Chapter 484 - 423: Demonic Sound Piercing the Brain

Chapter 484: Chapter 423: Demonic Sound Piercing the Brain

By burning his own life force, Ji Zhang had gained dozens of times his normal strength and speed.

But once the skill’s duration expired, he could no longer hold on. He collapsed to the ground, quietly awaiting the arrival of death.

As his life force rapidly drained away, Ji Zhang was overcome with a wave of desolation.

’The great path to eternal life, the pursuit of cultivation and immortality... It was all just a dream.’

His only consolation was that he had managed to slay his great enemy before his own death!

A flicker of satisfaction passed through Ji Zhang’s eyes.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...

’What is that sound?’

Ji Zhang looked up and was shocked to see Zhao Lin roll over, sit up, and then stagger to his feet.

"You... you’re not dead?"

Ji Zhang’s eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as he cried out in disbelief.

"I’m badly hurt, but it’s not fatal."

Zhao Lin said with a relaxed tone, brushing the sand from his clothes. "What’s the matter? Disappointed?"

"Impossible... How can this be..."

Ji Zhang was utterly crestfallen, muttering to himself. But the thought that he was about to die soon brought him a strange sense of calm.

"How do you know the Thunder Shadow Clone? Who taught you?"

This was his greatest question.

Zhao Lin replied nonchalantly, "You did."

Ji Zhang’s face twitched, his features contorting with rage. "I’m a dying man," he snarled. "Telling me the truth costs you nothing."

"I am telling the truth. Whether you believe me or not is up to you."

Zhao Lin gave a faint smile and said no more. Ignoring Ji Zhang, he formed a hand seal, conjuring an ice blade. With a flick of his arm, the blade shot forward.

A flash of silver light, and Ji Zhang’s head flew from his shoulders. His eyes remained wide open, filled with profound bitterness and regret.

’It’s finally over.’

Seeing the Essence Soul rise from the corpse, Zhao Lin felt a weight lift from his shoulders and heaved a long sigh of relief.

Ji Zhang was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so his Essence Soul was more substantial. Zhao Lin walked over and, with a sharp inhale, drew the Essence Soul into his own body.

A silver light flashed within his sea of consciousness, forming the names of various skills...

Zhao Lin observed for a moment before gently shaking his head.

Ji Zhang had Water, Wood, and Thunder Spiritual Roots. He hadn’t cultivated many skills, focusing primarily on Water Element Skills.

Zhao Lin had already maxed out his Tier One skills. His Tier Two Skills included the Water Element’s Water Demon Fist, the Earth Element’s Mountain Collapse and Earth Rend, the Ice Element’s Icy Spinning Hammer, the Thunder Element’s Thunder Shadow Clone, and the non-elemental Mind Stabilizing Skill.

Only his wind and fire slots remained empty, but Ji Zhang didn’t have Spiritual Roots for either of those elements.

Ji Zhang had also practiced two Tier Three Skills: Blood Ignition Body and Water Dragon Slash.

After a moment’s thought, Zhao Lin decided not to learn either skill.

Ji Zhang had only cultivated Water Dragon Slash to the first level of Minor Achievement, and the skill itself wasn’t particularly rare. There would be other opportunities to learn it later.

As for Blood Ignition Body, Zhao Lin had absolutely no intention of learning it.

’One should never give up hope, no matter the circumstances. Learning a skill like that would only cloud my judgment in a fight.’

Zhao Lin sat cross-legged and meditated for a short while before starting to clean up the battlefield.

Ji Zhang’s robes had been torn to shreds by his transformation, leaving only a storage pouch and a crude saber that he hadn’t used at all during the fight. Zhao Lin found nothing else on the body.

Zhao Lin disposed of the body with fire, then walked back to their battle site to find the gray pouch that had sealed his Moon-Cutting Saber.

Having sold magical robes in his shop, he knew a little about Spiritual Silk.

He felt the pouch’s fabric. It seemed to be made from high-grade Earth Spirit Silk, possibly mixed with other materials, making it incredibly durable.

A single word was printed near the mouth of the bag: Wuyi.

"’The Wuyi Pouch?’"

Zhao Lin muttered to himself. ’This pouch can block Spiritual Qi and isolate Divine Sense. It’s a rather impressive magical artifact.’

’Even if I don’t use it as a magical artifact, it would make an excellent storage pouch.’

With a wave of his hand, he erased Ji Zhang’s residual Divine Sense and imprinted it with his own.

With a single thought, the pouch opened.

He took out the Moon-Cutting Saber and slid it back into its sheath, feeling much more secure.

Despite the vicious battle, Zhao Lin hadn’t forgotten his mission. He reached out with his senses to locate Chao Duan, Du Zhen, and Xu Zhongyong.

Chao Duan, ever steady and reliable, had remained in place, determined not to leave the pearl beach without a direct order.

Zhao Lin felt a small measure of relief. However, when he pinpointed the location of Du Zhen and Xu Zhongyong, his brow furrowed.

Du Zhen and his group had already reached the Di Tutan area and were moving toward the border between the two sects!

’They don’t know the Earth Dark Sect sent cultivators who can transform. I have to warn them immediately.’

The memory of Ji Zhang’s terrifying appearance after his transformation still made Zhao Lin’s heart pound with residual fear.

A single transformed cultivator had pushed him to his absolute limit, forcing him to use every trick up his sleeve.

If he hadn’t learned the Thunder Shadow Clone Skill at the last minute, he would have been finished.

If Du Zhen and his party were to encounter the other two, their chances of survival were slim.

With this thought, Zhao Lin activated his Water Manipulation Skill and sped toward Di Tutan.

...

「Earth Dark Sect, Black Dragon Hall.」

"Reporting to the Elders, Ji Zhang’s Soul Lamp has been extinguished!"

A deacon hurried into the main hall, bowing to the five cultivators in purple robes within as he spoke.

On the surface, the Black Dragon Hall was merely a chamber of commerce. In reality, its purpose was to seize the Chenghua Sect’s territory, and it engaged in all manner of smuggling, assassination, and intelligence gathering.

The five purple-robed cultivators were the elders of the Black Dragon Hall: Ooshima San, Banzheng, Mabben, Yuudou, and Guan Zhi. All were Purple Mansion Realm cultivators from various great families.

"Ji Zhang? Ji Zhang of the Kujima family?"

"Are you sure you saw correctly?"

The five elders were all stunned, finding the news difficult to believe.

When a cultivator reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, they would submit a trace of their blood essence to the sect. This blood was placed within a specially refined Magical Artifact used to light a Soul Lamp.

If the owner of the blood essence died, their Soul Lamp would go out.

The primary purpose of a Soul Lamp was to monitor whether a cultivator was still alive. In the event of an unexpected death, the blood essence within the lamp could be used to investigate the cause.

It also served as a means of control over the cultivator.