Chapter 358: Corrupted Crimson Marsh
The crimson light from the unified jade tablet flared brilliantly, flooding Shen Yu’s sea of consciousness with towering, archaic characters forged of condensed blood and primordial intent.
The chaotic fragments snapped seamlessly into place, forming an immaculate, ancient scroll:
“Asura Blood-Forging Sutra: Ten Layer Body Tempering”
Shen Yu’s golden eyes narrowed slightly as he parsed the torrential flow of profound knowledge.
It was a Heaven-Tier body refining art from the ancient era, tailored to temper flesh, marrow, and meridians using pure baleful Qi.
The technique demanded the cultivator to withstand crushing external suppression while driving an aggressive internal meridian cycle, transmuting the ambient pressure into raw physical vigor and impenetrable skeletal density.
’A Heaven-Tier body manual…’ Shen Yu mused inwardly, a cold smirk curling his lips.
’Fitting for a trial like this.’
Most cultivators entering this realm prided themselves on their righteous sects, yet the Crimson Lotus Empire’s royal family clearly knew the true nature of this place beforehand.
Despite their public crusade against demonic cultivators, they still sent their scions here to scavenge the remnants of an ancient demonic realm.
Shen Yu smiled coldly. “Demonic or orthodox, nothing matters. In the end, strength is the only absolute truth.”
While ordinary orthodox cultivators would recoil from an Asura-aligned art in terror of Qi deviation and soul corruption, Shen Yu possessed the supreme demonic comprehension of his past life.
To him, there was zero risk of backlash.
Better yet, he possessed an alternate persona, the ruthless demonic cultivator Ni Tian.
Mastering this manual would bolster that identity, granting his alter ego a terrifying, indomitable physical foundation.
The lingering battle madness in his blood hummed with exhilarating clarity.
If his goal was to conquer this realm and seize its greatest fortunes, why bother holding back?
Why not trample every obstacle and rival faction with unrestrained savagery?
And for that, what better mantle to wear than that of an unhinged demonic cultivator?
His appearance shifted effortlessly.
The refined, elegant aura of the young master dissolved, replaced by the dark, suffocating malevolence of Ni Tian.
Retrieving his wine gourd, he uncorked it and took a long, generous gulp, the fiery spiritual brew burning pleasantly down his throat.
Tucking the gourd at his waist, he strode boldly through the open exit.
Beyond the threshold lay a compact stone chamber.
In its center, an ancient teleportation array was carved directly into the bedrock, its intricate runes dormant and waiting.
Shen Yu swept his divine sense across every groove, confirming no lethal traps or structural tampering lay in wait.
Satisfied, he stepped directly onto the platform.
HUMMM—!
The moment his boots crossed the perimeter, the array blazed with a blinding, blood-red radiance.
Violent spatial Qi wrapped around his figure, and in the next heartbeat, Shen Yu vanished into the churning void.
The spatial vertigo lasted only a fraction of a breath before the world solidified beneath his boots.
Shen Yu stepped off the teleportation platform, the suffocating, demonic aura of Ni Tian radiating freely from his frame.
The air here was vastly different from the stagnant tunnels, it was thick, humid, and carried the pungent tang of volcanic sulfur mixed with ancient, unrefined blood essence.
Lifting his gaze, Shen Yu took in the colossal world before him.
He stood on an elevated obsidian plateau overlooking a vast, subterranean underworld.
The spatial rift shattered behind him, dumping Shen Yu not onto solid bedrock, but into empty, stagnant air high above a boundless, festering mire.
Beneath him lay a suffocating, blood-soaked marsh, the Corrupted Crimson Marsh.
Thick, rust-colored sludge bubbled with violent, toxic miasma, while ancient, rotting mangrove-like roots arched through the muck like colossal ribcages.
Overhead, a dense, purple-crimson smog blocked out the sky, trapping a damp, nauseating heat that reeked of decomposing flesh and volcanic sulfur.
Descending through the humid air, Shen Yu adjusted his center of gravity mid-fall with effortless grace.
Whoosh—!
Before his boots could touch the murky surface, the stagnant sludge beneath him erupted in a shower of boiling mud.
The bubbling crimson mire burst apart with a wet, violent hiss.
Shooting out from the muck was a six foot long Blood Spotted Muck Viper, its sleek, armored scales glistening with rancid slime and its needle-like fangs dripping jade-green, corrosive venom.
Detecting the sudden displacement of air and the scent of fresh flesh descending from above, the serpent coiled in mid-air and snapped straight toward Shen Yu’s throat.
Shen Yu’s blood-red eyes didn’t register an ounce of surprise.
A savage, vicious grin split his lips.
Instead of dodging, he accelerated his downward momentum, channeling qi directly into his right leg.
His limb ignited with a faint, crimson-black sheen, his physical weight multiplying five-fold as the atmospheric baleful Qi greedily compressed into his skeletal frame.
BOOM!
Shen Yu slammed his heel straight down onto the viper’s triangular skull.
The concussive physical impact was instantaneous and devastating.
The beast’s reinforced bones caved inward with a sharp, brittle snap, its body violently crushed under the sheer kinetic hammer of the blow and driven deep into the mud.
A ring of murky sludge splashed outward, parting the surrounding slime.
Landing lightly upon the severed, protruding root of an ancient petrified tree, Shen Yu didn’t let a single drop of toxic grime touch his black robes.
He reached down with his bare hand, his fingers warping into the Nine Abyssal Soul-Rending Claw, and tore a jagged, walnut-sized venom core cleanly from the twitching viper’s pulverized remains.
Flicking the bloody core casually into his spatial ring, Shen Yu wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, unhooked his wine gourd, and took a long, burning swig.
Spreading his divine sense across the murky swamp, he felt multiple faint Qi fluctuations and spiritual clashes flickering through the poisonous mist in the distance.
“Now,” Ni Tian murmured, his crimson eyes gleaming with cold, predatory amusement, “let us see who else wandered into this slaughterhouse.”
-x-
A/N:
Weekly PS: 7 / 80
Monthly GT: 30 / 30
Hey everyone!
Just a heads-up that the PS bonus Chapter will be slightly delayed.
Things got super hectic on my end recently, cutting into my writing schedule.
Sorry for the wait!