391: Chapter 385 The Cultivation World Where the Strong Prey on the Weak

At this moment, Commander Chen Jiao was clutching the hair of a thinly dressed, reasonably attractive female Loose Cultivator, dragging her out of the mud like a dead dog. The female Cultivator struggled desperately, crying and screaming, but it was all in vain.

Beneath Commander Chen Jiao's feet, he stepped on a male Cultivator covered in blood. The male Cultivator was still desperately reaching out to grab Commander Chen Jiao's boot, letting out desperate roars from his mouth.

"Brother! Save me! Brother—!" the female Cultivator wailed piteously.

"Damn it, giving you face but you don't want it, huh?" Commander Chen Jiao spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm and ruthlessly stomped heavily on the male Cultivator's face. Accompanied by the crisp sound of bone cracking, the male Cultivator's head was pinned firmly into the mud, and he could no longer make a single sound.

"Listen up, all of you!"

Commander Chen Jiao scanned the surrounding Loose Cultivators, who were peeking out with suppressed anger, and roared at the top of his lungs.

"The brothers of the Body Cultivator camp on the front lines are training day and night to protect the safety of you useless trash! The pressure is immense! By order of the Grand Elder, thirty female Cultivators from the camp are being conscripted to 'reward' the soldiers in the Body Cultivator camp!"

A vulgar and cruel smile hung on Commander Chen Jiao's face.

"Being able to serve the Core Disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect is your good fortune! Whoever dares to resist, this is the consequence!" He pointed to the male Cultivator beneath his feet, whose fate was unknown.

The entire Loose Cultivator camp fell into a deathly silence.

No one dared to speak; even their breathing was suppressed to the extreme. The female Cultivators were even more pale with fright, desperately shrinking into the deepest parts of their shacks, terrified that they would be the next one chosen.

Wang Er gritted his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums. His hands clawed ten deep bloody furrows into the mud.

"Uncle Li... these beasts... they don't treat us as human at all..." Wang Er's voice trembled violently, whether from anger or fear.

Uncle Li closed his eyes, and two lines of murky tears slid down from the corners of his eyes.

"This... is the cultivation world, Wang Er." Uncle Li's voice was as raspy as sandpaper rubbing together. "The weak are prey to the strong; even to be a dog, you have to fight for food. Close your eyes; don't look at what you shouldn't. Just focus on surviving tonight first."

That night, in the Loose Cultivator camp, besides the sound of wind and rain, only faint and desperate sobbing remained.

...

It was completely different from the bleak wind and bitter rain outside.

Deep within Crescent Moon Valley, in that underground cold pool secret chamber shrouded in mist year-round, a more thrilling life-and-death struggle was currently unfolding.

However, this struggle was taking place within Li Shuang's Sea of Consciousness.

"Aaaaaah—! You crazy woman! Stop! Stop it now!"

The Soul Devouring Ancestor's raspy and terrified roars echoed frantically in Li Shuang's mind.

If anyone could see Li Shuang's Sea of Consciousness at this moment, they would surely gasp in horror.

In that ocean of spiritual light that should have been pure and flawless, it had now completely turned into a massive, pitch-black vortex. Countless blood-colored threads, like an airtight net, tightly bound a struggling mass of black Soul light.

Li Shuang sat cross-legged on the thousand-year-old ice. Her body's surface was covered in terrifying bloody cracks, like shattered porcelain, and blood had long since stained the ice beneath her into a startling dark red.

But her eyes were frighteningly bright. It was the light of extreme madness and obsession.

"Stop? You old fossil, when you just tried to perform Possession on me, why didn't you think of stopping?!"

Li Shuang let out a cold laugh in her Sea of Consciousness that was more piteous than a vengeful ghost.

"Hidden within your Soul fragments is the Legacy of the Youming Sect, right? The memories of those ancient Demonic Techniques? Since you wanted to eat me, then obediently become my nourishment! 'Mystic Water Spirit Transformation', refine for me!"

With her angry shout, the pitch-black vortex suddenly accelerated its rotation.

Pfft!

A wisp of extremely pure black Devilish Qi was forcibly torn from the Soul Devouring Ancestor's Soul light and instantly sucked into the vortex, transforming into Li Shuang's own power.

"No! No! I am the remnant Soul of a dignified Nascent Soul Old Monster! How can a mere ant at the Early Foundation Establishment stage like you possibly devour my Divine Soul! Your Meridians won't be able to handle it! You'll explode!"

The Soul Devouring Ancestor was truly afraid.

He had slumbered for a thousand years and finally managed to wait for a scapegoat to open the wooden box, thinking he could easily achieve Rebirth through Possession. But he never imagined that this girl from the Heavenly Sword Sect not only practiced a water-attribute Cultivation Technique that was extremely cold and overbearing, but her Heart-Nature was so ruthless and fierce that she was even more insane than a genuine demonic Cultivator like him!

This was purely a suicidal fighting style! She completely ignored the consequences of Devilish Qi backlash and was simply tearing flesh from him to eat!

"Can't handle it? Then let me burst from overeating!"

A large amount of blood overflowed from the corners of Li Shuang's mouth. The Meridians in her body were snapping inch by inch under the impact of this violent Devilish Qi. That heart-wrenching pain was enough to make a Cultivator with weak willpower go insane instantly.

But Li Shuang did not.

In her mind, images of her being bullied since childhood because she had no background kept surfacing; the contemptuous eyes of those high and mighty Family scions; finally, the image froze on Chen Zhiwen's cold and heartless face.

"I will no longer be a pawn in someone else's hand that can be discarded at any time!"

"I want power! I want the power to trample all of you under my feet!"

Li Shuang let out a hysterical roar in her heart.

At this moment, her will miraculously suppressed the Devilish Qi backlash.

The torn Meridians, under the forced infusion of the Youming Devilish Qi, actually began to reconnect in an extremely distorted and eerie manner. Her originally deep blue True Essence was now completely dyed into pitch-black Devilish Essence!

"Stop... little girl, let's make a deal..." The Soul Devouring Ancestor's Soul light had shrunk by an entire circle, and his voice began to become weak and pleading.

"I will pass on the Youming Sect's most core 'Heavenly Demon Blood Transformation Great Method' to you! I will recognize you as my master! As long as you spare my life... I can assist you in becoming the Empress of this Southern Barrens!"

"Empress?"

Li Shuang suddenly snapped her eyes open. In those pure black pupils, there was not a hint of pity.

"The words of a dead person are only most trustworthy when obtained through Soul Searching!"

"Shatter for me!"

Boom—!

In her Sea of Consciousness, the black vortex collapsed inward, completely grinding the Soul Devouring Ancestor's remnant Soul into countless fragments.

"Ah—! You will die a horrible death! I curse you—!"

Accompanied by an unwilling, piteous scream, the Soul Devouring Ancestor's consciousness completely dissipated between heaven and earth.

Those shattered Soul fragments turned into a massive stream of information that surged frantically into the depths of Li Shuang's memory.

The 'Heavenly Demon Blood Transformation Great Method', 'Soul Searching Technique', the Formation diagrams for the 'Ten Thousand Bone Spirit Rotting Formation'... countless legacies belonging to the ancient Youming Sect were revealed before her without reservation.

At the same time, a powerful black pillar of Qi shot up from the crown of Li Shuang's head, directly striking the ceiling of the secret chamber.

Middle Stage Foundation Establishment!

No, the aura was still climbing!

Under the nourishment of this massive remnant Soul, Li Shuang's cultivation rose frantically like a rocket.

Peak Middle Stage Foundation Establishment...

Crack!

Accompanied by a crisp breaking sound from within her body.

Late Stage Foundation Establishment!

Li Shuang slowly stood up from the pool of blood.

She slightly lowered her head, looking at her hands which had become incredibly pale and devoid of any blood. Wisps of black Devilish Qi coiled around her fingertips like docile little snakes.

She could feel that her current power was more than ten times stronger than before her seclusion!

"Grand Elder..." Li Shuang looked up, her originally delicate face now possessing an eerie and enchanting beauty. A bloodthirsty curve hooked at the corner of her mouth.

"This fortune you bestowed, your subordinate... has caught it."

Outside the secret chamber, the storm still raged, but within Li Shuang's heart, an unprecedented black fire had been ignited.

...

Under the same night sky, in another elegant bamboo building.

The atmosphere was the complete opposite—one of peace and wild joy.

"Inhale—Exhale—"

Huang Wanfu sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his breathing long and deep. With every breath, he drew in a faint vortex of surrounding Spiritual Qi.

If Li Shuang's Breakthrough was a tragic struggle between life and death, then Huang Wanfu's current cultivation was as smooth as drinking sweet spring water or eating Immortal Pills.

"It's done... almost done!"

Huang Wanfu's inner self was shouting frantically.

His Divine Sense looked inward, staring fixedly at his Dantian.

There, the originally somewhat depleted deep blue lake of True Essence had now become so dense it almost turned solid. At the center of this lake, a deep blue light point the size of a soybean was slowly rotating and condensing.

False Core!

This was the most critical step for a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection Cultivator to move toward the Golden Core Stage! As long as this False Core completely solidified and drew the heavenly Lightning Tribulation, he could leap to become a true Golden Core powerhouse!

"The 'Mystic Water True Scripture' is indeed a peerless divine technique! Chen Zhiwen, oh Chen Zhiwen, you probably couldn't imagine in your dreams that my Comprehension Ability would be so high! In less than three days, I've managed to comprehend this half of the technique to the point of condensing a False Core!"

Huang Wanfu laughed wildly in his heart, losing himself in his success.

He felt his condition was better than ever, his body filled with power as if he could shatter a mountain with one punch.

He even began to plan a grand blueprint for himself after forming his core in his mind.

"Once I form my Golden Core, the first thing I'll do is go to the Internal Affairs Hall and twist off that old dog Chen Qiudong's head to use as a chamber pot! The resources of Heavenly Sword City must be distributed by my Huang Family!"

"And that Huang Xia, that ungrateful little bitch. Does she really think that by taking Chen Zhiwen as her Senior Brother, she can ride over my head? Once I become a Golden Core, I must properly clean out the Family!"

An extremely greedy and distorted smile appeared on Huang Wanfu's face.

He was completely immersed in his own fantasies and didn't spare even a sliver of Divine Sense to carefully inspect the "False Core" that was condensing.

If he could calm down and investigate carefully, he would discover with horror.

At the very core of that deep blue False Core, that imperceptible wisp of black cold Qi had now grown into a black ice needle as thin as a cow's hair.

This ice needle was deeply rooted in his False Core, like a greedy leech, quietly siphoning off the most fundamental Origin of his life.

The reason he felt in Peak condition and that the Breakthrough was so smooth was entirely because this ice needle was numbing his nerves, using the price of overdrawing a hundred years of his future Lifespan to forcibly ripen this deformed False Core!

This was a Poison Core.

A death mine that, once formed, would not only fail to bring longevity but would instead instantly blow him into a sky full of ice shards.

But Huang Wanfu didn't know.

He was still desperately circulating the Cultivation Technique, like a gambler who had lost everything and was pushing all his chips onto the table.

"Faster! Just a bit faster! I want to form my core! I want to reign supreme in this Southern Barrens!"

Outside the bamboo building, a blinding flash of lightning split the night sky, illuminating Huang Wanfu's face, which had become somewhat hideous due to wild joy.

...

Outside Heavenly Sword City, across tens of thousands of miles of sea.

The center of the storm.

That incredibly massive black bone ship was traveling at an unbelievable speed through the hundred-foot-high furious waves.

It was now less than a thousand miles from Tianjian Island.

At this distance, even ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators could faintly sense the towering spiritual light of the massive Formation where the sea met the sky.

On the blood-colored throne at the very front of the bone ship.

A hint of cruel satisfaction was on Blood Nether Ancestor's withered, skull-like face.

"Ancestor."

The Late Golden Core Stage elder "Ghost Bone," leaning on a spinal column staff, knelt respectfully at Blood Nether Ancestor's feet.

"We have entered the Heavenly Sword Sect's warning range. My Divine Sense has detected that eight hundred miles ahead is the main island of Tianjian Island. That Grade 3 city-protecting Formation is called the 'Tianluo Vajra Array'; its defense is extremely strong and it is connected to the earth veins beneath the island. If we attack by force, it may take quite some time," Ghost Bone reported in a low voice.

"Tianluo Vajra Array?"

Blood Nether Ancestor let out a cold laugh, and those two clusters of eerie green ghost fire burning deep in his eye sockets flickered violently.

"A mere Grade 3 Formation, and they think I'm made of clay? Does that little bastard Chen Zhiwen think that by cowering in his shell, I'll have no way to deal with him?"

Blood Nether Ancestor suddenly stood up, his wide blood-colored robe fluttering wildly in the wind and rain. His withered hands suddenly clawed forward.

Buzz—!

The entire bone ship vibrated violently.

Then, in the center of the deck, a massive blood-colored Formation Plate slowly rose. Around the plate, countless painfully distorted skulls were carved, emitting a nauseating smell of blood.

"Ghost Bone, bring up those 'blood rations' from the bottom hold." Blood Nether Ancestor's voice was as cold as if it had no human emotion.

"Yes! Ancestor!"

A bloodthirsty light flashed in Ghost Bone's eyes as he waved the bone staff in his hand.

A moment later, accompanied by the piercing sound of iron chains dragging.

Thousands of scantily clad, skeletal Mortals were driven onto the deck from the bottom hold by a group of fierce demonic Cultivators, like driving pigs.