Chapter 283: Return

In Huoniucheng, flames, starlight, smoke, roars, screams, curses, shrieks, and wails merged into a chaotic symphony.

Vision was utterly chaotic, and qi signatures were equally disordered.

Yet under the operation of Xu Jin's Mingji Star Pattern, he effortlessly locked onto the nearest sixth-rank Huoniu clan warrior.

With a single flap of his Lei Yi, Xu Jin shot forward instantly.

In mid-charge, a fifth-rank early-stage Huoniu warrior stumbled into his path amid the chaos; Xu Jin didn't slow, unleashing a dazzling purple spiral flame explosion that obliterated him outright.

The next instant, the sixth-rank triple-layer Huoniu warrior locked onto by Xu Jin's qi signature spun around—and saw him.

The moment he noticed, a massive earth-yellow mountain slammed down upon his head.

And it struck three times in succession.

Fifth-rank upper-tier Star Seal: Mountain Seal.

And it had been nurtured.

The first strike shattered his attack; the second shattered his defensive aura, dimming his starlight; the third sent gushing blood from his mouth, leaving him critically wounded on the spot.

Almost simultaneously, his soul wave and the dazzling purple spiral flame explosion erupted; at the same instant, the Fire Spirit Core, the Crimson Dragon Ring, and the Fire Xiang Star Pattern on the Can Dou Platform were all pushed to their limits.

Flame light exploded outward.

Star power flickered incessantly.

In the end, Xu Jin's chain of attacks only blasted a gaping hole through the sixth-rank triple-layer warrior's chest and abdomen—his vital core, heavily protected, remained intact.

Critically wounded, low on blood.

A cold glint flashed in Xu Jin's eyes—he unleashed Fen Po Tianhuo. Seeing the flame coil around the sixth-rank triple-layer warrior, he immediately surged toward the next sixth-rank qi signature.

At this moment, the rising mushroom cloud had vanished; the flame and smoke began to dissipate—Xu Jin's window for exploiting the chaos was shrinking.

Amid the chaos, Xu Jin used his Mingji Star Pattern to lock onto another sixth-rank qi signature, flared his Lei Yi, and charged forward.

As he drew near, he saw it was a sixth-rank quadruple-layer Blood God Envoy.

Without hesitation, he hurled a nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier Light Seal.

To Xu Jin's surprise, the sixth-rank quadruple-layer Blood God Envoy, upon seeing him, instinctively unleashed full defense—thick, cocoon-like crimson light surged around him, and he shattered a fifth-rank upper-tier defensive star seal.

Clearly, his squad's previous combat habits were already known to them.

In short: attack immediately with a sixth-rank seal—extremely brazen.

Seeing this, Xu Jin smirked inwardly.

As for star seals, he wasn't afraid of anyone.

The next instant, another nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier Light Seal flew toward him.

Simultaneously, he unleashed the seventh-rank Break Evil.

He didn't need to cripple him—just delay him for a single instant.

Yet the seventh-rank Break Evil, combined with Xu Jin's seventh-stage Star Soul cultivation, struck the sixth-rank quadruple-layer Blood God Envoy with far greater force than he'd anticipated.

Blood gushed from the envoy's nose and ears; his soul suffered minor damage.

Enough.

Two nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier seals were more than enough to shatter all his defenses.

The next instant, dazzling purple heavenly fire and spiral flame explosions rained down in rapid succession.

This time, he didn't even use Fen Po Tianhuo—two consecutive spiral flame explosions were enough to kill him.

Xu Jin's fire-based star arts were slightly less effective against Huoniu clan warriors, but against Blood God Cultists, they were devastating.

Dazzling purple heavenly fire, inherently yang and fierce, was the natural antithesis of Blood God Cultists' blood-based cultivation methods—directly annihilating them.

Blood God Cultists' power originated from Blood Extraction, so no matter how they cultivated, their star power remained yin and corrupt—this was inherent to their foundational cultivation.

Just as Xu Jin eliminated two sixth-rank warriors in succession, Dong Zhao also used a star seal and sixth-rank star weapon to kill a sixth-rank warrior amid the chaos.

Liu Qingzhu and the other two split up.

One followed behind Dong Zhao, clearing obstacles and providing support.

The other two had already reached Xu Jin's rear, following him to provide support.

They eliminated fourth- and fifth-rank experts charging toward Xu Jin.

Needless to say, the vice-headmasters' combat experience and awareness were unmatched.

Fighting alongside them was seamless.

Even the sixth-rank Huoniu warrior Xu Jin had critically wounded earlier was finished off by them.

The smoke thinned, but vision had not yet cleared.

In Xu Jin's Mingji Star Pattern sensing, three sixth-rank warriors remained.

The situation suddenly became very easy.

This wasn't surprising to Xu Jin.

Because at the very moment the treasury exploded, three sixth-rank warriors had instinctively rushed in to rescue it—and were swallowed by the explosion's flames.

All those consumed by the treasury's exploding starlight were Huoniu clan sixth-ranks.

At first glance, they seemed foolish.

But they were rushing to save their own most vital treasury—and in that instant, none had imagined it would be detonated; they merely assumed it had suffered an accident and rushed in to rescue.

The remaining three sixth-rank qi signatures: two at sixth-rank ninth-layer, one at sixth-rank fifth-layer.

Two were charging toward Headmaster Dong Zhao; one sixth-rank ninth-layer was speeding straight toward Xu Jin.

He must have spotted Xu Jin.

The next instant, Xu Jin unleashed his Lei Yi and charged forward to meet them head-on.

As he drew near, he suddenly realized the oncoming figure was a crimson lightning bolt.

Blood Prince!

A peak sixth-rank ninth-layer Blood Prince!

Xu Jin's heart tightened.

Though Xu Jin had dispatched Blood God Envoys easily, the Blood Prince was different.

The Blood Prince's status within the Blood God Cult surpassed that of the top scorer in Chen Guo's annual autumn examination—only one might emerge every few years.

Within the Blood God Cult, a Blood Prince was like a regional warlord, commanding his own faction, almost entirely sustained by the resources of his entire domain.

In both hard and soft power, he vastly outclassed a Blood God Envoy.

According to Headmaster Dong Zhao, a fifth-rank star weapon—the Blood Robe—was standard equipment.

So the moment Xu Jin recognized the Blood Prince, he made his decision: his Lei Yi flashed, and as he neared, the crimson lightning bolt struck him.

Without hesitation, he hurled a fifth-rank upper-tier Light Seal.

The Light Seal of Daylight collided with the crimson lightning, beginning a rapid power struggle.

The next instant, three more nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier Light Seals flew toward the Blood Prince.

Three consecutive Light Seals erupted, catching the Blood Prince off guard—but still within his capacity to counter.

His Blood Robe flared, sending out concentric rings of crimson waves; even under Xu Jin's four consecutive Light Seals, he suffered little damage.

The next instant, Xu Jin unleashed his soul technique: Dream Shock.

As it struck, he hurled a nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier Star Seal: Great Sun.

Nurtured.

With this one thrown, Xu Jin still had two more nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier seals left—this one had just been nurtured to completion.

The power of a nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier seal was twice that of a nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier seal.

The Blood Prince was still astonished by the sheer number of seals Xu Jin carried.

Suddenly, his soul trembled violently—in an instant, a crimson flag rose within his soul, fluttering fiercely, blocking Xu Jin's soul attack entirely.

He was barely affected.

Xu Jin was startled.

But the next instant, the Blood Prince screamed in agony.

The nurtured fifth-rank upper-tier seals Xu Jin had thrown earlier had led the Blood Prince to believe sixth-rank seals were nothing special.

Suddenly, Xu Jin hurled a nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier seal—its power doubled.

In an instant, the Blood Prince's Blood Robe was shredded, his surface crimson aura melting like snow poured with boiling water.

At the same moment, Xu Jin flung another nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier Great Sun seal.

Beneath the blazing light of the Great Sun, Xu Jin saw the Blood Prince writhing like a rat trapped in boiling water, his crimson aura peeling away layer by layer.

His fifth-rank star weapon, the Blood Robe, was utterly destroyed in this strike.

Xu Jin even saw the Blood Prince shatter two Wanxue Lingdan pills, using their immense power to resist the Great Sun's radiance.

After shattering two Wanxue Lingdan pills, the Blood Prince channeled their torrential energy and finally endured Xu Jin's two consecutive nurtured sixth-rank upper-tier Great Sun seals.

The next instant, before the Great Sun's radiance faded, Xu Jin's Fen Po Tianhuo transformed into a fire serpent, silently coiling around the Blood Prince's body.

With his surface aura shattered and his star weapon gone, the Fen Po Tianhuo burned upon contact with flesh—but it burned the Blood Prince's soul.

Instantly, the Blood Prince let out a piercing scream.

"Xu Jin, I swear to kill you or die trying!"

In excruciating agony, the Blood Prince glared at Xu Jin and roared with fury.

In the instant their eyes met:

Kill Dream activated!

The starlight of heaven and earth shifted.

But this time, the scene that appeared was nearly identical to the one just before.

Xu Jin had used Sha Meng frequently over this period and had grown experienced with it.

The key to Sha Meng is authenticity.

Make the dreamer believe it is real.

Only then can you use illusion to destroy the truth.

As the controller of this dream, Xu Jin could manifest anything—so long as the dreamer believed it real, all resistance was futile, and death was certain.

Within the dream, the dark purple Fire of Soul Burning still raged; the Blood Spirit Sublime instinctively felt excruciating pain, yet also sensed something deeply strange. But the Blood Spirit Sublime did not dwell on it.

For he had never before seen fire capable of directly incinerating his spiritual soul.

Lei Guang, the Fire of Soul Burning, and the dazzling purple Xuanji Tianhuo struck in succession, clearly on the verge of annihilating the Blood Spirit Sublime.

But at the brink of death, the Blood Spirit Sublime instinctively reached for the Ten Thousand Blood Spirit Elixir from his Sumeru Space to save himself.

Yet when he reached, his hand met nothing.

Nothing at all.

In the dream, Xu Jin, as its controller, could manifest anything he willed.

But the dreamer could not.

One moment of shock, and the Blood Spirit Sublime suddenly realized.

This is an illusion?

In the next instant, Xu Jin voluntarily withdrew from Sha Meng.

The dazzling purple Tianhuo struck again.

At the same moment, the final cultivated sixth-rank Sun Pattern Seal also slammed toward the Blood Spirit Sublime.

Simultaneously, he cast the Spirit Soul Art: Startling Dream once more.

This time, the Blood Spirit Sublime—already grievously wounded, his spiritual soul shattered—was no longer what he had been.

Under Xu Jin's Spirit Soul Art: Startling Dream, he instantly lost his composure.

Half a breath later, the searing agony of the Sun's Radiant Light consuming his flesh jolted him back to awareness.

In that instant, the seventh-rank Shasha once again struck.

The dazzling purple Tianhuo and violet thunder rained down in relentless succession.

Under the combined assault of the Sun's Radiant Light and Xu Jin's relentless strikes, the Blood Spirit Sublime's physical body finally crumbled into ash, inch by inch.

No spiritual core remained.

His spiritual soul was utterly extinguished.

Xu Jin exhaled slowly, a touch of relief.

Killing the Blood Spirit Sublime had been the hardest battle—he had exhausted nearly all his techniques, used three cultivated sixth-rank Sun Pattern Seals, and four cultivated fifth-rank Flame Light Seals.

Yet even now, Xu Jin dared not fully relax; he activated the dazzling purple Tianhuo to burn inch by inch the very spot where the Blood Spirit Sublime had stood, fearing a drop-of-blood rebirth.

This bastard was too tenacious.

The number of seals Xu Jin had expended on him could have killed six or seven sixth-rank cultivators.

Not to mention all the other techniques he'd used.

At that same moment, a crimson fire-ox horn materialized—a faint, low-rank Celestial Star Will had surfaced.

So this was why the Blood Spirit Sublime had cultivated a low-rank fire-element Celestial Star Will.

No wonder Xu Jin had not sensed it.

His spiritual soul hand shot out and instantly sealed it into his Sumeru Space.

Suddenly, Xu Jin's spiritual soul detected a faint spatial ripple; with a subtle mental tug, a pile of items tumbled out.

They were the possessions stored within the Blood Spirit Sublime's Sumeru Space.

After a cultivator with a Sumeru Space dies, its entrance briefly remains accessible—only those who have also cultivated the Sumeru Star Pattern can draw it out.

If undiscovered, it gradually merges into the void, becoming a pinpoint existence.

Should some lucky soul stumble upon it by chance one day, another legend begins.

Some, if determined before death, will deliberately detonate their Sumeru Space.

But many simply cannot manage it.

In the split second between life and death, every ounce of energy is spent fighting for survival.

By the time one realizes death is inevitable, there is no time left to trigger the Sumeru Space's destruction.

There were many Ten Thousand Blood Spirit Elixirs, numerous jade tablets, and other pills—Xu Jin swept them up with a flick of starlight and instantly stored them in his own Sumeru Space.

Suddenly, in the corner of the scattered items, Xu Jin spotted a single round, glistening drop of crimson blood.

A thought flashed through Xu Jin's mind in an instant.

Drop-of-blood rebirth!

This must be the Blood Spirit Sublime's reserved method of rebirth.

But just as Xu Jin's Lei Guang was about to strike, the drop of blood suddenly flared with light and transformed into another spectral image of the Blood Spirit Sublime.

A middle-aged man with a grotesque, snarling face.

"Xu Jin, wait for my revenge! You destroyed my true body—every single day from now on, I, Fu Ying, will be your nightmare!"

"A defeated underling? You? Besides, you're about to be utterly obliterated—still dreaming of revenge?" Xu Jin sneered.

"Hahahahaha!"

The Blood Spirit Sublime Fu Ying burst into wild laughter. "Do you know why no one dares offend us Blood Spirit Sublimes? Because no one can truly kill us!

Do you think I have only this one drop of blood?

The blood I've scattered beyond count exceeds a single drop!

I used this drop to manifest precisely so I could memorize every one of you.

Each of you is now a target for my future hunts.

I've remembered you five.

Every single one of you, etched into my bones."

Amid his roaring laughter, blood flames rose—and the spectral image of the Blood Spirit Sublime burned himself to ash.

Xu Jin's expression darkened sharply.

If what the Blood Spirit Sublime said was true, then he truly was an undying specter.

And it was almost certainly true.

"Xu Jin, save Dong Zhao!"

Suddenly, Liu Qingzhu's voice rang out.

Xu Jin turned and saw Dong Zhao being driven back relentlessly by the Fire Ox King and another Blood Spirit Envoy, his situation dire.

He had already used two sixth-rank seals, yet barely held his ground against their combined assault.

Especially the Fire Ox King—his cultivation base was ninth-layer sixth-rank, terrifyingly potent.

In the next instant, Lei Yi flared, and Xu Jin surged forward, hurling two cultivated fifth-rank seals in quick succession.

One, Qinglan, forced the Fire Ox King back.

The other, Flame Light, directly crippled the sixth-rank fourth-layer Blood Spirit Envoy.

Dong Zhao's Star Lock Ring unleashed its starlight in full force.

In the next instant, worm-like starlight erupted from within the Blood Spirit Envoy's body.

Dead!

At that same moment, a massive spiritual soul surge erupted.

Startling Dream!

The Fire Ox King's spiritual soul cultivation had reached fourth-rank, yet still fell far short of Xu Jin's.

Under Startling Dream, blood spurted from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth—he instantly lost focus.

At that same moment, the Fire of Soul Burning struck.

Dong Zhao, having slain the sixth-rank Blood Spirit Envoy, turned and launched his full assault.

With their coordination, it became simple.

After Xu Jin hurled another cultivated fifth-rank seal and cast Startling Dream once more, the Fire Ox King suffered consecutive devastating blows.

Xu Jin and Dong Zhao unleashed their killing techniques in rapid succession.

Finally, they slew the ninth-layer sixth-rank Fire Ox King.

Another fire-element Celestial Star Will, shaped like a fire-ox horn, fell out—Dong Zhao glanced at it once and signaled Xu Jin to take it.

"Master, I need this Fire Ox King's star core—I'll take it first."

"Yes, take it. The rest, we'll settle after the battle."

With that, Dong Zhao charged toward the other fourth- and fifth-rank barbarian warriors.

Pulling out two sixth-rank fire-spirit star cores, Xu Jin began clearing the entire Fire Ox City.

With the deaths of the Blood Spirit Sublime and the Fire Ox King, the entire Fire Ox tribe's morale collapsed utterly.

Xu Jin's group of five surged forward and slaughtered the barbarian elites within moments.

Of course, most had fled.

"Cut off all these fire-ox horns and take them—they're excellent material for star weapons. Even the sixth-rank fire-ox hides can be used to craft star weapons; the minimum Chengpin is a fifth-rank star weapon," Dong Zhao instructed.

The group worked for half an hour.

Only because they possessed star force could they manage cutting horns and stripping hides so efficiently.

They also gathered a large quantity of fifth-rank and a few sixth-rank star cores.

Xu Jin planned to claim the sixth-rank star core during the post-battle division of spoils.

To others, this sixth-rank star core was merely valuable, but to Xu Jin, it was an extremely precious item.

It could potentially grant him a new protective star rune, and could also be used as a sixth-rank rune to unleash a burst of power.

"The Star Gate will close in four hours. Rest and recover your star energy and condition—we must return as soon as possible," Dong Zhao said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

With four hours left until the Star Gate closed, it meant the Lou Gong Battle would end completely in four hours.

Half an hour later, the group began to retreat.

Xu Jin felt a pang of regret.

He had just assimilated and gained control of four-tenths of the fifth-rank spirit weapon star domain's celestial authority, precisely the moment to wield it fully—and yet he had to leave.

The temporary Star Gate would not wait for them.

(End of Chapter)