Xue Li sensed the soul-extinguishing aura contained within the Soul Destroying Sword Energy, his brow slightly furrowing as a single hand flipped, and a fist-sized pitch-black bell appeared out of thin air in his palm. With a fierce shake towards the Soul Destroying Sword Energy.

"Dang dang dang"

Accompanied by a rapid series of bell sounds, a hazy apparition of a giant bell, about a zhang in size, emerged, and from its center, a wave of black ripples spread outwards.

The Soul Destroying Sword Energy collapsed upon contact, utterly suppressed.

However, before Xue Li could take pleasure in his success, his head was already shrouded in darkness from above as a palace-sized black giant palm descended, emitting circle after circle of black light waves.

It was indeed the Great Black Sky God Palm.

In an instant, everything within several dozen zhang was frozen, space itself seeming to be immobilized. The black bell in Xue Li's hand was clearly pressured, nearly unable to emit any sound.

Xue Li's expression changed, immediately retracting the black bell and throwing a fierce punch towards the sky with his hand.

As he punched, his left arm thickened, a layer of fine blood-colored scale armor surfaced on his skin, and a visible wave of blood light propelled forward from his shoulder to the fist.

As his fist blurred ever so slightly, it suddenly transformed into countless overlapping blood-red fist shadows, then suddenly converged into a loft-sized fuzzy fist shadow. This shadow, filled with an unbearably dense force of Blood Qi, roared heavenward with a booming sound and slammed hard into the black giant palm.

Fist met palm with a thunderous explosion!

The moment the blood-colored fist shadow burst, it released an incredibly powerful force that tore apart the Great Black Sky God Palm.

The intense shockwave forced Xue Li back several steps before he could steady himself.

His expression gradually became solemn as he found himself having to reevaluate Yuan Ming.

From the few bouts of probing attacks, Yuan Ming had already roughly gauged Xue Li's strength. It appeared that his opponent had also broken through the Body of Wanxiang in Body Cultivation and excelled in both speed and strength. Yuan Ming wondered what other trump cards he might have hidden.

As his thoughts turned, the sound of air bursting interrupted him, signaling that Xue Li was once again charging towards him.

Facing his oncoming foe, Yuan Ming did not dodge again, but instead directly brandished his sword to meet him.

After completing the Shared Fate, and through several rounds of adaptation, Yuan Ming was now able to keep up with Xue Li's speed.

This time, both tacitly put aside their other flashy techniques and engaged in a pure test of their abilities as practitioners of Body Cultivation.

In mid-air, the sound of clashing sword and blade resonated powerfully, while the figures of Yuan Ming and his adversary had vanished. In the void, only intermittent afterimages remained visible, along with the ripples they stirred, attesting to their presence.

In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged dozens of moves.

Yuan Ming fought more and more composedly, while Xue Li's anxiety grew. To suppress Yuan Ming, he had unknowingly summoned his "intention," burning blood to gain a significant enhancement to his physique.

Consequently, his speed and strength were continuously increasing, having already exceeded triple their initial levels.

Yet Yuan Ming wasn't suppressed by him. Both his speed and strength grew with Xue Li's enhancement, revealing no flaws nor any signs of flagging.

Only then did Xue Li understand that sustaining this strange state was Yuan Ming's intention.

As Xue Li was briefly distracted, Yuan Ming suddenly closed in and cleanly struck down with his sword.

Xue Li snapped back to his senses and hastily blocked with his blade. As their weapons clashed and tussled briefly, Yuan Ming's fist landed on his chest.

The punch seemed slow yet was swift, simple and unadorned, striking squarely in the chest much like a punch thrown during a brawl between ordinary men.

However, a tremendous indescribable force struck, and Xue Li felt a jolt in his chest, his body involuntarily flung backward.

After that successful punch, Yuan Ming's figure blurred as he followed close on the heels of the retreating Xue Li.

As Yuan Ming raised his fist to strike again, he saw Xue Li press a hand to his nose and suddenly open his mouth to spew forth a wave of dark red smoke. It gushed out like a tidal wave, swiftly enveloping Yuan Ming's form.

Just as he entered the dark red smoke, Yuan Ming immediately sensed a corrosive presence. He instantly closed his eyes and nose and hastily retreated.

Yet, the pervasive mist was faster than him, sealing off his escape.

In an instant, Yuan Ming found himself within a dark red space, with everything around him cloaked in a hazy red.

"Not good." Yuan Ming extended his Divine Sense, and after a brief examination, he couldn't help but feel a sinking sensation.

Unexpectedly, the dark red smoke could also shield Divine Sense. Even with his strength as a Half-step Word Witch, he couldn't penetrate it.

As Yuan Ming reeled in surprise, a voice as resonant as a great bell suddenly came through the mist:

"Yuan Ming, to have forced me to use this Swallowing Heaven Demon Technique, you will not die in vain."

The moment the voice sounded, Yuan Ming felt a sudden darkness above him. Before he could retreat, he sensed the fog billowing below, casting an identical shadow surging towards him from beneath.

He attempted to employ an Escape Technique to flee, his form blurring slightly, then vanished from the spot.

The next moment, he still felt the surroundings shrouded in red mist, and the enormous shadows above him and beneath him remained, encroaching at a visibly rapid speed.

For a time, Yuan Ming was filled with a sense of confusion.

Why, after using his Escape Technique, could he not fly hundreds or thousands of feet away? Why was he still within the range of the shadows?

Could it be that his Magic had caused the heavens to sink and the earth to rise, leaving him nowhere to flee?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. Even a Magic Practitioner of the Returning Void Realm couldn't do such a thing," Yuan Ming quickly dismissed his own speculation.

But as a Soul Cultivator who was a Half-step Spoken Witch, he also knew this was definitely not an Illusion Technique.

Thus, the only plausible explanation was that his Divine Sense had been affected by the dark red smoke, and amidst the confusion of his five senses, the Escape Technique had failed.

He was simply spinning in place.

And by now, it was already too late to think of escaping.

The vast shadows from above and below had already closed in; he felt the air around him tighten and his entire body was enveloped by an invisible colossal force, an indescribable tremendous pressure imprisoning him deeply.

Immediately after, Yuan Ming felt an irresistible force of attraction behind him, and with a sudden lightness of body, he was pulled backward and fell.

Soon, Yuan Ming's feet touched solid ground, but it felt soft beneath him, making it somewhat difficult to stand firmly.

Surrounding him was pitch blackness, without a trace of light, making it impossible to see anything at all.

Yuan Ming rubbed his fingers together, and a ball of firelight appeared at his fingertips, casting light around him.

He looked around and realized he had arrived in an irregularly shaped enclosed space; the meaty walls above, around, and beneath him were all of a dark red color, covered with something like a membrane.

"Could it be that I have been swallowed into the stomach of some demon beast?" Yuan Ming wondered with astonishment, but then he abruptly recalled the "Swallowing Heaven Demon Technique" that Xue Li had mentioned earlier.

Although he had never heard of such a Cultivation Technique, he could not help but speculate that he had likely been swallowed by Xue Li using this Swallowing Heaven Demon Technique.

"To refine such a space inside the belly is not easy," Yuan Ming murmured.

Yet, he wasn't too anxious in his heart; instead, he felt that Xue Li was being overly arrogant. Didn't he know some things should not be consumed rashly, especially humans?

Yuan Ming raised his hand to touch the dark red meaty wall beside him, and immediately, a wisp of white smoke arose from his palm, bearing an intensely strong corrosive power.

He then lifted his foot and looked down to find that the soles of his Magic Boots had been corroded full of holes, nearly worn through by the decay.

At the same time, a burning, itchy sensation began spreading from his throat and nostrils.

After a few coughs, Yuan Ming's eyes were so irritated they nearly teared up.

Only then did he realize that this meaty wall space was not as simple as he had imagined; if he stayed any longer, problems were bound to arise. This соntеnt wаs first rеlеаsеd оn

With that thought, Yuan Ming no longer hesitated in his heart and held the Soul Destroying Sword in both hands, activating the Body of Wanxiang. He gathered strength in his arms and, with a forceful slash, struck forward.

"Whoosh"

A streak of black Sword Energy burst forth, extending for tens of feet, flashing through the void and striking the meaty wall in front of him.

With a "bang" sound, the wall trembled violently where the Sword Energy hit, distorted by the immense force into a deep indent but then instantly rebounded back to its original state.

Simultaneously, as the dark red meaty wall rebounded violently, a grayish gas rushed towards Yuan Ming's face.

Even before it reached him, a disgustingly foul stench wafted over.

Yuan Ming's brows furrowed as he swung his hand forward, unleashing mana that surged out, forming a translucent Light Shield in front of him to meet the approaching gray gas.

At the moment of contact between the semi-circular Light Shield and the gray gas, a piercing "sizzling" sound was heard.

An intense corrosive smell spread out, and the Light Shield dissolved instantly.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming's expression turned slightly stern, and he quickly put away the Soul Destroying Sword. With a wave of his hand, a Red Ancient Scroll flew out in front of him, slowly unfolding, with light flickering uncertainly on the blank scroll and faint booming sounds emitting from it.

It was the Space Spiritual Treasure known as the Map of Ten Thousand Realms.

"Consume," Yuan Ming pointed and uttered a low shout.

In the flickering light of the Red Ancient Scroll, a vortex suddenly collapsed inward, spinning at high speed.

The murky gas was immediately caught by a strong suction force, and it began to flow into the scroll like a thin stream.

In just a breath or two, the gray gas was entirely absorbed.