At the critical moment, Zi Yu barely dodged the attack.
The price was a red line etched across her neck!
Xu Ling did not pursue, but retreated back into the void.
Zi Yu reached out to touch it.
Her palm was covered in purple blood!
I am too close to the master here. Since its target is me, I will lure it away first!
With that thought, Zi Yu flew towards the distance.
A faint energy fluctuation reached her, and Zi Yu hastily dodged.
"Pfft—!"
Her right arm, trailing blood, flew away.
Zi Yu quickly landed on the ground.
Countless roots emerged from her legs and plunged into the earth.
Zi Yu's clothes shattered, and her body transformed into a giant flower.
Innumerable vines stretched out, writhing and swaying around the flower's core.
Each vine sprouted a row of purple blossoms, their petals curling in different directions.
These petals were not for attack, but for capturing every energy fluctuation in the surroundings.
Transformed into her true form, Zi Yu's combat power increased significantly.
As soon as Xu Ling appeared, she detected it.
All her tendrils, tipped with sharp spikes, shot towards Xu Ling!
Xu Ling's hand-blade had just severed one vine when more surged forward!
The cautious Xu Ling, sensing trouble, attempted to retreat into the void.
However, it was too entangled in vines to escape!
Its hand-blades continuously slashed, trying to tear apart the bothersome tendrils!
The severed vines flew back into Zi Yu's body, transforming into new ones that wrapped around Xu Ling.
The situation became a stalemate.
On the surface, Zi Yu seemed to have the upper hand.
But in reality, it was not so!
Zi Yu tried to use the spikes on her vines to pierce Xu Ling's body, only to find it impossible!
A large section of the barbs broke off, leaving not even a white mark on Xu Ling!
Instead, her vine-tendrils were being relentlessly sliced...
Although these tendrils could regenerate, the lost demonic energy could not be replenished in a short time.
If this continued, she would eventually be worn down.
Furthermore, being cut was also painful for Zi Yu...
She persisted solely to buy time for Ye Fan.
Although Ye Fan had almost been crushed to death by the giant eyeball before and appeared to be a weakling,
after sensing Ye Fan's mental sea, Zi Yu knew that her master was definitely not as simple as he seemed!
The fear and backlash that made one feel as if they were experiencing the end of the world were not something an ordinary powerful being could achieve!
She didn't know how long her master's treatment would last.
All she knew was that she had to hold on!
If the other party wanted to harm her master, they would have to step over her dead body!
Although she didn't seem as ferocious this time as in her previous transformation, the danger within was far more severe!
This thing was countless times stronger than the white reaper before!
As time passed, Zi Yu's demonic energy dwindled.
Her consciousness began to blur.
Zi Yu knew she couldn't hold on much longer...
Meanwhile.
With the placement of the final silver needle, Master Xie Yan heaved a sigh of relief.
"Finally... done..."
Master Xie Yan collapsed onto the ground, his body trembling slightly.
"Master, how is it progressing?" the Second Elder asked nervously, handing over a small porcelain bottle.
Master Xie Yan tilted his head back and swallowed all the pills.
"It's alright, no accidents," the Master said, wiping his mouth. "However, while Ye Fan's mind is now stabilized, I'm not sure when he will wake up..."
"After this batch of pills comes out, give it to him," the Second Elder said, glancing at the nearby pill furnace. "According to that book, 'The Origin of Pills,' these should help him recover sooner."
As the two finished speaking, a dark shadow hurtled towards them!
"It's Little Zi Yu!" the Second Elder exclaimed, quickly reaching out to catch it.
Zi Yu had reverted to her human form.
However...
only her upper body remained!
Purple blood gushed madly from the severed waist,
even a few large pieces of internal organs had fallen out!
"Two seniors, I can no longer fight..." Zi Yu said weakly. "My master, I entrust him to you..."
After saying this, Zi Yu's head lolled to the side...
Then, the two elders saw Zi Yu's body enveloped in a dense purple light.
The purple light then shrunk, eventually becoming no larger than an egg.
When the purple light dissipated, the Second Elder was left holding only a purple orb.
"What happened to Little Zi Yu?" the Second Elder panicked. "Master, she's not dead, is she?"
"This..." Master Xie Yan was also bewildered. "I don't know either..."
Meanwhile.
Zi Yu's lower half remained at the battle site.
Having been separated from her main body, it could no longer maintain human form.
Xu Ling picked up a severed root from the ground and slowly placed it on its chest.
The next moment, a rift opened in its abdomen!
A gray current emerged, enveloping the root.
Finally, the root shrunk into a sphere, which was then drawn into Xu Ling's belly by the gray current.
Xu Ling then picked up another root, repeating the process.
Just as the second root was about to form a sphere, an anomaly occurred!
A surge of purple suddenly flooded into Xu Ling's semi-transparent head.
The purple substance seemed to come alive, thrashing wildly inside its head!
Xu Ling immediately hunched over, clutching its head, appearing to be in great pain!
The next moment.
The root it had just swallowed was spat out, along with the second small root sphere, falling to the ground.
As the two root spheres were expelled, Xu Ling recovered.
It quickly moved away from the scattered roots and charged towards the Second Elder and the others.
This time, it did not conceal itself in the void because it sensed no threat from the Second Elder and the other two.
After all, the two elders appeared to be at the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment stages respectively, and the unconscious Ye Fan had no cultivation at all.
This was also why it had not hidden in the void when preparing to devour Zi Yu's roots earlier.
With no danger, there was no need to do so.
Xu Ling was incredibly fast!
With a flash, its hand-blades reached the necks of the two elders!
The two elders had no time to react before being struck squarely!
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
However, the two elders were not decapitated but sent flying backward.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Gurgle..."
Upon landing, the two elders rolled several times before stopping.
"So scary!"
They exchanged glances and performed the same action in unison.
With a heave and a push, their heads plunged into the ground.
Perhaps due to the excessive force, half of their bodies were buried.
Their exposed buttocks trembled incessantly, as if conveying their inner terror...