A strange, dark spherical object floated within Wei Chen's spiritual realm, exuding a terrifying and eerie presence, like a primordial beast whose hunger could never be sated.
"What… is that thing?" The Flaming Lotus King uttered in bewilderment.
Guided by curiosity, the Flaming Lotus King slowly drifted toward the dark spherical object.
"Does this guy have some kind of special physique or spiritual roots? If that's the case, then heaven is with me!"
With this in mind, the Flaming Lotus King quickly rushed toward the black sphere, hoping to gain insight from it. But suddenly, an unrelenting force began pulling him in.
"What!? Is this thing trying to devour me!?" Startled, he quickly exerted his power in an attempt to break free from the pull, but…
It was useless.
He continued to be dragged toward the black orb. His spirit body began to stretch, his feet being pulled faster than his head.
"What!?... What is happening!?" The Flaming Lotus King was completely shaken. He could not understand why his spiritual body was being distorted like this, with his lower half being pulled ahead of the rest.
It looked as if he was being transformed into a noodle-like state.
At first, hesitation and reluctance filled him, but they were soon replaced by dread mixed with determination. He had wanted to preserve this anomaly inside his new host body and slowly unravel its mystery.
But if this anomaly was trying to kill him, then he would rather destroy it… or even kill the host. He would rather wait another thousand or ten thousand years rather than die here and now.
"You force my hand!!!" The Flaming Lotus King roared as he channeled all his power, conjuring a lotus flame to strike the black orb.
But…
The moment the flame sparked, it was instantly broken down into pure spiritual energy and fire elemental essence, all of which were absorbed into the black sphere.
"What!?" The Flaming Lotus King was stunned. This was the first time he had ever seen his most powerful skill broken down like that, as if it had collided with an unstoppable force.
What was worse, the orb absorbed his power. He noticed that after feeding on his attack, the black sphere had grown slightly larger.
"No…" The Flaming Lotus King whispered in trepidation as his spiritual body was still being pulled into the black orb, unable to free himself.
"No! Nooooo!" He struggled desperately, doing everything he could to escape, but his efforts only prolonged his agony. Nothing worked. Now, he had only one option left.
Sever his spiritual body and escape.
On the outside, the audience could only sigh in pity. Especially the spring-like beauty, who frowned as she continued to watch the stream.
At this moment, the spiritual body of the Flaming Lotus King quickly escaped out of Wei Chen's body. His spirit looked damaged and listless, his expression as if he had barely escaped death.
"You! What's wrong with your body!? Why does it try to suck me to death!?" the Flaming Lotus King retorted in shock.
"Oi! Phrasing! I'm not swinging that way, you bastard!" Wei Chen immediately shot back, his hair standing on end in disgust.
On the outside, Jian Ganglie spat out his tea, and many cultivators who are "In the know" did not fare much better.
The spring-like beauty smiled in relief seeing that Wei Chen was safe, but then fell into confusion as she looked at her bodyguard.
"What did that guy mean? Swing that way? Sister Lan, do you know?"
The bodyguard felt embarrassed, unsure how to answer.
"Young miss, it's better to ignore his nonsense."
The spring-like beauty was still confused, but she nodded despite not understanding.
On the screen, Wei Chen faced off against the Flaming Lotus King. He could choose to run his cultivation method to absorb the spiritual qi of this place, and even that of the Flaming Lotus King himself, but doing so would leave a wide opening for his opponent to strike.
Seeing that Wei Chen showed no fear toward him and even disrespected him, the Flaming Lotus King's anger flared. But he knew better than to underestimate the unknown, especially one that housed such an anomaly within his spiritual sea.
Besides, having severed his spiritual body, his cultivation realm was greatly weakened. His strength had dropped drastically from half-step Great Ascension Realm down to only the early stage of Nascent Soul Realm.
He was not confident he could defeat this cultivator who carried such an anomaly within his spiritual sea.
"Hmph! Even though you have disrespected this king, in appreciation of your talent, I will let you go." The Flaming Lotus King spoke with grandeur as he waved his hand. The colossal obsidian door blocking the entrance to the tomb slowly opened.
Seeing this, Wei Chen smirked. "C'mon, stop spouting bullsh*t, King Lotus."
"Flaming! Lotus! King!" the furious cultivator corrected.
"Whatever. Your name might as well be dog, cat, or maggot, for all I care."
"You!" The Flaming Lotus King pointed at Wei Chen in fury.
"I mean… everyone can see why you're doing this. You're not sure you could beat the shit out of me. If you were sure, you would have already dragged out my soul and taken over my body."
The Flaming Lotus King's face twisted with rage. How dare this little ant slap his face like this! If he did not kill this insect, he would never be able to extinguish his hatred.
"You! Heaven has a road, yet you refuse to take it. Hell has no door, yet you break in. You will regret this!" The Flaming Lotus King roared as his body rose into the air, preparing to unleash his strongest attack.
But…
Wei Chen had already vanished. Relying on his instinct and long years of combat experience, the Flaming Lotus King suddenly felt a dreadful premonition from above. He looked up to see Wei Chen charging down on him with his signature smirk.
Behind him, the Avatar of Death manifested. Wei Chen's right arm took the form of a claw, mirrored by the avatar looming at his back.
"What… what kind of demonic technique is this!?" The Flaming Lotus King was stunned.
Dread and fear crept into his heart. Since reaching half-step Great Ascension, he had never once felt this kind of terror. Not even facing heavenly tribulation had given him such a sense of death looming directly over him.
Whoosh!
The black claw of death descended. The Flaming Lotus King used everything he had to block the attack, but…
The claw sliced through his defense as easily as air and water. His spiritual body was shredded into several pieces, unable to resist.
"You… you are not Core Formation Realm… how…" The Flaming Lotus King struggled to voice his confusion.
He realized that while Wei Chen's attack carried power beyond the average Nascent Soul Realm, it lacked any trace of spatial comprehension, the defining characteristic of a true Nascent Soul cultivator.
How could he have lost to someone not even in the Core Formation Realm!?
But before he could continue, Wei Chen's second claw strike came down, splitting him vertically and dicing him into countless fragments. Wei Chen then activated his cultivation method.
Boom!
A spiritual vortex formed, pulling the Flaming Lotus King's shredded spirit body into Wei Chen's dantian. The black hole core within went to work, breaking the Flaming Lotus King down into fine particles of spiritual energy.
Whether cultivation, dantian, or spiritual essence, nothing survived. All of it was reduced to pure particles, easily absorbed by the black hole core.
After clearing away the nuisance, Wei Chen turned toward the camera.
"As you can see, brothers and sisters, this is one of the scam secret realms. The owner lures you in with promises of rewards and trials. But once you cultivate their method, it opens your soul and spiritual sea to them, allowing them to eradicate your soul and take over your body! So please, beware." He paused before continuing.
"As for what I just did, I have cultivated a special method specifically designed to counter this kind of danger. You can't imitate me. So… Please, don't try to imitate me… seriously. This is very dangerous, really, really dangerous." Wei Chen cautioned the audience.
"Now, as for what you've all been waiting for, I'll check his sarcophagus to see if this King Lotus left behind any nice trinkets up for grab!" Wei Chen said with his signature smirk before leaping onto the elevated platform where the Flaming Lotus King's sarcophagus rested.
Wei Chen pushed the heavy lid aside. Inside, the corpse of the expert who had once achieve at half-step Great Ascension Realm had become a treasure itself. There were clear traces of heavenly tribulation burns across his body, yet aside from appearing a bit malnourished, he looked almost as if he were simply asleep.
"Man… I thought I'd find bone dust or a rotten corpse. This is unexpected." Wei Chen muttered.
Little Wealthy Demon: [Of course. I heard from my father that the body of all Void Refinement Realm experts, especially those who reached half-step Great Ascension, will eventually turn into a treasure. Their skin is as durable as treasure armor, and their bones are as strong as heavenly-grade artifacts.]
"Ohhh, this is truly interesting. Does this mean if I grab his corpse, somebody would want it to refine into a treasure?" Wei Chen asked in the chat.
Azure Sky Elder: [Hmph! Only the demon sects would be interested in such a disgusting thing.]
Little Wealthy Demon: [Heh… hypocrite. You say that as if some of your people don't wear armor made of the skin and bones of Void Refinement experts. I even know that some righteous sects have trump cards made from puppets refined out of Peak Void Refinement corpses!]
Azure Sky Elder: [Your words desecrate those who sacrificed for the greater good!]
Little Wealthy Demon: [Greater good? I heard many of those corpses died from backstabbing schemes in your so-called righteous sects.]
Once again, the two start another round of verbal sparring.