the time the blood spirit was severed into pieces and dispersed, the middle-aged woman had already drawn a fist-sized black iron seal and slammed it against the deck only six or seven paces from Li Weiyi. Boom! A clap of thunder resonated. From the bottom of the black iron seal shot a bright, snaking bolt of lightning, darting straight toward Li Weiyi like a shuttle. Both the black iron seal and the scripture belt had been obtained from the human skeleton whose bones were nearly transmuted into gold and jade. Their quality was exceptional; even without knowing the proper method to activate them, they could unleash formidable power. Li Weiyi's senses were sharp. With no time to turn, he immediately rolled to the side, dodging the lightning bolt by the narrowest of margins. The left shoulder of his clothes was scorched black, the fabric carbonized and the skin stinging with a burning ache. A fraction of an inch closer, and it would have struck his neck or head. Though the black iron seal possessed remarkable power, it required a heavy strike to release lightning. Moreover, because the middle-aged woman did not know the true method of control, unleashing the lightning also sent fine electrical currents surging back into her palm, leaving her arm aching and numb, making it difficult to launch a second attack quickly. Fortunately, she had the protection of the bloody glow radiating from the scripture belt; otherwise, her arm would have suffered far worse than mere numbness and pain. Having dodged the lightning, Li Weiyi bounded forward like a leaping ape, closing in on the middle-aged woman at once. Whoosh! Her movement was like an illusion; she evaded Li Weiyi's first sword strike, which sliced off only a lock of hair. One had to understand that Li Weiyi had practiced martial arts since childhood. Under the enhancement of the scalding current, his footwork and techniques had attained an extraordinary level, carrying the demeanor of a martial master. Yet merely by activating the scripture belt, she had turned the mundane into a marvel—it was truly unbelievable. Each wary of the other, at times she fled, and at times Li Weiyi gave ground. On the other side, Gao Huan and the others were busy untying the expedition members. None of them noticed that Xie Tianshu, who had fallen in a pool of blood with a severed arm, was undergoing an earth-shattering transformation. The dragon-patterned thumb ring on his thumb, after absorbing the blood spilling from his severed arm, turned blood-red along its dragon patterns, flickering with a faint bloody light. His heart resonated with the pulsing frequency of the dragon patterns, his blood flow slowing more and more. The wound at his severed arm stopped bleeding. Dense, icy scales sprouted across his skin. His forehead bulged into uneven ridges, forming irregular, coral-like patterns. ... Li Weiyi soon realized that the middle-aged woman could not use the black iron seal indefinitely. After just four uses, her entire hand had turned pitch-black, trembling uncontrollably. The bloody light radiating from the scripture belt was also fading rapidly. "You don't understand how to use these imperishable items at all. Every time you use it, the damage to your body grows worse." Li Weiyi could see that if she used it one more time, her entire arm would be ruined. There was no need to force a confrontation; once the bloody light of the scripture belt faded, she would naturally cease to be a threat. "Roar!" A piercing howl—part wolf, part tiger, part dragon—resounded across the Bronze Ship. Li Weiyi, the middle-aged woman, and the many expedition members were all shocked. They looked toward Xie Tianshu, who had already risen from the ground. Eyes went wide, nearly popping from their sockets. In the faint nether mist, Xie Tianshu was still one-armed, but his body had swelled to a height of 2.7 to 2.8 meters, his clothes almost entirely torn to shreds by his expanded frame. His skin had turned into thumbnail-sized black scales. His lone remaining left hand had transformed into a massive, razor-sharp claw. His feet had also mutated, his soles twice as broad. The dragon-patterned thumb ring on his claw gleamed even brighter. A blood dragon woven of dragon patterns slithered across the ring like a living creature. Some expedition members screamed, some collapsed in terror, and others fled. They had already been terrified of Xie Tianshu before, and this Xie Tianshu was unmistakably far more terrifying. "Did... did he secretly drink flood dragon blood?" "Scales, claws, head... that might really be it! His body is clearly mutating into a black flood dragon!" "How could he dare?" ... "Li Weiyi, my severed arm is all thanks to you! Even black flood dragon corpse blood and the dragon-patterned thumb ring couldn't make it regrow." Mutated into a draconic monstrosity, Xie Tianshu took heavy strides, charging at Li Weiyi with accelerating speed, his winecup-sized eyes blazing with fury. He arrived in the blink of an eye, swiping a claw toward Li Weiyi's head, whipping up a violent gust of wind. Li Weiyi stepped back, and the sharp claws sliced right past the tip of his nose. Over the past few days, he had experienced far too many inexplicable, bizarre events. Even with Xie Tianshu practically demonized now, Li Weiyi could observe him with a cool head. Dodging the claw, he stepped forward and slashed his sword across Xie Tianshu's chest. Clang! Clang! Clang! The blade collided with the black scales on his chest, sending sparks showering everywhere, leaving behind nothing more than a shallow scratch. Xie Tianshu backed away quickly. Realizing he was unharmed, he let out a gleeful laugh. "I have flood dragon scales protecting my body—what can you do to me? Don't worry, I won't let you die too easily!" Li Weiyi glanced at the Yellow Dragon Sword in his hand. 'Without infusing it with that scalding current inside me, the Yellow Dragon Sword really is only somewhat sharper than ordinary blades. It can't shatter things on contact.' Not far off, that middle-aged woman from Lab 705 took out another vial of Golden Crow blood, preparing to pour it onto the scripture belt. Catching this out of the corner of his eye, Li Weiyi crossed ten feet in a single stride, charging over with extreme speed. "Trying to run?" Xie Tianshu chased after him in broad strides. His heavy steps shook the deck beneath them. Slash! Without the slightest hesitation, Li Weiyi lopped off the middle-aged woman's head with a single sword stroke, then snatched the black iron seal from her hand. Whirling around, he dropped to one knee, looked up at the charging Xie Tianshu, and slammed the seal heavily against the deck. Boom! Accompanied by a roar of thunder, a brilliant bolt of lightning shot from the base of the seal and struck Xie Tianshu squarely. Xie Tianshu flew backward, his body blackened even further... He was somewhat scorched, smoke billowing from his entire body. Li Weiyi did not have it easy either. Backlashed by the seal's lightning, his entire arm ached and grew so numb he lost at least half of its sensation. "This seal definitely isn't supposed to be used like this. She was just winging it!"