Noting the vast difference in Nie Kong's demeanor before and after, the horse-faced elder’s eyes betrayed a flicker of astonishment for the first time: “You refined them all?”
“Indeed. Your demise is also sealed for today.”
Nie Kong smiled faintly. “Taiyan, no need to conceal it any longer.” As his voice resonated, Taiyan’s blood-red aura instantly receded, exposing four empty orbs.
Although the horse-faced elder had anticipated this outcome, his pupils contracted involuntarily upon witnessing it, his expression becoming grave.
At this moment, he had to concede that the three individuals before him were far beyond ordinary newly ascended Spirit Gods. Especially this one, whose methods were so fiendishly cunning, managing to launch silent, successive sneak attacks on four opponents without being detected. Even his true form acting personally could not have achieved such a feat.
If the sudden severance of his connection to this place hadn't aroused suspicion among the main bodies of the four within the "Taizun Spirit Realm," prompting them to relay the news to him, he likely would still have remained completely oblivious.
Too much underestimation!
That thought flashed rapidly through the horse-faced elder’s mind, just as he saw Nie Kong suddenly summon a small ball of azure energy in his palm. Within a shimmering layer of divine power, it struggled violently, twisting and turning, and faintly, one could hear heart-rending screams emanating from it.
The souls of his companions!
The horse-faced elder’s heart clenched fiercely.
Snap!
Nie Kong sneered, clenching his five fingers. The outer layer of Chaos Divine Power exploded violently, and the old woman’s soul within completely dissipated into nothingness.
Immediately after, another mass of azure energy surfaced in Nie Kong's palm.
It was the soul of the blue-robed strong man.
With a crisp popping sound, Nie Kong crushed it as well.
Snap! The handsome young man’s soul instantly vanished.
Snap! The black-clothed man’s soul burst apart.
Four crisp sounds, four balls of soul essence, vanished like smoke in an instant. Since the sneak attack had been discovered, the souls residing in these Spirit God avatars naturally had no reason to remain.
“You will be the fifth!”
Pointing his right hand at the horse-faced elder opposite him, Nie Kong’s voice dripped with killing intent. His figure blurred, crossing dozens of meters of space in a flash as the dark-red "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" erupted forth.
Having absorbed the four Spirit God avatars, Nie Kong’s strength had surged. Now was the perfect time to test his might against the strongest among the five avatars.
Whoosh!
The massive tree shadow shot toward the orb like lightning.
Although the appearance of the "Blood Prison Sword King Tree" Dharma Image was identical to before, its fundamental nature had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. This manifestation, exhibiting a dark-red sheen, was entirely condensed from Chaos Divine Power, its destructive force now over a hundred times stronger than before.
In the blink of an eye, the tree shadow tore through like a decaying ruin, piercing deep into the orb.
Boom!
Nie Kong hooked the root and flicked upward; the orb shattered into pieces like a soap bubble, exploding with a bang. Following this, the dark-red leaves, like countless razor-sharp sword blades, swarmed toward the horse-faced elder like a plague of locusts. For a moment, space howled repeatedly as sword shadows enveloped an area spanning tens of meters.
The horse-faced elder’s face turned sinister. He swept both palms in front of him, and a hemispherical azure barrier immediately expanded, enveloping him.
Bang bang bang...
The dense, fierce impact sounds merged into a continuous roar, causing the palace itself to vibrate and hum.
With less than two seconds of resistance, the azure barrier fractured. The remaining thousands of dark-red sword shadows, meeting no further obstruction, all shot violently toward the horse-faced elder.
Seeing this, the horse-faced elder’s expression changed drastically, and a colossal sea serpent rose from within his body.
This was the Dharma Image he cultivated!
The sea serpent Dharma Image opened its maw wide; its gaping maw, easily twenty to thirty meters high, inhaled fiercely toward the opposite side, swallowing every single dark-red sword shadow. Immediately after, the thick serpentine shadow hurtled toward Nie Kong without pause, the suction emanating from its mouth intensely powerful, causing the surrounding waves to surge inward.
Nie Kong’s eyebrow arched slightly, and he slapped directly at the serpent’s head with his right palm.
Whoosh!
A massive palm print, tens of meters long, smashed the serpent’s head to powder. The serpent’s body rapidly dispersed into a mass of Water Divine Power, merging back into the horse-faced elder.
“Crimson Star Battle Form?”
Even though it was only a palm strike, the horse-faced elder recognized it. His face instantly paled, and he roared, “Just as the Venerable Lord said, you are a remnant of the Crimson Star Clan!”
“Calling me a remnant of the Crimson Star Clan is not entirely inaccurate!”
Nie Kong sneered. Having tested the "Blood Prison Sword King Tree," he wasted no more time with the elder. The colossal palm print, after shattering the sea serpent’s head, flew directly toward him.
“Break!” The horse-faced elder shrieked, retreating rapidly while incessantly punching upward with both fists. Azure fist shadows, condensed from Water Divine Power, followed one after another, actually blasting holes of spatial rifts into the void above his head. In the blink of an eye, these rifts connected into a patch spanning over ten meters wide.
“Break my foot!”
Nie Kong knew the old fellow was attempting to draw upon the spatial rifts to impede his advance so he could seize an opportunity to flee. Unfortunately, his clever scheme had clearly gone awry. The massive palm print, like a collapsing mountain, roared downward, crushing the cluster of spatial rifts before instantly pinning the elder to the ground.
With a resounding boom, the palace floor cracked open into dozens of long, narrow fissures.
When Nie Kong lifted his hand, the horse-faced elder had already transformed into a mass of azure Water Divine Power, while his soul and consciousness had been completely smashed away by Nie Kong’s palm.
With a flick of his finger, that mass of Water Divine Power drifted into Nie Kong’s palm.
Activating the "Chaos Divine Art," Nie Kong completely erased the aura belonging to the horse-faced elder within the Water Divine Power, then tossed it to Yu Longyue, who had already reverted to her human form: “Auntie Yue, you’ve just advanced to Spirit God, your realm is still a bit unstable. Absorb this fellow’s divine power to refine yourself.”
Yu Longyue accepted it without ceremony, nodding as she caught the divine power.
“With these five dead, the Sea Race Spirit Gods in the Taizun Spirit Realm will likely send down even more avatars. We must leave this place immediately, leave the Xianqin Sea.”
As he spoke, his figure flickered, and he arrived before Taiyan, who had also returned to her human form. A swirl of Chaos Divine Power flowed into her body. The fierce attack from the horse-faced old man earlier had caused Taiyan minor injuries, but now that the damage was gone, Nie Kong felt relieved.
Lan Ling, Qing You, and Hulu drifted down sequentially.
With a thought from Nie Kong, the "Xianqin Sea Map" began to roll up, and the surging tides beneath the map instantly receded and vanished without a trace.
“No time to delay, let’s get out quickly.” The recent incident had made Yu Longyue realize the severity of the situation. She grabbed the Sea King and sped toward the palace exit.
“Let’s go too!”
Storing the map scroll into his pet backpack, Nie Kong and Taiyan followed her out.
Without needing any instruction, as he moved, Qing You burrowed into the Spirit Suppressing Jade Bottle, Lan Ling returned to her beast tablet, and Hulu hopped into the medicine bottle nestled against Nie Kong’s chest.
Their figures were like lightning. Nie Kong and Taiyan traversed the Heavenly Ladder, reaching the edge of the Deep Earth Sea Abyss where Yu Longyue had already awakened the Sea King. The fellow was stubbornly clinging to the ground, refusing to rise, likely aware that even if he activated the "Deep Earth Sea Abyss," he would still be killed by Yu Longyue.
“You are indeed doomed,”
Nie Kong merely glanced coldly at the Sea King and sneered, “However, you have two choices: one is to die quickly and painlessly, the other is to die after enduring endless torture. Which do you prefer?” With a thought, the strand of Chaos Divine Power lingering in the Sea King’s brain writhed like a spirit snake.
“Ah…”
After holding out for only a few seconds, the Sea King could bear it no longer. He jumped up immediately, crying out in utter despair, “I’ll open it! I’ll open it! Stop torturing me! I choose the first one…” Before the words were even finished, the Sea King’s fat right hand pressed down on the seal. His bloodline surged, and the great door instantly materialized.
…… ……RO