NOVEL WEB Chapter 355: Black Pearl
Feng Fan's speed wasn't enough to reach them before the cultists' attacks tore Tan Wei and Feng Fan's wives apart. In truth, even if it had been, he still couldn't have saved them. The defensive arrays surrounding his body were designed to protect only himself. They didn't extend wide enough to block the barrage of attacks coming from every direction toward them.
Fortunately, neither Tan Wei nor the women showed even a hint of fear. On the contrary, Tan Wei's crazed grin only widened, as if everything unfolding was part of some grand plan.
"Thank you for the meal," Tan Wei said, opening the lid of the Suppression Cauldron.
In an instant, a brilliant flash of crimson erupted from within like an exploding volcano. The energy radiating from it was reminiscent of the poisonous green fog that had tried to kill them moments earlier, yet distinctly different.
'He refined it… that fast?' Feng Fan's eyes widened in disbelief. 'That fog contained an absurd amount of energy… not to mention the will of an immortal. Even Little Brick couldn't process it that quickly if it were pure energy instead of a noxious gas. Just… how did he pull this off?'
The red light surged outward, wrapping Tan Wei and Feng Fan's wives in a protective barrier. Every attack aimed at them was neutralized by the dense, refined substance now shielding them.
"You—" a Transcending Tribulation cultist stammered. "You dared to tamper with God's poison fog?! Kill this bastard!"
Tan Wei's laughter rang out, filled with madness. It sent chills down the spines of both allies and enemies.. "Dare? Of course I dare. And what exactly are you going to do about it?"
With a flick of his sleeve, Tan Wei directed the red substance. It flowed like molten rock, radiating an oppressive heat so intense that even Feng Fan, hundreds of meters away, could feel it.
Agonized screams echoed through the skies as the red substance made contact with the cultists' bodies. Just as the poison fog had mercilessly devoured the cultivators from the Intergalactic Council, the molten, rock-like substance now melted flesh, bone, and soul alike. The cultists dissolved on contact, their bodies reduced to ashes within seconds.
Unlike the poison fog, this substance had no will of its own, but under Tan Wei's control, it was just as terrifying.
Feng Fan, observing Tan Wei effortlessly slaughtering Transcending Tribulation and even Return To Void cultivators despite being merely at the Dao Seeking realm, grinned.
'I suppose… I should join the fun too, shouldn't I?'
A chaotic battlefield appeared behind Feng Fan as he lunged toward the nearest cultist—a female cultivator clad entirely in black, with only her mesmerizing eyes visible beneath the clothes. She glanced at him with disdain.
"A Dao Seeking cultivator dares to launch a sneak attack on a Return to Void cultivator?"
With a flick of her wrist, she cracked her whip, which radiated dark energy. It lashed toward him like a serpent. But as whip and fist collided, glowing runes flared around Feng Fan's fist. The runes absorbed the dark energy instantly, redirecting it back through the whip in a violent backlash.
The woman's eyes widened in shock. She tried to retreat, but it was too late. Though Feng Fan was merely in the Dao Seeking and Divine Strength realms, his raw power was anything but ordinary. His fist could pierce straight through the spiritual defenses of a peak Return to Void cultivator as if they were paper.
Her scream never fully formed. Her body exploded into a mangled mass of blood and flesh, scattering across the battlefield. Crimson splattered across Feng Fan's grinning face as he turned, locking onto his next prey—a Transcending Tribulation cultivator.
"Ant, you dare confront me?" the man snarled. He'd seen Feng Fan annihilate the woman, but so what? Killing a Return to Void was impressive with Feng Fan's cultivation, but facing someone at Transcending Tribulation was a different matter entirely.
With absolute confidence, the man struck, his fist aiming toward Feng Fan's chest. A freezing wind howled around it, sharp enough to freeze bone. But Feng Fan didn't even flinch. The defensive arrays around him were capable of absorbing the attack like it was nothing.
When their fists collided, the cultist's confidence shattered. "I-Impossible!" he gasped as his body was hurled backward, blood spewing from his mouth. His arm—what was left of it—hung limply, shattered into pieces from the force of the impact.
"Oh? Not bad," Feng Fan chuckled, cracking his knuckles as he closed the distance. "You actually survived that."
Feng Fan closed the distance and swung his fist, aiming straight for the man's head to finish him once and for all.
"Don't underestimate me!" the cultist roared. His irises turned blood-red, and sharp fangs extended from his mouth. Feng Fan's punch struck empty air—the man's figure vanished.
Feng Fan's eyes narrowed as every instinct in his body screamed. Before he could turn, something latched onto him from behind. The cultist sank his fangs toward Feng Fan's neck.
Or rather, he tried. The moment his fangs touched Feng Fan's protective array, they shattered like brittle glass.
"My blood's too good for the likes of you," Feng Fan said coldly.
Without looking back, he leaned forward and, with a swing of his neck, slammed the back of his head into the man's skull. The blow landed with a sickening crunch. Bone shattered. Blood sprayed. The cultist staggered, his face caved in as if struck by a hammer.
"Ah… gah…" the man gurgled, unable to form words. His nose was crushed. His jaw hung broken.
Feng Fan spun around, grabbed him by the collar, and drove another vicious headbutt straight into his ruined face. This time, the man's skull exploded like a melon under a sledgehammer—brains, blood, and fragments of bone splattering the ground.
"Huh. Tough bastard. Actually survived the first one," Feng Fan muttered with a grin, wiping blood from his face. Around him, the number of cultists continued to dwindle. It was obvious the Intergalactic Council had the upper hand in this battle.
But Feng Fan frowned. 'Strange… why aren't they retreating? Why aren't they using their arrays despite being at a disadvantage?'
"We finally found you… Tier 9 Array Master."
A cold voice sounded beside Feng Fan. He spun around just in time to see a man cloaked in black slam a pitch-black pearl against his abdomen. Feng Fan instinctively expected his defensive array to flare to life, but nothing happened.
The pearl passed straight through it, as if the array didn't even exist, and latched onto his stomach like a parasitic tick.
"The hell—?!" Feng Fan growled. A split second later, every array around him crumbled. His connection to the Array Dao was severed.
"Thanks for bringing the Intergalactic Council here," the black-cloaked figure sneered. "You've made things even easier for us."
Before Feng Fan could respond, a dagger flashed.
Metal tore through flesh. A deep, brutal gash opened across Feng Fan's chest. Pain flared as blood sprayed, but worse than the wound was the wave of malicious dark spiritual qi flooding into his body, corroding him from the inside out.
The man was at the peak of the Transcending Tribulation realm, a foe Feng Fan had no hope of fighting without his arrays.
His vision blurred for a moment, but his mind sharpened. 'This… just got worse.' Feng Fan thought as he fell to the ground.