17: Blood Escape from the Cliff, Soul Devouring Brand

The appearance of the Ice Emperor, Hai Bodong, was like an invisible iceberg crashing down, instantly crushing the fragile balance within the VIP room! That vast pressure, belonging to a Dou Emperor expert, though only naturally emanating, made Lin Chen feel his bones groaning, his blood nearly congealed, and even breathing became a luxury!

The dark red chain imprint on his left wrist, stimulated by this immense pressure, was like being doused with boiling oil; the searing pain of his Soul intensified abruptly, the purple-black poisonous lines on the imprint's surface wriggled madly, and a faint but extremely unique cold fluctuation uncontrollably leaked out!

"Hmm?" Hai Bodong's seemingly turbid old eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze like a tangible ice pick, instantly fixing on Lin Chen's wrist!

He had lived for nearly a hundred years, his experience was incredibly rich; although he had never directly encountered the core of the Hall of Souls, this cold, deathly silent, Soul-tracking imprint fluctuation was by no means ordinary!

Coupled with Xiao Yan's sudden burst of hostility...

"The aura of the Hall of Souls?" Hai Bodong's voice remained calm, but the temperature within the VIP room seemed to plummet by ten degrees!

An even colder, chilling aura, like ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, quietly permeated the air, precisely locking onto Lin Chen!

It's over!

Lin Chen's internal alarm bells shrieked wildly! Hai Bodong's killing intent was purer, colder, and more irresistible than Xiao Yan's!

In front of a Dou Emperor, he didn't even have a chance to struggle!

At the brink of life and death, an unprecedented crazed blood-red glow erupted in Lin Chen's eyes! The instinct to survive overwhelmed all reason!

He fiercely poured all his power, along with the terrifying cold Qi contained within the ice spirit cold spring he had just acquired and hadn't yet warmed up, into the dark shadow source core fragment he held in his arms!

"Open for me—!!!"

A roar originating from his Soul exploded in Lin Chen's heart! The dark shadow source core fragment, like the core of a Vicious Beast completely activated, erupted with an unprecedented dark light!

A pure, vast torrent of dark shadow energy, carrying the will of annihilation, instantly burst forth!

Shadow Escape · Blood Devouring Void!

Lin Chen's body, enveloped by the energy bursting from the source core fragment, instantly transformed into a distorted, dark-purple stream of light, existing between reality and the Void Realm!

This was not an ordinary Shadow Escape, but a desperate escape technique that combined the power of the Source Core, the devouring characteristic of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, and the extreme cold Qi of the ice spirit cold spring, forcibly tearing space and burning his life Origin!

"Screech—!"

The solid space of the VIP room seemed to be torn open by invisible sharp claws, creating a tiny crack!

The dark-purple stream of light that Lin Chen had become, at the critical moment before Xiao Yan's sudden burst of green abnormal flame interception and Hai Bodong's space-freezing ice Dou Qi blockade arrived, narrowly squeezed into that spatial crack!

"Trying to leave?!" Hai Bodong snorted coldly, flicking a finger!

A highly condensed, ice-blue finger wind, as if capable of freezing Souls, shot towards the rapidly closing spatial crack like a teleportation!

"Puff!"

The dark-purple stream of light violently shook, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer!

A muffled groan, suppressed to the extreme, came from within the stream of light, and faint dark-red blood mist could be vaguely seen exploding from it, then completely disappearing into the crack, leaving only a rapidly dissipating dark shadow fluctuation, carrying a scent of blood and coldness.

The spatial crack instantly closed, as if it had never appeared.

Inside the VIP room, there was a deathly silence.

Only the overturned ice spirit cold spring jade bottle lay on the ground, emitting a faint chill, along with the lingering smell of blood and the heart-palpitating aftershocks of dark shadow energy in the air.

Xiao Yan's face was ashen, the Green Lotus Core Flame leaped in his palm, but it had lost its target.

He hadn't expected the opponent to possess such a bizarre escape method, one that even Elder Hai's intervention couldn't stop!

"Elder Hai..." Xiao Yan looked at Hai Bodong, his voice filled with solemnity.

"Spatial escape technique... burning essence blood... and that dark shadow power erupting from the core..." Hai Bodong slowly withdrew his finger, his old face showing a hint of solemnity and surprise, "This child's methods are far more bizarre and ruthless than his Realm!

That core fragment... is not simple at all."

He swept his gaze over the dark-red blood mist remaining on the ground, then looked at Xiao Yan, "What grudge do you have with this person? The Hall of Souls imprint on him is by no means ordinary."

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, suppressing the shock and anger in his heart, and quickly recounted the encounter with Lin Chen in the poisonous miasma of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, as well as the opponent's strange Dou Qi and the Hall of Souls imprint.

"Being hunted by the Hall of Souls, yet possessing such an evil and domineering Cultivation Technique..." Hai Bodong pondered for a moment, a sharp glint flickering in his turbid old eyes, "This child is either a 'seed' meticulously cultivated by the Hall of Souls, or... he possesses a heaven-shaking secret that even the Hall of Souls covets, and is desperately struggling!

Regardless, he is a huge variable and danger.

Although that imprint was interfered with by the spatial escape technique, I'm afraid... he won't be able to completely escape the Hall of Souls's tracking."

Xiao Yan clenched his fists, looking in the direction Lin Chen disappeared, the cold light in his eyes intensifying: "No matter who he is, the next time we meet, I will capture him and get a clear explanation!"

He picked up the bottle of ice spirit cold spring on the table, feeling the pure cold Qi within it, and his heart settled slightly; at least the main objective of this trip was accomplished.

...

Deep in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, hundreds of miles from Black Rock City, at an unnamed precipice.

"Boom—!!!"

A distorted dark-purple stream of light, like a meteor, slammed violently from the Void Realm, crashing against the hard black cliff face, sending gravel flying and dust billowing!

"Puff—!" Lin Chen's figure tumbled out of the dust, heavily falling onto the cold rock, blood gushing from his mouth as if it were free!

He was covered in blood, his black robe torn to shreds, revealing the cracked skin beneath, like shattered porcelain!

His chest was even more a bloody mess, a terrifying, bowl-sized penetrating wound, its edges covered with ice crystals, was clearly visible—it was the mark left by Hai Bodong's icy finger wind!

Excruciating pain! Cold! Weakness!

His body felt as if it had been completely crushed, his Meridians severed, the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi vortex in his Dantian dim and lifeless, the thirty drops of Dou Qi liquid now only a sparse seven or eight drops, still rotating with difficulty.

Even more terrifying, forcibly activating the source core fragment to perform "Blood Devouring Void" had almost drained his life Origin, and his Soul felt as if it was about to disintegrate!

On his left wrist, the dark red chain imprint, under the dual stimulation of spatial turbulence and severe injury, became more active than ever before!

The dark red light flickered like a living thing, the purple-black poisonous Texture wriggled madly, and a cold, greedy, malicious will, following the imprint, fiercely stabbed into Lin Chen's On the verge of collapse Sea of Consciousness!

"Hehehe... I found you... delicious sacrifice..."

"Offer your Soul... offer that core..."

"Join the Hall of Souls... and enjoy eternal life..."

Countless seductive and insane whispers, mixed with the resentful remnant Soul of Yingu Old Man and the cold will of the Hall of Souls Protector, like billions of venomous insects, madly gnawed at Lin Chen's consciousness!

This was the ultimate form of "Soul Erosion Guidance" activated by the Hall of Souls imprint when the host was extremely weak—Soul Erosion!

It aimed to completely pollute and devour his Soul, transforming him into a Soul slave who knew only slaughter and sacrifice!

"Get... get out!!!" Lin Chen roared silently on the Soul level, his remaining will like a candle in the wind, struggling to hold on against the torrent of Soul Erosion.

He felt his consciousness being torn apart, assimilated, and countless thoughts of slaughter, sacrifice, and submission to the Hall of Souls surged madly!

Just at this desperate moment when his Soul was about to be completely lost—

Buzz! The dark shadow source core fragment in his arms, which had also dimmed considerably, seemed to sense the crisis of its master's Soul and violently shook!

A pure, cold stream of dark shadow energy, carrying a pure will of annihilation, instantly surged into Lin Chen's Sea of Consciousness!

This energy was like throwing a piece of ice into a boiling oil pot! It instantly collided with the furiously raging Soul Erosion will!

Devour! Annihilate!

The core will of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi was completely ignited by the power of the source core fragment at this moment!

It was no longer simple energy devouring, but the most primitive, most domineering Will Annihilation!

Lin Chen's remaining consciousness found its backbone, frantically guiding this will of annihilation, transforming it into an invisible dark giant sword, fiercely slashing at the raging torrent of Soul Erosion in his Sea of Consciousness!

"Ch-ch-ch—!"

A silent clash of wills unfolded deep within the Sea of Consciousness! The whispers and temptations of Soul Erosion were mercilessly cut down and annihilated by the dark giant sword!

The cold, greedy fragments of the Hall of Souls's will, in the face of pure annihilation power, rapidly melted like ice and snow under the sun!

"No—!!" The Soul Erosion will let out an unwilling shriek, attempting to counterattack, but with the continuous supply of annihilation power from the source core fragment, Lin Chen's giant sword of will grew stronger with each clash, forcefully pushing back and compressing the torrent of Soul Erosion!

Finally, when the last trace of Soul Erosion will was completely erased by the annihilation power, the negative thoughts that had been wildly growing in his Sea of Consciousness receded like a tide.

Although his Soul was still extremely weak, and the stinging pain of Soul Erosion Guidance still persisted, that fatal, contaminating power that sought to transform him into a Soul slave was temporarily repelled!

"Hoo... hoo..." Lin Chen lay on the cold rock, gasping for breath, each breath carrying a heavy smell of blood and fragments of internal organs.

His entire body felt as if it had been completely disassembled, making it incredibly difficult to even move a finger.

But in his sunken eye sockets, dark red and dark purple light stubbornly burned like ghost fire, carrying a coldness and madness of someone who had crawled back from Hell.

He struggled, using his last ounce of strength, to press the source core fragment tightly against his chest, while also guiding the few remaining drops of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, like a dying hungry wolf, greedily devouring the faint energy feedback from the Source Core, the thin dark aura in the air, and... the blood flowing from his own wounds, containing his vital essence!

On the precipice, the cold wind howled.

A blood-soaked shadow lay on the cold rock, like a lonely ghost abandoned by the world, painstakingly licking his wounds, devouring all absorbable energy, just to survive.

The cold light of the Hall of Souls imprint flickered slightly on his wrist, like the gaze of death.

And the source core fragment emitted a faint dark shadow, like the only lighthouse in the darkness.

A desperate path, a blood-stained precipice.

The next pursuit, perhaps, was already on its way.