Worthy of Kunlun

Whether Xie Yue, Xuan Yuan, or Qing Li, all of them already stood at the very pinnacle of the cultivation world.

"Ru Wuxin!" The moment Huang Wushen spoke that name, not only Xie Yue at his side, but even Xuan Yuan and Qing Li nearby seemed to have fallen into a towering sea of blood. Not only was everything before their eyes filled with bloody waves and foul winds—even their Primordial Spirits and Seas of Consciousness seemed utterly flooded by a blood sea.

Just one name carried bloodlust and demonic qi greater than that of the Netherworld Blood Pool before them!

Because to the Orthodox Xuanmen of the world, that name represented nothing but destruction and conquest. It was a taboo among taboos!

Not many cultivators in the world knew the name Ru Wuxin. The vast majority knew only his other name—that name was... the Netherworld Blood Demon!

"Fear neither danger nor dread... all dharmas arise from the heart... even upon seeing hell... the heart remains free, untroubled, and fearless."

Xie Yue's eyes reddened. White lotus blossoms bloomed within his Sea of Consciousness, and his gaze, along with his entire person, became cold and clear, no longer carrying its former wild intensity. "The battle to exterminate demons at Golden Summit four hundred years ago was actually a lie to deceive the world?"

"That battle was not false... At that time, Ru Wuxin cultivated the supreme Blood Scripture Art and formed his true Blood Demon body. He annihilated twelve great sects in succession, leaving life in ruins and demonic qi soaring to the heavens. He then gathered the Ten Directions Heavenly Demons, seeking to wipe out Emei in one stroke. Our master led Kunlun, joined forces with over a hundred experts from Orthodox Xuanmen sects across the world, and fought Ru Wuxin in a decisive battle at Golden Summit..."

"Later generations all knew that the righteous path had exterminated the demons in that battle and won a great victory. Kunlun, too, became the leader of the world's orthodox sects because of that battle. But the truth was not entirely as later generations had been told..."

"On that day, Emei brought forth the peerless divine weapons Ziying and Qingsuo. Emei's foremost figure, Zhuo Wuxiang, held the Haotian Treasure Mirror, while Shushan laid down the Ten Thousand Swords Returning to Origin Demon-Exterminating Sword formation. Master Tsering of Drepung Monastery unleashed the wondrous art of Great Turning Wheel Three Aspects Transformation. Li Futu of Qingcheng wielded Tiandu Minghe. Cihang Zhai formed the Heart Lamp formation. Our master wielded the Three Yang One Baleful Sword and the Broken Jade Hook. Martial uncle Feng Hanyue held the Six Ding Six Jia Golden Rings, transforming them into six golden-armored heavenly gods. Martial uncle Wu Yong wielded the Nine Heavens Ten Earths God-Exterminating Crossbow..."

Every person Huang Wushen named had been an astonishing genius of the cultivation world over the past thousand years. As he recounted them slowly, Xie Yue and the others could already sense, merely from hearing those names, how savage that battle had been.

"Later generations said that the righteous path won a complete victory in that battle, that all the Ten Directions Heavenly Demons under Ru Wuxin's command were destroyed in body and spirit, and that Ru Wuxin's true Blood Demon body collapsed... But in truth, the losses suffered by the righteous path were equally devastating. The experts of Emei, Qingcheng, and Drepung Monastery were almost entirely wiped out. Even figures such as Zhuo Wuxiang and Li Futu perished in that battle. Emei's divine weapon Qingsuo and the Haotian Treasure Mirror also vanished without a trace. Master Tsering and the others of Drepung Monastery were gravely wounded, then ambushed by demon cultivators while returning to Drepung Monastery. Not only did they perish, but many of Drepung Monastery's cultivation arts were lost as well. The great sects that had stood on equal footing with Kunlun at the time were almost all unable to rise again after that single fall, and for centuries they failed to recover their vitality. Though Kunlun rose to become the leader of the world's Daoist sects as a result, our losses were no lighter. Martial uncle Wu Yong died, martial uncle Feng Hanyue perished together with the Northern Ju Heavenly Demon, and the Six Ding Six Jia Golden Rings disappeared. Our master's Three Yang One Baleful Sword was destroyed by the true Blood Demon body. He suffered the Netherworld Heart-Devouring Demon Fire, endured it for a hundred years, and was ultimately burned dry of all his essence blood before passing away."

"Ru Wuxin... the Netherworld Blood Demon. Thousands of cultivators died at his hands. He was the great calamity that made every Orthodox Xuanmen cultivator turn pale at the mention of a tiger! Now, Kunlun and the righteous path may once again face such a calamity. This is Kunlun's secret, unknown to the outside world. That day, when his true Blood Demon body was destroyed, only several drops of Blood Demon blood escaped. Yet those drops were not all hunted down and refined as the legends claimed. One drop escaped into Kunlun's spiritual vein!"

"It escaped into Kunlun's spiritual vein..." Dazzling divine light burst from Xie Yue's eyes. In that instant, he understood why Kunlun possessed such a Netherworld Blood Pool!

"Ru Wuxin's mastery of the Blood Scripture Art was unparalleled in all ages, and he himself was cunning and decisive. Once he had formed his true Blood Demon body, so long as a single drop of Blood Demon blood escaped, he could cultivate himself back to life bit by bit. But he knew that wherever he fled, he would inevitably be hunted down and refined away. Thus, when he saw he could not prevail amid that fierce battle, he secretly released a drop of Blood Demon blood and let it escape into Kunlun's spiritual vein." Facing the endlessly roiling Netherworld Blood Pool, Huang Wushen's usually unchanged expression revealed a faint trace of helplessness. "This spiritual vein is the foremost among all the world's spiritual veins; it is Kunlun's foundation. If we destroyed this spiritual vein together with that drop of Blood Demon blood, Kunlun would lose its roots. After hesitating, our master still concealed this matter. Together with the martial uncles and Martial Elders, he exhausted every effort to find a way to destroy that drop of Blood Demon blood without destroying the spiritual vein. But the mysterious transformations of Ru Wuxin's Blood Scripture Art still exceeded their imagination. They spent their entire lives on it. Even martial uncle Yaozhuo abandoned his fleshly body and used his Primordial Spirit to enter the spiritual vein, intending to refine and kill Ru Wuxin's final trace of Primordial Spirit demon blood—yet he was instead refined into the spiritual vein by Ru Wuxin's Primordial Spirit demon blood."

"For four hundred years, Ru Wuxin's Primordial Spirit demon blood lurked within Kunlun's spiritual vein, absorbing the filth, balefulness, and resentment between Heaven and Earth as it recuperated and steadily grew stronger. All the foul and baleful qi within Kunlun's Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy became nourishment for him, while the spiritual energy itself grew ever more incomparably pure. Thus, the cultivation of Kunlun's disciples advanced by a thousand miles each day, producing the finest talents under heaven and far surpassing the other sects. Yet no one knew that Kunlun had buried such an enormous hidden danger!"

"Seventy years ago, Ru Wuxin's Primordial Spirit had already begun to show faint signs of breaking from its cocoon and being reborn. Our master and the martial uncles and martial elders had no choice but to use great divine abilities to form the Great Luo Heaven formation, sealing the spiritual vein and suppressing it here. When our master ascended sixty years ago, he did not pass the position of sect leader to you only because your nature was too impetuous. If he placed this secret upon your heart, you would certainly have been unable to cultivate your Perfect Lotus Platform Dharma Flower Art to the state of great perfection. Now the world's destiny has shifted, warfare has erupted everywhere, corpses blanket the land, and the foul, yin, demonic, and baleful qi within Heaven and Earth's spiritual veins has increased. Ru Wuxin absorbed it all and actually condensed this Netherworld Blood Sea. Not only did he constantly refine Netherworld Blood God Sons, he also repeatedly created Blood Demon incarnations in an attempt to escape the seal. Junior brother Xuan Yuan suffered such grave injuries because, when Yuan Tianyi attacked that day, he killed the Blood Demon incarnation Ru Wuxin had taken the chance to create and was wounded by it."

After listening to Huang Wushen speak to this point, Xie Yue sighed softly. Looking at Huang Wushen, he said, "Was that why you wanted to seize the Luofu Technique and magical treasures while Yuan Tianyi's power weakened, so that Kunlun would have a few more chances of victory against this Blood Demon?"

"It was all my fault." Huang Wushen nodded silently. "Yuan Tianyi's Empty Life Extinguishing Sea Glazed Art had flaws. Upon cultivating it to the Glazed Indestructible Golden Body, his power would wane for twelve hours. His nature was far too proud; he would never agree to serve Kunlun. Nor could I reveal to the outside world that the Blood Demon had not been destroyed. I had intended for General Luo, Luoxian, and Wentian to capture him during those twelve hours when his power waned. But I did not expect Yuan Tianyi to have faintly stepped beyond that final threshold. He actually sensed that Kunlun intended to act against him and came to our gates of his own accord before his power had weakened."

As he spoke, Huang Wushen raised his head slightly. Though his eyes remained shut, he seemed to be looking at the empty sky where Yuan Tianyi had stood that day, as though gazing from afar upon Yuan Tianyi's peerless splendor. "Senior brother Xie Yue, you severed your six senses, so you did not see Yuan Tianyi that day. That day... he truly possessed beauty without equal, enough to make one gaze up at him in awe. He came bearing the might of Heaven and Earth, raising his momentum to its peak along the way, and actually reached that realm of nothingness. Even I would not have been his match in a one-on-one fight. General Luo manifested an external incarnation and fought him, only to suffer a crushing defeat and trap himself beneath the sea. Even when Wentian and junior sister Luoxian joined hands, they were still no match for him. Only when Senior Brother Jiuba emerged from seclusion and used the Three Corpses Exterminating God Arrow against him did I use my Colorless Great Wheel of Determination to defeat him. Wentian's sword intent was blunted, and the power of his Natal Sword Essence dropped by one rank. Junior sister Luoxian entered seclusion. General Luo's life or death is unknown. Senior Brother Jiuba was struck back by Yuan Tianyi; his Nascent Soul scattered, and all his cultivation came to nothing. Added to that, the Great Sumeru Positive and Negative Nine Palaces Formation was broken. Kunlun has suffered grievous losses this time. What is more, the demonic sects of the world are stirring restlessly, as if someone has sensed that the Blood Demon is trapped within Kunlun. They will surely exploit this opening to attack. Kunlun has truly reached an extremely perilous juncture."

"Senior Brother Xie Yue." Xuan Yuan, who had stood beside Huang Wushen all this time, sighed softly. "The sect leader acted thus because he felt increasingly unable to suppress the Netherworld Blood Demon. He made this decision only after discussing it with us. We simply never expected Yuan Tianyi's cultivation to have reached such a level. Had we known, we might as well have sought his aid. Perhaps there would still have been some chance to turn things around..."

Xie Yue suddenly gave a bitter smile. Looking at Huang Wushen's perpetually closed eyes, he already knew how much Huang Wushen had borne. Decades of suspicion and dissatisfaction vanished in an instant. Had we known... Had we known, we should have destroyed this spiritual vein together with the Blood Demon blood. But Ru Wuxin was a peerless tyrant; he had long understood the human heart... If it had been oneself four hundred years ago, one would never have had the heart to destroy this spiritual vein either. Without this spiritual vein, richest in spiritual energy, Kunlun might also have ceased to exist. Who could know the karmic causes and effects of this world, or see through past and future?

What made Xie Yue smile even more bitterly was that Kunlun's flourishing over the past century, its emergence of talents one after another, had also been because Kunlun's spiritual vein was so pure that cultivation progressed with astonishing speed. Even his own present cultivation could be said to have benefited from Ru Wuxin.

The karmic causes and effects of this world... who could truly explain them clearly, and who could distinguish right from wrong?

"I must take responsibility for imparting scriptures and teachings. Though Kunlun's younger disciples include no shortage of astonishing talents, their cultivation is ultimately still insufficient." Huang Wushen handed the crescent-shaped Reincarnation Moon Radiance Dharma Wheel, which he had been gripping tightly, to Xie Yue. "Among us ten martial brothers, junior brother You Wuxiang cultivates the Supreme Forgetting Emotions Great Art. He has severed all worldly feelings and takes no interest in worldly affairs. Now, the only one who can guard this Netherworld Blood Pool together with Qing Li and protect Kunlun is you."

Xie Yue accepted the Reincarnation Moon Radiance Dharma Wheel and walked straight through the dense blood mist toward Qing Li. "I will never fail the sect leader's trust. I will never fail Kunlun!" The cold, clear voice issuing from behind that ragged figure was as decisive and murderous as a sharp blade!