“So, you’re finally out?”

The moment Xu Qing stepped out of the vortex between the two stone pillars, he heard someone speaking to him, calmly and without any hint of emotion in their voice. He looked up. The truth was that he had already been expecting this thanks to his shadow. But to see it with his own eyes caused his heart to sink.

Before, there had been more than a thousand Seazombie cultivators standing guard over this area, but now they were off in the distance, bowing in obeisance.

In their place was a single person. It was a young man wearing a golden imperial robe. However, he did not have an imperial crown on his head. His skin did not have any necrotic patches, and his aura was deep and profound. In fact, his eyes seemed to twinkle with starlight. Though he wasn’t as good-looking as Xu Qing, he seemed to exude a noble air, the type that would make him the center of attention wherever he went. He sat atop a huge crimson mushroom, looking coldly at Xu Qing. Floating next to him was a black cloud, imprisoned within which was Xu Qing’s iron skewer. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior had been captured the moment he shot out into the open earlier.

Because of the shadow’s special qualities, it hadn’t been noticed. It was currently on the magical mushroom, slowly and carefully creeping in position to pounce on this enemy’s shadow.

“I’m Vastworld, the Seazombies’ dao child of this generation,” he said coolly. “Elder Ying Ling is after you, so there’s no way you’re getting away. I was really curious who would dare do something as reckless as this, so I came to see with my own eyes. I’m actually a bit disappointed. That said, you have a nice spirit automaton. Can I have it?”

Xu Qing didn’t respond. Now that he was out of the portal, he checked his surroundings and confirmed that teleportations were still restricted in the area. He would need to get farther away before he could use an entropic teleportation talisman.

“There’s no use in studying your surroundings,” Vastworld said. “I don’t know how you’re planning to escape, but it won’t do any good. And that’s because today, you’re going to become one of my battle trophies.”

“You talk a lot,” Xu Qing said.

Vastworld got to his feet, laughing so loudly that it sent out energy fluctuations, which in turn created a harmonic resonance that caused wild winds to spring up. It was a tempest that could topple mountains and drain seas, which kicked up dust and sent the ghost thirst butterflies spinning away.

Thanks to the wind, Xu Qing’s hair whipped around him, and his clothing flapped loudly. It was as if the wind wished to erase him out of existence. Obviously, it couldn’t. All it could do was move his hair and clothing. It couldn’t move his body, nor could it do anything about the coldness in his eyes.

For a moment, Xu Qing just stared at the young man in front of him, and at his surging energy. Then he burst into motion and charged right toward him.

He ignited his life flames, and the golden crow totem tattoo on his back erupted with fire, bolstering his fleshly body power. Moving with shocking speed, he pierced through the wild winds to appear right in front of Vastworld, his right hand clenching into a fist and punching forward.

A projection of the golden crow appeared around his fist, and it pulsed with the power of the Balefire Soulswallowing Scripture. At the same time, he backed it with the rage of a burning continent.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as the fist sailed right toward Vastworld’s chest.

Vastworld’s eyes contained contempt as he prepared to wave his hand. However, before he could, the red magical mushroom he stood on turned black, and a host of eyes opened up on it.

Those eyes contained a gruish power that caused Vastworld to pause in place momentarily.

Then, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior, who had previously been imprisoned in the black smoke, suddenly caused the iron skewer to glitter with lightning. The lightning symbols on its surface flared, and then surged with astonishing power. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the skewer shot out of the smoke and headed right toward Vastworld’s neck, accompanied by the tinkling sound of a bell.

Obviously, the patriarch had allowed himself to be captured, and could have escaped at any time, but was just waiting for Xu Qing to make a move before taking action.

Now that he was making his move along with Xu Qing and the shadow, the results were spectacular.

Vastworld’s expression flickered as he realized he was in a dangerous situation. He couldn’t avoid Xu Qing’s fist strike, and thus he summoned a fist-sized jade coffin, which appeared directly over his head. It glittered with radiant light that swirled around Vastworld, creating a defensive barrier. Xu Qing’s fist slammed into it.

A deafening boom rang out as Vastworld was sent spinning backward like a kite with its string cut. The patriarch shot after him relentlessly, and a thud could be heard as the skewer hit the barrier. Though it didn’t pierce all the way through, it did manage to send lightning smashing into Vastworld.

At the same time, the shadow came at Vastworld from behind. A vague tree shape could be seen, and a host of eyes opened, causing vast quantities of mutagen to be sucked out of Vastworld.

Things weren’t done yet, though. Xu Qing was still charging forward at full speed. Slamming into the barrier with his fist, he then summoned the heavenly saber and slashed it down. A rumbling boom could be heard as Vastworld was thrown back 300 meters, where he slammed into the ground so hard a crater opened up. The Seazombies that had been bowing in obeisance all looked shocked, and were about to rush over to help when an angry howl erupted from the crater.

“Everybody get back! This is my fight!” The power of a single life flame erupted from the crater, and Vastworld climbed out, his hair disheveled, his eyes burning with killing intent. After he was out of the crater, his second life flame whooshed to life. After that came a third, and finally, a fourth.

Shockingly, this dao child of the Seazombies had 120 dharma apertures opened, allowing him to ignite four life flames.

Chosen individuals like this would normally spend their time in seclusion, working toward a breakthrough. Based on what he’d said earlier, the only reason he wasn’t in seclusion was because something big was going on with the Seazombies. Perhaps it was because there weren’t many people left behind in the city, or perhaps it was just his curiosity. For whatever reason, he had come to deal with the situation personally.

But how could he have imagined that Xu Qing would attack him, and also throw in gruish tactics? By striking the first blow, he made Vastworld lose a lot of face. Now Vastworld had to resort to going all out.

As Vastworld erupted with power, Xu Qing closed in, his life lamp burning. That alone gave him strength equivalent to three flames, but when you added Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits, his battle prowess actually surpassed the four-flame level. Without hesitation, he attacked, hoping to once again crush Vastworld.

As a dao child, Vastworld was an extraordinary individual. Right now, his expression was pure ferocity as he waved his hand, sending out drops of black rainwater. In the blink of an eye, a black sea took shape around him, which then spun viciously toward Xu Qing. Shocking rumbling echoed out as the spinning black sea turned into a huge mouth that sought to devour Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with killing intent, and yet, he knew that he couldn’t afford to stick around this place. Without any hesitation, he tapped into all 65 of his dharma apertures, as well as their spirit seas, creating a 3,000-meter lake of dharma force around him.

That mighty dharma force crushed down viciously toward Vastworld.

The mouth-shaped black sea collapsed, but so did Xu Qing’s dharma force. And then Vastworld shot toward Xu Qing with all four of his life flames burning, his hand stretching toward his heart.

Xu Qing avoided the attack, then sent his knee slamming into Vastworld.

A boom rang out as they clashed. Meanwhile, the iron skewer shot in from the side, its lightning symbols glittering as it screamed right toward Vastworld’s throat. 𝘦𝘯.𝘰𝘳𝘨

Vastworld’s expression flickered, and he was about to dodge out of the way when the shadow pounced from below.

Xu Qing accelerated, balefire raging as he launched a blow toward Vastworld’s forehead.

In that moment of deadly crisis, Vastworld howled and sent all the power of his life flames shooting outward, creating both an attack and a crushing pressure. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior screamed as he spun away. Meanwhile, Xu Qing bore the brunt of the force, and his internal organs trembled, causing killing intent to once again burn in his eyes.

The shadow was also repelled, but it still managed to get a sliver of itself onto Vastworld. As it bored into him, it reached his dantian region, and just like the time when the shadow saw the Spirit Breath Lamp for the first time, it tried to extinguish the first life flame it encountered. The life flame flickered, and in the blink of an eye, it seemed like it was about to go out.

Yet again, Vastworld was shaken to the core. Inside of him, his life flames flared with light and power, and his heavenly palaces even seemed like they were working to prevent the life flame from being extinguished. Because of that, Vastworld couldn’t pay close attention to everything that was happening, which gave Xu Qing the opportunity he had been seeking.

His eyes flashed with icy coldness as he considered that this was a moment of either life or death. Thus, he didn’t worry about revealing what he was capable of. The golden crow appeared behind him, trailing black flames as it lunged toward the Seazombie dao child. The golden crow let loose a piercing cry as it dropped onto Vastworld’s face, black fire sweeping out over his head.

Assimilate!

Xu Qing had used his shadow to create an opportunity to assimilate his opponent while he was still alive!

The two opponents were fighting each other with such speed that an ordinary observer wouldn’t be able to see what was happening. And though it might seem like the Seazombie dao child was in a bad spot, he was actually incredibly strong, and it was only because Xu Qing held nothing back that he got this advantage.

In battles between two powerful experts, even slight advantages can be very important.

Xu Qing’s eyes were completely vicious as he used Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits to devour his opponent. Vastworld let loose a bloodcurdling scream, and his eyes filled with terror as he realized his energy and blood was being extracted. And his head was melting! His right ear vanished. The right side of his face had turned into liquid. His good looks were being completely disfigured!

The other Seazombie cultivators were visibly astonished, to the point that they ignored the dao child’s orders and charged forth to attack.