The smirking beast opened its mouth so wide that it looked like half of its head would tear off. As Liu Xing watched, his heart beat faster and faster, threatening to explode. The ball of meat, while disgusting, pulsed with qi. It felt like an entire ocean of qi compressed into a ball. Not only that, but this qi was familiar. It belonged to Elder Xia Juetian. There was no doubt the ball contained Elder Xia Juetian's entire cultivation, and if Liu Xing's suspicion was correct, it also held his Golden Tiger bloodline. If that spirit beast ate the ball of meat, its cultivation would soar. It would likely break through from the Core Splitting realm into the Sun Refining realm.

"What do I do?" Liu Xing's voice trembled.

He felt tempted to jump and snatch the ball of meat. But to do so would be suicide. Yet, he needed to act. Otherwise, this spirit beast would become a threat he couldn't contain.

As the ball of meat drew closer to its mouth, Liu Xing's mind wrestled with doubt and dilemma. One part of him rationally argued for flight. He was too weak. Recklessness would mean death. But another part screamed that fleeing now would brand him a coward. Legendary status, even becoming a great inner disciple, would be impossible if he chose the easy path. Ultimately, Liu Xing knew he needed a compromise, a way to both prevent the spirit beast from eating the meatball and to survive. That was his true desire.

As the meatball hovered right before its mouth, its white teeth wriggling like excited maggots anticipating a meal, Liu Xing remained uncertain, but he had to act.

He stood atop his shield and aimed his gun. This time, he held the gun with both hands, afraid of missing. Then, he loaded it with bullets infused with Exploding Fist. While not drastically different from his usual exploding rounds, these were stronger after he had consumed one and a half Diamond Pills. Liu Xing understood these bullets couldn't kill the two spirit beasts. But they might buy him time to devise a better solution.

Just as the spirit beast moved to bite the ball of meat, Liu Xing repeatedly pulled the trigger. Six blue glowing bolts shot through the air. Simultaneously, both spirit beasts snapped their heads up. The worm burrowed into the ground, while the spirit beast with blue snake arms leaped to the side.

Liu Xing decided to jump off the shield and free-fall to the ground, his mind racing for a solution. He obviously couldn't kill them. The only way to win was to capture or destroy the meatball. As he thought about it, his fight with the moss flashed through his mind. In a way, the upcoming battle was similar. He had to prevent the spirit beast from eating the meatball. The difference was that he didn't have to eat anything.

A flash of thought gave him a crazy idea. What if he ate the meatball? Surely it would help him advance. But logic quickly crushed the idea. Eating a meatball that was saturated with a Core Splitting cultivator's qi and probably contained his bloodline was undeniably dangerous. Death was a real possibility. There was also a moral dimension to consider. However, a more reasonable, though still desperate, idea sparked in his mind. He was weaker, but he had the means to become stronger instantly. Gritting his teeth, Liu Xing felt a pang of regret, but he immediately suppressed this feeling.

He retrieved the three Diamond Pills from his spatial bag and swallowed them quickly. As the qi erupted within him, he felt as if he were a frog plunged into lava. The pain was excruciating, yet it sharpened his awareness of his surroundings. Landing softly on the ground behind a toppled white bone tree, he peeked at the spirit beast with snake arms. It still gazed upwards at his shield. He gambled on his invisibility and ran as fast yet as silently as possible toward the spirit beast. His bullets were detectable, his lightning blade would be too. That meant his only option was to get as close as possible and seize the meatball with his bare hand.

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It was a reckless, terrifying plan, and yet, he couldn't conceive of a more sophisticated alternative.

As he neared the spirit beast, he could clearly see its pale body and torso, its four snakes as limbs, and even smell a sweet aroma from its apple ears. The pale hand jutting from its chest, with its yellow eye, scanned left and right, as if searching for him. Then, as if Liu Xing had crossed an invisible line, the yellow eye and the spirit beast both snapped their gaze directly at him, and he felt the ground tremble.

Eyes wide, heart pounding, Liu Xing realized his cover was blown. He kicked off the ground with all his might and flew to the sky and a giant worm with a human face erupted from the earth with jaws gaping wide. As he soared to the sky, He focused his gaze on Elder Xia Juetian's remains and activated his lightning blade and swung it as hard as he could.

A blue wall sprang up in front of his whipping blade, but the wall split, and his lightning blade hurtled toward the meatball. For a heartbeat, he thought he might succeed. While this spirit beast was immensely powerful, its techniques seemed tailored for Elder Xia Juetian, not Liu Xing. He thought he had a chance, but one of the blue snakes lashed out, its maw snapping shut on his blade, destroying it as easily as scissors cutting silk.

The spirit beast smirked, and then it dropped the meatball into its mouth.

Liu Xing loaded his gun with Exploding Fist bullets and fired rapidly at the spirit beast. But the blue snake opened its maw wide, moved with blurring speed, and swallowed his six bullets whole. Its stomach bulged briefly, as if an explosion rippled within, but it remained unharmed.

Liu Xing shouted and fired again, desperately trying to stop the spirit beast from consuming Elder Xia Juetian's meatball. But each bullet was swallowed by that snake, and even one that slipped past was snatched by the pale hand.

As gravity dragged him down, Liu Xing summoned his shield, and just as his feet touched it, the ball of meat vanished into the spirit beast's mouth. Then, it swallowed hard. The ball of meat slid from its mouth down its throat and into its belly.

The spirit beast began to laugh. This wasn't the cackling of a madman. It was more like a bully suppressing laughter after humiliating someone weaker.

Seeing this, Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He had failed. Not only had he failed to prevent the spirit beast from consuming Elder Xia Juetian's remains, but he had also wasted the Diamond Pills. While they weren't entirely useless, his chances of becoming an inner disciple had diminished.

Suddenly, a golden aura erupted from the spirit beast's belly. It pulsed with Elder Xia Juetian's qi, growing stronger by the second. The golden aura enveloped the spirit beast, and Liu Xing felt its qi surge like a lake overflowing a broken dam. Liu Xing couldn't tell if the spirit beast was undergoing a breakthrough or evolving, but one thing was clear. it had become even stronger.

As he watched, his heart hammering and dread constricting his chest, and the giant worm spirit beast erupted from the ground and launched itself like a rocket directly at him. Its pink body moved so fast it blurred. Seeing this, Liu Xing kicked his shield with all his force, launching himself higher into the sky. He continued to watch the spirit beast now engulfed in golden light. The aura shone so brightly it seemed a second sun had suddenly appeared below. And then, this brilliant aura fractured into seven smaller, golden lights.

As Liu Xing's head brushed a white cloud, he could see these seven glowing auras receding, and what he witnessed made his blood run cold. Liu Xing summoned his shield, stood upon it, and strained to see below, like someone peering down from a skyscraper.

"There's no way," he whispered.

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