“Hiss—!” The Ironclad Crab let out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek, its remaining single pincer flailing wildly, its body trembling violently from the intense pain.
Effective! The passive buff of Demon Slayer had an immediate and obvious suppressive effect on Yao Beasts! Lin Feng was ecstatic, as if he had grasped a lifeline in a desperate situation.
His confidence instantly soared!
He no longer hesitated, his footsteps shifting as he executed the Lin family’s basic movement technique, “Treading Wave Step.” Although clumsy, under the suppressive Aura brought by the passive Demon Slayer, his movements seemed to carry a hint of sharpness.
He weaved through the frantic attacks of the remaining two Ironclad Crabs like a nimble fish.
Swish! Poof!
The wooden sword, enveloped in that faint, dark-gold gleam, accurately pierced into the relatively weaker eye of another Ironclad Crab! The sword tip emerged from its brain! That Ironclad Crab stiffened all over, then crashed to the ground, its eight crab legs still twitching unconsciously.
Only one left!
The Ironclad Crab whose pincer had been severed completely went berserk. Its sole remaining giant pincer, like a battering ram, smashed down on Lin Feng’s head, carrying a tragic Aura of mutual destruction! A fishy wind pressed down!
He couldn't dodge! The reef was slippery, and the space was narrow!
Lin Feng’s pupils constricted! The shadow of death instantly enveloped him! The spiritual Qi in his body had been largely depleted during the previous evasions and attacks; his Dantian was empty at this moment!
I can't die! I absolutely cannot die here!
An intense will to survive erupted like a volcano! All his thoughts, in that split second, surged frantically towards the Demon Slayer fruit in his Sea of Consciousness!
Active! Demon Slayer!
His thoughts were like a knife, cutting down fiercely!
Divine Power -1!
The last glimmer of light representing Divine Power in his Sea of Consciousness completely extinguished! An intense feeling of weakness, originating from the depths of his Soul, instantly swept through his entire body, causing his vision to blacken abruptly, as if all his strength had been drained.
However, just as this feeling of exhaustion surged—
Clang—!
A clear, incomparably resonant sword cry, as if it could cut through all demonic Auras and evil, erupted from the wooden sword in Lin Feng’s hand! That originally dull wooden sword now glowed with dazzling dark-gold light!
The sword body vibrated violently, as if unable to bear this sudden terrifying power, and tiny cracks even began to spread from the chipped edges of the blade!
A terrifyingly sharp Aura, far exceeding Lin Feng’s own Qi Refining Fourth Layer, even far surpassing the Qi Refining Late Stage, reaching the Foundation Establishment (Early Stage), suddenly awakened like a slumbering primordial Vicious Beast! It was wild, sharp, and carried the majestic might of slaying evil demons!
Lin Feng only felt his arm uncontrollably lift, the wooden sword in his hand seeming to possess a life of its own, transforming into a dark-gold lightning bolt tearing through the dim sky!
Slay!
There were no fancy techniques, only a pure, condensed-to-the-extreme light of slaughter!
Pfft!
The light flashed and disappeared.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The wildly charging Ironclad Crab, along with its only remaining, gate-sized, ferocious giant pincer, and its massive body covered in thick black iron armor, was split in half from the middle, like a wax figure thrown into a furnace! The cut was as smooth as a mirror, not even a drop of demon blood had time to splatter out!
The two halves of the heavy crab corpse crashed onto the slippery reef, making a dull thud. The cut edges were scorched black, emitting a faint, heart-pounding Aura of destruction.
Plop!
Lin Feng finally couldn't hold on any longer. His legs gave out, and he knelt on one knee. The wooden sword in his hand clattered to the ground. The dazzling dark-gold light on the sword body had disappeared, leaving only spiderweb-like cracks all over the blade, as if it could completely shatter at any moment.
He gasped for breath, his face ashen, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, hitting the cold reef.
A stinging emptiness came from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, a sign that his Divine Power was completely exhausted.
His body felt hollowed out, and even lifting a single finger felt strenuous.
“A strike at the Foundation Establishment Stage… the cost is too great.” He thought weakly, looking at the three Ironclad Crab corpses before him—one with a pierced head, one severely injured by a severed pincer and still twitching slightly, and the last one completely dismembered by that terrifying sword strike.
Just as his mind settled and he prepared to regulate his breath to recover, an unexpected change occurred!
Three extremely faint, almost transparent, light-green wisps of Qi quietly rose from the three crab corpses, ignoring the distance of space. As if drawn by an invisible pull, they instantly merged into Lin Feng’s glabella!
Boom!
A surge of energy, far purer and more surging than what he generated during his own Cultivation, like a breaching flood, violently rushed into Lin Feng’s parched Meridians!
This energy carried the wild Aura unique to sea demons, yet it was purified of its ferocity by a strange power (the Demon Slayer Divine Ability), leaving only pure life essence!
“Ugh!” Lin Feng grunted, his body trembling violently. This energy was too overbearing, far exceeding the tolerance limit of his Qi Refining Fourth Layer Meridians! Intense bloating pain came from all his limbs, as if his body was about to explode!
He quickly endured the discomfort and circulated the Lin family’s most basic “Qi Induction Technique,” guiding this pure energy to impact his blocked Meridians and converge into his Dantian Qi Sea, as if channeling a flood.
Amidst the intense pain, there was an indescribable sense of exhilaration from his Cultivation rapidly increasing! It was even more effective than his own painstaking Cultivation for ten days or half a month!
After an unknown period, when the last wisp of light-green Qi was completely refined and absorbed, Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes. A hint of color returned to his pale face, and the exhaustion in his eyes was replaced by an indescribable brightness.
He clearly felt that the sparse spiritual Qi in his Dantian had actually become a bit denser! The threshold to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer seemed to be a small step closer!
He lowered his head, looked at his slightly clenched fists, felt the surging power within his body, then looked at the three cold Ironclad Crab corpses on the reef, and finally his gaze fell on the cracked, almost scrap wooden sword beside them.
In the depths of his Sea of Consciousness, the emptiness brought by the depletion of Divine Power still existed, but an unprecedented sense of certainty, of controlling his own destiny, quietly grew in Lin Feng’s heart.
“Slaying a Yao Beast of the same stage, and receiving a day’s worth of Cultivation in return… it’s truly not false.” He murmured to himself, his voice a little hoarse but full of power, “This Black Reef Island… is truly my blessed land.”
He stood up. Although his steps were still a bit unsteady, his back was straight.
He walked to the dismembered Ironclad Crab, crouched down, ignoring the scorched cut and the lingering Aura of destruction, his gaze falling on the edge of the thick, dark crab shell.
“The edge of the carapace is the toughest and sharpest…” He extended a finger, using a faint wisp of spiritual Qi, and tried to peel off the hard shell edge, “Perhaps… I can grind a handy dagger?”
The sea wind still howled, carrying a biting chill and a strong smell of blood.
Lin Feng squatted beside the huge crab corpse, focused on processing his spoils.
His first hunt was startling, dangerous, and messy, but it also brought huge, destiny-altering rewards.
He looked up towards the hazy horizon where the sea met the sky, a very faint but vibrant curve on his lips.
He, Lin Feng, would become a legend in this Immortal Realm!