Under their watchful eyes, the lake of blood completely spiraled out of control.
The crimson lake surface first collapsed inward, as if the entire lake was being dragged into the depths by an invisible force, and then suddenly bulged up. The next instant, a deafening water explosion tore through the silence—blood shot into the sky, turning into a wave wall tens of meters high, as if something that had been sleeping for billions of years at the bottom of the lake had been forcibly awakened from its "silence".
The air was compressed and distorted in an instant.
An indescribable pressure spread from the center of the lake, unlike Demon Qi or malevolent power, but rather a more primal and ancient sense of presence, as if the concept of "giant" itself had been revived in reality.
Qin Yu's Chaos True Aspect trembled instinctively, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword hummed in his palm, and the originally stable Dao patterns on the sword surface began to show subtle reverse flows; Jin Hanyan's Silent Void · Dao of Chaos was also touched, and a warning gray-white halo appeared at the edge of the Dao principles.
The lake water was completely torn apart.
A colossal figure, so immense it created a spatial illusion, slowly rose from the depths of the blood lake—not "leaped out," but "elevated," as if it were inherently one with the lake, the lake merely a part of its body.
First to appear were the scales, huge silver-gray scales churning in the blood-red waves. Each scale was like ancient divine iron that had been polished, with sharp edges and the center covered with lines eroded by time, as if it had carried the erosion of countless eras.
Next, the head.
It was a fish head so enormous it could blot out half the sky, its lines rugged and brutal, ancient veins faintly pulsating beneath its silvery-gray skin. Its massive maw slowly opened, revealing menacing fangs, layer upon layer, like a gate to an abyss, existing solely for devouring.
Each tooth was irregular, yet Ultimate sharp, with dark red blood and decaying sludge from the lakebed clinging to its roots, instantly annihilated in mid-air as it dripped.
What's most unsettling is its eyes.
A single, crimson eye, like a blood moon, was embedded in one side of the giant beast's head. Its pupil slowly contracted, reflecting not the figures of Qin Yu and Jin Hanyan, but something more abstract—the fluctuations of Fate Soul, traces of cause and effect, the weight of existence. The moment that gaze fell, it seemed to be weighing whether it was "worth devouring."
The waves are rolling.
The behemoth's body was fully revealed, its massive form lying horizontally on the blood lake. The lake's surface collapsed and was forcibly stretched open under its weight, forming a bizarre ring of water. Its fins resembled broken mountain ridges, with its dorsal fin towering high, piercing the low-hanging clouds. Corroded gaps remained along the edges of its fins, clearly indicating that it had survived countless fierce battles yet still hadn't perished.
This is no ordinary monster. It is a super beast that nests in the "Blood Lake" and feeds on "Time," and its very existence is the forbidden core of the Ancient Plain of Dead Remains.
Qin Yu slowly exhaled, his voice low and restrained. "It seems... we've stumbled into a place we shouldn't have gone."
Jin Hanyan did not respond immediately. Her gaze was fixed on the giant beast. The Silent Void · Dao of Chaos was circulating to its Ultimate within her body. For the first time, her tone carried a clear sense of vigilance. "This thing is not among the eight Devil Beasts, but its level of danger... is no less than high."
The lake of blood churned, and the giant beast's single eye shifted slightly before finally fixing its crimson gaze firmly on Qin Yu.
The Blood Lake Beast's single eye narrowed slightly, causing the lake surface to tremble.
The next instant, it didn't fully emerge from the water, but instead launched its first probing attack in a more cruel and restrained manner—the entire blood lake suddenly "collapsed." Not collapsing downwards, but rather shrinking inwards, the lake water forcibly compressed into dozens of rotating, blood-red water columns, each column entwined with broken soul shadows and decay.
The remnants of the Fate Soul spun around, emitting a piercing shriek, as if countless souls were being repeatedly crushed.
The Blood Soul Fish opened its massive jaws, but did not roar.
A silent suction force suddenly erupted, drawing the water columns in the blood lake into eerie arcs in mid-air before being violently flung out. The blood was no longer a liquid but compressed into "soul blades," each wave of blood gleaming with a dark red edge, cutting even the traces of cause and effect in the air into fragments as it swept through space.
Before the attack even landed, Qin Yu already felt a stinging pain on the surface of his Fate Soul, a sign that his soul was being "directly targeted."
Jin Hanyan's gaze turned icy; almost instantly, she saw through the true nature of the attack. She spoke in a low voice, her tone heavy yet resolute. "This isn't an ordinary water-based or blood-based divine power... This is an ancient beast that uses lakes as its body and feeds on souls. Qin Yu, I've seen a description of this thing in the Temple's forbidden records—"
She looked up at the enormous figure in the center of the blood lake and said, word by word, "Blood Soul Fish."
The moment that name was uttered, it seemed as if some taboo had been violated.
The blood lake churned even more violently, and countless blurry soul silhouettes emerged from beneath the surface, like the undigested remnants of Fate Soul that had been devoured. Jin Hanyan continued, her voice low but crystal clear. "The Blood Soul Fish lives in the Blood Soul Lake, the deepest part of the Ancient Plain of Dead Remains, and feeds on devouring Fate Soul and remnants of causal consciousness. It will not leave the lake on its own, but it can refine the entire lake into a part of itself."
Anyone who steps into its territory will have their Fate Soul gradually extracted, and eventually even the traces of their existence will be dissolved into the lake water.
Before he could finish speaking, the crimson soul blades were already upon him. Qin Yu did not retreat.
He took a step forward, the Silent Origin Stainless Sword resonating in his palm. The Dao patterns on the sword instantly shifted from stillness to movement, and the Chaos True Aspect fully unfolded within his body. He did not rush to unleash his strongest attack, but instead raised his hand and held the sword horizontally. A chaotic sword radiance, condensed to its Ultimate, spread out from the blade, like a dark curtain of light stretching across the heavens and earth.
The crimson soul blade did not explode the moment it collided with the sword's radiance.
They were forcibly "thinned out," and the blood waves were peeled away layer by layer the moment they came into contact with the sword light. The soul shadows inside emitted short and sharp hisses, and were then crushed by the power of chaos, turning into meaningless dark red mist that dissipated in the air. The lake surface was forcibly cut into a vacuum rift by this sword, briefly revealing the churning blood-red silt below.
At the same time, Jin Hanyan had already made her move.
She formed hand seals, Silent Void · Dao of Chaos surged within her body, as if a gray-white, interwoven Dao domain phantom appeared behind her. She didn't directly confront the blood wave; instead, she lightly touched the void with her fingertip, and the instant her fingertip touched the ground...
An invisible "Silent Void Fault" unfolded before the two. The moment the soul blade flung out by the Blood Soul Fish touched the fault, the "devouring intent" carried in the attack was directly severed. The blood wave lost its target and turned into an out-of-control turbulent current, crashing back onto the lake surface.
The lake water exploded, creating a blood-red wave tens of meters high.
The Blood Soul Fish emitted a low, rumbling sound, not a roar, but more like the breath of some ancient being before it was truly enraged. Its single eye slowly turned, and for the first time, a clear "lock" appeared deep within its crimson pupil.
Qin Yu and Jin Hanyan stood side by side, their auras briefly intersecting, needing no further words.
The Blood Lake completely lost the concept of a "lake" in the next instant.
Instead of the water churning, the entire space collapsed inward. The Blood Soul Fish's massive body slowly rose; it didn't simply leap from the lake, but rather the Blood Lake itself made way for it—the lake water receded, curled, and hovered, transforming into rings of inverted blood-red sky.
It was as if the entire world had been turned upside down, and all the liquid crimson was flowing back into its scales.
At that moment, the Blood Soul Fish's true form was fully revealed.
Its scales were no longer a single gray-white color, but instead revealed densely packed soul-patterned fissures, each fissure flowing with dark red soul light, as if countless devoured Fate Soul were wailing softly beneath its scales.
A massive fish spine rose high, its vertebrae resembling rows of inverted bone blades piercing the blood lake's dome, seemingly supporting this corrupted world. Its single eye opened wide; the depths of its pupil were no longer blood-red, but a swirling vortex of darkness.
The reflections of Qin Yu and Jin Hanyan in the center of the vortex seemed to foreshadow their fate after being swallowed up.
The Blood Soul Fish opened its mouth, but still made no sound. Yet, the entire Ancient Plain of Dead Remains trembled at that moment.
The lake area was subsequently sealed off.
All the blood suddenly fell inward, and the blood lake stopped spreading outward and instead collapsed downward, as if a bottomless abyss had been opened at the bottom. Space was forcibly folded, and the ground beneath Qin Yu and Jin Hanyan's feet instantly lost its footing. Before they could even steady themselves, they were dragged into the center of the lake by that irresistible attraction.
It didn't fall into the water; it was "swallowed" by the entire lake.
The crimson Chaos True Aspect suddenly stretched across his vision, and the world was completely upside down. Qin Yu felt the space around him tighten abruptly, as if countless invisible chains were wrapped around his Fate Soul, and every breath was accompanied by a viscous, stagnant feeling. The chaotic essence was still operating, but it was as if it were wrapped in a thick blood film, and the transmission of power was forcibly weakened.
Jin Hanyan groaned. The Silent Void · Dao of Chaos protected her body, but it still couldn't completely isolate her from the erosion. She clearly felt that the bottom of the lake was not just a simple space, but a "soul domain cavity" refined by the Blood Soul Fish. Here, her Fate Soul would be continuously pulled away from the edge of logic, as if her outer shell was being peeled away bit by bit.
The lakebed then came into view. There was no silt, no rocks.
There was only a churning, dark red "soul nectar," the boundary between the ground and the sky had long since blurred, and countless translucent fragments of soul shadows floated all around, being pulled, torn, and then pieced back together, like residue that could never be fully digested.
In the distance, the enormous silhouette of the Blood Soul Fish stretched across the depths of the lake, resembling a living crimson mountain range. With each rise and fall of its scales, the soul essence at the bottom of the lake trembled, creating Karma Ripple.
Qin Yu gripped the Silent Origin Stainless Sword tightly, its blade resonating deeply in the crimson environment. He could clearly sense that every inch of this space was an "extension" of the Blood Soul Fish, and any attack would be considered a touch upon its true form.
Jin Hanyan steadied herself, her breathing slightly heavy, but her gaze remained calm. "The lakebed is continuously weakening the stability of our Fate Soul; we cannot fight for long."
Qin Yu nodded, his eyes serious. He also realized that this was not an ordinary lake battle, but a forced home-field hunt.
The Blood Soul Fish's single eye slowly rotated in the distance, and a dark vortex locked onto the two of them.