Elder Xuan coughed up blood in disbelief as he staggered to his feet. The toxins in his body relentlessly corroded his internal organs, and even his spiritual power couldn’t suppress them.
Last time, it was that eerie intangibility. Now, it was this strange poison.
Just how many hidden cards did this brat have?!
"This… this…" Nearby, Ling Xu and Liu Canglan, who had been watching the battle, were utterly dumbfounded.
What were they witnessing?
A cultivator at the Hualing realm was beating a Wudao-realm expert like a dog?
Talented individuals could challenge those above their realm, but they had never heard of someone at the Hualing realm overwhelming a Wudao-realm master to the point of helplessness.
After all, even the weakest Wudao-realm expert was someone who had reached that level through innate talent—there was no such thing as being "weak" at that stage.
"You’ve got some skill, brat," Elder Xuan muttered, finally realizing the gravity of the situation.
Someone with this level of talent would inevitably become a major threat to his sect in the future.
No matter what, even if it cost him his life, he had to ensure this kid never left here alive!
"RAAAAAAAAH!!!" Elder Xuan roared, and the transparent threads controlling the space around them began to soak in his essence blood, their razor-sharp edges gleaming as if they could slice through reality itself.
"Heaven and Earth—Ensnaring Net!"
With a hand seal, Elder Xuan transformed the threads into a massive crimson web that descended upon Ye Chuan.
"You really think I’m the same as before?" Ye Chuan said coolly, watching the approaching net. "Just a Wudao-realm expert? Pathetic."
As he spoke, a pale gray energy surged from his palm, coalescing into a colossal sword dozens of meters long.
"Perfect. Let’s test the power of the Root-Severing Slash."
Ye Chuan swung the sword, unleashing a crescent of gray-white energy. The moment the slash appeared, the world seemed to lose its color.
The space around the arc distorted and shattered, disintegrating as if melting away. Though the slash moved slowly, the moment it collided with the crimson net, the web dissolved instantly under its corrosive force.
"What?! What kind of monstrous technique is this?!" Elder Xuan’s pupils shrank in horror.
The gray-white slash didn’t stop. It surged forward like an unstoppable force, swallowing Elder Xuan’s body whole.
"NOOOOOO—!!!"
Elder Xuan’s body disintegrated within the slash, his flesh and bones dissolving without resistance. Even his soul couldn’t escape—it withered rapidly, unable to withstand the annihilation.
"Spare me! No, please—!"
His terrified screams echoed briefly before Ye Chuan, startled by the sheer destructive force, quickly reeled the energy back in.
Damn, his main soul!
If this kept up, nothing would be left.
As the gray-white energy dissipated, only a faint, translucent remnant of Elder Xuan’s soul remained, his face twisted in absolute terror.
"Still something left, huh?" Ye Chuan observed before pulling out the Soul-Stealing Banner.
The black banner unfurled with a sharp whoosh.
Blood-red runes on the banner writhed like molten lava, and an oppressive, bone-chilling aura instantly filled the air. Countless twisted spectral figures howled as they burst from the banner, circling overhead like a storm of vengeful spirits.
Elder Xuan’s face twisted in recognition. "That damn banner again?!"
He hadn’t expected Ye Chuan to actually intend on refining him into a main soul.
"Soul-Stealing Banner? You really don’t know quality when you see it," Ye Chuan scoffed before slamming the banner into the ground.
A deep hum resonated as the crimson runes flared, and the spectral figures surged toward Elder Xuan like a tidal wave.
These were the souls of cultivators Ye Chuan had slain before. Individually, they were far weaker than a Wudao-realm expert, but their sheer numbers and ferocity made up for it. The moment they reached Elder Xuan, they latched onto his soul, tearing at it with ravenous hunger.
"You vile creature!"
Elder Xuan roared, trying to shake them off, but the spectral figures clung like parasites. Even when he destroyed some, the banner instantly replenished them, sending wave after wave of spirits at him.
Worse yet, wherever the spirits passed, Elder Xuan’s movements grew sluggish, his power waning.
After all, he was now just a soul—and the banner was the bane of all souls.
Ye Chuan watched calmly, not even bothering to summon the banner’s chains to restrain him.
"Liu family! What are you standing around for?!" Elder Xuan bellowed at Liu Canglan and the others in desperation.
Liu Canglan, whose legs had turned to jelly from fear, snapped out of his daze at the shout and rushed toward Ye Chuan.
"Truly blind to the situation," Ye Chuan remarked coldly, glancing at the Liu family members.
Only then did realization dawn on them.
Wait a second—
But before they could retreat, chains shot out from the banner, impaling the Liu family cultivators in an instant.
Liu Canglan felt an icy force invade his meridians before his body collapsed to the ground. The next moment, his soul was violently ripped out, dragged toward the banner by the chains.
"No! Elder Xuan, save us!" Liu Canglan’s soul shrieked in despair, but Elder Xuan was in no position to help—he was too busy struggling against the chains pulling him in.
Some of the Liu family members tried to flee, while others charged recklessly forward, but the banner’s chains pierced them all. Screams filled the air as one soul after another was sucked into the banner, its crimson runes glowing brighter with each addition, staining the air with a bloody haze.
With the Liu family dealt with, Ye Chuan turned his attention back to Elder Xuan.
The old man thrashed wildly, but it only slowed his inevitable fate. His soul was already in tatters, his face a mask of terror and hatred.
"Who… who the hell are you?! Killing a member of the Holy Land—they’ll never let you live!"
"The Holy Land?" Ye Chuan smirked as he raised the banner again, its runes blazing. "Perfect. My banner could use a few more souls."
Elder Xuan mustered the last of his spiritual power in a futile attempt to resist, but it was like an egg smashing against a rock. With a final, agonized scream, his soul was dragged into the banner, writhing briefly before being fully absorbed.
As the last of Elder Xuan’s soul vanished, the banner’s crimson light reached its peak before gradually dimming.
"Not bad," Ye Chuan mused, scanning the dense array of enhanced attributes. "A Wudao-realm main soul… Hm?"
He noticed something unexpected—after devouring Elder Xuan, the banner hadn’t just gained a massive boost in power. The spectral chains could now be manipulated like the threads Elder Xuan had once controlled.
"Interesting."
Ye Chuan hovered in the air, while Ling Xu and the others stood frozen in shock, their minds unable to process what they had just witnessed.
But Ye Chuan’s thoughts were already elsewhere.
Bai Qianshuang had been teleported away. He needed to catch up quickly.
But before that—
Ye Chuan rose higher, the banner in his hand radiating a sinister crimson glow.
"The Liu family… shall be erased from this continent."
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
