Huo Yuhao, hidden in the shadows, was not the only one suffering.
Down in the basin, the Heavenly Dragon Sect's party was faring no better.
The corrosive, icy aura seeped into every opening. Even the attendants around rank fifty began to stagger, fine beads of sweat gathering on their foreheads.
They could only drive their Soul Power desperately, barely maintaining the protective barriers around their bodies.
Huo Yuhao paid no attention to their plight, focusing most of his attention on the eerie pool of blood suspended in midair.
To the naked eye, it floated there in plain sight, its dark red fluid churning and bubbling. He could even see wisps of mist rising above it.
But when he extended his Spirit Detection over it, the model in his mind returned nothing but emptiness.
There was no physical substance, no fluctuation of Soul Power, as though it were merely a false image painted in the air.
The extreme disconnect between sight and spiritual perception made his head throb, two utterly contradictory impressions clashing relentlessly in his mind.
The blood pool seemed to exist in a superposition between being and nonbeing.
At the center of the basin, the Heavenly Dragon Sect's party had come to a complete halt.
The two Soul Douluos, both above rank eighty, stepped past the grand elder on either side and walked directly beneath the floating blood pool.
With two deep dragon roars, violent thunder power surged through the basin.
Both released their Martial Souls at once.
Thick purple lightning coiled around them, and two enormous phantoms of Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragons took shape behind their backs.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.
Sixteen Soul Rings shone against one another, and the formidable pressure of the Soul Douluos drove away every wisp of dark red mist