Chapter 165: CH. 165 | Turning Tides
Lin Tian’s body was thrown far backward after a massive amount of black spiritual qi gathered around the mysterious man.
A huge surge of power washed over him, strong enough to whip up fierce winds and send a burst of qi expanding out in every direction.
Li Qingxue stopped short just as she was about to drive Lin Tian’s array sword into one of the corpse puppets.
The puppet in front of her collapsed, and not just that one, all of them did.
She could tell something dangerous was happening.
Through Lin Tian’s eyes, he watched the spiritual qi stored in every crimson rune on the corpse puppets get fully channeled into the black qi circle surrounding the mysterious man.
Lin Tian could already guess what was coming, a massive surge of power, since the man had just absorbed all the qi from every corpse puppet’s body completely.
Li Qingxue shot forward in a flash of white light, appearing right beside Lin Tian, her eyes locked ahead.
"His qi aura just spiked drastically. His strength is nothing like it was before," Li Qingxue said.
"Yeah," Lin Tian answered, "This is going to be an exhausting fight."
Once all the qi had been absorbed, a massive burst of spiritual energy erupted, powerful enough to rip trees out by their roots, kick up clouds of dust, and tear holes through the clouds above.
Lin Tian and Li Qingxue reacted fast, shooting off in a flash of white light to put as much distance as they could between themselves and that spot.
From a distance, they watched the black spiritual qi fully absorb into the black robed man’s body. The result of absorbing that much spiritual qi at once left both of them stunned.
His appearance changed drastically. His robe turned into armor, his eyes glowed a burning red, a crown hovered above his head, and a ring shaped ornament formed behind his back, making him look powerful and terrifying.
It wasn’t just his appearance. The qi aura radiating off him was overwhelmingly dominant now, his cultivation base surging well past both of theirs.
Even though absorbing that much spiritual qi had clearly worked in his favor, the qi aura from his cultivation base looked unstable, pulsing every so often for no apparent reason.
Lin Tian caught on to what was happening. The man’s true cultivation base was actually below theirs, but thanks to absorbing such a massive amount of qi along with some special technique, his strength had been boosted temporarily.
"His strength is... on par with Soul Formation!" Li Qingxue said, alarmed.
"This is dangerous. Even the two of us together aren’t strong enough to beat him," she added.
Just as they were about to make a move, Lin Tian was caught off guard when the man suddenly appeared right in front of his face.
The man’s expression was flat, but his qi aura was overwhelming.
Li Qingxue turned, her face full of shock, "Lin Tian?!"
PUNCH!
The man’s fist slammed straight into Lin Tian’s body, a burst of qi exploding with the impact. Lin Tian was sent flying backward, falling out of the sky and crashing into the ground.
"LIN TIAN?!"
The man glanced over lazily, pointing at Qingxue, his voice echoing, "You’re next!"
Li Qingxue knew she stood no chance against him alone. She summoned her own technique to try and slow him down, buying time while she waited for Lin Tian to come up with something.
A water spear shot out fast from the rune behind her, striking the black armored man. But to her shock, he stopped it cold with just one hand.
His gauntlet covered palm clenched into a fist, and black spiritual qi swarmed around her water spear, tearing it apart.
BLAST!
A massive explosion sent Li Qingxue flying backward. She crouched down mid air, coughing up blood.
"You... will never be able to beat me!"
"Surrender, and I’ll let you die without any pain."
"Surrender? You’ve killed people from the alliance. I’ll keep fighting even if it costs me my life," Li Qingxue said firmly, though her strength was nearly spent and her body badly wounded.
"You people from that pathetic alliance, you make me sick!"
The man surged forward to kill Li Qingxue. But she refused to give up.
Her resolve held firm, and she unleashed every attack technique she had left to try and hold him off, hoping desperately that one of them might actually take that monster down.
But the man didn’t fight back with any technique of his own. He simply flew in and punched through every single one of Li Qingxue’s Earth Grade attacks like it was a hand to hand brawl.
His strikes landed clean, wrapped in overwhelming qi, tearing apart every attack she threw at him.
She was getting pushed further and further into a corner, wounded by the backlash of her own broken techniques. Her strength was completely drained, her vision blurring, her hands and legs shaking uncontrollably.
"Such weak attacks. You don’t even deserve to become one of my corpse puppets!" the man shouted, charging straight at Li Qingxue.
"Die!"
Li Qingxue jumped back, her eyes going wide as she realized he was already right in front of her, ready to slam his fist into her with full force.
A-Am I... going to die, Lin Tian?
"You’re courting death!"
In a flash of golden light, someone appeared between the black armored man and Li Qingxue. He caught the man’s fist mid punch, stopping the attack cold.
The man turned to the side, his eyes on the figure standing inside the pillar of golden light.
"YOU?!" he shouted.
Li Qingxue opened her eyes and felt no pain anywhere on her body. She looked ahead and saw a cultivator who’d come to save her, radiating an incredibly powerful qi aura, one that felt familiar to her.
The cultivator hurled the black armored man far off to the side, catching him completely off guard.
Li Qingxue had managed to survive, but her body immediately dropped to its knees, powerless, mid air.
"Now... I understand exactly why I need to kill all of you!" the man said firmly.
He stepped out from inside the pillar of golden light, and Li Qingxue’s eyes went wide with shock.
"L-Lin Tian?"
His hair had turned long and white, every vein in his body glowing with a dominant golden aura, a golden ring shaped ornament forming perfectly around him, a manifestation of spiritual qi.
The black armored man looked up, visibly stunned, his heart pounding as he stared straight ahead.
The man he’d just punched with everything he had was somehow still alive, and even more shocking was the ancient ability he now clearly possessed.
"WHAT?!"
"The Primordial Grand Heaven Transformation?!" the man shouted.
"Impossible..."
"That technique can’t still exist..."
"How could you possibly have that?! You’re not a descendant of the Ancient Emperor!" he added, pointing at Lin Tian.
Lin Tian turned to the side, then took a step forward. In the blink of an eye, he’d already crossed the distance and appeared right beside the monster.
"That’s not something you have any right to know!"
PUNCH!
He drove his fist into the man’s face, sending him flying backward. Lin Tian didn’t stop there, shooting forward instantly to chase him down and pummel him with everything he had.
"Qingxue!"
"Do your job, destroy the crimson runes on the puppets’ bodies!" Lin Tian said firmly.
Li Qingxue was still stunned watching Lin Tian’s transformation, but she snapped back to focus, knowing exactly what she needed to do.
She swallowed an essence recovery pill and flew off to kill every corpse puppet still scattered across the area.
As the crimson runes were destroyed one by one, the man’s power kept dropping.
"STOP IT!"
"I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" he screamed.
Lin Tian ignored him, driving his fist hard into the man’s stomach, "Shut up, you Yuanmo devil!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
The armored man’s body crashed to the ground, groaning in pain, barely able to stand. His eyes stayed fixed on the sky, where Lin Tian hovered, five golden swords circling around him.
He shot the five swords straight into the man’s legs, arms, and chest. The man let out an agonized scream as the holy golden light from the swords began purging the demonic aura from his body.
"STOP!"
"Don’t kill me!"
"I’ll tell you everything about Sect Yuanmo!"
"Please... spare me!"