Black Mountain Forest lay silent in the night, like a colossal beast lying in wait. Li Yuan leaned in the shadow of an old pine, his chest rising and falling slightly. Every breath tugged at the searing wounds beneath his ribs and across his back. His battle with the Li Family's death warriors had been brief and savage. Though he had wiped them all out, he hadn't emerged unscathed. Crimson Sun Qi and Blood could quickly heal flesh wounds, but the exhaustion after that all-out burst of strength, along with the internal injuries caused by taking the brunt of blade strikes, would take time to subside.
He needed to get back to the martial arts hall as soon as possible.
After regulating his breathing for a moment and feeling his surging qi and blood settle somewhat, he rose and prepared to retrace his steps. But after only a few paces, a chill, like a poisonous snake's gaze fixed on him, suddenly shot up his spine!
It wasn't the naked killing intent of the Li Family's death warriors, but something stickier and more anomalous... a sense of being watched.
Li Yuan stopped abruptly, every muscle in his body tightening in an instant. His gaze, sharp as an eagle's, swept over the dark trees around him.
"Who's there?"
In answer came a low, eerie chant, as though it had risen from underground, carrying an ancient rhythm that burrowed straight into his mind. The air around him turned abruptly cold and cloying, and even the light seemed to dim.
The bushes to his left parted silently, and a figure slowly emerged.
He wore a dark green cloak as well, but its material was clearly finer, its edges embroidered with twisted patterns in dull silver. Beneath the hood was a face so pale it had not a trace of color, with sunken eye sockets and gray-green pupils like stagnant pools. In his hand, he held a bone staff about as long as a forearm, its tip set with a skull that constantly shed gray-black mist.
He was the source of the powerful, chilling aura Li Yuan had sensed earlier!
"You found your way here and even killed a few of my useless subordinates..." The Netherworld Cult Deacon spoke in a hoarse, dry voice, like two rough bones grinding together. "'Black Mountain Fiend Star' really is something."
His gray-green eyes settled on Li Yuan, cold and greedy as he inspected a test subject. "There's a scent about you that makes me very uncomfortable... but it's also... enticing."
Li Yuan's heart tightened. This man put far more pressure on him than any of his previous opponents, even surpassing the Li Family's guards by a little. The Crimson Sun Qi and Blood that had just settled inside him began to circulate faster against his will, radiating scorching heat as it resisted the omnipresent, chilling pressure.
"Trash from the Netherworld Cult, skulking in the shadows." Li Yuan's voice was icy as he quietly adjusted his breathing and gathered his strength.
"Sharp-tongued, aren't you?" The Netherworld Cult Deacon was not angered in the slightest. Instead, he raised his bone staff, and the gray-black mist in the skull's eye sockets churned violently. "Perfect. I'll use your flesh and that strange qi and blood of yours to make up for the sacrificial offerings I lost!"
Before his voice had even faded, he thrust the bone staff forward!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three translucent black bone spikes, condensed from pure, frigid curse power, appeared out of thin air. With a shrill whistle, they shot toward Li Yuan in a triangular formation, as fast as arrows from a powerful crossbow!
Li Yuan's pupils contracted. The attack came too fast and from too tricky an angle! He let out a low growl. With no time to dodge completely, he could only cross his arms in front of him to guard himself. Crimson Sun Qi and Blood surged wildly into his arms; his muscles instantly bulged, and a deep-red sheen blazed beneath his skin!
Thud! Thud!
Two bone spikes slammed into his iron-hard arms with dull impacts. They failed to pierce all the way through, instead bursting into two clouds of icy black mist that furiously ate away at his qi and blood and flesh, bringing stabbing cold and pain.
But the third bone spike took an extremely strange angle, slipping past his defense and stabbing viciously toward his left shoulder!
Li Yuan twisted sideways with all his might. The spike skimmed his shoulder blade, spraying a streak of blood!
This wasn't purely physical damage! A sinister, freezing curse power instantly burrowed through the wound, like a living creature, and began eating its way toward his heart. Wherever it passed, his qi and blood froze, and his muscles stiffened!
Li Yuan grunted. His face went pale, and the left half of his body went numb, his movements slowing in an instant.
"Oh? You actually managed to block it?" A flicker of surprise crossed the Netherworld Cult Deacon's eyes, quickly replaced by even greater interest. "Your body is worth more than I imagined!"
He swung his bone staff again. More gray-black mist poured out, coalescing in midair into several twisted, snake-like tentacles that reached for Li Yuan from all sides as his movements were hampered!
A fierce glint flashed in Li Yuan's eyes! He knew he couldn't keep taking hits passively!
Roar!
He let out a low growl that sounded nothing like a human's. Ignoring the curse power eating away at his left shoulder, he forcibly roused the Crimson Sun deep in his qi sea! This time, he wasn't merely circulating his qi and blood; he directly drew upon the Crimson Sun's origin power!
Boom!
A wave of scorching heat burst outward from him! His body visibly swelled, his muscles bulking up as if inflated, until they burst through his upper garments! His skin turned completely dark red, and crimson-gold patterns like flowing lava appeared faintly across it! Crimson-gold light replaced the whites of his eyes, radiating a terrifying aura like that of a primordial Fierce Beast!
[Crimson Sun Battle Body] revealed its first glimpse of power!
The gray-black tentacles coiling toward him met their Nemesis the instant they touched his body. They hissed as they melted away, rapidly dissipating!
Li Yuan stamped his right foot down. The ground sank slightly, and he shot forward like a cannonball, charging at the Netherworld Cult Deacon with unstoppable momentum! He was more than twice as fast as before!
The Netherworld Cult Deacon's expression finally changed. He hadn't expected Li Yuan to have such a terrifying trump card! The scorching, righteous aura made the curse power inside him difficult to circulate!
He hurriedly waved his bone staff, laying down layer upon layer of gray-black curse-power barriers in front of himself.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Li Yuan didn't dodge or evade. He smashed through the layers of barriers with his bulging, corded body, like a wild bull! In an instant, he was right in front of his opponent! A massive hand covered in dark-red skin, with veins writhing like little snakes, tore through the air with a fierce gust and seized the Netherworld Cult Deacon's head!
The Deacon was terrified. He raised his bone staff over his head to block!
Crack!
The seemingly sturdy bone staff snapped under Li Yuan's tremendous strength! The skull at its tip exploded into fragments!
Li Yuan's hand kept going. It was about to crush the man's head!
At this critical moment, a look of ruthlessness and despair flashed through the Deacon's eyes. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of heart's blood onto the broken bone staff and shrieked:
"Curse-Binding! Bone Prison!"
The broken bone staff abruptly exploded, transforming into countless black needles as fine as ox hairs. Like a downpour, they instantly engulfed Li Yuan at point-blank range!
At such close range, with an attack so dense, there was no way to dodge it completely!
Li Yuan only had time to shield his head and face with his arms and activate his Crimson Sun Battle Body with all his might!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—!
A dense flurry of sounds rang out as the needles sank into flesh, enough to make anyone's scalp crawl!
Most of the bone needles bounced off or shattered against his skin and flesh, tougher than refined steel. But dozens still pierced the relatively weaker areas of his waist, abdomen, and thighs, burying themselves deep!
The needles melted as soon as they entered his body. They caused no severe physical wounds; instead, they instantly released an extremely sinister and tenacious Curse-Binding Power. Like countless icy chains, it wound around his bones and meridians, even trying to seal his qi sea!
Li Yuan's charge came to an abrupt halt. His swollen battle body rapidly shrank as if deflating, returning to normal. He staggered several steps and dropped to one knee. His face turned as pale as paper. His whole body felt bound by countless icy wires, and his Crimson Sun Qi and Blood became incredibly difficult and sluggish to circulate. Every attempt to force it through brought stabbing pain.
The Netherworld Cult Deacon had suffered backlash from unleashing this secret art, which was practically a mutual-destruction technique. Blood ran from all seven orifices, and his aura had dwindled to almost nothing. He glanced in terror at Li Yuan, kneeling on the ground and trembling yet still glaring at him with a vicious stare. Daring not to linger a moment longer, he forced out a breath of strength, turned into a dim black shadow, and staggered away into the depths of the forest.
Li Yuan knelt on the cold earth and tried to struggle to his feet, but his body felt as heavy as if it had been filled with lead. The sinister Curse-Binding Power clung to him like a festering bone, firmly locking away his source of strength.
He lowered his head, looking at the tiny wounds on his body as they quickly turned black. He felt the Crimson Sun within him, dimmed and wrapped in gray-black mist, and realized for the first time just how anomalous and difficult to deal with the Netherworld Cult was.
These Cursed Bone Spikes were like a cold pair of Shackles.
He took a deep breath and swallowed the metallic sweetness in his throat. There was not the slightest trace of surrender in his eyes, only an even more blazing flame.
"You can lock me down for a while... but not for a lifetime!"
Clenching his teeth, he used every last bit of strength to prop up his nearly numb body and began inching toward the martial arts hall, one difficult step at a time.
Every step felt like breaking free of invisible restraints.
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