The entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence; even the sound of the wind seemed to freeze.

The members of the Xuantian Sect were as if they had been frozen in place, their eyes wide open and mouths agape, yet they could not utter a sound.

The young disciple who had just been worried about Bai Ying was now pinching his thigh hard, as if trying to confirm that this was not an illusion.

Who would have thought that in this seemingly one-sided duel, the first to bleed would be that golden toad at the half-step Void Refinement stage! Its skin, comparable to refined gold, was actually torn open by a seemingly thin dragon scale.

What's even more chilling is that Bai Ying, who caused all this, remained calm and composed. Her slender white fingers gently brushed the bloodstains along the edge of the dragon scales, her movements as elegant as brushing away dewdrops from flower petals.

Sunlight filtered through her loose hair, casting dappled patterns of light on the blood-stained dragon scales. This scene, a blend of bloodshed and holiness, sent chills down everyone's spine.

"You...you who..." The golden toad's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between its teeth. Its bulging eyes were bloodshot as it stared intently at the dragon scale. When it sensed the lingering pressure of the Fusion Stage on the scale, its swollen Adam's apple bobbed violently.

This discovery caused all the venom glands in its body to contract uncontrollably.

It finally realized that it had made a fatal mistake. This seemingly weak Nascent Soul cultivator was nothing but a ferocious beast in sheep's clothing!

The golden toad glared angrily at the white firefly, and for the first time, a look of fear appeared in its murky toad eyes.

It never imagined that it, a powerful demon at the half-step Void Refinement stage, would suffer such a great loss at the hands of a Nascent Soul cultivator. What angered it even more was that it had clearly sensed a fleeting hint of contempt on the other party just now.

It's like looking at a frog at the bottom of a well, oblivious to its own limitations.

The poisonous bumps on his back undulated violently, and the wounds glowed with an eerie green light. To everyone's horror, the deep, bone-revealing wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, with new flesh wriggling and intertwining, emitting a chilling "sizzling" sound.

Bai Ying's pupils suddenly contracted, and her knuckles turned white from the force. She keenly noticed that the spiritual light flowing around the golden toad's wound was exactly the same as that used to repair the jade pendant, but upon closer inspection, there were some subtle differences.

"Could it be the Ice Jade Pendant?" This thought made her heart race.

If that's the case, I'll risk my life to take this thing away today.

The members of the Xuantian Sect gasped in astonishment at the sight. An older cultivator stammered, "This beast's recovery speed is simply unheard of..."

"This toad is really amazing. Even if Fairy Bai is very strong, it can heal itself so quickly. What are we going to do?"

"Can we really defeat it? It's so much stronger than it was a hundred years ago... If it weren't for Fairy Bai, we would all surely die if we all fought it together..."

The atmosphere on the entire battlefield suddenly froze, as if even the air itself had stopped moving. The golden toad's roar was like a thunderclap, shaking the ancient trees within a hundred feet radius, causing withered yellow leaves to fall like rain.

Its bumpy belly heaved violently, and with each breath it spewed out a foul-smelling poisonous mist.

"You damned bastard, where did you steal these treasures from?" The golden toad's voice was filled with incredulous rage, its bulging eyes bloodshot. "Once I kill you, all these treasures will be mine! Then, I'll slaughter your entire sect!"

Bai Ying stood quietly in place, a cold smile curving her lips.

Her slender fingers gently traced the edge of the dragon scales, her eyes flashing with a cold, piercing light: "Coincidentally, that's what I was thinking too."

The golden toad was utterly enraged. With a powerful leap, its massive body charged towards the white firefly like a cannonball. As it pounced, all the poisonous bumps on its back opened, spewing out a cloud of dark green poisonous mist. Wherever this mist passed, vegetation withered instantly, and even hard rocks sizzled and corroded.

To everyone's surprise, Bai Ying remained completely still. Just as the poisonous mist was about to touch her face, an incense burner-shaped magical artifact suddenly flew out from her consciousness and hovered in mid-air. It directly absorbed all the poisonous mist, and the dragon scale in her hand suddenly transformed into a silver stream of light, striking the golden toad's throat with lightning speed.

It moved so fast that it left a trail of afterimages in the air.

"You're courting death!" The golden toad frantically twisted its body, its seemingly clumsy body twisting 360 degrees in mid-air in a bizarre manner, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.

But the dragon scales still carved several deep, bone-revealing wounds on its back, and green blood rained down.

However, what was alarming was that these wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. Upon seeing this, the golden toad let out a piercing laugh: "Hahaha, is that all you've got? You're finished!" It puffed out its cheeks triumphantly, completely unaware of the knowing look that flashed in Bai Ying's eyes.

Bai Ying sneered inwardly. The probing attack just now confirmed her suspicions.

The toad's regenerative ability does not come from itself, but rather from external forces.

Her gaze swept subtly over the seemingly ordinary bumps on the golden toad's back, and she discovered a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy in one of them.

It seems that this external force is within the illusion behind it.

Bai Ying's eyes were fixed on the ground, a knowing glint in them.

Just then, the golden toad suddenly opened its blood-red maw, and a dark green poison arrow shot out. The arrow was so fast that it left a twisted trail in the air. The tip of the arrow gleamed with an eerie green light, clearly containing a deadly poison.

At the critical moment, an ancient seal suddenly appeared before Bai Ying. Its surface was covered with profound runes—it was the Kongtong Seal. The seal emitted a brilliant azure light, forming an indestructible barrier in the void, keeping the poisoned arrow out.

"How is this possible?!" The golden toad's eyes widened in fury. It never expected that its trump card would be blocked so easily.

In the instant it lost its focus, Bai Ying's sword suddenly changed direction, and a sharp sword aura, like an inverted Milky Way, pierced straight into the ground.

"Stop!" The golden toad let out an extremely shrill scream, its voice filled with unprecedented terror.

It pounced on Bai Ying frantically, trying to stop her, but it was too late.

The moment the sword energy struck the ground, the entire earth trembled violently. A crack tens of feet long appeared in the ground, revealing a network of glistening, intertwined roots beneath. These roots emitted a faint blue light and were tightly connected to a certain part of the golden toad's back. As the sword energy severed the thickest main root, the wound on the golden toad's back immediately stopped healing, and green blood gushed out like a spring.

"No!" the golden toad cried out in despair.

In an instant, the surrounding illusions shattered like a mirror, revealing a divine tree of Dao Source, its entire body as white as jade. The roots of the divine tree were tightly connected to the back of the golden toad, continuously supplying it with vitality.

The Divine Tree of Origin has finally appeared.