Chapter 216 – The Second Awakening

Due to his intense focus and heightened vigilance, Su Ming failed to notice the changes occurring within his body at this very moment.

Simultaneously with the anomaly in his right hand, his body began to grow inexplicably warmer, as if influenced by some unseen force.

The pounding of his heart gradually intensified.

His bloodline grew increasingly scorching, boiling like molten magma.

His magic power seemed to erupt, becoming turbulent and wild bit by bit.

Under normal circumstances, even without exceptional Spirit Sense, anyone would have immediately detected such abnormalities. Only in this tense moment did Su Ming overlook the changes in his body due to his extreme concentration.

Perhaps subconsciously, he attributed it to the physical reaction from consuming too many potions at once?

With so many alchemical elixirs used to enhance and amplify himself—including rare and potent ones—it was only natural that his body couldn’t handle them, leading to side effects and abnormal conditions.

Hadn’t Su Ming initially sensed the raging medicinal energy wreaking havoc inside him, causing faint aches throughout his body?

This phenomenon made Su Ming instinctively assume that his current physical abnormalities were also due to the massive influx of alchemical potions.

The only constant was the power surging through his entire being.

This power continued to grow larger and stronger, giving Su Ming the sensation of being on the verge of bursting.

As a result, both the Spirit Power within him and the Vision Mark on his forehead reacted—one began to surge violently, while the other flickered rapidly, evoking in Su Ming an overwhelming urge to unleash it all.

This feeling bore an uncanny resemblance to that night during the Huaming Campaign when his Vision Mark first awakened, compelling him to recklessly expend Spirit Power and unleash vast area-of-effect Offensive Spirit Arts without restraint.

So much so that Su Ming forgot his primary objective wasn’t to fight Lord Crow, but to rescue Wang Yihan.

From the start, he never believed that desperately consuming potions would enable him to defeat Lord Crow.

There was no helping it—the gap between two star levels was simply too vast, leaving little room for doubt about the outcome.

If his opponent were merely a Five-Star Professional, Su Ming was confident that with his intense potion consumption, powerful alchemical weapons, highly aggressive Demon Blade Art, along with the power of his right hand and Vision Mark, his chances of victory would be significant.

But his opponent was a Six-Star Professional—and among the top-tier at that, holding the No.3 position even within the Ten Demons, a group teeming with Six-Star Professionals. By estimation, this placed him within the top five of the entire Sin organization.

Against such a foe, even with his substantial reserves, Su Ming lacked confidence in outlasting him.

Thus, his initial plan was merely to suppress Lord Crow momentarily, then seize the opportunity to maneuver around and retrieve Wang Yihan from Scarface and Baldy before making a swift escape.

He didn’t need to defeat the formidable enemy before him—only to thwart their schemes and disrupt their plans.

But now, Su Ming had completely forgotten this goal, consumed by a single thought.

To vent.Venting the power that filled his entire body, growing stronger by the moment.

With his Spirit Sense fully activated, Su Ming swiftly scanned the entire area, meticulously searching for the enemy’s location.

“Over there?”

Immediately, Su Ming successfully detected the enemy’s trail. Without hesitation, he turned and raised his scorching-hot alchemical weapon, bringing it down with immense force.

“Boom!”

A saber light swept through like a cascading ribbon, cleaving through the rocks, ground, and even the atmosphere ahead with a thunderous roar.

Amid the billowing dust, a figure darted out at incredible speed, weaving through the incoming saber light with several agile maneuvers.

“Don’t even think of escaping!”

Su Ming, seizing the advantage, relentlessly followed his body’s impulse to vent, slashing out wave after wave of saber light.

Deafening roars erupted instantly, whipping up the dust into a storm-like frenzy and sending countless shattered debris flying in all directions.

Unparalleled destructive power washed over the area, splitting the ground, pulverizing rocks, shaking the atmosphere, and stirring up violent winds—a scene of awe-inspiring devastation.

The already collapsing underground space seemed to suffer a calamity, shaking more violently and crumbling more rapidly, truly evoking a sense of catastrophic upheaval.

Faced with such destructive force, even someone as powerful as Lord Crow—a Six-Star Professional ranked No.3 among the Ten Demons—could only temporarily retreat from the onslaught.

Relying on his nimble footwork and techniques to deflect force, he dodged the incoming saber lights while avoiding the turbulent dust and explosive air currents. Watching Su Ming continue to vent his power uncontrollably, Lord Crow couldn’t help but click his tongue in astonishment.

“What an exaggerated guy. He’s clearly a Hunter, yet he possesses such destructive power—almost rivaling that fellow Nue.”

Nue, like Lord Crow, was a Six-Star Professional among the Ten Demons, holding the No.4 position. However, he was the only Sorcerer within the Ten Demons.

As a Six-Star Sorcerer, Nue excelled in Offensive Spirit Arts. All three Advanced Spirit Arts he mastered were of the offensive type, earning him the reputation of the strongest firepower below the Seven-Star rank and the most powerful Sorcerer within Sin.

As a Sorcerer, Nue might not match a powerful Hunter like Crow in one-on-one combat, but his strategic significance was irreplaceable.

Nue’s firepower had always been highly valued by the two Commanders of Sin. He had even undertaken a mission to destroy a border Base City single-handedly, engulfing the entire city in flames that burned for three days and three nights, ultimately erasing it from existence.

Consequently, Nue faced heavier bounties than the other members of the Ten Demons and was consistently regarded as a blight on the Sorcerer world by the Sorcerer Guild, which continuously sought to hunt him down.

The destructive power Su Ming displayed gave Lord Crow a sense of déjà vu, as if he were facing that colleague of his—being relentlessly bombarded by a Six-Star Sorcerer using Advanced Spirit Arts. For a moment, he found himself in a tricky situation.

If his opponent were truly a Sorcerer, it would be easier to handle.

He would just need to close the distance, preventing the Sorcerer from creating space and using high-sequence Spirit Arts, making it effortless to deal with one.

The problem was, Su Ming wasn’t a Sorcerer but a Hunter. Even if cornered at close range, his power and destructive force wouldn’t diminish in the slightest, maintaining the same level of difficulty.

This made things exceedingly troublesome.”It seems I must also bring out my true abilities.”

Thinking this, Lord Crow quietly retrieved a weapon.

Naturally, it was an alchemical weapon.

Moreover, it was a relatively rare pair of hand guards.

Lord Crow slipped on the hand guards, slightly opening and closing his hands, causing the metal to emit creaking sounds as if he were crushing someone’s bones.

“You are the first, aside from Professionals of the same star rank or above me, to force me to use even ‘Ifengel’.”

Muttering this, Lord Crow’s figure suddenly halted, finally ceasing to evade. Instead, like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, he dashed toward the oncoming saber light.

His robes billowed violently behind him.

Lord Crow pushed his speed to the limit, making his form nearly impossible to discern. Only the storm stirred by his passage through the air swirled behind him, scattering countless grains of sand and fragments of stone.

“Boom!”

The saber light descended, striking the ground before Lord Crow and sending debris flying in all directions.

Yet, instead of retreating, Lord Crow advanced, one hand drifting out lightly. As he had done earlier when dealing with Su Ming, his movement appeared slow but was deceptively fast, imprinting itself upon the saber light.

“Clang!!!”

A fierce clash resounded.

The saber light, carrying unparalleled force, was struck by the hand clad in the guard and sent veering off course, shattering the ground where it landed.

“—!?”

Witnessing this, Su Ming’s pupils contracted slightly.

“Whoosh!”

In that instant, Lord Crow flashed past like a fleeting phantom, arriving before Su Ming.

“Thud!”

The hand wearing the guard once again struck Su Ming’s chest.

“Gush!”

Su Ming felt a sharp pain in his chest, a sweet taste rising in his throat, and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

Had it not been for the alchemical potions he had consumed, which included types that enhanced impact resistance and muscle hardness, this blow would have been enough to severely injure him, leaving him collapsed on the ground and completely incapacitated.

But now, Su Ming endured it. Not only did he grit his teeth and hold on, but it was as if he had found a vent for his fury. He raised his right arm high, the scorching blade standing upright.

Just as Su Ming prepared to bring the saber down, Lord Crow stopped him.

“Thump!”

Lord Crow’s other hand also struck Su Ming’s chest heavily, sending him flying backward.

Simultaneously, Lord Crow’s figure flickered, and with his exceptional speed, he caught up to Su Ming while he was still mid-air.

“The power of this right hand is too dangerous. Let me deal with it first.”

Saying this, Lord Crow unhesitatingly seized Su Ming’s right arm. The hand guards clamped down like a vise, crushing mercilessly.

“Crack!”

The sound of shattering bone rang out, clear and unmistakable.

Su Ming’s right arm was crushed by Lord Crow, and the Firefang slipped from his grasp, falling to the ground.

However, shattering Su Ming’s right arm did not bring Lord Crow any relief. Instead, it caused his eyes beneath the hood to narrow sharply.

After all, he had torn off Su Ming’s right arm before, only to be tricked.

And what happened next confirmed that his intuition was correct.

“Boom!”

A saber light swept in from another direction, accompanied by a roar.

From the direction of the attack, another Su Ming appeared.

The Su Ming whose right arm had been crushed by Lord Crow transformed into a straw doll, instantly obliterated by the saber light.At the critical moment, Lord Crow once again displayed his ghost-like speed, evading the incoming saber gleam.

In that same instant, Su Ming unexpectedly darted forward instead of retreating, closing in aggressively.

“Boom…!”

Amidst the Qi explosions, Su Ming resembled an overwhelming war god, his Fire Blade descending like relentless thunder.

“Clang!!!”

Lord Crow extended his gauntlet without hesitation, swatting away the saber gleam and igniting a fierce metallic clash.

Yet Su Ming appeared inexhaustible, launching one powerful slash after another at Lord Crow, transforming the saber gleams into a torrential storm that enveloped him.

This scene truly shocked Lord Crow.

Is this guy really a monster that never tires?

How can he unleash attacks of such magnitude without pause or respite?

Is his mutation ability truly that terrifying?

That right hand…

Lord Crow felt unprecedented vigilance and danger toward Su Ming’s right hand.

Unbeknownst to him, Su Ming’s ability to deliver relentless, powerful slashes wasn’t solely due to his right hand.

The surging sense of strength throughout his body and the boiling, increasingly saturated mana were the true sources of his perpetual assault.

Su Ming felt his body growing hotter, his entire being burning as if something within was about to be born, compelling him to release it, to vent without restraint.

This urgent need to vent was even more intense than during his last Vision Mark Awakening.

Back then, it was merely agitation in mood, spirit, and spirituality.

This time, it was a frenzy in his body, Bloodline, and mana.

It was as if magma had been forced into his veins, turning his body into a volcano on the verge of eruption.

Unconsciously, Su Ming’s eyes turned crimson, his muscles swelling as if bulging. His slashes didn’t weaken; instead, they grew stronger and more terrifying.

Had his opponent not been a powerhouse among Six-Star Professionals, they would have been crushed by Su Ming’s frenzied release of power.

Only a strong fighter like Lord Crow, relying on the sharpness of his alchemical weapons, agile footwork, and keen senses, could withstand all of Su Ming’s assaults.

Yet even someone as powerful as Lord Crow gradually began to feel the pressure.

Especially when he noticed Su Ming’s crimson eyes and abnormal state, his heart shook.

“He…”

Lord Crow was rarely shaken.

Because he recognized it.

This was…

“Awakening!”

Almost as soon as Lord Crow uttered these words in disbelief, the most significant change yet occurred in Su Ming.

It was the result of countless alchemical potions dissolving within his body, accumulating their effects.

It was the consequence of Su Ming using his right hand’s power, causing the Divine Artifact dwelling within to release a portion of its energy.

The foundation built from consuming numerous red ores had long pushed Su Ming to the limits of the Three-Star Realm, to the shackles of his physique and the threshold of a superhuman state.

Now, under the combined influence of external pressure and internal catalysts, Su Ming finally succeeded in taking that step forward, advancing toward Awakening.It was not an Awakening of spirituality, but an Awakening of demonic nature.

“Boom!”

When the roar echoed for what seemed like the umpteenth time, a stream of light enveloped Su Ming’s entire body.

His skin turned pitch-black.

His eyes blazed crimson.

Two pairs of bat-like wings sprouted from his back, one above the other.

His hands grew sharp claws, and cracks similar to those on his right hand spread across his entire body, shimmering with an eerie blue radiance.

A Qi explosion tore his robes apart, shattering his mask and revealing Su Ming in his entirety.

Yet, what emerged at this moment was not the human named Su Ming, but a roaring Fiend.

Demonization, Awakening.

(End of Chapter)