Chapter 77 - Battle of the Holy Temple Part 2

The Demon Lord charged at Lu Hong, the giant spear in his hand slashing down from above, mixed with thunderous power.

After the last collision, Lu Hong was very clear about the enormous strength of the Demon Lord.

He summoned all his Fighting Spirit, showing no intention of dodging, and his great sword burst forth with a brilliant dark glow to meet the attack.

This time, Lu Hong was fully prepared.

The spear of the Demon Lord was no longer unstoppable and was firmly blocked by Lu Hong.

“Human!

You should die!” the Demon Lord exerted all his strength, but could not push the spear any further.

Feeling the significant difference in Lu Hong’s strength and a touch of annoyance, he wondered how a mere human could possess the same strength as his grand lordship.

The Demon Lord kept swinging his spear, launching attack after attack, and Lu Hong, holding his sword in both hands, blocked every one of the ferocious blows without giving the Demon Lord any chance to strike.

“Die for me!” After no less than three hundred exchanges, the Demon Lord stamped his foot heavily, purple demonic power pouring into the ground and dashing toward Lu Hong.

Fortunately, Lu Hong reacted in time, narrowly avoiding the demonic power that burst forth from the ground.

Taking this opportunity, Lu Hong also leaped into the air, his Fighting Spirit ceaselessly circulating within him: “Jump Slash!”

“Too slow!” the Demon Lord, with his wealth of combat experience and intimate knowledge of warrior skills, had already firmly seized upon Lu Hong’s vulnerability as he leaped into the air.

Seeing the Demon Lord sweep his spear through the air, Lu Hong exclaimed in alarm, “Not good!”

In mid-air, Lu Hong couldn’t change his move in time.

The spear struck him, driving him into the ground below.

“If not for Bodo’s sneak attack, how could I possibly fall to you humans?

In your next life, repent your ignorance and arrogance!” the Demon Lord pursued his advantage, pouring demonic power into his spear with both hands, the weapon quickly engulfed in demonic flames.

“Die!” A dark purple column of magic smashed into the pit where Lu Hong was, and the force suddenly erupted, shattering the ground of the combat arena inch by inch.

The malevolent flames soared into the sky, and even the resentful spirits in the spectator seats did not escape this calamity, vanishing without a trace from the shockwave.

“Hahaha, Bodo!

Where are you?

Come out and battle me again!” The Demon Lord roared triumphantly, pleased with his own masterpiece, as he stood in the deep pit of the Bloodied Arena, vowing to avenge his earlier disgrace.

“Is he dead?” Bodo stared intently at the Crystal Ball.

If Lu Hong was indeed dead, then why hadn’t the Holy Temple declared the end of the trial?

Could it be that he was still alive after such an attack?

“Impossible, he’s just a First Transition little warrior, without even having his Third Skills unlocked, how could he withstand the assault of demonic power?” Minutes passed, yet the Holy Temple still had not proclaimed the end of the trial, leaving Bodo filled with doubt.

“Bodo?

Where are you?

If you don’t show yourself, then I will come to find you!” The Demon Lord, seeing no response from Bodo, decided to take the initiative.

He slung his spear on his back and began to climb the walls of the Bloodied Arena, aiming to get out of the pit and back to the surface, then storm the Holy Temple and kill Bodo.

“Cough, cough!” But as the Demon Lord was climbing, an arm covered in blood emerged from beneath the rubble – it was Lu Hong’s.

“Hm?” The Demon Lord looked at Lu Hong at the bottom of the pit with some surprise: “You’re actually not dead?”

Lu Hong struggled out of the ground, his body scorched by demonic power, his skin already festering beyond recognition.

“You truly are strong,” Lu Hong said, pulling his weapon from the ground and looking up at the climbing Demon Lord, laughing.

“You can still laugh?

With the erosion of demonic power, if you don’t die, you’ll be left crippled,” the Demon Lord Bodo Curse raged, hating how this lowly human could time and again escape death.

“I told you, I’d give you a very satisfying duel experience.

Let’s do it again,” Lu Hong took a deep breath, completely ignoring his injuries, and challenged the Demon Lord once more.

“This time, you’re undoubtedly going to die!” Bodo Curse released his grip on the rocks, leaping down from on high, with purple demonic flames sweeping toward Lu Hong.

“This time, you must be dead,” Bodo said with a satisfied smile, watching the scene unfold.

Yet at this critical moment, Lu Hong actually closed his eyes.

Right then, he was silently feeling the beat of his heart, grasping the pulse of his own bloodflow!

As his will delved deeper, Lu Hong seemed to see his own beating heart.

With every beat, it pumped blood throughout his body, and that blood seemed to contain some kind of mystic power – the power of the Bloodline.

His consciousness continued to dive deeper, and Lu Hong saw a single drop of his own blood.

Transformed by the Bloodline, each drop of his blood was like a beating heart, pulsating with a mysterious rhythm.

“Grasp it, and you will unlock the power of the Bloodline,” a deep and distant voice called out from beyond, guiding Lu Hong.

“Catch it, catch it!” Lu Hong stared intently at the drop of blood before his eyes, watching it pulsate, feeling its rhythm.

Outside of his will, the Demon Lord’s massive fist had already touched the tips of Lu Hong’s flowing hair: “Die!”

At the critical moment, the beating of Lu Hong’s heart finally synchronized with that of his blood.

“Roar!” Lu Hong suddenly opened his eyes wide, focusing on the Demon Lord before him, retreated half a step, and threw a punch in retaliation.

“Impossible!” The sudden turn of events left the Demon Lord with no time to react, and Lu Hong’s punch sent him flying, collapsing half of the stone wall.

“How could you possibly have such strength?

Impossible!

Impossible!” The Demon Lord got up, picked up a spear, and thrust it towards Lu Hong.

At this moment, under the enhancement of the Lionheart Bloodline Power, both Lu Hong’s speed and strength had increased several times.

The Demon Lord’s attacks, which were originally as fast as lightning, now seemed half as fast and were completely manageable.

Lu Hong dropped his weapon, grasped the tip of the Demon Lord’s spear with both hands, let out a roar, and with immense force, flung Bodo away.

“How could…

how is this possible?” Bodo, watching the changes within the Crystal Ball, expressed his astonishment along with the Demon Lord sprawled on the ground.

“How could he suddenly possess such tremendous strength?

It’s impossible, how could humans have strength surpassing demons?” For the first time, Bodo felt a sense of reverence for Lu Hong the warrior.

Relying on sheer strength alone, once he got stronger it would undoubtedly be terrifying.

If during the ancient battle of the Abyss humans were all as strong as Lu Hong, combating demons would have been many times easier.

Lu Hong was also confused.

The Lionheart Bloodline Power had always been dormant within him, with no known way to unleash it.

The Demon Lord’s previous deadly attack hadn’t truly brought Lu Hong to the brink of life and death.

It must have been something underground that triggered the power of his bloodline, giving Lu Hong the chance to unlock its shackles.

This resonance of bloodline power granted Lu Hong a burst-type BUFF ability, the Lion King’s Descent.

When Lion King’s Descent was activated, all physical abilities could surge several times over.

The higher the bloodline level, the more dramatic the increase, though currently Lu Hong could only double his attributes.

However, this enhancement was sufficient to handle the Demon Lord.

“No, no!

You’re merely a lowly human, how could you surpass the mighty divine power of my race?” The Demon Lord got up, clenched his spear tightly, and launched a torrential assault.

This time, Lu Hong was not merely defending.

He picked up the weapon from the ground and counter-attacked, and with every spear thrust by the Demon Lord, Lu Hong aggressively parried it away.

This exchange forced the Demon Lord to retreat, driving him to the edge of the arena where he had no room to retreat.

“Damn it!” Each of the Demon Lord’s spear thrusts felt like striking solid rock, sending painful vibrations up his arms, almost causing him to drop the spear.

When the Demon Lord finally lost his edge and shrank to the edge of the arena, Lu Hong cracked a smile and said, “Is it my turn now that you’ve finished attacking?”

“Not yet!” The Demon Lord would not admit defeat so easily.

Discarding his spear, he began to condense demonic power in his hands, his aura forming spectral flames around him, turning into hundreds of demon claws converging on Lu Hong from all directions.

Lu Hong also didn’t dodge.

He let these countless claws tear at his body.

He wanted to see just how strong his defense was now, and it proved to be far beyond the upper limits of a First Transition’s peak, unshaken by the demon claws’ attempts to rend him, not even a layer of his skin could be peeled off.

“Very good.” Lu Hong was quite satisfied with his current state, his hands moved together to grasp the Demon Lord’s hundreds of flailing arms, and he used all his strength to throw Bodo up into the air.

He then picked up the spear from the ground, coated it with Fighting Spirit to enhance its armor-piercing effect, and aimed fiercely at his skull and threw it with all his might.

“You can’t break my defense!

The level cap of a First Transition’s peak has limited the extent of your strength, you need at least the power of a mid-level Second Transition to breach my stomach armor,” Bodo scoffed as he watched the spear race towards him: “Without breaking my defense, you can’t kill me.”

Bodo tried to intercept the spear with the arms made of demonic flames behind him, but before the demon claws could touch the spear, they were torn to shreds by the Fighting Spirit Lu Hong had affixed to it.

“How is this possible?

It’s a low-level Armor Penetration skill, but why is the effect so strong?!” The Demon Lord, of course, recognized the skill Lu Hong was using but couldn’t understand why the Armor Penetration effect was so potent.

Right up until the moment the spear loomed before him, Bodo finally showed a look of terror: “No!

No, no!”

Amidst the Demon Lord’s reluctant roar, the spear pierced through his skull, nailing him to the stone wall.

Fortunately, the Demon Lord was currently in a soul state and had no prowess in soul-based skills.

Otherwise, even if his body was pierced with holes, he would still have the ability to regenerate and strike back.

As the Demon Lord died, his soul turned into a wisp of purple dust and then disappeared without a trace.

“Blood Duel Arena passed!” A deep voice echoed within the Holy Temple, and Bodo’s expression turned extremely grim.

From Lu Hong’s performance against the Demon Lord, he had become a significant threat.

“Sigh~” Lu Hong deactivated the Lion King’s Descent mode, and immediately a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him.

He hadn’t even taken a step before he fell to the ground and passed out.