Chapter 589: Blood Pagoda, Golden Core Self-Explosion

"Bad! We've been ambushed!"

"It's a high-level demonic array!"

Elder Jin Han's expression turned grim; he instantly understood what had happened.

"A clever Tanglangbuchanhuangquezaihou!"

"But it's not an array—it's a demonic treasure."

Huoxu Zi also ceased his movements, his gaze flickering as he cautiously watched the demonic disciples closing in.

No longer the arrogant, reckless man he had been.

And when his gaze fell upon the pale-faced, effeminate man, his pupils sharply contracted.

Even Huoxu Zi, known for his fearless, fiery temper, couldn't help but be moved.

"You're the Holy Son of the Blood Refining Demon Sect!"

Upon hearing this, Elder Jin Han and the others from the Wanda Merchant Alliance immediately went on high alert.

They had never imagined that the Holy Son of the Blood Refining Demon Sect, who had descended from another realm, had already stealthily infiltrated Da Jin.

Elder Jin Han thought for a moment, then his face darkened: "There must be a demon sect spy within our Merchant Alliance!"

Within the Small Spirit Realm.

Qin Ming and Hua Tianxiong were hiding inside, watching the spectacle.

At this moment, he clearly counted the number of demonic cultivators across from them.

Aside from dozens of demonic cultivators dressed in the attire of the Dayi Yinmo Sect, there was only the Blood Refining Demon Sect's Holy Son.

Clearly, their target was unmistakable—the severely wounded Han Ya Shangren.

Yet even Jiang Yuan alone exerted a suffocating pressure upon all the cultivators present.

The Wanda Merchant Alliance members and Huoxu Zi all displayed expressions of dire alarm.

"I wasn't waiting for you vermin."

"Blame yourselves for your short lives."

"Once you've entered my Blood Pagoda, there's no hope of leaving alive!"

"Surrender your hearts willingly!"

A strange, bloodthirsty smile spread across Jiang Yuan's pale face.

In an instant.

Within the Blood Refining World, blood qi surged wildly, and grievous Yuanqi rose to heaven!

All cultivators within the Blood Pagoda felt their spirits grow hazy, their heads spin, their chests tighten, and a wave of nausea overwhelm them.

The Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't resist at all; each one's eyes bulged, their sclera filled with blood, as if they instantly transformed into demons of the netherworld.

They began slaughtering each other; with every cultivator's death, the demonic qi within the Blood Pagoda grew denser.

Facing this situation,

even Huoxu Zi, a Golden Core at peak, and Elder Jin Han, a late-stage Golden Core, were simultaneously chilled to the bone.

Each activated their Golden Core magic power, summoning protective barriers around themselves, barely resisting this eerie technique.

"What demonic technique is this?"

"It can instantly breed inner demons and shatter the soul's defenses!"

Jiang Yuan merely made a slight move, and instantly the heavens turned upside down, demonic qi surging wildly.

It sent shockwaves through the two veteran Golden Core cultivators across from him—they clearly saw that the demon sect's Holy Son's true cultivation level was merely peak Golden Core.

Yet with a single move, he gave the impression of facing a Nascent Soul powerhouse.

Both were peak Golden Core—why was the gap so vast?

In an instant,

Huoxu Zi drew his true treasure—a massive black iron fire hammer, uniquely shaped, a third-rank upper-grade magic treasure.

He unleashed all his peak Golden Core magic power, his face solemn as he spoke to Elder Jin Han beside him.

"Jin Han, old man, our grudge must be set aside for now."

"If we don't join forces, today we'll both end up as brothers inside the demon boy's Soul-Stealing Banner."

Elder Jin Han gritted his teeth in fury—if not for him, how could he and his men have fallen into this demon trap?

"Huoxu Zi, who wants to be your brother?"

"Let me tell you!"

"Even if you Jiaoxing escape death today, the Wanda Merchant Alliance will never rest until you're dead!"

Elder Jin Han's tone was icy, as if he longed to flay Huoxu Zi alive.

Yet despite his words, he still drew his true treasure—the Golden Sword—and prepared to join forces with Huoxu Zi in a desperate fight against the demon sect's Holy Son.

Their intelligence networks were extensive; they had both heard of the Blood Refining Demon Sect's two Holy Sons' power.

Even a Nascent Soul beginner like Han Ya Shangren had been no match for them—clearly, they were no ordinary foes.

The next moment,

Huoxu Zi and Elder Jin Han struck first, unleashing immense aura that stirred the winds and clouds.

Elder Jin Han's Golden Sword flew out, growing with the wind, instantly transforming into a sky-covering rain of golden blades, forming a massive golden sword array.

It surged toward Jiang Yuan with overwhelming force.

Huoxu Zi's fire hammer also transformed into nine fire dragons, sweeping toward the demon sect's Holy Son Jiang Yuan with unstoppable momentum.

The scorching heat warped the very space around them.

Boom! Roar! Hidden within the Small Spirit Realm, Hua Tianxiong, seeing these two veteran elders launch a life-or-death assault, couldn't help but sigh.

"Master, do you think Elder Jin and Huoxu Zi can defeat the demon sect's Holy Son?"

"Hmm. From what I see, these two stand almost no chance—if they fight on, they'll only die." Qin Ming replied after a long pause.

"This Blood Pagoda must be an extremely potent demonic treasure—here, fighting demonic cultivators gives them the upper hand."

"It severely suppresses cultivators' cultivation base."

Qin Ming instantly saw through its secret.

"If the demon sect wins, will they discover us?" Hua Tianxiong, ever mindful of his own life, asked.

Qin Ming replied calmly: "Relax—even a Nascent Soul True Person cannot perceive the existence of the Small Spirit Realm."

Hua Tianxiong finally exhaled in relief, then turned his gaze outward.

…

Within the Blood Pagoda.

The demon sect's Holy Son Jiang Yuan, seeing Huoxu Zi and Jin Han attack together,

showed no sign of panic—instead, a mocking smile appeared on his face.

He extended a hand as white as jade, utterly bloodless, then formed a single hand seal.

"Netherworld Yellow Springs!"

Boom! The demonic qi in the sky churned violently, as if awakened under Jiang Yuan's command.

It surged into a colossal wave of blood flame, crashing down upon Huoxu Zi and Jin Han!

Within the sea of blood, countless grotesque spirits writhed, claws and fangs bared.

The scene resembled the true Yellow Springs River—the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Wanda Merchant Alliance, caught within, vanished instantly, their corpses reduced to dust.

The spells and techniques launched by Huoxu Zi and Jin Han were instantly drowned and dissolved into nothingness! "How is this possible?!"

Huoxu Zi's eyes widened in disbelief.

He had absolute confidence in his true treasure, the Yangyan Hammer.

But reality struck him hard—his most prized technique was shattered in a single blow.

Huoxu Zi let out a cry and recalled his Yangyan Hammer, using every ounce of strength to resist the blood sea's tide.

While resisting Jiang Yuan's assault, Elder Jin Han continuously scanned the surroundings with his spiritual sense, searching for any flaw in the Blood Pagoda.

Jiang Yuan, watching the two trapped in the blood sea, wore a faint, sinister smile.

He clearly relished their desperate struggles.

Trapped within the Blood Pagoda, Huoxu Zi and Elder Jin Han's cultivation was suppressed to only seventy percent of their normal strength.

Qin Ming, hidden within the Small Spirit Realm, was also deeply shaken.

"I never expected his demonic technique had reached such a level."

"He's barely one step away from forming a demonic Nascent Soul."

"Truly terrifying!"

He fought two Golden Core cultivators at once, instantly crushing them under his dominance.

Their lives hung on his every thought.

As Qin Ming and Hua Tianxiong observed in secret,

Jiang Yuan seemed bored—he seized a moment when Huoxu Zi was overwhelmed, slashing out a crimson streak that pierced through Huoxu Zi's spiritual shield.

Shhh! Boom! The crimson light didn't stop—it hurled Huoxu Zi a thousand zhang away.

Boom! Huoxu Zi's aura collapsed, barely alive, crashing heavily against a mountainside.

The First Hermit of Da Zhou, before the Blood Refining Demon Sect's Holy Son Jiang Yuan, was as helpless as a child, crushed at will.

But oddly enough—

Huoxu Zi landed precisely where Qin Ming's Small Spirit Realm was hidden. Qin Ming, watching the nearly unconscious Huoxu Zi, fixed his gaze on the storage bag hanging at his waist.

He saw that after landing the devastating blow on Huoxu Zi, Jiang Yuan seemed utterly confident—even glancing nowhere near this direction—he turned to pursue Elder Jin Han.

Opportunity knocks but once!

Qin Ming's gaze sharpened; he reached out a hand from the Little Spirit Realm and gestured toward Huaxu Zi.

Instantly, he snatched up that storage bag and swiftly withdrew it back into the Little Spirit Realm.

The entire motion flowed like water—no less efficient than his usual corpse-robbing routine.

To execute such a sharp maneuver.

Nothing else—just skill honed by repetition.

Soon after, all around fell silent once more.

Even Hua Tianxiong, standing nearby, stared in stunned silence at Qin Ming's actions.

Is that even possible?

Meanwhile, outside.

Though Jin Han's cultivation base was slightly inferior to Huaxu Zi's, as an Elder of the Ten Thousand Paths Merchant Society, he had no shortage of hidden cards.

Facing Jiang Yuan's pursuit, he hurled high-grade talismans from his person as if they were worthless.

Thus, Jiang Yuan could not easily subdue him in the short term.

After a long while.

Huaxu Zi, lying among the rubble, regained consciousness. He dragged his mangled body, preparing to flee.

But Jiang Yuan, not far away, noticed him.

"When I descended, I accepted a favor from Brother Xing, promising to collect several high-grade Golden Core spirits."

"You two will do fine as substitutes."

Before Huaxu Zi could escape far, Jiang Yuan caught up instantly and pulled out a Demon Soul Banner.

Several streams of black demonic energy surged from the banner, transforming into pitch-black chains that swept toward Huaxu Zi, ready to annihilate and subjugate his soul.

Huaxu Zi was at his last breath; he knew that if captured, his soul would be forged and controlled by demonic cultivators, doomed to eternal torment—death preferable to life.

Suddenly! A terrifying ripple echoed through the entire space.

Even Jiang Yuan, who held the Demon Soul Banner and charged toward him, froze with a sudden change in expression.

"Damn it!"

After cursing, he immediately activated a secret technique to evade.

BOOM! Huaxu Zi was also a ruthless man—he chose to detonate his Golden Core rather than become a puppet soul in his enemy's hands.

The explosion of a perfected Golden Core rivaled the full-force strike of a Nascent Soul True Person.

Within Jiang Yuan's blood-refined world, constructed by the Blood Pagoda.

A blinding, radiant sun slowly rose!

The terrifying shockwave obliterated everything within sight, vaporizing it instantly.

BOOM! After the dust settled.

The surroundings returned to stillness.

Yet Jiang Yuan's life-bound demonic treasure, the Blood Pagoda, had been torn open by Huaxu Zi's sudden explosion—a gaping hole. Generally speaking, a cultivator's life-bound treasure is not only tied to their cultivation base and strength, but also directly linked to their own survival.

"What a fucking madman!"

Even though Jiang Yuan's life-bound demonic treasure was comparable to a pseudo-spiritual treasure, it could not withstand the detonation of a perfected Golden Core.

He spat out a mouthful of black blood; damaged as his life-bound treasure was, Jiang Yuan himself was no better off.

Fortunately, his strength was immense—he used several powerful techniques to forcibly suppress the explosion's force to its absolute minimum.

Not far away, Jin Han Elder had been blown half to pieces by Huaxu Zi's explosion.

Yet his vitality remained stubbornly strong. Seeing the blood-refined world breached, he immediately activated a secret technique and transformed into a golden streak, escaping through the opening.

Jiang Yuan naturally noticed. His gaze turned icy and venomous; he took a pill from his sleeve and swallowed it, helplessly watching Jin Han flee.

Then he walked to the corpses of the dead demonic cultivators and the Ten Thousand Paths Merchant Society disciples, absorbing their blood qi to heal and repair his wounds.

Immediately, he walked to the corpses of the dead demonic cultivators and the Wan Dao Shangmeng cultivators, absorbing their blood qi to heal and repair his own wounds.

The Devouring Sky Rat stared blankly at the scene outside, awestruck:

"Is this really the number-one hermit of the Great Zhou?"

"He's not weak at all."

"He's the number-one ruthless bastard of the Great Zhou!"

"One moment he's alive, the next he blows his Golden Core—no hesitation whatsoever."

Qin Ming and Hua Tianxiong both nodded in deep agreement.

At the moment of Huaxu Zi's detonation, the sheer power was the greatest spell energy Qin Ming had ever encountered.

It nearly affected the Little Spirit Realm—he'd been genuinely terrified.

Fortunately, Huaxu Zi's final target was Jiang Yuan, and the blast's epicenter was right where Jiang Yuan stood.

Otherwise, they might have been blown out too. In less than a stick of incense, every cultivator on the scene was dead—only Jin Han Elder escaped, barely clinging to life.

After devouring the blood and souls of the fallen cultivators, Jiang Yuan regained some of his injuries.

Then he flew to the site of Huaxu Zi's explosion and released his spiritual sense to search.

After a long while, Jiang Yuan's face turned grim.

"Damn it! Why is the storage bag gone?"

"Was it destroyed in the Golden Core explosion?"

"That can't be… the Star Sea Divine Vine…"

Jiang Yuan never imagined that after all this effort, the outcome would be nothing but empty hands.

Even with his deep composure, his composure shattered now—he began breathing heavily.

"No! I remember, there was another Golden Core mid-stage Fatty who came out of the marketplace—he was nearby."

"Why didn't my Blood Pagoda pull him in when I activated it?"

In a flash, Jiang Yuan realized he'd overlooked something.

Inside the Little Spirit Realm.

The Devouring Sky Rat, fixed on the severely wounded Jiang Yuan, eagerly said: "Master, this demonic cultivator is injured—should we ambush him?"

"Strike while the iron is hot!"

"With the three of us plus you, Master, we should be able to take him down."

"He must have tons of treasures—I can already smell them."

"Forget the rest—just that pseudo-spiritual treasure alone is worth the risk."

Hua Tianxiong's face twitched at this.

He hadn't expected Qin Ming's beast companion to be this insane—this creature actually entertained the terrifying idea of killing and looting a demonic sect's Holy Son. Clearly, this wasn't his first time.

Qin Ming slapped the Devouring Sky Rat on the head. "What are you thinking? Always chasing risks—careful you gamble away your life."

"We already got lucky snagging Huaxu Zi's storage bag—that's more than enough."

"Do you think a demonic sect's Holy Son has only these tricks?"

"If we push him too far, he might just do what Huaxu Zi did and drag us down with him."

Just then.

As Jiang Yuan pondered suspiciously, his gaze suddenly sharpened—he pulled out a blood-marked demonic tablet from his sleeve.

On his pale face, a flicker of emotion finally appeared.

The blood-marked tablet suddenly glowed red, then coalesced in the air before Jiang Yuan into a peculiar rune.

"Blood Ring Curse Seal!"

"The killer of Brother Meng and Brother Chou is right nearby!!"

The killer was right here—and yet even this demonic sect's Holy Son had sensed nothing. This sent a chill down Jiang Yuan's spine.

Meanwhile.

The Devouring Sky Rat, scolded by Qin Ming, hung his head in dejection.

Suddenly, a patch of blood light erupted from Qin Ming's body, gradually coalescing above his head into a blood seal.

Identical to the curse rune on Jiang Yuan's demonic tablet! "Master, this… what is this?" The Devouring Sky Rat pointed at Qin Ming's head.

Qin Ming released his spiritual sense to examine it—his face instantly darkened like stormwater.

He had thought that when he exterminated the two blood-refined demonic cultivators in the Beast Roar Mountains, he'd left no trace.

He never imagined the Blood Refining Demonic Sect had such a tracking method.

"Hehehe! Who knew there'd be another expert?"

"Are you too cowardly to own up? Why hide in the shadows?"

Jiang Yuan's soft, sinister voice drifted slowly through the air.

…

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