Chapter 624: A Battle of Souls
Within the howling wind, Miao Tai’s body became even thinner, but his aura continued to rise.
Purple moon symbols writhed toward Qin Lie from every direction like swimming fish, nearly drowning him.
A cold, dark, eerie presence formed and became a kind of mental shock that could destroy people’s minds. It battered at Qin Lie’s mind and body.
All of a sudden, scenes emerged from every purple symbol.
Qin Shan, Ling Yus.h.i.+, Ling Feng, Ling Ying, Ling Xuanxuan, and everyone else Qin Lie was familiar with or had deep memories of appeared in those marks.
All of them were covered in blood. Shocking holes filled their bodies, blood flowed from them, all of them were in terrible condition.
Many of the people who had appeared in Qin Lie’s mind were close to him, and they seemed to be going through the cruelest of slaughters in this moment.
This was a great terror that could stab into people’s minds, destroy their souls, and rob them of all hope.
Even with Qin Lie’s mental fort.i.tude, he was still affected for a moment, one of bewilderment. Intense sorrow and terror appeared in his mind.
In that moment, threads of purple light shot into Qin Lie’s body like meteors.
In the next, strange purple moon symbols appeared on Qin Lie’s face, neck, and every other section of exposed skin.
Miao Tai suddenly started to laugh darkly.
Two dots of purple light flashed in his eyes. Adding that to his the sudden desiccated appearance of his body, he looked unspeakably eerie and terrifying.
“You definitely won’t be able to imagine just how much the secret art of Illusory Demon Sect can affect your mind!” Miao Tai shouted.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
Countless streams of light gathered and then shot toward Qin Lie’s forehead.
Behind Qin Lie, the beauty with the s.e.xy body couldn’t help but scream, “Watch out!”
Although she stood ten meters away, when that purple light shot over, she felt terrified. It was as though her own soul had been penetrated.
So she panicked for Qin Lie.
“Snap, snap... krak!”
Blue bolts of lightning suddenly sparked from Qin Lie’s eyes.
Qin Lie’s eyes instantly became as deep as the sea. Lightning suddenly shot out of them, crisscrossing back and forth.
A river made of hundreds of lightning bolts appeared in front of him.
“Zzt zzzt zzt zzt zzzt!”
The lightning and the flowing purple light shot at each other and furiously collided. Both powers cancelled each other out and exploded, giving off light as bright as stars.
Countless bolts of lightning flew out of Qin Lie’s mind, quickly consuming the soul energy within his Soul Lake.
That lightning contained the power of thunder and lightning, and it immediately erupted the second it emerged from his Soul Lake. It furiously attacked the purple energies infused with Miao Tai’s soul consciousness.
The battle between the Qin Lie and Miao Tai immediately changed from a battle of pure spirit energy to a battle of souls.
Every martial pract.i.tioner of Gold Sun Island and all the Miao Family clansmen of Blue Moon Valley held their breath, their expressions grave.
A battle fought with soul consciousnesses was much more dangerous than a battle fought with spirit energy. If one side were defeated, their True Soul could be destroyed by the other side and completely shattered.
Everyone became nervous.
Up in the sky, Miao Wenfan’s expression was dark. His icy eyes looked at Xing Yuyuan occasionally, killing intent forming.
Miao Tai was a future pillar of the Miao Family. He had been sent to Illusory Demon Sect at a young age to cultivate, and the five valley masters of Blue Moon Valley had high hopes for him. Miao Tai possessed a high realm and powerful talent.
This battle between Miao Tai and Qin Lie had escalated into a confrontation of soul consciousnesses, and was extremely dangerous.
Even if Miao Tai won by using the Illusory Demon Reversal, this would significantly affect his progression to the Fulfillment Realm.
Miao Tai was extremely important to the Miao Family. Every advancement into a new realm was crucial for him. If Qin Lie influenced Miao Tai’s rate of progression, the Miao Family would lose more than they would gain.
Miao Wenfan grew worried. He believed that Miao Tai would win, but he was also afraid that Miao Tai would just barely win!
He was afraid that Miao Tai would be heavily wounded.
On Gold Sun Island’s Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix, an elder dressed in long scarlet robes walked out of one of the wooden buildings and looked down.
“Elder Hong, you... should you interfere?” Xing Yuyuan transmitted his voice to him with an urgent expression on his face.
The elder in long scarlet robes was Hong Bowen. He was responsible for safeguarding the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix.
When they departed from the Setting Sun Islands, Mo Jun told him to protect Qin Lie and prevent anything from happening to him.
Qin Lie and Miao Tai suddenly entering a battle of souls had alarmed his as well.
Hong Bowen possessed a heavy set figure. He narrowed his eyes and looked down for a while, then transmitted his voice back to Xing Yuyuan. “Interfering in a battle of souls can lead to unpredictable outcomes...even I do not dare to rashly stop them.”
“Then what do we do?” Xing Yuyuan asked urgently.
“Wait! Wait for Qin Lie to win!” Hong Bowen said gravely.
“Qin Lie… will definitely win, right?” Xing Yuyuan asked worriedly.
“Of course!” Hong Bowen snorted. “The strength of Qin Lie’s soul is beyond what you could imagine! Do you think it was easy for him to put his soul into the body of the Blood Progenitor and use it to fight?”
Xing Yuyuan was shocked.
“The Blood Progenitor has a seven-level Spirit Altar. For a Netherpa.s.sage Realm martial pract.i.tioner to sink their soul into it and move one of the Blood Progenitor’s fingers… that would be as hard as ascending to the heavens.”
Hong Bowen’s eyes flashed with red light. “To be able to control the Blood Progenitor and use it to fly and fight... do you know how strong a soul would have to be to do that? How strong one’s mental resolve would need to be?”
Xing Yuyuan was speechless.
Below them, Qin Lie stood still, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng as lightning bolts flew out of them.
Miao Tai’s body became even more emaciated. He used soul energy to create moon symbols and form the purple flowing light that shot at the lightning sparking from Qin Lie’s eyes.
Soon enough, Miao Tai began sweating profusely. He was so thin that he seemed to only be skin and bones.
At a glance, Miao Tai resembled an actual skeleton. His eyes had sunken deep into his face, making his situation look even more terrifying.
And he was still furiously bringing forth his potential!
Opposite from him, Qin Lie’s expression was cold, and a cold smile played at the corner of his lips. A powerful vitality erupted from him.
Everyone could see that, in this battle of souls, Qin Lie had the upper hand.
From Qin Lie’s confident expression alone, everyone gradually came to see that he had yet to use his full power.
From the very start, Miao Tai used the Illusory Demon Reversal of Illusory Demon Sect to tap into his potential. He wanted to wound Qin Lie even if he would be heavily wounded later.
In spite of how he forced out his potential like this, his performance in this battle continued to worsen. This caused every Miao Family clansman’s face to darken and fill with doubt.
All of a sudden, Qin Lie laughed in a relaxed manner in spite of his soul being engaged in battle.
“Miao Tai. If you continue, you will use up every last bit of soul energy you have and cause your True Soul to explode and dissipate.”
When he said this, the expressions of every member of the Miao Family changed.
Shock filled Miao Wenfan’s eyes.
“Miao Tai!” he shouted urgently. “Give up! Don’t use your soul consciousness!”
Other members of the Miao Family tried to convince him as well.
Anyone that wasn’t dumb could see from Qin Lie’s performance that he still had more up his sleeve.
Miao Tai, who had used the Illusory Demon Reversal, had lost in every way. There didn’t seem to be any way for him to win.
However, even though many Miao Family members urged him to stop, Miao Tai still refused to give up.
Drops of blood appeared on his skin. This meant that he had even begun using his blood.
It was obvious to everyone present that Miao Tai was almost at his limit. If he continued, he would soon use up all of his life force and die.
“Stop!”
Miao Wenfan, who was in the late stage of the Fragmentation Realm, could no longer stand by and watch. He descended from the clouds.
His dark eyes did not look at Miao Tai, but at Qin Lie.
Miao Wenfan raised a hand. A tornado filled with terrifying energy locked onto Qin Lie and rushed at him.
“How shameless!’ Xing Yuyuan shouted.
“How utterly shameless!” the beauty behind Qin Lie also shouted.
Miao Wenfan wanted to stop the soul battle between Qin Lie and Miao Tai, but instead of having Miao Tai retreat, he wanted to instantly kill Qin Lie and forcefully end the battle.
Such a course of action was completely shameless. It infuriated Hong Bowen, who had been watching all this time.
“The descendants of Miao Fengtian have stooped to such a shameless level!”
A ball of b.l.o.o.d.y light exploded from Hong Bowen’s hand. Blood energy shot from it, writhing like snakes and suddenly burrowing into the tornado that Miao Wenfan had summoned forth.
“Whoosh whoosh whoos.h.!.+”
Streaks of b.l.o.o.d.y light moved in and out of the energy tornado like knives cutting flesh.
Miao Wenfan, who had been in the middle of rus.h.i.+ng downward, came to an abrupt stop in midair. He couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood.
He looked at Hong Bowen in shock.