200: Chapter 200 Dragon Marrow

At that moment, the man nearby tried to retreat, but the interlocking bone patterns to his right rear lit up simultaneously. The Formation's power formed a cross-lock, pinning him directly to the spot.

The Short-caped Man let out an angry roar. The sacrificial blade in his hand erupted with a massive burst of white light as he tried to forcibly break the Formation and escape.

However, the Spirit-Trapping Array was specifically designed to suppress living beings.

The more he struggled, the heavier the Formation's power became.

In the next second, a bone spike suddenly shot out from the ground, piercing straight through the side of his calf!

“Ah—!”

A shrill scream instantly tore through the black mist.

“Retreat! Quick, retreat!” The faces of the West Federation team members behind him changed drastically, and they immediately tried to pull back.

But since the second layer of the Spirit-Trapping Array had already been triggered, it wouldn't be so easy to escape.

bone patterns lit up like chains, pinning the three people who had rushed in first firmly in place. The surrounding guardian beasts, which had been slightly chaotic, seemed to catch the scent of blood and turned their heads in unison to stare at them.

Gu Yunting's eyes lit up instantly.

“Holy crap, it actually worked!”

Han Xiao couldn't help but grin. “These idiots were so desperate to snatch the goods they didn't even look where they were going.”

Ji Wuchen didn't relax; instead, he spoke even faster:

“Now's the time!”

Lin Mo kicked off the ground, his entire body bursting forward instantly.

This time, he no longer hesitated and charged directly toward the gap that had just appeared in the right rear of the second Spirit-Trapping Array layer!

“Stop him!” a West Federation team member in the back roared in shock and anger.

But just as he raised his weapon, a Dragon-blood Corpse Lizard, driven mad by the Formation's power, pounced on him, pinning him to the ground on the spot.

The entire scene turned into complete chaos.

This was exactly the result Lin Mo wanted.

The enemies, the guardian beasts, and the Formation were all tangled together.

The more chaotic it was, the better his chances.

Ji Wuchen followed closely behind Lin Mo, speaking rapidly while sprinting:

“Cut left after three steps!”

“Don't touch that white pattern, it's a back-pressure line!”

“Further ahead is the main spirit-trapping lock. Pass through it and you'll reach the fire-protection zone!”

Lin Mo didn't say a word, but his movements were frighteningly fast.

His figure darted between the bone patterns at high speed, almost brushing against the edges of the Formation's power as he rushed past.

If his pace slowed by even half a beat, he would be pinned down.

Yet, he didn't make a single misstep.

That advance, like dancing on the edge of a blade, made Gu Yunting's scalp tingle from behind.

“Is he even human?”

“Stop talking nonsense.” The Middle-aged Man barked, swinging his hand to cut back an Mutated Bone Beast.

“Guard the rear, don't let anyone else through!”

But just as Lin Mo and Ji Wuchen were about to break through the second layer of the Spirit-Trapping Array—

In the deepest part, that Giant Guardian Beast that had been confined within the core area finally made a real move.

The millstone-sized blood-gold crystal core on its chest suddenly lit up. The black mist around it swirled back frantically as its massive body took a sudden step forward.

Just one step.

The entire altar area seemed to tremble along with it.

Ji Wuchen's face changed instantly.

“Something's wrong!”

“It... it has broken free from part of its restraints!”

Lin Mo looked up sharply.

He saw that the Giant Guardian Beast's front claw had actually stepped past the boundary of the core bone circle that had originally restrained it.

Though it was only half a step.

The sense of pressure was already on a completely different level than before.

It lowered its head, its crimson vertical pupils staring intently at Lin Mo, as a low growl, suppressed to the extreme, rolled out of its throat.

“This fellow is about to make its move.” Ji Wuchen's voice was tight.

Lin Mo didn't stop.

He just stared at the blood-gold dragon marrow fire seed getting closer and closer, his gaze turning cold bit by bit.

“Then let it come.”

“I want to see—”

“If it can actually stop me.”

The moment those words fell, the Giant Guardian Beast moved.

Its massive body merely took another half-step forward, and the black mist above the entire fire-protection zone was suddenly pressed down as if by an invisible giant hand. Even the air let out an overburdened moan.

Boom!

The bone patterns beneath Lin Mo's feet sank simultaneously.

The footing that had been relatively stable instantly felt like sinking into a quagmire, making even lifting a leg extremely difficult.

Ji Wuchen's face turned pale, and he had to grit his teeth to avoid being pressed flat on the spot.

“This isn't just Dragon Might...”

“It's borrowing the Formation power of the fire-protection zone!”

Lin Mo didn't look back, only dropping a low sentence:

“Get back.”

Ji Wuchen was stunned: “You're taking it on alone?”

“If you stay here, you'll only cause me Divided Soul.”

His words were not polite at all.

But Ji Wuchen didn't argue.

Because he knew that what Lin Mo said was the truth.

The fire-protection zone was no longer a place where one could easily advance by judgment and dismantling Formations alone. Here, it was a test of raw strength and instantaneous explosive power.

If he stayed, he would indeed only become a burden to Lin Mo.

“I'll watch the bone pattern changes from the edge and guide you!” Ji Wuchen barked, forcibly stabilizing his body and quickly retreating two steps.

At the very moment he pulled back, the Giant Guardian Beast suddenly opened its mouth.

A stream of grayish-white mist shot out from its mouth like an arrow!

“Dodge it!” Ji Wuchen's warning came almost simultaneously in a raspy voice.

Lin Mo twisted his foot, forcibly shifting his body half a foot to the side.

In the next second, that grayish-white mist stream brushed past his shoulder and slammed into the ground.

Sss—!

The bone path was instantly corroded into a pit half a zhang deep. The surrounding bone patterns emitted a piercing wail, and the ground began to smoke frantically.

Gu Yunting's eyelids twitched as he watched from behind: “If he takes one hit of that, won't he be gone instantly?”

Han Xiao's face also darkened.

If that hit had landed solidly, let alone a seventh-rank, even the toughest Physical Body would have been corroded through on the spot.

And even more deadly—

The Giant Guardian Beast hadn't left the core too far.

It remained lodged between the fire-protection zone and the core bone circle, like a living gate.

To take the dragon marrow fire seed, one had to pass right under its nose.

“You're quite the arrogant one,” Lin Mo muttered under his breath.

He stood in place, the blood and Qi in his body already circulating at high speed under the pressure of the Dragon Might. His heart beat like a drum, and the power brought by the Awakening of Insects trait surged up layer by layer, barely holding up against the heavy sensation pressing into his limbs and bones.

If it were the him from when he first entered Black Dragon Gorge, he probably would have been pressed down so hard he couldn't move an inch.

Lin Mo slowly raised his eyes to look at the Giant Guardian Beast. There was no retreat in his eyes; instead, an increasingly obvious murderous glint appeared.

“Again.”

As if understanding this provocation, the blood-gold crystal core on the Giant Guardian Beast's chest suddenly brightened.

Shua!

Its thick, iron-whip-like tail bone whipped out instantly, tearing through the black mist and smashing toward Lin Mo head-on.

It was too fast.

So fast that even the air seemed to be compressed to the point of explosion.

Ji Wuchen's face changed drastically: “Don't take it head-on!”

But Lin Mo had no intention of just dodging.

He could dodge once, but he couldn't dodge forever.

If he wanted to get through, he had to break this thing's rhythm first.

In the next instant, Lin Mo suddenly lowered his shoulder and stomped the ground. Instead of retreating, he advanced, meeting that tail bone head-on with a punch!

Bang—!!!

A loud boom exploded across the entire altar area.

Lin Mo's entire right arm jolted violently, his bones feeling as if they had been hammered by an iron mallet. The bone path beneath his feet shattered with a crack, and his legs sank half an inch into the ground.

However, that tail bone was also knocked off course by his punch, smashing into the ground right beside him.

Broken bones flew everywhere, and the black mist exploded and dissipated.

Gu Yunting's eyes almost popped out of his head.

“Is he crazy?!”

Han Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed, and it took a while before he could spit out a sentence:

“...But he's damn fierce.”

Lin Mo shook his numbed right arm. The webbing between his thumb and forefinger had split open, and blood was dripping down between his fingers.

It hurt.

It hurt a lot.

But precisely because of the pain, the ferocity that had been suppressed within him was being pushed out bit by bit.

This Giant Guardian Beast before him was indeed ridiculously strong.

But it wasn't so strong that it left him in despair.

If he could fight it, there was a chance.

And at this moment, the blood-gold dragon marrow fire seed in the center of the altar suddenly trembled slightly.

Like a response.

Lin Mo's expression shifted slightly.

He could clearly feel that the strand of dragon blood within him had produced a very faint resonance with that fire seed in this instant.

Ji Wuchen had clearly noticed it too, his voice carrying a hint of urgency:

“Go a bit further. As soon as you step into the fire-protection core, its resonance will become even stronger!”

“But that guardian beast will definitely go mad!”

Lin Mo grinned.

“Go mad?”

“Then let's see who's crazier.”

Before his voice had even faded, he had already burst forward again.

This time, he no longer moved in a straight line. Instead, he hugged the edge of the fire-protection zone, changing directions at high speed and advancing by using the displacement of the flowing bone patterns.

The Giant Guardian Beast roared, its front claw slamming down.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three bone spikes burst from the ground in succession, almost completely blocking Lin Mo's path.

“There's an opening two steps to the right front!” Ji Wuchen shouted from behind.

Lin Mo didn't hesitate, his feet stepping repeatedly as his figure passed through the bone spikes with perilous precision. His shoulder even brushed against the edge of a spike, and his robe was instantly torn.

And the distance between him and the dragon marrow fire seed was shortened to less than ten zhang in this instant.

The Giant Guardian Beast was completely enraged.

The blood-gold crystal core on its chest contracted violently like a heart, and immediately after, an even stronger Dragon Might exploded from the core area!

This time, it wasn't just Lin Mo.

Even Han Xiao, Gu Yunting, and the others who were still fighting on the outskirts felt their bodies sink at the same time.

The West Federation saints still trapped in the Formation were even worse off; they were instantly pressed down until blood seeped from their noses and mouths, and even their screams changed pitch.

“It's really getting desperate!” Gu Yunting roared while struggling to hold on.

“No kidding!” Han Xiao cleaved through a pouncing corpse lizard with his blade. “The fire seed is about to be taken, how could it not be desperate!”

Just as the scene reached a peak of chaos, that Short-caped Man in the back actually hadn't died yet.

He was half-kneeling in the Spirit-Trapping Array, one leg pierced through by a bone spike. His face was deathly pale, but the greed and ruthlessness in his eyes hadn't diminished one bit.

He stared fixedly at Lin Mo, who was nearing the fire seed, then suddenly bit the tip of his tongue. The sacrificial blade in his hand erupted with a blinding white light.

“Since I can't have it—”

“Then you won't get it either!”

As soon as he finished speaking, that white light actually bypassed the chaotic bone patterns and shot straight toward the dragon marrow fire seed!

Ji Wuchen's face changed drastically: “He wants to forcibly disturb the fire-protection formation!”

If that hit truly landed, regardless of whether it could damage the dragon marrow fire seed, the fire-protection zone would inevitably go completely berserk.

When that happened, no one would be able to get close.

Lin Mo's eyes turned cold. His feet suddenly exerted force, and his entire being almost turned into a blur, forcibly rushing to the fire seed before that white light could reach it.

In the next second, he raised his hand and grabbed directly at that mass of blood-gold flame!

Buzz—!!!

At the moment Lin Mo's palm touched the dragon marrow fire seed, the entire Black Dragon Gorge seemed to fall silent for an instant.

Immediately after, an ancient and high-pitched dragon roar suddenly exploded from the deepest part of the altar.

That wasn't the roar of the guardian beast.

Instead, it was as if some will that had been slumbering for countless years had been truly awakened by this grab.

Lin Mo's palm burned as the blood-gold flame contracted violently, turning into countless fine, flowing lights that surged frantically into his body along his arm.

Blood and Qi, skyrocketing!

Bones, booming!

Beneath his skin, it felt as if countless fine flame patterns were burning.

Lin Mo's entire body was jolted by that extremely fierce power, causing him to let out a muffled groan as the veins on his forehead instantly bulged.

But he didn't let go.

Instead, he curled his five fingers and gripped it tightly.

“Come down for me!”

Boom!

The dragon marrow fire seed was forcibly torn from the center of the altar by him.

The entire fire-protection zone went completely out of control!

The Giant Guardian Beast let out a roar of extreme rage, and no longer caring about its core restraints, it pounced directly toward Lin Mo!

And within Lin Mo's body, the power of the dragon marrow fire seed he had just swallowed truly began to explode at this moment.

The moment the dragon marrow fire seed entered his body, Lin Mo felt as if his entire skeletal frame had been thrown into a furnace.

Hot.

A kind of searing heat surged from the depths of his flesh, as if something that had been sleeping for a long time had been completely awakened by this spark.

His chest heaved violently, and faint, dark-gold patterns unexpectedly appeared on the surface of his skin, spreading along his arms and neck like the shadows of dragon scales before they manifested.

Ji Wuchen's pupils shrank as he watched.

“The dragon marrow is tempering his bones!”

“He actually withstood the first wave of backlash?”

A normal person, let alone directly grabbing the dragon marrow fire seed, would probably have their blood and Qi reversed just by approaching the fire-protection core due to the Dragon Might and scorching power.

But Lin Mo not only grabbed it, he even forcibly pulled the fire seed into his body.

This could no longer be explained by just having big guts.

This was because his Physical Body was tough enough, and his life was tough enough too.

But even so, Lin Mo's current state was by no means easy.

After the dragon marrow fire seed entered his body, that power was like an out-of-control torrent, crashing through his Meridians, bone crevices, and flesh, as if it wanted to dismantle him from the inside out.

But as it happened, the Awakening of Insects trait was also completely stimulated at this moment.

Boom!

The blood and Qi in his body were like they had been struck by lightning, suddenly exploding in a circle of invisible vibrations.

The dragon marrow power that had been rampaging was actually held back for an instant by that counter-shock force, and then it began to be forcibly ground into the depths of his bones.

Crack, crack, crack...

A series of fine but clear bone sounds emanated from within Lin Mo.

Like shattering.

And like recasting.

“Roar—!”

The Giant Guardian Beast had already pounced close.

It no longer held anything back. As its massive body rushed out of the core bone circle, the surrounding black mist exploded to the sides like a tide. The millstone-sized blood-gold crystal core on its chest was blindingly bright, and as its front claw rose, even the ground began to crumble layer by layer.

It wanted to crush Lin Mo along with the entire fire-protection zone.

“Lin Mo!” Han Xiao's face changed drastically, and he instinctively wanted to rush forward.

“Don't go over there!” Ji Wuchen barked to stop him. “If you rush in now, you'll only die with him!”

Han Xiao's eyes were red, but his steps still came to a forced halt.

Because he knew Ji Wuchen was right.

That area now was no longer something they could just interfere in.

That was the line of life and death between Lin Mo and this guardian beast.

Either Lin Mo held out.

Or everyone would be finished together.