263: Broken furnace

This was a burly, sturdy man with thick eyebrows and sharp eyes. He had no hair, and on his head was a black scorpion rune, resembling a tattoo.

The moment he descended from the air, his Soul Consciousness already swept toward Xiao Shi from all directions.

He intended to crush Xiao Shi's Physical Body through the pressure of his Soul Consciousness, killing him directly.

Facing this sweeping Soul Consciousness, Xiao Shi did not feel the slightest panic.

He raised the blood-colored Evil Blade in his hand high and fiercely stabbed it into the ground beneath him.

Boom!! The moment the blade sank into the ground, streams of blade light suddenly rose from beneath the surface.

They gathered around Xiao Shi's body, swirling to form a storm constructed of numerous blade lights.

When the Soul Consciousness swept over and collided with this swirling storm of blade light, it emitted a series of clanging impact sounds.

It was unable to break through this blade light storm to harm Xiao Shi within it, and was blocked outside.

"Hmm?" The burly man frowned.

He had not expected that an opponent at the Soul Awakening Stage could actually resist his Soul Consciousness!

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He stomped on the ground, shooting out like a cannonball.

He crushed the ground into a pit, sending gravel flying everywhere.

Under this violent impact, his body slammed heavily into the blade light storm enveloping Xiao Shi.

He shattered all the swirling blade lights and arrived directly in front of Xiao Shi.

He raised his right hand high, forming a palm blade, and slashed downwards, emitting an explosive sound that tore through the air.

Boom! It collided fiercely with the Evil Blade Xiao Shi had raised to block it.

The gazes of the two men also collided at the same time, sparking invisible flames.

"A mere Soul Awakening ant..."

Killing intent surged in the burly man's eyes, and the black scorpion rune on his head suddenly glowed with a blazing light.

The Soul Consciousness he had emitted began to condense, rapidly weaving into the form of a scorpion.

An incredibly intense sense of crisis suddenly exploded in Xiao Shi's mind.

He realized that what his opponent was executing was a powerful Soul Consciousness technique!

If he allowed it to be successfully executed, his own situation would inevitably be extremely dangerous! He had to interrupt him.

"Soul Seal... Detonate!!" Xiao Shi roared inwardly.

The Soul Seal that had just condensed in his opponent's mind was instantly detonated by him.

However, because the Soul Seal had only just condensed, the power of the detonation was average and could not cause too much damage.

But it still caused the burly man to let out a muffled groan, as if he had been struck by a bludgeon, and his brain throbbed with sharp pain.

The weaving of his Soul Consciousness also paused. In this brief gap of hesitation, Xiao Shi immediately swung the blood-colored Evil Blade, slashing upwards.

The burly man endured the sharp pain in his brain and raised his hand to press down fiercely against the Evil Blade that Xiao Shi was slashing upwards.

Numerous Soul Consciousness gathered instantly, forming a powerful pressure that made Xiao Shi feel as if there was an invisible wall of air in front of him. His entire upward slash became extremely difficult, as if he had fallen into a swamp, and his speed was greatly reduced.

However, an Evil Qi shockwave rushed out from the Evil Blade, surging directly into the burly man's brain.

The burly man, having been struck by the Soul Seal, was in a very bad state. He was instantly affected by the Evil Qi from the Evil Blade.

His eyes flashed with blood-red light, his expression became ferocious, and the killing intent within his heart grew wildly, threatening to drown his reason.

Fortunately, he was, after all, a powerhouse of the Soul Consciousness Stage. His own Soul Consciousness allowed him to maintain his sanity, and he did not lose his mind because of this.

However, the violent, uncontrollable killing intent in his heart ignited his emotions, making him crazy. The thought of killing his opponent occupied his entire mind, becoming the most urgent matter in his world.

Because of this, he no longer continued to play it safe. Instead, he decided to kill his opponent in the fastest way possible.

He immediately withdrew all his Soul Consciousness, using it entirely for the condensation of the scorpion, ignoring Xiao Shi's attacks.

This was clearly a strategy of trading blow for blow! Or rather, he felt that even if he took a hit from his opponent, it would not be a big problem.

As long as he completed the condensation of the scorpion, he would inevitably be able to destroy him!

Without the obstruction of the Soul Consciousness, the speed of Xiao Shi's upward-slashing blood-colored Evil Blade was no longer affected. It flickered like a streak of blood-colored light, arriving in front of the burly man in an instant.

But at the same time, after the burly man used all his Soul Power for the condensation of the scorpion, the speed at which the entire scorpion formed was also extremely astonishing.

This made the sense of crisis in Xiao Shi's heart grow constantly, but he did not feel the slightest panic. His gaze was firm. With the burst of speed, *shing*!

The blood-colored blade light flashed rapidly across the burly man's neck.

At this moment, the burly man was also at the final critical moment of the scorpion's condensation. Only the last step remained.

Once he completed the condensation of the scorpion, he would inevitably be able to kill his opponent!

But just at the moment he was about to complete the final step of condensation, a huge tiger roar suddenly sounded in his mind.

This was the sound of the Crimson Tigers Roar transmitted from the Soul Power within the Evil Blade after Xiao Shi's Evil Blade struck him.

Under this tiger roar, his brain instantly experienced a brief, less-than-a-second dizziness, which caused him to stall again in the condensation of the scorpion.

Pfft! After this less-than-a-second pause, his head was already thrown high into the air. He no longer had a chance to condense the scorpion.

As the burly man's head fell from the air and rolled onto the ground, the seven people from the Demonic Path forces who were sitting around the black furnace all stared with blank eyes and dull expressions!

They felt that everything before them was truly too absurd. The opponent was clearly only at the Soul Awakening Stage... yet he had killed a powerhouse of the Soul Consciousness Stage!

In their eyes, this was truly too inconceivable. After all, there was an incredibly huge gap between the Soul Awakening Stage and the Soul Consciousness Stage.

Usually, for a Soul Consciousness Stage to kill a Soul Awakening Stage, it often only took a sweep of Soul Consciousness to end the battle.

But this time, they had witnessed with their own eyes a scene of a Soul Awakening killing a Soul Consciousness! This completely shattered their perception of the Soul Awakening and Martial Soul Realm.

Xiao Shi did not care about everyone's gazes. Killing this powerhouse of the Soul Consciousness Stage was not easy for him.

The key lay in the three shocks he caused to his opponent. One was the Soul Seal detonation. One was the Evil Qi shockwave. One was the Crimson Tigers Roar mixed into the Soul Power.

These three shocks could be said to be three important interruptions, causing the opponent's lethal move to be unable to be executed, which became the key to Xiao Shi killing him.

Although he had successfully killed his opponent, Xiao Shi also realized that facing a powerhouse of the Soul Consciousness Stage, especially one who possessed a Soul Consciousness technique as a powerful lethal move, was still somewhat difficult to fight.

After all, not every Soul Consciousness technique required such condensation. There were also Soul Consciousness techniques that were instantaneous. Once he faced that kind of instantaneous Soul Consciousness technique, it would be very difficult for him.

Of course, this was limited to his Clone. If it were his main body, that would be another situation entirely.

Xiao Shi's gaze locked onto the black furnace not far away. He knew that being able to make a powerhouse of the Soul Consciousness Stage come specifically to protect it already indicated the extraordinary nature of this black furnace.

He had to destroy it as soon as possible. He could not let the power in the furnace continue to accumulate.

Thinking of this, Xiao Shi did not hesitate at all. His figure moved, and he immediately rushed toward the seven people in front at the fastest speed.

"It's too late!" One of the seven people gritted his teeth fiercely. Very decisively, before Xiao Shi arrived, he stepped forward and lifted the furnace lid.

Whoosh! The moment the furnace lid was lifted, a dense black aura suddenly drifted up from within the furnace.

This was a powerful and evil aura, filled with malicious intent. Furthermore, after having previously absorbed the Evil Qi released by Xiao Shi, this aura was also filled with astonishing Evil Qi.

The moment this aura permeated out, Xiao Shi's forward-rushing figure paused.

His Soul-related perception was frantically warning him, admonishing him not to continue forward. There would be an immensely huge and terrifying crisis ahead.

This sense of crisis even exceeded the previous Soul Consciousness technique, causing him to stop without the slightest hesitation.

He saw these permeating black auras rapidly gather toward the seven nearby people from the Demonic Path forces, merging into their bodies.

Boom, boom! Boom, boom! A sound like beating drums rang in Xiao Shi's ears. It was clearly the heartbeats of the seven people from the Demonic Path forces.

These black auras merging into their bodies caused their heartbeats to intensify, and the whites of their eyes were filled with black. Their skin turned pitch black.

Thick blood vessels, like tree roots, protruded from their faces and necks, becoming ferocious and terrifying.

Everyone's aura had undergone a heaven-shaking change. Xiao Shi's expression was solemn. This phenomenon... it was the first time he had ever seen it!

When he tried to slash out a blade light from a distance with the Evil Blade in his hand, this blade light, which could originally have easily killed the seven people, after touching one of them...

a black membrane instantly formed on the opponent's body, blocking most of the power in Xiao Shi's blade light.

Although the person who was hit by the blade light was knocked back dozens of meters by the slash, the skin on his chest was split open, and blood flowed, he had blocked this slash from Xiao Shi.

At the same time, the entire split skin also healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, possessing a powerful self-healing ability.

"Aura changed greatly, defense strengthened, and even possesses self-healing ability..." Xiao Shi frowned.

His gaze focused on the furnace not far away. He had not expected that the thing inside the furnace would actually bring such changes to these people from the Demonic Path forces.

At the same time, not only did these seven people from the Demonic Path forces change. Those black auras that permeated from the furnace also swept toward the distance, seeping into the bodies of the two powerhouses of the Soul Consciousness Stage who were fighting with the Prison Guards in the distance.

Causing them to also exhibit similar changes. However, their changes were not only reflected in their appearance. Even their Soul Consciousness had undergone mutations!

The two Prison Guards of the Soul Consciousness Stage suddenly had their expressions change drastically, sensing that something was wrong.

On the even more distant battlefield, that person from the Demonic Path forces at the Life Soul Stage also underwent changes under the integration of the black aura.

And his change was the most immense, to the point that the terrifying aura emanating from him made the world change color and the earth tremble. There was even a faint trace of the Martial Demon Realm's aura!

"I must find a way to destroy this furnace!" Xiao Shi worried that if he did not destroy the furnace, who knew what other situations might arise later.

However, just as he was preparing to make a move, swish! Swish! These seven people from the Demonic Path forces simultaneously rushed toward him.

In their current state, they seemed to have become fierce and unafraid of death.

After all, they had previously witnessed with their own eyes the scene of Xiao Shi killing a Soul Consciousness powerhouse. Under normal circumstances, they would definitely not dare to easily fight with Xiao Shi and would harbor fear toward such a powerhouse.

But now they could not feel any fear at all, becoming incredibly fierce. They all attacked Xiao Shi together, wanting only to put Xiao Shi to death.

Xiao Shi's gaze was as cold as a blade. He killed his way into the crowd without fear. Although the strength of these seven people from the Demonic Path forces had increased, they were still at the Soul Awakening Stage.

However, Xiao Shi was worried that his Evil Qi shockwave would be absorbed like before, so he did not choose to continue executing the Evil Qi shockwave.

He slashed out with a blade as fast as lightning, striking the waist of one of the people from the Demonic Path forces.

He had originally intended to use the Soul Power mixed within the blade to make the opponent's Soul fall into a brief dizziness, but he discovered that the Crimson Tigers Roar mixed within the Soul Power had actually failed.

"It seems that in this state, their Souls can also form a certain immunity..." Thinking of this, Xiao Shi could only increase the force of his slash.

With a *pfft* sound, he sliced the person from the Demonic Path forces in front of him in half at the waist. But he also took a heavy blow from the other people from the Demonic Path forces on his back.

"If Soul Power cannot affect the Soul, then I can only carry out physical killing through the attachment of Soul Power!"

Thinking of this, Xiao Shi beckoned. Behind him, a long staff, a battle axe, and a sword appeared simultaneously.

As he flashed into the crowd, a sky full of staff shadows suddenly whistled out from the long staff. Under the attachment of Soul Power, these staff shadows all possessed extremely strong power.

From the battle axe, a huge blood axe shadow erupted. With one axe slash, the surroundings trembled.

Numerous Sword Shadows were intertwined to form a sword net. Within the sword net, streams of Sword Qi traversed horizontally and vertically. Coupled with the flashing blade light in his hand, he easily suppressed these six people from the Demonic Path forces.

"Die!!" Xiao Shi let out a low roar. He slashed the Evil Blade in his hand downward. The three weapons behind him also simultaneously erupted with powerful attacks.

Pfft! In an instant, the bodies of four of the six people exploded and shattered, killing them on the spot! The remaining two also had their arms cut off by him, and they lay on the ground, dying, having lost the ability to fight.

Without the obstruction of these few people from the Demonic Path forces, Xiao Shi immediately focused his gaze on the black furnace not far away.

He stabbed the blood-colored Evil Blade in his hand into the ground and stretched his hands forward. The three weapons floating behind him suddenly emitted terrifying aura fluctuations amidst a booming vibration.

Boom! Boom! Boom! He saw these three weapons shatter one after another, transforming into a radiant form.

As Xiao Shi clenched his palm, a beam of light shot up into the sky from each of the three radiant-form weapons, forming an aggregation in the air. Then, it cast down a pillar of light!

Boom!! It struck directly onto the black furnace in the distance. With a crack, the entire black furnace shattered in response.