A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 453 Re-sealing

"No! Such passive defense will surely lead to my death! This demon cultivator's remnant soul shares the same origin as the Blood Sea Realm, making it virtually immortal here. It can wear me down!" Luo Ming's mind raced, frantically searching for a way to break the deadlock. Suddenly, he remembered the fragmented memories he had obtained when he devoured that wisp of demon soul—the true secrets of this underground space, and the origins of the demon bones and four stone statues at the bottom of the pool!

"The Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction—the core restriction of the ancient Sea King Sect to suppress this fiend's true form! Only by controlling them simultaneously can their full power be unleashed—this restriction specifically targets its soul and bloodline, and even at its peak, it is difficult for it to break free—" Fragments of memory flashed by, and a ray of light suddenly shot out from Luo Ming's eyes!

His gaze pierced through the raging blood mist and the crumbling array force field, staring intently downwards! There, the outlines of four enormous stone statues could be vaguely seen, as well as the demon bone in the middle of the statues, which still emitted a faint golden light even in the raging sea of ​​blood!

"The fact that this demon cultivator's remnant soul can temporarily detach from its main body means it must have exploited a loophole in the Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction to create a wisp of its spirit! The majority of its power is still sealed within its demon bones! As long as we can reactivate, or even strengthen, the suppressive power of the Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction, we can severely injure or even seal this wandering remnant soul!"

A bold idea arose in Luo Ming's mind.

A fierce glint flashed in Luo Ming's eyes, and he no longer hesitated. Instead of stubbornly holding his ground, he actively manipulated the array formed by the seventy-two Xuan Yuan Pearls, which were on the verge of collapse, and began to slowly move downwards towards the center of the blood pool where the four stone statues and the demon bones were located, despite the terrifying pressure of the blood vortex!

Just as Luo Ming was struggling to move the Xuan Yuan Heavy Water Array to the top of the blood pool under the pressure of the raging blood sea, and was trying to use his multi-dimensional power to communicate with the Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction below, a sudden change occurred!

"Buzz!"

Deep within his body, the four drops of demonic beast essence blood—from the Azure Dragon, the Wind Fox, the Black Tortoise, and the Fat Sun Bird—that he had refined in his early years and which had long been integrated into his bloodline, suddenly trembled violently at the same time without warning! It was as if they had been strongly summoned by some kind of power of the same origin!

At the same time, the four stone statues of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise below, which had been silent for countless millennia, also began to stir! Their stone heads slowly turned, and their empty eye sockets all "focused" on Luo Ming above the blood pool! Although no light was emitted, an ancient, majestic, and solemn invisible aura had already locked onto Luo Ming!

"What...what's going on?" Luo Ming was shocked and bewildered. He had just approached this place, but he hadn't expected the blood essence of the four spirit beasts that he had already refined within him to respond on its own, and he certainly hadn't expected the four stone statues to react so obviously!

"How could this be?" Deep within the sea of ​​blood, the demonic cultivator Blood Shadow, who was frantically compressing the sea of ​​blood, sensed the unusual movements of the four stone statues and the aura emanating from Luo Ming that he found both extremely repulsive and subtly unsettling. For the first time, an undisguised look of horror appeared on his blurred face!

"The aura of the Four Spirits? How could this kid possess the bloodline fluctuations of four True Spirits simultaneously! This is impossible! Could it be—that he is a remnant of the Sea King Sect? Or that he has obtained the complete inheritance of the Sea King Sect? Otherwise, how could he trigger the core sensing of the Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction!" The remnant soul of the demon cultivator was filled with shock and disbelief.

He knew the details of the "Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction" better than Luo Ming. This restriction was set up by the ancient Sea King Sect using these four "Demon Suppressing God Statues" made from the essence and soul of the true descendants of the Four Spirits.

The mixed yet powerful aura of the Four Spirits' blood essence on Luo Ming's body clearly triggered the most basic "recognition" mechanism of the restriction!

"No! We can't let him continue! We must kill him immediately! If he accidentally triggers the restriction, even if it's just a portion of its power, it will be a catastrophe for me!" The demon cultivator's remnant soul no longer had any cat-and-mouse mentality. Alarm bells rang in his mind, and his killing intent boiled to the extreme!

He roared, and with a thought, the raging sea of ​​blood around him converged towards him, slowly condensing into a giant blood-red blade.

As time passed, the giant blade, which was tens of feet long, dark red in color, and with a destructive aura flowing around its edge, suddenly shrank inward again, becoming nearly half the size. However, its color became so deep that it seemed to absorb all light. At the edge of the blade, space began to distort slightly, and fine black cracks appeared.

The power of this attack has reached the critical point that this space can withstand, and there are faint signs that it will cause small-scale spatial cracks!

It should be noted that this secret realm is inherently unstable. If it weren't for the support of the Four Symbols Gathering Spirit Array above, they probably wouldn't even be able to use their Nascent Soul stage abilities.

The terrifying aura locked onto Luo Ming, causing him to feel a stinging pain in his soul, as if he would be completely annihilated in the next instant!

Life or death hung in the balance! Luo Ming's pupils constricted, and the hairs on his body stood on end! The power of this blood-red blade far surpassed any attack he had ever witnessed before! He knew that his Profound Origin Heavy Water Formation would absolutely not be able to withstand it! It might even be that he and the formation would be cleaved in two by a single blow, and then swallowed by the spatial rift!

"Essence blood! That's it! These four stone statues are echoing the essence blood of the four spirits within me! They need this as a key or a catalyst!" In a flash, Luo Mingfu had a sudden realization and understood!

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment the crimson giant blade took shape, Luo Ming suddenly spat out a mouthful of essence blood containing the aura of different bloodlines!

After the essence blood left the body, it did not disperse. Instead, it dispersed and condensed into four drops of blood with different auras. These drops transformed into four beams of blood light, which shot towards the open mouths of the four stone statues below at an astonishing speed!

"i—旨, "—, "i—, "i—伽, just as the four streams of blood essence entered the giant mouth of the stone statue, the four stone statues, which had been silent for countless years, suddenly erupted with earth-shattering roars and clear cries!"

Immediately afterwards, four distinct yet equally ancient and majestic roars of demonic beasts intertwined, forming an invisible torrent of sound waves that instantly swept across the entire underground space!

Wherever the sound waves passed, the viscous, churning sea of ​​blood trembled and surged violently, like boiling oil being thrown into a boulder. The remnant souls and wills of the demon cultivators contained within melted away with a hissing sound, like snow meeting the scorching sun.

"ah-!!!"

From within that crimson giant blade came the demon cultivator's agonizing screams! The roars of the Four Spirits seemed to be a natural counter to his soul and bloodline, causing him damage far exceeding any physical attack! He felt as if he had been thrown into boiling oil, his soul torn apart, and the very essence of his bloodline wailing and disintegrating!

In his desperate and unwilling roar, the terrifying blood blade, which contained most of his essence and was powerful enough to cut through the space here, lost its stability and trembled violently because its core will was severely damaged. Countless cracks appeared on the dark red blade, and finally collapsed in mid-air with a "boom"!

It transformed back into a shower of blood, which cascaded down, with most of it returning to the blood pool. However, much of the demon cultivator's essence contained within it had been purified and dispelled by the roars of the four spirits.

But that's not all!

"Splash—!"

Four dark red chains, thicker and more solid than before, with runes flowing across their surfaces as if they were alive, shot out from the wide-open mouths of the four stone statues like four ferocious, angry dragons!

Ignoring spatial distance, the chains pierced through the collapsing sea of ​​blood in an instant, precisely binding the blurry blood shadow that was twisting and tumbling in the air, unable to maintain its solid form due to the destruction of its divine power and the damage to its soul!

"No! Release me! I am a great demon from the spirit realm, how could you ants from the lower realm possibly suppress me? Ah!" The remnant soul of the demon cultivator let out a desperate and venomous roar, struggling desperately, but the sealing power from the chains, which was specifically designed to suppress the soul and bloodline, made all his resistance futile.

The four chains suddenly retracted, dragging the screaming demon cultivator's remnant soul like a dead dog, pulling it down from the air with a "plop" and stuffing it back into the blood pool, tightly binding and constricting it around the huge, pale golden tortoise-like demon skeleton!

The chains were deeply embedded in the demon bones, the runes shining brightly, re-establishing a firm connection with the four stone statues. A sealing force several times stronger than before spread out, firmly locking the demon bones and the demon soul within them, even isolating most of their aura.

Within the blood pool, the demonic skeleton trembled slightly before falling into complete silence. Only strands of pure yet peaceful "blood of all spirits" slowly seeped from the bone crevices, devoid of its previous ferocity and evil.

"Huff—huff—" Luo Ming, who had survived the ordeal, hovered above the blood pool, panting heavily. His face was as pale as paper, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.

His internal magical power was mostly depleted, and his soul was also stinging from the impact of the Four Spirits' roar. Although the roar was not directed at him, the terrifying attack on his soul still affected him.

He gazed at the demon bones below, now firmly sealed again, and at the blood pool water around him, which quickly calmed down and began to slowly settle and regain its clarity. His tense nerves finally relaxed slightly.

"That was close—if I hadn't accidentally activated the essence of the four spirits within me, unleashing the true power of the Four Symbols Sealing God Restriction, I would have been annihilated by now—" Luo Ming said, still shaken. This encounter was arguably the most dangerous he had faced in his nearly two hundred years in the world of cultivation. First, he was possessed by the remnant soul of a Nascent Soul demon cultivator, and then he was trapped and killed by the "Blood Sea Realm," almost finding himself in a desperate situation.

After calming his breathing slightly, Luo Ming's gaze swept over the chaotic cave. The Ninth Elder and Blood Fiend were nowhere to be seen, leaving behind only a few magical treasures with greatly damaged spiritual energy and three dim storage bags.

He reached out and took the storage bag and the scattered magical treasures into his hand. Three once-powerful Nascent Soul cultivators had perished here, a truly lamentable end.

Then, his gaze turned to the corner of the cave. There, the blood-red chains binding Ling Yuling and Fairy Miaoyu had dissipated, but they remained unconscious.

The two women were weak and pale, their clothes stained with blood. They had clearly suffered serious injuries in the aftermath of the battle. Fortunately, the demon cultivator's remnant soul, greedy for their vital essence, did not kill them and protected them in a corner, thus saving them from perishing in the final collapse of the sea of ​​blood.

"Hmm? These two are lucky to be alive." Luo Ming flew over and, after a brief examination, found that they were mainly suffering from exhaustion of magic power, shock to their souls, and some internal organ tremors. Although their injuries were not minor, they had not damaged their foundation and could recover after a period of recuperation.

Looking at the two women, whose beauty was still undeniable even in their unconscious state, Luo Ming's eyes flickered, and his mind raced with thoughts.

"Currently, in the waters around Silver Shark Island, the Star Palace and the Reverse Star Alliance are locked in a fierce battle, suffering severe internal strife. The Ninth Elder and Blood Fiend perished here, and both forces have almost wiped out their Nascent Soul high-ranking members. And I am currently the only Nascent Soul cultivator remaining here—"

"Ling Yuling, daughter of the two Saints of the Star Palace, holds a prestigious position; Miaoyu is also of extraordinary status. If these two women could be put to my use, perhaps I could leverage their status and influence, combined with my current strength—"

A vague plan to integrate the forces in the Silver Shark Island waters, end the internal strife, and bring it under control gradually took shape in Luo Ming's mind.

Luo Ming looked at the two unconscious women, his gaze deepening. Controlling them didn't necessarily require harsh methods. Saving their lives, coupled with some "necessary" measures and promised benefits, might be enough to make them cooperate "willingly."

"Although the blood of all spirits here has been polluted and consumed by that demon cultivator, the essence that has settled at the bottom of the pool is still there. Moreover, after this battle, the Four Symbols God Sealing Restriction seems to have been activated more thoroughly and can be used by me, greatly increasing its safety—it is indeed a good secret stronghold and resource point."