"Whoosh!"
Over the deathly silent Holy City, only the wind wailed.
Blood burst and scattered wildly, like fireworks exploding in midair!
The headless Dou Emperor's corpse fell, making a faint sound as it cut through the air.
The sound reached everyone's ears, yet no one moved!
All the human Dou Emperors, including the four Peak Dou Emperors,
stood frozen in place as if trapped in invisible ice, their pupils trembling, their minds utterly blank.
They still couldn't recover from the utter shock of watching a Four-Star Dou Emperor get killed with a single sword strike.
No one could bring themselves to believe what their eyes had just seen!
A Dou Wang... killing a Dou Emperor in one blow?! This completely overturned their understanding and shattered everything they knew!
Yet an even more hair-raising, soul-chilling sight
followed immediately!
Lin Chen expressionlessly faced the headless corpse that had yet to hit the ground.
He reached out his palm from afar.
Blood Scripture—Heaven-Swallowing Earth-Devouring!
An invisible yet overwhelmingly domineering force of devouring instantly enveloped the corpse!
"Shhhk, shhhk—"
With a grating sound, the Four-Star Dou Emperor's corpse seemed to have been thrown into strong acid.
It rapidly shriveled at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The vast blood essence mixed with the Dou Emperor's soul, which had yet to completely dissipate,
formed a thick torrent of blood. It crossed the distance and surged into Lin Chen's palm like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea!
In the blink of an eye, a fresh Dou Emperor's corpse
had become a light, pitch-black husk, as if it had been dried for a thousand years.
It crashed into the desert below and shattered into pieces!
And Lin Chen's aura, nourished by this pure energy,
was rapidly growing stronger!
After reaching the Dou Wang realm, every increase of one star required an enormous amount of energy.
Especially since he cultivated the Blood Scripture, which required hundreds or thousands of times more energy than other techniques of the same rank!
The entirety of a Four-Star Dou Emperor's essence was only a drop in the bucket.
After all, even the combined strength of these Dou Emperors couldn't match his current Dou Wang strength.
Besides, he was beginning to truly touch upon the core of this cultivation method.
But this terrifying, sinister method of devouring the living and refining corpses
shocked everyone's eyes and minds even more directly than the one-strike kill just moments ago!
"D-Devil! He's a devil!!"
One human Dou Wang, with weaker nerves, had watched the scene from afar.
Finally unable to withstand the successive horrors, he let out a hysterical scream and turned to flee!
That scream was like a fuse being lit!
"Attack! All together! Kill him! Or we're all going to die!!"
Mo Fa was the first to react, letting out a shrill, twisted roar!
His eyes were full of fear, but even more of a hysterical madness!
He knew that a monster like this, an evil creature from the depths of hell, would never spare them!
"Form up! Hurry, form up!"
Copper Flame Dou Emperor was also aghast, frantically circulating his Dou Qi.
He tried to join forces with the other Dou Emperors.
But it was already too late!
While they had been stunned and hesitated for those one or two seconds, Lin Chen had already had more than enough time!
"Trying to join forces now? Too late!"
Lin Chen's icy voice was a declaration from the god of death.
He gave them no chance to organize a counterattack!
With a thought,
the Yuantu and Abi Twin Swords appeared out of thin air once more, without needing to fuse.
They transformed into two streaks of deathly light, carrying the murderous intent to slaughter all life and the deathly aura of annihilating all things.
They shot toward the two nearest human Dou Emperors—
the very two Peak Dou Emperors who had joined Mo Fa in attacking the Snake-People elders earlier!
At the same time, the pair of dark-red Blood Crystal Dou Qi Wings on Lin Chen's back beat sharply!
Shadow Escape! Mastery at Its Pinnacle!
His figure blurred in an instant, as though merging with space.
Moving faster than the eye could follow, he appeared directly behind the mysterious Dou Emperor who had tried to flee!
The mysterious Dou Emperor felt a cold murderous intent sweep over him from behind and was scared out of his wits.
He had just started to turn around and defend himself when—
"Pfft!"
Lin Chen's palm, wrapped in Blood Origin Dou Qi refined to its utmost and a wisp of Red Lotus Karma Fire,
tore through his protective Dou Qi as easily as the sharpest divine weapon.
It plunged into his back and burst through his chest!
It crushed his heart in one blow!
"Ugh..."
The mysterious Dou Emperor's body stiffened, terror frozen in his eyes.
The next moment, the blood essence in his body was devoured by Lin Chen like floodwaters bursting through a dam!
In the blink of an eye, he too became a dried corpse!
On the other side, the Yuantu and Abi Twin Swords had also struck!
Although the two targeted Peak Dou Emperors were powerful,
they still managed to unleash powerful defensive Dou Techniques in their haste.
One formed a thick stone armor, while a huge shield of flame appeared before the other!
But in the face of the projections of the Yuantu and Abi, two supreme treasures embodying the source of slaughter and finality,
their defenses were as flimsy as paper!
A flash of blood-red light from the Yuantu Sword split the stone armor like tofu.
The blade swept past, and the Peak Dou Emperor's head flew into the sky, disbelief still written across his face!
The Abi Sword spread an ashen aura of death, and the flaming shield instantly dimmed and went out.
As if all its energy had been drained, the sword soundlessly pierced the other Peak Dou Emperor's chest, extinguishing every last trace of life!
Before the two bodies could even fall, the swords' innate devouring force sucked them dry!
In the time it took a spark to fly off a flint, three more Dou Emperors had fallen! Two of them were Peak Dou Emperors!
Every one of them had been killed in a single blow! Devoured!
Too fast! Too ruthless!
The remaining Dou Emperors were utterly terrified!
This wasn't a fight at all. It was a one-sided slaughter, a tiger charging into a flock of sheep!
"Run!!"
Someone let out a desperate cry.
The five Dou Emperors who remained—
Mo Fa, Copper Flame Dou Emperor, and the three Peak Dou Emperors Mo Fa had summoned—
scattered in different directions like startled birds!
"Leaving? Did you ask me first?"
Lin Chen's eyes were icy, his killing intent unwavering!
Since he had made his move, he would leave not one alive!
His wings beat again, and his figure flickered like a specter!
He first pursued Mo Fa, the slowest of them—and one of the chief culprits!
"Kid! I'm from the Soul Hall..."
Feeling the terrifying killing intent rapidly closing in behind him, Mo Fa was scared out of his wits.
He tried to invoke his powerful backer to threaten Lin Chen.
"The Soul Hall? Nothing but ants!"
Lin Chen couldn't be bothered to let him finish. A shadow of the Yuantu Sword swept past.
It cut him in two, then devoured him!
An alchemist?
A person of noble status?
In Lin Chen's eyes, he was nothing more than slightly higher-quality fodder!
Immediately afterward, Lin Chen turned and chased after Copper Flame Dou Emperor!
"I'll give you everything I have! Please—"
Copper Flame Dou Emperor begged in terror.
"If I kill you, everything will be mine!"
A shadow of the Abi Sword pierced his brow and devoured him!
The other three Peak Dou Emperors Mo Fa had summoned didn't get far either.
Lin Chen pushed Shadow Escape to its limits and combined it with the Yuantu and Abi Twin Swords' ranged attacks.
Like the god of death cutting through a battlefield, each time he appeared, he took the life of another Dou Emperor and sucked him dry!
Gu He was already ashen-faced with terror. He fled with all his might in the direction Yun Yun had disappeared.
He even burned his blood essence, and somehow managed to escape the battlefield—for now.
Hai Bodong stood rooted to the spot.
Like a statue, he watched Lin Chen hunt down the Dou Emperor powerhouses he usually had to fight with all his strength, cutting them down like vegetables.
It felt like a bizarre, blood-soaked nightmare! Cold sweat had long since soaked through his clothes.
Below, all the Snake-People, including the four elders and Queen Medusa,
were also staring in utter astonishment, their bodies ice-cold.
This human youth... was a god of slaughter descended into the world!
In less than a minute!
The ten human Dou Emperors who had originally come in with such imposing force were dead or fleeing!
Aside from Gu He, who had escaped by sheer luck, the other eight—including two sixth-grade alchemists and four Peak Dou Emperors—had all fallen!
They had all become nourishment for Lin Chen's growth!
Boundless energy surged into Lin Chen like rivers pouring into the sea!
How terrifying was the energy contained within eight Dou Emperors, four of them at their peak?
Lin Chen floated in midair, eyes closed as he focused his mind.
The Blood Scripture circulated at an unprecedented rate, frantically refining this vast sea of energy!
His aura soared like a rocket!
Two-Star Dou Wang!
Three-Star!
Four-Star!
Peak Five-Star!
He had crossed four minor ranks in one leap, reaching Peak Five-Star Dou Wang! He was only a hair's breadth from Six-Star!
The reason for this terrifying increase was precisely the Blood Scripture's overbearing nature!
It devoured not only the enemy's Dou Qi, but also their life essence and soul power!
And once refined, it was transformed into Blood Origin Dou Qi hundreds of times purer than ordinary Dou Qi!
A quantitative change had brought about a qualitative one!
When he opened his eyes again, the blood-red lotus shadows within them seemed even clearer.
Although the aura radiating from his body belonged only to a Five-Star Dou Wang,
its refinement and pressure made Hai Bodong, a Six-Star Dou Emperor beside him, feel his heart pound!
But just as Lin Chen finished absorbing the energy and prepared to deal with the two Heavenly Flames,
a sudden change occurred!
The Wind Fury Dragon Flame and Green Lotus Core Flame, which had been floating in midair and seemed to have been intimidated by the successive battles,
took advantage of the brief moment while he was devouring and growing stronger to suddenly coil around each other!
The Wind Fury Dragon Flame was clearly more intelligent—and more cunning and violent!
It intended to take advantage of the Green Lotus Core Flame's weakness, after Queen Medusa had suppressed and exhausted it,
to devour it and strengthen itself!
The bright yellow storm of raging flames wrapped around the green, lotus-shaped flame like an evil dragon.
Ripped and devoured with savage fury!
Though the Green Lotus Core Flame was weak, as a Heavenly Flame, it had its own pride and instincts!
It was unwilling to be devoured. Its fierce will to survive erupted, and its green flames blazed brightly, blossoming like a lotus as it desperately resisted the Wind Fury Dragon Flame's invasion!
Two Heavenly Flames of similar rank fought wildly, devouring one another!
At once, a storm of flame energy far more terrifying, violent, and chaotic than any battle before it erupted with a deafening roar!
"Rumble!!!"
Red, yellow, and green light flashed wildly.
Destructive shock waves, as tangible as a tsunami, swept madly in every direction!
Space warped, and the earth split apart.
The Holy City's buildings collapsed and crumbled in swathes!
Even Lin Chen, a five-star Peak Dou Wang, felt his blood and qi churn from the sudden shock wave of the two flames colliding.
He staggered back several steps!
Hai Bodong was even more terrified. His face went pale as he retreated again and again, putting everything into his defense.
Below, the Snake-People screamed in agony.
Many low-ranked Snake-People were shaken to death on the spot. The four elders desperately raised a battered barrier to protect the central area.
Despair showed in Queen Medusa's eyes, too. With two Heavenly Flames clashing out of control, their destructive power was enough to wipe the entire Holy City off the map!
"Now!"
Yet faced with this terrifying energy storm, one that would make even a Peak Dou Emperor blanch and retreat,
Lin Chen showed no fear. Instead, his eyes blazed with unprecedented brilliance!
When the snipe and clam fight, the fisherman reaps the reward!
As the two Heavenly Flames fought and devoured each other, their power was at its most concentrated—and they were least able to spare attention for anything else! This was his best chance to strike!
He abruptly steadied himself, spread his arms, and focused his intent in his dantian!
"Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus, manifest!"
His low, imposing shout rang out!
Buzz!!!
An ancient, boundless supreme will—seemingly born with the dawn of heaven and earth, and towering above all flames—
descended with a thunderous force!
A phantom of a twelve-petal lotus dais, only palm-sized yet incomparably solid and lifelike, appeared slowly above Lin Chen's head, its entire form seemingly carved from blood-red divine jade!
The lotus dais rotated slowly. On every petal burned the utterly pure Red Lotus Karma Fire, capable of incinerating all things!
The moment it appeared, it seemed to become the center of flame in this world, a sovereign before whom all flames bowed!
The Wind Fury Dragon Flame and Green Lotus Core Flame, still locked in their frenzied struggle to devour each other,
both suddenly froze the instant the tiny lotus dais appeared!
As though they had encountered their natural nemesis, they radiated instinctive fear and trembling!
Even their violent energy faltered for an instant!
"Devour!"
Lin Chen's gaze sharpened. He held his hands apart, then abruptly brought them together!
The phantom of the Twelfth-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus hovering above him suddenly unleashed an indescribable, terrifying suction force!
An invisible black-hole vortex seemed to open at the center of the lotus dais!
The Wind Fury Dragon Flame and Green Lotus Core Flame, still tearing into each other and releasing destructive energy,
had no time to put up any meaningful resistance. Like two struggling chicks,
they were forcibly dragged and compressed by an irresistible supreme power, then...
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two streaks of fire, each a different color yet both containing boundless essence,
were wrenched straight from the heart of their clash.
Pulled beyond their control toward the tiny blood-red lotus dais, they vanished inside it in an instant!
The phantom of the Karma Fire Red Lotus shuddered, its light flaring. The Karma Fire burning across its petals seemed to blaze a little more brightly!
As though it had tasted the most exquisite delicacy, it radiated satisfaction and delight.
But the Wind Fury Dragon Flame and Green Lotus Core Flame had lost their source flames.
Their outward forms collapsed and dissipated in an instant.
They turned into countless wisps of ordinary fire-attributed energy, which slowly faded away into the world...
The world-destroying energy storm came to an abrupt halt as well.
All that remained between heaven and earth was the slowly rotating blood-red lotus dais,
and beneath it, the black-clad youth, his expression calm, as though he had done something utterly trivial.
The entire Snake-People Holy City once more fell into deathly silence.
Every survivor stared blankly at the unbelievable scene in the sky,
at the youth who had slain a Dou Emperor and devoured two flames with a mere lift of his hand.
He was like a god or demon!
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