Chapter 175 – Blood Sea Sword Domain, Entangled in Karma, Slaying Ferocious Beast Taotie…

Squelch!

As Lu Chen’s sword once again slashed across Taotie’s body.

A fresh, dripping sword mark immediately appeared on Taotie’s back.

Though the wound wasn’t large, it caused Taotie immense pain.

If it were just an ordinary sword injury, Taotie might not have minded much.

After all, his Heaven Devouring and Earth Eating Fate allowed him to rapidly regenerate by continuously devouring the surrounding heaven and earth’s Spiritual Power, as well as his enemies’ techniques and Divine Abilities.

As long as his devouring speed surpassed the damage inflicted by his enemy.

No matter what methods the enemy employed, he was practically invincible.

In this regard, the combat style of Taotie’s Fate – Heaven Devouring and Earth Eating – was quite similar to Mu Xiaoye’s Innate Divine Ability – Crimson Phoenix Calamity.

The difference was that Mu Xiaoye could only devour the enemy’s life force, while Taotie could devour anything.

But in his battle with Lu Chen, Taotie’s Fate power was completely restricted.

Not to mention Lu Chen competing with him for the surrounding heaven and earth’s Spiritual Power.

Lu Chen’s fighting style alone made Taotie feel utterly frustrated.

Because besides attacking him with Constellation Power.

Lu Chen’s main body relied on Sword Qi Teleportation, never letting Taotie touch him even once.

Thus, although he could devour a considerable amount of Spiritual Power from Lu Chen’s Constellation Power attacks.

It still couldn’t compensate for the damage Lu Chen inflicted on his body.

Moreover, the Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword in Lu Chen’s hand seemed specifically designed to counter flesh-and-blood beings.

Wounds from this sword couldn’t heal rapidly like other injuries.

Even if Taotie could devour the Bloodthirsty Spiritual Power lingering on the wounds to heal his body.

His devouring still required some time to digest.

And during this process of devouring the Bloodthirsty Spiritual Power, Lu Chen wouldn’t just stand idly by.

In fact, Lu Chen would seize this precious opportunity to continuously attack.

Making Lu Chen like an elusive shadow, constantly weaving around Taotie.

Although each of Lu Chen’s attacks only caused minor damage to Taotie.

The sheer frequency of Lu Chen’s assaults was overwhelming.

With losses here and gains there, Taotie found it difficult to defend on all fronts.

On one side were the attacks from Lu Chen’s Water Virtue Star Phase·Yellow Springs, combined with the Righteous Azure Lotus Sword Domain.

On the other side were the attacks from Lu Chen’s main body using the Eight Desolations Sword Intent, paired with the second-grade Magic Treasure·Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword.

The former required Taotie’s full attention, as a single misstep could lead to severe injury.

The latter, though like a blunt knife cutting flesh—each attack’s damage was low, the cumulative effect was extremely uncomfortable for Taotie.

And most crucially, because Lu Chen suppressed his Spiritual Power absorption efficiency, all the Spiritual Power he absorbed could only be used to repair his Physical Body, unable to enhance his cultivation.

As a result, after all this time, his cultivation remained stagnant at the Foundation Establishment Perfection, unable to advance further.

Agonizing. Taotie felt unprecedented discomfort at this moment.

This was the first time in tens of thousands of years he had felt so stifled.

It had nothing to do with strength, purely because his abilities were being countered.

Giving him a feeling of powerlessness.

“Roar!”

Perhaps driven to irritation by Lu Chen.At this moment, Taotie no longer cared about Spiritual Power or whether he could break through the Seal.

His only thought was to crush that damned Cultivator beside him with one slap to vent his hatred.

With Taotie’s furious roar, the eyes that were originally only under his armpits began to appear in other parts of his body.

These eyes were not just for show—they immediately locked onto Lu Chen as soon as they appeared.

Then, beams of red light composed entirely of malevolent energy shot toward Lu Chen.

Faced with such a dense barrage of attacks, Lu Chen couldn’t continue closing in for the time being.

He had no choice but to focus on evasion.

After all, this was Taotie’s ferocious and malicious Qi.

If he were truly hit, Lu Chen wouldn’t fare well either.

Thus, Lu Chen’s originally tsunami-like onslaught finally came to a halt.

Forced into a defensive stance, he gave Taotie a brief moment to catch his breath.

However, while he had stopped, his Water Virtue Star Phase·Yellow Springs had not.

As the Water Virtue Star Phase·Yellow Springs raised the Lotus Spirit Sword in its hand once more,

It delivered another heavy slash aimed directly at Taotie’s head.

Now fully enraged, Taotie didn’t even bother to dodge.

He opened his bloody maw wide and bit down fiercely at the massive Lotus Spirit Sword.

Boom!

Not only was the strike immensely powerful, but it also split the corner of Taotie’s mouth wide open.

His jaw stretched to an exaggerated degree, the corners of his mouth extending all the way to his ears.

Yet, the Lotus Spirit Sword’s attack came to an abrupt halt.

It was firmly lodged in Taotie’s mouth.

Although blocking this strike came at a significant cost—

the wound on his face was deep enough to reveal bone—

Taotie deemed it all worthwhile.

Crack!

With a powerful bite from Taotie, the massive Lotus Spirit Sword was snapped in half.

More than half of the shattered blade was devoured by Taotie.

Chewing on this Spiritual Power, Taotie wore an expression of delight.

Just this amount of Spiritual Power was enough for him to recover from the injuries Lu Chen had inflicted earlier.

It might even allow his strength to advance further, breaking through his current cultivation limits and half-stepping into the Golden Core Stage.

However, all of this hinged on Taotie being able to fully absorb this Spiritual Power.

And Lu Chen, well aware of Taotie’s innate ability to devour heaven and earth,

had not used this pure Spiritual Power attack recklessly.

Watching Taotie continuously digest his Spiritual Power,

Lu Chen said expressionlessly, “If you want to consume my Spiritual Power, we’ll see if your teeth are up to the task.”

As his words fell, a Heretical Avatar suddenly appeared beside him.

Seeing this sudden manifestation, Taotie instinctively felt an intense sense of danger.

It was as if this Clone could genuinely threaten him.

Although his body had already warned him, Taotie was currently preoccupied with digesting the vast amount of Spiritual Power he had just consumed.

Even if he sensed something amiss, he couldn’t react in time.

After all, even though Taotie possessed a stomach that was nearly bottomless,

it still required some time to digest what he had ingested.

What Lu Chen had seized was precisely this moment of digestion—

the very reason he had intentionally offered his Spiritual Power for Taotie to devour!

“Slash.”

With Lu Chen’s command,

the Heretical Avatar immediately swung its Sword.Although this sword strike was dozens of meters away from Taotie and produced no visible commotion,

it appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary slash.

Yet this very strike carried with it a rare aura of death that unsettled Taotie.

The power driving this sword actually awakened a certain sealed memory from his Legacy.

It also made him show fear.

Because in his Legacy memory, he seemed to have been slain by a similar sword strike.

Squelch!

As the Heretical Sword descended, a clear sword mark immediately appeared on the eye under Taotie’s arm.

This sword mark was located right in the center of the armpit eye, splitting it vertically from top to bottom.

Moreover, the wound caused this time was quite different from those Lu Chen had previously inflicted with the Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword.

It almost completely pierced through the entire eyeball of Taotie’s armpit eye.

Severe injury—this was the most serious wound Taotie had suffered since encountering Lu Chen.

After this sword strike, Lu Chen’s face also paled slightly.

Although he used his Heretical Avatar to offset the side effects of executing this sword,

he couldn’t negate the painful memories.

Even after experiencing it so many times, Lu Chen would always feel as if his head was splitting open every time he absorbed these memories.

However, after a brief rest, Lu Chen summoned another Heretical Avatar.

Clearly, he intended to inflict as much damage as possible on Taotie during this precious time.

“Slash.”

“Roar!”

As the new Heretical Sword swept out, Taotie screamed in agony once more.

This time, he was in so much pain that he rolled around on the ground.

The two-thirds of his body that had struggled out from the Sealed Land continuously crashed against the floor,

as if trying to alleviate the physical torment through such movements.

In a short span, Taotie had suffered two consecutive attacks from the Heretical Sword.

The last one to receive such treatment was Rong Gongming in the special Instance, who possessed the ‘Immortal Slaughter Sword Finger Diagram.’

Although Taotie’s rank was far above Rong Gongming’s,

Rong Gongming was, after all, a Golden Core Stage Cultivator of Earth-grade quality.

Moreover, he had a special Magic Treasure like the Immortal Slaughter Sword Finger Diagram, which could briefly neutralize the power of Lu Chen’s Sword Domain.

In this regard, Rong Gongming at that time was much stronger than Taotie was now.

After enduring these two Heretical Sword attacks, not only was all the Spiritual Power Taotie had previously devoured from Lu Chen’s Lotus Spirit Sword completely depleted,

but his own aura visibly weakened considerably.

“Brother Lu, I’m almost done here. Find a way to send Taotie back!”

Hearing Diting’s words, Lu Chen took a deep breath.

The next moment, the Lotus Sword Domain around him suddenly vanished.

This sudden change caught not only Taotie off guard but even Diting by surprise.

Without the suppression of the Sword Domain, Taotie could wantonly devour the surrounding Spiritual Power.

Wasn’t this equivalent to giving back the hard-earned advantage?

Would Lu Chen make such a basic mistake?

Naturally, he wouldn’t.

He dispersed the Righteous Azure Lotus Sword Domain because he had a better method to suppress the critically injured Taotie before him.

“Sword Domain… Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood.”

As Lu Chen’s voice fell,

countless streams of blood surged from the ground.

This sudden deluge of terrifying blood startled not only Taotie but even Diting himself.

The heavy scent of blood and the countless broken arms reaching out from the sea of blood made Diting feel as if he had fallen into Hell.And this was one of the trump cards Lu Chen had kept hidden until now.

Dao Integration Realm Sword Intent… Sea of Blood.

【Sea of Blood Sword Intent: Dao Integration Realm (Cannot be upgraded)】

【Effect: Condenses intent into momentum, gathers slaughter into a sea, materializing killing intent to attack.】

【Special Effect·Mountains of Corpses and Seas of Blood: You can attack without using Spiritual Power, relying solely on your own vitality and killing intent. You can also use the enemy’s blood to attack—the heavier the enemy’s killing intent and the deeper their Karma, the stronger the damage inflicted.】

The Righteous Azure Lotus Sword Domain was the core of the ‘Fiend-Trapping Sword Array’.

Its characteristic lay in growing stronger the longer the battle lasted, trapping enemies within it as if they had fallen into an endless series of traps.

The more they struggled, the deeper they sank.

But the Sea of Blood Sword Intent was different.

The Sea of Blood Sword Intent evolved from the Blood Killing Sword Intent.

It was the fragment of the Sword Path Lu Chen had obtained after purifying the ‘Ancient Fiend Treasure·Immortal Slaughter Sword Finger Diagram’ in a special instance.

And this Sword Intent was the core component of the Immortal-Slaughter Sword Formation.

Naturally, it possessed the qualification to advance to the Dao Integration Realm.

During his Agent examination and later when he journeyed to the Qingzhou Shanhai Division,

Lu Chen had consistently kept his in-game self in seclusion within the Azure Cloud Sect.

While cultivating, he continuously consumed Essence Nourishing Pills that provided vast amounts of experience.

Coupled with the hundreds of thousands of experience points he had gained from the special instance earlier,

Lu Chen had already acquired the ability to elevate his new Sword Intent to the Dao Integration Realm not long ago.

And the Sea of Blood Sword Intent, born from the Blood Killing Sword Intent,

naturally inherited its emphasis on killing intent.

Moreover, upon reaching the Dao Integration Realm, this characteristic was further enhanced.

Enhanced to the point where Lu Chen could not only attack with killing intent,

but the heavier the enemy’s killing intent and Karma, the stronger the damage they would suffer.

As one of the Four Fiends, Taotie’s killing intent and Karma had reached a terrifying level.

Using the Sea of Blood Sword Intent against it was simply perfect.

In truth, Lu Chen could have used the Blood Killing Sword Intent against Taotie from the start.

But due to his cautious nature, Lu Chen was uncertain whether Taotie’s Destiny·Devour Heaven and Earth could negate the damage from the Blood Killing Sword Intent.

If Taotie became aware of this Sword Domain and prepared for it,

the effectiveness of the Sword Domain would undoubtedly be greatly diminished.

Thus, Lu Chen first used the Righteous Azure Lotus Sword Domain and the Water Virtue Star Manifestation·Yellow Springs to probe Taotie.

After confirming Taotie’s current strength, he began continuously depleting its power.

At the critical moment, he delivered a heavy blow with the Heretical Sword.

This series of actions had all been carefully planned by Lu Chen long ago.

Although his current strength was far beyond what it used to be,

one thing about Lu Chen remained unchanged:

his inherently steady disposition.

Since he dared to come and suppress this Taotie, he had over a 98% certainty of success.

Sacrificing one life to save ten thousand—Lu Chen could not do that.

But saving ten thousand within his capabilities—

Lu Chen would not only do it, but he would continue to do so.

Empowered by the Sea of Blood Sword Domain, numerous arms suddenly emerged from the blood sea surrounding Taotie.

These arms belonged to men and women, old and young, humans and mystical beasts alike.

They clutched at Taotie’s body, as if trying to drag it down into the hellish depths of the blood sea.

In response, Taotie felt both terror and boundless rage.Because it discovered that the arms grasping it all came from beings it had once killed or devoured.

And what manifested these arms wasn’t Lu Chen’s own Spiritual Power, but Taotie’s own Karma.

The greater one’s Karma, the stronger the backlash within the Sea of Blood Sword Domain.

In this regard, Taotie was already nearly exhausted just dealing with the manifestations of his own Karma.

Not to mention Lu Chen watching intently not far away.

While gripping his Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword, Lu Chen began continuously gathering his killing intent.

Before long, Lu Chen’s clothes were completely soaked in blood, appearing from a distance as if he were wearing crimson robes.

Lu Chen raised his Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword.

Instantly, countless streams of blood from the sea of blood began converging toward the Bloodthirsty Spirit Sword.

Soon forming a massive Blood Sword.

Holding the blood sword high, Lu Chen gazed expressionlessly at the terrified Taotie in the distance.

Behind him, countless vengeful spirits and resentful ghosts clawed at the air, their ferocious faces fixed on Taotie like death-bringing demons.

They looked as if they wanted nothing more than to devour him alive.

“Repay kindness with kindness, but how should we repay cruelty?”

“Those who kill shall be killed in turn – this is the cycle of Karma and Reincarnation, the entanglement of karmic retribution.”

“Taotie… your Karma is too heavy.”

With these words, Lu Chen brought down his sword.

But this sword strike was incredibly heavy, so much so that even Lu Chen himself, who was maintaining the Sword Domain,

struggled somewhat when swinging this sword.

Because what this sword carried was the collective Karma of countless beings Taotie had victimized.

Just as Lu Chen had said, the Karma on this sword… was too heavy.

So heavy that even he, the wielder, found it difficult to control.

Yet the power of this strike far exceeded Lu Chen’s expectations.

For it even surpassed the previous Heretical Sword.

BOOM!

Under Taotie’s terrified gaze, the massive blood sword completely cleaved through its body.

Beneath the heavy sword, Taotie’s severed body fell directly into the Underground Prison below.

Leaving only a strange vertical eye hovering in place.

Seeing this vertical eye, Lu Chen immediately understood what it was.

It was the physical manifestation of Taotie’s destiny.

Something similar to a Dao Fruit.

Called… a Ferocious Beast Dao Fruit.

[Name: Ferocious Beast Dao Fruit (Taotie)]

[Type: Special Item]

[Effect: …]

(End of Chapter)