The blood moon hung in the sky like congealed blood, turning Black Wind Valley into a slaughterhouse. Han Li hid in the shadows of Soulbreak Cliff's jagged rocks, the Nascent Soul's Profound Water surging through his sea of consciousness like a mighty river.
The death trap laid three days earlier had been perfected-with Bloodhand Scholar as his inside man and Fairy Ling Shuang soon to arrive with pure yang essence blood, the Magnetic Essence Formation-Breaking Plan had been calculated down to the rhythm of each breath. Star power trickled from his fingertips, and a three-dimensional terrain map of Black Wind Valley shimmered on the rock face. The blood-red figure atop the Blood Soul Tower was marked as a target that must die.
"In three days, when the blood moon reaches the zenith, the reckoning begins." A chilling gleam flashed in Han Li's eyes. He had deliberately chosen Soulbreak Cliff for the ambush. Three li from the Blood Soul Tower, it let him avoid the guardians' patrols while using the magnetic ore in the cliff to screen out divine sense probes. The Water-Magnetic Sword hovered beside him, the blood magnetic star patterns on its blade humming and trembling in resonance with his killing intent.
Noon approached, yet Bloodhand Scholar still had not appeared. Unease stirred in Han Li's heart. Just as he was about to activate the Star-Magnetic Concealment Art and draw closer to investigate, an agonizing pain that tore at his divine soul suddenly erupted in his sea of consciousness-
"Fellow Daoist Han... run!"
A fragment of divine sense from the Blood Fiend Cult traitor of the Ghost-Faced Elder Remnants flickered like a dying candle in the wind, hurtling toward him with the terror of impending death: "The master... he's broken through! Nascent soul late stage... devoured three guardians... the