Chapter 990: Fierce Battle 2

When he reappeared, he was already at Zhu Xuan's side, sword raised, aiming to sever the strange bamboo demon in a single strike.

"If even the Heavenly Sword Grass couldn't cut me, do you really think you can?" Zhu Xuan sneered.

At that moment, Li Qing's sword flashed, a blinding arc of light.

But the expected severing didn't occur. Zhu Xuan's body merely retained a shallow scratch.

So tough!

Li Qing marveled inwardly, thinking, This is truly a prime spiritual material for artifact refinement. The Tree Demon Clan is full of treasures.

A shower of tender green bamboo leaves rained down. One landed unnoticed on Li Qing's body.

Not good!

Instantly, a sense of dread washed over him. He felt his movements suddenly slow as the leaf touched his flesh.

Soon, his body began to stiffen, making free movement increasingly difficult.

"Heh, now let me teach you how to be a proper bamboo stalk. First, you must stand straight."

As Zhu Xuan spoke, Li Qing felt his waist suddenly stiffen, and he found himself standing ramrod straight without conscious effort.

Controlling the fleshly body? A technique similar to puppet art?

How is it possible to be affected by just a bamboo leaf?

Li Qing was horrified, but he quickly realized that while he couldn't control his body, his mind remained completely unaffected.

Not right, it only targets the fleshly body and doesn't affect the divine soul.

Li Qing swiftly identified the limitations of Zhu Xuan's divine ability. He immediately calmed down and began devising a way to break free.

"Secondly, a bamboo must know how to bend and straighten!"

As he finished speaking, Zhu Xuan's body began to bend backward at an impossible angle.

Immediately, Li Qing's body also started falling backward. However, his fleshly body was exceptionally resilient, especially after refining his jade bone, which made it nearly impossible to break easily.

Thus, he effortlessly followed the movement without any spinal fracture.

Even when Li Qing's head was level with his feet, he remained perfectly fine.

This outcome surprised Zhu Xuan, who had expected Li Qing's body to snap.

During this process, Li Qing's thoughts raced like lightning.

"I can't control my divine soul or consciousness, only my physical body. This means I can still use divine sense spells."

"Unfortunately, I didn't manage to forge a primordial spirit weapon in time, so I'm limited to using some basic divine soul spells."

In that instant, Li Qing abandoned all pretense. He unleashed the full power of his divine soul.

Boom!

A vast sea of divine sense surged from his sea of consciousness. He unleashed it without reservation, directly surging toward Zhu Xuan.

A void refinement realm divine soul!

The formidable fluctuation of divine sense immediately drew everyone's attention. No one had expected that the once unremarkable human race would produce two individuals capable of wielding void refinement realm power.

What was even more extraordinary about Li Qing was that his divine soul had reached the void refinement realm before his mana!

This wasn't like Old Lord Hei You, who controlled external objects. This was his own divine soul.

It was utterly incredible!

In the blink of an eye, Li Qing unhesitatingly cast one of his few divine soul spells.

Soul-Condensing Thorn!

Even if this spell was rudimentary, it was still a genuine void refinement realm-level divine soul attack.

In an instant, the vast divine sense power condensed into a single point, ultimately transforming into an extremely slender needle-like thorn.

After enduring numerous trials in Fallen Soul Mountain, Li Qing's divine soul had become extraordinarily powerful. He directly attacked Zhu Xuan's sea of consciousness.

"Not good!"

Zhu Xuan cried out, terrified by the overwhelming divine soul fluctuation. He never expected such a formidable divine sense to be hidden within Li Qing's sea of consciousness.

It was too late to evade. The Soul-Condensing Thorn pierced his sea of consciousness, and his fragile demon spirit stood no chance against such a devastating strike.

Upon penetrating Zhu Xuan's sea of consciousness, the accumulated divine soul power within the Soul-Condensing Thorn erupted completely.

In an instant, it crushed Zhu Xuan's frail demon spirit to dust, utterly annihilating him.

At that moment, Li Qing regained control of his body. He straightened up, and the surrounding Jade Bamboo Shoots dissolved into nothingness, leaving only a single jade bamboo stalk standing in the ground.

"I have no interest in being a good bamboo," Li Qing said, pulling the two-meter-tall jade bamboo from the ground. "But I'll teach you a lesson: respect your enemies."

"Not bad. This bamboo is truly excellent artifact refining material. Even the Immortal Slaughtering Sword can only leave shallow marks on it."

Li Qing caressed the jade bamboo with delight, unable to put it down. Even without further refining, he suspected that as a mere dog-beating stick, its power would far surpass that of a yellow-grade spirit treasure.

However, Li Qing wouldn't waste such a precious material. The moment the jade bamboo entered his grasp, he already knew its purpose.

"Later, when I exchange the Ghost Eye Purple Gold from the Marquis Family, combined with this jade bamboo, I should be able to perfectly refine my second killing sword."

One could only say that the Tree Demon Clan was a treasure trove. Their bodies could either be used as medicinal ingredients or to forge spirit treasures.

Moreover, there was a Heavenly Sword Grass on the field—even more suitable for artifact refinement!

This was practically a natural sword, capable of severing all things in the world without any external enhancement.

Yet using the Heavenly Sword Grass as an artifact refining material proved far more challenging.

The ancient warrior Gu Li, who was battling the Heavenly Sword Grass, was already being pushed back step by step. The sword gleam's sharpness was terrifyingly extreme; at the divine transformation stage, it was nearly impossible to find a match.

"Brother Li, quickly come and lend me a hand! This dog's tail grass is being too ferocious!" Gu Li shouted for help after seeing Li Qing finish off his opponent.

Indeed, the Heavenly Sword Grass was now in full fury. Its five leaves had transformed into five Peerless Killing Swords, carving deep wounds into Gu Li's bone club and even slashing him with sword qi.

Without a word, Li Qing raised his Immortal Slaughtering Sword and rushed to reinforce the position.

Clang!

In an instant, two Peerless Killing Swords slashed horizontally at Li Qing.

Sensing the unfathomable sword qi, Li Qing drew his sword and blocked.

Two consecutive strikes landed on the Immortal Slaughtering Sword, causing it to tremble violently.

"A mere Immortal Slaughtering Sword dares to clash with me?"

Heavenly Sword Grass spoke for the first time since its arrival. It recognized the spiritual material of the golden killing sword in Li Qing's hand, its tone dripping with disdain.

Li Qing didn't reply. Instead, he activated the Golden Thread Treasure Robe. A layer of golden battle armor materialized on his body, and a golden cloak cascaded behind him.

That wasn't all. He reactivated the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, channeling the full power of the night into his body.

Boom!

A golden great sun appeared behind Li Qing's head, its scorching flames flowing through his body before coalescing into the golden killing sword in his hand.

At that moment, Li Qing transformed into a golden war immortal. His aura surged to the peak-stage of the Divine Transformation realm, even slightly exceeding it.

"Then try taking a strike from me!"

With that, Li Qing raised the Immortal Slaughtering Sword high, drawing upon the Primordial Energy of Heaven and Earth and channeling it all into the blade.