Translator: CinderTL
The Corpse Coffin descended with overwhelming ferocity, tearing through the air, its entire body wreathed in billowing black Corpse Qi.
The Corpse Qi coalesced into countless grotesque ghost faces, their fangs bared and claws extended as if to devour all in their path.
A cold glint flashed in Song Wen's eyes. With a wave of his hand, a Corpse Puppet materialized instantly and lunged at the Corpse Coffin.
The Corpse Puppet raised its arms high, its ten fingers curved like hooks, and viciously clawed at the coffin.
Boom! A deafening roar shook the air.
The Corpse Puppet's claws effortlessly tore through the Corpse Qi shrouding the coffin and slammed into its surface.
The Corpse Coffin shuddered violently from the impact and was sent hurtling backward.
The Corpse Puppet staggered slightly, retreating over thirty meters.
"A Peak Fifth-Tier spirit corpse?" Xu Zhi's eyes narrowed, his expression turning grave.
He had initially underestimated his opponent, assuming a mere Divine Transformation Stage cultivator from a remote region would be easily dealt with.
Instead, he had been met with a humbling display of power.
"I underestimated you," Xu Zhi sneered, his spiritual power surging as he manipulated the sent flying Corpse Coffin, sending it hurtling back toward the spirit corpse. "But once I kill you, that spirit corpse will be mine."
Though the Corpse Coffin couldn't defeat the spirit corpse outright, by entangling it for even a moment, Xu Zhi could seize the opportunity to strike down his opponent. Once the cultivator was eliminated, the spirit corpse's threat would naturally vanish.
"Bone-Corroding Baleful Qi, go!" Xu Zhi commanded, and a massive surge of gray baleful qi erupted from his body.
The gray baleful qi carried an intense corrosive aura, coalescing in the air into a ferocious giant serpent. Like a raging gale, it roared toward Song Wen.
Seeing the overwhelming force of the baleful qi, Song Wen felt not fear, but elation. Ever since his Gui Yuan Qi had proven inadequate, he had been searching for a new, powerful source of malevolent qi, but his efforts had been fruitless. Now, someone was offering it to him on a silver platter.
Though the so-called "Bone-Corroding Baleful Qi" fell somewhat short of his expectations, having something was better than nothing.
Song Wen unleashed a torrent of Corpse Qi, which rapidly spread like a dark, all-consuming tide, surging toward the giant serpent of baleful qi.
Despite its imposing appearance, the Corpse Qi was easily torn apart by the serpent, which continued its relentless advance.
Rumble!
A series of thunderous roars echoed from within the black Corpse Qi, as if something were blocking the serpent's path.
Xu Zhi frowned slightly. Though Song Wen had attempted to conceal his actions with the Corpse Qi, Xu Zhi's divine sense easily detected that he was using a black umbrella to parry the serpent's attacks.
He couldn't understand why his opponent had gone to such lengths to conceal their presence with Corpse Qi. What was their true motive?
Meanwhile, the Corpse Qi continued to spread, engulfing Cihang Mountain, where Xu Zhi stood, in complete darkness.
Xu Zhi scanned his surroundings, his heart sinking as he took in the omnipresent Corpse Qi. A sense of foreboding washed over him.
He hastily recalled his gray baleful qi, transforming his body into a streak of light as he soared into the sky, attempting to escape the encroaching Corpse Qi.
"Trying to flee now? Too late."
A mocking voice echoed in Xu Zhi's ears. To his astonishment, he discovered a vast blood sea had materialized within the black Corpse Qi overhead.
The blood sea surged like a celestial river bursting its banks, cascading down upon him.
Xu Zhi swiftly activated his Bone-Corroding Baleful Qi, forming a gray barrier around himself.
The blood sea crashed against the barrier, unleashing thunderous roars.
The gray barrier trembled violently, flickering like a candle in a gale, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
Xu Zhi's heart jolted with alarm, his face contorting in horror.
He had sensed a strange familiarity about the blood sea earlier, and now he finally recognized it.
This blood sea... it's the Blood Sea Seal, a technique only core disciples of the Divine Blood Gate are qualified to cultivate!
Who is he? Why does he possess the Blood Sea Seal? Xu Zhi wondered inwardly, gritting his teeth as he channeled his Malevolent Qi to resist the relentless onslaught of the blood sea.
Suddenly, the blood sea ceased its assault. Instead, it converged from all directions, relentlessly compressing the gray barrier.
The force contained within the blood sea felt like the weight of a thousand mountains, as if Xu Zhi were trapped deep underground, crushed by the earth's immense pressure.
Under the crushing force of the blood sea, the gray barrier shattered with a thunderous roar.
"Fellow Daoist, I am a disciple of the Divine Blood Gate—"
Xu Zhi's words were cut short as the blood sea engulfed him completely.
The crimson tide surged, swirling toward Song Wen's position before being absorbed back into his body.
With astonishing speed, the blood sea vanished without a trace.
Xu Zhi's lifeless corpse was revealed.
Song Wen formed a series of magic seals with his hands, conjuring eerie runes that landed on Xu Zhi's body. These runes sealed the nascent soul and divine soul, preventing them from escaping.
Next, he retrieved a Corpse Coffin and placed the body inside.
With these preparations complete, Song Wen began to retract the surrounding Corpse Qi.
He had summoned the Corpse Qi to conceal his actions, preventing anyone from noticing the presence of the Blood Sea Seal and attracting unnecessary attention.
As the Corpse Qi completely dissipated, restoring clarity to the heavens and earth, Song Wen glanced down at the ruins of Cihang Mountain.
Not a single living soul remained on the mountain.
After a moment's hesitation, Song Wen's figure flickered, vanishing into the distance. He made no attempt to devour the blood essence of the corpses or the Remnant Souls drifting across the landscape.
Traveling tens of thousands of miles in a single breath, Song Wen arrived above a deep ravine.
At the bottom of the ravine, a raging river surged.
Song Wen descended, plunging into the river's depths.
After diving several miles, he finally reached the riverbed.
There, he deployed the Heavenly Mechanism Concealment Formation he had obtained from Chi Pei, concealing his presence while simultaneously creating a waterless zone roughly three hundred meters wide.
He retrieved the Corpse Coffin and extracted Xu Zhi's corpse.
"Fellow Daoist, is there some misunderstanding between us?" Xu Zhi's voice echoed from the corpse. "I am merely an outer disciple of the Divine Blood Gate. Judging by your personal mystic treasure, the Blood Sea Seal, you must also be a disciple of the Divine Blood Gate. If I have offended you in any way, I implore you to forgive me this once, considering our shared sect affiliation."
"Enough!" Song Wen snapped.
Song Wen snorted coldly and pressed his hand against the corpse's head.
Xu Zhi immediately felt a powerful suction force pulling his divine soul into a Sea of Consciousness.
Above the Sea of Consciousness loomed an endless Black Hole, its oppressive presence rendering him completely immobile.
Song Wen sat cross-legged, his right hand transforming into a withered, claw-like appendage that pierced the corpse's abdomen.
Instantly, a vast and surging spiritual power, like a tidal wave, flooded into his body.
From the moment he approached Cihang Mountain, Song Wen had noticed that Xu Zhi was cultivating the Corpse King Blood Refinement Art. Otherwise, he wouldn't have attacked him.
This pure and primal spiritual power, sharing the same origin as Song Wen's own, was effortlessly assimilated into his existing reserves, circulating through his meridians before converging in his dantian.
Within the dantian, the nascent soul greedily devoured the incoming spiritual power, using it to strengthen itself.
However, an invisible barrier suddenly materialized, blocking the nascent soul's absorption.
Song Wen's brow furrowed as he channeled the Corpse King's Rebirth Art with all his might, drawing in the spiritual power from the corpse like a whale gulping water.
The spiritual power surged into the dantian like a raging torrent.
Under this relentless assault, the invisible barrier gradually weakened, then shattered with a thunderous crash.
The nascent soul's eyes flashed brightly as it rapidly devoured the spiritual power flooding the dantian.
Song Wen's aura erupted violently, swiftly propelling him to the peak of the Divine Transformation Stage.
(End of the Chapter)
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