Above the deserted island, Shi Yan burst into laughter, casually flicking the mysterious greatsword in his hand. A blade of bloody light cleaved outward, striking toward a nearby, several-hundred-meter-tall peak.
As if slicing through tofu, the low peak split in two, crashing down on either side. Wielding this mysterious greatsword, Shi Yan felt an exquisite exhilaration, as if heaven and earth were within his grasp.
The flow of power within every martial artist around him manifested clearly in his Sea of Consciousness. The desire to annihilate all living things was impossible to suppress; he yearned to strike down every soul with a single swing.
Utterly unrestrained! The Heavenly Rank martial artists from the two factions who had narrowly survived the barrage of bloody light stared in terror.
None dared to attack him; they fled as far as possible, feeling unsafe even in his vicinity. In the eyes of those Heavenly Rank warriors, Shi Yan now appeared as a descending devil god, invincible.
Only by avoiding his immediate fury could they hope to survive. Even the three God Realm powerhouses—Qing Ming, Di Huang, and Tian Hou—felt a chill creep into their hearts, staring blankly at the laughing Shi Yan suspended in the void, momentarily unsure of how to proceed.
Only the ten-thousand-year Corpse King of the Corpse God Sect seemed unfazed by Shi Yan’s sudden, violent surge of power. Beneath the Five Elements Light Screen, it fearlessly lunged toward Shi Yan.
The Five Elements Light Screen, condensed from the power of the world’s five elements, shone with five-colored radiance, undulating like the ocean waves, now inches away from Shi Yan. "Heh, heh, heh!" Grinning sinisterly, Shi Yan raised the mysterious greatsword high.
Brilliant blood-light, thick as congealed gore, seemed to ooze from the blade itself. The numerous scarlet eyes embedded in the sword gleamed with savage, terrifying intent.
Each eye swiveled rapidly, as if waiting for him to unleash his next strike. Through the hole ripped open in the sky above, countless bizarre rays of light flashed out, resembling meteors streaking through space.
The thousands of massive corpse worms descending from the oppressive dark clouds were sucked in one by one, quickly vanishing into the vast spatial rift, never to reappear in this world. "Aoooo!" The Corpse King roared heavenward.
Its cry amplified the surrounding Five Elements energy, fusing it with dense corpse qi, all of which poured into the Five Elements Light Screen. Empowered by the terrifying might of the five elements, the Light Screen swelled into a colossal, multicolored cloud mass that suddenly swept toward Shi Yan.
The Corpse King burrowed into the screen and vanished strangely. Shi Yan sneered, his expression as cold as profound ice.
With a casual sweep of his raised greatsword, the eyes embedded in the blade shot out malevolent light. Another blade of bloody light soared forth, cleaving directly at the Five Elements Light Screen.
Like cutting through a flowing river, the bloody light ripped the Five Elements Light Screen instantly in half, dividing it like a torn piece of cloth without the slightest hesitation. Tian Hou and Di Huang’s expressions changed again; a flash of horror crossed their eyes before they could conceal it.
Within Qing Ming’s green eyes, clusters of green spectral fire slowly gathered from the depths of his pupils. His gloved hands suddenly clasped together, forming a peculiar hand seal aimed toward the split Five Elements Light Screen.
Strands of spiritual thought drifted out from Qing Ming’s mind. These divine notions, like trickling streams, instantly submerged themselves into the divided Five Elements Light Screen.
As the divine thoughts infused it, the halved Five Elements Light Screen began to re-coalesce at a speed visible to the naked eye! On the surface of the reforming Five Elements Light Screen, the fierce form of the Corpse King suddenly materialized like a streak of lightning.
Upon reappearance, faint, oily green flames flickered deep within the Corpse King’s eyes, devoid of any human emotion. At this moment, the Corpse King had forged a subtle connection with Qing Ming through the Visceral Corpse Fire, as if receiving a spiritual anchor from him.
Its eyes flashed green, and the Corpse King’s gaze became eerily inscrutable. Its three-meter-tall, ape-like body was covered in fine, dense fur that moved without wind, each strand imbued with astonishing corpse qi.
The Corpse King shuddered, and suddenly, its body hair detached, scattering like countless steel needles. A fine drizzle of projectiles enveloped the space where Shi Yan stood.
"Swish! Swish!
Swish!" Innumerable strands of the Corpse King’s fur shot upwards, piercing toward Shi Yan’s entire body before he could react. "Clang!
Clang! Clang!" When the Corpse King’s fur struck Shi Yan’s upper limbs and arms, the sound resembled metal impacting solid stone.
Not a single strand managed to penetrate his flesh. However, his lower limbs, which had not yet completed their transformation, could not withstand the barrage.
They were pierced by countless strands of the corpse hair! Shi Yan’s legs, already mangled from Di Huang’s bird-pecking attacks, looked even more horrific under the assault of the corpse hair.
The flesh was saturated by the projectiles, leaving only the bones intact. Thousands of tendrils of corpse qi erupted from the hair, blasting Shi Yan’s legs into a bloody pulp.
This qi seeped inward, strangely advancing toward his waist. A sudden alarm sounded in his heart.
Shi Yan hastily urged the power within the vortex in his lower abdomen, channeling the flame energy of the Earth Core Fire toward his legs. This searing heat struggled against the thousands of strands of corpse qi, attempting to dissolve the invading energy.
"Roar!" Having landed a successful strike, the Corpse King let out a fierce howl and lunged forward. It activated its innate Corpse Art.
Countless threads of corpse qi condensed within its sharp claws, which suddenly elongated to ten meters, gleaming with an icy cold light, and slashed toward Shi Yan’s torso. With corpse qi surging all around, this attack—the Corpse King Ghost Claw—was incredibly sharp and carried the millennia-old resentment of the Corpse King toward all living beings, possessing an evil power capable of influencing the mind.
Shi Yan endured the inhuman pain in his legs, manifesting the Star Shield. Countless starlights flickered, enveloping his body completely.
He then executed Star Radiance, sliding backward a hundred meters, and swung the greatsword in his hand once more. "Clang!" The Corpse King’s sharp Ghost Claws were severed by the sword’s bloody light.
But the severed, pointed talons, like ten sharp, thin swords, maintained their formidable momentum and continued stabbing toward Shi Yan! "Crack!
Crack! Crack!" The eight-meter-long, sharp talons impacted the Star Shield.
Innumerable star points converged and shattered together. As they exploded, the tips of the Corpse King’s long claws disintegrated.
Under this terrifying assault from the ancient Corpse King, the Star Shield vanished as its constituent star points were annihilated one by one. The remaining ten sharp talons, half a meter long, took the opportunity to pierce toward Shi Yan’s chest, their momentum undiminished.
"Pfft!" The ten sharp talons, like ten small swords, actually pierced through Shi Yan’s mutated chest muscles, embedding themselves three centimeters deep. And only three centimeters!
Beyond that depth, the ten sharp talons trembled bizarrely. Their power surged wildly at the tips, attempting to bore through Shi Yan’s chest, but they seemed blocked by some mysterious barrier, unable to penetrate his flesh further.
The Corpse King Ghost Claw, capable of slicing through mountains, was one of its strongest attacks, comparable to the full force of a Saint-level sword strike. Even a general God Realm martial artist, fully defending their body, would likely struggle to withstand it and might suffer punctured flesh.
Qing Ming had also assumed that Shi Yan would surely die from this blow, expecting ten bloody holes to mark his body. He had seen too many powerful martial artists pierced by the Corpse King’s strike, assuming Shi Yan would be no exception.
But the reality he witnessed filled him with staggering horror. Only three centimeters!
No matter how the ten talons trembled or how they gathered the dense corpse qi around them, they could not advance even a fraction of an inch further! Qing Ming’s eyes were filled with dread.
Shi Yan’s expression also shifted, but he suddenly discovered an immensely violent counter-force emanating from the strange energy existing within the countless muscle fibers in his chest. This energy not only blocked the corpse qi within the ten sword-like talons but, as his muscles convulsed, they actually forced the sharp points back out of his chest.
Within his muscles, the billions of fibers acted like countless monstrous hands, grasping the sharp talons and shoving them out of the muscular tissue. "Aooo!" The Corpse King roared frantically, charging forward in frustration.
Its broken claws regrew instantly, reaching ten meters long once more, an utterly bizarre sight. Shi Yan’s gaze turned severe.
A strange, chilling smile suddenly bloomed at the corner of his lips. He thrust out his free hand, his internal energy surging wildly, blending the Profound Ice Cold Flame, the Holy Spirit God power, the Earth Core Fire, and the essence of his own vigor.
This power coalesced into a handprint the size of a mountain peak, which he slammed toward the Corpse King. The Corpse King, upon reaching five meters from Shi Yan, was suddenly enveloped by this life-force Seal.
Its three-meter frame was bound, and an aura brimming with vibrant life suddenly permeated its body. The previously fierce Corpse King’s eyes reverted to a blank, vacant state.
Its charge toward Shi Yan suddenly froze mid-air, motionless. Simultaneously, a subtle connection was established between it and Shi Yan.
"Kill, kill, kill, kill!" A ferocious thought suddenly transmitted from the Corpse King’s mind, instantly entering Shi Yan’s Sea of Consciousness. Shi Yan’s eyes brightened.
He quickly followed this thread of ferocious thought, linking his main soul to it. Before the Corpse King’s thought could return, the third small eye located on the brow of his floating main soul suddenly opened again!
A beam of bright, silvery light shot out from this third eye, seemingly slicing through space, landing directly in the Corpse King’s brain. It instantly located the Soul Control Seed that Qing Ming had implanted there.
The silvery light, belonging to the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Flame, precisely illuminated the seed. Like the scent of Fan Xiangyun invading Shi Yan’s soul consciousness, the seed instantly turned to ash upon contact with the light.
The soul-binding force restraining the Corpse King vanished completely. The constant transmission of bloodthirsty thoughts from the Corpse King abruptly calmed.
The Corpse King’s soul, bound by soul control techniques for tens of thousands of years, regained autonomy and self-awareness. "You, who are you?" A clumsy thought transmitted from the Corpse King’s soul, landing in Shi Yan’s Sea of Consciousness.
"Never mind who I am. At least, I am not your enemy," Shi Yan exclaimed internally with overwhelming joy, immediately pressing his advantage.
"I have erased the soul-controlling thought that bound you for ten millennia. I have given you freedom!
From this day forward, you can choose not to be controlled or enslaved by anyone." "Freedom, freedom…" The Corpse King’s spiritual consciousness fluctuated violently. The wisps of small green flames in its vacant, wooden eyes were forcibly purged from its body by its own power.
"Pfft!" Below, Qing Ming, the leader of the Corpse God Sect, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with utterly terrified shock. He stared blankly at Shi Yan in the sky, watched the Corpse King gradually regain clarity, and then shrieked hysterically: "No!
Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" ...