The youth suddenly bit through the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the golden whip. Grand Void Talisman Seals surfaced along its length, and the phantom of a towering mountain abruptly solidified. Nine Golden Crows flew out from among its peaks, their scorching radiance burning the surrounding space with a sizzling hiss.
Yet as the Golden Crows swooped toward Han Zongwang, the silver markings on the youth's forehead suddenly split open, unleashing ten thousand shafts of silver light and a thousand streams of auspicious radiance.
Han Zongwang flicked his sword. Sword Qi swept out like frost, and the Golden Crows shattered as though struck by a crushing blow. The golden whip in the youth's hand broke apart inch by inch, each broken segment becoming the screaming phantom of an immortal.
Heavenly punishment finally descended. A hundred bolts of purple lightning wove themselves into a cage. Han Zongwang laughed aloud and thrust his sword straight toward the firmament. The entire space shook with a thunderous roar, and columns of blood erupted simultaneously from seventy-two apertures across his body, coalescing in the sky into a blood dragon that blotted out the heavens and the sun.
"I offer three thousand li of rivers and mountains as a sacrifice. Let the Heavenly Dao open its eyes and look closely-"
The instant the blood dragon smashed through the lightning prison, Han Zongwang pointed his sword at the youth's throat and roared, "Who truly rules this mortal world?"
The Daoist robe over the youth's chest burst apart, exposing the pulsing immortal core within. He crushed the jade token at his waist, intending to flee, only to discover that the surrounding space had already been frozen solid. His face drained of color. "Impossible... the spiritual energy of the lower realm cannot