Against The Heavens 130 Dividing The Spoils.

Li Yang stabilized his body, Fang Ying supporting his shoulder and making sure that he didn't immediately fall over. The explosion caused by the energy of such a strong Divine beast going rampant was nothing to scoff at, even if he was shielded by the flesh of the hydra, so Li Yang's entire brain had been shaken so badly that his vision was currently blurry and spinning. Li Yang luckily had a strong body so he quickly managed to regain his stability and normal vision, his gaze landing on the pieces of the hydra that were splattered around the area.

"Hah~ f.u.c.k, I knew it was gonna make an absolute mess of the area."

Fang Ying could only giggle when she heard Li Yang's complaints, only he was the type of person who could think of complaining after they killed such a strong Divine beast. She knew what he wanted to do next so she raised her left arm, some of the splattered blood in the surrounding area rising up and gathering around her, swirling around her like a curtain of crimson rain.

Li Yang stretched out both arms and opened his hands so that his palms were facing the sky, fire gathering in one and lightning in the other. Some of the drops of blood swirling around Fang Ying moved slightly when the fire and lightning appeared, moving an inch closer and seemingly rotating around the fire and lightning. Li Yang had the fire and lightning disappear and then s.n.a.t.c.hed the drops of blood, using them to draw up two palm-sized arrays that looked like three drops circling around each other.

Li Yang poured his Qi into the arrays to activate them, the two arrays immediately performing their one task, gathering in any surrounding energy that shared the same element as the materials used to draw them. They were the most common and simple type of array, but right now they were just what Li Yang needed. With the arrays activating and spreading their influence, more and more of the blood that had splashed throughout the area started to move, flying towards the arrays and gathering into two orbs, one above each array.

Not all the blood flew over, only the blood that carried the element of fire or lightning came flying over, this was the blood that would be most useful to Li Yang. Only two out of the seven heads of the hydra contained the elements he was looking for so it only took half a minute for the arrays to gather up all the blood, forming two orbs of blood that were both about a meter wide and tall.

Once all the blood was gathered, Li Yang inspected it closely, his eyes lighting up slightly when he found what he was looking for. Hidden away within the two orbs were a few small drops of blood that clearly contained far more power than the rest of the blood, the Hydra's Essence Blood. Li Yang guessed that the hydra had likely transferred most of its Essence Blood into the remaining body that it was hiding away, only leaving behind a small amount to make it seem like it had truly died.

But despite the fact that there were only a few drops here, Li Yang was still happy. This Essence Blood was the concentrated might and lifeforce of the hydra, a proper Divine beast. Giving this blood to Shenlong and Jinwu might not be enough to awaken them, but it would most certainly be enough to stabilize them to a point where he no longer had to worry that they might never wake up again. Depending on how much it stabilized them Li Yang might even be able to start activating his bloodline for a few seconds without having to worry about it draining all the remaining strength in their bodies.

Li Yang looked at the orbs of blood with glimmering eyes, Fang Ying smiling faintly at him from behind. He had already told her about Jinwu and Shenlong so she knew what this blood was for, and she was happy that Li Yang's previously narrow circle of people he cared about had grown, even if only slightly. Li Yang quickly put the blood into his interspatial ring, his eyes narrowing slightly as he swept Tian Zheng and the others with a sharp gaze.

"I'll say it directly, I don't care what you do with the rest of the spoils, but the fire and lightning elemental, as well as these two orbs of blood, belong to me."

Li Yang's words didn't leave an inch of room for discussion, anyone who tried to take either of these things would likely have to fight him for them. Xiong Xieren and the others simply shrugged their shoulders, clearly not willing to start a fight with Li Yang right now. They thought that they had gotten an elementary understanding of him up to this point, but that thought was swiftly shattered when he killed the hydra. The law of lightning and ice didn't have any utilization that could cause an enemy to explode like that, and while the law of fire did have one such usage, Li Yang clearly didn't specialize in that particular aspect.

In that case, just how had he made the hydra explode like that? The battle didn't answer any questions about Li Yang's strength, it simply created more of them that Yuan Peng and the others had to try and figure out. Tian Zheng could be the one here considered to have the most familiar relationship with Li Yang, so he was the first one to speak up, pointing at the two arrays floating in front of Li Yang.

"No problem, you've worked hard enough to warrant at least that. But I hope you won't mind me troubling you with creating a few more of those arrays so that we can easily gather up the remaining blood and neatly separate it. Also, Junior Sister Ying, are there any specific parts you want?"

Fang Ying's strength was close to Tian Zheng's and the others, and Li Yang had the advantage that his true strength was completely unknown for now. Letting the two of them choose which spoils to take first would serve to increase their opinion of Tian Zheng and the others, allowing them to get closer for possible future co-operation.

As for asking Li Yang to create more of those small arrays, it was simply because, among everyone present, he was the one most proficient in arrays, it was natural to leave such a job to him. Li Yang nodded his head and started to work on separating the different types of blood around Fang Ying so that he could draw up the arrays, Fang Ying inspecting the different types of blood while he was doing so.

"I'll take the life elemental and the life element, the rest you can divide amongst yourself."

The elements that remained would be water, wind, wood, earth, meaning that everyone present would receive one of the elements, with Li Yang acquiring two. Li Yang guessed that wind would most likely go to Yuan Peng, wood to Xiong Xieren, earth to Cui Xiyuing, and water to Tian Zheng. The four others discussed amongst each other for a bit before dividing up the last four elements amongst each other, proving Li Yang's guess slightly incorrect. Yuan Peng did indeed get wind and Tian Zheng water, but Cui Xiuying was the one who ended up getting the wood element while Xiong Xieren gladly accepted the earth element.

After gathering and dividing up all the different types of blood, Li Yang was slightly surprised to discover that none of the other orbs of blood contained any Essence Blood, only his fire and lightning blood contained it. Clearly, the Hydra was doing its best to make sure that Li Yang kept his end of the bargain. Tian Zheng looked at the orb of blood floating in front of him, prodding it with one of the unbroken fingers on his left hand and muttering quietly to himself.

"Water huh? Guess it'll at least make a good gift for Junior Brother Meng."

Tian Zheng specialized in the law of fire and the law of power, he had close to no use for any resources that had the element of water. But as the future patriarch of the Tian clan, he had many subordinates, some which had followed him for many years already, long before he became the future patriarch. He himself couldn't use this blood and the water elemental, but he could at least gift it to his closest subordinates to thank them for their years of help.

The group entered the volcano through the large hole that the hydra had torn in the side when it burst out of it, following the straight path to return to the core of the volcano. Cui Xiuying and Yuan Peng were tending to their injuries while everyone was moving so the speed of the group was pretty slow, it took them almost three hours to once again reach the core of the volcano and spot the seven elementals bobbing around above the gravity well.

Li Yang could still sense the eighth body of the hydra hiding deep beneath the gravity well, it was trembling faintly as everyone returned to the core of the volcano. Li Yang looked at the seven elementals, speaking up the moment the group arrived at the core of the volcano.

"Looking at how much noise we made during the fight I suggest that we all leave as quickly as possible, there's no telling what might come here. Well, if you guys decide to stay here then I can only say that you're r.e.t.a.r.ded and leave you to your business. But don't expect me and Ying'er to stay here, we'll leave for the south as quickly as possible to meet up with some friends of ours."

Li Yang wasn't exactly lying to them, Zhao Feng was currently located to the south of their group, hiding so that Tian Zheng and the others didn't notice him. If he were to suddenly reveal himself and be friendly with Li Yang and Fang Ying, the other clans might start to believe that the two of them were spies from the demon race all along, and there was no telling what might happen then.

The others thought it over for a short second before nodding their heads in agreement, Li Yang's words made sense. Besides, they all had their own things that they needed to do, they didn't have the time to waste around here.

"You're not wrong, I'll leave to meet up with my sect juniors in the west to repair my puppets."

"I need to repair my Companion Pouch and tame new Demonic beasts to fill it. I found a few good islands up north filled with Demonic beasts, I'll probably head there."

"I haven't heard anything from two of the groups I sent to scout out two large islands to the west so I'll probably follow Brother Xieren for a bit before splitting up."

"Guess I'm the only one heading east then. I found an underwater glacier there that seems to be a pretty good place for me to train, you can find me there if you should need me. Junior Brother Yang, you can use this to contact me if you should need my aid or encounter any groups from our clan that have encountered any accidents."

Yuan Peng was the last to speak up, throwing Li Yang an eagle-shaped talisman made from yellow jade. Li Yang nodded his head and put away the jade for the moment, it might come in handy one day in the future. The group then quickly headed for the elementals and picked up the ones they had agreed on before, sealing them in bottles made from special metal that prevented their energy from being released wantonly. The people present then nodded at each other as a final farewell and split up, their co-operation ending for now.

But only a minuter after everyone split up and Tian Zheng and the others left the island, Li Yang rode a bolt of lightning and returned to the core of the volcano, arriving in front of the gravity well. He crouched down by the magma that covered the gravity well, coating his hands with golden flames and then plunging them into the magma, pulling it apart and using his fire to make sure that it stayed split apart for at least a few seconds.

Li Yang then swiped his interspatial ring and took out a frozen ma.s.s of vines that coiled around each other and formed the shape of a heart, one of the secondary hearts belonging to the Devil's Grasp Vine's he had fought earlier. He dropped the heart down into the opening he had created, directly down to the last of the hydra's body, returning the magma to normal before leaving behind a few words as he left.

"Consider it my thanks for the Essence Blood."

The secondary heart contained an immense amount of pure lifeforce and energy, it was extremely suitable nourishment for the body of the hydra, it would allow this eighth body to be fully born several years faster than it should have been. Li Yang vanished from the volcano's core after he left behind the words, returning to Fang Ying and Zhao Feng so that the three of them could continue to explore this place.