"Kill them!"
Li Dalong had traversed the Underworld.
It was a realm filled with slaughter and strife, where he had witnessed all manner of scenes.
Yet, the sights of the Underworld were nowhere near as blood-curdling as this place!
With a single command from Zhao Buqun, the situation escalated.
Within that colossal heart radiating crimson light, the resurrected members of the Zhao Clan—every single one a cultivator above the Nascent Soul realm—began to emerge.
Their heads pushed out from the heart like newborns, their hair and faces plastered with viscous blood.
Their heads swayed upon the surface of the massive heart, resembling the downy seeds of a dandelion trembling in the wind.
The sounds of viscous liquid squelching and flesh-tearing echoed throughout the entire cavern.
These resurrected figures, covered in slime, ripped open the meat of the heart.
Propping their blood-soaked hands against the surface, they moaned as they dragged their bodies out from within.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
"Riiip! Drip... drop!"
The beating of the heart, the tearing of its flesh, and the sound of blood spattering onto the ground all mingled together.
Added to the moans and cheers of the reviving Zhao clansmen, this was the true Underworld!
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Bathed in that crimson light, the three Zhao Clan Elders wore hideous expressions as they looked mockingly at the panicked enemies before them.
These foolish Li family members had absolutely no idea what the Immortal Zhao Clan's true trump card really was!
Zhao Qingguang was shouting in terrified rage, "Flee! Get the message to the Human Emperor! Tell the Grand Preceptor and the Imperial Preceptor!"
Zhao Qingguang screamed frantically.
But the great battle commenced once more.
The underground cavern collapsed with a thunderous crash.
The Zhao clansmen, crawling out of the heart, attacked the members of the Li family without a word of warning.
They possessed no artifacts and were covered in mucus, charging out to kill in their stark, naked state.
...
"BOOM!"
With that violent sound, combatants across the entire battlefield of the Immortal Domain—whether from the Azure Cloud Prefecture or the Zhao Clan—paused in their actions, gazing toward the interior of the Zhao Clan Blessed Land.
"What is that?!!"
On the spirit boat, Li Xinnian's expression changed drastically.
A heart—a colossal heart—was still expanding, growing until it reached a thousand meters in height!
That heart was constantly tearing apart, with silhouette after silhouette crawling out to charge into the battlefield once again.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The sound of the heartbeat filled the entire battlefield.
The situation on the Immortal Domain battlefield, which had originally been a one-sided crush, shifted once again, causing Li Xinnian's face to turn pale.
He witnessed with his own eyes a member of the Zhao Clan, who had died right in front of him, reappear in the mortal world—stark naked!
"Impossible... this is impossible!"
Those Zhao clansmen reborn from the heart charged frantically into the fray.
They grinned hideously and cheered, seemingly mocking the members of the Azure Cloud Prefecture for their total ignorance of the Zhao Clan.
The hearts of the Azure Cloud Prefecture forces pounded wildly at this eerie spectacle.
That unknown heart and the resurrected Zhao clansmen had exceeded their imagination.
Let alone them, even the living members of the Immortal Zhao Clan on the battlefield stood frozen in place.
They did not understand why their fallen kinsmen had returned to the battlefield, especially since... their dead bodies were still lying right there on the ground.
On that massive heart, there was still one head that had not moved an inch.
Zhao Feimeng!
She gazed at the chaotic battlefield and the panic consuming both sides, her eyes dull and vacant.
"No matter if they are humans or ghosts, if we killed them once, we can kill them a second time!"
Li Xinnian suppressed the terror rising in his heart, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
"Press on! Kill them!!!"
...
"Flee! You cannot win!!!"
The colossal heart continued to beat.
Zhao Qingguang knelt before the heart in despair.
Behind him, the Old Ancestor's heart was still tearing apart, with clansmen constantly crawling out from within.
The crimson light shrouding Zhao Qingguang was just like the despair that engulfed him.
One hundred and sixty thousand years ago, they were defeated.
The Old Ancestor drove away the Devils, but the Old Ancestor did not die!
He remembered now. He remembered everything!
On that day, the Old Ancestor gazed upon the dead bodies of his clansmen one by one.
It was the Old Ancestor's most despairing day.
Zhao Qingguang was also one of the few survivors. Yet, following that despair, the Old Ancestor began to cheer manically.
He said, "I have come back from the dead before! My heart, my blood... I can save them! Hahaha, I can save them!"
He witnessed with his own eyes the Old Ancestor perform the Rite of Dissolution upon his own heart, decomposing his body and fusing his soul into the organ.
That heart grew larger bit by bit, until it had sucked all the deceased clansmen into itself.
Zhao Qingguang thought the Old Ancestor had gone mad.
Yet the very next day, the heart split open just as it had today, and his dead clansmen crawled out of it, looking bewildered.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The world believed the Zhao Clan had been exterminated, but they were not; their clansmen still lived.
The Old Ancestor became the family's greatest secret, and the undying Zhao people became the "Immortal Zhao Clan."
However... the good times did not last long.
The Old Ancestor wanted to return to human form; he wanted to lead the family to new heights once again.
But how could those resurrected clansmen be willing to accept that?
With the Old Ancestor existing in this state, they had no fear of death—they could simply come back to life.
Furthermore... Zhao Buqun discovered a secret: by reviving from the Old Ancestor's heart, one could even emerge as a newborn, with their lifespan completely reset!
By cultivating anew, their strength would become even greater, breaking through the limits of their cultivation.
Eventually, under the baptism of time, they could all break through to the Integration Realm together.
As time passed, every single clansman had the potential to reach the Void Refining stage; they had no fear of death!
And the price for all of this was merely devouring the Destiny of others.
They sealed the Old Ancestor.
From that moment on, the world gained an "Immortal Zhao Clan," and the Zhao Clan gained an eternally beating heart!
"Thump! Thump! Thump!" The heart beat again.
Zhao Qingguang could hear it; the Old Ancestor was saying he was in pain, the Old Ancestor was cursing them as beasts!
"Beasts! You beasts!!!"
Tears streaming down his face, Zhao Qingguang glared furiously at Zhao Feimeng upon the Old Ancestor's heart.
That woman had grown onto the Old Ancestor's heart; she was the one sealing him.
Whenever the clansmen needed to be resurrected, she would use her techniques to influence the Old Ancestor, forcing him to dream back to the time when the Zhao Clan was exterminated by the Devils, thereby making the Old Ancestor willing to resurrect his descendants!
Zhao Qingguang was repenting.
Time and again, he was reborn, time and again he remembered the events of the past, and time and again he was killed by these beasts.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!!!"
Wielding a long spear and unleashing the full power of the Peak Divinity Transformation realm, Zhao Qingguang leaped onto the Old Ancestor's heart, charging toward Zhao Feimeng, whose upper body was emerging from the surface!
The breathtakingly beautiful woman opened her eyes and slowly extended her hand.
Instantly, Zhao Qingguang was left floating in mid-air, his eyes turning vacant and blank.
Zhao Feimeng, the youngest Clan Elder of the Zhao Clan!
She excelled at manipulating human hearts and weaving illusions!
She looked at Zhao Qingguang with a faint smile.
"Qingguang, oh Qingguang, why do you persist?
The Old Ancestor is sheltering all of us.
You should accept his grace, not resist it.
When will you finally come to your senses?
This version of the Old Ancestor is the one we revere as a celestial deity."