143: Chapter 142 Breaking the Formation! The man in the tattered robe ran away with his tail between his legs.
Those black tentacles covered the sky and earth, like a tsunami, like an avalanche, like the entire sky collapsing.
Lin Feng stood before that expanse of darkness and raised the dragon slaying sword.
The golden patterns on the blade shone to the extreme, like glowing blood vessels.
He did not dodge, nor did he retreat.
To take a step back would mean being swallowed by these tentacles, leaving not even bones behind.
He took a deep breath and charged straight into the darkness.
The dragon slaying sword swept horizontally, and a golden Sword Qi shot out from the blade, as thick as a water bucket and as long as a bolt of silk.
The Sword Qi struck the tentacles at the very front, slicing them clean off like a knife cutting through tofu.
Thick black smoke hissed from the severed ends, sounding as if someone were screaming in agony.
The severed tentacles fell to the ground, twitched a few times, turned into a pool of black water, and seeped into the sand.
[Damage dealt: 10100+5400 = 15500, light element restraint, actual damage: 31000]
But more tentacles surged forward.
They emerged from all directions—from the sky, from the ground, from every crack.
Some were like whips, lashing out with a whistling wind; some were like spears, thrusting fast and viciously; others were like ropes, wrapping around him, trying to strangle him.
Lin Feng slashed left and right, the dragon slaying sword becoming a golden whirlwind in his hands.
Those tentacles broke upon touching the blade, dissolved once broken, and vanished once dissolved.
He killed one, and two more came; he killed ten, and a hundred more followed.
The tentacles were like weeds, like locusts, like ants that could never be killed off.
His arms began to ache, the dragon slaying sword felt increasingly heavy, and his breathing grew more rapid.
"Hahaha!" The voice rang out again, from all directions, from the sky and the ground, from every single tentacle.
"You cannot kill them all! Every grain of sand, every stone, every wisp of wind here is mine. What do you have to fight me with?"
Lin Feng ignored it and swung his sword again, severing three more tentacles.
The voice grew even more smug.
"You're tired, aren't you? Your arms are trembling, your sword is getting heavier, and your breathing is becoming more rapid. You won't last much longer."
It paused, its voice turning sinister.
"When you have no strength left, I will bind you, strangle you, and drain you dry. Your blood, your flesh, your bones, your Soul—they will all be mine."
Lin Feng stopped, gasping for air.
He leaned on the dragon slaying sword, its tip plunged into the sand.
His arms were indeed trembling, and the dragon slaying sword was indeed feeling heavier.
He had killed hundreds of tentacles, but there were still thousands, tens of thousands more.
The tentacles circled him slowly, like a pack of wolves on the hunt.
They were waiting, waiting for him to fall.
The voice thought he was afraid and grew smug again.
"Scared, aren't you? You should be. It's not too late to regret it now. Give me your body, and I will spare your life. I can even give you many benefits, make you stronger, let you—"
"Shut up." Lin Feng interrupted it.
The voice was stunned. "What did you say?"
Lin Feng raised his head and looked at the tentacles.
He wasn't looking at them; he was looking at what was behind them—that expanse of darkness.
Those tentacles had grown out of that darkness; that darkness was the true form.
That tattered robe was right there in that darkness.
It hadn't run away; it had just changed its appearance and hidden itself behind the tentacles.
Lin Feng smiled. "Do you think I can't find you just because you're hiding behind them?"
The voice fell silent.
Lin Feng raised the dragon slaying sword. "Incarnation of Light!"
Hum—
Blinding golden light erupted from his entire body.
His body became transparent, like a mass of pure light.
It was not the pale gold from before, but a pure, scorching gold, like the sun.
His skin, muscles, bones, and blood vessels had all turned into light.
[Incarnation of Light · Activated. Effect: Transform into pure light element, immune to all physical attacks, movement speed +500%, all light element skills become instant, duration 30 seconds.]
The tentacles sensed the light and began to recoil.
It wasn't fear, but an instinctive recoil, like bugs seeing light, like mice seeing a cat.
They shrank back, shrank back, huddled together, and curled into a ball.
The darkness followed suit, retreating, retreating, until it moved further away.
Lin Feng did not give it a chance.
He turned into a streak of golden light and charged into the pile of tentacles.
The dragon slaying sword vanished; his hand was the sword, his body was the sword, his light was the sword.
He passed through those tentacles as if passing through a patch of grass.
The tentacles dissolved upon touching his light, like snow meeting fire, like wax meeting a flame.
There was no sound, no trace, they simply vanished.
He passed through the pile of tentacles, through the darkness, through the thick, suffocating black fog.
He saw it—that black mass.
It was huddled in the deepest part of the darkness, shrunk to the size of a fist, trembling all over.
It had no eyes, but Lin Feng could feel it watching him.
That gaze was not anger, not hatred, but fear.
"You... don't come over..." Its voice was sharp and thin, like a chicken with its neck being choked.
Lin Feng ignored it, reached out his hand, and grabbed at it.
"Ah—!" The thing shrieked and burst apart.
It wasn't an explosion, but a dispersal, like a flower blooming, like a marble shattering.
It scattered into countless fine threads, shooting off in all directions, shooting into those tentacles, into that darkness, into the ground.
Those tentacles also began to disperse, turning into black smoke and drifting away into the air.
That darkness also began to shrink, from covering the sky and earth, shrinking to the size of a basketball court, then to the size of a living room, then to the size of a table.
Finally, it shrank into a single point.
That point hovered in mid-air, like a black star.
It flickered once, then vanished.
The desert returned to calm.
No tentacles, no darkness, no black smoke.
Only the gray ground, the gray sky, and the gray wind remained.
And that large crater, where the glass-like sand at the bottom was still glowing, sparkling.
Lin Feng stood at the edge of the crater, looking at that patch of sand.
Incarnation of Light had ended, and he had returned to his physical form.
His arms were still trembling, his breathing was still rapid, but his heart felt at ease.
That thing had run away.
Not by burrowing into the ground, but by completely fleeing.
He could no longer sense its aura; there was nothing left in this desert.
"Hoo..." He let out a long breath and sheathed the dragon slaying sword at his waist.
"Do you think you've won?"
The voice rang out again.
This time it was very distant, as if coming from another world.
Very light, very weak, like the wind blowing through withered grass.
But Lin Feng heard it very clearly.
He turned around and looked in the direction the voice came from.
That was the deeper part of the desert, gray and hazy, with nothing clearly visible.
"You cannot defeat me." The voice said.
"This is..." It paused, not finishing the sentence.
Lin Feng waited for it to speak.
He waited for a long time, but it didn't speak.
"What is this place?" Lin Feng asked.
The voice remained silent for a moment.
"This is... my home. I have lived here for one hundred thousand years. Every blade of grass, every tree, every grain of sand, every stone here is mine. As an outsider, by what right do you intrude? By what right do you destroy my things? By what right do you drive me away?"
Lin Feng listened, saying nothing.
The voice thought he felt guilty and grew tough again.
"Do you know how much you've destroyed? That withered tree, I planted three thousand years ago. That bamboo forest, I nurtured for eight thousand years. And that skeleton, that was my Disciple, who followed me for fifty thousand years. You smashed him apart with a single sword strike. Do you feel worthy of him? Do you feel worthy of me?"
Lin Feng smiled. "Your Disciple? Would your Disciple turn into a pile of scattered bones, leaning under your tree, waiting for you to drain his energy dry?"
The voice fell silent again.
It remained silent for a long time.
"You lie!" It finally spoke, its voice sharp and thin, like a tail being stepped on.
"I did not drain his energy! He was willing! He willingly offered his body to me! He willingly became a part of me! He was my Disciple, he loved me, he respected me, he—"
"He is dead." Lin Feng interrupted it.
The voice stopped again.
Lin Feng looked at the gray, hazy sky in the distance.
"He is dead, turned into a skeleton, leaning under your tree. His sword is rusted, his clothes are rotted, his jade tablet is dropped on the ground, and no one picks it up. And you? You are still here. You have lived for one hundred thousand years, and you will continue to live, living for two hundred thousand years, for one million years. But he is dead."
The voice did not answer for a long time.
Then, it laughed.
That laughter was not smug, not mocking, but sorrowful.
"Do you think I killed him? Do you think I harmed him?" It paused.
Could there be some other hidden secret?