Not all cultivators knew self-destruction techniques. Like any other combat technique, as counterproductive as a suicide technique sounded, they were passed down as secrets or as valued techniques within clans and Sects just like other skills.

The righteous cultivators who Yin Na drove to their suicides earlier learned their exploding techniques exclusively for the purpose and with the understanding that their demonic cultivator enemy could exploit their bodies and resources after death. Thus, their body-exploding techniques were somewhat useful.

However, Tian Ji Han did not know any self-destructing techniques besides the standard of simply forcing one’s qi base inwards and killing oneself quietly.

Nevertheless, Yin Na saw the glow of Tian Ji Han’s body that indicated he was self-destructing. But this was not a technique, it was the symptom of the pill which Tian Ji Han just consumed.

Yin Na felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise, as his heart beat rapidly with the observation of Tian Ji Han’s rapidly climbing cultivation.

Tian Ji Han’s Golden Core went from 89% to 90%, then 95%, then went to 100%! But what was truly frightening was that the growth of his core did not stop.

The core continued to expand in power and size, rising steadily to 110%... to 150%... to 200%!

Finally, Tian Ji Han’s Golden Core had reached 300% of “perfection.”

Although his qi reserves remained the same, his body had hardened to diamonds, and his strength was enough to destroy mountains.

In all aspects, Tian Ji Han was now stronger than most Nascent soul cultivators!

All of the blades, axes, flames and elemental bolts bounced harmlessly off of Tian Ji Han’s flesh.

Now it was Yin Na’s turn to retreat. He hopped on his Spicy Oil Boar mount and teleported, using all of his single-use teleportation spells to further the distance as much as he could. Unexpectedly, Tian Ji Han’s flying speed at 300% power was faster than Yin Na could even teleport on a mount!

Yin Na fired more weapons at Tian Ji Han, but Tian Ji Han was invulnerable to damage, and adamant on the pursuit.

Tian Ji Han easily killed the desolate beasts which threw themselves at him, sending chunks of carcasses raining blood over the forest. He relentlessly pushed on, closing in on Yin Na.

With every li, he was fighting for his beliefs and his ideals- his burning desire to vanquish evil driving him on! The swords and other weapons that bounced off his flesh hardly slowed him down.

Yin Na’s heart sunk as he realized that not only had he run out of teleportation and speed-boosting scrolls, he had suddenly run out of weapons to throw at Tian Ji Han.

“Wait!” Yin Na shouted, panic in his voice for the first time. “Brother Ji Han,” he shouted, putting emphasis on the “brother.”

“Brother Ji Han, please wait!” The sight of Yin Na retreating while telling his former “Brother” to wait was almost comical.

“...” Tian Ji Han did not respond, as he blocked blue-colored blasts with a stone-cold expression. Those attacks would have incinerated a Golden Cultivator, but they did nothing to his temporarily-enhanced flesh that was on par with a Nascent Soul cultivator.

“Perhaps…perhaps we can talk it out!” Yin Na said. “This is all a misunderstanding!”

Tian Ji Han couldn’t believe his ears.

“You…” The veins on his forehead twitched. “You have the guts to call all this a ‘misunderstanding’ right now? To bargain in such a cowardly way…you are such a typical Demon! Truly shameless!”

“Brother Ji Han,” Yin Na said. “Don’t think too small by lowering your benevolent self to petty revenge. You originally intended to simply capture me and make me repent for my crimes, right? You could not have possibly intended to use that dreadful Soul Overload pill and throw away your life in the process.

“But don’t worry, Brother Ji Han. Brother Yin Na learned many secrets over his cultivation journey. Why, I even have several treasure pills in my Void Ring that can reverse the Soul Overload process and save your life!”

“You’re not talking your way out of this, Yin Na!” shouted Tian Ji Han. “Even if there existed a method to reverse the Soul Overload process, I would still not take it if it means your death!”

Yin Na was obviously lying.

“But I’m not lying to you!” Yin Na shouted, tears flowing down his cheeks. “Brother, even if you destroy me, you would not give me a chance to repent and reform? I suddenly recalled all the moments you’ve beaten me during our youth, and how you’ve mercifully and tirelessly forgiven me for every transgression. I know now that Brother Tian Ji Han did it all for me, for my moral development! You have always done everything for others, not sparing a thought to self-gain or worrying about self-harm to do so. This is your benevolence, which I have been taking for granted until now. I have seen the light!”

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At that moment, Tian Ji Han recalled the myriad sparring sessions shared with his Dao Brother Yin Na, when they were still together in the Hidden Fist Sect. Tian Ji Han was always the better fighter, frequently beating Yin Na without effort. However, Yin Na always found ways to get back at Tian Ji Han or reverse the tables just at the critical moment when his defeat looked inevitable.

“Stop talking worthless garbage!” Tian Ji Han shouted as he was nearly on top of Yin Na. “Knowing your history, none of your words are convincing. You think I’d let you buy time to pull off another trick?!”

Tian Ji Han swung his Golden Dragon Sword, missing Yin Na’s head by inches, while cutting off several strands of his hair.

Almost instantly, the pleading, cowardly expression on Yin Na’s face disappeared as if it were never there.

“Nevermind then.”

Yin Na turned his waist nearly 180 degrees on his boar mount, and concentrated a huge amount of qi in his chambered shoulder and arm.

He threw a brick at Tian Ji Han.

CRACK!

Tian Ji Han felt his ribs breaking where the brick landed. Even though his body endurance and defenses were on par with a Nascent Soul cultivator, the 9 Yin Treasured Jade Block was made of Earth Jade, one of the hardest materials under the Heavens!

Tian Ji Han coughed blood, how could he know that Yin Na still had such a treasure on his person? Even worse, as he suffered damage while undergoing the Soul Overload pill, it only shortened the detonation timer.

The Spicy Oil Boar squealed as Yin Na kicked it furiously to get away.

“Damn you, Yin Na!” Tian Ji Han cursed. “We’ll see if I can destroy you before I implode, but if I have to die while embracing your cursed self I will!”

Yin Na flew into the sky as fast as he could on his Spicy Oil Boar, while Tian Ji Han flew after him on his Golden Cloud mount relentlessly in pursuit, glowing brighter and brighter. The timer on the self-destructive Soul Overload process was nearing its end.

Suddenly, Yin Na turned around, twisting his waist almost at 180 degrees again, while brandishing his void ring.

Ratatatatatatat!

That’s right, Yin Na’s void ring was still holding arguably its most important and numerous resource. One after another, thousands of spirit stones shot from his void ring like bullets. They pelted Tian Ji Han with incredible force.

“What is this?!” Tian Ji Han’s vision was nearly blind from the light emanating from his own body, he momentarily couldn’t believe what the projectiles were that were pushing him back.

“These are real spirit stones! I can’t believe it, he’s ejecting Spirit stones at me from his void ring?”

Tian Ji Han was so frustrated he didn’t know if he should be laughing or crying.

“This is the most spirit stones I’ve ever come in contact with in my life. However, it must be consuming a lot of qi for Yin Na to be ejecting objects out of his void ring, even if it is a legendary treasure, at such high velocities per object, it won’t be long before he runs out of qi or spirit stones. Let us see which one you run out of first!”

Yin Na grit his teeth at Tian Ji Han’s inhuman display of tenacity, who was pushing back the pummeling torrent of spirit stones with his 300% Golden Core strength.

“I’m afraid it’s come to this,” Yin Na thought. At the rate he was ejecting spirit stones, his wealth was almost half of what it already was. But he felt his qi reserves dangerously depleting below safe levels. If a cultivator ran out of qi, he could no longer use special techniques, he’d be as weak and defenseless as a mortal!

Taking every bit of concentration and mental skills he had, he began simultaneously refining spirit stones while shooting them out of his void ring.

Yin Na converted spirit stones into qi for him to use, while literally throwing away spirit stones at his opponent closing in.

Tian Ji Han was invulnerable to damage because of the Soul Overload pill, but if he was still a mere Golden Core cultivator right now there would be holes all over his body. And yet, with the speed and quantity of each individual spirit stone being ejected, he was successfully being slowed down!

Ratatatatatatat!

The more spirit stones Yin Na fired, the more he pushed back Tian Ji Han.

At last, Tian Ji Han’s Golden Core had reached a threshold slightly above 302%.

The light within Tian Ji Han’s core basked his entire body, starting from his Dan Tian, enveloping his handsome face and his white hair, then his Golden cloud mount, then all of the nearby trees. It was like the light of a star undergoing its own heat death.

During the final moment, Yin Na had pushed Tian Ji Han about 50 meters away before he detonated. The cost for Yin Na to do this was about 50 spirit stones per second. It took ten seconds for Yin Na to accomplish this distance. How many spirit stones did he spend per meter?

Just kidding, Yin Na spent nearly 20,000 spirit stones in just ten seconds! This was because he had to increase the amount of spirit stones ejected until it was like he was bombarding Tian Ji Han with a shotgun that had the firing rate of a MG42!

The never-ceasing walls of money had successfully pushed Tian Ji Han back. As the light consumed everything he knew, Tian Ji Han closed his eyes. He hoped that Yin Na was caught within the blast radius, but also one more thing:

“Xiao Feng, I hope you are safe,” was Tian Ji Han’s final thought.

Regret and sadness were his final emotions as the cultivator perished, his Golden Core erupted and expanded at an exponential size enveloping his body and several square kilometers of the forest.

Earth and Heaven shook from the force of the explosion. Towering lights reached into the Heavens as Tian Ji Han died.

Yin Na forced his mount to use an incredible amount of qi in its reserves to increase the distance between himself and the explosion. Yin Na felt the ends of his hairs sizzling by the heat, even the rear end of the Spicy Oil Boar was starting to smell like deliciously cooked bacon!

The light from Tian Ji Han’s exploded Golden Core had caught up to Yin Na and his mount; it was literally cooking the Spicy Oil Boar mount alive.

“I have not come this far,” thought Yin Na as he ate medicinal pills at a ridiculous rate. “...I have not spent these many spirit stones to die now!”

Yin Na felt the burning light of the Golden Core eating away at his qi shield and his body. The boar beneath him was squealing in pain, as its oil-like sweat erupted in flames.

“Shit!” Yin Na coughed blood. “This light is draining my cultivation base faster than I can heal myself. I’m… actually dying!”