Chapter 486: Great Battle Begins

"Share it with you?" Extreme Yin's gloomy face creased at the suggestion, seeming somewhat tempted.

For Extreme Yin, as long as he secured a share for Han Li, his nominal disciple, his own portion of the treasure would never be small, no matter how it was divided.

However, before Extreme Yin could fully consider the feasibility of the idea, Savage Ox, standing at the forefront, threw back his head and laughed wildly.

"Share the Cauldron of Void Heaven? Wan Tianming, you're dreaming! If you want to snatch food from this master's mouth, first see if your claws are sharp enough!"

After saying this, Savage Ox immediately let out a command. The giant leopard that had been crouching in front of him suddenly stood up. With a low growl, its third eye on its head instantly opened wide, shooting out a column of earthy yellow light directly towards Wan Tianming.

"Beast, you're asking for death!" Wan Tianming couldn't help but roar in anger.

He hadn't expected Savage Ox to completely disregard his suggestion and immediately resort to violence. After all, from any perspective, his side, aided by the Cold Dragon and the Departing Tortoise, was clearly stronger.

This caught Wan Tianming off guard, and he hastily released a purple light that met the yellow beam, intercepting it.

But the moment the purple light touched the yellow light, the yellow radiance exploded.

Then, with a clatter, after the purple light vanished without a trace, a white, indistinct object fell from mid-air. Before anyone could clearly see what it was, it shattered upon impact. Only then did others look closely and realize it was just an ordinary piece of shattered stone. Most people were stunned, momentarily confused.

However, upon seeing this, Wan Tianming's expression changed several times in an instant. His eyes narrowed, and he said with disbelief:

"Abnormal Transformation Art! Your Three-Eyed Leopard is a mutated spirit beast!"

Upon hearing the words "mutated spirit beast," both the Righteous and Demonic factions present showed expressions of shock.

"Mutated spirit beast" and "barbaric variant" sounded very similar at first, but in reality, they were worlds apart.

"Barbaric variants" referred to certain rare spirit beasts from ancient times that, over the course of time, changed their habits and appearance for various reasons, forming new populations that possessed some characteristics of ancient spirit beasts but were entirely distinct.

However, these spirit beasts were extremely rare. Their numbers were never large, making them generally difficult to find.

Mutated spirit beasts, on the other hand, were different; each one was a unique existence.

They were spirit beasts whose abilities underwent unpredictable and significant changes during their advancement process, for reasons unknown.

While these mutations varied in their utility, some of the resulting abilities were extremely unique and incredibly powerful. They could even accomplish things that ordinary spells could not.

The ability to turn most magical tools and treasures into stone, for example, was one of the more famous among them.

This ability was truly formidable; a Core Formation cultivator once used this very power from their mutated spirit beast to single-handedly annihilate three or four Core Formation cultivators of the same rank, thus shaking the entire Starfall Sea.

From then on, the cultivation world collectively referred to the strange abilities of mutated spirit beasts as "Abnormal Transformation Arts" to distinguish them from ordinary spells.

As for Savage Ox's Three-Eyed Leopard, it originally only projected fire-attribute attacks from its third eye. But now, it was emitting a light beam capable of directly transforming Wan Tianming's unidentified magical tool or treasure into stone. This could only happen after the spirit beast had undergone a mutation.

This stunned everyone else present.

One should know that the appearance of a mutated spirit beast was a one-in-ten-thousand occurrence, and it only happened to high-level spirit beasts of Level 4 or above.

Since the discovery that spirit beasts could mutate, only a dozen or so famous mutated spirit beasts had appeared in the Starfall Sea. And only a small fraction of those had abilities that were truly useful after mutation.

This made mutated spirit beasts even more precious.

It had been over a thousand years since the last mutated spirit beast appeared in the Starfall Sea. This meant that cultivators who raised spirit beasts basically had no hope of their spirit beasts undergoing such a miraculous mutation during advancement; it was considered a pipe dream.

Now, both the Demonic and Righteous factions stared at the Three-Eyed Leopard, their expressions varied.

Only now did Wan Tianming understand why Savage Ox had so unceremoniously rejected the request to share the treasure; he had this reliance!

This mutated Three-Eyed Leopard alone was probably enough to counteract the presence of his Cold Dragon and Departing Tortoise.

Realizing this, Wan Tianming's expression grew serious, and he looked towards Extreme Yin and the scholarly old man.

Surprise and delight showed on their faces; they had clearly abandoned any thought of sharing the Cauldron of Void Heaven with his side.

Wan Tianming's guess was correct. After Grandmaster Extreme Yin learned that Savage Ox's Three-Eyed Leopard was a mutated spirit beast, he naturally cast aside any thoughts of concession.

As a formidable figure of the Demonic Dao, he was no benevolent soul; if he could claim the treasure for himself, he would certainly not be willing to share it with the Righteous Path.

So, after exchanging a meaningful glance with the scholarly old man, he no longer hesitated, his body spinning rapidly. Countless streams of profound dark energy erupted from him, and the dozen or so Heavenly Fiend Corpses beside him simultaneously twisted their forms, vanishing without a trace amidst the black light.

Meanwhile, the scholarly old man transmitted a message to Han Li:

"Stand back a bit and just make sure to protect your own life. You won't be able to participate much in this fight."

After saying this, the flock of Azure Thornbirds above the old man seemed to receive a command. With a piercing shriek, they transformed into azure arrows and shot towards the Righteous cultivators opposite. The old man himself also flicked his sleeve, and countless azure threads shot out from his cuff, densely following the bird flock.

Seeing the Demonic cultivators make the first move, Wan Tianming also stopped being courteous. Although Savage Ox's mutated spirit beast was somewhat tricky, he wasn't truly afraid. After all, no matter how powerful a mutated spirit beast was, it was still just an animal.

Moreover, he knew very well that this Abnormal Transformation Art, which turned objects into stone, was useless against cultivators themselves. As long as he was careful not to let his magical treasures be hit by the yellow light, it wasn't impossible to deal with this spirit beast.

Thinking of this, Wan Tianming let out a cold snort, two brief words escaping his lips.

"Attack!"

After saying this, he released the white Cold Dragon, then clapped his hands together before his chest. Purple flames fiercely blazed around him, and he instantly transformed into a man of purple fire, soaring into the air and charging towards Savage Ox.

Seeing this, Tian Wuzi quickly summoned the Departing Tortoise and, without hesitation, sharply struck its shell.

Immediately, a fierce glint flashed in the giant tortoise's pair of small green eyes. Its mouth slowly opened, and an overwhelming surge of white cold energy erupted forth, transforming into foamy white, towering waves that swept towards the charging azure bird flock.

Not to be outdone, the Azure Thornbird flock also opened their sharp beaks, each spitting out slender azure flames that quickly merged into a massive azure pillar of fire. This pillar then collided and intertwined with the white cold energy. Azure fire and white mist splattered everywhere, making it difficult to tell who had the upper hand.

Meanwhile, the gaunt old man, resembling a farmer, moved in a far more bizarre manner.

He impassively suddenly flipped his hand, revealing a vibrant, dripping green willow branch between two fingers.

With a slight wave of the willow branch, countless green phantoms shot out from him in swirling rings. Within a dozen yards, the area instantly became a lush expanse, as if transformed into a verdant sea.

However, within the green light and shadows, two black lights flashed, and three Iron-Armored Demonic Corpses were suddenly revealed.

The countless green threads around them immediately seemed to come alive, shooting out in all directions. In the blink of an eye, numerous strands tightly bound several Heavenly Fiend Corpses.

These demonic corpses were originally monstrous creatures of immense strength, yet under the seemingly delicate green threads, they were unable to break free. The two monsters roared in frustration.

Seeing this, Grandmaster Extreme Yin's face turned cold. He instantly transformed into a massive cloud of black mist and rapidly shot towards the scene.

Each of his Heavenly Fiend Corpses was difficult to refine, and he was unwilling to let his opponent easily destroy them.

Furthermore, since the opponent was clearly using a wood-attribute technique, his Heavenly Fiend Corpse Fire would be twice as effective against them!

Seeing the Nascent Soul stage old monsters begin their grand battle, Han Li quickly retreated another ten steps without needing to be told.

Although he knew that even retreating over a hundred steps would be pointless, Han Li still instinctively wanted to move further away.

What if the Righteous cultivators, with a sudden malicious thought, decided to forsake the Cauldron of Void Heaven and instead eliminate him, the owner of the Blood Jade Spider? Wouldn't he be dead for sure then?

He couldn't be certain that Savage Ox and the others would arrive in time to save him. After all, this platform, only a hundred or so feet in size, was too small for him to escape quickly.

Now that Extreme Yin was entangled with another Nascent Soul cultivator, it was a good time for Mysterious Bone to launch a sneak attack. He wondered if this old demon would risk letting the Righteous Path gain an advantage just to first exact his great revenge.

Thinking of this, Han Li couldn't help but glance at Mysterious Bone, who was observing the battle from below the altar.

At this moment, the other party expressionlessly watched the intense combat, his face devoid of any emotional fluctuation, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

"Old fox!" Han Li muttered inwardly with some frustration.