Break the Formation—Strike While He's Down and Take His Life!

Xia Wuji opened his spiritual eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he saw through all the secrets of this Blood Refining Soul Devouring Formation.

Though this formation was somewhat incomplete, it was more than sufficient to deal with the people within the valley.

A faint golden glow flickered in Xia Wuji's eyes. With the low-grade Profound-tier movement technique, Cloud Soaring Steps, beneath his feet, he moved soundlessly. After only a few breaths, he had silently arrived behind a Sea of Qi Realm cultivator at peak completion from the Bloodfire Demonic Cult.

This person was guarding a Formation Flag.

The arrangement of a formation was extremely complex. Many energy-containing materials had to first be refined into Formation Flags, which were then planted in special positions. Finally, spiritual patterns had to be drawn with mental power to link the Formation Flags together into a whole.

"Whoosh!"

Xia Wuji swept his sword horizontally.

The icy blade severed a round head.

The moment this man became a corpse, a cold, ghostly gleam flashed across the Formation Flag he had been guarding. The corpse's blood and qi, as well as its not-yet-dispersed soul, were instantly devoured by the Formation Flag.

"Blood Butcher is not a Formation Master. He can only barely make use of this formation's power to refine blood and qi and devour souls. He knows nothing at all about this formation's transformations," Xia Wuji muttered softly.

If a true Formation Master had been here, the formation's might could have increased severalfold at the very least. Moreover, there would have been no need at all to send people to guard the Formation Flags. Everything happening around the formation would have been within the Formation Master's perception.

But Blood Butcher could not do that!

Xia Wuji had killed one of the people he had assigned to guard the Formation Flags, yet he noticed nothing. He was still immersed in the pleasure of absorbing blood essence and souls.

Xia Wuji looked at the Formation Flag before him.

It was only palm-sized. One side of the flag was crimson, as though a rolling sea of blood lay within the tiny banner. The other side was embroidered with a savage skull bearing fangs.

The flagpole planted in the ground had been polished entirely from bone. It should have been the bone of some demonic beast, its surface carved with densely packed spiritual patterns.

"Blood refining, soul devouring—blood refining, soul devouring. Then I'll refine your blood and devour your soul!" A gleam flashed through Xia Wuji's eyes. Immediately afterward, his mental power flowed out from the aperture between his brows.

As the ten fingers of both his hands rapidly traced through the air, strand after strand of spiritual patterns descended onto the Formation Flag's surface and merged into it!

Only a moment later, Xia Wuji withdrew his mental power.

The Formation Flag planted before him looked exactly the same as before, but with a single thought from Xia Wuji, it would undergo an enormous change!

"This Blood Refining Soul Devouring Formation has twelve Formation Flags in total. I only need to make slight alterations to three of them to reverse this formation." Xia Wuji spoke to himself, then flashed away and vanished from where he stood.

Among the subordinates of Blood Butcher, the branch master of the Bloodfire Demonic Cult, there were several Primal Energy Realm martial artists guarding the Formation Flags. With Xia Wuji's current strength, dealing with Primal Energy Realm martial artists would not be a problem, but it would inevitably cause too much commotion.

So, he specifically targeted those in the Sea of Qi Realm!

Every strike was an instant kill.

In a quarter of an hour, Xia Wuji had carried out his plan and tampered with three Formation Flags.

His gaze turned toward Blood Butcher, who sat cross-legged above the valley, continuously drawing in blood essence and soul energy through the Blood Refining Soul Devouring Formation.

At this moment, Blood Butcher radiated an incomparably violent aura, and that aura was still rising at an extremely rapid pace.

Among those trapped in the valley by the Blood Refining Soul Devouring Formation, some could no longer hold on. They lay on the ground, their blood and qi exhausted, their souls depleted.

Even those still forcing themselves to endure were merely making their final struggles before death.

The stronger Blood Butcher became, the greater his devouring power would grow. The rate at which their blood essence and souls were forcibly stripped from their bodies would also become faster and faster.

"Miss Xu, quickly take the pill!" Huang Hu took out a medicinal pill and handed it to Xu Lan.

"Young Master Huang... you should take this pill yourself. I'm already nearly done for. Even if I take it, I won't be able to hold on for much longer..." Xu Lan's face was full of pain.

Huang Hu took a deep breath and, without another word, directly stuffed the pill into Xu Lan's mouth. He, too, was suffering unbearably. A low growl came from his throat as he said, "Miss Xu, hold on. Until the very last moment, never give up!"

At that moment, Xia Wuji's figure could not help but surface in his mind.

Perhaps if he had been more resolute then and followed Xia Wuji away, he would not have fallen into such a crisis.

He looked again at Xu Lan beside him. If he were given another chance to choose, he knew... he would still come looking for Xu Lan.

A moment later.

Xu Lan had already fainted.

Huang Hu's body swayed, on the verge of collapse.

"Is there really... no hope left?"

Huang Hu looked at Blood Butcher, the branch master of the Bloodfire Demonic Cult, beyond the blood-colored formation screen above the valley. The shadow of despair in his heart grew deeper and deeper.

"Hahaha!"

"Amazing!"

"So amazing!"

Blood Butcher burst into wild laughter, overwhelmed with excitement. He abruptly spread his arms wide as vast amounts of blood essence and soul power gathered in the palms of his hands.

"Blood as the source!"

"Souls as the guide!"

"Blood Soul Transformation Fire!"

"Forge my Great Dao!"

His voice was impassioned, sending rolling waves of sound through the air. Then his palms slowly drew closer together, intending to intertwine blood and souls and ignite the fire of blood and soul.

In the shadows.

The faint golden glow of Xia Wuji's Spiritual Eye Technique deepened in his eyes.

The time had come!

His spiritual power surged out in an instant.

A Formation Flag not far from him immediately burst into flames!

The burning of that Formation Flag sent out ripples that instantly triggered another two Formation Flags.

As the three Formation Flags burned, the entire Blood Refining Soul Devouring Formation began to shake violently. At the very center of the formation's curtain of light, its devouring force was actually reversed!

Originally, it had been devouring the blood essence and souls of the living beings within the valley.

Now, it was devouring Blood Butcher's blood essence and soul instead.

Blood Butcher immediately panicked!

Such a drastic change had occurred in the formation, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

Moreover, this was the most crucial moment of cultivating the Bloodfire Demonic Cult's secret art. The Blood Soul Fire in his hands, which was on the verge of being ignited, not only failed to ignite, but the two energies began to repel each other violently!

Boom!

With an explosive bang, the two masses of energy in Blood Butcher's hands detonated.

Blood Butcher was blasted into the air!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Explosions rang out without end. Formation Flags detonated one after another, and the Bloodfire Demonic Cult martial artists guarding them were reduced directly to ashes amid the terrifying blasts.

Bang!

Blood Butcher's body slammed heavily into the ground.

"Pwah!"

He spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of organs.

All the flesh on both his arms had been blown away in the explosion. Even his bones were shattered and incomplete—a miserable sight indeed!

"Damn it!"

"Damn it!"

"I was so close to success, and yet this kind of accident happened... The formation, it's the formation's fault... That dog bastard who gave me this formation set me up!"

Blood Butcher roared again and again, consumed by extreme unwillingness. He had prepared for this plan for a long time, even daring to act in a place so close to Qingyun City.

Yet in the end... all his efforts had gone down the drain!

"Pwah, pwah, pwah!" Blood Butcher's rage attacked his heart. Gravely wounded, he spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood.

The next moment, Blood Butcher forcibly gathered a breath of strength. His figure flashed, and he fled at high speed.

The plan had failed, and he was seriously injured. This was no place to linger.

From the shadows, Xia Wuji, who had destroyed Blood Butcher's formation, saw a glint flare in his eyes.

A helmsman of the Bloodfire Demonic Cult with Core Formation Realm cultivation ought to have a very substantial fortune.

Strike while he was sick and take his life—otherwise, tonight's trouble would have been for nothing!