111: The Death Artist's Solo Show

After the waterfall, inside the Immortal Cave.

The cold, damp air seemed to freeze instantly.

Lin Gou's smile had not yet faded, and the look he cast at Su Meier had just been withdrawn.

The surrounding atmosphere, however, instantly shifted from their subtle ambiguity to a suffocating killing intent.

Three figures, like ghosts, silently appeared at the other end of the corridor.

They wore uniform earthy yellow Daoist robes, embroidered with a circling vulture in blood-red thread, their eyes fierce, and their aura mixed with greed and bloodlust.

At the head was an old man with a withered face, a hooked nose, and deeply sunken eyes.

His Late Golden Core Stage pressure was unleashed without reservation.

Like a heavy net, it enveloped Lin Gou and Su Meier.

The old man's gaze, like a true vulture spotting carrion, first swept unbridled over Su Meier's exquisite and curvaceous body, flickering with murky desire.

Then, it landed on Lin Gou, who seemed to be only at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage with an unremarkable aura.

That desire quickly turned into undisguised contempt and murderous intent.

"Hehehe..."

The old man let out a harsh, owl-like laugh that echoed through the narrow cave, grating on one's eardrums.

"I didn't expect that as soon as this Ten Thousand Formation Ancient Cave showed some activity, two little rats would crawl in."

"Kill the male, keep the female for this Elder to have some fun with."

The two Middle Stage Golden Core cultivators behind him immediately revealed knowing, lewd smiles, their eyes full of aggression as they looked at Su Meier.

Su Meier's pretty face instantly became covered in a layer of frost.

She subconsciously moved half a step closer to Lin Gou, her demonic power quietly beginning to circulate within her body.

However, Lin Gou was even faster than her.

He seemed to have been scared witless by the old man's Late Golden Core Stage pressure; the color drained from his face, and his body began to tremble slightly.

"Se... Senior, spare my life!"

His voice trembled, laced with a crying tone, making him look like a completely inexperienced coward.

"We... we just stumbled in here by mistake. We'll leave now and absolutely dare not disturb Senior's treasure hunt!"

Saying this, he actually pulled Su Meier and turned to run back.

His panicked and disheveled appearance only deepened the contempt in the Vulture Sect Elder's eyes.

"Trying to leave?"

"Too late!"

The old man sneered, flicking a finger.

A crimson fire snake condensed out of thin air, carrying a scorching heatwave, precisely blocking Lin Gou's retreat before exploding with a roar.

Boom!

Flames scattered, and air currents churned.

Lin Gou let out a shrill scream, his entire body sent flying by the airwave, crashing heavily against the stone wall before tumbling to the ground.

He "struggled" to get up, half his clothes charred black, hair disheveled, and even a trace of "blood" at the corner of his mouth.

He gasped for breath, his eyes filled with fear and despair, like a trapped beast.

Seeing this, the Vulture Sect Elder burst into laughter.

"What a waste."

"With such meager abilities, you dare to trespass into the Ten Thousand Formation Ancient Cave?"

He took a step, walking unhurriedly towards Lin Gou, as if enjoying the prey's final struggles.

In his eyes, this young man, who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, was already a dead man.

First, kill him, then slowly deal with that stunning demoness, and finally, monopolize the Opportunity of this Immortal Cave.

A perfect plan.

Lin Gou looked at the approaching old man, the fear in the depths of his eyes seemingly growing more intense.

He scrambled to dodge along the stone wall, his steps faltering, looking utterly disheveled.

Just as the old man was about to close within three zhang of him, Lin Gou's foot seemed to "accidentally" step on a slightly raised rune on the ground.

Click.

A faint sound of a mechanism, almost inaudible in the noisy cave.

A cruel arc formed on the Vulture Sect Elder's lips.

Idiot.

Did he trigger another low-level trap?

However, the new trap he anticipated did not appear.

Instead, the crimson mundane fire in the area that had previously trapped Lin Gou, which had already begun to weaken, underwent a strange transformation at this moment.

The color of the flames instantly changed from crimson to a ghastly green, as if from the depths of the Yellow Springs.

The temperature, instead of rising, plummeted abruptly.

A chilling aura, cold enough to freeze the Divine Soul, erupted with a roar!

The crimson mundane fire instantly upgraded into the Netherworld Ghost Fire, specifically for burning Divine Souls!

Its power had increased by more than tenfold!

The smile on the Vulture Sect Elder's face completely froze.

He was the closest, bearing the brunt of it!

The ghastly green Ghost Fire, like maggots on bones, ignored his protective spiritual light and directly rushed towards his body.

"Ah—!"

A shrill, inhuman scream erupted from the old man's throat.

The High Grade defensive magic robe on his body melted rapidly like ice and snow under the burning of the Ghost Fire.

His Divine Soul felt as if it had been thrown into boiling oil, experiencing unimaginable agony!

The old man frantically retreated, desperately urging his Golden Core power, barely managing to extinguish the few wisps of Ghost Fire.

But his entire person had become incomparably miserable.

His magic robe was completely destroyed, his body charred black, and his Divine Soul was severely wounded, his aura instantly weakening by a large margin.

His two Disciple followers, however, were not so lucky.

Their cultivation was already inferior to the Elder's, and caught off guard, they were directly swept by the Ghost Fire. They didn't even have time to scream before they fell straight down.

Their bodies remained, but their Divine Souls had been burned to ashes.

This astonishing reversal happened in a flash of lightning.

The moment Su Meier saw Lin Gou step on the rune, everything clicked in her clever mind.

This scoundrel!

He had been acting from the very beginning!

A shiver, mixed with palpitations, lingering fear, and extreme excitement, shot up from her tailbone to the crown of her head.

She didn't hesitate for a moment.

"Ah! Help!"

Su Meier let out a perfectly timed scream, full of panic and terror.

She lifted her skirt and turned to run, her face pale with fright, looking utterly Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering. Anyone who saw her would feel pity.

However, her seemingly panicked escape route was extremely cunning.

Every step she took precisely avoided all known killing formations, yet cleverly led the two Vulture Sect Disciples, who had just recovered from the aftershocks of the Ghost Fire, towards another seemingly safe area that Lin Gou had previously indicated with his eyes.

From a distance, Lin Gou cast a look of approval at her fleeing figure.

A demoness is indeed a demoness.

This cooperation was seamless.

At this moment, the two Vulture Sect Disciples, lured by Su Meier, had already lost their composure, seeing their companion die tragically and their Elder severely injured.

They saw Su Meier running and instinctively chased after her, wanting to capture this woman to threaten her.

However, they had just stepped into that area.

Rumble!

The cave wall above them, without warning, unleashed thousands of dazzling lightning bolts, instantly engulfing them.

Zzzzt—

A smell of roasted meat filled the air.

The two of them were blasted into charcoal before they could even let out a grunt.

At this point.

The "audience" was now only the severely injured Vulture Sect Elder.

Lin Gou's solo performance officially began.

"Cough cough... You... who exactly are you?"

The heavily injured Elder looked at Lin Gou with shock and anger, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Lin Gou's performance continued.

He scrambled up from the ground, his face showing the relief of "surviving a calamity," and then, as if scared silly, he began to run wildly through the cave.

Every one of his "escapes" seemed so "perfectly timed."

He crashed into an area filled with purple poisonous mist.

[Ding! You have been killed by 'Bone-Corroding Miasma', gaining 'Elementary Poison Resistance'!]

The poisonous mist, after his death, mysteriously dissipated.

Clearing a safe zone for the Elder.

After his resurrection, he hadn't run two steps before he was accurately crushed into a meat paste by a giant rock falling from the sky.

[Ding! You have been killed by 'Falling Rock Killing Formation', gaining 'Minor Earth Element Comprehension'!]

The giant rock, after his death, turned into dust and ceased to fall.

Again, "paving" a path forward for the Elder.

He resurrected once more, and then "panicked" and stepped on a ground spike trap, being pierced through the heart by thousands of sharp blades.

[Ding! You have been...]

Once.

And again.

Lin Gou "died" in myriad ways, in an inconceivable manner.

Each death precisely shut down an outer Restriction.

Each resurrection was like a silent invitation to the severely injured Elder.

Come.

The path, I have already paved for you.

Come on over.

The Vulture Sect Elder watched the extremely bizarre scene before him, his Dao Heart completely collapsing.

Death.

Resurrection.

Death again.

Resurrection again.

This young man seemed to possess an immortal body, treating death as a means to break Restrictions, a... chilling art.

And he himself was like a stupid ox led by the nose, watching him, with his life, "open" a bloody path to the depths of the Immortal Cave for him.

No.

That's not right.

This is not a path to life.

This is the Yellow Springs Road to Hell!

"Ah ah ah ah! Madman! You madman!"

The Elder, seeing himself being toyed with like this and all his sect members dead, the string called reason finally snapped completely.

His eyes were bloodshot, looking like a mad demon.

"I don't care what kind of monster you are!"

"Today, you must die!"

He roared, no longer suppressing his injuries, and violently spat out a mouthful of vital blood. His entire body transformed into a dazzling blood-red light, burning his Origin without hesitation, unleashing a forbidden art he had kept hidden.

That blood-red light was extremely fast, carrying the resolve to perish together, vowing to utterly blast Lin Gou into dust!

Facing this earth-shattering blow.

The "terror" that had lingered on Lin Gou's face for a long time finally vanished.

In its place was a cold and cruel smile, indicating his scheme had succeeded.

He didn't dodge.

He didn't even bother to assume a defensive stance.

He merely adjusted his position, then spread his arms, calmly and openly welcoming the blood spear that could instantly kill any Golden Core cultivator.

Pfft!

The blood spear, without suspense, pierced Lin Gou's heart.

Violent power exploded within his body with a roar.

Lin Gou's body, propelled by the immense impact, flew backward.

His body traced a precise parabolic arc in the air.

Finally, he landed heavily at the end of the corridor, on an inconspicuous circular stone platform inscribed with complex formation diagrams.

That was precisely the main control array eye for the entire outer area of the Ten Thousand Formation Ancient Cave!

With Lin Gou's "death," his fresh blood soaked the entire array eye.

Buzz—!

A muffled rumble came from the deepest part of the Immortal Cave.

The entire outer cave area, at this moment, trembled violently.

Boom!

At the entrance, an incredibly thick light curtain crashed down, completely sealing off the only retreat path.

Immediately after.

All the Restrictions that Lin Gou had temporarily shut down with his "death" now restarted wildly at maximum power!

Space Severing Array!

Netherworld Ghost Fire Array!

Ten Thousand Lightning Killing Array!

Bone-Corroding Miasma Array!

Falling Rock Killing Array!

Countless killing formations were activated simultaneously, transforming into an airtight death furnace, completely enveloping the Vulture Sect Elder, who had just finished casting his forbidden art and was in his weakest state.

Catching a turtle in a jar.

Not far from the array eye, in an absolutely safe zone that Lin Gou had already confirmed.

Light particles converged.

Lin Gou's figure slowly solidified.

He brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes, as if he had merely completed an insignificant rehearsal.

Su Meier silently appeared beside him, her peach blossom eyes filled with shock and a hint of infatuation she hadn't even noticed herself.

Lin Gou turned his head and whispered to her.

"Act One, finished."

As soon as his voice fell.

From the depths of the completely sealed cave, the Vulture Sect Elder's roar, mixed with endless fear and despair, echoed.

Immediately after, there was a series of earth-shattering magical power explosions.

The light curtain sealing the cave began to shake violently under his frantic attacks, and even faint cracks appeared.

He was still alive.

And he was about to break free!