346: Control the corpse!

Both the Crimson Refinement Corpse Blade and the Crimson Refinement Battle Armor made Xiao Shi deeply feel their power.

A Crimson Refining Corpse with such a configuration would undoubtedly reach an extremely powerful level of combat strength.

But all of this was predicated on controlling the Crimson Refining Corpse.

If he couldn't control the Crimson Refining Corpse... then the Crimson Refinement Corpse Blade and the Crimson Refinement Battle Armor would be meaningless.

After all, these two items could only be used by a Crimson Refining Corpse.

Ordinary people couldn't even touch them.

Thus,

the reward for this stage was vastly different from the rewards of the previous two stages.

If he could successfully control the Crimson Refining Corpse, then both the Crimson Refinement Corpse Blade and the Crimson Refinement Battle Armor could be obtained simultaneously.

The rewards acquired from this stage would then far exceed those of the previous stages.

But if he couldn't control it...

Then after passing this stage, there would be no gains whatsoever!

Moreover, there was only one Crimson Refining Corpse here in total.

If everyone who passed this stage wanted this Crimson Refining Corpse, a fierce struggle and competition would be inevitable.

However, Xiao Shi wasn't worried about this problem.

When Zhou Hong learned that to control this corpse, he must possess a physical body strong enough to withstand a Saint Grade attack, he had already given up.

"Boss, can you control this corpse?"

Zhou Hong looked at Xiao Shi.

His eyes held a hint of expectation.

Although he couldn't control this corpse, he hoped Xiao Shi could.

With this powerful corpse,

they would undoubtedly have a much easier time in the subsequent stages.

This was naturally something Zhou Hong was happy to see.

After realizing the difficulty of this special area, Zhou Hong now completely abandoned the idea of refining and contending for this special area; he knew his own capabilities.

He now only wanted to leave here alive.

"I can try."

Xiao Shi gazed at the corpse before him.

Even with his physical strength, among those in the Martial Demon Realm, only his Demonic Body Clone could compare.

But he wasn't absolutely confident that he could withstand a Saint Grade attack with just his physical body.

After all, he didn't know what kind of power a Saint Grade attack possessed!

He had never seen a Saint Grade make a move until now.

But no matter what,

he definitely had to try to control this corpse.

Thinking of this,

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

With a thought,

waves of black mist immediately spread out from him, enveloping the area.

"Don't worry, this is my method for controlling the corpse. Just stay put and don't move."

Xiao Shi said to the wary and cautious Zhou Hong.

He knew

that to control this corpse, he had to go all out.

To prevent some of his important methods from being exposed, he needed to use the black mist formation arranged within the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree for concealment.

With the cover of this black mist,

Zhou Hong wouldn't be able to see the entire process of him controlling the corpse.

Buzz!

An incomparably dazzling golden light emanated from Xiao Shi's body, making his physique appear as if cast from metal.

Although after reaching the Martial Demon Realm,

the three forms under the Kuihu Vajra Bloodline had completely merged, this time the main focus was on protection and enduring the impact of the corpse's power, so Xiao Shi needed to maintain the protection of the Jingang Form to its maximum extent.

Not only that,

Xiao Shi also took out a Martial Demon Grade protective mirror from his storage space and wore it on his chest.

The purpose of this protective mirror was to withstand three attacks below the Saint Grade.

Although it couldn't withstand a Saint Grade attack,

having this protective mirror as a buffer to further weaken the impact of the corpse's power could also reduce the corpse's power that Xiao Shi endured to a certain extent.

Additionally,

Xiao Shi took out several elixirs and swallowed them all.

These elixirs were all Martial Demon Grade elixirs.

They could bring about physical enhancement and recovery.

Originally, Xiao Shi thought these elixirs wouldn't be needed and planned to put them into the Purple Treasure Plate to exchange for treasures in the Myriad Treasure Pagoda.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, these elixirs actually played a role.

Following this, many branches of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree extended from Xiao Shi's body, coiling around him to form a thick tree armor.

But even so,

Xiao Shi still felt it wasn't secure enough.

The Martial Emperor War Boots appeared on his feet.

Besides providing a speed boost, the Martial Emperor War Boots had another important function: they could continuously absorb earth vein essence, converting it into his own physical strength or other power supplements, thereby allowing him to achieve endless stamina.

This replenishment

could also be used for injury recovery and some physical enhancement.

Finally,

Xiao Shi activated the Soul Plate in his soul.

Although he knew that using the Soul Plate to alter the impact of the corpse's power was likely unrealistic.

After all, the impact of the corpse's power was comparable to a Saint Grade attack, and with the Soul Plate's current rank, it couldn't affect Saint Grade power.

However, besides having the property of altering enemy attacks, the Soul Plate also had another use.

That was... to use it on himself!

In the five areas of attack, defense, detection, usage, and amplification, as long as the Soul Plate's pointer pointed to an area that matched the nature of the target, an additional three-fold amplification would be gained!

In other words,

if Xiao Shi was attacked by an enemy and used the Soul Plate's pointer to point to the attack area, the enemy's attack would be three times stronger than its original level!

Similarly, this could also be used on Xiao Shi himself.

Now Xiao Shi applied the Soul Plate to himself and controlled its pointer to point to the defense area.

When he had upgraded the Soul Plate from Martial Soul Grade to Martial Demon Grade with the Item Upgrade Scroll, he no longer needed to make the pointer rotate clockwise, always pointing to a fixed area, as he did before.

Now Xiao Shi could completely choose the area to point to according to his own will.

The only restriction was that the same area could only be pointed to once a day.

It could not point to the same area multiple times simultaneously.

Now, when the Soul Plate pointed to the defense area,

the golden light on Xiao Shi's body immediately became incredibly dense.

Immediately after, Xiao Shi controlled the Soul Plate again, pointing the pointer to the amplification area.

This instantly caused all the elixirs he had swallowed that enhanced and restored his physical body, including the Martial Emperor War Boots, tree armor, and so on, to receive a three-fold amplification.

At this moment, Xiao Shi had undoubtedly raised his physical protection to its current maximum extent!

His entire body was enveloped in golden light.

He mused that in this state, he should have hope of withstanding the impact of the corpse's power.

Even if he couldn't withstand it,

he wouldn't explode and die on the spot.

Immediately,

after taking a deep breath,

Xiao Shi quickly stepped forward.

He walked directly in front of the Crimson Refining Corpse.

He split off a small portion of his soul and used this small portion to feed the Crimson Refining Corpse before him.

The splitting of just a small portion of his soul wouldn't have too much of an impact on him.

When the Crimson Refining Corpse in front of him consumed this small portion of his soul,

Buzz!

Its tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.

Revealing a pair of entirely pale eyes, where both the whites and pupils were completely white.

However, these eyes immediately began to change after opening.

They gradually transformed into Xiao Shi's pupils.

And during this transformation,

a terrifying impact of corpse power directly surged towards Xiao Shi at an astonishing speed.

Even though Xiao Shi was prepared,

the moment he was hit by this corpse power, he still felt as if he had been struck by a high-speed meteor.

His entire body flew backward uncontrollably.

His feet scraped a deep, long mark on the ground.

And as he continuously retreated,

with a bang,

the protective mirror on his chest was the first to shatter into pieces, exploding.

Following that were the numerous tree armors wrapped around his body.

They also fractured and burst apart.

Xiao Shi's bones were all shattered, and intense pain swept over him like a huge wave. His internal organs churned, and he spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood. More blood flowed from his seven orifices, and at this moment, his body, unable to bear it, developed cracks on his golden skin, and his flesh tore open.

In the blink of an eye, he was stained crimson from inside out.

Even his head felt as if it were about to explode.

This was the most powerful attack Xiao Shi had suffered since embarking on the path of martial arts.

As he continuously retreated,

all the injuries on his body were recovering and healing at an astonishing speed.

But as soon as they healed, they immediately tore open again; clearly, the healing and recovery speed couldn't keep up with the rate of injury and tearing.

Xiao Shi slid backward across the ground for several thousand meters.

Along the way, besides leaving a deep, long mark on the ground, the mark was also covered with much blood and shattered flesh.

With a rumble,

as Xiao Shi retreated,

he crashed into the cliff wall behind him.

One side of the valley wall was also shattered and collapsed by the impact.

Although Zhou Hong in the black mist couldn't see this scene,

he was also startled by the huge booming sound.

"Please don't die..."

His heart was filled with anxiety.

He knew that if the other party couldn't withstand the impact of the corpse's power, he would most likely explode and die.

If Xiao Shi died,

he wouldn't have such a powerful figure to rely on in the subsequent stages.

He naturally didn't want to see Xiao Shi die.

Soon,

under Zhou Hong's nervous and anxious mood,

the surrounding black mist gradually dissipated.

When his vision cleared,

Zhou Hong immediately saw the two terrifying long marks scraped on the ground, as well as the shattered and exploded side of the valley wall, which had completely turned into ruins piled up with numerous small broken stones.

He swallowed his somewhat dry throat.

He mused that if it were him,

he probably wouldn't even have a speck left by now.

This also gave him a deeper understanding of the terror of a Saint Grade.

"How... how is he?"

Zhou Hong released his Soul Consciousness.

He wanted to check on Xiao Shi's condition.

But he couldn't sense anything.

Just as he was about to search through the pile of rubble,

Pfft!

A blood-stained arm, with festering flesh and exposed bones, suddenly stretched out from the pile of rubble.

Although it looked horrific and shocking,

it greatly relieved Zhou Hong.

Good... the other party was still alive!

Although the arm extending from the pile of rubble looked terrifying, the injuries on it were healing at a visible speed.

As this arm pushed hard against the piles of rubble,

Xiao Shi, covered in blood and even with visible shattered internal organs, walked out from the rubble.

His face was a bit pale.

He was slightly out of breath.

He felt as if he had wandered around the gates of hell.

That feeling of being incredibly close to death was something he had never experienced before.

"The power of a Saint Grade... is so terrifying!!"

Xiao Shi was deeply shaken by this.

He realized that his previous estimation of a Saint Grade was still too low.

The power of a Saint Grade far exceeded his imagination.

And a true Saint Grade attack would certainly be far stronger than this corpse power impact.

After all, this corpse power impact only targeted the physical body.

It wouldn't harm the soul.

However, a Saint Grade's attack wasn't just directed at the physical body; its lethality to the soul was equally formidable.

If he hadn't used various methods to maximize his protection and enhancement, under normal circumstances, being hit by such an impact would definitely be a dead end, with no hope of survival!

"Indeed, a Saint Grade is not something a Martial Demon Realm can contend with!"

Xiao Shi exclaimed in his heart.

Although his injuries were severe now, his powerful recovery ability also manifested at this moment.

Both his internal and external injuries were recovering at a visible speed.

Xiao Shi ignored Zhou Hong's shocked, horrified, and joyful gaze.

Instead, he walked directly towards the Crimson Refining Corpse in the coffin ahead.

When he reached the Crimson Refining Corpse, he clearly saw that the entire Crimson Refining Corpse's pupils had already transformed into pupils identical to his own.

Furthermore, a powerful sense of control allowed Xiao Shi to see himself standing in front of it through the Crimson Refining Corpse's perspective.

"Success!"

Xiao Shi's heart was filled with excitement.

This sense of control... was just like how he controlled his clones before.

However, because he didn't understand the Crimson Refining Secret Skill, even if he could control this Crimson Refining Corpse, he couldn't make it unleash its full Saint Grade power.

He could only issue some simple commands.

"This Crimson Refining Secret Skill..."

"It must be a Saint Grade Secret Skill!"

"And it's a Secret Skill from the Martial Corpse Era!"

Xiao Shi thought to himself.

Typically, such Secret Skills were mostly lost; if they hadn't been passed down, they basically no longer existed.

In other words,

this Secret Skill no longer existed on the Tianwu Continent.

But for Xiao Shi,

he wasn't completely without a chance to acquire this Secret Skill.

He felt that if he could kill a Saint Grade, there was absolutely a high probability that this Saint Grade Secret Skill would drop!

"If I can get this Crimson Refining Secret Skill later, then I can perfectly control this Crimson Refining Corpse!"

Xiao Shi's heart was burning.

After all... this was a Saint Grade!