The white bone staff in the black-robed man's hand struck the ground heavily. Hundreds of rotting corpses suddenly swelled, blue veins bulging beneath their skin as their nails turned into claws half a foot long. Though the lightning Sword Qi Lin Wudao unleashed could shatter their bodies, the splattering flesh and blood congealed into new monsters in midair, like malignant sores that multiplied the more he killed.
"The Netherworld Sect's Ten Thousand Corpses Devour Heaven Formation!" Cold sweat seeped down Lin Wudao's back. This formation used resentment Qi as its catalyst and required the sacrifice of a thousand cultivators' corpses to cast. That the black-robed man could lay it out instantly within the secret realm showed just how sinister and vicious his methods were. The Chaos Sword suddenly trembled violently, ancient patterns emerging along its blade as it drove back the tide of corpses within ten meters of Lin Wudao.
"Interesting." The black-robed man raised his hand and formed a seal. The skull atop his staff opened its enormous mouth and spewed billowing black mist. Wherever the mist passed, the ground cracked inch by inch, and countless chains shot from the fissures, winding around Lin Wudao's ankles. He circulated the Mystic Heaven Creation Instruction, turning his spiritual power into flames to burn the chains, only to discover that the black mist could devour the flames and instead burned ever more fiercely.
With everything hanging by a thread, Lin Wudao suddenly remembered the runes of the sacrificial ground depicted in the secret realm's murals. He bit through his fingertip and traced a similar pattern in the air with his blood. The instant the runes lit up, the black-robed man's bone staff let out a piercing shriek, and the black mist began to dissipate. Lin Wudao seized the chance to unleash "Nine Dragons Destroy the World!" Nine lightning dragons broke through the tide of corpses and bore straight down on the black-robed man.
The black-robed man snorted coldly and swept his bone staff sideways. Blood-red beams burst from the eye sockets of the skull atop it. The lightning dragons collided with the beams, unleashing a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar. Lin Wudao used the force to fly backward, only to find that the black-robed man had vanished from his original position without him noticing when.
"Watch out above!" the system suddenly warned. Lin Wudao instinctively raised the Chaos Sword to block. The white bone staff crashed down with crushing force, and where sword and staff collided, spiderweb-like cracks actually rippled through space. The black-robed man seized the opening to close in, gathering a pitch-black ghost claw in his palm and striking straight for Lin Wudao's throat.
Lin Wudao twisted aside. The ghost claw skimmed past his shoulder and left five unfathomably deep furrows in the rock wall. He thrust his sword backhanded beneath the black-robed man's ribs, but a chain flew from his opponent's sleeve and wound around the blade. The black-robed man turned his wrist, and the chain actually dragged Lin Wudao off balance, nearly making him fall.
"Is that all you've got?" The black-robed man's voice brimmed with mockery. His hands rapidly formed seals, and the bone staff hovered in the air, transforming into ten thousand rays of white bone. Lin Wudao was forced to retreat again and again, the rays grazing him in several places and staining his clothes red with blood.
At this critical moment, the black jade fragment tucked against Lin Wudao's chest suddenly grew hot and radiated a gentle light. Wherever the light reached, the white bone rays shattered one after another. At the sight, a trace of greed flashed through the black-robed man's eyes. "So you really do have it!" He abandoned his attack and lunged straight at Lin Wudao.
Lin Wudao clasped the black jade fragment in his hand. Its light blazed, resonating with the Chaos Sword. All the ancient patterns on the blade lit up, turning into a golden pillar of light that shot into the heavens. Lin Wudao felt a vast power surge into his body, and he roared, "Mystic Heaven Creation Instruction-Split Heaven and Earth!"
The golden Sword Qi enveloped the black-robed man like a blazing sun. He let out an agonized scream as his black robe disintegrated inch by inch, revealing a body covered in curse marks. He tried to control the bone staff to counterattack, only to discover that it was constantly twisting and deforming within the golden Sword Qi.
"No! Impossible!" the black-robed man howled in despair. Finally, with a tremendous explosion, his body and the bone staff were blasted into fine dust.
After the battle ended, Lin Wudao slumped to the ground, the spiritual power in his body almost exhausted. Looking at the black jade fragment in his hand, he discovered that new runes had actually appeared upon it, seemingly pointing toward something. The system's notification sounded just then: "Ding! Defeated a Netherworld Sect protector. Obtained an incomplete volume of the Netherworld Hundred Ghosts Record. The third black jade fragment has been detected at the altar in the island's core."
Lin Wudao struggled to his feet and walked toward the altar. Along the way, he encountered several more waves of attacks from other factions, but with the power of the Chaos Sword and the black jade fragment, he turned danger into safety each time. When he finally arrived before the altar, however, he discovered that experts from several major factions, including the Heavenly Mysteries Sect and the Netherworld Sect, had already gathered there. At the center of the altar, the third black jade fragment was radiating a ghostly blue light...