Instantly, countless vines twisted towards the four-headed Exotic Beast like a frenzy of giant pythons. Once entangled by the Mandala Flower, no matter how skilled one was, all they could do was await their doom. Just as victory seemed within reach, a piercing SHRIEK— suddenly resounded.

The shriek was like the sharp screech of brakes, its pitch causing Wang Lan's eardrums to throb with pain. Amidst the howl, the four-headed massive beast broke free from the Mandala Flower's pollen illusion and snapped out of it.

BOOM— All four heads exerted force simultaneously. The terrifying gravity rays instantly transformed into a sonic wave that spread in all directions, shattering countless vines into dust that scattered in the air.

"Old Wu, get into the Mandala Flower and hold back that centipede. Don't let it disrupt us."

Seriously?! Wu Shaohua was exasperated. It wasn't that he had any aversion to Wang Lan's arrangement, but could Wang Lan not say it so casually? It's as if you were just asking me to go pick someone up. Do you think everyone is as monstrously strong as you? Can I even withstand a beast of that level?

Seeing Wu Shaohua's hesitation, Wang Lan instantly realized the key point. "Don't worry, we're allies. The Mandala Flower won't affect you."

"Understood!" Wu Shaohua shouted deeply. With a grim resolve, like a hero marching to a fated battle, he dashed into the Mandala Flower.

The Centipede Beast was nearly two kilometers long and, even when lying flat, stood over ten meters tall. In both sheer size and form, it was far larger than the other two Exotic Beasts mentioned previously. Moreover, the Centipede Monster's body was covered in hard armor, capable of flight and burrowing, and impenetrable to conventional weapons. Its body consisted of dozens of segments, each with densely packed mouthparts on its underside.

Just looking at it, I know this is going to be a tough fight, Wu Shaohua thought.

Steeling himself, he entered the Mandala Flower. Each vine seemed carved from jade, and every leaf was crystal clear. Stepping on the leaves, Wu Shaohua quickly reached the edge facing the Centipede Beast, his body wreathed in flames as his Star Power flared.

"Fire Dragon Bullet—"

His fist swung in a semicircle, and scorching lava formed a half-meter-wide magma dragon that charged towards the Centipede Monster. The Fire Dragon Bullet was an S-rank Star Martial Skill, and in Wu Shaohua's hands, its power had already surpassed S-rank.

In the past, this move was Wu Shaohua's ace in the hole, typically reserved for desperate situations. Unlike now, where it felt like his only viable option.

And this move... it might even be useless against the Centipede Beast, he thought.

No sooner had this thought emerged than Wu Shaohua wished he could slap himself. Did I have to jinx it? And so accurately, too?

The Centipede Monster gave a cold, stiff shudder. A visible ripple emanated from its body, instantly freezing the Fire Dragon Bullet in mid-air before shattering it.

This... Wu Shaohua stared, speechless for a long moment. Is it that powerful? My ultimate skill, and you neutralized it with a mere twitch of your body?

There's no other way— Wu Shaohua's expression hardened, and his Star Power surged once more as the gate of his Star Palace opened wide. Terrifying Star Power roiled, shattering the surrounding Mandala Flower vines.

Elsewhere, the Mandala Flower, jointly controlled by Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun, went berserk again. Pollen, like a thick fog, poured into the nostrils of the four-headed massive beast.

"Strange, did this Exotic Beast take an antidote? What's going on? Why isn't it being hypnotized again?" Yu Ruoyun wondered aloud. "The Exotic Beast's Star Power advantage is too great. It's been continuously expending energy for so long, yet there's no sign of depletion."

"Wang Lan, this four-headed Exotic Beast isn't just one entity; it's a four-in-one system, with its heads interconnected," Yu Ruoyun explained. "If Star Martial Toxins affect one head, the other heads awaken it. Do your Star Martial Toxins have a more potent form?"

"No, aside from creating illusions, they don't seem to have any other use. Just think of the Star Martial Toxins as an Illusion Technique," Wang Lan replied.

"This is going to be difficult then," Yu Ruoyun said. "It rotates through its parts; what if it outlasts us instead of the other way around?"

"Then let's disrupt its coordination." The moment he finished speaking, Wang Lan's form transformed, and he fluttered away like a colorful butterfly. When he reappeared, he was standing atop a large vine leaf, looking down imperiously at the four grotesque heads of the beast.

The starry sky above him seemed to open, and a clear phoenix cry echoed. In an instant, the Phoenix Constellation Saint Cloth materialized around Wang Lan. The Saint Cloth, covering 90 percent of his body, shimmered with a golden light under the fiery aura, a silver-white cape fluttering behind him like dancing flames.

At this moment, witnessing this scene, Yu Ruoyun's Star Power wavered for an instant. Wang Lan's heroic figure, like a legendary spear descending from the heavens, struck her, piercing the defenses around her heart.

The reborn Phoenix Constellation Saint Cloth perfectly illustrated the saying: damage amplification is a matter of version updates, but being cool is for life.

"Unleash, Sword of Light—"

Wang Lan leaped high. In an instant, the Sword of Light in his hand blazed with ten thousand rays of brilliance. The Breaking Swords might not have been enhanced, but it was still just a blade. Its true power depended entirely on the strength of its wielder.

The scope of control over the Sword of Light was limited only by Wang Lan's imagination—the greater his imagination, the greater its power. As Wang Lan leaped down, the forty-meter-long blade tore through the clouds like a laser beam.

"Slash!"

SWOOSH—

The four-headed massive beast furiously spewed a beam of gravity rays at the Zanpakuto, but apparently, it didn't know that light has no mass. Applying both light and heavy gravity effects to the Sword of Light was pointless. Unless its gravity was strong enough to warp space itself, only then could it bend light.

Wang Lan, like a swallow returning to its nest, flitted past the massive beast, his Sword of Light arcing gracefully through its colossal neck.

SHRIEK— The beast roared towards the sky, as one of its serpentine heads tumbled from its neck. It was a beautifully executed strike, a pity no one was there to applaud.

Although one of its heads had been severed, the massive beast didn't seem greatly affected. Even on the severed stump, flesh and blood rapidly writhed, showing signs of a new head beginning to regenerate.

"Jewels of Light!"

The Sword of Light instantly danced, unleashing hundreds, even thousands, of boomerang-like projectiles that assailed the behemoth's remaining three heads.

"Wang Lan, stop messing around! Have you forgotten that the Mandala Flower is your Star Martial Skill?" Yu Ruoyun's voice came from behind.

Although she could also manifest the Mandala Flower while their Star Power was linked, it required synchronization with Wang Lan's. I'm struggling to maintain it here, and you're off showboating? And looking so cool while doing it? That's just too much! she thought.

Wang Lan's barrage of attacks instantly converged on the behemoth's heads. Then, he fiercely brought his hands together. "Bloom, Mandala Flower—"

Flowers blossomed in abundance. A dense sea of flowers instantly enveloped the four-headed Exotic Beast. The pollen, forming a thick fog, swiftly plunged the beast back into a hallucinatory realm.

"Great opportunity—" Instantly, both their Star Powers surged wildly. Numerous vines grew at an insane rate, and in the blink of an eye, they wrapped around the four-headed Exotic Beast. The beast made a desperate struggle, but after a short while, it was completely enveloped and gradually fell silent.

After several seconds of silence, Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun suddenly felt the Mandala Flower come alive. With the massive beast as its new power source, the Mandala Flower no longer required Star Power from Wang Lan; he only needed to direct its attacks.

Meanwhile, Old Wu, under the cover of the Mandala Flower, had managed to avoid any real danger. Or rather, his attacks were nothing more than a tickle to the Centipede Monster, which hadn't taken him seriously.

Just as the Centipede Monster and Wu Shaohua had settled into a tense standoff, the vines suddenly changed their direction of attack, blasting towards the Centipede Monster. A vine instantly seized one of the Centipede Beast's legs, followed by countless others that shot out to bind it.

"We did it!" Yu Ruoyun exclaimed excitedly.

"No, something's wrong!" Wang Lan's face changed drastically. Although the vines successfully entangled the massive beast, Wang Lan felt no Star Power being absorbed. Moreover, the vines binding it were diminishing at an alarming rate.

BOOM—

The sphere of vines exploded instantly, and the Centipede Beast burst out, completely unscathed. Even more bizarrely, the Centipede Monster's carapace had changed from its original jet black to its current purplish-green color.

Although it was just a color change, an inexplicable sense of dread washed over Wang Lan.

"Wang Lan, make it bloom!" Yu Ruoyun yelled.

"Understood!" Countless flowers bloomed, their pollen forming a dense fog that engulfed a one-kilometer radius. The Centipede Beast glided through the pollen mist like a colossal dragon.

"Damn it," Wang Lan cursed. "The Mandala Flower can't entangle it anymore, and the pollen's toxicity is ineffective. It devoured some of the Mandala Flower's vines and has now become immune to this ability."

"What do we do now?" Yu Ruoyun asked.

"What else can we do? Withdraw this technique! We'll have to fight it head-on!" Wang Lan brought his hands together and instantly appeared beside the vine-cocooned four-headed Exotic Beast. Placing a palm on the sphere of vines, he intoned, "Senro Funerals—"

THUD—

The sphere pulsed gently like a beating heart, then contracted violently in an instant. Countless more vines latched onto it, compressing it further.

A notification sound chimed in Wang Lan's mind. "Overleveled takedown. Reward: 50,000 experience points, 2,000 skill points." A faint smile touched Wang Lan's lips. Although the battle had been perilous, in less than half an hour, two of the three targeted Exotic Beasts had been eliminated, and the defensive line of Lethe Canyon was still intact.

POP—

A high-grade Soul Bead popped out from an opening that suddenly appeared in the sphere, landing in Wang Lan's palm.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!—

Three successive, intense explosions sent Wang Lan flying backward. While flying backward through the air, he scanned the Centipede Monster for any weaknesses.

The Centipede Monster was now emitting terrifying ripples that violently distorted and vibrated the surrounding air, making it shimmer like the surface of a lake in the rain.

Within these ripples, the Mandala Flower rapidly crumbled and shattered. Although the range of the ripples wasn't large, their power was terrifyingly strong. Neither Wu Shaohua's nor Yu Ruoyun's Star Martial Skill attacks could withstand these ripples; they were all shattered upon contact.

"Dragon King Fist—" Yu Ruoyun leaped high like a soaring dragon. With a powerful punch, a golden dragon manifestation charged fiercely into the Centipede Beast's distortion field. However, it only lasted a few seconds, advancing a mere dozen meters before being disintegrated by the vibrational frequency.

The three of them hastily retreated, but the Centipede Beast relentlessly pressed its pursuit.

After about five seconds, the ripples vanished. The Centipede Monster suddenly dove headfirst into the ground and disappeared.

"Its ability must be on cooldown," Wang Lan called out instinctively. "Ruoyun, can you sense where it is?"

"I can't sense it. Insectoid Exotic Beasts excel at moving underground; they can evade most detection methods..."

CLANG— Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed, and the entire Lethe Canyon trembled violently. Before Wang Lan and Yu Ruoyun could react to their shock, the Centipede Beast burst from the ground at the canyon's entrance. One of its large horns was broken, and green blood gushed from the wound.

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