"My... my lady, you..." The monstrous giant could not believe that his wife of several hundred years would lay such a vicious hand on him.
But before he could finish his words, his body began to tremble like a leaf in the wind, and a continuous series of "Ah... ah... ah..." screams escaped his lips.
The young woman seemed not to hear his question at all. While quickly withdrawing her hands, she held her two hands with fingers together like blades and, like pounding garlic, repeatedly stabbed them into the monstrous giant's abdomen. Her sharp, pointed nails were no different from two sharp blades. At this moment, the young woman was brimming with spiritual power. Often, with a single thrust, the better part of her forearm would disappear into the monstrous giant's abdomen. When she pulled it out, it would bring with it countless fragments of internal organs. Deep purple blood sprayed out like a fountain, bathing her in a shower of blood.
The monstrous giant had no time to react. Coupled with his disbelief, he didn't push the young woman away at the first moment.
Then, he felt the magical power in his body rapidly draining away. Normally, for a Golden Core cultivator, even if their physical body was injured, it would be impossible to lose combat ability so quickly. But after he revealed his true form, his body was too tall. The young woman's height was right at his waist and abdomen, which became her first point of attack. The young woman's attack was too sudden and too fast. Several times, she had directly struck his demonic core.
The fatal spot for a Golden Core cultivator is the Golden Core; for a demonic beast, it is the demonic core. The monstrous giant suddenly felt his limbs go weak, and he could no longer support himself. The giant black rod in his other hand slipped from his grasp and crashed heavily downwards. With a loud "boom," a mountain peak below collapsed by half upon contact with the giant rod.
Then, with a questioning look in his eyes, the monstrous giant also fell downwards. A long sigh escaped his lips, and a demonic core flew out from his lower abdomen.
This demonic core was only the size of a soybean and was deep black. Like the monstrous giant's exposed skin, it was covered in even more complex patterns. But at the same time, there were several deep cracks on it. The moment it flew out, it was caught by the young woman.
A delicate face immediately appeared on the black demonic core. This face was identical to the monstrous giant's, only as if shrunk a thousand times. The delicate face on the demonic core was first blank, then it seemed to finally realize something. Seeing itself caught by a large hand, it cried out in alarm, "My lady... ah..."
The delicate face showed terror and anxiety. But it only managed to utter a few words before it turned into a miserable scream. The scream came quickly and went quickly, ceasing in an instant.
After grabbing the demonic core, the young woman showed no hesitation at all. She clenched her hand. With a crisp "crack," a thick cloud of black gas drifted out from between her fingers. When she opened her hand again, there was nothing in it. The monstrous giant had vanished from the world. His divine soul had been directly crushed by the young woman, making even reincarnation impossible.
All of this happened extremely quickly. By the time the young woman crushed the demonic core, the monstrous giant's huge body had only fallen less than thirty zhang. But a breath after the demonic core flew out, his massive body, now without control, first had its head instantly wrapped and tightened by a dozen or so emerging black threads. With a "bang," the entire head exploded into a bloody mist. Then, his body, from the neck down, began to crack and shatter inch by inch. A rain of flying blood instantly fell from the sky.
At this point, the young woman had lost her target. Her pure white eyes scanned her surroundings. Unfortunately, this was a desolate land; even finding a wild beast was extremely difficult.
With nowhere to vent her rage, the white in her eyes seemed to turn a shade paler. Amidst piercing shrieks, she began to charge towards the bloody rain below.
Next, every mountain peak and blade of grass stained with the monstrous giant's blood and flesh became her target. For a time, explosions rang out continuously.
After a full half-incense stick's time had passed, the area within a hundred li was a complete wreck. Several mountain peaks had collapsed, large tracts of forest had been turned to ash, and even the monstrous giant's giant black rod was broken into several pieces, its spiritual energy completely gone.
In a large crater three or four zhang deep, the young woman lay, her clothes tattered, revealing her glossy black skin. Her curvaceous figure was even more exposed, but the strange patterns on it sent a chill down one's spine.
At this moment, she lay helplessly at the bottom of the crater, panting heavily. But after each long inhalation, she couldn't exhale much, as if her body was extremely deficient in spiritual energy. This caused her to produce a series of strange, long, wheezing sounds from her throat, which was chilling to hear.
After another dozen or so breaths, the pure white in the young woman's originally blazing eyes slowly receded, revealing a bit of her black pupils. Then, her dull gaze finally showed some signs of life.
Amidst her heavy gasps, the young woman turned her head to look around. Then, countless thoughts flooded her mind. Tears suddenly streamed from her eyes, and she whispered in a voice that was no longer human, "My husband... my husband... Mo'er..."
Then her head suddenly froze. Her eyes stared fixedly at a certain spot, a ferocious gleam flashing within them. Her body trembled as if she was about to sit up.
But in just an instant, the ferocious look in the young woman's eyes slowly faded. After a long, wheezing breath, the sound stopped abruptly, and she moved no more.
In the direction the young woman had been staring, a black figure slowly became clear. Then, a cold voice sounded faintly, "Finally dead?"
As Li Yan's voice sounded, Li Yan, dressed in a black robe, floated at the edge of the crater. He raised a hand. With a whistling sound, several wind blades, each two to three zhang long, flew from his hand. In the next moment, flesh and blood flew in the crater. The body of the young woman, who had been lying motionless at the bottom, was like a leaf in the wind, instantly sliced into four or five pieces.
Then, with a "bang," a black demonic core flew out from the corpse and finally floated quietly in front of Li Yan.
Li Yan, of course, would not give his opponent any chance to feign death and launch a sneak attack. Even after confirming her death, he still dismembered her body without hesitation.
After sensing the black demonic core with his Divine Sense, Li Yan nodded in satisfaction. The soul in the demonic core could not withstand the corrosion of the "Flirtatious Glance" poison. The soul within had already vanished, leaving only a demonic core containing pure spiritual power.
Whether it was a Golden Core or a third-rank demonic core, after the owner's death, they could still rely on their essence soul to control it and escape. As long as they could find a suitable body, they could be reborn through body seizure. If the essence soul residing within was destroyed, then the Golden Core or third-rank demonic core would only retain the pure magical power that the cultivator or demonic beast had cultivated throughout their life. This magical power could not be directly consumed by cultivators; doing so would only result in their bodies exploding.
Demonic cores below the third rank could only be used as refining materials, like the Snow Sprite Lord's blue nether flame. The reason is that the magical power of a second-rank demonic beast, like that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, can only be stored in the Dantian's Purple Mansion. The demonic core is just a newly formed shape.
But even if one obtained a demonic core of the third rank or higher, the cultivation methods in this world that could directly devour a demonic core were all top-tier, the most treasured possessions of each sect. To be able to strengthen oneself by absorbing others' spiritual power was not normal in itself. The spiritual power cultivated by others would definitely be different from one's own. A single misstep could lead to cultivation deviation. Some evil cultivators might practice such methods, but these low-level methods are all incomplete. They often progress rapidly below the Nascent Soul stage, but after reaching Nascent Soul, nine out of ten will suffer a backlash. Almost none can advance to the Nascent Soul stage.
Cultivation methods that can devour the magical power in others' Golden Cores or third-rank and higher demonic cores without any side effects are extremely rare in this world. Perhaps only the Four Great Sects might possess them. But those would definitely be the most secret cultivation methods of the sect, and very few people would be able to obtain and practice them. Therefore, even after obtaining others' Golden Cores and third-rank demonic cores, they are still generally used for alchemy or artifact refining.
However, Li Yan's True Scripture of Gui Water contained a method for refining the pure spiritual power within a Golden Core, without any negative effects on his body or cultivation. Li Yan did not know if it had the same effect on demonic cores; the cultivation method did not mention it. The highest-level demonic beast Li Yan had killed before was only second-rank, so he had never had a chance to experiment.
This was the first time Li Yan had obtained a demonic core above the second rank. Although he appeared calm, he was actually quite excited inside.
But after he scanned it with his Divine Sense, his mind went blank. It wasn't that there was no spiritual power in the demonic core, but that he had never seen this type of spiritual power before. It was not any of the five elements, nor was it a variant attribute like "ice, thunder, lightning, or wind."
This spiritual power was abnormally active, purplish-black in color, and it spun and whistled relentlessly inside the demonic core. When Li Yan probed it with his Divine Sense, a wave of killing intent immediately flooded his mind. And the longer he observed, the stronger this killing intent became, making Li Yan increasingly agitated.
Startled, Li Yan quickly withdrew his Divine Sense, but the killing intent still surged in his chest. He quickly circulated his spiritual power throughout his body, and only then did it slowly subside.
"What is this strange spiritual power?" Li Yan was greatly alarmed. He believed that in this world, few people had as profound an understanding of spiritual power attributes as he did. But he was certain that this spiritual power did not belong to any of the five elements; it was impossible for it to even be a variation.
Li Yan's eyebrows slowly knitted together. After a long while, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind. An incredulous expression appeared on his face. He immediately looked towards the bottom of the deep pit.
There, a pink flower lay quietly on the ground. It was the young woman's magical treasure. Li Yan pointed his finger, and the pink flower suddenly flew towards him.
Just as it neared Li Yan, he cast a hand seal on it, but the pink flower did not react at all. Then Li Yan sent a series of spiritual power streams at it, but the pink flower still showed no response.