Immortal Arts Withered, Their Divine Might Gone; Blind Girl in Deep Valley Condenses Spiritual Blood

The miasma forest on the outskirts of Immortal-Breaking Mountain.

Viscous sludge swallowed their ankles. Thick, tangled dead vines lay sprawled across the forest paths, completely blocking the already treacherous mountain roads.

Song Que walked at the front with a flying sword in hand. The inner sect squad following behind him was mired in the swamp, every step forward taking tremendous effort.

The power of the Azure Firmament Sword Sect's Heaven-Locking Array had begun to show itself. The grand array forcibly sealed off Immortal-Breaking Mountain, completely severing the earth veins of this region. The surrounding spiritual energy had been drained bone-dry; not even a drop of excess moisture remained in the air.

The flying swords beneath several low-ranking disciples' feet had once glowed with abundant azure true essence. Now, they had turned dull and lusterless, the formation inscriptions on their blades completely extinguished.

"Clang!"

The flying swords lost their ability to hover and crashed heavily into the sludge. Caught off guard, several disciples fell straight from the air, mouths full of foul-smelling black mud.

"Steward, the spiritual energy in this area has completely dried up!" A young disciple wiped the mud from his face and awkwardly tried to pull his flying sword from the mud pit. "Even our true essence won't circulate properly. How are we supposed to search the mountain like this?"

Song Que stopped and turned around.

Before he could reprimand them, several furious beast roars suddenly erupted from the dark undergrowth.

The Heaven-Locking Array had brutally drained the vitality from the mountain forest, driving the low-level demonic beasts lurking in the shadows mad. Two first-rank Razor-Toothed Leopards sprang out from behind the dead vines.

Their eyes were bloodshot, and they opened their gaping maws bristling with barbs as they pounced separately at two immortal sect disciples who had yet to climb to their feet.

Their fangs tore straight through the splendid immortal robes and clamped down hard on their calves.

The two disciples' faces twisted in agony. Their hands hurriedly formed seals before their chests, attempting to strike back with Wind Blade Arts.

Wind blades that could normally slice through a tree as thick as an embrace with a casual point of the finger formed only a feeble current of air no longer than a pinky finger in this hellish place devoid of spiritual energy.

The limp current struck the Razor-Toothed Leopards' thick hides with not even half its usual power, dispersing into nothingness on the spot.

"Why isn't my spell working?! Save me!"

The disciple let out a shrill scream. He could only abandon his hand seals, frantically draw the defensive sword at his waist, and engage the frenzied beast in the most primitive kind of brawl amid the sludge. Sharp claws raked three bloody grooves so deep that bone showed across his face.

Song Que stood to one side, watching coldly.

He watched his subordinates get pounced on by demonic beasts and listened to their despairing wails. Those sect elites who usually held their heads high now had their immortal robes smeared with foul mud and bloody gore.

Without the advantage of spiritual energy, these cultivators' actual combat strength in such a harsh environment was not even comparable to those crude mortal hunters who hunted year-round. Their utterly bedraggled appearance stirred irritation in Song Que's heart.

The scene shifted back to the silent rocky valley in the deepest reaches of Immortal-Breaking Mountain.

Lu Chen sat cross-legged beside a hard, dry boulder.

He extended his right hand. A crystal-clear drop of heart's blood hovered steadily above the tip of his index finger. That drop of blood essence radiated astonishing heat, warping the surrounding air slightly.

It was the pure life force he had forcibly refined through the Ultimate Dao Furnace after exhausting the immortal laws within that century-old Blood Marrow Vine.

Lu Chen deliberately slowed his breathing. He completely reined in the violent Ultimate Dao Sha Qi throughout his body, afraid that its savage aura might offend the little girl before him.

The large hand that could crush a flying sword barehanded now moved with extreme gentleness.

Lu Chen tilted his fingertip slightly and accurately dripped that drop of blood essence into A-Nan's slightly parted mouth.

The pure blood slid down her throat.

A-Nan's body, curled up in the Netherwind Wolf hide, suddenly began to tremble violently.

Rampaging life force surged down her throat and flooded directly into her limbs and bones. The medicinal power refined by the Ultimate Dao exploded outward. The layer of gray, rough flesh on A-Nan's body began undergoing an earthshaking transformation.

Large patches of dead skin peeled and fell away. The newly grown flesh beneath was soft yet resilient, brimming with powerful vitality. New bones quietly reformed within that small body, healing every wound the immortal sect had left behind.

A-Nan slowly sat up from the Netherwind Wolf hide.

Her eyes remained shrouded by that thick white film, unable to see anything. Yet within this quiet stone cavern, her head was drawn by some unseen pull of shared primordial blood.

It was a bond rooted in the deepest reaches of the Ultimate Dao bloodline.

Without the slightest hesitation, A-Nan turned her face with uncanny precision toward the direction of Black Mud City.

"The big rock is crying. It's calling out."

A-Nan opened her little mouth. Her childish voice softly echoed through the empty cavern, carrying a trace of bewilderment she could not understand.

Lu Chen frowned slightly upon hearing those words.

Without hesitation, he rose to his feet and strode toward the thirty-thousand-jin mother stele blocking the cavern's narrow entrance.

His broad palm pressed against the rough black stone. Lu Chen keenly sensed that the ancient primordial patterns on its surface were flickering, waxing and waning in response to the resonance of primordial blood from an immense distance away.

An exceedingly faint yet unusually violent tremor came from within the mother stele. This tremor was clearly answering some intense fluctuation coming from the direction of Black Mud City.

Lu Chen's frown deepened.

The scene returned to the ruins of the formation core in Black Mud City.

The commander had completely transformed into a berserk monster that had lost all reason. His twisted, distorted face bore down on the formation master high above the ruins.

His black iron war boots crushed the white jade steps. His massive body, carrying a suffocating stench of blood, violently smashed through the air before him.

The formation master went pale with fright, desperately forming hand seals as he hastily raised a pale blue protective spiritual barrier.

The commander had no intention of dodging at all.

The sea of qi in his dantian had long since been burst apart by Ultimate Dao blood and qi, leaving him unable to use even a shred of true essence. Relying solely on the brute-force body forcibly remade by Ultimate Dao power, he swung his right arm wide and drove a straight punch directly into the protective spiritual barrier.

"Crack!"

With a piercing sound of shattering, the layer of spiritual light capable of blocking a full-force strike from a Qi Refining cultivator was instantly smashed full of spiderweb-like cracks.

The formation master's expression changed drastically. Just as he prepared to burn his blood essence to repair the formation patterns, the commander gave him no chance to catch his breath.

Those thick, powerful hands broke straight through the tottering barrier. Ten callused fingers clamped tightly around the formation master's left shoulder.

Brute force erupted down his arms.

The commander let out a beastly roar, then violently pulled outward with both arms.

A dull sound of flesh tearing exploded over the ruins. The commander ripped the formation master's left arm straight from his shoulder, along with a massive chunk of flesh and sinews!

"Aaaahhh!"

The formation master let out a miserable, inhuman shriek.

Without the protection of formations and spells, a cultivator's physical body was fragile beyond measure. Scalding blood sprayed wildly from the mangled stump like a fountain.

The pungent blood splashed down in torrents, dyeing the white jade stairway—the symbol of the immortal sect's absolute majesty—a glaring crimson. The lofty boundary between immortals and mortals was shredded to pieces by the pure, savage tearing of a mortal martial man.

At the edge of the great pit below.

The black iron guards who usually threw their weight around in the outer city were all petrified with fear.

They watched helplessly as the untouchable inner-city formation master was torn apart before their eyes, each of them ash-faced. They could not even hold their spears steady. Dozens of fully armed guards stood rooted to the spot, the thought of stepping forward to stop him or turning to flee crushed to dust by that bloody, horrifying sight.

And beneath the ruins, in an inconspicuous dark corner.

Half of Fourth Li's face was caked in black mud as he curled up behind a pile of shattered jade fragments. He gripped the bloodstained butcher's knife in his hand with all his strength.

Watching the chaotic scene atop the platform, watching that pack of immortal sect lackeys who did not even dare resist, the lowly butcher's breathing grew incomparably heavy. The heart in his chest pounded so hard it seemed ready to break his ribs.

He knew very well.

The perfect opportunity to create great chaos and seize the chance to take away that broken-backed old farmer had arrived.