There were two reasons why Lin Huang refused to accept Nine Gloom’s surrender.
The first was that by killing Nine Gloom three times, he had obtained two Nirvana Tree card fragments and a complete Nirvana Tree card. He felt that he would be able to gain more by killing Nine Gloom.
The other reason was that he was unsure if Nine Gloom’s surrender was just a strategy for a temporary compromise. He could give in briefly just to save his life and give them the castellan’s seal fragment. He could also take back his words once he was safe, after Lin Huang and the other two had departed, and mobilize the entire inner world to kill the three of them.
From Lin Huang’s point of view, letting Nine Gloom go was a risky choice.
Furthermore, he disliked trouble. Therefore, he made a safer, simpler decision.
A slash of his sword and Nine Gloom was dispatched once more.
The minute he revived, Nine Gloom immediately upbraided Lin Huang.
Lin Huang did not bother wasting words and merely killed him again with yet another slash.
Nine Gloom revived once more a moment later. This time, he finally realized that his insignificant life was completely within Lin Huang’s hands. He had completely changed his attitude now, pleading desperately.
“…Just tell me what you want from me. There’s no need to be so ruthless… I’ve only achieved what I have now after cultivating for millions of years. Can’t you let me go…?”
He had no choice but to admit defeat, as he had already used his substitution technique seven times. Including his own life, he was only left with five lives now.
However, Lin Huang was merciless. He killed him again, his face expressionless.
When Nine Gloom regenerated this time, he begged Virtuoso and Saber9 for mercy, attempting to plead for his life through the other two parties.
However, Virtuoso and Saber9 were not greenhorns. Naturally, it was impossible for them to pity him. Moreover, both of them had considered the possible risks if they let Nine Gloom go. They remained silent throughout and continued watching as bystanders.
When Nine Gloom revived for the ninth time, he knew that it was futile for him to beg.
As soon as his body consolidated, he manipulated countless vines, sending them surging at Lin Huang.
Lin Huang thought that Nine Gloom was going to fight back. However, he was not expecting Nine Gloom to swiftly retreat and flee toward the distance the moment he attacked.
“Haha…”
A cold chuckle escaped Lin Huang. With one slash of his sword, countless vines were annihilated. A blood-red gleam shot out from his sleeve.
The blood-red gleam was as fast as lightning—many times faster than the fleeing Nine Gloom.
Within the time it took for a breath, the gleam caught up with him and pierced right through his silver armor.
The moment Nine Gloom’s silver-armored body toppled to the ground, the blood-red gleam retreated and shot back into Lin Huang’s sleeve.
Although Virtuoso and Saber9 had not been able to see the blood-red gleam’s attack too clearly, they knew it was Lin Huang’s telekinetic flying dagger the moment they saw the lightning arc shooting out from his sleeve.
Nine Gloom evidently had no idea that Lin Huang possessed such a technique.
After his tenth death, Nine Gloom revived again for the eleventh time.
He attempted to utilize a strategy of attack, defense, and escape both times. However, Lin Huang managed to counter this each time and kill him again.
Currently, Nine Gloom had completely used up his substitution chances. He was left only with his original life now.
Before his physical body even consolidated completely, he swiftly formed another shield.
The layers stacked up one over the other on the shield. By the time Nine Gloom’s physical body had fully consolidated, the massive shield already had over a hundred layers on it.
At the same time, a Dimensional Whirlpool swiftly formed behind him.
Clearly, since his multiple attempts at escape were futile, he planned to flee via dimensional teleportation.
Lin Huang merely raised his brows slightly and slashed out with his sword, piercing through the massive shield’s multiple layers easily. Nine Gloom had only taken half a step through the Dimensional Whirlpool in mid-air when his body was impaled.
At that moment, a vine that looked like a tiny black snake escaped from the shadow below Nine Gloom’s silver-armored foot. His aura shrank to almost nothing, and he wriggled toward the Dimensional Whirlpool.
Lin Huang gave a cold snort, and countless blood-red lightning arcs shot out violently from his sleeve. The moment the tiny black ‘snake’ entered the Dimensional Whirlpool, the entire Whirlpool was punctured with so many holes it looked like a sieve.
This included that tiny black snake, which was torn to shreds.
A moment later, the Dimensional Whirlpool collapsed, and the tiny black snake’s decimated body fell out of it. The pieces gradually but swiftly assumed Nine Gloom’s original countenance again—a demonic face thickly overgrown with vines. In the very last moments of his life, the glare he fixed on Lin Huang was seething with rage and resentment.
In this last battle, Nine Gloom had chosen to discard the silver-armored body that had integrated perfectly with him since his rebirth. He thought he could attract Lin Huang’s attention with this silver-armored physical body while he slipped away in secret.
As long as he got as far away as he could from the battlefield, he could then utterly confine Lin Huang, Virtuoso, and Saber9 within his God Territory. He could then attack them with endless vines until Lin Huang’s elevated mode had worn off. At that point, he would be able to turn the tables on them.
Never had he thought that his escape plan would be discovered by Lin Huang, after all. At the very last moment, his life had been ended by a telekinetic flying dagger.
In the end, the demonic face was unable to leave any last words. Every single one of the vines charred rapidly, turning into ashes that filled the air…
The formidable, longest-lived character in the inner world had now fallen!
Lin Huang stood where he was, seemingly staring at Nine Gloom’s gradually disintegrating corpse. In reality, he was looking at the push notification that had popped up in front of him.
“Congratulations, host. You’ve obtained a complete Monster Card—Silver-Armored Nine Gloom (Supreme God)
“Monster Card: Silver-Armored Nine Gloom ”
“Rarity: Supreme God”
“Monster Name: Not named yet”
“Type of Monster: Unique-type / Unknown Tribe”
“Bloodline: Death Spring”
“Combat Level: Ninth-Rank Heavenly God (Ninth-Rank heavenly god-level)”
“Major: Control, Combat Cultivator…”
“Summon Authority: Activated”
“Card Remarks: Worth training!”
“Remarks: An extremely rare and special symbiotic creature type!”
Lin Huang had not at all expected to obtain a complete Monster Card from killing Nine Gloom.
‘That’s a delightful surprise.’
He merely cast a quick eye over the card information and closed the page in front of him. He then turned around to look at Virtuoso and Saber9.
“Has he really been killed for good this time?” Saber9 asked immediately.
He had a full-blown case of paranoia, thanks to Nine Gloom’s resurrection ability.
“Don’t worry, he definitely won’t revive now.” Lin Huang was absolutely certain of this.
After all, he had now obtained a complete Monster Card. Naturally, it was impossible for Nine Gloom to revive anymore.
“Substitution is a truly powerful technique, but it also has severe limitations. I’m guessing eleven substitutions was his limit.” Virtuoso nodded in agreement. “Also, given he regenerated so many times, it was possible to tell that he could only be revived on the spot where he died. He couldn’t change the coordinates of his regeneration, nor could he control the interval between each revival…”
“Since he isn’t regenerating where he fell, it proves he’s well and truly dead this time,” Saber9 interjected before Virtuoso could finish speaking.
“Let’s not waste any more time. We’d better hurry up and collect any loot, then leave as soon as we can,” Lin Huang urged, raising his head to glance at Nine Gloom’s God Territory, which was now collapsing.
The battle fluctuations from earlier would certainly have attracted the attention of other powerhouses in the inner world. As soon as Nine Gloom’s death was confirmed, it was very likely that many others would swarm out of the woodwork to gain a share of any loot.
Given Lin Huang and the other two’s current situation, getting embroiled in that would be extremely problematic.
Clearly, Virtuoso and Saber9 realized this as well. Ignoring their bodily weakness, they swiftly joined in to collect the battle spoils.
