Chapter 349

Chapter 349: Northern Cultivators: How to Fight?

“???”

The sudden disintegration of Mu Lin’s body didn’t please the swordsman—instead, it gave him a huge scare.

He refused to believe Mu Lin could be so weak as to be taken down in an instant.

"A clone, maybe?"

Just as he started wildly guessing and tried to scan his surroundings—

*Riiip!*

His movements locked up.

Moments after shredding Mu Lin with his Disintegration Eye, an overwhelming force of disintegration suddenly hit his own body.

"This is… my own attack?"

"When?"

"How?"

Confusion flooded the swordsman’s mind.

He’d get no answers.

Though Mu Lin’s damage reflection wasn’t perfect, the swordsman’s situation turned desperate. The Disintegration Eye kept tearing at his flesh.

Before this, he’d maintained his body’s integrity using mana and sealing arts as glue.

But the unexpected disintegration force shattered that fragile balance.

His body exploded into pieces without warning.

*Riiip!*

Worse than Mu Lin’s fate—the disintegration’s source lay inside his own body, tearing him apart more violently.

"Pity. I warned you to surrender."

The swordsman’s dying sight showed Mu Lin’s scattered pieces reforming into a whole.

But while Mu Lin could rebuild himself, the blind swordsman couldn’t.

"…"

"…"

"…"

One glance. One clash. The blind swordsman who’d fought evenly with Blood Cherry now lay dead. The arena fell deathly quiet.

Even the Southern Prodigies stayed silent.

They knew Mu Lin was strong—but this?

The shock paralyzed the crowd for over ten breaths.

Then deafening cheers erupted around the combat grounds.

"I knew! I knew it!"

"Lord Mu Lin is truly unbeatable!"

"Haha! Serves you right for acting so cocky and overconfident!"

"Hey, northern barbarians! Surrender now while you can. Step up again and you’ll die…"

Mu Lin’s overwhelming victory sent the southern aristocrats into roaring cheers—they finally released their pent-up frustration from being bullied by the northerners.

Meanwhile, the northern prodigies wore grim faces. Truthfully, regret gnawed at them now. Even Iron Tower and Qing hadn’t expected Mu Lin to be as terrifyingly strong as the southerners boasted—no lies detected. Given another chance, they’d have chosen differently. But no undoing the past.

Now enemies of Mu Lin, retreat wasn’t an option—the soldiers of North Wilderness still needed the resources only they could deliver. Fear or not, they had to press on. After exchanging tense looks, they analyzed Mu Lin’s skills.

"Did anyone catch how he attacked?"

The answer came easily: "Substitution and counter-damage. The blind one died from his own strike."

Qing cut in, "Who here can block that?"

Silence fell. Near-total counter-damage wasn’t survivable for most. Worse, they remembered southern claims they’d once dismissed:

"Lord Mu Lin has an immortal body! He outlasted an evil god’s son using substitution…"

At the Essence and Evil realm, surviving death hundreds of times sounded absurd—northern scholars had laughed it off as southern bravado. Not anymore.

If true, beating Mu Lin meant killing him a hundred times. But with counter-damage, each kill would rebound as suicide. Impossible. Many northern prodigies now believed this power surpassed the Essence and Evil realm entirely.

They weren’t wrong. Grandmaster-level Substitute Paper Figures belonged to top Transformation experts or Earth Immortals—far beyond their level. Mu Lin’s dimensional strike crushed them unfairly.

But north-south rivalry wasn’t about fairness—you fought with every tool available. The north had wielded forbidden power freely before. Besides, spell mastery wasn’t considered "external" aid, even in fair matches.

After a heavy pause, an uncommonly calm northern scholar stepped forward.

“Counter-damage was also a disaster. Let me deal with it.”

Hearing this, the others sighed in relief, but their leader Qing rejected Luo Chen’s request.

“We can’t. Luo Chen, you’re the final trump card of the Young Group. If you lose, our junior division faces complete defeat. This would let the southern aristocrats regain half their advantage, ruining our entire mission.”

The Great Spirit Dynasty always knew the north surpassed the south in Martial Spirit.

A narrow victory wouldn’t satisfy the northern aristocrats’ demands.

Only total victory mattered.

This required both Youth Group and Young Group to triumph.

While the Youth Group dominated, Mu Lin stood like an impassable mountain in the Young Group’s path. Until they understood Mu Lin’s capabilities, they dared not deploy their strongest warrior—the Son of the Wandering Star, Luo Chen.

The price of failure was too high.

After stopping Luo Chen, Qing bowed to the northern youths. “On behalf of northern generals and aristocrats, I ask you to fight. At least uncover Mu Lin’s secrets.”

Some hesitated, but one declared fearlessly: “I’ll handle this. Don’t lose hope—no spell is unbeatable. Expect good news.”

With a rustle,

A sinister youth who looked like a snake leaped onto the arena. His serpentine eyes gleamed as tiny snakes wriggled beneath his skin.

His hands transformed into two long snakes—one gray, one crimson.

Yet his most striking feature wasn’t the snakes, but the grotesque warts covering his body.

The repulsive growths triggered visceral disgust, making him appear monstrously ugly.

Beyond ugliness, he radiated danger.

‘He actually threatens me? His forbidden power must be potent.’

While Mu Lin observed, crushing pressure fell upon him—forcing the challenger to unleash full power instantly, like the blind swordsman before.

“Hssss!”

The hideous figure morphed into a towering snake-man.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Bursting warts released a red-gray Toxic Mist that engulfed Mu Lin.

As before, Mu Lin didn’t evade—merely holding his breath.

Without resistance, the poison ravaged his body.

Organs shriveled, cells decayed. Wrinkles creased his face as hair whitened.

Worse, a venomous serpent struck his soul.

The corrosion eroded his soul power while numbing his spirit, slowing reactions.

Noticing Mu Lin’s frown, the snake-man chuckled.

“Too late. My forbidden power holds two poisons. The first decays flesh—its ultimate advancement brings celestial ruin.

The second poisons souls, melting spiritual power and dulling reflexes… Ungh!”

He grunted suddenly.

Clearly, with the substitution ability activated, he was also affected by the poison.

However, unlike the blind swordsman, the poison did not kill him. He endured the counter-damage wave, though dozens more grotesque warts erupted across his body.

Since he was unharmed, he burst into laughter.

"Haha! I knew your ability wasn’t invincible!"

Confident of victory, he strode towards Mu Lin while declaring, "You’re too arrogant."

"My original form wasn’t serpentine. I chose this wretched snake shape to resist deadly poisons. Though ugly and twisted, this body boasts extreme toxin resistance."

"These grotesque warts make me immune to my own poison… rendering your counter-damage ability useless."

"Without counter-damage, you might still have other tricks. Had you been less cocky, this could’ve been a real fight. But you foolishly ignored my poison – you’re seeking your own doom. Can’t you feel it? Your soul’s turning numb and rigid. You can’t even…"

"You talk too much."

Mu Lin interrupted Snake Man Tao Bin’s rant impatiently. The serpentine cultivator froze when hearing his clear speech.

"How can you still speak?!"

Mu Lin scoffed internally. Any poison’s effectiveness depended on dosage. Though Snake Man Tao Bin’s soul toxin was potent, it couldn’t breach Mu Lin’s fortified spiritual defenses.

Moreover, Mu Lin’s refined essence had transformed his soul. Both his Aurora high-level resources and Chaos Origin Essence could purge toxins – not that he’d explain this to his enemy.

Growing bored, Mu Lin decided to end the battle.

"You resisted my poison? Impressive. But without counter-damage, you’ve lost your main…"

The talkative snake-man froze mid-sentence. Mu Lin was summoning a special force that felt mountainous in weight. Yet instead of attacking, Mu Lin channeled this power into himself.

*Buzz!*

Yellow stone patterns spread across Mu Lin’s flesh as he activated Central Earth Evil’s petrification effect… on himself.

Snake Man Tao Bin stared dumbfounded – until he noticed stone creeping up his own limbs.

"Wait! Your counter-damage reflects ALL injuries onto me?!"

"Damned cheat ability!"

Cold sweat drenched the snake-man. He’d tolerated claims of an immortal body requiring hundredfold kills. He’d accepted the poison resistance contest. But this? Self-harm becoming mutual destruction?

Even the spectating monsters gaped in disbelief.