Netherworld Blood Curse, Nine Yang Burning Evil

The silence within the cave was broken by heavy panting and the faint sound of dripping blood. The air felt thick, permeated with a strong scent of blood, burnt flesh, and an lingering, chilling malevolence.

Li Yifan knelt on one knee, barely maintaining his balance, his face ashen. The wound on his left arm, pierced by the "Netherworld Soul Piercing Strike," continued to seep black blood, each drop falling to the ground with a soft "tap... tap..." A sharp, biting energy, both piercing and corrosive, was like a leech clinging to his arm, raging through his meridians and attempting to spread towards his heart. Waves of excruciating pain washed over him, rendering his left arm almost numb. He gritted his teeth against the drilling agony, circulating the "Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique" within him at an unprecedented speed. His pure Yang true qi surged like a tidal wave, repeatedly clashing, enveloping, and refining the "Netherworld Strike" energy. Golden-red light flickered on his body, fiercely contending with the invading chilling energy, emitting faint "hissing" sounds. Fine beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead; the consumption of his true qi and mental energy had reached its limit.

Meanwhile, Li Heng, the "Shadow Demon," was in a far more wretched state. He stumbled back more than ten steps until his back slammed heavily against a thick stalagmite, finally stopping his retreat. The old wound on his left shoulder, struck with the full power of Li Yifan's "Scorching Sun Finger," was now a gruesome mess. The flesh was charred and curled at the edges, exposing bone, and black, viscous blood mixed with fragments of flesh continuously poured out. One could even see wisps of golden-red pure Yang true qi, like tiny flames, still burning deep within the wound, engaging in a continuous annihilation reaction with the residual Yin malevolence, causing soul-tearing pain. His entire left arm hung limply, completely incapacitated. His originally pale and sinister face was now contorted in agony and blood loss, appearing hideous and terrifying. His breath fluctuated wildly like a candle in the wind, utterly depleted.

However, in Li Heng's sunken eye sockets, there burned not despair, but an overwhelming malice and a near-mad resolve! He stared fixedly at Li Yifan, who was also heavily injured and panting nearby, his teeth grinding together, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"You... you little bastard... very... very good!" Li Heng's voice was hoarse and broken, like a broken bellows, filled with bone-deep hatred. "To force this old man to this point... the Xuntian Guard... truly produced a remarkable individual..."

With every word, his wounds throbbed, triggering violent coughs and spasms. Yet, his remaining right hand moved with unusual steadiness as he slowly reached into his robes, fumbling. He pulled out a cold, black "Jade Box" inscribed with strange runes – the "Soul-attracting Jade Box." The runes on its surface seemed to shimmer with a faint light in the dim illumination.

Li Yifan's pupils contracted sharply! He forced a surge of true qi, suppressing the churning blood and the intense pain in his left arm, and shouted sternly, "Li Heng! You still intend to use that evil artifact?!"

"Heh heh... heh heh heh..." Li Heng let out a chilling, low chuckle, his eyes wild and fervent. "I have lived my life... how could I... how could I fall to you, a junior! If you want this old man's life... you'll have to pay with your soul... and this body's essence and blood!"

Before his words even fell, he bit down hard on his right thumb, and bright red blood instantly welled up. Without hesitation, using his blood as ink and his finger as a brush, he rapidly drew a complex and sinister blood-red rune on the surface of the "Soul-attracting Jade Box"! As the rune was completed, the entire "Jade Box" vibrated violently, emitting a low hum! The lid automatically opened a crack, and an aura far purer, colder, and more venomous than the malevolence in the cave permeated the air like a tangible substance! Faintly, it seemed as if the cries and roars of countless wronged souls emanated from the box!

Immediately after, Li Heng did something that made Li Yifan's scalp tingle! He thrust his bleeding thumb deep into his own mangled left shoulder wound!

"With my blood... I summon the Netherworld's energy! With my soul... I offer to the Nine Nether spirits! Netherworld Blood Curse... open!"

Li Heng let out a bloodcurdling roar that was barely human! As his incantation and actions continued, the pure Yin malevolence emanating from the "Soul-attracting Jade Box" seemed to find an outlet, pouring into his body through the connection between his thumb and the wound! Simultaneously, his previously depleted aura, as if doused with oil, began to surge at an abnormal rate! The horrifying wound on his left shoulder, under the influx of vast amounts of Yin malevolence, temporarily stopped bleeding. However, the flesh around the wound rapidly turned black and glossy, revealing more strange, blood-red patterns. The sense of deathly stillness and evil emanating from him increased severalfold!

Li Heng's appearance also underwent a terrifying transformation! His complexion shifted from pale to a deathly gray, his eyes became completely black, and black tendrils seemed to writhe beneath his skin. He looked more like a ghoul crawling out of a grave! This was the "Netherworld Blood Curse," an extremely vicious forbidden secret technique that, by invoking the Netherworld's energy and sacrificing one's essence, blood, and soul, forcibly stimulated potential in a short period, granting power far exceeding one's own realm! However, the price was immense; at best, one's cultivation would permanently decline, and at worst, their soul would be annihilated, never to find peace.

"Not good! He's sacrificing himself to cast a forbidden technique!" Li Yifan's internal alarm bells rang furiously, an unprecedented sense of mortal danger engulfing him! At this moment, Li Heng's aura was infinitely close to the Blood Refining Realm, filled with chaos, evil, and destruction!

I cannot let him complete the blood curse! A flicker of determination flashed in Li Yifan's eyes! He endured the excruciating pain in his left arm, which felt like it was about to explode, and his body's weakness. He stomped hard on the ground, unleashing "Spirit Fox Steps" to their fullest. His body transformed into a bolt of lightning, charging directly at Li Heng, who was in the process of casting his spell! He brought his right index and middle fingers together, condensing all the remaining "Nine Yang True Qi" in his body to his fingertips! The "Scorching Sun Finger" glowed with unprecedented brilliance, like a miniature sun born at his fingertips! This was his final, and strongest, attack!

"Blazing Sun Pierces the Heavens!"

However, Li Heng, having cast the "Netherworld Blood Curse," had achieved a terrifying level of reaction speed and strength! He suddenly raised his head, his black eyes locking onto Li Yifan, a cruel smile curving his lips. He didn't even move; he simply raised his intact right hand, now wreathed in dense black energy, and with fingers together like a spear, casually unleashed a "Netherworld Strike" several times more potent than before!

"Hiss!"

A concentrated stream of dark finger energy, like black crystal and moving at extreme speed, struck first, colliding head-on with Li Yifan's "Blazing Sun Pierces the Heavens" finger wind!

"BOOM!!!"

This collision was far beyond anything before! It was like the ultimate clash between the midday sun and the midnight cold wave! Crimson and black energies violently clashed, annihilating each other, erupting in a deafening roar! A powerful shockwave radiated outwards from the point of impact! The ground cracked, debris flew, and several nearby stalagmites were snapped in half!

"Pfft--!"

Li Yifan felt as if he'd been struck by a heavy blow, spitting out blood. His body, like a kite with a broken string, flew backwards, crashing heavily onto the ground more than thirty feet away, tumbling several times before stopping. The crimson light at his fingertips was completely extinguished, his right arm hung limply, his internal organs felt as if they had shifted, and his vision swam. His true qi was almost completely depleted, and the circulation of his "Nine Yang True Qi" became sluggish. The wound on his left arm burst open, blood gushing out. He had lost! Faced with Li Heng, who had cast a forbidden technique, his all-out attack was so utterly defeated!

Li Heng, however, merely swayed slightly before stabilizing himself. Black energy swirled around him, his aura wild and chaotic. He walked step by step towards Li Yifan, his footsteps heavy, like the tolling of a death knell. His black eyes held no human emotion, only pure killing intent and a desire to devour.

"A pure Yang soul... essence and blood... all are great nourishment... If I devour you... perhaps I can truly step into the Blood Refining Realm! Hahaha!" Li Heng let out a mad laugh, his voice distorted.

Li Yifan struggled to get up, but his body was wracked with pain, and his strength seemed to have been drained away. Watching Li Heng, who looked like a demon god, approach, a sense of despair washed over him. Was he truly going to die here today?

No! I must not give up!

At this critical juncture, something deep within Li Yifan's spiritual consciousness seemed to be stirred by the extreme pressure and despair! All along, while cultivating the "Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique," though his progress was rapid and his foundation solid, he always felt something was missing – a true "divine essence," a will that could burn through all evil and was supremely Yang and rigid! At this moment, facing the extreme Yin evil and mortal threat brought by the "Netherworld Blood Curse," the supreme Yang origin within his cultivation technique seemed to be fully ignited!

"Heart like the blazing sun, burning all evil! The might of Nine Yang, how can the Netherworld profane it!"

An obscure incantation resounded like a great bell in his mind! This was not an external voice, but a trace of true meaning hidden deep within the "Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique" inheritance, which he now comprehended at this moment of life and death!

In an instant, Li Yifan felt his consciousness connect with the faint but tenacious pure Yang true qi origin within him! A tenacious, unyielding, and all-consuming fiery will erupted from the depths of his soul! The sluggish and depleted true qi, driven by this will, suddenly regained its vitality like a prairie fire, becoming even purer and hotter!

In his eyes, the dim light caused by exhaustion was instantly replaced by two clusters of golden flames! A supreme Yang aura, though not immense, was incredibly pure, condensed, and carried an ultimate will to destroy evil. It rose slowly from his body like a slumbering volcano awakening!

Li Heng, who was about to deliver the final blow, suddenly stopped! For the first time, a look of disbelief and a hint of... fear appeared in his pitch-black pupils! He felt that this young man, who should have been at the end of his rope, had somehow generated an aura within him that made even his "Netherworld Blood Curse" power instinctively tremble! It was a suppression of levels, the innate restraint of supreme Yang against extreme Yin!

"No... impossible! A dying struggle!" Li Heng roared, suppressing his unease. He condensed stronger Netherworld malevolence, his right hand forming a giant claw with five fingers, carrying a monstrous black aura, and fiercely clawed down towards Li Yifan's crown! He wanted to crush this variable!

However, at this critical moment!

Li Yifan suddenly raised his head, the golden flames in his eyes burning fiercely! He no longer tried to stand, but sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands laboriously forming an ancient hand seal! The newly born, pure Yang true qi, containing an unyielding will, circulated according to the trajectory of a secret technique within the "Nine Yang Burning Heaven Technique" that he had previously been unable to truly comprehend!

"Nine Yang... Burning Evil!"

He let out a low cry, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable majesty! In an instant, centered on him, a phantom halo composed purely of golden flames suddenly spread outwards! This halo was not scorching, but carried an ultimate will to purify all evil and burn away all darkness!

The golden halo swept over the Netherworld claw that Li Heng had brought down!

"Hiss--Ah!!!"

Like a scorching brand on ice! The Netherworld claw, condensed with terrifying Netherworld malevolence, instantly dissolved and disintegrated like melting snow upon contact with the golden halo! The black energy evaporated, emitting a shrill scream! Li Heng let out an extremely painful cry, his entire right arm seeming to catch fire, emitting thick black smoke. The power of the "Netherworld Blood Curse" was violently backlashing against him from this golden halo!

"No! This is... Nine Yang True Fire?! How could you..." Li Heng was terrified, as if he had encountered his most fearsome natural enemy. He retreated frantically, the power of his blood curse becoming extremely unstable. The wound on his left shoulder burst open again, black blood gushing out!

After unleashing "Nine Yang Burning Evil," Li Yifan's face became even paler, his body swaying precariously. Clearly, this move placed a great burden on him. But his eyes were incredibly bright, fixedly locked onto Li Heng, who was severely injured and suffering from the backlash of the blood curse.

Opportunity! The only chance!

He used the last ounce of his strength, slapping the ground with his left hand, using the force to spring up. He brought his right fingers together, channeling all the slightly recovered, meager true qi containing a trace of the "Nine Yang True Fire" will to his fingertips! A "Scorching Sun Finger," seemingly weak but carrying an ultimate will to destroy evil, pointed towards Li Heng's chest's Shanzhong Acupoint, which was violently fluctuating and least protected due to the backlash!

This finger was at the end of its strength, but it contained the ultimate will to restrain evil!

Li Heng, caught in the pain and terror of the blood curse backlash, had no time to react!

"Pfft!"

The finger wind lightly touched his Shanzhong Acupoint.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment.

The next second, Li Heng's body stiffened abruptly, his eyes wide with extreme fear and disbelief. The Netherworld Blood Curse power around him, as if losing control, clashed wildly within his body, exploding!

"No--!!!"

A desperate roar echoed through the cavern! Li Heng's body swelled as if inflated, black energy snaking beneath his skin before he finally burst apart with a dull thud! Flesh and blood flew, black energy scattered, eventually turning to dust, leaving behind only the dimly glowing Soul-attracting Jade Box that fell to the ground, and an ancient-looking black ring.

"Shadow Demon" Li Heng, a demon lord who had wreaked havoc for many years, had finally died from the backlash of the Netherworld Blood Curse he himself had triggered, his soul annihilated!

Seeing Li Heng explode, Li Yifan's mind relaxed, the will that had sustained him instantly vanished, and his vision went black as he lost consciousness completely, collapsing heavily onto the ground.

The cavern returned to deathly silence, leaving only the mess and the thick scent of blood to tell the tale of the thrilling battle for survival that had just occurred.