Chapter 1450: Crystal Ore Magical Device

Rumble—

The throne space vibrated again, and the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows staggered, nearly losing his footing. His expression changed, knowing he couldn't linger any longer. He had no time to inventory the contents of the Heavenly Thunderstone; he simply put it away. Finally, he looked at Jiang Fan, a cold sneer in his eyes.

“It’s time to say goodbye, Wang Chongxiao.”

“To be buried with the treasures of the Black Dragon Venerable is the mercy I bestow upon you.”

“Go!”

He raised his palm and casually struck towards Jiang Fan’s crown. To Nascent Soul stage cultivators, a casual blow from a Soul Transformation stage cultivator was as mighty as divine power, capable of easily crushing them into dust.

However, just as he made his move, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint, knowing smile playing on Jiang Fan’s lips. His heart seemed to skip a beat, and a sense of impending doom welled up within him. Before he could react, the Heavenly Thunderstone he had taken suddenly erupted with a long-brewing three-colored divine rainbow!

It was extremely close and struck without warning, giving the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows no chance to dodge.

A ripping sound—a slice through flesh and bone—clearly reached the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows’ ears. It took a full three breaths before a faint red bloodline appeared on his forehead. More precisely, it was a bloodline that started at his forehead and bisected his entire body. The three-colored divine rainbow had split him in two, from bottom to top.

Drip, drip! Streams of fresh blood flowed out, falling to the ground like a trickling stream. Only then did the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows gradually feel the coldness within his body, followed by the agony of his bones and flesh tearing apart.

He lowered his head, staring at the constantly widening bloodline across his chest, a flicker of bewilderment in his eyes. He seemed still unable to accept the reality of his body being destroyed. He slowly raised his eyes, and the gushing blood flowed into them. Through his blurred vision, he saw Jiang Fan move, casually taking back the Heavenly Thunderstone from his hand, along with the spatial storage artifact and the treasures on his person.

The Demon Lord of Soul Shadows’ throat rasped like a broken bellows, “You… have a magic treasure that can withstand a Venerable’s domain?”

Jiang Fan nodded, “Otherwise?”

The Demon Lord of Soul Shadows laughed, a bitter, desolate laugh. “I actually suffered an unexpected defeat.”

“No, I was tricked twice by the same person.”

Before, when he deleted my memory, Jiang Fan tricked me. I believed him. Now, with the Black Dragon Venerable’s domain activated, Jiang Fan tricked him again. He still believed him. To stumble twice at the hands of the same person, his death was not unjust!

“How did you know I would definitely take your Heavenly Thunderstone? What if I hadn’t, wouldn’t you have miscalculated?” the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows asked, a hint of unwillingness in his voice. If the Heavenly Thunderstone hadn’t been in his possession, but kept at a distance, he could have completely avoided the three spirit swords when they activated, given his power.

Jiang Fan raised his hand, and Purple Lightning appeared in his grasp. He decisively swung it at the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows’ neck. It was his habit to decapitate his victims. With a “thud,” the head flew into the air and split in two mid-flight. Only then did he slowly say, “Because you are greedy enough!”

With so many treasures in his Heavenly Thunderstone, there was no reason the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows would let it go. As long as he carried it, Jiang Fan had the power to kill him in one blow. The three-colored divine rainbow now was formed from three top-grade spirit swords that had gained spirit essences. Once activated, even a Celestial Decay stage cultivator would have no chance of survival.

Clang! The headless body finally split open along the bloodline, each half collapsing onto the ground. A transparent soul frantically wriggled out and, without thinking, tried to escape into the void. Responding to it was a dark, wooden stick with a small, tender sprout at its tip.

With one strike of the stick on the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows’ soul, he let out a heart-wrenching scream, as if stung by thousands of bees. His soul body struggled for a moment, then his eyes rolled back, and he immediately fainted!

Jiang Fan looked at the stick in his hand, frowning slightly: “It was supposed to be agonizing with one strike, wasn’t it?”

“Why did he faint?”

“Could it be that the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows was too injured beforehand, and his soul was weak?”

After thinking for a moment, he took out the soul of the Venerable from Divine Armament State from the Nether Soul Crystal. “Bear with it, let me test the power of this stick.”

The Venerable from Divine Armament State’s soul trembled. Although he couldn’t see the outside situation, he had heard the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows’ agonizing screams. To make a Venerable’s soul suffer like that, it was definitely a purgatory-level pain. He quickly raised his short stubby hands to block himself, urgently saying, “Stop!”

“I… I’m still useful, don’t hit me!”

Jiang Fan rolled his eyes at him: “For a Soul Transformation Venerable, can’t you have some backbone?”

“Clench your teeth and take a strike from me first!”

The Venerable from Divine Armament State muttered under his breath, “It’s not you getting hit, of course you can talk tough.” To avoid a beating, he quickly looked around. When he spotted the huge purple crystal mine beneath his feet, he hastily said:

“Wait! Don’t you want that magic artifact down there?”

“Magic artifact?” Jiang Fan’s stick paused in mid-air, and he looked at the purple, giant python-shaped crystal mine with a bewildered expression. “You’re saying this is a magic artifact?”

This crystal mine must be several miles long. Can there be such a huge magic artifact?

Seeing the stick lowered, the Venerable from Divine Armament State wiped the cold sweat from his brow and affirmed: “I am, at the very least, one of the top ten artifact crafting masters in the Central Plains. How could I mistake a magic artifact?”

“This is indeed a man-made magic artifact.”

“It’s just that its size is extraordinarily large.”

“And its material is not from our Central Plains.”

Curious, Jiang Fan pointed to the square indentation beneath his feet and asked, “Can you make out the eight characters at the bottom?”

The Venerable from Divine Armament State merely glanced at it, and his soul was greatly shaken, causing him to quickly withdraw his gaze in fear. His face filled with horror: “What kind of characters are these? Why can’t I even look at them?”

He surveyed the indentation with trepidation, and after a moment, he analyzed: “This indentation must have been for placing something.”

“To be precise, this entire crystal mine is merely a stand for a single immensely valuable treasure.”

“Like a brush stand for a calligraphy brush.”

Jiang Fan was greatly astonished. Such a colossal magic artifact was merely an accessory? This crystal mine itself was already a precious treasure! Jiang Fan couldn’t even imagine what kind of object it was meant to hold.

After pondering for a moment, the Venerable from Divine Armament State suddenly realized: “This indentation is for placing something like a seal!”

“The eight faint characters at the bottom are the engravings from that seal, pressed into it over time.”

Jiang Fan was truly shaken. Just the imprints of the characters, left by mere pressure, were something even the Black Dragon Venerable couldn’t directly look at. What kind of world-shaking divine object must the seal itself be? Could it be a complete… World Artifact?

After pondering for a moment, he shook his head. Although this crystal mine was a precious treasure, it couldn’t be taken away. The spirit liquid he had obtained, which cleansed the aura of all things, couldn’t purify the aura of such an enormous crystal mine. If he took it, the Black Dragon Venerable would undoubtedly pursue him to the ends of the earth.

For now, it was better to quickly rescue Liuli and Ling Shu. He put away the souls of the Venerable from Divine Armament State and the Demon Lord of Soul Shadows, then leaped into the prison. Looking at the two young women sealed in black profound ice, one on the left and one on the right, he felt both distressed and annoyed: “You two foolish girls, you were far too reckless.”

“You just charged headfirst into the Black Dragon Venerable’s grasp without clarifying things beforehand!” He gently patted the profound ice, attempting to shatter it. However, a black ripple vibrated outwards, causing Jiang Fan to stagger backward repeatedly. Even more surprisingly, as the ripple entered his body, he suddenly felt a jolt of disorientation, his consciousness sinking. He actually showed signs of descending into madness.