Chapter 18: Thunder and Lightning and Transforming Dragons

The metal snake came to life, becoming soft and coiling around the jade bracelet that glowed with a bloody radiance.

Three pairs of blood-jade snake eyes flickered, then brightened.

Whoosh!

A three-headed snake soul, six to seven meters long and as thick as a bowl, flew out from within the metal snake. It had large, wide wings and swooped directly towards Li Weiyi.

It was immense!

The pungent smell of blood permeated the air, accompanied by a faint gust of wind, making it truly terrifying.

Yet, it was very ethereal, like mist.

Clearly, Director Yang did not know the true method for activating the three-headed snake bracelet. She was only experimenting and had accidentally discovered that a blood sacrifice could release a faint wisp of the snake's soul.

For a mortal, controlling even a wisp of the snake soul was already quite extraordinary.

"How can there be such a bizarre thing?"

This blood soul was practically a massive, ferocious ghost. Li Weiyi dared not touch it and immediately dodged and fled.

Fortunately, his adaptability and footwork were extraordinary, and he was fast enough. After evading the three-headed snake soul's attack, he pulled out the Yellow Dragon Sword from the old man's heart.

In his mind, the image of "the Yellow Dragon Sword cutting off the long hair of a skeletal demon, causing it to instantly turn into mist" flashed.

This sword was undoubtedly a divine weapon, a sharp tool effective against demons and evil entities.

Li Weiyi channeled the scorching energy from the sole of his right foot into the Yellow Dragon Sword.

A faint yellow glow appeared on the blade.

As he fled at high speed, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he instantly stopped and whirled around. The long sword in his hand swept upwards from below, leaving a crescent-shaped arc, and precisely struck the three-headed snake soul that was pursuing him and diving down.

His judgment was incredibly precise, as if the blood soul had actively crashed onto his sword.

The leftmost head of the three-headed snake soul, where it was struck by the Yellow Dragon Sword, burst into flames.

In an instant.

The already ethereal head could not maintain its form and disintegrated into wisps of mist.

With a successful strike, Li Weiyi no longer harbored any apprehension towards the unknown. Battle intent blazed in his eyes as he strode forward, actually chasing and hacking at the three-headed snake soul.

For a moment, sand and stones flew across the ground.

It had wings, but it couldn't fly high.

The sight was akin to a mortal chasing and slaying a demon.

Countless people present were shocked by this scene.

A member of Lab 705 tried to pick up the shotgun again but was tackled to the ground by Gao Huan and several other untied research team members. The rather attractive female graduate student picked up the shotgun. As if it were a burning coal, she rushed to the ship's railing and threw it into the sea.

By the time Gao Huan saw her and roared to stop her, it was too late.

That was a gun, the last one on the ship with ammunition.

The female student, startled by Gao Huan's roar, crouched on the deck by the railing, trembling and clutching her head.

Regardless, all the research team members had clear judgment; they knew very well who to trust. When Xie Tianshu, Chen Hong, and Kong Fan committed their atrocities, why did no one from Lab 705 come out to stop them?

To sustain the three-headed snake soul, Director Yang lost a large amount of blood. Her body continued to shrivel, and she gradually weakened, collapsing to her knees on the ground.

But it was useless; the three-headed snake soul was no match for Li Weiyi.

It was quickly cut into several pieces and vanished into thin air.

While Li Weiyi fought the three-headed snake soul, the bespectacled middle-aged woman from Lab 705 calmly took off her jacket, revealing a scripture belt tied around her waist.

The belt was bright yellow, two inches wide, and densely covered with scriptures.

Lab 705 had observed the bronze ship for years. After landing on the ship, they were the first to reach the location where the skeletal humans were found.

Therefore, several immortal artifacts had been taken by them.

The middle-aged woman took out a small bottle of Golden Crow blood and poured it onto the scripture belt.

The "blood sacrifice" method for the scripture belt was different from that of the three-headed snake bracelet; it only required the blood from a deceased source.

Swoosh—

As the Golden Crow blood soaked in, some of the scriptures on the belt immediately emitted a bloody glow. Her entire body seemed to be enveloped in a faint, misty aura of bloody light.

The research team members who rushed forward to subdue her, just as they were about to reach her, experienced a blur before their eyes, and she appeared several steps away.

Although she was just an ordinary person, with the scripture belt's enhancement, her movements and speed became extraordinarily bizarre.

Before Li Weiyi had even slain the three-headed snake soul, the middle-aged woman had already closed in.

By the time the three-headed snake soul was cut into pieces and dispersed, the middle-aged woman had already pulled out a fist-sized black iron seal and slammed it onto the ground just six or seven steps from Li Weiyi.

Boom!

A thunderous roar sounded.

From the bottom of the black iron seal, a bright, winding bolt of lightning shot out, heading directly for Li Weiyi.

The black iron seal and the scripture belt were both obtained from the skeletal human whose bones were almost golden and jade-like. Their quality was extremely high, and even without knowing the specific activation methods, they could unleash considerable power.

Li Weiyi's senses were sharp. Without time to turn around, he immediately rolled sideways, narrowly evading the electric bolt.

The area on his left shoulder was scorched black, the fabric carbonized, and his skin burned.

Just a little more, and it would have hit his neck or head.

Although the black iron seal was remarkably powerful, it required a heavy strike to release lightning.

Furthermore, because the middle-aged woman did not understand the true method of control, while releasing the electric bolt, fine currents also surged into her palm, causing her arm to ache and go numb, making it difficult to quickly launch a second attack.

Fortunately, the bloody glow emitted by the scripture belt protected her, otherwise her arm would have suffered more than just pain and numbness.

After Li Weiyi dodged the lightning, his body moved like a leaping ape, and he immediately closed in on the middle-aged woman.

Swish!

Her movement speed, like an illusion, evaded Li Weiyi's first sword strike, only cutting off a wisp of her hair.

It should be noted that Li Weiyi had practiced martial arts since childhood, so his movements and techniques, enhanced by the scorching energy, became extraordinary and refined, possessing the demeanor of a martial arts master.

Yet, she merely activated the scripture belt and could turn decay into wonder. It was truly incredible.

Both were wary of each other; at times she fled, and at times Li Weiyi retreated.

Meanwhile, Gao Huan and the others were busy untying the research team members. No one noticed that Xie Tianshu, who had his arm severed and was lying in a pool of blood, was undergoing a drastic transformation.

The dragon-patterned thumb ring he wore, after absorbing the blood flowing from his severed arm, had its dragon patterns turn blood-red, and a faint bloody glow flickered from them.

His heart resonated with the flickering frequency of the dragon patterns, and his blood flow became increasingly slow.

The wound where his arm was severed stopped bleeding.

Fine, icy scales grew on his skin.

His forehead bulged unevenly, forming irregular patterns like coral.

Li Weiyi soon discovered that the middle-aged woman could not continuously use the black iron seal.

After only four uses, her entire hand had turned black and was trembling uncontrollably.

The bloody glow emitted by the scripture belt was also rapidly fading.

"You fundamentally don't know how to use these immortal artifacts. With each use, the damage to your body deepens."

Li Weiyi could see that one more use would cripple her entire arm.

There was no need to directly confront her. Once the bloody glow from the scripture belt faded, she would naturally no longer be a threat.

A high-pitched cry, like that of a wolf, tiger, or dragon, echoed throughout the bronze ship.

Li Weiyi, the middle-aged woman, and many research team members were all greatly startled, looking at Xie Tianshu, who had already risen from the ground.

Their eyes seemed as if they would pop out.

In the faint, ethereal mist, Xie Tianshu was still one-armed, but his body had swelled to a height of 2.7 or 2.8 meters. His clothes were almost completely ripped apart.

His skin had transformed into black scales the size of fingernails.

His only remaining left hand had transformed into a sharp and massive claw.

His feet also showed signs of mutation, his soles having doubled in width.

The dragon-patterned thumb ring was on his claw, and its light grew even brighter. A blood-red dragon, woven from dragon patterns, coiled around the thumb ring like a living creature.

Some of the research team members screamed, some went weak in the knees, and some fled.

They had already been thoroughly terrified by Xie Tianshu before. This current Xie Tianshu, without a doubt, was even more horrifying.

"He... did he secretly drink dragon blood?"

"Scales, claws, head... it really might be so. His body is clearly mutating towards that of a black flood dragon."

"How dare he?"

"Li Weiyi, this severed arm of mine is thanks to you. Neither the blood of the dead black flood dragon nor the dragon-patterned thumb ring can make it grow back."

Xie Tianshu, after his flood-dragon-like transformation, took heavy steps and charged towards Li Weiyi with increasing speed. His eyes, the size of wine cups, blazed with fury.

He reached Li Weiyi in a blink of an eye, swiping his claw towards Li Weiyi's head and stirring up a powerful gust of wind.

Li Weiyi took a step back, and the sharp claw swished past the tip of his nose.

In the past few days, he had experienced too many unexplainable bizarre events. Even with Xie Tianshu now almost completely demonized, Li Weiyi could remain calm.

After dodging this claw, he stepped forward and struck Xie Tianshu's chest with his sword.

Clang! Clang! Clang...

The sword blade collided with the black scales on his chest, creating countless sparks, yet only left a shallow mark.

Xie Tianshu quickly retreated. After realizing he was unharmed, he let out a triumphant laugh, "I have flood dragon scales protecting my body; what can you do to me? Don't worry, I won't let you die too easily."

Li Weiyi looked at the Yellow Dragon Sword in his hand.

"Without channeling that scorching energy from my body, the Yellow Dragon Sword is indeed only slightly sharper than ordinary swords and blades. It cannot instantly shatter what it touches."

Not far away, the middle-aged woman from Lab 705 took out another bottle of Golden Crow blood, preparing to pour it onto the scripture belt.

Noticing this with the corner of his eye, Li Weiyi moved in giant strides, rushing over rapidly.

"Trying to escape?"

Xie Tianshu pursued him with heavy strides.

His heavy footsteps caused the ground to tremble slightly.

Li Weiyi, without hesitation, severed the middle-aged woman's head with a single sword stroke. He then snatched the black iron seal from her hand. Turning around and dropping to one knee, he looked up at the pursuing Xie Tianshu and slammed the seal heavily onto the ground.

Boom!

Accompanied by a peal of thunder.

A bright streaking bolt of lightning flew out from the bottom of the seal and struck Xie Tianshu.

Xie Tianshu was sent flying backward. His body grew even blacker...

He was somewhat charred, and smoke rose from his entire body.

Li Weiyi was also suffering. Backlashed by the lightning from the seal, his entire arm was numb with pain, having lost at least half its sensation.

"This seal is definitely not meant to be used this way. She was just fumbling with it!"