187: Perfect teamwork, one fatal blow

For the vast majority of the time, this swamp was shrouded in a suffocating, deathly silence.

The dark green poisonous miasma acted like a living curtain, slowly churning between the murky water and the rust-colored reeds; aside from the occasional bubble rising from the decaying mud, carrying the scent of sulfur and rot, there was almost no sound.

This was a forbidden zone for the living; aside from a few specialized creatures, even the most tenacious poisonous insects avoided it.

"It's noon," Gao De thought to himself, his gaze piercing through the gaps in the withered trees to focus on the center of the pond, which was shrouded in thick poisonous miasma.

The Extreme Yang Thunder Power within him allowed him to clearly sense that as the sun reached its zenith, the Yang Qi permeating heaven and earth peaked, temporarily suppressing the sinister yin earth qi that had accumulated in the swamp for ten thousand years.

At this precise moment of subtle transition between Yin and Yang, the deathly silence was broken.

"Gurgle... Rumble..."

First came a dull, churning sound from deep within the earth's bowels, transmitted through the thick mud and water.

Immediately after, the thickest, nearly pitch-black area of mud in the center of the pond began to churn violently, like boiling asphalt, swelling into one giant mud bubble after another before bursting with a bang, spewing out even denser grayish-green poisonous miasma.

The surging mud carried a heavy rhythm, as if a colossal creature was stretching its long-entrenched body below.

"Get ready," Gao De sent a Divine Thought transmission to Rainbow by his side.

From the roiling mud, a section of a massive torso, its full scale hard to estimate, suddenly arched out of the surface!

The torso was covered in thick, semi-solidified viscous mud; under the faint noon light, one could vaguely see scales beneath the mud that were dark as profound iron and interwoven with eerie dark-red patterns.

Even just a fleeting glimpse radiated a heart-palpitating sense of hardness and coldness.

It seemed to be lazily rolling on the surface of the mud pit, stirring the poisonous miasma to spread outward like waves, but its casually revealed size—comparable to a century-old tree—and the deep purple poisonous aura seeping from between its opening and closing scales, which slightly distorted the air, all proclaimed its terrifying foundation.

The torso soon sank, the churning of the mud gradually subsided, and the dull churning sound slowly receded, eventually returning to a deathly silence.

Only the slightly thickened poisonous miasma proved that what had just happened was not an illusion.

"That's the one." A sharp light flashed in Gao De's eyes.

This Dragon Python delighted in Yin poison, yet it also needed to use the time when the Yang Qi was strongest at noon—when the Earth Qi's Yin poison was slightly suppressed—to float to the surface of the mud pit, breathe in the essence of the poisonous miasma, and stretch its muscles.

This was its most relaxed moment, yet also the moment it might appear slightly sluggish due to the environment.

"The opportunity is fleeting; we must complete the blockade and the kill before it finishes its breathing and completely sinks back into its deep mud nest." Gao De turned to look at Rainbow.

The colorful halo flickered slightly, sending back a clear and calm mental response, along with a hint of excitement before the hunt.

"Very good." Gao De closed his eyes, repeatedly deducing in his mind the position where the Dragon Python had appeared, the patterns of the mud's churning, the core point where the poisonous miasma was densest, and every detail of the surrounding waters and mud, turning them into potential attack routes and blockade nodes.

Above the mud pit, the viscous miasma was completely swallowed by a silently surging grayish-white thick mist.

This was not natural fog, but the Heaven-Confusing Illusionary Mist released by Gao De—it was more treacherous than the miasma, not only blocking sight but also distorting the transmission of sound and aura, turning the entire deathly mud pit into a sensory labyrinth.

In the center of the labyrinth, the Dragon Python hidden beneath the turbid water had not yet realized its retreat was cut off.

Gao De stood in the mist, his figure blending perfectly with the fog.

He did not attack first but instead held his fingers like a sword and made a downward slicing motion.

The churning mist beneath his feet suddenly descended, like a living grayish-white giant carpet, clinging to the turbid water surface and foul silt as it rapidly spread and seeped in.

Strands of mist bored into every bubble and pore, wrapping around every inch of any possible escape crevice.

In an instant, the bottom of the entire mud pit was firmly caught by an invisible net woven from illusionary mist.

This was not a forceful blockade, but a more troublesome "confusion of the senses"—in the Dragon Python's perception, the originally familiar safe passages leading to the depths of the mud pit and the further reaches of the swamp seemed to have all disappeared, or were filled with dangerous auras that made its scales tremble.

The way back had quietly turned into a dead end.

At that moment, Rainbow's message surfaced directly in his heart; it wasn't a voice, but a clear mental image: beneath the silt, the massive coiled shadow was slightly agitated due to the sudden disruption of its "paths," uneasily stirring the mud.

A purple light flashed in Gao De's eyes.

"Suppress!"

As his voice fell, the gravity at the core of the permeating thick mist suddenly doubled!

The Prison Suppressing Thunder Domain opened, and countless purple electric snakes as fine as hair frantically darted through the mist, weaving into a thunder net that covered the entire surface of the mud pit.

The most Yang and firm Power of Thunder pressed ruthlessly into the cold mud and water, not only bringing a thousand-jun weight of pressure but also causing the Yin-poison water essence within to dissipate like snow hit by boiling water.

The mud churned violently as if boiling; the Dragon Python hidden within could no longer remain submerged. It let out a hiss mixed with pain and rage, and its massive body suddenly burst through the mud, soaring into the sky!

It wanted to flee, but found the thunder net above was strict and the pressure terrifying.

Instinctively, it wanted to bore back down into the silt nest it had occupied for years—its final escape route—but as its Divine Sense swept down, the originally clear veins of mud and water were now a state of Chaos, filled with a sense of discordance that made its Soul sting, as if it were an even more terrible trap.

This moment of hesitation and panic decided its fate.

A condensed, solid, and incomparably magnificent seven-colored Rainbow light silently shot out from the mist at the moment it slightly turned its head in confusion. It did not aim for its tough body but precisely hit a newly exposed column of turbid water connecting it to the mud pit just below its head.

Rainbow's strike had no killing power, but it was perfectly timed; that beam of Rainbow light seemed to carry strange "purification" and "dispel" properties, temporarily dispersing the "Dazed Poison Miasma" contained within Gao De's mist in that small area, allowing the Dragon Python to instantly "see" what appeared to be a "safe" gap below.

The instinct for survival overrode everything, and the Dragon Python dove toward that "gap" regardless of the cost. This was exactly within Gao De's calculations—that gap was the entrance to the death trap where the Heaven-Confusing Illusionary Mist and the Prison Suppressing Thunder Domain were most tightly integrated.

"Smite!"

Gao De's figure blurred within the thunder light, and a glorious, blazing Violet Extreme Thunder Strike, like a Heavenly Tribulation, erupted from his hand. Following the path Rainbow had pointed out and the Dragon Python had "chosen" for itself, it struck down with a boom at a speed beyond perception!

Wherever the thunder passed, the mist receded, revealing the Dragon Python's massive head distorted by terror and despair. In the next instant, the collision occurred.

"Puchi—Boom!"

First was the dull sound of a sharp object piercing through, followed by the roar of thunder exploding inside the skull.

The Extreme Yang Thunder and the dense Yin-poison Demon Essence within the Dragon Python's head clashed violently, making a teeth-gritting "sizzle" sound before completely annihilating it.

The Dragon Python's hideous expression froze, its soaring body stiffened, and then it was caught by the remaining thunder net and slammed heavily back into the mud pit, splashing up turbid water that began to be purified by strands of thunder light.

From the moment Gao De blocked the retreat to the final thunder strike, only a few breaths had passed—it was clean and efficient.

The process of swallowing and refining was quiet and effective.

A vortex appeared in Gao De's palm, stripping and refining the Dragon Python's pure Demon Essence and that strand of natal corrosive poisonous miasma.

A slight heat came from deep within his Bloodline; the increase in concentration brought a subtle reaction, but a cool sensation circulated through his body, and his skin seemed to be covered by an invisible film, significantly increasing his resistance to decay and Yin-poison auras.

The surrounding Heaven-Confusing Illusionary Mist also seemed to be stained with a faint, dizzying grayish-white hue, adding a Soul-eroding effect to the illusion.

Rainbow manifested from the mist, landing lightly on the Dragon Python's gradually shriveling body. The seven-colored Rainbow light around it flowed, more vivid and agile than before; it also took the opportunity to absorb a strand of the Dragon Python's essence, which seemed to be of great benefit to it, making its already miraculous radiance a few points brighter.

It gently flapped its wings, emitting a joyful glimmer that merged into Gao De's palm, sharing the message that its abilities had also been subtly enhanced.

The mist slowly gathered, and the thunder light vanished without a trace.

The mud pit remained turbid, but that entrenched Yin-poison intent had already dissipated.

Carrying Rainbow, Gao De's figure gradually faded, leaving only the faint scent of mist—a mixture of new resistance and treacherous toxicity—to slowly disperse on the spot.