Ren Junjie's eyes widened at his own discovery; however, he had to focus on something else. He yelled out the formation for the Reqi Ren sect disciples. He wanted to go first. Then again, before they could, the Fenglan Qiao sect dove towards the Storm Snake as if challenging it. The monster flapped its fins and managed to swim in mid-air, evading them and smacking them with its tail or its head.
Fire arrays were thrown at it by the Haiyang Cheng sect, hoping to find a weak spot on its sleek and slippery body. The fire sure did damage, but not enough to stop the snake from attacking and whacking their ships. After evading more fire blasting from the men, it aimed to destroy the remaining ships before trying to duke it out with the ones flying above the water.
Sun Yin only watched from a distance. She paid attention to the divided efforts of the three sects. She only continued to giggle as the aggressive snake continually rammed its opponents.
"This isn't going to end well. Are you planning to take the core underwater while they fight?" Lu Bang sighed, itching to fight the snake. He knew the real monster was the lady in his arms.
"No, it depends on its willingness to surrender to me." Sun Yin answered him with a cold voice. She still had no guarantee that the Storm Snake would be as obedient as the Huiqi Tiger. "If it refuses, I'll take it for myself."
"What about the deal with Ren Junjie?"
"He panicked when I said it was the core of the Bride." She glared at the helpless fight before her. "If he can't handle that, I might have to take it. Lin Guwei was wise to keep the Gold Orb untouched unless necessary."
With a harsh whip of its body, most cultivators were knocked out of the air. The snake stood again, but this time, its head turned to the maiden's direction.
"Sun Yin, have you come to feed me?" A voice that felt otherworldly reverberated in their ears. Mixed reactions came from the cultivators, even from Lu Bang and Sun Yin.
"Oh, my goodness. You can speak now." Sun Yin lowered her hand and responded to the Storm Snake's question. "Did you like my present? That's around a hundred men!" She heard yelling from the supposed bait.
"A hundred men? Not enough." The Storm Snake gaped its mouth open. "It doesn't matter how many humans you lure out here in the sea now. I will never listen to you again. I have found something more powerful than you." The 'smile' on its face grew sinister. "Then again, I don't mind receiving a final gift from you, Sun Yin. Your life!"
The Storm Snake dashed towards the two who were keeping out of the fight. Sun Yin grabbed Lu Bang's head and motioned to fall off Huaban. She threw out protective talismans to create stepping stones in the air. She carried Lu Bang like a sack on her shoulder as Huaban hurled itself against the Storm Snake's face.
"Out in the sea, you're nothing!" The monster used a hand to swat the sword. But it was Huaban, the fastest flying sword in the Society. Simple hand swats were not enough to flick it away. Even if it did, the sword would just come flying back to hit the target. "Where did you get this fly?! This is not your sword!"
"How disrespectful! That's my master's sword!" Sun Yin threw three talismans as she leaped, sending a spinning triangle against the snake's side. One surprise attack was strong enough to push the snake to the sea.
The amount of shock written on the faces of the sect masters was immeasurable by words. Ren Junjie stared at the woman as she met with the flying sword Lu Bang was riding. She stood on it with the almost seasick man holding his mouth away from everyone else's view.
"Lu Bang, there's a plank in the water. Stay there." She dropped the man without any warnings. She did not even see him splash in the water.
Of course, she could not. It only took the Storm Snake seconds to recover from her attack. The Storm Snake screamed its loudest in her direction, blowing away water and making waves. However, as if it was second to Buyue, Huaban stood still and managed to not make Sun Yin flinch an inch. Her white-red robes were the only ones that fluttered violently.
"Master? Since when did you have a master?" The Storm Snake was furious. It was making the clouds above the sea darken. "Your clothes? Did you marry all this time you were gone?"
"You flatter me, Storm Snake. Getting married is all I did before so you thought I had settled down? Do you think a man would stay with me for that long?"
"Then you might as well marry the bones of men in my belly." The Storm Snake thought it was being funny.
The snake dashed towards her again, but she led it around—secretly away from Lu Bang. The snake gave chase, and the maiden yelled at Ren Junjie whom she passed. "[Wind Wall] to the snake on my signal!"
"What?" Ren Junjie caught what she said; he just did not understand at the moment.
She passed the other masters. "Cheng, [Fire Storm]. Qiao, aim [Thunder Whip] at my sword. On my cue!"
"You think you can command us?!" Master Qiao yelled back at her.
"I can see through all of their attacks, Sun Yin! It's time for you to perish!" The Storm Snake paid little attention to the other cultivators in the area.
The Storm Snake stood still and called forth a thunderstorm overhead. Lightning cracked through the dark sky and even blitzed several areas in the water to hit some cultivators. However, Sun Yin gave the cue to them. Even though Ren Junjie did not fully trust her, he directed his disciples to fire a [Wind Wall] at the snake.
The attack morphed into one big wall that crashed against the snake. However, it only flinched a little, taking too little damage. However, in that very second, the [Fire Storm] slapped him again. Instead of simple burning, the fire mixed with the [Wind Wall] creating a block of fire that kissed the snake for more than three seconds. The skin of the snake was slightly scorched before it decided to whip its tail up and put out the flames with water.
It was a mistake. The Storm Snake had no idea that Huaban pierced through the arrays like those were just thin air. The sword hurled itself into the weakened skin at the back of the snake's head. As the Fenglan Qiao sect fired multiple [Thunder Whip], Sun Yin activated the talisman on the sword. It created a vacuum for energies, letting the snake's own lightning be concentrated at the sword as well.
In one full second, a loud boom cracked throughout the sea. It could be heard across the coastal cities, more likely in Gangkou. The Storm Snake was toasted by its own power aided by the Fenglan Qiao sect's arrays. The snake staggered and collapsed into the water, making huge waves that would sweep the ones in the water away.
They were lucky the lightning did not travel down because of the talisman's effect.
Lu Bang tried to fight the waves, but he was soon rescued by Sun Yin. He accidentally touched Huaban's blade and got burnt by the heat that it got from the attack. He hissed at the pain before being dropped to a plank when the water stopped moving.
The Storm Snake's body floated on the water. Sun Yin flew near and descended to check if it was still alive. However, she only patted it as if saying goodbye.
Master Qiao landed nearby her spot. He stomped at the beast's back. "Ha! Finally! The Storm Snake had been defeated! By our attack at that!" He turned to the two other masters, but only Master Cheng had the slightest interest to shake his head as a response.
Ren Junjie walked to the maiden. "The thing it protected is deep under the ocean?"
"No, it was inside its body. It was the raw power that it acquired. Perhaps before, it had no idea how to make use of core so the Storm Snake constantly hides it from the others."
"The others?"
"I did say there were multiple guardian beasts in these waters, but none of them stepped in." Sun Yin placed her palms against the beast's skin. "It was because it had shooed its brothers away. It wanted to keep the thing for itself, and it is poisoned by it. Poor guardian…"
The master of the Reqi Ren sect frowned at the maiden. "You said it was the Bride's core?"
"One of them. Another one is in the hands of the Heici Xu sect. Guess which power they picked up."
"Is that why the Cinder Army attacked the Lin sect all of a sudden? They want to destroy evidence of Lin Guwei's orchestrated murder?" Ren Junjie lowered his voice.
Sun Yin got up and patted the man's face. "There's a lot more to this than that. Let's meet somewhere private later. I'm reaping my reward from you."
"I didn't get what the beast was protecting—"
"If you did, could you handle it?" The maiden smiled wickedly. For the first time, Ren Junjie cowered at the sight of someone.