Qin Yu slowly put away the Wordless Heavenly Book, his gaze lingering on his palm for a moment before he gently exhaled. This battle, from the Shade-Guarding Clan to the Blazing Erosion Clan, from the Soul of Rage and Evil to the Blood Soul Puppet, had far exceeded his initial expectations.
He slowly raised his head, looking at the petite, star-blue figure beside his shoulder. His gaze softened unconsciously, and he said softly, "Xiao Yue, you should go back to your sea of consciousness and rest. You just used the Blue Ring Divine Power continuously, and your Fate Soul essence was greatly depleted. Staying outside any longer will only cause you more and more damage."
Xiao Yue puffed out her cheeks slightly, wanting to say something more, but looking at Qin Yu's serious gaze, she finally nodded gently and gave a faint smile, "I know, Little Qinzi, I'll rest for a while. After you two find that bad guy, I'll deal with him."
As soon as she finished speaking, she gently waved her small hand, and her entire body transformed into specks of star-blue light, slowly rising like stardust drifting in the night sky, eventually disappearing into Qin Yu's brow. A gentle ripple spread across Qin Yu's sea of consciousness, and the Blue Ring returned to its dormant state.
He then slowly turned around, looked at Qian Wenwan who was still silent, and said in a low voice, "Let's go, Qian." Qian Wenwan nodded gently, slowly suppressing the sadness that had not yet dissipated in her heart, gripped the Compassionate Joy Divine Sword tightly, and walked step by step with Qin Yu toward the deepest part of the Blazing Erosion Clan's mansion.
The deeper one goes, the more deathly silent the world becomes. Originally, one could still see dilapidated palaces and scorched earth, but after traveling hundreds of miles, everything began to change. The air grew heavier and heavier, and with each breath, it felt as if countless thick blood vapors were drilling into the body through the mouth and nose, causing an extremely oppressive discomfort to arise in the very essence of Fate Soul.
The ground beneath their feet was no longer rock, but layers of dark red, hard crystals. These crystals resembled blood that had congealed over countless years, and within them, one could vaguely see twisted human figures slowly writhing.
There were no trees or rocks around, only towering black bone pillars, each tens of thousands of feet tall, piercing the heavens and the earth. The surface of each pillar was covered with dense, blood-red runes, which flowed like living things. Each time they flowed, a faint wail would echo between heaven and earth.
The sky had long since turned completely dark red, devoid of sun, moon, and stars, leaving only countless slowly falling gray-black ashes. When those ashes landed on the ground, they would transform into struggling human faces, uttering silent cries before merging back into the earth, as if they could never find release.
Just as the two continued walking forward for about a hundred feet, an intense, almost overwhelming stench of blood assaulted their senses. Qian Wenwan paused slightly, instinctively holding her breath, her Fate Soul essence trembling with a repulsive force. Qin Yu slowly raised his head, following the crimson light, his gaze gradually hardening.
In the distance, a massive abyss stretching for hundreds of thousands of feet suddenly split open in the center of the earth. Within the abyss, there was no magma, no flames, only a slowly churning sea of blood.
That was not an ordinary pool of water; it was a massive Blood Soul Pool formed from endless blood. The surface of the pool was without any ripples, yet it undulated slowly as if it were alive. With each undulation, distorted human faces emerged from the depths of the sea of blood.
They included the old and the young, men and women. Some looked terrified, some were filled with despair, and some were screaming wildly with their mouths wide open. But no matter how much they struggled, they could only stay on the surface of the sea of blood for a brief moment before sinking back into the boundless crimson.
Hundreds of millions of dark red blood threads floated above the Blood Soul Pool, each thread connecting to the bottom of the pool, resembling the roots of a scarlet ancient tree covering the heavens and the earth. At the end of those roots, gray-black anger and evil thoughts slowly rose, weaving into a blood-red sky that obscured the heavens.
In the center of the blood pool, a black altar, no more than a hundred feet in size, stood silently.
The altar was constructed from countless white skulls, each with a scarlet mark etched between its brows and grayish-red flames burning in its empty eye sockets. Circling around the altar were ancient runes that rotated continuously; these runes were neither angry nor evil, but rather possessed a deeper and more ineffable aura.
They intertwined, like chains formed from countless desires, firmly binding the entire Blood Soul Pool. Occasionally, a drop of dark red blood would slowly fall from the top of the altar, and the moment it fell into the blood pool, the entire sea of blood would ripple with scarlet waves, and countless mournful cries would resound throughout the heavens and earth, as if all the Fate Soul that had perished here over the past millions of years were uttering desperate wails at this moment.
Qin Yu and Qian Wenwan at the edge of the Blood Soul Pool, not taking another step forward. They both clearly sensed that what was being nurtured within this Blood Soul Pool was not merely the residual power of anger and evil.
Qin Yu slowly closed his eyes. Deep within his sea of consciousness, the Silent Beginning Ring Master Soul Diagram slowly emerged. The Nine-Wheel True Evolution Dharma Wheel lit up in turn, and the ancient and profound ring patterns spread out layer by layer. It was as if an invisible primordial network diagram appeared above the entire Blood Soul Pool.
Countless bloodstains, rage, malice, and fragments of Fate Soul were no longer concealed under the reflection of the Ring Master Soul Diagram. Lines of cause and effect intertwined and eventually converged into the deepest part of the Blood Soul Pool.
Qin Yu frowned slightly. He could clearly sense that the bottom of the pool not only contained a rich source of blood soul essence, but also a very ancient entity slumbering there. That thing did not emit any pressure, yet it caused the entire Blood Soul Pool to slowly revolve around it, as if the purpose of the Blood Soul Pool's existence for millions of years was simply to nourish that thing at the bottom of the pool.
Qin Yu slowly opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on the depths of the Blood Soul Pool. He said in a low voice, "Shopkeeper Qian, there's something unusual at the bottom of the pool. There's something in there." Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned to Qian Wenwan and said, "Take a look at the jade tablet left behind by Fellow Daoist Yuan."
"Since he gave it to you with his last breath, there must be important clues inside." Qian Wenwan nodded gently, slowly lifting the jade tablet she had been holding tightly in her palm, and gently infusing it with her Fate Soul essence.
A soft hum suddenly emanated from the jade tablet, and in the next moment, a gentle light rose up on its own. "Bang!"
The entire jade tablet detached from Qian Wenwan's palm and slowly floated into the air. Circles of transparent light spread outwards, and then a complete image slowly appeared before the two of them.
The scene depicts the moment when Yuan Weizhi first entered the territory of the Blazing Erosion Clan.
At that time, he was still full of vigor, holding a divine weapon, and stepped into the Southern Region alone. However, before he had gone far, dozens of the Blazing Erosion Clan cultivators surrounded and attacked him from all directions.
Those people had bloodshot eyes, their Anger and Aversion Origin burning wildly, and they unleashed a barrage of strange and powerful attacks on Yuan Weizhi. A great battle erupted instantly, and the entire world collapsed. Yuan Weizhi fought alone against dozens of the Blazing Erosion Clan cultivators, his sword light crisscrossing the heavens and earth, his Fate Soul essence surging like a long river, forcing his enemies back time and time again.
After hundreds of rounds of fierce fighting, Yuan Weizhi finally found an opportunity, used his sword to repel everyone, and transformed into a streak of light to escape. But just as he turned around, a gray-white crack suddenly appeared in the distant void without warning.
A strange, palm-sized, gray-white soul flag, without the slightest fluctuation or killing intent, silently flew out from the depths of the void at Ultimate speed. Poof!
The Soul Flag pierced through Yuan Weizhi's back. Yuan Weizhi's body suddenly stiffened. He didn't even have time to turn around before his Fate Soul essence was instantly frozen. His eyes quickly lost their luster, and his body fell straight to the ground. The scene changed, Yuan Weizhi slowly opened his eyes.
What came into view was a huge blood pool filled with blood and resentment. His hands and feet were pierced by thick gray chains, and his Fate Soul essence was suppressed by a series of soul flags. In the scene, the old man who later disguised himself as the patriarch of the Blazing Erosion Clan slowly stood at the edge of the Blood Soul Pool, looking down at Yuan Weizhi with a cold smile on his face.
"Outsiders." "Daring to pry into the origins of my ancient tree." "Since you've come..." "Then stay here forever." "Throw him into the Blood Soul Pool." "Seale the Soul." As the old man's voice fell, several Blood Soul Puppets lifted Yuan Weizhi without hesitation and threw him straight into the churning sea of blood. Boom!