Chapter 258: The Fisherman

After eliminating the two cultivators, Chen Luo paid no attention to the remaining Qi Refining realm geniuses.

He leaped into the air, a Magic Sword materializing in his hand. A sharp sword energy converged at his palm—the most efficient and decisive method for breaking through this chaotic situation. A faint glow emanated from the blade as over thirty strands of dragon-like spiritual energy flowed into it from his body.

In a flash of sword light, Chen Luo’s blade erupted upward, cleaving through the dark net that had enveloped the sky. He surged through the gap, soaring into the air.

Midway through his ascent, the Sect Master of the God Lake Immortal Sect entered a bizarre state. His cultivation level had plummeted to late Foundation Establishment, yet his combat prowess remained undiminished. He stood his ground against the combined assault of the Corpse-Raising Sect Master and the Nine Poisons Valley Master, both Core Formation experts, showing no signs of faltering.

With each move, the ambient spiritual energy surged around him, forming terrifying tides of magical energy. The white mite embedded in his chest shrilled louder, its piercing cries growing increasingly shrill.

“A Life-Stealing Mite! How dare you use such a thing?” roared the Corpse-Raising Sect Master, his face darkening. The previous exchange had left him at a disadvantage. Without resorting to his corpse puppets, he was the weakest of the Core Formation cultivators.

“Hahaha! At this point, what wouldn’t I dare use?” the Sect Master laughed, his eyes blazing with desperation. “After a thousand years of cultivation, how could I abandon everything now?”

The Immortal Sect Leader’s gaze swept across to the Nine Poisons Valley Lord beside him. The subtle accumulation of power by the Nine Poisons Valley Lord ceased.

“You should understand the true cost of this thing better than anyone,” the Immortal Sect Leader said.

“What cultivation journey doesn’t demand sacrifice!” the Nine Poisons Valley Lord retorted. “If this old master survives this calamity, I will defy fate and extend my lifespan by three hundred years.”

The Immortal Sect Leader’s aura grew increasingly bizarre. His cultivation level had plummeted to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, yet the white gu worm glowed with ever-brighter intensity.

Boom!!

All three men attacked simultaneously. Vital energy clashed, erupting like a tidal wave. Despite fighting two opponents alone, the Immortal Sect Leader was sent flying. His head exploded mid-air, scattering blood and flesh. Not only his head, but also his chest and abdomen burst into bloody mist. The Corpse-Raising Sect Leader’s hand crackled with Yin Thunder, while the Nine Poisons Valley Lord brandished a fan-shaped Magic Artifact.

Though their initial strike had landed, the two attackers showed no relief. Instead, their expressions darkened further.

The white gu worm’s shrill cry grew louder. As its piercing hum echoed, root-like white lines materialized across the Immortal Sect Leader’s chest.

All the Immortal Sect Leader’s remaining power converged around the gu worm, shielding it from harm.

“Your life is my life! Borrow me your life!”

The Immortal Sect Leader’s voice rang out. A semi-transparent human soul flew from his Pouch of Holding, inexplicably merging into the tendrils of the Gu worm. In the next instant, the splattered flesh bizarrely retreated backward, restoring the original state of his head, chest, and several other wounds.

“This old bastard must have killed countless people in secret—there’s no shortage of lives to borrow! This can’t go on.”

“His lifespan is nearly exhausted. Let’s exhaust him completely with our full strength!”

The Nine Poisons Valley Lord soared into the air, his fan-shaped Magic Artifact scattering rainbow-colored streams of light. The luminous trails, like toxic powder from moths, drifted toward the Immortal Sect Leader. The surrounding天地元气 stirred, creating a sudden gust of wind. Core Formation cultivators could manipulate天地元气; the Nine Poisons Valley Lord was now employing the ‘Borrow Wind’ technique.

Beside him, the Corpse-Raising Sect Leader abandoned all restraint. He slapped his Pouch of Holding, and a silver-armored corpse puppet shot forth. The moment the Silver Carapace Corpse King materialized, black vortexes coalesced above. The purple Yin Thunder, originally gathering in the Corpse-Raising Sect Leader’s hand, expanded tenfold in range.

Two figures, one on each side, sealed off the Immortal Sect Leader’s retreat. Multicolored toxic powder seeped into the roots of his Gu worms, relentlessly dissolving them.

After a burst of hissing white smoke, the Immortal Sect Leader’s body melted away, releasing a thick cloud of vapor.

Meanwhile, the Corpse-Raising Sect Leader flew forward, his corpse-poisoned arm crackling with purple Yin Thunder. He slammed his palm into the Immortal Sect Leader’s back, instantly splitting the already weakened body in two. The Silver Carapace Corpse King followed up with a punch aimed directly at the Life-Stealing Mite embedded in the Immortal Sect Leader’s chest.

Boom!

The colliding forces erupted in a circular shockwave, collapsing the stone walls around the platform. The grand tournament arena at Divine Lake Peak, crafted by Core Formation cultivators, was reduced to rubble under the impact. Everyone who had been fighting moments before was thrown off balance, forced to scramble for safety on the ground. Under the suffocating pressure of the Core Formation cultivators’ manipulation of heaven and earth’s vital energy, all ambient magical energy was suppressed. Qi Refining juniors huddled in corners, trembling uncontrollably, while unlucky souls struck by flying debris were instantly reduced to bloody mist, their agonized screams cut short.

“Haha… Not enough! Not enough! Far from enough!!”

Three more pale white human souls flew out from the Pouch of Holding, their passage facilitated by the Life-Stealing Mite’s violent disruption of the Silver Carapace Corpse King’s attack. Thick tendrils plunged fiercely into the souls’ chests, draining them utterly in mere moments. The tendrils didn’t stop there; they even absorbed the residual energy from the attacks launched by the Nine Poisons Valley Lord and the Corpse-Raising Sect Master.

The Immortal Sect Leader’s aura plummeted to the early Foundation Establishment stage.

The Life-Stealing Mite’s power surged violently against this tide. Nourished by the Immortal Sect Leader’s body as fuel and amplified by the dual forces of the two Core Formation cultivators, it showed faint signs of regressing toward Core Formation once more. This resurgence sent a chill down the spines of both the Nine Poisons Valley Lord and the Corpse-Raising Sect Master.

Survival was no longer about seizing advantages, but about whether the Immortal Sect Leader would spare them upon regaining his strength.

“Become one with me! You are all mere sustenance!”

The Immortal Sect Leader had completely lost his mind. His hair fell out, his skin withered, and the deathly aura surrounding him condensed into a single point, devoured by the Life-Stealing Mite.

Life-Stealing! Not just stealing others’ lives, but his own as well.

The Life-Stealing Mite’s power swelled further. Tendrils coiled around the Immortal Sect Leader’s body, seemingly channeling his essence to generate a new physique—one bursting with vitality unlike the ravaged remains of his original form. The energy of Core Formation began to coalesce within this nascent body.

“9 Poisons!”

“Corpse Lightning!”

The two Core Formation cultivators focused their power, channeling their energy into a single point. A twisted black energy erupted from them, colliding with the newly formed circular black orb. The Silver Carapace Corpse King roared and seized the orb, slamming it against the creature’s chest. The youthful body, just awakened, opened its eyes, the pupils black and insect-like. Meeting the duo’s assault head-on, it opened its mouth and emitted a piercing shriek.

This creature wasn’t human; it was a Life-Stealing Mite.

During the Immortal Sect Leader’s two decades of seclusion, the Life-Stealing Mite had devoured countless lives. The Peak Lord of Divine Lake was his accomplice. This explained why the five had fought so fiercely to intercept the Corpse-Raising Sect and Nine Poisons Valley when they attacked—their fates had long been intertwined with the Old Ancestor’s.

Shriek!

A sonic blast shattered the air as countless white human souls erupted from the Life-Stealing Mite’s body. These were the lives it had “borrowed” over the years. The swarm of souls crawled forth, forming a gray-white aura around it, the aura constantly twisting and shifting.

It reclaimed the “wind” the Nine Poisons Valley Lord had seized, and the human souls coalesced, merging into a viscous mass that shaped itself into a five-meter-wide face. This face bore the visage of the Immortal Sect Leader, his features distorted in a sinister grin.

The Immortal Sect Leader snarled and charged headlong into the Silver Carapace Corpse King’s oncoming assault.

Boom!

A tri-colored shockwave rippled outward. The three Core Formation experts, who had been locked in a desperate mid-air struggle, all grunted under the force’s backlash.

The now-uncontrolled storm surged violently, tearing in all directions. The arena below lay in ruins, the surviving Foundation Establishment disciples huddled in corners, desperately combining their defenses.

The previously arranged Heaven-and-Earth Net had disintegrated into a tattered fishing net. After Chen Luo sliced through it with a single sword strike, it had failed to reform.

“Hahaha! Rebirth! This is true rebirth!” the Immortal Sect Leader roared, standing in the void, his laughter echoing across the battlefield.

Thud!

Suddenly, a black ray pierced through his chest from behind, carrying a poisonous energy unlike anything from Nine Poisons Valley. The Immortal Sect Leader froze, glancing down at the second-rank supreme-grade Magic Sword embedded in his chest.

“A mere scratch… you think it can—cough!”

Before he could finish, a wave of dizziness struck his mind.

A curse?

“Hehe.”

A strange sound flashed past his ear. Normally, a curse of this level wouldn’t affect him, but now, his power depleted and poisoned by a magical technique, he had no defense. He could only watch helplessly as the dark curse seeped into his brow, a deathly aura engulfing his heart.

His first instinct was to summon the Life-Stealing Mite, but the moment he moved, he realized it wasn’t responding.

A dark-golden gu, strikingly similar to the Life-Stealing Mite, crawled out from the Silver Centipede, impossibly merging with his Life-Stealing Mite.

The world’s rarest insect—the Soul-Parasitic Gu!

How many are surrounding me?

The thought flashed through the Immortal Sect Leader’s mind. With a hiss, demonic heart fire erupted from his chest, instantly engulfing him in flames. His body burned like paper under the relentless onslaught.

The Life-Stealing Mite, now controlled by the Soul-Parasitic Gu, began to detach from his body.

Chen Luo had not spoken a single unnecessary word from beginning to end. With a flick of his right wrist, another Magic Sword materialized in his hand. The aura of the Silver Carapace Corpse King flowed into his body, and under the effect of the Corpse Core, he managed to harness a trace of worldly spiritual energy.

Though strained, his divine sense could barely control it.

The black Magic Sword flashed, severing the Immortal Sect Leader’s head with a thud. At the same time, Chen Luo’s sleeve flicked, snatching the leader’s Pouch of Holding and concealing it within his robes.

“Stop!”

“Hand over the Pouch of Holding!”

In the distance, the newly recovered Sect Leaders of the Corpse-Raising Sect and Nine Poisons Valley roared with fury. They had fought tooth and nail, only to be outmaneuvered by another. Their rage burned fiercer when they sensed Chen Luo’s cultivation level—merely late-stage Foundation Establishment.

The worldly spiritual energy surged violently as both leaders unleashed their power, the combined pressure bearing down on Chen Luo.

The Corpse-Raising Sect Leader’s corpse puppet moved faster. A silver streak cut through the air, aiming to annihilate Chen Luo instantly.

Did this mere Foundation Establishment brat really think he could play the fisherman? He’d choke trying to swallow such a prize!

Chen Luo casually tossed aside the drained brain he’d been rummaging through. A dark, shadowy figure materialized beside him—the Silver Carapace Corpse King.