novellaaa Chapter 184 Blood Bone Demon
Chapter 184 Blood Bone Demon
As Lin Chen rounded the last bend, the stone slabs beneath his feet transformed into a different material—darker in color, smoother on the surface, and wider overall than the passageway, resembling the foundation of a palace.
On the high platform in the center of the hall, a ball of silvery-white light floated. The ball of light was small, about the size of a fist, with slow, flowing star-like patterns on its surface. Inside, tiny particles of light moved gently, each movement leaving a brief ripple on the surface. It had no blinding brightness, yet it covered every corner of the entire hall.
He rushed over.
"Stop! It's mine!"
The Blood Bone Demon's voice chased after him from behind. Following closely behind was a dark red palm strike, its evil power carrying a bloody aura, traversing the remaining distance between Lin Chen and the platform. That palm strike left no room for error; its speed, power, and range precisely suppressed Lin Chen's remaining space to move forward. If he continued forward, he would be struck in the back by the palm strike before even touching the source; if he turned to dodge, he would lose his path to contact the source.
Lin Chen didn't turn. The Star Sword was drawn the instant he turned, star energy surging from his dantian, condensing into a thick film of light on the sword's surface, meeting the dark red palm wind head-on. The moment the sword collided with the palm wind, his forearm was pushed back by the recoil, the sword bending backward in an arc, the skin at the base of his thumb tearing from the friction. He was propelled off the ground by the force, flying several meters backward, crashing into the edge of the platform, the armor plates on his back scraping against the stone surface with a piercing scraping sound. After landing, he slid a few steps, leaving a bloody drag mark on the stone. The heat in his throat rose to his lips, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth dripping down his chin, leaving several dark spots on the stone.
The Blood Bone Demon approached step by step, a surging black and red curtain of bloodthirsty energy forming behind him, spreading outwards along the stone pillars of the hall. "Your Star Martial Core, plus your Origin, is perfect for me. Saves me a trip." He walked to the edge of the platform, looking down at Lin Chen, who was suspended not far in front of the Origin. "A Star Martial Core on someone of your level is like a key in the hands of a useless person—it can't open any doors."
Lin Chen remained silent. Blood dripped from his palm onto the stone surface, seeping into the cracks. The silvery-white light hovered not far away, its surface patterns swirling faster as he approached, like a flag fluttering in the wind. He felt a call originating from his dantian; the voice wasn't in his ears or his mind, but came from a deeper part of his body, as if something was responding to the light.
The Blood Bone Demon was already preparing for his next strike. Dark red evil energy condensed into a complete sphere in his palm, with tiny arcs of electricity dancing on its surface. He took a step back to gather the angle for the strike, then thrust it forward.
Lin Chen stood up at that very instant. He turned and lunged towards the center of the platform, his arm outstretched, fingertips pointing towards the ball of silvery light. The palm strike caught up with his back, and in that instant, the entire hall was filled with silvery light, swallowing up all shadows and corners. The light surged outward from where his palm touched the ball of light, spreading upward along his arm, enveloping his entire upper body by the time it reached his shoulder, and in the next instant, covering his entire silhouette. The Blood Bone Demon's palm strike was blocked at the edge of the silvery light, like water hitting an invisible wall, sliding down the outer edge of the silvery light and leaving a dark red arc on the ground.
Silver light pierced through Lin Chen's skin, seeped into his meridians, and converged towards his dantian along the channels extending from the inside of his body. In that instant, he felt his bones and meridians being filled with a heavy and solid force. That force came from deep underground, from the rock layers that had stretched for thousands of years in the mountains. Driven by the Star Martial Core in his dantian, it was compressed, folded, and reshaped until it completely merged with his Star Qi.
The Blood Bone Demon watched as the silver light gradually dissipated, and then watched the young man standing at the center of the light slowly straighten up. His steps involuntarily faltered. After the silver light subsided, Lin Chen's aura completely changed, becoming far heavier and deeper than when he entered. It was as if an iron ingot, pressed deep into the ground, had been pulled out of the soil, carrying the weight and density of an entire layer of earth, pressing down on the air in front of him.
The light inside the hall began to return to normal. The Star Martial Origin that had been suspended in the air was gone, leaving only some faint stardust slowly swirling in the air, gradually fading away from the four corners in the center of the hall. Lin Chen stood in front of the high platform, the hem of his robes still bearing several scorch marks from the aftershocks of the palm strike, but his aura was already different.
He slowly raised his head. The silvery-white star wheel deep in his pupils was still slowly rotating, the flickering afterglow swirling around his eyes several times before gradually sinking into the depths, completing its final rotation just as he looked up.