Nobody expected that Gold Horn and Silver Horn would initiate an attack just because of a malicious word from Daoist Mo Luan.
In fact, the Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice were known to be the fiercest creatures under the heaven. The brothers only feared Wu Qi. In their eyes, the rest of the people were merely food. After going through the Thunder Tribulation of Ice and Fire, they had inherited the legacy memory from their bloodline, and even inherited the savage, unreasonable manner of Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice. Because of that, there was no reason for them to not initiate an attack upon hearing Daoist Mo Luan's curse.
It was a deadly attack, as they never showed any mercy when decided to attack.
Two beams of red and white light, measuring one thousand feet long each, streaked across the void like two comets, chasing and tangling each other while filling the atmosphere with a sharp, ear-splitting whistle. The whistle sounded like the howling of ghosts from the nether hell, piercing straight into everyone's spirit ocean and causing the immortal souls of nearby Heaven Immortals to sway violently. In the case of those Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortals such as Patriarch Jiang Yun and Daoist Li, the noise nearly shook their immortal souls out of their bodies.
"Damn beasts!" Daoist Mo Luan's face flickered as he cursed. With a wave of his right hand, a sheet of dark light flew out, transforming into a finely made shield that was about one-foot in circumference and hovering before him. Even as it appeared, the shield emitted a large sheet of dark light and green smoke that tightly shrouded him. It was Daoist Mo Luan's number one magical treasure - the 'Smoke Luan[1] Shield', a defensive shield of immortal item grade. It was crafted using a type of dark copper found in the underground flame. During its crafting, Daoist Mo Luan was lucky enough to obtain a soul of an extraordinary beast who possessed the bloodline of Luan, and thus he made it into the shield's item spirit. As a result, it had an outstanding sentience and an excellent defensive strength.
Once it was unleashed, it doubled Daoist Mo Luan's flying speed and agility, as if he were given a pair of wings. Evidently, not only did the Smoke Luan Shield have an outstanding defensive strength, it was a great aid to Daoist Mo Luan in battles.
With the dark gleam and green smoke swirling around him, Daoist Mo Luan moved his body slightly to the side. Immediately, he shifted over one hundred miles across the void like a highly agile fish. Judging by the incoming path of the red-white beam, his casual dodge was more than enough to make Gold Horn and Silver Horn miss their attack. 'That would show them the uniqueness of my immortal abilities, my exceptional judgment, and my prestigious status.' thought Daoist Mo Luan in his mind.
But, as the descendants of an extraordinary ancient species - the Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice, could Gold Horn and Silver Horn's attack really be that easy to be dodged?
*Whoosh!*
The red and white beams vanished abruptly, and then reappeared before Daoist Mo Luan through teleportation. They smashed brutally onto the Smoke Luan Shield. A long cry that sounded very much like a dragon cry echoed out, then was immediately followed by a sharp and sonorous bird cry. A strong light shone from the shield as large sheets of green light burst and dispersed. Daoist Mo Luan gave a muffled snort, and to his surprise, the red and white beam actually knocked him flying straight up into the sky like a canon, throwing him over one hundred miles up from the ground.
A rapid slamming noise rang out as the red and white beams kept smashing the shield, then breaking it apart into smaller shreds. Each of the shreds exploded with large balls of flame and chilly, glowing specks. When they clashed with each other, it was as if a great ocean had just rushed into an underground volcano filled with hot lava. They blended together, but as they were two totally opposite elements, a violent explosion was produced instantly. The power of each explosion was comparable to that of a heavy smite from heavenly thunder. Even with the profoundness of his cultivation base, the explosion still rocked Daoist Mo Luan's blood and energy, while the dragon cries that echoed out ceaselessly nearly forced his immortal soul to escape from his fleshly body.
"Hiss~ roar~!" Gold Horn and Silver Horn had already absorbed all the thunderbolts found inside the tribulation cloud. Their Dragon Python Nascent Divinities were finally formed, and they had obtained the cultivation technique from their bloodline that solely belonged to Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice - the 'Dragon Python Dark Scripture '. It was a grand magic which cultivated both the fleshly body and soul, and eventually fuse them together to allow one to become an almighty expert with an exceptionally powerful body.
During the primordial era, it was because of the Dragon Python Dark Scripture that the race of Dragon Python of Fire and Ice could roam the universe, and even suppress the dragon clan and become the overlord of all aquatic clans. At that point in time, the supreme experts of their clan could even take Divine Dragons as food. They took Gold Immortals in the primordial era as their desserts, and the ancient Gods as their tidbits. It showed how incredibly powerful this cultivation technique was.
The brothers spread their wings and flapped them forcefully, sending out a large sheet of red light and a strong gust of cold wind. They let out long screeches again and again, while their scales opened and closed rapidly. A vast energy of Dragon Pythons rolled and rocked violently in their bodies, flowing through the meridians that they learned from the Dragon Python Dark Scripture. It was as if they had transformed into two black holes, as the surrounding natural energies were being quickly pulled into them, then being transformed into new Dragon Python energy persistently.
The race of Dragon Pythons was covetous and tyrannical by nature, and the same characteristics applied to their cultivation technique. It could be said that the Immortal cultivators would still take the balance of nature into consideration when they were cultivating. But, when it came to Dragon Pythons, their cultivation technique had only one core rule - plunder, plunder everything, even if that would drain the pond and kill the fish! They would only devour, devour everything, heedless of any consequences!
Them showing off their might caused the underground energy veins at the back of Green Cliff Mountain to rock, turning the underground energies into tidal waves of energy that one could see with naked eyes, streaming across the void and rushing into their bodies. Their cultivation base improved rapidly; the newly generated energies of Dragon Python quickly filled their fresh, over one thousand feet long bodies as their strength grew stronger and stronger. Following the continuous augmentation of their cultivation base, their suction force for the natural energy became stronger as well.
Amidst the wild screeching, Gold Horn and Silver Horn flapped their wings, turning into two streams of light chasing towards Daoist Mo Luan, who was knocked flying away previously. They gnashed their fangs and produced loud cracking noises, as saliva could be seen kept dripping from the corner of their mouths. It seemed like they had a very good appetite for Daoist Mo Luan. When Gold Horn's saliva touched the ground, each drop would melt one thousand feet wide ground into lava, while Silver Horn's saliva could always turn a small hill into an ice cube.
All the Heaven Immortals present looked at each other while being aghast, as none of them ever seen such ferocious yet strange pythons. Meanwhile, Daoist Chi and Daoist Min were staring at Wu Qi, because they knew Gold Horn and Silver Horn were his demon pets, and it was he who brought them here to transcend their thunder tribulation. When Daoist Chi saw both the python brothers were so mighty in power, he could not help but curve his lips in a smile and say, "It seems we are not prohibited from bringing own demon pets to the match!"
Although there was discord between Daoist Min and Daoist Chi, the foundation and future of Yuan Hua Sect always came high up in priority to them. Thus, upon hearing Daoist Chi's words, he nodded and said, "That's right. The overall strength of this two Dragon Pythons is comparable to a few Nascent Divinity cultivators. If nothing unexpected happens, the final victory of the match will be ours!"
Both of them exchanged a look. As if a mutual agreement had been reached with that glance, none of them summoned Daoist Mo Luan, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn back. Daoist Chi eagerly wished the brothers could give Daoist Mo Luan a severe beating, while Daoist Min pondered on the chances of Daoist Mo Luan killing both Dragon Pythons. Although they could increase the chance of winning the match, but even without them, Yuan Hua Sect still had greater odds of winning. It might be better to just let Mo Luan kill these two wild beasts.
Daoist Mo Luan's body trembled violently as the attack knocked him flying high up into the sky. When the powerful red and white beams finally vanished, he gave a strange laugh because of extreme anger, then bellowed, "What a pair of beasts! I'm gonna teach you a good lesson today!"
Sheets of dark gleam and green smoke burst out from the dazzling Smoke Luan Shield. Nimbly, Daoist Mo Luan streaked across the void while leaving multiple afterimages behind, quickly approaching Gold Horn and Silver Horn, who were leaping towards him at the same moment. He was trying to show off his movement technique. Enhanced by the shield, his movement was agile, quick, and very clear-cut, as if he were a light feather that drifted amidst a strong wind. With all the sudden twists and turns, ordinary Heaven Immortals would find it tough to trace him even with divine will.
A movement technique like this provided him a great advantage when battling someone. As the opponent could not locate his exact position, all magical spells, flying swords, and magical treasure would miss him. In the meanwhile, he could take his time to organize his attack. Naturally, it made him stand in an advantageous position during a battle.
However, such an advantage was completely useless in the eyes of Gold Horn and Silver Horn. The formidable fleshly body of Dragon Python came with many magical abilities, among which was an incredible vision. As long as the brothers focused their visions, they could easily see the movement of light particles in the void. Even better, they could see the movement of an Immortal in the outer dimension during teleportation. And in case those strongest Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice in the ancient era, their eyes could even look back into the time and see those things in the past.
Aided by such an incredible vision, the brothers could easily trace Daoist Mo Luan to his exact position.
But they were very cunning, as they pretended that they were thrown into an utter confusion by Daoist Mo Luan's ever-changing afterimages. The brothers had their tails hooked together, their wings formed into a ring-shaped defensive barrier, and their big heads turning here and there nervously, while they kept spraying wisps of flame and streams of cold breeze from their mouths.
Having his head turned by the temporary success, Daoist Mo Luan forgot that just like the rest of the Immortals in Yuan Hua Sect, he was suffering a severe injury currently, and he only had less than thirty percent of his overall strength left, which made the power of his divine abilities and magical spells no different from a Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortal. Even worse, he could not fight with all his energy, because if he did, the overuse of immortal energies would trigger his previously stabilized injury.
Under such conditions, he still wasting his immortal energies wantonly, trying to show off his unpredictable movements and approaching Gold Horn and Silver Horn.
Daoist Min's voice suddenly rang out in Daoist Mo Luan's head, "Mo Luan, kill these two beasts! You have the perfect excuse as they are the ones who initiated the attack." Daoist Mo Luan's eyes shone brightly when he heard Daoist Min's voice. He opened his mouth and shot out a white flying sword shaped like a sparrow's beak, transforming it into a beam of light that gracefully thrust towards Gold Horn and Silver Horn's foreheads.
Daoist Mo Luan's own flying sword was destroyed by Patriarch Jiang Yun, and the remains were looted by Wu Qi and fed to the earth element dragon scale shield. Because of that, he was currently using a flying sword of immortal item grade, which Daoist Min spent some time to find from his storage. Although it was also an immortal item, its quality and power were far weaker than his original flying sword.
Right after the sword beam thrust out, Gold Horn and Silver Horn's bodies turned fuzzy. Without any prior preparation, the brothers exercised their teleportation ability and came right next to Daoist Mo Luan. The sword beams skimmed pass them and did not hurt them at all.
With their heads and tails hooked together, the brothers formed a large ring and trapped Daoist Mo Luan within. Then, they thrust their big claws, which were shrouded in large sheets of scorching flame and biting cold air respectively, brutally smashing onto Daoist Mo Luan's body. Like an iron hammer hitting a rubber ball, the brother's large claws slapped onto the dark gleams and green smoke that protected Daoist Mo Luan. A tremendous force shook him and made him totter, hardly maintaining stability.
After tens of fierce attacks that came one after another, the Smoke Luan Shield cracked and ripped into splinters with a loud boom.
Then, Gold Horn flung his tail. In the next moment, the tail with rows of sharp scales erected like blades viciously whacked onto Daoist Mo Luan's chest.
[1] Luan - A mythical bird like the Phoenix.