“Is that… Ah Yan?”
This deep slumber had lasted too long, blurring the lines between past and present. Grudges and affections intertwined, leaving him unsure of where his emotions truly began.
Nan Yan drifted in and out of consciousness. Fortunately, the Zen heart continuously emitted an ethereal bodhi shadow, quickly rousing her.
“Do you remember now?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
Looking up, she saw Ji Yang close his eyes, his lips tightly pressed together. His tightly clenched fingertips betrayed a faint tremor.
“Do you know what soul blood is?”
Despite the clamor around them, Nan Yan tried to sit up, but Ji Yang gently held her down.
“For a soul to be reborn as a human, it must accumulate enough soul blood through countless cycles of life and death. Losing it in this life won’t kill you, but in your next life, you’ll only be reborn as a bird, beast, or plant.” Ji Yang took a deep, cold breath and, for the first time, addressed her by her full name with icy solemnity.
“Nan Yan, you’re tearing out my very essence.”
Nan Yan was stunned, unsure how to respond. Suddenly, she spotted a purple cloud behind Ji Yang transforming into a large scythe, poised to strike him.
Before she could warn him, Ji Yang swept his hand upward. Li Chi was sent flying, crashing into a row of floating candle remnants. However, his wounds quickly healed on their own.
Rapid recovery was a characteristic of the Blood Demon Path…
Ji Yang raised his head expressionlessly. As he stood, a gray shackle suddenly appeared around his neck. The ethereal chain extended to the hand of the Demon Lord statue at the center of the altar. As Ji Yang’s consciousness gradually returned, the statue seemed to come alive, slowly pulling the chain back.
“Tsk.” Nan Yan realized that the Dao Sheng Tian indeed had a backup plan. This restraint was designed to prevent him from escaping the altar after awakening. She struggled to her feet, supporting herself on a nearby stone railing. Just as she was about to gather her spiritual energy, Ji Yang grasped her hand, stopping her.
“Don’t move,” he said, shaking his head. He touched his neck, sensing that the restraint was draining his spiritual energy and life force. A hint of bloodlust crossed his youthful face as he turned back to glare at the Demon Lord statue, his eyes revealing a trace of gloom.
Nearby, people tried to touch the Mountain River Sea Crown on the white bone throne, but they could only grasp its ethereal shadow. Li Chi, leading the group, pointed at Ji Yang and shouted, “Fighting now is useless! We must kill him to obtain the Mountain River Sea Crown!”
Mo Xing Zheng, finally recovering from his shock, stood with Song Zhu in front of the altar. “Who dares?!” they challenged.
“I dare!” Li Chi, having largely recovered, suddenly grabbed Li Mian and said, “Mian’er, lend me your strength. Let’s kill him!”
At his words, Li Mian screamed as a large amount of blood from her body transformed into a mist, flying out and merging with Li Chi’s spiritual sea. Instantly, his cultivation broke through from the Foundation Establishment to the Nascent Soul stage.
“What devilry is this?!”
Li Mian’s skin continued to crack as her blood drained away. She cried out in agony, “Brother, it hurts so much! Don’t consume me!”
“Bear with it a little longer. Once I kill him, you’ll be rewarded!” Li Chi’s aura continued to rise. His eyes turned blood-red, and he resembled a wrathful demon. Behind him appeared an ethereal image with a gloomy countenance—the visage of his father, the Marquis of Hell’s Prison.
“Weren’t you the strongest at the Nascent Soul stage? Let’s see if you can survive against my late Nascent Soul-level cultivation while bound by those chains!”
With those words, he waved his hand, releasing a blood cloud that transformed into countless needles, each imbued with terrifying corrosive power.
“Taste the legacy technique of the Ancient Forest Ancestor!!!”
As the needle cloud passed, magical treasures that hadn’t been moved away were corroded by the demonic energy. Some people’s natal artifacts were directly severed, eliciting agonized cries.
“The Marquis of Hell’s Prison has gone all out…” Mo Xing Zheng’s eyebrow twitched as he raised his sword. “Brother Song, as we agreed, help me break my senior brother’s restraint. I’ll handle the front.”
So this was what they had been discussing…
As the blood-colored needle cloud descended upon them, Mo Xing Zheng formed a hand seal, creating a yin-yang diagram that blocked the entire cloud. However, the effort drained him considerably, and his face quickly turned pale.
“Hurry,” he urged.
Song Zhu didn’t waste words. He focused on the end of the chain in the Demon Lord’s hand, unsheathed his sword, and said, “Young Lord Shao Cang, I owed you half my life at the Ghost Gate of the Mountain Sea Forbidden State. It’s time I repaid that debt.”
With a clear ring, his extremely fast and sharp sword strike cut into the gray ethereal chain. The burst of sword intent created a small gap in the spiritual energy flow.
“I appreciate it. That’s enough,” Ji Yang said, grasping the gray chain. After a moment’s hesitation, he pushed Nan Yan away. “She’s lost too much soul blood. Take her and go… And don’t use the jade ring for teleportation for now.”
Mo Xing Zheng, Song Zhu, and Nan Yan felt a gentle force pushing them away. Mo Xing Zheng urgently said, “The Marquis of Hell’s Prison has left a part of his divine sense in Li Chi, allowing him to exhibit power equivalent to the Marquis at the Nascent Soul stage. You’re still losing spiritual energy! You can’t hold out!”
“I’m not so weak that I need my junior brother to sacrifice himself to save me,” Ji Yang said, giving a gentle push. His gaze fixed on Nan Yan as he added, “Don’t return to Dao Sheng Tian. I’ll find you soon.”
“Shao Cang!”
At that moment, Mo Xing Zheng heard faint ghostly wails behind them. All the candle remnants seemed drawn toward the center of the altar, surrounding the three of them. A teleportation force gradually enveloped them.
After activating the teleportation, Ji Yang returned to the white bone throne. He picked up the coveted Mountain River Sea Crown and, under everyone’s watchful gaze, lightly gripped it with his five fingers. To everyone’s astonishment, the cultivation world’s supreme treasure shattered into fragments of light.
“What are you trying to do?” Li Chi roared.
“Do you want to see the truth behind the Mountain Sea Forbidden State?” Ji Yang replied.
“What truth?”
He closed his eyes and murmured, “Ancestral Master Dao Zun, why not show your true face before your disciples?”
Everyone looked up to see the remnant candles in the Mountain Sea Hall light up one by one, like stars in the sky. Countless faces of living beings appeared silently, their eyes filled with deep resentment.
“I summon the Lord of Feng Mo Tian to appear.”
This voice echoed throughout heaven and earth. Not only in the Mountain Sea Hall but also on Ten Karma Mountain, the myriad ghosts engaged in fierce battle suddenly stopped. As if bound by an invisible force, they slowly bowed their heads towards the giant statue of the Demon Lord at the mountain’s peak.
Countless ghostly beings murmured, “We pay our respects to the Lord of Feng Mo Tian, the Prison Lord of the Netherworld.”
All humans and demons paled simultaneously. Amidst earth-shaking tremors, the majestic Ten Karma Mountain and the Demon Lord statue that had stood for countless years began to shed its rocky exterior layer by layer, revealing a half-face carved from green jade.
The cultivators on the Great Wall stopped in their tracks. Someone screamed, “Dao Zun? How can it be Dao Zun’s statue?!”
“Isn’t Dao Zun the source of orthodox cultivation? How can he be related to these filthy ghosts?”
It was an old man with a long beard reaching his chest. However, on Ten Karma Mountain, the usually benevolent Dao Zun appeared sinister, as if all the world’s deepest evils had converged on this statue.