Chapter 50: Ridiculous, You Think Such Trash Spell Can Hurt Me?

Chu Xuan stared at the furious, bewildered Huikong. His own expression remained as placid as a dead well.

Did the monk really think Chu Xuan had spent all that time prone on the roof just to enjoy the view? He had been hunting. Analyzing.

Every time Huikong channeled the Evil-Suppressing Tattoo, the golden lines etched into his flesh flared to life. The flaw was glaringly obvious: destroy the physical lines, and the tattoo's power would cripple or collapse entirely. Chu Xuan didn't need to know the esoteric secrets of the spell to break it. He just needed his eyes and a target.

"Who are you, boy?!" Huikong roared, his eyes burning with vicious intent.

Chu Xuan didn't waste breath on a dead man. He lunged.

As he closed the distance, spiritual power erupted from his right palm, coalescing into the hazy, massive silhouette of a ghostly claw.

Having slaughtered his fair share of Wuji Sect disciples, Huikong recognized the spell instantly.

"The Yin-Fiend Demon Claw?" The monk sneered, his pious facade slipping into haughty mockery. "Ridiculous! You think such trash spell can hurt me?"

Huikong stomped the ground, gliding backward with practiced ease. With a flick of his wrist, his precept knife snapped back to his side, ready to cleave this arrogant newcomer in two.

Watching from the sidelines, Li Xuanming and Liu Zhenxiong recognized the spell as well. As Foundation Establishment cultivators, they knew its fatal flaw. Powered solely by standard spiritual energy, the Yin-Fiend Demon Claw was painfully mediocre. And since the five righteous sects had long since conquered and purged all the Yin-Fiend lands, where would a Demonic Cultivator even find the pure Yin-Fiend Qi required to fuel it?

Without that dark energy, the spell was a toothless tiger.

Too slow. He won't even touch the hem of Huikong's robes, Li Xuanming thought, stifling a sigh.

The three Shengang Sect cultivators openly scoffed. Using a crippled Yin-Fiend Demon Claw in this day and age? Pathetic.

Seeing his three Shengang Sect allies step forward, Huikong waved them off with a pompous flourish. "Stay back! This humble monk shall purify this demon spawn himself!"

The ambush had bruised his ego, a humiliation that could only be washed away in blood. He gripped his precept knife, eager to split this nameless fool's skull.

Right at that moment, Chu Xuan slapped his sleeve.

A torrential tide of pure, pitch-black Yin-Fiend Qi violently erupted from his cuff. A second ago, the Yin-Fiend Demon Claw had been a hazy illusion. Now, it solidified into a terrifying, pitch-black construct of pure malice!

It crossed the hundred-foot gap in a flash, slamming shut around Huikong.

Huikong's arrogant smirk vanished, replaced by wide-eyed horror.

The giant claw violently clenched. A sickening chorus of popping and snapping echoed across the battlefield as the pressure crushed the monk's body. The bones in both of his arms shattered into jagged splinters in an instant.

"Aaaargh!" Huikong shrieked, the pious monk reduced to a squealing pig.

The agonizing scream froze everyone in their tracks. Li Xuanming, Liu Zhenxiong, and the Shengang Sect cultivators stared in disbelief. How had the tables turned in the blink of an eye? Why was Huikong suddenly trapped by a trash spell?

It was impossible!

Could it be...? Li Xuanming's gaze darted to Chu Xuan's sleeve, where wisps of dense, black mist still lingered. Realization hit him like a physical blow.

"Junior Brother Chu used standard spiritual power to form the claw first, baiting Huikong into dropping his guard," Li Xuanming muttered, awe bleeding into his voice. "The moment the monk relaxed, he injected the Yin-Fiend Qi, instantly completing the spell! And that Qi... it's incredibly pure. The resulting claw is devastating!"

Liu Zhenxiong listened, his jaw slack. Yin-Fiend Qi? Where in the hells did Chu Xuan get his hands on pure Yin-Fiend Qi?

Chu Xuan didn't pause to gloat. With Huikong immobilized by the claw, he ruthlessly summoned the Fiend Soul Chain. The black iron links whipped through the air like a striking viper, aiming straight for the monk's skull.

"Damn you! I'll tear you apart alive!" Huikong howled. The agonizing pain had stripped away every ounce of his holy facade; the 'humble monk' was gone, leaving only a rabid dog.

"Vajra Beads!" he roared, hurling his prayer beads into the air.

The string snapped. Seventy-two thumb-sized beads erupted outward, rocketing toward Chu Xuan like a barrage of golden cannonballs.

Chu Xuan raised a hand, and the Gold-Wood Shield materialized in front of him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The golden beads hammered into the shield with the deafening ring of colliding steel. The Gold-Wood Shield groaned, its surface denting under the relentless bombardment, but it held firm. To block a High Grade offensive Magical Artifact, one needed an equally powerful defense.

"A High Grade Magical Artifact?!" Liu Zhenxiong's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Hadn't Chu Xuan just recently broken through to Foundation Establishment? How did he already possess a High Grade defensive treasure?

Crack!

The Fiend Soul Chain tore through the air, inches from Huikong's face. The monk's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"Vajra Kasaya!" he shrieked in absolute terror.

The glowing golden robes that had previously suppressed Wu Teng flew back, forming a desperate canopy over Huikong's head.

SNAP.

The heavy iron chain whipped down, cleaving straight through the Middle Grade Magical Artifact as if it were wet tissue paper. The golden light shattered into a million fading sparks.

"What terrifying power! That must be Junior Brother Chu's Natal Artifact!" Liu Zhenxiong gasped, his shock compounding by the second.

"Save me! Hurry, save me!" Huikong shrieked, his voice cracking with panic.

His High Grade Vajra Beads hadn't even made the boy flinch, and his Middle Grade Vajra Kasaya had been obliterated in a single strike. If that chain hit his skull, he was a dead man!

The three Shengang Sect cultivators finally snapped out of their daze, lunging from three directions to flank Chu Xuan.

"Your fight is with us!" Li Xuanming sneered. He and Liu Zhenxiong instantly intercepted, forming a protective wall around Chu Xuan's flanks.

Li Xuanming was battered, his spiritual reserves low, and his Natal Artifact damaged, but he was still a genius of the Wuji Sect. Holding off two average cultivators was child's play.

Seeing his reinforcements blocked, Huikong's face twisted in ultimate despair. His eyes bulged as the heavy iron links of the Fiend Soul Chain blotted out his vision.

"If you dare kill me, my master will—"

The threat died in his throat.

SQUELCH.

The Fiend Soul Chain whipped down, cleaving Huikong's skull perfectly in two. A gruesome fountain of red blood and white brain matter splattered across the concrete.

Chu Xuan didn't blink at the gore. He simply raised a hand, his fingers curling into a claw. A translucent, screaming phantom—Huikong's refined living soul—was violently ripped from the monk's mangled corpse.

With a flick of his wrist, Chu Xuan fed it directly into the Fiend Soul Chain.

The artifact already housed Sun Shi's soul, which was still assimilating. Huikong's soul was undeniably stronger. The two spirits would tear each other apart inside the chain, and the victor would earn the right to become the artifact's true fiend soul. It was a perfect, ruthless recycling of resources.

Huikong's brutal execution shattered the resolve of the three Shengang Sect cultivators. Conversely, it sent Li Xuanming and Liu Zhenxiong's morale skyrocketing.

The ensuing slaughter was a mere formality. In less than a hundred breaths, the remaining Shengang Sect cultivators were butchered by the trio's combined assault.

Pant... pant...

The three men stood amidst the carnage, chests heaving as they gasped for air.

The only difference was that Li Xuanming and Liu Zhenxiong were genuinely exhausted. Chu Xuan was just putting on a show.

During the fight with Huikong, he hadn't even bothered to summon his Natal Gu insect. His trump cards remained safely hidden, and his spiritual reserves were far from empty. But standing tall and unbothered over a pile of dead elites would draw too much suspicion. It paid to look vulnerable.

"Junior Brother Chu!" Liu Zhenxiong exclaimed, wiping sweat from his brow. "There's no way you're a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator! You have to be at the second layer already, right?!"

Li Xuanming looked at Chu Xuan, his gaze complex. "Junior Brother Chu... you hid your depths very well."

Chu Xuan offered a modest, slightly weary smile. "When traveling the outside world, it pays to keep a little strength hidden. I hope you don't blame me, Senior Brother Li."

Li Xuanming nodded, his expression softening with understanding. He took a deep breath, steadying himself. "The obstacles have been cleared. Let's hurry and rescue the Patriarch."

"Understood," Chu Xuan and Liu Zhenxiong replied in unison, their voices grim and ready.

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