Su Xiuyi paid little attention to the impending disaster at the Southern Heaven Academy, nor did he look into the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul suppressed beneath it.
After all, the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul was exceedingly bizarre. It could not be killed and could only be suppressed with Righteous Qi. If it happened to lock onto his presence, he would no longer be able to stay in the Myriad Text Academy and sign in peacefully. After all, this place was a supreme treasure trove to him, and one that nobody dared covet.
"I'm still a long way from the Invincible Realm. I need to work harder. Even now, I still can't enter the depths of the battlefield. I wonder what benefits I could get from signing in there."
Su Xiuyi muttered to himself, then resumed cultivating cross-legged.
Another month passed, and the atmosphere in the Southern Heaven Academy was oppressively tense.
"Palace master, a full ten disciples died in our academy last night, and a bloody light spread out. I don't know whether the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul has broken through the seal and sent out some of its soul fragments. If some really have come out, I'm afraid they're already hiding in the academy. If my suspicions are right, the academy is in danger," a dean said gravely.
"Th-th-this..."
As soon as those words fell, the elders in the Southern Heaven Academy's great hall all changed color.
Historical records stated that five hundred years ago, after the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul broke through its seal and emerged, blood had flowed like rivers through those three academies. Not a single disciple had survived. Even the disciples training outside had been hunted down and killed by the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul.
If it really had broken through the seal, even fleeing now would do them no good. They would have a better chance of survival if they stayed in the academy and joined forces to fight.
For although there was still no way to kill the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul completely, there were quite a few ways to counter it. The one thing that was impossible to guard against was the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul's ability to possess people. That was the most terrifying part: someone closest to you might be possessed by the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul, and while you were completely off guard, you could be killed in a single blow.
"Impossible. Wuming and I brought out the Invincible Will Character to suppress it. There's no way the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul could have broken through the seal. Our Southern Heaven Academy's seal has always been exceptionally strong. The disciples lured toward the seal by the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul are all dead. We checked, and none were missed," Ji Zhan immediately explained. He had to calm everyone down, or they would all be wary of the people beside them and unable to join forces.
"That's right. Quite a few of us went to investigate personally. The seal is completely intact," Ji Wuming added. He was now the successor, and his strength was not to be underestimated.
"Whew! Whew! Whew!"
After Ji Zhan and his son spoke, the elders and elite disciples in the hall all let out long breaths, as though a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
The news that ten disciples had died and a bloody light had appeared had given everyone a terrible fright.
"Dismissed!"
"However, replace all the disciples watching the seal. A dean will lead the elders in keeping watch. Once this year has passed, everything will return to normal," Ji Zhan said, reassuring them once more.
"Thank you, Chancellor!"
The disciples all fell to their knees, tears of gratitude streaming down their faces. The deaths of ten disciples had already frightened them badly.
"Disciples, you may leave!"
"Everyone, those disciples may not know yet, but you do. If the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul really does appear, no one will survive. It has long since grown resentful," Ji Zhan said again, stressing his words, his expression exceedingly grave.
"Yes!"
Everyone immediately accepted the order.
Soon, another month passed. Su Xiuyi was cultivating as usual, but in the middle of it, he abruptly opened his eyes, a grave look appearing in them.
The trace of his presence he had left inside Tiezhu had vanished.
"Pupil of Void Breaking!"
In that instant, Su Xiuyi's eyes became unfathomably deep. His divine ability erupted, instantly enveloping the whole of Southern Heaven City, and he soon found Tiezhu. Tiezhu was lying in a pool of blood, all the meridians in his body severed. Before him, a bloody figure was rapidly dissipating, terror appearing in its eyes.
"Impossible! What kind of attack is this?"
Terror showed on the bloody figure's face.
"Damn it, the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul actually broke through the seal. Tiezhu, you idiot, you actually killed yourself. I left a means to save your life on you." Su Xiuyi's expression turned exceedingly grim. He had never expected Tiezhu to be so unyielding.
Tiezhu was the person closest to him, and now he did not even know whether Tiezhu was alive or dead.
Su Xiuyi's Capture Will Character appeared, and he immediately captured the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul's presence.
At the sealed site, the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul beneath the seal instantly opened its eyes, a bloody light flashing in its demonic gaze.
"Impossible! A fragment of my soul was actually obliterated. Who was it? Who could possibly have such means? Damn it. If they can obliterate a fragment of my soul, they can obliterate me. I can't wait any longer, or I'll surely die. I won't be able to wait for the ancestral god to descend."
The Blood Barbarian Demon Soul was terrified.
As Su Xiuyi appeared beside Tiezhu to examine his injuries, a voice filled with extreme fury rang out at the sealed site.
"Wretched son, you actually wounded me?"
The next moment, a bloody light erupted across the sky, so dense that the seal shattered outright.
"Heh heh heh!"
"Ji Zhan, you actually used the Invincible Will Character to suppress me. Good thing I was prepared, or I'd have had to wait another five hundred years. How does the Blood God Spike feel?" The bloody light filling the sky formed a bloody figure, and that figure actually looked like Ji Wuming.
At the sealed site, Ji Zhan's face was deathly pale as he strained to suppress the Blood God Spike, but his gaze was full of fury as he looked at the bloody figure. His son Ji Wuming had been possessed.
He was his only son.
At that moment, there was also a palm-sized blood mark on his chest. From the mark, countless bloody lines began spreading across his body. The academy's deans and elders all stared fixedly at Ji Wuming.
"Ji Wuming, wake up! Suppress the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul!" they roared.
"I've been awake all along, elders," Ji Wuming's voice answered them.
"Why?" Ji Zhan's face was filled with rage.
"Why? Because I want to live forever, never to perish, and I want to be invincible under heaven. If the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul fuses with me, I'll gain an even purer bloodline power!" Ji Wuming said, his face twisted.
"Have you gone mad?"
"Once you've fused with the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul, will you still be yourself?" Ji Zhan roared hysterically.
"I forgot to tell you: I am the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul, and the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul is me. Your son died long ago. I'm a fragment of demonic soul that the main body split off five hundred years ago. But the formation was too strong and I was too weak to overthrow you, so I stayed hidden until your son was born and possessed his body. Also, I killed those ten disciples so I could accompany you to bring out the Invincible Will Character and tamper with it, preventing it from fully suppressing the seal." Ji Wuming spoke with relish, like a demon, openly admitting his identity.
Ji Wuming was actually the Blood Barbarian Demon Soul...
Everyone's eyes went wide.
(End of chapter)