Ao Ying, down below, was already so shocked she could barely contain herself.
What was that streak of light? A spiritual treasure?
A mid-Golden Immortal, an existence she could hardly hope to defeat, had been killed so easily?
That was a mid-Golden Immortal!
In a million-mile stretch of the Primordial World, an invincible existence had died at the hands of a Mystic Immortal human. Who would believe that?
And yet it had happened right before her eyes. She had even been saved by it.
High in the sky, Lin Changqing waved his hand, and the blood-red spear dissipated. Only a tiny portion of its blood qi returned to him.
Powerful divine abilities all had drawbacks. The Spear of Divine Demons could let him defeat a mid-Golden Immortal across a major realm, but its cost was immense—and irreversible.
Still, he had managed to recover a little of his strength. At least he wasn't completely helpless anymore.
Lin Changqing waved his hand again, and another streak of light flew back. A small lock settled into his palm, and he put it away.
The Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure was no different. Don't expect it to spit out the energy it had swallowed.
Still, it was a Supreme Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure. Though it consumed a lot of energy, it struck like thunder, killing the Golden Condor outright—even if the Golden Condor had already been gravely wounded.
Lin Changqing now began flying slowly toward the Golden Condor.
He'd promised himself chicken wings, after all. He hadn't forgotten.
Besides, the bodies of Primordial World creatures—especially those born with innate spiritual nature—were nourishing in their own right.
It had been one thing when he practiced other cultivation arts. Now that he was cultivating the Divine Demon Prison Suppression Art, what he needed was blood qi.
He had no intention of wasting the flesh of a mid-Golden Immortal.
The Golden Condor's body plunged down at great speed, crashing onto the already-devastated mountains and plains and kicking up clouds of dust.
Lin Changqing also descended slowly to the ground.
A faint, nearly imperceptible bloodstain ran through the brow of the Golden Condor's body, which spanned more than a thousand zhang.
The Golden Condor's body, as tough as any Golden Immortal great demon's, had been no obstacle at all to the Heart-Piercing Lock.
A Golden Immortal great demon's body was valuable indeed.
Just as he'd said before, even if he simply took it away and roasted it, he could absorb a good deal of blood qi.
Lin Changqing reached out toward the enormous Golden Condor. But at that moment, a beam of golden light shot out through a crack in its forehead and lunged straight at him.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp! Hahahaha! You human ant! I am a Golden Immortal great demon. Did you really think you could kill me so easily?"
"That treasure must be an Innate Spiritual Treasure! Such a treasure in the hands of a mere Mystic Immortal is a complete waste!"
"Only in my hands, only under my control, will this treasure's brilliance not be wasted!"
In an instant, the golden light entered Lin Changqing's sea of consciousness.
Within it, a thousand-zhang Golden Condor took form, laughing wildly.
Behind Lin Changqing, Ao Ying's eyes flew wide open.
"Oh no!"
"Fellow Daoist! How could this happen? How could you be caught off guard like this?"
Ao Ying manifested her thousand-zhang true form and reached Lin Changqing in an instant. She changed back into human form and looked at him in a panic.
How had he been caught off guard like this?
The Golden Condor's body had lost all its life force. Though Ao Ying didn't know what method Lin Changqing had used, as far as she could tell, the Golden Condor was well and truly dead.
But all living things had souls—and true spirits!
Especially after reaching the Golden Immortal realm, one's soul became almost tangible. It could invade another creature's sea of consciousness and wreak havoc within it.
But all it took was a little magical power to seal off one's sea of consciousness. Then the invading spirit would be shut out, with no chance of turning the tables.
Who among the creatures that roamed the Primordial World didn't know that?
What Ao Ying had never expected was that Lin Changqing was a complete novice when it came to traveling the Primordial World.
When he'd followed Tongtian out earlier, he hadn't needed to worry about fighting. How could he have gained any experience with this?
He'd thought the Golden Condor had been completely obliterated. But the Heart-Piercing Lock had only extinguished the life force in its body.
The Golden Condor's soul was perfectly intact!
That was because Lin Changqing had lifted too few of the restrictions and had only activated half of the treasure's power.
Of course, there was no point in discussing that now.
Looking at Lin Changqing standing rigidly still, Ao Ying was overwhelmed with regret.
Why hadn't she come over to help? She'd watched this human fellow fight for so long. The blood-red divine ability coiling around him had vanished; it was obvious he'd run out of strength.
But she hadn't done a thing, and now this tragedy had happened!
Ao Ying looked at Lin Changqing's body and shook her head, stricken with grief.
In the end, she had been the one to harm this fellow Daoist.
No matter how many tricks he had up his sleeve, now that the Golden Condor's soul had entered his sea of consciousness, he was likely doomed.
How could a Mystic Immortal's soul compare to a Golden Immortal's?
And this was a mid-Golden Immortal, at that.
This fellow Daoist was sure to be possessed.
Though grief weighed on her, Ao Ying sighed, manifested her true form, and opened her thousand-zhang true dragon's jaws toward Lin Changqing.
"Fellow Daoist, Ao Ying is filled with guilt, but there's nothing I can do."
"I can only wait until the Golden Condor takes over your body and loses control, then kill him to avenge you!"
As Ao Ying spoke, the Golden Condor in Lin Changqing's sea of consciousness sneered repeatedly.
"Hahaha! Human ant, you were so careless that you let me invade your sea of consciousness!"
"A human body is rather lacking, but with that bizarre divine ability of yours, it's a fair trade."
"Once I possess you and obtain that blood-red divine ability, I'll be reborn with your bloodline and take your Innate Spiritual Treasures. Then, even a Heavenly Court Esteemed Immortal might be within my reach!"
"Hahaha!"
Piercing cries echoed through Lin Changqing's sea of consciousness.
Humans really were too inexperienced.
The Golden Condor himself hadn't expected to enter Lin Changqing's sea of consciousness so easily.
He'd thought he was doomed, but now it seemed Heaven had granted him a fortuitous encounter!
The Golden Condor looked around the sea of consciousness and saw, at its center, a ten-thousand-zhang image of the Divine Demon, standing between heaven and earth with blazing eyes and surging blood qi.
The Divine Demon held a spear in its hands. It was unmistakably the Spear of Divine Demons.
"So this is that blood-red divine ability!"
"Truly, it couldn't have been easier to obtain!"
The Golden Condor sneered and looked around the sea of consciousness once more.
At that moment, a golden shadow seated beneath the image of the Divine Demon slowly opened its eyes.
Lin Changqing looked around at his own sea of consciousness.
I was careless. I got ambushed by the Soul Devouring Needle back in Kunlun and learned this lesson once already.
It hardly mattered whether I could defend against the Soul Devouring Needle, but now I've fallen into the same trap twice.
What a loss.
But...
Lin Changqing looked up. The image of the Divine Demon was glaring at the Golden Condor before it.
The image of the Divine Demon was the manifestation of the Divine Demon Prison Suppression Art, and it held too many secrets he still couldn't understand.
The last time, it had absorbed even the power of the Soul Devouring Needle and unlocked a divine ability.
Surely the Golden Condor's soul couldn't be stronger than the Soul Devouring Needle!
At the thought, Lin Changqing suddenly laughed.
A fortuitous encounter? Let's see who's whose fortuitous encounter.
Besides, why did everyone keep invading my sea of consciousness? Did they really think I, Lin Changqing, was easy to bully?
"Golden Condor, if you'd escaped with your soul, you might have lived a little longer."
"But now, you're the one who's doomed!"
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