Chapter 1804: Two Choices

Once a wound appeared, healing it in Xu Yang's presence became virtually impossible.

Without hesitation, Xu Yang immediately unleashed his Kunlun Sacrifice technique.

Blood continuously gushed from the wounds on the five massive snake heads, their tentacles, and their brow centers, like a river breaking its banks. Normally, such wounds would heal quickly due to the inherent regenerative power of the flesh. However, after Xu Yang activated the Kunlun Sacrifice, a powerful devouring force firmly latched onto those five wounds.

This caused blood to continuously pour from the wounds of the five enormous snake heads, with nothing capable of stemming the torrent. All of the vital blood energy converged to a single point, instantly forming a massive, blood-red orb — the very source of the opponent's immense life force.

Xu Yang swiftly merged and compressed this enormous blood orb into a primal core.

Unlike the primal core Qingya had previously consumed, which originated from a human martial artist's life force, this one contained an incredibly terrifying, decaying life energy.

If a human martial artist were to ingest this primal core, they would likely be instantly consumed, reduced to nothing but skeletal remains.

Yet, Xu Yang proceeded to do something that even the massive creature found unfathomable. With a flick of his palm, he seized the primal core, which possessed an incredibly potent life-devouring ability. He then turned his gaze to the female assassin deity he held in his arms.

"You now have two choices. Either abandon your faith in the Heavenly Sect and become a free martial artist. Tell me all the secrets you know about the Heavenly Sect, and I will help you achieve true freedom and a devout future. You'll be able to roam this continent at will, creating your own martial arts miracles, no longer a puppet or a pawn of the Heavenly Sect. Your second choice is to refuse my first offer. If you do, I will make you consume this inner core."

The experienced female assassin gasped as she gazed at the terrifying primal core in Xu Yang's hand, which emanated an eerie, grey-white glow. A top-tier killer like her, accustomed to living on the edge, always disregarded life and death. Yet, she knew there were many things in this world far more horrifying than death itself.

Merely observing the terrifying aura radiating from this primal core allowed her to envision the fate that awaited her should she consume it: every ounce of her life force would be relentlessly siphoned into the elixir.

With every passing second, the blood in her body would be drawn back into the primal core. Eventually, even the very essence of her soul's power would be utterly shredded by the force it unleashed. It would be a true nightmare.

To Xu Yang's satisfaction, he noticed the female assassin deity hesitate.

Had this been a few days earlier, she might have swallowed the primal core without a second thought.

Deep within her, faith was an inviolable principle, something that could never be tainted by any force.

Yet, her instincts as a woman, coupled with the thoughts and feelings she had developed from her close proximity to Xu Yang over the past few days, guided her. They caused the most steadfast faith deep within the female assassin deity to waver.

After much deliberation, however, reason ultimately triumphed over instinct.

She understood that as long as she carried the Heavenly Sect's mission, she would never have the right to choose. Even though her inner thoughts now diverged from this path, she had no other option.

Ultimately, she did not disappoint Xu Yang. She picked up the terrifyingly potent primal core and swallowed it without hesitation.

It is worth noting that the moment the female assassin deity clutched the primal core in her palm, her entire right hand was instantly consumed, transforming into five ghastly hand bones.

Had Xu Yang not continuously supplied her with life force, that primal core would likely have devoured every last bit of her life energy in an instant.

Agonized screams quickly erupted. Xu Yang felt a pang of reluctance, as the girl was, after all, struggling wildly in his arms, still bound by his power.

Yet, Xu Yang did not reveal his true intentions. Despite the slight reluctance in his eyes, he understood that this was a necessary process for the female assassin deity's transformation—akin to a phoenix's nirvana. She had to endure the world's most terrifying fiery torment to achieve a genuine rebirth.

No one knew that Xu Yang was doing this to help the female assassin deity undergo her transformation, like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon as a butterfly. However, Xu Yang himself had no definitive answer as to whether it would succeed, and the female assassin deity was utterly bewildered by the situation.

Silently, Xu Yang had already imprinted a power totem, derived from his innate Golden Light Taiji, into the female assassin deity's body.

This Taiji totem, continuously evolving from his boundless life force, was sufficient to sustain the female assassin deity's life. However, the agony of the constant extraction of both life and death energies within her would never cease.

To grant her a temporary reprieve from such agony, Xu Yang knocked the female assassin deity unconscious with a single palm strike.

However, this state would not last long; she would soon awaken. This brief period of unconsciousness, for Xu Yang, was more than enough.

He intended to use this time to completely deal with the creature before him, thereby completing the final part of his plan.

With one hand finally free, Xu Yang again stepped forward, approaching the massive creature. The opponent immediately sensed an unprecedented pressure.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Sect female assassin deity lying nearby had fallen unconscious, completely losing her awareness of her surroundings. Naturally, Xu Yang no longer needed any means to restrain her.

Xu Yang flexed his fingers, loosening his joints, and the smile on his face suddenly intensified.

"Now, with no further concerns, I can finally truly *play* with you."

As his words faded, Xu Yang's immensely powerful Cold Spring Prime Artifact was, for the first time, summoned onto this battlefield.

A brilliant ice-blue light erupted. In the same instant Xu Yang's arm descended, he unleashed a single sword stroke, directly severing one of the dozen giant snake-head tentacles before him.

Agonized roars burst from the ancient evil beast's mouth, but beyond frantic screams, it was powerless. It could only watch helplessly as a part of its body was irrevocably severed.

Deprived of the main body's life force, the enormous snake head slumped to the ground, utterly motionless.

This, however, was merely the beginning of a one-sided slaughter. Xu Yang wildly swung the Cold Spring Prime Artifact, and with every sword strike, his opponent was utterly incapable of parrying.