Chapter 157: The Mysterious Blood Gold
This was an all-out strike, amplified by sixty times his soul amplitude, and unleashed with the force of 180,000 times a Domain Lord's power.
As the thunderous stars flew forward, the blue arcs of electricity on their surface darkened into a deep violet, then finally turned pitch black—like planets transforming into black holes, exuding an ominous dread.
The space around them twisted and collapsed, and one could clearly sense the terrifying suction from these nine "black holes."
This secret technique was something Jiang Zhe had developed by integrating his own insights into the laws of Thunder-Time and Earth-Space into the framework provided by his teacher, the Lord of Darkness. By blending them under the concept of "black hole evolution," he managed to command both forces as one.
Its fit with his comprehension was only slightly below that of a technique entirely created by himself—an almost negligible difference at the Domain Lord level.
He couldn't help but admire his teacher. The depth of the framework alone demonstrated the Lord of Darkness's exceptional teaching. It was no mere fluke that his master had nurtured a peer-level Universe Lord; there was real skill behind it.
As long as Jiang Zhe fully absorbed this framework, the difficulty of creating his own secret techniques in the future would be reduced many times over.
He likened it to buying the main body of someone else's battleship, modifying it to create his own unique vessel, then absorbing that experience to eventually build a completely original one from scratch.
The first of the black spheres crashed into the blood-red chains.
At the point of impact, Jin Horn felt something entirely new—a crushing suction force from the pitch-black sphere!
The blood chains strained and creaked under the pull, unable to break free, until finally, with a sharp crack, they snapped.
A segment of the chain, dozens of kilometers long, was swallowed by the "black hole," vanishing without a trace.
Having dealt with the first obstruction, the remaining eight stars surged forward unimpeded, smashing toward Jin Horn.
"Damn it! Damn it!!!"
"What do I do? What do I do?!"
Jin Horn panicked. He couldn't escape, and he couldn't defeat this opponent. Death loomed close, and he was only a step away from following his brother Yin Horn's fate.
With the eight stars closing in and the world projection pressing down on him, there was nowhere to hide. Gritting his teeth, he chose to face it head-on.
"Indestructible Golden Body!"
He activated his innate secret technique to enhance his body's defenses.
Golden patterns emerged across his flesh, transforming it into a radiant metallic body.
"Cocoon!"
The remaining thick blood-red chains wrapped tightly around him, rapidly forming a massive metallic-blood cocoon—like a small fortress.
Boom!
A pitch-black star slammed into it. The chains shattered inch by inch, and Jin Horn inside was crushed along with them.
"No! My divine body? The strength is worlds apart from before—were you pretending all along?!"
Just that one strike cost Jin Horn 10% of his divine body.
There were still seven stars left, plunging him into utter despair.
He didn't even have time to gather his divine body for a last struggle—Jiang Zhe's "stars" did it for him.
The second star arrived, exerting irresistible suction. The world projection cooperated, even the air seemed to reject Jin Horn, forcibly gathering chains and shattered flesh to reform his divine body.
Then, the second star crashed in.
Boom!
-10% divine body!
The third star… sucked in, gathered… Boom… another 10%.
The fourth star… gathered… Boom… yet another 10%.
Jin Horn's aura plummeted. Realizing he couldn't escape death, a vicious thought arose.
"Despicable outsider, you want my heart? Dream on!"
Just as he was about to self-destruct, a streak of blood light arrived before the fifth star did, slashing into his half-reformed body.
Blood poison surged in!
Instantly, agony exploded from every cell, nearly robbing him of thought, along with control over his form.
Having lost over 50% of his divine body, with half his consciousness obliterated, he no longer had the chance to finish his final act.
Jin Horn's eyes dimmed, leaving behind much of his divine body, and fell—dead.
The nine dark stars dissipated, shrinking to the size of marbles, and flew back into the hand of the figure who emerged from the mechanical spaceship.
Jiang Zhe toyed with his treasured bracelet as he hovered by Jin Horn's remains.
His iron hand pierced Jin Horn's chest, extracting a half-transparent golden crystalline heart.
As promised, he added this second duke's heart to his collection, letting the two brothers reunite in death.
The leftover divine bodies and chain fragments were swept into the thunder prison world in his chest, where the blood sea—Orianna—devoured them and, as [Master of Matter], analyzed their composition.
Jiang Zhe then drew out a silver rapier, studying it closely.
This was Yin Horn Demon's life weapon, forged through his innate secret technique.
Jin Horn's was the blood-red chains, which Orianna had already devoured for deeper analysis.
Jiang Zhe infused it with world force, swung it a few times, and formed a rough understanding.
"This rapier can't be used by outsiders. I'll let Chi Ying try—it might be repurposed. Hmm… metal-space attribute, barely G-grade in material. The naturally formed law engravings are quite crude…"
He scratched his chin, a faint look of distaste on his face.
"The innate technique [Edge]—not much to be gained from that either, is there?"
"Wait… no, I've misunderstood."
Jiang Zhe slapped his forehead, realizing the key.
"I overlooked how closed the Abyss World's environment is."
"There aren't abundant external resources here. The embryos forged from innate techniques can't be nurtured with rare materials. Coupled with their shallow comprehension of the laws and lack of exposure to advanced secret arts, it's no wonder their life weapons' engravings are so crude."
After putting the rapier away, he asked,
"Orianna, what did you find?"
"Master, I've analyzed their genetic level. Yin Horn was at 59 times baseline, Jin Horn at 70 times.
The chain's material strength was just barely G-grade, heavily infused with demon flesh essence.
Aside from that… there's not much else."
Jiang Zhe nodded thoughtfully.
Looking back on the battle, he frowned.
"Immortals are easy to kill, but preserving their intact corpses is far too hard. I only managed to stop them from self-destructing partly thanks to luck… I want their hearts. Simply killing them by any means is useless to me."
If he killed them slowly, they'd self-destruct, leaving only a catastrophic crater.
If he killed them too quickly, their entire divine bodies would vanish.
Like with his Blood God Blade—he didn't even dare to swing it a third time, lest it trigger its execution effect.
Or like his legion of puppet lifeforms: one combined strike would erase everything.
Or toxins targeting immortals—designed to utterly annihilate the divine body.
There were many ways to kill an immortal, but preserving their divine body? That was almost only possible for a soul master.
Jiang Zhe sighed.
"If only I were a soul master. Collecting duke hearts would be so much easier."
Back on Earth, when choosing his cultivation path, he avoided illusionists due to their drawbacks and chose to be a Controller.
He did dabble in soul techniques, but never specialized.
His monstrous willpower wouldn't go to waste, though—later he could learn a will-based secret art to rival any illusionist achievements.
"Master, you still can be," Orianna reminded.
"You've already comprehended the fourth engraving on the Chaotic Tablet. You could specialize in Thunder-Time fusion laws and learn illusion warrior techniques from your senior sister—it would surely help."
Jiang Zhe's eyes narrowed, tempted.
But after a moment, he shook his head.
"No need, Orianna. That would be a waste of time. I'll wait until I'm posted outside—then it'll be the perfect time to hone the Thunder-Time fusion laws."
He resolved coldly,
"I'll just kill more dukes. Sooner or later, some unlucky fools will die before they can self-destruct, like Jin Horn and Yin Horn."
In the Abyss, there was no kindness—and he was cruel enough.
Back in the Ancient God World, he'd refused to drink their blood simply because the process disgusted him.
***
They boarded the ship and returned to outside the main city of Neks.
Chi Ying had been waiting there all along, keeping the mechanical vessel hovering above the rift.
She was cautious—even after seeing her teacher kill Yin Horn then pursue Jin Horn, she double-checked to make sure it was truly him returning.
Once the ships linked communication and confirmed his identity, Chi Ying finally disembarked to greet Jiang Zhe.
"Teacher, how did it go?" she asked eagerly.
Having witnessed the earlier battle, she knew she had struck gold—her teacher was a colossal thigh to cling to.
"I secured both duke hearts. Want me to give you one?" Jiang Zhe teased.
"Of course I'd want one," Chi Ying grinned.
"But you should keep them. I hope that one day I'll be able to hunt a duke myself."
"If I get greedy now, the chaotic will in the heart would turn me into an idiot. Even with marquis hearts, I don't dare refine too many."
Jiang Zhe patted his little disciple's head.
"Don't worry. With my teaching, all of this will be possible. Your future won't be confined to just the Abyss."
"Now, I'm heading down to check out the blood gold mine. Want to come along?"
Chi Ying glanced at the churning blood rift below, clearly tempted.
But knowing her limits, she shook her head.
"The blood fiend energy gets more intense the deeper it goes. I'm just a little fledgling—I can't handle it.
Teacher, please bring some blood gold back for me. Just a piece the size of a human head is enough… but the more, the better."
Jiang Zhe nodded, then curiously asked,
"Besides blood gold, does the mine produce any companion metals? Or is blood gold itself a byproduct—maybe there's blood gold essence or a 'mother' vein deeper down?"
It was a basic cosmic rule.
Chi Ying searched her inherited memories, but found no records of other products.
She shook her head.
"Teacher, it's only blood gold down there."
Then she explained why the dukes favored blood gold mines.
"They cultivate inside to slowly raise their life gene level."
Jiang Zhe's brow arched in surprise.
"You actually have another way to improve your life gene level—not just by eating hearts?"
"Teacher, devouring hearts is the proper method. Cultivating in the mines is limited."
She laid out the secrets plainly.
"First, only dukes have wills strong enough to withstand the corrosive aura long-term.
Second, the growth is very slow. And it caps at about 70 times the baseline."
Seventy times?
That figure made Jiang Zhe think of Jin Horn.
He must've reached his limit in one of these mines.
Jiang Zhe smiled with interest.
"Fascinating. I'll have to see this blood gold myself… it's essential for forging life weapons, yet it can also help increase the life gene level?"
"Chi Ying, is the mine's environment beneficial to outsiders like us?"
---
[A/N: Want to read more chapters in advance?
Check out my P@treon at "DigitalToons" for early access and exclusive content!
You can read 100+ chapters there in advance.
```And free members can read 2 chapters ahead of WN.
``` ]