Killing Ma Yuan

"Fellow Daoist Lu?" Ma Yuan blinked, not immediately understanding who Lin He was referring to as Fellow Daoist Lu.

"Big brother, it's that brat with yellow hair!" Ma Shan said resentfully from the side.

Afterward, Ma Shan scanned the numerous cultivators on the field and discovered a detail he had previously overlooked.

"Where is that Lu Qingshan fellow?!" Ma Shan asked, filled with surprise and uncertainty.

Yes, the cultivators on the field were all accounted for, but Lu Qingshan was conspicuously absent.

Upon hearing Ma Shan's words, Lin He also realized that Lu Qingshan had vanished into the crowd at some point.

However, the immediate priority was to deal with Ma Yuan and his group.

Lin He waved a Formation Flag, and the fire snake spat out a stream of flames, finally capturing all of Ma Yuan's Dark Sting Golden Bee Gu without leaving a single one.

Ma Yuan looked at the corpses of the Dark Sting Golden Bee Gu littering the ground, his heart aching. A savage expression gradually appeared on his face.

Seeing the fire snake, controlled by Lin He, split and charge towards his group.

Ma Yuan could no longer hold back.

"You old geezer, you're forcing my hand!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a dense blood-red light surged from Ma Yuan's entire body.

Snap—

Snap—

Snap—

A series of ripping sounds echoed.

Ma Yuan's body swelled like a balloon, instantly tearing through the clothes that covered him and revealing his robust physique.

Fierce, blood-red patterns emerged on Ma Yuan's bare body, resembling lava flowing across cracked earth.

Lin He, who had been confident of victory, was shocked by Ma Yuan's sudden transformation. "Blood Frenzy Gu, you've actually refined it!"

[Blood Frenzy Gu]: Grade One Gu Worm.

Description: Requires human children as the primary material for refinement, taking several years to slowly complete. Once refined, its power is unstoppable.

Refinement Condition: Charm attribute value greater than 5.

Gu Worm Effect: Activate Blood Frenzy Gu to allow the cultivator to enter a berserk state, granting immunity to most Grade One spell damage, Strength +n (n = Charm attribute value), and Health +30.

Duration: Three minutes.

Cooldown: Sixty days.

This was a Gu worm that, once refined at the Qi Refining stage, made one nearly invincible.

The refinement process for Blood Frenzy Gu was extremely cruel, requiring a human child as raw material, along with one hundred poisonous insects as supplementary ingredients, placed in a sealed container and refined for several years.

During this time, not only was the child's survival necessary, but the Gu Cultivator also had to continuously feed it with their own vital blood.

It was during the refinement of this Gu that Ma Yuan was discovered by outsiders. Under pressure from Great Xia, the Ma Family was forced to purge their own family.

Who would have thought that Ma Yuan, feigning escape, had actually changed his identity and gone into hiding in Yuanshan City.

After going into hiding, Ma Yuan did not abandon the refinement of Blood Frenzy Gu. Instead, he continued his previous work and actually succeeded in refining the Blood Frenzy Gu!

—The probability of failing to refine Blood Frenzy Gu is extremely high.

Screech—

Enraged by the activation of Blood Frenzy Gu, Ma Yuan's ferocity surged. Facing the oncoming fire snake, he didn't dodge. Instead, he directly extended his swollen hands and grabbed the fire snake, which was made of spiritual energy, tearing it in half with immense force right before everyone's eyes.

Sparks flew and landed on Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan was completely unaffected.

It was known that a Grade One formation, when actively controlled by someone, would normally leave a Qi Refining cultivator with no means to fight back.

Yet, at this moment, empowered by Blood Frenzy Gu, Ma Yuan was completely unfazed by the might of the Fire Snake Formation.

The power of Blood Frenzy Gu was truly terrifying!

"Miss, you must leave quickly, I'll hold him off! The Ma Family harbored Ma Yuan in refining an evil Gu. If this is reported to Great Xia, the Ma Family will surely be held accountable!" Seeing this, Lin He realized that surviving against Ma Yuan, who had refined Blood Frenzy Gu, was likely impossible today.

His only thought now was to use the power of the Fire Snake Formation to delay Ma Yuan for a while, allowing Lin Yao to escape.

Lin Yao bit her lip, unsure of what to do.

In a daze.

Ma Yuan's figure flashed, charging directly at Lin He.

As long as he killed Lin He and seized the Formation Flag, without the Fire Snake Formation providing cover, the remaining Lin Family cultivators would be nothing more than lambs to the slaughter!

"Miss Lin, use your illusionary sound to help me control Ma Yuan for a single breath's time. I can kill him."

A stranger's voice suddenly reached Lin Yao's ears.

The tone was calm, but the content of the words made Lin Yao disbelieve.

At this very moment, Ma Yuan in his current state was practically invincible among Qi Refining cultivators.

Who would dare claim they could kill him!

However, the conviction in the man's voice made Lin Yao instinctively do as he instructed.

"Hiss!" Lin Yao softly parted her lips.

The Soul Chilling Sonic Wave Secret Technique!

Although Ma Yuan in his berserk state could resist the damage from most first-grade spells, that was limited to spells that attacked the physical body.

His spiritual defense had not been strengthened at all by the Blood Frenzy Gu.

But the Soul Chilling Sonic Wave that Lin Yao unleashed was aimed directly at his soul.

Ma Yuan felt his soul jolt, and he briefly lost consciousness.

Seeing this, Lin Yao sighed inwardly.

Soul-attacking secret techniques were too precious, something a mere Lin Family could not possess.

The Soul Chilling Sonic Wave she unleashed, though targeting the soul, was not actually a soul-attacking technique.

This was because the Soul Chilling Sonic Wave had no lethality; it could only briefly shock the soul, causing Ma Yuan to lose focus for a moment.

Yet, even the Soul Chilling Sonic Wave Secret Technique, which possessed no lethality, was something her father had obtained from the Lin Family in Zhenjiang City.

Yuanshan City did not have such techniques.

The moment Lin Yao unleashed the Soul Chilling Sonic Wave, an afterimage flashed.

It was Lu Qingshan!

The stranger who had instructed Lin Yao was Lu Qingshan, who had disappeared from the crowd at some unknown time.

He had vanished without a trace, only to reappear suddenly.

Just as Ma Yuan recovered from Lin Yao's Soul Chilling Sonic Wave attack, he saw a cold glint before his eyes.

Then, his soul jolted once more.

Again?!

In the instant before losing consciousness, Ma Yuan thought this.

Cry Soul Sword, [Soul Shock]!

A technique that even Foundation Establishment cultivators found difficult to resist, Ma Yuan clearly had no way to block it.

Falling Bright Sword Art!

Cry Soul Sword: Sharpness +1.

Just enough to break through his defenses.

Lu Qingshan's movements were incredibly swift, his sword strikes like the wind, his figure ghostly. Within the duration of Soul Shock's effect, two cold glints flashed.

Lu Qingshan struck twice.

When Ma Yuan regained consciousness again, he felt a sharp, burning pain throughout his body.

Ma Yuan felt a chill in his heart.

Years of combat experience made Ma Yuan instinctively dodge sideways as Lu Qingshan swung his sword again, attempting to evade the blade.

Even in his berserk state, he couldn't ignore the damage from Lu Qingshan's sword techniques.

However, the quick sidestep he had anticipated to dodge the attack did not go as he intended.

It felt as if he had stepped into a swamp; his movements were inexplicably much slower.

Falling Bright Sword Art: Each sword strike carries a layer of Corrosive Power. Each layer of Corrosive Power reduces speed by 1, and it can stack.

Ma Yuan currently had two layers of Corrosive Power stacked on him, reducing his speed by 2.

Not having adapted to this, it was as if there was a delay, and he was struck by another sword technique from Lu Qingshan.

Explode!

Lu Qingshan willed it, detonating the three layers of Corrosive Power stacked on Ma Yuan.

Ma Yuan was thrown into a [Bind] state!

Lu Qingshan showed no mercy, striking down with another sword.

A series of data messages appeared:

"You have activated the Sword Artifact Skill [Soul Shock]."

"[Soul Shock] successfully hit, the target will enter a brief state of soul loss."

"You used the Falling Bright Sword Art on the target. Falling Bright Sword Art hit, dealing 10 damage!" (x3)

"You detonated Corrosive Power, the target is briefly bound!"

"You used the Falling Bright Sword Art on the target. Falling Bright Sword Art hit, dealing 10 damage, with an additional 5 (10*0.5) damage from critical hit, dealing a total of 15 damage to the target!"

"Target has died. You have killed Ma Yuan (Lv10), gaining 100 Experience!"