Within the valley

The Dragon Turtle Demon leisurely swung its tail, rolling up half of a Magma Demon's corpse and stuffing it into its mouth, its coarse tongue licking over the shredded meat on the remains, bones being crunched to powder between its fangs, with dark green juice dripping from the corners of its mouth, corroding the black stone and sizzling into small pits.

The skin beneath its shell felt the nourishment of the Demonic Qi, each scale slightly heating up, the energy within its body like magma about to boil, making it let out a comfortable moan.

At that moment, a sharp sense of crisis pierced the mind like an ice pick!

This feeling came without warning—no energy fluctuation, no breath leaking, yet it instinctively sensed the approach of death.

The Dragon Turtle Demon abruptly closed its eyes, tightening every muscle instantly, the magma on its shell suddenly erupting, concentrated Demonic Qi condensing on the surface into a thick shield, strong enough to withstand Tier Six attacks.

It couldn't even turn its head to look for the enemy, only feeling a tingling pain coming from its left eye.

The shield was penetrated!

"Sst..."

The sound of wind as thin as a strand of hair was nearly masked by the flow of Demonic Qi, the next second, intense pain swept through its body like a tsunami!

The bullet pierced through its proud thick eyelid, that layer meant to withstand claw-tearing was like thin paper before this attack.

The scorching projectile drilled into the eye socket with the force to tear everything apart, ignoring the layered nerves and bones, precisely crashing into the brain core.

"Roar—!"

The Dragon Turtle Demon let out a shrill roar that turned distorted, its massive body suddenly springing from the black stone, limbs frantically digging, flipping rocks several zhang high.

But this struggle was futile, the explosion inside the brain reverberated within the skull, consciousness melting like ice tossed into magma, disappearing visibly.

The fierce light in the yellow eyes quickly dimmed, the body thudding back onto the black stone, stirring up a cloud of dust.

The magma on its shell lost energy support, slowly solidifying into a dark brown, its mouth still had remnants of uneaten meat, but those dim yellow eyes had entirely lost their luster.

Until the final moment of death, it couldn't understand—where did that deadly attack come from?

And why could it penetrate its layers of defense, precisely hitting the most fragile part of the brain?

Whho~

The breeze carried a rich scent of blood past the valley entrance, opening a faint red under the dark purple sky.

Deep within the Demon Cave, the Dragon Turtle Demon's presence extinguished like a candle flame, the surrounding demons instantly fell into chaos, their terrified roars causing layered echoes in the valley, even the Demonic Qi stirred by the demon tide was disrupted by this panic.

Outside the valley, Qin Tian's lips had just curved into a smile, when suddenly, an abrupt change occurred.

"Ugh ah!"

A ripping pain exploded in his mind as if countless icy steel needles were drilling from his temples, aiming to churn his brain into mush.

His vision was instantly drowned in blood-red, sharp buzzing filled his ears, even breathing felt like a sharp cut.

More terrifying was the Qi and Blood in his body—like a ruptured skin bag, the scalding Life Force rapidly draining visibly.

The skin lost its color at an astonishing rate, turning from warm to cold, the dark purple glow on the Demon King's Wings quickly dulled, the edges even beginning to shrink.

"What's happening..."

Qin Tian bit his tongue hard, trying to maintain consciousness with pain, but his awareness flickered like a candle swept by the wind.

He could clearly feel his heartbeat growing weaker, each beat carrying a heavy sense of dying, the fingers holding "Shadowstrike" started to become stiff, consciousness seemingly ready to dissolve at any moment.

This wasn't an injury, it was more like his Life Force was being forcibly drained by some invisible force.

He could even feel his life's fire rapidly shrinking, leaving only a weak spark, ready to extinguish in the next moment.

His body uncontrollably fell from mid-air, the Demon King's Wings drooping powerlessly, even the strength to flap was gone.

Nearby, several demons sensed his presence, eyes gleaming with greed, roaring as they sped towards him.

Just as Qin Tian's consciousness was about to plunge into darkness, with only a thread between him and death, suddenly, deep within his dantian, a thread of faint golden light burst forth.

This golden light initially weak as a firefly, yet carrying an indescribably gentle force, instantly flowing through his entire body along the meridians.

Wherever it traveled, the dispersing Qi and Blood seemed seized by an invisible hand, the draining speed abruptly halted; the intense pain in his mind was like being doused with icy water, the ripping sensation rapidly fading.

"Desolate... Immortal"

A vague thought flashed through Qin Tian's mind, the golden light within him forming an invisible barrier, firmly locking his last bit of life's fire, unaffected by any external tugging.

Then, a more peculiar occurrence took place, the locked Qi and Blood began to slowly recover, the initially cold skin regained color, the heart's beating gradually strengthened, the scattered consciousness rising like from deep sea, gradually clear.

"Whew... ha..."

Qin Tian took a sharp breath of sulfur-scented air, coughing violently, the sputum with blood threads, yet allowing him to genuinely feel the reality of "being alive".

He raised a hand to touch his cheek, warm to the touch, the golden light in his dantian had faded, but the gentle force still slowly mending his body.

He looked down at the "Shadowstrike" in his hand, the black specter of the gun becoming active again, the barrel slightly trembling, as if inquiring his condition.

Qin Tian gasped, a deep sense of lingering fear flashing in his eyes.

"That was close."

Just a bit more, and his life would have been forcibly stripped away.

Luckily at the crucial moment, the immortal effect of the [Desolate Battle Body] activated, instantly restoring 50% of his health when reaching a near-death state, with Life Value below 15%.

Thus, his life was spared.

He was certain, the near-death state just now was definitely related to the Dragon Turtle Demon he killed, as to the reason, he looked at the two purple light spheres he just obtained, and instantly knew the answer.

[Name]Demon Pattern Turtle Shell (Purple)

[Type]Composite Talent

[Introduction]When absorbing surrounding Demonic Qi, dark golden Demon Patterns will appear on the surface, gradually weaving into turtle shell patterns as Demonic Qi accumulates, with physical strength and defense power receiving a qualitative leap.

Active·Turtle Shell Recoil: Consumes internal energy to form a turtle shell armor shield, when attacked, 35% of the damage (including physical, energy, and spiritual attacks) is rebounded to the attacker, during which defense power temporarily increases by 60%.

Turtle Shell Recoil can rebound 35% of the damage, but that's not enough to nearly cause his downfall, the truly deadly part is the second talent.

[Name]Life Resonance (Purple)

[Type]Passive Talent

[Introduction]When you suffer a deadly attack causing your Life Value to drop by more than 40% instantaneously, Life Resonance will automatically activate. The injuries you endure (including physical trauma, energy erosion, spiritual shock) will immediately be synchronized onto the attacker, regardless of the distance, whether they possess a tangible form or not, they will be forcibly affected by the effect. Resonance intensity will weaken with increasing power gap, minimum not less than 60%.

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