Blood Shadows Lost, Trouble on the Way Home

As he watched several blood-red figures emerge from the shadows, reeking of blood and resentment like flowing filth, Xuanwei felt as though he had just crawled out of one pit only to fall headfirst into a cesspit.

Blood Sea Asuras! The murderous race created by that old freak, Ancestor Minghe! Weren't they supposed to stay in the Netherworld Blood Sea? Why were they dropping by the Abyss of Return secret realm? Their business had expanded way too broadly!

"System, analyze the targets' weaknesses!" Xuanwei urgently halted his cultivation and suppressed his aura to the utmost while shouting frantically in his mind.

[Target analysis: Low-level Blood God Son avatar (controlled by a Blood Sea Asura). Its energy core is Blood Fiend Grudge. It fears extremely yang and rigid power, thunder purification, and high-grade flame power. It has some adaptability to Chaos Qi, but detests pure vitality.]

Extremely yang and rigid power? Thunder purification? High-grade flames?

Xuanwei swiftly reviewed his methods. He had only just begun learning Supreme Pure Divine Thunder, so its power was limited. He did not know any high-grade flame arts. As for extremely yang and rigid power... did his Innate Immortal Qi origin count? It did not seem like the right remedy.

Pure vitality? He had that! The Remnant Seed of Jianmu specialized in exactly that!

Seeing the blood shadows twist like sharks that had scented blood, silently shrieking as they lunged at him, Xuanwei did not dare hesitate any longer!

Wherever they passed, even the Chaos Qi was stained with a filthy dark red.

"Jianmu vitality, Azure Emperor longevity, open for me—!"

He fully activated the Remnant Seed of Jianmu within his sea of consciousness! Buzz! A vast, pure emerald radiance brimming with boundless vitality and purifying power suddenly erupted from his body!

It was like lighting a beacon of life within that dead, gray world!

The charging blood shadows were like snow meeting the blazing sun the instant they touched the emerald radiance. Sizzling sounds rose from them as red-black smoke billowed from their surfaces, accompanied by agonized, piercing soul shrieks! Their advance abruptly stalled, and they even instinctively curled backward. Their blood-red eyes were filled with disgust toward that vitality—and a trace of... fear?

"It worked!" Xuanwei's spirits soared! As expected, ultimate deathly resentment and ultimate life vitality were natural enemies!

He pressed his advantage, maintaining the output of Jianmu vitality while circulating the Azure Emperor Longevity Art. He transformed that life force into countless tiny phantom emerald vines that lashed at the blood shadows like whips!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Every strike of the vitality vines stripped away a wisp of Blood Fiend Grudge, making the blood shadows fainter! The Mysterious Immortal-level leading blood shadow tried to gather Blood Fiend power for a counterattack, but once its attack entered the Jianmu vitality domain, its might was greatly weakened. It could not effectively harm Xuanwei.

As one side waned and the other waxed, the True Immortal-level blood shadows were completely dispersed and purified by the vitality vines in mere moments, vanishing into nothingness. Only the Mysterious Immortal-level leader remained. It had dimmed considerably, let out an unwilling shriek, and suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist in an attempt to flee.

"Trying to run? Leave something behind!" Xuanwei's gaze turned cold as he quietly invoked the power of the Chaos Bead, creating a tiny spatial distortion along the blood mist's escape route!

Puff!

The blood mist crashed into the warped space with a muffled sound. Most of it dissipated, but a tiny wisp of the purest blood-red origin was forcibly stripped away and imprisoned by spatial power. It turned into a struggling, rice-grain-sized crimson bead that fell into Xuanwei's hand.

[Obtained "Imperfect Blood Fiend Origin x1." It may be used to refine heretical magic treasures, cast curses, or be analyzed by the Chaos Bead to reverse-engineer some secrets of the *Blood Scripture* (high risk).]

Blood Fiend Origin? Xuanwei looked at the thing in his hand with distaste, as though he were pinching a booger. Using it directly was definitely out of the question; it would damage the prestige of the Orthodox Xuan Sect. Letting the Chaos Bead analyze it? Too risky. Who knew whether Ancestor Minghe would trace the connection back to him? He would keep it for now. Perhaps it could serve as bait or a one-use hidden weapon someday.

Having resolved this sudden Blood Sea Asura crisis, Xuanwei did not dare remain any longer. Who knew whether there were more Blood Sea Asuras around, or whether this had attracted something even more troublesome? He quickly cleared away the lingering battle traces and aura near the Chaos Qi eye, then turned without hesitation and continued exploring deeper into the secret realm in search of an exit.

This time, he was even more cautious. He pushed both Deep Immortal Seclusion and the Chaos Bead's concealment ability to their limits, moving through the shattered land of deathly silence like a transparent ghost.

Along the way, he encountered several more scattered groups of Blood Sea Asuras, but sensed them in advance and cleverly avoided them through Jianmu vitality and concealment techniques. He also discovered that these Blood Sea Asuras had not stumbled in by accident. They seemed to be searching for something, moving with a clear method. Occasionally, he even saw them leave obscure blood-red markings at certain spatial nodes.

"Ancestor Minghe's reach is long indeed... He even dares meddle in the Abyss of Return secret realm? What exactly is he looking for?" Xuanwei was filled with doubts, feeling that these waters were becoming increasingly murky.

After traveling an unknown distance, the scene ahead changed once more. The shattered spatial fragments gradually dwindled, replaced by a relatively intact but barren black plain. At the end of that plain stood a spatial barrier stretching across heaven and earth, constantly twisting and fluctuating!

Beyond the barrier was no longer the secret realm's dead gray darkness, but the normal scenery of the Primordial World—faintly visible rolling mountains and drifting immortal qi!

An exit! He had finally found the exit!

Xuanwei was overjoyed, but he did not lower his guard. He carefully examined the spatial barrier and found that while it was unstable, it seemed to have a relatively weak region that rippled like water. Perhaps he could force his way through it.

However, just as he was preparing to rush out in one burst, another upheaval occurred!

Rumble—!!!

An even more violent and terrifying explosion, seemingly from the depths of the secret realm's core, suddenly rang out! Immediately afterward, the entire secret realm began shaking as though heaven and earth had been overturned! The ground cracked apart, spatial fragments rained down from the sky, and even the spatial barrier began violently twisting and deforming, becoming extremely unstable!

"Not good! It's from the Canyon Altar! Did those idiots from the Western Teachings blow up the altar?! Or did those two guardian puppets self-destruct?!" Xuanwei's expression changed drastically! Spatial tremors of this magnitude meant something enormous had happened in the core region! This secret realm... was likely about to collapse completely!

He could not wait any longer!

He looked at the spatial barrier, which had become like raging ocean waves, gritted his teeth, and pushed the Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor's defenses to the limit. At the same time, he invoked the Chaos Bead's power to protect his body and shot toward the barrier's weakest point like an arrow released from a bow!

"Open for me—!"

Squelch!

It felt as though he had passed through a layer of viscous gel, yet also as though countless spatial blades were slicing him apart. Xuanwei felt tearing pain surge through his immortal qi body!

Still, he clenched his teeth and endured. Relying on the Dao Pattern Armor's defenses and the Chaos Bead's subtle influence over space, he forcibly squeezed through the violent spatial currents!

The world before his eyes suddenly brightened! The familiar aura of the Primordial World rushed toward him!

He was out!

Before Xuanwei could celebrate, he felt an irresistible repulsive force coming from the secret realm entrance behind him. At the same time, the entrance rapidly shrank and collapsed at a visible rate!

He did not dare linger. He raised his escape light and fled desperately away from the entrance!

After flying less than a hundred li, he looked back to see the space above that stretch of sea shatter inch by inch like a broken mirror before ultimately vanishing completely. Only a massive, slowly rotating spatial vortex remained, releasing its last traces of Abyss of Return Death Qi before gradually calming and disappearing as well.

That strange Abyss of Return secret realm had ceased to exist entirely.

"Whew... I finally... made it out alive..." Xuanwei collapsed in thought onto a cloud, feeling as though he had fought a battle lasting ten thousand years. He was exhausted in both body and mind. Although the journey had been thrilling and his gains were not bad—the Black Emperor inheritance had improved, the Chaos Bead's restoration had increased slightly, and he had obtained a wisp of Blood Fiend Origin—he truly did not want to go through it again.

After identifying his direction, he discovered that Golden Ao Island was not far away. He was about to return to the island to report that he was safe, then immediately enter seclusion at the "Supreme Pure Dao Comprehension Pool" to attempt a breakthrough to Golden Immortal—

Buzz!

The communication jade talisman in his robes, the one Daoist Duobao had given him, began flashing urgently and inopportunely again!

Xuanwei's eyelid twitched, and a bad premonition rose within him. He sent his divine sense into it.

Daoist Duobao's stern yet somewhat... strange and urgent thought came through:

"Xuanwei! Return to Biyou Palace immediately! White Crane Boy, a disciple under Uncle-Master Yuanshi of Yuxu Palace on Kunlun Mountain, has arrived with an invitation. He says the time for the Three Pure Ones' discourse on the Dao is near and invites Interception Sect disciples to Kunlun Mountain to observe! By Master's decree, you are to go with the delegation!"

Xuanwei: "!!!"

Kunlun Mountain? Yuxu Palace? The Three Pure Ones' discourse on the Dao?! And he had to go with the delegation?!

The image of Primordial Lord of Heaven's cold, imposing face immediately surfaced in his mind—those eyes that looked upon him as though he were trash—as well as that group from the Chan Sect who held their heads so high, especially Lingxiao, who hated him to the bone...

This was not an invitation to observe a ceremony! It was clearly an invitation to a trap!

He had only just finished stirring up trouble in the East Sea and the Abyss of Return secret realm. He had not even caught his breath, and now they were throwing him under Uncle-Master Yuanshi's nose again? Was Master trying to get him killed?!

Before he could recover from this "terrible news," another faint thought, filled with urgency and panic, came through the divine sense imprint he had left on Golden Ao Island. It was Mo Yuan's voice:

"Teacher! Please come back and take a look! That... that Light Cocoon beneath your Medicine Garden has started acting up again! And this time, the fluctuations it's emitting seem to be frantically absorbing and imitating some strange, ancient Humanity's Fortune carrying the prayers of countless living beings and the aura of war?! Many of the human registered disciples on the island have begun kneeling toward the Medicine Garden without realizing it!"

Xuanwei's immortal qi body suddenly stiffened, and he nearly fell from the cloud.

The Light Cocoon was absorbing and imitating Humanity's Fortune? Human disciples were kneeling in worship?

An absurd thought that nevertheless seemed to faintly align with a certain course of events flashed through his mind like lightning:

Could it be... that the Light Cocoon had sensed he would soon go to Kunlun Mountain and come into contact with the karmic threads related to the "Human Emperor Contest" from his memories, so it had begun... warming up in advance?!

He subconsciously touched—in thought—the warm Black Tortoise Dao Pattern Armor in his robes. Then he sensed the three quiet—for now—Black Tortoise Eggs in his Mustard Seed Space, as well as the dormant—for now—Remnant Seed of Jianmu and the slowly rotating Chaos Bead within his sea of consciousness.

The East Sea's turmoil had temporarily subsided, and the Abyss of Return adventure had come to an end.

Yet a new vortex was already quietly gathering atop Kunlun Mountain, within the coming struggle for Humanity's Fortune.

By his ears, he could almost hear the confused yet expectant prayers drifting from the human tribes along Buzhou Mountain's remnant veins, as well as the phantom sound of the Human Emperor Banner—still unraised, yet already stirring the Heavenly Dao and human hearts—fluttering fiercely in the wind...