Beast Tamer Ascension
Book 5: Chapter 29: Nirvana Flame

Vol 5 Chapter 29: Nirvana Flame

"It's you!!!"

After the Heavenly Demon cultivator who called himself Mo Yu declared "No prey has ever escaped from Mo Yu's grasp," a furious voice rang out from below - it was the Snow God, the very same deity Mo Yu had robbed last time.

Just as Mo Yu was about to pursue Lin Jing, he spotted the Snow God and couldn't help but feel annoyed. After all, the Snow God happened to be prey that had escaped him previously.

I just finished boasting, and now you show up to embarrass me? Does Mo Yu have no face left to lose?

However... the Snow God's appearance was actually perfect timing.

With just a glance from Mo Yu, a void suddenly tore open behind the Snow God. A sword light flashed out with speed comparable to the earlier ambush against Lin Jing.

The Snow God paled in terror, but even Lin Jing couldn't react to such an attack - naturally she failed to dodge. Her body was cleanly bisected, letting out a pained wail.

"My Primordial Ice Essence!!!"

The Snow God was horrified to discover this single strike had shattered her Primordial Ice Essence. Two years ago when she'd used this power, Mo Yu could only fight her to a standstill, even slightly at a disadvantage. But now after just two years, he could damage her essence in an instant - what had happened to him during this time?

"Natural spirits truly are hard to kill."

"If you were flesh and blood, you'd already be dead."

Mo Yu coolly observed as other spirit beasts under the Sea Spirit Beast's command rushed to protect the Snow God. Leaving behind these words, he departed under everyone's gaze to continue chasing Lin Jing.

A year ago, he'd used immortal energy to rapidly advance to the Great Perfection stage of Nascent Soul Transformation.

But Mo Yu knew Great Perfection alone wouldn't be enough to kill Lin Jing outright.

So the following year, he painstakingly studied assassination sword techniques, merging the Heavenly Demon Crossing, illusion arts, and Eight-Armed Heavenly Demon Sword Path into one - pursuing ultimate concealment and speed combined.

If frontal combat couldn't easily kill his opponent, then making his attacks utterly unpredictable would dramatically increase his success rate.

"What now..." The four factions present were stunned as Lin Jing and Mo Yu departed one after another. No one had expected the battle for Origin Sources to be this intense.

"After them!" Soon some cultivators chose to follow, hoping to profit from their conflict.

Meanwhile...

After dozens of spatial jumps via the Pine Leaf Mouse, Lin Jing had teleported far away.

"It seems my avatar's cultivation is progressing well."

Lin Jing wiped blood from his lips. Of course - while his true self had obtained Origin Sources, over two years they'd only produced two strands of immortal energy, which he'd given to the Pine Leaf Mouse and Dragon Carp.

Enhanced by immortal energy, the Pine Leaf Mouse's Glazed Immortal Eye evolved. At the Nascent Soul Transformation Stage, it could originally only synthesize up to 5th-tier materials, but with immortal energy it reached 6th-tier - though that experiment nearly cost the mouse half its life, proving immortal energy's incredible value.

As for the Dragon Carp, already possessing numerous powerful exotic flames and having fused its Flame Emperor divine ability to the limit after absorbing Earthcore Immortal Fire - the immortal energy boost raised its ceiling further, allowing fusion of another powerful flame obtained along its path. Subsequent enhancements might not be as dramatic, but immortal energy's value remained undeniable.

Meanwhile, thanks to Sacred Son Sheng Kun's investment, his avatar directly received 100 strands of prepared immortal energy - a massive cultivation advantage.

"Come out."

Lin Jing summoned the bisected Dragon Carp. The two halves instantly transformed into flames, from which a phoenix cry rang out. The flames swirled midair before coalescing back into a complete carp.

"..." The Dragon Carp whimpered in pain. They'd agreed this was acting - couldn't he have cut gentler? Couldn't they have used illusions to fake its death?

"Without truly dying once, this grand performance wouldn't be perfect," Lin Jing said lightly.

"Though our illusion skills are advanced, with so many geniuses present, someone might see through it. Comparatively, even if the Nirvana Flame is noticed, it's inconsequential."

The flame Dragon Carp used was called Nirvana Extinction - the life flame of a fire spirit from the Heaven-Earth Sect, part of whose essence Lin Jing had exchanged for the carp to refine.

Nirvana Flame allowed entering a death-like state when suffering fatal damage, then reviving through flame power. The only cost was temporary inability to use flame energy.

Lin Jing had planned everything since obtaining this exotic flame, having the Ice Soul Gu awaken his avatar's memories in advance for this day.

"Though we can't give Origin Sources to the avatar, having him publicly display overwhelming power to instantly kill my spirit beast despite my celestial beast protection should satisfy Sheng Kun. After this battle, he'll likely receive even greater support."

"My true self obtained the Origin Sources. Though losing some face, it's no real loss since the spirit beasts didn't truly die. Most importantly, the avatar muddying the waters will draw attention away from me, preventing having to deal with all factions after obtaining the treasure."

Currently, after teleporting away using spatial leaf markers, Lin Jing's avatar was pursuing wooden clones created by the Pine Leaf Mouse. Others would likely follow Mo Yu and the clones, allowing his true self to safely return to Xianlin City.

"Let's continue."

Lin Jing called to the panting Pine Leaf Mouse. Wiping sweat, it resumed teleportation. These spatial leaves had been synthesized to 5th-tier, each equivalent to a teleportation array marker - surpassing even Heavenly Demon Crossing in range, though the cost was substantial, requiring meticulous preparation from the leaf stage onward.

Much later elsewhere...

After Mo Yu destroyed the wooden clone decoy with one sword strike, he declared: "Enough, we stop here."

Swallowing another Heart-Beguiling Pill, the now memory-wiped demon grew sullen, raging impotently at failing to seize the Origin Sources.

"Lin Jing, I'll kill you!!!"

This made the Spell Elemental and Ice Soul Gu sweat nervously.

"Boss, boss, that kid was too fast."

"How about we go after that Snow God again? Take back the Origin Sources we failed to get last time."

"We can't return empty-handed." The Ice Soul Gu tempted.

"You're right." Mo Yu coldly turned to the pursuing faction cultivators. "Since these fools want to profit from others' conflicts and enjoy the show, they'll pay the price."