Chapter 138: Chapter 134: The Large Purple Egg

The rotted, stinking flesh that had been torn off would simply grow back.

Plus, its considerable power generated small shockwaves with every swing of its stone hammer, putting Yin Yi in a difficult position.

’This female Winged Demon is actually stronger than the male...’

Han Ning felt the powerful wind blast him even from a distance. This physical strength was clearly a cut above the male Winged Demon that had already kicked the bucket.

After only a minute or two of fighting, Yin Yi already had seven or eight small cuts from the fierce winds. The female Winged Demon’s sharp claws were extremely destructive and seemed to have the ability to negate Elemental Soul Techniques. They swatted away every one of Yin Yi’s attacks, greatly reducing their damage.

Furthermore, the female Winged Demon’s "Body Technique" was exceptionally fluid. As it dodged and moved, its ghostly figure left afterimages on the retinas of anyone not using their Spiritual Power to track it.

However, under the constant bombardment of Yin Yi’s Cyan Wood Radiance, the female Winged Demon wasn’t completely unscathed. Both its movement speed and the regeneration rate of its flesh had slowed considerably.

"Han Ning, we’re here!"

Just then, under the command of Lü Xiuning and the others, they used human ingenuity and kiting tactics to break the stalemate. The remaining Winged Demons were all slain, and the Wood Type Soul Beasts surrounded the area where Yin Yi and the female Winged Demon were fighting.

Han Ning glanced over, quickly assessed the situation, and immediately called out to the others, "Its attacks are too destructive! Don’t get too close. Just use ranged Soul Techniques to disrupt the female Winged Demon’s movements and create an opening for Yin Yi to finish it."

"CHIRP!" "MEOW!" "COO!"...

In an instant, a total of eight Awakened Level Soul Beasts, including Egg Pancake, unleashed various ranged Soul Techniques at the female Winged Demon.

Flower Thorns glittering with green light, long, thick vines shimmering with white light, and massive earthen missiles coated in thick mud.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Although the eight Awakened Level Soul Beasts were no match for an Extraordinary-level creature, they could still somewhat hinder its movements. With everyone joining in, the tide of battle quickly turned. Seeing her chance, Yin Yi once again unleashed a surging wave of Cyan Wood Radiance. Its overwhelming destructive power easily broke through the female Winged Demon’s defenses, preventing its wounds from healing.

Even with its formidable strength, the female Winged Demon couldn’t win a battle of many against one.

As the bulky Winged Demon fell to the ground, silence returned to the gray mist-shrouded clearing.

"Is it still dangerous? Can we collect the spoils?" Lin Tianhe asked, his eyes on the Winged Demon corpses littering the ground, eager to get started.

Han Ning stood his ground and listened carefully. Although he knew his senses might be affected, he still subconsciously tried to perceive his surroundings.

"It’s silent. We made such a huge commotion. If there were any other Winged Demons, they should have heard the noise and come over by now. There are probably no others nearby."

"Ling~"

Yin Yi tore open the flesh of the two Winged Demons, dug out four shimmering objects from inside, and handed them to him.

They were two huge, blood-red hearts and two ink-black Crystal Stones.

The ink-black Crystal Stones were just like the one dug out of the giant purple serpent before. It was as if thousands of creatures were screaming from within, creating a sense of dread.

The two hearts were at least the size of a human head, dripping with thick, black-purple blood. They felt like Jade to the touch and radiated a dense fluctuation of vitality, but the Spiritual Energy fluctuations weren’t as strong.

’A heart like a Crystal Stone... Is this a characteristic of creatures above the Extraordinary level?’ The black-purple blood wasn’t poisonous. It dripped from Han Ning’s fingertips to the ground. The enormous heart in his palm was still beating faintly, displaying immense Life Force.

"Teacher Lü, Teacher Zheng, Han Ning, everyone, come quick! There’s something over here!"

Suddenly, He Yang’s voice called out from the edge of the Dark Pool.

Hearing the shout, Han Ning immediately put the items into his waist pouch, shook the blood from his hands, and walked over.

It was a small pool of crystal-clear liquid.

The reason it looked pitch-black from a distance was that its bottom was lined with a layer of ink-black Crystal Stones.

A faint black mist seeped out from the Crystal Stones, dyeing the entire bottom of the pool in darkness.

Looking down from above, beneath the lifeless Winged Demon lying on its back in the center of the pool, there was a sealed stone door.

The surface of the stone door was carved with ferocious beast patterns. The corpses of Soul Beasts, large and small, were strewn across the bottom of the pool. The largest were nearly two meters tall, while the smallest were only a few dozen centimeters.

Normally, any creature of flesh and blood would emit a faint fluctuation of vitality. But these Soul Beasts, most of which were Blood and Flesh Soul Beasts, all had their eyes shut tight. Their bodies felt hollowed out, without the slightest trace of vitality.

Black-purple tentacles extended from the five-meter-tall Winged Demon’s abdomen, piercing into the bodies of these Soul Beasts. The tentacles pulsed faintly, as if breathing, seemingly drawing nutrients from their bodies.

"This is a bit like that Black-Purple Tree Spirit we encountered before. It also used vines to absorb nutrients from other Soul Beasts. It looks like they’re nurturing something... Could it be this ’dead’ Winged Demon?" Lü Xiuning took a few steps forward, sizing up the tall, lifeless Winged Demon.

Its enormous body took up a third of the pool. It lay at the bottom, its upper half exposed and facing the sky.

"There’s something inside its body, and it’s beating." Han Ning’s ears twitched. He could faintly hear a sound like a pulsing heartbeat.

"Yin Yi, cut its body open. Let’s see what’s inside."

"Ling~"

Yin Yi flew up to the giant Winged Demon, raised her hands, aimed for its chest, and slashed down fiercely. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A flash of green light streaked past.

A gash was cut from its chest to its abdomen, revealing the shriveled tissues within.

And there, encased in muscle and bone, was a scarlet heart that glowed with black-purple light, still beating slowly!

This slowly beating heart was the size of two human heads, its surface covered in grotesque, thick blood vessels.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP...

The sound of a beating heart echoed across the quiet clearing.

The heartbeat sounded like a frantic drum, hammering clearly into everyone’s chests.

Han Ning instantly felt his own heart constrict, as if seized by some mysterious force, leaving him unable to breathe.

The moment the others heard the heartbeat, they fared even worse. They all grunted, dropped to one knee with a THUD, and their faces flushed deep red.

A frosty white light flickered above the head of Yin Yi, who stood at the very front.

A spherical white crystal wall instantly appeared around the heart, covering it like a bowl.

The sound of the beating vanished.

HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...

Han Ning’s heartbeat returned to normal.

He took a shallow breath, and his gaze moved downward.

Near the abdomen, he was stunned to see a large, shriveled, dark-purple egg.