The Three Clans' Great Luo Enter the Fray

Two sword cries rang out in succession from the depths of the grand formation.

The formation gate, not yet fully opened, was instantly torn with two long, narrow rifts. Wherever the sword qi passed, even the murky clouds above the Blood Sea were split in two, unable to close again for a long time.

As Minghe watched the two flashes of spiritual light flicker through the rifts, an unconcealable heat appeared in his eyes for the first time.

There were indeed other spirit treasures within the formation.

From the killing aura that had just leaked out, he could tell that even if those two swords were not on the same level as the Red Lotus, they were certainly no ordinary Innate Spirit Treasures.

Qing Xuan did not put away the Hongmeng Heaven-Measuring Ruler in his hand.

Purple-gold ruler light stretched across the center of the formation gate, setting a temporary and unalterable boundary for this constantly folding space.

"Let's go in."

As Qing Xuan's words fell, he and Qing Yi had already stepped through the formation gate.

Minghe did not hesitate. The blood river beneath his feet surged up as he followed the two into the formation.

The interior of the formation was not the vast world they had imagined, but merely a dark space shrouded in blood-red light.

The Twelve-Petaled Karmic Fire Red Lotus hung at its center, its petals crimson as blood. Nearly transparent flames burned soundlessly among its leaves.

On either side of the Red Lotus hung an ancient killing sword.

The three spirit treasures served as each other's formation cores, their auras linked together.

The moment the foreign auras entered, the two motionless killing swords turned their edges at once, while the Karma Fire Red Lotus fully bloomed amid a faint tremor.

There was no earth-shaking roar, yet invisible karmic fire had already bypassed their Dao bodies and magical power, following the Cause and Effect between the three of them and the Primordial World to burn directly toward their primordial spirits and True Spirits.

The power of the world around Qing Xuan rippled slightly, temporarily keeping the spreading karmic fire outside his body.

Then the Heaven-Measuring Ruler in his hand turned, purple-gold divine light stretching between the three spirit treasures and splitting apart the originally connected formation.

Deprived of one another's support, the entire space immediately began to collapse inward.

The world behind Qing Xuan unfolded accordingly. Phantoms of mountains, rivers, sun, and moon spread in every direction, forcibly holding up the steadily sinking formation space.

Elsewhere, Qing Yi was already walking toward the Red Lotus through the karmic fire filling the sky.

A phantom of the Twenty-Four-Grade Creation Green Lotus slowly bloomed behind her.

For the first time, two lotus Daos born of the same origin truly faced one another. Yet the Karma Fire Red Lotus showed not the slightest affinity. Instead, it drew even more Cause and Effect from the Blood Sea, transforming it into a blood-red sea of fire that came crashing down upon her.

Qing Yi did not stop, nor did she use the power of creation to purify that karmic fire.

She merely raised her hand and slowly curled her five fingers. A thread of green light fell into the flames.

At first, only an insignificant green sprout appeared.

Then its branches and leaves unfurled, its lotus stem emerged, and a green lotus actually bloomed amid the blood-red sea of fire, using the Red Lotus's karmic flames as nourishment.

Then came a second, a third...

In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of green lotuses had covered the sea of fire.

Whenever a green lotus bloomed, the karmic fire around it was broken apart anew, turning into green lotus petals entwined with blood flames.

Qing Yi's creation had never been merely about granting plants life or enlightening all living beings.

Rooted in the evolution of worlds, what she sought was to dismantle things from their source and reshape all creation.

Even the Red Lotus karmic fire that burned Cause and Effect could become a blade turned upon its original master, so long as it was drawn into her Creation Great Dao.

Qing Yi pointed forward with two fingers, and lotus petals throughout the sky rolled back. The blood-red sea of fire was split in two from the center.

The Twelve-Petaled Karmic Fire Red Lotus shook violently, seemingly intending to scatter into countless sparks and flee back into the Blood Sea. Yet every retreat route was sealed by the green lotuses growing amid the karmic fire.

By the time the final wisp of fire had been forced back onto the lotus platform, Qing Yi had arrived before the Red Lotus.

The girl pressed her palm directly onto the lotus heart, and the Great Luo Dao light behind her descended at the same moment.

The Karma Fire Red Lotus gave one final struggle. The entire blood-red space was illuminated brilliantly, before gradually settling down amid boundless green light.

The foot-wide Twelve-Petaled Lotus Platform fell into Qing Yi's hand. Karmic fire still circulated between its petals, but it could no longer escape her control.

At the same time, the two killing swords had already slashed at Minghe from the left and right.

Minghe did not evade.

Just as the two sword lights were about to cross, he voluntarily dispersed his Dao body and transformed into bloodwater filling the sky.

Before the killing swords could turn again, however, a thread of blood extended from every drop of bloodwater, densely wrapping around the two longswords.

So long as the Blood Sea endured, his Dao body could reform again and again.

Minghe's figure condensed once more amid countless blood threads, and at that instant, both hands seized the hilts of the two killing swords.

Boom!

Intense killing intent surged up his arms and into his primordial spirit. The blood-red Dao robe on the Daoist's body billowed without wind, while the blood river beneath his feet raised wave after wave.

The two killing swords continued to tremble, their cold radiance carving countless black fissures around Minghe.

Minghe never loosened his grip. The Slaughter Great Dao belonging to the Blood Sea gradually wound around the sword blades, merging with the innate Dao essence within them.

After a long while, the two killing swords' struggles finally slowed, and divine Great Dao patterns emerged one after another across their blades.

Yuantu.

Abi.

Minghe lowered his head to look at the twin swords in his hands. At last, an irrepressible joy appeared between his usually stern brows.

The three spirit treasures within the formation had been taken one after another, and the space that had already begun collapsing could no longer hold itself together.

The Heaven-Measuring Ruler in Qing Xuan's hand fell once more, erasing the final spatial fissures that had not yet disintegrated.

The world behind him carried the remaining currents of Blood Sea water as the three left the Innate Grand Formation together.

When they reappeared above the Blood Sea, the formation that had covered the place completely dispersed amid a low rumble, leaving behind only the dark-red sea surface gradually returning to calm.

Qing Yi lowered her head to look at the Karma Fire Red Lotus in her palm.

Green creation Dao patterns slowly spread across its petals, intertwining with the blood-red flames coiling around them.

"That makes three."

Qing Xuan knew which three she meant, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Of the remaining two, one has vanished without a trace, while the other is in Luohou's hands. Neither can be rushed."

Qing Yi nodded gently and temporarily stored the not-yet-fully-refined Karma Fire Red Lotus within her Dao Domain.

Minghe also put away the twin swords at this moment and solemnly bowed to the two.

"If not for your arrival, I do not know how many more years that grand formation would have blocked me. Minghe will remember this Cause and Effect from today."

Qing Xuan said indifferently, "We took the Red Lotus, and you gained the twin swords. We each got what we needed. No one owes anyone anything."

"Perhaps that is so for you two."

Minghe lowered his gaze to the swords in his hands. When he looked up again, his expression remained earnest. "But Fellow Daoist Qing Xuan broke this formation. Without the two of you, I would not even have known there were two such swords within it."

Seeing that he had already made up his mind, Qing Xuan did not continue refusing. He merely smiled.

"Then remember it."

Minghe said nothing more, only committing those words to heart as well.

Just then, the Karma Fire Red Lotus Qing Yi had stored within her Dao Domain suddenly trembled lightly.

A Blood Fiend Aura far greater than before passed through the Yin-Yang boundary and sank from the Primordial World into the Blood Sea.

Following close behind were tens of millions of threads of Cause and Effect.

Crimson-gold dragon qi, Southern Bright Fire, and heavy earth qi tangled together, nearly covering the sky above the Blood Sea.

Every thread of Cause and Effect sinking into the sea signified that another living being of the three clans had fallen upon the Primordial World.

Minghe looked up at the sight, and the joy between his brows gradually faded.

"In recent years, the Blood Fiend Aura sinking into the Blood Sea has been increasing."

"But this is the first time so much has fallen at once, like today."

In the depths of the Blood Sea, the waves that had only just calmed began to churn once more.

Qing Xuan looked at the threads of Cause and Effect still increasing without end. After a moment of silence, he raised his head toward the Primordial World.

As expected, the Great Luo of the three clans had truly entered the fray.