I am the Thunder Emperor in the fight

"Is breaking through to the half-step Earthly Supreme realm so difficult...?"

Night Falcon's calm words, like a biting winter wind, swept through Ghost Nightmare's heart, causing his face to contort in pain.

The pure dark power that had invaded his body through his right arm was still stubbornly eroding his life force, and at this moment, his strength had been greatly diminished.

However, extreme anger is often followed by hysterical madness and resentment.

A crimson ferocity suddenly surged in Ghost Nightmare's eyes. He coughed up a mouthful of foul blood mixed with fragments of internal organs and roared.

"Hmph, arrogant bastard! I, Ghost Nightmare, am the young master of the Netherworld Ghost Sect, and have been affiliated with the Black Heaven Ancient Clan for a hundred years! How could I be defeated by a bastard of unknown origin like you?!"

"You forced me into this! Today, even if it costs me everything, I will make you die!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, Ghost Nightmare slammed his left hand into his chest, spitting out another mouthful of his primordial blood.

But the blood essence did not fall to the ground; instead, he quickly caught it with his left hand and drew a strange blood-red rune in the air.

At the same time, the Qiankun Bracelet on his right hand flashed, and an item flew out and landed in the blood-red runes.

It was an object that was dark blue all over and shaped like the skull of some kind of ferocious beast. It was about a foot long and had two constantly rotating eerie green gems inlaid in the eye sockets. It exuded a chilling coldness, deathly silence, and a powerful pressure that far exceeded the level of a peerless divine artifact!

Low-tier sacred artifact, Soul-Eating Demon Skull!
This is a treasure passed down through generations of the Ghost Sect. Although it is only a low-grade sacred artifact and has been damaged due to its age and the great war, and its power is no longer at its peak, its essence is still a sacred artifact, containing the vast power of a sacred item!
To protect Guiyan from harm during this trial, his father specially bestowed this item upon him and taught him a secret technique to temporarily activate part of its power with his blood essence. However, the price was extremely high, and it could not be used except in life-or-death situations.

At this moment, Ghost Nightmare was blinded by anger, fear and humiliation. He was willing to sacrifice his own life essence to activate this sacred object and vowed to completely annihilate Night Falcon!

"With my lifeblood, I offer this sacrifice to the wandering souls! Soul-devouring demons, heed my command! Ten thousand ghosts... return!!!"

The ghostly roar echoed throughout the mushroom-shaped rock forest.

The Soul-Devouring Skull absorbed the essence blood runes, and the eerie green gems in its eye sockets suddenly burst forth with a blinding, evil light!
The entire skull seemed to come alive, emitting a teeth-grinding crunching sound, and a terrifying suction force erupted from its open jaws!

Oh oh oh!
In an instant, the Yin energy, death energy, and even the remnant souls of the weak shadow creatures wandering in the core area of ​​the Dark Current Cave seemed to be summoned by an invisible force, turning into streams of gray-black air that surged wildly toward the Soul-Devouring Ghost Skull!

The ghost skull expanded at a visible speed, and in the blink of an eye it transformed into a huge skull the size of a house, with its eye sockets burning with raging eerie green flames!

Even more terrifying, the space around the ghost skull began to distort, and countless translucent, grotesque, and tormented ghostly phantoms appeared, densely packed, numbering in the tens of thousands!

They let out silent wails, which coalesced into a terrifying mental storm powerful enough to impact the soul of a supreme being.

At the same time, the deathly light emitted by the ghost skull itself has strong corrosive and annihilating properties, and wherever it passes, even black rocks are quickly weathered and crushed!
"A...a sacred relic?!" The three ghostly followers in the distance were terrified and scrambled backward to escape, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, the other trial participants, who were exploring or fighting in different areas of the Dark Current Cavern, were also startled by this sudden and terrifying fluctuation belonging to the level of a sacred relic, and looked in this direction in horror.

"It's Ghost Nightmare? He actually brought in a sacred object?"

"What terrifying death energy... That's the Soul-Devouring Ghost Skull of the Ghost Sect!"

"Who is he facing? He actually forced Ghost Nightmare to use a sacred artifact?"

"Retreat! The power of this sacred artifact, even if only a portion of it, is far beyond our ability to withstand!"

……

A barely perceptible hint of seriousness finally flashed across the night falcon's pure black eyes.

Even if a low-level sacred artifact is damaged, even if it is only partially activated by a half-step Earthly Sovereign with his essence and blood, the energy level it contains is enough to pose a fatal threat to his current apparent cultivation level as a "half-step Earthly Sovereign".

"I underestimated your trump card." Night Falcon's voice remained calm, but the dark spiritual energy surging around him suddenly became solid and profound, as if a layer of flowing black mercury had formed around his body.

Although low-level sacred objects are quite powerful, in the hands of the true master, they are probably not even considered toys. Therefore, although Night Falcon takes them seriously, he does not treat them as a major threat.

"Die! Soul-Devouring Wave of Ten Thousand Ghosts!" Ghost Nightmare's face was contorted with rage as he pointed his left hand sharply at Night Falcon!
The enormous Soul-Eating Demon Skull let out a silent shriek, and the ghostly green flames in its eye sockets surged. A torrent of gray-green energy, a mixture of countless vengeful spirits' howls, deathly light, and the sacred object itself, swept towards the Night Falcon like a burst dam of the Styx!

Wherever the torrent passed, space groaned under its unbearable weight, light was completely swallowed up, leaving behind a corrosive trail of destruction!

This strike has already surpassed the scope of an ordinary half-step Earthly Sovereign, and has faintly touched the threshold of Earthly Sovereign!

Ghost Nightmare's face revealed a mad and gleeful smile, as if he could already see Night Falcon's soul scattered and its body utterly destroyed by this sacred artifact.

Faced with this devastating attack, Night Falcon took a deep breath and formed an extremely ancient and complex hand seal in front of his chest.

Once this hand seal was activated, the primordial dark power within his body, originating from the Dark Ancestral Symbol, was no longer suppressed, and it was like a sleeping dragon awakening a trace of its aura!
"Lord of the Night... grant me authority."

"Swallowing the light, ruling over the netherworld."

"This is the protection of the night!"

With a deep and solemn murmur, the hand seal was completed!

Centered on him, within a radius of ten feet, all the darkness seemed to come alive instantly, no longer just shadows or energy, but transformed into a living, viscous, and substantial swamp of darkness!
This dark swamp spun silently, forming a massive vortex, the center of which was incredibly deep, as if connected to the eternal source of darkness.

This is the defensive divine power that Night Falcon comprehended from the Dark Ancestral Symbol and is suitable for his current identity to use: Dark Night Protection!

It is not a simple energy defense, but rather it draws upon the surrounding dark laws to form a temporary, under-control dark domain with extremely strong devouring, assimilation, and weakening abilities.

Boom!

The gray-green torrent of ghosts devouring souls crashed violently into the dark vortex!

The anticipated massive explosion did not occur.

The violent, deathly energy and the howls of countless vengeful spirits, upon entering the dark vortex, seemed to vanish into thin air, their speed drastically reduced, and their power weakened and disintegrated layer by layer!
The dark vortex spun wildly, grinding the torrent of sacred artifacts like a millstone, devouring the power of vengeful spirits and assimilating the deathly light within. Only the very core of the sacred artifact's power managed to penetrate the vortex with difficulty, but its power had been greatly reduced, becoming sparse and dim.

The Night Falcon stood firmly in the center of the vortex, its body as steady as a rock, its pure black eyes reflecting the ever-eroding torrent.

His face paled slightly; clearly, withstanding the impact of the sacred artifact, even using deeper levels of power, was no easy feat. But he ultimately withstood it!

"Impossible!!" Ghost Nightmare's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and the crazy smile on his face froze completely, turning into boundless horror and despair.

His attack, powered by a sacred artifact and fueled by the depletion of his very essence, was actually blocked by the opponent's bizarre and unpredictable dark divine power!

What kind of monster is this? !
"The sacred object is good, but unfortunately, the user is too weak." Night Falcon's cold voice came through the dark vortex.

He seized the perfect opportunity when his opponent's old strength had been exhausted, his new strength had not yet been generated, and his mind and spirit had been greatly impacted, and launched a fierce counterattack!
"Shadow... Judgment!"

He changed his hand seals again, and the huge dark vortex suddenly stopped spinning and then collapsed inward!

All the dark power that was devoured and assimilated, along with the immense spiritual power that erupted from him, was compressed to its limit in an instant, transforming into a pure black beam of light that was only as thick as an arm but so condensed that it seemed capable of cutting through space.

With speed beyond comprehension, against the not-yet-completely-dissipated gray-green torrent, it shot towards the Nightmare and the enormous Soul-Devouring Ghost Skull in front of him!
"No!"

The Nightmare Demon only had time to let out a terrified scream before frantically channeling its remaining spiritual power into the Soul-Eating Demon Skull in an attempt to resist.

puff!

The pure black beam struck the Soul Eater's forehead first!
The hard skull let out a mournful cry as a small hole was pierced through it!
The eerie green flames in his eyes dimmed considerably in an instant, and the dense, illusory images of vengeful spirits around him vanished with a scream, like snowflakes falling in the sunlight.

This low-level sacred object, its spirituality damaged, emitted a mournful cry, its size shrank dramatically, and its light dimmed as it flew back into the Ghost Nightmare's hand, clearly having suffered severe damage.

The beam of light, still powerful, pierced through the layers of ghostly energy defense hastily erected by the Nightmare and struck him hard in the chest!
"Ah!" An even more shrill scream rang out.

There was no huge wound on Ghost Nightmare's chest, but his clothes on his entire upper body turned to ashes in an instant, and countless fine cracks, as if they were being eroded by darkness, appeared on his skin!
His aura plummeted like a deflated balloon, dropping him directly from the half-step Earthly Supreme realm to the Supreme realm. He was severely injured and on the verge of death, and his foundation was seriously damaged. Even if he survived, his cultivation would be difficult to advance any further.

The battle ended in the blink of an eye, in a way that no one expected.

The Nightmare lay limp on the ground like a rag doll, on the verge of death, its eyes filled with endless fear and despair.

His three attendants were so frightened that they collapsed to the ground, defecating and urinating incessantly.

Night Falcon slowly dissipated the surging dark spiritual energy around him. His face was even paler than before, and his aura was somewhat unstable. Clearly, he had just withstood the attack of the sacred artifact, which had greatly depleted his energy and caused him some internal injuries.

He walked up to Ghost Nightmare, coldly took his trial token and the dimly lit Soul-Eating Ghost Skull, casually crushed the trial token, and flicked out several streams of dark spiritual energy, completely crippling Ghost Nightmare and his followers' cultivation, ensuring they posed no further threat.

Having done all this, he didn't linger. His figure transformed into a dark streak of light and quickly disappeared into the deeper darkness of the maze ahead, leaving behind a desolate battlefield.

……

This brief yet thrilling battle, involving a clash of low-level sacred artifacts, had already generated energy fluctuations and visual phenomena that were detected by the omnipresent Shadow Eyes of the Dark Current Cavern.

And certain higher-level monitoring methods were clearly presented to the Black Sky Ancient Clan's high-ranking officials and supervisors outside Shadow Valley.

After a brief silence, uncontrollable gasps and discussions arose from the black mist figures suspended in mid-air.

"Dark Night Shelter... Shadow Judgment... Such a pure and ancient application of darkness! This is definitely not an ordinary collateral or foreign inheritance!"

"With the cultivation of a half-step Earthly Supreme, he withstood an attack driven by a low-level sacred artifact, not only successfully defending but also instantly counterattacking and severely injuring his opponent, destroying his sacred artifact and ruining his foundation... This boy's control over the power of darkness has reached a transcendent level!"

"Investigate! Investigate everything about this Night Falcon immediately! When did Black Darkness recruit such a person?"

"No need to be nervous." A more aged and calm voice rang out, coming from Elder Heiming's trusted Supreme Perfection Realm confidant.

"Lord Black Nether has already taken note of this child's origins. He is indeed an orphan of the Shadow Nether branch. Bloodline testing shows no abnormalities, and he has a natural affinity for the power of darkness."

As for the inheritance... perhaps it was obtained by a fortuitous encounter of the Shadow Clan's ancestor, or perhaps it was due to his own extraordinary comprehension, combined with the open classics of our clan, that he forged his own path.

Regardless, the potential and strength he has demonstrated are more than enough to qualify him for core training within our clan.

His words temporarily calmed the commotion, but the gazes of many high-ranking officials toward the direction where the Night Falcon disappeared on the light screen had become incredibly intense and attentive.

The value of a promising talent who can display such terrifying dark talent and combat ability at the half-step Earthly Supreme stage is self-evident.

Many factions were already plotting how to recruit this person to their side after the trial ended.

A glint of light flashed in the eyes of the Great Perfection Earthly Sovereign from the Black Nether Elder lineage, who thought to himself, "Night Falcon...you really haven't disappointed the master."

However, what you showed seems to be even more amazing than expected.

It seems the spot for advanced studies at the Shadow Hall is already yours. I just wonder if you can attract the attention of those truly important figures…

Deep within the Shadow Valley, in the depths of a labyrinthine cavern.

The night falcon moved swiftly forward while recovering its breath.

He knew that the battle he had just fought must have attracted close attention from the higher-ups.

But this was part of his plan: to demonstrate sufficient "value" in a reasonable yet stunning way, thereby gaining faster access to the core vision of the Black Sky Ancient Clan and creating an opportunity to acquire the "Night God Ancient Body".

“The Nightmare problem has been eliminated. Next, the Silent Heart Forest, the Nine Nether Platform…” The Night Falcon’s pure black eyes looked toward the strange fluctuations that faintly emanated from the end of the labyrinth, which made people’s minds tremble. That place was the next test of mind and will.

His actions were like a boulder thrown into the deep pool of the Black Heaven Ancient Clan, creating ripples all around.

How far this ripple can spread, and whether it can reach the target hidden in the deepest part, depends on whether he can go further and stand higher in this trial of darkness.

The path leading to the Shadow Palace, and even higher, has been laid out beneath his feet.

Meanwhile, the higher-ups of the Black Sky Ancient Clan are increasingly focusing their attention on this mysterious genius named Night Falcon… (End of Chapter)