So That's How It Is!

The six Shadow Kills surrounding him had paid a grievous price as well.

The rock giant lay flat on his back, his chest caved in and his eyes wide open. He was already dead.

Just moments ago, Li Yuan had endured Shadow Thirteen's blow head-on and shattered his heart meridians with a full-force palm strike.

Two others lay on the ground, groaning in agony, their limb joints twisted out of shape. They had temporarily lost their ability to fight.

Only Shadow Thirteen, Cangmu, and another Shadow Kill who specialized in sneak attacks remained, still clinging desperately to Li Yuan as their offensive grew ever more frenzied.

The mask on Shadow Thirteen's face had shattered, revealing a pale face. A trace of grim resolve flashed through her deep, shadowed eyes.

Remembering her superior's words, she shuddered. If the mission failed, returning would mean certain death anyway. She might as well drag Li Yuan down with her.

"Form up!"

"Ghost Soul Heart Devour!"

Shadow Thirteen screamed hoarsely. The three instantly shifted positions, their auras forcefully linked once more. A gust of yin wind rose from the ground, radiating a bone-chilling cold.

Li Yuan's vision darkened in waves as his sea of consciousness was battered by the soundwaves of ghosts weeping and wolves howling. Even the faint golden radiance of the Bronze Palace dimmed somewhat.

His body was growing heavier from excessive blood loss and the erosion of demon poison, while his true qi had been depleted enormously.

Facing this killing combination attack, he seemed to have nowhere to evade and no way to block.

Was he going to die here?

Li Yuan gave a bitter smile.

No!

Absolutely not!

At the brink of life and death, a terrifying brilliance suddenly burst from Li Yuan's eyes.

He no longer held anything back, pouring all his focus toward the Bronze Palace deep within his sea of consciousness.

"Stop for me—"

"Still!"

A soundless roar exploded in the depths of his soul. As though sensing its master's will, the Bronze Palace shuddered violently.

Within the crack of its doors, that fragment of ancient time law was, for the first time, fully invoked by Li Yuan without regard for the consequences.

Buzz—!

Centered on Li Yuan, within a radius of three meters, the three deadly shadowy attacks all fell into a brief stagnation at that instant.

It was not true time stop. Rather, Li Yuan had burned his soul to resonate with the Bronze Palace, forcibly accelerating his own perception of time to the extreme. Within a small area, he interfered with the passage of his opponents' time, creating an effect akin to frozen time.

Though it lasted less than three breaths, it dealt a massive blow to Li Yuan's soul, causing blood to seep from all seven orifices as splitting pain tore through his head.

But those three breaths were already enough for Li Yuan.

Within that time-stilled world, he saw the weakest aura node in the three opponents' combined attack formation.

He also saw the weak point in Cangmu's defenses—the ancestral aperture between his brows.

At the instant time resumed flowing—

Li Yuan moved!

He ignored Shadow Thirteen's short blade stabbing for his throat and paid no heed at all to the claw of the other Shadow Kill reaching for the small of his back. He gathered every last shred of true qi into his right hand.

His body flashed, precisely cutting into that aura node. With two fingers pressed together and faint golden light flickering at their tips, he struck one finger directly into the center of Cangmu's brow.

Pfft!

A soft sound rang out, like a bubble being popped.

The savage expression on Cangmu's face abruptly froze. The dark-green eyeball atop his wooden staff cracked apart, and the light vanished from his eyes in an instant. His entire body toppled stiffly backward, his aura rapidly withering away.

That single finger strike had directly inflicted grave wounds on Cangmu.

"Cangmu!"

Shadow Thirteen was horrified beyond measure. She had not seen at all how Li Yuan had broken through their combined attack.

Yet she had no time to think. The instant Li Yuan struck Cangmu, he borrowed the rebound force and twisted his body in an uncanny turn, narrowly evading Shadow Thirteen's short blade. His left leg swept backward in the same motion, smashing viciously into the other Shadow Kill's temple.

Bang!

That Shadow Kill did not even manage a groan. His head lolled to one side, and he crumpled limply to the ground.

In the time it took a hare to leap and a falcon to dive, one of the three who had joined forces was dead and another crippled!

Only Shadow Thirteen remained, gripping her short blade as she froze in place. Watching the blood-covered Li Yuan walk toward her step by step, boundless terror swallowed her whole.

"Th-this is impossible!"

Shadow Thirteen screamed and abruptly retreated. A flash of madness passed through her eyes as she raised her hand and viciously slapped her lower abdomen.

She actually intended to detonate her demon core and perish together with Li Yuan!

Even if she could not kill him, she would severely damage his Dao foundation and remove this future mortal threat for the Sacred Race.

"Want to self-detonate?"

"Too late!"

Li Yuan roared. Enduring the agonizing pain that felt as if his soul were splitting apart, he reached out and plunged a claw directly into her lower abdomen, seizing her demon core in his grip.

A terrifying suction force surged from his palm, enveloping that demon core radiating destructive fluctuations.

Buzz—!

As if it had caught the scent of food it craved, the Bronze Palace unleashed a devouring suction force capable of swallowing all things and instantly began to plunder.

"Ah—!"

Shadow Thirteen let out a shrill scream.

She felt the origin demon power within her demon core, along with the cultivation she had painstakingly built over many years, being forcibly extracted beyond her control. It poured madly toward Li Yuan.

"No!"

She could clearly feel everything she possessed rapidly draining away. The sensation of being devoured alive was more terrifying than death itself.

"You..."

"You can actually absorb demon cores directly?"

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is!"

Before her consciousness completely sank into darkness, Shadow Thirteen suddenly widened her eyes. At last, she understood why Li Yuan had been secretly purchasing demon cores all this time.

And why his cultivation had advanced at such an inconceivable speed.

So the true secret lay here.

This discovery made her shudder. A human with ninth-grade talent who could directly absorb demon cores—if he grew stronger, it would mean the destruction of countless members of the Demon Race.

Using the last of her strength, she looked toward Cangmu, who was barely clinging to life nearby, and screamed hoarsely.

"Cangmu! Send word to the Sacred Race at any cost! Li Yuan can directly devour demon cores... He is the nemesis of our Sacred Race. He must be killed... Pfft!"

She spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with chunks of organs. Shadow Thirteen's body rapidly shriveled, her eyes wide with unwillingness as all life finally left her.

The demon core she had cultivated for many years had now been completely devoured by the Bronze Palace, transformed into a vast warm current that flowed back into Li Yuan, swiftly repairing his injuries as he neared his limit.

Li Yuan let out a muffled groan and staggered back several steps, bracing himself against the wall as he gasped for breath. Blood flowed from all seven orifices, and his head felt as though it were splitting apart, yet a new power was rapidly growing inside him.

But he still could not rest. His gaze was like lightning as he looked at Cangmu, who was struggling to crush something.

No matter what, he could not allow the news to leak out. Otherwise, he would die without a burial place.

He forcibly drew up a breath, intending to step forward and stop him.

However, just then—

Crack!

A crisp sound of shattering came from overhead. A distinct crack had appeared in the deep-blue barrier.

Then, a familiar voice pierced through the barrier.

"Kid, hold on. This old man is coming."

The barrier shattered with a thunderous crash.

Light from outside streamed in. Mr. Mo appeared at the breach, blood staining the corner of his mouth.

Several powerful auras were also rapidly approaching from afar. At their head were Liu Hongyan and Chen Shuo.

Just as Li Yuan's vigilance loosened slightly, Cangmu, sprawled on the ground, burst forth with a speck of dark-green light in his eyes and used his last ounce of strength to crush a black bone shard hidden in his robes.