Chapter 625: The Youth Who Walks Through a Rain of Blood

It wasn't just the late-stage Jin Dan cultivator Hei Hei Zefeng before him.

From all directions, hidden by a top-grade third-tier formation, over twenty early-to-mid Jin Dan cultivators approached in utter silence—mostly direct-line members of the General Heishi clan, with a few not from side branches but loose cultivators and the like, presumably promised something.

Below Jin Dan, the numerous Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators were spread out in all directions, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, neatly ordered, stationed at every node of the formation, ready to activate it at a single command and instantly encircle and slay any incoming enemy.

Their combat experience was extraordinarily rich, their mobilization system excellent.

With such a number of cultivators, aided by the spirit vein, even a quasi-Nascent Soul cultivator would not be feared!

Clearly, Hei Hei Zefeng was not as ignorant of the Tushan sword cultivators as he had shown himself to be.

No one was foolish.

Even though the journey was long and intelligence had not been updated in recent years, a Jin Dan cultivator who had escaped from a Nascent Soul ancestor—no amount of caution would be excessive.

"The last remnants of the General Heishi direct line…"

Jiang Ding sighed softly, unwilling to say more, his hand resting on the sword hilt as he slowly drew it: "A lineage ten thousand years in the making—its final twilight is about to end."

"Even I am moved beyond words."

"Even ten thousand years must come to an end."

"In this world, what can be eternal?"

The first sliver of the blade emerged from its sheath.

At first, killing intent was only a few scattered points.

In an instant, it surged like a tide—cold, bone-deep killing intent blotted out the sky, covering all of Tushan Xiancheng, obscuring the

Heaven and earth overturned, sun and moon stripped of light.

"This sword intent…"

Hei Hei Zefeng was terrified to the core.

In that instant, he seemed to become a mortal, cast into a raging sea, drifting with the waves, utterly beyond his own control. The magic power in his meridians and the divine sense in his soul were still flowing, yet they felt like weeds, utterly useless.

Looking around, the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators were in even worse shape.

Even with a top-grade third-tier formation blocking the way, when the tide of killing intent swept in at that moment, their eyes were blinded, their divine sense clouded, their senses of smell, hearing, and touch all muddled—chaos, nothing clear.

"I can't see!"

"Uncle! Uncle! Where are you…"

In the eyes of the General Heishi Foundation Establishment cultivators, all manner of terrifying visions appeared—the descent of the Dharma-Ending Age, great stars falling, the destruction of the sun. Boundless fear swept through their hearts; they could no longer stay calm and screamed in terror.

"Stop!"

"Tushan sword cultivator!"

Hei Hei Zefeng bit through his tongue, using the sharp pain and a surge of essence blood to force himself awake, temporarily shielding the surrounding sword-intent illusion realm, and shouted harshly: "My General Heishi clan has a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun seated within. Setting everything else aside, if the Xiancheng is destroyed, it will absolutely be to the death, no quarter given!"

"Let me tell you plainly—every direct-line member carries a mark left by the ancestor. Whoever kills them will undoubtedly die!"

Boom!

Borrowing the power of his essence blood, Hei Hei Zefeng no longer waited, forcibly activating the top-grade third-tier formation here. Veil-like formation patterns rippled outward, connecting above to the stars in the sky, below to the earth's spiritual energy, and at the center to the hundreds of thousands of Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators who had been forcibly mobilized.

In an instant, a terrifying force rippled outward, nearly reaching the realm of Nascent Soul.

The illusions were completely dispelled.

The hundreds of thousands of cultivators, their souls still unsettled, had no time to steady themselves at all. Under the pressure of the terrifying killing intent, they poured their own magic power and divine sense along the formation patterns, madly flooding into the formation.

The formation's power increased once more!

The General Heishi clan had placed great importance on this contingency, investing massive amounts of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

The formation's name: Hei Tian Lu Sheng Zhen!

This Hei Tian Lu Sheng Zhen was originally the General Heishi clan's strongest third-tier formation. After layer upon layer of amplification, it was now nearly at fourth-tier level. In the General Heishi clan's calculations, it was a worry-free contingency, unafraid of being attacked by others.

"Tushan sword cultivator, I'll ask you one more time."

Within the formation's shroud, Hei Hei Zefeng's heart steadied, boundless confidence welling up, as he stared fixedly at the blue-robed youth in the distance.

"Will you retreat or not?!"

His killing intent blazed as he shouted harshly.

The sword's momentum did not stop.

Jiang Ding did not answer his words; the sword was being drawn unhurriedly from its sheath.

Not only did it not stop, but as more and more of the blade was revealed, the killing intent grew colder, fiercer, showing terrifying signs of once again obscuring the formation patterns of the Hei Tian Lu Sheng Zhen and letting the Dharma-Ending illusions invade the cultivators' souls once more.

"Tushan sword cultivator, you're seeking death!"

Hei Hei Zefeng's heart sank as well; no longer entertaining any hopeful delusions, he fully unleashed the Hei Tian Lu Sheng Zhen.

Boom!

The formation patterns spread, ink-like dark clouds unfurling outward, completely enveloping the blue-robed youth, devouring all light, devouring all divine-sense perception, cutting off everything—neither heaven nor earth could be discerned.

Only the formation master could use divine sense to clearly survey all directions, seizing an enormous advantage.

This was the General Heishi clan's famed Hei Tian Lu Sheng Zhen!

Modeled after a Nascent Soul cultivator's law domain, it could not only isolate the enemy's perception but also carried layer upon layer of force-dissipating formation patterns. Before a Jin Dan cultivator's attack could even land, it would already be worn down to nothing—naturally invincible.

Throughout history, the General Heishi clan had used this formation many times to encircle and slay quasi-Nascent Soul cultivators, always victorious.

Clang!

A clear, ringing sword-cry.

At this moment, the sword in the blue-robed youth's hand was finally fully drawn.

In an instant, everyone's gaze was drawn to it.

It was as if a sovereign were descending.

A streak of silver sword-light fell between heaven and earth—in an instant, only this single streak of silver sword-light remained, nothing else. Mountains and rivers, the hundred beasts and all living things, sun and moon and stars—all vanished.

Only this single sword filled every cultivator's sea of consciousness, leaving not the slightest gap.

Hiss!

All the cultivators watched helplessly as the night of the Black Sky Life-Slaughtering Formation was torn apart layer by layer before the silver sword-light.

The curtain of black night fell to either side, collapsed, and revealed the sunlit Master Tushan Xiancheng.

The sky-curtain, which claimed to be impervious to all arts and invulnerable to all force, was more fragile than paper, unable to even slow the sword-light by a hairsbreadth.

"How could this be?"

Hei Hei Zefeng shuddered in shock.

Boundless cold and terror gripped his heart; possessing a quasi-Fourth-Tier formation brought him not the slightest sense of security.

His divine soul trembled again and again; the cultivation of late-stage Jin Dan was nothing to rely on, no different from the weakest Qi-Refining cultivator.

"Black Crows!"

"Cangyan Divine Crows!"

Under the terrible, clear pressure of death, Hei Hei Zefeng roared, madly burning his essence blood, urging the formation to rumble into operation, inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth across dozens of li.

This force of inhalation and exhalation was so tremendous that a Third-Tier upper-grade spiritual vein instantly dried up, and the piles of spirit stones laid out in the formation vaporized into nothing.

Vast power gathered within the Black Sky Life-Slaughtering Formation.

Screech!

A single sharp cry was heard, and within the formation patterns, crow after crow the size of fists materialized, dense and uncountable, blotting out the sky, all of them diving together toward the silver flying sword.

Among the flock of black crows, a crow king wearing a golden crown sat enthroned at the center, a golden flame held in its beak, radiating a terrifying aura sufficient to make a Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun feel an intense premonition of danger.

Cangyan True Flame!

This was a formation art only executable by the direct-lineage bloodline of General General Heishi burning essence blood, originating from that invincible powerhouse ten thousand years ago who slew a demon Soul Transformation, extracted its essence blood, and merged it into one branch of his descendants — a secret art exclusive to the direct-lineage Elder Bo Ming!

"Die!"

"Master Tushan, you die for me!"

Hei Hei Zefeng's expression was savage and venomous; his body merged into the golden-crowned crow king, raising its might another level, and the sharp beak holding the Cangyan True Flame pounced toward the silver sword-light before him.

Hatred churned in his heart.

Hatred,

Boundless, bitter hatred!

Once this art was performed, his bloodline would dry up, and he would never reach Nascent Soul in his life.

To the death, no rest!

Clang!

The sword-light came like water, unhurried, cutting forward.

Under the gaze of everyone, the silver sword-light tore through the sky-filling flock of black crows and met the sharp beak of the golden-crowned crow king holding the Cangyan True Flame.

There was no pause,

The sword-light pierced straight through.

The sea of clouds was split open with a wound several li wide, unable to heal for a long time.

Behind the sword-light, the golden-crowned crow king — into which Hei Hei Zefeng, the last direct-lineage late-stage Jin Dan cultivator of General General Heishi, had transformed — froze motionless in midair.

Not a twitch, no breath at all.

A moment later, the golden-crowned crow king and the Cangyan True Flame on its sharp beak slowly split apart to either side; the Cangyan True Flame crumbled into two halves, and the crow king's spiritual light scattered in all directions.

A corpse of a short-bearded burly man, split cleanly in two from brow to crotch, fell from the sky, entrails and fresh blood streaming down with a splatter, drenching the heavens.

The last direct-lineage late-stage Jin Dan cultivator of General General Heishi,

Hei Hei Zefeng, was dead!

"Run!"

"Run, quickly!"

The Jin Dan cultivators were seized with terror; each burned their essence blood, transforming into escape lights and fleeing in all directions, some even taking out teleportation talismans to hide within space and flicker away.

Jiang Ding sheathed his sword, paid no attention to anyone, and walked toward the city center.

After three steps,

The bodies of the sky-fleeing Jin Dan cultivators abruptly stiffened.

"No!"

"Spare me…"

A direct-lineage General General Heishi Jin Dan cultivator shrieked in terror.

On their brows, at some unknown moment, a silver sword-mark had appeared — it had already been there at the very same instant Hei Hei Zefeng died.

It was just that the sword was too fast, too sharp!

So fast that they themselves had not sensed it in the slightest.

Now, fleeing desperately, they instantly shattered the fragile balance within their bodies; the silver sword-light on their brows erupted, and fresh blood scattered.

The Jin Dan cultivators dropped toward the ground without a sound, slamming into the earth with a thud, devoid of any life.

Whether earth-escape, wood-escape, wind-escape, or fleeing by means of teleportation talismans.

There was no difference whatsoever.

All exactly the same — one after another, the corpses of Jin Dan cultivators fell from the sky, blood like rain.

At the same time, the three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators and three thousand Qi-Refining cultivators who had driven the killing intent and hatred most fiercely within the Black Sky Life-Slaughtering Formation collapsed and died without a sound.

The corpses swiftly went from warm to cold.

Jin Dan, Foundation Establishment, Qi-Refining.

Corpses kept falling, like raindrops, making no distinction of high or low, noble or mean; the thudding of bodies hitting the ground was endless to the ear.

The remaining cultivators were silent as cicadas in winter.

They did not dare to cheer, did not dare to scream in terror, clamping their hands tightly over their own mouths, not daring to make a single sound—the whole city could hear a pin drop.

Amid the corpses and Hua Dong Xue Yu filling the sky,

"Going home…"

A youth in blue robes strolled through it all; his face was young and fresh, carrying a boy's wistful memories, as he walked toward the former Demon Palace—his home.

(End of chapter)