Chapter 1333: The Death of the Blood Lake Old Ancestor

The Star Orbit Destruction Cannon beam descended.

That was the light transformed from a Taiqing flying sword!

And on the other side was a bloody curse spear transformed from a blood-path Ben Ming Fa treasure, formed by a peak Refinement Void cultivator burning everything they had.

Terrifying curses and resentments gathered upon the spear, countless blood-path rule runes coiled around it, turning it into a materialized entity of blood-path rules.

It had no desire to cross paths with the Star Orbit Destruction Cannon.

Its target was always the sword cultivator's fragile true body; for this it was even willing to expose its own true body within the destruction cannon beam's attack range, seeking to wound both sides and perish together.

Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking.

No matter how the bloody curse spear maneuvered, how it circled, it could never shake off the Star Orbit Destruction Cannon's lock. The bloody spear was nimble, but the destruction cannon beam was even nimbler—striking later yet arriving first, cleaving straight onto the spear tip where countless blood-path rules and curse-resentments had condensed.

The two made contact in the span of a single breath.

Boom!

Ring-shaped Six Paths Order runes and blood-path rule runes collided!

A terrifying great explosion occurred—space was annihilated, rules shattered, all things between heaven and earth fell into chaos and turmoil, leaving only resplendent spiritual light illuminating every corner of heaven and earth, with no empty space remaining.

No one knew how long passed before the spiritual light dimmed slightly, revealing the scene within.

A blue-gold flying sword wreathed in Yuanci order runes pierced in through the bloody curse spear's tip—slicing through the spot where the sturdiest blood-path rules were most densely concentrated—cutting the bloody curse spear cleanly in two along its center line, severing every obstacle in its path.

The bisected bloody curse spear faltered slightly.

Then it transformed into two sheets of blood-water like the Yangtze and Dahe rivers falling from the sky, countless white bone fragments drifting within the blood-water, having lost all spiritual light, completely become dead objects, revealing their original true bodies.

This blood-path Ben Ming Fa treasure was unmistakably forged from countless human bones, blended with numerous heavenly materials and earthly treasures!

Victory and defeat—decided?

Within the two falling sheets of Blood Lake, a youth in blue gripped his sword hilt, his gaze icy.

"Good,"

"Very good, very good indeed."

Jiang Ding said coldly: "For the first time, someone dares to be distracted during a life-and-death battle with me, not using their full strength, holding back more than thirty percent of their remaining power for escape."

"Fellow Daoist, what tremendous confidence you have!"

He said indifferently.

Following his gaze, at the instant when the Star Orbit Destruction Cannon beam and the bloody curse spear crossed paths and countless destructive explosions erupted, a flesh-and-blood mountain the size of a speck of dust transformed into an ox-hair fine needle and stabbed viciously at the unprecedentedly weak wall of the Human Dao.

Pfft!

He succeeded

The ox-hair blood needle, condensing all the remaining power of a peak Refinement Void cultivator, was sharp to the utmost extreme, piercing a tiny Kong Dong through the unprecedentedly weak wall of the Human Dao.

The wall of the Human Dao was healing at tremendous speed—in the span of a single instant undetectable even to a Soul Transformation cultivator's divine sense it had already healed, once again restored to wholeness.

Yet that tiny ox-hair blood needle had long since seized this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity and successfully escaped the Human Dao!

He had escaped from here!!!

"Hahaha!"

"Hahaha…"

"Ignorant brat, this old man has crossed more bridges than you have walked roads—how could I possibly be fooled by you?"

Outside the Human Dao, the figure of the Blood Lake Old Ancestor successfully revealed itself. Though its aura had greatly diminished, it laughed wildly without pause—at last free of its cage, completely liberated.

The sect grand formation before it, along with several sect Refinement Void cultivators, tens of millions of sect disciples, and the countless years of accumulated foundations the sect had amassed—all entered its eyes. With a single thought it could mobilize them all, its strength instantly surging tremendously, incomparable to before.

It was no longer a single person now, but the accumulated foundations of Blood Lake Corpse Mountain over a hundred thousand years!

"Bastard sword cultivator!"

"You're dead, dead for certain!"

"Hahaha!"

Blood Lake Old Ancestor's crimson hair danced wildly as it laughed in high spirits: "This old man has already sent word to the Qi Sect, informing them that there is a Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong inheritance sword cultivator here with no Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong background whatsoever. Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong cultivators will arrive soon."

"They will certainly be very fond of you!"

"Bastard, you still don't know, do you?"

Blood Lake Old Ancestor said with chilling coldness: "The Qi Sect's mechanism and puppet arts are unrivaled under heaven. What they love most are cultivators with high strength and deep potential—especially sword Dao cultivators with outstanding offensive and killing ability. A inheritance sword cultivator like you, they will certainly be fond of you, certainly a Combined Dao Divine Monarch will come."

"You're dead for certain!"

"You're dead for certain!"

"You sanctimonious, utterly hypocritical bastard!"

"Clearly as bloody and murderous as I am, slaughtering hundreds of millions, yet you mouth 'demonic heretics' at every turn, 'all living beings under heaven' and 'the righteous path of the world' at every turn. I've found you an eyesore for a long time, bastard! When the time comes I will definitely beg the Taiyi Qingmu Xianzong Divine Monarch to let me watch personally as you are refined into a growth-type puppet…"

He babbled on and on, his words utterly incoherent, turning left and right upside down. Having escaped from a Bi Si Zhi Jing, his entire being was instantly filled with wild joy, exultant beyond measure.

Suddenly, Blood Lake Old Ancestor's body stiffened.

"Puppet…"

"Growth-type puppet…"

He muttered to himself, his pupils suddenly contracting, revealing an expression of absolute horror. He stood dumbfounded in place, his words suddenly dwindling.

"Oh?"

"The Qi Sect is skilled

in puppets?"

Jiang Ding's expression was calm, somewhat puzzled: "Isn't this sect skilled in artifact refining?"

This was his ingrained impression—the Upper Qing Spiritual Treasure Sect of the Nine Spirit Domain was the same, skilled in artifact refining, but not particularly proficient in mechanisms and puppets, neither good nor bad.

"What about the sect grand formation?"

"All disciples hear my command—form the Blood Lake Myriad Rivers Myriad Streams Grand Formation…"

Blood Lake Old Ancestor suddenly roared at the top of his lungs.

He formed hand seals in his palm. This was the sect's grand formation he had been refining for tens of thousands of years; it should have responded at the mere thought of it. Even if the many disciples disobeyed, they would have been refined into ghostly fiends in an instant, utterly incapable of resistance.

Yet, though the sect was right before his eyes and he had broken free from his opponent's formation domain, the sect's grand formation still showed no response whatsoever.

Not even a wisp of spiritual energy was mobilized, not a single mote of dust was stirred.

"Blood Ghost, Black Bones, you mongrels!"

"Laozi is calling you—are you deaf…"

Blood Lake Old Ancestor stared at the few Void Refinement cultivators in secluded cultivation behind Blood Lake Corpse Mountain and burst into furious cursing.

Sound waves imbued with the laws of the blood Dao shook heaven and earth, tearing apart the sky for ten thousand li, but those few Void Refinement cultivators of Blood Lake Corpse Mountain heard nothing at all. Some continued their secluded cultivation, some continued dual cultivation, some continued refining treasures—not a single one reacted.

Jiang Ding watched him quietly and did not stop him.

After an unknown length of time, his injuries had recovered somewhat. His hand rested on the sword hilt; he drew it slightly, and the blade scraping against the scabbard produced a crisp, ringing sound.

The sword was drawn and raised high.

"Little friend… no, Dao friend, Master—could you spare me?"

"I am willing to acknowledge you as my master!"

Blood Lake Old Ancestor stopped roaring, dropped to his knees with a thud, tears and snot streaming down his face: "Master, I have the potential to surpass Dao Merging. If you take me in, you will surely have a Dao Merging Divine Lord subordinate in the future—worth far more than a dead Void Refinement cultivator."

"Spare my life…"

"I beg you, spare my life…"

He kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

"Fellow Daoist Blood Lake, you are no match for Mud-Swamp True Reverence."

"You also lack the awakening one should have for slaughtering hundreds of millions of living beings, and Dao Merging has never once appeared in your life from beginning to end."

"Still, I will remember you."

Jiang Ding said calmly.

The sword fell, then returned to its sheath.

He turned and left.

Behind him, Blood Lake Old Ancestor's body stiffened. Then a bloody line appeared on his neck, and his head rolled off with a gurgle, swallowed by a crack that suddenly split open in the earth. His torso was ground into a pale, lifeless ash by the Materialist Solar Sword Intent, with not the slightest trace of the blood Dao's terrifying vitality able to manifest.

Around him, what seemed to be Blood

Lake Corpse Mountain—as he died—countless scenes of living beings evolving, mutating, and reproducing emerged, cycling endlessly, a hazy yet another layer of world.

This is the Mutated Animal Path!

Did you think leaving the Human Path meant you could leave?

What a joke.

From beginning to end, Blood Lake Old Ancestor was still immeasurably far from escape—immeasurably far. Even if he erupted once more and broke through the Animal Path, there was no possibility whatsoever of escaping the Six Paths of Reincarnation.