"Bang, bang..." The lids of the nine giant coffins opened one after another. Silver Bone Ancestor, Golden Armor Ancestor, White Stone Ancestor, Cold Ice Ancestor, Black Nether Ancestor, and the others led the people of Blood Prison City out.
Although Lu Ya and the others had never actually met the Blood Prison Five Ancestors, they quickly recognized them from the images their subordinates had sent back.
Silver Bone Ancestor gazed at the battlefield strewn with corpses. He was deeply shaken, yet couldn't help feeling delighted. These were all sources of blood. Although the battle had destroyed many of the bodies, the corpses of gods and immortals were still quite sturdy, and most of them were intact.
Silver Bone Ancestor looked at Lu Ya and the others. Though every one of them had cultivation far surpassing his own, he remained confident and utterly unafraid.
"We of Blood Prison City are here to collect the corpses. We won't interfere in your fighting," Silver Bone Ancestor said calmly to Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others, pointing toward the battlefield.
Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others looked utterly grim. So they had been fighting tooth and nail while these people waited nearby to collect the bodies. If one day they themselves were to fall, then...
At the thought, Lu Ya and the others' faces turned livid, their expressions dark enough to drip water. Cold light flashed in their eyes as they glared murderously at the people of Blood Prison City.
No one wanted their body to be used by others after death. And the people of Blood Prison City had come to collect corpses while they were locked in mutual slaughter and suffering heavy losses. It was hard to imagine a greater insult.
They clearly didn't take them seriously at all. How could these powerful figures, accustomed to holding themselves above everyone else, tolerate that? They even set aside their own conflict for the moment, fixing the people of Blood Prison City with cold, unanimous glares.
Just as Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others were about to make a move, the entire sky suddenly darkened. All light in the region was swallowed up, while Spiritual Qi gathered into a storm and surged skyward.
While Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others were still wondering what was happening, an overwhelming pressure descended from above and fell upon them.
To their horror, they found their Magic Power turning sluggish, and their perception of the world around them growing less clear. It was as if an invisible barrier had cut them off from the world, leaving them deeply unsettled.
Suddenly, Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others saw a pair of enormous eyes appear high in the sky. There wasn't a trace of living emotion in those silvery-white eyes. They were utterly cold and merciless, like the eyes of a god enthroned above all beings—noble, imposing, and cruel.
Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others couldn't tell where the enormous eyes were. They seemed to be right before them, yet also as if they were gazing in from some immeasurable distance—bizarre and contradictory.
The eyes high in the sky shifted slightly. A vast will descended upon Lu Ya and the others, and a cold, merciless voice rang without warning in their minds: "Obstruct, and be erased."
The eyes gradually vanished, and the region returned to light.
Lu Ya and the others were still drenched in cold sweat. At the moment that will had descended, they had felt like insignificant ants, while that will was the merciless Heavenly Dao. If they dared to defy it in the slightest, they would be erased completely.
The most terrified, of course, were Ancestor Tun Tian, Old Ancestor Golden Body, Old Ancestor Destruction, and the others. Reborn from the remnants of Chaos Demon Gods, they had far too vivid a memory of those eyes.
The instant those eyes appeared, Ancestor Tun Tian, Old Ancestor Golden Body, and Old Ancestor Destruction had all felt an urge to turn and flee. In the end, however, they hadn't dared.
Fortunately, the eyes had already disappeared. Ancestor Tun Tian and the others exchanged glances and let out long sighs of relief. They also understood why the Blood Prison Five Ancestors had been collecting so many corpses. Back in the Chaos World, that being had seemed rather interested in such things as well.
Once their shock had passed, Old Ancestor Lu Ya and the others realized that the being was the true ruler of Blood Prison City. They didn't dare stop the people of Blood Prison City anymore. It wasn't their corpses, after all. Let them collect them. The strange thought crossed their minds, and their earlier anger faded away.
Seeing this, Silver Bone Ancestor smiled faintly. "Activate the giant coffin formation. Begin collecting."
The people of Blood Prison City all formed the same hand seal. Boom! A black vortex appeared above the nine black giant coffins, and a beam of darkness swept across the entire battlefield. The people of Blood Prison City then scattered in every direction, using their Magic Power to lift the corpses into the air. The bodies were then automatically swallowed by the vortex.
The process lasted a full three hours. Wave after wave of corpses disappeared into the giant coffins, and after swallowing countless bodies, the coffins' pitch-black surfaces took on a faint red sheen.
"Whoosh, whoosh..." Once the people of Blood Prison City had completed their task, they didn't linger. They ascended into the sky alongside the nine black giant coffins.
Throughout the collection, Lu Ya and the others had watched coldly from the sidelines. Only after the people of Blood Prison City had left did the two sides exchange glances, preparing to resume the battle. They had fought this long; there had to be a winner. Everyone present knew it.
Yet before they could fight, an indescribable message appeared in the minds of all beings in the Primordial World. They could vaguely understand it to mean, "The Great Tribulation is about to begin; all beings will be slaughtered."
A warning from the Heavenly Dao.
With their profound cultivation, Old Ancestor Lu Ya, Yin-Yang Ancestor, Qiankun Ancestor, and the others went further, deducing that the Fierce Beast Domain and Demon Domain had begun their full-scale invasion and were preparing to sweep across the entire Primordial World. Their expressions turned icy.
They had no time to continue fighting. They hurriedly led their forces away.
The entire Primordial World was in turmoil. Many cultivators were deeply worried about whether they could survive this Great Tribulation. Many could even imagine the scene of a Sea of Corpses and Blood.
East Sea, Penglai Island.
Li Yi, who had been comprehending the sword path, suddenly opened his eyes. Two black sword rays shot from his pupils and pierced straight through the stone door before him. He lightly pressed the Green Lotus Ancient Sword, and a black lotus sprouted from its blade. One zhang, two zhang, three zhang... It slowly filled the entire stone chamber.
A faint smile touched Li Yi's lips. After this period of secluded cultivation, he had brought the Slaughter Sword Dao to its peak and gained some insight into the Power of Life. One more step would let him master the Rebirth Sword Dao, the counterpart to the Slaughter Sword Dao. Once the two merged, he could use them as a chance to comprehend the Nirvana True Meaning and achieve the Nirvana Sword Dao.
"The Great Tribulation of All Beings..." Li Yi murmured. In his estimation, the Heavenly Dao was like an intelligent computer, tasked with maintaining the healthy functioning of the Primordial World's ecosystem. Whenever too many factors emerged within the Primordial World to disrupt that ecosystem, it would bring down a Great Tribulation to eliminate them.
Li Yi reckoned that the many vicious beasts in the Primordial World, creatures who knew only slaughter and destruction, were among the targets of this purge. The thought brought a faint smile to his face. Perhaps he could use this Great Tribulation to comprehend the Nirvana Sword Dao in one stroke. A glint flashed in Li Yi's eyes.
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