273: Chapter 273 Annihilating the Golden Core Cultivator

Murong Xiao's roar shook the heavens; thick black clouds gathered above, and pale purple lightning poured down.

It forced back all the approaching black Qi of the Corpse Puppets, and even Fan Lang was forced to avoid its edge, retreating dozens of miles.

Hearing this, Fan Lang's mind immediately flashed back to his Foundation Establishment days, when he sat paralyzed beside the ruins of a palace, watching his parents turned into blood mist by a single strike from a Nascent Soul expert descending from the sky.

The scattered blood fell all over his body.

He had to kneel on the ground with the Elders, in a posture of extreme humiliation, to respectfully send off the murderer of his parents, without daring to show the slightest disrespect.

Fan Lang's tone was cold as ice: "The Righteous Path? Can the Righteous Path provide us with resources? Can it let us escape the exploitation of Nascent Soul monsters? Can it prevent our four Sects from struggling for survival in this marginal land?"

Murong Xiao immediately condensed spiritual power, intending to release the Sect Seal. Once this mark was out, it meant the Sect Master was in danger, and everyone in the Sect had to come out to rescue him.

But just as the Sect mark flew up toward the mountain peak, the bright lightning was suddenly swallowed by a transparent net resembling a fishing net.

Murong Xiao saw that the mountain range they were in had been completely covered by that net, and even if he used all his spiritual power, he could not break it.

"Hahaha, Murong Xiao, you and I are both Sect Masters; do I not know you still have the Sect Seal? Come, come! How about we have a good fight!"

His blade style suddenly became fierce, and two crimson blade beams crossed, hacking open the corner of the lightning shield.

A wound deep enough to see bone was cut into Murong Xiao's shoulder; blood instantly soaked his robes, and mixed with the power of the lightning, it burned him with unbearable pain.

The excruciating pain spread from his shoulder bone to his limbs. Murong Xiao let out a muffled groan, the webbing between his thumb and index finger split and oozed blood, and the hand tightly gripping the heaven-shaking hammer trembled slightly.

He looked up at that evil net, knowing this must be an item of the Blood-Bone Demon God from the Minghai Realm.

The pale purple lightning dimmed slightly due to the sudden depletion of spiritual power. The Dragon-Head Corpse Puppet took the opportunity to pounce close, its foul-smelling Yin Qi wrapped around its sharp claws as it slammed violently toward his crown.

Xuan Yin was chanting incantations in the rear, and ghost fire condensed into a sharp cone, heading straight for his Dantian spiritual sea.

It was an attempt to abolish his cultivation and take his life in one strike.

"How dare you!" Murong Xiao's eyes were bloodshot, his hair and beard stood on end, and all his remaining spiritual power was poured into the heaven-shaking hammer. The lightning patterns on the hammer erupted with blinding golden light; he did not hesitate to burn his life essence to activate the Sect's forbidden technique.

In an instant, thunder resounded throughout the mountain forest, and purple lightning poured down like a rainstorm, forcibly repelling the Corpse Puppet's sharp claws. The lightning drilled along the Corpse Puppet's scales, causing its black Qi to churn and emitting a harsh screech.

Taking advantage of this counterattack, he leaped back several meters. His shoulder wound bled ceaselessly, and every movement caused excruciating pain in his tendons and bones, yet he still stood firm with his hammer, his eyes like blades quenched in fire.

He stared fixedly at Fan Lang and Xuan Yin: "Even if I die, my Ganglei Sect will never collude with the Demonic Path! You, Fan Lang, betrayed the Righteous Path for selfish desires; sooner or later, you will be devoured by Xuan Yin and end up with no bones left!"

"The one who will end up with no bones left is you!"

Fan Lang laughed wildly and moved, flashing toward Murong Xiao like an arrow leaving the bow, his blade wrapped in monstrous spiritual power.

He slashed down, and several blade beams blocked Murong Xiao's lightning, letting the Dragon-Head Corpse Puppet on the ground rush forward again. They opened their sharp teeth and bit into Murong Xiao's protective spiritual body.

Only by breaking Murong Xiao's spiritual body could Xuan Yin drop the cone again to pierce Murong Xiao's Golden Core and kill him.

Murong Xiao's heart sank. He had already consumed a great deal of spiritual power and burned his life essence, and the wound on his shoulder was constantly draining his vitality. Now, besieged from front and back, he was in a desperate situation.

But there was no fear in his eyes; instead, his fighting spirit burned even brighter. The Ganglei Sect had guarded this marginal land for generations, slaying demons and eliminating evil, never once retreating. Even if he died in battle today, he would never disgrace the Sect's reputation.

"Ganglei Suppresses Demons, using blood as a guide, Thunder moves the Nine Heavens!"

Murong Xiao roared to the sky, his voice filled with determination. His life essence burned even more fiercely, and the originally dim lightning became blazing again.

Only this time, there was a bit of blood color in the lightning, making it even sharper and more domineering.

He held the heaven-shaking hammer high; the lightning patterns on the hammer intertwined with the blood color, emitting bursts of tiger roars, as if a thunder tiger was roaring within the hammer.

"Not good, he's going to risk his life!" Xuan Yin was startled. Indeed, battles between Golden Cores of the same rank were extremely difficult to gain the upper hand in.

Murong Xiao leaped up, purple blood-lightning sweeping across the four directions. The heaven-shaking hammer fell with a boom, aimed directly at the Dragon-Head Corpse Puppet at the front.

This strike condensed all his spiritual power and life essence. The moment the Thunder Hammer fell, the space rippled, and the lightning in the sky converged into a lightning pillar several meters thick, smashing violently onto the Dragon-Head Corpse Puppet.

"Awooo —" The Dragon-Head Corpse Puppet let out an extremely shrill screech, its black Qi instantly torn apart by the lightning.

Its scales cracked inch by inch, the Yin soul inside was burned away by the lightning, and it finally turned into a puddle of black mud, dissipating into the air.

The surrounding incomplete Corpse Puppets were also affected by the aftermath of the lightning and instantly vanished into ashes.

But this move consumed a great deal; the spiritual power he used to protect his body was also worn out, leaving only his will to support his broken body.

"I said, the Ganglei Sect will never collude with the Demonic Path."

Murong Xiao's voice was hoarse, yet filled with unquestionable firmness.

"Fan Lang, turn back before it's too late. Xuan Yin is ultimately using you. If you aid the tyrant today, you will surely be backlashed in the future!"

Fan Lang smiled indifferently: "Is that so? Pity you won't live to see that day! Your spiritual body is already broken!"

Before the words fell, Fan Lang's long blade had already arrived, bypassing the block of the heaven-shaking hammer and slashing fiercely into Murong Xiao's chest.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of scalding blood gushed from Murong Xiao's throat. His body flew backward like a kite with a broken string, smashing heavily into the ancient pine behind him.

The pine trunk and the mountain rocks behind it shattered with a boom, and gravel and pine needles flew everywhere.

The heaven-shaking hammer slipped from his powerless hand and hit the ground with a dull, loud thud.

He could no longer get up.

Before he could even catch his breath, a sharp pain suddenly came from his Dantian. In an instant, the Golden Core that had condensed his life's cultivation was forcibly crushed by a bone-chilling, cold power!

"Urgh ah —!"

Murong Xiao let out a heart-wrenching scream, his whole body twitching violently. The blood-colored lightning that had been lingering around him instantly dissipated, turning into specks of light that vanished into the air.

The excruciating pain of the Golden Core shattering spread through his Meridians to his limbs; every inch of his tendons and bones felt like it was being torn apart, and even his Divine Soul was trembling.

He lowered his head with difficulty, black blood constantly spilling from the corners of his mouth.

That was a sign of spiritual power backlashing and life essence being exhausted after the Golden Core shattered.

Xuan Yin stood not far away, a sinister smile curling on his lips. His fingertips still had the marks of his incantation; the ghost fire cone had long been retracted, replaced by strands of black Yin silk, which were slowly extracting from Murong Xiao's Dantian and merging into his palm.

"Truly worthy of being the Ganglei Sect Master; the Golden Core spiritual power condensed is actually so powerful."

Xuan Yin looked at the sizzling threads on his palm and said mockingly.

Fan Lang sheathed his blade and said coldly: "This is the demon god inheritance you obtained? To be able to dig out a Golden Core, your Divine Ability is not small, eh?"

Xuan Yin hurriedly laughed: "Fellow Daoist Fan is joking. This minor trick, how can it compare to Fellow Daoist Fan's courage to abandon the light and join the darkness.

If it weren't for Fellow Daoist Fan holding back Murong Xiao's main force and breaking his protective spiritual body, how could I have easily taken his Golden Core."

Speaking of this, Xuan Yin smiled faintly: "But after eliminating the other three Sects, my Xuanyou Sect will need a more elegant name. Don't you think so, Fellow Daoist Fan?"