A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 452 Silver Bird Devours Spirit

"Boom!" "Clang!"

From the depths of the blood mist, some distance to his left and right, came almost simultaneously violent explosions of spiritual energy and the roar of clashing magical artifacts, interspersed with the Ninth Elder's angry shouts and the Blood Fiend's fierce howls. Clearly, the Ninth Elder and the Blood Fiend were also locked in a fierce battle.

However, just moments later, the commotion from the direction of the Ninth Elder on the left suddenly intensified, and a cry of shock and anger rang out from the Ninth Elder.

A roar filled with resentment followed, then the other side quickly fell silent, without another sound!

"Not good!" Luo Ming's heart sank. "The Ninth Elder is in trouble! This fiend is indeed employing a strategy of defeating one by one! He'll deal with the relatively weaker Ninth Elder first, then concentrate his forces on Blood Fiend, and finally me! Once he devours the Nascent Soul essence blood of the Ninth Elder and the others, his strength will surely recover to a certain extent, and at that time—"

A cold glint flashed in Luo Ming's eyes, and he opened his mouth and spat out.

"call out!"

A silver streak flew out of his mouth, growing larger as it faced the wind, transforming into a silver firebird that was entirely silver-white, exceptionally majestic, only a few inches in size, yet incredibly agile. It was the fire spirit transformed from the newly born, intelligent "Spirit-Devouring Silver Flame"!

As soon as the bird appeared, it circled and danced affectionately around Luo Ming, emitting clear chirps. Having previously devoured a portion of the demonic soul and essence contained in that drop of golden essence blood, its aura was noticeably stronger, the silver flames on its body were more solidified, and a faint trace of blood-red patterns flowed within them.

"Hey——!"

The silver firebird let out a high-pitched, sharp, and penetrating cry. With a flap of its wings, it transformed into a silver lightning bolt and plunged headlong into the churning blood mist in front of Luo Ming without hesitation!

The moment the silver firebird plunged into the sea of ​​blood, its size exploded wildly, as if it were being inflated! In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a colossal bird with a wingspan exceeding tens of feet, its entire body ablaze with pure silver flames!

It opened its giant beak, which looked like it was made of silver flames, and sucked it in the thick sea of ​​blood around it!

"call--!!"

Like a whale sucking in water, or like a giant whirlpool taking shape! Centered on the silver giant bird, the blood mist within a radius of a hundred feet swirls wildly, turning into thick, bloody torrents that are swallowed into its belly!

Its devouring speed far surpassed that of the gold-devouring insect swarm beside it! Moreover, the blood energy filled with filth and violence, upon contact with the silver flames on the giant bird's body, emitted a "hissing" sound, and was rapidly burned, purified, and refined, transforming into pure energy that was absorbed by the giant bird.

The giant bird's silvery-white body was thus tinged with a faint, eerie crimson aura, and its aura was slowly increasing.

"What?"

Deep within the Blood Sea, Blood Shadow, who was controlling more than a dozen powerful blood-colored demonic beast phantoms at the late Core Formation stage to launch a fierce attack on Blood Fiend who was struggling to hold on, suddenly sensed the terrifying devouring power coming from behind and the palpitation of Blood Sea's origin being rapidly plundered!

He spared a wisp of his mind to sense the giant silver fire bird that was frantically devouring the sea of ​​blood, and his expression changed drastically!

"This—this is—a celestial fire possessing complete sentience? And it seems to have awakened the ability to refine all things! No wonder—no wonder my bloodline avatar failed! This fire must have protected that brat's sea of ​​consciousness, and even backfired on my avatar!"

The demon cultivator's remnant soul was both shocked and furious, and instantly understood. He had originally thought that Luo Ming was just someone with a stronger divine sense and some secret techniques to suppress blood and qi, but he hadn't expected him to possess such a rare item. He had to devour this mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator as soon as possible.

"roar--!"

A superhuman roar erupted from the depths of the sea of ​​blood, and the turbulent, crimson ocean suddenly became more than ten times more violent! Centered on the blood demon, it frantically squeezed and converged from all directions!

Even more terrifying was that the surging essence of the sea of ​​blood, under the extreme control of the demon cultivator's divine sense, rapidly condensed and shaped on both sides of the blood fiend, transforming into two giant blood-red hands, one on the left and one on the right, slowly converging towards the blood fiend in the center with immense momentum.

Within a ten-zhang radius around Blood Fiend, the space that was originally expanded by his protective blood energy was compressed to half in the blink of an eye!

"What... what is this?"

At the critical moment of life and death, Xue Sha's eyes were bloodshot. He slapped his storage bag with one hand, and a pearl the size of a longan, perfectly round, and radiating a solid and heavy golden halo shot out and hovered above his head.

The precious pearl hummed and trembled, its golden light intensifying, instantly expanding to a size of over ten feet in diameter. It formed a perfectly solid, round golden light shield with countless flowing Sanskrit characters on its surface, firmly protecting the Blood Fiend within. The shield emanated an indestructible aura; it was none other than the Blood Fiend's most treasured life-saving artifact!

At that very moment, two bloody palms slammed together with unstoppable force, completely grasping the Blood Fiend and the round golden light surrounding his body into their palms!

"Click—click-clack—"

A teeth-grinding cracking sound came from the center of those clasped hands.

The golden light shield, touted as having unparalleled defense and capable of withstanding a full-force attack from a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, groaned under the immense pressure of the two blood-red giant hands. The shield twisted violently, the Sanskrit characters flowing on its surface shattered one after another, and the golden light dimmed rapidly at a visible speed.

"Bang!"

Finally, after holding out for less than three breaths, the perfectly round light shield shattered like a crushed eggshell! The precious Vajra Bead let out a mournful cry, its golden light completely dissipated, its body covered in cracks, and it fell into the sea of ​​blood below, its spiritual essence greatly diminished, disappearing without a trace.

The moment the protective shield shattered, the overwhelming power of the sea of ​​blood was no longer hindered, and like a massive pressure, it struck the Blood Fiend hard!

"puff!"

Blood Fiend coughed up blood, and the dense blood fiend protective aura around his body, under the erosion of the sea of ​​blood and the crushing force, only flickered and held on for a few breaths before extinguishing and shattering like a candle in the wind.

The next moment, an endless, viscous sea of ​​blood, both icy and scorching, filled with corrosive and devouring power, completely engulfed him.

Having done all this, the crimson figure slowly turned towards the depths of the blood mist ahead, where the giant silver flame bird was frantically devouring everything. His eyes flashed with murderous intent, and with a flicker, he completely merged into the boundless sea of ​​blood, his aura vanishing without a trace.

On Luo Ming's side, he held a high-grade spirit stone in each hand, frantically absorbing the pure spiritual energy within them, and trying his best to maintain the "Mysterious Origin Heavy Water Array" set up with the Mysterious Origin Pearl in order to fight against the rotating, squeezing, and increasingly violent blood sea vortex.

Although high-grade spirit stones can quickly replenish mana, the remnant soul of the demon cultivator clearly sensed the threat and suddenly intensified its attack! What was originally just a vast sea of ​​blood has now transformed into a tangible, crushing force, frantically squeezing the great formation from all directions. Every breath consumes a lot of mana, and even high-grade spirit stones are becoming insufficient. Sweating is already faintly visible on Luo Ming's forehead.

Just as he was doing his best to maintain the formation and scanning his surroundings with his divine sense, a thought suddenly struck him! In the churning blood mist in front of him, a "blood shadow" that was darker and more solid than the surrounding sea of ​​blood and vaguely resembled a human figure silently emerged, only a dozen feet away from the edge of his Profound Origin Heavy Water Formation.

The blood-red shadow's features were blurred, but its blood-red eyes were clear. At this moment, it was coldly "looking" at Luo Ming in the formation, as well as the silver firebird outside the formation that was still struggling to devour and hiding at the edge of the formation, with a hint of surprise and heartache.

"Hmph, no wonder you were able to hold out for so long in my Blood Sea Realm with only the early Nascent Soul stage cultivation—" The blood shadow formed from the remnant soul of the demon cultivator uttered a hoarse voice, carrying an undisguised gloom.

"You've actually crafted so many Xuan Shui magical artifacts and set up such a massive Xuan Shui array! I underestimated your crafting skills and wealth, you young human!"

His blood-red eyes swept across the surroundings, and he saw that the sea of ​​blood in this area had become much thinner due to the frenzied devouring by the silver firebird and the gold-devouring insects. A trace of pain and anger flashed in his eyes.

This sea of ​​blood was formed by him using the blood of all spirits as a base and fusing it with part of his own essence. It is the key accumulation for him to reshape his physical body and restore his cultivation in the future! Every bit of it consumed made his heart ache.

"However, that's all for now." Blood Shadow's voice turned fierce, filled with murderous intent. "I'd like to see how long your turtle shell can hold out!"

Before the words were finished, the suspended blood shadow suddenly shrank inward, and then with a soft "bang," it exploded on its own, turning into countless thin, hair-like streams of blood-red light that instantly disappeared into the surrounding churning sea of ​​blood.

The next moment, another change occurred!

The sea of ​​blood, which had originally been merely swirling and compressing around the Profound Origin Heavy Water Array, seemed to have been infused with a violent soul, suddenly "coming alive"! The viscous blood writhed and roared wildly, its rotation speed increasing several times over, forming an enormous...

The blood-red vortex with terrifying pressure at its center locked Luo Ming's grand formation firmly in the center of the vortex!

Within the vortex, countless blood-red tentacles, sharp teeth, and spikes emerged, frantically impacting and pounding against the pale blue force field of the Xuan Yuan Heavy Water Array!

"Woo---" The silver firebird was the first to be hit. Although it was a spirit and not afraid of physical attacks, the terrifying tearing force generated by the violent vortex was unbearable for it. It let out a mournful cry, and its size could not be maintained. It instantly shrank back to a few inches in size, turned into a silver light, and fled in panic into the Xuan Yuan Heavy Water Formation that Luo Ming had opened. It landed on Luo Ming's shoulder, its aura was weak, and its silver flames had dimmed considerably.

The pressure on Luo Ming increased dramatically in an instant! The great array formed by the seventy-two Xuan Yuan Pearls, under the violent tearing and terrifying pressure of the blood-red vortex, actually emitted a "crunching" groan that made one's teeth ache. The pale blue force field shield visibly caved inward and contracted! The array's range was forcibly compressed by nearly one-third!

Luo Ming's face turned pale, and his internal magical power poured out like a flood, surging into the seventy-two Xuan Yuan Pearls as he tried his best to keep the formation from breaking.

The spiritual energy of the high-grade spirit stone in his hand was completely drained, turning into powder. He immediately replaced it with a new one, but the replenishment rate could not keep up with the consumption! If this continued, his magic power would be exhausted soon, and the great formation would surely break!

"Hahahaha!" Amidst the sea of ​​blood, the hoarse laughter of the demon cultivator's remnant soul echoed wildly and triumphantly, the sound coming from all directions, making it difficult to pinpoint its exact location.

"Boy, you've managed to force me to use all my strength, holding out this long with only early-stage Nascent Soul cultivation. You have reason to be proud! Once your mana is exhausted and the great formation shatters, I'll extract your Nascent Soul, refine it into this sea of ​​blood, and then meticulously craft your decent body into a superior avatar! Don't worry, I'll make good use of you!"

Luo Ming found himself at the center of a raging, blood-red vortex. The seventy-two Xuan Yuan Pearls flickered with uncertain light, and the great formation teetered precariously, like a small boat on a raging sea, ready to capsize at any moment. The rapid loss of his magical power brought him weakness, and the ever-growing, omnipresent threat of death weighed heavily on his heart.