Chapter 195

Wang Yu flashed through every secret technique and cultivation art he had learned; after a brief pause, he formed a hand seal, muttered incantations, and in his pupils a faint yellow spiritual rune flickered and vanished—everything around him turned a hazy yellow, the Observation of Qi technique activated.

He immediately looked at himself and saw a half-foot-tall layer of blood qi coating his body, swirling unpredictably and faintly radiating an astonishing heat.

Wang Yu whispered "overclock," and his pupils glinted again as he scrutinized the blood qi closely.

…

At the center of the golden desert, a massive altar of white stone materialized out of thin air; atop its offering table lay several bamboo slips.

Among the golden sands before the altar lay countless corpses resembling crabs.

Each of these beasts measured several feet in length, sporting metallic-lustered, razor-sharp pincers, and their backs were covered in pearl-sized eyes—but now all lay upside down, their abdomens exploded open, spilling green blood across the ground.

Above these corpses, a thunderous roar echoed through the void.

A giant crab-like beast, two zhang in length and translucent as blue jade, fought fiercely against a hazy human figure wrapped entirely in crimson mist.

The blue giant crab swung its massive pincers in an impenetrable whirlwind, generating layer upon layer of afterimages before its body, while continuously spitting out bubbles of varying sizes.

Moments after leaving its mouth, these bubbles burst spontaneously, releasing foul-smelling green poison that blanketed all surrounding space.

Yet the hazy figure moved like an incorporeal form—whether struck by flying green poison or the seemingly mighty blue pincer afterimages, it merely shifted its body and passed through them as if they were nothing, then casually brushed the beast's shell before drifting away effortlessly.

The beast's seemingly indestructible translucent shell instantly cracked open, leaving a fist-sized hole oozing blood.

In but a moment, the giant crab was riddled with wounds, its back nearly devoid of a single unblemished spot.

This drove the beast to emit mournful cries and lash out wildly with its pincers, attacking the crimson mist with frenzied desperation—but every strike passed harmlessly through, achieving nothing.

"How tedious. You may die now."

The hazy figure seemed bored, murmuring softly—suddenly, the giant crab shuddered, and a deep rumbling echoed from within its body.

The next instant, a chorus of "chisss" erupted.

From every wound on the giant beast, gushes of green poison-blood spurted forth like a tide, draining all its internal fluids in an instant.

With a loud "thud."

The giant beast's corpse plummeted from the air and crashed heavily into the sand—not only shrunken drastically in size, but its once lustrous, translucent shell now dull and riddled with countless cracks.

"Collect."

The hazy figure raised a hand toward the sky and uttered a low command.

The spilled green poison-blood coalesced into a large green sphere, spinning rapidly as it compressed until it shrank to the size of a fist, then floated gently into the hazy figure's palm.

"This beast's essence blood won't enhance my cultivation anymore, but the toxicity is decent. Not bad, Liao Sheng." The hazy figure murmured, then swallowed the entire sphere in one gulp.

Immediately, the crimson mist enveloping his body began to swirl on its own, accelerating until it transformed into a towering crimson hurricane.

But as time passed, the hurricane's color gradually shifted toward green.

Beyond a li from the altar, atop a desert dune.

A figure whose body had merged completely with the sand watched the events at the altar from afar, barely daring to breathe, yet his heart churned with terror.

He had witnessed with his own eyes how this demonic sect disciple effortlessly annihilated the entire swarm of sand-crab beasts.

Each of these beasts possessed at least mid-qi-refining cultivation; the leader had reached qi-refining peak—yet all were mercilessly slaughtered one by one as if they were toys in the hands of this demonic disciple.

This terrified the one who had stealthily arrived—he dared not reveal his presence, must wait until the other took what he wanted and left before attempting escape.

But as he pondered, a lazy voice came from above:

"You've been lying there so long without moving—surely you're waiting for me to let my guard down so you can reap the benefits."

At these words, the man on the ground froze, his blood turning icy. Slowly lifting his head, he saw a hazy figure hovering several zhang above the dune, gazing down curiously at him.

Meanwhile, at the altar, the hurricane still roared on, showing no sign of stopping.

"You misunderstand—I was merely…"

The man in the sand spoke dryly, as if trying to explain—but the next instant, he shot backward at high speed, flinging a pale silver talisman from his hand.

A deafening "crack!"

The talisman instantly ignited and vanished; a silver lightning arc descended from the sky, striking the crimson figure squarely, sparks of silver electricity dancing wildly around.

"Thunder talisman? Such talismans have some exorcism power, but they're useless against me." The hazy figure spoke calmly amid the lightning—then in the next instant, his body became a crimson streak that flashed through the air, piercing straight through the man's body, who had already fled eight zhang away.

A scream rang out, followed by a desiccated corpse, mummy-like and shriveled, tumbling from the air.

The crimson streak circled once in midair, then reformed into the hazy crimson figure—though his form now appeared slightly clearer than before.

But the hazy figure did not return to the altar; instead, he looked upward and lazily spoke again:

"Friend, you've watched long enough—still no intention to act? If you wait any longer, I may lose patience."

No sooner had the words left his lips than a "sizzle" echoed from the sky above him—a burst of crimson flame erupted, revealing a girl in a red dress holding a crimson gourd, standing atop a glowing crimson orb, her elfin face betraying a flicker of surprise.

It was Lin Xiaofeng, the other qi-refining true disciple of the Four Symbols Sect, whose face bore a striking resemblance to Xue Cha.

"Blood Shadow Technique—what is your connection to the Blood Smoke Patriarch of the Demon Luo Sect?" The red-dressed girl asked sharply the moment she appeared.