Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi suddenly feigned death and then sprang to life, instantly striking out, aiming directly for Gu Qingfeng's life spring at the crown of his head.
His speed was incredibly fast, like a sudden clap of thunder that leaves no time to cover one's ears. However, someone was even faster.
It happened in the blink of an eye.
The moment Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi made his move, Gu Qingfeng simultaneously acted, grabbing Lin Chi's wrist with one hand. Squinting his eyes, Gu Qingfeng said with a smile, "I kindly saved your life, and not only are you ungrateful, you actually try to ambush me in return? First luring me with the seal, then deliberately feigning death... I must say, you old geezer really know how to play!"
As his words fell, Gu Qingfeng gave a fierce yank, brutally tearing off both of Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi's arms.
"Ah!"
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi let out a heart-rending roar. His originally shriveled, corpse-like physical body suddenly swelled violently, his entire body glowing with radiance as if burning with raging flames. At the same time, a wild and violent power erupted from him in rolling waves.
Gu Qingfeng could see that Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi was going all out, igniting his own bloodline, using his physical body as a magical treasure, intending to detonate it in a desperate attempt to take Gu Qingfeng down with him.
With quick eyes and swift hands, Gu Qingfeng took a single step and arrived instantly, grabbing Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi by the throat. With absolute force, he suppressed Lin Chi's swelling physical body. Lin Chi couldn't move, but his body continued to expand as if it might explode at any moment.
"Shame on you, an Ancestral Patriarch of Dan Ding Valley, resorting to such lowly tricks. It's nothing more than igniting your bloodline and detonating your physical body. No need to detonate it yourself—I can grant your wish right now!"
With a sickening crack, Gu Qingfeng snapped Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi's neck, tore off his head, and kicked it away. With a thunderous explosion, Lin Chi's physical body blew apart. Flesh and blood flew everywhere in an instant. Although it unleashed a powerful force, it failed to harm Gu Qingfeng in the slightest.
"Since you've blown up your own physical body, I suppose the next step is to try to seize my body, right?"
Gu Qingfeng held Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi's head in his hand. With a squeeze of his five fingers, the head was crushed to dust with a bang. He snorted disdainfully, "Get out here!"
Whoosh!
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi's soul appeared, transforming into a cloud of mist that swept forward, instantly enveloping Gu Qingfeng. He intended to take this opportunity to enter Gu Qingfeng's body through his acupoints and seize his physical body. Perhaps he discovered that not only were Gu Qingfeng's acupoints not closed, they were wide open, and each acupoint was like an abyss filled with deathly stillness.
At this moment, Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi finally realized he had provoked someone he shouldn't have. His mist-like soul transformed into a wisp of a whirlwind, attempting to flee.
"What's this? Not going to seize my body anymore?"
The corner of Gu Qingfeng's mouth held a playful smile. "Today, whether you want to seize it or not, you're going to seize it. Get over here!"
Without any visible movement, the acupoints all over his body suddenly opened wide, instantly swallowing the mist-like form of Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi. It was as clean as inhaling a mouthful of spiritual energy—completely absorbed.
At this moment, Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi was filled with nothing but regret.
Trapped in the Desolate Ancient ruins for endless ages, he had already despaired, holding no hope of leaving alive, and had prepared himself to sit in meditation until death. Gu Qingfeng's sudden appearance was like light appearing in the darkness, giving the despairing Lin Chi a glimpse of hope for survival.
When he first discovered Gu Qingfeng, he had been hesitating whether to risk everything to seize Gu Qingfeng's physical body.
Because Gu Qingfeng's existence was too mysterious and too bizarre. Not only did he have no discernible cultivation level, he also possessed no obvious destiny or fortune. This left Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi both unable to comprehend and deeply wary. He couldn't be sure if a desperate attempt at possession would succeed.
When he heard Gu Qingfeng say that the Desolate Ancient ruins had already appeared in the world, he could no longer restrain himself and decided to gamble everything.
He had been trapped in these Desolate Ancient ruins for a very, very long time. He desperately wanted to leave this place, desperately wanted to return to the Great Desolate.
If he waited for the primordial essence to gently nourish him and slowly recover his vitality, who knew how many years or months that would take.
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi had no patience to wait that long. He feared that if too much time passed, something else might change, or other people might arrive. Once there were more people, it would be too late to make a move.
Therefore.
In the end, Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi decided to gamble. He had thought to first lure Gu Qingfeng with the method of breaking the seal, then feign death, waiting for Gu Qingfeng to approach carelessly before launching a surprise attack.
Given his current state—his oil nearly spent, his lamp about to go out, his strength long since dissipated—he didn't expect this surprise attack to accomplish much against Gu Qingfeng. It was merely a feint. His real killing move was igniting his bloodline and detonating his physical body, hoping to use the explosive force to take Gu Qingfeng down with him. Even if he couldn't kill him, he thought, at the very least it would leave Gu Qingfeng severely injured. As long as Gu Qingfeng was wounded, he would have a chance to use his own soul to seize the body.
However, what Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi never expected was that not only did the feint fail to work, even igniting his bloodline and detonating his physical body had no effect whatsoever. Forget about killing Gu Qingfeng or even severely injuring him—he couldn't even shake Gu Qingfeng the slightest bit.
By this point, Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi had already realized that Gu Qingfeng's existence was far more bizarre than he had imagined. He no longer dared to continue the attempt at possession and could only try to escape.
Unfortunately.
Facing Gu Qingfeng, he had no chance of escape whatsoever—not even the slightest shred.
What made him feel utterly despairing was that his own soul had actually been sucked into Gu Qingfeng's body through his acupoints.
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi was not only an Ancestral Patriarch of Dan Ding Valley but also a powerhouse from the Primordial Era. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a situation, and he had no idea what Gu Qingfeng intended to do.
Suddenly.
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi thought of one possibility: refinement!
Could it be he wants to refine my soul?
No!
Absolutely impossible!
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi knew very well that the soul was the origin of a cultivator. Throughout history, there had always been those who used soul refinement to enhance their cultivation. There were many methods of refining souls, and he himself was a master of soul refinement. He clearly knew that the greatest taboo in soul refinement was refining within one's own body. Especially refining a living soul within the body was an extremely dangerous affair. The slightest carelessness could affect one's heart-mind. Once the heart-mind was affected, consciousness would inevitably become chaotic. Once consciousness became chaotic, it was even possible to be possessed instead.
Even those old demons with extremely rich experience in soul refinement rarely refined living souls within their own bodies, fearing accidents during the refinement process that could lead to them being possessed.
Moreover, this person had no cultivation level whatsoever and no destiny or fortune. What could he possibly use to refine his soul?
Ancestral Patriarch Lin Chi didn't dwell on it, nor did he dare to. Since he was inside the body, he immediately activated his soul, unleashing a great Dao spiritual secret technique, attempting to influence Gu Qingfeng's heart-mind and find an opportunity to seize Gu Qingfeng's soul.