Chaos

Several miles away.

On a towering old tree with yellowing leaves, a thin mist of blood suddenly spread, gradually forming the graceful silhouette of a beautiful woman.

The mysterious woman, in spirit form, seemed to turn the blood mist into a thin veil, concealing her increasingly clear, delicate figure.

Her slender jade feet rested on a dead branch. Her indistinct face, shrouded in blood mist, turned toward the tremendous commotion rising ahead.

Zhou Qingchen charged ahead in a frenzy, shattering stone wherever he saw it and felling trees wherever he passed, breaking through with the force of deadwood crumbling before him.

Behind him, Hong Tai rode a serpent in hot pursuit. From time to time, he drew blood-red spears and hurled them, unleashing one exquisite spell after another.

High above Zhou Qingchen's head, a deep-red mountain hung in the air, the manifestation of his mighty spiritual power.

Most of the spear strikes and venom launched by Hong Tai and the serpent fell upon that deep-red mountain. Somehow summoned by Zhou Qingchen, the Red Mountain had repeatedly blocked several waves of deadly attacks for him.

The illusory Red Mountain, though not a physical object, was gradually dimming under the relentless bombardment of man and serpent.

It looked as though the wondrous Red Mountain that had been protecting Zhou Qingchen would soon collapse and disintegrate. When that happened, Hong Tai would truly go for the kill.

Seeing that Zhou Qingchen couldn't outrun the serpent beneath him, Hong Tai appeared completely at ease, not the least bit anxious.

As the mysterious woman in the tree studied Zhou Qingchen and Hong Tai, one "Spirit Sha" after another gathered from all directions. Among them, the towering Luo Meng hovered behind her like a door god.

Like Luo Meng, several other "Spirit Sha" refined by Pulse-Opening Realm experts hovered in midair behind her, as though Gods and Devils were protecting her. The sight was awe-inspiring.

"It should be that ravine."

The woman, who had been struggling to condense her spirit body, looked in the direction Zhou Qingchen had come from and heard the sounds of fierce battle.

Suddenly, she sensed something and looked elsewhere.

There, a tall figure with unnaturally emaciated flesh was making his way alone through the dense forest.

It was as if the flesh on his entire body had been devoured from within, leaving only skin wrapped around a massive skeleton.

The clothes over his heart had torn, revealing a lifelike divine phoenix on his chest, its wings spread as if in flight, like a tattoo.

With his face twisted in agony, the man seemed to follow the divine phoenix in his chest as he panted heavily. Like a savage beast on the verge of losing its mind, he headed toward Blackwater Pool.

"A poor man whose heart has been devoured by Phoenix Marrow."

The woman shook her head gently.

At a glance, she knew that Phoenix Marrow had entered the man's heart and devoured his flesh and organs. Only his heart remained inside him, and he was now half-dead.

Once the divine phoenix tattoo, like a totemic brand, flew gracefully from his chest, his bones would shatter and his soul would perish.

"There's another bone containing Phoenix Marrow in the valley. He was drawn here by the Phoenix Bone."

The woman immediately grasped the situation.

She was currently in spirit form, preparing to gather the power she needed to forge a new body. If she used the Phoenix Marrow of a Heavenly Phoenix as a catalyst, the flesh-and-blood body she forged anew might surpass her original one in potential.

At the thought, the woman's eyes gradually brightened. She intended to lay claim to the Phoenix Marrow that might be inside the valley.

In the ravine.

"Buzz, buzz!"

One tiny Spirit Sword after another, each no longer than a finger and thin as a cicada's wing, flew from behind Jin Yang and swiftly closed in on Pang Jian.

As he raced toward Blackwater Pool, Pang Jian kept glancing back. The tiny Spirit Swords drew closer and closer, slicing toward his back like willow leaves.

Only when the flying swords came too close did he have no choice but to stop and raise the Dragon-Patterned Spear to block them.

Amid the clanging impacts, some flying swords still struck his arms, adding to his wounds.

Once the swords had moved a little farther away and another wave of attacks was no longer imminent, he gritted his teeth and trudged onward in silence.

"Blackwater Pool!"

He still had no idea what dangers or strange mysteries lay beneath the pool. But his father had marked it as a forbidden zone, so he believed there had to be something unusual there.

What was more, a Phoenix Bone was embedded in Blackwater Pool right before him.

As his wounds multiplied, he even began hoping the earth would shake again, splitting open in crack after crack and unleashing unknown evils to slaughter everyone indiscriminately.

Then he could escape amid the chaos.

With Jin Yang targeting him, it would be difficult for him to escape the ravine through his own strength. He could only rely on some other wonder.

Blackwater Pool, which his father had designated a forbidden zone, and the Phoenix Bone, whose mystery had yet to be revealed, were what he was counting on.

If there's something strange here, I hope it shows itself soon.

With his bloodied arms, he slapped wildly at the flying swords as they closed in, and at last reached the edge of Blackwater Pool.

"Both arms, as well as the vital areas of his chest and back, seem to have undergone special tempering."

Following him at a leisurely pace, Jin Yang deftly controlled the seven Cicada Wing Swords, carefully restraining their force so that they left only one bloody gash after another on Pang Jian's body.

He soon figured out which parts of Pang Jian's tall, muscular frame had been tempered.

"He's clearly not in the Xisui Realm. How did he manage it?"

Jin Yang didn't rush to use his full strength or kill him with a thunderous blow. He watched and pondered, hoping to pry the truth out of Pang Jian.

"Whoosh!"

The seven Cicada Wing Swords suddenly halted in midair, each pointing at one of Pang Jian's vital areas from a different angle: his waist and abdomen, the space between his brows, his chest, and so on.

With Blackwater Pool at his back, Pang Jian gave a faint smile. "The pool's right behind you. Where else can you retreat?"

"Then the pool it is!"

The instant Jin Yang spoke and the Cicada Wing Swords stopped, Pang Jian leaped into the water and swam toward the Phoenix Bone protruding from the center of the pool.

The water was deep and icy. Nothing beneath the surface could be seen, but Pang Jian, an excellent swimmer, strained to press forward.

The Dragon-Patterned Spear in his hand was far too heavy in the water and slowed him down, so he immediately threw it toward the center of the pool.

"Whoosh! Whoosh-whoosh!"

The seven Cicada Wing Swords whistled above the pool.

Hearing them, Pang Jian ducked beneath the surface and kept swimming toward the dry bone.

The water, black as ink, completely concealed Pang Jian. The seven Cicada Wing Swords and Jin Yang could no longer see him.

"A cultivator like you can't hold your breath forever underwater. I'm not worried you won't come up."

Jin Yang was in no hurry. He sent the seven Cicada Wing Swords skimming across the surface and waited for Pang Jian to emerge, hoping to figure out what was so unusual about him.

Underwater.

Pang Jian opened his eyes in the bone-chilling water but couldn't make out a thing. Just like it had appeared from the outside, the water remained black as ink.

But moving underwater was no different from swimming in any other lake. Relying on the sense of direction he had gained earlier, he continued to struggle toward the dry bone.

He regarded the bone as one of his hopes.

Holding his breath with difficulty, he knew the Cicada Wing Swords were waiting above for him to surface. He could only control his buoyancy as best he could, lest he accidentally rise before reaching the bone and draw the deadly attacks of the seven Spirit Swords.

After a while, he actually managed to touch the bone in the dark underwater world!

As his hands touched the bone, his blood silently seeped into the Phoenix Bone without his seeing it.

The Phoenix Bone suddenly produced a strange sucking force, steadily drawing in his blood.

Pang Jian, who had been struggling to hold his breath, gradually discovered that he could see the surroundings in the pitch-black water.

He could see not only the enormous Phoenix Bone, but also the Cicada Wing Swords flying above.

The water itself hadn't changed color. It was still black as ink.

What had changed was that the Heavenly Phoenix Remains, which had fallen from the sky and was embedded in the pool, now glowed with a faint radiance, driving back some of the darkness.

At that very moment.

"Rumble!"

With Blackwater Pool at its center, the ground around it suddenly shook. Rocks tumbled down the mountainside behind the pool, and some of the towering trees toppled.

The rugged ravine floor seemed to be torn apart by a force from beneath the earth, gradually splitting into pieces.

Deep chasms appeared with the abnormal tremors, spreading through every part of the valley.

"An earthquake again!"

Han Duping, Shangguan Qin, and Ning Yao had experienced this once before. Feeling the tremors from below, they fled for their lives.

"Get out of here!"

Shangguan Qin's terrified voice broke into a sob. She had witnessed that massacre firsthand and already knew what was about to happen.

She was more afraid of the terrifying vines rising from the ground and devouring her flesh than she was of being captured and violated by the Dark Ghost.

"Whenever an earthquake happens beside the dry bone, deadly vines burst out! I'll die, and none of you will get away either!"

She screamed in despair at the Dark Ghost cultivators.

On the other side, Ning Yao had also stopped struggling against her pursuers. She said the same thing as Shangguan Qin, hoping they would let her go and allow her to escape first.

"After the earthquake, terror will rise from beneath the ground?"

Several Dark Ghost underlings looked at the fear on Shangguan Qin and Ning Yao's faces, as well as Han Duping's agitation and anxiety, unsure whether they should believe them.

At the same time.

The man with a divine phoenix totem on his chest, a skeleton wrapped in skin, saw the phoenix's wings begin to beat frantically.

He knew his time was nearly up and no longer dared to hesitate. At full speed, he charged toward the ravine.

"Ouyang Duanhai! You're Ouyang Duanhai? How did you turn into this!"

Seeing the intruder with nothing but skin and bones, looking less than human, the Dark Ghost leader wearing a Golden Mask couldn't help but shriek.

"Ouyang Duanhai?"

Shangguan Qin froze, then abruptly turned toward the newcomer and stared fixedly at his face.

"Duanhai? No, you're not him! You can't possibly be him!"

Shangguan Qin began shrieking like a madwoman. She couldn't believe that the elegant lover she had once known had turned into such a monster.

She had volunteered to enter the Cenji Mountains on this expedition because she had arranged it with Ouyang Duanhai. Her former husband had also been murdered by the two of them.

Ouyang Duanhai was the one who had truly won her heart, the love of her life.

"L-little Qin?"

When the newcomer, who looked like a vengeful ghost, heard her call his name, a glimmer of intelligence seemed to ignite in his eyes.

Gathering what little willpower he had left, he looked at her and struggled to confirm who she was. Gradually, a spark of excitement appeared in the murky depths of his eyes. "Get out of here! Little Qin, get away from this Bloody Asura Field! I-I'll help you... survive!"

At that moment, he forgot to seek the last sliver of life left to him and charged straight at the Dark Ghost cultivators.