The moment the seven-colored arrow left the bowstring, space itself was torn apart, emitting an extremely sharp, teeth-grinding ripping sound.
It left a long, colorful light trail and a terrifying aura, shooting directly at the Skeleton King.
The Second Heavenly Venerable watched the arrow flying toward him at an incredibly fast speed. He manipulated the Skeleton King to form hand seals.
"Dark Soul Devour and Annihilate!!"
Soul bodies with ferocious, pained expressions, like moths to a flame, self-detonated toward the colorful arrow, attempting to erode its power.
However, these souls intending to self-detonate did not weaken the arrow's power in the slightest. Instead, they were devoured by its power of consumption, transforming into energy to supplement the arrow.
Upon seeing this, the Second Heavenly Venerable's soul body was filled with fury. Gritting his teeth, he withdrew his soul body from the Skeleton King and, in passing, detonated all of the Skeleton King's dark special Dou Qi and soul power to block the arrow.
If the Skeleton King failed to block it, his true body would appear, as his true body and the Skeleton King were in a direct line.
The Skeleton King's massive skeletal body trembled violently as destructive energy—a mixture of pure dark Dou Qi and rampant soul origin—continuously surged from within him, crashing into the arrow.
"Boom!!"
A deafening explosion reverberated through the heavens and earth, and a circular energy shockwave spread wildly, distorting and tearing the surrounding space.
The longbow in Medusa's hand gradually transformed into a shield, which she held in front of her to block the energy impact.
And with the explosion as the core, a thousand-zhang radius felt intense energy fluctuations.
Yun Yun and the others, who were hundreds of zhang away in the sky above Wind and Thunder City, were even pushed back hundreds of steps by this energy impact.
Colorful light and black light filled the entire sky and earth, and the surrounding void, under the impact of this energy, revealed massive black holes.
And within a hundred-zhang radius of the explosion's core, boulders, trees, and even mountains were directly vaporized by the energy fluctuations, completely dissipating into the heavens and earth.
"Block it for this Saint!! Ah!!!"
Right at the core of that destructive explosion, the Second Heavenly Venerable's hoarse roar suddenly erupted, but that roar ultimately turned into a bloodcurdling scream.
The energy collision storm in the sky gradually weakened, and the shattered void slowly began to return to its original state.
When the last energy ripple dissipated, the Second Heavenly Venerable, who was at the core of the explosion, slowly revealed himself—
He floated in mid-air, his left arm and right leg missing from their roots. The severed ends were not clean cuts but rather charred black, appearing as if they had been torn by extreme energy and then scorched by the high temperatures generated by the impact.
His robes were tattered, revealing a body covered in hideous wounds, with not a single patch of good flesh.
His chest even had a large hole pierced through it, through which one could faintly see his beating heart, making him appear utterly miserable.
"Cough, cough, cough," the Second Heavenly Venerable coughed violently, each cough bringing forth blood clots mixed with internal organ fragments. "Good, very good. This is the first time this Saint has been injured like this since becoming a Half-Saint."
Medusa held her longsword, looking at the Second Heavenly Venerable. A hint of disdain appeared at the corner of her mouth: "So, you mean you were often beaten like this before you became a Half-Saint? Then you really are quite trash."
With that, she extended her left hand, thumb pointing up, then slowly turned it downwards.
"Then you truly are a waste!"
Cold insults emanated from Medusa's mouth.
After hearing Medusa's words, even the usually gloomy Second Heavenly Venerable couldn't help but fly into a rage. Blood continuously gushed from his wounds, and his heart pounded violently.
He fiercely raised his right hand, and with a flash of light, a black-glowing jade slip appeared in his hand, emanating an aura belonging to the Dou Saint rank.
Not merely a Half-Saint's aura, but a genuine, true Dou Saint aura.
"To force this Saint to use this item, you have enough reason to be proud! It contains the full power strike of a Dou Saint. Today, I shall let you experience what true Saintly might is."
The Second Heavenly Venerable's voice was hoarse but carried a frenzied delight. He held up the dark jade slip in his hand, activating the Dou Saint pressure emanating from it.
A wave of Dou Qi pressure, vast as a sea of stars and heavy as an ancient mountain, spread toward Medusa, almost solidifying the energy flow in this region of the heavens and earth.
Queen Medusa's surging nine-colored energy around her body also experienced a momentary stagnation under this pure rank suppression.
For the first time, a hint of solemnity appeared on her alluring face. Nine-colored energy surged from within her body. She gripped the longsword in her hand, preparing to meet the anticipated earth-shattering "Dou Saint strike."
She also wanted to see how much of a gap there was between herself and a true Dou Saint.
The Second Heavenly Venerable crushed the jade slip in his hand with great force.
"Crack!!"
After a crisp cracking sound, the surging black light rapidly twisted and rotated, forming a profoundly deep, light-devouring spatial vortex!
"Medusa! This humiliation today, this Saint will remember! Next time, I will surely raze your Boundless Heaven Hall to the ground! Heheheh."
The Second Heavenly Venerable's body was swiftly enveloped by the black light surging from the vortex. His voice was hoarse, filled with unwillingness and venom.
The solemnity on Medusa's beautiful face turned into a hint of surprise, and she suddenly understood that the jade slip was not an offensive tool at all.
Instead, it was a jade slip used to establish a teleportation channel for escape, with the Dou Saint aura serving to intimidate the opponent and buy time for flight!
"Trying to leave? Stay for this Queen!"
Medusa immediately realized she had been tricked. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her phoenix eyes gleamed with killing intent.
She reacted with lightning speed. Just as half of the Second Heavenly Venerable's body was about to disappear into the spatial rift, the longsword in her hand erupted with dazzling nine-colored light.
The longsword emitted a clear, melodious hum. With a wave of her jade hand, a nine-colored sword aura, condensed to the extreme, brilliant yet containing endless killing intent, tore through the sky, slashing toward the Second Heavenly Venerable and the spatial vortex at a speed faster than lightning.
"Heheheh, once this spatial vortex is fully activated, it cannot be broken by anyone less than a Dou Saint. Don't waste your effort trying to break this spatial vortex, heheheh."
The Second Heavenly Venerable said with a sinister laugh. This was a jade slip he had exchanged after completing a mission, and it was created by his Hall Master.
This was his most important life-saving method, and he never expected to be forced to use it now. For a moment, his heart felt as if it were bleeding.
The Second Heavenly Venerable looked down at his chest. Oh, his heart truly was bleeding now, so it was fine.
Just as the Second Heavenly Venerable was gloating, a sword aura precisely and fiercely struck his wide-open, laughing mouth.
"Ugh ah—!"
A bloodcurdling scream replaced the previous sinister laugh.