Chapter 449: The Terrifying Power of the Soul-Stabbing Thorn

With that, he ripped off the Turtle Breath Cloak, revealing his full appearance.

Even if Jiang Fan hadn't already revealed his legs, clearly showing the Azure Cloud Sect disciple's attire, Fan Xingkong would have recognized Jiang Fan's voice alone.

He deliberately feigned ignorance, merely intending to appear weak first. Once he recovered, he would seek trouble with Jiang Fan.

This was precisely why Jiang Fan needed to eliminate him to silence him: his identity had been exposed.

Indeed! Seeing Jiang Fan's true face, Fan Xingkong showed little surprise. He calmly stated, "Alright, I admit, I suspected it was you!"

"However, since you discovered the treasures here, they are destined for you. I won't seize them, nor will I reveal this to anyone. If you don't believe me, I'll swear to the heavens."

Jiang Fan hesitated for a moment. He said, "Very well, in the spirit of us both being from the Nine Sects, swear to the heavens that what happened today will never be revealed."

Fan Xingkong immediately raised two fingers and began to swear to the heavens, "I, Fan Xingkong, swear to the heavens..." Mid-sentence, his pupils constricted as he realized Jiang Fan had, at some unknown point, summoned five-colored formation flags and hurled them fiercely towards him.

"What are you doing?!" Fan Xingkong roared, retreating swiftly. He narrowly evaded being encircled by the five-colored formation flags!

Jiang Fan narrowed his eyes. "What am I doing? Of course, I'm not giving you a chance to stall!"

Swearing to the heavens? If that truly worked, would people still need to be suspicious of each other?

With his thoughts exposed, Fan Xingkong snorted in anger: "Damn you! Do you think I'm as easy to deal with as that turtle demon?! Even in my gravely injured state, you can't defeat me!"

He grabbed a handful of pitch-black iron pellets from his chest and flung them fiercely towards Jiang Fan. Meanwhile, he dragged his severely injured body, struggling towards the cave entrance to escape.

Without hesitation, Jiang Fan drew his Mourning Frost Sword. With a casual slash, he shattered all the incoming iron pellets.

Fan Xingkong looked back, a cunning expression on his face, and laughed loudly, "Fool! Do you think my attacks would be that simple?"

From the shattered pellets, thick black toxic mist billowed out, sweeping like a tide into the depths of the cave. This was precisely the highly potent toxic mist left behind by the excavated treasures. The Giant Sect had refined it into invisible assassination weapons! Even late-stage Core Formation realm cultivators would suffer complete body rot if they touched it.

Normally, Fan Xingkong would never part with them. Such valuable items were finite, each use depleting his stock. However, to save his life today, he had thrown out all the poison pellets he had secretly hoarded for years.

Naturally, the effect was excellent. With so much toxic mist, Jiang Fan had nowhere to hide! At this moment, he was likely instantly poisoned into a puddle of blood, wasn't he? Fan Xingkong sneered.

But suddenly! The toxic mist was abruptly cleaved open by incredibly sharp sword energy! A glimmer of purple light flew through the air at extreme speed! Upon seeing the object clearly, Fan Xingkong's face turned pale with shock. "Purple Sword? The Purple Sword that killed my sect's Grand Elder, Tie Bubai? You are the killer?!"

He absolutely could not believe it. The true culprit, whom the Giant Sect had searched for throughout the Nine Sects, was actually a minor disciple from the Azure Cloud Sect!

Sensing the terror of the Purple Sword, faster than words could describe, he bit the tip of his tongue and activated a strange body-refining cultivation technique. His entire body's muscles flowed rapidly, like liquid, towards his chest. In a blink, he transformed into a grotesque creature with limbs and torso like twigs, and a chest swollen like a barrel. The Purple Sword instantly pierced into the massive ball of muscle, plunging fiercely towards the heart.

However, this enormous muscle mass was extremely resilient. The Purple Sword penetrated halfway but was then forcefully lodged within it!

Immediately after, the muscle mass flowed like water again, congregating in his legs, making his legs as thick as horse's legs. With a powerful kick, he burst forth with a speed far greater than his peak state. In the blink of an eye, he leaped out of the cave, turned his head back towards the entrance, and let out a sinister laugh: "Jiang Fan! You're finished! Prepare to face the relentless pursuit of my Giant Sect, wherever you hide! Hahahahaha!"

Inside the cave, the toxic mist swirled. Jiang Fan's clothes were corroded, yet his body remained completely unharmed. He expressionlessly gazed at Fan Xingkong, whose face was filled with triumph, and calmly said: "Do you think... you can escape?"

No sooner had he spoken, a solidified, transparent spike suddenly shot forth from between his eyebrows! A soul attack, it disregarded distance and obstacles. Instantly, the spike struck Fan Xingkong's mind.

"Ah!!!" Fan Xingkong immediately let out a gut-wrenching scream. It felt as if a serrated blade was fiercely tearing through his soul. Even as a body-refining expert who had endured countless pains, he couldn't withstand such agony.

His screams did not last long. Because a purple light immediately pierced through his body, pinning him in mid-air and dragging him back into the cave, where he crashed heavily before Jiang Fan.

Fan Xingkong coughed up large mouthfuls of blood, his soul in immense agony. He barely managed to open his eyes, looking at the unharmed Jiang Fan with terror in his gaze: "Impossible... H-how are you unharmed?"

Jiang Fan pulled the Purple Sword from him and said indifferently, "Go down and have a good chat with Tie Bubai!"

With that said, he thrust the sword into Fan Xingkong's head. "No..." Fan Xingkong's indignant roar was abruptly cut short. His eyes were wide open, filled with intense unwillingness. He couldn't believe that he had died just like this! And at the hands of a junior.

Jiang Fan sheathed his sword and then exhaled slightly. "Killing you all really isn't easy!" These powerful cultivators, having reached a certain realm, possessed an endless array of unexpected techniques. So much so that even his Sword Control Art had been blocked! And this was while they were gravely wounded and on the verge of death! If they had been in their peak condition, Jiang Fan had no doubt he would barely be able to harm a single hair on them. If he hadn't mastered the Soul-Shattering Stab, it would have been very difficult to eliminate Fan Xingkong today. And the subsequent consequences would have been unimaginable.

He inspected Fan Xingkong's body. He found nothing valuable apart from some body-refining materials. These materials would have been of great use to him previously, but now they were practically useless. The Black Armor had been completely shattered by the explosion. Only the massive turtle shell remained, and an incredibly hard, damaged demon core.

Of course, Jiang Fan would take the demon core. This was proof of having slain a beast king! As for the turtle shell, Jiang Fan had witnessed its incredible toughness. It would be excellent for refining defensive magical artifacts. Fortunately, Jiang Fan possessed a large spatial storage device, capable of holding such an item. Otherwise, he would have had no choice but to abandon it.

With a thought, the turtle shell, like a small mountain, was stored in his spatial storage device. Lastly, there was Fan Xingkong's body. It bore numerous wounds from sound wave attacks and sword attacks. To prevent the Giant Sect from investigating, Jiang Fan incinerated it into ash. This way, Fan Xingkong's disappearance could be entirely attributed to the beast king horde's attack. For example, his body might have been devoured by the beast kings.

Having cleaned up the scene, Jiang Fan once again donned the Turtle Breath Cloak and quietly left the cave.

The battle outside had already concluded. The fate of the Giant Sect members, without Fan Xingkong, was predictable. How could a mere handful of deacons at the fourth and fifth levels of the Core Formation realm withstand the encirclement of over a dozen beast kings? Without exception, all of them perished.

However, the beast kings also suffered significant losses. The massive bodies of five Core Formation realm beast kings lay in the cold white snow. No, these weren't just bodies; they were five beast king demon cores. Worth a hundred merit points! How could Jiang Fan possibly miss such an opportunity?

He immediately sneaked towards the bodies, taking advantage of the beast kings searching everywhere for the Black Armor. He approached one of the beast kings. He located the precise spot, split the corpse open with a sword, and extracted the demon core. Then came the second body. And the third.

As he cleaved open the fifth corpse and retrieved its demon core, Jiang Fan's vision suddenly darkened. A chilling voice, sinister and reeking of blood, spoke from above.

"Are five demon cores enough for you?"