Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 285: Subduing [1]

Shadows moved like lightning, silent and traceless.

Fang Hao pushed the concealment effects of his Divine Spirit Steps and Ethereal Art to their absolute limit, his entire being like a ghost merging into the shadows of Evil Qi, his speed reaching the extreme, yet eerily, he did not stir a single sound of wind.

The distance of a hundred zhang was covered in an instant under his full burst of speed!

His target was clear beyond doubt—that cluster of soldier fiend spirit fire hovering beneath the aperture of the Broken Blade Cliff, slightly dim yet still radiating terrifying high temperatures and an Aura of sharpness!

Just as his figure was less than thirty zhang from the spirit fire, at the very moment he was about to touch it—

"Roar!!!"

The Soldier Soul, which had appeared listless and was turning toward the spirit fire in an attempt to stabilize its connection, suddenly let out a heaven-shaking, furious roar!

In its originally dim and hollow eye sockets, dark red flames suddenly surged, violently turning toward the direction from which Fang Hao was pouncing!

A terrifying Evil Qi, even more violent and angry than before, as if it had been thoroughly toyed with and offended, erupted like a raging sea, instantly locking onto Fang Hao!

This Soldier Soul had actually maintained a high level of vigilance all along!

Or rather, its obsession with and instinct to guard the soldier fiend spirit fire made it hold the deepest hostility toward any existence that approached the spirit fire!

Although Fang Hao’s concealment technique was exquisite, at such a close distance, facing this existence condensed from Evil Qi and obsession, which was extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations, he was discovered instantly!

"Cunning human worm! Die!!!"

A garbled yet endlessly venomous ripple of Divine Thought pierced into Fang Hao’s Sea of Consciousness like steel needles!

The Soldier Soul was thoroughly enraged; it felt it had been fooled!

First that woman, and now this worm who had previously destroyed its fiend soul crystal and escaped from under its axe, actually dared to return, and even wanted to lay a finger on its fire seed! Unforgivable!

The dim phantom of the broken axe in its hand was raised once again. This time, it was not a long-range axe beam; instead, it poured all its remaining, nearly tangible Evil Qi, the Killing Intent of weaponry, and a violent will to perish together into it, hacking down at Fang Hao’s head!

Although this axe strike had its power greatly reduced because the fiend soul crystal had been destroyed and its strength heavily depleted, the shattered axe intent of that ancient powerful being contained within it was more condensed and more resolute than before!

It seemed as if it wanted to cleave everything apart, to cut down this worm who dared to profane it, and the space itself, all at once!

Before the wind of the axe arrived, that pure, extreme will of destruction and Aura of sharpness had already made Fang Hao’s Divine Soul sting with pain, and his skin felt as if it were about to split!

He even felt that the space around him had been locked and solidified by this axe strike, making it difficult to dodge!

"Damn it! I’ve been discovered!" Fang Hao’s heart sank abruptly.

He had not expected that while the Soldier Soul appeared listless, its reactions and perception were still so sharp and violent!

Retreating now was already too late! This angry axe strike was too fast, and the lock-on was too strong!

"I have to risk it!" At this life-or-death moment, a fierce look flashed in Fang Hao’s eyes; all hesitation and calculations were cast aside, leaving only the most primal desire to survive and the madness of fighting for his life!

He no longer hid; the Aura of his Perfected Golden Core erupted, and Chaos Spiritual Power was poured into his legs without reservation. He forcibly changed direction using Divine Spirit Steps, advancing instead of retreating, and pounced toward the soldier fiend spirit fire once more!

At the same time, he communicated with the Earth Core Flame Fire deep within his Dantian, and a scorching, heavy, and extremely Yang and rigid Aura of flame faintly rose within his body!

He had to touch the soldier fiend spirit fire before the Soldier Soul’s giant axe reached him! This was his only chance of survival, and it was the goal of his trip!

Thirty zhang! Twenty zhang! Ten zhang!

The Soldier Soul’s giant axe, carrying a grayish-black, destructive light, had already descended upon Fang Hao’s head!

That terrifying pressure caused blood to seep from Fang Hao’s seven orifices, his entire skeleton groaned under the unbearable weight, and his internal organs felt as if they were being squeezed to the point of shattering!

Five zhang!

Fang Hao could even feel the freezing Killing Intent radiating from the edge of that giant axe, intent that could freeze the Soul!

Three zhang! The spirit fire’s flames, intertwined with dark red and platinum, twisting and leaping, were now within reach. He could even feel the terrifying high temperature contained within the flames, capable of melting gold and iron, and the sharpness that could tear the Divine Soul apart!

"Now!" Fang Hao roared in his heart. His left hand lunged forward, not to grab the spirit fire itself, but to deliver a fierce punch toward a scorched, inconspicuous rock at the edge of the aperture of the Broken Blade Cliff, beneath the spirit fire, which was emitting faint spatial fluctuations!

That was a subtle anomaly he had discovered while lurking and observing earlier, relying on his powerful Divine Sense and keen perception of energy fluctuations via his Chaos Spiritual Power.

That rock seemed to be a weak node between the soldier fiend spirit fire and the Evil Qi seal of this place, and it was also the weakest point of the connection between the spirit fire and the cliff wall.

Crimson Phoenix had previously attempted to forcibly collect it by pulling from above, which had triggered the spirit fire itself and the Soldier Soul.

But Fang Hao did the opposite; what he wanted to attack was the "root" of the connection between the spirit fire, this Broken Blade Cliff, and the seal of this ancient battlefield!

His punch landed, Chaos Spiritual Power fused with the strength of his Physical Body’s blood and Qi, carrying an unstoppable momentum as it slammed into that scorched rock!

Almost at the same instant, the Soldier Soul’s giant axe, containing a will of destruction, also hacked down onto Fang Hao’s back!

Boom!!!

First came the muffled sound of his fist hitting the rock, followed immediately by the terrifying explosion of the giant axe hacking into flesh!

Crack!

Under Fang Hao’s full-force blow, that scorched rock was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and a chaotic, violent surge of spatial fluctuations and turbulent Evil Qi gushed out from within!

And the cluster of soldier fiend spirit fire above, as if a crucial connection had been severed, shuddered violently, its light flickering intensely, and its form even appeared to twist and dissipate for an instant!

"Roar—!!!"

The Soldier Soul let out a roar of pain, anger, and a hint of terror!

Although its giant axe had struck Fang Hao’s back squarely, a piece of seemingly ordinary gray inner armor worn next to his skin suddenly erupted with blinding golden light!

At the same time, beneath Fang Hao’s skin, jade-like golden light and platinum sharpness circulated crazily, forming a second layer of defense!

This was Fang Hao’s trump card for defense—a tattered gold-thread inner armor obtained from a mysterious Legacy, along with the peerlessly strong Physical Body he had attained after "Golden Qi Marrow Cleansing"!

Pfft!

The golden light dimmed instantly, the inner armor groaned under the unbearable weight, and a deep axe mark appeared on its surface!

Immediately afterward, Fang Hao’s protective spiritual light and physical defense were broken layer by layer, and a terrifying wound, deep enough to see bone, slashing diagonally from his right shoulder to his left waist, instantly appeared on his back!

Blood sprayed out like a fountain, even mixed with fragments of internal organs and specks of platinum luster!

Intense pain! Unspeakable, intense pain instantly engulfed Fang Hao!

He felt as if his spine, ribs, and internal organs had all been severed by this axe!

If not for that tattered inner armor and his powerful Physical Body after "Golden Qi Marrow Cleansing," as well as him slightly turning his body at the last moment to avoid vital points, this axe would have been enough to split him in two!

But even so, this was the most severe external injury he had ever sustained since embarking on the path of cultivation! His life Aura instantly weakened to the extreme!

However, in Fang Hao’s eyes, there was no fear or despair; instead, a trace of nearly insane determination and... a glimmer of success flashed!

Because he had gambled correctly!

That scorched rock had been destroyed, the connection between the soldier fiend spirit fire and the Broken Blade Cliff seal had been briefly severed and disrupted, and the spirit fire itself had experienced a momentary loss of control and dissipation!

The Soldier Soul, due to its deep connection with the spirit fire and the seal of this place, had also been implicated; its illusory figure shook violently, becoming even more transparent. After hacking out that axe strike, its Aura plummeted, and the phantom of the broken axe in its hand almost dissipated—it had clearly suffered a backlash!

It was precisely this extremely brief stiffness and weakness brought about by the backlash!

"Absorb!"

Fang Hao endured the intense pain and weakness that threatened to drown his consciousness. Borrowing the tremendous force of the giant axe’s strike, his entire body flew forward like a broken sack, landing right upon that cluster of soldier fiend spirit fire, which was momentarily dissipated and "dazed" because its connection had been severed!

He opened his mouth—not using a storage Magic Treasure, nor a jade bottle, but the most primitive, most direct, and most dangerous method—he opened his mouth and inhaled!

He pushed his Chaos Spiritual Power to the limit, forming a powerful suction force, mixed with the Aura of his own essence blood, and slammed it toward the cluster of soldier fiend spirit fire!

At the same time, he frantically drove the Earth Core Flame Fire within his Dantian!

Feeling the external threat and Fang Hao’s will, the Earth Core Flame Fire suddenly rose from his Dantian, transforming into a scorching crimson-yellow fire dragon. It surged along his Meridians, rushed out of Fang Hao’s mouth, and actively met the cluster of soldier fiend spirit fire, which was being pulled by the suction and was instinctively resisting!

The Earth Core Flame Fire, extremely Yang and rigid, heavy and majestic, was the life-bound spirit fire that Fang Hao had long since refined and connected with his mind!

The soldier fiend spirit fire, fusing Evil Qi and weaponry, sharp and violent, was a peerless fire seed that was ownerless but contained a trace of Dao intent from an ancient powerful being!

Two clusters of Heaven and Earth spirit fire, with vastly different properties yet both incomparably tyrannical, collided violently in front of and within Fang Hao’s mouth!

Sizzle!!!

There was no heaven-shaking explosion, only a piercing sound like cold water dripping into boiling oil, and like ten thousand swords clashing!

Crimson-yellow and dark red-platinum lights intertwined, devoured, and clashed madly!

An indescribable, scorching storm and sharp Aura, capable of burning the Soul of a Golden Core Cultivator to ash, erupted from the center of the collision!

"Argh—!"

Fang Hao bore the brunt of it; his entire being felt as if he had been thrown into a furnace and a mountain of blades!

His mouth, throat, esophagus, and even his internal organs instantly felt the intense pain of being burned and cut!

The Earth Core Flame Fire was his life-bound fire, so he could still barely control it, but the violent power of the soldier fiend spirit fire was like a wild horse off its leash, frantically impacting and destroying his body!

If not for the fact that he had just completed "Golden Qi Marrow Cleansing," greatly increasing his physical strength, and had the protection of his Chaos Spiritual Power, he would likely have been burned to ash and cut into pieces from the inside out by this violent firepower the moment they made contact!

"Suppress! Merge!"

Fang Hao roared in his heart; blood was seeping from his seven orifices, and his consciousness was beginning to blur, but he desperately held onto the last shred of clarity in his Sea of Consciousness, frantically circulating the Chaos Derivation Art!

The Chaos Spiritual Liquid in his Dantian spun frantically, surging out streams of pure Chaos Spiritual Power to wrap around the two flames that were raging and clashing within his body!

At the same time, the Chaos vortex in his Sea of Consciousness also radiated a stable, all-encompassing Concept, forcibly suppressing the pain and Chaos generated by the collision of the two fires, which threatened to tear his Divine Soul apart!

Chaos Derivation Art, evolving all things, inclusive and all-encompassing!

At this moment, Fang Hao was using this supreme technique to forcibly reconcile, guide, and refine these two clusters of Heaven and Earth spirit fire!

The Chaos Spiritual Power was like an adhesive, and also like a millstone, slowly penetrating and wrapping around the two flames, attempting to pull them together and merge them.

However, the soldier fiend spirit fire was immensely violent; even having lost part of its connection with the Broken Blade Cliff seal and having undergone depletion, its essential violence and unruliness were not so easily subdued.

It struggled frantically, releasing sharp Evil Qi fire energy to clash with the Earth Core Flame Fire, and also impacting Fang Hao’s Meridians and Dantian.

Fang Hao’s body became the battlefield for the clash of the two spirit fires!

Beneath his skin, crimson-yellow light would flare, and then dark red-platinum light would shine through; his entire being was like an unstable furnace, ready to explode at any moment!

The terrifying wound on his back was further impacted by this violent firepower, causing blood to spray wildly, and his injuries worsened further!

"Roar!!!"

In the distance, the Soldier Soul finally recovered from the backlash. Seeing that Fang Hao had actually swallowed the soldier fiend spirit fire (even though it was a clash of two fires), it let out a roar of extreme anger!

Ignoring its own even more illusory state, it brandished the broken axe, whipped up the remaining Evil Qi, and was about to pounce again to tear this audacious worm, who had dared to "swallow" the fire seed, to shreds!

Fang Hao was now in a desperate situation, beset by trouble from both within and without!

Outside, a furious Soldier Soul was about to kill him; inside, the Earth Core Flame Fire and the soldier fiend spirit fire were clashing violently; his Physical Body was on the verge of collapse, and his Divine Soul was swaying in intense pain!

Life and death hung by a thread.