"Hmph. So you were hiding here. You're really making me work to find you."
Chen Jinshu's eyes narrowed coldly as she looked into the damp, dark interior, killing intent flooding her gaze in an instant. The air around her seemed to drop several degrees, the moisture on the cave walls beginning to frost over.
In the very next moment, the Dragonbone Whip slid smoothly into her grip, its dark red surface cool against her palm.
Her control over her spiritual energy was flawless. With the Genesis Alchemy Furnace concealed deep within her sea of consciousness, not a single ripple of spiritual power leaked out into the environment, nor did the slightest trace of killing intent escape her vicinity. She stood there, perfectly contained, a silent predator in the gloom.
Her entire figure became like a wisp of weightless green smoke. She moved without a sound, her robes fluttering slightly as she began swiftly slipping into the cave, her feet barely touching the uneven stone floor.
Xiao Yin shared her thoughts and naturally understood her plan. It followed her silently, drawing in all its brilliant radiance and shrinking its presence before settling back onto her shoulder like a small, inconspicuous stone.
At this moment, Lin Xiao was fully focused on absorbing the final trace of refined "human pill" essence, the copper-scented mist swirling around him. A sickly satisfaction spread across his features, along with barely restrained excitement as his strength recovered. He could feel the damaged pathways in his body knitting back together, the stolen life force fueling his resurgence.
"Feels good. This really feels good."
The bloody light of the evil formation beneath him flowed endlessly, the crimson sigils pulsing like a dying heart and illuminating his face in twisted cruelty. The shadows dancing on the jagged walls made his expression look more like a demon's than a man's.
Chen Jinshu moved so fast that a faint afterimage was left behind in the tunnel.
The Golden Core within her dantian spun madly, generating a heat that radiated through her limbs. Surging Verdant Wood spiritual energy poured without restraint into the Dragonbone Whip in her hand, the power humming through the ancient bone.
The whip instantly shifted from dark red to a blinding violet gold. Fine arcs of lightning crackled and danced along its tip, smelling of ozone and destruction.
Whoosh—!
The sharp sound of the whip tearing through the air rang out, a sudden crack of thunder in the quiet cavern.
"Lin Xiao. Hand over your life."
With her sharp shout, the Dragonbone Whip transformed into countless violet gold lightning serpents. They hissed as they moved, crazily weaving and wrapping around Lin Xiao's position.
"It's you!"
Lin Xiao's eyes flew wide open. Seeing her suddenly charge in from the darkness, his face filled with shock and disbelief. The smug satisfaction he had been feeling vanished, replaced by a cold dread that seized his heart.
He almost couldn't trust his own eyes.
How could it be her? How did she find this place?
"Vine Blood Devouring Calamity. Thousand Threads Bind."
The whip shadow carried a terrifying devouring force and destructive thunder, instantly weaving a massive, glowing vine net above his head. The violet light reflected off the stagnant pools of water on the floor, turning the cave into a cage of electricity.
Before the net even descended, a terrifying suction had already arrived, pulling at everything in the vicinity.
Lin Xiao felt his qi and blood, along with the spiritual energy he had just barely gathered from the formation, showing signs of being torn out of his body. It felt as if a thousand needles were dragging his essence through his skin.
"My qi and blood. My spiritual energy!"
What terrified him even more was the aura of destructive thunder that saturated the air.
Even his already damaged Golden Core trembled with stabbing pain and fear. The internal vibration threatened to shatter his very foundation.
"Get lost!"
Lin Xiao's soul nearly left his body as he roared hoarsely, the sound echoing off the low ceiling.
His reaction was fast. Ignoring the intense backlash of energy tearing through his meridians, he forcibly cut off the evil formation's absorption with a violent snap and slammed both palms upward.
"Raging Fire Heaven Scorching Palm."
A gigantic crimson flame palm surged upward from his hands. It moved with a force capable of burning mountains and boiling seas, smashing fiercely into the descending violet gold lightning net. The heat was so intense that the nearby stones began to crack and pop.
He would rather destabilize his realm and suffer permanent damage than be caught by that fatal shroud.
Boom—!
A deafening explosion erupted inside the narrow cave, shaking the entire mountain.
Flames and thunder collided violently in a chaotic spray of sparks. Rampaging energy currents swept through the chamber like a hurricane, instantly grinding the dried corpses on the ground into fine white powder. Even the solid stone floor was carved with deep, jagged gouges.
Shattered rocks sprayed in every direction like torrential rain, clattering against the walls.
The crimson flame palm shattered inch by inch under the strangling grip of the violet gold thunder.
The lightning net was blasted open with a massive gap, its glow dimming noticeably as the two powers canceled each other out. Yet its momentum didn't stop, and the remaining threads continued crashing down toward the center of the formation.
Pfft—!
Lin Xiao was struck as if by a heavy hammer and spat out a mouthful of blackened essence blood. The dark liquid splattered across his robes as his aura instantly withered, his presence becoming faint and flickering.
Although it was weakened, the remaining thunder still pierced through his defenses and struck his protective light head on. His body convulsed violently as the electricity surged through him; his flesh split and blood sprayed from a dozen small wounds.
"I will kill you!"
His eyes turned blood red as he slapped his storage pouch with a trembling hand. A pitch black ghost head saber wreathed in dense, freezing death qi appeared in his hand.
A constantly writhing skull was embedded in the hilt. It opened its bony jaw, emitting shrill screams that felt like needles in the ears.
The moment the saber appeared, the cave's icy death qi seemed to find its home, surging madly toward the blade and turning the steel into a void of darkness.
"Ten Thousand Ghosts Devour the Soul Slash."
Lin Xiao poured every last drop of his spiritual energy into the demonic saber without hesitation. His skin grew pale, his cheeks hollowing out as the weapon drained him.
Black light erupted from the blade as countless twisted, agonized wraiths burst from the skull's mouth. They merged into a jet black saber arc that tore at the soul itself, slashing straight toward Chen Jinshu's face with a howl of a thousand voices.
This was his trump card, a demonic weapon refined with the living souls of countless victims, meant to defile artifacts and corrode the Primordial Souls of his enemies.
Chen Jinshu faced this ultimate evil strike with a gaze as calm and deep as still water. Her breathing remained steady, her feet planted firmly on the cracked stone.
She didn't even recall the Dragonbone Whip to defend herself. Instead, she simply called out toward her shoulder.
"Xiao Yin. Go."
In the next instant, the gray sparrow on her shoulder let out a clear, piercing cry.
Green and red light exploded wildly from its small form, filling the entire cave with a divine brilliance.
Clang—!
A sharp and piercing cry rang through the cave, sounding like the striking of heavenly metal.
Xiao Yin revealed its true form in a burst of feathers. Three zhang wide azure wings swept up searing winds that pushed back the shadows, and its tail feathers trailed long streams of molten red fire that illuminated every corner of the cavern.
In that instant, the ancient pressure of the divine beast Qingluan descended in full. The sheer weight of the aura formed a natural suppression against the filthy wraiths, making the very air feel sacred.
The intertwined green and red firestorm collided precisely with the black saber arc formed from the wraiths.
Hiss hiss hiss—!
Countless wraiths let out shrieks of extreme agony under the pure, world-burning luan flames, instantly dissolving into wisps of foul smoke. They didn't stand a chance against the primordial fire.
The black saber arc shuddered violently, its dark power rapidly thinning and dimming until it was nothing more than a shadow.
"That's impossible!"
Lin Xiao was struck with utter horror. The demonic saber's backlash surged back into him, forcing him to spit blood again. The veins in the arm holding the saber burst one by one as his skin turned black and rapidly rotted under the corruptive touch of his own weapon.
Chen Jinshu seized the moment. She recalled the Dragonbone Whip with a swift pull and formed a profound hand seal before her chest at lightning speed.
"Genesis Creation. Suppress."
A soft, resonant hum echoed through the cave.
A point of green light condensed to the extreme flew out from the ancestral aperture between her brows. It expanded instantly, transforming into the phantom of an ancient, grand furnace that towered over the formation.
Though it was only about a zhang in size, it radiated a terrifying aura capable of suppressing the heavens and refining all things. The symbols on its surface glowed with the light of creation.
Although she had used the Genesis Alchemy Furnace more than once, each use still left her deeply shaken by its overwhelming suppressive force. It felt as if the entire world's weight had been concentrated into a single point.
The furnace phantom slammed down, instantly suppressing the space within a zhang around him. The air became thick as lead, freezing everything in place.
Lin Xiao's expression froze completely. He couldn't move even the slightest bit, his muscles locked in place by the immense pressure, and he could only await slaughter.
In the next moment, Chen Jinshu appeared directly in front of him and lashed out again.
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
This time, the whip no longer carried violet gold thunder. Instead, it gleamed with a dark green, icy light, imbued with her pure killing intent.
"This whip is for Zhou Wanning."
The whip cracked against his chest, shattering his ribs.
"This whip is for the innocent women who died by your hand."
The second strike tore through his shoulder, spraying blood against the stone wall.
"This whip is for myself, for daring to provoke me."
The final lash struck his legs, the force knocking him off his feet.
Chen Jinshu struck him three times in total, each whip carrying nearly her full strength and the weight of her indignation.
With every strike, his consciousness faded further and his injuries worsened dramatically. His breath became ragged and shallow.
By now, his body was covered in horrifying whip marks. Not a single patch of flesh remained intact as his vitality and spiritual energy were rapidly devoured by the whip's dark green light.
The madness in his blood red eyes receded like a tide, leaving only a deathly gray emptiness behind.
"Uh… hhk…"
His awareness was already gone, leaving only faint, gurgling sounds escaping his throat. His body swayed for a final time, the last spark in his eyes extinguished, and he fell backward like a rotting log, slamming heavily onto the cold stone floor.
Chen Jinshu casually tossed out a Fireball Technique, a small orb of flame fluttering from her fingertips.
The corpse burst into blazing flames, the heat quickly consuming what remained of the man.
She didn't spare even a glance at the pile of ruined flesh on the ground as it turned to ash. Only a sense of release after vengeance remained in her eyes.
"Your life, I have taken it for Zhou Daoyou. May you fall into hell and go beg Zhou Daoyou for forgiveness."
With a sharp flick of her wrist, Chen Jinshu recalled the Dragonbone Whip, the violet gold light fading back into the dark red material. For reasons she couldn't quite explain, having accepted Zhou Wanning's inheritance and that Stabilizing Origin Talisman made her heart feel even more at ease.
Xiao Yin folded its wings and landed on her shoulder, letting out a low, clear chirp.