A miserable scream erupted as the monster's antennae on its head were severed. The Twin Blood Lotus had already fallen into Song Wanníng's hands.
Seeing the treasure slipping away, the beast roared furiously and without hesitation raised its claws to strike at Song Wanníng.
Only then did Song Wanníng clearly see the beast's massive size. Beneath the entire spirit spring lay its enormous body. Its aura was at least that of a sixth-rank beast, equivalent to a human at the Void Refinement stage. But its aura fluctuated wildly, as if it was about to advance to a higher rank.
Song Wanníng narrowed her eyes. Both the cultivation and the size of her opponent far surpassed her own. She could not fight head-on.
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant. She quickly placed the Twin Blood Lotus into her storage ring while swimming toward the shore.
At that moment, the beast's claw shot up, aimed straight for her head.
Song Wanníng turned and slashed with her sword. The powerful sword light pushed back the claw slightly, giving her the chance to dodge.
With the force of the sword wind, she propelled herself forward and successfully climbed onto the shore.
There was no time to rest. A fierce glint flashed in her eyes as she turned and unleashed a divine thunder strike.
The beast was still charging angrily when its head just broke the water's surface. It was instantly struck by the divine thunder.
Beasts fear lightning, especially the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder. Frightened, it hurriedly dove back under the spring.
Boom—
A tremendous explosion sent countless bolts of electricity rippling through the spring, forcing the beast to scream in pain as its whole body trembled.
Song Wanníng planned to use this chance to escape, but the divine thunder only blocked the pursuit. It also drove the beast into a frenzy.
Roaring madly, it flailed its claws, trying desperately to break free from the crackling thunder wrapping its body.
Thud—
Boom—
Shockwaves surged from the spring's bottom. Song Wanníng, who had just taken flight, was hit and quickly fell to the ground.
By then, the beast had half risen, one claw bracing against the shore as it struggled to break free from the lightning.
Before Song Wanníng could steady herself, she swung her sword again.
The beast struggled frantically to get up but was cut by the sword and screamed. After a violent flop, it finally managed to stagger out of the spring.
Spitting out blood, it felt numb and battered all over, unable to muster much strength.
But what angered it more was that when it looked up, the culprit had vanished.
The Nightmare Beast's eyes flashed with rage, its chest aching with frustration.
"Fine, fine," it spat out curses, "damn it, she actually got away. I swear I will kill you!"
It had been waiting here for over ten years. Finally, while the original occupant was away, it sneaked in.
Who would have thought a stinking human would steal its prize?
And with such a commotion, it would surely draw the original beast back.
"Damn it, now I have to clean up the mess!"
The Nightmare Beast hastily erased the huge marks it left behind and then sank back into the spring, fleeing through the tunnels it had dug.
The original owner of this place was a seventh-rank beast. It was no match. But for the sake of the Twin Blood Lotus, it had spent over ten years in painstaking hiding. It dared not move or make noise, always cowering deep underground, afraid of waking the seventh-rank beast.
Today, it finally saw the seventh-rank beast enter heat and sneaked in.
Just as it prepared to pick the blood lotus, someone uprooted it and stabbed its head.
Then the divine thunder struck, leaving it disoriented, humiliated, and in pain.
"Damn you. I don't believe you got away. When I find you, I'll swallow you whole!"
...
The sound of divine thunder was jarringly loud throughout Cannibal Valley, attracting the attention of all nearby creatures.
A Chi Feng beast, caught off guard while indulging a female beast, stiffened and paled. It kicked the female beast aside and hurried out of the cave.
The divine thunder was gone, but the noise clearly came from its lair. It slammed a claw on the ground and sped away. Before leaving, it had checked everywhere—no beasts were near. It had only been out a short while. Could it be this unlucky?
The Chi Feng beast raced forward like a whirlwind, its form blurring.
At the same time, Xiao Heyun suddenly stopped in his tracks, startled by a flash of divine thunder in the distance.
Wasn't this the direction the system pointed to?
His heart skipped. He grew anxious.
"System, system, is the treasure in trouble?"
"Highly likely!"
The system also tensed. Its energy was limited, so it quickly scanned and confirmed the treasure was still in that direction.
"Hurry, the treasure is still there. If we delay, something might happen!"
The divine thunderstorm would attract other creatures' attention. Then the host would find it hard to retrieve the treasure.
Xiao Heyun sped up, his face growing darker.
"This is already the second time I've seen divine thunder recently..."
His eyes narrowed, recalling how the demon he was hunting was struck by lightning.
How long had passed?
The image of Song Wanníng's flawless face appeared in his mind, his eyes squinting.
"System, could the divine thunder be man-made? Like from those mutated lightning roots..."
He started doubting whether the thunder was connected to Song Wanníng.
"Impossible."
The system shook its head firmly.
"This is Nine Heavens Divine Thunder—strictly speaking, heavenly punishment. It's no ordinary thunder!
Mutated lightning roots only make you stronger and can create lightning talismans. A rare few with exceptional talent might summon natural thunder, but that is one in ten thousand..."
Ordinary people dare not touch Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, let alone summon it.
The system could not imagine anyone would implant divine thunder in their body. That would be a fatal mistake.
Not even with a microspace could one survive that...
"Is that so?"
Xiao Heyun exhaled in relief as his doubts faded.
"If the system says impossible, then it's impossible. Looks like the heavenly phenomena are caused by the treasure maturing!"
A gleam flashed in his eyes. He accelerated further.
Finally, he arrived at the cave and without hesitation, plunged inside.
But the cave was a mess. The spring water had soaked the shore.
Everything was in chaos.
And the treasure was nowhere to be found.
"Damn! Who the hell stole the treasure first?"
Xiao Heyun's face turned dark as he grabbed his long blade and slashed fiercely around, venting his rage.
The system also looked grim, never expecting someone to beat them to it.
Before they could think further, something suddenly darted into the cave entrance!