25: I offer you all as sacrifices to help me ascend to the peak of marrow cleansing.
Inside Wuyou Hall, treasure light glowed brilliantly, and Killing Intent surged like a tide.
Eighteen figures, like eighteen hungry wolves descending the mountain, pounced on the young man in the center who had just achieved a Breakthrough, carrying the whistling wind and a lethal will.
"Kill him! While his Realm is still unstable!"
The City Lords Mansion Commander led the charge, the blood-stained Black Iron Halberd in his hand transforming into a venomous Dragon, thrusting straight at Lin Que's throat.
This strike gathered his life's Marrow Cleansing Qi, tearing the air with a piercing shriek.
Simultaneously, the Zhao Family Head's wild blade, the Wang Family Head's poison palm, and the weapons of a dozen Personal Attendants sealed off all of Lin Que's escape routes.
This was a certain-death trap.
Even Su Tianhe in his prime would have met his end facing such a siege.
However, Lin Que, at the center of the storm, did not move.
He simply stood there quietly, watching the tip of the halberd rapidly enlarge in his pupils, a compassionate yet absurd smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Everyone, why so irritable?"
Lin Que's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through the noisy shouts: "Since everyone wants to kill me, then to save my life, I have no choice but to ask you all..."
He suddenly widened his eyes, and the Rakshasa Evil Ghost in his mind let out a world-shaking roar!
"...to die in my stead!"
Buzz!
At the very moment the halberd was about to pierce Lin Que's Adam's apple.
Lin Que didn't dodge or block.
He simply gave a frantic command to the System in his heart:
"Secret Canon of Self-Sacrifice—Sacrifice: Sight!" "Transfer Target: All Personal Attendants (14 people)!"
Boom!
A bizarre scene unfolded.
The fourteen elite Personal Attendants charging at the front stiffened without warning. Then, they let out a unified, heart-wrenching scream!
"Ah!! My eyes!!"
"It's dark! Why is it all dark?!"
The eyeballs of these fourteen people burst instantly, blood streaming down like tears as their vision fell into eternal darkness. The originally orderly formation fell into chaos; the attendants, having lost their sight, swung their weapons wildly due to momentum, wounding their own companions instead.
"What?!"
The Commander was shocked, but his thrust could no longer be pulled back.
Clang!!
A loud sound of metal clashing.
At some point, Lin Que had raised his left hand and actually caught the incredibly sharp tip of the Black Iron Halberd with his bare hand!
Marrow Cleansing Realm Physical Body!
His palm was now as hard as metal and stone. When the spear struck his palm, it only left a white mark, not even breaking the skin!
"It's only polite to return the favor."
Lin Que looked at the horrified Commander, his fingers suddenly tightening, making the shaft of the halberd creak.
"Sacrifice: Leg Bones!"
"Transfer Target: City Lords Mansion Commander!"
Crack!!
A tooth-aching sound of snapping.
The Commander hadn't even reacted to what happened when he felt he had suddenly lost sensation below his knees.
Then, he watched in horror as his two lower leg bones were smashed as if by an invisible giant hammer, suffering comminuted fractures instantly. He uncontrollably slumped down, kneeling before Lin Que with a thud!
"This... what kind of sorcery is this?!"
The Commander knelt on the ground, his face covered in cold sweat, his eyes filled with extreme fear of the unknown. No contact, no move, just in an instant, his legs were broken?
"Sorcery?"
Lin Que let go of the halberd and slapped the Commander across the face, sending this normally prestigious Marrow Cleansing Realm expert flying through the air, teeth and blood spraying everywhere.
"This is mercy."
Lin Que stepped forward, and with every step, his Aura surged.
By now, the remaining Zhao Family Head, Wang Family Head, and the Li Family Head, who had just caught his breath, were completely terrified.
This scene was entirely beyond their comprehension. This was too sinister! Whoever he looked at went blind, whoever he pointed at had their legs broken? How could they even fight?!
"Run!! Run quickly!!"
The Li Family Head reacted the fastest. Clutching his gutted stomach, he turned and sprinted toward the stone steps.
This wasn't treasure hunting; this was suicide!
"Want to run?"
Lin Que looked at the Li Family Head's back and shook his head.
"I said, I'm asking you all to die. Not one can be missing."
He raised his right hand and made a grasping motion in the air.
"Sacrifice: Heartbeat!"
"Transfer Target: Li Family Head!"
The running Li Family Head suddenly stiffened. There was no earth-shattering explosion, but his sprinting steps stopped because his heart, in that instant... stopped beating.
"Ugh..."
The Li Family Head clutched his chest, slowly turned around with an expression of disbelief, and then fell straight backward. Thud. He was dead.
"Old Li!!"
The Zhao Family Head and Wang Family Head were scared out of their wits.
Silent, long-distance killing! Was this a method only available to Land Immortals?!
"Fight him to the death!!"
In despair, the Zhao Family Head erupted with his final bit of courage. He roared, burning his entire body's essence blood, and the long blade in his hand turned into a blood-colored streak, slashing toward Lin Que's crown with a suicidal momentum.
"The struggle of an ant."
Lin Que stood in place, neither dodging nor avoiding.
The moment the blade fell, the Sacrificial Qi in his body had expanded to a critical point due to the continuous sacrifices.
Rumble—
The sound of a surging river echoed from within Lin Que's body.
He suddenly spread his arms in a hugging gesture.
"Sacrifice: All Blood and Qi!"
"Transfer Target: All living things present (except myself)!"
This was a gamble.
And a total clearing of the field.
As the command was issued, the air inside Wuyou Hall seemed to freeze instantly.
The Personal Attendants still wailing on the ground, the Commander with broken legs, the Zhao Family Head swinging his blade, the Wang Family Head preparing a sneak attack... everyone's bodies froze at the same time.
Then.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
A series of muffled sounds, like balloons bursting, rang out.
Eighteen arrows of blood sprayed from the seven orifices of the eighteen people!
Their bodies withered at a visible speed, like fruit drained of water. Their pure blood and Qi, cultivated over decades, were forcibly stripped away in an instant by a domineering power of laws!
"No... don't..."
The blade in the Zhao Family Head's hand clattered to the floor.
He looked at his hands, which had become as withered as chicken claws, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed.
In just three breaths.
Not a single enemy remained standing in Wuyou Hall.
Eighteen mummified corpses were added to the floor.
And this massive amount of stripped blood and Qi, after being converted and purified by the System, turned into an unprecedented purple-gold torrent, madly pouring into Lin Que's body!
Boom—!!
Lin Que's body shook violently, his bones letting out crackling explosions. Fine beads of blood even seeped from the surface of his skin, only to be instantly evaporated into red mist by the high temperature.
So strong!
The total blood and Qi of four Marrow Cleansing Realm experts and fourteen elite Bone Transformation Realm Personal Attendants!
This power was almost enough to burst his body!
"Break... for me!!"
Lin Que roared to the sky, his voice like the roar of a dragon and a tiger, shaking the dust from the ceiling of the hall.
Pop! Middle Stage Marrow Cleansing!
Pop! Late Stage Marrow Cleansing!
That power was still climbing frantically, smashing through the rock-solid barriers in his body with irresistible force. Lin Que felt his marrow burning and his blood boiling; his entire level of existence was undergoing a qualitative leap.
Finally.
When the last bit of blood and Qi was completely refined, the rumbling inside Lin Que's body gradually subsided.
Buzz... a visible airwave spread out from Lin Que as the center.
Within a ten-zhang radius, all the gold, silver, and jewels were turned to dust.
[Congratulations to the host! The Sacrificial Feast is complete!]
[Obtained the Life Origin of eighteen people!]
[Realm Breakthrough: Marrow Cleansing Realm (Perfection)!]
[Current Status: Half-Step Yuan Realm (Only a thread away, requires comprehension of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi).]
Lin Que slowly opened his eyes. At this moment, his eyes were as deep as the starry sky, with faint purple light flickering. He raised his hand, looking at his palm, which was as translucent as jade and seemed to contain infinite power, and gave it a light squeeze.
Bang!
The air in his palm was directly squeezed until it burst, letting out a crisp sound like a sonic boom.
Marrow Cleansing Perfection.
Only one step away from stepping into that legendary Yuan Realm, where one could draw upon the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi and enjoy a lifespan of three hundred years!
"Whew..."
Lin Que exhaled a mouthful of turbid Qi. This breath actually condensed without dispersing, shooting out like a sharp arrow for three zhang and striking a small pit into the gold-brick floor.
He looked around.
Mummified corpses everywhere; the magnificent palace now seemed particularly cold and eerie.
"So this is the taste of power..."
Lin Que didn't feel any discomfort from killing so many people.
In this man-eating world, if he didn't kill, others would kill him.
These eighteen people, every one of them had their hands stained with the blood of the innocent; they deserved to die.
He walked toward the massive "ghost-riding gāluó" statue in the center of the hall.
The six purple-gold treasure boxes still lay quietly on the statue's arms, emitting an alluring treasure light.
"Now..."
A smile curled on Lin Que's lips as he reached for the highest treasure box.
"No one is going to fight me for it anymore, right?"