Chapter 573: Familiar Yet Strange

The monk of the Meng clan revealed a sinister gaze, staring at the distance, letting out a low, guttural laugh.

It seemed he had already counted Qin Ming as his prey, as if capturing him were a mere formality.

Yet Qin Ming, across from them, had long sensed their presence.

But when his spiritual sense clarified their forms, he realized—why did these two cultivators seem so familiar? Suddenly—

A flash of insight struck him: these two weren't the demonic cultivators he'd encountered near the Five Elements Mountain marketplace?

It was too late to retreat now.

Qin Ming's expression hardened; his powerful spiritual sense instantly detected the intense killing intent radiating from the opposite side.

Clearly, these two intended to kill him.

In an instant, his thoughts shifted, and his eyes flashed with cold light—he had made his decision.

For two powerful Golden Core demonic cultivators of the Blood Refining Sect, a distance of hundreds of li was but a blink away.

In mere breaths—

They blocked Qin Ming's path.

"Hehehe! So you're merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the peak? Well, better than nothing."

The gaunt Meng cultivator said nothing; he merely flicked his sleeve, launching a streak of crimson light toward Qin Ming.

Whoosh! The crimson light pierced the void, arriving before Qin Ming in an instant.

The Meng cultivator was supremely confident in his technique, already wearing an expression of certain victory.

To him, slaying a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the lower realms was no harder than crushing an ant—so after striking, he lunged forward, eager to devour this blood offering that had come to him willingly.

Only—

Qin Ming's expression remained calm; he merely extended a finger, pointing into the air.

Ten paces before him, a cluster of black thorned vines suddenly erupted, like tentacles, wrapping tightly around the blood-red demonic drill.

This sudden turn of events—

Caused the gaunt Meng cultivator's face to darken instantly; he froze mid-lunge.

"Golden Core cultivator!"

Now, even if he had doubts, he could not mistake it: this cultivator dressed as a shopkeeper had concealed his true cultivation base.

Clearly, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator could not have blocked the lethal strike of a late-stage Golden Core demonic cultivator like himself.

And yet—

The opponent had casually intercepted his "Blood Spirit Drill" demonic treasure.

His cultivation must be at least late-stage Golden Core. The situation had changed— even the burly man behind him, Brother Chou, narrowed his eyes, his expression shifting for the first time.

"It's you!"

The next instant, the gaunt Meng cultivator let out a shrill cry.

Only after seeing Qin Ming's face clearly did memories flood his mind: he and his two brothers had once crossed paths with this man outside the Five Elements Mountain marketplace! How could this be?

The gaunt man's expression flickered between fury and caution as he stared at Qin Ming, who showed no sign of fear; a thread of wariness stirred within him.

Someone who could conceal their cultivation so perfectly beneath their very noses—how could they be ordinary?

At the same time, his mind connected every event of the past few weeks, and everything became clear.

Immediately—

The gaunt demonic cultivator snarled at Qin Ming: "You were the one who exposed our whereabouts back then, weren't you?!"

His eyes burned with venomous hatred.

But what shocked and enraged him more—

His Blood Spirit Drill demonic treasure was now firmly bound by those strange black vines, and he couldn't retrieve it.

In desperation, the gaunt man unleashed his full late-stage Golden Core demonic cultivation; a vast swarm of blood-colored bats erupted from his back, swarming toward Qin Ming like a storm.

"Blood Spirit Slaying Divine Art!"

Its power was immense—a vast crimson cloud brimming with violent, bloody, and corrupt demonic energy.

Even a Golden Core cultivator who touched even a speck of this blood art would die—or lose a layer of skin.

The Meng demonic cultivator struck without mercy, unleashing a ruthless demonic technique.

Qin Ming's spiritual sense swept over him and saw that the man now held a black iron tower demonic artifact—the source of the blood bats.

Boom! Crack! Just as the swarm of blood bats neared Qin Ming, a thunderous explosion erupted.

Like lightning splitting the earth, several dazzling purple lightning arcs descended, summoning a black gale that instantly reversed the crimson cloud.

Seeing this, the gaunt Meng cultivator was stunned; a dreadful premonition surged in his chest.

He hastily formed hand seals, casting a blood shield around himself and positioning the black demonic tower before him.

Swish! Crash! The moment he finished, dozens of pitch-black earth spikes erupted from beneath his feet, radiating terrifying demonic aura, lashing toward him.

The impact sent his entire body reeling, hurling him and his shield a hundred zhang backward, the shield now riddled with horrifying cracks.

He had been ambushed.

Still reeling, the Meng demonic cultivator had barely regained his composure when he saw ripples form in the air where he had stood—slowly emerging was a rat demon.

The rat demon bore five differently colored banners on its back and held a black steel fork, watching him with mocking amusement.

Then the Sky-Devouring Rat spoke in human voice, its eyes locked on the Meng cultivator as it licked its lips: "Hehehe! You're mine. Last time, my master spared you. Now you've returned so soon? You two just weren't born under lucky stars!"

As he spoke, the Sky-Devouring Rat unleashed the spiritual pressure of a late-stage Stage Three demonic beast; the surrounding space twisted in response.

Swish! The black steel fork in the Sky-Devouring Rat's hand erupted with dark arcane light, stabbing toward the gaunt man!

"Stage Three late-stage demonic beast!"

The Meng demonic cultivator's heart froze—he had never imagined this cultivator hid so deeply, possessing such a powerful beast companion.

Yet as a true disciple of the Blood Refining Sect, his arsenal was far from exhausted.

After all, he had crawled out of piles of corpses to reach his current position.

He prided himself on his vast experience in battle—what bloody scenes had he not witnessed? So even now, he showed no fear; instead, his fighting spirit surged.

Besides, Brother Chou stood beside him. With two Blood Refining Sect cultivators, as long as they didn't face a Nascent Soul cultivator from the lower realms, they had nothing to fear!

Watching the black light approach, the Meng cultivator muttered incantations and hurled his black tower artifact forward.

The black demonic tower instantly expanded from palm-sized to a towering structure dozens of zhang high, its surface swirling with demonic energy, glowing with demonic runes as it descended upon the Sky-Devouring Rat!

Its power was overwhelming, warping and momentarily halting the surrounding space, followed by a series of sonic booms.

Boom! Crash! Crash! Crash! The Sky-Devouring Rat's black steel fork slammed into the demonic tower.

Clang! In an instant, the earth shook, the surrounding space ruptured with blinding light from their violent collision.

Two figures were flung backward from midair.

"Oh? You've got some guts—actually managed to block my fork!" The Sky-Devouring Rat steadied himself, glancing at the opponent with surprise.

Then his form surged forward; he retracted the steel fork, drew the Five Elements Banners from his back, and charged at the gaunt demonic cultivator again.

Meanwhile—

Qin Ming's spiritual sense settled on the burly man known as Brother Chou.

Suddenly—

A chorus of agonized ghostly wails echoed in his ears, relentless and piercing.

Vast demonic energy, accompanied by countless powerful demonic entities, surged toward Qin Ming.

Leading the charge were three late-stage Golden Core demonic entities, resembling nightmarish yakshas with wings sprouting from their backs.

The Chou cultivator was also a ruthless killer; he drew a black banner demonic artifact and attacked Qin Ming immediately, uttering not a single word.

But to Qin Ming, this attack was merely a probe. He instantly curled his fingers, and six crimson-golden Wood Emperor Nails vanished silently into the void.

Swish! Swish! Swish! A series of sonic booms rang out.

The Wood Emperor Nails, planted within Qin Ming's life-plant, Yin-Yang Mystic Vine, via the 【Spiritual Plant Birth Treasure】 term, had been nurtured for over a thousand years.

Their rank had continuously risen, their power terrifying.

Now unleashed again, they were unstoppable—infused with solar gold, they naturally suppressed demonic and ghostly entities.

The six Wood Emperor Nails pierced through the demonic entities summoned by the banner like a scythe through straw.

Even the three leading demonic entities had three fist-sized holes torn through their skulls.

Then, under the assault of the Wood Emperor Nails, they dissolved like snow before blazing sun.

Qin Ming's eyes turned icy; he shifted his hand seals.

The six crimson-golden streaks kept their momentum, vanishing again into the void.

Swish! Brother Chou's eyelids twitched violently; his hair stood on end; a bone-deep chill swept over him!

He had never imagined—this was only a probe, yet the opponent's technique was so devastating.

His battle experience was nothing like that of a mere shopkeeper.

"Stage Three Supreme magical treasure! And infused with so much solar gold flame!"

"Just a hair's breadth from pseudo-spiritual treasure status!"

As a true disciple of the Blood Refining Sect, he recognized Qin Ming's treasure's extraordinary nature at a glance.

This too was beyond his expectations—he had never encountered such a ruthless opponent.

Even though he specialized in demonic body refinement, he dared not directly block the Stage Three Supreme Wood Emperor Nails.

He'd risk being pierced through with multiple blood holes.

Brother Chou summoned a blood talisman, its surface etched with arcane demonic runes; ignoring the cost, he poured demonic energy into it.

Instantly—

Countless black runes flared around him, forming a Ding -shaped black barrier that shielded his entire body.

Ding ding ding ding ding! A string of sparks shot out as Qin Ming's Wood Emperor Nail silently emerged from empty space and slammed into the barrier formed by black runes.

But it failed to pierce the enemy cultivator's defense.

Qin Ming frowned—this was the first time his Wood Emperor Nail had failed to penetrate an opponent's defense.

Unfazed by the missed strike, he flicked his finger again.

In the next instant, over a dozen Wood Emperor Nails reappeared.

Such a large number of third-rank supreme-grade Wood Emperor Nail magic treasures made the enemy cultivator's scalp tingle.

He had never imagined Qin Ming possessed so many nail magic treasures.

"A complete set of third-rank supreme-grade magic treasures—could he be a Nascent Soul seed from some great sect?"

The enemy cultivator had no time to ponder further and stopped holding back—he unleashed his ultimate technique.

After only a brief exchange,

he dared not underestimate this human cultivator again.

The thunderous methods the man displayed were hardly weaker than those of a true disciple of the Blood Refining Devil Gate.

This was the first time since descending to the mortal realm that he had encountered such a formidable foe.

Yet he felt no urge to retreat.

On the contrary, a bloodthirsty impulse ignited within him—because his greatest strength was not in spells, but in the Devil Gate body cultivation art forged by Heavenly Devil Infusion.

"You're impressive. I never expected a Jin Dan cultivator from the mortal realm to be this strong."

"But your journey ends here!"

Then, a sinister smirk twisted the enemy cultivator's rugged face.

Thick crimson demonic energy suddenly erupted from his body.

Suddenly,

the air twisted, and beneath the crimson mist, a hundred-zhang-long black demonic dragon emerged, its entire body covered in black scales reflecting cold, dark light.

Its enormous crimson eyes snapped open, revealing twin blood-red vertical pupils!

The overwhelming aura of a primordial beast descended!

Previously, the enemy cultivator had used this demonic body to effortlessly slay a Jin Dan peak master of the Heavenly Sound Zen Sect.

Before absolute power, all else was useless.

In midair above the Beast Roar Mountains, the colossal black dragon coiled and thrashed, causing every beast within a thousand li to tremble in terror.

They had never felt such overwhelming spiritual pressure.

Roar! The black dragon, transformed from the enemy cultivator, whipped up a storm of demonic energy and lunged at Qin Ming with a massive claw!

Qin Ming blinked in surprise: "Huh? Devil Path body cultivation? I feel like I've seen this before."

He suddenly remembered that the demonic cultivation technique known as "Heavenly Demon Body Infusion" was recorded in the 【Yuan Sha Zhong Mo Zhen Jing】 he had acquired.

he suddenly recalled: the *Yuan Sha Zhong Mo Zhen Jing* he had obtained contained a technique called "Heavenly Devil Infusion."

Though far inferior to the *Yin Ming Tian Shi Jue* and the legendary *Yuan Sha Zhen Mo Ti* recorded in the demonic scripture,

this method uniquely fused demonic and cultivator bloodlines, using demonic energy to infuse and drastically strengthen the cultivator's physical form.

The stronger the demonic creature, the more powerful the resulting demonic body.

But the method was extremely dangerous—even within the Blood Refining Devil Gate, a single misstep could lead to the cultivator being devoured by the demonic entity; few disciples ever succeeded.

A savage and icy spiritual sense swept over without restraint.

a violent, icy spiritual sense swept over him without restraint.

The sheer dominance of this spiritual sense made Qin Ming feel as if plunged into an icy tomb, his entire body chilled.

It proved the enemy cultivator's Heavenly Devil Infusion had reached an extremely profound level.

In the next instant, Qin Ming moved.

He activated the Jin Dan section of the *Heavenly Demon Body Transformation Strategy*; immense blood qi and true Gang force surged from his body.

Roar! A hundred-zhang-tall crimson eight-armed demonic ape phantom emerged behind Qin Ming, its central brow suddenly opening a strange double pupil!

Immediately, the crimson ape pounded its chest with both arms and stomped the ground, launching its massive body skyward toward the black dragon.

The blood-colored demonic ape clenched its five fingers into a fist, crossing hundreds of zhang of air to strike horizontally.

the crimson ape clenched its five fingers into a fist, crossing hundreds of zhang of air to strike directly!

Boom! The black dragon, transformed from the enemy cultivator, roared and unleashed all its power, meeting the ape's fist with its own five claws!

Boom! Crack! In an instant, heaven and earth darkened.

As the two primordial beasts collided, black clouds churned in the sky, countless black lightning bolts flashed, and a cataclysmic energy surged forth.

In a blur, the collision produced a blinding light, like a miniature sun rising from nowhere, illuminating the Beast Roar Mountains.

The ground below was instantly pulverized by the shockwave.

Boom! A massive black body plummeted from the sky and crashed into the dense forest below, embedding itself deep into the earth.

It left behind a twisted trench hundreds of li long, as deep as an abyss.

…

(End of Chapter)