Chapter 997: End of the battle

"I refuse to believe that my attacks can't reach you." Thao Zhi muttered before roaring from deep within his soul, "I refuse!!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...

As Bai Zemin looked indifferently and exhaustedly at the hundreds of glowing magic circles that appeared around him and illuminated a good portion of the sea, Thao Zhi waved his magic staff and shouted in a hoarse voice, "Jinx of Water!"

The magic circles released a great flood of magical power and soon the mana in the waters got disturbed. Bubbles of hot gas began to emanate from the depths and ascend, but some of them exploded on the way causing explosions triggered by the appearance of hot gas in a place where it shouldn't be.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

...

Despite being just seemingly harmless bubbles, each blast of opposing forces resulted in large quakes below sea level. Even on the surface changes rose as dozens of waves large enough to wipe out the coast of a city easily soared skyward as if they wanted to touch the clouds themselves.

However, it was not all.

Each time a bubble of hot gas exploded, the heat released evaporated large amounts of water at the same time until soon a small emptiness began to take place on the battlefield. That emptiness quickly filled with highly toxic gas, and with so much water in the surrounding area acting as walls, there was no place to run away from it.

This was an attack that Bai Zemin could not nullify with his Anti-Magic Domain.

The power behind each explosion and the toxic gas certainly contained some magic in them, but even if that magic disappeared upon contact with the Anti-Magic Domain, they would not be completely nullified.

However, Bai Zemin did not panic. His current self was not the same Bai Zemin from 60 seconds ago.

Taking advantage of the empty space that had formed in the sea, Bai Zemin waved his right hand and the storage pearl flew out from inside his spatial storage ring.

A great torrent of blood shot out from the crimson pearl, and before Shangguan Bing Xue and Wu Yijun realized it, they were both enveloped by a red-colored sphere with golden veins.

When the toxic gas came in contact with the blood, instead of sizzling what happened was that the golden veins of the sphere glowed and soon all the gas was absorbed. The power of the sphere increased a little, and with that, it held easily steady withstanding the shock waves of each explosion without hurting the two people inside.

At the same time, three thick, long blood chains shot out from the back of the blood sphere, disappearing into deep water in a matter of blinks with only the part that attached them to the blood sphere visible.

Thao Zhi could not see, but he could definitely tell what was happening.

Bai Zemin breathed in deeply, and as if in his lungs there was a black hole, all the toxic gas began to fly towards him and was absorbed by his breath.

At the same time, several shockwaves hit him but his body barely moved.

"Impossible... How can you still be on your feet?!"

Bai Zemin exhaled heavily, and inwardly he felt his blood absorbing the toxins from the poisonous gas. It wasn't hard for him to notice how his flesh and broken muscles were now beginning to heal faster than before.

It was then that he finally accepted the fact that he was no longer a normal human. In fact, his race was not exactly human even in the status window that was the graphical representation of the records that made up his existence.

"Thao Zhi, I think it's time to put an end to this." Bai Zemin shook his head to shake off the dizziness and tiredness he felt.

His condition was very bad, he needed to rest or else he would end up collapsing soon.

"You're right, it's time to put an end to this once and for all!" Thao Zhi roared and his aura increased again as a sign of him getting ready for a new magical attack.

However...

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!...

At the same time as the sea water thunderingly returned to its place, the pale blue blood coming out of Thao Zhi's wounds suddenly glowed and moved as if it had abruptly come to life.

"Again this trick from before? It didn't work before and it won't work now!"

Bai Zemin had already tried to imprison Thao Zhi using blood chains, unfortunately, Thao Zhi's magical power was simply too overwhelming so all the bindings always ended up broken in less than 2 seconds. Besides, it wasn't as if stopping a mage by binding them was really a big deal. At the end of the day, mages could still cast magic even if they were imprisoned.

"I was a First Order existence before, but now I am Second Order peak." Bai Zemin muttered under his breath. His eyes flashed coldly as he looked at Thao Zhi and said in the same tone of voice, "Before, Blood Manipulation was a Third Order skill... but now it is a Fourth Order skill."

Bai Zemin's body glowed and soon his figure was enveloped by that familiar halo of golden light that always made him feel so warm. His hair seemed to be tinged with gold amidst the glow and even his blood-red eyes seemed to be tinged slightly golden in the process of activating Overlap Regeneration.

Thao Zhi attempted to activate several magical skills at the same time, and indeed he succeeded. However, his expression changed abruptly as the runes that were beginning to light up on his soul suddenly began to gradually fade more and more until they became completely dull.

"What- Don't mess with me!!!"

Bai Zemin's expression was ice cold as he watched from a distance while Thao Zhi failed time and time again in his attempts to throw magic.

Magic circles were appearing all over the area, but none of those magic circles reached their maximum brightness before the skill cast.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ...

Like glass bottles crashing to the ground from great heights, tens and soon hundreds of magic circles exploded and turned into tiny particles of bright light that soon disappeared in the form of mana feeding the waters of the sea.

"It won't work no matter how hard you try." Bai Zemin shook his head and deactivated his Anti-Magic Domain which was starting to become a heavy weight on his badly wounded body and exhausted spirit.

Thao Zhi seemed more confident as he felt the Anti-Magic Domain disappear, but the results were the same no matter how hard he tried.

Bai Zemin used the waters to his advantage to slowly advance towards his enemy, and when his eyes landed on the four thick blood chains with golden lines coiled around Thao Zhi's body he couldn't help but have his pupils light up slightly.

"What's with these chains...? They're sucking all my Mana and that of my skills!" Thao Zhi finally began to feel genuine despair.

As a mage, his magical power and the Mana that acted as fuel to power it were everything; even if Thao Zhi lost his limbs he would still be fine as long as he could cast magic. However, now that his two most important attributes were being consumed and absorbed... Thao Zhi found himself falling to the bottom of an abyss.

Bai Zemin looked at the golden veins on the blood chains and sighed in his heart as he watched them slowly but surely absorb all of Thao Zhi's Mana. Worse yet, every time he tried to activate a magical skill, the Mana he diverted for the activation of that skill was swallowed by the blood chains to become stronger and self-sustaining.

What was the limit of this new automatic Blood Manipulation feature? Bai Zemin was not too clear, but the only reason it was working on Thao Zhi in such an overwhelming way was probably due to the fact that he was severely injured and for better or worse could not draw out his full self.

Sensing Bai Zemin's presence closer, Thao Zhi swallowed his next words and waited in silence for what he knew would come sooner rather than later... or so he intended.

"... Hey, human." Thao Zhi smiled fiercely and said hoarsely, "How does it feel to be so strong?"

Bai Zemin did not reply.

"It must be fun for you to make fun of everyone isn't it?"

Bai Zemin remained silent.

"Being a First Order existence you were able to fight against an initial Fourth Order soul evolver, you will probably be able to fight against a Fourth Order medium or maybe peak now that you have evolved isn't it?"

Silence.

"Tell me, what will you do to ease the hatred you feel towards me? Torture me? Humiliate me? Tell me your plans! I want to know how you feel before I die!"

Thao Zhi felt no fear but somehow seemed very interested in knowing more about Bai Zemin before he was killed. Unfortunately, he didn't know Bai Zemin well enough.

"You... what have you been talking about all this time?" Bai Zemin said indifferently, "You ask me what it feels like to be so strong? Not much really, I know there are beings far stronger than me. You say it must be fun for me to make fun of everyone? Apart from not having time to waste in that way I haven't thought like that even once in my life... Feel hatred towards you? Thao Zhi, you and I don't have any blood feud. I feel anger towards you because you hurt my subordinates and some people precious to me, but I don't think you are worthy of my hatred."

Hatred? Thao Zhi and Bai Zemin were enemies because they were standing on opposite sides, it was natural to face each other to death since fate dictated it. But hatred? Bai Zemin had only come to hate very few people in his life, and Thao Zhi did not meet the requirements.

Without waiting for a response from his enemy, Bai Zemin enveloped by the halo of golden light said indifferently, "Divine Blood Punishment."

His words had only left his mouth, sounding a bit hollow inside the mask that allowed him to breathe, when suddenly a kind of crack opened up in the bottom of the sea and the water within several kilometers seemed to be dyed crimson, and some of the water turned into red chains that coiled around Thao Zhi's already restrained body.

[Divine Blood Punishment has been activated and you are affected because your blood is inferior to the enemy's].

[While the effect lasts, your level falls to 200 and your league to Third Order.]

At the same time as two messages filled Thao Zhi's head as a warning of what was happening, his already weakened body became even weaker. Thao Zhi was hit by a wave of exhaustion and pain that made him grunt as his head whirled.

"What... is ... this..." He could no longer even speak properly, and with his stats suddenly dropping by a substantial amount the severity of his condition only worsened greatly to the point where his mind was no longer clear.

Bai Zemin reached his right hand forward and first took the wooden pagoda in Thao Zhi's possession along with the magic staff. After putting these things away, he looked at his enemy for a few seconds before extending his right hand again but this time towards his mauled chest.

Amidst the golden halo, a faint but clear blood-red glow suddenly covered Bai Zemin's right hand and soon spread up his arm until it reached his shoulder.

This was a new skill he had acquired by evolving to Second Order and becoming a Blood Mystic. Bai Zemin knew what this skill did but he wanted to check it out... and the enemy in front of him was perfect as a first subject.

Bai Zemin's hand did not hurt Thao Zhi's body but continued to move forward and like a small stone falling gently into a lake it pierced further and disappeared.

"Ugh..." Thao Zhi felt a slight discomfort, but that slight discomfort soon grew and his more primal instincts made him fight back.

"W- What are you doing?!"

...

"Stop!"

...

"Argh!!!!"

With each passing second, Thao Zhi's discomfort turned to despair and fear before finally culminating in terror after realizing what was happening.

As a mage, his Strength was too low to break the chains that bound him and being unable to use magic as the blood chains were sucking up all his Mana all Thao Zhi could do was writhe a little and howl in pain and fear.

Approximately 5 minutes later, the shrieks stopped completely and the water regained its calm.

No more explosions, no more yelling, no more magic, no more terrifying physical attacks, no more movements.

Just calm and silence; terrifying silence that only a place as deep as this could have.

Bai Zemin looked at the small, normal-looking but wound-covered alligator slowly being torn apart by the weight of the water and gravity. The lifeless creature did not hold up under such pressure and in two or three seconds it exploded into a pile of bloody pulp.

Bai Zemin lightly clenched the small bright blue pearl in his right fist and whispered to himself, "No wonder..."

He hadn't even explored Blood Mystic's power yet, but what he had just done was enough to make his hair stand on end.

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