I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

"Gentlemen, how should the spoils be distributed?" Zhou Yuan suddenly asked.

Jia Tiange turned his gaze to him: "What does Fellow Daoist Zhou want?"

"The Thunder Absorbing Pearl can also replenish each of you with 5,000 spirit stones!" Zhou Yuan stated bluntly.

Jia Tiange raised an eyebrow, then looked at the others: "Do you have any objections?"

Huang Bohu, Hu Tian, ​​Ji Chang, and Jin Sanshun exchanged glances and shook their heads.

Although lightning-absorbing beads are rare, they are of little use to cultivators who do not practice lightning-attribute techniques.

Moreover, Zhou Yuan is so generous.

"Alright, then the Thunder Absorbing Pearl belongs to Fellow Daoist Zhou." Jia Tiange made the final decision. "The remaining materials will be distributed among the five of us according to our contributions."

Zhou Yuan nodded, offering no objection.

The six immediately set off, flying towards the sea area where the Thunder Whale Beast was hiding.

After flying for about half an hour, an island several hundred miles in circumference appeared ahead.

At the center of the island are rolling mountains, one of which is a huge canyon that runs east to west and is bottomless.

"The Thunder Whale Beast resides deep within the canyon," Jia Tiange said in a low voice. "During thunderstorms, it ascends to the summit to absorb heavenly lightning for cultivation. Otherwise, it lies dormant at the bottom of the canyon, healing its injuries."

The six men crept closer, concealing their presence, and using the rocks and vegetation for cover, slowly made their way into the canyon.

Finally, in a depression deep in the canyon, they spotted the enormous creature.

It was a colossal beast, several dozen feet long, covered in silvery-white scales that gleamed with a chilling light in the dim light.

Its head has a silver horn that is over ten feet long, and there are faint electric lights flowing on the surface of the horn, which is quite amazing.

The most conspicuous thing was the hideous wound on its abdomen—extending from the side all the way down to its belly, several feet wide and deep enough to expose the bone. The flesh around the wound was even blackened, indicating that the injury was serious.

"He is indeed seriously injured." Huang Bohu lowered his voice, a look of excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Make your move!" Jia Tiange shouted, taking the lead in unleashing his magic weapon.

It was a cyan flying sword, its blade shimmering with light, transforming into a streak of cyan light that aimed straight for the Thunder Whale Beast's head!

The others also joined in.

Huang Bohu unleashed a crimson axe, its blade ablaze with raging flames; Hu Tian tossed out a string of golden bells, which emitted a mesmerizing, enchanting sound as they swayed.

Ji Chang then released a cloud of black mist, within which countless tiny flying insects could be faintly seen buzzing.

Kim Sam-soon's secret weapon is a silver spear that strikes like a dragon, aiming straight for the Thunder Whale Beast's wound.

Zhou Yuan was not idle either.

He summoned the Green Radiance Sword, which transformed into a streak of emerald light, and followed the group at a steady pace, maintaining a certain distance.

"roar--!!!"

The Thunder Whale Beast was awakened by the sudden attack and let out a deafening roar!

Its massive body shuddered violently, and countless bolts of electricity suddenly surged from its silvery-white scales, forming a dazzling lightning shield around its body!

Immediately afterwards, the silver horn on its head suddenly lit up, and an extremely thick silver bolt of lightning shot out, heading straight for Huang Bohu, who was charging at the front!

Huang Bohu was shocked and quickly used his crimson axe to block in front of him.

Under the bombardment of thunder, the giant axe's spiritual light dimmed instantly, and cracks appeared on its surface, almost rendering it unusable on the spot!

"This!" Huang Bohu's face turned pale, and he was so frightened that he almost turned around and ran away.

The others were also shocked—wasn't he supposed to be seriously injured? How could the first attack have such terrifying power?!

Zhou Yuan frowned slightly, and without making a sound, he took out the white jade mirror he had just bought, secretly infused it with magic power, and was ready to activate its defense at any time.

"Don't be afraid, everyone!" Jia Tiange shouted sternly. "This beast is just bluffing! Look at its wounds!"

Everyone looked closely and, sure enough, after the Thunder Whale Beast launched this attack, a large amount of blood gushed out from the hideous wound on its abdomen, and its aura weakened at a visible speed.

"Continue the attack!"

With their courage bolstered, the group activated their magical weapons and launched a frenzied attack.

The Thunder Whale roared repeatedly, its silver horns crackling with lightning, unleashing bolts of thunder once more. But the power of these bolts was clearly diminishing with each strike. The second bolt was barely blocked by Hu Tian's golden bell, the third was mostly swallowed up by Ji Chang's black mist, and the fourth was so weakened that even Jin Sanshun's spear could not repel it.

However, just when everyone thought victory was assured, the Thunder Whale Beast suddenly let out a deafening roar!

Its massive body suddenly straightened up, and all the lightning around it instantly gathered on its single horn, transforming into a silver lightning bolt that was thicker and more dazzling than before, sweeping towards everyone!

This lightning bolt was so fast that it was almost impossible to dodge!

"Be careful!"

Kim Sam-soon was the closest and only had time to let out a cry of surprise before she was struck by the lightning!

"boom--!"

Thunder roared, and blinding silver light pierced the air. Kim Sam-soon's protective aura lasted less than a breath before being shattered.

His entire body trembled violently in the thunder, and then—

It turned into countless ashes, drifting in the air.

No remains were found.

"hiss--!"

Everyone gasped, their faces turning deathly pale!

This beast was clearly at its last gasp, yet it still managed to unleash such a terrifying attack!

However, after this attack, the Thunder Whale Beast was completely weakened. Its massive body slumped limply at the bottom of the canyon, its silvery-white scales lost their luster, and blood gushed from the wound on its abdomen, staining the rocks beneath it red.

"It...it's not working!" Huang Bohu said in a trembling voice.

"Haha!" Jia Tiange burst into laughter, his eyes filled with wild joy. "This beast is finally finished! The demon core is mine!"

He was the first to rush forward, his Azure Rainbow Sword transforming into a sharp beam of light, aiming straight for the Thunder Whale Beast's head!

The others also seemed to wake up from their daze, and they all activated their magical weapons, blasting towards the dying Thunder Whale Beast.

The Thunder Whale Beast was powerless to resist and, under the combined attack of the group, completely lost its life.

Jia Tiange landed on the Thunder Whale Beast's massive head, cleaved open the hard skull with a single sword strike, reached in, and pulled out a fist-sized demon core gleaming with silvery-white lightning from the bloodied and mangled skull cavity!

"Hahaha! The demon core of a level seven Thunder Whale Beast is mine!"

He laughed heartily, looking up at the sky with great pride.

However, at this moment—

Zhou Yuan's expression changed drastically.

His divine sense detected an extremely terrifying aura approaching.

The power of that aura far surpassed that of anyone present!

He didn't move.

They even quietly retreated quite a bit, their gaze fixed on the sky above the canyon.

The four cultivators were completely unaware and were still excitedly dismembering the Thunder Whale Beast's corpse.

Jia Tiange then put the demon core into his pocket, preparing to continue retrieving the valuable silver horn.

At that very moment—

A figure descended from the sky and hovered above the canyon.

He was a tall, elderly man.

He had a head of curly blond hair, and his beard was also curly like steel needles. His appearance was rugged and strange, with distinct facial features, and he exuded an indescribable fierce aura.

He was tall and imposing, standing there like an iron tower, wearing a long blue robe that fluttered in the sea breeze.

The moment he appeared, the air in the entire canyon seemed to freeze.

The oppressive aura made Huang Bohu, Hu Tian, ​​and Ji Chang turn pale and stiffen, as if even moving a finger required immense courage.

Zhou Yuan's heart sank—this was the aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator!

The old man looked down at the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the corpse of the Thunder Whale Beast on the ground, then over the few trembling Core Formation cultivators, and finally landing on Jia Tiange.

He spoke, his voice hoarse and low, yet carrying an undeniable authority:

"This Thunder Whale Beast is mine now. You lot, get out of here."

Jia Tiange's expression changed.

He had painstakingly hunted the Thunder Whale Beast and was about to reap its most precious horn, but this old guy who appeared out of nowhere tried to snatch it away with just a few words.

He is not willing!

He gritted his teeth, forced a bow, and said in a trembling voice, "Senior... my master is the island lord of Night Dragon Island, I wonder if you...?"

He wanted to invoke his master's name to make the other party think twice.

However, he hadn't finished speaking—

"So noisy!"

The old man glared, a hint of impatient killing intent flashing in his eyes.

He rubbed his hands together, and a golden light shot out from his palms at an astonishing speed!

Jia Tiange was shocked and hurriedly summoned a defensive magic shield to block in front of him.

The shield shimmered with spiritual light, clearly indicating that it was a fine defensive magic weapon.

however--

"Snap!"

The golden light collided with the shield, which shattered into pieces as if it were made of paper!

Immediately afterwards, a golden light swept up Jia Tiange and lifted him into the air!

"ah--!!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the canyon.

With a flash of golden light, Jia Tiange's body was instantly cleaved into seven or eight pieces! Blood-soaked fragments of his body fell from the sky, splattering all over the ground.

The canyon was deathly silent.

Huang Bohu, Hu Tian, ​​and Ji Chang were ashen-faced, trembling all over, and dared not utter a sound.

With Jin Sanshun dead and Jia Tiange instantly killed, only the three of them, all at the early stage of Core Formation, are left. In front of that Nascent Soul elder, they are like lambs to the slaughter.

Zhou Yuan's heart skipped a beat.

Is this the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator?

Jia Tiange, who was in the mid-stage of Core Formation, couldn't even last a single round against him before being easily killed!

He gripped the white mirror tightly in his hand.

However, he knew in his heart that even if his cultivation level improved further and he reached the late stage of Core Formation, it would only allow his opponent to make a few more moves.

The open sea is indeed dangerous!