"Wait. Let me get this straight. We didn't kill the eight Rotten Thorn Men?" Mordechai clarified with
widened eyes.
"That's right. If we had really destroyed them, then the lights containing the death power wouldn't have
shown up. Plus, if we didn't kill them, then we should not have heard their awful growls. As far as I
know, we only destroyed their bodies, but not their entire beings.
They could easily rebuild their bodies using the materials that are scattered around the place.
Therefore, it won't take them long before they reappear," Ricky responded.
"So, do you think that the lights we saw are the core part of the Rotten Thorn Men? In that case, then
we need to destroy these lights so we can take them down and they will not regenerate anymore,"
Hayes said as he looked at Ricky with eyes full of hope.
"I tried to attack the lights, but unfortunately, they remained unscathed," Mordechai suddenly chimed in.
"Or maybe, your power isn't just enough to cause damage to them. Once we break those Rotten Thorn
Men' bodies, we should join forces to attack the light balls. In that way, I believe that we can destroy
them once and for all," Ashley heavily suggested.
Meanwhile, ferocious roars echoed again. After rebuilding their bodies from the scraps of flesh and
thorny plants from the area, the Rotten Thorn Men immediately dashed towards Ricky and attacked the
four of them once more.
Surely, their strength had improved with their new bodies, but they obviously were no match for the
strength of Ricky and his friends. After engaging in a grueling battle, Ricky's team had once again
successfully destroyed the Rotten Thorn Men.
Just like the first time, after shattering the Rotten Thorn Men, eight balls of light carrying the death
power emerged in front of them.
Without apprehension, Ricky's team performed their most powerful Omnipotent Skills to the best of
their abilities. At that moment, Ricky used his Golden Spirit Eyes and fused his Omnipotent Skill with
that of his companions.
However, their combined attacks silently vanished into the ball of light instantly. Moreover, they found
that the light ball was completely unharmed.
On top of that, Ricky had also unleashed the chaotic power and the chromatic energy, but this only
caused the light ball to wobble a little.
"Interesting. So, apparently, my chaotic power and chromatic energy could restrain the light slightly, but
they can't destroy it. I wonder how we can work around this. It's frustrating!" Ricky said as he furrowed
his brows.
"This is it. We failed again! Does this mean that our joint power is not strong enough to destroy the
light? Or is it because it is unbreakable? Are we never going to be able to take the smelly Rotten Thorn
Men down?" Hayes said with a red face that fumed with anger.
"I have an idea. Ricky, why don't we try to destroy it using the eternal power?" Mordechai asked as
soon as the idea popped into his head.
"Okay! That's not a bad thought. Let's just hope that the eternal power can finally destroy this pesky
light," Ricky replied.
At that moment, both Hayes and Ashley were shocked to hear Ricky and Mordechai's conversation.
"What? You possess the eternal power? How come we didn't know that?"
It was said that the eternal power was regarded as one of the strongest powers that one could hold,
and one of the most difficult powers to cultivate. Based on how difficult it was to obtain the said power,
there was no wonder that Hayes and Ashley were greatly taken aback by what they had heard.
Soon after, Ricky and Mordechai unleashed all of their eternal power, and the golden-purple light
appeared in front of them.
The eternal power formed two blades, and the duo aimed their blades to slash the light that carried the
death power.
But just as they had expected, the eternal power did affect the light.
The minute the two blades touched the light, it began to shine violently.
Unfortunately, this effect didn't last long. A moment later, the light reverted to its normal state,
absorbing the duo's eternal power.
"It looks like this light ball can be affected by the eternal power. Despite this, the eternal power still was
not able to destroy the light." Hayes scowled. "I guess that this ancient Land of Thorn reeks of not only
powerful thorny plants but also death power."
"I have another idea. I can try and use the Heaven Illuminating Fire on it!" Ricky said with utmost
determination. He would do anything to destroy these dead things, and giving up was not on his list.
Not long after, he activated the Golden Spirit Eyes and integrated all his powers into them. Using the
eyes, he transformed his powers into the power of the Heaven Illuminating Fire. At once, black flames
appeared and began to burn the ball of light.
As soon as the fire engulfed a small portion of the light, the light began to release a stronger death
power, extinguishing the Heaven Illuminating Fire in the blink of an eye.
With disappointed eyes, Ricky was shocked and dismayed at the same time. Ever since the day he had
used this fire, this was the first and only time he saw it put out only by sheer force.
"Is the death power inside the light strong enough to quench the Heaven Illuminating Fire? I... I can't
believe this is happening," Ricky said dejectedly.
"As far as I know, the Heaven Illuminating Fire will never die out. And the only plausible explanation for
this is that the death power in the light sealed its power..." Mordechai analyzed.
With low spirits, the four of them felt frustrated and powerless.
Meanwhile, the eight balls of light let out another set of ferocious growls. Numerous thorny plants
appeared, and in the blink of an eye, the eight Rotten Thorn Men were once again up and about to fight
with Ricky's team.
Only this time, the Rotten Thorn Man got taller, and with improved strength in their powers.
At that moment, the four of them had already sensed the overwhelming strength of the eight Rotten
Thorn Men. In addition, they realized that with the current strength of their enemies, Ricky's team might
not be able to defeat the Rotten Thorn Men anymore.
"Oh, no! They have grown stronger again! I think they become more powerful every time they rebuild
their bodies," Hayes exclaimed upon realizing what had happened.
On the other hand, these eight Rotten Thorn Men growled and bounced in front of them like mindless
beasts.
However, after more than ten rounds of fighting, Ricky and his companions were defeated.
Obviously, with the amount of improvement in the strength of the Rotten Thorn Men, Ricky and his
friends found that they were no match for their enemies.
"So, what do we do now? Anyone got plans?" Ashley asked with arched eyebrows.
"I don't know. I guess we only have one other option. Let's enter the blood-colored light first," Ricky
answered powerlessly.
Without wasting time, the four of them took Raylan and the other six people to the area covered by the
blood-colored light.
As soon as they arrived, Raylan and the other six disciples of the Five-element Sect seemed to regain
consciousness and opened their eyes. Looking around, fear crept their insides as they found that they
were back in the blood-colored light. In order to not cause them any panic, Ashley filled them in on
what had happened. And after hearing her words, all of them fell silent.
Ricky, on the other hand, helped the seven injured disciples get back on their feet. He used the power
of life to nourish them back to health so that they could all fight against the blood-colored light.
But the seven of them hadn't fully recovered.
Among the seven, four of them were from the water branch. They were Raylan, Jessica, who was the
holy daughter, and other two talented disciples. The rest of them were the disciples of the fire branch,
and one of them was the holy daughter named Ella.
At that moment, there was no holy son for the fire branch for they had not yet appointed anyone for the
position.
With so much gratitude, the seven of them lowered their heads a bit to thank Ricky for helping them
out.
Afterwards, Ricky and his companions sat down with the seven people and asked them a few
questions.
"Do you know why the Rotten Thorn Men are afraid of the blood-colored light?" Ricky asked the seven
disciples out of curiosity.
"No, I have no idea. Before everything happened, Brandon and his companions were chasing us. Of
course, we had to get rid of them, so we had no choice but to enter this place. That was why when we
ran into the Rotten Thorn Men, we had no more strength to spare. Later on, we stumbled into the area
covered by the blood-colored light. But apparently, we didn't know that this was not to be approached at
all,"
Ella explained briefly.
"Is there some power in the blood-colored light that scares them?" Ricky asked in a low voice as he
narrowed his eyes at the blood-colored light.
"Ricky, can you please try to find a way to help us get out of here? If we stay here for too long, a lot of
blood-colored light would invade our bodies. As you can already feel, we don't have much time. The
blood-colored light is full of the death power," Hayes pleaded to Ricky.
Without a doubt, Mordechai and Ashley also fixed their eyes on Ricky as if they were asking for the
same favor, too. After all, the three of them treated him like a leader, and they thought that with Ricky's
expertise, he could somehow find a way on how to help them get through this.
"Everybody, please rest up. Before we do anything else, I need to study the blood-colored light. There
must be some power in the light that frightens the Rotten Thorn Men," Ricky said severely.
Upon finishing his words, he absorbed some of the blood-colored light and put it in the Devourer Zone
for further study.
Not long after, he closed his eyes and began to check and assess the powers in the light.
"Hey, can you help us? Do you know something about the Rotten Thorn Men that we don't know?"
Ricky asked the Dragon Intent Grass telepathically.
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