His hands gripped the Stone Shears, which were hot as branding irons, tightly. He paid no heed to how his hands had been scorched black, with only a thin layer of flesh and blood still clinging to the bones.
The black spiritual rain overhead took this chance to grow even heavier, falling in a crackling barrage. It smashed into his flesh, leaving wounds of varying depths. In but an instant, Candle Daoren was drenched in flowing blood.
Yet at this moment, he could not spare a thought for the countless wounds covering his body. He desperately poured spiritual power into the magic artifact in his hands.
But all this effort was ultimately futile.
Wei Zhong's cultivation had now reached the Late Stage Foundation Establishment. The sheer abundance of his spiritual power was far beyond what it had been in the early Foundation Establishment stage, and the Flying Throwing Art driven by it was far more powerful than the previous two attacks.
The black sphere streaked through the air in a black line, shooting straight at Candle Daoren.
The red Stone Shears held out before him for less than an instant before shattering into four pieces, and then the sphere crashed down upon Candle Daoren's body.
The tremendous force carried by the stone sphere crushed both of them into the rock wall behind them, burrowing to an unknown depth.
"Rumble!"
In the middle of the night, the enormous roar woke many members of the Li Lineage.
"What happened?"
Li Ren, the Clan Head of the Li Lineage, awoke from cultivation. The moment he stepped out of his cave dwelling, someone immediately came forward to report.
"Clan Head, the sound came from Black Lake Island."
"Black Lake Island?"
Li Ren immediately thought of Candle Daoren, who had been sucking the Li Lineage dry for ten years. Could something have happened to him?
Seeing the Clan Head lost in thought, the person below reminded him,
"Clan Head?"
Li Ren came back to himself and said,
"Send someone to take a look, but do not go onto the island. Just call out to Senior from the shore."
The person below pulled a long face. Everyone knew that senior's temperament was brutal; whoever went would likely meet no good end.
But since the Clan Head had given the order, someone had to go.
Wei Zhong proceeded along the passage blasted open by the black sphere. Candle Daoren was nowhere to be seen—or rather, he was everywhere throughout this passage.
The Storage Bag is gone too.
Candle Daoren had been smashed into pulp, so naturally his Storage Bag had not survived that blow either. As for the items within, they had presumably been torn into fragments by the collapsing space.
But given Wei Zhong's wealth, such a loss was nothing.
At the end of the passage, Wei Zhong finally saw the black sphere deeply embedded in the rock.
After digging it out, Wei Zhong brushed away the dust on its surface. It was smooth and round, utterly unscathed.
He could not help but marvel, What kind of treasure is this? Such an impact did not leave the slightest mark on it.
When he looked back, he could see only a faint glimmer of light from the distant cave entrance.
That strike had nearly punched straight through the mountain from its waist. This was no ordinary rock; it had been tempered by spiritual energy for untold years and was already incomparably solid.
Qi Refining cultivators needed specially made mining artifacts to excavate the rock here. Otherwise, even with several first-rank magic swords, they could not possibly dig this deep, no matter how many they broke.
Wei Zhong returned to the cave and heard shrill cries coming from the outer passage. Only when he reached the outer cavern did he discover a great swarm of Blood-Eating Bats flying within.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Wei Zhong drove away the bats. Amid them lay a two-foot-long mangled corpse—the Blood-Eating Bat King.
"Dead?"
Wei Zhong stepped forward to inspect it and found that it had been dead for some time. It did not seem to have died from external injuries; rather, it looked somewhat like it had died from backlash.
Usually, only when the master had been killed would a spiritual beast under their control show such signs of death. Yet Wei Zhong had clearly fought Candle Daoren for quite a while. He had even wondered why this spiritual beast had not come to assist in battle. How had it died?
Wei Zhong could not help recalling his sneak attack. That strike had shattered Candle Daoren's heart meridians and internal organs. Ordinarily, the powerful vitality of a Foundation Establishment cultivator meant he would not die immediately, though he could not hold on for long either.
Yet Candle Daoren had not only survived, but fused with that blood body, becoming a monster and fighting Wei Zhong fiercely.
Could it be that the one fighting him had not been Candle Daoren?
A chill suddenly rose in Wei Zhong's heart. There was a grave problem with the Blood Body Technique.
Could it be that the Extracorporeal Incarnation cultivated through this technique was not one's own? Then for whom was it being raised?
Wei Zhong did not dare investigate further. He was immensely relieved that he had not lost his head and cultivated this technique back then.
Sure enough, there was no free lunch under heaven. How could a True Lord's inheritance, scattered across the world like this, be so easily obtained?
Some Rogue Cultivators still hoped to cultivate this Blood Body Technique and obtain the True Lord's inheritance, never realizing they were merely making a bridal dress for someone else.
Shifting his attention away from the Blood-Eating Bat King, he looked toward the surrounding swarm of Blood-Eating Bats.
With the Bat King dead, a new Bat King would usually emerge from the flock after a period of conflict. He would leave this swarm of Blood-Eating Bats here for now.
Wei Zhong tidied up the inside of the cave and cleared away all traces of the battle. He even filled in the passage created by the Flying Throwing Art with rocks.
Taking in the sole remaining sheet of painted paper, Wei Zhong clicked his tongue in wonder. Once it was pasted onto the rock, it displayed an image of rock, and from the outside, there was no difference between what was within the painting and what lay beyond it. It was simply a divine tool for disguise.
It could even conceal spiritual energy, raising its value to another level. Wei Zhong had no idea what material such a strange object had been refined from. After feeling it over without discovering anything, he could only store it in his cave heaven.
After leaving this cave, he found, as expected, that the commotion here had already alerted the Li Lineage.
In the distance, an elderly Qi Refining cultivator stood suspended over the lake on a magic sword, not daring to set foot on Black Lake Island.
Just as his face twisted with hesitation, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear,
"Call Li Haowen, a descendant of your lineage, here."
As if a great burden had been lifted, he bowed toward the mountain peak on the island, then turned his flying sword around and swiftly departed.
Within the Azurewood Sect, Nie Yuansen stood with his back to a young man behind him and said,
"ZhengSheng, how is that girl Yue Chan?"
The young man answered respectfully,
"Hall Master Duan said that her divine soul has been severely damaged and needs to be nurtured. If she cannot recover from this injury, she may never have any chance of forming a core for the rest of her life."
The man raised his head, revealing a handsome face, fair skin, and an indescribable masculine spirit between his brows. Anyone who saw him would surely have to call him a beautiful man.
He was Yao ZhengSheng, the Azurewood Sect First Disciple and disciple of Sect Master Nie Yuansen. He possessed water and wood spiritual roots, both Superior Spiritual Roots, surpassing others by an unknown distance. He had already reached the Late Stage Foundation Establishment.
"Alas, who would have thought that Blood Sea True Lord's inheritance contained such a trap? You two have truly suffered because of it."
"It was this disciple who failed to protect Junior Sister."
Yao ZhengSheng lowered his head, a trace of guilt flashing across his face.
"It is not your fault. Who could have imagined that a fragment of soul was hidden within that token, taking advantage of Chan'er refining her Extracorporeal Incarnation to invade while she was vulnerable? Had you not discovered it in time, Yue Chan would likely have been devoured and replaced by someone else."
After saying this, Nie Yuansen slowly walked to Yao ZhengSheng's side, patted his shoulder, and instructed him,
"Leave Chan'er to me, her father. You need not worry.
Recently, the sect has gained something in the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range and has gathered the spiritual herbs needed for one batch of Dustfall Pills.
If the pills are successfully refined, you should begin properly preparing for core formation."
"This disciple will certainly not disappoint Master's high expectations!"
Before you continue