"Riiip-"
A teeth-grating sound of tearing cloth suddenly rang out in midair. Before Qin Chen's hands, which glimmered with dark-gold starlight, the Blood Fiend Net-woven from countless wronged souls and blood fiend energy, and reputed to corrode even supreme-grade spirit artifacts-was actually torn in half like fragile rice paper!
The blood-red light filling the sky collapsed with a roar, turning into a foul-smelling rain of blood that splashed onto the sea.
"What?!"
The Three Blood Fiend Elders had been preparing to enjoy the sight of ten thousand ghosts devouring Qin Chen's soul as he wailed in agony. The savage grins on their faces froze instantly, replaced by ghost-struck horror.
"Impossible! I refined my Blood Soul Net from nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine living souls! It specifically corrupts magical treasures and true essence, yet you... you tore it apart with your bare hands? What kind of monster is that body of yours?!" the one-eyed elder leading them cried out, his sole remaining eye filled with disbelief.
"You talk too much."
Qin Chen's gaze was cold. He gave them no time whatsoever to catch their breath or think.
Boom!
A deafening sonic boom suddenly erupted from the empty air beneath his feet, and a ring of white air exploded in midair. Qin Chen vanished instantly, moving so fast that he even left a lifelike afterimage behind.
"Watch out!" The one-eyed elder felt a deadly sense of danger envelop him. Every hair on his body stood on end as he let out a shrill warning.
But it was too late.
Qin Chen appeared before the late Golden Core stage elder on the left as though he had teleported.
The elder did not even have time to finish forming his hand seal. He only managed to place a supreme-grade spirit artifact, the White Bone Shield, before his chest.
"Shatter!"
Qin Chen clenched his right fist. The five motes of micro star-dust within him, in his Shanzhong acupoint, Qihai Acupoint, and elsewhere, erupted with dazzling starlight at once. Physical strength of utmost purity and matchless dominance gathered at his fist like an erupting volcano, slamming savagely into the White Bone Shield.
Crack!
There was no suspense whatsoever. The instant the incomparably sturdy supreme-grade spirit artifact shield touched Qin Chen's fist, cracks spread across it like fragile ice. Then it exploded into a sky full of bone dust.
Qin Chen's fist continued unchecked, carrying terrifying power that swept through everything like rotten wood and withered grass, and punched straight through the elder's chest.
"Pfft-"
Violent star force erupted inside the elder. In that instant, his body and the Golden Core within it were shredded into a cloud of bloody mist. Before he could even scream, his life and cultivation were utterly extinguished.
"Third Brother!"
The other late Golden Core stage elder on the right stared with eyes nearly splitting, but what filled him most was profound terror.
Shattering a supreme-grade spirit artifact with one punch while instantly killing a cultivator of the same stage-such terrifying combat strength was simply impossible for anyone at the Golden Core stage!
"Run! This brat concealed his cultivation! He must be a Nascent Soul stage old monster who knows how to preserve his youthful looks!"
Without hesitation, the elder bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. He unleashed the Blood Escape Technique, transforming into a streak of blinding blood-red light as he fled frantically toward the horizon.
"Trying to leave?"
Qin Chen snorted coldly, and the Primordial Ancestral Dragon Art thundered into motion within him.
He curled his right hand into a claw and made a fierce grabbing motion toward the fleeing streak of blood-red light.
"Roar-"
Accompanied by a resounding dragon roar that shook the nine heavens, an enormous dragon claw spanning dozens of zhang, formed entirely from dark-gold true essence, materialized out of thin air. It slammed down with the crushing weight of Mount Tai.
Bang!
The dragon claw trapped the streak of blood-red light firmly in its palm. As Qin Chen abruptly closed his fingers, a piercing scream rang out in midair. The elder was crushed directly into a pulp. A dim Golden Core fell from the sky, and Qin Chen casually beckoned it over and claimed it.
In fewer than three breaths, two notorious late Golden Core stage evil cultivators had both been slain!
Now, only the one-eyed half-step Nascent Soul elder remained in midair.
He trembled all over, his lone eye filled with despair and madness. He knew that before such terrifying speed and strength, fleeing would only lead to death.
"You little bastard, I'll fight you to the death! Blood Sea Pagoda, Asura Descends!"
The one-eyed elder let out a beastlike roar. He actually thrust his hand straight into his own dantian and forcibly dug out his dark-red Golden Core, which already carried a trace of Nascent Soul aura!
Rumble!
As the Golden Core left his body, the elder's flesh rapidly shriveled. The core exploded in midair, transforming into a terrifying sea of blood spanning hundreds of zhang. Amid the churning blood, the phantom of a blood-colored Asura, dozens of zhang tall with three heads and six arms, slowly took shape, radiating terrifying pressure comparable to the early Nascent Soul stage.
"A forbidden technique that stakes your life to take mine?"
Qin Chen looked up at the blood-colored Asura blotting out the sky and sun. Not only was there no fear in his eyes, but fierce fighting spirit blazed within them.
"Perfect. I'll use you to test the limits of my five motes of star-dust!"
Qin Chen took a deep breath and drove his Heavenly Cycle Star Body to its utmost limit.
His skin instantly turned dark gold, and countless profound star runes flowed across its surface.
The five motes of micro star-dust seemed to become five blazing suns, continuously supplying him with power that could destroy heaven and earth.
"Kill!"
Qin Chen bent his knees slightly, then kicked fiercely against the empty air.
Boom!
His entire body became a dark-gold meteor piercing heaven and earth as he charged upward to meet the enormous blood-colored Asura.
The blood-colored Asura swung his six enormous arms, carrying the power of the sky-filling sea of blood as he smashed them down at Qin Chen.
"Break!"
Qin Chen neither dodged nor evaded. He drove his right fist straight toward the Asura's enormous fist.
The two fists, one large and one small, collided thunderously in midair.
After a brief, deathly silence came a terrifying crash that seemed about to tear the heavens apart.
Crack, crack, crack...
Under the one-eyed elder's despairing gaze, the enormous arm of the blood-colored Asura, whose combat strength rivaled the early Nascent Soul stage, actually began crumbling inch by inch, starting from his fist!
Qin Chen's physical strength was simply too overwhelming. His was a stellar body forged from the core energy of a constant star-mere blood fiend energy could not possibly contend with it.
"Shatter!"
Qin Chen let out a long cry. Moving like lightning, he instantly broke through the obstruction of the Asura phantom and appeared directly before the one-eyed elder.
"No-"
Amid the elder's piercing scream, Qin Chen thrust out a finger. A dark-gold beam shot from his fingertip, instantly piercing the elder between the brows and shredding his soul.
The sea of blood dispersed, and the Asura collapsed.
Calm returned to the sea. Only the thick stench of blood testified to the brutal, one-sided slaughter that had just taken place.
Qin Chen let out a long breath, and the dark-gold star runes on his skin slowly faded.
"Half-step Nascent Soul amounts to no more than this."
He nodded in satisfaction, then swept his wide sleeve, collecting all three Storage Rings left behind by the Three Blood Fiend Elders, along with the scattered fragments of their magical treasures.
With a flicker, Qin Chen left the blood-reeking waters. Hundreds of li away, he found an uninhabited reef island, hollowed out a concealed temporary cave abode, and casually laid down a Concealment Formation.
Seated cross-legged inside the cave abode, Qin Chen began taking stock of his spoils.
"As expected of evil cultivators who murder and plunder in the Blood Reef Sea. They really were wealthy."
Qin Chen erased the lingering spiritual sense from the Storage Rings and poured out everything inside.
Clatter-
Before you continue