241: Kill the Shadow Lord!

An extremely intense sense of crisis exploded in the Shadow Master's mind.

He never expected that this body refiner in front of him would possess the ability to kill him.

If he were in his peak condition... even if the opponent had this powerful black flame that had a great restraining effect, he would not be afraid.

However, the severe injuries he had suffered previously had reduced his overall strength to less than one-tenth of what it was.

Especially since what was injured was his soul!

For Martial Soul Realm powerhouses, soul injuries are far more fatal than physical injuries!

Because for them, soul force is their primary power at this stage.

Once the soul is injured, their soul force will be greatly weakened, which will directly affect their combat power.

Physical injuries, on the other hand, have little impact on combat power.

Like the Martial Soul Realm powerhouse Xiao Shi killed previously, even if his hands were brutally broken by Xiao Shi, he could still condense soul force into his hands to attack.

But if the soul is damaged, the entire combat power will be greatly reduced.

The strength the Shadow Master could unleash now was less than half of his peak condition.

Many of his powerful killing moves could not be executed.

The power of his Soul Consciousness attacks was also greatly weakened.

At this critical moment, the Shadow Master once again unleashed a Soul Consciousness attack.

However, this time the Soul Consciousness attack he unleashed was not the strong compression from before.

Instead, it made Xiao Shi's entire body seem to sink into a swampy quagmire, as if he was moving against the wind, every action he made encountering immense resistance.

This caused his overall speed to slow down.

The Shadow Master took the opportunity to dodge a punch from Xiao Shi.

His face was as pale as paper, and he gasped for breath, trying his best to endure the tearing pain from his brain.

With his current injuries, he could no longer frequently use Soul Consciousness attacks.

The more times he used them, the more his injuries would worsen.

Originally, according to his initial thoughts, even with his severe injuries, he only needed a sweep of his Soul Consciousness to instantly suppress Luo Jun and Tong Binhong!

And although this Martial Soul Realm body refiner could not be directly suppressed by Soul Consciousness, his Soul Consciousness attack could instantly inflict heavy damage, allowing him to easily resolve the situation.

In other words, in his early plan, he only needed to unleash two Soul Consciousness attacks in total to end everything.

Therefore, even with his severe injuries, he had enough confidence to come and suppress Xiao Shi and the other two.

He originally thought these three Martial Soul Realm cultivators would not be able to stir up any trouble.

However, the idea was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

To this day, he still couldn't understand why the opponent could withstand his Soul Consciousness attack.

Through his fight with Xiao Shi, he could see that the opponent's strength was only comparable to a Martial Soul Realm in the Soul Awakening Stage.

Even a body refiner at this stage, despite having strong soul force resistance, should not be able to withstand a Soul Consciousness attack.

After all, there was a gap in cultivation strength.

But the Soul Consciousness attack he had unleashed earlier only caused cracks in the opponent's skin, and did not inflict the heavy damage he had imagined.

He also never expected the opponent to possess a strange and powerful black flame.

Although he had suppressed the black flame that had infiltrated his body, continuously using Soul Consciousness multiple times had already begun to worsen his injuries.

Because of this, the Shadow Master did not hesitate.

Taking advantage of the speed suppression on Xiao Shi caused by his Soul Consciousness, he instantly retracted all the white hair that had enveloped them both.

He was not going to continue fighting.

In his current state, continuing to fight like this would definitely be a futile effort.

“Even if I let them be independent for now, it’s not a big problem. Once my injuries recover, suppressing them will be as easy as flipping my hand!”

The Shadow Master understood the pros and cons and did not act rashly.

Although the opponent was very fast, with the current speed suppression caused by his Soul Consciousness, he was confident enough to escape back to Rapid Shadow Palace.

Immediately, he did not hesitate.

After retracting the white hair, he immediately prepared to escape.

But just as he retracted the white hair and was about to flee at full speed, “Hmm?”

His expression suddenly changed.

He was shocked to discover that outside the spherical enclosure of white hair, there was another spherical enclosure made of numerous tree vines.

“He had anticipated my defeat from the beginning, so he had already formed another sphere outside the one I created, to prevent my escape!!”

The Shadow Master's mind was violently shaken!

He realized that the opponent had calculated everything when he made his move.

This was a meticulously set trap by the opponent!

He desperately charged towards the spherical enclosure made of numerous tree vines, and at the cost of worsening his injuries, unleashed a powerful attack infused with Soul Consciousness, striking the wall in front of him, attempting to break through it.

However, this spherical wall made of numerous tree vines was incredibly solid.

Even his powerful attack infused with Soul Consciousness could hardly shake it.

Instead, his own injuries worsened again.

Crack!

His glabella cracked.

The pain of his soul tearing made his entire vision blur, and his consciousness also became scattered.

The worst part was that after he unleashed this attack, he could no longer maintain the Soul Consciousness's speed suppression on Xiao Shi.

Swish!

Without the speed suppression brought by Soul Consciousness, Xiao Shi instantly caught up from behind.

A fist blazing with black Yin Flame shot out like lightning.

It accurately and precisely struck the Shadow Master's heart.

Puff!

The black flaming fist directly burned through the Shadow Master's chest, piercing through his back.

The black Yin Flame that had infiltrated his body instantly incinerated the Shadow Master's body into a pile of withered bones.

The Palace Lord of Shadow Flash Palace... had fallen!

Xiao Shi calmly caught the items that fell from the Shadow Master after his death.

With the Shadow Master dead, Tree Shadow Sect no longer had its biggest threat.

This was also thanks to the Shadow Master being severely injured by that foreign powerhouse earlier.

If he had been in his peak condition, with his Soul Consciousness Stage cultivation, even with Xiao Shi cooperating with the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, he would definitely not have been an opponent.

“Currently, Martial Soul Realm cultivators in the Soul Awakening Stage pose basically no threat to me, but if I face a Martial Soul Realm cultivator in the Soul Consciousness Stage, under normal circumstances, I definitely wouldn’t be an opponent…” Xiao Shi thought to himself.

Through his fight with the Shadow Master, he had already felt the immense gap between the Soul Consciousness Stage and the Soul Awakening Stage.

With his current strength, he definitely couldn't defeat a Martial Soul Realm cultivator in the Soul Consciousness Stage.

However, Xiao Shi mused that even if he couldn't defeat a Martial Soul Realm cultivator in the Soul Consciousness Stage, he wouldn't be instantly killed by a sweep of Soul Consciousness like other Martial Soul Realm cultivators in the Soul Awakening Stage.

When he comprehended the Kuihu Vajra Bloodline profound meaning and thus entered the Martial Soul Realm, his Jingang Form, among his three forms, also received an upgrade.

Now, his Jingang Form not only possessed powerful physical defense, but also soul force defense.

And it was an extremely powerful soul force defense.

Under the soul force defense of the Jingang Form, soul force attacks from the Soul Awakening Stage basically couldn't harm him anymore.

Even the Shadow Master's Soul Consciousness attack this time only caused cracks on his body surface and didn't truly injure him.

Whereas other Martial Soul Realm cultivators in the Soul Awakening Stage, even body refiners, would be severely injured if not killed once subjected to a Soul Consciousness attack.

Only a special body refiner like Xiao Shi could withstand a Soul Consciousness attack.

“It's just a pity that my other two forms haven't changed yet…” Xiao Shi knew deeply.

Although he had already comprehended the profound meaning of the Kuihu Vajra Bloodline, the entire profound meaning was not complete.

He still needed to deepen the bloodline profound meaning through combat.

Currently, he only possessed the first layer of profound meaning.

Therefore, among the three forms under the Kuihu Vajra Bloodline, only one of them had seen an improvement.

Only when he comprehended the second layer of profound meaning would his second form also improve.

This perfectly corresponded to the Soul Awakening, Soul Consciousness, and Life Soul stages of the Martial Soul Realm.

“I wonder, when I comprehend the second layer of profound meaning, will it be the Crimson Tiger Form or the Eastern Kui Form that improves?” Xiao Shi was very much looking forward to this.

After all, among these three forms, the Crimson Tiger Form and the Eastern Kui Form only began to show their power in the Middle Three Realms.

They were more late-game oriented.

Whereas the Jingang Form was the strongest among the three forms during the Blood Martial Realm.

It was strong in the early stages, but its later improvements would become smaller and smaller.

After breaking through to the Martial Soul Realm this time, although the improvement in soul force defense for the Jingang Form was very significant, relatively speaking, having only this one improvement still felt a bit lacking.

Xiao Shi believed that whether it was the Crimson Tiger Form or the Eastern Kui Form, their improvements in the Martial Soul Realm would definitely be greater than that of the Jingang Form.

However, this would require him to comprehend the second and third layers of the bloodline profound meaning.

Now that the Shadow Master had been successfully dealt with, Xiao Shi was equally looking forward to the items he had dropped.

After all, he didn't have many Martial Soul Grade items on hand at the moment.

Xiao Shi lowered his head to look at the item in his hand.

Relevant item information immediately appeared in his vision.

【Name: Dark Eye Spy (Heaven Grade)】

【Type: Soul Consciousness Method】

【Grade: Martial Soul Grade】

【Description: This is a Soul Consciousness method created by a talented Martial Soul Realm powerhouse based on the racial talent of the Dark Eye race.】

【Note: This Soul Consciousness method possesses the racial talent characteristics of the Dark Eye race. Upon cultivation, it can not only greatly enhance one's own Soul Consciousness, but also allow one's Soul Consciousness to enter an undetectable state, making it difficult for even those stronger than oneself to perceive it.】

...“Heaven Grade Soul Consciousness method!” Xiao Shi’s eyes lit up.

Although he didn't know much about the Soul Consciousness Stage at the moment, he knew that Soul Consciousness methods were extremely rare throughout the Star Luo Territory.

This kind of Soul Consciousness method was no longer like ordinary cultivation techniques, which could be found everywhere.

Soul Consciousness methods themselves were extremely scarce.

Let alone a Heaven Grade Soul Consciousness method.

Even the worst Yellow Grade Soul Consciousness method, once it appeared, would often cause a frantic scramble among various powerhouses!

And the value of a Heaven Grade Soul Consciousness method like this was even more terrifying.

“The power of this Soul Consciousness method mainly lies in its ability to make Soul Consciousness difficult to detect…” Xiao Shi’s heart stirred.

He knew that Soul Consciousness, in addition to being used for attack, could also be used to probe targets.

This kind of probing was often incredibly in-depth!

It could not only probe the target's physical condition and the strength of their body, but also their soul force situation.

Typically, before two Martial Soul Realm powerhouses in the Soul Consciousness Stage engaged in battle, they would often first probe each other with their Soul Consciousness.

And this kind of Soul Consciousness, which was difficult for ordinary people to detect, held immense value and significance.

Whether used for probing or attacking, it could achieve unexpected results.

This also made Xiao Shi even more eager to break through to the Soul Consciousness Stage as soon as possible.

However, he also knew that merely breaking through the physical body to the Soul Consciousness Stage would not allow him to cultivate this Soul Consciousness method, as a physical breakthrough would not give birth to Soul Consciousness.

He had to break through using the Crimson Tiger Lineage system of the Four Symbols Divine Martial Sect to give birth to Soul Consciousness.

“From my current observations of killing Martial Soul Realm cultivators, the drop rate of Martial Soul Realm items mainly depends on the target’s cultivation…”

“For example, the Martial Soul Realm cultivator in the Life Soul Stage I killed previously, the items he dropped were items that could only be used in the Life Soul Stage.”

“And the Shadow Master killed this time was in the Soul Consciousness Stage, so what he dropped were items that could only be used in the Soul Consciousness Stage.”

Through these few kills, Xiao Shi successfully summarized the item drop pattern for the Martial Soul Realm.

Martial Soul Realm cultivators at each stage generally dropped items for their respective stages.

Of course, there might also be situations where items from a higher stage were dropped, but the probability would be very low… Boom!

Five different soul shadows exploded in the air.

The five elders of Rapid Shadow Palace simultaneously flew backward.

“Their strength is stronger than before!” the Second Elder said with a solemn expression.

Their current battle was different from the previous probing.

Last time, after they were divided, it was essentially one-on-one combat in three different locations.

This time, it was their combined team battle.

Originally, they had one more person, and the cooperation between their three elders could compensate for their weaknesses.

It should have been a one-sided situation.

However, the combined strength of Luo Jun and Tong Binhong was not weaker than the three of them.

This greatly surprised the three Rapid Shadow Palace elders.

“…It’s not that their strength is stronger than before, but that they didn’t use their full strength last time; they deliberately concealed their power!” the First Elder said in a deep voice.

He had a bad premonition.

Especially after the Shadow Master enveloped him and Xiao Shi with white hair, they clearly saw that outside the white hair, numerous tree vines emerged again, covering the sphere formed by the white hair.

This was originally the Shadow Master’s tactic of ‘closing the door to beat the dog’.

But now, no matter how they looked at it… something felt wrong.

Luo Jun and Tong Binhong had been confident of victory from beginning to end, not panicking at all.

And they had also hidden their strength… However, they believed that with the Shadow Master’s strength, suppressing this mysterious body refiner would not be difficult.

After all, the Shadow Master was in the Soul Consciousness Stage, while this mysterious body refiner only had cultivation comparable to the Soul Awakening Stage.

Just as they were thinking, whoosh!

The sphere formed by numerous tree vines not far away suddenly disintegrated.

All these tree vines retracted back into the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

This revealed the figures within the sphere.

When the three elders of Rapid Shadow Palace looked on with anticipation, the sight before them left them petrified, frozen in mid-air.

They never would have imagined that inside the sphere… only this mysterious body refiner, completely covered by a black cloak, remained!

The Shadow Master was no longer visible.

No!

When they looked closely, they also saw a pile of withered bones falling from the sky!