"Roar!"

A long howl shook the whole mountain forest. The Blood Luminous Flood Dragon, wounded by the icy water, flared up again.

But this time, it wasn’t the disgusting-looking Blood Luminous Flood Dragon attacking Liu Zixuan personally. Instead, hundreds, even thousands of snakes of all sizes suddenly crawled out from ground holes and cracks in the cliffs.

Staring at the dense swarm of snakes slithering his way, Liu Zixuan’s mouth twitched hard a few times. "In this freezing winter, instead of hibernating properly you all crawl out here to join the fun?!"

But he understood as well: jiao, pythons, and snakes were all one family. With the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon this terrifying, it could naturally summon all the snakes in this mountain. Even in hibernation, they had to serve it.

Most likely the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon was also worried that Liu Zixuan would keep attacking with icy water, so it decided to let this swarm of snakes attack Liu Zixuan instead.

Watching those snakes quickly closing in, tongues flickering in unison, Liu Zixuan felt his scalp tingle again.

It wasn’t fear, just a slight case of trypophobia. Thousands of snakes packed together—anyone who saw that would feel creeped out.

Just as the snakes were about to launch their attack, Liu Zixuan suddenly leaped into the air and scattered all the remaining normal Silver Needles on his body.

Under the control of his Inner Strength, several Silver Needles shot toward the snake swarm like a torrential downpour.

Puchi!

Puchi!

Several sharp sounds rang out in succession. Every snake that had pounced to attack had its skull pierced through by a Silver Needle, losing all ability to strike.

However, Liu Zixuan didn’t pause. Taking advantage of the opening, he pulled out the Ghost Gate Needles again. He was going to set up an array!

Of course, this time it wasn’t the Nine Dragon Qiankun Array, but an entirely new Array.

Back in the Ghost Market, he had spent a sky‑high price to obtain the Star Map Array. In recent days, Liu Zixuan had done some basic research on it.

The Star Map Array was all‑encompassing, with countless minor arrays hidden within it. The strongest among them was the Big Dipper Array: it drew upon the Power of the Stars of Heaven and Earth to form a prison‑like Defense Array, and used the collision of the stars themselves to create a highly offensive Array.

Right now Liu Zixuan only understood a part of it and hadn’t yet grasped the core essence. For the moment he could only use some of the smaller arrays within it to deal with this Blood Luminous Flood Dragon.

The reason he dared to lure the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon over alone wasn’t pure gambling on luck—he had some confidence.

The Blood Luminous Flood Dragon was a Fire Attribute species; what it feared most was anything of the Water Attribute.

Among the myriad stars, there were naturally some with Water Attribute. With no more ponds around, Liu Zixuan intended to use an Array of the same attribute to attack the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon.

Just that little bit of water just now had managed to hurt it. If he successfully set up an Array, he was certain he could kill this colossal beast!

The Silver Needles were still slaughtering the snake swarm, buying Liu Zixuan a bit of time.

At this moment, he held his breath and focused. With his X-ray Vision activated once more, he slowly closed his eyes, Qi sinking into the Dantian as he felt for the positions of the stars of Heaven and Earth.

In his mind, the Star Map slowly emerged, making it easier for Liu Zixuan to search for a star of suitable attribute.

A moment later, Liu Zixuan vaguely sensed the power of a star.

In truth, when sensing the stars, Liu Zixuan wasn’t very confident.

By comparison, nighttime was the best time to sense the stars.

Of course, this was also where a common misconception everyone had came in.

Everyone knew that stars could only be seen at night, so naturally they assumed the stars "weren’t there" in the daytime. That was a wrong idea—stars couldn’t be seen in the day only because the sun’s light overshadowed the starlight.

But they still truly existed; it was just that the power of the stars would be slightly weaker during the day. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Found it!"

Not long after, Liu Zixuan’s lips suddenly curled up. Then his hands formed a seal, using the special properties of the Profound Thunder and Profound Spirit Ghost Gate Needles to slowly draw upon the power of that star.

As noon approached, the sunlight grew even stronger, yet at a point far from the sun, a single star suddenly flared with dazzling light.

Puchichichi...

The two Ghost Gate Needles began to tremble violently.

Liu Zixuan’s eyes snapped open. "It worked!"

The Power of the Stars had already been drawn down. He hurriedly began arranging the Array according to the method in the Star Map.

At the same time, the snakes that had been continuing their attack started shaking uncontrollably, and even the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon at the side stopped rolling about. It slowly lifted its head to look toward that dazzling star.

In that instant, the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon’s pupils shrank into narrow slits. A bone‑piercing chill swept across its body, making it feel an enormous sense of danger!

"Roar!"

The Blood Luminous Flood Dragon let out an unwilling roar, its massive body whipping about as it crushed the snake swarm under it, charging straight at Liu Zixuan.

It might be a beast without much intelligence, but it understood that whatever was threatening it was all because of this human in front of it. So it had to eat Liu Zixuan—only then would the threat disappear.

Watching the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon charge over, Liu Zixuan not only didn’t dodge, he even revealed a strange smile.

"I’ve been waiting for you."

"Condense!" As soon as Liu Zixuan’s words fell, he suddenly sent out two blasts of Qi from his palms, controlling the Profound Thunder and Profound Spirit Silver Needles to shoot toward the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon.

In an instant, the two Silver Needles flared with a cold gleam, forming an Array visible only to Liu Zixuan. One hovered above the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon’s head, the other at the fork of its twin tails!

"Sword, come!"

Liu Zixuan shouted. The Nameless Sword flew out on its own, its blade emerging from the hilt in midair with a clear sword cry before dropping into Liu Zixuan’s hand!

"Today, your granddaddy here is chopping off that disgusting head of yours and taking your skin back to make a suit of Armor!"

Liu Zixuan’s lips curled slightly. He tapped the air as if stepping on wind, surging forward as the sword in his hand sang in a long arc.

At the same time, the Array’s effects fully manifested. Under the control of the Power of the Stars, the two Ghost Gate Needles exuded an extremely frigid aura, turning into wave after wave of attacks that blasted straight at the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon.

Even Liu Zixuan, several meters away, could feel that bone‑deep chill, let alone the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon.

When that icy Qi struck it, wisps of white steam rose from the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon’s body, and its massive form crashed heavily to the ground.

In midair, Liu Zixuan’s Peak of Imperial Realm aura was fully unleashed. Raising the Nameless Sword high, he slashed viciously toward its neck.

"Chi!"

"Boom!"

First came the sound of the sword slicing into the Blood Luminous Flood Dragon, followed by a thunderous bang. Liu Zixuan’s entire body was flung backward, not landing until he’d flown four or five meters.

Puchi!

A mouthful of fresh blood spurted out, and Liu Zixuan’s face turned noticeably paler.

Enduring the aching pain all over his body, he lifted his head. "Did it work?"

"Zixuan!"

"Roar!"

At that moment, Huang Youcai and Zhenzhen’s figures appeared from the side, sprinting straight toward him...