Full Moon Night.
A blood moon hung high in the night sky, dyeing the entire Zhao Family Shelter a bleak, dark red.
Deep inside the underground cavern, a sinister wind howled.
The enormous Blood Pool had already begun to boil. Countless vengeful spirits wailed and struggled in the bloody water, yet an invisible force held them fast.
A complicated grand array had long since been laid out around the Blood Pool.
Eight White Bone Totem Pillars stood at the eight points of the compass. Several naked boys and girls were bound to each pillar. They had long since lost consciousness, their bodies covered in countless tiny cuts. Blood trickled down the pillars, following the array's lines and flowing into the Blood Pool at the center.
Suspended directly above the Blood Pool, Lin Xiaowan hung alone. Her wrists had been slashed open, and her crimson blood fell like beads from a snapped string onto the Corpse Pill below.
"Drip... drip..."
With every drop of blood, the pitch-black Corpse Pill flashed red, emanating an even more terrifying aura.
Zhao Wuji sat cross-legged on a bone lotus in the middle of the Blood Pool, eyes shut, hands forming seals as he murmured an incantation. As his chant continued, the Yin Energy within the cavern surged wildly.
At the Kun Position, in the southwest, Yan Kui stood like an iron tower.
He held the eight-hundred-pound Bone Shattering Hammer in one hand, watching it all with an impassive expression.
At the other seven points stood one guardian apiece. They were all either Zhao Family death warriors or core members like Zhao Rong, who had been there before.
Their faces were all alight with fervor and fear, as though they awaited the descent of a miracle.
"The hour has come!"
Zhao Wuji suddenly opened his eyes, both of them blood-red.
"Raise the array!"
All eight White Bone Totem Pillars burst into blinding blood-red light.
The boys and girls bound to them shriveled in an instant, as if every drop of moisture and vital essence had been sucked from their bodies.
"Argh—!"
Though unconscious, the unbearable agony still wrenched instinctive screams from them. But the cries soon cut off, and they became dried corpses.
Rolling streams of vital essence poured into the Blood Pool, and the blood surged three feet higher in an instant!
"Not enough! Still not enough!"
He pointed into the air.
The wound on Lin Xiaowan's body suddenly burst open. Blood gushed out in a torrent, completely enveloping the Corpse Pill.
The Corpse Pill trembled violently, as though a heart were beating inside it.
A terrifying pressure erupted from the pill, sweeping through the entire cavern in an instant.
"Good! Now! Fuse!"
"Argh—!"
A piercing scream rang out.
Zhao Wuji's withered body swelled in an instant like a balloon. His skin split, and countless pitch-black scales clawed their way out of his flesh, dripping with black blood. His spine rose joint by joint with a string of sharp cracks, and in an instant he became a half-corpse monster, three meters tall, with a livid face and fangs.
A tangible aura of Corpse Fiend burst from his body.
Under the terrifying pressure, the surrounding rock walls groaned as if they could bear no more, and rubble pattered down. Several guardians nearby felt as though a sledgehammer had struck their chests. Their Blood Qi surged backward, and they couldn't help spitting out blood.
This was the crushing pressure of the Foundation Establishment Realm!
The absolute suppression of one Life Level over another!
"Roar—!"
Zhao Wuji's eyes blazed red as he let out a nonhuman roar.
"Corpse Pill... backlash..."
Though he had gained power, the mixed resentment of the countless vengeful spirits was also battering his sea of consciousness.
"Guardians! Help me suppress the corpse poison!"
Zhao Wuji roared, his voice grating like two pieces of raw iron scraping together. "Pour your Blood Qi into the array!"
At his command, the other seven guardians didn't dare delay. They bit their tongues and spat their Blood Qi onto the array's nodes.
Yan Kui alone did nothing.
Standing at the Kun Position, he was like a reef unchanged since time immemorial. No matter how the surging Corpse Qi crashed around him, he didn't so much as twitch.
"Yan Kui! What are you doing?! Move!"
Seeing this, Zhao Rong cried out in alarm and berated him.
Yan Kui slowly turned his head.
The utter stillness in his eyes made Zhao Rong's blood run cold.
"Move? Of course I'll move."
"But not to help him."
A grim curve touched Yan Kui's lips, revealing a row of white teeth.
"I'm going to send him to his grave!"
Before the words had even faded, Yan Kui stamped down hard with his right foot.
He used no inner force. It was pure, explosive muscle power.
Crack!
The hard granite node of the array beneath his foot shattered into powder. Webs of cracks spread in every direction.
With the Kun Position broken, a gaping hole appeared in the Blood Sacrifice Grand Array, which had been running perfectly.
Zhao Wuji, who had been devouring energy at a frenzied pace, was like a speeding car that had suddenly blown a tire. The violent Corpse Qi in his body instantly went out of control, careening through his meridians.
"Pfft!"
Zhao Wuji spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"You... you dare betray me?!"
"Betray you?"
Yan Kui sneered.
In the next instant,
his figure vanished.
No—not vanished.
He was simply too fast!
Driven by his terrifying 5.5 strength, his body broke through the air resistance in an instant, leaving a blur behind.
He crossed dozens of meters in the blink of an eye!
By the time Zhao Rong reacted, a massive shadow had already blotted out the firelight above him.
"I was never yours to begin with. How could I betray you?"
The icy voice exploded beside Zhao Rong's ear.
A suffocating gale came with it.
The Bone Shattering Hammer! Eight hundred pounds!
Driven by Yan Kui's monstrous strength, the heavy hammer swung faster than the speed of sound. The air before its head compressed into a visible white barrier.
"No—!"
Zhao Rong let out a despairing scream and instinctively raised his Fine Iron Long Saber to block.
But—
There was never any doubt about the outcome.
The Fine Iron Long Saber shattered like glass the instant it touched the Bone Shattering Hammer.
Then came Zhao Rong's arm, head, and upper body...
The tremendous kinetic force didn't stop when it hit its target. With earth-shattering momentum, it erased Zhao Rong from existence.
Plop.
A mangled lump of flesh smeared against the wall behind him.
The air was even filled with the scorched stench of friction at extreme speed.
A one-shot kill!
Zhao Rong, at the peak of the Bone Refining Realm, couldn't withstand even a single blow!
"What?!"
The remaining guards were dumbstruck, their legs trembling like sieves.
What kind of martial arts was this? It was a primeval beast devouring its prey!
"Now that the array's broken, you're no use to me either."
Yan Kui turned, his gaze sweeping over the remaining guardians.
Did he need to waste words at a time for slaughter?
No.
He moved again.
The Bone Shattering Hammer became a black storm of death, sweeping across the cavern.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every blow was sheer physical domination. Whether Body Protection Qi or steel shields, they were all a joke against such absolute mass and speed.
In a mere three breaths,
all seven guardians were dead!
The cavern fell silent in an instant, leaving only Yan Kui's heavy breathing and Zhao Wuji's ragged panting.
"Good! Good! Good!"
In the middle of the Blood Pool, Zhao Wuji wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression twisting into a vicious sneer.
"I never thought that Yan Kui, usually so taciturn, had been hiding this much strength."
"That brute force must be more than a thousand pounds, wouldn't you say?"
"Innate Divine Strength?"
Zhao Wuji slowly rose to his feet, spreading the fleshy wings on his back, which spanned several yards. His claws scraped across the rock, gouging deep furrows.
"Too bad. A mortal is a mortal, in the end."
"You have no idea what power a cultivator possesses!"
Zhao Wuji beat his wings and instantly became a blur, moving even faster than Yan Kui had just moments before!
And he was flying!
From above, he dove with claws like knives, aiming straight for Yan Kui's crown.
"You call yourself a cultivator?"
Yan Kui looked up at the monster plunging toward him and scoffed.
Instead of retreating, he charged forward, gripping the hammer's handle with both hands as his muscles bulged like coiled dragons.
The Mysterious Iron Body, black as ink, suddenly blazed with brilliant red light.
[Qi and Blood Projection · Body Protection Qi!]
"Get down here!"
With a thunderous shout, Yan Kui swung the Bone Shattering Hammer from below, its force enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, and smashed it straight into Zhao Wuji!
CLANG!!!
The crash rang out like a great temple bell, shaking the entire cavern three times over.
A terrifying shockwave swept in every direction, sending the Blood Pool's water surging several yards into the air.
The ground beneath Yan Kui collapsed instantly, and his legs sank into the rock.
Zhao Wuji, still in midair, was sent flying backward by the blow. He crashed hard into the stalactites on the cavern ceiling, snapped several stone spikes, and fell to the ground in a heap.
"How is this possible?!"
Zhao Wuji stared at his slightly trembling claws, his eyes full of shock.
That blow had felt like slamming into a mountain!
His opponent had used no fancy technique, just pure hardness! And power so outrageously great it defied reason!
"Now that's satisfying!"
Yan Kui pulled his legs free and rolled his neck, making it crack and pop.
He looked at Zhao Wuji, ambition burning in his eyes.
"Old bat, show me what you've really got."
"Otherwise, that Corpse Pill of yours is mine today!"
In the middle of the Blood Pool, Zhao Wuji wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth. His furious expression had settled into calm.
But his gaze was so venomous it chilled the heart.
"I've spent my life hunting wild geese, only to have one peck out my eye."
"You ruined my array and killed my people."
"Since that's the case, I'll use your life to fill the hole you made!"
Zhao Wuji slowly rose to his feet.
By now, his body had completely transformed. He stood three meters tall, covered in black scales, with claws in place of hands and a pair of fleshy wings growing from his back.
Though the Corpse Pill had fought back, it had also temporarily granted him the terrifying power of a half-man, half-corpse.
"Now, even a true Foundation Establishment cultivator would be torn apart by me!"
"What can a mere mortal like you do against me?!"
Zhao Wuji beat his wings, whipping up a foul wind as he lunged at Yan Kui.
He was as fast as lightning!
"What can I do against you?"
Yan Kui brought the Bone Shattering Hammer in his hands down hard onto the ground, making it shudder.
He took a deep breath.
The Mysterious Iron Body, black as ink, suddenly blazed with brilliant red light.
Qi and Blood Projection! Body Protection Qi!
"Because of this iron-hard flesh of mine!"
"Come and fight!"
Yan Kui didn't retreat. He charged forward and swung his hammer at Zhao Wuji's terrifying claws!
The clang of metal on metal rang through the entire underground cavern.
Sparks flew in every direction.
A massive shock wave swept across the cavern, sending the Blood Pool's water surging several yards into the air.
The rocks beneath Yan Kui's feet shattered instantly, and his legs sank half a foot into the ground.
The hammer sent Zhao Wuji flying backward, slamming him into the cavern wall and smashing a huge crater into it.
"Now that's satisfying!"
Yan Kui laughed, wrenched his feet free, and charged again.
"You old monster! Today is the day you die!"
On the Night of Blood Sacrifice, the feast of slaughter had officially begun!
Before you continue