183: Chapter 183 Intercepting
“Huu...”
Lin Yuan landed, exhaling a puff of searing white mist.
He could clearly feel that, as the god-demon furnace continued its feedback, the power within him—which had just surpassed ten thousand tons—was undergoing a process of tearing and restructuring under the high-pressure environment of a hundred thousand times gravity.
With every instance of healing, his muscle density and explosive power climbed another level.
That drop of pure golden divine blood was becoming thicker and more robust at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Just as Lin Yuan was preparing to find his next prey, a sudden change occurred deep within a continuous mountain range on the western side of the inner city continent!
Ancient Sword Soul was leading a hundred-man squad of the Asura Army, cornering a variant species that resembled an ancient saber-toothed tiger into a dead end.
“Vile beast, die!”
Withstanding the hundred thousand times gravity, he forcibly surged his blood qi, and the Heaven-Cutting Sword Intent condensed frantically upon his longsword.
He leaped into the air, preparing to decapitate the variant with a single strike to serve as top-tier nourishment for the squad's breakthroughs.
However!
“Weng—!”
The moment the formation patterns activated, they transformed into countless incomparably sharp cutting lines, instantly shredding that eighth-rank variant into a cloud of blood mist before Ancient Sword Soul's blade could even descend!
The variant's flesh and blood essence were greedily absorbed by the formation patterns.
Not only that, but the formation patterns rapidly expanded, turning into a hemispherical confinement force field that trapped Ancient Sword Soul and the hundred Asura Army soldiers behind him in place!
“An ambush! Form a defensive array!”
Ancient Sword Soul's expression shifted drastically as he backhanded a sword strike against the light barrier.
“Clang!”
Sparks flew; the Heaven-Cutting Sword Intent, capable of cleaving through starships, actually only left a shallow white mark on the light barrier.
The counter-shock force numbed the webbing of Ancient Sword Soul's hand, nearly causing him to lose his grip on the sword.
“This isn't an ancient-era formation at all!”
Ancient Sword Soul recognized the nature of these formation patterns at a glance: “A core from the Cult of the Machine God? This is a man-made, stitched-together formation!”
There are actually others in the inner city of this Primordial Armory?!
Squatters?
“Rumble!!!”
Just as the thought occurred to Ancient Sword Soul, a roar suddenly thundered from the sky above!
Lin Yuan sensed the anomaly in the laws here and, without the slightest hesitation, bent his legs and leaped across a distance of several hundred kilometers!
He already possessed ten thousand tons of baseline physical strength, and now, he had the insane acceleration provided by the inner city's hundred thousand times gravity!
“Bang!”
Lin Yuan's combat boots stomped right onto the center of that confinement formation.
The formation patterns, which were claimed to be able to trap an Eighth-Rank Grandmaster, emitted a cracking sound and exploded into a flurry of light on the spot!
The confinement was lifted!
As the formation's core was completely pulverized, the 'camouflage field' covering the heart of the mountain range also vanished, its disguise torn away.
The mountain wall collapsed with a roar, revealing a massive cave hidden within the mountain's interior.
Inside was a 'survivor camp' filled with various instruments!
And in the center of the camp sat five figures cross-legged.
Among them was an Archbishop whose body was half-rusted; a Supreme Elder of the Starry Sky Spirit Clan whose skin was shriveled like a skeleton; and even a Fallen Saint of the Celestial Race who had wings on his back, though his feathers had long since fallen off!
The auras of these five old monsters were at least at the Eighth-Rank Peak, and among them, that Fallen Saint of the Celestial Race actually radiated the terrifying pressure of a Half-Step Ninth Rank!
But without exception, all of them were as thin as sticks, their bodies emitting a deathly aura of those with one foot in the grave.
For tens of millions of years, these 'Interstellar Stowaways' whose lifespans were nearing their end had tried every possible way to sneak into the armory's inner city, hoping to find primeval divine blood to extend their lives.
But they discovered to their sorrow that they simply could not adapt to the terrifying hundred thousand times gravity for long, let alone approach the Trial Temple in the deepest part of the inner city.
In their desperation, they could only squat in this mountain range, relying on formation traps to snatch the flesh and blood of starry sky variants to eke out a meager existence, living like a pack of rats hiding in a sewer!
The moment the formation was broken, the five old monsters simultaneously opened their clouded eyes.
When they clearly saw Lin Yuan standing on the mountain peak, his entire body radiating pure Ancient God-Demon blood qi, an unprecedented greed and fanaticism erupted within their deathly gray pupils!
“A pureblood descendant! It's actually a living pureblood god-demon!”
“Only the body of a pureblood descendant can ignore this hundred thousand times gravity and enter the core temple!”
“Jie jie jie... Heaven has eyes! Heaven truly has eyes!”
The Half-Step Ninth Rank Fallen Saint of the Celestial Race slowly stood up, looking at him as if he were a peerless treasure:
“The watchdogs outside are becoming more and more useless, actually letting in such a perfect physical body!”
“Kid, obediently hand over your body! Once this seat has possessed you and obtained the core inheritance of the inner city, I will surely erect a monument for you beneath this starry sky!”
In their eyes, although Lin Yuan's blood qi was vigorous, his apparent cultivation level had only just entered the sixth rank.
Facing a group of ancestor-level figures like them—at the Eighth-Rank Peak or even Half-Step Ninth Rank—he was essentially a little white rabbit delivering itself to their door!
Looking at that group of green-eyed old bags of bones below...
“I thought there were only brainless beasts to kill in this inner city.”
The killing intent in the depths of Lin Yuan's eyes completely boiled over:
“It turns out there are five such fat 'power banks' hidden in this nook and cranny?”
“Move! Don't let this peerless panacea escape!”
These old monsters, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, knew well that villains die from talking too much; without any nonsense, the five of them struck simultaneously!
Tianyou Ancestor waved his sleeve, and a Ten Thousand Soul Banner that blotted out the sun whistled forth, the billions of yin souls on the banner's surface emitting shrill, wretched wails.
Beside him, the Supreme Elder of the Starry Sky Spirit Clan spat out a Bone Sword, its tip pointing straight at the center of Lin Yuan's forehead.
At the same time, the five of them simultaneously performed hand seals, smashing the foundations they had accumulated over thousands of years into the ground beneath their feet without reservation!
“Rumble—!”
The ancient remnant formation that had long been laid within this mountain range—the Nine Nether Desolate Land Blood Fiend Formation—was fully activated!
In an instant, the entire crystal mountain range was deathly shrouded in a thick, stinking, blood-colored mist that would not dissipate.
This blood mist carried a terrifying corrosiveness, specifically targeting a martial artist's blood qi and physical body.
As the formation operated, waves of blood surged.
Thousands upon thousands of green-faced, long-fanged ghosts took shape within the blood mist, emitting scalp-numbing howls as they bared venom-dripping teeth and lunged at Lin Yuan from all sides, attempting to suck his pure blood dry!
“Retreat!”
Not far away, Gu Jianhun's expression shifted drastically as he violently swung the Star Core Purple Gold sword.
“Daluo Heaven-Severing, Slash!”
A sharp sword intent tore through the sky.
However, the sword qi that was originally enough to cleave stars was like a clay ox entering the sea the moment it slashed into that blood-colored mist.
The layers of resentment contained within the formation continuously weakened and corroded the sword intent; ultimately, it advanced less than ten meters before completely dissipating into the swamp-like blood mist!
“Brother Yuan, watch out! This formation specifically counters masculine blood qi and can seal off one's life force!” Ancient Sword Soul alerted him sharply.