99: Arrest

As his feet touched the ground, Jiang Xun felt a wave of nausea.

The ground was soft.

It felt like stepping on some kind of breathing, warm internal organ.

Before he could react, the soil beneath him suddenly surged, and dark red mist erupted from the cracks.

The red mist instantly wrapped around his ankles.

It was ice-cold.

Jiang Xun tried to pull his legs away, but the red mist had already climbed up his calves. Wherever it passed, his skin felt like it was being pierced by countless fine needles simultaneously, both numb and painful.

“Ugh!”

He let out a muffled groan and dropped to one knee.

More red mist poured in from all directions, wrapping around him in layers like a living thing.

His vision quickly turned red and dark, until finally, only a thick, dark red remained.

He felt as if he had been thrown into a pool of blood, every breath taking in a mouthful of metallic sweetness.

“Aaaah!”

A cry of agony echoed through the forest.

Jiang Xun clutched his head with both hands, nails digging deep into his scalp as his body convulsed and rolled uncontrollably.

The red mist seeped into his mouth, nose, ears, and even through his pores into his body.

“Heh... heh...”

He appeared to be in extreme pain.

From time to time, he rolled around on the ground.

At that moment, a voice came from underground.

Cold and dry.

“If you had stayed in the tree, I would have had to expend some effort. I didn't expect you to jump into my stomach yourself; it certainly saves me the trouble.”

The voice carried undisguised pleasure:

“Be good, don't struggle. Soon... soon it won't hurt anymore.”

Jiang Xun curled up on the ground like a shrimp cooked in boiling water.

The red mist had already wrapped him into a cocoon, and the human figure inside could be seen twitching weakly.

The screams turned into intermittent whimpers.

“Spare... spare me...” a voice came from within the cocoon, slurred and indistinct. “I don't want to die...”

“Hehe! Then give up your resistance.”

The underground voice drew closer. “I promise, I'll let you die without any pain at all.”

Two feet in front of the red cocoon, the ground began to bulge.

The soil parted, and more red mist poured out, thicker and more viscous than the surrounding mist, like a mass of congealing plasma.

The mist slowly rotated and contracted, gradually outlining a human silhouette.

Then, it solidified.

It was a lean, gaunt young man.

His eye sockets were sunken, his cheekbones high, and his entire face looked as if it were covered in a layer of deathly gray.

Heavy dark shadows circled his eyes, as if someone had painted them with thick ink, making those eyes appear exceptionally sinister.

Blood Refining Old Monster, Chen Qing.

His lower body was still underground as he stood before the red cocoon, leaning over to inspect it, his Adam's apple bobbing.

“What fine material!”

He admired, “An ordinary Cultivator would have turned into blood in a dozen breaths. This one can actually still breathe.”

He stuck out his tongue and licked his upper lip.

“The thicker the foundation, the better the flavor.”

Chen Qing loved this feeling.

Watching these Cultivators, who had cultivated for many years to refine their flesh and blood, eventually struggle and wail like insects under his feet before becoming part of his cultivation.

He couldn't be more excited.

This was much more interesting than mere killing.

Chen Qing was practicing his own Dao.

Cultivation was about devouring, possessing, and turning others' efforts and Opportunity into one's own nourishment.

Cultivation was about competing and snatching; that's what made it interesting!

Jiang Xun had stopped moving.

Chen Qing drew closer and closer.

To prevent any accidents, he had specifically used the red mist to seal the jade token in Jiang Xun's robes.

He didn't want to be disturbed by that Li Chenguang of the Ziyang Sect while enjoying his feast.

Only delicacies had this privilege.

He leaned in.

Half a foot.

Three inches.

When he was only a fist's distance from the red cocoon, he could clearly hear the faint breathing inside and smell the unique sweet, metallic scent emitted when flesh and blood were eroded by the red mist.

He reached out, fingers splayed, preparing to pierce the cocoon.

He was somewhat impatient.

The blood melted this time would surely be delicious.

The cocoon exploded.

But it burst from the inside!

“Not good!”

A piercing blue light instantly tore through the red mist, heading straight for Chen Qing's face!

Chen Qing's pupils shrank.

He reacted extremely quickly, instinctively tilting his head. The blue light grazed his cheek, leaving a frozen bloodstain on his face.

It was a longsword emitting blue light.

The cold Qi from the blade was terrifying.

Immediately after, a figure charged out from the shattered red cocoon.

Like a Rebirth from a cocoon.

It was Jiang Xun.

Red mist also emanated from him, but its color was different from Chen Qing's dark red; it was a more vibrant, more violent crimson.

But at this moment, it was suppressed to within an inch of his skin.

That was the blood mist stimulated by the Sin Sea Manifesting Demon Art, now forcibly suppressed by the ice phoenix bone and boiling within his Meridians.

Jiang Xun breathed a huge sigh of relief inwardly.

The red mist released by Chen Qing carried dense negative energy—aggregates of resentment and Evil Qi—which happened to be exactly what the Sin Sea Manifesting Demon Art loved to consume.

But if he let the blood mist in his body keep eating, Jiang Xun really wouldn't be able to suppress it.

Fortunately, Chen Qing arrived just in time.

It wasn't for nothing that he had rolled all over the ground; he had finally lured this Blood Refining Old Monster out.

“I've been waiting for you for a long time.”

Jiang Xun grinned.

With a copper mask on the left side of his face and blood mist on the right, he looked even more like a malevolent ghost when he smiled.

The han hong sword was in his hand.

The blade was azure blue, overflowing with cold Qi, and the surrounding air instantly condensed into fine red ice crystals.

With a flick of his wrist, Jiang Xun thrust the sword tip straight at Chen Qing's throat!

Fast!

Chen Qing's reaction was even faster.

He tapped his toe against the ground, moving as if in water, his figure sliding backward rapidly, but the sword tip still pursued him.

Jiang Xun changed the thrust to a slash, pressing the blade down.

“Crack!”

The blade hacked into Chen Qing's left shoulder, getting stuck on the collarbone.

Flesh was sliced open, and the bone made a crisp sound as it froze and cracked.

The cold Qi of the han hong sword surged wildly through the wound, and Chen Qing's entire left arm was instantly covered in a layer of white frost.

“You!”

Chen Qing was filled with shock and rage, his eyes staring fixedly at Jiang Xun. “Foundation Establishment?! How could you possibly be at Foundation Establishment?!”

Jiang Xun didn't answer.

Using the Hidden Luo Art alone was still insufficient, but the blood mist of the Sin Sea Manifesting Demon Art could consume the residual spiritual power on his body's surface.

It allowed the aura he released and the spiritual power he emitted to remain at the Qi Refining level.

Without careful investigation, it was indeed difficult to discover.

However, Chen Qing didn't need to know that.

He gripped the sword with both hands and pressed down hard, wanting to cleave Chen Qing in two.

But the bones of a Golden Core Cultivator were too hard; the blade was stuck in the gap between the bones and couldn't be pulled out for a moment.

A fierce light flashed in Chen Qing's eyes.

He raised his right palm, blood-red light gathering in his palm, and slammed it hard against Jiang Xun's chest!

“Bang!!”

Jiang Xun flew backward like a broken kite, snapping three trees as thick as two people's embrace before slamming heavily onto the ground.

A metallic taste filled his throat, and blood welled up from the corner of his mouth. His chest felt as if it had been crushed by a giant boulder, yet his bones were not broken.

Chen Qing took the Opportunity to retreat.

His body began to blur, intending to turn back into red mist and dive into the ground.

This was his life-saving technique; as long as he dove underground, he could escape instantly.

“Trying to run?”

Jiang Xun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and forcibly swallowed the metallic taste rising in his throat.

He formed a hand seal with one hand, and a blue light flashed at his fingertip.

The han hong sword stuck in Chen Qing's shoulder suddenly vibrated!

The blade emitted a clear, high-pitched hum, and the cold Qi erupted once more.

Chen Qing's body stiffened, and the process of turning into mist was interrupted.

Immediately after, the han hong sword carried his entire person soaring into the sky!

“Whoosh!”

The sword light trailed a red and blue wake, shooting straight into the clouds.

Chen Qing was pinned to the sword like a skewered insect, getting further and further from the ground.

“Aaah!!”

His aura surged as he let out a hoarse roar, struggling desperately.

But the cold Qi had already frozen half of his body, making his spiritual power circulation sluggish, and he simply couldn't break free.

Chen Qing's face was distorted. “I, a dignified Golden Core Cultivator, was actually toyed with by a mere Foundation Establishment brat!”

“It truly infuriates me!”

He grew ruthless and slammed his right palm toward his own left shoulder. With a boom, the frozen left side of his body was directly shattered.

The han hong sword fell along with the shattered chunks of flesh.

Chen Qing's resentment was hard to dispel.

His Golden Core hadn't even been fully repaired yet, and now he had new injuries.

Chen Qing's eyes were blood-red.

He turned into a streak of blood-red light and charged straight at Jiang Xun, wanting to kill him on the spot before fleeing.

To vent this hatred.