Chapter 566: The Limit of the Flesh, Lüqiu Jinyuan’s Death

Yet how could Lüqiu Jinyuan, after burning his Ancestral Blood, be trapped by the Second Mountain Lord’s Five-Ghost Mountain-Carrying Art?

Another phoenix cry rang out.

The “three-headed strange bird” trapped within the ghostly blue fire domain suddenly moved, diving straight toward the Second Mountain Lord who was casting his art. Its speed was so fast it pushed the limits of mortal eyes, even divine sense.

From the Second Mountain Lord’s perspective, just as the five ghosts hurled their mountains down toward the “three-headed strange bird,” it abruptly turned into a point of red light and shot out. Then, in front of his eyes, that red light swelled, becoming as vast as a wall, filling his vision.

The Second Mountain Lord understood. This wasn’t because Lüqiu Jinyuan was simply too fast, but because he had again used his Crimson Spirit Wings to complete a space jump.

This time, his target was the Second Mountain Lord.

Now the distance between them was less than ten steps.

But with the intel Wei Tu had provided, the Second Mountain Lord did not panic at all. He spat a mouthful of fresh blood, formed a seal with one hand, activated his secret art, and retreated with explosive speed.

Even among peak mid Nascent Soul cultivators, there were differences.

Unlike Wei Tu, Lüqiu Jinyuan, as a Nascent Soul cultivator of the Immortal Dao, did not have the ability to instantly kill peers at close range.

Moreover, Lüqiu Jinyuan had never fought the Second Mountain Lord before, so he knew nothing of his details.

Thus, even though he wanted to kill with a single strike, he was a step too slow. His talons only managed to leave a grievous claw mark across the Second Mountain Lord’s law body.

“Damn it!”

Lüqiu Jinyuan cursed in his heart. Failing to slay the Second Mountain Lord meant his chances of victory and escape had dropped severalfold.

He glanced at the Profound Nether Yin Fire condensing into lotus form nearby, frowned, and used the Crimson Spirit Wings again to evade.

This time his target was no longer the Second Mountain Lord, but instead Cao Mi, hidden within the fire domain while casting the Fire Lotus Art.

Lüqiu Jinyuan refused to believe that Cao Mi, a mere early Nascent Soul, could dodge his killing strike like the Second Mountain Lord.

Once he disposed of Cao Mi, the binding of the ghostly blue fire domain would collapse, and his pressure would lessen greatly.

‘One more breath before Wei Tu arrives. With my Ancestral Blood burning, each use of Crimson Spirit Wings has only a third of the normal cooldown. That means I still have at least three free moves!’

‘Of course, those three moves are also my window to escape, to widen the gap from Wei Tu…’

His body moved faster than his thoughts. As he shifted through space toward Cao Mi, the phrase flashed in his mind:

‘Only two left!’

“Die!”

Lüqiu Jinyuan’s eyes turned cold. His twin wings spread wide, his body brimming with blood light. A talon like an eagle’s claw lashed out toward Cao Mi.

In an instant, a terrifying blood claw, half an acre in size, manifested in the air, slashing fiercely at Cao Mi’s waist and abdomen.

If nothing unexpected happened, this blow would end her life.

But unfortunately for him, he had miscalculated.

The moment his blood claw descended, a red-haired corpse demon with two heads and four arms appeared before Cao Mi, blocking the strike. It exhaled a chilling corpse breath that momentarily bound his movements.

Then the corpse demon roared, its four arms moving with frightening speed, unleashing a storm of fist shadows that smashed toward him.

“Pff!”

In just an instant, Lüqiu Jinyuan suffered the second injury of this battle, following Wei Tu’s strike earlier. His form as the “three-headed strange bird” shuddered violently, feathers scattering, blood spraying from his beak.

“A fourth-tier superior corpse puppet?”

In that split second, Lüqiu Jinyuan finally realized. Shock filled his eyes, his face twisted in disbelief.

At this moment, he no longer had any hope of turning defeat into victory. He no longer even entertained the thought of striking down Fu Zhizhou or the others.

Now, Lüqiu Jinyuan had only one thought.

Escape! Escape at once! Escape at all costs.

The current situation was no longer just dangerous for him—it was a complete deathtrap.

“Fortunately, before Wei Tu arrives, I can still use Crimson Spirit Wings two more times.”

Forcing the reversed blood back into his body, he surged his mana, breaking free from the corpse’s chilling restraint. His wings trembled once, and he shot off in the opposite direction from Wei Tu.

With two flashes of Crimson Spirit Wings, in the blink of an eye Lüqiu Jinyuan broke free of the ghostly blue fire domain controlled by Cao Mi, putting more than twenty li between himself and Wei Tu.

For Nascent Soul cultivators, twenty li was nothing—just a short chase. But between two cultivators of equal speed, it was a safe distance.

However—

Once again, Lüqiu Jinyuan had miscalculated.

Just as he escaped the fire domain, a white formation covered in web-like threads suddenly rose beneath his feet, twice as large as the ghostly blue fire domain.

“The Xuan Spider Robe?”

His face went pale. With the Bloodline Spirit Eyes, it was rare for anyone to trap him, let alone lay a formation so precisely under his feet.

He couldn’t understand what trick Wei Tu had used.

Unlike the ghostly blue fire domain, the Xuan Spider Robe’s formation bound the surrounding space itself. Even with Crimson Spirit Wings, escaping would be nearly impossible.

“That talisman?”

A strange light flashed in Lüqiu Jinyuan’s eyes. He saw, inside the fire domain, a pitch-black talisman.

Earlier, he had thought it was just an ordinary array foundation for the fire domain and ignored it. But now he clearly felt the Xuan Spider Robe’s power flowing from that talisman, along with the aura of the Earth Spider Matriarch.

Without doubt, that black talisman had been the hidden killing move.

“It worked!”

Unlike Lüqiu Jinyuan’s sinking heart, Wei Tu, using Curse Ghost Blood Escape to rush forward, allowed himself a faint smile.

Though the overseas cultivation world was more than ten times stronger than Great Cang’s, filled with resources and powerful figures, that didn’t mean Great Cang’s arts and techniques were weaker.

Techniques like the Spirit-Binding Talisman and Spirit-Dissolving Talisman of the Soul-Capturing Sect were rare even overseas.

Any Nascent Soul cultivator from Great Cang would be cautious upon seeing such a talisman. But Lüqiu Jinyuan, an outsider, how could he react in time in the middle of battle?

“Break for me!”

Lüqiu Jinyuan roared. Black crystal light flickered between his claws as he tore at the Xuan Spider Robe’s formation.

Normally, with his strength, the robe wouldn’t last long before shattering.

But this time, with the Second Mountain Lord, Cao Mi, Fu Zhizhou, and even the Earth Spider Matriarch acting alongside Wei Tu, he had no chance to break free.

The deathtrap was sealed.

“No! This prince will not die here!”

The three-headed strange bird let out a shrill cry. At its neck, a fourth head sprouted—a smaller blood-red bird’s head, eyes vertical pupils glowing with deathly chill. Its aura instantly reached the level of late Nascent Soul.

But before it could unleash its power, Wei Tu was already there. His arms spread wide as he tore the bloody bird head straight from its body.

The strange bird wailed in agony, its form beginning to collapse back into human shape.

Panic flashed through Lüqiu Jinyuan’s heart. He quickly formed a seal, preparing to use Crimson Spirit Wings to flee from Wei Tu’s side.

The Xuan Spider Robe bound only the edges of the formation. Within its range, space could still be traversed.

But then, a black cold blade shot from Wei Tu’s brow and slashed at him.

Agony lanced through Lüqiu Jinyuan’s soul. His Crimson Spirit Wings faltered.

“Die!”

Wei Tu once again used the Little Big Dipper Star Divine Technique, his body swelling dozens of zhang tall like a god or demon. His massive hands seized the strange bird’s wings and tore with all his strength.

The next instant—

A shrill scream tore from the three-headed strange bird’s beak. Its twin wings, like the fourth bloody bird head earlier, were ripped away by Wei Tu, blood dyeing the sky.

The torn wings dropped from mid-air.

Before Wei Tu, Lüqiu Jinyuan could no longer hold the form of the three-headed bird. He reverted to the image of a refined prince, though now his missing arms left him battered and pitiful.

“Wei Tu, just for such a small grudge, you would kill me? You must know, if you slay me, the Lüqiu Clan will hunt you down!

I am the pure-blooded heir, the hope of the Lüqiu Clan. If I die, they will never let you live.”

His face was pale, drained of all blood. When he saw Wei Tu’s Heaven-Reaching Divine Power fist sweeping at him again, fear surged and he hastily tried to threaten.

Wei Tu only gave a cold smile. He didn’t hesitate or hold back, still pressing forward with killing intent.

He wasn’t foolish. How could he not know the danger of letting the tiger return to the mountain?

Today, since he had already struck at Lüqiu Jinyuan, there was no chance he’d let him go.

Besides, in this remote place, even if Lüqiu Jinyuan died, no one from the Lüqiu Clan would know.

More than that—

He had sworn a soul oath with Lüqiu Qingfeng: once he obtained Ancestral Blood and reached mid fourth-stage Body Refinement, he must kill Lüqiu Jinyuan.

For that oath alone, he had to finish this.

“Was it Lüqiu Qingfeng who sent you? This prince can offer you double the price…”

When threats failed, Lüqiu Jinyuan turned to bribes.

But Wei Tu remained unmoved.

“In that case… don’t blame this prince!”

Madness flashed in Lüqiu Jinyuan’s eyes. He drew on the last of his Ancestral Blood, shouted Crimson Spirit Wings, and hurtled toward Wei Tu—beginning his self-detonation.

He didn’t believe the explosion would kill Wei Tu, a fourth-stage Body Refiner. But he was certain it would severely injure him, crippling his future.

That would still count as killing him in another sense.

“Too late.”

Wei Tu showed no fear. A mocking smile curled on his lips as he stood unmoving.

With a sharp hum, golden light burst from his body. Mana swelled outward. Lüqiu Jinyuan, in the midst of exploding, shriveled like a pierced balloon. His corpse dropped into the sea.

“That’s… the spirit body of a Body Refiner?”

Outside the formation, the Second Mountain Lord’s eyes gleamed with envy as he muttered to himself.

A Body Refiner was not, as the low-level cultivators imagined, just a brute relying on fists. That was a stereotype.

At the fourth stage, their true power emerged.

First was the Spirit Bone, which gave them near-immortal resilience and terrifying recovery.

Then came the Spirit Body, which let them unleash greater force and techniques.

The Spirit Body was condensed from extreme compression of fleshly power. It could attach to the refiner’s body or briefly project outward.

Of course, the range was limited.

At lower stages, only a few zhang, or a few dozen zhang at most—not as far-reaching as spellcasting.

But within that domain, as long as the Body Refiner willed it, he could strike with full peak force.

That domain was called the Flesh Limit Realm.

Lüqiu Jinyuan had been unlucky. In his path of self-detonation, he stepped into Wei Tu’s Flesh Limit Realm and was slain by that spirit body power.

“If I were Lüqiu Jinyuan, I wouldn’t have guessed the Flesh Limit Realm of a Body Refiner was so terrifying…”

The Second Mountain Lord sighed inwardly.

He had read about it in old records, but never witnessed it.

After all, fourth-stage Body Refiners were rare. A mid fourth-stage Body Refiner was even rarer, needing both talent and immense resources.

Wei Tu’s breakthrough had consumed centuries of Ancestral Blood saved by the Ninth Princess Lüqiu Qingfeng.

That was no small resource. Enough for several to break through mid Nascent Soul.

“But still, Lüqiu Qingfeng made a huge gain this time.”

The Second Mountain Lord shook his head.

Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivators were common enough, but finding one like Wei Tu, who had the power and the will to slay Lüqiu Jinyuan, was harder than reaching the heavens.