Bloodline Divine Ability, Heavenly Eye Blood Pupil

"Attack."

A quarter of an hour later, the four teams moved at the same time.

Guiyuan Sect attacked the south gate, Blood Fiend Devil Sect the west gate, Ten Thousand Sword Villa the east gate, and the City Lord's Mansion forces the north gate.

Like four sharp arrows, the four forces shot toward the dead-silent city not far ahead from four directions.

Before long.

The south gate was already in sight.

The entire city was shrouded within the Blood Sacrifice Array.

As they approached the city, Chen Xuan clearly sensed an invisible energy barrier ahead blocking the team's advance.

Rumble!

Shen Qianqiu struck out with his palm. The void trembled, and rings of blood-colored ripples suddenly spread across the invisible energy barrier before it was forcibly torn open.

Shen Qianqiu took the lead through the tear, with twenty-five disciples following closely behind.

As they passed through the invisible barrier, an icy, sinister aura surged in from every direction, like countless invisible hands tugging at everyone's bodies.

"Everyone, circulate your true qi to protect yourselves. Do not let the Blood Sacrifice Array erode you."

Shen Qianqiu's voice rang beside everyone's ears.

The others promptly circulated their true qi, resisting the icy aura in the void.

Chen Xuan also circulated Vajra True Qi across his body. A faint golden glow flickered beneath his skin, sealing out that icy aura.

Countless corpses lay sprawled across the streets within the city—not the corpses of martial artists, but those of ordinary citizens.

Men, women, old people, and children, their clothes ragged. Some had collapsed by the roadside, some lay sprawled over doorsteps, and some still clutched children in their arms.

They had died in all manner of ways. Some had been pierced through by sharp weapons, some had their internal organs shattered by palm force... Yet they all shared one trait: their corpses were shriveled and emaciated, as if every drop of moisture had been drained away, leaving nothing but skin stretched over bones.

"Beasts."

A Guiyuan Sect disciple cursed under his breath, tightening his grip on his sword.

Chen Xuan's expression remained calm, but a trace of chill flashed through his eyes.

Fifty or sixty thousand people.

All slaughtered to the last.

This was the Seven Kill Sect—utterly devoid of humanity.

If martial artists fought and killed one another, deaths were the most normal thing in the world, and no one would say anything.

But laying hands on ordinary citizens would draw the condemnation of every faction. Even a demonic sect like the Blood Fiend Devil Sect would not dare commit such a deed that provoked the wrath of Heaven and the resentment of men, or they would be hunted down by every force under heaven.

Yet the Seven Kill Sect had no such scruples.

"Do not stop. Stay close to me."

At the front of the team, Shen Qianqiu quickened his pace.

The team advanced toward the city center along the main street.

"Besides the core Formation Eye, the Blood Sacrifice Array has sixteen auxiliary Formation Eyes. For every Formation Eye destroyed, the array's power will weaken by a fraction." Shen Qianqiu turned around, his gaze sweeping over the disciples behind him. "You need not concern yourselves with the core Formation Eye. Each squad will split up and search for the Formation Eyes scattered throughout the city. Destroy them the moment you find them."

"Yes!"

The four squads immediately dispersed in different directions.

"Follow me!"

Tian Wei took the lead, heading down a street to the east.

Chen Xuan followed close behind him.

At the city center, the Formation Eye of the Blood Sacrifice Array.

This had originally been Fenglin City's City Lord's Mansion, but it had now been occupied by the Seven Kill Sect.

On the plaza before the mansion, a gigantic ritual formation had been drawn in blood. Its formation patterns were intricate and complex, radiating an eerie crimson light.

At the center of the formation stood a pitch-black longsword—the Seven Kill Sword.

Blood-colored light flowed endlessly across the blade as it greedily devoured the blood surging in from all directions, releasing faint sucking sounds, like some living creature feeding.

Blood converged from every corner of the city, flowing without end into the sword along blood-red lines on the ground that were as dense as a spiderweb.

Beside the Seven Kill Sword sat a young man in his twenties, cross-legged.

He wore a black brocade robe with golden cloud patterns embroidered on the cuffs. A blood-red gemstone the size of a pigeon's egg was set into the jade belt around his waist.

At this moment, the young man's eyes were tightly shut, his face pale, the veins on his forehead bulging as though he were enduring some tremendous pain.

Behind him stood a white-haired elder. He was the very man who had seized the Seven Kill Sword at the Treasure Pavilion auction and bathed the Treasure Pavilion in blood—the Seven Kill Sect's deputy leader, Lin Hanyuan.

Lin Hanyuan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the young man. Expectation and concern both filled his eyes.

"Reporting to Deputy Leader, the people of the Three Great Sects have entered the city."

A black-clad man hurried over, dropped to one knee, and lowered his voice.

"I know. Withdraw for now."

Lin Hanyuan responded blandly without turning around.

The black-clad man bowed and withdrew, vanishing into the blood-colored mist.

The plaza fell quiet, leaving only the hum of the formation's operation and the faint sound of the Seven Kill Sword consuming blood.

Suddenly, the cross-legged young man's body jolted violently.

The skin on his forehead began to split open.

This was not the tearing of an injury, but a strange, rhythmic splitting, as if something were about to burrow out from within.

Lin Hanyuan's breathing abruptly quickened. His hands clenched unconsciously, his knuckles turning white, while anticipation appeared in his eyes.

"Heavenly Eye Blood Pupil..."

Lin Hanyuan murmured softly, unable to suppress the excitement in his voice.

More than twenty years.

For more than twenty years since the Marquis had died, their Seven Kill Army had changed its name and identity, endured in silence, and waited—all for this day, for the Marquis's only bloodline in this world to grow up.

The young man's body began to tremble violently. The crack on his forehead grew wider and deeper. An invisible force erupted from within him and spread in every direction, whipping up a fierce gale. The blood-colored radiance within the formation also fluctuated violently.

Then, that eye opened.

It was not an ordinary eye.

It was a vertical pupil, a dark-red crystal seemingly condensed from blood, embedded in the very center of the young man's brow—deep and eerie.

Within its depths, a blood-colored vortex seemed to be spinning, capable of drawing a person's soul into it.

Divine Ability—Heavenly Eye Blood Pupil.

This was the bloodline Divine Ability of the Marquis of Tiannan's lineage, or rather, Sword Venerable Shasheng's lineage. After more than twenty years, it had finally appeared in the world once more.

This young man was Xiao Yi, the Marquis of Tiannan's youngest son.

When the Marquis of Tiannan met with disaster, Xiao Yi had still been unborn in his mother's womb. Even the name Xiao Yi had been chosen long ago.

Xiao Yi slowly opened his eyes. His ordinary pair of eyes had regained their clarity, but the vertical pupil on his brow radiated an eerie red light, opening and closing like a living thing.

"Elder Lin." Xiao Yi's voice was somewhat hoarse, but his tone was calm. "Have the people of the Three Great Sects already entered the city?"

"They have entered the city." Lin Hanyuan dropped to one knee and lowered his head, his tone respectful. "Congratulations, Young Master, on awakening the bloodline Divine Ability, the Heavenly Eye Blood Pupil. If the Marquis's spirit watches from heaven, he may now rest in peace."

Above Ultimate Arts were Divine Arts.

Only by cultivating a Divine Art could one master Divine Abilities.

Yet in this world, some martial arts powerhouses had cultivated Divine Abilities that could be inherited through their bloodlines, giving their descendants a certain chance of awakening those Divine Abilities.

This was a bloodline Divine Ability.