In the face of such a cataclysmic upheaval, who had time to care where Wang Yu was?
The only thought on anyone's mind was survival!
Among the ten thousand cultivators present, there were barely over thirty Core Formation experts, further divided among different factions. To face four Nascent Soul-level Medicine Kings, plus hundreds of third-rank Blood Corpse Giants with this force...
Using 'eggs striking a rock' to describe it would be an understatement. This was tofu crashing into alloy—shattering upon contact.
Wang Yu finally got his wish.
Hidden in mid-air, he did his best to retreat into the distance.
While the cultivators were indeed routed, the disparity in the number of powerful beings was far too great. Consequently, the vast majority were surrounded. Only Core Formation cultivators possessed the ability to break through the encirclement.
Within the blood mist environment, spiritual sense was severely obstructed.
Finding direction was difficult.
And now, the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins had replaced the original location of the Yin Ghost Mountains. To say the landscape was transformed would be an understatement. The mountain gate of an ancient hegemon was staggeringly vast, and everywhere were remnants of damaged formations and restrictive spells. Cultivators flying too high would attract the attention of Blood Corpse Giants. Flying too low would invite attacks from Blood Mist Beasts and Blood Corpses, or trigger residual formations and restrictions.
The moment the two sides made contact, the cultivators suffered heavy casualties. The manner of death was gruesome: their blood was completely drained, and the desiccated corpses would stagger to their feet, becoming new Blood Corpses. The more they fought, the more numerous the enemy became.
Pitiful, agonized screams were everywhere. The power of the Blood Demon was formidable, surpassing even Core Formation magic power in potency, capable of corroding almost any defense formed by spells or divine abilities.
Wang Yu witnessed a Sacred Sect Core Formation elder驱使 (drive) vast swarms of gu insects in an attempt to devour a Blood Corpse Giant, only to have the swarm corrupted by the blood's aggregating properties. The insect horde he had refined for years turned into Blood Demon slaves, devouring their former master until not even a speck of bone remained.
The war potential on display was staggering.
And when the easily slaughtered ordinary Blood Corpses reached a death toll in the thousands, they would converge their demonic blood, rapidly forming a brand new Blood Corpse Giant.
When cannon fodder died, they could give birth to third-rank combat power.
Was this even reasonable?!
"Aaaahhh—"
Severed limbs, heads, and chunks of flesh flew through the air.
At this moment, the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins resembled nothing so much as a slaughterhouse. All living beings, save for their wails, had almost no power to resist. And this was merely the residual power left behind by the ancient demon known as **[Blood]**.
One could see that the legends of ancient demons far surpassing even Transcendent Spirit venerables were not unfounded.
Wang Yu dearly wanted to have the Wailing Ghost Flute take a deep breath. The number of nascent souls generated here in such a short time was beyond measure, absolutely enough to instantly complete the flute's Nether Crow Ghost Domain.
Unfortunately.
For the next few years, even the next thirty or forty years, Wang Yu had developed a stress disorder regarding the phrase "great wealth is found in great danger."
He activated the Void-Escape Talisman once more, transforming into a streak of silver light that vanished into the folds of space.
Unexpectedly, this talisman did not transport him a thousand miles away. Instead, he appeared near the area of the former secret realm entrance, at the very edge of the blood mist!
"Only a few hundred miles...
"Well, being able to escape the center of the battlefield is fortunate enough."
He suspected it was due to that colossal Demon Blood Sunflower. After all, his previous uses hadn't encountered problems. The Demon Sunflower possessed late fourth-rank strength. If it had tampered with the spatial fabric of this area, given his current power, he would have had great difficulty detecting it.
*Buzzzzzz—*
"Hmm?"
The sudden noise caused Wang Yu, who had just stood up, to immediately shrink back down. Outside the blood mist, black clouds formed of poisonous insects were pressing down upon the land.
Wang Yu's expression instantly turned rather ugly. One wave had not yet settled, and another was already rising.
According to Reverse Spirit Blood Sect records, the Sky Demon Bone Forest was the territory of a Transcendent Spirit-level Poison Beast. Even if it had some agreement with the demonic path factions...
The sudden appearance of the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins, bursting through space into the present world, held immense attraction, enough for it to temporarily disregard any agreement.
Just the super spirit vein underground was something the Transcendent Spirit Poison Beast would never let slip. After all, it could stably provide pure spiritual energy. For the agonizingly slow cultivation speed of a Transcendent Spirit venerable, this was already an excellent harvest, not to mention the accompanying super spirit ore mine. The quantity of top-grade spirit stones would not be small.
All manner of recognized and unrecognized poison beasts charged towards the blood mist like a dark, rolling tide.
Apart from hiding, Wang Yu had no other recourse.
The trouble he had stirred up this time seemed a bit too great.
Poison Beasts were the overlords of the Sky Demon Bone Forest. They were absolutely not lacking in fourth-rank existences. The environment here was also perfectly suited for their reproduction. They arrived the fastest, and in the greatest numbers.
Certainly exceeding tens of millions, perhaps even more.
The various toxins left in their wake turned Wang Yu's face green. Mixed poisons like these were the most terrifying. Hidden underground, he hurriedly took out the Stainless Jade Toad and placed it over his chest, letting it devour all toxic substances that approached him.
The Poison Beast Legion poured into the blood mist.
Wang Yu waited for nearly an hour before the last of the poison beast tide entered the mist. The scenes of battle intensified further. What was already ruins was now completely flattened.
Blood rivers surged; poisonous liquids formed stagnant pools.
There were Blood Corpse Giants tearing apart hundred-meter spiders; crimson mosquito beasts draining entire stretches of blood rivers before they could be controlled by the Blood Demon's power, instead engaging in battle with the Blood Demon Ginseng.
The earth shook and mountains trembled. Giant fissures like canyons split the ground everywhere. This was clearly the work of a fourth-rank Poison Beast.
A toad manifested the scene of swallowing the moon, its chilling breath freezing a ten-thousand-foot blood river in an instant. Blood Mist Beasts and Blood Corpse Giants were frozen solid, unable to escape their fate, before it clashed with the Blood Demon Headless.
When Wang Yu finally crawled out from underground, this was the apocalyptic scene he witnessed: the earth sinking, mountains collapsing, everything within sight being destroyed.
"So this is the might of the Nascent Soul stage... It truly is exaggerated."
Wang Yu continued to speed-fly towards the edge of the blood mist, completely breaking free of it within a few breaths.
He glanced back, and his expression instantly turned complex.
He saw Long Yiran... or rather, her corpse!
Her left leg was petrified. The right half of her body was a mangled pulp. Her wide-open left eye was filled with longing and reluctance for life. Toxins were eroding her remains, causing poisonous cysts to continuously grow and burst, spewing pus and toxic smoke... mixing into the air to form a purplish-black poisonous fog that stood in opposition to the blood mist.
This trustworthy person, whose life had just begun to look up, was now regretfully buried here. The reason could be summed up in two words: **"strength" and "circumstance."**
It was truly a pity.
Perhaps it was because of the Nether River Contract that this trust had developed between them. But during their years of association, Wang Yu had genuinely felt a stirring in his heart.
Friendship... felt both close and distant to him.
When it came to something as precious and hard-to-come-by as trust, besides being betrayed, the death of the trusted person could also deliver a blow to the soul.
It was no less impactful than the blow he suffered when Chang Xi had schemed against him.
It also deepened his understanding of the Lake of Spirit's domain within him. Once he sorted out the feelings and realizations in his heart, he would advance another step on the path of the soul.
"Long Yiran—
"I will remember you."
This one glance was enough for Wang Yu to remember for a lifetime.
......
......
On the opposite edge of the blood mist from Wang Yu, atop a high mountain peak, Liu Jinxian and the Green Snake True Person rendezvoused, gazing into the distance at the battle between the poison beasts and the Blood Demon slaves.
They could barely conceal their shock.
"To think there are so many fourth-rank existences."
Green Snake True Person looked at his daughter, reached out and patted her head, sighing. "The Gu Poison Peak suffered significant losses this time. Who could have anticipated something like this would happen?"
Liu Jinxian, however, rolled her eyes and said, "Father, the Tenth Elder is dead. Do you have a chance to take his position..."
The Reverse Spirit Blood Sect's system of Nine Peaks dictated that upon breaking through to Core Formation, one could become an Elder, divided into Outer Sect Elders and Inner Sect Elders, the latter holding higher status, analogous to True Inheritance disciples.
Beyond this positional distinction, each peak's inner sect also had a council of Twelve Elders, generally occupied by peak Core Formation cultivators. This was the highest authority within each peak beneath the Nascent Soul masters.
The composition of this Elder Council was more complex. Strength was a hard requirement, and also the simplest criterion.
Other considerations mainly involved background and potential, with background being of paramount importance.
If one had some potential to condense a Nascent Soul and worked their connections, they could also attain a position among the Twelve Elders. They oversaw all administrative and business affairs of their respective peaks.
Moreover, they controlled the true purse strings of a peak: the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation spirit slaves!
Composed of righteous path prisoners of war, rebellious forces, or factions hostile to the Sacred Sect, their scale was far greater than the small-fry operations of the Stone Hut District.
Liu Jinxian's words were nothing short of a pipe dream.
Yet, Green Snake True Person mused, "Almost all the fellow disciples who came this time are dead. If we seize this opportunity, perhaps your father can gain the appreciation of the Gu Poison Mountain Lord."
If he could truly scheme his way into a position among the Gu Poison Peak's Twelve Elders, Liu Jinxian's status as a privileged second-generation disciple would also rise. Hoping for one's father to become a dragon was precisely this!
"There's no time to waste. Your Uncle Wu's message says that in the ancient times, two overlords appeared in this area of the **Sky Demon Bone Forest**.
"The ancient **[Ten Thousand Insect Sect]** perished, forming this Sky Demon Bone Forest. Later, the ancient Heavenly Soul Sect established itself here, only to be slaughtered during the Blood Demon uprising.
"Judging by the current situation, it's more likely the Heavenly Soul Sect ruins. The Blood Demon Hall will definitely be interested in these Blood Demon Medicine Kings.
"Xian'er, you go contact Lu Chenzhou. Sell the Blood Demon Hall a favor. Your father will go contact the Gu Poison Mountain Lord and Senior Insect Demon."
"Understood."
As two of the few survivors from the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect, the pair had no desire to stay in this perilous place.
But Green Snake True Person still left a few snake gu behind to monitor the situation. The father-daughter duo's coordinated actions proceeded with remarkable speed.
Word of the events in the Sky Demon Bone Forest would not spread in a day or two.
But it was absolutely impossible to conceal. For those active around Ten Thousand Poisons Town, news of the conflict between poison beasts and blood corpses would take at least half a month to travel.
This window was the advantageous time for the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect and the Netherworld Spring Monastery to act. Once it passed and no victor was decided, the outcome would be harder to predict.
They were in motion.
The Netherworld Spring Monastery side also had vigilant individuals who had escaped with their lives. The mere existence of the Ten-Thousand-Year Medicine Kings was enough for them to fight with all their might.
Even if the situation was disadvantageous, they would strive to seize them.
The intelligence regarding Wang Yu, the masked man, was also sent up to the Netherworld Spring Monastery's upper echelons. Upon learning of it, the Curseghost Demon Monarch was utterly baffled, unaware he had dispatched any True Inheritance disciple to investigate.
Could it have been arranged by a Yellow Spring Ghost Envoy under his command?
The identity of the mysterious man was a puzzle, but he was undoubtedly a member of the Netherworld Spring Monastery; that point was beyond question.
The urgent priority now was to contend with the Reverse Spirit Blood Sect for the Medicine Kings!
Winds and clouds gathered from both sides.
Following the Chasing Moon Prefecture, the Sky Demon Bone Forest in northern Yunling once again became the target of all. A Nascent Soul-level conflict of even greater scale was brewing.
*(End of Chapter)*