48: The precious tree suppresses demons, the golden bow vanquishes evil.

Daylight was replaced by the starry sky, with stars across the heavens appearing beautiful and profound.

Countless starlight reflected in Giant Abyss's eyes; she was no longer angry, but entirely submerged in fear.

With Giant Abyss's Foundation Establishment Stage vision, how could she not recognize this method?

This wasn't some Divine Ability or Spell; this was a terrifyingly powerful super-Formation!

She had long ago established her foundation, so she usually practiced the Four Arts of Cultivation and would often refine some Formations.

But the Formations she refined were like mud compared to the clouds of this great Formation—they weren't even worthy of comparison.

What level of Formation was this?

Core Formation Stage?

No, the Core Formation Stage didn't have such power!

This... could this be a great Formation arranged by a grandmaster of Formations at the Nascent Soul Stage?

Could this person be the Disciple of some Nascent Soul Old Ancestor!

Under the impact of countless shocks, Giant Abyss had already fallen into a brainstorm, with chaotic information constantly affecting her mind.

Although this Formation was only a Trapping Formation, its status was too high; for her, a mere Foundation Establishment, the simple unfolding of the Formation could torture her Dao Heart.

If she knew that Zhou Yan's great Formation was a Soul Transformation-level Trapping Formation jointly crafted by two Void Refining powerhouses, one wonders what she would think.

"Little friend, wait!"

"Hold your hand, hold your hand!"

"There must be some misunderstanding between us, yes! There must be a misunderstanding!"

"Let's talk! We can talk about anything slowly!"

Zhou Yan looked at Giant Abyss's completely different attitude and smiled slightly.

Her arrogance was gone, her eyes were clear, and she even seemed somewhat humble.

"Chen Yan, at this moment, you wouldn't be joking, would you?"

As his voice fell, Zhou Yan turned on all his special effects!

His dark golden eyes burst with golden light, like the brilliant sun hanging high in the firmament, even brightening the night sky significantly.

His blood-stained, somewhat damaged clothes, surrounded by Immortal Qi, projected an even colder Aura of slaughter.

Zhou Yan held the golden bow in his left hand and placed his right hand on the bowstring; a Silver Bullet engraved with Dao patterns and emitting a sharp Aura began to slowly coalesce.

"Chen Yan, today is the anniversary of your death. Submit to your execution!"

The effect of the Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking activated.

Giant Abyss suddenly felt a stinging pain in her eyes. When she looked up, the cloud vortex above the Nine Heavens suddenly split, revealing a pair of indifferent, giant eyes.

That Heavenly Eye was wreathed in golden patterns, and within its pupils, it seemed as if galaxies were collapsing and undergoing Rebirth.

Amidst the churning clouds, a ten-thousand-foot-tall Divine Being appeared, his silver armor shining like the sun and moon, his battle robes swirling with the wind and clouds, just like a True Monarch descending upon the world.

He drew the golden bow as if embracing the Kunlun Mountains, pulling the silver string as if tugging at thunder.

When the bow opened, the hundred thousand heavenly winds fell silent, the galaxy hung upside down, and before the Silver Bullet was even fired, the Killing Intent had already solidified, locking down the space-time around Giant Abyss's entire body.

She wanted to move even half a step but could not, only seeing the cold gleam at the tip of the bullet grow larger and larger, as if reflecting the fragmented shadows of her thousand Reincarnations.

The moment the Silver Bullet left the string, the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands were all reduced to dust.

Giant Abyss's pupils trembled violently; the imagined intense pain had not yet reached her mind before she snapped awake. The True Monarch was gone, and only Zhou Yan remained in this space.

Giant Abyss suddenly felt a chill on her back, as cold sweat had already soaked through her clothes.

When she looked at Zhou Yan again, that figure fluttering with Immortal Qi had already overlapped with the silver-armored True Monarch she had just seen.

Her Dao Heart shattered, as if bearing the weight of Heaven's might.

"No! I must escape!"

Giant Abyss had completely lost her will to fight, and her mind became increasingly muddled.

Her Dao Heart, which had been shaken under the Aura of the great Formation, had now shattered; her current strength was reduced by thirty percent.

Even in her prime, Giant Abyss had fallen into such despair, let alone now with only seventy percent of her strength remaining.

Her massive body twisted around as she fled back. Because she was suppressed by the great Formation and could not fly, she could only crawl continuously across the ground, looking utterly pathetic.

At this moment, Giant Abyss had lost every bit of her "Giant Abyss Immortal" poise.

"Truly ugly."

*Boom—*

Giant Abyss's massive body crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

"Damn it, what's going on?"

"Dead tentacles, crawl for me!"

No matter how Giant Abyss struggled, she seemed pinned down by something, unable to break free from the spot.

Her eyes scanned continuously, trying to see what exactly had happened, but with her massive body, how could she see everything clearly? She could only fret in anxiety.

In her panic, she finally remembered she was still at the Foundation Establishment Stage and had Divine Sense available.

Her Foundation Establishment Divine Sense quickly swept over her entire body and soon discovered the culprit.

It was a spiritual tree emitting Immortal Qi, which had already fused with part of her Physical Body, as if the tree had been born on her.

"W-what is this ghostly thing!"

She tried to survive by severing her limbs, but when she proactively tore away the part connected to the tree, she found to her despair that she still remained in place.

"Stuck in an invisible wall; how could it be that simple to escape?"

"A disgusting collision bug and a disgusting you—what a perfect match."

The bowstring was released, and the Silver Bullet streaked down like a meteor, striking directly at Giant Abyss's octopus head.

After the Silver Bullet hit, what appeared was not a hole, but a sword scar.

Ultimately, this Sword Qi was also a type of projectile!

"I'll fight you to the death!"

After her Dao Heart shattered, Giant Abyss's entire persona changed; initially, she had some wisdom and seasoned experience, but now she was just a frantic, cornered beast.

Her tentacles, covered in viscous water, swung violently; during the swing, a few drops of water dripped onto the ground.

Under the erosion of the water drops, deep little holes appeared in the ground, with gas continuously rising from them.

That terrifying strike lunged toward Zhou Yan, and then... it couldn't reach.

Zhou Yan looked at her movements and shook his head slightly.

"Don't you know I'm a veteran player?"

"I made my name with the golden bow and silver bullets; how could I not know how to kite and exploit positioning?"

Zhou Yan had already figured out Giant Abyss's attack patterns when he lured her here just now; if Giant Abyss had no more trump cards, then she could die.

With the 18x speed enhancement, the golden bow evolved from a cold weapon into a firearm, firing Silver Bullets frantically like a machine gun.

And the probability issue of that Duan Yu-style Six Meridians Divine Sword was forcibly turned into a permanent effect through saturated bombardment.

Averaging one Sword Qi bullet per second, even the lower-probability true damage began to trigger consecutively.

This attack speed, this wind-up time, this 18x speed—Zhou Yan was feeling incredibly hyped right now.

[Boss · Ink-Tentacled Demon]

[Mana: 18000/18000]

[Health: 4970/10000]

After the panel updated, Chen Yan's remaining upper body merged into the octopus.

The octopus beneath her had eyes glowing red, and countless energy bullets and light cannons were fired from its mouthparts and tentacles.

"Phase two?"

"To be honest, this trump card is a bit low-tier."

While Zhou Yan joked, his movements weren't slow; the Silver Bullets shot from the golden bow no longer just contained sharp Sword Qi—some also carried flames and frost.

This Formation was a Trapping Formation, Soul Transformation-level.

Anyone below the Soul Transformation stage would be trapped to death upon entering the Formation.

Although this Trapping Formation didn't have much killing power and Zhou Yan hadn't fully deployed it... the light cannons were extremely fast, reaching Zhou Yan in an instant.

Just as the attacks were about to hit Zhou Yan, the light cannons were blocked by an invisible force, scattering as if they had met a smooth mirror; one of them even bounced back onto "Giant Abyss," causing it to let out a pained roar.

Even a Formation that wasn't fully deployed had certain miraculous properties; the master of the Formation within it could be automatically protected and enemies suppressed, which was more than enough for dealing with a Foundation Establishment.

"The Aura is sufficient, but the power is a bit lacking."

Invisible forces began to appear across the field, and every strike from "Giant Abyss" was intercepted.

Meanwhile, every one of Zhou Yan's attacks bypassed the dense barrage at tricky angles, accurately striking "Giant Abyss."

"Ahhh-roar—" Accompanied by a wail, the giant octopus's health finally hit bottom, and it collapsed.

The moment it fell, black flames carrying bone-chilling cold ignited on its body, and it finally dissipated into ashes under the fire.

Retracting the Immortal Qi and golden eye effects, Zhou Yan carried the golden bow and walked step by step toward the large pile of ashes.

"For these trees to grow so large, they must have been given plenty of 'human fertilizer' before. Now you've got what you deserve, letting them have a batch of 'fish fertilizer.' I wonder what you're thinking now?"

The night was gone; daylight had long since returned to the sky, and the true sun hung once again above the heavens.

And even though the golden light in Zhou Yan's eyes had faded, they remained dazzling before the true sun.

Looking at the pile of ashes before him, Zhou Yan said coldly,

"Come out. Who do you think I was talking to just now?"

A bulge in the pile of ashes trembled slightly.

An ordinary Silver Bullet had already coalesced in Zhou Yan's hand.

He tossed the Silver Bullet into the air, caught it before it landed, and drew the bow and released the string.

But at the bulge, what popped out was a human-sized octopus tentacle.

And behind Zhou Yan, a completely naked Chen Yan was holding a dagger, maintaining the motion of trying to stab him in the heart.

*Drip-drop.*

A trickle of fresh blood flowed from the hole in the center of Chen Yan's forehead, finally falling to the ground.

*Thud.*

Chen Yan collapsed, her eyes filled only with resentment.

[Killed Boss · Giant Abyss Immortal · Chen Yan]: Obtained Giant Abyss Set ×1, Experience +2000, Path of Evolution (Incomplete) ×1.

First Kill Reward Bonus: First Kill Gift Pack ×1.

A soft glow appeared on Zhou Yan's body. Through internal inspection of his Dantian, there were now 9 Qi vortices, which meant...

Zhou Yan, 9th level of Qi Refining.

Actually, Giant Abyss's disguise had been very good.

Ordinary Cultivators would find it hard to discover that she was inside her own "corpse," because to their perception, Giant Abyss was already dead and her Aura had dissipated.

She was now just Chen Yan and no longer Giant Abyss.

It was just that the rewards hadn't dropped after killing the boss, which made Zhou Yan wary. Plus, the golden bow had auto-aim; Zhou Yan actually hadn't even noticed the tentacle trap.

Because the confidence the golden bow gave him meant he didn't need to observe; he just had to pull casually, and the golden bow would resolve everything.

This matter could now be considered truly over.

Zhou Yan looked at the naked Chen Yan lying in the ashes.

He sighed softly.

After a light sigh, Zhou Yan took out a garment from his profound ring and used his Qi to help her put it on.

One final Fireball Spell burned her along with the clothes, leaving only a patch of dust.