Just as Victor was conversing with Yao Chen, Mie Sheng suddenly launched a surprise attack from across the battlefield.
A blood-colored Dou Qi whip tore through the fabric of space itself, slashing toward Victor with murderous intent!
Medusa's eyes widened in alarm. "Watch out!"
But Victor's response was unhurried. He raised his sword slowly, almost casually.
Hum, !
In that instant, golden light erupted from the blade and transformed into a massive wave of energy that spread outward in all directions with overwhelming force.
Boom!
Mie Sheng was sent hurtling backward, flying dozens of kilometers before he finally managed to stabilize himself!
When he looked down at his trembling hands, they were slick with blood. The blood whip he'd conjured had been shattered in that single exchange!
"Who... who the hell is that guy?"
Cold sweat broke out across Mie Sheng's body, and his earlier composure evaporated like morning dew. With just one move, this stranger had not only neutralized his attack but seriously injured him in the process.
This person's strength was definitely above his own!
Damn it, where did this monster come from? Why have I never heard of him before?
Whoosh!
A gentle breeze caressed his cheek. Mie Sheng's instincts screamed danger, and he jerked his head up.
Victor stood directly in front of him, less than half a meter away, looking down with cold contempt. The man had appeared without making a sound, without triggering any spatial fluctuations.
That frigid gaze made Mie Sheng's blood run cold.
He came to his senses and tried to counterattack, but Victor was faster!
A powerful hand clamped around Mie Sheng's throat and lifted him into the air like a rag doll. Mie Sheng struggled to break free, only to discover with mounting horror that he couldn't mobilize even a trace of the Dou Qi in his body!
"Who... who are you?" Mie Sheng forced the words out, his face flushing crimson. "The Soul Palace hasn't offended you, has it?"
"Why should a dead man need to know anything?" Victor's voice was ice-cold.
He raised his other hand and pointed his index finger at the center of Mie Sheng's forehead. Spiritual power gathered at the fingertip, eventually forming a miniature flying sword barely a foot long.
Feeling the killing intent radiating from Victor, panic seized Mie Sheng.
"Wait! You can't kill me! I'm from the Soul Clan! If you kill me, the Soul Clan will, "
"Noisy."
Pfft!
The sword flashed. Mie Sheng's head was pierced clean through in an instant.
As Mie Sheng's body went limp, a red light shot out from his corpse and fled toward the horizon at breakneck speed.
"That's Mie Sheng's remnant soul! We can't let it escape!" Yao Chen shouted urgently.
Even without the warning, Victor had no intention of letting the soul fragment get away.
"Oh? Do you really think you can escape?"
Victor sneered and swept his sword through the air.
In an instant, ten-thousand-foot sword energy poured forth like silver moonlight, instantly obliterating the remnant soul of Mie Sheng!
But the sword energy didn't stop there. It continued forward, eventually destroying the entire Soul Palace branch in a catastrophic explosion!
"Too strong..." Medusa stared at the scene in stunned silence.
She'd thought it was outrageous when Victor killed a Seven-Star Dou Zun with one move. But now he'd defeated a Five-Star Dou Sheng just as easily!
Victor's strength kept shattering her understanding of what was possible.
Yao Chen was equally shocked. When he'd heard Victor's plan to use Mie Sheng's skeleton to resurrect him, he'd assumed Victor's strength was at least that of a high-level Dou Sheng.
But he'd still underestimated him.
This wasn't a high-level Dou Sheng at all, this was clearly the power of a peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng! Perhaps Victor was even half a step away from becoming a Dou Di!
As for why Yao Chen didn't consider Victor an actual Dou Di... well, there hadn't been a Dou Di in this world for ten thousand years. He didn't dare jump to such a bold conclusion.
Of course, if they could truly compare the two, the so-called Dou Di wouldn't be worth mentioning in front of Victor anyway.
"Let's go. Time to get down to business."
Now that he'd obtained the final material needed for resurrection, it was time to help Yao Chen return to the land of the living.
Without hesitation, Victor tore open a spatial rift and brought Medusa and Yao Chen back to the Snake-People Tribe in the Tagore Desert.
Victor turned to Medusa. "Arrange a quiet room for me. I need to help this old man resurrect."
"You can use my training room," Medusa said, gesturing toward the chamber adjacent to her own quarters. "No one will disturb you there."
"Thanks."
Victor dragged Mie Sheng's corpse behind him and brought Yao Chen into the training room.
"How about letting me refine the Bone-Growing Blood-Melting Pill?" Yao Chen suggested tentatively.
After all, this was a high-grade seventh-tier pill. Even an ordinary eighth-grade alchemist might not succeed on the first attempt. While Yao Chen believed in Victor's overwhelming combat strength, he was less certain about the man's alchemical skills.
After all, strength and alchemy weren't necessarily linked.
"No need. I can handle it myself. Just stay there and relax," Victor rejected the offer without hesitation.
It was just a high-grade seventh-tier pill. Piece of cake!
Victor was completely confident in his abilities.
"Alright, but if anything goes wrong midway, I'm taking over immediately," Yao Chen said, retreating to the back of the room without further protest.
Whoosh, !
Victor tossed a ball of spiritual fire into the alchemy furnace, then threw the collected medicinal ingredients into the flames.
When Yao Chen saw this, he immediately lost his composure.
"What are you doing?!"
"Alchemy. Are you blind?"
"Is this how you make pills? Throwing the flame directly into the cauldron? I've never seen this method before!"
Which alchemist would throw flames directly into the furnace while refining pills? The proper technique involved controlling the flames from outside and heating the alchemy furnace indirectly!
Victor rolled his eyes. "Country bumpkin. Just because you haven't seen something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
This was the standard method for pill refinement in the cultivation world. Since the flame was transformed from one's own spiritual power and made direct contact with the medicinal materials, it could better remove impurities while retaining the medicinal properties!
However, this technique also required far superior control from the alchemist.
Country bumpkin?!
Yao Chen blinked, looking utterly bewildered.
He actually called me a country bumpkin?
He was Yao Chen, the Medicine Venerate! Which alchemist wouldn't respectfully call him "senior" upon meeting him?
"If you want to be resurrected, just stay there and don't bother me."
Yao Chen, who'd been about to argue, could only sigh helplessly after hearing this.
Well... I hope this guy isn't full of hot air.
Time passed slowly. In the blink of an eye, two hours had gone by.
At that moment, Yao Chen, who'd been anxiously watching the entire time, finally caught the strong fragrance of medicinal essence wafting from the alchemy furnace.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"It's actually working?"
Could this crude alchemy technique actually produce pills? It completely shattered everything he'd ever learned about the alchemical arts!
Another fifteen minutes passed.
"Condense!" Victor called out softly.
The essence within the furnace instantly condensed into a milky-white pill.
"Come forth!"
Boom!
After a thunderous sound, the lid of the furnace flew open. The pill shot out and landed neatly in Victor's waiting palm.
"A Bone-Growing Blood-Melting Pill? You actually refined it successfully? How... how did you do that?"
More than the joy of obtaining the pill, Yao Chen was consumed by curiosity about whether Victor's unconventional alchemy method actually worked.
He stared at Victor with excitement, his eyes burning with scholarly interest.
Well, I admit it, I was the country bumpkin all along.
Victor simply ignored him and began the next step of the resurrection process.