Even from a distance, Liu Xing was sure his eyes were not deceiving him. Now, instead of one spirit beast with snake limbs, there were eight. Each possessed a different face and complexion. One had red skin, another black, another green, another blue, and the others displayed equally unnatural skin colors. Their ears also differed, each resembling a different kind of fruit. Apple, avocado, banana, orange, and other strange fruits were represented. Honestly, their appearance looked ridiculous, but as some cackled madly, others laughed silently, and others smirked, he could feel the boundless qi emanating from each of them. They still felt as if they were in the Core Splitting realm, but each was stronger than Elder Xia Juetian had been.

Then, as if trying to induce a heart attack, the pink worm also shone with a golden aura and split itself into eight different worms, each with different faces. Liu Xing's heart nearly stopped. This was bad, truly bad. Two of them would have been enough to kill everyone in Second Gray Cloud City, and now there were sixteen! He had a gut feeling that these spirit beasts would begin wreaking havoc across the Twelve Sun Empire, killing people and stealing bloodlines. But the most terrifying thought was that each spirit beast, after consuming a sufficiently strong cultivator, could split itself. This realization meant there was a high chance the Twelve Sun Empire would be annihilated in a short time.

"This is not my fault," Liu Xing muttered, his heart beating rapidly. His mind was screaming that the spirit beast had split into eight because he was too slow to destroy the meatball, but he tried to stop this thought. His heart had to sincerely believe that it was not his fault. That way, he would not be burdened by the irrational guilt that was spreading through him.

"I need to report this!" Reporting them to the Purple Moon Sect seemed the best course of action.

The direct method would require him to return to the sect and bring back inner disciples—or even an elder—to deal with them. The indirect method involved Liu Xing running straight toward the capital of the Twelve Sun Empire, warning the royal family about these spirit beasts, and assembling a team to subdue them while also reporting to the Purple Moon Sect.

The second method seemed better and he nodded and was about to do just that when he suddenly felt a strong qi emanating from behind him. The qi prickled his skin, and its intensity felt as if he had suddenly been submerged in a lake of qi. Turning his head, he came face to face with one of the newly born spirit beasts. This spirit beast stood on the back of a floating golden tiger. It possessed golden snakes for arms and legs, skin as pitch black as if submerged in ink, wriggling yellow teeth, a nose as big as Liu Xing's fist, and ears made of two green coconuts. The arm jutting from its chest was also pitch black. It smiled widely at him, as if it were a greed-filled emperor discovering fertile land occupied by a simple and traditional tribe, ripe for conquest.

Liu Xing remained invisible, but it seemed this spirit beast either possessed an incredibly keen sense that could detect his faint presence, or it had deduced his position from his shield. Either way, Liu Xing knew, without a doubt, that he was in deep trouble.

As his heart pounded so fiercely he felt his chest might burst, his muscles, still transforming, coiled to leap at any moment. He noticed the other spirit beasts begin to move. Initially, he thought they were coming for him, but he soon realized they were splitting up and moving in pairs in every direction. As he felt their qi receding, he experienced relief, followed by a sudden realization that they would kill many people, and then irrational guilt for letting them escape.

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Still, his eyes remained laser-focused on the spirit beast floating atop the golden tiger's back in front of him. He tried to clear his mind, purging every useless thought, and focused solely on one thing. Survival.

The spirit beast began chuckling, covering its laugh with a golden snake as if using a fan to conceal a maiden's smile. Yet, this chuckling, though soft, emanated from a spirit beast that would undoubtedly kill him.

He needed to run, but he also sensed that any movement would result in instant death. For a moment, he and the spirit beast faced each other. The wind intensified each second, making his black hair flutter and his back feel as cold as if caressed by a winter breeze.

After a moment, the spirit beast stopped chuckling, then smiled widely, revealing its wiggling teeth and black tongue. Then, a golden snake emerged from its mouth, its body slimy and coated in a disgusting yellow liquid. It opened its mouth, and a ball surrounded by golden qi formed before it.

Seeing this, Liu Xing knew he had to act. He activated his lightning blade and slashed. His slash was lightning fast, fueled by the Diamond Pills still coursing through his body, as well as the adrenaline surging within him. It reached just below the snake's mouth. He didn't dare hope to split its head, but he at least thought his attack might shut its mouth and make the golden ball explode. Instead, when his lightning blade touched its lower jaw, his blue blade shattered as if made of glass.

Liu Xing's eyes widened as the snake launched its golden ball toward him. Reflexively, Liu Xing jumped backward with all his might. The wind rushed around him, and as the golden ball approached his face, he dismissed his shield and resummoned it directly in front of him. The shield arrived just in time. The golden ball slammed into his shield, and a golden explosion erupted, accompanied by a deafening tiger roar. His shield slammed into his face with such force that it sent Liu Xing plummeting from the sky like a meteor. In a fraction of a second, his back slammed into the ground. The earth around him surged, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and he bounced several times before finally stopping.

He felt his body tremble, his nerves in shock. But he couldn't afford to dally. He stood back up, reactivated his Lightning Cloak, scanned his surroundings, and kicked the ground so hard his kick spider-webbed cracks across the earth.

The forest of white bones blurred into streaks. He embraced the blurriness. It signified he was moving as fast as possible, and hopefully, his speed would be enough to outrun the spirit beast. He zigzagged left and right, trying to make his path difficult to follow, while his brain struggled to process what had just happened. The golden ball launched by the golden snakes and the orange tiger made of golden aura resembled Elder Xia Juetian's technique. This was concrete proof that this spirit beast truly did steal bloodlines and could utilize them.

As he considered this, a roaring tiger sound echoed. He stopped running and looked up. A giant golden tiger formed entirely of qi leaped down toward him. It possessed ferocious eyes, and it opened its mouth, baring its fangs. Seeing this, Liu Xing's eyes widened as if they might pop from their sockets. He began to run straight ahead. His heart pounded furiously, his brain screaming at his body to move faster.

From an outside perspective, the giant golden tiger that appeared was so huge that it made Liu Xing look as small as a flea. As it crashed to the ground, a deafening explosion erupted, as if the earth had split open. Liu Xing glanced back and saw a wall of earth, adorned with white bone trees, extending dozens of meters into the sky and surging toward him like a tsunami. And even before he can process that, a powerful shockwave suddenly slammed into his back, flinging him like a ragdoll tossed by an angry child. Liu Xing bounced like a ball, colliding with rocks, bones, and even anemone-like structures made of veins. He tried to regain his balance, only for the spirit beast with pitch-black skin and golden snake limbs to materialize dozens of meters away in front of him.

It laughed slowly, its mouth curving into a crescent moon, and it adopted a stance to unleash a simple punch with its golden snake arm.

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