Li Yuan's voice echoed through the cavern strewn with corpses. It carried the calm of a proclamation, yet struck harder than any roar.
On the high platform, the Netherworld Cult Bishop's ashen eyes turned utterly cold, like ice that had endured for ten thousand years. Li Yuan's displayed strength and his domineering disregard for hundreds of cultists had gone beyond being a "problem." He had become a threat that had to be crushed with the bishop's own hands.
"Arrogant!"
The bishop's hoarse voice was like a cold wind blowing through the gaps between bones. He no longer waited. The bone staff in his hand, set with a massive skull, slammed down!
Thud!
A muffled boom rang out, like the tolling of hell's funeral bell. Centered on the point where the staff struck, a ring of visible gray-black ripples rapidly spread outward. Wherever they passed, even the roiling Blood Pool fell still for a moment!
A vast, pure, and icy pressure of curse power—far greater than that of all the cultists combined—descended with the weight of a solid mountain, crashing down on Li Yuan! The air crackled as it froze. Even the Burning Qi Field around Li Yuan flickered and contracted by half a foot!
Li Yuan's pupils narrowed slightly. The qi and blood throughout his body instinctively surged faster, while the dark-gold Crimson Sun in his sea of qi gave a low hum, holding back the invisible pressure. The dark-red earth beneath his feet was instantly covered in a thick layer of frost that radiated a chilling cold, a stark contrast to the molten footprints he had left behind.
"To die beneath my Netherworld Ghost Hand is your honor."
As the bishop's icy words fell, he raised his empty left hand and made a grasping motion toward Li Yuan.
Wooo—!
A shrill ghostly wail suddenly rang out! The cavern's dense, sinister energy surged wildly together, instantly forming a gigantic gray-black ghost hand above Li Yuan, made entirely of pure curse power!
The ghost hand's five fingers were grotesque, its nails sharp. In its palm, a dark vortex spun endlessly, devouring the light. It exuded a chill that froze souls and a terrifying suction that could tear everything apart! The instant it formed, the cavern's temperature plummeted. Even the edges of the distant Blood Pool began to sprout black icicles!
The massive hand descended on Li Yuan with the force to crush all things! It seemed slow, yet sealed off every avenue of escape. The dark vortex in its palm exerted an immense pull, seeking to drag both his body and soul into the endless Netherworld!
Li Yuan's gaze sharpened. He knew this was a true life-or-death moment! The bishop's strength far surpassed that of the Deacon from before. He had likely reached the late stage of the Aperture Opening Realm, and his curse power was unnaturally pure!
He let out a low growl and stopped holding back!
"Crimson Sun Battle Body, activate!"
BOOM!!!
An even more violent, scorching aura erupted skyward! His body swelled again, muscles bunching like coiled dragons beneath his bronze skin until it gleamed, turning a deep crimson. Beneath his skin, crimson-gold patterns flowed fiercely like living magma, radiating light and heat too intense to look at! Crimson-gold flames seemed ready to burst from his eyes!
[Crimson Sun Battle Body] fully activated!
He stomped through the frost covering the ground, sinking deep into the scorching earth to steady himself against the ghost hand's suction. Facing the Netherworld Ghost Hand descending like a shroud over the sky, he did not retreat. Instead, he clenched his right fist. The dark-gold Crimson Sun within him spun at an unprecedented speed as surging Crimson Sun Qi and Blood flowed like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, pouring into his right arm!
A dark-red glow gathered to its utmost on his fist. The surrounding air warped in the heat, crackling with sharp pops!
"Lava... Collapse!"
Li Yuan roared. He combined the newly mastered force-generating technique from the Crimson Sun True Scripture with his own ferocious strength, then punched upward with devastating force!
This was no simple straight punch. The instant his fist shot out, the muscle fibers throughout his right arm seemed to undergo countless high-frequency tremors and bursts in a single moment, twisting all his strength into one and focusing it on a single point at his knuckles!
A dark-red fist aura, condensed as if solid, shot from his fist, its depths seemingly roiling with lava! Wherever it passed, the very air seemed seared through, leaving behind a brief vacuum trail and a piercing sonic boom!
The next instant!
The dark-red fist aura and the gray-black ghost hand collided in midair with a thunderous crash!
RUMBLE!!!
It was like thunder from the highest heavens exploding underground!
A violent shock wave of energy spread unchecked in a ring! Dozens of Netherworld Cultists near the center of the collision were torn to pieces before they could even scream! Towering waves surged through the Blood Pool, flinging viscous blood mixed with shattered bones and flesh in every direction!
Crimson Sun and Netherworld, utmost yang and utmost yin—two opposing forces, utterly incompatible in nature, clashed in the fiercest and most merciless struggle of annihilation!
The dark vortex in the ghost hand's palm spun frantically, trying to devour and grind away the scorching fist aura. But the dark-red fist aura was like a meteor plunging into an icy sea, unleashing heat enough to burn all things as it continuously scorched and purified the cold curse power forming the ghost hand!
Sizzle—!!!
The shrill sound of annihilating energy rang without end! Gray-black and dark-red light intertwined, tangled, and devoured each other, turning the entire cavern into a strange, shifting spectacle of light and shadow!
On the high platform, Li Yuanhong was driven back again and again by the shock wave. He circulated his qi and blood to barely keep his footing, his face full of shock. He stared at the center of the collision, unable to believe Li Yuan could meet the bishop's furious blow head-on!
The Netherworld Cult Bishop's ashen eyes narrowed slightly as well. He could feel his condensed Netherworld Ghost Hand rapidly being worn away by the fist aura of utmost yang! His opponent's power was not only scorching and domineering; it also possessed a peculiar smelting property, as if it could burn even his pure curse power as fuel!
"Break!"
Li Yuan roared again and thrust his right fist forward!
The dark-red fist aura flared brighter, like a red-hot iron drill, boring straight through the palm of the Netherworld Ghost Hand!
BANG!!
The massive Netherworld Ghost Hand began to fracture from the palm, splintering inch by inch! It turned into a skyful of dispersing gray-black currents that were swept away at once by the remaining heat of the fist aura!
Li Yuan held his punching stance and breathed heavily. The light of his Crimson Sun Battle Body flowed around him as dark-red steam rose from his skin. The frost beneath his feet had long since vanished, replaced by a shallow melted pit.
He lifted his head. His crimson-gold pupils pierced through the gradually settling turbulence of energy and locked once more onto the Netherworld Cult Bishop atop the high platform. His voice was hoarse, still burning with the heat of battle.
"Is that all?"
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