The Peak of the Houtian Realm

Chapter 16: The Peak of the Houtian Realm

Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art, twelfth layer, 360,000 jin of tremendous force—180 tons!

Red light flickered madly in Chen Lin's eyes. Clearly, after absorbing so much pure Heavenly Demon blood, his own bloodline had greatly benefited. Now he was going to madly condense Killing Intent and complete the final layer of the Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art!

The total amount of Killing Intent required for the final layer was terrifying!

As if sensing Chen Lin's madness, or perhaps drawn by his cultivation technique, the moment seemed to freeze in the Blood Pool. In a daze, Chen Lin felt that time had stopped, and that all things had ceased to move!

Then the Killing Intent around him went berserk. Other ferocious beasts fled from this savage Killing Intent, but Chen Lin welcomed it with open arms. The Killing Intent even made faint rushing sounds as it surged. Invisible to the naked eye, it rolled like thunder, like furious winds sweeping up snow!

It pressed in and roared through him! His flesh, sinews, and bones were tempered a thousand times over!

Ten breaths later, Chen Lin's body suddenly exploded, as if shattered to pieces by the terrifying Killing Intent, turning into a rain of blood and flesh!

A miserable crimson rain filled the sky, obscuring everyone's vision. The entire area seemed engulfed by a terrifying bloodstorm! The intense stench of blood churned endlessly through the area.

"Alas... he still failed..." Wu Lan and Qiu Ming's eyes dimmed, and they fell silent. The many experts atop the altar shook their heads. Though Chen Lin's earlier, bizarre state had astonished them, that wonder faded now that he was dead.

No one noticed the blood-red seed slowly turning where Chen Lin had been. It gave off a hazy crimson glow.

It was a seed formed from Source Blood!

Chen Lin could no longer feel pain. He sensed only the cold, heavy Death Energy in his blood. In his daze, he felt as if he had died, yet he could also feel traces of Heavenly Demon blood slowly gathering within him, seemingly struggling to rebuild and restore his flesh.

It was like countless icy snakes winding through his flesh, or myriads of insects slowly writhing as they gnawed away at him. The icy, painful sensation was unbearable.

In the Blood Pool, a body of flesh and blood was strangely reassembling itself.

Gradually, the body grew more solid, once again drawing everyone's attention!

"He's still alive?! What incredible regenerative ability! Could it be some kind of special constitution or innate divine ability?!"

Everyone was stunned. Violet light flickered in Li Juekong's eyes as he gazed through the blood mist, seemingly trying to see Chen Lin's body clearly.

Chen Lin slowly opened his eyes. A glimmer of red light flickered at the bottom of his pupils, adding a hint of wickedness to his appearance.

"Buzz~!"

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared behind Chen Lin, and a huge Heavenly Demon phantom gradually took shape.

This Heavenly Demon resembled Chen Lin, except that its entire body was translucent, like green crystal, with red markings all over it. The two feelers on its head had become demonic horns, and its eyes were blood-red, brimming with madness and ferocity. A pair of enormous wings extended from its back, black as ink. Complex runes carved across them glimmered with a deadly light, eerie and dangerous.

"What kind of Heavenly Demon is this? Has anyone heard of it?"

On the altar, the various branch leaders furrowed their brows and pondered, but none could recall anything associated with this Heavenly Demon.

An old man stroked his beard with one hand. After a moment of thought, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said slowly, "This Heavenly Demon does bear some resemblance to the Green-Light Plankton Beast."

"The Green-Light Plankton Beast? Now that you mention it, I do recall it. This Heavenly Demon ranks four hundred and eighty-seventh on the Heavenly Demon rankings. It's near the very bottom."

"Indeed. But this boy's appearance still differs greatly from that of the Green-Light Plankton Beast. And his performance in the Blood Pool just now was astonishing. It must have been due to some kind of innate divine ability. But the innate divine ability of his ancestor, the Green-Light Plankton Beast, was supposedly an illusion-making ability called the Plankton Illusion Realm. Its descendants have been rarely seen for hundreds of years. Could they have mutated?"

"There's no need to investigate all that just yet. Once the Blood Pool Cleansing Ceremony is over, we can examine him carefully. I'm rather curious about this little fellow."

Chen Lin stepped out of the Blood Pool and sensed that everyone was looking at him differently. Even Wu Lan and Qiu Ming were studying him with strange, curious, and expectant expressions. It made Chen Lin feel rather uncomfortable.

But Chen Lin knew that his performance in the Blood Pool had indeed drawn far too much attention. He wanted to keep a low profile, but if he hadn't used the Killing Intent to cultivate his technique, he would have been reduced to a pile of bones just a few breaths after the Blood Pool formation activated. He had no choice but to make a spectacle of himself.

By now, he had cultivated the Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art to its peak: 390,000 jin, or 195 tons of tremendous force! When he activated the technique, his strength would just about reach 200 tons—a truly terrifying amount. Even among Xiantian ferocious beasts, he would likely rank among the most formidable in terms of strength.

The moment his technique reached perfection, the Void Meridians within him had also opened naturally. A full three hundred and sixty-one Void Meridians now ran throughout his body, connecting to his Yin-Yang Meridians.

He could break through the peak of the Houtian Realm and reach the Xiantian Realm at any moment. But this was clearly not the right place to break through, so Chen Lin suppressed his restless urge to advance and held back.

After taking a turn through twists and turns, he had stumbled upon a fortuitous opportunity. The main quest that he'd thought impossible to complete had now become ridiculously easy. Chen Lin couldn't help but marvel at his good fortune. At least he wouldn't have to erase the 1,000 Death Energy points.

Chen Lin couldn't help but give a silent shout of relief. But when he thought of Death Energy points, something came to mind. He quickly used his mind to contact the Ascension Space. When he saw that he had 8,114 Death Energy points, he felt, in a daze, as though he'd gone from poverty to a comfortable living overnight.

Happiness always came too suddenly.

Another half an hour passed before the Blood Pool Cleansing Ceremony finally ended.

Those who had successfully condensed a phantom behind them were led by the welcoming disciples to one end of the square, where they waited for the branch leaders atop the altar to conduct their final tests.

As for the ferocious beasts that had failed to condense a phantom in the Blood Pool but had somehow survived, they were assigned to the other end of the square. These beasts possessed Heavenly Demon bloodlines, but their bloodlines were inferior and their potential limited, so they could only be raised as outer disciples. Although they hadn't become inner disciples, surviving the Blood Pool meant they had clearly gained enormous benefits from it. At the very least, their intelligence was now no different from an ordinary person's. Of course, if they later had the good fortune to improve their bloodlines or their cultivation rose enough to meet the requirements, the Myriad Demon Sect would also accept them as inner disciples and train them.

Chen Lin looked around and saw that most of the ferocious beasts near him were at the Xiantian stage and had taken human form. Their auras were rich and terrifying. A few of them had even emerged from the Blood Pool with light flickering in their eyes and even deeper auras. An understated majesty seemed to radiate from their very bones. Their Heavenly Demon bloodlines were clearly pure and noble, and they were exceptionally gifted.

Once all the ferocious beasts had gathered, Li Juekong and the other powerful members of the Demon Race flew down from the altar.

With so many powerful figures present, even the ferocious beasts who had awakened their Heavenly Demon bloodlines didn't dare act rashly. They all lowered their noble heads.

Li Juekong and the other branch leaders at the front gazed around with keen interest, examining the ferocious beasts that had performed especially well in the Blood Pool.

Naturally, the first to draw their attention was Chen Lin, whose performance in the Blood Pool had been the strangest and most astonishing. In an instant, dozens of gazes fixed on him, as if he were a rare treasure.

Being watched by so many powerful figures was deeply unpleasant. Chen Lin felt every hair on his body stand on end, and even breathing became difficult. Each person behind those gazes had the strength to kill him with ease and possessed unfathomable methods. He couldn't help but tremble with fear.