Though the Evil Cultivator had seized the perfect moment and the shuttle-shaped magic tool was formidable, Lin Feng hadn't relaxed his vigilance for an instant. Seeing the projectile almost upon him, he remained unflustered. He raised his right hand, and the Crimson Soul Flying Sword shot forward defiantly to meet it. "CLANG!!" An earsplitting metallic clash rang out mere meters away. The shuttle-like tool was sent tumbling backwards, deflected.
"Curses!! Just die already!!"
His attack failing seemed to enrage and humiliate the Evil Cultivator. Recognizing that further direct attacks with magic tools couldn't overcome Lin Feng's Epic Spirit Flying Sword, he retracted the shuttle. Instead, he waved the small black banner frantically, pouring his efforts into controlling the swarm of hundreds of specters besieging Lin Feng.
In his view, even with two tools countering specters, Lin Feng's cultivation base was far weaker. Relying on his vastly deeper reserves as a Golden Core Perfection cultivator, he could simply grind Lin Feng down. Denied any respite, the mere Golden Core fifth layer cultivator would inevitably exhaust his true essence and fall. Even if it meant sacrificing many painstakingly collected specters, seizing the treasures on Lin Feng would make it worthwhile.
Lin Feng controlled the White Tiger spirit as it defended against and obliterated the waves of specters surging forward like moths to a flame. His expression grew slightly graver. He, too, recognized the opponent's strategy. Even in a true battle of attrition, with his cultivation of the Chromatic Star Art and abundant pills, he might not necessarily lose. However, he absolutely couldn't let the fight drag on. Wang Chen needed assistance, and prolonging things risked unforeseen complications.
His mind raced through possibilities. Lin Feng looked up at the horde of specters filling the air. Most were not particularly powerful; the majority were only equivalent to Foundation Establishment cultivators. Roughly a third were comparable to Golden Core Early Stage. Those specters matching Golden Core Mid Stage or even Late Stage cultivators lurked on the periphery, seeming to wait for an opportunity rather than charging recklessly. This was clearly the Evil Cultivator's deliberate control – unwilling to lose his powerful specters, he used the weaker ones to drain Lin Feng's true essence.
The earlier specter with Golden Core Perfection strength seemed to have been fused from many lesser ones. But these individual specters before him now? Each was likely the soul of a single cultivator. Victims slain by the Evil Cultivator, their souls captured and refined into these mindless, spectral slaves. Recalling the recent rumors surrounding Maze Island over the past half-month, Lin Feng instantly guessed the source: this very Evil Cultivator. Those cultivators who had vanished here recently had probably all become the specters now surrounding him.
With the White Tiger spirit and the Crimson Soul Flying Sword, these specters posed no direct threat to him personally. But their sheer numbers were staggering. At the current rate of elimination, clearing them all would take considerable time – playing right into the enemy's hands.
The best weapons against such spectral entities were tools like the Crimson Soul Flying Sword, imbued with potent soul-striking power. The other effective counter was supremely Yang-aligned substances…
As this thought crystallized, a sharp glint flashed in Lin Feng's eyes. He raised his right hand. A sphere of deep, molten-red flame ignited upon his palm – it was the Magma Heartfire!
"FWOOSH!!"
Lin Feng flicked his hand. The small 'fireball' shot outwards and then exploded violently. Instantly, a towering vortex of flame erupted, centered on him and expanding outwards like a fiery tsunami!
Blazing flames surged forth. The White Tiger phantom above Lin Feng remained utterly unaffected. But when the flames licked the specters…
"Hiss..."
They dissolved like snowflakes thrown into a furnace, vanishing into thin wisps of smoke in mere moments.
Within the span of a few breaths, the inferno had consumed the space within twenty meters of Lin Feng. Dozens of specters vanished without resistance, utterly obliterated.
"Profound Fire?! Profound Fire!! How?! How do you possess Profound Fire?! Impossible!!"
Across the cavern, the Evil Cultivator's eyes bulged wide, his face etched with utter horror. His shriek was shrill and distorted, like a mortal witnessing a demon materialize.
"Hmph!" Ignoring the other's panic, Lin Feng merely snorted coldly. He decisively recalled the White Tiger spirit, pouring all his focus into channeling the Magma Heartfire. Instantly, the flames roared, their intensity multiplying several times over. They engulfed nearly the entire remaining spectral swarm. The Foundation Establishment level specters dissolved instantly into nothingness. Only about a hundred Golden Core level specters remained, shrieking madly and thrashing wildly within the inferno.
"Aaaah!!" Utterly unnerved, the Evil Cultivator let out a pale-faced scream of panic. He desperately waved his Specter Banner, frantically chanting a retrieval spell to summon the surviving specters back. He shot a vicious, hate-filled glare at Lin Feng… then pivoted on his heel, darting backward into a tunnel entrance – fleeing! Fear had finally gripped him; he dared not fight Lin Feng any longer.
His decision to flee was fundamentally sound. His fatal mistake was clinging to his remaining specters. Had he willingly sacrificed them, commanding a suicidal rush at Lin Feng as he escaped, he might have bought himself a sliver of a chance. Instead, by recalling the survivors into his Specter Banner… he was essentially signing his own death warrant.
Freed from the immediate threat of the specters and seeing his opponent turn tail, murderous intent solidified in Lin Feng's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his right hand… and pointed his index finger!
The Evil Cultivator had already scrambled into a tunnel, vanishing from Lin Feng's direct line of sight. But he remained within Lin Feng's divine sense perception. Lin Feng poured his power into the Demon Light Ring on his right index finger. A purple gleam flashed... A hair-thin beam of violet light lanced out, piercing into the rock wall of the tunnel ahead…
"GYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" An instant later, a blood-curdling scream tore through the tunnels – filled with boundless terror and utter disbelief. The scream cut off abruptly, followed by the faint, heavy thud of a body hitting the ground.
...
Elsewhere, Wang Chen's battle with the Loong-Tailed Crocodile had also reached a fever pitch.
Though Wang Chen's cultivation base was slightly lower than the beast's, he held his own flawlessly. His movements were ethereally light, akin to a spirit monkey. Despite the Loong-Tailed Crocodile's overwhelming strength and savage onslaught, it couldn't land a single blow on him. Wang Chen, meanwhile, constantly harassed it – launching his flying sword, triggering spell talismans, or sometimes darting right up to its massive frame to deliver furious slashes with his cleaver-like blade. Even with its thick-skinned hide and scales like layered steel, the beast now bore numerous bleeding gashes, looking considerably worse for wear.
However, these 'minor wounds' seemed to have little effect on the Loong-Tailed Crocodile's vitality. Instead, they only enraged it further. It roared incessantly, jaws snapping repeatedly with enough force to crush boulders, trying to catch and pulverize Wang Chen. It drove him steadily backwards. Stone shards flew like shrapnel wherever they moved, and sections of the tunnel collapsed in their wake.
"Hah! Beast! You're nothing but a beast! Last time, your grandpa here was off his game, letting you chase me like a dog! Time to show you what I'm truly capable of!!" Wang Chen cursed and dodged simultaneously, clearly still smarting from his previous humiliation at the claws of this very beast. He sidestepped with a twist, narrowly avoiding a crushing tail sweep. Seizing the opening, his left hand flashed out! A streak of cold, silvery light shot forth! "Thwick!" It struck true, embedding itself deep into the Loong-Tailed Crocodile's left eye!
"ROOOOOAAAARRR!!!" The beast froze momentarily, head thrown back in an agonized bellow. Wang Chen scrambled backward hastily, evading the creature's ensuing blind, frenzied thrashing.
"Fzzzt…"
At that precise moment, a violet ray of light abruptly shot from behind the blinded crocodile. As it jerked its head in pain… The ray struck its skull, piercing clean through!
"Wha—?!" Wang Chen's eyes widened in shock, staring dumbfounded as the colossal Loong-Tailed Crocodile crashed to the ground. His gaze lifted beyond the fallen beast to a figure standing at the tunnel junction opposite, slowly lowering a right hand. "Lin Feng!!"
Lin Feng stepped forward, casually storing the massive carcass into his spatial ring. He then walked over to Wang Chen. "Wang Chen, you alright?"
"Uh... Yeah, I'm fine..." Wang Chen shook his head reflexively, still staring at Lin Feng with a dazed expression. "Lin Feng... what... what was that just now?"
Lin Feng shrugged casually. "Just a special magic tool. Couldn't have pulled off the 'sneak attack' without you holding its attention."
"..." Wang Chen's eyes flickered. He strongly suspected it was a spirit light attack artifact but knew better than to pry. He glanced towards the direction Lin Feng had come from, his expression turning troubled. "Your side... dealt with? The enemy? Dead? Or escaped?"
"Dead," Lin Feng stated simply.
Wang Chen couldn't suppress another jolt of surprise. Though he hadn't seen the enemy clearly earlier, he had distinctly sensed the oppressive aura of a Golden Core Perfection cultivator. That Lin Feng had eliminated such a powerful foe so swiftly – and seemingly unscathed – was almost beyond belief.
After a moment of heavy silence, Wang Chen ventured another question. "Know who he was?"
Lin Feng shrugged again. "No idea. But he was an Evil Cultivator. Controlled hundreds of specters. Made things... rather troublesome."
"Evil Cultivator?!" Wang Chen's eyebrows shot up. Instantly, the pieces connected. "Then... the recent disappearances here... it was him?! Hunting cultivators for their souls?"
"Likely," Lin Feng affirmed with a nod.
Wang Chen pondered this for several seconds. "Right... what about that cultivator who was fleeing from the Evil Cultivator earlier? The one who yelled for help? Where'd he vanish to?"