The dark mist expanded like a devouring wave, swallowing the alley in pitch-black terror. The screams of the Blood-Skull bandits rose into a chaotic chorus, then abruptly died down into hollow, desperate gasps.
Within the Domain of the Devouring Night, their skin shriveled and their eyes sank as thin, crimson threads of vital essence were forcibly ripped from their bodies. The harvested energy rushed back toward Li Chen, flowing through his arm and straight into the Dark Dan at the center of his Dantian.
Li Chen stood in the center of the slaughter, his crimson-violet eyes glowing like two burning stars in the abyss. With every breath, his aura expanded, the feedback of thirty refined lives fortifying his foundation and driving his spiritual pressure higher.
BANG!
A surge of violent crimson energy erupted from the fog, tearing through the shadow domain. Master Blood-Fang burst forward, his massive broadsword clad in a dense layer of boiling blood-flame. The ground beneath his feet shattered as he leaped into the air, bringing his blade down with full, desperate force.
— Die, demon! — Blood-Fang roared, his face contorted in madness as he threw every drop of his mid-stage Core Formation Qi into the strike.
Li Chen didn't flinch. He raised his right arm, summoning the Abyssal Heart Cauldron from his spatial ring. With a wave of his hand, the fist-sized furnace expanded tenfold in midair, its dark crimson surface flashing with ancient, hungry runes.
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The broadsword slammed directly against the side of the Abyssal Heart Cauldron. Shockwaves shattered the stone walls of the surrounding alleyway, reducing the bone structures to powder. Yet, the cauldron stood unyielding. Instead of deflecting the blow, the furnace's dark runes flared, greedily drinking the blood-flame right off Blood-Fang’s blade.
— What?! — Blood-Fang gasped, his arms going numb from the recoil.
Before he could pull back, Li Chen stepped out of the shadow, appearing directly in front of him.
— Your blood-flame is impure, and your core is fragile, — Li Chen whispered, his voice resonating directly inside Blood-Fang’s mind like a death knell.
Li Chen’s hand shot forward like a phantom, his fingers coated in a concentrated needle of violet-black shadow Qi. He drove his palm cleanly through Blood-Fang’s chest armor, piercing right into his Dantian.
Blood-Fang’s body froze instantly. Blood leaked from his mouth as he felt a terrifying, irresistible suction force grip his Golden Core deep inside his belly.
Li Chen didn't hesitate. He clenched his fist.
CRACK!
Blood-Fang’s Core shattered inside his body, its rich, condensed power unraveling into a torrent of raw energy. The Dark Dan inside Li Chen devoured every drop of the Core Formation cultivator's life force, refining the essence instantly.
Blood-Fang’s body withered into a grey husk, collapsing into dust as the shadow domain receded, leaving the alley dead silent once more.
Xiao Feng stepped forward from the back, his eyes wide with awe as he looked at the quiet street strewn with empty armor.
Li Chen retrieved the floating Abyssal Heart Cauldron, along with Blood-Fang's high-tier spatial ring, and turned deeper into the Ghost Market.
— The Blood-Skull Syndicate is no more, — Li Chen declared calmly, his aura now hovering on the absolute verge of breaking through to the Core Formation Realm. — Find us a quiet chamber. It is time to refine the Nether-Grass and forge my true Shadow Core.