Luo Zhen was floored, but the shock ricocheting through General Salamander was on another level entirely.
This wasn't just some run-of-the-mill beast. General Salamander was royalty, blessed with the rare Azure Profound bloodline. The moment he'd formed his demon core, he'd unlocked a secret technique woven into his very DNA: the Azure Profound Barrier.
This shimmering cyan shield was his ace in the hole. It was damn near invincible. He'd once walked away from a brawl with three demon generals of his own rank without a single scratch, all thanks to the barrier.
And now, this… thing? This overgrown snake from the lower Sky Profound Realm was humiliating him.
If he wasn't frantically pumping every last drop of his demonic power into the shield, it would have already shattered into a million pieces. Even so, he was running on fumes. The electric grid was drinking his energy like a man dying of thirst. He figured he had ten minutes, tops, before his reserves were completely dry. Without power, the barrier would collapse, and the serpent's lightning would tear him apart. He wouldn't just be injured; he could actually die here.
The thought sent a wave of cold terror through him. Damn it all! Who knew this golden serpent's lightning would be a force of nature? A creature, a whole realm beneath him, was beating him to a pulp.
Luo Zhen saw his opening. The Thunder Lotus Fire was holding the General in place, but it wasn't breaking through. Time for a new tactic.
He opened his jaws and unleashed a concentrated, spinning vortex of blue lightning. It was his signature move: the Blue Light Flashing Thunder Drill.
BOOM!
The drill slammed into the cyan barrier, sending violent shockwaves rippling across its surface. A spiderweb of cracks appeared at the point of impact with a sickening CRUNCH. A second later, the cracks vanished as the General poured more energy into repairing the damage.
He'd saved the barrier, but his face was a mask of grim frustration. He was burning through his power even faster now.
"Well, that definitely got your attention," Luo Zhen hissed, a smirk in his voice. Another churning vortex of blue lightning was already forming in his throat. "Let's try that again!"
BOOM!
The second drill hit home just as Luo Zhen began charging a third. Seeing this relentless assault, the color drained from General Salamander's face. Ten minutes? Now he'd be lucky to last five.
"You know, General," Luo Zhen called out between attacks, "the way I see it, this is the end of the line for you. Oh, and by the way? This electric net is pure Beast Fire. Third-tier, to be exact."
Even as he taunted his foe, Luo Zhen remained coiled and ready. This was a battle for his life against a superior opponent. Cockiness was a fool's game.
"Beast Fire!?" The General's eyes went wide with disbelief. "You… you possess Beast Fire?!"
The stuff was legendary—insanely powerful and impossibly rare. General Salamander didn't have it. In fact, most demon generals didn't. It all clicked into place. That's why his impenetrable barrier was crumbling like cheap glass.
Fear mingled with fury. He wasn't done yet. "So what if you have Beast Fire?" he roared, his voice thick with defiance. "I am a General of Blackwater Lake! I will not fall to you!" His eyes blazed with a desperate light. "I didn't want to use this. You forced my hand, you filthy snake!"
With a final, guttural cry, he spat out a short, dark-red sword.
Then, he did something that made Luo Zhen's blood run cold. With a flash of grim determination, the General raked his own claws across his chest. The wound gaped open, and a torrent of crimson blood, thick with life essence, poured out. The stream didn't fall; instead, it snaked through the water and into the small sword. The blade drank it greedily, and in seconds, it transformed into a wicked, pulsing blood sword that radiated an aura of pure malevolence.
The General swayed, his face deathly pale from the sacrifice. But a triumphant, crazed smile spread across his lips.
"You pushed me to this, snake," he snarled. "Consider it an honor to die by my magical weapon!"
"A magical weapon?" Luo Zhen's senses screamed danger.
"GO!" the General bellowed, and the blood sword shot forward, a streak of crimson death.
Luo Zhen didn't hesitate. He collapsed the electric grid into a dense wall of fire and coiled his body tight, instinctively protecting the vital seven-inch spot below his head—a snake's lifeline.
He was barely in position when the blood sword hit.
BOOM!
The weapon collided with the firewall. For a moment, they were locked in a stalemate, but then the sword's bloody light intensified, and it punched straight through the flames, undeterred. The wall had sapped much of its power—the crimson glow was now faint—but it was still coming.
BANG!
The sword struck Luo Zhen's coiled body with a sickening thud. Excruciating agony ripped through him. He looked down and saw his own five-meter tail, severed and bloody, floating away. Blood poured from the wound.
Gritting his fangs against the pain, he frantically used his demonic power to seal the injury. The blood sword, its energy spent, reverted to its simple, dark-red form and flew back to its master's hand.
"You got lucky," General Salamander sneered, clutching the sword. His color was already returning. "That won't happen again."
Luo Zhen ignored the taunt. He focused inward, drawing on the power in his bloodline while simultaneously metabolizing the healing medicines stored in his gut. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped, and the raw wound began to scar over.
He drew the Beast Fire back into his body and fixed the General with an icy stare.
"Another attack? You really think I'm going to give you the chance to recover?" The last attack had been too close. If that sword had hit him mid-body, it would have been over. He wasn't making that mistake again.
The General laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "And what can you possibly do? That Beast Fire is your trump card, isn't it? It's strong, I'll give you that, but it can't crack my Azure Profound Barrier quickly enough. And in that time, I can and will cut you in two."
This time, it was Luo Zhen who smiled.
"General, I think it's time you learned your place," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "Open your eyes… and witness what true power looks like."
He activated his ultimate skill: Demon Shadow's Advent.
The world behind him dissolved into a void of absolute darkness. From that abyss, a shape emerged—a phantom, a nightmare given form. It was the shadow of a colossal nine-headed serpent, a creature the size of a mountain. Its nine heads, each larger than a house, swayed with an ancient, terrifying grace, radiating a demonic might so profound, so overwhelming, that reality itself seemed to warp around it.
Thump.
Under the crushing weight of that divine pressure, General Salamander's body gave out. He collapsed to his knees, his mind screaming. "What is that thing?! What in God's name is that?!"
Luo Zhen had no time for banter. The Demon Shadow would only last for three seconds.
With a single thought, he commanded the phantom to attack. One of the nine heads opened its maw and unleashed a torrent of golden fire—a liquid inferno that burned with the heat of the sun's core.
The sheer, life-ending terror of the approaching flames snapped the General out of his stupor. He scrambled back, his mind clawing its way past the shadow's oppressive aura. He slashed his chest again, offering up even more of his lifeblood to the sword. The blade shrieked as it absorbed the energy, then shot forward to meet the golden flames, glowing like a dying star. As a final defense, he poured every ounce of remaining power into his barrier, thickening it until it was almost opaque.
BOOM!
The resulting explosion was cataclysmic. When the blood sword met the golden fire, it was like watching a matchstick fight a supernova. For one brilliant, terrible moment, the sword held. Then, with a final, mournful cry that echoed in the General's very soul, it was consumed, dissolving into molten slag.
"My weapon!" he screamed, coughing up a mouthful of blood as the backlash from his destroyed weapon hit him.
But the sacrifice had worked. The sword had absorbed the brunt of the attack, weakening the golden fire. The now-diminished stream of lava-like energy washed over the General.
It engulfed him.
Then, two seconds later, it was over. The three seconds were up. The colossal nine-headed shadow behind Luo Zhen vanished like smoke, and with it, the golden fire disappeared as if it had never been.
"Is he dead?" Luo Zhen wondered, peering through the settling water.
The Azure Profound Barrier was gone. Inside its remnants, the General floated, a ruined wreck. His left arm was missing, and nearly half of his torso had been incinerated. He looked like a corpse. But a faint, flickering aura told Luo Zhen he was still, impossibly, alive.
So close, Luo Zhen thought with a flicker of annoyance. One more second, and he would have been nothing but ash.
He opened his mouth, preparing to finish the job with his own Beast Fire.
Suddenly, the General's eyes snapped open. He became a blur of cyan light, rocketing away into the murky distance. In seconds, he was gone.
Luo Zhen could only watch, helplessly. He might be the stronger fighter, but the General was a realm above him, and when it came to sheer speed, there was no contest.
"That clever bastard," Luo Zhen cursed under his breath. "He played dead. The oldest trick in the book, and I fell for it. He waited until I let my guard down."
But as the anger faded, a cold sense of victory took its place. "It doesn't matter. He's no longer a threat."
The General's only real weapon was gone, destroyed by a power he couldn't possibly comprehend. Without it, he was just a wounded beast with a few parlor tricks. Luo Zhen's own reinforced body could handle anything else he could throw at him.
In fact, if they met again, the roles would be reversed. The General was crippled, his power shattered. Luo Zhen was only missing a piece of his tail—a minor wound. Next time, he would be the hunter.
Flicking his forked tongue, Luo Zhen turned and swam toward the Chaotic Waters. With General Salamander out of the picture, he no longer had to hide. It was time to see what treasures and troubles the infamous region held.
And maybe, just maybe, find a way to get his tail back.