13: Slaying the mid-Foundation Establishment stage

The black bone ruler, carrying chilling Death Qi, crossed a thousand meters in the blink of an eye and appeared before Shen Yuanmo.

A furious strike from a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator possessed enough power to make any Qi Refining Cultivator tremble in fear.

The hearts of the Shen Family clansmen, which had just relaxed, jumped back into their throats.

A cruel sense of satisfaction reappeared on the face of the Lin Tianhong.

In his eyes, Shen Yuanmo was undoubtedly dead!

However, facing this fatal blow, Shen Yuanmo did not move at all.

He merely lifted his eyelids, glanced at the bone ruler, and then lightly stomped his foot.

"Formation, rise!"

Hum—

A dull roar came from deep beneath the ground.

The previously shattered Red Sun Profound Water Formation, its dim Formation lines, suddenly lit up again at this moment.

But this time, it was not a protective light screen that lit up, but rather chains of blue light, visible to the naked eye and formed from pure Water-type Spiritual Qi.

These chains emerged from the ground out of thin air and instantly entangled the black bone ruler.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

The blue water chains collided with the chilling Death Qi on the bone ruler, erupting in bursts of white mist.

The speed of that peerless Medium Grade Spiritual Artifact was forcibly halted, hovering three feet in front of Shen Yuanmo, unable to advance even an inch further.

This scene caused Lin Xiaotian's pupils in the distance to constrict.

"How is this possible? Wasn't the Shen Family's Formation already broken?"

He saw clearly that the Shen Family's protective light barrier had already shattered; why could it still mobilize the power of the Formation?

Shen Yuanmo seemed to see through his confusion, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.

"Who told you that Formations can only be used for defense?"

He moved his thoughts.

The ground beneath his feet changed once again.

Centered on him, within a hundred-meter radius, the ground became muddy, and wisps of pure Water-type Spiritual Qi emerged from the earth, turning this area into a light blue swamp.

All the Lin Family Cultivators kneeling on the ground felt their bodies being sucked by a viscous force, making movement extremely difficult; those with Fire-type mana felt their energy circulation become sluggish, suffering from immense suppression.

"This is... a Domain?"

Lin Xiaotian exclaimed in shock.

Forcibly transforming the environment of an area into a battlefield advantageous to oneself—this was the embryonic form of a Domain that only Golden Core Stage Cultivators could begin to glimpse!

How could a kid who just achieved Foundation Establishment use such a thing?

"It is not a Domain, it is a Formation," Shen Yuanmo said indifferently, as if enlightening an ignorant child.

"I used myself as the Formation eye and the Family's Spiritual Vein as the Foundation to turn this land into my Domain of the Formation."

"In this place, I am the Dominator."

His words caused a tempestuous storm to rise in the hearts of both the Lin Tianhong and Lin Xiaotian, who had just arrived above the Shen Family mansion.

Merging oneself with the Formation, turning the land into a Domain!

What a brilliant and stunning level of attainment in Formations!

This guy not only had Heaven-Defying cultivation talent, but he was also a monster in the path of Formations!

Lin Xiaotian's face turned so dark it seemed as if water could drip from it.

He had thought it would be an easy victory, but he had unexpectedly kicked an iron plate.

He retracted the trapped bone ruler, hovered in mid-air, and locked his malicious eyes onto Shen Yuanmo.

"What a sharp-tongued brat!"

"You are merely relying on the terrain to cling to life!"

"I want to see how many times your small, Low Grade Spiritual Vein can sustain your consumption!"

As the words fell, Lin Xiaotian pinched a seal with both hands. The air behind him began to distort, revealing nine pale white skulls the size of human heads.

Each skull radiated dense resentment and Death Qi, with green ghost fire burning in their hollow eye sockets.

"Nine Ghosts Devour Soul! Go!"

He pointed with his hand.

The nine skulls let out ear-piercing shrieks, opened their mouths, and, carrying chilling winds capable of eroding the Divine Soul, lunged at Shen Yuanmo from nine different directions.

This was his signature Spell; he did not know how many Cultivators of the same rank had perished under this move.

He did not believe that Shen Yuanmo could block attacks from nine directions simultaneously!

Facing the sky full of ghostly shrieks, Shen Yuanmo's expression remained unchanged.

He merely raised his right hand again, spread his five fingers, and made a grasping motion toward the sky.

"Red Sun, Burn the Heavens!"

Boom!

The Domain of the Formation beneath his feet, with its blue Water-type Spiritual Qi, underwent an incredible reversal at this moment.

Water, generates fire!

No, this was not the Five Elements generation and restriction; this was a forced conversion of the power of the Formation!

Endless Spiritual Qi from the earth vein was extracted and, through the reversal of the Red Sun Profound Water Formation, transformed into the purest and most overbearing Red Sun True Fire.

Streams of red-golden flames erupted from the ground, forming a ring-shaped firestorm that firmly protected Shen Yuanmo in the center.

Those nine fierce and evil skulls crashed into the firestorm.

"Creak—"

They let out miserable screams, as if ice and snow had encountered a scorching sun; the Death Qi on them was rapidly evaporated by the Red Sun True Fire, and charred marks were burned onto their pale white bones.

In just a few breaths, the nine skulls lost their spirituality and flew back while wailing; when they returned to Lin Xiaotian's hand, they had become dim and lusterless.

One move, and his signature Spell was broken!

Lin Xiaotian's heart sank completely.

He finally took this young man before him seriously.

The quality of the opponent's mana was ridiculously high! That red-golden flame was a hard counter to a Cultivator like him who practiced chilling Cultivation Techniques!

Coupled with that eerie Domain of the Formation, the advantages shifted; his cultivation advantage of Mid-stage Foundation Establishment was almost completely wiped out!

Cannot delay any longer!

Must end the battle quickly!

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Lin Xiaotian's eyes.

He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood essence, sprinkling it onto the black bone ruler in his hand.

The bone ruler absorbed the blood essence, its dark light flared, and a terrifying aura far exceeding the previous one erupted.

"Junior, being able to force me to use my life-bound Spiritual Artifact, you can be proud of yourself!"

"Die! Nether Ghost Slash!"

Lin Xiaotian madly poured all his mana into the bone ruler, raised it high, and slashed fiercely at Shen Yuanmo below.

A black blade aura, ten zhang long, detached from the bone ruler and, carrying the power to sever everything, tore through the firestorm and slashed down upon his head.

This strike drained nearly half of his mana and was his strongest attack!

However, this was the moment Shen Yuanmo had been waiting for.

While the opponent was gathering power, he was also gathering power.

He did not look at the incoming blade aura; instead, he sank all his focus into his Dantian Sea of Qi.

The dao foundation, forged from a perfect-quality Red Sun foundation establishment pill, was currently emitting a glass-like brilliance.

The Red Sun Glazed mana within his body, guided by his Divine Sense, began to compress frantically in a profound and mysterious way.

At the same time, he used the Formation to extract all the remaining Fire-type Spiritual Qi from the earth vein and poured it into his right arm.

He pressed his right index and middle fingers together, forming a sword finger.

A red-golden speck of light, brilliant to the extreme, condensed at his fingertips.

Just as the black blade aura was about to strike him, Shen Yuanmo lifted his head and, pointing at the blade aura and also at Lin Xiaotian behind it, lightly tapped his finger.

"Red Sun Glazed Sword."

A slender, almost invisible red-golden Sword Qi shot out from his fingertips.

It had no astonishing momentum, nor did it have terrifying pressure.

It just quietly met that ten-zhang-long black blade aura.

The two made contact.

No earth-shattering explosion occurred.

That seemingly powerful black blade aura, as if made of paper, was split in two from the middle by the red-golden Sword Qi and dissipated silently.

The red-golden Sword Qi did not lose its momentum and vanished in a flash.

The savage grin on Lin Xiaotian's face froze.

He lowered his head and saw a small hole appear in his chest.

A force, scorching to the extreme, was raging frantically inside his body, destroying his Meridians, burning his internal organs, and annihilating his vitality.

"How... could..."

He struggled to spit out a few words, his eyes filled with unwillingness and confusion.

He could not understand how he, a well-known Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator for many years, could lose to a junior who had just achieved Breakthrough.

He could understand even less why the power of the opponent's Spell was so great.

Vitality, rapidly fading.

Lin Xiaotian's body fell straight down from mid-air and slammed heavily in front of the Lin Tianhong.

The entire scene was dead silent.

Everyone stared blankly at this scene, their minds blank.

The veteran Foundation Establishment of Linjiang City, the backbone of the Lin Family, Lin Xiaotian...

Dead?

Killed by that newly advanced Foundation Establishment youth with one sword strike?

Shen Yuanmo slowly withdrew his finger, glanced at Lin Xiaotian's corpse, and then cast his gaze back to the Lin Tianhong, who was already paralyzed on the ground in fear.

"Now, it's your turn."