Chapter 322: Chapter 322

Looking at the elderly man with a sinister and translucent appearance, Wan Mingchuan quickly recalled his master’s words.

Back when spiritual energy dissipated, cultivators with the ability to travel to other worlds left, which was understandable, but for someone of his age and not low cultivation to betray family secrets regardless of descendants’ fate, it shows he is somewhat selfish.

Unlike Senior Lin Ruyun who pursued the Great Dao wholeheartedly, this guy surely values personal gain more. To survive, one must make him feel that living is more beneficial...

"I can sense that you seem to have a very familiar aura." He took a deep breath, thinking he would stake it all, a gamble between two choices! Then he said sincerely, "You must be some senior of the Lin family, right? To be honest, I have indeed awakened the bloodline inheritance..."

Seeing the other’s eyes light up, Wan Mingchuan quickly added, "But I just succeeded in Foundation Establishment, my realm is too low to accept too much inheritance, so I only received a part."

Lin Feng’s resentful eyes narrowed slightly.

A cultivator, upon death, should have their path dissipate completely, but the evil cultivator Elder on Demon Mountain needed to preserve bloodline power when refining skeletons, thus using evil techniques to condense his dying resentment on the skeleton, possessing certain intelligence and residual memory but not a true soul.

Now, he was full of resentment, hating his misfortune that he couldn’t compare to a young child just in Foundation Establishment who could awaken bloodline inheritance and acquire a Heavenly Level cultivation technique, while he couldn’t?

Full of unwillingness, Lin Feng belatedly realized his soul was still there, meaning there’s still a chance for successful possession and revival! He carefully examined Wan Mingchuan’s young body, feeling satisfied.

Being newly established is indeed too weak, direct possession could lead to immediate demise; better to nurture him first...

"Good, good child!" Lin Feng smiled subtly, nodding, "Awakening the bloodline inheritance means your future cultivation path will be unimpeded!

However, now your realm is too low and you’re too young, you need the old ancestor to protect you.

Moreover, although the old ancestor perished, it was due to an ambush by villainous individuals, those various encounters in the Otherworld and the treasure I left behind can all be yours."

He listened closely, then advised, "Listen to the old ancestor, stay here obediently and get familiar with the newly obtained Heavenly Level cultivation technique, it’s chaotic outside now, it’s too dangerous for your frail frame to exit the retreat.

Wait until they fight and decide the outcome, it’s not too late to go out then, with the old ancestor by your side, no one will think of harming a single hair on you! You are the hope of our Lin family!

Wan Mingchuan saw his unabashedly covetous gaze and thought to himself, I really want to leave but can’t move at all! Better to play along and at least fool this old bastard without angering him; when exiting the retreat, with the master by my side, there’s nothing to fear.

Responding obediently, he closed his eyes and began operating the cultivation technique imprinted in his sea of consciousness, the "Supreme Divine Technique."

Outside the tower, the battle was already halfway through.

Jiang Yuan had beaten Yuan Liyang down to one-third remaining health bar while still randomly picking a lucky fellow to throw a couple of Vast Mountains and Rivers for the mercenary evil cultivator;

Bai Yunqi and Hu Zhile were the main battle forces, each holding off an evil cultivator of similar strength, fighting fiercely;

Yun Shu and Yun Mo paired up with paper horse formations, mainly targeting one opponent to ensure none of them could escape.

Especially Yun Mo, meticulously targeting whoever tried to use a Teleportation Talisman to escape, interrupting with an Ice Feather Arrow just at the start, causing minor damage but reliably interrupting casting, angering the evil cultivators trying to escape but failing—being blocked by the suicidal paper horses, they couldn’t even lock onto the enemy’s location.

"Too much bullying!" Yuan Liyang was almost furious, who could have thought that after using insidious tricks for most of his life, he would meet someone even more insidious, not engaging in direct combat at all, relying entirely on a massive amount of paper horses to surround and stop him like "a chaotic punch killing the master."

Knowing very well that if this continues, let alone plotting for the Heavenly Level cultivation technique, he might very well be ground to death alive.

Yuan Liyang resolved within, gritting his teeth and taking a Blade attack, not waiting for the opponent to teleport and disappear again, he grabbed the blade directly and charged!

This blade was supposed to stab at the left shoulder, but he forcibly resisted the blade tip, pierced through, and rushed to the opponent, grabbing Jiang Yuan’s arm.

[Yuan Liyang activated Soul-devouring Demon Skill on you, lifespan -4 months]

[Yuan Liyang activated Soul-devouring Demon Skill on you, lifespan -6 months]

The system flashed red, indicating extreme danger while popping up notices.

Jiang Yuan was stunned, I worked hard to accumulate ten years and four months of lifespan, and you take away a year and four months in three bites?

Watching the remaining lifespan drop to nine years, he panicked but was firmly restrained by a powerful suction, unable to escape, while the opponent’s health bar automatically refilled in a few breaths.

Heaven-Burning Flame and Black Flame Storm directly blasted with critical strikes but were useless, the health bar couldn’t be completely depleted, soon absorbing his lifespan to refill. Close combat had no effective means, he could only crazily click Vast Mountains and Rivers trying to stop him from operating cultivation techniques.

However, it was useless, the opponent’s health bar dropped slightly with each hit, only to rapidly rise again, while his lifespan was dropping month by month, soon only four years were left.

Indeed, Otherworld cultivators have so many tricks and cannot be measured solely by realm for battle power... Jiang Yuan was about to exit the Wilderness World to think of countermeasures when the system popped up a notice at this critical moment.

[Short-term lifespan loss over half, triggering fallback mechanism, please choose a solution below]

[1. Consume fifty thousand Spirit Stones, increase lifespan by ten years]

[2. Consume ten thousand Spirit Stones, break free from Soul-devouring Demon Skill and forcibly separate both parties]

[3. Consume one million Spirit Stones, learn the same Soul-devouring Demon Skill and see whose suction is stronger]

The balance still had 1.69 million Spirit Stones, Jiang Yuan didn’t think twice and chose the last option, darn it, if I don’t suck it back, I’m losing big time!

[Consume one million Spirit Stones, Soul-devouring Demon Skill learned, Skill Level is 0, can increase experience with effective use]

[Soul-devouring Demon Skill: A technique created by Otherworld Evil God Miting Empress, originally meant to devour evil creatures and purify the world, later used by evil cultivators to devour living origins and absorb lifespan and spiritual power to replenish oneself. Yuan Liyang’s version is simplified, forcibly devouring all lifespan and spiritual power must also endure the opponent’s misfortune, causality, and residual resentment, causing a high probability of mental impairment]

[Would you like to consume fifty thousand Spirit Stones to improve the Soul-devouring Demon Skill, offsetting a large amount of lifespan and only extracting pure effects, avoiding misfortune, causality, and resentment impacts?]

"Yes, yes, yes!" Jiang Yuan didn’t care about feeling the financial pain anymore.

Spending 1.5 million on a system-improved version of lifespan-sucking technique, it’s worth it!

[Improved Soul-devouring Demon Skill: Can absorb purified lifespan of any creature. After absorbing lifespan, may trigger Frenzy Mode, losing sanity and killing indiscriminately, please use cautiously]

The account balance instantly dropped to 190,000, but at least he gained a skill that could be immediately useful.

"Soul-devouring Demon Skill!"

Upon activation, he suddenly saw a thick and long "line" floating on the opponent’s body, and after using the skill, that "line" quickly burned a segment, peeling off black ash revealing thin and short golden "threads" drifting onto his body.

Initially, the skill level was too low, Jiang Yuan’s losses were clearly more significant than the gains.

But as the tug of war officially began, with more and more effective instances of lifespan absorption, the skill experience bar started rapidly increasing.

While the opponent needed time to operate the technique, he only needed to cast, simultaneously able to click and release a wave of Vast Mountains and Rivers. Even then, the successful attempts of Soul-devouring Demon Skill were greater than the opponent’s, leading to a gradual shift in the battle.

"You... how can you?" Yuan Liyang, with a Blade stuck in his left shoulder firmly grabbing the opponent’s arm, activated Soul-devouring Divine Skill and could distinctly feel the constant influx of energy into his body, feeling smug.

No matter how skilled you are, unable to break free even if possessing thousands or tens of thousands of years of lifespan, you will eventually be mine!

But moments later, he noticed something was amiss—the opponent seemed to be absorbing his energy too, and it was clear that he was receiving far less than he was losing.

If it continues , won’t I be drained into a husk?