Chapter 299: Chapter Seven: Between Life and Death

“Boom—”

Too fierce!

Luo Feng desperately dodged, yet still brushed against the colossal body of the Hunyuan Huangti leader—just a mere “brush”! Yet the terrifying power slammed into his entire body. His body held over a thousand times the energy reserve of a perfect divine body, further enhanced by the “Indestructible Heart,” drastically boosting his defense.

The artifact “Indestructible Heart” only multiplies power by a few times. Even stronger half-Hunyuan-tier artifacts can reach this level. But its greatest strength lies in the two characters: “Indestructible.”

By combining the mysteries of life and destruction, its survival capability is naturally supreme.

“Boom.” Luo Feng was brushed aside, instantly flung backward. Yet his body remained intact, unharmed.

The ferocious Hunyuan Huangti leader slightly turned its head, its gaze locked unwaveringly on Luo Feng. When it realized he had withstood even its “brush,” its eyes gleamed with excitement.

Its hooves moved faster than lightning, suddenly stomping down!

The hooves carried thunder, striking at point-blank range. Luo Feng had no time to react—he was crushed beneath a single hoof.

The hoof was too massive! Luo Feng appeared tiny in comparison.

“Crash!” The hoof’s stomp was more than ten times fiercer than the previous brush. The sheer force terrified Luo Feng—his “Indestructible Blood Sea Body” could no longer sustain its physical form.

With this stomp, Luo Feng could only shatter spontaneously, transforming into an endless sea of blood.

Only by dissolving into blood sea could he dissipate as much of the terrifying stomp’s force as possible.

“Even with the Indestructible Heart’s boost, I couldn’t withstand the Hunyuan Huangti’s stomp.” Luo Feng was stunned, yet not surprised. This race was called “Hunyuan Huangti” precisely because its stomp was its most terrifying technique.

With a physique among the top in its tier, the Hunyuan Huangti’s stomp reached an unimaginable level of power.

A late Divine Emperor Hunyuan Huangti’s stomp could reach the threshold of a Divine Emperor’s perfected Dao comprehension.

At the perfected Divine Emperor level? Even the Indestructible Blood Sea Body would shatter, unable to maintain physical form.

With Luo Feng’s strength, plus the Indestructible Heart and the Palm World, he should have been able to survive—even if he couldn’t win—against a low-tier Hunyuan life of perfected Divine Emperor caliber.

But…

He had encountered the Hunyuan Huangti leader!

“You withstood one of my stomps?” The Hunyuan Huangti leader was surprised. Only three of Yulan City’s Hall Masters could stand against it face-to-face. Ordinary Elders dared not even block its attacks—they could only flee using secret arts.

The boundless blood sea, reinforced by the Indestructible Heart and the Xuanqing Tian Jiemie Map, possessed extraordinary resilience.

“With the scale and resilience of my Indestructible Blood Sea Body, one stomp cost me two percent of my energy reserve?” Luo Feng was stunned.

“Shhh.”

Even as he was stunned, Luo Feng acted.

A furry claw suddenly erupted from the blood sea, utterly without warning—by the time it emerged, it was already beneath the Hunyuan Huangti leader’s abdomen.

“Rip!”

Luo Feng unleashed his full understanding of life and destruction, activating the Palm World’s ultimate killing technique. He did not attempt to crush it with a world—he knew it was impossible. He channeled only the claw’s tearing, destructive force.

The claw was razor-sharp.

Empowered by the Indestructible Blood Sea Body’s strength and driven by the claw’s secret runes, this was Luo Feng’s strongest strike. He even believed this blow might threaten a half-Hunyuan-tier cultivator.

The claw erupted from the blood sea—sudden, swift. The massive Hunyuan Huangti leader had no time to dodge—or perhaps, it simply scorned the need to.

“Riiip—”

Luo Feng felt his claw’s five razor-like talons pierce the pale-white scales of the Hunyuan Huangti leader’s abdomen. Its scales layered one upon another; judging from corpse materials in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, the Abyssal Huangti’s entire body was typically covered in hundreds of layers.

“Chhh.” Luo Feng’s full-force strike barely pierced through—only two layers deep.

“Its scales number hundreds of layers. I could only pierce two with my utmost effort?”

At that moment, Luo Feng understood.

Among the “low-tier Hunyuan life clans,” born as true Hunyuan beings, their physical forms ranked among the very best—what did that mean!

“Hm?”

Suddenly struck, the Hunyuan Huangti leader was startled—had its outer scales cracked? Invisible lightning flowed, and the cracks healed naturally.

“Roar!!!” The leader of the Hunyuan Huangti suddenly roared.

That roar!

Like thunder crashing, its sound surged in all directions, churning and shaking the boundless blood sea, even vaporizing patches of its surface.

The roar also struck Luo Feng’s spiritual will. Yet Luo Feng’s spiritual will, having reached Divine Emperor’s perfected level through his comprehension of life and destruction, naturally stood at the Divine Emperor’s perfected tier.

Though not as strong as before he broke free from the cage, such spiritual will, bolstered by the Lieyuan Technique and the Indestructible Heart, could withstand the roar’s influence.

“Boom boom boom.”

As it roared, the Hunyuan Huangti leader charged forward, each hoof violently stomping the boundless blood sea.

Though each stomp now lacked the initial power of its first charge, these continuous stomps still carried about fifty to sixty percent of that original force. But they came without pause.

“Boom boom boom~~~” The entire realm trembled and cracked, revealing phantom seals of the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm’s binding runes.

Under the Hunyuan Huangti leader’s relentless charges, Luo Feng’s boundless blood sea rapidly drained energy.

In mere breaths, it lost thirty percent.

“Blood Sea Heaven!”

Suddenly, the entire blood sea erupted in power, a hazy crimson shrouding heaven and earth.

Directions became indistinguishable—the crimson world was transforming into the Xuanqing Tian. The Hunyuan Huangti leader was trapped within the Xuanqing Tian, unable to see beyond it.

“Escape now!” The instant Luo Feng used part of the blood sea to form the Xuanqing Tian and trap the Hunyuan Huangti leader—he immediately split into three clones.

Each clone activated secret techniques, accelerating to their utmost speed, fleeing in three different directions.

“Hmph!”

The Hunyuan Huangti leader let out a cold snort, its body swelling to colossal size—nearly half the scale of the Xuanqing Tian! Its massive head swung its two blade-like horns.

Riiip—

Everything was sliced apart. The Xuanqing Tian shattered beneath the terrifying force.

The Xuanqing Tian shattered.

The Hunyuan Huangti leader’s gaze pierced through space, instantly locking onto the three fleeing clones.

“Escape?”

The Hunyuan Huangti leader erupted in fury.

Boom boom boom!!!

Three immensely powerful thunderbolts coalesced in the heavens, each locking onto one of Luo Feng’s distant clones. Lightning struck instantly—two clones shattered without resistance. Only one remained.

!

Only one clone withstood the lightning and fled faster.

“Swoosh.” That lone fleeing clone suddenly boarded a flying vessel, accelerating even further.

The Hunyuan Huangti leader opened its mouth and spat forth lightning plasma. The lightning raged in all directions, vaporizing the surrounding blood sea.

This patch of blood sea contained roughly one-tenth of Luo Feng’s energy reserve. Under the Hunyuan Huangti leader’s reckless, full-force strike, it was entirely annihilated.

Under the lightning, no blood sea remained.

“Leave behind the weak clone.” The Hunyuan Huangti leader surged forward, swiftly chasing the clone riding the flying vessel.

…

Luo Feng piloted the vessel, fleeing swiftly.

Yet the Hunyuan Huangti leader locked onto his aura and pursued from afar. Its speed was too great—it became lightning, tracking relentlessly, catching up in barely a dozen breaths.

“Can’t escape.” Luo Feng piloted the vessel, watching the scene unfold.

“Die.”

The Hunyuan Huangti leader’s hoof loomed over him.

“It’s over.” Luo Feng helplessly watched.

…

At the site where the Hunyuan Huangti leader and Luo Feng had first clashed, the chaotic realm gradually calmed, its energies slowly settling.

Suddenly—

Boundless energy in the realm coalesced and transformed into the shape of a human male: Luo Feng.

Luo Feng, through the artifact Indestructible Heart, could enter the “Between Life and Death” state.

The Indestructible Heart, combining the mysteries of life and destruction, granted supreme survival capability.

Cultivators skilled in the path of life, if reduced to nothingness, would regenerate some life essence from the void.

Luo Feng, using the Indestructible Heart, when struck into nothingness, Shunshi turned more of his blood sea into void, merging his energy into the realm—and could maintain this state briefly.

After a time, he would restore his physical form.

Maintaining this “neither life nor death” state, Luo Feng called it “Between Life and Death.” In this state, his energy truly became void, his consciousness fused with the realm—this was his weakness.

If the enemy was strong enough to sense Luo Feng’s consciousness, they would not be deceived.

Luo Feng’s consciousness, bolstered by the Indestructible Heart, nearly perfectly suppressed all life fluctuations, sustaining “neither life nor death.”

He maintained it for ten breaths.

Then, he restored his physical form from the void.

“Finally fooled that Hunyuan Huangti leader.” Luo Feng immediately released the Tai Xu Ming Tong Vessel, boarded it, and instantly slipped into a void fissure—speeding away at astonishing velocity.

The Tai Xu Ming Tong Vessel’s speed far surpassed that of the other clone’s water-drop vessel.

…

“Riiip.”

As the hoof shattered Luo Feng’s clone, the Hunyuan Huangti leader stared at the lone water-drop vessel left behind, gently prodding it, examining its interior.

The vessel’s interior was empty—no treasures at all.

“Just a late Divine Emperor vessel? No other treasures? Not even the corpse of a low-tier Hunyuan life?” The Hunyuan Huangti leader realized at once, “He escaped again!”

"These cultivators are too cunning!"

The elders it encountered could not withstand even a few strikes in direct confrontation, yet they kept escaping through strange secret techniques—some still managed to flee.

(End of Chapter)