Chapter 99

In the air, the fiery swan made a graceful fold of its wings, like a dance, posing beautifully, then suddenly halted its dance and plummeted straight down, avoiding two lotus pickers flying through the air.

A pair of ruby-like eyes stared at Shi Qianqiu, its whole body radiating intense heat, yet bringing endless cold to the bird hunters on the ground.

Shi Qianqiu let out a hysterical roar, swinging the fine chain in his hand with all his might, hoping that the fine dragon's dance could entangle the fiery swan.

The fiery swan did not dodge the approaching fine chain but continued to charge at Shi Qianqiu. Seeing the hope of victory, Shi Qianqiu became even more frenzied, his entire body's essence energy bursting forth, his aura exploding, giving a faint sense of breaking through to the third stage of the Body Passage realm.

A section of the fine chain touched the fiery swan's wing, and Shi Qianqiu was overjoyed, exclaiming, "Yu Zhan! Hurry!"

Yu Zhan, who had retracted the lotus picker, no longer held back. The people on the ground moved closer to Shi Qianqiu, and the lotus picker in his hand suddenly attacked the direction of the fiery swan's head, trying to force the fiery swan into the fine chain trap Shi Qianqiu had set.

However, the next move of the fiery swan made Yu Zhan's legs tremble, plowing two furrows into the scorching hard ground, and his figure retreated violently.

The fiery swan emitted a blinding light, and a white-hot flame burned fiercely on its body. The fine chain that approached it sank into the flames, hissing and emitting white smoke, melting into droplets of liquid that dripped down.

Shi Qianqiu had no time to react; his eyes turned a scorched yellow, his white hair, gray clothes, and withered skin burned and contracted rapidly, cracking, but no blood could seep out, directly turning black.

Shi Qianqiu's piercing scream, distorted and hoarse due to the scorching in his mouth, was terrifying!

Amid the different piercing screams of the two elderly humans, the previously calm molten pool finally showed some movement.

With two low hisses, two crimson-golden fire blades tore through the viscous molten pool, slicing toward the fireball enveloping the fiery swan.

At this moment, in the midst of the rapidly changing sounds, light, and heat, time seemed to freeze, and only the two fire blades moved quietly, slicing through the air, slicing through the white flames, and finally, with two sizzling sounds of burning flesh, the world resumed its changes.

Everything began to flash rapidly; two crimson-golden fire blades flew out of the light ball, followed by two crimson wings falling from the light ball, and then the entire light ball plummeted.

The swan's cry was no longer clear; the sudden burst of pain had already overshadowed the human screams.

The human cries were weakening, and at this moment, Shi Qianqiu seemed like a dried fish facing a fierce fire, sizzling and smoking, while the fiery swan continued to burn, falling straight onto him.

The sounds continued, and the molten pool seemed like a drum, this time a "peng" sound jumped out. The viscous molten pool, like the mouth of an unknown giant beast filled with sticky saliva, spat out something again.

It was a huge toad! A toad five or six meters in size, its body entirely crimson, with scattered golden spots that were particularly eye-catching, making its crimson body not seem out of place, not like it had been skinned, but rather like a fiery and piercing outfit.

The Fire Cloud Toad!

Yu Zhan did not know why he did not run away but instead, in these few short seconds, constantly marveled at every change in the scene.

Then, he was fortunate enough to witness the spectacular moment of the toad eating the swan.

A pink, long tongue shot out from the Fire Cloud Toad's mouth, lightly sticking to the falling fiery swan. Without giving the once-beautiful bird time to continue its mournful cry, it retracted the tongue, rudely pulling the fiery swan into the giant mouth that could accommodate the Fire Cloud Toad itself.

The fiery swan, a mid-stage second-rank fire beast king, was thus eaten!

Yu Zhan fell to the ground, his eyes filled with the horrific sight of Shi Qianqiu's scorched and twisted corpse and the ferocity of the Fire Cloud Toad swallowing the mid-stage second-rank fire beast king!

The Fire Cloud Toad belched, smacking its lips with satisfaction. Several blood-stained crimson feathers fell from its mouth, and it extended its tongue to stick them back in.

The Fire Cloud Toad's large, colorful eyes, like huge opal gems, glanced at the fallen human, suddenly standing up on one thick hind leg, and with the other leg, it casually flicked a golden-crimson fire blade, effortlessly severing the human on the ground.

"No..." Yu Zhan's scream had not yet stopped when his body was already split into two, falling to the ground, the cut scorched and black, a gruesome sight.

"Quack quack!" The Fire Cloud Toad puffed its mouth in satisfaction, looking in the direction Hu Gao had left. There was a hint of confusion in its eyes, as if it was puzzled by something, but it decided not to think about it and took a few steps with its hind legs, preparing to chase after.

But it seemed to think of something and turned around, looking in the direction of the red molten pool, its eyes showing some hesitation and reluctance, but in the end, it reluctantly walked toward the red molten pool.

"Huff..."

Approaching the red molten pool, it did not waste any time, opening its mouth and sucking in a couple of hundred black fire lotus pods directly into its mouth. But this process did not end there; in a short while, another three or four hundred black fire lotus pods flew up and entered its mouth.

"Huff huff..."

After sucking in all the black fire lotus pods, it turned and chased after the direction Hu Gao had left.

"I'm telling you, I am Shi Dong, the fifth young master of the Shi family, and this is my sister, Shi Yuan. If you dare to harm us, you will face the retribution of the Shi family, and you won't be able to bear the consequences."

Three kilometers away, Shi Dong and Shi Yuan stood in front of Yun Feng and Han Chong, looking extremely disheveled, their weapons long gone.

Originally, the siblings had seen Shi Qianqiu's fear when facing the fiery swan and used the "Black Rain Pill" to force the two old men to stop the fiery swan so they could escape. However, they did not expect that the three young people they had previously looked down upon would dare to turn around and block them!

Yun Feng and Han Chong sneered, clearly not taking his threats seriously.

Their goal was simple: since the molten pool was guarded by the fiery swan and another fire beast king, they would eliminate the Shi siblings and take the black fire lotus from their spatial rings.

As long as they were careful and cautious, there would be no accidents, and no matter how powerful the forces behind the Shi family were, they would not be able to trace it back to them.

"Sorry, it's your threats that hasten your quick death." Hu Gao walked out from the side, giving the answer and a piece of advice, "If you have another life, don't let pride and foolishness cloud your judgment!"

"No! You can't kill us... Absolutely not!" Shi Yuan screamed, her face filled with fear, suddenly realizing that apart from her family, she had no means to save her life.

"You can't find a reason, can you?" Hu Gao looked at the Shi siblings; Shi Dong was still trying to appear calm, while Shi Yuan was already hysterical. "At the last moment, you've made some progress, not dragging your family into it."

"The Shi family will always protect us!" Shi Dong glared at Hu Gao angrily. They still had the strength to fight, how could they lose confidence just because of Hu Gao's words? "And just the three of you can kill us?"

"Hmph." Hu Gao sneered, saying no more, and with a wave of his hand, a crimson light shot into Shi Dong's body, scaring Shi Yuan into a scream. Before Shi Dong could regain consciousness, a clear long sword was already at his throat.

With Hu Gao's current Bloodlight skill, it was not very effective against ordinary mid-stage first-rank Body Passage realm practitioners, but for someone like Shi Dong, who lacked spiritual soul training, it was hard to resist.

"It's not three, just me alone is enough!" Hu Gao punched Shi Dong in the abdomen, and the Shadowless Sword left a blood trail on Shi Dong's neck.

Pain and fear made Shi Dong's face instantly covered in cold sweat, his chest heaving as he panted heavily, not daring to speak.

"Take out the pill that controls people." Hu Gao licked his lips, looking somewhat arrogant, staring at Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan's face was equally terrible. The series of shocks since the fiery swan had overwhelmed her, and she looked at Hu Gao with a pained expression, saying, "The Black Rain Pill won't work for you; it contains fragments of our spiritual souls."

Shi Yuan understood that Hu Gao wanted to use the Black Rain Pill to control them, but she also knew the pain it would cause, her face even more pained than Shi Dong's.

"She's telling the truth," Han Chong, who had stepped forward with Yun Feng, said, "I know a bit about the Black Rain Pill. It needs to be infused with the user's spiritual soul fragments during the refining process, so others can't use it."

"So, it's a pity you didn't leave yourselves a way out." Hu Gao shook his head, saying, "Hand over your spatial rings."

Seeing the three swords and one spear aimed at them, Shi Yuan, who was still alive and feared death, reluctantly took off her spatial ring and handed it to Hu Gao.

"You... won't... have a good end..."

Shi Dong, whose spatial ring had been taken by Hu Gao and who had been punched again, clutched his stomach and spat out a complaint.

"What do you think will happen if they eat the Black Rain Pill themselves?"

Hu Gao played with a few Black Rain Pills he had taken from Shi Yuan's spatial ring, his face eager.

"I don't know." Han Chong shook his head, "I haven't heard of anyone trying it. The Black Rain Pill can enhance the spiritual soul, but the fragments of the spiritual soul inside are used to control others' spiritual souls."

"Come, open your mouth!" Hu Gao said to Shi Yuan with a smile.

Knowing that the Black Rain Pill had no side effects, Shi Yuan did not resist much, and Hu Gao pinched her mouth, forcing five Black Rain Pills down her throat.

"Good girl!" Hu Gao patted Shi Yuan's face a few times, ignoring her expression.

What a pity, a pill that can enhance the spiritual soul!

Hu Gao was deeply regretful. His Bloodlight skill was particularly draining on the spiritual soul, and if he could get the formula for the Black Rain Pill...

Forget it, he wouldn't be able to refine it himself, and relying on others would be too dangerous.

Hu Gao wanted to observe Shi Yuan's reaction, but suddenly received a warning from Xiao Wu.

"Boss, run! The fire beast king is coming!"

"That fire beast king?!" Hu Gao's hand holding the Shadowless Sword trembled, and the wound on Shi Dong's neck deepened.

"The one in the molten pool, it's coming fast! Boss, run!" Xiao Wu urged Hu Gao, sounding very anxious.

What the hell! Did those two old men die?

"Run!" Hu Gao did not dare to think more, shouting at Yun Feng and Han Chong, dragging them away, not even bothering to cut Shi Dong's neck again.

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