UGB Chapter 118 Battle to build foundation 5
Chapter 118 Battle to build foundation 5
The True Essence Lotus Platform cracked.
An overwhelming torrent of true energy erupted from the depths of the dantian and surged out along the meridians.
This power is far stronger than the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that was drawn earlier. Drawing the power of heaven and earth is ultimately borrowing power, while the True Essence Lotus Platform is the foundation for Foundation Establishment cultivators' arduous cultivation and is the purest and most condensed form of True Essence.
A pale blue spiritual light erupted from Zhou Huaili's body.
A cocoon of spiritual light enveloped his body, and the cracks on the shield torn by the Blood Fiend Banner were instantly repaired without a trace.
The remaining blood-red light was dispersed by the spiritual light, turning into wisps of dark red smoke that dissipated within the barrier.
Zhang Lin's pupils contracted slightly.
He sensed it; it wasn't a spiritual perception, but rather a message fed back from the barrier.
Zhou Huaili's aura surged instantly.
That wasn't a fluctuation that drew upon the power of heaven and earth, but rather a power emanating from within the body.
Like a volcano that was about to go out suddenly erupting, the scorching magma broke through the dual suppression of death energy and the barrier, making the entire Hidden Realm Dance Barrier teeter on the verge of collapse.
The Eight Transformations Mysterious Jade Ring in his dantian trembled violently, and a crack spread from the "Hidden" character.
Zhang Lin groaned, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
The barrier was being forcibly torn apart from the inside by a force far exceeding his ability to withstand it.
That was the pressure generated by a Foundation Establishment cultivator burning their life essence, something he, a Qi Refining cultivator, couldn't suppress.
But he did not remove the barrier.
With the withdrawal, Zhou Huaili was no longer bound by any constraints.
Zhang Lin waved his right hand and planted the Blood Fiend Flag in the ground in front of him.
The flagpole was buried three feet deep, and the flag unfurled in the night wind, its surface surging with a bloody light.
He pressed his left hand against the Soul-Suppressing Bell, channeling all the spiritual energy from his sea of consciousness into the bell to further enhance its power.
At the same time, he brought his right index and middle fingers together and used his fingertips to draw runes on the flag surface. This was the activation method of the Blood Fiend Flag's Profound Yin Soul-Capturing Technique, using his own essence and blood as a guide to release all the Profound Yin Qi sealed in the flag.
Zhou Huaili opened his eyes.
His eyes were bloodshot, and bloody tears were seeping from his eye sockets—the backlash from the burning of the True Essence Lotus Platform on his meridians.
But his gaze was sharper than ever before.
The True Essence Shield expanded outwards, growing from three feet to three zhang (approximately 10 meters).
The blood-red light of the Blood Fiend Banner struck the shield, but was actually shaken back and exploded into a cloud of blood mist in the air.
"Ten years of cultivation in exchange for your life." Zhou Huaili's voice was hoarse and low, each word seeming to be squeezed out from his throat. "You can be considered to have died a worthy death."
He raised his hand.
This time, he did not draw upon the power of heaven and earth. Neither the barrier nor the true essence in his dantian was sufficient to support the drawing. However, the power generated by the burning true essence lotus platform was itself the strongest weapon.
He struck out with his palm.
A highly refined cyan palm print shot out from his hand.
The palm print is only three feet square, and its entire surface is as clear as green jade, with the palm lines in the center clearly discernible.
Wherever it passed, the air was torn apart, producing a sharp sonic boom.
The death aura was like thin paper before the palm print, easily pierced through.
The fragments of the bluestone slab were swept up by the shockwave, and before they could even touch the palm print itself, they were shattered into dust by the force of the energy.
Zhang Lin moved the instant he saw that palm strike.
Ding~
The bell rang, but it was instantly shattered when it struck the palm print, the light of the palm print only weakened by less than 30%.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Lin's first reaction was that he couldn't take the hit head-on.
The Four Transformations Jade Talisman, hidden in the flying sky.
The spiritual energy beneath his feet condensed into a pale blue streak of light, carrying his body into the air.
At the same time, the character "虚" (xu, meaning emptiness) lit up in the dantian, allowing one to ride the void and soar through the air.
His body twisted and turned three times in succession as he retreated, leaving behind a trail of afterimages with each change of direction.
The cyan palm print followed closely behind, passing through the first afterimage.
The afterimage shattered, but the momentum of the palm print remained undiminished.
After passing through the second afterimage, the afterimage dissipated, and the palm print actually moved even faster.
He passed through the third afterimage.
Zhang Lin's true form barely avoided the palm print during the fourth turn.
But the moment the palm print swept past his side, an overwhelming gust of wind crashed in from the side.
The Six Transformations Jade Talisman lit up, dissolving its form and transforming, thus removing 70% of the damage it had suffered.
He groaned, his body blasted several feet away by the gale, his back slamming hard against a crumbling wall, which instantly shattered into pieces.
The water on Tianlan Daoist robe shimmered violently, and the azure scale armor shone brightly. The double defense absorbed most of the force, but the residual impact still caused a trickle of blood to spill from the corner of his mouth.
The moment he landed, he knelt on one knee, supporting himself with his right hand on the ground, while his left hand remained tightly gripping the Soul-Suppressing Bell.
Looking up, Zhou Huaili was no longer there.
He was flying away on his sword towards the outside of the town. His escape was slightly unsteady due to his injuries, but he was still several feet away with each breath.
The power of the True Essence Lotus Platform's burning energy is rapidly fading, and the shield's light is dimming at a visible speed.
He is on the run.
The purpose of burning the True Essence Lotus Platform was not to kill Zhang Lin, but to force Zhang Lin back and create an opportunity for himself to escape.
That palm strike, though seemingly powerful, was actually at its last gasp.
If he truly had the strength to kill Zhang Lin, he wouldn't have turned and run away immediately after delivering that palm strike.
Zhang Lin made his judgment in just half a breath.
To pursue or not to pursue?
Instead of pursuing him, Zhou Huaili fled back to the Zhou family and reported what had happened that day to the clan.
If the news spreads that a Qi Refining stage disciple possesses several spiritual artifacts and can rival a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, the next one to arrive will not be an early Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, but a late Foundation Establishment stage or even a Golden Core stage elder.
Although Zhou Huaili was already at his limit, the residual power of that True Essence Lotus Platform was still there.
The power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's final counterattack was enough to drag him down with him.
These thoughts flashed through Zhang Lin's mind. He stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"rise!"
A pale blue light emanated from the soles of his feet, enveloping his entire body.
With a thought, Zhang Lin leaped into the air, transforming into a pale blue streak of light as he chased after Zhou Huaili's escape route.
Zhou Huaili's sword speed was gradually slowing down, and the aftereffects of the True Essence Lotus Platform were fading. After flying for more than a hundred feet, he had to land on the ground and switch to running. As he ran, he even began to stagger.
The trail of blood on the ground indicated that his meridians were collapsing.
Seeing this, Zhang Lin breathed a sigh of relief, but simply released his spiritual sense to lock on from afar, unhurriedly.
He didn't rush forward, but maintained a distance of about thirty feet from Zhou Huaili.
In the blink of an eye, they were out of Baishi Town after the chase.
The wilderness outside the town appeared even more desolate in the night.
Dead shrubs stood sparsely by the roadside, and moonlight peeked through the clouds, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
Zhou Huaili fled eastward along the official road he had come from, his steps growing heavier and his breathing becoming more labored.
The power of the True Essence Lotus Platform had completely dissipated, replaced by excruciating pain from the shrinkage of the dantian.
He couldn't run anymore.
Zhou Huaili stopped and turned around under a dead old locust tree.
The moonlight shone on his face, revealing a pale, paper-like complexion.
A large amount of blood foam seeped from the corner of his mouth, dripping down his chin onto the roadside.
"Come out," he said hoarsely. "You know I've been waiting for you."
Zhang Lin walked slowly from a distance along the central road, revealing his figure in a Tianlan Daoist robe.
The moonlight, like water, shone on his calm face. There was neither pride nor pity in his eyes, only an almost cold and hard calmness.
He stood about ten zhang away from Zhou Huaili, a distance that was neither too far nor too close.
Too close, and you're vulnerable to being caught in a last-ditch counterattack; too far, and your attack is unlikely to hit accurately.
Zhou Huaili coughed up blood, stared at Zhang Lin, and suddenly laughed: "I've done dirty work for ten years, and I've killed at least eighty or a hundred cultivators. I never thought I'd fall into the hands of a Qi Refining stage cultivator in the end."
"You shouldn't have taken this mission."
"I accepted it, so I accepted it." Zhou Huaili leaned against the withered locust tree, his voice gradually fading. "A person like me is destined to die eventually."
"They will either die at the hands of their enemies or at the hands of their own kind; if they don't die today, they will die tomorrow."
Zhang Lin paused for a moment, then raised his right hand.
He spread his five fingers, and a ghostly blue flame ignited from his palm, casting an eerie blue light on the withered grass within several feet around him.
The flame wasn't large, only about the size of a fist, but the temperature it contained was so high that it distorted and warped the air itself.
"I respect that you have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and I will give you a dignified send-off."