(*) Black is a black piece of paper
The sudden turn of events left Mu Chen’s mind muddled, his spirit flustered, and his face as green as a banana leaf.
Damn it, he had just broken through to the Spirit Wheel Realm, and he was fundamentally incapable of refining spirit beast essence. How did this demonic thing end up in his body?
Mu Chen’s heart was in chaos, as if he had seen a ghost. However, he was exceptional in that he quickly calmed down, recovering his composure from the panic. For now, he didn't need to worry about the whys and wherefores; the top priority was to save his life!
An essence devouring its master was not a good sign. Once one became a powerful expert in the Divine Soul Realm, all sorts of people, from the noble to the base, wanted to refine the essence of formidable, high-ranking, and powerful spirit beasts. But almost everyone knew it was an extremely dangerous endeavor. To refine a spirit beast’s essence, one had to erase all of its previous memories, including its sentience. Such a method would surely provoke fierce resistance from the spirit beast. If someone greedily refined a spirit beast beyond their control, or encountered a spirit beast with an overly ferocious aura, they would be seized upon by the spirit beast, which would then turn and devour the master’s body. Once that happened, survival was a matter of nine deaths out of ten.
That extremely malevolent fluctuation was rushing straight towards Mu Chen’s brain, attempting to erase his consciousness. Faced with this mental attack from within his body, he had no recourse but to take deep breaths, control the spiritual energy in his body, circulate it, and forcefully block the fluctuation.
“Boom!”
A sound like a bell echoed within his body, shaking his throat and causing a mouthful of blood to well up. However, the powerful spiritual energy blocking the fluctuation was ineffective; it was quickly shattered, only pausing the fluctuation for a moment before it continued its fierce assault on Mu Chen’s brain.
The violent fluctuation crashed into his mind, and Mu Chen became muddled for the second time. He quickly bit his tongue, using the pain to clear his head. Next, he felt a strange black flame rising within his body.
Looking at the floating black flame, he could vaguely see a black shadow elegantly spreading its wings within it.
“It’s the Nine Netherworld Phoenix!”
Mu Chen saw the shadow that had been deeply etched into his memory since yesterday, and his heart surged like a stormy sea. He truly hadn’t expected that not only would an unknown spirit essence suddenly appear in his body, but it would also be the essence of a Nine Netherworld Phoenix!
“It was at that moment!”
Mu Chen suddenly recalled that before he fell unconscious in the Black Underworld Abyss, the black flame aimed at him felt as if it contained something. Surely, at that time, the Nine Netherworld Phoenix’s essence had taken the opportunity of its self-destruction to enter his body.
“Damn it!”
Mu Chen cursed loudly in anger. There was no joy in his heart that the Nine Netherworld Phoenix’s essence was inside him; his heart pounded incessantly, and his nerves were stretched taut like a bowstring. With his current strength, let alone a Nine Netherworld Phoenix, he wasn’t even capable of refining an ordinary spirit beast. This journey had only one possibility: his consciousness would be erased by the Nine Netherworld Phoenix. Who knows, that cunning and malicious roasted chicken might even use some method to completely take over his body, and then be reborn again.
And that was something he absolutely did not want to happen to himself.
“Kwoork!”
Within the deep black flame, the Nine Netherworld Phoenix seemed to notice his gaze observing it. It erupted with a ferocious aura in a sharp cry, and the black flame moved, shooting towards his Qi Sea, attempting to burrow in.
It was truly disobedient, knowing that as long as it destroyed Mu Chen's Qi Sea, his spiritual power would completely dissipate, turning him into a cripple, leaving him no way to resist.
"Evil beast!"
Mu Chen was startled by the Nine Netherworld Bird's cruel actions and cursed loudly, immediately mobilizing his spiritual power to block its fatal strike.
Within the black flames, the Nine Netherworld Bird, half-hidden, half-visible, saw the spiritual power in front of it. Its sharp beast eyes flashed with extreme disdain. What kind of creature was it? Even though it had lost its true form, it was not something a human at the Spirit Wheel Realm could contend with.
The black flames intensified, and its two wings flapped, sending a surge of fire towards the spiritual power barrier. As the two collided, Mu Chen was even more horrified to see the black flames sweep through, his spiritual power simply evaporating and disappearing.
Such a level of resistance against the Nine Netherworld Bird was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, utterly ineffective. The disparity in strength between the two sides was too great; one was a super spirit beast whose fierce reputation shook the heavens, while the other was merely a youth at the Spirit Wheel Realm, not on the same level at all.
Mu Chen was well aware of the difference in strength, but he was unwilling to give up. Instead, he gritted his teeth fiercely.
"If you want to cripple me, don't expect to live in peace!"
Mu Chen's mind stirred slightly. The spiritual wheel that had just formed in his Qi Sea slowly rotated, and a surge of spiritual power from within it was mobilized by him, unceremoniously shooting towards the black flames.
"Sizzle, sizzle!"
The black flames continued to advance calmly, and the spiritual power that came into contact with them was no different, immediately evaporating. Mu Chen exerted all his strength to resist, only managing to buy a little time, but it was clearly not enough to prevent the Nine Netherworld Bird from achieving its goal.
In just over ten seconds, the black flames had completely shattered all of Mu Chen's obstacles, appearing right beside his Qi Sea. The Nine Netherworld Bird, vaguely visible, looked at Mu Chen with a triumphant and contemptuous gaze.
"Whoosh!"
The black flames flared up, finally entering his Qi Sea under his extremely furious gaze. A series of burning pains simultaneously spread to his brain, causing Mu Chen to grimace and roar in agony.
He clearly saw that as soon as the Nine Netherworld Bird entered his Qi Sea, it went straight to the spiritual power wheel. The flames roared, threatening to destroy it.
The spiritual power wheel condensed all of Mu Chen's current spiritual power. If it were destroyed, then the fruits of his long and arduous cultivation would be completely wasted in an instant.
Mu Chen's abilities were powerless in the face of this extremely perilous situation. Such a disparity occurring within his own body meant there was fundamentally no way to compensate for it. He could only frantically search for a solution with bloodshot eyes, but it seemed he could only watch helplessly as the Nine Netherworld Bird slowly hovered beside the spiritual power wheel.
"I'll fight you to the death!"
Along with a ferocious roar, Mu Chen finally went mad. He resolved to self-detonate that spiritual power wheel. It was the only thing he could do. Although the price would be extremely severe, he was unwilling to have his consciousness erased by the Nine Netherworld Bird!
The spiritual power wheel erupted with countless rays of light, and the spiritual power suddenly became violent. However, at that very moment, a small sound like a gentle bell chime echoed within the Qi Sea.
As the sound ended, the spiritual power wheel, which was wildly on the verge of self-detonation, unexpectedly became quiet again.
Mu Chen looked in astonishment at the spiritual wheel that had lost control. He unconsciously looked up above the spiritual power wheel, where a thin black piece of paper lay silently. The sound seemed to have come from it.
"This thing..."
Mu Chen was at a loss for words. Ever since he obtained that mysterious black paper, whose meaning he had never been able to decipher, it had obediently remained within his body, never showing any effect. But he never expected that at this critical moment, it would block his final ability to risk his life against the Nine Netherworld Bird, completely rendering him useless.
With his spiritual power halo suppressed, the Nine Netherworld Bird was almost upon him. The black flame caused the space within his Qi Sea to twist and distort.
"It's over!"
The sudden turn of events caused Mu Chen to despair and give up.
The fierce black flame surged forward, but just as it was about to touch the spiritual power halo, a thin layer of darkness suddenly descended.
"Boom!"
Having advanced smoothly until now, the black flame was unexpectedly repelled, and the Nine Netherworld Bird revealed an expression of disbelief and astonishment.
When Mu Chen saw what happened, he was also stunned and confused. Then he looked at the black paper, because that thin layer of darkness had descended from the small paper, covering the spiritual power halo.
"Crack crack"
A strange sound emanated from the black paper. It had never stirred before, but today, several purple light spots appeared on its surface.
"Whoosh."
The light spots suddenly shot out, forming nebulae with purple tails that enveloped the Nine Netherworld Bird and the black flame within them.
This sudden change startled the Nine Netherworld Bird, and it hastily attacked the stream of light. But unexpectedly, under the Nine Netherworld Bird's furious assault, it remained completely unharmed.
The halo took shape, but it didn't stop there. Below the Nine Netherworld Bird, a deep purple light condensed and spread, transforming into a dark purple Mandala flower.
Mandala flowers come in many forms; generally, they resemble a type of symmetrical rosette pattern.
The Mandala flower seemed to be covered in intricate, mysterious dark gold patterns. The moment the Nine Netherworld Bird saw the Mandala flower, its eyes filled with terror, and it cried out in panic, struggling wildly.
The mysterious dark purple Mandala flower was like a prison cell, trapping the Nine Netherworld Bird within the black flame. It slowly drifted, stopping above the black paper.
The mysterious flower cage completely imprisoned the Nine Netherworld Bird.
With the Nine Netherworld Bird trapped, the violent commotion in the Qi Sea gradually subsided. The black flame disappeared, transforming into a Nine Netherworld Bird the size of a child's fist.
It struggled furiously, but there was no way to escape the dark purple flower cage. Gradually losing strength, it closed its eyes, filled with hatred and fierce intent, patiently waiting to accumulate energy, preparing for the opportune moment.
Mu Chen had been gaping at the scene of the bird and the flower fighting. After a while, he slowly emerged from his daze, but still stared blankly at the thin black paper and the deep purple Mandala flower.
Is everything... over?