Chapter 35: The Soul Transformation Trap

“Facing an attack of this magnitude, you’re flustered, aren’t you?”

A cold sneer played on the demon lord’s lips, his entire being exuding a sharp, murderous intent.

“You’re not a Soul Transformation cultivator at all.”

Magical artifacts adhered to strict tiers, and the Fanged Treasure Chest’s current power was insufficient to threaten a Soul Transformation cultivator.

Indeed, unless facing a ‘squishy’ opponent, it would even require some effort to deal with a Golden Core cultivator.

“To think that a figure who fancies themselves a righteous ancestor would have to falsely report their cultivation just to dare face an enemy—truly a rare sight.”

Since she wasn’t a Soul Transformation cultivator, what did Su Qin have to fear? He felt no apprehension whatsoever. ‘Keep mocking her, then strip her bare!’

***

Qi Ning frowned slightly, a hint of confusion in her gaze as she observed Su Qin’s pierced body; she had distinctly crushed his heart moments ago.

“What, are you surprised I’m not dead?” Su Qin sneered,

“Why not try hacking at me a few more times, old hag?”

As Su Qin hurled insults, he simultaneously repaired his body, liquid crystals filling his chest, flickering a few times before transforming into intact flesh and blood.

Su Qin was a Blood Dao demonic cultivator, and this crystal-based regeneration resembled a Blood Corpse Wanderer, which was precisely why he restored his body without a second thought.

In truth, there had been no actual smell; he had merely sought to provoke her.

“Don’t even get me started on the stench, tsk tsk… Why does it look so flaccid?”

***

However, Qi Ning did not grow angry; instead, she stared straight at him, her cherry lips parting slightly.

“Blood Demon Spirit Body.”

Su Qin’s expression shifted dramatically, while Qi Ning’s face transformed from stiffness to surprise, culminating in a nearly maniacal delight.

‘She could live!’

During her last Soul Transformation tribulation, she had been a hair’s breadth from success, resulting in the annihilation of her physical body.

Yet, her divine soul had already reached the Soul Transformation realm; all she lacked was a Soul Transformation body acknowledged by heaven and earth!

For hundreds of years, she had attempted countless methods and techniques, but she simply could not forge a body of the Soul Transformation tier.

With her lifespan nearing its end, she had resigned herself to fate.

‘One could only say, thanks to nature’s bounty…’

The Immortal Slaying Array was one of the methods she had inherited; refining a demonic soul clone first and then reconstructing her fundamental Dao body was the shortcut she had devised.

However, the divine soul materials for the Immortal Slaying Array were always insufficient, no matter how fierce the battles or how numerous the souls; it always fell just short.

She finally understood: the quantity was sufficient, but she lacked a high-quality soul.

Like using brine to curdle tofu, what was missing now was a single drop of brine, and the Blood Demon Spirit Body could only be possessed by a soul of extremely high quality!

Tears of excitement welled in the corners of Qi Ning’s eyes, her beautiful gaze flashing with undisguised desire; this single piece of information alone had dispelled all the deathly aura clinging to her.

The immortaless’s vermillion lips parted and closed, a few words slipping past her pink tongue, escaping her smiling mouth.

“Little friend keeps mentioning ‘smell.’ Do you perhaps have a fondness for sniffing things out? What a pervert, if you want to ‘taste,’ why not just say so?”

Insults meant nothing; living was paramount.

In her eyes, ‘smelly’ equated to ‘foul,’ so while his insults angered her, she was also immensely pleased.

Soon, she could use this very reason to pin him to the ground and stuff his own words back into his mouth, making this impudent demon lord thoroughly taste the ‘saltiness’!

Only then could she truly vent her spleen.

Moreover, only such humiliation could shatter his Dao Heart, thereby crushing his soul and allowing the demonic soul clone to fully absorb it.

***

“I hear the Blood Demon Spirit Body has a very sensitive sense of smell, ah~, you wouldn’t have awakened some disgusting fetish, would you, a liking for sniffing things?”

As Qi Ning spoke, she looked at him with the disdain one might reserve for trash, yet her eyes and brows brimmed with a profound yearning for his body.

“Hmph, you pungent old hag.”

“Tsk, you perverted demon lord.”

Their eyes met, and both Qi Ning and Su Qin understood: they were cut from the same cloth.

The ones who most detested ‘prison players’ (TL Note: A slang term referring to players who employ frustrating, drawn-out, or ‘stalling’ tactics in games, often making battles tedious and hard to finish), were, ironically, other ‘prison players.’

This was because they shared the same mindset; without a way to break through each other’s tactics, both sides felt incredibly stifled in combat.

***

Su Qin ceased his banter, transforming directly into a Blood Bat and merging into the darkness of the sky.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was impossible to discern which one was his true body.

Qi Ning scoffed, recalling her spirit sword.

Qi He’s Clear River Treasure Sword also flew from the lake, settling into her grasp.

With a thought, Su Qin commanded the myriad Blood Bats to form a blood-red array covering the entire Immortal Slaying Valley.

After launching an attack, the Blood Bats would immediately shift to the next formation.

Overwhelming attacks surged forth, each one a genuine Nascent Soul-level strike.

Qi Ning remained completely unfazed, wielding her two spirit swords to create an impenetrable barrier while simultaneously observing the flow of spiritual energy within the array, hoping to locate the concealed Su Qin.

Less than ten seconds into the battle, several hundred Blood Bats had already been shattered by her, yet none proved to be Su Qin’s true form.

The spirit Blood Bats attacked fiercely, and a vast amount of their damage genuinely breached the sword wall, inflicting harm upon Qi Ning and even tearing away parts of her clothing.

In reality, however, Su Qin’s situation was dire.

This was because their definitions of victory differed; if Qi Ning could simply stall Su Qin until daybreak, when the sun emerged, there would be no need to fight—Su Qin would directly transform into material for refining a demonic soul.

***

‘What a truly annoying fellow.’

Su Qin utterly loathed ‘prison players,’ for battling such individuals yielded no advantage and drained an immense amount of mental energy.

Even though he himself was a ‘prison player.’

The Blood Bats’ assault intensified once more, threatening to overwhelm Qi Ning completely; even with her Nascent Soul cultivation, she found it somewhat strenuous to cope.

Seizing this opportunity, Su Qin stealthily approached the edge of the grand array, scrutinizing the flowing water curtain.

‘It appears to be a flowing array; even if damaged, it will be swiftly restored.’

Su Qin summoned his fangs, the seventy-two fangs converging into the shape of a drill.

He knew he had to push through.

Su Qin seized the moment, controlling the drill to smash against the water curtain.

The reverberating shockwave left his tiger’s mouth numb, and the demon lord clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Demon lord, don’t you dare flee!”

Qi Ning, suspended in mid-air, almost instantly detected Su Qin’s movements, but the relentless, free-for-all array attacks from the beast horde before her made it difficult to divert her attention.

Gritting her teeth, Qi Ning amplified the grand array’s power by several degrees, inadvertently playing right into Su Qin’s hands.

“So that’s it; you can control the array’s intensity.”

A cold sneer twisted Su Qin’s lips, and a terrifying murderous glint flashed in his eyes.

***

The bats, flying in their respective legion formations in the sky, suddenly froze.

From their brow-centers, almost every single bat abruptly erupted in a ghostly crimson flame.

A specter, the phantom of a mountain-bearing, sea-shifting array, silently descended.

“This is… an Acquired Array Spirit?!”

Qi Ning’s face contorted into an unprecedented grimace; an array capable of nurturing an Acquired Array Spirit was, at minimum, of the Soul Transformation tier!

However, the Array Spirit’s form was exceedingly ethereal, as if a mere gust of wind could scatter it.

“No, it’s not Soul Transformation tier; it’s a phantom that appeared due to the dense divine soul energy here, still at the Nascent Soul level!”

Qi Ning silently braced herself, but Su Qin merely scoffed, a disdainful smile playing on his lips.

‘Can you withstand the might of this move?’