186: Foundation Establishment Peak Metal Element Spiritual Power

"This scale armor... it's harder than refined iron!" Mu Wanqing gasped, her heart filling with dread as she watched. Her wood-element Flying Sword's power focused more on binding and eroding vitality; against a Yao Beast with such pure, powerful physical defense, it was difficult to achieve anything.

Facing the Red Chain Snake's nearly flawless defensive posture, Lu Yang showed no sign of panic. Instead, his gaze grew colder and sharper, and a powerful yet restrained Aura slowly rose from him.

While he continued to drive the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to harass the snake demon and drain its spiritual energy, he sank his consciousness into the Dantian of his Qi Sea.

There, Metal Element Spiritual Energy, incomparably pure and condensed like mercury, was being awakened like a slumbering dragon!

The quality of this spiritual energy was so high and its total volume so vast that it had already reached the Peak Foundation Establishment Stage! It was far beyond what an ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator could compare to, carrying a heart-palpitating sense of weight and sharpness. With a slight thought from Lu Yang, this massive Peak Foundation Establishment Metal Element Spiritual Energy began to pour frantically into the Flying Sword in his hand, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!

Buzz—!

The Flying Sword emitted a low, dragon-like hum! Atop the sword's blade, a speck of ultimate golden light suddenly ignited. It wasn't dazzling, but condensed and profound, as if it had sucked all light into a single point, flickering in and out.

An indescribable intent of sharpness spread out with the sword tip as its center. The surrounding air seemed unable to withstand this sharp Qi, emitting a faint, cutting hiss!

The source of this sharp true intent was exactly the Metal Element Spiritual Energy synchronized from Chi Rong, and it carried the true inheritance of her Gengjin Sword Technique's essence!

Chi Rong's understanding of the Metal Element Dao and her insights into the ultimate use of sharpness had long been deeply imprinted onto Lu Yang's sword Dao Foundation through countless synchronizations.

At this moment, using his own majestic Peak Foundation Establishment Metal Element Spiritual Energy as a Foundation, Lu Yang pushed this pure and ultimate Gengjin sharp true intent derived from Chi Rong to an unprecedented height!

The Red Chain Snake remained coiled in defense, temporarily giving up its attack. This gave Ning Hong the time to complete the final step! Seizing this precious breathing room, her figure moved like lightning, her jade-like hands moving in succession, finally sealing the last red blood grass into a jade box perfectly intact!

"Hiss hiss hiss—!!!" The scent of the spirit plants being completely taken away was like lighting a powder keg! The Red Chain Snake went completely mad!

The obsession with guarding instantly overrode its defensive instinct. It suddenly uncoiled its body, its massive snake head carrying a world-destroying fury. Like a blood-colored giant arrow released from a bow, it recklessly turned and lunged at maximum speed toward Ning Hong, who had just put away the jade box!

For the speed of this fatal lunge, its massive body fully stretched out. The vital area of its belly, covered with relatively small and soft scales, was no longer hidden, completely exposed to the cold air and Lu Yang's poised sword edge!

"Vile beast! Die!" Cold light burst from Lu Yang's eyes like two icy stars! His long-prepared killing blow had been waiting for this exact moment—when the Red Chain Snake abandoned its perfect defense and gambled everything on an attack, leaving itself wide open! All his calculations and all his patience were for this earth-shattering strike!

"Gengjin Sword Technique! Slash!"

A sharp cry containing endless killing intent exploded in the cave like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens! The longsword in Lu Yang's hand, carrying the majestic Peak Foundation Establishment Metal Element Spiritual Energy and condensing the ultimate Gengjin sharp true intent from Chi Rong, finally slashed out fiercely!

There was no world-shaking explosion of light, only an extremely condensed, almost physical...

...dark golden fine line! This line sliced through space, its speed exceeding visual capture, leaving only a cold trail on the retina as if it had cut through space itself! Everywhere it passed, even the scorching air and the pervasive fire poison were silently split in two!

Puff—!

An extremely faint yet crystal-clear sound of penetration rang out.

Before Lu Yang's long-brewed killing sword—which poured in all his Peak Foundation Establishment Metal Element Spiritual Energy and pushed the sharpness of the Gengjin Sword Technique learned from Chi Rong to the Transcendent state—the Red Chain Snake's Foundation Establishment Early-stage physical defense, especially its relatively weak belly, was as fragile as rice paper! That condensed dark gold fine line cut into the snake's body without any resistance, perfectly smooth!

There was no violent collision, no splashing sparks, only an absolute crushing of levels! It was as if that wasn't a body of flesh and blood, but a block of tofu waiting to be sliced!

The next instant!

Chila—!

A blood-curdling tearing sound suddenly erupted! The Red Chain Snake's massive body, starting from its soft belly, was as if sliced by an invisible, world-opening divine blade. It was actually cut cleanly and forcefully into two almost separate sections!

More than two-thirds of the snake's body instantly lost support, barely remaining connected by a layer of tough snake skin on the back and a small section of resilient spine!

Scalding snake blood, as thick as lava, mixed with shattered internal organs, sprayed wildly from the massive wound like a burst dam, instantly washing the cave floor into a shocking sea of blood! A nauseatingly strong bloody smell filled the air!

"Hiss... ho..." The Red Chain Snake emitted a series of short, wheezing cries of despair. Its high-held head and the front half of its mangled body twitched and contorted violently due to the extreme pain and the frantic loss of vitality. Its cold vertical pupils instantly lost their fierce light, leaving only boundless fear and disbelief. It opened and closed its giant mouth in vain; its fangs were still grim, but it could no longer gather even a shred of strength.

The massive snake body crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a mist of blood and dust.

Having lost its ability to move and left with only dying instincts, the Yao Beast's fate was already sealed before three Foundation Establishment Cultivators in good condition.

"Send it on its way," Lu Yang said indifferently, as if merely handling a trivial matter.

Mu Wanqing and the still-shaken Ning Hong did not hesitate.

Mu Wanqing's Flying Sword turned into a green shadow, precisely piercing the center of the snake head's brow, completely crushing its remaining core of consciousness.

Ning Hong's flame Sword Qi was like a red-hot branding iron, slashing fiercely at the only remaining connection, separating it completely.

A few breaths later, this once terrifying Foundation Establishment Stage Red Chain Snake completely lost all life, slumped in a pool of blood, silent.

The Red Chain Snake was covered in treasures. Its tough snake skin and its spine, imbued with masculine Qi, were excellent Materials for Artifact Refining and array carving. That scorching hot Inner Core and its pure essence blood were even more urgently needed core items for Lu Yang to refine certain key Medicinal Pills.

Ning Hong carefully stowed away the warm jade box containing the five stalks of red blood grass. Lu Yang stepped forward, skillfully peeling off the complete snake skin, taking out the longan-sized red Inner Core that radiated scorching masculine fluctuations, collecting several full bottles of thick, syrup-like essence blood, and carving out the toughest sections of the spine intact.

Finally, he put these priceless Materials along with the remaining massive snake corpse remains into his Storage Pouch.

The thrilling cave struggle finally came to an end.

Although the three had consumed much energy, and Mu Wanqing had even suffered some minor shock injuries, their fatigue could not hide their excitement at the bountiful harvest in their hands.

Lu Yang quickly fed Mu Wanqing a healing Medicinal Pill. The three did not dare linger in this dangerous place filled with the thick scent of blood. They quickly cleared away any traces that might lead to tracking and, moving like lightning, swiftly left this death zone filled with fire poison, continuing their rapid journey toward the agreed-upon Youhuang Valley.