Before the thick curtain of dust from Chen Xin's devastating arrival could even begin to settle over the ruined market square, the very fabric of space itself tore open just a few meters away from the dark purple-haired woman. The ambient spirit power in the air warped and twisted, complaining under an unnatural strain.
CRACKLE!
A terrifying, jagged spatial rift manifested in the empty air. It looked like a dark wound slashed across the canvas of reality, leaking a heavy, suffocating pressure that made the surrounding debris float momentarily before crashing back down. From this pitch-black gap, Bone Douluo Gu Rong stepped out. His gaunt, impossibly thin face carried a dark, skeletal grin that promised nothing but suffering for his enemies.
"It seems my old bones get to stretch a bit today," Gu Rong chuckled, his voice a dry, rasping sound that echoed strangely through the battlefield.
Nine spirit rings—two yellow, two purple, and five deep black—pulsated around his tall, thin frame with a heavy, localized spatial pressure. The sheer density of his cultivation bore down upon the plaza, acting like a physical weight that pressed the loose cobblestones deeper into the earth.
Zi Ji hissed, a sound that carried the dangerous cadence of a cornered serpent. Her beautiful face tightened as she sensed the dense, unfathomable power of space radiating from the Spatial Core hidden within Gu Rong's chest. She realized instantly that this human was incredibly elusive, possessing an attribute that was notoriously difficult to pin down and destroy.
"Old Bone, take the dark purple-haired woman. I will handle the old man," Chen Xin stated calmly. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his silver hair swaying gently. His magnificent, crystal-blue Seven Kill Sword floated obediently beside him, humming with a lethal anticipation that sent visible ripples through the dusty air.
"Always leaving the pretty ones for me, old sword," Gu Rong teased, though his dark eyes remained locked onto Zi Ji with a predator's focus.
Suddenly, a brilliant, multi-colored light illuminated the ruined market square. The illumination chased away the gloomy twilight created by the smoke and the oppressive auras, bringing a profound sense of warmth and absolute, unyielding power.
Ning Fengzhi arrived upon the scene. He stood atop a nearby, half-shattered roof, his elegant robes catching the wind. His magnificent Nine Treasure Glaze Tiled Pagoda spun brilliantly in his palm, casting prismatic reflections that danced across the faces of the combatants. His cyan eyes swept over the battlefield, assessing the strange, ringless opponents before initiating his unmatched support.
"Nine Treasures Famous! One is: Strength! Two is: Agility! Three is: Spirit Power! Four is: Defense! Five is: Attack! Six is: Attribute!" Ning Fengzhi chanted rapidly, his voice a melodic chime that resonated in the souls of his allies.
SWISH! SWISH!
Eighteen distinct streams of concentrated, amplified light shot forth from the floating pagoda. They sailed through the chaotic air like shooting stars, charting perfect trajectories before striking the Bone Douluo, the Sword Douluo, and the crimson-haired Ah Yin.
Ah Yin gasped aloud. As the multi-colored light sank into her back, she felt her spirit power surge to terrifying new heights. The sheer volume of Ning Fengzhi's amplification acted like a tidal wave lifting a ship from the shallows. It temporarily pushed her combat strength, bridging the massive gap and elevating her physical and spiritual attributes to that of a true Titled Douluo.
"Thank you, Sect Master Ning," Ah Yin spoke respectfully, her voice ringing clear over the crackling flames of the battlefield. Her defensive, crystalline vines glowed with a renewed, devastating crimson light, the sheer density of her plant constructs doubling in an instant.
Gu Rong cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing like snapping timber. He felt his physical speed, his base strength, and his mastery over spatial power multiply exponentially under his nephew-in-law's peerless support. The spatial rift behind him pulsed with an even darker, more profound emptiness.
"Little girl, let us see if your darkness can swallow space itself," Gu Rong taunted Zi Ji. He took a slow, deliberate step forward to initiate the clash, his skeletal grin widening into a mocking leer.
Zi Ji's beautiful, flawless face twisted in pure, unbridled rage. She was the Abyss Dragon Demon Empress; she possessed a bloodline that commanded the deepest, darkest waters of the star forest. She would not stand to be mocked by a frail-looking human bag of bones who dared to underestimate her abyss.
ROAR!
Zi Ji unleashed her terrifying aura. She did not summon a visible martial spirit, but the darkness element began to boil and froth around her like a living, breathing entity. The shadows stretched and twisted, reaching out to consume the surrounding light as she prepared to engage the spatial master in a battle of absolute annihilation.
Zi Ji moved first. Her body became a blinding blur of violet shadows, traversing the distance between them in a fraction of a second. She activated her innate ability, the Devouring Domain.
A purple-black ball appeared in the palm of her pale hand. It spun wildly, rapidly expanding until it became a giant, terrifying vortex that hovered in the air like a localized black hole. It immediately began to devour the very light, the ambient spirit power, and the physical debris around them. Loose cobblestones, shattered wood, and lingering smoke were sucked violently into the swirling abyss, vanishing without a trace.
VWOOM!
The gravitational pull of the Devouring Domain was immense. It acted like a massive, invisible hand, attempting to rip Gu Rong's frail-looking body from his footing and drag him screaming into the crushing, lightless depths of the vortex.
Gu Rong merely scoffed, planting his boots firmly onto the stone. His fourth black spirit ring, a halo representing tens of thousands of years of accumulated power, lit up brightly.
"Fourth Spirit Ring Ability: Bone Prison!" Gu Rong chanted, his hands weaving a complex seal.
SNAP! CRUNCH!
Massive, jagged spikes of pale, hardened bone erupted from the ground directly beneath Zi Ji. They shot upward with the speed of a striking viper, aiming to pierce her delicate flesh and lock her within an inescapable, calcified cage.
Zi Ji was forced to halt her aggressive advance. She used her graceful, serpentine footwork to dance backward, flipping through the air as the bone spikes shattered the cobblestones where she had just stood a millisecond prior.
"Your brittle tricks mean nothing to the abyss," Zi Ji commanded. The dark purple halo of her Devouring Domain expanded further, manifesting behind her back like a sinister halo, containing a second, highly concentrated vortex within its center.
As Gu Rong summoned another wave of jagged bone spikes from the earth to skewer her descending form, the Devouring Domain acted like an absolute, consuming shield. The massive vortex attracted and swallowed the physical bone attacks the moment they entered within three meters of her body. The hardened bone constructs sank into the purple-black light and dissolved, digested by the terrifying properties of her darkness attribute.
'Her short-distance control is exceptional,' Gu Rong thought, his dark eyes analyzing her flawless defense as his relentless attacks vanished into the dark purple halo without leaving a single trace. 'This woman possesses no spirit rings, yet she wields a domain that rivals the most ancient of Titled Douluos. What strange cultivation path does she walk?'
Zi Ji smiled cruelly, landing softly upon the tip of a remaining bone spike. "Devouring Reverse!" she shouted.
The swirling vortex behind her abruptly halted its spinning. The dark purple light flattened out, transforming from a consuming hole into a flat, dark mirror.
BOOM!
The exact same jagged bone spikes that Gu Rong had just launched into the abyss were violently expelled from the dark mirror. They shot back at the Bone Douluo with equal, if not greater, destructive force, coated in a layer of corrosive purple energy.
Gu Rong didn't even flinch as his own attacks rained down upon him. Utilizing the profound Power of Space derived from his unique, dual-system martial soul, he simply took a casual half-step to the side.
His body momentarily phased through the spatial layer. He became a translucent ghost, a mere projection of himself existing between the folds of reality. The corrupted bone spikes passed harmlessly right through his chest and head, burying themselves deeply into the stone walls of the buildings behind him.
Zi Ji gritted her teeth, a flash of genuine frustration crossing her elegant features. She realized instantly that her reflection tactic was completely useless against a man who could effortlessly bend the fabric of space to dodge physical and elemental trauma.
She immediately changed tactics, raising both hands. She utilized her Abyss Devouring once more, but altered its application. Dozens of dark-purple, highly concentrated threads shot out from her fingertips. They fanned out like a spider's web, attempting to layer together across the battlefield to take absolute control of the ambient space and restrict Gu Rong's slippery movements.
The black threads layered together, crossing over one another to form a complex, geometric vortex within the air itself. The construct sought to swallow Gu Rong's spatial presence, anchoring the fabric of reality so he could no longer phase through it. The clash pushed the battle between devouring darkness and evasive space to a violent boiling point.
"Seventh Spirit Ring Ability: Bone Dragon Avatar!" Gu Rong roared, deciding it was time to crush this arrogant woman.
His seventh black ring expanded, swallowing his frail body entirely. A blinding, pale light erupted, and a massive, terrifying skeletal dragon materialized in the center of the square. It was a monstrosity forged from thick, reinforced bone, its eye sockets burning with a ghostly blue fire. The Bone Dragon let out a deafening roar, its massive tail sweeping out to shatter the dark-purple threads that attempted to bind its domain.
While Gu Rong heavily tested the dark limits of the dark purple-haired woman, Sword Douluo Chen Xin faced the old man, Yao Ling. Chen Xin stood perfectly straight, his pristine blue robes remaining entirely undisturbed by the chaotic, howling winds generated by the surrounding battles.
Yao Ling recognized the extreme, concentrated danger Chen Xin posed. The ancient beast's eyes, hidden beneath heavy, wrinkled brows, flashed with a strange, sickly green light. He knew this human was not someone he could defeat with mere physical blows.
"Millennium In A Flash," Yao Ling intoned, his voice sounding like dry leaves rustling in a graveyard. He unleashed the powerful, time-altering domain he had painstakingly cultivated over hundreds of thousands of years of solitary existence.
BZZZT! VWOOM!
The environment surrounding the two combatants abruptly changed. The air itself suddenly became dense and incredibly sticky, turning into a spiritual swamp that threatened to drown Chen Xin's refined senses. The light shifted into a murky, yellowish-green hue.
Countless phantom eyes, glowing with a sickly luminescence, suddenly appeared floating in the dense air around the Sword Douluo. They opened one after another, their slit-like pupils locking onto the silver-haired human. They began shooting out paralyzing, sapping rays of light from every conceivable angle.
Chen Xin felt a sudden, massive weight press down upon his shoulders. He felt his spirit energy being actively sapped, drained away by the murky environment. His physical movements became terribly sluggish, as though he were trying to run through deep, freezing mud. Every breath required immense effort.
'Everything around me feels incredibly slow... a thousand years passing in a single, agonizing instant,' Chen Xin thought, his sharp mind recognizing the terrifying, time-altering perception of the domain. 'He is not just slowing my body; he is attempting to erode my will by making me perceive the crushing weight of centuries.'
Yao Ling seized the golden opportunity presented by his domain's suppression. He raised his gnarled hands, controlling the remaining, scattered rubble of the ruined market.
CRACK! SQUELCH!
He caused countless black, charred logs and broken wooden beams to rapidly sprout, twisting them into massive, highly corrosive Monster Eyed Trees. The grotesque botanical constructs ripped themselves from the debris, towering over the sluggish Sword Douluo.
The trees whipped their heavy, thorn-covered branches toward Chen Xin, striking like massive, spiked whips. They intended to bind his limbs, drag him to the earth, and melt his flesh from his bones with their dripping, acidic sap.
However, Chen Xin was not an ordinary Titled Douluo. He possessed the legendary Sword Spirit Core, a profound condensation of martial understanding that had significantly enhanced his Killing Sword Intent to a realm that could effortlessly cut through spiritual illusions and mental suppression.
"First Spirit Ring Ability: Body as the Sword," Chen Xin stated calmly, his voice steady despite the crushing pressure of the millennium swamp. His first yellow ring shone brightly, the foundational ability taking on a terrifying aspect when fueled by a Rank 98 cultivation.
SHING!
A terrifying, dense sword energy erupted from his pores, completely covering his physical body in a blinding, silver sheen. He turned his very flesh and bone into an unbreakable, razor-sharp weapon.
The corrosive, heavy branches of the Monster Eyed Trees that attempted to bind him slammed into his glowing form. They did not wrap around him. They were instantly, violently shredded into microscopic scraps the very moment they touched his protective sword energy aura. The acidic sap sizzled harmlessly against the silver light, unable to breach the absolute sharpness of his defense.
"Seventh Spirit Ring Ability: Seven Kill Sword Avatar!" Chen Xin declared, escalating his power.
His seventh black ring expanded. His body merged entirely with the crystal-blue Seven Kill Sword. He became a massive, hovering blade of pure, concentrated sapphire light, projecting a pressure that sliced the sticky, dense air of Yao Ling's domain into ribbons.
Chen Xin, now existing as the colossal sword itself, slowly angled his tip toward the old man. His spiritual eyes pierced easily through the dense, sticky illusion of Yao Ling's time-altering domain.
"Your spiritual tricks cannot bind a sword that seeks to cut the heavens themselves," Chen Xin's voice resonated from the glowing blade, carrying a metallic, deadly resonance. He prepared to unleash his devastating, overwhelming counterattack upon the ancient tree monster, intending to split the old man's domain in half.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels [Villain: Manipulating The Heroines Into Hating The Protagonist] and [Harem Master: Seduction System].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon.
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04