“Hiss—!”
The dark-gold Flames of Destruction that had been burning with blazing intensity, the instant they came into contact with that filthy, dark power, actually seemed as though they had been doused with dirty water. Their radiance rapidly dimmed.
The flames also became sluggish, unable to advance; there was even a faint sign that they were being corroded in reverse, stained black!
“Not good! It’s dark source power!” Pan Wang’s expression changed.
Hunyuan Immortal King also frowned.
A filthy power of this level greatly countered flames of the utmost yang and utmost firmness!
Lu Yan bore the brunt of it even more. He felt as if his Flames of Destruction had fallen into a viscous swamp, their circulation obstructed; even his connection with the Evil Corpse was interfered with, causing his mind and spirit to tremble.
That filthy aura seeped in through every possible opening, attempting to corrode his Immortal Platform and contaminate his Dao heart!
“Kekeke… destruction? Before eternal darkness and corruption, it is nothing but a joke!”
Talon sent out a smug spiritual fluctuation. The filthy dark power on the shield was like tentacles, coiling back toward Lu Yan’s wings and body!
The situation reversed in an instant!
The quasi-kings of the foreign realm who were watching revealed cruel smiles, while on the Immortal Domain’s side, everyone’s hearts leapt into their throats.
Lu Yan had fallen into an unprecedented crisis!
His flames were countered, his Dao heart was under assault. Once he was completely tainted by that filthy darkness, he would not only be defeated; his Dao foundation might even be damaged, and a seed of darkness planted within him!
A trace of struggle flashed through his eyes. The phantom of the Evil Corpse he had separated out also became somewhat restless under this pure power of dark corruption. Should he retreat, or…
No! He absolutely could not retreat!
In Lu Yan’s eyes, endless ferocity and resolve abruptly took over!
That was the madness that belonged to his true nature, and also to the most essential nature of the “Evil Corpse”!
“You think… only you people know how to risk your lives?!”
He let out a roar like an injured vicious beast. “Evil Corpse… merge!”
He actually stopped resisting the negative influence brought by the Evil Corpse. Instead, he took the initiative to open his mind, allowing the Evil Corpse’s will that represented destruction, brutality, and devouring to completely fuse with his own battle instincts!
“Boom!!!”
The color of the dark-gold flames around him deepened once again, almost turning into pure pitch-black!
But within that pitch-blackness was a Dao charm of destruction even more terrifying and pure than before!
It was no longer the extinction of the sun, but… the return of chaos to ruin!
His pupils turned into cold vertical slits, filled with absolute indifference and the desire for destruction.
The flaming wings on his back suddenly expanded, transforming into chaotic demon wings that blotted out the sky and covered the sun!
Beneath that wingspan, even the filthy dark power was forcibly pushed apart and torn to shreds!
“Chaos… Burns the Heavens!”
His twin wings slashed down once more!
This time, it was no longer a scorching judgment, but a cold blade of chaos that devoured all things!
Wherever it passed, all things returned to nothingness. Even that filthy darkness containing the power of an Ancestor was forcibly assimilated and devoured by this most fundamental power of destruction!
“No! Impossible!”
Talon let out a terrified spiritual shriek. He could feel that his Immortal Bone Shield, along with that Ancestral power, was as fragile as paper before this blade of chaos!
“Crack—boom!!”
The Immortal Bone Shield shattered in response! The blade of chaos swept through Talon’s massive skeletal body without the slightest obstruction!
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
Talon’s movements stiffened, and the soul fire within his eye sockets was extinguished in an instant.
The next moment, his enormous bone-armored body began to disintegrate from the middle, like a sand sculpture weathered by the wind, collapsing inch by inch into the purest dark energy. Then it was completely devoured by the chaotic flames coiling around Lu Yan, not a single drop remaining!
The Skeletal Nether Domain collapsed along with it, once again revealing the scene of the ancient battlefield of the Boundary Sea.
Lu Yan stood alone in the void. The pitch-black chaotic flames around him slowly withdrew, turning back into dark gold, but the coldness and ferocity in his eyes had not yet completely faded.
He slowly raised his head and looked toward the foreign realm’s camp. His voice was hoarse and filled with pressure:
“Next.”
Silence!
Both shores of the Boundary Sea were deathly silent!
On the Immortal Domain’s side, after a brief moment of shock, heaven-shaking cheers erupted!
Lu Yan had not only won; he had crushed the opponent’s trump card in an incomparably domineering, irresistible manner, killing him completely!
The might of the Three Corpses Severing Method was beginning to reveal its edge!
As for the foreign realm’s camp, whether it was the quasi-kings watching the battle or the Immortal Kings such as Chi Wang and Wushang suspended in the air, their expressions had become extremely ugly.
Especially Chi Wang—his eyes were practically spewing fire.
Not only had they failed to glimpse the weakness of the method, they had instead lost a great general, and even further boosted the enemy’s momentum!
Kundi’s face, hidden beneath the dark runes, showed no expression, but the movement of his fingers over that string of star prayer beads quickened slightly.
The first battle: Immortal Domain, Lu Yan, victory!
Carrying the might of having slain Talon, Lu Yan’s single word—“Next”—was steeped in baleful killing intent, causing the expressions of the remaining two quasi-Immortal Kings on the foreign realm’s side to grow even darker.
That alluring woman—the Bewitching Demoness Xila—had a trace of apprehension flash through her eyes, but even more than that, there was anger at being provoked, and an eager desire to try.
She excelled at manipulating thoughts and emotions. Dealing with someone like Lu Yan, who was fierce and domineering, whose will seemed firm yet who harbored hidden agitation due to fusing with the Evil Corpse, was precisely her specialty.
However, before she could make a move, from within the Immortal Domain’s camp, the quasi-Immortal King who had been standing silently beside the Good Corpse incarnation, belonging to another faction—Daoist Mingxin—took a step forward.
His features were ordinary, his aura upright and peaceful. Around him, a faint glazed treasure-light flowed, giving others the sense that his state of mind was clear and unshakable.
“Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable.”
Daoist Mingxin made a Daoist salute, his gaze calm as he looked at Xila.
“Fellow Daoist, your body is laden with karmic debts, and your heart-demons are deeply rooted. Why not take refuge in the righteous path and attain purity?”
His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to carry some strange power, piercing straight into the heart, causing even the seductive, corrupt aura around Xila to stagnate for a moment.
Xila let out a charming laugh, her eyes rippling, her allure bone-deep.
“Oh my, what a proper little Daoist priest. I wonder, though, whether that glazed heart of yours can withstand the trials of the world’s utmost bliss and deepest sorrow?”
She could tell that Daoist Mingxin seemed to walk a path similar to that of the “Good Corpse,” one of purification and protection. That happened to counter her, but it also meant that if she could contaminate his heart, the destruction and sense of accomplishment it brought would be even greater!
Her figure flickered, transforming into a sky full of pink peach-blossom miasma. Its fragrance was decadent and intoxicating, instantly spreading across the entire ancient battlefield.
This fragrance was not a physical toxin, but acted directly upon the soul, stirring up the deepest desires and fears within living beings and weaving the most vivid, most irresistible illusions!
“A Hundred Tribulations of the Mortal World, Ten Thousand Desires Sinking into Ruin!”
The scene before Daoist Mingxin’s eyes abruptly changed.
It was as if he had returned to his youth, seeing himself despised and coldly treated because of his mediocre aptitude.
He saw the despair of bitterly pursuing the Great Dao yet failing again and again; then, in an instant, it shifted to the glory of achieving fame and success, receiving the reverence of countless people.
Immediately afterward came the immense grief of a Dao companion’s betrayal, of friends and family scattering apart… joy, anger, sorrow, happiness; greed, hatred, delusion, resentment—countless stray thoughts that had been buried deep or already severed were magnified a hundredfold, a thousandfold by this mortal miasma, crashing against his Dao heart like towering waves!
Atop the Imperial City, some cultivators whose wills were not firm merely watched that pink miasma from afar, yet already their faces showed infatuation or fear. From this, the terror of its power could be seen.