The Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice was a heavenly rank spirit creature that’d grown synonymously with Jiang Chen. 

The Nether Flames were terrifying, but the lotuses were no slouch either. Green leaves formed by the Nether Flames scoured the vicinity, seeming to burn the very air they rampaged through. But when faced with the fire lotuses, they dwindled and shrank in size.

The cloaked assailant was utterly flabbergasted by the scene that’d unfolded before him.

He’d seen the Bewitching Lotus back attack the Goldensable Fleeceflower, but it’d only shown its vine-like properties when entangling with the Golden Vines. Its dual fire and ice properties had remained hidden. 

Now that they were on show, a completely dumbfounding sight.

The appearance of the Nether Flames usually guaranteed victory. Even fellow geniuses had learned to avoid his fire. It was an unknown whether the top geniuses of the eight houses this time would be able to beat the flames either. It wasn’t wrong to say that it was his most powerful trump card.

He found the development so unexpected that it was impossible to believe.

“Hmph! Let’s see how much fire your strange vines can absorb!” As the cloaked man was in possession of a source of the Nether Flames, he only had to leverage a divine art to deploy all sorts of fire-attribute arts from the green ball of flames.

“Nether Destruction, Plague!” The cloaked man chanted while his hands flew through several seals. Several columns of green flame erupted from the ground around the green, blazing ball.  Each column was as if a vicious hellfiend, ready to lay waste to heaven and earth. 

Now instead of just one or two pieces of flaming leaves, there was a flurry of dozens.

After such strenuous usage, the Nether Flames’ brilliance instantly dimmed. Clearly, the cloaked man had drained the divine fire without thought of the consequences.

Jiang Chen had anticipated this and shifted from one hand seal to the other. Thousands of lotus vines shot from the ground, filling up the entire space. They immediately feasted on fire energy exuded from the Nether Flames like gluttons that had been starved for hundreds of years. 

Meanwhile, the ice lotuses remained at the back, vigilant and wary as ever.

The Bewitching Lotus was without a doubt a lot stronger than Jiang Chen had expected, especially against fire attribute attacks. The fire lotuses had adapted to the strength of their enemy and devoured the Nether Flames whole.

The cloaked man was on the verge of vomiting blood.

How can this be?

 Everything he’d ever known had been upended on its axis. This was one of his most powerful martial art techniques! There was still one trump card in his arsenal, but to think that the Nether Flames had proven completely ineffectual against the enemy! 

His proud heart began to waver. He’d thought that the geniuses in Rejuvenation Isles were beneath him, but it seemed that this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Jiang Chen stood calmly off to the side and waited for his opponent’s next move. He could tell that the Nether Flames had been spent and were in a fragile state. It was no longer an active threat.

However, his opponent certainly had many more trump cards waiting in store. Jiang Chen was both taken aback and remained on guard. Someone strong enough to own the Nether Flames definitely had many other tricks to play. Jiang Chen had pieced enough clues together to form a rough guess of his opponent’s identity.

The cloaked man glared coldly at Jiang Chen, frustrated to see only a smug smile on his opponent’s face. The pace of the battle was growing out of control. As one of the geniuses from the eight aristocratic houses, he was supposed to be a fearsome hunter in this backwater. And yet, here he was, wondering who was the real hunter and who was prey.  

This brat can’t be from Winterdraw. With talent and heritage like his… is he also from the Ten Divine Nations?

 A slither of suspicion crept into his heart. 

This won’t do. I can’t afford to drag this out any longer. I need to end this quickly and cleanly, or time is going to run out.

The geniuses from the eight houses had come here to hunt down the candidates. It was the core basis of their game. 

The chosen candidates were fated to be living targets, or prey in other words. They were tools for the aristocrats’ entertainment and training.

However, Jiang Chen yet remained unaware of all of this. He continued to think that the hostility emanating from the cloaked man stemmed from the Goldensable Fleeceflower.

Thankfully, his consciousness remained extremely powerful. So much so that he could vaguely sense that his opponent was beyond furious after withdrawing the Nether Flames had been.

The opponent was about to use his strongest attack. It might even be the most powerful trump card in his arsenal!  

This was naturally bad news. He’d already decided that as long as his foe didn’t go overboard, he’d limit himself to great emperor divine arts.  But since his opponent was pulling out all stops, he had no choice but to follow suit. 

“You’ve got some talent to make me put away the Nether Flames. However, you won’t be so lucky with what I’m about to show you next!” He spoke as though he’d already sentenced Jiang Chen to death.

Jiang Chen remained as nonchalant as ever. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard such threats.

The cloaked man muttered rapidly. He abruptly raised his arms and struck himself in the chest.

Bam Bam Bam!

Strange runes materialized around him. It was truly a sight to behold. His body grew in size moments later. “Descent of the evil spirit!”

Countless purple qi currents roiled forth and rippled around him. An enormous change was occurring in his physique. His chest, arms, thighs, and muscles were expanding at an alarming rate.

Hmm?

 Jiang Chen was taken aback, but quickly recognized what was going on. It was some sort of cross between a bloodline inheritance and god summoning! 

The cloaked man must possess a strong bloodline through which he could summon the gods and receive their pointers or even more straightforward possession. He was clearly not foreign to this secret technique.

A vicious, murderous looking fiend had taken the his opponent. It was just as menacing and frightening as the great demons from the primordial age.

Jiang Chen understood that his opponent had forced the power in his bloodline to awaken, causing a major change in his physical form. After negotiating with the gods, he’d received the boon of an evil spirit possessing his body. This resulted in a terrifying increase in strength.

Jiang Chen grinned as the scene unfolded before his eyes. “Wonderful! This is simply wonderful!” 

He had no shortage of similar skills. His Golden Body of Demons and Gods had already reached the initial realm of perfection. With just a turn of his figure, he instantly grew by several multitudes.

Two extremely imposing giants had emerged in the forest. One was surrounded by a golden light, while the other enshrouded by a purple brilliance.

“Die!” The cloaked man flew into a rage when he saw that his opponent had grown in size as well.

This wasn’t Jiang Chen’s first time using the Golden Body of Demons and Gods either. The two exchanged blows, falling back to the most primitive way of fighting. However, the energy exchanged in every fist and kick was far beyond anything previously seen.

The evil spirit came with domineering momentum. Armed with a gargantuan, sinister-looking battle axe, it hurled itself at Jiang Chen’s golden body like a madman. Fortunately, Jiang Chen’s golden body had long entered the realm of perfection many years ago. He had nothing to fear even though he was without a weapon.

When the axe came hurling at his face, he twitched slightly and slammed a fist onto the side of the blade, changing its trajectory. A physical fight like this was a great test of one’s foundations.

The two vied back and forth, shaking the heavens and earth with their struggle. Jiang Chen was a slippery one, surreptitiously scattering plenty of Soulless Powder of Wind and Cloud into the surroundings as they fought. 

He knew that this wasn’t the run-of-the-mill opponent. He would never be able claim absolute advantage through a physical fight alone. Even when his opponent ran out of tricks, he could easily run away given his speed. It was hard to catch up to someone when their agility was roughly the same.

Therefore, Jiang Chen decided to forgo complex plots and just utilize the Soulless Powder. Poison wouldn’t affect him anyways, so he felt no pressure using it at this time. The longer the fight went on, the more relaxed he became. He had the feeling that his opponent was running out of tricks.

Such was how fights went. They had to be finished in one go. Prolongment only led to ever-weakening efforts. The other would sure to want to retreat after failing so long to take down Jiang Chen. And now, his goal was to actually prevent his opponent from wanting to leave.

The Soulless Powder wasn’t yet in full effect yet, so he wanted to drag things out until the cloaked man realized he’d been poisoned.

Meanwhile, the lofty aristocratic genius was quite fretful. He was very passive in this battle. Every move looked like it had Jiang Chen in his sights, but it always turned out that he was the one falling for a trap instead. Thoughts of withdrawing really were cropping up for him now. 

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