Blood Devourer's Counter-Kill, Karma Fire Burns Chains!

"Hiss!"

The stinging pain of the cold bone blade slicing through skin had yet to dissipate.

Jalie Lang's wrist, reeking of heavy blood and sadistic intent, was slick with viscous, dark red gore.

He pressed it ruthlessly against the bleeding wound on Lin Chen!

"Blood-Devouring Soul Snatch!!!"

Jalie Lang sneered, unable to wait as he channeled the Blood-Devouring Demon Infant Art with all his might!

He could already envision this little brat screaming in despair, his body shriveling into a husk.

The thought of revenge made his entire body tremble with excitement.

However, the moment the two streams of blood made contact!

The instant his evil cultivation power surged violently through the wound and into Lin Chen's body:

"Hum!"

An indescribable, supreme pressure, as if descending from the primordial era, erupted.

It was like a divine mountain from the nine heavens crashing down!

Jalie Lang felt his soul and Dou Qi freeze in an instant!

His violently circulating Blood-Devouring Demon Infant Art slammed into a barrier of ten-thousand-foot black iron.

It let out a muffled groan and stalled instantly!

"Wh... what?!"

The sneer on Jalie Lang's face froze instantly.

It was replaced by extreme shock and bewilderment.

He felt the power he had poured into Lin Chen's body vanish like a clay ox entering the sea.

It disappeared without a trace:

"Boom!!!"

Not only that, but a massive, irresistible suction force originating from the very essence of life erupted from within Lin Chen.

It acted upon him in reverse!

That was no simple devouring; it was plunder!

It was a crushing force at the level of laws!

The vast essence blood energy and chaotic Dou Qi he had just devoured from Jalie Bei—which he had yet to fully refine—began to pour out uncontrollably, like a breached dam.

They surged toward Lin Chen!

His aura, firmly planted at the peak of a Three-Star Dou Master, began to plummet visibly, like a punctured balloon.

"No! Impossible!!"

Jalie Lang let out a shriek of terror so shrill it changed pitch.

His eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

He struggled desperately to pull his hand back, to sever this terrifying connection.

But their wrists seemed welded together by invisible chains of law!

His gaunt body trembled violently, all his strength spent fighting that horrific suction.

Forget breaking free; even moving a finger had become a luxury!

This was suppression by a higher-quality technique of the same path and rules.

And the gap in quality was not just a small margin!

He couldn't move at all!

He felt like a lamb nailed to an altar.

He was being ruthlessly sacrificed by a higher-dimensional existence!

His Blood-Devouring Demon Infant Art, in the face of this power originating from within Lin Chen, was pathetic.

That power was cold, ancient, and carried an endless will of slaughter.

His art was as fragile as a child's toy, unable to stir even a ripple of resistance!

"You... what kind of monster are you?!"

Jalie Lang stared at Lin Chen in absolute horror.

At this moment, Lin Chen's eyes were tightly shut, yet his expression was unnaturally calm.

Even carrying a trace of eerie satisfaction.

His small body seemed to transform into a bottomless black hole.

Greedily and efficiently devouring the entire essence of a Dou Master!

Lin Chen's consciousness was immersed in the profoundly mysterious circulation path of the Blood Scripture.

The moment the massive torrent of energy from Jalie Lang surged into his body.

It was immediately enveloped, broken down, and purified by the refined Blood Origin Power!

The residual evil resentment and impurities of the Blood-Devouring Demon Infant Art, before the supreme laws of the Blood Scripture.

Were like snow meeting a scorching sun, instantly purified and stripped away.

Leaving behind only the most primal, purest life essence and Dou Qi energy.

This refined, surging energy poured like sweet nectar into his parched Dantian and fragile meridians.

The Blood Scripture operated domineeringly, using this energy as fuel!

Frenetically expanding, consolidating, and strengthening!

His meridians were forcibly widened and toughened amidst tearing, agonizing pain.

His bones emitted faint cracking sounds, becoming denser.

His flesh and blood greedily absorbed the life essence, harboring explosive power.

His Dantian sea of Qi filled and stabilized rapidly, as if being inflated!

Dou Qi Stage One... Stage Two... Stage Three...

His cultivation soared wildly as if riding a rocket!

Under the shaping of the supreme Blood Scripture, his foundation was not in the slightest bit hollow.

On the contrary, it became condensed, solid, and unimaginably profound!

Every breakthrough in a minor realm was accompanied by an all-encompassing transformation of his body!

"No! Don't..."

Jalie Lang's roar turned into a desperate whimper.

He clearly felt the power he had accumulated through decades of bitter cultivation and the devouring of countless young children!

Was rapidly slipping away.

His skin began to sag and lose its luster.

His muscles withered like a leaking balloon, and his eye sockets sank deep.

In just a few breaths, he went from a fierce Dou Master.

To a dying, withered old man on the verge of death!

"Spare... spare me..."

He squeezed out a plea with his last ounce of strength.

In his clouded eyes, only endless fear and regret remained.

Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes!

Deep within those pupils, the vision of a churning sea of blood flashed and vanished.

Leaving only cold indifference.

With a flick of his thought, the devouring power of the Blood Scripture intensified abruptly!

"Urgh!"

Jalie Lang let out a short, shrill scream.

His body, as if drained of all support, collapsed completely.

The last trace of life essence and soul fragments were ruthlessly extracted.

And surged into Lin Chen's body.

Jalie Lang's body rapidly shriveled and weathered.

Finally turning into a pile of grayish-white powder, mixed into the filthy bloodstains.

The cellar was deathly silent.

Only the sound of energy rushing within Lin Chen and his bones humming softly remained.

Dou Qi Stage Nine! Peak!

The massive energy was finally completely absorbed and refined.

Lin Chen felt the surging, vigorous Dou Qi within him, far exceeding that of his peers.

As well as the perfect foundation, solid to an outrageous degree, laid down by the Blood Scripture!

He was only one final step away from the realm of a Dou Practitioner!

A powerful sense of strength flooded his entire body.

Although this body remained young, the explosive force contained within was enough to startle an ordinary Dou Practitioner!

His gaze swept over the heavy iron chains shackled to his wrists and ankles.

With a flicker of his mind, he attempted to commune with the phantom image deep within his dantian that faintly emerged as the Blood Scripture circulated.

It was a phantom of a twelve-petaled lotus throne, so illusory it was nearly invisible:

A trace of the origin projection of the Karma Fire Red Lotus!

It was almost infinitesimally small, and its various abilities had plummeted by who knew how many tens of thousands of times!

But for now, it was enough!

"Hum!"

A faint, crimson flame containing an aura that burned away the sins of all things.

Suddenly rose from beneath the skin on his wrists and ankles where the chains were locked!

The flame was pure, scorching, and carried a sense of divine judgment!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!"

The chains forged from refined iron, under the burning of this crimson flame.

Actually softened and melted through as quickly as wax meeting fire!

The broken ends were as smooth as mirrors, remaining with a dark red luster from the high-temperature scorching.

"Hoo..."

Lin Chen let out a long breath and shook off the broken chains.

A strong sense of weakness struck him instantly, as if his body had been hollowed out.

Driving this trace of the Karma Fire Red Lotus origin, even if just to melt a few iron chains.

For his body at the ninth stage of Dou Disciple and his weak soul power, the consumption was extremely massive.

It had nearly drained a small half of the strength he had just acquired!

He leaned against the cold wall and slowly stood up.

His young body appeared thin in the dim light.

But those eyes were as sharp as an eagle's, scanning this hell-like cage.

Nine children of the same age as him were curled up in their respective iron cages.

Most had long since fainted from extreme fear and the erosion of evil energy.

Their breaths were weak, like candles in the wind!

A complex and indescribable emotion surged into Lin Chen's heart.

They were all fellow sufferers in this world.

But at this moment, he could barely protect himself.

Just as he was thinking about how to escape, whether to flee alone or find a way to save these children:

"Da... da... da..."

Clear and steady footsteps suddenly came from above the stone steps at the entrance of the cellar!

Moving from far to near, they were stepping down one by one!

These footsteps were definitely not those of a child!

Nor were they the sinister, evil-laden pace of the Jalie Lang brothers!

Who was it?!

Xiao Bao? Someone else from the Jalie family?

Or...

Lin Chen's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart sank!

Having just experienced a life-and-death counter-kill, his strength was heavily depleted.

The Karma Fire Red Lotus could not be used for the time being; facing the unknown arrival, his current state was extremely dangerous!

His gaze instantly swept over the two withered corpses on the ground and the unconscious children.

Thoughts raced through his mind.

Run? It was too late!

Hide? The cellar was empty, with nowhere to conceal himself!

The footsteps grew closer and closer, already stepping onto the final few stairs of the cellar!

The dim light at the entrance was blocked by the silhouette of a figure that was gradually growing larger...