Deep within the Ten Thousand Bones Blood Miasma, nothing remained between heaven and earth but a nauseating dark red.
The viscous miasma hung in the air like solidified blood plasma, not only blocking sight but also ruthlessly suppressing cultivators' divine sense to within a hundred feet of their bodies.
The mud beneath their feet could no longer be called soil. It was blood mud formed from the remains and resentful blood of countless gods, devils, and great demons after an ancient catastrophe. Every step produced a tooth-grating squelch, as though they were treading on some enormous creature's rotting flesh.
Lei Wu, hall master of Ironblood Hall, walked at the head of the group. This iron-blooded man, renowned in Formless City for his ferocity and courage, now moved as though treading on thin ice.
Every muscle in his body was taut. A layer of dark golden protective energy tightly shielded him and his twelve elites, yet even so, the blood miasma that seeped through every gap kept hissing with corrosion, draining their spell power at a frantic rate.
Dressed in azure robes, Chu Bai walked with his hands behind his back atop the phantom Five-Colored Azure Lotus at the center of the group. His expression was tranquil, as though he were not entering an absolute forbidden zone where death was certain, but strolling leisurely through his own courtyard.
"My lord, this place is strange. Beneath this blood mud, there seems to be..."
Before Lei Wu could finish, disaster struck!
The blood-mud swamp ahead suddenly erupted in a towering wave, sending foul-smelling blood water surging into the sky.
With a piercing shriek sharp enough to puncture eardrums, an enormous dark-purple tentacle as thick as a water vat burst from underground with the speed of thunder striking before one could cover one's ears!