Yi Chen chuckled and pointed a finger. A hazy gray curtain of light blocked it, easily deflecting it.
The old man roared in bitter fury, "You're a devil, you're a demon... I'll curse you! You must die..."
Yi Chen laughed. "Curse me? Heh, are you qualified to curse me? You don't even have the strength to protect yourself. What right do you have to curse me?"
Yi Chen jabbed a finger, and a strand of sword qi as fine as gossamer struck the old man's body. With a muffled bang, his body exploded, raining blood across the sky. A few drops splashed onto the strange little black knife, which hummed with delight.
Yi Chen picked up the knife and examined it closely. This treasure was truly extraordinary; its power far surpassed that of his own sword.
Yi Chen let out a long howl and stamped down on the mass of flames. The flames exploded with a thunderous roar, sending endless waves of heat surging in every direction. The house behind the old man caught fire in an instant and was reduced to scorched earth. The flying sword in Yi Chen's hand was also knocked away by the heat wave.
He turned his palm over, and a jet-black dagger of ancient design silently appeared in his hand.
The old man's soul cried out shrilly, "No, please, don't kill me. I surrender, I surrender! Please, please! I'm willing to submit to you. I'll do anything you need..."
Yi Chen said coldly, "Oh, really? Then tell me what you know. Where exactly is the Abel Family?"
The old man gradually regained his senses. Gasping with difficulty, he pleaded, "I don't know the exact location. After all, my rank is too low to know the Family's core secrets. But the Abel Family is absolutely not an existence you can lay a finger on. Its power inspires despair, a power that simply cannot be matched."
An eerie blue light flickered in the old man's eyes. Through gritted teeth, he said, "You're nothing but a lowly human. You have no way of understanding how magnificent that power is. It is an existence beyond the limits of our lives, do you understand? It is the mighty bloodline God bestowed upon our Abel Family, the greatest favor God granted our Family."
Yi Chen laughed. "Of course I know. Just a bunch of pitiful wretches."
The old man's body trembled slightly as he said, word by word, "What did you say?"
He suddenly sprang up and stared at Yi Chen with an utterly savage expression. "I warn you, our Family has a mighty legacy and unfathomably mysterious powers. You'd better show some respect, or you'll pay the most agonizing price."
Yi Chen smiled sinisterly. Suddenly, he smashed a fist into the old man's chest. The old man spat out a mouthful of blood. Two holes as wide as the mouth of a bowl appeared in his chest, and his ribs were shattered even more thoroughly.
Yi Chen slowly raised his right hand. A gleam of silvery light condensed little by little in his palm, then rapidly spread over his entire body, shrouding him in a faint silver glow.
Yi Chen's eyes turned pure gold. He stared coldly at the old man, silver lightning coiling around his fingers like snakes and pythons, waiting only for his command to tear the old man mercilessly to pieces.
"I do indeed respect your Abel Family. Unfortunately, I despise your arrogance, conceit, greed, and stupidity... I will destroy you. I will wreck the entire Sacred Mountain of the Abel Family. I will hunt you down and wipe you out. I will kill every last one of you... Your soul belongs to me now."
A dim silver needle whistled into the old man's forehead, and a mass of lurid green flames flowed along it into his soul.
Yi Chen's pupils suddenly turned into two ink-black dots, while his eyebrows and beard became dazzlingly white. A thick layer of white frost covered his face, and he stood rigid as an ice sculpture.
With a rip, the old man's clothes disintegrated inch by inch, exposing his naked body. His muscles bulged high, blue veins covered every patch of his skin, and his bones creaked, giving off one frail groan after another.
Ring after ring of green smoke drifted from every part of the old man's body. Yi Chen gently waved a hand, and a gale swept up a stone and hurled it at the old man's head. With a dull thud, a huge breach burst open in his skull as though it had been struck by a cannonball, and the gale blew out a green pearl.
Yi Chen spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the pearl. A streak of silver light wound around it, and it instantly vanished into the space between his brows. A faint imprint of spiritual sense remained on the pearl. Yi Chen's heart convulsed violently, and an intensely familiar sensation flooded his body-a power that should never have appeared.
Yi Chen drew a deep breath and let out a low roar. Countless hideous blue veins suddenly bulged beneath his skin, and innumerable black patterns covered its surface. His body abruptly grew to nearly five meters tall, radiating an immense oppressive force. He reached out and slapped the green pearl.
The pearl let out a piercing shriek, and a column of emerald light shot into the heavens.
Yi Chen leaped into the air and threw back his head with a roar. A silver Thunder Dragon over three hundred meters long materialized out of thin air and slammed into the green light with a force that could destroy heaven and earth.
With a tremendous crash, the green column of light dimmed. The silver thunder scattered into tiny sparks of lightning that merged into Yi Chen's body, then vanished.
Yi Chen stood dazed in midair. The lightning runes on his body darted about chaotically, while a bolt of purple lightning twisted restlessly around him.
Countless strange pieces of information surfaced in Yi Chen's mind. Innumerable intricate, profound runes spun wildly within it, and streams of divine thought flowed through his consciousness.
His eyes became clear and transparent. He suddenly sensed the old man's soul departing rapidly. At the same time, a series of crackles rang out inside his body, and his murky blood abruptly began to boil.
Yi Chen closed his eyes. He sensed the power of faith left throughout the world in ancient times converging upon him in an endless stream, then being absorbed by his body. Dazzling silver light poured from his entire body as it continually swelled and grew.
Yi Chen suddenly felt a wave of emptiness. His strength had broken through its limits.
He muttered, "This is actually the power of faith? How could this happen? The Abel Family... no wonder they possess such formidable strength."
Yi Chen was both astonished and delighted. He had never expected that they could actually use this power of faith to increase their strength.
Wisps of hazy gray power were reshaping Yi Chen's body.