Amidst the swirling dust and sand, a figure streaked across the sky like a shooting star.
One moment he was close at hand, the next he was already at the edge of the horizon.
His speed was astonishing, far outstripping the escape velocity of the golden sphere from earlier.
Clad in crimson robes, his face refined as jade, Luo Chen appeared calm and composed. Yet Han Zhan, concealed within the Soul Nourishing Wood, could clearly sense the turbulent storm churning beneath that placid exterior.
"Are you truly going to ruin Blood Nightmare Moluo's plans?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"There is no blood feud between you two yet. But if you actually do this, you will forge a true enmity, and you won't even have the chance to sit down and talk in the future."
"Heh. He may bear no life-or-death grudge against me, but between me and him, it is to the bitter death!"
Han Zhan fell silent.
To a Nascent Soul True Person, Golden Core cultivators were beneath notice. Even the Master of Baizao Mountain hunting down Luo Chen had merely been due to a casual word from Blood Nightmare Moluo.
Even if the Master of Baizao Mountain had failed, Blood Nightmare Moluo likely hadn't taken it to heart.
If he met Luo Chen again in the future, he might even admire how rapidly Luo Chen had grown and try to recruit him once more.
Yet to Luo Chen himself, had it not been for the Xuanchen Armor he had painstakingly forged, he might truly have perished on the Seven Star Islands.
Usually, Luo Chen kept quiet and never spoke of vengeance.
Yet he remembered that matter with absolute clarity.
He simply adhered to the philosophy that a gentleman's revenge is never too late even after ten years, biding his time for the opportune moment.
"This time, I'll collect some interest in advance. Once I ascend to the Nascent Soul stage someday, I will certainly have words with Blood Nightmare."
A twitch appeared at the corner of Luo Chen's eye, a glint of ruthlessness surfacing.
Seeing this, Han Zhan naturally offered no further dissuasion and changed the subject instead.
"While you're separated from Taisui, give me those two refined corpses!"
Luo Chen's figure came to a sudden halt.
He immediately retrieved two tall corpses from his storage ring.
These were none other than the two corpses previously refined by Master Red Corpse, both possessing late Golden Core strength.
Back then, he had specifically instructed Tianxuan to store them carefully, so they remained completely intact.
"Can you use them?"
Luo Chen asked, gazing at the pitch-black wooden tablet floating out.
Han Zhan hummed in acknowledgment. "Refined corpses are not that different from puppets. Given a bit of time, I will be able to control them freely. With such an incarnation, I'll be able to move about freely later on."
Luo Chen glanced at the two corpses. "Then wait here for me, Senior. I'll be back shortly."
With those words, he transformed into a streak of red light and soared into the sky.
Han Zhan shook his head and sighed, then focused his attention on the two corpses radiating grim death energy before him.
"Still hiding in there, are you...?"
With a soft chuckle, a wisp of azure light swept across.
In the next instant, identical wretched screams rang out from both corpses.
The tone was completely identical to that of Master Red Corpse from before!
"Daring to flaunt such crude soul-splitting techniques before me."
Han Zhan smiled faintly. Azure light spread outwards, thoroughly enveloping the two corpses amid the swirling sand sea.
***
"I've arrived!"
Luo Chen murmured to himself as he came to a stop behind a black cloud.
He fully activated the Yinwei Formation, completely sealing off his aura without a shred leaking out.
Then, he brushed a finger across his eyes. Spiritual light gleamed brightly, and his dark gaze looked down toward the ground below.
The fierce battlefield immediately came into view.
The desolate gobi, which had already seemed out of place, was now completely surrounded by the Quicksand Sea.
The clash between the yellow sand giants and the stone monsters had turned into a one-sided slaughter.
The dragon soul within the dark clouds appeared increasingly languid.
It had to split its power to resist the onslaught from Tianrang, master of the Quicksand Sea, while also resisting the pull of the Soul Attracting Banner. For an entity already far past its prime, this double strain left it utterly exhausted.
Under this relentless tug-of-war, the dragon soul seemed on the verge of yielding.
The colossal phantom of the dragon soul was gradually dragged out of the black clouds, drawn inexorably toward the Soul Attracting Banner.
Seeing this scene, Luo Chen's focus sharpened slightly.
*Fortunately, I arrived just in time!*
With a sinister grin, he tapped the spirit beast bag at his waist.
Black King and Tianxuan emerged, flanking him on both sides.
Both beasts simultaneously executed breath-concealment techniques.
"Guard me against any vermin!"
After giving the order, Luo Chen's expression turned solemn.
Hovering his hands before his chest, he rapidly formed incantation seals.
Those familiar seals were distinctly the opening stance of the Qingyang Great Handprint!
Yet unlike his usual near-instantaneous casting, this time he executed each movement methodically and deliberately.
As his hands moved through the seals, pure and domineering magic power surged from his qi sea like a tidal wave, coursing through his extraordinary meridians and gathering before him through his apertures, mouth, and nose.
Ordinarily, such a surging momentum would have been noticed long ago.
Yet even as Luo Chen built up his power, the three Golden Core cultivators conducting the soul-summoning ritual below remained completely oblivious.
This was due to two factors: terrain advantage and personal preparation.
The terrain advantage lay in the spiritual sense suppression unique to the Five Elements Heaven.
The personal preparation was Luo Chen's fully activated Yinwei Formation, which concealed his surging fluctuations of magic power.
Standing beside him, Black King and Tianxuan swallowed hard involuntarily as they felt the steadily gathering magic power and the horrifying momentum climbing layer by layer.
The Qingyang Great Handprint was their master's proudest fire-attribute spell!
It was also Demonic Lord Qingyang's most iconic technique in the outside world.
Through years of continuous study, combat, and refinement, he had cultivated it to the utmost limit.
Normally, casting it casually was enough to suppress cultivators of the same rank. Even those one or two tiers above Luo Chen had to treat it with caution and dared not take it head-on.
Now, their master was actually sparing no magic power to deliberately build up its momentum.
One could only imagine what terrifying heights of power this palm strike would reach once unleashed.
Tianxuan felt that even with her speed, she would be unable to escape its blast radius.
Black King thought that even with his thick hide and flesh, he would probably be blasted open, losing eighty to ninety percent of his life.
No!
More than eighty or ninety percent.
When wisp after wisp of azure flame drifted forth and enveloped Luo Chen's hands, Black King's eyes widened completely round.
*Master is going all out!*
For a moment, he couldn't help casting a sympathetic look toward the three people below.
To be ambushed by their master without even realizing it—they probably wouldn't even know how they died when the blow struck!
Just then, Black King suddenly sensed a shift.
Tianxuan noticed it as well and immediately called out, "Master, they're going to flee!"
Luo Chen's hand movements slowed slightly, but did not halt.
His gaze remained glued to the ritual altar.
Buffeted by the churning yellow sand, the grand formation shielding the altar teetered on the brink of collapse.
While operating the golden bell with all his might, Wu Qi released a shuttle-shaped magic treasure.
Upon appearing, the shuttle swelled with the wind to twenty feet in length, hovering nearby.
Clearly, they had already prepared to flee the moment the dragon soul was secured.
"Master, should we strike?" Black King asked, unable to contain his restlessness.
Luo Chen said nothing, continuing to amass his magic power bit by bit, compounding the might of the Qingyang Great Handprint.
Not yet!
Patience! Patience!
On what little solid ground remained of the gobi, the three Golden Core cultivators of the Moluo Stream held their breath, executing the final step.
Once the remnant soul of the stone dragon was completely yanked from the dark clouds, Wu Qi shouted harshly:
"Remnant soul, return! What are you waiting for?!"
He bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto the golden bell.
Instantly, the bell chimed wildly.
The dragon soul, already teetering and weakened to the extreme, lost its instinctive consciousness and turned into a streak of light, plunging toward the white Soul Attracting Banner.
Just as this occurred, a shrill shriek erupted from within the yellow sand.
"That is mine!"
In the next moment, a colossal hand that propped up the sky rose from the sand sea, slamming violently toward the ritual altar.
Confronted by this sight, the pupils of Wu Qi and his two companions dilated in horror.
*Boom!*
With a thunderous crash, the ritual altar shattered instantly.
The very last patch of solid ground on the gobi was swallowed completely by the yellow sand.
Amidst the explosion, a hand abruptly snatched the white banner.
"Go!"
With a low bark, three escape lights merged as one and plunged into the shuttle. At breakneck speed, it ripped through the swirling yellow sand and shot toward the sky.
At that exact moment, with the dragon soul subdued, the oppressive black clouds overhead were slowly dispersing.
Beneath the clearing sky, a crimson robe whipped loudly in the wind.
The Daoist's gaze was icy, his black hair fluttering.
He raised his palm—and struck downward!
A gargantuan hand coiled with raging azure flames crashed down like a meteorite with a rumbling roar.
Its ferocity was not in the slightest inferior to that earlier sand strike!
From within the shuttle came a hoarse, desperate shriek.
In a daze, it sounded like the single word: "No!"
Yet no one was paying attention to what it meant anymore.
There was only an endless roar of explosions, deafening at this instant.
*Boom!*
A world-shaking blast jolted a thousand li of shifting sand.
With a single strike, the earth caved in, and ripples detonated through the void!
Ring upon ring of fiery waves rolled outward, forcing even the nearby sand sea to recede continuously.
Under such immense power, the meteor flying shuttle disintegrated in an instant.
Within the colossal explosion, the three figures seemed like tiny ants facing the resplendent majesty of heaven.
Right then, a streak of blood-red flashed.
When it reappeared, it was already outside the epicenter of the blast.
*Pfft!*
The moment Wu Qi emerged from his blood escape, he coughed up a mouthful of blood uncontrollably.
At this moment, he was in a wretched state, his Daoist robes in tatters and his body blackened by burns. Only his eyes burned with an intense thirst for survival.
Clutching the Soul Attracting Banner, he bit through his left index finger.
A dense bloody radiance began to glow across his body.
Just then, a sharp crack resounded through the void.
*Squelch...*
A slash of sword qi swept down. Wu Qi watched helplessly as his left arm was severed clean off at the shoulder. The white Soul Attracting Banner drifted further and further from him, ultimately falling into another person's grasp along with his severed arm.
"No! This belongs to Blood Nightmare... It's you!"
As he stared at that familiar face, Wu Qi was stunned for an instant.
After advancing to Desolate Ancient Tier 4, the crimson flush had receded from his face, returning to his fair complexion. Luo Chen's current appearance was virtually identical to when he had first met Wu Qi on Yaoyue Island years ago.
Furthermore, because Wu Qi had thought of Luo Chen incessantly over those years, he had long etched every detail of his face into memory.
Thus, seeing him again now, he recognized him with a single glance.
However, there was not the slightest joy of an old friend's reunion.
There was only terror!
*Bang!*
With a single palm strike, Luo Chen brushed past Wu Qi.
"My apologies. We stand on different sides, and whatever meager acquaintance we had cannot afford you your life."
Behind him, a lifeless corpse tumbled toward the yellow sand. Midair, it tore into pieces, ultimately bursting into a cloud of blood mist.
And in front of him!
Luo Chen pursed his lips. Holding the severed arm and white Soul Attracting Banner in one hand, while the other telekinetically grasped seven spinning flying swords, he faced the boundless sea of sand.
Amidst the churning sand sea, grains stacked layer upon layer until, in the blink of an eye, a towering wave surged into the sky.
An enormous face loomed within the colossal wave.
"Give the stone dragon... to me!"
Accompanying this command was a sky-propping hand, reaching out deceptively fast despite its seemingly slow motion.
Luo Chen's expression remained unchanged. Inhaling deeply, magic power surged wildly through his right hand.
The flying swords before him snapped together as one.
High in the air, they formed an incomparable giant sword.
"Cleave!"
The giant sword cleaved down decisively.
*Slice...*
As easily as slicing through tofu, the sky-propping giant hand was sheared in two.
Yet seeing this, Luo Chen felt no joy, only alarm.
Replenished by the surrounding yellow sand, the severed halves reformed into two massive hands nearly identical to the original, grasping toward Luo Chen from left and right.
"Go!"
Refusing to prolong the fight, Luo Chen spread his Poyue Wings and activated Ninety Thousand Li at full power.
He shot toward the horizon like a flaming meteor.
"GIVE! IT! BACK!"
A piercing shriek roared behind him.
The massive sand wave surged forward in pursuit of his retreating back.
Countless giant hands thrust up from the sand sea, clutching at Luo Chen.
At this moment, the entire Quicksand Sea had come alive!
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
Luo Chen moved with blistering speed, repeatedly dodging the clutching sand hands.
Whenever an attack proved unavoidable, he stamped against empty air, reappearing a hundred fathoms away.
Suddenly!
A swath of yellow sand ahead reared up into a colossal wall, barring his path.
A ruthless expression crossed Luo Chen's face. Tilting sideways and bracing his shoulder, he plowed straight forward.
From the towering wave behind, the enormous face witnessed this and curled into a cruel sneer.
*Throwing an egg against a rock!*
Yet in the next breath, Luo Chen shattered the wall with unstoppable force, bursting free of the encirclement.
"No!"
"Capture him!"
The enormous face roared in fury as the entire Quicksand Sea began to boil.
More and more giant hands rose from the earth.
Moreover, spear after spear of sand screeched through the air, hurtling toward Luo Chen.
Luo Chen ignored them all. With the Xuanchen Armor shielding him and his vital blood surging around his body, he charged like a rampaging bull, ready to smash through even a mountain if it stood in his way.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Amid the endless roar, a streak of red light traversed thousands of li.
Only once did he plunge into the sand sea, but he rocketed back into the sky moments later, utterly unfazed.
Roughly half a day later.
Luo Chen finally reached the edge of the sand sea, catching sight of the anxious and worried faces of Taisui and Cave Master Moyun.
"What did you do?!"
"Tianrang is furious! What did you do to provoke him?"
Ignoring Taisui's demands, Luo Chen activated Skyburst Steps again, appearing directly before the two.
Without breaking stride, he barked:
"Head for the Blazing Purgatory!"
"Hurry and leave! Tianrang is truly beside himself with rage. I've never seen him this angry."
Taisui glanced instinctively at the white soul banner in Luo Chen's hand, then crossed the boundary between the Quicksand Sea and the Blazing Purgatory.
Before stepping into that world of firelight, Han Zhan's voice sounded beside Luo Chen's ear:
"Was it truly worth it?"
"As long as it ruins Blood Nightmare's business, it's worth it!"
Summoning the Wither-Bloom Fire, he incinerated the last trace of Wu Qi remaining in this world. After sweeping the Soul Attracting Banner into his storage ring, Luo Chen stepped into the world of firelight without hesitation.
Not long after they departed, sand grains wriggled layer upon layer, ultimately piling up along the boundary between yellow and red.
A small mud figurine stepped out from within, its face brimming with inexpressible wrath and venom.
Waving a hand, streaks of bloody light surged toward it, all consisting of severed limbs and mangled flesh.
Grains of sand attached to the severed limbs, ultimately assembling into the body of a one-armed man.
The mud figurine tapped a finger against the man's glabella. A dense yellow light emerged, but gradually, that yellow light dissipated.
The one-armed man before him melted away like a figurine shaped from watery mud, dissolving grudgingly before its eyes.
"He got away! He got away completely!"
"The remnant soul I worked so hard to lure back then—not only did I fail to swallow and absorb it to complete my true form, but it got away!"
"Aaaagh!!!"
A shrill, hysterical shriek erupted from the mud figurine's mouth.
Behind him, explosions continuously rocked the Quicksand Sea, throwing up towering waves of sand as if echoing his fury.
Chapter 665