On the edge of the cliff above the Sea of Blood, ribbons danced in the air, weaving into multiple layers of nets that blocked all the blood cones descending from the sky.
*Whoosh—Hum!!*
Mo Chi Ling, sitting in her wheelchair, stared intently at the figure made of blood water suspended not far in front of her. Seizing an opening, she slashed with her ribbons.
Her feather belt was a Heavenly Rank Demonic Treasure, soft as silk but sharp enough to cleave mountains.
However, as the ribbons swept across the blood figure’s body, although it was cleanly cut in half from the center of its forehead, the blood figure, being formed from blood, merged back into one in an instant.
“Tch…”
Mo Chi Ling clicked her tongue lightly, glancing at the floating blood sphere beside her, which encased Ye Anping and Feng Yu Die.
It had been nearly three hours since Feng Yu Die arrived and plunged into the blood sphere.
Mo Chi Ling could only hope that Ye Anping and Feng Yu Die would emerge before her spiritual energy ran out. Otherwise, all her efforts would be in vain.
“Young Master Ye, this isn’t what you said! Haa—!!”
The blood-glowing ribbons sliced through the blood figure’s body once more, but this only caused the blood cones it controlled to pause for a breath. The next moment, the blood water from the pool below surged up to replace it, as if endless, attacking Mo Chi Ling.
Above the blood figure and Mo Chi Ling, Xiao Tian held the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao, watching her Yu Die still unable to bring Anping out of the illusion. Mo Chi Ling was also visibly exhausted, causing Xiao Tian to worry immensely.
The Heavenly Scroll of the Dao contained no information about this “blood figure,” but it did find something similar.
This blood figure, like itself, should be a kind of artifact spirit, the “Blood Spirit” of this cave’s blood pool.
Although it currently showed no signs of sentience, appearing like a puppet, it was an immortal and indestructible existence. There were perhaps only two ways to destroy this Blood Spirit.
—Destroy the master of this blood pool, that is, Yu Yan.
—Or destroy the entire blood pool.
But even knowing the methods, it had no idea how to execute them.
Putting aside the former, Xiao Tian had just scanned the cave with its spiritual sense and discovered that the blood pool below was nearly a thousand mu in size and bottomless.
Even if dozens of Deity Transformation cultivators arrived, destroying this blood pool would be almost impossible. Moreover, the Blood Spirit’s true form was blood water, rendering swords and sharp weapons completely ineffective.
Old Nine’s injuries had not yet healed, preventing him from appearing.
It was a useless thing itself…
Xiao Tian clenched the hem of the Heavenly Scroll of the Dao’s pages, watching the Blood Spirit continuously interfere with the real world with its demonic arts. At this moment, it felt a sense of unfairness.
Clearly, it was also an artifact spirit, and an artifact spirit of a celestial item, its rank absolutely higher than this Blood Spirit.
But why couldn’t it freely mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, condense it into blades, and put it to use like this Blood Spirit?
After cultivating so diligently for so long, even if it exerted its full strength, it might not even be able to break a tree branch…
“Wuuu…”
Xiao Tian bit its lips and gave up thinking. After all, it couldn’t help with anything right now.
Then, stomping forcefully on the air, it punched with clenched fists towards the Blood Spirit below, throwing its golden little fist at the Blood Spirit’s face.
“Waaah waah waaah—!!”
The golden little fist sent gusts of wind, but when it struck the Blood Spirit’s face, it was as if nothing had happened; not even the outline of the blood water forming its body changed in the slightest.
And at this very moment, a dark figure rushed in from the entrance of the cave.
Xue E, holding her wooden sword, saw the chaos within the cave and quickly rushed to Xiao Tian’s side, grabbing it by the scruff of its neck:
“Golden fool!! What are you doing? Where are Ye Anping and Bai Fool?”
“Ah… Dark and dingy… They…”
Seeing Xiao Tian’s flustered expression, Xue E stopped asking. She turned to look at Mo Chi Ling and the blood sphere beside her, analyzing the situation herself and almost immediately guessing that Ye Anping and Feng Yu Die were inside the blood sphere.
No wonder this golden fool was so anxious; artifact spirits like them were completely useless in such situations.
“Haa…”
Xue E exhaled deeply and then pulled another wooden sword from beneath her skirt, throwing it at Xiao Tian.
Xiao Tian almost failed to catch it, weighing it in its hands for a moment before hugging the wooden sword. Then, it looked at the wooden sword blankly, not understanding Xue E’s intention.
Seeing its confusion, Xue E didn’t explain, merely pointing her wooden sword at the Blood Spirit below and shouting:
“Beat it!”
“Huh?”
Without another word, she raised her wooden sword and struck towards the Blood Spirit’s forehead.
*Hum—*
As the Blood Spirit’s forehead collided with the wooden sword, it instantly caved in, revealing ripple-like patterns. The hand that controlled the blood cones attacking Mo Chi Ling suddenly paused, as if puzzled.
“What are you still waiting for? Beat it!”
Xue E shouted, then forcefully swung her wooden sword again.
*Slap—*
The Blood Spirit’s head bent sharply as if struck by a heavy object, but it quickly recovered, scanning its surroundings with a confused gaze.
Seeing that it had an effect, Xiao Tian no longer hesitated, grabbing the wooden sword Xue E gave it and rushing down.
The two small figures, one gold and one black, like miniature versions of Feng Yu Die and Gu Ming Xin, wielded their respective masters’ sword arts. Although they couldn’t mobilize spiritual energy like their masters, their blows to the Blood Spirit were very real…
“Waaah waaah waaah—!!”
“Haa ah ah ah—!!”
The blood cones filling the sky suddenly stopped in mid-air. The Blood Spirit, battered from both sides, staggered back and forth.
To Mo Chi Ling, who was guarding the blood sphere and couldn’t see the two small figures, what was happening was incomprehensible. Her eyes showed confusion, but she quickly regained her senses.
Regardless, this was her chance to rest.
Mo Chi Ling quickly used spiritual energy to push her wheelchair towards the blood sphere nearby. She raised her hand and gripped her feather belt, attempting to pierce into it, but the surface of the blood sphere was not as soft as it appeared.
*Ding—*
The blood water and the ribbons clashed, creating a harsh sound like metal striking metal.
“Young Master Ye!!!”
*Splash—*
As the sound faded, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the blood sphere.
Golden light then erupted, and it shattered violently.
A snow-white figure flew out from within, then turned and reached back into the blood water. Grabbing Ye Anping’s wrist, who was still enveloped in blood water, she gritted her teeth and forcefully pulled him out.
“Haa—!!”
Ye Anping seemed to have fainted. Feng Yu Die directly pulled him into her embrace by the wrist, his chin resting on her shoulder. As if he had swallowed water, he coughed violently, spitting out the blood pool water he had drunk onto the ground.
“Cough cough—”
He wiped his mouth with his hand, knitted his brows, and opened his eyes. Seeing Mo Chi Ling staring at him blankly, he couldn’t help but give a slightly wry smile:
“Sorry…”
Then he straightened up from Feng Yu Die’s embrace and turned to face the Blood Spirit floating in mid-air.
Seeing Xiao Tian and Xue E wildly hacking at its head with their wooden swords, he was stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. He ignored them and flipped his hand, taking out the Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal from his storage bag.
“Senior Mo…”
Seeing the dragon seal Ye Anping held, Mo Chi Ling’s eyes widened slightly. But honestly, she was almost used to it; Ye Anping pulling out any item no longer surprised her.
However, this place was not the Central Domain. Although the Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal was a sacred artifact, it couldn’t match the Heavenly Demonic Blood Pool of Yu Yan.
He would likely only buy a moment of time…
Mo Chi Ling thought this, took a deep breath, gripped her feather belt with her right hand, and then forcefully slashed at her left arm.
*Swish—*
Poisonous blood splattered. She extended her left arm, which was already wrapped, towards him.
Ye Anping did not hesitate. He used spiritual energy to support the arm that had been soaked in poison for a hundred years, then looked at the Blood Spirit being chased and beaten by Xiao Tian and Xue E, and softly commanded:
“Yu Die, protect me.”
Then, clearing his mind, he poured his spiritual energy into the dragon seal in his hand.
Golden spiritual energy condensed into a drop of spiritual liquid before his eyes, dripping onto the Nine Dragon carvings above the dragon seal.
*Drip—*
The light sound of the water droplet drowned out all other sounds within the cave.
Ye Anping had intended to break through the illusion himself, have Mo Chi Ling cover him, and then use the Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal. He hadn’t expected the illusion to be so difficult for him…
Ultimately, he had underestimated the demonic aura of the Heavenly Demonic Blood Pool.
“Hoo—”
With a breath.
Nine golden dragon phantoms emerged from the dragon seal in Ye Anping’s hand, their roars shaking the entire cave. Even the still blood pool below churned due to the dragon’s spiritual energy.
*Splash—*
An invisible barrier above the blood pool shattered instantly, breaking the blood pool’s second restriction.
The Blood Spirit, which had been standing there, confused about who was hitting it, finally showed a hint of emotional change in its crimson eyes as it looked at the nine golden dragons that appeared from above the cliff.
Its form dissolved into blood, and then instantly split into nine identical blood figures.
Xiao Tian and Xue E, who were chasing and beating it, were instantly stunned:
“Ah? Dark and dingy…”
“Hiss—Never mind, let’s each pick one to beat!”
The next moment—
*Boom—!!*
Screams that could shatter eardrums echoed from the blood pool. Blood pythons, resembling relatives of the great pythons, appeared from the blood pool. With a simultaneous wave of their hands from the nine Blood Spirits, they charged towards the cliff where Ye Anping and the others were.
The nine blood pythons, in an instant, bit onto the necks of the nine golden dragons, then split into eighteen, opening their snake mouths and charging towards Ye Anping and the others.
Feng Yu Die, standing in front of Ye Anping, took a step back at this sight. But looking back at Ye Anping, who was still intently controlling the Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal, she hurriedly formed her Nascent Soul with both hands, constructing golden spirit walls layered one upon another with Spring Aspect spiritual energy, enveloping all three of them.
*Dong—!*
The blood pythons pushed against the spirit walls from all sides with their foreheads, contracting rapidly.
Seeing the dire situation, Feng Yu Die realized she couldn’t hold on. She considered whether she could escape with Ye Anping and Mo Chi Ling, but upon seeing Ye Anping’s still calm face, she finally came to her senses and stopped thinking about anything else.
Ye Anping split his spiritual sense, looking at a blood python in front of him. Waiting for the moment it opened its mouth again, he directly used spiritual energy to support the arm that was still dripping poisonous blood beside him, actively offering it into the snake’s mouth.
The nine Blood Spirits suspended in mid-air had no diminishing killing intent in their eyes, but there was no trace of intellectual radiance.
Ye Anping looked at one of them and couldn’t help but murmur:
“To be a Blood Spirit that has existed for millions of years, yet still not know what it means to be wary? Far worse than Xiao Tian and Xue E…”
Then, he counted inwardly:
Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven…
Feng Yu Die pushed against the nine blood pythons with her spirit walls. At this moment, her nose was bleeding profusely from the excessive use of spiritual energy. Seeing the nine blood pythons pushing against her spirit walls, she finally couldn’t help but shout:
“I can’t hold on anymore!! Haa ya ya ya—!!!”
Mo Chi Ling, holding her severed arm, clenched her teeth. She had already prepared herself to jump into the mouths of the blood pythons.
She had originally intended to do this. As long as these blood pythons ate her, even if the blood pool wasn’t destroyed, it would be ruined. But Ye Anping had previously said that Gu Ming Xin needed a companion, which was why she had agreed.
Now, Fairy Feng clearly couldn’t hold on, and these nine blood pythons would swallow her as well. However, doing so would also drag Young Master Ye and Fairy Feng into the pythons’ mouths.
“…”
Mo Chi Ling gritted her teeth, stood up with all her might from her wheelchair. But before she could take a step forward, Ye Anping, who had been fully focused on using the Nine Dragon Heavenly Seal to help Feng Yu Die bear the pressure, reached out and grabbed her shoulder.
Purple spiritual willow poison spread from Ye Anping’s fingertips, turning his bloodstained right hand a deep purple, like his eyes.
“Young Master Ye, I—”
“Anping!!!”
Feng Yu Die’s shout interrupted Mo Chi Ling, and at the same moment, the golden spirit wall shattered, dispersing into golden light points.
With no obstruction, the nine blood pythons’ bodies instantly generated a gust of wind, and in almost an instant, their mouths pressed down within a few feet of the three of them.
Feng Yu Die’s eyes widened, then she quickly turned and hugged Ye Anping, trying to shield him in her embrace.
“Anping!!!”
Ye Anping frowned and shouted:
“Break!”
The dragon seal in his hand suddenly burst forth with a ring of golden light, directly sweeping over the bodies of the nine demonic beasts around them, turning them into dust in an instant and blowing them back into the blood pool.
Immediately, Ye Anping put his left arm around Feng Yu Die’s waist and pulled Mo Chi Ling into his embrace with his right hand. He turned and rushed with the two of them towards the cave entrance behind them.
“Let’s go!!”
The nine Blood Spirits suspended in mid-air, excluding the two being chased by Xue E and Xiao Tian, watched as Ye Anping, who was trying to escape, their eyes showing a hint of confusion.
They had no sentience; they were merely following their master’s orders to eliminate intruders.
Initially, they thought the two Nascent Soul cultivators who entered were not a threat, so they trapped the young man in an illusion. Later, the silver-haired woman rushed in. They were slightly surprised by the Spring Aspect on her, but seeing her recklessly rush into the illusion, they paid no further attention.
Then, the young man broke through the illusion and used an artifact they had never seen before to break the blood pool’s second restriction.
And just now, seeing the artifact in the young man’s hand instantly kill all nine blood pythons, they finally felt a trace of threat.
However, it was only that.
A drop of blood from the blood pool could manifest into a blood python.
It was indeed impressive that he could easily kill nine blood pythons in the early Nascent Soul stage, but what of it?
They did not believe they would lose, but…
What did that young man mean by his words?
What was “wary”?
They fell into contemplation, but this did not mean they would let the three escape.
Seven Blood Spirits raised their right hands again, condensing an arrow of blood in front of their palms, aiming at the backs of the three fleeing figures.
Xiao Tian and Xue E, seeing this, quickly turned and rushed over:
“Dark and dingy!!”
“I know!!!”
The two small figures, one gold and one black, carrying their respective wooden swords, turned into two streaks of light invisible to mortals and directly struck the foreheads of two of the seven, interrupting their demonic arts.
However, the remaining five showed no hesitation. The arrows in front of their palms instantly burst forth with sky-piercing demonic energy, shooting rapidly towards the back of Ye Anping’s neck.
But, in that very instant.
*Pfft—!!*
All the Blood Spirits suspended in mid-air exploded in an instant, their demonic arts turning back into blood water, forming nine blood flowers in the air of the cave.
Just before the last Blood Spirit dissipated, it saw this scene.
The blood pool, which should have been fiery red, turned purple. This purple, like a worm, spread out, and within a few breaths, it replaced all the scarlet in the cave.
*Hummm…*
Just before stepping out of the cave, Ye Anping glanced back, then arched his body, dispersing spiritual energy to envelop himself and the two girls in his arms, and protected them with his body.
*Boom—!!!*
After hearing a world-shattering commotion behind him, everything in his vision was covered by darkness, and his consciousness instantly sank into the depths of his soul…
… …
