Chapter 161: Black Whirlwind, Devour!

A thunderous roar echoed through the cavern. Driven by the impact, a turbid current mixed with dust and debris gradually rushed into the originally clear limestone cave, slowly spreading outward.

Seeing this, Su Yi could not help but frown. Even with his ability to breathe freely underwater, encountering such a murky, sediment-laden torrent would undoubtedly prove troublesome, not to mention the severe impairment to his vision. Furthermore, apart from this entrance, the cavern seemed to have no other exits. If the pool beast were to cause a cave-in and block the exit, it would become rather difficult for him to escape.

There was no time to lose. Su Yi swiftly and cautiously darted into the tunnel leading from the cavern. At that moment, however, the tunnel was swaying violently, making his footing unstable. The crashing sounds resumed. With another sudden, jarring lurch, Su Yi grabbed the stone wall to steady himself, raised his head, and looked ahead. He could already make out the ferocious-looking pool beast.

At this moment, the pool beast was covered in blood, staining the surrounding pool water crimson. In several places, blood was even spurting out like fountains. It seemed that the fierce battle just now had indeed inflicted a certain degree of damage upon it. Though it appeared to have defeated the multi-horned beast, it was in no better shape itself; from the start until now, the frequency and force of its impacts against the cavern entrance had been diminishing steadily...

Seizing the opportunity when the creature paused to rest, Su Yi kicked off hard with his feet, bolted out from the cave entrance, and instantly broke into a desperate run!

He was spotted immediately. With a deafening roar, the pool beast lunged after him in hot pursuit!

Although Su Yi was running at a considerable speed, the heavy resistance of the water, compounded by the thick silt at the bottom of the pool, prevented him from moving as swiftly as he would on land. In contrast, the pool beast moved with the agility of a fish or a serpent, catching up to Su Yi in a split second and violently sweeping its massive tail toward him!

At a severe disadvantage regarding terrain, Su Yi had no time to dodge—or perhaps, even had he tried, his body was too constrained by the resistance to move with any agility. The next moment, a searing, soul-crushing pain wracked his entire body. Letting out a cry of agony, Su Yi was sent flying out of the water like a suddenly accelerated cannonball!

As he soared through the air, Su Yi's peripheral vision caught sight of the multi-horned beast's carcass lying on the ground nearby, its body marked by a massive, indented crush wound that looked as though it might force its internal organs out. However, before he could examine it further, his perspective shifted abruptly. Spinning in mid-air, the immense momentum hurled him directly into the dense forest!

Crash! Crash! Crash! After snapping through an unknown number of trees, Su Yi spat a mouthful of blood, stumbled onto the ground, staggered forward for a few steps, and then gritted his teeth to run with all his might!

Just as Su Yi had anticipated, the roar of the pool beast echoed from behind shortly afterward. It was clear the creature intended to hunt him down and exterminate him completely, which was why it was pursuing him so relentlessly. The continuous sound of snapping and toppling trees thundered through the air, accompanied by slight tremors in the ground, compelling Su Yi to accelerate even further. Since the creature was capable of killing a peak Tier-2 multi-horned beast, it was equally capable of killing him!

As he ran, Su Yi suddenly felt the ground give way beneath his feet. His body immediately toppled over, and he began rolling continuously. The terrain ahead appeared to be a downward slope!

Rolling endlessly, Su Yi felt violently dizzy, to the point of almost wanting to vomit. Having spun through countless revolutions for an unknown duration and tumbled down an unknown distance, even Su Yi, who prided himself on his formidable physical endurance, felt as though his body was falling apart and on the verge of shattering. At that moment, his motion finally came to a halt.

"Damn it! What a wild ride..." Sprawled out on his back, Su Yi managed to stand up with great difficulty, brushed the dust off his clothes, and looked around. Everything in sight was completely unfamiliar—well, to be fair, almost everything was unfamiliar to Su Yi here, yet this place carried a faint, distinct aura.

Though this aura could not be immediately described in words, under its subtle infiltration, the surrounding atmosphere instantly turned tense. It was dead silent, without a single sound, as if devoid of all biological life. The quietness was somewhat terrifying, and Su Yi hardly dared to breathe heavily, fearing that the sound would become jarringly loud in this serene space...

"Could this place be..." Sensing the faint hint of danger emanating from all directions, Su Yi's gaze darkened slightly: "...the central region of the Luojia Mountain Range..."

The central region was an inherently perilous area. The probability of encountering Tier-2 or Tier-3 magical beasts here was extremely high. If one's personal strength had not yet reached the Xuan-tier cultivation level of a Douluo, coming here would be quite overwhelming. However, judging by the distance covered, he shouldn't have reached the central region this quickly. Perhaps this was the transitional zone between the outer perimeter and the central region, or perhaps the outer edge slightly closer to the central core...

Regardless, it was an undeniable fact that this place remained extremely hazardous to Su Yi in his current state. Gathering his focus, he surveyed his surroundings and finally began to walk cautiously in a certain direction: "Fortunately, that pool beast didn't continue its pursuit. Let's find a place to hide first, and while I'm at it, see if I can devour and absorb the Blood of Heaven and Earth..."

The sunlight gradually faded as dusk approached, and the sky grew dim, casting deeper shadows and coolness beneath the forest canopy. Su Yi eventually located a cave to rest in. Calling it a cave was perhaps an overstatement; it was merely a small depression at the base of a hillock, quite small and barely large enough for a single person to squeeze inside. To enhance his concealment, Su Yi purposely gathered a large quantity of dead branches and leaves to block the entrance.

With all preparations complete, Su Yi sat cross-legged and finally took out the spiritual core of the Blood of Heaven and Earth, holding it quietly in the palm of his hand. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes slightly and began to cultivate according to the method of the Black Qi Vortex imprinted in his mind.

To successfully form the Black Qi Vortex, one must first forge a vortex of Dou energy. Although Su Yi was not entirely certain whether a qi vortex still existed within his body, he proceeded with the cultivation step by step. This process required the use of soul power. Once he employed this soul power in a specialized manner, Su Yi faintly experienced a peculiar sensation—

It felt almost like an illusion; Su Yi sensed as though everything around him had begun to spin, or perhaps the surroundings remained still while he slowly rotated himself. His head seemed to drift downward while his feet floated upward, as if all gravity had vanished. His body felt suspended in a void, guided by an invisible yet profound and mysterious force, to the point where he could no longer distinguish directions...

He hovered in this swirling state for an unknown period. The situation remained unchanged, as though it could go on forever. However, maintaining this state required the consumption of soul power, and Su Yi could not sustain it indefinitely. Sure enough, as his soul power waned, this esoteric sensation gradually weakened, and the speed of rotation began to slow down toward a halt.

A bad premonition welled up within Su Yi. Although he did not fully understand this state, the prerequisite for forming the Dou energy vortex must be this uncanny spinning sensation. The reason it had remained locked in a rotating state might be because his own soul power was not yet strong enough to push the process any further...

Just as the rotational state was about to dissipate, and just as a sense of frustration and helplessness stirred in Su Yi's heart, a sinister and chilling voice suddenly rang out on its own. Strangely enough, Su Yi did not actually hear the words spoken aloud in sound waves: "Well, how strange... The qi vortex has actually dispersed throughout the entire body, turning the entire physical form into a single qi vortex?!... Isn't that a state only possessed by those supreme experts? Even this seat has only managed to achieve half of it... Heh heh, whatever. For the sake of the Blood of Heaven and Earth and... this seat will lend you a hand..."

"Heh heh... Though it seems someone has tampered with this, this seat will not let the matter rest here..."

As the chilling voice faded away, Su Yi—who was completely oblivious to all this—suddenly felt an exceptionally formidable surge of soul power erupting from within his body! The sheer magnitude of this soul power was definitely not his own!

"Is it that evil soul?!" Su Yi's heart skipped a beat. What was that Blood Emperor trying to do? Didn't they say it had been meddled with? Was it still capable of acting? Yet, for the moment, there appeared to be no adverse reactions, nor any sensation of his body being possessed...

Right at that instant, that profound and mysterious sense of rotation intensified manifold without warning! Su Yi was suddenly struck by an overwhelming wave of dizziness, feeling as though his physical body and soul were about to shatter apart! Suddenly, he discovered an invisible substance beginning to circulate within his chest! It spun just like a vortex!

"Fine, since it has come to this, I shall play along with their scheme... I refuse to believe I won't find a way to deal with him in the future...!"

The invisible vortex spun faster and faster, and the trembling sensation within his body and soul grew increasingly intense! Under layers of crushing pressure, Su Yi's consciousness began to fade away gradually! At a sudden, critical moment, a tiny black dot materialized bizarrely within Su Yi's chest!

With the appearance of this black dot, the world instantly quieted down. The rotation, the uncanniness, the dizziness, the trembling—everything seemed to vanish into thin air like drifting wind. The world appeared to freeze into a state of absolute stillness...

Su Yi suddenly moved. Whether instinctively or guided by some unseen force, he raised his hand, brought the Blood of Heaven and Earth to his lips, and swallowed it in a single motion. As the Blood of Heaven and Earth entered his mouth and slid down his throat, it dropped straight downward, landing precisely upon the black dot within Su Yi's chest!

The spiritual core of the Blood of Heaven and Earth seemed to twitch in a last vestige of resistance, but before it could make any further move, the bizarre black dot suddenly expanded. The Blood of Heaven and Earth fell directly into it, whereupon the black dot instantly shrank back down and vanished altogether...

Immediately afterward, earth-shaking changes took place within Su Yi's body!

&^^%# Martial Peak Chapter 161 - Chapter 161: Black Qi Vortex, Devour! Update complete!