Chapter 70

Teng Li suddenly opened his eyes. His eyeballs were lifeless, filled with bloodshot, his lips trembling, and his teeth clenched.

Wang Lin drew a complex symbol in the air with his right hand, bit his fingertip, and flicked out a drop of blood. The symbol immediately flashed with a red glow upon contact with the blood and imprinted itself on Teng Li's forehead.

In an instant, Teng Li let out a low groan, his body convulsing more violently, and his muscles moving bizarrely, gathering rapidly towards his chest from all parts of his body.

Before long, Teng Li's body visibly withered, all his muscles and meridians condensing in his chest to form a large flesh ball.

Wang Lin's eyes flashed, and he flipped his right hand to cast another spell. The flesh ball burst from Teng Li's body and floated in the air. At this point, Teng Li's body was nothing but skin and bones, resembling a skeleton.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, exhaled a mouthful of spiritual energy, and infused it into the flesh ball. The flesh ball quickly shrank and, after a while, became the same size as the previous blood ball.

Wang Lin's face showed signs of fatigue. He took out a flask of spiritual energy, drank a large mouthful, and closed his eyes to meditate. After a short while, he opened his eyes and pointed at Teng Li's body.

Suddenly, a series of explosive sounds erupted, and Teng Li's bones shattered into bone powder, seeping through his skin and coalescing into a bone ball.

Three small balls of blood, flesh, and bone were arranged in a triangular pattern, emitting an eerie glow.

"This Great Method of Seizing the Foundation requires extracting the blood, flesh, bones, soul, and root from the furnace, and the process of extracting blood, flesh, and bones must not result in the death of the furnace. It is truly too cruel," Wang Lin sighed, muttering to himself.

"What's the big deal? In the land of the devil practitioners where I come from, there is even a Great Method of Seizing the Core. That thing is truly cruel, causing pain not only to the furnace but also to the practitioner, who must endure unimaginable pain and shorten their lifespan to have a less than one percent chance of success," Situ Nan said calmly.

Wang Lin fell silent for a moment, focused his mind, and pointed at Teng Li with his right hand, muttering incantations. Gradually, his speech quickened, and his hands changed the spell gestures, releasing wisps of white vapor from Teng Li's body, which resembled a puddle of flesh, becoming increasingly dense.

After an unknown amount of time, the white vapor had become extremely dense, merging into a vague human figure. Upon closer inspection, the small figure's facial features were identical to Teng Li's.

The small figure's eyes showed confusion, and his body trembled as if a breeze could dissipate him. Gradually, the confusion faded, and he stared at Wang Lin with a look of hatred, opening his mouth to emit silent roars.

Wang Lin did not blink, flipped his right hand, and cast a red light. The small figure, seemingly terrified of the red light, turned to flee, but within three feet of Teng Li's body, it was as if an invisible cage confined him. No matter how he tried to escape, he could not move beyond three feet.

Seeing no way to escape, the small figure's face showed a fierce expression, and he charged towards the red light.

Wang Lin remained expressionless, waved his right hand, and the red light wrapped around the small figure like a rope, binding him. Then the red light tightened, slowly pulling him out.

Wang Lin knew that the step of extracting the soul must be done carefully, ensuring the soul remained intact when pulled out of the three-foot confinement. This was necessary for the next step of extracting the spiritual root; otherwise, although it would not affect the seizure of the foundation, it would be impossible to use the other's spiritual root to change his own constitution.

The small figure's face showed pain as he was gradually pulled out by the red light. In a moment, half of him had crossed the three-foot boundary.

At this moment, a yellow glow suddenly flashed from the small figure, and the red light rope silently shattered. The small figure immediately retreated to the three-foot confinement, his yellow glow rapidly intensifying, and the figure becoming more solid.

Wang Lin's face darkened, staring at the small figure, and was about to cast another spell when the small figure showed a look of fear and spoke.

"If you kill me, my great-grandfather will not let you off! He is a Core Formation expert, and if you kill me, you will die too."

Wang Lin's eyes flashed with a cold light. Without a word, he exhaled a large mouthful of spiritual energy, rapidly changing his hand gestures, and condensed the spiritual energy into a thin thread.

The small figure's fear intensified, and he said sternly, "My great-grandfather already knows I am in danger and is on his way. You..."

Before he could finish, Wang Lin flicked his left hand, and the thread hummed as it pierced into the three-foot confinement of Teng Li's body, trapping the small figure and pulling him out forcefully.

The small figure screamed, struggling and shouting, "Great-grandfather, save me!" His yellow glow flashed intensely, as if trying to resist Wang Lin.

Without a word, Wang Lin slapped his storage bag and threw out a flask of spiritual energy. The liquid inside flowed out and instantly merged with the thread, which thickened to the size of a finger. He pulled again.

This time, no matter how the small figure's yellow glow flashed, it was useless, and Wang Lin pulled him out. The moment he left the three-foot confinement, the yellow glow dissipated, turning into a yellow mist. The mist rolled eerily, revealing a vague figure. The figure, shrouded in the mist, was indistinct, but it could be heard shouting, "Fellow Daoist, let's talk this out."

Wang Lin was startled. Situ Nan immediately said, "Don't worry. This is the external manifestation of a Core Formation expert, different from the external body. This manifestation has no offensive power, cannot see you, and does not know your location. It can only let you hear his words, and it has a distance limit. This person must be far away, which is why the manifestation is so blurry. The reason it appeared is that he has a deep affection for Teng Li and left a thread of divine consciousness in his soul."

Without a word, Wang Lin pointed at the small figure bound by the spiritual weapon rope. The small figure immediately stopped struggling, gradually shrinking, and finally turned into a purple-glowing sphere.

The external manifestation of Teng Li's great-grandfather seemed to sense that Teng Li's soul was being refined, and he shouted fiercely, his voice filled with hatred, "Killing a member of the Teng family will bring a curse upon you. You are doomed. I, Teng Huayuan, will find you one day..."

On a mountain peak tens of thousands of miles away, a black-robed old man stood, his face dark. His eyes flashed, and he clenched his fists, muttering, "Lì'er, your great-grandfather swears to avenge you, no matter where I have to go!"

He slapped his chest, spitting out a ball of black blood, and drew a pattern in the blood, creating dark red ripples that spread out, forming countless bizarre symbols that hovered between heaven and earth.

Then, a small figure emitting purple light emerged from the old man's crown, paused in the air, and immediately sat cross-legged in the void.

"Curse, rise!" the small figure shouted, his hands forming seals, and his divine consciousness merging into each symbol.

"Curse, receive!" The old man's Core Formation appeared withered, clearly shrinking, indicating a significant expenditure of Core Formation energy. The symbols, infused with divine consciousness, glowed eerily, flying upwards one by one to form a complex array that covered half the sky, causing the sky to darken and thunder to roll.

"Curse, turn!" The large array in the sky began to rotate slowly, and blood-red lightning appeared within it, forming a bizarre diamond shape.

"Curse, merge!" The small figure shouted, his voice shaking the heavens. He exhaled another large mouthful of Core Formation energy, and the array in the sky rotated faster, with more red lightning appearing, the diamond pattern becoming brighter. The array's range gradually shrank, rapidly contracting, and finally, the red lightning condensed on the diamond pattern.

The pattern slowly descended and imprinted itself on the small figure's forehead.

The small figure's lips curled into a sinister smile, and he said coldly, "Killing a member of the Teng family will bring the curse of Teng Huayuan upon you!"

Inside the tree hollow, four spheres floated in front of Wang Lin. Without a word, he cast several spells at Teng Li's body, and a series of translucent light points emerged from Teng Li's body.

These light points were dense, and one-third of them immediately dissipated into the air.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, knowing these light points were the spiritual roots. He exhaled a mouthful of spiritual mist, enveloping the light points and rapidly consuming them. The light points strongly resisted, and another one-third of them dissipated during the consumption process, leaving only one-third successfully merged with the spiritual mist.

At this moment, a purple diamond pattern suddenly appeared on Wang Lin's forehead.

Wang Lin immediately noticed, touched his forehead, and was startled.

Situ Nan immediately exclaimed, "This person is truly ambitious. Wang Lin, you have been cursed by a Core Formation expert, who has expended his lifespan to do so. As long as you enter his range, he can instantly appear beside you. This person is skilled in such high-level array curses."

Wang Lin stood up abruptly, his face dark, and asked, "Is there any way to break the curse?"

Situ Nan pondered for a moment and said with a satisfied smile, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much. This curse, as I analyze it, has no offensive power and only serves as a positioning and instant appearance mechanism. Although this person's curse is advanced, I once specialized in studying such curses that use arrays to trigger fluctuations in the spiritual energy of the world. Although I can't perform them now due to the loss of my physical body, I can still help you disrupt the curse's effects.

"As long as you are not too close to him, with my help in concealing you, he will never find you. Don't worry. Hehe, Wang Lin, this is actually an opportunity. I once obtained an ancient secret technique that uses a curse as a bridge for counter-cursing. The practitioner must be at the Core Formation stage and have some spiritual items to assist. If successful, you can obtain half of the other person's cultivation. You are truly fortunate."