Magic Flames III

Inception Enchantress Meng Xinruo's Void Soul Refining was not merely a simple crushing advantage in strength and speed. In a single instant, she could summon dozens of different extraterritorial demons at the Yuan Jing level, turning them into microbial viruses that seeped into the skin, body, and soul domain of anyone struck. Even an Origin Scenery Dao Integration cultivator would turn into pus and blood within a breath, utterly powerless to resist.

Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be left in a miserable state, covered in countless pus-filled sores and maggots. In the end, all their cultivation would explode from within, spreading pestilence.

Thus, outside, this palm art of hers was known as the Void Plague Poison Soul Refining Divine Palm. It was one of the foremost divine abilities among the palm arts of the Central Prefecture.

Even when they had besieged Yuan Qiuque back then, he, despite wielding the Life and Death Demon Blade, had not dared receive Meng Xinruo's full-force palm strike head-on. Though Yuan Qiuque had been severely wounded at the time, this still showed just how terrifying it was.

And now, this man before them—this brat who had only just touched the level of a True Lord—had actually taken a Void Plague Poison Soul Refining Divine Palm head-on!

It was as absurd and laughable as a Foundation Establishment cultivator suddenly being able to kill a Golden Core True Person in reverse.

Yet no matter what, the truth stood right before them.

Lin Xin had, beyond any doubt, blocked Meng Xinruo's Soul Refining Divine Palm. He still stood before everyone, perfectly composed.

"Could it be... Body Refinement to Sainthood?!!" Demon Vine True Lord no longer dared regard Lin Xin as an ordinary True Lord.

Everyone present understood how troublesome and terrifying Body Refinement to Sainthood was.

Sturdy, resistant to spells, indestructible—every cultivator who reached this step was practically an immortal existence.

In an instant, dozens of cultivation arts and divine abilities capable of producing the effect before her flashed through Meng Xinruo's mind, yet none were as shocking as what she was seeing.

"A secret art, perhaps? I'd like to see how long you can keep this up!"

She raised both palms and traced circle after circle through the void, drawing lines of trajectory.

Those lines were translucent, suspended in midair without dispersing for a long while.

The enormous phantom behind her slowly revealed more than half of its upper body.

It was a bald giant dozens of meters tall, its entire body covered in knotted blue-black muscles.

The giant's head was covered in countless tiny mouths. On a head less than two meters across, there were several dozen savage mouths, each packed with innumerable white serrated teeth. It looked utterly horrifying.

The rest of the giant was entirely black. Its lower body was an ethereal gaseous form, and its whole body gave off traces of an ancient, distant aura.

"Supreme Sacred Spirit!"

Meng Xinruo paused her hands. Both palms suddenly exploded completely, turning into countless strands of black mist before condensing into two incomparably sharp black blades.

"Go!"

She barked sharply. The black giant behind her charged out with a thunderous boom, its two enormous black hands rapidly extending and likewise transforming into two blades of black mist as they shot toward Lin Xin.

Smiling, Lin Xin spread his arms. Countless wisps of black mist gradually rose from his body, and a series of bulges thrust up along his back, lifting his clothes. The seventh level of the Primal Demon Body had undergone a new transformation.

As though in resonance, a blood-red rune slowly lit up on his forehead. His body gradually grew taller, while his muscles writhed and rolled violently. Black-red things like scales sprouted across the surface of his skin.

Hiss!

A white bone spike suddenly pierced out through Lin Xin's back.

Then came a second, a third, a fourth...

More and more bone spikes continually rose from his back, quickly forming a long row of dorsal spines that extended from top to bottom along his spine.

His back began to arch slightly. The outer sides of his thighs swelled, splitting open into two symmetrical slits. Two short sword-like bone spikes of intricate construction grew from within them.

Things resembling soft tube cannon muzzles continuously bulged and grew from his forearms, attaching themselves to the outer sides of his lower arms.

Each arm seemed to have dozens of miniature cannon barrels strapped to it, yet the blue-black channels behind those barrels grew directly into the flesh of his body.

Hiss!

At some point, his ears had turned into bizarre shapes resembling bat wings. They abruptly spread open with a crisp snap.

Aah!!

The bat-like ears actually emitted a sound like a woman's shriek.

Countless sound waves turned into trembling transparent ripples, spreading outward in every direction with Lin Xin at their center.

Buzz...

Even Inu-sha Ying had no choice but to spread her soul domain and transform into her demon form to withstand the vibrations.

By then, Meng Xinruo's black blades had reached Lin Xin. Two black blades almost as large as he was came at him from the left and right, clamping down viciously as if to shear him in half.

The four longswords behind Lin Xin left their sheaths at once. Every streak of sword light was coated in a layer of blood plasma, becoming four crimson beams that smashed into the black blades in an instant.

At the same time, Lin Xin drew the Silkworm White Moon Sword with both hands and swept it upward. Triple power erupted abruptly.

Clang!!

Before the terrifying sound could fully spread, the edges of the two black blades, the instant they were blocked, suddenly sprayed out countless black crystalline spikes like living creatures. They rained down over Lin Xin's face.

Puff puff puff puff...

The raindrop-like black crystals, resembling diamond-shaped ice shards, slammed into Lin Xin's face one after another. Dull thuds like wood being struck rang out without pause.

Lin Xin was battered backward again and again. His entire face was smashed into a twisted, ruined mess, blood and bone fragments spraying everywhere.

Destruction and healing tangled without cease, turning his entire face into a blur of flesh and blood.

All the black crystals kept crashing down, then exploded into innumerable fragments and grains. Gradually, they surrounded Lin Xin completely. In less than several breaths, they enveloped him whole and solidified into an irregular giant black crystal.

Meng Xinruo stared coldly at Lin Xin inside the crystal. Every one of his movements had frozen at the final instant of being sealed and locked away.

"Sacred Spirit Crystal can continuously extract every bit of life force within you at all times. If you have the ability, try breaking free one more time...?"

Boom!!!

The moment her words fell, the black crystal abruptly cracked apart, then exploded completely with a bang. Lin Xin slowly walked out from within.

This sort of crystal could indeed absorb and seize life force, but the force of its draining was inferior to the recovery speed of Lin Xin's own fleshly body.

Sacred Spirit Crystal itself was a mysterious crystal that needed to absorb life force in order to continually strengthen its own hardness. Without life force to absorb, it was no different from an ordinary diamond. To ordinary people, diamonds might be hard enough to make escape impossible.

But to a Yuan Jing cultivator like Lin Xin, whose fleshly body was already unimaginably powerful, it was merely slightly tougher cardboard.

Meng Xinruo's face darkened completely. Just moments ago, she had confidently proclaimed how formidable her Sacred Spirit Crystal was, only to be slapped in the face in the blink of an eye.

Snicker.

At the side, Inu-sha Ying laughed aloud without giving her the slightest face.

Meng Xinruo's expression darkened further, but she had no time to settle matters with Inu-sha Ying. Lin Xin had already raised his hand and aimed the Jade Immortal Bow at her.

A flash of golden light glinted across the Jade Immortal Bow.

The bowstring was drawn, then released.

Buzz!!

Without a sound, Meng Xinruo only felt a stab of pain in her heart. Her expression changed instantly, and she rapidly flashed repeatedly to the side.

In the blink of an eye, she had fled several hundred meters away.

Demon Vine True Lord followed immediately behind her. At some point, great swathes of dark green vines had grown over his entire body, leaves included, swiftly covering and wrapping Meng Xinruo from head to toe.

After a single draw of the bowstring, Meng Xinruo's expression had merely changed slightly. The strength of her fleshly body clearly far surpassed that of ordinary Yuan Jing cultivators. The Jade Immortal Bow, which could burst a Nascent Soul's heart and blood vessels throughout the body, had only caused pain in her chest.

Lin Xin smiled, placing his finger on the bowstring once more.

"As expected of eighth on the Heavenly Ranking, the strongest fairy maiden bearing the name Inception. You can block one strike like that. Then what about this?"

Creak...

The bowstring was slowly drawn again.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz!!!

In an instant, Lin Xin gripped the Jade Immortal Bow and crazily pulled the bowstring with a speed so fast only afterimages could be seen.

At the terrifying speed of drawing and releasing it more than ten times per second, the bowstring trembled violently, and invisible waves surged toward Meng Xinruo like a storm.

This time, it was not only Meng Xinruo and the other two. Even Inu-sha Ying, who had been watching from the side, turned pale and immediately fled into the distance.

The savage, invisible waves traveled through some inexplicable medium. They were no longer spreading in a simple straight line; their intensity had become so great that they began to diffuse outward and affect everything around them.

Even standing to the side and watching the battle, Inu-sha Ying felt a sharp pain in her heart, as though it might explode at any moment.

Lin Xin's fingers were continually torn apart, flesh flying and bone chips scattering. Soon, his index finger was pulled off, and he switched to his middle finger. When that broke, he changed to his ring finger. By then, his index finger had already fully recovered. The cycle repeated endlessly: one hand held the bow, while the other drew the string.

He stood in the dark void as invisible waves surged around him like raging seas and furious tides. Even the Illusory Sea above his head was stirred into countless splashes, forming a circular expanse of white spray centered on him.

Caught off guard, Meng Xinruo was targeted at once. Her face turned pale as she bent over. The green leaves of Demon Vine True Lord covering her body visibly withered and yellowed, great quantities of leaves falling away.

She looked up toward Lin Xin, only to see her vision filled with dense distortions and ripples. Her heart swelled and compressed more and more, as though someone were continuously gripping it tightly in their hand.

As her heart changed, Meng Xinruo's hand slowly moved to a patch of skin on the outside of her right thigh.

Threads of killing intent increasingly filled her eyes.

"My lord, you must not!" Demon Vine True Lord noticed her action and was startled. Enduring the pain, he hurriedly tried to dissuade her.

"If you use that, you will certainly kill him, but even if you win now, the gains will not make up for the losses!"

How could Meng Xinruo not know that? She simply could not accept it. A mere fellow at the level of an ordinary True Lord, an ant she should have been able to crush with one hand, had actually forced her into injury with nothing but a Jade Immortal Bow!

"How many years has it been? How many years has it been since anyone forced me into such a state!" Meng Xinruo said in a sinister, icy voice.

"My lord, please calm your anger. The greater situation is more important!" Demon Vine True Lord was growing anxious. "You have endured for so many years already. One retreat this time is nothing."

"Enough!!" Meng Xinruo roared wildly.

"Black Fiend Soul Art!!"

The black giant behind her suddenly brought its arms together, twisting them like a rope as they rapidly condensed into one hand.

Countless colored points of light representing the Dao intent of laws flew in from all directions, covering that arm and turning it into a riot of colors.

With a thunderous rumble, the arm slowly reached toward Lin Xin.

Its speed was clearly not fast, yet it seemed to encompass the entire world within it—freezing, slowing, poisoning, burning, shaking, terrifying, corroding, piercing...

Countless Dao intents unleashed their effects, completely locking down the space where Lin Xin stood in a single instant.