“Hmm?”
The old man was shocked!
The voice did not come from the seven Void Reversions around him but from beside his feet!
This little Nascent Soul was not stunned by his spirit consciousness!
How was that possible?
The old man frowned.
Suddenly, he sensed the aura of death!
This aura had been getting closer and closer with the passage of time over the years.
However, he had never felt it so strongly before!
It was as though he would die in the next moment!
How could a Nascent Soul threaten him?
There was no time to think. The old man from Hellfire Hall wanted to get up immediately and retreat, leaving the dangerous place beneath his feet.
All of a sudden!
Two fair and strong palms appeared on the old man’s withered wrist and gripped him tightly like iron pincers!
Instinctively, he struggled but to no avail!
The old man’s expression changed as he swept his gaze across.
Veins popped out on the hands that were gripping his wrists.
The bones changed and sharp claws popped out from its fingertips. Scarlet scales could be seen on the back of the hands, looking extremely creepy!
The old man of Hellfire Hall looked over instinctively and his pupils constricted.
The green-robed man who should have fainted had already sat up. His black hair was gone and in its place was a head of scarlet hair that resembled blood!
The green-robed man’s eyes shone with a demonic glint and he exuded a shuddering aura!
“You’re a demon…”
Before the old man could finish speaking, he was interrupted by another voice.
Those two words were enough to send shivers down his spine!
“Barren!”
Before the sentence was finished, an extremely strange Dharmic power fluctuation appeared in the void.
With the green-robed man as the center, gray fluctuations appeared beneath the feet of the old man from Hellfire Hall and enveloped him like water ripples!
Initially, the old man from Hellfire Hall could have escaped the range of the gray ripples. However, his wrist was gripped tightly by the green-robed man.
With just that slight pause, his entire body was engulfed in gray ripples.
It was a strange feeling.
As though he had fallen into a swamp, his body turned heavy.
Immediately after, the old man of Hellfire Hall seemed to have sensed something as his eyes widened in shock and his body trembled uncontrollably!
“Life… span!”
The old man from Hellfire Hall opened his mouth with a menacing expression and a quivering voice, as though he was experiencing immense fear.
He was nearing his later years and the blood qi in his body was severely depleted – he was extremely frail.
But now, what was left of his flesh was drying up at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, he was nothing but skin and bones!
“My… lifespan…”
The old man from Hellfire Hall seemed like he wanted to howl hysterically, but his voice turned increasingly hoarse until it was silent!
His widened eyes had already turned dull and his eyeballs were withered!
The glabella of the old man from Hellfire Hall flickered and a spirit consciousness rippled, as though the Essence Spirit in his spirit consciousness wanted to struggle one last time.
However, all activity ceased before long.
The old man’s lifeforce had already vanished without a trace!
The seven Void Reversions watched helplessly as the old man of Hellfire Hall was drained of all life in a single breath, leaving only a skeleton with no life in his body!
All seven of them were dumbfounded with disbelief in their eyes.
Everything happened too quickly and the seven Void Reversions were momentarily stunned, unable to recover from their shock.
The gray ripple had already reached them.
The seven Void Reversions did not feel anything initially.
But soon, their expressions changed!
Their lifespans were declining!
Although it was not fast, the decline was irreversible!
Right then, the green-robed man who was initially sitting on the ground leaped up. He was tall and his clothes were torn with scarlet scales growing on his body!
His scarlet hair danced and demonic qi surged with a murderous aura. He was like an ancient demon that wanted to devour the world and slaughter all living beings!
“W-who are you?”
A Void Reversion Dao Being asked with a trembling voice, his face pale from the fright of the sudden change.
The scarlet-haired demon was none other than Su Zimo!
Although the process of killing the Dharma Characteristic Dao Lord of Hellfire Hall seemed simple, he had actually planned it for a long time.
Ever since the old man of Hellfire Hall appeared, Su Zimo had been thinking about how he could escape with Nangong Ling and the other two.
No matter how he thought about it, he could not come up with a foolproof plan.
Later on, he noticed something.
The old man from Hellfire Hall exuded a strong aura of twilight, as though he was about to die!
That was the reason why Su Zimo intentionally provoked the old man of Hellfire Hall with words such as ‘you don’t have much time left to live’.
Nangong Ling thought that Su Zimo was no longer afraid of death and merely cursed for the sake of it before his death, so he followed suit and cursed.
Little did he know that Su Zimo was probing the old man of Hellfire Hall!
Indeed, the old man from Hellfire Hall was tricked and revealed that he still had 80 years to live.
It was not the old man from Hellfire Hall’s fault either.
Although he had lived for 10,000 years, he had never heard of a Nascent Soul controlling a power that could affect Dharma Characteristic Dao Lords!
Furthermore, this was a power that could cause one’s lifespan to decrease irreversibly!
He was not the only one – no one in Tianhuang Mainland would believe that a Nascent Soul realm cultivator could control such power!
That was also the terror of the Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness!
Of course, Su Zimo could not understand why there were so many strange and mysterious characters in the Demonic art of Barren.
Furthermore, his cultivation realm was limited and he could not unleash the true might of Barren.
Moreover, the gray ripples that spread out from Barren would cause one’s lifespan to decrease faster the closer they were to the center.
That was the reason why Su Zimo did not dare to act rashly.
He could only wait for an opportunity.
He wanted the two of them to be close enough to not give the old man of Hellfire Hall any chance to escape!
As Su Zimo had expected, after he released Barren, the first reaction of the old man from Hellfire Hall was to retreat.
However, Su Zimo had already gripped the old man’s arms tightly and the latter could not break free!
Of course, even at the center of the gray-colored ripples, the reduction of lifespan was only at a rate of a hundred years per breath.
For ordinary Dharma Characteristic Dao Lords, a single breath was enough for them to react or even counterattack!
A single spirit consciousness from a Dharma Characteristic Dao Lord was enough to kill Su Zimo!
However, it was different for the old man from Hellfire Hall.
In a single breath, his remaining 80 years of lifespan had been used up!
Although the entire process was short, the probing, the waiting, and even the final attack – any single mistake would result in two completely different outcomes!
The Barren Demonic Art could not display its true might yet and could only be considered as a special attack.
For example, although a Dharma Characteristic died within the range of the gray-colored ripples, the seven Void Reversions were not affected much!
Firstly, the seven Void Reversions were slightly further away and their lifespans were decreasing at a relatively slower rate – around 50 – 80 years per breath.
Secondly, the seven of them were only in their 2,000s and 3,000s. Compared to their lifespan of 5,000 years, they were considered to be at the peak of their prime!
The effect of one or two breaths reducing their lifespans was way too little!
Of course, with the old man from Hellfire Hall killed, Su Zimo no longer feared the remaining seven men!
