Chapter 5
1012 Words
The Myriad Flames Seal
In that instant, Lu Xi realized with a jolt that this palm strike of his, which he had thought inevitable, had been blocked by Fan Xueli!
Not merely blocked—Fan Xueli was radiating a fierce, chaotic aura that pierced the heavens like a roaring dragon, shoving aside Lu Xi's hands with explosive force and slamming into his chest!
At this blow, the servants all stood frozen, mouths agape. How could this be possible?
"Wah!" Lu Xi spat out several mouthfuls of blood upon impact, staring at Fan Xueli before him in utter disbelief.
How could it be? His opponent had somehow cultivated to the pinnacle of the Fleshly Body Third Realm—Bone Forging—and his vital energy burned even more vigorously and powerfully than Lu Xi's own?
To hide such depths! He had never imagined it!
With just this single strike, Lu Xi had suffered no small injury!
It seemed he would have to force his hand and play his trump card!
Malice lurked in Lu Xi's eyes, though he deliberately twisted his face into one of feigned terror. "Seventh Young Master, I yield! I'll return your mother's soul to you!"
Once a soul was extracted and fused into an array, it was shattered beyond repair, with no hope of resurrection—but he trusted that this offer would make Fan Xueli hesitate, buying him the opening he needed!
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lu Xi bit through his lip, spraying a mouthful of blood onto the turtle shell before him. In an instant, countless malevolent spirits coalesced into solid form, flickering into existence and swarming the hall with clawing, writhing fury, enveloping it in a dense shroud.
Not just Fan Xueli—even the servants were caught in the encirclement.
This was the Blood Ghost Technique, infusing these vengeful spirits with blood to grant them temporary corporeality. Even beneath the blazing sun, they could persist for a brief span. Lu Xi had once used it to slay a warrior of the Fleshly Body Fourth Realm, so he was certain that under this assault, Fan Xueli would be torn asunder by the horde!
At this, the servants' hearts filled with shock and uncertainty. They had never seen ghosts manifest as flesh and blood, and now these spirits charged at them without distinction between friend and foe. Their faces drained to ashen pallor.
In the span of a dazed breath, the servants were all slaughtered into fragments by the**.
Blood splashed across the floor.
Even the temple guard who had once betrayed Fan Xueli had his courage shattered; he collapsed to the ground. But alas, he too was swiftly ripped into four or five pieces, his flesh utterly devoured.
In this moment, a sinister smile curled at the corners of Lu Xi's mouth. This surprise strike had seized the initiative; the momentum was his now. Fan Xueli was as good as dead!
Yet he noticed that even as the servants fell one by one, Fan Xueli remained utterly unaffected by the spirits, as if still gathering his strength.
"Even at death's door, you posture?" Lu Xi pinched his fingers into a mudra, channeling every drop of his blood essence to drive the** fully around Fan Xueli.
Under this onslaught, that mortal frame of flesh and blood would surely meet its doom.
"With your Blood Ghost Technique alone?" Fan Xueli's gaze gleamed with a stern, murderous intent. Then, drawing a deep breath, he unleashed a palm strike that rent the firmament. Between heaven and earth, he traced a perfect circle before sweeping it forth!
As if sun and moon blazed in his palm, birthing ten thousand flames!
The Myriad Flames Seal!
This seal was notoriously difficult to master, capable of summoning myriad fires to purge all evils—the foremost among the hand seals of alchemy grandmasters. It served not only in forging elixirs but, in battle, unleashed devastating might.
Its greatest power lay in wielding the intent of thunder, shattering myriad evils and ghosts alike!
One seal struck, and ten thousand ghosts perished!
This very seal was the cornerstone of Fan Xueli's confidence, for upon breaking through to the Fleshly Body Third Realm, he could wield five-tenths of its potency.
Of course, the backlash from such a seal was immense; even now, unleashing it once would leave him depleted for a long while before his essence and spirit could recover.
Fan Xueli's strike not only cleaved through the throng of spirits, scattering them into wisps of dissipating smoke, but pressed onward relentlessly, crashing into Lu Xi's chest!
Lu Xi offered almost no resistance before being struck full force, a gaping wound torn across his chest, his heart shattered within.
"Heavens, what manner of seal is this—so terrifying!" In that moment, Lu Xi rasped out his final words in agony and shock: "Your mother's soul is still in my grasp—how dare you kill me?"
Then he toppled to the ground with a thunderous crash, eyes wide in death's unyielding stare.
Gazing upon Lu Xi's corpse, a glint of icy chill flickered in Fan Xueli's eyes. He had long seen through the clumsiness of Lu Xi's soul-extraction rite; his mother's severed soul fragment had been crudely incinerated from the start, leaving no path to reclamation. And if he spared the man now, endless troubles would follow.
As an alchemy grandmaster, he knew rites to rebirth a soul.
But such methods were profoundly arduous, demanding several strains of exceedingly rare herbs.
Unbidden, his gaze turned northward, toward Taiyin Mountain.
There, eternal chill reigned, skies sealed in ice and snow; those who entered faced ten deaths for every life spared—a forbidden ground within a hundred li of these parts.
And it was in such frozen wastes that those rare herbs took root.
Fan Xueli wasted no time. Enduring the exhaustion in his limbs, he splashed lamp oil around the room, dousing the chief steward and his attendants, then set ablaze the surrounding draperies and vines.
- Writer
