Spirit Realm Chapter 420-427

Chapter 420: Burning Soul Firebeam!

Du Xiangyang realized that he had misjudged Qin Lie’s abilities. However, instead of being surprised, he was overjoyed and even grew a little excited.

Five of the fifteen sword tokens that had been forged by Heavenly Sword Mountain were given to Qin Lie and the others. The remaining ten were held by Heavenly Sword Mountain martial practitioners.

Prior to the exploration of a secret realm, the nine great Silver rank forces would often choose a core individual from among the group to be the leader.

Once the leader was chosen, the selection of the remaining martial practitioners would then revolve around the leader so that it would be convenient for the leader to manage the group.

For example, once Heavenly Sword Mountain had confirmed Luo Chen as their ringer, they immediately made him the leader, then chose Li Rong and seven other martial practitioners who were blindly loyal to him.

This was done to make things convenient for Luo Chen so he could gather the strength to go up against the ringers of the other Silver rank forces and obtain the final victory during the Trial.

The selection of the leader was often an intense competition. Du Xiangyang and another Heavenly Sword Mountain female disciple called He Wei both competed against Luo Chen for the position.

In the end, both Du Xiangyang and He Wei lost terribly.

That was also why Heavenly Sword Mountain arranged for seven martial practitioners who were close to Luo Chen to participate in the Trial. Those seven had even been handpicked by Luo Chen himself.

This greatly enhanced Luo Chen’s power.

If Du Xiangyang had won against Luo Chen during the competition, he would have been able to choose his own friendly group of martial practitioners and enter the secret realm with a powerful force.

Both he and He Wei were unwilling to withdraw from the Trial despite losing horribly to Luo Chen. They ultimately had to enter alone.

He naturally did not think well of Luo Chen.

As for Qin Lie, Luo Chen had planned to get rid of him as soon as possible. Worse still, Qin Lie held a Heavenly Sword Mountain sword token. If Qin Lie really was pathetically weak, then Du Xiangyang wouldn’t mind killing him early on so he could save Heavenly Sword Mountain from future embarrassment.

However, if Qin Lie were strong and could potentially cause trouble for Luo Chen, that would definitely be a wonderful thing for Du Xiangyang.

“Whoosh!”

A bright, colorful skyfire shot toward the area that Qin Lie and Du Xiangyang were in like a comet, leaving a long tail of fire behind it.

Flames that contained a shocking amount of fire energy continuously fell from the burning sky.

Even someone like Du Xiangyang who cultivated a fire spirit art looked at the descending flames in fear.

If no external force interfered with these descending flames, they would land between Qin Lie and Du Xiangyang. In fact, they might even land closer to Qin Lie.

Qin Lie was calm, and his eyes shone with a bizarre color.

The thunder aura around his body withdrew. A vast earth aura that was unwaveringly oppressive rippled out of his body.

The surrounding gravity fields instantly changed!

Due to the gravity’s influence, the blazing flames fell even faster than before.

In that moment, the bizarre change in the gravity field made the dazzling flames in the air shift course at an incredibly odd angle.

It was only a slight distortion, but the supernatural flames immediately changed direction…

…falling toward Du Xiangyang even faster.

A terrifying wave of heat capable of roasting thousands of beings alive—a sea of flames that looked as if it could envelop heaven and earth—swarmed toward Du Xiangyang.

The sight struck terror into Du Xiangyang.

“The work of a devil!”

Du Xiangyang screamed. Holding a burning sword in his hand, he transformed into a fiery sword beam, and shot away from his earlier position.

“Boom!”

The skyfire fell from the sky and crashed in that very spot, and several hundred bolts of flame scattered throughout the surroundings.

“Prak!”

The fiery rocks in the area exploded into smithereens, resulting in the appearance of two Heavenly Flame Crystals.

Qin Lie’s eyes lit up. With an odd chuckle, he flew out, prevented the two Heavenly Flame Crystals from falling into the lava pond, and threw them into his spatial ring.

Once he got the Heavenly Flame Crystals, lightning shone from his eyes as he looked at Du Xiangyang once more.

“Rrrmb!”

Amidst the dull rumbling, two head-sized Thunder Lightning Balls howled toward Du Xiangyang like two brilliant suns.

Cursing non-stop, Du Xiangyang had barely escaped from the descending flames when he suddenly discovered that two Thunder Lightning Balls were shooting toward him.

Meanwhile, after unleashing the Thunder Lightning Balls, Qin Lie charged across the giant rocks toward Du Xiangyang.

“Dammit!”

Du Xiangyang swore, spinning the Scarlet Fire Sword in his hands to use a sword art and summon clusters of fire.

The tip of the Scarlet Fire Sword shot a narrow, needle-like beam of fire into the surroundings.

He used the momentum of that beam to fly backward.

With the flames concealing his figure, Du Xiangyang was able to escape from where he had originally been. The beam of fire seemed to have a mind of its own, avoiding the Thunder Lightning Balls and piercing toward Qin Lie.

“Boom boom!”

The two Thunder Lightning Balls smashed into where Du Xiangyang had been, scattering fire everywhere.

Qin Lie suddenly experienced an acute feeling of discomfort.

A multicolored beam that resembled a burning needle had locked onto his forehead, flying straight toward it.

He felt as if his True Soul was being burned to dust, and the harsh sword aura contained within the rainbow beam made every hair on his body stand on end.

“Frost Shield!”

Qin Lie immediately stopped chasing Du Xiangyang and pressed his palms together. Cold mist began to shroud his palms.

“Krak krak krak!”

A thick, translucent shield of ice instantly formed in front of his palms.

“Ssss!”

The fire beam struck the shield, creating a shrill noise.

In response, the shield of ice began to swiftly melt!

The beam of fire resembled a pangolin, swiftly penetrating Qin Lie’s ice shield and travelling toward his forehead.

Such a sight shocked Qin Lie.

Since the ice shield was about to melt completely, and seeing as he had no viable plan in mind, Qin Lie could only dodge using Blood Escape like how Du Xiangyang had avoided his Thunder Lightning Balls.

The refined blood energy inside of Qin Lie’s blood instantly exploded forth.

He escaped in a burst of bloody light, appearing over a dozen kilometers away.

“Pfft!”

Qin Lie spat out a mouthful of blood. His face paled slightly, and he wore an ugly expression on his face.

He currently stood beside a pond of liquid fire more than a dozen kilometers away from the battlefield. The pond burned with terrifying flames, and its bubbling surface radiated a frightening amount of heat.

He could clearly feel that he had used up a great deal of blood energy.

Blood Escape required the activation of the energy inside one’s blood and instantaneous power. Upon unleashing this skill, a portion of the practitioner’s blood would evaporate, leaving them weak for a short period of time. This was actually a bloody art that damaged the practitioner that used it.

Qin Lie sat cross legged and took out the spirit stones from before, absorbing spirit energy from them and recovering as he did earlier.

The sword token around his waist no long emitted a low, ringing tone. This meant that Du Xiangyang had stopped searching for him, or chose not to immediately chase after him.

“I can’t believe that sword beam was so fierce and terrifying. If I had known about that, I would not have tried to take it head on. I should have just escaped,” Qin Lie said with a grim expression. He realized that he had underestimated Du Xiangyang. He hadn’t thought that he would be so powerful.

What Qin Lie didn’t know was that Du Xiangyang was even more shocked and upset than he was.

Several kilometers away.

Halfway up a volcano, Du Xiangyang constantly swore. “Dammit! He’s crazy! What a madman!”

After testing Qin Lie’s true strength, Du Xiangyang had been ready to stop there to talk to Qin Lie about the possibility of joining forces against Luo Chen.

He had already been prepared to show Qin Lie goodwill…

However, he hadn’t thought that Qin Lie would forcefully alter the trajectory of the descending flames with a strange gravity field and throw them at him just as he was about to propose a truce.

After fleeing from the fiery meteors that fell from the sky, two Thunder Lightning Balls shot toward where he stood before he was able to utter a single word. After shooting the Thunder Lightning Balls, Qin Lie himself had charged toward him.

The man actually hadn’t given him a single moment to breathe.

Left with no other choice, Du Xiangyang could only use his true strength and form a “Burning Soul Firebeam” with his spirit energy and soul consciousness to stop Qin Lie’s mad charge.

Burning Soul Firebeam was one of Du Xiangyang’s ultimate techniques. It was a powerful attack created by combining a large amount of refined spirit energy and imbuing it with soul consciousness.

It took a lot out of him to create a Burning Soul Firebeam, so he definitely regretted doing so.

However, just before the Burning Soul Fire Beam could pierce Qin Lie, he vanished.

Du Xiangyang had been busy dodging an attack, so he had not noticed how Qin Lie managed to escape. When he realized this and checked his sword token, Qin Lie had already escaped more than a dozen kilometers away.

“Dammit! I really screwed myself over this time. I didn’t think that this guy from the Scarlet Tide Continent would be so ruthless and powerful,” Du Xiangyang said, panting. His expression continuously changed as he touched his sword token.

A long time later, he decided to give up on searching for Qin Lie and instead prepared to recover his strength with spirit stones.

He did this to avoid martial practitioners of other forces from finding him and taking him out due to his exhaustion.

“Looks like this Qin Lie fellow can cause a bit of trouble for Luo Chen,” Du Xiangyang thought.

After testing each other’s strength, Qin Lie and Du Xiangyang took time to recover. In this time, a group of four young martial practitioners with “Xiahou” sewn to the shoulder area of their clothing were also operating near the fiery volcanos.

“Brother Yuan, this is a sword token that we got by killing a Heavenly Sword Mountain martial practitioner.” Xiahou Shang took out a sword token and passed it to his leader. “The Xiahou Family’s luck is good. We did not end up far from each other. Since we gathered together so quickly, we must use this advantage and kill as many people as possible! Otherwise, when the other martial practitioners have gathered into groups, it will be very difficult for us to kill anyone.”

Xiahou Yuan was tall and stalwart. He had a shiny bald head and he wore a black martial practitioner uniform with golden fringes. His face was plain, but his eyes glittered with a brutal light.

“Go see if there are any Heavenly Sword Mountain martial practitioners nearby. Kill them all as long as none of them are Luo Chen!”

Xiahou Yuan nodded repeatedly and probed the sword token with his soul consciousness.

After a while, he shook his head in disappointment. “No one is nearby.”

“Widen the area and keep searching. We must take advantage of this sword token!” Xiahou Yuan commanded.

Their group of people began to move in a certain direction.

Four hours later, when Xiahou Yuan made another attempt to search the area with the sword token, he exclaimed with an excited expression, “There’s a reaction! We found two Heavenly Sword Mountain martial practitioners!”

“Then let’s go and kill them!” Xiahou Yuan laughed wickedly.

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Chapter 421: The Tombstone That Flew Back On Its Own!

A spirit stone in Qin Lie’s hand turned grayish-white, its spirit energy completely exhausted.

“Crack!” The spirit stone shattered to pieces.

Qin Lie didn’t pay attention to it, instead continuing to absorb spirit power from other spirit stones and fill his dantian’s spirit sea with spirit energy.

Wisps of refined spirit energy were slowly extracted from his dantian’s spirit sea like rays of light or streaks of lightning before melting into his blood.

Other than enhancing his blood spirit energy through the blood pond, cultivating the Blood Spirit Art could also convert the spirit energy inside his dantian’s spirit sea and fuse it with his blood.

At this moment, Qin Lie channeled the Blood Spirit Art and absorbed the spirit energy within his dantian’s spirit sea into his blood to replenish the blood he used for Blood Escape.

The blood in every one of his blood vessels energetically flowed like rivers that extended in every directions.

An extremely thin mist of blood quietly seeped from his pores, making it look like Qin Lie was covered in bloody smoke. It was incredibly strange.

Then, all of a sudden, Qin Lie’s blood began to boil!

It was as if the activity in his blood had triggered something from extremely far away.

A thick blood energy a great distance away was unleashed. It felt as if it had reached right into Qin Lie’s mind.

“The blank tombstone!”

Qin Lie shook, opening his closed eyes. They shone with a strange light.

His blood seemed to have triggered a change in the blank tombstone, and even from a far distance, he was able to sense the aura of his own blood!

Qin Lie suddenly recalled that, when he took the tombstone, he had spat a mouthful of blood on its surface. Furthermore, the blood had immediately soaked into the tombstone’s seven divine lights and turned them into the color of blood.

In the Graveyard of Gods, Qin Lie was actually able to sense the blood aura within the tombstone from afar while channeling the Blood Spirit Art and absorbing spirit energy into his blood.

What was going on?

Qin Lie was surprised.

At the other end of the Graveyard of Gods.

There was a strange land covered in poisonous clouds that kept all martial practitioners inside of it from seeing more than a dozen or so meters of their immediate area.

Luo Chen was seated on a bush that was knee height. His face was grim, and his eyes stared directly at the tombstone in front of him.

He had attempted to touch the blank tombstone many times, standing tall amidst the bushes, but he would be repulsed by the force inside the tombstone every time.

“It’s still not working!”

He originally thought that, by bringing the blank tombstone into the Graveyard of Gods, he would be able to trigger a change in it tombstone and decipher its secrets.

Yet, after trying to do so multiple times, he discovered that he was still unable to touch the tombstone. Even staying close to it would generate such a strong repulsive force that made it hard for him to breathe.

“Perhaps that Qin Lie lied to me from the start!” Luo Chen’s expression was icy as he inwardly thought, “He must have done something to it! That must be why I have been unable to approach the tombstone this entire time!”

“Boom!”

A blurry bloody light abruptly shone from the blank tombstone. The seven godly lights inside of it became bright with color.

Luo Chen grew excited. “It’s reacting! It’s finally reacting!”

He was utterly overjoyed.

However, just as he was about to try and touch the tombstone again, it suddenly flew into the sky. The tombstone that had been standing tall amidst the bushes turned into a ray of rainbow light and flew off into the distance.

Luo Chen screamed at the top of his lungs and pursued relentlessly the tombstone like a flying sword.

Unfortunately, the blank tombstone flew faster and faster—to the point where he was unable to even track it with his soul consciousness.

Ultimately, Luo Chen could only watch the tombstone farther and farther until it completely vanished from his sight and the range of his other senses.

“What’s going on? What’s going on?” Luo Chen refused to give up. With a dark expression, he continued to chase the tombstone in the direction it had disappeared.

He believed that the direction which the tombstone had flown in harbored huge secrets. Perhaps the Graveyard of the Gods’ essence was there!

In the fiery land.

Qin Lie’s sword token rang again, indicating that yet another person with a sword token had found him.

“How persistent.” His expression turned cold as he stood up from the ground. The spirit stones in his hands had completely shattered.

Qin Lie thought that Du Xiangyang had come to fight him again after regaining his strength, so he prepared for battle.

“Boom!”

At this moment, a rainbow light descended from a distance and landed right in front of him.

Qin Lie initially thought it was a fiery meteor and was caught off guard. However, after looking at it closely, he froze.

It was actually the blank tombstone he had lost!

Standing upright in front of him, the tombstone shone with blurry bloody light. It had actually flown back to him.

This surprised and delighted Qin Lie. He rushed next to the tombstone, prepared to put it back into the spatial ring.

However, just as he was about to raise his hand, the blank tombstone actually flew up into the air once more and off into another direction.

Qin Lie was surprised. He did not know what was going on, nor did he understand the situation.

He only knew that the tombstone seemed to be kind of different after entering the Graveyard of Gods.

Seeing the tombstone floating into the distant sky like a lantern, he didn’t think too much and simply hurried to follow it.

Qin Lie followed the tombstone as it flew leisurely, a frown on his face.

At the same time.

Xiahou Yuan’s group of four had locked onto Qin Lie’s position with a sword token and were rapidly approaching.

Having recovered significantly, Du Xiangyang noticed that another disciple with a Heavenly Sword Mountain sword token had already found him and Qin Lie. That person was closing in on Qin Lie.

Du Xiangyang smiled cheerfully. “It must be one of Luo Chen’s men.”

He was happy to watch a show from the sidelines, so he rushed toward Qin Lie’s position while tracking him with his own sword token.

If someone were to look at this fiery land from a bird’s-eye view, they would see a strange sight.

A tombstone was leisurely soaring through the air toward a certain direction while a person that wore an expression of surprise was below, struggling to follow it.

Another two groups of people were approaching toward the tombstone’s location with excited expressions, as if they were about to begin a hunt.

One of the groups was even crying out, making weird noises and yelling, “We’re close! We’re almost there!”

This chase had been going on for four entire hours, stretching over hundreds of kilometers.

Suddenly, the tombstone stopped above a giant lake.

This lake, the endpoint of countless fiery streams, was at the center of a gushing volcano.

Fiery liquid ferociously burned inside of the giant lake. Every so often, the lake would bubble with flame and lava, creating waves of heat and causing explosions

Standing beside the lake, Qin Lie had to continuously exhaust his power of extreme frost just to barely be able to endure the terrifying heat.

He did not know why the tombstone had come here.

Concentrating on the lake, Qin Lie discovered that he could not see through the boiling heat, serpentine outpours of fire, and constant explosions.

Suspended above the fiery lake, the tombstone abruptly shone with seven godly lights that penetrated deep into the liquid of the lake below.

“Boom boom boom!”

Giant waves of fire rose from the lake’s interior. As if the lake itself was roaring, the explosions grew more and more intense.

Deep within the lake, the seven divine lights formed a shield of light around a particular object.

The seven divine lights resembled dazzling ropes that continuously twisted upward, slowly pulling the foreign object that had been submerged in the lake toward the surface.

“A Fire Qilin! Oh my god, that’s actually the corpse of a Rank Eight spirit beast, a Fire Qilin!”

At the other side of the lake, Du Xiangyang lost his composure and cried out, his eyes shining with extreme desire.

He stared dead-eyed at the body that had appeared from deep within the lake.

The corpse of a Fire Qilin, a creature with the head of a dragon that had four limbs and a fiery tail similar to those of a majestic lion, was slowly pulled to the surface by the seven divine lights. Its body burned with bright flames.

Qin Lie was also completely stunned by the sight.

A Rank Eight spirit beast like a Fire Qilin was the equivalent of an Imperishable Realm martial practitioner. This was a legendary beast with unstoppable strength and fire all over its body. It could also fly through the air.

This Fire Qilin’s body had been submerged within this giant lake for god knows how many years. Its soul had long since disappeared, yet its body still burned with such a terrifying, stifling pressure.

“Could this lonesome Fire Qilin corpse be the reason why this land of fire, with its endlessly erupting volcanoes, is so terrifying?” Qin Lie subconsciously thought.

“A Fire Qilin! It’s the body of a Fire Qilin, a Rank Eight spirit beast!”

At this moment, Xiahou Yuan’s cry rang from the other side of the lake.

The eyes of the other three Xiahou Family martial practitioners were bloodshot, as were Xiahou Yuan’s. Like leopards and wolves that smelled blood, their eyes shone with the red light of greed.

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Chapter 422: Bitter Battle!

Du Xiangyang and the Xiahou Family arrived one after another and immediately saw the spectacle at the center of the burning lake.

A tombstone was suspended high above the lake’s center, and it shone with seven dazzling, divine lights.

The divine lights resembled ropes and chains, firmly wrapped around the Fire Qilin that burned with brilliant flames.

The corpse of the Rank Eight spirit beast was gradually being dragged out of the lake. The seven divine lights entangling the Fire Qilin were like ribbons that seemed to be draining something.

“A Fire Qilin!”

“The Rank Eight spirit beast… Fire Qilin!”

Du Xiangyang exclaimed in shock.

Xiahou Yuan screamed as well.

The eyes of both groups blazed with desire as they stared intensely at the tombstone and the Fire Qilin. They looked so anxious that it seemed like they could hardly control themselves, yet they did not know how to approach these treasures.

Qin Lie in particular was frowning in shock at the spectacle.

The tombstone and the Fire Qilin were both quietly suspended above the center of the lake.

Everyone stood beside the lake and felt incredibly uncomfortable in the terrifying heat. Qin Lie and Xiahou Yuan aside, even Du Xiangyang, who cultivated a fire spirit art, did not dare to jump into this lake.

The burning lake and its roiling flames were more than enough to melt him into a pool of blood!

It was in this way that the three factions were scattered at the edges of the lake, staring at the tombstone and the Fire Qilin’s body hovering above the lake’s center, wracking their brains to try and come up with a plan.

Unable to think of anything, everyone was surprised to discover that the wild flames on the Fire Qilin shrunk at a shocking rate, slowly dying out.

Everyone’s gazes focused.

They immediately discovered that the seven divine lights shooting down from the tombstone seemed to be devouring some sort of energy from the Fire Qilin’s corpse. They watched as the divine lights inside of the tombstone grew brighter and brighter until the tombstone itself glowed with dazzling divine light.

The Fire Qilin’s body, on the other hand, seemed like it was being drained of its aura and flesh.

The flames on its body gradually went out, and the dazzling light hovering above its scarlet body also faded bit by bit.

Everyone could see that the huge amount of energy inside the Fire Qilin’s body was being absorbed by the tombstone.

The tombstone, which had been suspended in midair for so long, suddenly moved again.

It moved in the direction of Qin Lie!

Du Xiangyang and Xiahou Yuan immediately grew excited. They stared dead-eyed at the tombstone and walked toward Qin Lie at the same time.

“Xiahou Shang! Xiahou Qiang! Xiahou Ta! Kill that person from Heavenly Sword Mountain!” Xiahou Yuan roared, pointing at Du Xiangyang in the distance.

The three Xiahou Family experts laughed cruelly as they rushed toward Du Xiangyang like three gusts of wind.

Du Xiangyang’s face darkened as he wordlessly unsheathed the Scarlet Fire Sword. His skin was a frightening red that resembled that of a cooked prawn.

A terrifying aura filled with fiery energy burst from Du Xiangyang’s body. The Scarlet Fire Sword in his hand transformed into a blazing dragon, spitting a tongue of flame that was half a meter long.

“Hehe… as long as you’re not Luo Chen, you’re basically dead!” Xiahou Shang chuckled strangely.

Xiahou Qiang, Xiahou Ta, and Xiahou Shang each took out a three meter long flag. The flags depicted pitch black clouds, purple flames, and dark green skulls. It looked incredibly bizarre.

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

Wisps of pitch black smoke emerged from the flags. Icy cold purple flames and dark green skulls were mixed into the smoke.

A bloodcurdling aura instantly enveloped Du Xiangyang and everything around him like a huge, dense web.

The pitch black smoke also shrouded Xiahou Shang and the other two. They laughed, channeling their spirit arts together.

Smoke engulfed Du Xiangyang.

As that was happening, the Xiahou Family’s ringer Xiahou Yuan charged toward Qin Lie. His bald head was shiny, and his laughter was sinister. “Too bad you didn’t meet up with Luo Chen as soon as possible. Tough luck, kid! Say goodbye to the world of the living!”

Xiahou Yuan wore exquisite, purplish red gauntlets on his fists that were covered in extraordinary gash marks.

He continuously swung his fists as he charged at Qin Lie. A pair of violent, fearsome energies surged into his gauntlets, and his arms expanded like balloons.

“Whoosh whoosh!”

Two purple dragons suddenly erupted from his fists. They looked as if they were alive, and strange horns were visible on their heads.

The tombstone was currently floating above Qin Lie’s head, slowly moving to him while dragging the Fire Qilin’s body.

Qin Lie didn’t know why the tombstone was returning to him or how it found the Fire Qilin’s body. He also didn’t know why it dragged the Fire Qilin’s body from the depths of the lake or why it absorbed the energy that remained inside of it.

He was only certain of one thing—since the tombstone returned, it belonged to no one else but him!

“Heh… I dare you to try and take what’s mine,” Qin Lie said, grinning.

The Astral Thunder Hammer suddenly flew out of his spatial ring. The sound of booming thunder and crackling lightning resounded from his body as numerous thick bolts of electricity flooded into the Astral Thunder Hammer.

A shocking explosion flared as dense patterns of lightning appeared above the Astral Thunder Hammer. Numerous motes of light that resembled stars flew out of the hammer and shot toward the area in front of Qin Lie.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The astral thunder struck the two purple dragons and exploded, reducing them to countless purple spirit lights that scattered everywhere.

The explosion also scattered the fiery liquid of small lava ponds nearby. Xiahou Yuan snorted coldly, yet could not help but temporarily stop his swift charge.

Only when all of the lava had fallen from the sky did Xiahou Yuan say, “Hmph. A mere brat in the early stage of the Netherpassage Realm dares to try fighting me? What a fool. Surrender the tombstone then cut your own neck. If you do that, I’ll leave your corpse intact. If not, I won’t leave any trace of you!”

“Oh, really?” Qin Lie licked the corner of his lips, his eyes shining with the light of excitement. “I’m standing right here. I dare you to show me how you’ll leave no trace of me!”

“Fine!”

Xiahou Yuan laughed wickedly as he took a giant bow out of his spatial ring. He nocked a silver arrow and aimed at Qin Lie from afar.

The bow was even taller than Xiahou Yuan. Strange, tiny symbols were engraved into the silver arrow. These runes resembled ancient, knife-shaped characters that radiated simple but severe pressure.

At the peak of Netherpassage Realm, Xiahou Yuan was the ringer of the Xiahou Family. Not only was his realm astonishingly powerful, he also had plenty of precious spirit artifacts at his disposal.

The Divine Wood Spirit Bow was one of the spirit artifacts that he possessed. This bow was an Earth Grade Two spirit artifact. The arrows it used were made with Immortal Wood as the main component. Each one was carefully crafted and engraved with numerous extraordinary spirit markings that enhanced the penetrating capability and destructive power.

“Creak!”

Xiahou Yuan drew the bow to its limit and stared at Qin Lie with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. A terrifying aura that felt as though it could obliterate everything flowed from his body.

Qin Lie’s pupils shrank. Feeling Xiahou Yuan’s sharp aura, he could not help but be cautious.

“Swoosh!”

A silver arrow soared like a rainbow, intent on piercing Qin Lie’s face. It carried a frightening aura of intimidation that pained Qin Lie’s soul.

The arrow was imbued with all of Xiahou Yuan’s strength, immense refined spirit energy and the strange energy of the ancient markings.

“Crack!”

Qin Lie instantly formed wall of solid ice in front of him. It exploded when the arrow struck it, scattering ice in every direction

Yet the arrow continued to fly as powerful as ever.

“Bang!”

A thick wall of yellow earth appeared, and as the power of earth faded immediately afterward, it exploded.

The tip of the arrow shook, but the force of the arrow still hadn’t been exhausted.

There was a thunderous rumble as the Astral Thunder Hammer hurtled downward to smash the silver arrow into smithereens.

When the sharp arrow exploded, Xiahou Yuan laughed coldly and took out another one.

Qin Lie, however, chuckled strangely in return, his eyes staring into Xiahou Yuan’s with icy cruelty.

Xiahou Yuan suddenly realized that something was wrong.

—Then he saw several metallic silver balls by a pool of lava near his feet. These metallic balls seemed to have landed there when the wall of solid ice, the wall of yellow earth, and his own silver arrow exploded.

He had initially thought that they were sword fragments.

However, now that he lowered his head and examined the metallic balls, he felt thunderous energy inside of them.

“Terminator Profound Bombs!”

Xiahou Yuan suddenly shouted as if he had seen a ghost. He flew backward in retreat, completely disregarding everything else.

“Boom!”

Four Terminator Profound Bombs exploded all at once. A terrific explosion covered the entire area.

Bolts of lightning spread amidst the thunderous explosion. Xiahou Yuan’s cry of pain faintly rang out in the midst of it.

A streak black lightning flew out of the explosion, spilling blood. Xiahou Yuan howled angrily as he swiftly escaped into the distance.

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Chapter 423: Blood of the Fire Qilin!

Xiahou Yuan screamed in pain as he escaped from the explosions of the Terminator Profound Bombs, leaving behind a trail of blood in the blast radius.

“What a pity.” Qin Lie frowned and snorted softly before putting away the other Terminator Profound Bombs he tightly gripped in his left hand.

Xiahou Yuan’s realm was powerful, his spirit energy was immense and refined, and he wielded many high rank spirit artifacts. He was a formidable individual.

Qin Lie had to completely focus to fight Xiahou Yuan, unleashing his Frost Arts, Records of Geocentric Magnetism, Heavenly Thunder Eradication, and Blood Spirit Arts. Even with all of that, Qin Lie only managed to fight him to a standstill.

Qin Lie’s realm was weaker than Xiahou Yuan’s, and the quantity of Qin Lie’s spirit energy could not compare to Xiahou Yuan’s.

Were it not for the Terminator Profound Bombs in his possession, he wouldn’t have necessarily been able to win if the battle had continued.

“Gaaaah!”

At the same time, a terrible cry of pain erupted from a person who had been attacking Du Xiangyang.

Xiahou Qiang’s forehead had been pierced by a beam of fire. His eyes were bulging, and all seven of his orifices were bleeding.

The True Soul in his Soul Lake had actually been ignited by a wisp of fire and swiftly began to burn intensely.

Xiahou Qiang’s soul aura quickly weakened, and in just a moment, his True Soul was burned to oblivion.

The beam of fire was none other than Du Xiangyang’s Burning Soul Firebeam and it was also that speck of fire which could reduce a soul to nothing.

Last time, Qin Lie had noticed the terrifying power hidden within this Burning Soul Firebeam, which was why he used Blood Escape to avoid it.

Xiahou Qiang was in the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm, yet his soul had been quickly incinerated, and he was killed. From this, one could tell just how deadly that beam of fire was.

“Retreat!”

Since Xiahou Qiang had been killed and Xiahou Yuan had been forced to escape in humiliation after being bombarded with Terminator Profound Bombs, Xiahou Shang and Xiahou Ta did not dare to stay behind any longer.

Their gazes lingered on the tombstone and the Fire Qilin one last time before they finally left.

The pitch black smoke, the purple flames, and the strange chuckling skulls turned into rays of light that followed them closely.

Du Xiangyang, who had been flooded by three kinds of attacks, burned with purplish red flames. His eyes were also alight with fire.

His Scarlet Fire Sword resembled a roaring fire dragon that flew out, dragging a tail of flames that was several meters long behind it.

The Scarlet Fire Sword relentlessly chased after Xiaohou Shang and Xiahou Ta.

Meanwhile, Du Xiangyang was panting heavily, blood seeping from his chest and waist.

Even though he had managed to kill Xiahou Qiang, Du Xiangyang had suffered grievous injuries under the assault of the three Xiahou Family martial practitioners.

Yet his eyes were still staring greedily at the Fire Qilin. He obviously wasn’t willing to give up just yet.

At the same time, the tombstone had arrived above Qin Lie’s head, and the Fire Qilin’s body, which was as red as hot iron, had also landed near him.

The energy that remained in the Fire Qilin might have been mostly extracted by the tombstone, but Qin Lie was still able to feel a terrifying wave of heat from the Fire Qilin rush at his face.

He turned his gaze from the Fire Qilin, narrowed his eyes, and looked toward Du Xiangyang with a grin.

From Du Xiangyang’s perspective, that smile was unspeakably cold.

“You seem to be injured.” Qin Lie smiled and walked toward Du Xiangyang.

Du Xiangyang’s expression changed. He gathered his fiery power as the orange flames on his body trembled.

He had transformed into a man on fire.

“Cough, cough… Qin Lie, I wouldn’t dream of obtaining that Fire Qilin any longer. It’s yours, it’s yours!” Du Xiangyang forced out a smile and hurriedly said, “Everything from earlier was just a misunderstanding! I wasn’t really trying to kill you. You’re very strong, and your existence can cause a lot of trouble for Luo Chen. I loathe Luo Chen—he plans to kill me here! We actually have a common enemy. We can work together! Seriously, we can work together!”

“Whoosh!”

The Scarlet Fire Sword returned to Du Xiangyang, summoned to him while he spoke. He raised his hands and grabbed it tightly, yelling, “Qin Lie! We don’t have a grudge between us. There really is no need for us to fight to the death over a small misunderstanding!”

“A misunderstanding?” Qin Lie shook his head. “I don’t think that what happened earlier was a misunderstanding! If my strength had been any weaker, my soul would’ve been incinerated, and I would’ve ended up like that corpse beside you. My True Soul would’ve been burned to oblivion by your beam of fire!”

“Rrrmb!”

The rumble of thunder endlessly sounded from within the Astral Thunder Hammer. It looked fearsome with the interweaving of the arcing lightning that covered it.

“I… I’ll leave right away!”

Du Xiangyang gritted his teeth, turned around, and headed in the direction opposite from the one that Xiahou Yuan had gone.

Du Xiangyang’s body had been severely injured by the terrifying attacks of the Xiahou Family members, and his spirit energy had been greatly exhausted. If he actually tried to fight Qin Lie to the death here and now, the chances of him being killed would have been extremely high.

All he could do was forcefully suppress his desire for the Fire Qilin. No matter how much he didn’t want to do that, escaping was the only way for him to survive.

Qin Lie did not pursue him.

On one hand, he had the tombstone and the Fire Qilin’s body behind him.

On the other, he wasn’t sure if those people from the Xiaohou Family had really left.

Qin Lie was afraid that the Xiahou family members would be hiding nearby. He was also afraid that, if he engaged Du Xiangyang in a battle to the death, Xiahou Yuan’s people would ambush them.

Qin Lie actually just wanted to force Du Xiangyang away and have him disappear from his sight.

“A spatial ring and a Xiahou Family token…”

He walked forward and removed two items from Xiahou Qiang’s corpse.

Qin Lie invaded the Xiahou Family token with a wisp of his mind consciousness, surveying his surroundings through the token.

The word “Xiahou” on the token suddenly lit up. This meant that Xiahou Yuan and his men had not gone far!

Carefully taking stock of the area through the Xiahou Family token, Qin Lie was sure that Xiahou Yuan and his men weren’t more than five kilometers away from him.

This was a dangerous distance.

“Whew. Good thing I didn’t continue to tangle with Du Xiangyang. If I had, Xiahou Yuan would have definitely struck back,” Qin Lie said with a grim face, then turned around and walked to the tombstone.

He knew that the Xiahou Family must have had a Heavenly Sword Mountain sword token in their possession. Through that sword token, they would be able to track both his and Du Xiangyang’s activities and accurately sneak toward them.

Arriving beside the tombstone, Qin Lie discovered that the seven divine lights were still wrapped around the Fire Qilin’s body. The tombstone was still absorbing a large amount of energy from it.

Frowning, Qin Lie wasn’t sure if he should store the tombstone and leave the area first.

After the energy in the Fire Qilin’s body had been almost entirely extracted, the burning flames on it went out, and it gradually returned to normal.

Qin Lie’s pupils suddenly shrank.

The seven divine lights wrapped around the Fire Qilin gradually withdrew, pulling the body toward the tombstone.

At the center of the tombstone, where the seven divine lights were, a dazzling light that was the size of a grain of rice had appeared.

The dot of light grew larger, then it suddenly devoured the Fire Qilin’s body whole like a giant, gaping maw.

A bolt of fiery light instantly entered the tombstone as the Fire Qilin vanished.

The tombstone shook intensely as the seven divine lights grew brighter and brighter.

A short while later, the seven divine lights stopped shaking. It was as if they had finished digesting the Fire Qilin. The entire situation was extremely bizarre.

Qin Lie looked shocked.

He did not dare to closely examine the tombstone right this moment. He reached out, preparing to put the tombstone into his spatial ring.

However, just as his fingers were about to touch the tombstone, drops of blood seeped out of its surface. Like morning dew, they quietly remained on top of the tombstone and didn’t move.

There were three drops of blood!

Each drop of blood was only the size of a toe, was as blood red as bloodstones, and had fire in the shape of a Fire Qilin burning within them.

It was extraordinary!

“This is…” Qin Lie stood with shock filling his eyes.

While he was dumbfounded, the three drops of blood that burned with the Fire Qilin’s flames suddenly slid off of the tombstone.

Qin Lie subconsciously grabbed them.

“Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!”

The second that Qin Lie grabbed them, the three droplets that resembled bloodstones immediately corroded his palm like acid.

His palm bled profusely.

The blood that came from his palm instantly mixed with the three blood drops that burned with the Fire Qilin flames. The terrifying heat that exploded from his palm almost made him go insane.

He cried out in pain, shaking his hand in an attempt to rid his body of the three drops of Fire Qilin blood.

Unfortunately, no matter how he twisted or struggled, the three drops could not be cast from his body. They had already merged with his own blood.

As Qin Lie swung his arm, a terrible heat spread from the blood in his arms to every blood vessel within his body!

His skin and flesh turned fiery red at a shocking rate. His blood boiled at a shockingly high temperature.

Just as Qin Lie was about to succumb to the heat and be burned to dust from inside out, the seven divine lights suddenly flew out from the tombstone and wrapped around his body.

And his painful howls immediately stopped.

=======

Chapter 424: Fire Demon’s Rampage!

The seven divine lights resembled a calm breeze, thin rain, or soothing spring water sprinkling down onto Qin Lie, quickly alleviating the burning heat inside of his blood vessels.

His roars of pain came to a sudden halt.

The three drops of refined Qilin blood that were like bloodstones diffused into his blood and flowed throughout his body.

Previously, all of the blood blood in his body felt as if it were on fire. Now, however, only the areas in which the three drops of blood roamed were burning hot.

Yet, compared to before, the heat had greatly diminished to the point that Qin Lie was able to endure it.

He focused his senses and noticed that seven strands of scattered lights had seeped into his body, entering the three drops of refined Qilin blood.

“Refined blood! The Blood Refinement Art… refining one’s own blood into blood essence!”

A thought appeared in Qin Lie’s mind. He raised his eyebrow, eyes shining with a dazzlingly bright light.

Inside of the half of the Blood Codex that Xue Li had given him, a “Blood Refinement Art” was recorded. This Blood Refinement Art was used to temper the blood inside of one’s body, cleansing and concentrating it into a purer, more powerful “blood essence.”

This Blood Refinement Art was similar to the brewing of alcohol. It took the purest, most refined energies in an individual’s blood and tempered them, turning them into blood essence!

Every drop of “blood essence” contained a tremendous amount of power and the essence of the Blood Spirit Art, and could complement the secret arts of the Blood Codex to unleash a terrifying amount of power.

According to the records of the Blood Codex, not only did blood essence have a myriad of uses, it could greatly enhance a martial practitioner’s combat power as well.

One of its simplest uses was the swift recovery of a martial practitioner’s injuries. If a body part were pierced by a sharp weapon, and the bone within had been destroyed, the wound would quickly recover on its own with just one drop of blood essence enveloping it!

When unleashing Blood Arts: Explode with blood essence inside of his body, Qin Lie could even cause a huge change in the blood of another person, killing them by rupturing their blood vessels.

At this moment, the three drops of refined Qilin blood continuously flowed through his blood vessels, yet it was neither diluted nor merged with his blood.

The three drops of blood were also a type of blood essence. They contained an incredibly powerful blood energy that was remarkably refined.

“Let’s try refining them into three blood essences of my own! Blood Refinement Art!”

Unwavering determination appeared in Qin Lie’s eyes. Throwing the potential threat of Xiahou Yuan and Du Xiangyang to the back of his mind, he began to summon his blood energy right beside the giant lake of fire, wrapping the three drops of Qilin blood inside of his blood vessels with his own blood.

Qin Lie channeled the Blood Spirit Art, and a large amount of blood energy gushed toward the three drops of Qilin blood. He began tempering the blood with the Blood Refinement Art recorded in the Blood Codex.

“Swoosh swoosh swoosh!”

Flames that resembled meteors fell from the sky, streaking downward into the land of flames.

The burning sky suddenly became a hundred times fiercer, and the occasional descent of meteoric fire intensified into a full-fledged storm of terrifying meteoric flames.

At a glance, it seemed as if the burning sky had collapsed. A storm of countless blazing meteors leaving trails of dazzling flame rained throughout the sky and scorched the land.

“Rrrrmb!”

The small volcanoes exploded while spewing lava and draconic flames.

The earth shook as the ponds of lava and rivers of fire began to bubble.

Since the Fire Qilin’s corpse had been extracted from the lake of fire, this land of fire was currently undergoing a shocking transformation.

Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Ta, Du Xiangyang, and other martial practitioners in the area noticed this and felt shocked to their very cores.

Anyone who was struck by a falling fiery meteor would be unable to escape death. They would immediately be burned to ash.

A few people in the secluded areas of the land of fire had suffered such a fate.

However, even though he was beside the fiery lake at the center of the land of fire, Qin Lie was unaffected for some reason.

The storm of blazing meteors only landed near him. Some of them were clearly headed toward him, but as if detecting some kind of aura in the process, they would change direction and avoid him.

“Crack! Crack!”

Strange voices rang out from the lake of fiery lava next to Qin Lie. As someone who was refining the Qilin blood with the Blood Refinement Art, he knew about the strange things that were happening around him. However, he did not act.

He simply examined everything with his soul consciousness.

Qin Lie saw numerous creatures that were made of fire and stone. They were about four to five meters tall with lava flowing from their bodies and fire burning all around them. They simply walked out of the giant lake of lava, each sporting a pair of Heavenly Flame Crystals for eyes that shone with ghastly flames.

“Fire Demons!” Qin Lie exclaimed out of shock.

It was said that, at the heart of volcanoes and lands of fire, creatures made of fire and stone would sometimes be born.

These creatures were called Fire Demons.

A Fire Demon’s life energy was determined by the flames it was shrouded in. It only had a simple consciousness and could not be considered intelligent. It could only act according to its instincts.

The places that could give birth to a Fire Demon, however, were often covered in lava and flames. They were usually an unbelievably high temperature. A Fire Demon could run amuck in such a place, doing whatever they wanted. This made them extremely frightening.

Fire Demons did not fear pain or death. They would only obey their basest instincts to kill and chase away all other living creatures who stepped into their domain. It was only when they killed all beings that were not Fire Demons that they would become calm.

A Fire Demon’s size alone determined their strength and power.

The bigger a Fire Demon was, the scarier they were, and the more difficult it would be to deal with them.

While Qin Lie was refining the Qilin’s blood with the Blood Refinement Art, more than a dozen of Fire Demons that were each around four to five meters tall had climbed out of the lake of fire one after another. Creaking sounds emanated from their stone limbs as they moved.

They seemed to have been peacefully resting inside of the fiery lake all this time, slumbering along with the Fire Qilin’s body. That is, until the tombstone forcefully dragged out the body out, forcing them to wake up in anger.

Dozens of Fire Demons wildly charged in every direction amidst the blazing meteor shower and erupting volcanoes.

Fire and lava scattered from their bodies as they ran, spewing everywhere. The fire on their stone limbs blazed as they moved, making them appear extremely intimidating.

When Qin Lie detected the rampage of the Fire Demons with his soul consciousness, he started to panic and prepared to temporarily stop the Blood Refinement Art to avoid them.

The fire energy that the Fire Demons contained was comparable to that of Netherpassage and Fulfillment Realm martial practitioners. They were not very intelligent, nor did they have extraordinary techniques or spirit artifacts. They relied purely on their instincts.

If this were anywhere else, a Fire Demon would not be that scary, but in a land of fire like this one, a Fire Demon was free to do whatever it wanted. It did not need to fear the burning liquid, ponds of lava, or even the showers of fiery meteors. Here, their combat power ascended to an entirely new level and made them significantly scarier to deal with.

Just as Qin Lie was about to escape, he discovered that the Fire Demons that were headed his way actually passed by him as if they did not detect his presence at all.

Qin Lie froze.

A while later, he came to a sudden realization. “The aura of the refined Fire Qilin’s blood!”

The three drops of Fire Qilin blood that he was currently refining with the Blood Refinement Art were currently in his bloodstream. Naturally, he would have the aura of a Fire Qilin.

These Fire Demons had slumbered deeply alongside the Fire Qilin within the fiery lake. They had partially been born because of the subtle connection they shared with the Fire Qilin’s dissipated soul. This was why they instinctively treated Qin Lie as their own kind.

They completely ignored Qin Lie.

This both shocked Qin Lie and filled him with joy. After confirming his conclusion once more, knowing that none of the Fire Demons would harm him, he eventually relaxed and continued refining the Qilin’s blood.

What he didn’t know was that many Fire Demons that overflowed with burning liquid were also climbing out of the lava ponds all over this land of flames.

These Fire Demons were simply acting according to their instincts, hunting and slaughtering any martial practitioner of the nine great forces who appeared in this area.

In their simple minds, this was their home and their world.

They would not allow any creature that wasn’t one of them to freely move about the area. Therefore, they moved to kill all who had basically invaded their land.

Xiahou Yuan’s group, Du Xiangyang, and martial practitioners from other Silver rank forces who had accidentally stumbled into this fiery landscape were suddenly being hunted by Fire Demons.

The Fire Demons were essentially cleaning out the entire region!

The martial practitioners who thought themselves powerful quickly realized how difficult it was to fight Fire Demons.

The Fire Demons knew neither pain nor death. Their fire forged stone bodies were incredibly tough, and every movement they made splashed their surroundings with fire and burning liquid. Every time a fiery meteor struck the Fire Demons, their power didn’t weaken—rather, the Fire Demons became even stronger than before.

Those who fought the Fire Demons were quickly slaughtered by them. Martial practitioners who were smart like Du Xiangyang immediately escaped the moment that they noticed the situation was not to their advantage.

Fire Demons could be seen hunting down any living being that had entered the land of fire.

Figures fled from the burning environment, afraid to remain in it any longer.

The foolish few who had fought the Fire Demons were now humanoid shapes of burning charcoal left forgotten beside streams of fire. They were all completely and utterly dead.

Meanwhile, Qin Lie leisurely refined the Qilin’s blood beside the lake at the center of the land of fire. He was unaware of the bloody slaughter that was taking place throughout the area.

In just a day’s time, Qin Lie was the only martial practitioner left in the entire region.

The fiery meteor shower that rained through the sky seemed to have finally stopped as the sky became a dark gray. The sky was no longer burning.

The numerous small volcanoes had erupted, causing lava and flames to spread everywhere. This had formed new lava ponds and twisting streams.

After the Fire Demons confirmed that all foreign beings had either been eliminated or chased away, they roamed for a little longer before returning to the bottoms of the fiery lakes, seemingly intent on restoring their spent strength within the lava.

However, this land of fire had still become a forbidden land. Despite the fact that the region had quieted down, those who had escaped did not dare to enter again.

Time passed swiftly.

Seven days passed in a flash, and the land of fire was peaceful and quiet.

There were no falling meteors of flame, no volcanic eruptions, and no roaming Fire Demons.

On the seventh day, countless flaming sparks flew out of the land of fire’s lava ponds and bubbling streams, heading toward the center of the region as if every single one had a simple consciousness of their own.

It was as if there were hundreds of thousands of flaming butterflies flying through the air.

=======

Chapter 425: Refining Blood Essence!

The flames that resembled thousands of burning butterflies flew from every corner of the fiery landscape toward the lake of fire.

At this moment, Qin Lie sat on a brown red rock beside the burning lake, staring at the three drops of Qilin blood in surprise.

The three drops of translucent blood, which resembled stones made of blood, were suspended in front of Qin Lie at chest height, spinning in midair. Three wisps of scarlet flame shaped like the Fire Qilin burned on the inside of drops of blood and shone with a beautiful red light.

These were the blood essence that Qin Lie had refined using the Blood Refinement Art from the Blood Codex, nurtured using his own blood, cleansed using his own soul consciousness, and tempered using the drops of Qilin blood. These were the lifeblood essences that belonged to him and him alone!

Upon marking these essences with his signature soul imprint, Qin Lie could vaguely sense that he had become connected to them. He had the extraordinary feeling that they were compatible with his own soul.

Right as he attempted to use the three drops of blood, he was suddenly dumbfounded as he realized that there were thousands of flame wisps converging on him from all over the land of fire.

The flames seemed to have a simple, limited kind of consciousness of their own. Like moths charging toward light, the flames flew straight for the three drops of blood floating in front of Qin Lie.

The flames gradually soaked into the blood drops and vanished.

Qin Lie seemed to be in high spirits. His eyes shone with a joyful light as he stared intently at the blood drops floating in front of him.

All of the flames were vanishing into the three drops of blood. The scarlet flames within the blood that were shaped like the Fire Qilin burned brighter and brighter. They radiated a terrifying heat.

The three lifeblood essences that were imprinted with Qin Lie’s soul imprint seemed to have developed their own basic consciousnesses. They appeared to have gained life of their own, becoming simple life forms. It was so miraculous that even he found it a little hard to believe.

Soon enough, the thousands of flame wisps that had flown from all over this fiery landscape had vanished into the three lifeblood essences.

The three drops of blood seemed to have transformed, transitioning from liquid to solid, translucent crystal. The blood drops radiated a shockingly high temperature, the tremendous heat energy contained within them having been exceedingly concentrated

Qin Lie tried to store the three drops of refined blood into his body.

The thought had barely formed in his mind when the three blood essences immediately responded to his call.

The blood essences instantly vanished into his chest, leaving trails of bloody light. They soaked into his blood vessels and boiled within them.

However, the heat that had previously tortured him did not flare into existence.

It was as if the three blood essences had truly become self-aware. Knowing that Qin Lie’s blood vessels and body could not endure the terrifying heat of the Qilin’s blood, they automatically restricted that heat to the fire inside of the blood droplets upon entering his body.

“This is amazing!” Qin Lie’s exclaimed in admiration, his eyes alight.

He changed what he was thinking once more.

“Swoosh swoosh swoosh!”

The three lifeblood essences flew out of his chest, and like three sanguine lights, they shot toward a fiery red rock in front of him.

“Boom!”

The rock was instantly overwhelmed by three frightening clusters of flame. Amazingly, the rock gradually melted from the heat.

“What terrifying firepower!” Qin Lie grinned and laughed.

He believed that most of Netherpassage Realm martial practitioners didn’t have bodies as tough as that rock. If they were caught off guard and struck by the three lifeblood essences, without the protection of spirit armor or a shield of light, they would quickly be burned to ash once their body was ignited.

“Haha!”

Qin Lie’s interest was piqued as he continuously played with the three blood drops that he had gotten through unexpected events by the lake of fire.

The three drops of refined blood were completely under his control. Since they were connected to his soul, they were the spirit artifacts he was most comfortable with.

With a single thought, the three blood essences charged toward their target. The three blood essences would transform into three rays of sanguine light, shooting toward his surroundings.

The rocks would either be blasted to pieces by the dreadful impact of the essences or be covered in flames and melt instantly.

Qin Lie enjoyed manipulating the blood and attacking his surroundings without becoming tired.

He quickly discovered that, just like martial practitioners, the three miraculous drops of blood would lose their energy as they attacked.

—What they consumed was fire energy.

After numerous attacks, Qin Lie could sense that the three drops of blood were making less and less of an impact on the rocks around him, and their heat diminished in the same way. The Qilin-shaped fire inside the blood drops mirrored that decline, growing smaller and smaller. Its temperature dropped sharply as well.

“They’re like a bizarre kind of organism that can sense my orders through their connection to my soul. However, they can also become weak and will require fire energy to be restored. Interesting…”

After a long period of observation, Qin Lie more or less understood how the three blood drops worked and became more and more astonished.

He rescinded his previous order and sent a new command to the blood drops with his soul consciousness—Replenish your energy.

The instant that he thought this, Qin Lie was amazed to discover that the three blood drops actually began moving on their own.

As if they had transformed into three fire spirits, each of the refined blood drops flew in different directions at shocking speeds.

He stared at them blankly for a moment before closing his eyes and using his mind consciousness to examine the area instead.

Many amazing scenes were suddenly reflected into his heart and seen by his True Soul.

It was as if, at this very moment, the three refined drops of blood had become eyes!

Through the three blood droplets, Qin Lie could observe the surrounding area and see what they were doing.

They were actually searching the land of fire for Heavenly Flame Crystals!

One blood drop flew into the fire lake in front of Qin Lie and charged straight to the bottom. It found several dozen huge Heavenly Flame Crystals and instantly dove into the largest among them.

Another blood drop had flown to a gigantic rock several dozen kilometers away from Qin Lie and vanished inside of it.

There was another huge Heavenly Flame Crystal inside of that rock, and it was absorbing the fire energy from it.

The last blood drop submerged itself in a stream of lava and swam inside of it. Dozens of Heavenly Flame Crystals were resting at the bottom of it, enabling the blood drop to absorb fire energy from them.

The fire energy contained within these Heavenly Flame Crystals could swiftly replenish their fire energy, allowing them to quickly recover.

This discovery made Qin Lie become more and more amazed.

Through this observation, he was sure that the three lifeblood essences that he had refined with the Blood Refinement Art each had a basic intelligence of their own. They could instinctively restore the energy they had consumed.

“Amazing! This is truly amazing! I can’t believe how miraculous these three lifeblood essences are!” Qin Lie was extremely excited. “Heavenly Flame Crystals! Heavenly Flame Crystals can replenish the energy they use up. It looks like I should do my best to find as many Heavenly Flame Crystals as possible in this fiery land!”

He quickly came to a realization.

He currently saw these blood essences as a powerful weapon, the kind that was very deadly and impossible to defend against.

To use this weapon effectively, he would need plenty of Heavenly Flame Crystals to replenish their energy. Only then would the three blood essences be able to help him at any time and burn his enemies to a crisp.

In light of this, he got to work.

The three blood essences were the perfect tools for seeking out Heavenly Flame Crystals. Qin Lie only needed to follow their trails and collect the Heavenly Flame Crystals.

The Heavenly Flame Crystals in the lake of fire, however, were currently out of his reach. They were enormous, so he could only give up on them for now.

Qin Lie went to the two other places.

He shattered the huge rock with the Astral Thunder Hammer and exposed the crimson crystals inside of it. He immediately stored them in his spatial ring.

Qin Lie sent a command with his mind, and one of the blood drops searched for more Heavenly Flame Crystals in other places, leaving behind a blazing trail.

Soon enough, it discovered numerous Heavenly Flame Crystals scattered around a volcanic crater.

“There is a ridiculous amount of Heavenly Flame Crystals in this region. Since it’ll probably be difficult to find more after leaving this place, I must collect them as many of them as I can. Whenever these blood drops exhaust their fire energy, they need to use Heavenly Flame crystals to replenish it. The more the better!”

Qin Lie made up his mind and began searching the land of fire for Heavenly Flame Crystals using the blood drops.

“Eh! A smoldering corpse… and this is a Xiahou Family token! This guy was killed by a meteor!”

“There’s another body… a Black Voodoo Cult token! This guy was killed by a fire demon!”

“Here’s another corpse… this guy was from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain!”

“……”

As he searched for Heavenly Flame Crystals, Qin Lie discovered numerous black, charred corpses. He managed to obtain a considerable number of tokens from them.

There were the Xiahou Family tokens, Black Voodoo Cult tokens, Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain tokens, and Illusory Demon Sect tokens.

These people had been killed by Fire Demons, blazing meteors, or volcanic eruptions.

Their tokens and spatial rings were just picked up by Qin Lie. He profited by doing nothing.

======

Chapter 426: Voodoo Toxin

Time passed, and yet another half a month went by.

Over the course of that half-month, Qin Lie had collected over two hundred Heavenly Flame Crystals of varying sizes, seven tokens, and seven spatial rings.

At this moment, he had tokens from Heavenly Sword Mountain, Black Voodoo Cult, Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, and the Xiahou Family. Using the tokens of these four forces, he would be able to sense the movements of their martial practitioners within a certain distance.

In the same way, the martial practitioners of the four forces could track him within a certain distance through the tokens in his possession.

When Qin Lie used the three drops of refined blood to seek out the Heavenly Flame Crystals, he often borrowed the tombstone to cultivate the Blood Spirit Art and enhance the purity of his blood spirit energy. By doing this, he continuously tempered his body and nurtured his True Soul.

“This land of fire stretches across several thousand kilometers. I’ve already gone through all of that and collected all of the Heavenly Flame Crystals and the tokens of victims I could find. This place has long since become devoid of life, so it’s about time for me to leave.”

When Qin Lie traveled throughout the entire land of fire and gathered enough Heavenly Flame Crystals and tokens, he was not able to sense anybody through the tokens.

So he went to a lush forest nearby that was the exact opposite of the land of fire.

Ancient trees made up this thriving forest. Every tree was at least several dozens of meters tall, and their branches and leaves resembled dark clouds that shrouded the sky. This made the forest seem mysteriously dark.

“There isn’t enough worldly spirit energy in this fresh air for me to use for recovery or cultivation Spirit stones still are my only option.”

Stepping into the vast forest, Qin Lie took out four tokens from Heavenly Sword Mountain, Black Voodoo Cult, Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, and the Xiahou Family. He hung them around his waist, preparing to sense activity in his surroundings at a moment’s notice.

He walked beneath the ancient trees alone, appearing both confident and relaxed.

The three refined blood that he had acquired from the land of fire were powerful weapons that he had at his disposal. He believed he would be able to deal Du Xiangyang and Xiahou Yuan a terrifying blow with just the blood essences if he encountered them again.

Two days swiftly passed.

Qin Lie didn’t sense any life in this seemingly lively forest—not even birds or insects. Everything felt strange.

“Ding!”

On his third day in the forest, the sword token that hung at Qin Lie’s waist softly rang out.

His expression changed as he lifted the sword token and examined the area with his mind

.

There was a sword token about thirty kilometers away from Qin Lie. The person who held that sword token was swiftly approaching him—most likely after sensing him nearby.

Having yet to encounter someone for such a long time, Qin Lie grinned and also ran in the direction of other sword token.

A short time later, a curse came from the leaves of an ancient tree in front of him. “Dammit, why is it you again?”

Du Xiangyang emerged from the bushes and looked at Qin Lie with a wretched expression. “What terrible luck. I thought I could meet someone from Luo Chen’s side, but it’s just you again. So, how did you manage to not die in the land of fire, madman? You should have been at the center of everything when the Fire Demons went on a rampage, right? How did you survive?”

“Heh. I was in that fiery landscape for the past half a month.” Qin Lie calmly walked to the ancient tree that Du Xiangyang was near. He narrowed his eyes and said, “You’re the first person I’ve seen in a while.”

“Well I had no intention of seeing you!” Du Xiangyang snorted coldly, then turned around and ran off into the distance.

Du Xiangyang had tested Qin Lie’s strength already and knew that he was incredibly difficult to deal with. He thought that Qin Lie was practically a battle-crazed nutjob.d

Having realized that Qin Lie was not a weakling, Du Xiangyang no longer had any desire to clash with Qin Lie. He did not want to provoke trouble.

“In the direction to your right, about one hundred fifty or two hundred fifty kilometers away, I came across a sword token. A faint fragrance that could only belong to a woman was on it. Very few women are representing Heavenly Sword Mountain in this Trial, and He Wei would not willingly part with hers. I figured that you might be familiar the woman who threw that sword token away.”

Du Xiangyang’s voice rang out in sporadic intervals, “I saw martial practitioners from Black Voodoo Cult not to long ago. They seemed to be pursuing someone. That person might be one of the women you know…”

He told Qin Lie all of this out of goodwill.

“Xie Jingxuan! Song Tingyu!” Qin Lie frowned.

Qin Lie was originally going to chase Du Xiangyang and take revenge for the attack in the land of fire, but after hearing his words, his expression immediately grew heavy.

Xie Jingxuan was in the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm, and Song Tingyu was at the peak of the Netherpassage Realm. They could be considered some of the strongest youths in the Scarlet Tide Continent.

However, in the eyes of the Land of Chaos’ nine great Silver rank forces, and in comparison to their geniuses, their power might as well have been non-existent.

Song Tingyu was decent. In a one on one fight against a normal practitioner from a different force, she would at least be able to fight them to a standstill.

Xie Jingxuan, however, was slightly weaker than her.

If Xie Jingxuan accidentally encountered the experts of other forces, then her situation would become extremely dire. She could very well encounter some unfortunate circumstances.

“It has to be one of them!”

Qin Lie took a deep breath and immediately abandoned the thought of pursuing Du Xiangyang. He chose to move in the direction that Du Xiangyang had indicated.

Both Xie Jingxuan and Song Tingyu had more or less helped him back in the Scarlet Tide Continent.

When he was trapped in the Nether Realm, it was Xie Jingxuan who resolutely supported the Ling Family. When they had been oppressed by Seven Fiends Valley, she had been the one to ensure that they did not dare to go too far.

After Qin Lie had been betrayed by Profound Heaven Alliance, Qin Lie contacted Xie Jingxuan through Dark Asura Hall’s Liang Zhong and had her send word to Song Tingyu, who then gathered the Spatial Spirit Stones.

Both of these women had given him a helping hand when he was in danger, and they had never treated him wrongly.

“Between the two of them… who would it be?”

Qin Lie frowned deeply and took out the Black Voodoo Cult token. He constantly looked at the token while he rushed, hoping that it could provide some clues.

An hour later.

The token made by the Black Voodoo Cult suddenly emitted a shrill noise that sounded like the wailing of a ghost.

In spite of that, joy appeared in Qin Lie’s eyes as he hastily examined the area and tracked their location through the Black Voodoo Cult’s token.

“There are three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners! They’ve grouped together and are swiftly moving toward something! They’re chasing someone!”

Qin Lie immediately reacted and charged in the direction that the token was pointing at top speed.

“Twenty kilometers!”

“Seventeen kilometers!”

“Ten kilometers!”

“Almost there!”

Qin Lie cut through the forest, swiftly approaching the other party like a bolt of lightning.

“Swoosh!”

Suddenly, not far from him, a beautiful figure shot through the forest.

It happened in a flash, but it was enough to raise Qin Lie’s spirits—it was Song Tingyu!

“Stop!” Qin Lie yelled loudly, frenziedly chasing her from behind.

The beautiful figure immediately stopped running and shakily cried out, “Qin Lie! Is that you?”

“It’s me!” Qin Lie swiftly rushed to her.

The beautiful figure came to a stop beside the roots of a thick, ancient tree. She was crestfallen and black tendrils of smoke leaked from deep within her pupils every so often. Her eyes looked like they had been stricken by something. It was an incredibly strange sight.

When Qin Lie appeared, she tore at the mask on her face and revealed a beautiful, yet completely pale face. It was Song Tingyu.

She was breathing rapidly as if she were suffering from a terrible illness. As the black tendrils of smoke in her eyes grew darker, her shapely body trembled intermittently. She bit her white lips like her life depended on it, seemingly holding back tremendous pain.

“Run! They’ll be here soon! Run with me, Qin Lie!” Song Tingyu screamed in panic after spending a great deal of effort to overcome the intense pain she was experiencing. “Run! We must be quick! If we aren’t, then it will be too late!”

“Is it the Black Voodoo Cult?” Qin Lie’s face was cold and his eyes were murderous.

Song Tingyu was in horrible condition. He could sense clearly that her life force was gradually dissipating.

With his current understanding of blood and life energy, Qin Lie didn’t think that Song Tingyu had more than half a month before she lost all of her life force and died.

Qin Lie didn’t know what had happened, but the moment he saw Song Tingyu’s pitiful appearance, he felt like killing someone.

“Where’s Xie Jingxuan? Have you seen her?” Qin Lie sucked in a deep breath and continuously forced himself to calm down. “Is she okay?”

“Jingxuan?” Song Tingyu forced a smile that was even uglier than a crying face. “I don’t know. She might already be dead since she was cursed with this Voodoo Toxin even earlier than I was. If I’m unable to cure it, then it’ll probably be even more impossible for her.”

=======

Chapter 427: Head-on Clash!

Qin Lie had never seen Song Tingyu in such a terrible state.

She had obviously been tainted by a deadly poison. Her face was pale, her eyes were dim, and there were black tendrils of smoke leaking from deep within her pupils.

Her life force was gradually fading. It was clear that she could not cure what was happening to her.

This was not the Song Tingyu that Qin Lie used to know.

“What happened?” Qin Lie asked as calmly as he could, struggling to suppress the anger and murderous intent in his heart. “What happened to you and Xie Jingxuan while I was gone? Why is the Black Voodoo Cult chasing you?”

“Let’s go! We’ll speak after we get out of here!” Song Tingyu said hurriedly.

“We can’t escape,” Qin Lie said with a grim expression. He pulled out the Black Voodoo Cult token from his waist and shook it before her eyes, “They can lock us down through this token.”

“Just throw it away then!” Song Tingyu said urgently.

“Some problems can’t be solved by just running away. Leave these three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners to me,” Qin Lie said murderously.

“Don’t! You’re no match for them. These Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners are extremely powerful. Even the Terminator Profound Bombs might not work against them!” Song Tingyu begged, shaking her head repeatedly. “Trust me, you’re definitely not their match. Let’s leave already. I’ve thrown my sword token away and it won’t be easy for them to find me. If you throw this token away right now, we might be able to escape from them. I’ll tell you everything once we get out of here. Quickly!”

A shrill howl suddenly rang out from the Black Voodoo Cult token in Qin Lie’s hand. A shadow garbed in a long, dark robe on the face of the token howled like a terrifying demon.

When the howl started, the black tendrils in Song Tingyu’s eyes grew even darker and more frightening.

“Uaahh!” Song Tingyu’s body began to violently shake once more. She couldn’t resist howling in pain as she curled into herself, hugging her knees with her hands. She rolled on the ground, spasming in pain from time to time.

“Throw it away! Throw it away! Stop the screaming, I can’t take it anymore!” Song Tingyu cried at the top of her lungs.

Qin Lie hastily put the token into his spatial ring.

The second that the howl from the Black Voodoo Cult token stopped, Song Tingyu’s horrible cries subsided.

Her rose-red dress was smeared with soil. Beads of sweat dripped down her face as she repeatedly panted and regained her composure. Even her voice had become raspy. “Leave me, Qin Lie. Escape on your own. I’ve been poisoned by the Black Voodoo Cult’s voodoo toxin. I don’t have much time. If I stay with you, I’ll just be dragging you down.”

“I’ll find a cure, I swear! No matter what I have to do, no matter what the cost, I will definitely get you the cure!” Qin Lie roared like a trapped beast.

He suddenly took Terminator Profound Bombs out of his spatial ring. He took out nine of them in total, hiding them in the soil, the grass, the leaves, and between the tree trunks.

“Go and hide for now!” Qin Lie pointed in a direction.

“It’s useless. The explosive power of the Terminator Profound Bombs is too spread out. The Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners all possess sharp soul perception. The second they enter this area, they’ll immediately sense the thunder energy,” Song Tingyu said, trying to convince him, and attempted to pull him away. “Out of the three people chasing me, two are in the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm and one is in the late stage of the Netherpassage Realm. All three of them wield extremely high rank spirit artifacts, and the spirit arts they cultivate are also extremely bizarre. If they catch you off guard and poison you with their voodoo toxin, you’ll quickly lose your life energy just like I currently am.”

Song Tingyu was extremely terrified of the Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners and didn’t believe that Qin Lie could go up against them. She just wanted to stay as far away from them as possible and spend the rest of the time she had in peace.

“Don’t worry. I might not necessarily lose. I won’t be the one who dies in this fight!” Qin Lie said with a frosty expression.

“You won’t change your mind?” Song Tingyu glared at him angrily. “Qin Lie! These Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners are far scarier than I, Xie Jingxuan, Zhao Xuan, or Zhao Chendong! I’m serious, you aren’t a match for them! Trust me, if we escape right now, you can still live through this!”

“It’s too late. They’re about to reach us. I’d like to see what kind of people they are for myself!” Qin Lie yelled.

Song Tingyu went silent.

She no longer tried to persuade him. She seemed to have come to terms with the situation. With both her mind and body severely damaged at this point, she was resigned to her fate.

Surprisingly, all traces of urgency had vanished from her face. In fact, she even appeared somewhat serene.

“Qin Lie, there’s something I want to ask you,” she said softly.

“Tell me.” Qin Lie stood beneath a huge tree, facing the direction that the Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners were coming from. His expression was cold, and his eyes shone with a terrifying killing intent.

“Have you… have you ever… loved me?” Song Tingyu lowered her head. Her voice and her shoulders trembled in unison.

“Stay focused. You’ll be fine. I swear, I’ll definitely save you!” Qin Lie exclaimed in a reassuring tone.

Song Tingyu raised her head, her beautiful face twisting in a helpless smile. “I disagree. Even if these three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners don’t come after me, I wouldn’t live for more than half a month. Tell me, Qin Lie. Have you ever loved me? Yes or no?”

“Yes!” Qin Lie practically yelled through clenched teeth.

A dim light appeared in Song Tingyu’s sickly eyes. Her pale face reddened a tiny bit as she smiled softly and nodded, saying, “That’s wonderful…”

“Sasasa!”

The rustling of leaves suddenly came from afar, indicating that someone was running through the trees. A cold, dark aura spread toward Qin Lie and Song Tingyu like a cold, invisible mist.

“They’re coming. I can feel them getting closer and closer…”

Song Tingyu felt cold. She subconsciously gripped her clothing tighter as her voice lost its usual charm and became kind of forlorn.

Qin Lie’s eyes grew more and more bloodshot.

“Thump thump! Thump thump!”

His heart beat out of his chest at a constant rhythm. The three drops of refined Qilin blood in the area of his heart and abdomen began to boil. The fire in them, which was shaped like a Qilin, began to gradually burn as if it were ignited.

Qin Lie had activated the power of the blood in advance!

“Zzzt! Rrrmb!”

Thunder and lightning rumbled from within his bones. The Astral Thunder Hammer in his hand crawled with thick strands lightning, just waiting to be unleashed.

A few minutes later.

Three men garbed in long, black robes, whose bodies, necks, and even faces were covered in black, suddenly appeared like ghosts.

Three pairs of cold, merciless eyes shone with a terrifyingly cold light from within the robes.

They all stared at the eager Qin Lie.

“Who are you?” asked the taller man in the center of the three. “You’re not from the Black Voodoo Cult. Where did you get your hands on that token?”

His voice sounded like weapons grating against one another. It was an unspeakably sharp, ugly sound.

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that I will have three new Black Voodoo Cult tokens very soon,” Qin Lie said grimly.

“Yu Xi, Yu Jie, one of you kill him while the other captures that woman,” the man said impatiently. He did not wish to waste even a breath on such nonsense.

The two Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners beside the man rushed at Qin Lie and Song Tingyu like two black ghosts.

The one that charged at Qin Lie suddenly began to strangely shake mid-flight.

Wisps of mist that were as pitch black as ink, twisting and writhing like black, venomous snakes, shot from his black robe and streaked toward Qin Lie. They resembled bolts of lightning size of a finger and were more than a dozen meters long.

A dark, evil and eerie aura spread from the black mist. Qin Lie felt an icy, bone-chilling cold even though the mist was still a hundred meters away from him.

“Hehe!” The man laughed softly as an illusory shadow appeared from his icy cold eyes hidden within the black robe.

Like invisible tentacles, an extremely invasive energy shot from the man’s eyes and headed straight for Qin Lie’s mind.

A poisonous centipede with a hundred feet suddenly appeared in Qin Lie’s mind out of nowhere. The centipede was completely black, and a sported a pair of small black wings. It nimbly slid through his mind and dove into his Soul Lake.

The hundred-foot centipede was dozens of meters long. It was an evil secret art formed from fragmented souls. It leaked a dark aura as it savagely bit and tore at Qin Lie’s True Soul.

It was there to tear Qin Lie’s soul apart!

“Absolutely pathetic.” The man shook his head, his icy cold eyes overflowing with disdain. “He does not even know how to form a defense with his soul consciousness during combat. His mind is weak like paper, and he has no experience with soul combat. Heh… he’s even lousier than that woman. At the least she managed to endure for a long time. If the voodoo toxin hadn’t seeped into her soul, she would’ve been a little difficult to handle.”

“Shut up with your nonsense! Deal with him quickly and stop causing trouble for me!” the leader yelled impatiently.

“With pleasure,” the person who was charging at Qin Lie answer casually.

“Thunder energy! Your feet! Beneath your feet!” the leader suddenly screamed.

As they approached Qin Lie and Song Tingyu, the two black-robed martial practitioners sensed the abnormality.

At this moment, they were still around a dozen meters away from Qin Lie and Song Tingyu. Their eyes showed panic as they hastily retreated.

“God dammit! This guy’s from Terminator Sect! It’s the Terminator Profound Bomb!” the leader roared angrily.

In the middle of his angry roar, the space between him and Qin Lie collapsed, and an abnormal pattern appeared out of nowhere. It looked as if space itself had been cut to pieces.

Countless bolts of lightning and thunder energy instantly exploded.

The ground was blown apart and dust flew everywhere. The ancient trees were immediately reduced to ash.

Two figures that were covered in blood flew out of the explosion. Their bodies were covered in a black light that continuously collapsed and reformed.

At the same time.

Thick bolts of lightning appeared within Qin Lie’s mind, instantly covering his Soul Lake.

The gigantic centipede struggled violently amidst the thunderous blasts, its hundred feet wiggling in vain until it gradually faded and disappeared like smoke.