"Since you are courting death, Lin Mu, don't blame me for being ruthless," he said sinisterly, then glanced at the rest of the Zhao search party attacking the Lin family members' formation. Although they had superior strength, the Lin family had the quantity to make up for the quality, so they looked like they weren't going to make any progress in breaking the defensive formation.
'I had hoped to save this pill as a last resort. It would have been ideal to capture a few members of the Lin family to force Lin Mu to give me what I want, but it seems these good-for-nothings can't do it,' Zhao Lee thought.
"A bunch of trash, get back here!" he roared at them. The more he thought about how useless Zhao Lei and the rest were, the angrier he became, and in the end he couldn't help but curse. He then brought the Blood Combustion Pill to his mouth.
"Oops."
Lin Mu realized things would be bad if he ingested it. He ran his Wind Walking Art to the fullest, disappearing once again from the spectators and leaving a series of blurred afterimages to Zhao Lee, a fellow Grandmaster.
But he was a step too late, as Zhao Lee swallowed the pill within less than a meter away.
"BOOM!"
...
BOOM!
The instant Zhao Lee swallowed the pill, a violent surge of Qi exploded from his body, distorting the very air around him. His veins bulged grotesquely beneath his skin, turning a sinister shade of purple as if molten energy coursed through his blood. His eyes snapped wide open, the whites rapidly swallowed by crimson as a savage aura erupted outward in waves. Flames burst from his pores, not the controlled blaze of a cultivation technique, but wild, chaotic fire that spiraled around him like a raging inferno, sending Lin Mu near him flying several meters away. His clothes were burned, scorch marks all over his skin from just the brief contact. The sky trembled as his pressure multiplied, forcing even distant spectators to stagger back in fear.
A deep, bone-rattling heartbeat echoed across the heavens — thump… thump… thump — each pulse sending shockwaves rippling through the clouds. His cultivation barrier shattered with a sharp crack, and his aura surged violently from the third layer to its peak, then continued climbing with reckless force. The flames around him darkened, streaks of purple weaving through crimson fire as if corruption itself had taken form. The temperature soared; rooftops below began to smolder, and the air grew heavy enough to suffocate weaker cultivators.
When Zhao Lee finally lifted his head, he no longer looked entirely human. His eyes burned like twin furnaces, his expression twisted with manic exhilaration, and the space beneath his feet vibrated slightly, like a demon reborn.
"JIEJIEJIE! Lin Mu, I said today next year will be the anniversary of your death!" His mouth distorted widely into a savage grin, which sent shivers down everybody present's spine, so children present started to cry and some grown-ups started to wet their robes at the sight. The parents of the children quickly turned pale and covered the children's mouths. All in all, no one dared to say anything for fear of Zhao Lee setting his sights on them.
"Hmph, Zhao Lee, don't get too full of yourself. The battle is yet to be over. Who wins or loses is still unknown," Lin Mu said stubbornly, but his expression was solemn and cautious.
"All right, then let me show you the difference between us."
The sky split apart as Zhao Lee's aura exploded outward once more.
The crimson flames that had wrapped around him suddenly compressed inward, sinking into his body like starving beasts. For a heartbeat, everything went silent.
Then—
CRACK!!!
Another cultivation barrier shattered.
His aura surged violently past peak fourth layer.
Fifth layer.
Mid fifth layer.
Peak fifth—
BOOOOOOM!
The heavens trembled as his power forcefully climbed into the sixth-layer Grandmaster realm.
Wind scattered in all directions as Lin Mu was forced back several hundred meters again, his robes snapping violently. Even he could not hide the flicker of shock in his eyes.
"Impossible…" someone below whispered.
Zhao Lee's body looked as though it were tearing itself apart. His skin had split in thin lines, blood seeping out only to evaporate instantly in the heat of his flames. His hair floated wildly, and the space around him distorted from sheer pressure.
He vanished.
This time, it wasn't speed alone.
It was overwhelming force.
Lin Mu barely managed to raise his wind sword before a blazing fist crashed into it.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The wind blade shattered instantly.
The shockwave tore through Lin Mu's defenses and slammed into his chest. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his body shot downward like a falling meteor, smashing through three rooftops before barely stabilizing midair.
Before he could recover—
Zhao Lee appeared above him and formed a seal. A monstrous amount of dark flame energy surged and formed a six-hundred-meter pitch-black menacing fist.
A fist descended like divine punishment.
CRASH!
Lin Mu was barely able to form a hand sign. A giant cauldron formed over him in a defensive gesture. The cauldron was only able to stop the fist for a moment before it collapsed and crushed him into the earth below, carving a massive crater into Qinghe City's central square. The defensive formation trembled violently, cracks spreading like spiderwebs.
Below, the Lin family members turned pale.
"Third Elder!" the Lin family screamed.
"Third uncle!" Both Lin Feng and Ye Feifei exclaimed and rushed towards the pit.
Smoke rose from the crater.
Lin Mu staggered up, blood dripping from his mouth, one arm hanging unnaturally at his side. His wind aura flickered weakly.
Both Lin Feng and Feifei appeared at either side of him, clutching his hands and supporting him.
"Third uncle, are you fine?" he asked.
"Xiao Feng, I am alright," he coughed, too labored to breathe.
"Third uncle, you can't die. Please don't leave young master and me," Feifei spoke as she sobbed softly.
"Don't worry, this old man won't die so easily. The both of you should go. Get away from here now," he said, then pushed them to go away.
Seeing that even with his third uncle's gruesome injuries he was still worried about him, he felt very touched, and for the first time since he arrived in this world he almost shed tears, but he suppressed them. His eyes became resolute.
He began to think.
'This pill stimulates potential and uses it as energy for a temporary boost, and seeing as the pill only raised his strength three levels, it means it must be the limit of his potential. So if only there was a way to drain the energy, there wouldn't be any more potential to supply energy.'
'System,' Lin Feng said inwardly, keeping his face calm, his hands steady at his sides.
[DING.]
'Is there a way to siphon his energy away?'
[YES, HOST.]
His eyes lit up.
'Sure enough.'
[THE HOST CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE "NINE HEAVENS DEVOURING ANCIENT DEMONS LAW!" IS A SUPREME TECHNIQUE WITH DEVOURING PROPERTIES CAPABLE OF SWALLOWING EVERYTHING.]
'So would it work?' his breath quickened at the possibility.
[YES, HOST, BUT IT'S 50-50%.]
'Why so low?' he frowned.
[BECAUSE ALTHOUGH IT CAN ABSORB EVERYTHING, THE HOST'S CULTIVATION IS TOO LOW AND BODY TOO WEAK. IT MAY NOT BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND THE INFLUX OF THE VIOLENT ENERGY.]
He clenched his fist, knowing the system was right, but he looked up and saw the contemptuous look on Zhao Lee's face. He gritted his teeth.
'Do it. We are going to die anyway. Fight.'
[ACCEPTED, BUT DUE TO THE CURRENT LOW LEVEL OF THE TECHNIQUE, THE TARGET IS REQUIRED TO BE WITHIN TEN METERS.]
High above, Zhao Lee hovered like a blazing sun.
"At sixth layer Grandmaster," Zhao Lee said hoarsely, his voice layered with madness, "you are nothing."
He raised his hand.
A massive sphere of compressed, dark crimson flames formed above his palm. The energy inside it screamed violently, unstable and destructive.
"This ends now."
Inside the crater, Lin Mu tried to gather his Qi.
It dispersed.
His meridians were in chaos.
For the first time—
Death loomed.
"He's finished."
"Sigh, it seems like Lin Mu can no longer gather his energy."
"Haa, it seems like it's over for him, and he's such a good man." Seeing Lin Mu's inability to channel energy, they all sighed. Some even looked away, unable to bear to watch the next scene.
Zhao Lee began descending slowly, the flame sphere expanding, ready to erase Lin Mu completely.
As soon as he got ten meters away—
'SYSTEM, DO IT NOW!' Lin Feng urged.
[DING. ACTIVATED SUCCESSFUL.]
Immediately, a black and purple berserk aura that no one could see erupted in a tentacle-like structure and wrapped itself around Zhao Lee, unknown to him, siphoning his energy.
Then—
Collapsed.
"NO—!"
The flame sphere detonated prematurely, exploding harmlessly into the sky as Zhao Lee screamed. His cultivation fell like a landslide.
Sixth layer.
Fifth layer.
Fourth—
His meridians ruptured under the backlash. Blood sprayed from his mouth in a thick stream as the flames around him extinguished one by one.
His body fell from the sky like a broken puppet.
BOOM.
He slammed into the ground outside the crater, rolling several times before coming to a stop.
Silence fell over Qinghe City.