Qin Tianming!
No!
That was merely an alias cast out by the white-robed cultivator, deliberately borrowing another's name to conceal his identity while misleading the four cultivators of the Myriad Immortals Association regarding his fighting style.
This man was not from the Blood Sea Lineage at all.
He was a Golden Core true disciple of the Soul Refining Lineage!
From the very beginning, when the Ten Directions Shadowless Formation erupted and he dispersed his aura among the myriad shadows to confuse everyone's divine sense, he had already revealed his profound attainment in the soul dao.
At the time, whether Old Angler had realized it or not was unclear, but Luo Chen had relied on his keen eyesight to pinpoint the true body once the phantoms dwindled to a certain number, which was why he had warned Hao Ye.
Afterward, even as the white-robed cultivator kept his guard up against Old Angler—who was watching the tigers fight from the mountain—he had still unleashed measure after measure.
The Azure Fire Bead, the flying sword, and finally the Soul Refining Banner he had exposed—controlling so many magic treasures simultaneously, each wielded far beyond the capacity of an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, fully demonstrated his extraordinary prowess in divine sense.
If all of that still fell short of proof, then in that final moment, when he enveloped Hao Ye in his Soul Refining Banner and obliterated him in an instant, everything was laid bare.
Moreover!
Hao Ye, a pseudo-core cultivator who had seemed quite weak, was actually not nearly as feeble in combat as one might imagine.
Whether it was his offensive and defensive talismans, or that dragon-headed spirit beast he summoned from his spirit beast bag in the nick of time, both bore ample testimony to his capability!
The Chiwen!
That was by no means an obscure spirit beast.
According to legend, the Chiwen was a desolate beast carrying the bloodline of a true dragon. Naturally irascible and adept at averting fire disasters, its enraged roar carried a soul attack capable of throwing one's mind into chaos.
Anyone stricken by it felt as though engulfed in blazing flames, wracked by unbearable torment.
One could say that with such means at his disposal, Hao Ye was hardly weak even among early Golden Core cultivators.
Caught off guard, any cultivator of the same realm would surely suffer a grievous setback.
Yet, even after Hao Ye unveiled his trump card, the white-robed cultivator had remained utterly unaffected!
To withstand a roar from the Chiwen meant the white-robed cultivator's spiritual foundation far exceeded the early Golden Core stage!
"A cultivator from the Yuan Demon Sect's Soul Refining Lineage?" Luo Chen muttered under his breath, countless methods favored by cultivators of that sect's Soul Refining Lineage surfacing in his mind.
The most iconic was the Soul Refining Banner!
Next was an erratic, bizarre fighting style.
Finally, and most terrifying of all, were insidious soul-attack secret arts that were almost impossible to defend against!
Evidently, the abilities this white-robed cultivator had exhibited in so short a time aligned perfectly with the Northern Sea cultivation world's descriptions of the Yuan Demon Sect's Soul Refining Lineage.
*Fortunately, I feigned an early strike earlier while actually watching from the sidelines, avoiding the brunt of his initial blows. If those bizarre arts had been turned on me, I might well have suffered a grim setback.*
*As for now...*
The corners of Luo Chen's mouth curled upward. He tucked the Flowing Fire Hammer—a weapon he had not yet mastered—back into his storage ring.
With a flick of his wrist, an elongated object wrapped in white cloth settled into his hand.
Meanwhile, the white-robed cultivator stared at Luo Chen, who seemed like a god or fiend, his eyes filled with disbelief as he pointed a trembling finger from afar.
"How is this possible! That Azure Fire Bead was personally crafted by a master of fire control from my sect! Anyone below late Golden Core would be stripped of a layer of skin even if they survived touching it! How can you be entirely unharmed?"
Luo Chen let out a soft chuckle. He was a grandmaster in the art of fire control himself!
Though the bead's internal structure was rather ingenious, under the fire manipulation skills he had honed over decades of alchemy, it took only a slight effort to smooth out its volatile power.
Above all, while the Qingyang Demonic Fire inside was pure, it was merely Tier 3.
Against his Wither-Bloom True Fire, how could it kick up any waves?
It was nothing more than an alley cat with its hackles raised, easily stroked into docile submission.
In fact, he had even possessed enough leeway to gather and absorb a portion of the residual Qingyang Demonic Fire.
Suddenly, Luo Chen's brows twitched.
The nine crimson chains hovering around his body moved as if endowed with life, drawing together and striking like raptors into empty air.
*Clang!*
A burst of explosive energy rang out instantly.
A black silhouette revealed its true form, turning into a flying sword that tumbled backward.
Glancing at the white-robed cultivator's finger, which had been pointing in feigned fury just moments before, Luo Chen's smile faded, replaced by cold solemnity.
"I used to think the world exaggerated the prowess of your Soul Refining Lineage. To think I still underestimated you. A combat style that calculates and schemes at every waking moment is truly venomous."
Seeing his sneak attack thwarted, the white-robed cultivator's brow furrowed.
He discarded his feigned anger and calmly surveyed the three Golden Core cultivators.
Finally, his gaze settled on Old Angler.
"Liu Ziweng, you and I bear no grudge. Must you truly drive me to ruin?"
Old Angler gave a wry smirk. "Save your breath. This has nothing to do with me; it is the command of the Myriad Immortals Association."
At the mention of the Myriad Immortals Association, the white-robed cultivator fell silent. At last, he spoke with bitter resentment:
"Pang Bujue, Leng Xiaoyue, Lay Buddhist Fengling... Heh, of course. They harbor irreconcilable hatred for my Yuan Demon Sect, so naturally the Myriad Immortals Association they founded would fight us to the bitter end. Back when my sect reigned supreme, they were mere ants—taking the trouble to glance down at them was a waste of our time. Who would have thought that petty upstarts having their day would seek to exterminate us all?"
As his muttering drew to a close, his face twisted into vicious resolve.
"You won't let me leave? Do you truly believe you have me cornered?"
Mid-sentence, he flung both hands upward.
A wave of profoundly sinister magic power erupted violently from his body.
The tall banner hovering behind him unfurled against the wind, sending dense black light billowing outward.
Wails and howls of ghosts and wolves echoed between heaven and earth.
Dark phantoms surged outward continuously with the banner at their center, sweeping across all directions until they blanketed the entire expanse.
Seeing this, Old Angler seemed to have anticipated it long ago; with a swift hand seal, his figure gradually faded away.
When he reappeared, he had already slipped beyond the boundary enveloped by the black light.
The white-robed cultivator cast a regretful glance after him. As expected of Liu Ziweng, renowned among rogue cultivators; his combat experience was vast and his senses keen enough to perceive the buildup of power the moment it began. Only through such sharp awareness could he slip out of the newly manifested ghost domain by the skin of his teeth.
Yet this was fine as well. It cleared the field, leaving him ample room to dispose of the two enemies before him.
He glanced at Duan Li, and finally his gaze locked onto Luo Chen.
"With your abilities, you should have had the chance to flee ahead of time. Why didn't you run?"
"Run?" Luo Chen asked calmly. "Why should I run? If I truly left, once you finished off Fellow Daoist Duan Li, taking you down would cost me far more effort."
"Take me down?" The white-robed cultivator sneered malevolently. "Arrogant fool!"
With a flicker of his body, he melted into the pitch-black swarms of spectral shadows.
At the same time, an unfathomable pressure settled over this darkened domain.
Duan Li, clutching his jade ruler in extreme vigilance, felt his magic power stall abruptly, his circulation turning sluggish and strained.
His face drained of color in horror. "What kind of technique is this?"
Luo Chen observed the ghost generals and ghost kings snarling in all directions, a contemplative look appearing on his face.
It somewhat resembled the ghost domain inhabited by a ghost king, yet the crushing pressure also felt akin to the unique domain of a Nascent Soul Perfected Person.
Its sole shortcoming was that it could not manipulate the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
*The techniques of a demonic sect are extraordinary indeed, beyond my ability to fathom. Even so, this art should have no effect on me.*
With a flick of his mind, the white cloth unwrapped from the elongated bundle in his grasp.
Luo Chen tapped a finger against it, and immediately, the harrowing wails of ghosts and wolves tore through the air once more.
Streams of human souls and beast spirits shrieked outward, spiraling into a tempest that encircled his body.
The vortex churned ceaselessly, expanding outward until it forcefully shoved back the dark domain.
Sure enough, the magic power within Luo Chen's body became completely uninhibited, circulating freely without suppression.
A voice of surprise echoed from within the darkened domain.
"To think you also possess a Ten Thousand Soul Banner of decent quality. Yet your method of wielding it is laughably crude."
Surprise gave way instantly to contempt.
In the next breath, ghostly miasma surged within the dark domain, stirring up a violent gale.
A single command rang out from the void.
"Merge!"
Before Luo Chen's eyes, a grotesque ghost king—neither purely human nor beast—charged straight toward him.
As it hurtled forward, countless spirits converged upon it from all directions: Tier 1 ghost soldiers, Tier 2 ghost generals, and even Tier 3 ghost kings!
Feeding on the endless influx of souls, the strange ghost king's stature ballooned ever larger, and its aura soared unstoppably.
By the time it reached Luo Chen, its presence was nearly on par with that of a late Golden Core cultivator!
Its form had grown exceptionally solid, indistinguishable from flesh and blood.
The bizarre ghost king slammed a fist downward, causing heaven and earth to change color!
Luo Chen commanded the myriad spirits from his Soul Refining Banner to surge forward in a counterattack.
Yet against that descending fist, the spirits were like mantises trying to stop a carriage, incapable of delaying it for even a breath. The weaker ones shattered upon contact, and only the ghost kings of the third rank barely managed to preserve their ethereal forms.
Seeing this, Luo Chen hesitated not a fraction of a second. Radiant suns rose one after another behind him.
His hand seals shifted abruptly!
The blazing suns piled up like a mountain, then collapsed with thunderous force.
It was none other than the Blazing Sun Art transitioning into the might of Landslide!
Under the tremendous blast, the descending palm was blown aside, and the colossal, bizarre ghost king stumbled backward across the void.
Luo Chen observed this scene with deep satisfaction.
As expected, the Blazing Sun Art and Landslide could transition seamlessly into one another!
During his sudden epiphany in Feileng City years ago, he had gained immense insight. Though primarily centered on methods for forming a Nascent Soul, those supplemental realizations had allowed him to refine and elevate many of his earlier minor techniques.
The fusion of the Blazing Sun Art into Landslide was one of them.
Its sheer power rivaled any Tier 3 spell, made all the more formidable when bolstered by his exceptionally pure and domineering fire-attribute magic power.
Yet evidently, the composite ghost king crafted by the white-robed cultivator possessed far more than this.
The moment its stumbling steps ceased, it charged at him once more, bellowing grotesque roars as it advanced.
Layers of sonic shockwaves battered the spirit, seeking to seize the mind.
Anyone else would have lost focus, their soul violently shaken. Yet Luo Chen seemed utterly unaffected, casting fire-attribute spells again and again to blast the towering ghost king backward.
Meanwhile, his sharp eyes scanned the surroundings without cease, searching for the white-robed cultivator's true body.
In the distance...
A streak of sword light flickered through the void, lashing out at Duan Li with every flare.
Under this bizarre assault, Duan Li felt utterly suffocated despite the protection of his natal jade ruler.
A single lapse in attention, and the sword light punched a bloody hole clean through his flesh.
*This cannot go on; I am entirely on the defensive!* Duan Li gritted his teeth and pulled a flower basket from his storage bag.
Pouring what little magic power he had left into it, the basket immediately released an extraordinary display.
Petals scattered through the air like a heavenly shower of blossoms.
As Duan Li shifted his hand seal, countless petals converged back toward the basket, involuntarily dragging the surrounding black light and spectral silhouettes inside with them.
A swirling vortex opened within the dark domain!
The black radiance near Duan Li vanished completely, revealing the azure ocean beneath his feet.
A corner of the dark domain had been pierced through!
The suppressed magic power inside Duan Li's body began to circulate smoothly again. Overjoyed, he moved to direct his jade ruler once more.
Right at that moment, the eerie flying sword reappeared.
Without hesitation, Duan Li swept his jade ruler outward, striking down the flying sword to reveal its true form: a wooden sword pitch-black as ink.
The jade ruler materialized countless ruler silhouettes, encircling the black wooden sword tightly.
No matter how violently the dark blade trembled, it could not break free.
Duan Li shouted at the top of his lungs, "Qingyangzi! I've subdued his flying sword! Controlling it will cause massive fluctuations in his soul—find his true body!"
Yet the only response he received was a sharp shout:
"Look out!"
Duan Li froze, focusing his mind and turning his head in a flash.
A pale arm thrust out from the dark domain, driving straight toward his heart.
*Boom!*
Under the impact of that palm strike, Duan Li plunged helplessly toward the sea like a kite with a severed string.
Tumbling down beside him was the flower basket, its spiritual light dimmed to near extinction.
The white-robed cultivator cast a regretful glance toward the waters where Duan Li had fallen.
A misstep by half a move!
If not for that fellow Qingyangzi shouting a warning and putting Duan Li on guard—allowing him to raise the flower basket treasure to block the blow at the critical juncture—this ambush would have obliterated him on the spot.
Still, it mattered little; under that strike, the man had suffered severe wounds. He would be incapable of fighting for quite some time.
Without wasting time on pursuit, the hidden white-robed cultivator directed his divine sense. The black wooden sword soared into the air and landed in the grasp of the bizarre ghost king, which now stood dozens of zhang tall.
The wooden sword expanded as well, turning into a colossal blade that reached toward the heavens, looking as though it could cleave mountains and rivers in two.
At the same time, eerie blue flames ignited within the ghost king's eyes, imbuing it with apparent sentience.
"Now, it's your turn!"
Contrary to the panic the enemy expected, a faint smile surfaced on Luo Chen's face as the ghost king's aura surged to its peak.
"Having fallen into the snare, surrender without further struggle!"
As his clear voice rang out, crimson chains manifested across Luo Chen's body—and across the ghost king's form as well!
Luo Chen had bound the ghost king!
An overwhelming force of suppression completely blanketed the colossal ghost king's true form.
The white-robed cultivator, who had merged his true body into the ghost king, attempted to break free, only to discover he could not budge.
*How can this be?!*
Shock and fury intertwined in the white-robed cultivator's heart.
Immediately, he realized: throughout the protracted clash after he had cast his secret art, the fight between the ghost king and Luo Chen had appeared evenly matched, but with every exchange, his opponent had been laying hidden seals upon him.
Clearly, the white-robed cultivator was not one to yield meekly.
His lantern-sized eyes flared with blazing blue light, staring straight at Luo Chen.
Luo Chen remained entirely fearless, returning the glare. A ripple of black luminescence rippled outward from his body, turning aside the intangible soul attack.
Meanwhile, in the white-robed cultivator's sea of consciousness, blossoms bloomed and withered, moons waxed and waned, and towering ghostly pavilions vaguely materialized.
"The Ghost Immortal Pavilion? An illusion?"
In a flash, the white-robed cultivator snapped back to awareness.
His reactions were indeed swift, worthy of a Yuan Demon Sect disciple steeped in the soul refining dao.
Yet between true masters, a single instant decided life and death.
Even as Luo Chen marveled at his opponent's prowess, his palm pressed down through the empty air.
The Qingyang Great Handprint manifested once more!
The white-robed cultivator glared in fury at the descending palm. With nowhere left to dodge, he drew upon the power of his soul banner while roaring, "This art is useless against me!"
Yet when the palm crashed down, it carried countless swirls of azure flame.
This time, the Qingyang Great Handprint was imbued with the Wither-Bloom True Fire!
A single strike shattered the ghost king's body into fragments.
The white-robed cultivator concealed within was blasted out like a blazing fireball.
Grievously wounded, he could no longer sustain the dark domain.
The sky full of black light dissipated in an instant.
Ignoring the ghost kings of his Soul Refining Banner as they frenziedly tore apart and devoured the enemy spirits, Luo Chen raised a hand toward the screaming fireball in midair and made a grasping motion.
Crimson chains lanced into the enemy's flesh from all directions.
"Return!"
Luo Chen beckoned, and the charred corpse drifted back to his side like a tethered kite.
Composed and calm, he turned with easy grace.
Old Angler was looking upon him with a face full of wonder and praise.
"Congratulations. You are now officially a Four-Star Demon Hunter of the Myriad Immortals Association!"
Chapter 599