The sword the man had drawn was strange, as black smoke kept on emanating from it. He swung the sword with all his strength and actually managed to meet Shirong's whip on equal terms!

Both the parties were shocked by this though. Shirong that his wind and lightning whip was stopped and the men in strange garb that his black sword could actually not cut through this.

~buzz~

The conflict between the two forces was not calm and looked like it would break at any time. Shirong smirked and punched with his other hand.

~whoosh~

A jet of wind hit the man, pushing him back and breaking the attack. The man managed to withstand the blow as the black smoke coming from the sword formed a barrier around him when the jet of wind hit him.

Shirong's eyes narrowed as he realized the sword was probably not normal. He tried to probe it with his spirit sense and found it to be difficult. It was as if he was trying to push through mud and his spirit sense got stuck in the mire.

The black smoke, whatever it was, could restrict the spirit sense. Lin Wu checked it and found that even his spirit sense was restricted by it.

"It seems similar to the interference field… is it perhaps linked? And what's this about Shirong killing the God servant, what did they mean by that?" Lin Wu wondered.

But it quickly struck him that the God servant that they were talking about could be the Specter Skull hound.

'Why do they call it God servant then? Though they also called that red stone god flesh… wait, if they are related then the bloodline in it… could it be related to the vermilion bird? But the specter skull hound being its servant would not make sense.

Both of them are opposing types of beasts and have conflicting aspects. The vermilion bird represents fire and purity while the specter Skull hound is a being of the nether worlds, being evil.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

Lin Mu was quickly brought out of his thoughts as he saw Shirong attacking again. The wind and lightning whip streaked across the air, leaving behind afterimages as it clashed against the man wielding the smoking sword.

Shirong wrapped the whips around the blade and tried to pry it from the man's hand, but saw a strange thing. The leather strips that covered the handle grip of the smoking sword suddenly came loose and wrapped around the man's hands, preventing it from being falling out.

"The sword… it's conscious?" Shirong muttered, feeling surprised.

Any weapon that could have this level of consciousness must be strong. Shirong was sure that it was at least a high grade weapon.

"Enough! Everyone attack!" The priest ordered.

~Shing~

~Shing~

~shing~

Multiple spirit weapons came flying at Shirong as they cut off all routes of his escape. But this was not all as various Qi skills, spells and attacks were also launched at Shirong, blurring his field of view.

~BOOM~

An explosion was heard as all the attacks hit Shirong at the same time.

"Humph! Even if he is a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, he thought too much of himself. We are the servants of the Skull god, none shall stop us!" The priest said.

But then, when the dust and smoke started to clear out, they saw a stunning sight.

"It can't be!"

"How!?"

"No one can survive all those attacks!"

~Whoosh~

A vortex suddenly appeared in the middle of all the smoke and blew it away. Hidden inside was Shirong who was finally revealed. Expect this time he was fully covered in a malevolent looking emerald green armor.

There were spikes on his back and shoulders while two crimson red eyes stared at the top of the helmet. Thorn covered gauntlets, protected his hands as an imposing presence exuded from him.

Shirong had summoned the Immortal Crystal Armament as he realized these men were truly pissing him off. Even Lin Wu was feeling the urge from the red stone and willingly came out of the ring, transforming into the armor form that he had used previously for Wang Xiong.

His desire for the Red stone had turned into an imposing aura that seemed to want to devour everything. The men in strange garbs were now truly afraid. If before Shirong seemed human to him, now he seemed something different… something beastly.

"Priest… that man… that's no man… I can sense a different presence on it… it's almost… comparable to the god's." The man who had the pendant spoke, stuttering.

The priest widened his eyes as he saw Shirong moving at breakneck speeds.

~boom~

~Splat~

Shirong's fist met one of the men and destroyed his chest, splattering his innards out of his back. But that was merely the start as the temperature of the hall started to rise up. The heat was coming from around Shirong as Lin Wu used radiation manipulation to the full extent.

~Crackle~

Lightning started to crackle around Shirong as hot winds swirled, forming into a cyclone. With each step that Shirong took, the ground trembled and cracked. The strong stone tiles which were not destroyed after thousands of years were finally broken.

Shirong punched out as burning hot orange jets of wind were shot out from his fists. The jets hit a few of the men, knocking them back and instantly burning through their clothes and flesh.

"ARGH!" the men cried out in pain as they had never expected Shirong to be this strong.

The others forcefully got hold of their minds and attacked Shirong. The man with the smoking sword did the same as he gritted his teeth.

~DENG~

The armor easily stopped all the incoming weapons, as if they were made out of paper. Not a scratch could be seen on it and they fell to the ground helplessly.

"Bah!" the one whose spirit weapons fell to the ground uncontrollably spat out blood.

"My brand! My brand on the spirit sword was forcibly severed!" One of them said fearfully.