Chương 138: Chapter 27: Thunderous Methods, Another Golden Core Slain

"Between Jin Jupeng and the Ghost Hag, the former is far more arrogant. That makes him the easier mark. I shall use his life to establish my dominance," Reyn mused, his voice a low, chilling rasp.

"This battle must be clean, decisive, and absolute. I cannot afford to show a single hint of weakness or injury. When I strike, it must be a killing blow." Reyn's azure robes began to billow, snapping violently against the air despite the lack of wind. His eyes, dark as the deepest abyss, grew preternaturally bright as the killing intent within his marrow reached a fever pitch. At that moment, he snapped his gaze upward.

Sensing the overbearing aura radiating from the approaching streak of light, a surge of primal battle intent erupted from his core like a volcano. The streak of light ground to a halt in mid-air, revealing the grim, weathered visage of Jin Jupeng. The old man's eyes were chips of ice as he glared down at Reyn.

"Heh! The moment you dared to forcibly outbid me for that map fragment at the auction, you should have realized I would never let you leave this place alive," Jin Jupeng sneered, his voice dripping with malice.

"Why bother with this futile struggle?" Reyn's brow furrowed slightly before his lips curled into a mocking smirk.

"Old Ghost Jin, you and that Ghost Hag left the auction house one after the other. You have found me, yet she is nowhere to be seen. Have you not wondered why?" Jin Jupeng's face twitched, his eyes darkening as a flicker of unease crossed his features.

"To be used as a sacrificial pawn to test my strength... you truly are a fool," Reyn laughed, his gaze piercing through the old man.

"Hmph! Even if I am a pawn, what does it matter?" Jin Jupeng barked, recovering his bravado.

"Once I slaughter you and strip your corpse of its treasures, what can she do? Does she truly think she can snatch the spoils from my hands? Boy, enough talk. Regardless of your hidden identity, this patch of earth shall be your grave!" Jin Jupeng's aura exploded. His cultivation base surged, and a wave of frigid killing intent swept across the landscape, causing the clouds within a hundred-meter radius to churn into a dark, oppressive vortex. But before he could even initiate an art, Reyn acted.

His obsidian eyes locked onto the old man, and the Soul-Piercing Awl erupted from his mind like a silent, invisible bolt of lightning. Having cultivated the Primordial True Scripture, Reyn's soul was far more condensed and resilient than any cultivator of his level. At the seventeenth level of Qi Condensation, his spiritual power had undergone a qualitative transformation, rivaling the early stages of the Golden Core realm.

When combined with the terrifying five-fold amplification of the Heaven-Defying Golden Seal, the mental strike reached a devastating magnitude. Buzz! Jin Jupeng felt as if a white-hot blade had been driven through the very center of his soul. His vision went black, and he let out a strangled cry as a mouthful of essence blood sprayed from his lips. The overwhelming momentum he had built collapsed instantly.

"Golden Core mid-stage mental strength?!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with pure terror. Desperate, he slapped his forehead, summoning a vermillion branch-like artifact. With a frantic scream, he hurled it downward. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Reyn remained expressionless, his black hair dancing in the wind like a demonic lord presiding over the end of days.

With a flick of his wrist, he produced the cone-shaped treasure he had looted earlier, flooding it with his surging mana. The artifact let out a high-pitched, excited hum before streaking forth to intercept the branch. The two treasures collided in a shower of sparks, neither yielding an inch. Realizing he was trapped, Jin Jupeng pounded his chest, forcing out several clumps of essence blood. The blood shimmered with a sinister, crimson light, rotating rapidly as a foul, demonic aura filled the air.

"Blood-Fiend Manifestation! Soul-Refining Terror!" he roared. The blood expanded into a roiling cloud of black-red mist. From within the fog, a low, guttural growl echoed, followed by the emergence of a three-zhang-tall monstrosity. The demon had twin horns and eyes like burning coals, radiating a thick, bloody stench.

"Kill him!" Jin Jupeng bit his finger, flicking a drop of fresh blood toward Reyn as a command. The demon swallowed the blood, its crimson eyes flashing with a momentary hunger directed at its master before it turned its fury toward Reyn, diving down like a falling star. Reyn's eyes narrowed. He slapped his forehead, and a square, earthen-yellow object appeared in his palm—the Heaven-Turning Seal.

"Go!" He hurled the seal upward. As his mana poured into it, the artifact's size ballooned, transforming into a ten-zhang-wide mountain of solid stone in the blink of an eye. It descended upon the demon with the weight of a collapsing sky. Boom! The demon's eyes widened with fear as it raised its massive arms to intercept the blow. However, the Heaven-Turning Seal released a pulse of heavy yellow light, its weight doubling instantly.

It crushed the demon into the earth with a thunderous roar, pinning the beast so firmly that no amount of struggling could move it.

"Two magic treasures?!" Jin Jupeng's face turned ashen. A wave of bone-deep regret washed over him. Why had he been so blind as to provoke this monster?

"Earth-Shaking Wheel Strike!" Reyn's voice boomed across the wasteland. He thrust his hand forward, tucking his thumb and pinky while extending his three middle fingers like spears pointed at the heavens. The surrounding spiritual energy turned chaotic, drawn in by a terrifying, irresistible force. Whirr! Whirr! Whirr! Like a torrential river rushing into a whirlpool, the world's essence flooded into the three fingers.

They became translucent and crystalline, manifesting intricate human fingerprints as a suffocating pressure radiated from them. Jin Jupeng's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"What kind of divine ability is this?!" In a final, desperate act of survival, he threw out a golden disc shield, which projected a shimmering barrier around him. The Earth-Shaking Wheel Strike, fueled by Reyn's entire reservoir of mana, possessed the raw power of a mid-stage Golden Core strike. Boom! The first finger struck. The golden barrier dimmed instantly, the disc shield trembling and wailing in protest. Boom! The second finger hit.

Cracks spider-webbed across the shield's surface before it shattered into useless shards. Boom! The third finger—the ring finger—descended. Under Jin Jupeng's despairing gaze, it slammed directly into his chest. Puff! A mist of blood exploded. The powerful aura of a Golden Core cultivator vanished in a heartbeat, his life force extinguished as if it had never been.

"Eek!" Just as the physical body was destroyed, a one-foot-tall, translucent soul emerged from the crown of the corpse. It cast a look of pure venom at Reyn before turning to flee into the distance. Reyn didn't move. He simply flicked his wrist, sending a streak of dark light through the air. The Shura Secret Bone expanded to the size of a man, catching the soul in its skeletal grip within seconds. The soul shriveled under the bone's dark aura, wailing for mercy.

"Fellow Daoist, spare me! I was a fool! If you let me go, I will reward you beyond your wildest dreams!" Reyn sneered, his voice cold as the grave.

"If I were the one who fell today, would you have spared me?" Without another word, Reyn turned away.

"Devour him." The Shura Secret Bone's eyes flared with crimson light. Ignoring the soul's terrified screams, it unhinged its jaw and swallowed the spirit whole. Thin, bloody filaments emerged from the skeleton, piercing the soul like straws and draining every last drop of its essence.