A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Seeing Luo Ming disappear into the mist, the burly man knew that the other party was using the array for protection, and he had no way to get close to attack. His mind raced, and he immediately controlled the blood-red dagger and rushed straight to attack the array's protective barrier.

That blood-red dagger was extremely strange. The dense blood aura it emitted was like a bone-deep infection, and it had a strong corrosive effect on the formation's protective shield. Fine black lines had already appeared on the surface of the shield, indicating that the spiritual energy was not flowing smoothly. If Luo Ming ignored it, the shield would be broken in less than half a moment. At that time, the opponents would reunite, and it would be extremely difficult for Luo Ming to stop them.

Now that they had already broken off all pretense of civility, Luo Ming naturally had no intention of leaving any future troubles.

"Perfect timing to test the power of these beast soul talismans."

Luo Ming flipped his hand and took out ten jade talismans, each engraved with a ferocious demon soul mark. These were all beast soul talismans that he had painstakingly crafted over the years.

Three of them contain level four demon souls, with the most intense spiritual light. They are the Sea-Splitting Shark, the Thunder-Patterned Giant Turtle, and the Poisonous Thorn Sea Serpent. The other seven are level three demon soul talismans. The demon souls inside the talismans are like swimming fish, twisting and turning, trying to break through the talisman's barrier.

As for the lower-level demon soul talismans, he had long since stopped refining them because they were too weak.

As Luo Ming made hand seals, the jade talismans were activated one by one, and ten ferocious demonic beast souls broke out of the talismans, most of them being deep-sea alien species.

Although the strength was reduced by one level after the beast soul talisman was made, the sheer number of demon souls surrounding and attacking was enough to put great pressure on the opponent.

More importantly, since demon souls are spiritual beings, ordinary magical artifacts will only pass straight through their bodies and will hardly cause any real damage. Even if their spiritual power is depleted, they can be restored to most of their original state by recalling the jade talisman and nurturing it for a few days.

"Awooo—!"

"roar--!"

The burly man was focused on attacking the formation when he suddenly heard the roars of demonic beasts rising and falling all around him, which startled him.

"This person actually has so many spirit beasts?"

In his understanding, although spirit beasts are not like spirit insects, which can be controlled in large numbers, they are still limited by the strength of a cultivator's spiritual sense. A late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator can generally control a limited number of spirit beasts of the same level, unless they are spirit beasts that are willing to recognize a master, in which case the consumption of spiritual sense will be very small.

If a cultivator can control dozens or even hundreds of spirit beasts of the same level, wouldn't he be invincible within the same realm?

But when he looked closely, he realized the truth—this was not a spirit beast, but a secret technique for controlling demon souls.

Such secret techniques are not uncommon in the Chaotic Star Sea, but to be able to control ten demon souls of such a level at once, and to keep their aura stable and not dissipate, is unheard of. He was secretly shocked and couldn't help but wonder if Luo Ming had obtained an ancient inheritance.

In fact, once the demon souls inside the Beast Soul Talisman are released, they can basically be ignored. They have already been trained through secret methods and rely entirely on instinct to attack the enemies in front of them. As long as Luo Ming doesn't use the jade talisman to control them, they are basically in a state of not being able to distinguish friend from foe, which is also one of its weaknesses.

In the next moment, countless ice spikes, water arrows, and earth spikes poured out like a torrential rain from this small space.

Although the power of a single attack was not as great as a full-force strike from a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the overwhelming onslaught converged into a powerful force. Even though the burly man was holding a bronze shield magic weapon to withstand the attack, he was still forced to retreat repeatedly and had no time to attack the array's protective shield.

"Ah!" The big man's eyes were bloodshot. He had never felt so frustrated in his life. After roaring, a faint golden light suddenly appeared under his bronze skin—he had activated a body-refining secret technique.

With a flash, he had already closed in on the azure-armored octopus demon soul, his blood-red dagger blazing with crimson light as he stabbed down fiercely.

The Azure-Armored Octopus Demon Soul let out a mournful roar, its soul instantly disintegrating to evade the attack. However, when it reformed, it was already somewhat dim, clearly indicating that it had been damaged.

"The blood-red light from this dagger seems quite powerful. I wonder what kind of magical weapon it is?" Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat. He immediately controlled all the demon souls to retreat, relying solely on ranged attacks to continuously wear down the opponent.

Immediately afterwards, he took out the Frost Bracelet Talisman from his storage bag.

He rarely used this talisman after advancing to the late Foundation Establishment stage—not because it lacked power, but because activating it required a short period of charging. In previous battles, time was of the essence, leaving no time to activate it at his leisure. But now that he was within the formation, he was able to operate it with ease.

While enduring the onslaught of demonic souls, the burly man desperately activated the blood-red dagger to corrode the formation, his eyes bloodshot under the pressure of life and death.

The spiritual light of the array's protective barrier was gradually thinning, clearly nearing its limit. Just as he was overjoyed, a shimmering white ice bracelet suddenly appeared above his head, and with a flash of spiritual light, it firmly bound him before he could react.

"A talisman?" The burly man was shocked. Although he also had a talisman, he had never had the chance to activate it. He was very clear about the power of talismans—the mana of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was enough to bring the power of a talisman to its peak.

The icy bracelet tightly bound his body, and the biting cold spread throughout his body, immediately slowing his movements. Even with his advanced body training and astonishing strength, he could not break free of the restraints and was now a sitting duck.

Luo Ming stood at the center of the formation, his eyes coldly fixed on the burly man trapped in the encirclement: "Even if he is a body cultivator, if his chance to get close is cut off, what difference is there between him and a caged beast?"

His fingertips moved incessantly, the spiritual energy and mist within the formation intertwined and swirled, slowly compressing the burly man's space. He was waiting for the man's magic power to be exhausted before he would perish.

The burly man's mind raced. He realized he couldn't escape his predicament, but he was unwilling to give up. He had already reached the peak of Foundation Establishment and had even prepared the spiritual items needed to break through to Core Formation. He only needed to complete this mission before he was ready to go into seclusion to break through. How could he possibly perish like this?

"I'm not reconciled!"

He roared inwardly, his gaze suddenly falling on the blood-red dagger in his hand, and a crazy idea began to take shape.

Luo Ming was waiting for his opponent to exhaust himself when he suddenly saw a strange bloody light emanate from the burly man's body, followed by his body beginning to swell. His heart tightened; could it be that his opponent still had a trump card up his sleeve?

A muffled thud suddenly rang out.

To Luo Ming's astonishment, the burly man suddenly exploded his dantian, sending blood and flesh flying everywhere, turning the entire mist crimson—a bizarre and terrifying sight.

Seeing this, Luo Ming truly witnessed the other party's ruthlessness. After collecting the demon soul and the ice bracelet, he looked at the storage bag and blood-red dagger on the ground, his emotions were somewhat complicated.

But the path of cultivation is inherently like this: the strong prey on the weak, it's either life or death, and there's no room for sentimentality. He suppressed his distracting thoughts and was about to bend down to pick up the storage bag when his divine sense keenly detected a faint fluctuation of divine soul hidden within the blood-red dagger.

"Hmph, I knew you wouldn't die so easily."

Luo Ming understood immediately and guessed the other party's intentions—that he had hidden his primordial spirit in the dagger, intending to launch a sudden attack when he picked it up and seize the opportunity to possess him.

Having seen through the conspiracy, Luo Ming naturally wouldn't give his opponent any opportunity. His powerful magic enveloped the dagger like a tidal wave, and he spoke indifferently, "Now that things have come to this, do you have any last words?"

Upon hearing this, the primordial spirit within the dagger paused, and the burly man's voice came from within: "Fellow Daoist Luo is indeed formidable. I am utterly convinced of my defeat by you. Now, I have only my primordial spirit left, so I beg you to show mercy."