Chapter 145: Breaking Free (Third Shift!)

All kinds of violent, murderous, and destructive forces rippled outward from the Blood Vein Ring, forming an invisible black hole.

The negative emotions and all the negative forces churning within Shi Yan's mind and body surged like meteors into the Blood Vein Ring. Infused with these energies, the devouring force generated by the ring grew even more ferocious.

Shi Yan even felt that at this moment, the Blood Vein Ring could devour the heavens and the earth!

For the first time, the consciousness of the Netherworld Cold Flame showed a hint of panic, actually attempting to retreat into Shi Yan's mind.

The devouring force within the Blood Vein Ring suddenly surged twofold once again!

The Netherworld Cold Flame began to panic, struggling with all its might to escape from Shi Yan's body.

However, the suction force generated by the Blood Vein Ring increased bit by bit!

Not only that, but Shi Yan's blood, the power of his heart, and even the three Yin pearls and his entire vital essence began to spin out of control, streaming out wisps of power that poured into the Blood Vein Ring.

At this moment, the Blood Vein Ring seemed to have become the source of devouring all power in heaven and earth. Its suction forcefully pulled out every single type of energy hidden within Shi Yan's body, swallowing them all.

Shi Yan was horrified.

Acting like an insatiable black hole, the Blood Vein Ring dragged all the residual energies lingering in his body straight into its depths.

Replenished by these forces, the devouring power inside the Blood Vein Ring skyrocketed severalfold once again!

Struggling for its life, the consciousness of the Netherworld Cold Flame tried desperately to escape from Shi Yan's body, but under the manifold increase in suction, it slowly and helplessly slid toward the Blood Vein Ring.

"No! No! No!"

Flashes of soul communication transmitted from the consciousness of the Netherworld Cold Flame. It was genuinely terrified, and Shi Yan could clearly feel its overwhelming fear.

Under the frenzied onslaught of the Blood Vein Ring, the struggles of the Netherworld Cold Flame grew increasingly feeble.

Finally, the consciousness of the Netherworld Cold Flame was forcefully and completely swallowed by the Blood Vein Ring!

Tens of thousands of icy light specks suddenly fluttered out from the dozens of surrounding glaciers. These icy light specks numbered in the hundreds of millions; dense and numerous, they flew over one after another, continuously flashing into the Blood Vein Ring.

Those hundreds of millions of light specks were precisely the power that the Netherworld Cold Flame had dispersed outward. These energies had condensed seawater into towering glaciers specifically to prevent interference from external factors during its soul annexation.

Now that the consciousness of the Netherworld Cold Flame resided within the Blood Vein Ring, those scattered freezing forces were also influenced by its consciousness. When the Blood Vein Ring emitted its devouring suction, those cold energies mistook it for a summons from their master and eagerly flew toward the ring.

Without a sound or a color, the dozens of surrounding glaciers melted one after another.

Lacking the support of the Netherworld Cold Flame's freezing Qi, the glaciers, which were originally condensed from seawater, recovered their original state and turned back into the ocean water.

Only the area right around Shi Yan saw its glacier melting at a somewhat sluggish pace due to the convergence of hundreds of millions of light specks.

Half an hour later.

All the light specks were entirely devoured by the Blood Vein Ring, becoming a part of it.

Shi Yan felt completely limp and powerless.

The astral power within his heart had vanished without a trace.

The Yin pearls within his three acupoints had disappeared completely.

The negative forces in all his acupoints were utterly gone.

His vital essence was completely drained, leaving not a shred behind.

At this moment, Shi Yan did not even possess a sliver of strength.

All the various powers he had absorbed over the years and the vital essence he had painstakingly cultivated had been completely devoured by the Blood Vein Ring.

Only a wisp of faint spiritual power remained in his mind. Attempting to drive that spiritual power, Shi Yan's consciousness tried to sink into the Blood Vein Ring.

Inside the Blood Vein Ring, a mass of silver-white flame had appeared. Floating and drifting within the ring, the flame shot out dazzling ice blossoms across the sky, attempting to break free from the Blood Vein Ring.

Unfortunately, a colossal vortex encircled the outer perimeter of that flame. The vortex locked down the silver-white flame, and no matter how hard the flame tried, it could not break through.

A wisp of incomparably cooling energy drifted out from the Blood Vein Ring.

Shi Yan withdrew his consciousness and looked closely, discovering that a rice-grain-sized white pattern had appeared on the surface of the Blood Vein Ring. That pattern strikingly took the form of the silver-white flame of the Netherworld Cold Flame.

The Netherworld Cold Flame had been swallowed by the Blood Vein Ring, and the flame pattern had manifested on the ring. It seemed to embody some sort of profound principle, yet Shi Yan could not comprehend it.

The cooling energy drifted from the Blood Vein Ring, and under its diffusion, Shi Yan felt immensely comfortable all over, his mind crystal clear.

The ice vanished, and Shi Yan's naked body slowly floated upward toward the sea surface.

Quietly examining his martial spirits, Shi Yan cautiously tried to receive the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, only to find that whether it was the Undying Martial Spirit, the Petrochemical Martial Spirit, or the Astral Martial Spirit, they were all still within him. When driving the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, he could also keenly perceive the fluctuations of that energy.

His body had not undergone any major changes, and his cultivation realm remained at the Second Heaven of the Hundred Tribulations Realm. It was just that the various forces gathered within his body had been forcibly extracted by the Blood Vein Ring.

His vital essence could be recovered, astral power could be gathered using the Astral Martial Spirit, Yin pearls could be re-gathered by finding a place rich in Yin Qi, and those negative forces could simply be replenished in his acupoints by killing people...

The foundations for receiving all kinds of power were still there, so Shi Yan was not worried. Given time, he would quickly recover to his peak condition.

"Linda! Linda! Linda!" Camon shouted loudly, yelling on the deck, "It's fine now, the ship can move..."

Linda, who had just changed into a clean set of teaching robes, came out from the stairs below the deck with a towel in one hand drying her wet hair. Twisting her head, she frowned prettily and asked, "Camon, what are you shouting about..."

"It's fine, the ship can move now..." Camon chuckled. "We can continue on our way now..."

"Huh..." Linda was stunned. She had been planning to ditch the group and claim the credit all by herself. Hearing Camon say this, she hurriedly rushed onto the deck, hesitated for a moment, and then leaped into the sea.

When she had come down earlier, she had found that the small boat was firmly wedged between glaciers, making it completely impossible to easily move away from them. Nor did she believe that Camon and his group had the capability to actually free the boat.

"Plop..."

Plunging headfirst into the seawater, Linda stared intently, and her pretty face suddenly changed.

Not a single one of the dozens of glaciers was left!

Thinking she was hallucinating, Linda vigorously rubbed her eyes in the water, opened them wide, and looked again.

Still nothing!

Not a single glacier!

Everything just moments ago seemed like an illusion, as if glaciers had never existed in this patch of the seabed.

If she were the only one who had seen the abnormality on the seabed, she might really have suspected her eyes were playing tricks on her. However, Camon had also come down earlier and had witnessed the strange glaciers on the seabed.

It was impossible for both of them to have hallucinated!

Linda's expression shifted unpredictably. She kicked her shapely legs continuously, swimming around in the sea to check the situation further away.

Right at that moment.

A naked young man slowly floated upward from the depths below. The young man had a slender figure and translucent skin, but his eyes were unimaginably weak, as if he had suffered severe injuries.

Linda merely glanced at him before covering her mouth and letting out an involuntary scream.

"Wuwu!" Being underwater, she could only emit such a strange sound, but her face was filled with terror. Staring blankly at Shi Yan, her delicate body shook repeatedly as she hurriedly swam toward the small boat.

She was scared.

Shi Yan was taken aback. Feeling weak all over, he had found the upward float exceptionally arduous. Catching sight of a pretty-looking woman in the sea, he was wild with joy, thinking to himself that he was saved.

Little did he know that the moment the woman saw him, it was as if she had seen a demon or a ghost. With a face full of terror, she rushed toward the boat regardless of everything, as if she were afraid he would eat people.

Shi Yan inwardly smiled bitterly, feeling his body growing heavier and heavier. He had to struggle to wave his hand, forcing a smile onto his face to present an image of extreme kindness and gentleness.

Linda had already floated to the surface, greedily gasping in a breath of air, and then lowered her head, looking back down into the water with an expression of utmost terror.

With a completely harmless smile on his face and friendliness filling his eyes, Shi Yan continuously waved at her.

Linda was stunned, staring blankly at Shi Yan with a complex expression.

Shi Yan's body slowly sank downward, his hands and feet growing heavier and heavier. However, the cooling energy overflowing from the Blood Vein Ring kept his mind sharp, and those cooling wisps also possessed the effect of air, preventing him from suffocating to death.

Linda watched Shi Yan with her own eyes, watching him sink bit by bit toward the seabed. After hesitating for a good while, she gritted her teeth, blushed, and plunged back into the sea.

Shi Yan was stark naked, and his little brother below was wagging back and forth in the seawater, acting utterly uninhibited.

Cursing inwardly, Linda didn't dare to look at Shi Yan's lower half. Blushing furiously, she rushed all the way over, kicking her shapely legs rapidly, and quickly approached Shi Yan.

Seeing Linda approach, Shi Yan hurriedly pulled her into a warm embrace, smiling at her repeatedly in the water to express his friendliness.

Yet his body was stark naked without a shred of clothing, and this sudden, forceful embrace immediately made Linda blush even more intensely.

Struggling with all her might, Linda broke free from Shi Yan's arms, shot him a fierce glare, grabbed his left hand, and dragged him straight toward the surface of the sea.

Shi Yan smiled bitterly inside, not daring to cross Linda at this moment, and obediently let her grab him as she pulled him toward the water's surface.

Linda's shapely legs kicked, her long hair danced in the seawater, and her swaying plump hips sent ripples of water layers rolling outward, resembling a beautiful water eel in the ocean.

Shi Yan looked at Linda beside him, letting his gaze wander over her entire body as he praised her inwardly.

"Splash..."

Linda finally broke through the water's surface. Beside her, Shi Yan also popped his head out, a smile lingering at the corner of his mouth, though his voice was exceptionally weak: "Thank you..."

Linda snorted, flushed red, and called out to Camon above: "Throw down a piece of