Black and azure radiance clashed against each other. The spear proved on the losing end of the collision, flying backward and putting a hole through the crimson monster, then vanishing into who-knew-where like a shooting star.
Disbelief overtook the crimson monster’s dark gaze. A human had countered their combat art and knocked its dao treasure out of its hand! Without the treasure, the long-haired monster was similar to a defanged tiger. As vicious as ever, but lacking ninety percent of its power.
“If I can’t capture Yu Hengluo, then you’ll do as well!” With a push, the six strands of nascent spirit over Lu Yun’s head evolved into a giant hand of six interweaving colors that grabbed at the hairy monster.
He wasn’t going to kill it since it couldn’t become his Infernum. The black long-haired monsters he’d killed before had entered hell, but they’d disintegrated not long after.
Their kind didn’t have souls.
He had to find out what’d happened to Yu Hengluo, and currently his sole hope was to take the monster alive. The giant hand conjured by his nascent spirit transcended the limits of space with the power of Spatial Reincarnation and grabbed at the hairy monster.
“Grrrawl—” Sensing the incoming danger, it emitted a series of grating howls. The hole its spear had punctured through its body kept splattering crimson blood, and the red sky dimmed to the same color of blood.
The monster’s long hair turned into viscous blood, and the hand crushed it as soon as it touched it.
Lu Yun’s expression darkened with gravity. He scattered the hand of Spatial Reincarnation and summoned the black water jar again with a wave of his hand. Waves of demonic energy rushed into his body.
All living beings in Dusk stared dumbly at the crimson sky, their faces drained of all color. It looked like the very sky was bleeding.
Qing Yu had taken flight with the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals circling around her, the Cosmic Skycarver radiated blinding starlight as well. The Cosmic Eyes emerged above her head, and harbored Empress Myrtlestar’s damaged soul fragment, from which she looked warily at the crimson light in the sky. It seemed that a terrible demon would be born there.
Mo Yi and Lu Feng, having departed Dusk Province and on their way to the Ling Clan, came to a stop.
“We need to go back!” Expression tight, Lu Feng vanished in a flicker of cyan light. Mo Yi sighed and followed suit.
The human demon’s shattered eye appeared above Dusk Province again. For once, a hint of apprehension appeared in its coldly aloof gaze.
Bam!
The entire province shook.
North of Dusk Province, close to the vicinity of the North Sea, a giant black willow suddenly soared into the air. Its great branches obscured the sky and cascaded down like a black barrier, protecting the Skandha Range.
Above its canopy materialized five giant demonic figures—the five demon sovereigns of the Star Demon Sect.
The crimson color in the sky thickened until it seemed to become a sea of blood, nurturing all manners of terrible beings. At the same time, the projection of the Dao Flower grew brighter, and its pure white light radiated in all directions in opposition to the sea of blood in the skies.
……
“What’s going on? What happened here?” Fangyang Xing blanched, staring at the bloody sky. He was a yin spirit of the Firmament Palace rather than a living soul, but even he didn’t understand what was happening now.
How did the sky turn into a Blood Sea?
He knew what the Blood Sea in Life Province was. A powerful immortal had laid down the foundation for its emergence since the Primeval Era and ultimately succeeded after overlaying the power of the world again and again.
The Blood Sea in the sky, though, wasn’t the one in Life Province!
It felt like this one had been here above Dusk Province since time immemorial, its existence eternal and never-ending!
“It’s born out of the blood of the human emperors.” Scarlet Ape struggled back to its feet with black iron rod in its hand, its fiery cape burning fiercely on its shoulders.
“Dusk Province is where human emperors fell. Countless human emperors have died here, and their blood converged into a sea of blood. It’s been hiding in that patch of sky ever since.” Scarlet Ape bared its teeth. “What a shame that the emperor’s blood here is dead, or it can be used to refine medicine.”
Bam!
As soon as it finished talking, the Blood Sea in the sky roiled violently. A rotten arm probed out and grabbed at the Dao Flower projection above Lu Yun’s head. It was five hundred kilometers long and ripped with gray-yellow corpsewater, making for an extraordinarily repulsive sight.
The arm was tremendously powerful, however, and undermined the integrity of the Dao Flower projection with a simple grab. The flower trembled and threatened to collapse at any second.
The crimson monster re-emerged on the bloodied path, its steely gaze fixed on the battle before it. The ancient spear had returned to its hand, its cold light glinting faintly as a silent declaration of its readiness to attack again.
……
“All of you, get out of the way!” Lu Yun snapped.
Qing Yu, Lu Feng, and Mo Yi halted midway through their charge over to him. Before they could react, a giant black coffin materialized out of the air and slammed into the rotten arm.
Hoisted by nine giant dragon corpses, the coffin spanned five thousand kilometers in length. Bearing powerful momentum, the arm was shattered in an instant.
……
Xiankan, Life Province, Nephrite Major.
“It’s that. It’s emerged again…”
Art and Zither Saint stood shoulder to shoulder, facing north in the direction of Dusk Province from the highest vantage point of the Nephrite Palace.
Art Saint trembled as soon as the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers appeared, his face radiating fear and crimson light.
Zither Saint frowned at his counterpart’s pale face. “Did you deviate because of that coffin?”
“No, I didn’t. It was something else. A crimson fiend almost dragged me into the reincarnation cycle of time.” Art Saint exhaled slowly. “The coffin saved me. It compelled me to set up the Enneawyrm Provenance Formation in Dusk Province and scatter the dragon veins there. To think it’d be with Lu Yun!”
In the past, his gaze always turned murderous when mentioning Lu Yun. If Ashu hadn’t followed Lu Yun to Xiankan, he would’ve killed the boy. Now, however, the killing intent was replaced by veneration and respect.
Zither Saint hadn’t noticed the change; his brows remained tightly knitted.
Crimson fiend?
Yu Hengluo had seen the same thing.
……
The Enneawyrm Coffinbearers soared into the Blood Sea in the sky after shattering the great arm while the waters frothed and churned in response. Suddenly, nine great dragons emerged and roiled in the sea. Their piercing dragon howls echoed throughout Dusk Province.
Hum.
The crimson monster struck again. This time, it remained on the bloodied path and attacked Lu Yun from all directions with navy shadows shooting out of its spear.
Every single one of its attacks embodied the profound mysteries of time.
Wielding the water jar in one hand and the dao treasure in the other, Lu Yun deployed Spatial Reincarnation with the six paths of his nascent spirit. A tremendous amount of energy rippled from the axe and isolated the space around him.
Exceptional clashes rang out repeatedly; this was a battle between time and space—two sovereign level powers.
Lu Yun was dripping with blood as, at the end of the day, he had yet to ascend to immortality. The Demon Sovereign Cauldron had merely injected him with an outside force that wasn’t his own strength.
Xing Chen had reached the end of the path, but Yu Hengluo was nowhere to be found. He was struggling to stay alive among a group of long-haired monsters instead.
“It’s ten times stronger on the path than off the path!” Lu Yun was fighting his own belabored battle when a strand of sword light flared through the sky and slashed through the bloodied path.
Schwing!
The severed path began crumbling while a faint figure stood outside Dusk Province, gazing upon his handiwork. The Sword of Chaos radiated faintly in his hand, but his face was still obscured by a faint haze.
Sword Divine.
Again, he’d intervened and destroyed the bloody path.
The long-haired monsters mobbing Xing Chen disappeared along with the path, while Xing Chen returned to the world of immortals.
The crimson monster growled in fury and turned around, staring at Sword Divine. The divine grinned broadly and turned away in a leisurely manner, vanishing into thin air.
“Down!!” The short reprieve allowed Lu Yun to conjure another great hand of six colors and slap the creature downward. It snarled ferociously as it slammed into the ground.
Lu Yun followed it closely as a flash of light.
“No!!” Sudden shock and fury exploded within him as Lu Yun hurriedly clapped the Demon Sovereign Cauldron over his head.
Bam!
An enormous crimson mushroom cloud bloomed into the air and resulting turbulence shot out in all directions. The three hundred and sixty-five cities of Dusk Province shook continuously to offset the destructive power.
The crimson monster had detonated itself.
“Damn shame,” Lu Yun sighed, emerging from the water jar.
Meanwhile, the great battle within the Emperor Blood Sea continued; that was a fight Lu Yun couldn’t intervene with. The Enneawyrm Coffinbearers wasn’t under Lu Yun’s control. It’d flown into the outside world of its own accord. As for the three other coffins, they seemed to have returned to life after their battle in Vastspace Mountain as well.
They were currently in hell, keeping order in the netherworld. A riot had been started in the depths of hell by the prisoners trapped in the unknown space.
