C379 Charge Tiger's Cave!

"You're shamelessly boasting!"

Su Yin rose abruptly, stepping forward to confront Yu Yuan head-on.

A series of pops echoed as his physique seemed to swell in an instant, his stature growing by a few inches.

Grayish-yellow spiritual energy, murky like a cloud of dust, emanated from within him.

On his neck, veins bulged like sinister evil dragons, starkly visible beneath his skin.

Su Yin's hands, initially relaxed, suddenly clenched into fists, glowing as if clutching two orbs of yellow light, with strands of golden liquid shimmering through his fingers.

Sneering at Yu Yuan, Su Yin bared his teeth in a strange laugh and taunted, "So you've stepped into the Golden Sanctum? Impressive! And you dare to claim you'll keep them safe? Kid, who do you think you are? Are you even aware of the current state of the empire?"

As Su Yin took the lead, Lin Hanyu, with his brooding demeanor, leaned against a stone pillar, his composure returning.

Van Chaoguan of the Van family, with a playful smirk, appraised Yu Yuan. Turning to the spirited female general beside him, he remarked, "This young master of the Yu family seems to fall short of his reputation. Is his mind still not quite right? What grounds does he, or the Yu family, have to make waves and shift the empire's momentum?"

The Lee family was being purged, and the empire was on the brink of renaming. Van Chaoguan believed Yu Yuan was clueless about the inner workings, yet he had the audacity to make empty promises of rescuing Lee Yuchan and Lee Yu. It was laughably foolish.

The female general, her form ensnared by golden threads, had eyes like ice crystals from the depths of the Frozen Hellscape.

Her lips curled into a frosty smirk, yet she remained silent.

"Su Yin, isn't it? I've heard it's always been you, meddling in the shadows, sabotaging our relations with the Su family," Yu Yuan said, digging at his ear with a pinky finger and tilting his head with a dismissive sneer. "Who do you think you are? Su Xiangtian? Even he wouldn't dare talk to me like this in the Moonfall Sanctuary or the Forgotten Ruins."

When Su Xiangtian found himself in the Moonfall Sanctuary and the Forgotten Ruins, he indeed assumed a more humble posture in the presence of his counterpart.

Within the Moonfall Sanctuary, wielding the might of the Soulforge Matrix, he commanded the Soulforge Pool, granting him near absolute power over life and death for those not yet at the Spirit Walk level.

Surely, Su Xiangtian understood the stakes.

In the Forgotten Ruins, it was he who manipulated the sword spirit and sword's will, quelling the residual souls and consciousness of the Shura from the Dark Realm, thwarting the schemes of the Empress and the General.

What role did Su Xiangtian play?

When the tide turned against them, he led Su Yan and others from the Abyssal Dawn, including Yang Yinquan, to withdraw discreetly.

And yet, the Blackfang Legion slaughtered many of the Abyssal Dawn's cultivators, with Yang Yinquan himself meeting his end in the Forgotten Ruins.

As the helmsman of the Su family within the empire, and the chosen leader endorsed by Su Kui and Su Kang, Su Xiangtian always lowered his stance in his presence. And yet, Su Yin dared to be so insolent?

"Haha, it's only because he's not here. If he were not at the Keep but right here, would you still dare to speak so boldly?" Su Yin pointed at Yu Yuan, laughing uproariously.

As he laughed, streaks of grayish-yellow light burst forth from his fingertips.

Five beams of grayish-yellow light formed into tiny arrows, hurtling toward Yu Yuan's chest.

Lin Hanyu and Van Chaoguan paused, their expressions shifting.

Here in Asvetaesi, with the Yu family being a prominent clan, Su Yin's unprovoked attack on Yu Yuan was rash.

"Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!"

The beams struck true, igniting sparks and producing dull thuds against Yu Yuan's chest.

It was then that Su Yin's eerie, composed laughter echoed, "There's no need for alarm. Times have changed! The empire is in disarray! Dynastic change often comes with a bloody purge. It's hardly unusual for families to fall and people to perish."

"Who has the time to concern themselves with the fate of a minor family's scion?"

As Su Yin finished speaking, his face took on an icy demeanor.

Lin Hanyu and Van Chaoguan appeared to have an epiphany upon hearing his words.

Upon reflection, they both realized he was correct.

In the past, when Lee Yupan reigned as Empress and the Silvermoon Empire was stable, the major families coexisted peacefully, each minding their own business, and the established order was respected. If Su Yin had acted so recklessly then, the Emperor would have surely held him accountable.

But now, with the empire in disarray and no new ruler crowned, who would bother with a minor death in Asvetaesi?

"Veil Breaking, the middle period of cultivation, tsk tsk..."

Yu Yuan examined his chest, feeling the penetration of the five streams of spiritual energy and the subsequent damage to his flesh, and couldn't help but shake his head with a chuckle. "I remember asking you about your last visit to our Yu family; you were at the same level of cultivation—middle period of Veil Breaking. It's been over a year, and you've made no progress."

Su Yin's expression grew darker.

At that moment, both Van Chaoguan and Lin Hanyu narrowed their eyes, intently observing the area around his chest.

Five points of light had torn through his black clothing, burrowing into his skin as if possessed.

Sparks of spiritual light scattered, with tiny yellow fragments igniting the skin around them.

Yet Yu Yuan showed no sign of pain. He glanced at his chest and continued to taunt Su Yin, "A year ago, I had only just begun my true cultivation journey, merely at the Spirit Channel."

Su Yin snorted dismissively, "And what of it?"

"I'm saying you're truly unremarkable. Forget comparing yourself to me; you're not even in the same league as Su Xiangtian!" Yu Yuan said with a smirk.

His words implied that he was superior to Su Xiangtian, and by extension, far beyond Su Yin.

"Think being one realm higher means you can easily defeat me? Kill me? That's truly laughable!"

With a thunderous boom, Su Yin's form vibrated intensely, as if a dense aura of malevolence erupted from every pore on his body.

Under the operation of the Evil Body Refining Technique, the dissipated Qi of evil spirits from the Forgotten Ruins began to emanate from his skin, meridians, and acupoints. This energy, drawn together by the dark arts, coalesced into form.

Even he was taken aback by this development. Unbeknownst to him, while refining his Golden Sanctum abilities on the island ruled by Yu Zhu, he had inadvertently absorbed copious amounts of chaotic and violent psionic power from the overwhelming spiritual energy of the world, which had integrated into his flesh, blood, and bones, serving as sustenance for the Evil Body Refining.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

At the mere impulse of his mind, eerie glows of gray, brown, and deep purple abruptly merged into tumultuous clusters of spiritual energy, hurtling towards Su Yin.

Yu Yuan chuckled under his breath and seized the moment to advance.

Nine dazzling lights momentarily bloomed in his lower elixir field.

In the blink of an eye, Yu Yuan, propelled as if by divine assistance, surged forward with the force of a rainbow, his presence cascading towards Su Yin like a luminous waterfall.

Caught off guard by the onslaught of gray, brown, and dark purple lights, Su Yin scrambled to conjure a shield of grayish-yellow spiritual energy. Barely managing to fend off the assault of the Evil Body Refining's spontaneously generated evil Qi, he was suddenly blindsided by a surge of ferocious energy.

There was no time to react!

With a thunderous crash, Su Yin's bones, freshly fortified by the Marsh-Forged Physique, shattered under the impact.

His shoulder bones fractured, nearly half of them splintering upon impact.

To Su Yin, it felt as though a primordial beast had been unleashed, charging headlong at him.

"Awoo!"

With a guttural growl, Yu Yuan's shoulders burst forth with radiant light, swiftly absorbing the strange gray, brown, and dark purple energies and forcibly amassing them into a "Bane"—a demonic entity with a twisted visage, an aura of sheer malevolence, and a form boasting three heads and six arms.

In the realm of the Golden Sanctum, spiritual energy could overflow and transmute into evil spirits and Qi, becoming a demon—a Bane. This was the inherent magical power of the Evil Body Refining Technique.

The one-meter-tall "Bane," agile as a civet, lunged at Su Yin, skimming over his head and deftly sliding down the back of his neck.

Van Chaoguan and Lin Hanyu, positioned behind Su Yin, witnessed the Bane's descent, during which Su Yin's neck was streaming with blood. It appeared as though his skin had been sliced open by a keen blade.

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