42: The technique appears in the world

Cold raindrops struck the mottled, rusted metal pipe walls above his head, creating a dull, monotonous sound, like the tolling of a death knell.

Turbid sewage, carrying a nauseating scent of decay, swirled around his ankles, flowing slowly.

Lin Chen was curled up in a deserted branch of the vast city's drainage System, his back against a cold, slimy concrete wall covered in unknown viscous moss.

Every weak breath pulled at his broken and barely healed ribs deep within his chest, bringing a dense, needle-like stinging pain.

The hollow feeling in his heart, left by the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi repeatedly devouring his vitality, was like a never-ceasing cold vortex; each beat transmitted a heart-stopping weakness.

Trembling, he used his mud-stained hand to pull out the blood-stained animal skin fragment from close to his body.

His fingertips touched the already dry, dark brown bloodstains, and a sudden tremor from the depths of his Soul came, as if the fragment itself was alive, emitting a silent lament and summons.

“The yellow springs stele… the true burial ground…” Lin Chen silently chewed on the old man's dying words, a faint flame igniting in the depths of his weary eyes.

What the Hall of Souls sought, the “yellow springs stele jade,” was merely a key, but this blood-stained fragment pointed to the lock itself!

This was the key to turning the tables!

The Shadow Erosion Dou Qi circulated autonomously and greedily through his Meridians, like a thirsty venomous snake, instinctively drawing in the thin but pervasive Death Qi and despair that permeated the sewers.

Too much dross from the city's dark side had settled here, making it a breeding ground for negative emotions.

Strands of icy energy merged into his Dou Qi, bringing a tingling sensation of power recovery, but immediately followed by a clearer, more intense dull pain of his vitality being quietly drained.

His skin seemed drier and tighter, as if moisture and vigor were silently slipping away.

He gazed at the dim, twisted lines on the fragment.

In the absolute darkness and under the special perception of Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, those lines seemed not to be static, but rather to be slowly wriggling and reorganizing in a way imperceptible to the naked eye.

The endpoint they indicated, that Fuzzy stele-shaped mark, now subtly emitted an indescribable ancient and A sense of vicissitudes, as if calling across ten thousand years of time.

Just as Lin Chen was fully focused on trying to decipher this faint sensation, a sudden change occurred!

Perhaps the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi was stirred by the fragment's aura, and its circulation speed suddenly accelerated; or perhaps the fragment sensed the power within him, which also originated from shadow and death.

His Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, already somewhat chaotic due to severe injuries and absorption, suddenly lost control, like a black torrent breaking its banks, frantically surging towards the hand holding the fragment!

“Ugh!” Lin Chen grunted, caught off guard.

The violent Dou Qi impacted his Meridians, and the intense pain made his vision darken.

Even more terrifying, he clearly felt that his already dwindling life force was being swept away by this out-of-control Dou Qi, like a flood from an open sluice gate, surging into the blood-stained animal skin fragment!

The dark brown bloodstains on the fragment suddenly lit up!

It wasn't a dazzling light, but a profound, ultimate darkness, like a miniature black hole capable of devouring all light.

Those twisted, dim lines, as if infused with living water, instantly became clear and agile, and broke free from the fragment's bondage!

They transformed into pure dark energy rune chains, emitting a chilling aura that could freeze the Soul, and lightning-fast wrapped around Lin Chen's arm, flowing up his arm's Meridians, and violently piercing into his mind!

Boom—!

An indescribably vast torrent of information, mixed with cold, deathly, binding, and hidden ancient will, like billions of icy steel needles, fiercely pierced into the depths of Lin Chen's Soul!

The pain surpassed the limits of his physical body, causing him to instantly lose all perception of the outside world, his consciousness forcibly dragged into a boundless abyss of darkness.

The abyss was lightless, boundless, and deathly silent.

Only countless rune chains, emitting a dim light, slowly swam, intertwined, and combined in the Void Realm like living creatures.

They formed an unimaginably vast three-dimensional array, each subtle change containing the deepest Law of shadow and the Dao of Soul binding.

A grand, cold, gender-neutral will, as if composed of countless Soul whispers, directly imprinted itself on the Origin of his Soul:

“Shadow for body, death for food, resentment for fuel… Bind the Soul in darkness, conceal life in the abyss… Body transforms into myriad shadows, Soul disperses into the Void Realm… Wherever dark shadows reach, all Souls are bound…”

This will was not words, but a direct transmission of the true meaning of Law!

Every trajectory of the rune chains, every method of energy circulation, contained the core Cultivation Technique of the Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art!

It required the Cultivator to completely embrace shadows, to feed on death energy, to use the resentment and negative emotions of living beings as fuel, to compress their own sense of existence to the extreme, and even to disperse and hide their Soul within the shadows of the Void Realm.

Upon Major Achievement, the body would transform into myriad dark shadows, and wherever his will reached, wherever shadows covered, all Souls would be bound and imprisoned!

Overbearing! Eerie! Harsh! Almost self-destructive!

This Cultivation Technique was tailor-made for Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, yet it pushed its overbearing and backlash characteristics to the extreme!

It required the Cultivator to completely become a part of the shadows, to become a ghost walking on the edge of life and death.

The imprinting process was painful and long, as if his Soul was repeatedly torn apart and reassembled.

When Lin Chen's consciousness finally struggled back from that dark abyss to reality, he found himself still curled up in the cold, filthy corner of the sewer, drenched in cold sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

On the animal skin fragment in his hand, all the lines and the stele-shaped mark had completely disappeared, leaving only an irregularly shaped, rough-textured piece of ordinary animal skin.

The Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art! The complete Legacy of the Cultivation Technique, like an innate instinct, was deeply imprinted in every corner of his Soul and body.

Without time to think, a strong impulse originating from the Cultivation Technique's instinct urged him—Cultivate! Cultivate immediately!

The Death Qi permeating this place and the accumulated negative emotions were the best nourishment for the initial stages of the Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art!

Lin Chen struggled to sit cross-legged, the sewage reaching his waist.

He cast aside all distracting thoughts and, following the trajectory formed by the countless dim rune chains in his mind, began to carefully guide the remaining Shadow Erosion Dou Qi in his body to circulate.

The first wisp of Dou Qi extended along the path of the Soul Binding Art, like the finest steel needle, fiercely piercing into a never-before-touched, blocked, and congested tiny Meridian!

“Hmph!” Lin Chen's body trembled violently, his teeth instantly clenched, and blood seeped from his gums.

The pain far surpassed ordinary Meridian Impact, carrying a Soul-tearing chill!

The circulation route of this Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art was tricky and bizarre, mostly focused on opening up the “hidden Meridians” of the human body's shadow side!

These Meridians were extremely fragile, hidden deep within the shadowy crevices of flesh and bone; a slight mistake would result in the complete destruction of the Meridians.

The Shadow Erosion Dou Qi advanced with difficulty in this newly opened hidden Meridian, like hot magma flowing in a fragile ice pipe, each step accompanied by the groans of the overburdened Meridian and piercing, bone-chilling pain.

Sweat mixed with muddy water rolled down his forehead.

As the Cultivation Technique circulated, a subtle change quietly occurred.

The already thin Death Qi around his body and the faint resentment permeating the air, originating from the dark corners of the city, began to slowly gather towards him, as if pulled by an invisible hand.

This energy was greedily devoured and refined by the Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, flowing along the newly opened, agonizing hidden Meridian, and finally sinking into the deepest part of his Dantian Qi vortex.

A faint but much purer shadow power was born in his Dantian.

This power was more condensed than the original Shadow Erosion Dou Qi, carrying an extreme, restrained chill and a sense of binding.

However, accompanying the increase in power was an even clearer, more intense backlash!

“Pfft!” Lin Chen could no longer hold back, and another mouthful of fresh blood sprayed into the sewage, quickly diluted.

His heart felt as if an invisible hand was fiercely clenching and kneading it, each beat becoming incredibly difficult.

The moisture and vitality beneath his skin seemed to be forcibly extracted by an invisible force; the skin on the back of his hand, which was originally only slightly dim, now visibly developed several fine, spiderweb-like gray patterns at a speed visible to the naked eye—a sign of excessive loss of vitality!

The Soul Binding Art's absorption efficiency far surpassed before, and its plunder of vitality became even more severe!

Pain and weakness repeatedly assaulted his will like a tide.

Every time he circulated the Cultivation Technique, it was like dancing on a knife's edge, walking on a tightrope between life and death.

But he couldn't stop!

The shadow of the Hall of Souls, the three-day deadline, was like a sword hanging over his head.

He needed power, this power that could bind and kill powerful enemies in the shadows!

Time flowed in absolute darkness and agonizing pain.

Lin Chen seemed to have become part of the sewage pipe, a statue encased in mud.

Only the faint but tenacious operation of the Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art within him, and the never-ending, tearing pain in his Meridians, proved his tenacious existence.

He didn't know how much time had passed, perhaps an hour, perhaps longer.

He finally completed a small cycle of the most basic first layer of the Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art, “Initial Hidden Meridian Expansion.”

The nascent shadow power in his Dantian had grown a little, as condensed as ink jade.

He slowly opened his eyes.

In the depths of his pupils, two extremely faint, dim glows seemed to flash and then completely disappear.

A strange feeling came—he felt a peculiar resonance with this foul, dark, and deathly sewer environment.

The surrounding flowing sewage, slimy moss, cold pipe walls, and the decaying smell in the air… all seemed to become extensions of his perception.

His sense of existence, in this absolute shadow and deathly silence, was compressed to an unprecedented low point!

If someone stood before him at this moment, unless they scanned inch by inch with Soul Power, they would very likely completely overlook him, mistaking him for a lifeless rock or a pile of sludge!

The Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art, a glimpse into its mysteries!

The cost was heavy.

He felt light, as if a gust of wind could scatter him.

The hollow feeling in his chest grew stronger, and although the gray patterns on his skin had receded, the feeling of weakness from excessive overdraft of vitality lingered like a shadow.

Just then, an extremely faint vibration, imperceptible to ordinary people, faintly came from a great distance along the cold metal pipe wall.

Within the vibration, there was an extremely subtle, yet instantly hair-raising, chilling spatial fluctuation!

This fluctuation… was exactly the same as the aura emanating from that massive teleportation array in the Blood Sect square!

Only weaker and more unstable.

Lin Chen suddenly looked up, his Shadow Erosion Dou Qi spontaneously circulating, the inherent stealth of the Dark Shadow Soul Binding Art brought to its extreme, his entire aura instantly vanished.

Like the most alert shadow creature, he listened intently to the source of the vibration, almost covered by the sound of the flowing water, coming through the pipes.

The direction from which the vibration came… was not Blood Mountain!

But extended towards the area where Demon Flame Valley was located!

“Spatial fluctuation… teleportation… Demon Flame Valley…” A cold light flashed in Lin Chen's eyes.

The Blood Sect and the Hall of Souls were indeed accelerating their actions!

That “yellow springs stele jade” serving as the key must now be on its way to the Blood Sect, or… it had already arrived at Demon Flame Valley, preparing for some kind of handover!

The three-day deadline, he feared, would have to be moved up!

A cold sense of urgency instantly overwhelmed his physical weakness and intense pain.

He looked down at the animal skin fragment in his hand, which had turned into ordinary waste leather, and then felt the wisp of nascent shadow Dou Qi with its binding power within him.

There was no time to rest.

He slowly stood up, sewage dripping down his tattered clothes.

In the darkness, his silhouette seemed even more blurred than before, as if it could dissolve into the surrounding shadows at any moment.

He cast one last glance in the direction from which the vibration came, like ink merging into water.