Chapter 617: Eliminating Zombification – Part 3
The experience Lin Jin gathered in his cultivation journey surpassed most, if not all of his peers. Even for individuals like Tiger Taoist, their experience may not be as profound as Lin Jin’s.
The death aura inside Tiger Taoist’s body now was anything but average.
It was too strong to be considered a dying person’s energy.
A thought suddenly came to Lin Jin’s mind and he wondered if Corpse Taoist had deliberately lured Tiger Taoist into eating him.
As they were disciples of the same master, they should know each other’s capabilities and strengths quite well.
Corpse Taoist was, of course, the exception.
While he knew Tiger Taoist well, his skills were rarely revealed. He most probably was aware of Tiger Taoist’s ability to ingest foreign creatures to digest their aura.
Perhaps after realizing he would lose, he intentionally lured Tiger Taoist into swallowing him. By retreating for the sake of advancing, he would use his domineering death aura to convert Tiger Taoist from within.
These were all possibilities that Lin Jin suddenly thought of, and they seemed reasonable because the death aura inside Tiger Taoist was too powerful.
Had Tiger Taoist been on his own, he would find it difficult to resist such an overwhelming aura; defeat was ultimately what lay ahead for him.
If this really was Corpse Taoist’s plan, then he made one grave miscalculation in his scheme.
He had forgotten about Lin Jin, or more accurately, Curator.
He was also unaware of how powerful the Psyche- Refining Needle was.
That was his oversight.
Lin Jin pierced the Thunderfire Needle into Tiger Taoist’s body so that it could counter the rampaging death aura. Guided by the Psyche-Refining Needle, the death aura was gradually cornered into Tiger Taoist’s right arm.
Like an actual battle, when an army failed to overwhelm a stronger force, it could only retreat.
Lin Jin could sense the reluctance of the death energy. That wasn’t all. Mingled in it was hatred … and fear!
So it was true!
It became obvious that Corpse Taoist had done so on purpose. Tiger Taoist was a bold character with profound cultivation but the skills Corpse Taoist had been hiding were despicable and dangerous. It wouldn’t matter how profound Tiger Taoist’s cultivation was because the death aura’s corrosive abilities would be able to overwhelm him in due time.
However, the story was different with the Psyche-Refining Needle on their side.
Tiger Taoist too, noticed the death aura being pushed back by the Psyche-Refining Needle and he was glad to have received the reinforcement.
Cooperating with the Psyche-Refining Needle, he used his internal energy to push the death aura into his right arm.
The death aura was too strong to be digested so they could only chase it away.
It couldn’t be allowed near the major organs either because they were too delicate to endure the stress of battle. Otherwise, like slow poison, Tiger Taoist would eventually succumb to the aura’s corrosive properties.
His head was off-limits too so they could only move it to the limbs where the damage wouldn’t be lethal.
Lin Jin’s plan was to force it all into the right arm and then find a way to force it out of Tiger Taoist’s body. Since it couldn’t be decomposed, it had to be forced out.
He would burn it with Dragonfire after that.
Perhaps it knew that only death awaited once it left Tiger Taoist’s body, the death aura became stubbed. No matter how the Psyche-Refining Needle pushed and how Tiger Taoist forced it, the death aura wouldn’t budge.
And so, a stalemate ensued.
Through the naked eye, they watched as Tiger Taoist’s right arm turned pitch black as if it had received a coat of pain. On his tight muscles, there seemed to be countless little worms squirming around.
Lin Jin frowned.
This definitely wasn’t a good sign. The death aura was too persistent and Tiger Taoist could tell too. With his forehead covered in sweat, he said through gritted teeth, “Curator, I want you to amputate my right arm.”
Tiger Taoist was hoping to survive by removing his arm. Or rather, this was the only way they could kill Corpse Taoist.
“After cutting my right arm, burn it to ashes.”
The look in his eyes told Lin Jin that he was not joking. Tiger Taoist knew the death aura must be destroyed, or it would cause endless trouble into the future. If they chose to hold back now, his body would eventually rot away.
Since they were unable to force it out, their only option left was to sever his arm. There was no other way to go about it.
Lin Jin told Tiger Taoist to calm down.
As Jin Chi was keeping Lord Xue’s clone busy, they were in no hurry. That at least bought him some time to think of a countermeasure.
Severing Tiger Taoist’s arm and then burning it with unique spells could indeed eliminate the death aura. With it gone, Corpse Taoist would cease to exist too.
It was the safest way, and the only way Lin Jin knew would work.
However, Tiger Taoist would lose his arm forever. Moreover, most of his internal energy had been forced into his right hand due to battle with the death aura, so if they were to amputate the arm, he would lose centuries’ worth of cultivation.
Lin Jin wanted to save what they could.
Then, he thought of something. The Psyche-Refining Needle enhanced with fire energy could easily force the death aura back. That being the case, why couldn’t they use the needle to build a wall to seal the death aura on Tiger Taoist’s right arm forever?
That wouldn’t be hard.
Lin Jin immediately acted upon his idea. Controlling the Psyche-Refining Needle, he blocked off the death aura in Tiger Taoist’s right arm completely so it had nowhere else to go.
But that wasn’t enough.
They had to seal off the aura and prevent it from corroding Tiger Taoist’s right arm. That way, the latter would still have control over this limb.
Lin Jin took out some materials and refined them with a breath of Dragonfire.
Now that his mastery of Dragonfire was at its peak, he was able to melt the materials effortlessly while they were suspended mid-air. Lin Jin proceeded to dab the needles with the fluid before sending a hundred of them into Tiger Taoist’s right arm to fortify his meridians.
Not only was the Psyche-Refining Needle capable of mending, but it can also create new veins out of nothing. Once a fire vein was crafted, they could see an orange vein glowing on Tiger Taoist’s previously black arm. It was vague at first but it gradually became more prominent until it covered the entire arm.
Tiger Taoist watched in awe. In fact, after Lin Jin had sealed off his right arm, Tiger Taoist couldn’t feel a thing in that limb. It wasn’t until Lin Jin crafted a fire vein that Tiger Taoist started feeling his right arm again.
This sensation was very unique.
Although Tiger Taoist could now control this arm, he couldn’t feel anything else, including pain. He clenched his right fist and an ominous death aura seeped out.
“What domineering power!” Tiger Taoist was shocked.
As the fire vein glowed and burned, they could vaguely hear Corpse Taoist’s cries. Out of impulse, Tiger Taoist made a scratch in the void with his right hand.
Seconds later, a mountain a thousand feet away shattered.
Simultaneously, the zombie dragon who had been fighting Xiao Huo stopped in its tracks. It then slithered toward Tiger Taoist and stood there, as if it was awaiting his order.
Tiger Taoist and Lin Jin were startled by this. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the zombie dragon’s hostility was gone. It appears that it now recognized Tiger Taoist as its new owner.
Lin Jin immediately appraised it with his needle.
Sure enough, the evaluation results of the zombie dragon changed.
Its blood contract owner was now Tiger Taoist.