156: Chapter 156 Golden Core? Just a tough nut to crack.

"Boom!"

Lin Canghai moved.

The obsidian floor beneath his feet shattered instantly, blasting out a giant crater three feet deep.

The terrifying explosive power brought by burning his Golden Core turned him into a blood-red meteor, shattering the air and rushing straight at Gu Yan with a piercing sonic boom.

The blade of the "blood-drinking mad blade" could no longer be seen, only a mass of blood-red light so thick it could not be dissipated; it was a sharpness capable of splitting mountains.

"Die!!!"

Lin Canghai's roar arrived even later than the blade light.

Gu Yan did not dodge.

At this distance and speed, any evasive maneuver would be superfluous.

The combat logic of a Body Cultivator has only one rule—kill the opponent before you are killed.

He stomped his feet violently, advancing instead of retreating.

[Warning: High-energy reaction approaching! Estimated damage value overflow!]

[System Bloodline Devouring Module... forced activation.]

[Eat it for me!]

Gu Yan collided head-on with that mass of blood-red light.

Pfft.

The blood-red light entered his body.

A mist of blood instantly exploded from Gu Yan's left shoulder.

That Saber Qi, capable of cutting metal and snapping jade, easily tore through his pride-and-joy bronze skin, lodging into his collarbone and emitting a teeth-grinding "hissing" friction sound.

Half of his body went numb instantly.

But Gu Yan's movements did not pause for even a split second.

As if he could not feel pain, he utilized the momentum, thrust his left hand out violently, and his five fingers clamped onto Lin Canghai's wrist like iron pliers.

"Caught you."

Gu Yan's voice sounded exceptionally muffled beneath his mask.

Lin Canghai's pupils shook violently.

He had not expected this madman to dare use his Physical Body to take a Golden Core Stage Lifebound Treasure head-on.

He wanted to withdraw his blade, but discovered that Gu Yan's fingers seemed to have grown into his flesh, immovable.

"Let go!"

Lin Canghai roared, his Golden Core trembling frantically within his body, and a violent surge of Spiritual Qi blasted down his arm toward Gu Yan.

"Let go? Dream on."

Gu Yan raised his right hand high, the spikes on his soul-shattering knuckles drawing a black afterimage in the blood-colored hall.

Bang!

This punch landed solidly on Lin Canghai's face.

Whatever Protective Aura, whatever Spiritual Qi barrier, in the face of the soul-shattering knuckles' property of specifically breaking the Divine Soul and Gu Yan's unreserved monstrous strength, they were as fragile as a piece of waste paper.

Crack.

The bridge of his nose shattered.

Lin Canghai's entire face instantly caved in, and two blood-stained front teeth flew out.

"Ah—"

The scream had only just escaped his throat before it was choked back by a second punch.

Bang!

This punch slammed into his chin.

Lin Canghai's jawbone dislocated, and he nearly bit off his own tongue.

The two men were like two wild beasts, entangled and rolling onto the ground.

There were no flashy Spell exchanges, no exquisite sword move parries.

There was only the most primitive, most bloody close-quarters combat.

Gu Yan straddled Lin Canghai, his left hand still pressing firmly on the wrist holding the blade, pinning it to the ground.

His right hand rained down punch after punch, falling frantically like a pile driver.

"Golden Core?"

Bang!

"Elder?"

Bang!

"Righteous sect?"

Bang!

With every punch that fell, the ground would tremble.

Lin Canghai's head smashed shallow craters into the obsidian floor, and fresh blood mixed with bits of flesh splattered, staining Gu Yan's mask and chest red.

Lin Canghai was beaten senseless.

The power brought by burning his Golden Core was rapidly fading away—not consumed, but sucked away by the monster before him.

Every time he tried to gather Spiritual Qi to counterattack, the black knuckles on Gu Yan's fist would erupt with an eerie suction force, devouring the Blood Evil Qi he had painstakingly refined until nothing remained.

[Ding! Devouring high-purity Blood Evil Spiritual Qi... converting.]

[Physical Body repair progress +1%...+2%...]

[Refreshing! Host, use more strength! This old geezer is just a human-shaped power bank!]

Gu Yan fought faster and faster, the red light in his eyes even more intense than that of the Qi Deviation-stricken Lin Canghai.

The wound on his left shoulder was wriggling and healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his originally pale complexion rapidly became rosy.

"Im... Impossible..."

Lin Canghai hissed incoherently, struggling desperately.

He, a dignified Golden Core Stage Cultivator, was actually being straddled and beaten by a Foundation Establishment Stage junior; this humiliation was harder to bear than death itself.

"Get off!!"

The Golden Core within Lin Canghai's body suddenly contracted, then erupted with a desperate, suicidal shockwave.

Boom!

A massive wave of Qi sent Gu Yan flying.

Gu Yan flipped in the air and landed steadily, his shoe soles carving two long tracks into the ground.

He shook the blood off his right hand and looked at Lin Canghai, who was swaying as he stood up not far away.

At this moment, where was there any trace of the immortal, otherworldly bearing Lin Canghai once had?

That gold-trimmed red robe symbolizing his status had turned into rags, and his white hair was plastered to his scalp by blood.

His entire face was swollen like a rotten pig's head, his features distorted, and one eye had been beaten shut, leaving only a slit.

"Gu... Yan..."

Lin Canghai gasped for air, every breath accompanied by the "hissing" sound of his damaged lungs.

In his one remaining eye, there was no longer any anger, only an emotion called fear.

This Foundation Establishment Stage brat was simply not human.

He was a Vicious Beast wearing human skin.

"You've gotten weaker."

Gu Yan loosened his neck and stepped forward.

The spikes on his knuckles had worn down a bit during the previous brutal strikes, but the blood-red light upon them was even more eerie.

"That burst of power just now must have been your final display of dignity, right?"

Gu Yan stopped three zhang away from Lin Canghai and reached out to point at his own left shoulder.

The saber wound there, which had originally been deep enough to see bone, had already scabbed over.

"Your Golden Core doesn't seem to burn very well either."

Lin Canghai's body trembled, and he subconsciously took half a step back.

Indeed, his Golden Core had already developed cracks.

That was a sign of his Origin drying up.

If he continued to fight, without Gu Yan needing to do anything, his Realm would fall on its own, and he would become a cripple.

"You forced me..."

Lin Canghai suddenly laughed miserably and threw away the long blade in his hand.

He violently thrust both hands into his own abdomen, his fingernails digging deep into his flesh, a resolute and crazed expression appearing on his face.

"Since I can't live, let's die together!"

Hum—!

A destructive aura erupted from his Dantian.

The light of the Golden Core, which was originally only the size of a fist, now shone through his body, illuminating the entire hall in a ghastly white.

Self-detonation.

The final resort of a Golden Core Stage Cultivator.

Once it exploded, nothing would grow within a hundred miles.

"Jiang Wanrou!"

Gu Yan roared without turning his head.

"Understood!"

Above the rafters, Jiang Wanrou, who had been prepared for a long time, suddenly leaned out half her body.

She formed hand seals, her face as pale as paper, clearly having squeezed out every bit of Spiritual Qi within her body.

"Green Lotus · Demon Sealing Ban!"

Whoosh!

A massive green fire lotus descended from the sky, perfectly covering Lin Canghai's head.

The fire petals closed, forming an airtight cage, forcefully suppressing that terrifying energy about to erupt within a radius of three feet.

"Ugh, ahhhh!!"

Lin Canghai let out a shrill, miserable scream.

The Green Lotus Fire was not only burning his Physical Body but also cutting off his connection to the external Spiritual Qi, leaving the Golden Core within his body, which was already at a critical point, stuck in an extremely awkward state—it wanted to explode, but couldn't.

"Now."

The ground beneath Gu Yan's feet exploded into powder.

He was like a black arrow, charging into the fire lotus.

His right hand formed a claw, and all the spikes on the soul-shattering knuckles popped out.

Pfft.

In the second before that Golden Core was about to break through the blockade, Gu Yan's hand pierced through Lin Canghai's Dantian without any resistance.