C613 I Am Ming Kun!
As night deepened over the Great Swamp, a dazzling orb of light materialized above the mist-shrouded expanse. Successive orbs coalesced at Yan Qiling's command, forming a radiant ring that sent terrifying ripples throughout the vicinity, warping the landscape as if it were a shaken tapestry.
The emergence of this resplendent ring triggered spatial disturbances, making the earth undulate as though it were a carpet being lifted. Every Demonic Beast not driven away by the Big Devil staggered and swayed within its reach. It mattered not whether they were grounded or airborne; the violent tremors of both sky and earth spared no one.
From above, an observer would see the heart of the Desolate Swamp enveloped in dense fog, spinning into chaos as if heralding an impending catastrophe. Those caught within its grip found their very souls whirling, their life forces thrown into disarray, leaving them uncertain of their own identities.
The only ones unaffected were those who managed to escape through the fog's breaches, like Yu Yuan and Yan Qiling, who found refuge beneath the clouds outside.
Yan Qiling, initially devoid of confidence, found his spirits lifted as his spellcasting resonated with the Great Swamp. His Dao Arts flowed effortlessly, shaping reality with ease. For the first time, he harnessed the spatial secrets he had unlocked and his own power to forge a spatial corridor.
Such a pathway, a transient conduit within the Boundless Land, was simpler to create than a permanent space teleportation array. While a completed teleportation array would stand unchanging and stable, a temporary spatial corridor was fraught with instability and hazards, its creation a delicate feat.
During space transfer, any misstep could result in catastrophic collapse or a fatal misdirection. The corridor could fracture in an instant, dooming those in transit.
Yan Qiling had been doubtful, pressed into action by Yu Yuan, casting his spell with a heavy heart and little hope.
As he enacted the ritual, he felt an overwhelming sense of unity with the cosmos, a rush of excitement coursing through him.
"Desolate God!"
With the support of the land's master, his confidence surged exponentially!
He was aware that success would catapult his grasp of spatial powers forward by leaps and bounds, with future breakthroughs reaping the benefits.
Watching the dazzling ring of light solidify and the vibrations within ripple through the realm, a smile involuntarily spread across Yan Qiling's face.
Hua! Hua!
The cold moonbeams, drawn to the evil statue's material, cascaded from the full moon above.
To Yan Qiling, the statue's forward-facing visage remained benign and innocuous, its spellwork soothing to the soul.
Abruptly, the hand on the statue's reverse side began to shift subtly.
The wooden figure at the chest cavity vanished in an instant.
In its stead, a menacing statue, exuding an aura of annihilation, emerged within a stone hollow at the same location, its visage twisted with malevolence.
The Evil Statue's eyes, deep and shadowy, seemed to fixate on a distant point.
Whoosh!
Yu Yuan, wielding the Evil Cauldron, shifted his stance in a flash, positioning himself behind the statue.
The Evil Cauldron came to rest upon the statue's left shoulder.
Miles away, an elder from the Ghoul Glyph Sect, having fled the Sword Prison, ventured through the mist with his guides in tow.
The elder, his skin etched with ghoul glyphs, moved with deliberate steps, the markings on his body subtly transforming.
The glyphs morphed from patterns symbolizing fortitude, defense, and soul consolidation into arrays with unique and intricate functions.
In the dead of night, his body adorned with these spectral symbols, he emanated an eerie glow that sent shivers down the spine.
The Ghoul Glyph Sect guides, witnessing the transformation of the glyphs, looked on in awe.
To adapt the glyphs on one's flesh to the environment was a feat of mystical mastery.
The glyphs had to be in perfect harmony with one's Qi, blood, and spiritual power, finely tuned by the soul's intent to alter their paths.
Such skill had only been observed in the Ghoul Glyph Sect's current Sect Master.
Before them stood someone who had broken free from the Sword Prison, a master of the ghoul glyphs, manifesting them in the most intricate and magical ways that earned their deep respect.
"I..."
Abruptly, the elder who had been fine-tuning his ghoul glyphs seized his own throat in a vice-like grip.
The Ghoul Glyph Sect's escorts watched in horror as he appeared to lose his sanity, strangling himself with such force that they were frozen in confusion.
"Crack!"
The Ghoul Glyph Sect's malevolent figure had snapped his own neck.
Whoosh!
A master and two servants emerged as three soul lights burst from the brow of the fallen demon, transforming into the main soul, the Yin God, and the Yang God.
Once freed from the mortal coil, the three souls, gripped by terror, split and scattered in different directions.
"Hehe."
A one-eyed elder emerged from the mist with a wry smile. "Allow me to introduce myself; I am Ming Kun."
One eye socket was empty, as if the eye had been gouged out, while the other blazed like a fiery red sun, emitting waves of heat that threatened to melt the soul.
"Why run?"
The one-eyed elder's grin widened as he squinted his crimson eye at the fleeing souls of the Ghoul Glyph Sect's demon.
In an instant, the escaping souls were enveloped as if by three suns.
Inside the three souls of the Ghoul Glyph Sect's adept, tiny flecks of Sun Essence Fire sparked to life, the intense flames burning and distilling the purest soul power.
With a single inhalation, Ming Kun consumed the refined soul power of the burning Ghoul Glyph Sect demon.
As the Ghoul Glyph Sect's guides were paralyzed with fear, Ming Kun casually struck here and there.
Those who had attained the Yin God Stage were as fragile as paper before him, either crushed into a pulp or their souls shattered. In mere moments, all were extinguished.
Ming Kun, the one-eyed elder who went by the name, stood amidst the blood-soaked corpses, eyes closed for a brief moment.
The blood on the ground, along with the souls scorched by the Sun Essence Fire, transformed into the purest essence of soul power and vital energy, swirling into his body like luminescent fireflies.
Shortly thereafter, he let out a satisfied belch and vanished into thin air.
In an instant.
The one-eyed elder traversed three hundred miles across the sky, materializing abruptly just one meter away from the Yin Corpse King.
"Looking for me?"
The Chaos Roc flashed a wide grin and chuckled. With an upward gesture, he yanked downwards with force.
The Yin Corpse King's body was cleaved in two, from head to toe. As his corpse power sparked like pale lightning, weaving through his organs, not a drop of blood was shed.
The soul of the Yin Corpse King, tinged with the essence of death, hovered bewilderedly in the center of his bisected form.
It seemed the Yin Corpse King had yet to comprehend what had just occurred.
"Hmm, this cultivation technique is rather intriguing."
The Starry Behemoth, self-proclaimed as Ming Kun, reached into the death-enshrouded chest cavity of the Yin Corpse King, extracting a miniature universe teeming with graveyards, deeply imbued with Yin energy, as if countless skeletons lay buried within. "A cemetery has been crafted within the central dantian, a storehouse for corpses. It's a novelty to me."
While musing, the Chaos Roc reconsidered and with a single finger, touched the floating soul of the Yin Corpse King.
Sssst!
He severed numerous, nearly imperceptible threads, each imbued with the profound mysteries of the soul.
"From now on, you'll follow me obediently."
Approaching, the Chaos Roc placed its hands on either side of the Yin Corpse King's sundered body, pressing them together as one would close a clamshell, forcefully rejoining the halves. The Yin Corpse King's form was made whole once more.
His expression rigid, the Yin Corpse King felt a sudden lightness in his soul sea, as if the invisible bindings had been loosened.
Sssst! Sssst! Sssst!
It was then that a fierce barrage of sword light and intent streaked across the heavens.
"Compared to the depths of the Ember Waters and the Crack Archipelago, the might of this sword light has increased more than a hundredfold," the Chaos Roc muttered, ducking its head. "That's something I dare not provoke."
In the blink of an eye, it had contracted by a thousand miles, leaving not even a shadow behind.
