Madness in Desperation

Before him lay a Heavenly Chasm; behind him came pursuers.

No, Wang Zhan was no pursuer. He was the Grim Reaper!

That door-sized Flying Sword Artifact was far faster than Chen Chen had imagined. Driven by the blood and qi of the Ninth Level of Body Tempering, its shriek through the air was sharp enough to tear eardrums apart.

Wang Zhan's face, twisted by boundless fury, rapidly filled Chen Chen's vision.

The scythe of death already hung above his neck!

Run!

That was Chen Chen's only instinct at this moment!

He drove the blood and qi of the Fourth Level of Body Tempering to its limit, as though a volcano had erupted within his dantian. He unleashed the Seven Shadows Step, which he had only recently mastered, to the fullest. His body left blurred afterimages among the trees as he fled madly into the depths of the mountain range along an irregular zigzag path.

He did not dare run in a straight line. That would make him a living target for the flying sword in an instant!

"You little beast, trying to show off your movement technique before me, Wang Zhan? Laughable!"

Wang Zhan's voice was like an ice spike in the depths of winter, filled with disdain and cruelty. The flying sword beneath his feet made a nimble turn without losing the slightest speed, while the crimson blade aura on his blood-colored saber surged another three feet!

"Blood Butcher Slash!"

From nearly a hundred meters away, he fiercely brought his saber down!

Boom!

A terrifying saber aura ten meters long, like a crimson crescent moon, broke free from the blade and swept out!

Every tree and boulder in its path was as fragile as tofu before that saber aura, instantly cleaved apart and crushed!

The saber aura skimmed past Chen Chen's afterimage and slammed into a small hill dozens of meters ahead of him.

Rumble—!

With a deafening blast, a corner of that small hill was forcibly sheared away. Earth and rock exploded outward, and dust filled the sky!

Was this the power of the Peak Ninth Level of Body Tempering?

Before true qi had even been born, saber aura driven solely by blood and qi could already wreak such horrifying destruction!

Cold sweat instantly soaked Chen Chen's back. The gale whipped up by the saber aura lashed across his face like knives, causing searing pain.

He had no doubt that if even a trace of that saber aura grazed him, he would be smashed to pieces!

"Run! Let's see where you can run to!"

Wang Zhan sneered viciously. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he savored the pleasure of watching his prey struggle in despair. He did not strike a killing blow immediately. Instead, he leisurely trailed behind Chen Chen, sending out saber aura after saber aura to wreck the terrain around him and steadily compress his escape routes.

Gorges were leveled, giant trees were severed at the waist, and the earth was plowed with ravines so deep their bottoms could not be seen.

Chen Chen was like a lone skiff amid Raging Waves, in danger of capsizing at any moment.

No! If this continued, in fewer than ten breaths, he would exhaust all his strength and then lose his head to a single saber stroke!

His mind spun frantically, calculating every factor he could use.

Terrain, wind direction, Wang Zhan's habits when striking...

The combat instincts he had cultivated as a special forces soldier in his previous life were pushed to their limit at this moment.

Yet before an absolute gap in power, every scheme seemed so pale and powerless.

Unless... a miracle happened!

Chen Chen's gaze inadvertently fell upon his chest.

The pigeon-egg-sized Demonic Core he had obtained from the Snow Jade Snake's corpse was giving off wisps of cold air.

A Demonic Core!

A mad idea flashed through his mind like lightning!

Swallow it whole!

The Demonic Core of a peak second-rank demonic beast contained energy so vast and violent that, with his mere Fourth Level of Body Tempering cultivation, swallowing it directly could only lead to one outcome: being blown apart by that energy!

But did he have any other choice now?

Either way, death awaited him. He might as well gamble!

If he won, the sea would be vast and the sky boundless!

If he lost, it would still be more satisfying than being tortured to death by his enemy!

"You little bastard, the game is over!"

Behind him, Wang Zhan seemed to have lost his patience. The flying sword beneath his feet suddenly accelerated, and he raised his blood-colored saber high. An aura more terrifying than any before locked firmly onto Chen Chen!

Now!

A flash of resolute madness crossed Chen Chen's eyes. Without hesitation, he pulled out the snow-white, translucent Demonic Core and shoved it into his mouth!

The Demonic Core was not as cold as he had imagined when it entered his mouth. Instead, it felt like a red-hot branding iron!

Gulp!

Before he even had time to chew, he swallowed it whole.

Boom—!!!

The instant the Demonic Core entered his stomach, an indescribable, incomparably violent icy energy erupted within him like a volcano that had lain dormant for ten thousand years!

"Urghhh—!"

Chen Chen let out a shrill scream that scarcely sounded human.

His body seemed to transform into a battlefield in an instant.

The frigid demonic power was like an army of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, charging wildly through his fragile meridians, seeking to freeze and tear apart everything within him!

Meanwhile, his own blood and qi were like soldiers sworn to defend their homeland to the death, burning madly as they resisted this foreign invasion.

A fine layer of frost condensed across his skin at a visible speed, dyeing his entire body white.

Yet beneath his skin, his veins bulged one after another from the violent boiling of his blood and qi, taking on an eerie crimson hue.

The ultimate clash of ice and fire subjected him to torment a hundred times worse than death by a thousand cuts.

His consciousness rapidly blurred beneath the agonizing pain.

But he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the pain to preserve his final thread of clarity!

He could feel the barrier of his cultivation being forcibly broken through beneath the wash of that violent energy!

Peak Fourth Level of Body Tempering!

Fifth Level of Body Tempering!

[Warning! Abnormally violent energy detected within host. System is attempting guidance... Guidance failed!]

[Warning! Host's life signs are rapidly declining and are about to collapse!]

For the first time, the system's notification carried an urgent warning.

Yet Chen Chen could no longer hear it.

He only knew that he needed an outlet!

He needed to vent the power that was about to burst him apart!

"AAAAARGH!"

He threw back his head and roared. His eyes were blood-red as his body suddenly pivoted. Instead of fleeing, he charged head-on toward Wang Zhan, who was pursuing him from behind!

"Hm?"

Wang Zhan was first stunned, then an even more contemptuous smile appeared on his face.

"You little beast, you know you can't escape, so you want to make one last desperate stand? Foolish!"

The blood-colored saber in his hand came crashing down with the momentum to cleave through everything!

Yet just as the blade was about to touch Chen Chen, a sudden change occurred!

Chen Chen's body abruptly twisted in midair at an inconceivable angle!

He was not attacking. He was... borrowing force!

He stretched out his frost-covered right hand and grabbed Wang Zhan's descending blade!

Screech!

His palm scraped against the blade, producing a grating sound that made teeth ache.

Blood mixed with ice shards and splattered everywhere.

Chen Chen's entire palm was nearly severed by that strike, the wound so deep that bone was visible!

But he had succeeded!

Borrowing the incomparable impact of that strike, his body became like a stone hurled from a catapult, shooting in a streak of light toward a bottomless crevice in the cliff below and to the side!

"What?!"

Wang Zhan's pupils abruptly constricted!

He had never expected this brat to be so insane, using self-mutilation to win himself a sliver of survival!

Without a second thought, he immediately drove his flying sword after him.

But that crevice was far too narrow and steep. The flying sword could not enter at all.

He could only watch helplessly as Chen Chen's figure vanished into the endless abyss of darkness.

"You little beast!!!"

Wang Zhan's beard and hair stood on end in fury as he unleashed a roar of utter rage!

He swung his saber violently, slashing hard at the edge of the cliff crevice!

Rumble!

The mountainside crumbled, and countless stones tumbled into the abyss, yet not even the faintest echo returned.

This crevice was bottomless!

Wang Zhan's expression darkened until it seemed water could drip from it.

After falling into such a death trap, even if that brat were forged from iron, he would surely die.

But Wang Zhan was not at ease.

He wanted to see the man alive, or the corpse dead!

He put away his flying sword and landed at the edge of the crevice. Those bloodshot eyes stared fixedly into the darkness below, as though he wanted to see through the abyss itself.

"I'd like to see where else you can hide!"

He actually sat down cross-legged on the spot, deciding to stand guard there!

He did not believe that brat could survive for three days in this death trap!