The middle-aged male cultivator saw the vermin of the evil path die beneath his sword, and a cold smile curled across his lips.
His divine sense swept over the collapsed cavern as he tried to locate the storage ring, but he froze slightly.
What storage ring?
Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly sensed an eerie aura rising from behind him.
His heart sank. Before he had time to think, he hurriedly circulated his spiritual power and condensed a spiritual-power shield.
Yet, to his surprise, the anticipated sneak attack never came.
He whirled around, only to discover that the vermin was standing perfectly unharmed a hundred zhang behind him.
Even stranger, nine tentacles had sprouted from its head. They bared their fangs and brandished their claws, flailing wildly through the air with bursts of piercing noise.
At once, he felt invisible blades invade his sea of consciousness and wreak havoc within it.
"Ah—!"
A low cry of pain was forced uncontrollably from his throat.
Bloodshot veins filled his eyes, his teeth ground together with crackling sounds, and his body trembled faintly. Blue veins bulged all over him like gnarled tree roots thrashing viciously beneath his skin.
The excruciating pain seemed to blur his consciousness. Even the spiritual-power shield around him began to sway unsteadily.
Still, he endured the pain and summoned a bead the size of a fist.
The bead was perfectly rounded throughout, radiating a treasure light like mutton-fat jade.
However, before he could activate the bead, a flash of cold light appeared and struck the spiritual-power shield.
Crack—
A crisp shattering sound rang out. The already tottering spiritual-power shield exploded, turning into specks of spiritual light that drifted through the air.
The cold light was the Soul-Splitting Blade. Though its power had greatly diminished, it continued