Chapter 440 One-hit kill! Liu Qingyun was completely dumbfounded?!

Inside the Trial Space.

The phantom of the giant avian, entirely entwined with dark red lightning, had completely materialized.

Its wings spread wide enough to blot out the sun, every feather on its wings shimmering with scorching lightning like red-hot iron plates, its pair of blood-colored eyes locked firmly onto Little Skylark ahead.

The terrifying pressure of the Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak swept out like a physical force, pressing fine cracks into the ground of the Bluestone Battle Stage.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard outside the Star Pavilion, before the mystic light mirror.

Liu Qingyun and Elder Liu Lan were staring intently at the images within the mirror.

When that phantom of the Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak Vicious Beast fully materialized and erupted with suffocating pressure, Elder Liu Lan couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.

"Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak... It's a full major Realm plus three minor stages higher than Grand Tutor Dongxuan's avian."

Elder Liu Lan's brow was tightly furrowed, her tone filled with gravity.

"Such a gap is not something that can be easily bridged anymore."

She paused, then continued.

"In my opinion, although Grand Tutor Dongxuan's avian possesses the Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng Bloodline, it is, after all, a type known for its speed. Avian-type beast tamers always win by being fast; frontal power collisions are not their forte. Yet this Vicious Beast phantom happens to be a lightning-attribute giant bird; its speed likely won't be much inferior either. This battle will probably take some effort. It will take at least a hundred rounds of fighting to take it down."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingyun gently shook his head.

"A hundred rounds? Not necessarily. Elder Liu Lan, you are thinking too simply of Grand Tutor Dongxuan's beast."

Elder Liu Lan was startled and turned to look at Liu Qingyun.

Liu Qingyun stroked his long beard, his gaze falling on Little Skylark's figure in the mystic light mirror, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

"You saw it just now; when his avian killed the same-rank Vicious Beast phantoms on the previous three floors, it didn't use any other means but Wind-Thunder power. A casual strike was a weave of wind and thunder, reaching the Peak of speed while its power was not weak at all. What does this mean? It means the damage output of his avian is an existence that is almost unsolvable among those of the same rank."

"Furthermore, don't forget that scene in the ancestral grounds just now."

Liu Qingyun's tone became a bit more solemn.

"The Bloodline aura of his Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng directly forced Yan'er's Nether Phoenix to actively trigger its Bloodline defense. Yan'er's Nether Phoenix is a solid Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak; in terms of defensive power and spiritual energy abundance, it is definitely a cut above ancient Bloodline beasts of the same rank. To be able to suppress the Nether Phoenix in Bloodline aura shows that the Bloodline level of this Divine Peng is by no means ordinary."

He paused and gave his judgment.

"In my view, with this Divine Peng's Bloodline level and attack power, facing this Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak Vicious Beast phantom, it will take as few as seven or eight rounds, and no more than ten rounds at most, to surely take it down."

Hearing this, Elder Liu Lan mulled over Liu Qingyun's analysis and nodded thoughtfully.

Liu Qingyun's analysis did indeed have some merit.

Judging from Jiang Yun's performance of easily insta-killing on the first three floors, the attack power of this Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng far exceeded its rank.

Although it was now facing a phantom more than a full major Realm higher, with the cross-rank combat power of an ancient Divine Beast Bloodline, taking it down within ten rounds was not impossible.

"The Family Head has a point."

Elder Liu Lan nodded slightly.

"Then let us see how Grand Tutor Dongxuan handles it."

The gazes of the two...

...were once again cast toward the mystic light mirror.

At the same time, within the Trial Space.

The dark red lightning giant bird phantom finally moved.

Its pair of blood-colored eyes locked onto Little Skylark, it let out an extremely piercing screech toward the sky, and its wings shook violently.

Dozens of dark red lightning bolts as thick as arms bombarded toward Little Skylark like a torrential rain, covering the sky and the earth!

Wherever the lightning passed, the air was scorched into blackened cracks, and the bluestone ground was blasted with charred pits.

Jiang Yun's expression was calm, the light gate of the Beast Taming Space beneath his feet flashed again, and his figure vanished from where he stood.

After the integration of several battles, he already knew Little Skylark's speed characteristics like the back of his hand; dodging this kind of area-of-effect attack was as easy as turning his palm for him.

Little Skylark's reaction was even faster than his.

It didn't even use a skill, just a light flap of its wings.

A blurry silver-gray afterimage flashed past, and those dozens of dark red lightning bolts all hit empty air, without even touching one of its feathers.

That speed was so fast it had reached a level where even afterimages were difficult to capture.

This was the dual passive bonus of Wind Rush and Storm Wings.

The Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng Bloodline endowed Little Skylark with terrifying speed far exceeding avians of the same rank; even when facing an opponent a full major Realm higher than itself, it still held an absolute advantage in speed.

Seeing its attack miss, the Vicious Beast phantom let out an angry hiss, flapping its wings repeatedly as dozens more lightning bolts chased after Little Skylark's figure.

Little Skylark simply made a few easy turns in the air, and all those lightning bolts missed again.

"That's enough."

Jiang Yun spoke indifferently, his tone as casual as if he were mentioning a trivial matter.

"Little Skylark, stop playing with it; just insta-kill it."

Little Skylark's pale gold eyes suddenly lit up.

The next second.

"BOOM!!!"

A Wind-Thunder power so violent it made the entire Trial Space tremble violently erupted from within Little Skylark like an ancient volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand years!

Purple lightning and silver-green astral winds intertwined, turning into a thousand-foot-high Wind-Thunder pillar of light that shot straight toward the ceiling of the Trial Space!

Within the pillar of light.

A phantom so massive it was beyond words was condensing.

It was a Divine Might-filled Divine Peng phantom.

With a wingspan of nearly a hundred feet, its body was covered in divine feathers of interwoven purple and silver, each feather shimmering with the destructive power of the Law of Wind-Thunder.

A light flap of its wings brought the roar of wind and thunder and the tearing of space!

Divine Roc True Form!

Descend!

The moment the Divine Roc True Form was activated.

Little Skylark's life level underwent a qualitative leap.

Its aura, originally at the gold rank eight peak, exploded at this moment, directly crossing the threshold of Gold Rank Nine and launching an assault toward the Amethyst Rank.

Although there was no physical Breakthrough in Realm, under the enhancement of the Divine Roc True Form, the pressure it erupted with now was not at all inferior to that of the Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak Vicious Beast phantom opposite it.

It even faintly suppressed it.

When the dark red giant bird phantom opposite felt this Bloodline pressure from a superior Divine Beast, its body actually trembled slightly.

That was fear engraved into its biological instincts.

The absolute submission of a lower Bloodline when facing a higher Bloodline.

"Thunder Strike."

Jiang Yun's voice rang out calmly.

Upon Little Skylark's wings, all the Wind-Thunder power seemed to receive a sovereign's summons, madly converging toward the three purple plumes atop its head.

A ball of light the size of a fist condensed at the tips of the plumes, with purple and green colors intertwined within, emitting a power that caused the surrounding space to begin to warp and deform.

Then.

It lowered its head and aimed that ball of light at the Vicious Beast phantom below.

"BOOM!!!"

A blue-purple lightning pillar of light, more terrifying than any previous attack, boomed out from the top of Little Skylark's head!

The lightning carried the will of the Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng, like a spear of judgment descending from the heavens, directly piercing through a hundred feet of space!

That Vicious Beast phantom didn't even have time to make a dodging movement before it was hit head-on by this lightning pillar of light.

There was no struggle.

There was no scream.

The phantom's body shattered inch by inch starting from its head.

First the head, then the wings, then the entire body.

It turned into a sky full of dark red light spots, like dust blown away by a gale, dissipating into the air of the Trial Space.

One strike.

It took only one strike.

That Vicious Beast phantom, which was a full major Realm plus three minor stages higher than Little Skylark, was blasted into nothingness.

The Trial Space began to slowly collapse.

And in the courtyard, before the mystic light mirror.

Liu Qingyun and Elder Liu Lan both widened their eyes.

The composed smile on Liu Qingyun's face froze completely, replaced by a shock that was unbelievable to the extreme.

He opened his mouth wide, his lips trembling several times before he finally squeezed a few words from his throat.

"In... Insta-kill?!"

"He actually... insta-killed it?!!!!"

Elder Liu Lan also sucked in a cold breath, her exquisite jade-like face full of astonishment, her voice even changing pitch.

"How is this possible!! A Realm of gold rank eight peak, facing a Vicious Beast phantom of Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak, that is a full major Realm plus three minor stages higher! How could it be an insta-kill!!!"

The gazes of the two were locked firmly on the slowly collapsing Trial Space in the mystic light mirror, their minds a complete blank.

This discrepancy was simply too massive.

Just now they were logically analyzing how many rounds this Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng would need to take down its opponent, with Liu Qingyun confidently predicting.

As few as seven or eight rounds, and at most ten rounds.

He even seemed quite smug about his own analysis.

But now...

Reality had given them a resounding slap in the face.

Insta-kill.

It was actually an insta-kill.

And it was the kind of insta-kill where Jiang Yun actively told his beast to stop and fight seriously.

What did this mean?

It meant that this Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng hadn't used its full power at all in the previous battles!

The Wind-Thunder attacks it casually threw out were already enough to crush those Vicious Beast phantoms of the same rank or even higher ranks.

And once it activated its true body and fought for real, even an opponent a full major Realm higher couldn't take a single hit from it!

Liu Qingyun's face turned shades of green and white; he stood there as if his soul had been sucked out.

He had lived for decades and considered himself to have seen countless beasts and to have a sharp eye, but today he was repeatedly slapped in the face by a young man's beast. Every time he thought he had figured out the other's bottom line, the other would show an even more terrifying performance to make him feel ashamed.

Moreover, that young man hadn't even brought out the two even more powerful True Dragon and Nether-type beasts from before.

And Elder Liu Lan's mood at this moment was even more complex than Liu Qingyun's.

She recalled when she first met Dong Xuan.

His calm and indifferent manner during the assessment.

At that time, she was just admiring a junior with a Prodigy's talent for appraisal, but thinking back on it now, that calm and indifference was clearly true inscrutability.

Liu Qingyun took a deep breath, the shock on his face slowly fading, replaced by a complex expression of mixed emotions.

He shook his head with a bitter smile.

There was a bit more self-deprecation in his voice.

"I still underestimated him. A Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak Vicious Beast phantom couldn't even take one hit from his Ancient Wind-Thunder Divine Peng. With this kind of terrifying cross-rank combat power, I'm afraid even Yan'er's Nether Phoenix might not be able to do the same at the same rank."

He paused and sighed again.

"This beast is not only fast, but its power is even more terrifying. The power of that Thunder Strike just now has already far exceeded the limit that a gold rank eight peak should have. Even if you factor in its Bloodline Aptitude, it shouldn't be this strong. Unless the Bloodline concentration of his Divine Peng is much higher than we previously speculated, or there are other variables besides the Bloodline..."

While Liu Qingyun and Elder Liu Lan were looking at each other in shock, Jiang Yun had already withdrawn from the collapsing Trial Space and returned to the main hall on the fourth floor of the Star Pavilion.

His face still wore that calm and indifferent look, as if insta-killing a Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak Vicious Beast phantom was just a trivial matter.

He walked to the display case in that corner, reached out his right hand, and easily took the kneepad from the display case whose light membrane had already vanished.

The kneepad felt warm and jade-like in his hand, and the pale gold rune in the center was glowing slightly.

Jiang Yun turned it over in his palm and examined it for a moment, a satisfied curve hooking at the corner of his mouth.

The second piece of the beast taming armor condensation was in hand.

He didn't hesitate at all, directly urging his spiritual energy to fuse the kneepad into his right leg.

The moment the kneepad entered his body, a gentle yet majestic power spread from his leg to his whole body.

Jiang Yun could clearly feel that the Meridians in his leg were being reshaped by a peculiar power.

That was the beast taming armor condensation adapting to his body and establishing the most perfect connection with his spiritual energy circuit.

At the same time.

The Armguard on his right arm also trembled slightly, and a mysterious resonance was created between the two components.

The light of the golden runes shimmered faintly through his sleeve, and after a moment, it slowly dimmed and merged into his skin.

He could feel the two components resonating.

That was the sign that the set resonance feedback power had been activated.

Jiang Yun nodded with satisfaction and withdrew the remaining spiritual energy into his body.

He was in no hurry to test the kneepad's abilities here; after all, there were two old foxes watching from outside, so there was no need to reveal his trump cards.

Meanwhile.

In the courtyard outside the Star Pavilion.

Liu Qingyun watched the image in the mystic light mirror of Jiang Yun fusing that pitch-black kneepad into his body, and the muscles on his face twitched again.

Although that kneepad was just a remnant of a Meteor-grade Peak item in the eyes of the Liu family's Appraisers and wasn't considered anything precious, at this moment, Liu Qingyun felt as if a piece of meat had been cut from him.

Not for any other reason but because this Grand Tutor Dongxuan had taken a fancy to something his own Appraisers hadn't recognized at a glance.

This in itself showed that the true value of that kneepad likely far exceeded the Liu family's estimates.

However, at this point, he couldn't say anything.

He had set the rules, and he had given the opportunity; if someone took something through their own ability, could he go back on his word?

"So be it."

Liu Qingyun took a deep breath.

Suppressing the unease in his heart, he said to Elder Liu Lan, "He's already taken one; at most, we'll lose a few more eclipsing moon grade treasures. The Liu family can still afford to give away a few eclipsing moon grade treasures."

His tone was still fairly steady when he said this, but the corner of his eye remained fixed on the mystic light mirror, not daring to relax even for a moment.

At this time, in the main hall on the fourth floor of the Star Pavilion.

Jiang Yun felt the warm sensation of Fusion in his right leg completely stabilize and nodded with satisfaction.

He really hadn't expected to encounter the second piece of the beast taming armor condensation in the Liu family's treasury; it was a completely unexpected surprise.

The fourth floor had given him an unexpected harvest; what would the fifth, sixth, or even seventh floor hide in terms of rare treasures?

He looked up, his gaze piercing through the layers of flooring, his eyes flashing with the light of expectation.

He wondered what good things he would find in the next few floors.

He no longer hesitated.

He turned and walked toward the stairs to the fifth floor.

His steps were light and certain.

Like a warehouse owner checking his own inventory.

In the courtyard, seeing him move upstairs in the mystic light mirror, Liu Qingyun's heart skipped a beat again.

This kid, he just took one from the fourth floor and he's already going up?

The fifth floor!

That's the area for eclipsing moon grade treasures...