As Lam Minh stood in the sea of blood, facing the three Golden Core experts of the Bloodsand clan, a suffocating silence fell over the entire cave. The surviving Foundation Establishment warriors hastily retreated, leaving the stage to those who truly stood at the pinnacle.
The Bloodsand Patriarch, the old man with blood-red eyes, looked at the corpses of his clansmen, then at Lam Minh, the fury in his eyes almost materializing.
"Human... who are you?" he growled, "Why have you come to slaughter my clan?"
"Who I am is not important," Lam Minh replied, his voice cold. "What's important is that you have taken something that doesn't belong to you. That Azure Star Ore mine, I want it."
His blunt and domineering declaration stunned the three Golden Core experts, who then immediately burst into laughter.
"Haha! A mere Initial-Stage Golden Core kid dares to come here alone and demand our clan's mine?" one of the two elders laughed heartily. "Who do you think you are? Your Silver-Haired God of War?"
"Don't waste words on him," the Bloodsand Patriarch said, his killing intent exploding. "Kill him, and use his blood to pay tribute to our dead clansmen!"
As his words fell, without any warning, his figure shot towards Lam Minh like a bloody arrow. At the same time, the other two elders also moved, one left and one right, forming a perfect pincer attack.
Three Golden Core experts, one Mid-Stage and two Initial-Stage, attacked simultaneously. They wanted to use their absolute advantage to crush Lam Minh instantly.
Faced with this situation, Lam Minh did not falter. On the contrary, a battle-hungry excitement flickered in his eyes. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
He didn't activate his Dragon God Battle Armor right away. He wanted to use his own Golden Core strength to test his limits.
"Come on!"
He roared, and the golden Dragon Qi from his Golden Core poured out, enveloping his entire body. He charged straight towards the Bloodsand Patriarch, the strongest of them.
The Bloodsand Patriarch waved his hand, and a vast sea of blood created from spiritual energy rolled towards Lam Minh. This was the signature blood-based technique of their clan, capable of corroding and defiling an opponent's spiritual energy.
Lam Minh didn't dodge. He used his God-Slayer sword and slashed out.
Dragon Fang Slash!
A turquoise beam of sword qi, imbued with pure yang Dragon Qi, tore through the sea of blood, creating a path down the middle.
At the same time, the two elders closed in from the flanks. One used a fiery red halberd, slashing at his waist. The other used a pair of sharp claws, clawing straight for his neck.
It seemed impossible for Lam Minh to dodge.
But just as the two attacks were about to land, he suddenly activated "Myriad Waters Return to Origin."
His body suddenly became as flexible and yielding as water. He spun in mid-air in an unbelievable way, narrowly dodging the halberd's slash while using the flat of his sword to parry the claws.
CLANG!
A piercing sound of collision rang out.
But the battle didn't stop there.
After neutralizing the first wave of attacks, Lam Minh gave them no quarter. He immediately counterattacked, targeting the elder with the claws, who was closest to him.
The God-Slayer in his hand moved unpredictably, sword qi pouring out like rain, forcing the elder to constantly retreat, only able to defend himself with difficulty.
Seeing this, the Bloodsand Patriarch and the other elder rushed in to support.
The 1 vs 3 battle erupted once again. But this time, it was a battle at the Golden Core level.
The entire cave shook violently.
Lam Minh's green sword qi, the patriarch's sea of blood, the fiery halberd qi, and the sharp claw shadows of the two elders constantly collided, creating terrifying explosions. Rocks continuously fell from the cave walls.
The remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators hastily fled further away, watching the battle of the "big fish" in terror.
Lam Minh, despite facing three opponents alone, was not at a disadvantage at all.
The Dragon God technique gave him domineering power. The Myriad Waters Return to Origin mental art gave him perfect defense and the ability to neutralize attacks. His combat experience from two lifetimes allowed him to always make the most accurate judgments.
He fought with increasing fervor. He would parry a blow from the patriarch, then immediately turn and slash at an elder. He was like a dancer moving amidst three flames, dangerous yet incredibly graceful.
After a period of fighting, the Bloodsand Patriarch realized they couldn't do anything to this kid. On the contrary, if this dragged on, with the abundant spiritual energy of the Dragon race, they would be the ones to be exhausted to death.
"Form the formation! Bloodsand Grand Formation!" he roared.
The two elders immediately understood. The three of them retreated, standing in three different positions, forming a triangle. They all bit their fingertips and used their blood to draw strange runes in the air.
A sickeningly thick bloody aura began to spread, enveloping the entire area. The ground beneath Lam Minh's feet turned into a blood marsh, from which white skeletal hands emerged, trying to grab his legs.
Lam Minh frowned. This was a joint attack formation that could merge the power of all three. He knew this was the true trump card of the Bloodsand clan.
He looked at the forming formation, with no intention of breaking it.
On the contrary, a triumphant smile appeared on his face, and he prepared to end the fight.
The ceiling of the underground cave, originally illuminated by glowing stones, suddenly darkened. Streaks of purplish-black lightning began to appear, striking everywhere. The surrounding air seemed to solidify.
The Bloodsand Patriarch and the two elders, who were forming the formation, suddenly felt a terrifying pressure from above, causing the spiritual energy in their bodies to freeze, and the formation was thus interrupted.
They looked up in horror.
Lam Minh also looked up, stunned. This pressure... was terrifying.
From the top of the cave, a figure slowly descended, hovering in mid-air.
The air around him seemed to be suffocating. All the remaining Madakaros, unable to withstand the pressure, fell to their knees, trembling.
Lam Minh also had to circulate his Golden Core to its limit, channeling Dragon Qi to his feet, just to barely remain standing.
The newcomer was a figure in a black robe that concealed his face. But the aura radiating from him was that of a true Nascent Soul expert.
"A bunch of wastes," a hoarse voice full of contempt rang out. "Three Golden Cores, yet you can't handle a single human kid. Truly a disgrace to the Saintly Way."
He turned to look at Lam Minh, his blood-red eyes gleaming in the darkness.
"I am Tenth. The Tenth Holy Messenger. Are you the one who killed Twelfth and Eleventh?"
...
The arrival of the Tenth Holy Messenger completely changed the situation.
The Bloodsand Patriarch and the two elders, who just moments ago were aggressively forming their battle array, now bowed their heads respectfully, not daring to breathe too loudly. The remaining Foundation Establishment warriors cheered with joy, as if they had been saved. To them, a Holy Messenger of the Saintly Way, a Nascent Soul expert, was an unbeatable god.
Only Lam Minh's heart sank like a stone.
Initial-Stage Nascent Soul.
This was the first time he had truly faced an expert of this major realm. The invisible pressure radiating from Tenth was terrifying. It wasn't just a suppression of spiritual energy, but a suppression of life-level itself. His soul felt as if it were trembling before a natural predator.
All his plans to sweep through the Bloodsand clan, to seize the Azure Star Ore mine, had all vanished into thin air before his eyes.
"I am Tenth. The Tenth Holy Messenger," the black-robed figure said, his voice not loud but echoing throughout the cave, carrying an unconcealed contempt. "Are you the one who killed Twelfth and Eleventh?"
"So what if I am? So what if I'm not?" Lam Minh replied, trying to maintain his composure, the Golden Core in his body spinning to its limit to resist the pressure.
"It doesn't matter," Tenth sneered, a cruel smile on his face. "Because whether you are or not, you will die today. I'm just curious how a worthless ant like you managed to kill those two wastes."
He didn't wait for Lam Minh to answer. It seemed that to him, even talking to a Golden Core cultivator was a waste of time.
He slowly raised a hand, his five long, jet-black fingers extended.
He didn't use any flashy spiritual energy. He didn't use any complex divine abilities.
He simply brought his hand down. Very slowly.
But in the instant that hand descended, Lam Minh felt the entire space around him being compressed. The air became as thick as glue, binding him tightly. He couldn't move, couldn't budge.
The full pressure of a Nascent Soul expert was focused entirely on him.
This was absolute control over space and energy. The qualitative difference between someone who had condensed a "Nascent Soul" and someone still using a "Golden Core."
Lam Minh gritted his teeth, the Dragon Qi in his body exploding, trying to resist. The Dragon God Battle Armor automatically appeared, its black and red scales glowing to their brightest.
But it was useless.
Under that terrifying pressure, the battle armor, which had helped him withstand the attacks of a Peak Golden Core expert, began to show cracks.
CRACK... CRACK...
The cracks spread wider and wider.
Lam Minh felt his body was about to be crushed into a pancake. The bones all over his body creaked. Fresh blood began to seep from his seven orifices.
He looked towards Tenth, his eyes showing no fear, only rage and unwillingness.
Is this it? Is this the power of a Nascent Soul?
With just a wave of a hand, he could be pushed to his death without any power to resist.
Tenth's hand continued its slow descent.
And when it came down completely.
BOOM!!!
A dull thud echoed.
Lam Minh's body, along with his Dragon God Battle Armor, unable to withstand the terrifying pressure, exploded into a cloud of blood mist, vanishing into thin air.
Nothing was left.
The gap between a Golden Core and a true Nascent Soul cultivator was truly a world apart.