The gloomy black rain continued to fall endlessly. Everyone's eyes were focused upon Shen Yunge. At this moment, his figure was frozen in mid air and a bloody holy the size of a fist was bored through his forehead.
This was a sight worth celebrating.
So long as Shen Yunge was killed, they would be able to obstruct the blood red flower bud from growing further and that would also put an end to the corrupted experts' attacks. It seemed that they were lucky to have held the upper hand during this pivotal battle.
This result was gladly accepted.
However, just as smiles spread across their faces, a strange laugh came from Shen Yunge. "Did you really think that this was enough to kill me?"
Everyone's expressions froze.
They saw Shen Yunge massage his neck as a smirk hung on his face. The bloody hole on his forehead might look shocking but after being corrupted, Shen Yunge's lifeforce had become significantly more tenacious.
This sight caused everyone's hearts to sink. Even that final ferocious arrow was incapable of slaying him?
Shen Yunge's malevolent eyes were gloomily glaring at Li Luo. "What a pity, this arrow of yours was just lacking by a little."
That arrow was capable of threatening a lower fifth-grade Duke but Shen Yunge had already surpassed that level. With the addition of the corruption's influence, he had become even more resilient.
Wounds that would normally be fatal to a Duke weren't as scary to him.
"Li Luo, take a step back." Jiang Qing'e appeared before Li Luo as her gaze was warily trained upon Shen Yunge. Li Luo was now spent and his battle strength had fallen. That single arrow had consumed too much of his strength and if they were to engage in another battle, he wouldn't stand a chance.
"Sister Qing'e, there is no need to worry." Li Luo flashed her a warm smile, telling her to relax a little.
He then looked at Shen Yunge whilst nodding his head. "It is a pity."
That arrow was his strongest move.
He had not only borrowed the Six-tailed Heavenly Wolf's strength but also broken through to the 100,000 feet Heavenly Resonance Diagram stage and supplemented it with the aid of his three quasi ninth-grade resonances.
This sort of additive prowess should not have been any weaker to his full powered Myriad Resonances Dragon Fang Sword Formation. Yet in the end, it was simply not enough. He was ultimately at a Heavenly Resonance stage and without the assistance of his spirit beast, even if he were to exert all of his strength and activate the Myriad Resonances Dragon Fang Sword Formation, he wouldn't be able to threaten Shen Yunge. Additionally the grade of this Duke Art was high and required an immense amount of resonant power.
That said Li Luo already had a vague feeling that this arrow would not have been able to kill Shen Yunge upon impact. This was also because its strength lay not in its sheer destructive power, but rather the poison laced within.
He had activated the Great Sanguine Poison Art and fused the Heavenly Wolf Bloodfiend Venom and his Heavenly Dragon blood essence together, creating a new insidious poison.
This was what he had dubbed, the Heavenly Dragon and Wolf Toxin. This was the true killing blade that was hidden beneath the surface.
The Three Dragon's Kingslayer Arrow was only used to breach his defenses and serve as a delivery vector for it. Thus Li Luo was waiting for it to take effect from the very beginning. He was clear of the gap between them and even if Jiang Qing'e was unrivaled within her own realm, relying on these direct methods wouldn't likely lead to victory. Jiang Qing'e was capable of fighting against upper fourth-grade Dukes and with her Destiny grade Duke Art, it allowed her to challenge even lower fifth-grade Dukes temporarily.
Meanwhile Shen Yunge was an upper fifth-grade and with the addition of the Stygian Rain of Calamity, his strength soared even higher.
Even Qin Beiming would likely be unable to beat him in a fair fight. Thus if they truly wanted to beat him, they would have to rely on this newly created Heavenly Dragon and Wolf Toxin.
Li Luo trusted in its might as he had depleted almost half of the Heavenly Dragon blood essence within his body. When faced with the mocking laughter of Shen Yunge, Li Luo's heart remained calm. He was waiting for the poison to take effect but why was his opponent stalling for time? Meanwhile Shen Yunge's strange smile didn't last very long as his expression turned serious whilst Li Luo silently watched on.
He could feel the bloody hole in his forehead beginning to melt away.
A blood mist started to spread and it was laced with incredibly fiendish and berserk energy. It was so corrosive that everything near it was eroded away.
A few moments later, half of Shen Yunge's face had disintegrated.
However Shen Yunge didn't scream out in pain. His senses had already been completely dulled. However he was still capable of sensing a terrifying poison devastating his body. Even corruption was unable to stop it from wreaking havoc within him.
It ignored the corruption completely and continuously ravaged away at his physical body.
As the poisonous energy rushed through him, regardless of whether it was flesh or bone, all was turned into a bloody liquid.
As the Heavenly Dragon and Wolf Toxin continued to scatter throughout his body, bloody orifices appeared all over him as blood liquid gushed out.
This sudden development was completely eye opening as the crowd sucked in a deep breath.
"Is that... poison?" Qin Beiming, Li Zhihuo, Zhao Xiuyuan and the rest of the top experts looked on in surprise as Shen Yunge's body swiftly fell apart. They could naturally identify the cause of his injuries.
However, just what sort of poison was so tyrannical that even the roiling corruption around him was unable to stop it? It was clear that Li Luo's arrow was the one that had poisoned him!
This would mean that this poison was another of Li Luo's methods.
If they were afflicted with such a terrifying poison, wouldn't they end up in Shen Yunge's shoes as well? With that thought in mind, they glanced at Li Luo with a little bit of fear in their eyes. This brat was just a Greater Heavenly Resonance stage cultivator but all of the means at his disposal were simply too frightening.
The bright side was that they were all on the same side. Under the surprised gazes of the crowd, Shen Yunge's body quickly melted away and was riddled with gaping holes. Only half his head remained at this point and it was a horrifying sight. It was clear he was clinging on to his last breath.
Fury and all sort of negative emotions could still be seen in his eyes but at this very instant, a trace of lucidity emerged.
His hoarse voice rang out. "It turns out I'd actually die at the hands of someone in the Greater Heavenly Resonance stage."
Li Luo lightly replied, "My apologies. You were corrupted. I would just like to know, just who was the one who planted that venomous curse within you?"
Shen Yunge's eyes flickered in confusion as vague memories flashed through his mind. However it wasn't his memories he was screening but that of the Gilded Scale Heavenly Python. It was a familiar environment within Abyssal City.
From the perspective of the Gilded Scale Heavenly Python, he was at a stone pavilion and a certain figure walked out. This figure was quite strange as he had no features on his face.
Just as the snake saw the faceless man, the latter also noticed it. His face began to squirm as though he was smiling.
He then raised a hand and grabbed onto the Gilded Scale Heavenly Python.
A low voice rang out.
"My second chess piece is now complete."
The memories ended here as Shen Yunge's expression turned pained. Within his chest, the embedded snake head began to expand.
"You... little..."
Shen Yunge's struggled to speak but before he was able to, his body was completely melted away, leaving only the snake's mouth in mid air. Everything fell silent. A black hand then stretched out of the snake's mouth and a twisted face could be seen on it. As the face opened its mouth, it spat out a beam of black light.
It immediately seemed to absorb all the inky black rain in the sky and dense corruption surged.
This black light then shot directly towards Jiang Qing'e and Li Luo.
Jiang Qing'e had long sensed that something wasn't right, especially when Shen Yunge started speaking. She hurriedly grabbed hold of Li Luo's hand as she retreated with him in tow.
Alas the black beam was extremely quick as well.
Within it was a seed of corruption and even if one was a sixth-grade Duke, they would also fall to it. Clearly this was the final trump card hidden up the sleeves of the conspirators. It was a vicious hand to play.
The black beam of light grew larger in their eyes as it approached.
Jiang Qing'e could feel an immense sense of danger as her face turned frigid. She formed a handseal as she planned to activate an art without hesitation in this desperate situation.
Yet right at this critical moment something happened.
A tiny ray of light pierced through the air and directly collided against that seed of corruption hidden within the black beam of light. Li Luo could clearly see that that ray of light contained a tiny snake.