Lin Fan walked slowly across the scorched earth.
The dense, dark matter around him seemed to sense his presence and began to slowly converge from the depths of the mist.
These strange substances come in various forms.
Hehehe!
Some resemble humans, but their limbs and joints are twisted unnaturally, as if they were forcibly bent but not straightened, making a clicking sound when they walk, with each step carrying a stiff and sluggish feeling.
Some resembled beasts, but lacked fur; only a layer of dark red fascia covered their skeletons, revealing gleaming white teeth. Thick, black liquid dripped from their mouths, falling drop by drop onto the scorched earth with a hissing, corrosive sound.
Others were simply a clump of viscous black substance, shapeless, like a puddle of mud spilled on the ground, slowly wriggling in the same direction.
They all swarmed towards Lin Fan.
Lin Fan stopped and looked around at the approaching dark creatures, his expression remaining largely unchanged.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue. "I'm in a hurry, can you guys stop strutting around like a funeral procession?"
After he finished speaking, he raised his right hand and casually swung it forward.
A thin beam of chaotic light shot from his fingertips, silently grazing the chests of a row of dark creatures.
Then, as if a pause button had been pressed, the dark creatures froze in place.
Two breaths later, their bodies began to crack from their chests, the cracks spreading like a spider web across their entire bodies, before silently shattering into countless black fragments.
Throughout the entire process, there were no screams and no blood.
Only the dust, burned to ashes, slowly drifted in the air, like a pile of ash scattered by the wind.
The dark creatures behind paused for a moment.
As if enraged by something, they let out a low, unintelligible roar, and like a swarm of burning tinder, they suddenly pounced on Lin Fan.
Lin Fan didn't even lift his eyelids.
He raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, and Chaos Qi condensed into a vortex in his palm.
Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art.
Before the dark creatures that rushed forward could even touch a corner of his robe, they were swept into the vortex and turned into wisps of black energy that disappeared into the center of the vortex.
"The taste is so-so, a bit stale."
Lin Fan withdrew his hand and let out a soft burp.
After he finished speaking, he continued walking forward, his pace as unhurried as before.
After walking several dozen steps, only a few wisps of black smoke remained slowly dissipating on the scorched earth behind him, proving that there had been a living creature there.
A system notification sounded at the opportune moment: [Ding! Host has devoured 47 Dark Creatures and purified some Dark Matter. Gained 30,000 Villain Points.]
Every little bit counts; even a mosquito's leg is still meat.
Lin Fan glanced at the panel, nodded in satisfaction, and continued moving towards the direction of the dark golden aura.
The further you go, the denser the Dark Matter becomes.
The stench of blood in the air grew stronger, as if something was bleeding continuously nearby. The blood had been flowing for a long time, seeping into the soil and then back out, forming a thin layer of dark red mist that drifted close to the ground.
He walked for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before finally stopping.
Ahead was a depression, low-lying, surrounded by several leaning broken pillars forming an irregular circle.
In the center of the depression stood a figure.
gold.
Jin Zhen wore a dark gold robe with the Jin Clan family crest embroidered on the hem. It was a coiled dragon pattern with old lines, carrying the unique sense of vicissitude of the ancient imperial family of Emperor Pass.
He had his back to Lin Fan, seemingly studying a stone tablet half-buried in the soil in the center of the depression.
But he didn't turn around. Instead, as if sensing the presence of the newcomer, he spoke in a voice that was neither loud nor soft, carrying an extremely restrained yet still unmistakably cold tone. "You've arrived?"
Lin Fan stopped at the edge of the depression, arms crossed. "Hmm!"
Jin Zhen slowly turned around.
His face was exactly the same as the clone that Lin Fan had crushed.
But what was in those eyes was different.
The clone's eyes held a probing gaze and a hint of arrogance, while Jin Zhen's main body's gaze was as deep as a bottomless abyss that had been suppressed for a thousand years.
He stood there, and an extremely solid Quasi-Emperor's aura pressed down like a galaxy, making the entire world feel somewhat oppressive.
At his dantian, two streams of Immortal Qi were slowly rotating at an extremely stable rhythm.
A piece of pure gold is my destiny.
A slightly grayish hue indicates refining.
But Lin Fan noticed that beneath the two streams of Immortal Qi, there was an extremely faint and subtle aura that was slowly pulsating... like a snake that had been submerged underwater and had not yet fully surfaced.
That aura carried a chill and heaviness that did not belong to a cultivator.
Lin Fan's gaze lingered on that aura for a moment, then he subtly withdrew it.
Immortal Artifact.
He remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he had already confirmed the source of that aura. Sure enough, he brought out all his assets.
Jin Zhen was also sizing him up.
Two gazes met in the air, without sparking a fire, but they caused the slowly churning dark mist around the depression to pause for a moment.
"Boom!"
Jin Zhen's gaze fell on Lin Fan. He remained silent for a moment, as if confirming something, or as if waiting for a certain opportunity.
Then he laughed.
The smile was faint, yet it carried an almost desperate sense of relief. "Come on!"
boom!
The moment the words left his mouth, Jin Zhen.
Golden laws suddenly exploded around him, like an ocean of oil being ignited. He transformed into a dark golden afterimage, carrying the full pressure of two streams of Immortal Qi, and punched towards Lin Fan's chest.
This punch was neither a test nor a show of force.
That was Jin Zhen Zhen's true all-out attack.
Lin Fan did not retreat.
He raised his fist to meet the attack, and the Chaos Qi condensed into three superimposed light patterns on his fist. At the same time, the Six Paths of Reincarnation Heavenly Art was activated, and the three streams of Immortal Qi converged on his fist to form a deep gray-gold pillar of light.
boom!
At the moment their fists collided, the laws of nature surged.
The entire world trembled violently, and new cracks appeared on the tilted broken pillars around them, with golden and chaotic fragments of law surging and intertwining at the edges of the cracks.
The shockwave spread outwards in a ring, blowing away a layer of scorched earth to reveal the darker, reddish soil beneath.
Jin Zhen.
Lin Fan took two steps back.
There was a brief moment of silence between them.
Jin Zhen's voice, slightly hoarse, rang out. "Three strands of Immortal Qi, truly living up to its reputation."
Lin Fan flexed his wrists. "Not bad, you're a bit better than your clone technique."
Jin Zhen didn't reply, but his gaze had changed.
It wasn't anger, nor was it resentment.
Rather, it was the hunter's composure upon finally pinpointing the prey's location.
He slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, and a golden pattern appeared in his palm. The pattern was like an ancient dragon that had been sealed away, slowly awakening.
"I didn't want to use it in the first place."
Jin Zhen spoke, his voice suddenly becoming deeper, as if a switch had been flipped. "But your three strands of Immortal Qi are worth this price."