2026-07-21 00:03:16Just an hour ago, the Heavenly Void Devouring Art had healed his crushed ribs and fixed his body. He had felt so powerful and strong. Now, he was broken and helpless once more.
"No," Li Chen gritted his teeth. "I will not give up. I just need to gather Qi and heal them again. I have the power."
But as Li Chen opened his mouth to take a deep breath of air, he suddenly realized a terrifying truth.
There was no normal air down here.
The Beast Chasm was entirely flooded with the glowing purple fog. It was everywhere. It crawled over the rocks. It sat heavily in the mud. And it was touching him.
The moment the purple fog touched Li Chen’s skin, a horrible hissing sound filled his ears.
Sizzle. Sizzle.
Li Chen gasped in shock. "What is this?!"
The fog was not just poisonous gas. It was highly corrosive. It was like airborne acid.
The cheap grey cloth of his Outer Sect uniform began to melt instantly. The fabric turned brown, then black, and then completely dissolved into liquid, leaving his skin exposed to the deadly air.
Then, the fog touched his bare arms and chest.
"Ahhhhh!" Li Chen screamed, but he quickly slammed his mouth shut.
The pain was unimaginable. It was far worse than his broken legs. The purple fog started to eat his flesh. His pale skin instantly turned bright red.
Large, ugly yellow blisters began to bubble up all over his arms and chest. The blisters swelled up and popped, leaking hot, bloody fluid.
The fog was melting him alive.
Li Chen tightly clamped his hands over his mouth and nose. He squeezed his eyes shut. If the fog was melting his tough skin, he knew exactly what it would do if it got inside his body. If he breathed this purple miasma into his lungs, his soft internal organs would melt into soup in seconds. He would die a horrible, agonizing death.
So, Li Chen held his breath. He lay in the mud, holding his mouth shut, feeling his skin slowly burning away.
The terrible hissing sound was everywhere. The smell was awful. It smelled like rotten eggs, old blood, and burning hair.
He squeezed his eyes so tightly they hurt. His lungs started to burn from the lack of oxygen. His chest heaved, begging for air. Ten seconds passed. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds.
His face turned purple. The veins on his forehead popped out. His heart hammered wildly against his ribs. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"I cannot... hold on..." Li Chen thought. Panic began to swallow his mind. He was going to suffocate. If he breathed, he would melt. If he didn't breathe, he would choke to death. It was a trap with no way out. He had survived Zhao Feng, he had survived Deacon Lin, he had survived the Enforcer and the fall, only to die slowly in a puddle of melting flesh.
"Foolish boy..." A voice suddenly echoed inside the deep, dark corners of Li Chen’s mind.
It was weak. It sounded like it was coming from a great distance. But it was familiar.
"Old Kui?" Li Chen thought desperately.
"Yes, it is me," the ancient dragon-turtle answered slowly. His voice lacked the booming power it had in the starry void. He sounded incredibly tired. "The crash woke me up for a brief moment. And what do I see? I see the inheritor of the Heavenly Void Devouring Art acting like a terrified little rabbit."
"I am melting!" Li Chen screamed in his mind. "My legs are broken! The air is made of acid! If I breathe, I will die!"
Old Kui let out a weak, mocking laugh.
"Die? From a little bit of poison fog? Boy, you insult the power I gave you. You insult the Primordial Chaos Root."
"It is melting my skin!" Li Chen argued back, feeling another blister pop painfully on his shoulder. "It is real! This is not a trick!"
"Of course it is melting your skin. You are a weak, First Level human," Old Kui said. "But your root is not human. Your root is a god-eater. To a normal cultivator, this purple miasma is absolute death. They run from it. But to you? To the Devourer? This place is a giant, endless feast."
Li Chen’s eyes snapped open. Even though his eyes burned from the acid in the air, he looked around at the thick, glowing purple clouds.
"A feast?" Li Chen thought, confused. "You want me to... eat this?"
"The poison in this fog is just a shell," Old Kui explained rapidly. His voice was getting weaker. He could not stay awake much longer. "This miasma comes from the rotting bodies of ancient, powerful beasts that died in this chasm thousands of years ago. Inside the acid, there is pure, incredibly concentrated spiritual energy. Your Chaos Root can handle it. It was built to destroy and consume everything."
"But if it touches my lungs—"
"Forget your lungs!" Old Kui roared in his mind, showing a flash of his ancient, terrifying power. "You are not a normal human anymore! Open your pores! Stop holding your breath! Use the art! Swallowing the Heavens' Breath! Eat the poison, boy! Eat it, or die like a coward!"
The voice in Li Chen's mind completely vanished. Old Kui had fallen back into a deep sleep.
Li Chen was alone again. His lungs were completely empty. His vision was turning black around the edges. He was passing out from lack of air. He only had one second left to make a choice.
Die from suffocating, or take a breath of pure acid.
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Chapter 47
The sun began to set behind the high peaks of the Azure Sword Sect. The sky turned a deep, dark red. The clouds looked like thick bruises bleeding into the evening air. Long, dark shadows stretched across the massive stone arena. The bright, warm light of the morning was completely gone. It was the perfect setting for a Life and Death match. The sky itself looked like it was preparing for a bloodbath. Thousands of disciples sat perfectly still on the high stone steps. They did not cheer. They did not whisper. They did not even move. The giant wooden drums in the corners of the courtyard were completely silent. In the center of the broken, melted stone stage stood Li Chen. He was as still as a stone statue. His long, black leather Enforcer coat blew softly in the cold evening wind. His dull, grey metallic skin caught the red light of the dying sun. He looked exactly like a demon standing in a pool of blood. He had not moved from that spot since he defeated Meng. He just waited. He
Chapter 46
Because Li Chen had infused the devouring dark Qi directly into the open air, the tiny black void on his knuckles kept eating. It could not stop. Having consumed the magical shield, the dark Qi violently consumed the closest available energy. It consumed the oxygen. In a fraction of a second, the dark Qi on Li Chen's fist sucked all the air out of the space immediately surrounding Meng. It created a perfect, localized vacuum. A space with absolutely zero air formed in a five-foot circle around Meng. Meng’s confident smile instantly vanished. Li Chen’s fist stopped moving. He did not even touch Meng's actual body. He just held his fist in the air, a few inches away from Meng’s face. Inside the vacuum, Meng suddenly felt an unbearable, terrifying pressure difference. The air inside Meng's own lungs was violently, forcibly sucked up through his throat and ripped out of his mouth to fill the empty void created by the dark Qi. "G-ghhk..." Meng choked. He grabbed his own throat wit
Chapter 45
The Sect Leader shivered. He nodded slowly and stepped off the stage. The old referee, shaking with fear, walked back to the center of the arena. He cleared his throat loudly. "The Semi-Final match will now begin!" the referee announced. "Li Chen... versus Meng!"The crowd suddenly erupted into loud, excited cheers again. "Meng! It is Iron-Mountain Meng!""He is a top-3 disciple! He is at the peak of the 5th Level!""Meng has the absolute best defense in the entire Outer Sect! Even Inner Sect disciples have trouble breaking his shield!"From the other side of the arena, a giant figure walked slowly up the stone steps. It was Meng. He was incredibly tall and wide, built like a walking fortress. He wore heavy, thick brown armor made of special magical leather. His face was square and hard. He carried no weapon. His body was his weapon. Meng stepped onto the broken, melted stone of the stage. He looked at the spot where Li Chen had just eaten Zhao Feng’s fire. Meng did not look sc
Chapter 44
Li Chen threw his Void Shattering Fist directly into the massive, roaring wave of bloody fire. The crowd outside the red Blood Barrier screamed, expecting Li Chen to be instantly melted into a pile of grey ash. The Blood Demon Firestorm was a 6th Level magical attack. It was so hot that the stone floor of the arena was turning into bubbling orange lava. But the moment Li Chen’s fist touched the dark red flames, the impossible happened. Li Chen did not burn. Instead, the terrifying, ancient black Qi wrapping his fist acted like the open mouth of a starving god. WHOOSH! The massive tsunami of bloody fire did not explode. It did not push Li Chen backward. It was violently, instantly sucked into the pitch-black void surrounding his hand. The Primordial Chaos Root swallowed the deadly 6th Level magic as if it were a tiny, weak candle flame. In less than a single second, the entire stage was completely clear of fire. The heat vanished. The blinding red light disappeared. Only Li Chen
Chapter 43
The thousands of disciples in the crowd went completely wild. They cheered, they screamed, they stomped their feet. The noise was like a roaring thunderhead. Inside the red barrier, the noise was muffled. It was surprisingly quiet. Zhao Feng looked at Li Chen. The arrogant smile on his face grew wider. He raised his left hand. On his finger, the silver Shadow Ring glowed slightly. "You think you are strong, Li Chen," Zhao Feng said, his voice echoing in the red dome. "You think because you beat a few weak 5th Level disciples, you can beat me. You think we are on the same level."Zhao Feng reached over with his right hand. He grabbed the silver ring. "You are just a frog in a well, looking up at the sky," Zhao Feng mocked. "Today, I will show you how massive the sky truly is. I will show you the power of a god!"Zhao Feng pulled the silver ring off his finger and threw it onto the stone floor. BOOM! The moment the ring left his body, the disguise was broken. A massive, terrifyi
Chapter 42
"Li Chen thinks he is strong because no one can cut his skin," Zhao Feng thought to himself, staring at Li Chen across the quiet stage. "But physical strength has a limit. When I unleash the full power of the 6th Level, I will summon a fire so hot it will boil the blood inside his veins. His iron skin will become a metal oven, cooking his organs alive. He will scream, and I will laugh."Zhao Feng’s arrogance returned completely. The unsettled feeling vanished. He was a 6th Level master. He was a dragon. Li Chen was just a stubborn insect that needed to be stepped on a second time. "You are very quiet, little rat," Zhao Feng mocked, breaking the silence on the stage. Li Chen did not look up from the floor. He was slowly, carefully picking up the broken pieces of his mother’s dark green jade pendant. "Are you praying to your dead mother?" Zhao Feng laughed. It was a cruel, loud sound. "Do you think she can help you? I heard she was crying when the killers cut her down."Li Chen stopp
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