Chapter 214: Blood Sacrifice to the Heavenly Ladder

The jade box trembled violently in Lin Yu's hand, and a strange suction pulled at his bloodline. He suddenly lifted the lid, his gaze freezing—

A heart that was still beating!

"This is..." Lin Yu's throat rolled, his mind roaring.

"Use my heart blood to sacrifice to the Tianyuan Sword!" Yan Nanshan's final words suddenly entered his mind. "I have always been a double agent, forced to pretend to defect to the Void Monarch, with the purpose of making it believe the Heavenly Ladder had been opened, while actually luring it into a trap."

The chaotic battle all around intensified, and the Void tentacles swept across the army. Xuanyuan Qing desperately shook her silver bell, struggling to approach Lin Yu: "Lin Shu! Quick!"

Lin Yu was skeptical, but he had no time to think. He drew a dagger and cut a slit in his palm, letting the blood drip onto the beating heart. Instantly, the heart erupted with dazzling golden light!

After absorbing Lin Yu's blood, Yan Nanshan's heart turned into a scarlet liquid, automatically flowing toward the nine tokens. Each jade pendant lit up with unique light patterns upon contact with the blood. The nine rays of light intertwined, condensing into a brand-new Tianyuan Sword in the void!

"Is this the true Tianyuan Sword?" Lin Yu reached out and gripped the hilt, a vast and ancient power surging into his body.

The Heavenly Ladder entrance cracked wider and wider, and the tomb roof collapsed completely. Countless Void creatures poured in one after another, and even more terrifying—a huge black shadow was squeezing out from the crack, corroding everything in its path and distorting space.

"The Void Monarch is coming!" Mo Lao's face turned pale.

Lin Yu swung the Tianyuan Sword, and a golden light swept across, severing the approaching tentacles. However, more tentacles grew immediately, and the situation was critical.

"Lin Yu, catch!" Qin Tianluo suddenly shouted, throwing the ninth token.

Lin Yu caught it reflexively, alert: "What trick are you playing again?"

Qin Tianluo actually laughed: "Yan Nanshan acted for the Void Monarch, and I acted for the Tongtian Pavilion. We are on the same side!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than Qin Tianluo formed seals with both hands, and strange patterns appeared on his body surface. The nearby Tongtian Pavilion elites screamed and fell to the ground, their life force forcibly extracted, turning into streams of dark red energy injected into Qin Tianluo's body.

"Three hundred years, for this moment, I have endured humiliation and heavy burdens, just to gather enough power!" Qin Tianluo roared, his hands toward the sky, injecting all the extracted energy into the Tianyuan Sword.

The power transmitted to Lin Yu's arm holding the sword was unbearable, and the sword's light grew brighter.

"Use the sword, Lin Yu! The Tianyuan Sword only obeys the Heaven-Chosen!" Qin Tianluo shouted.

Lin Yu held the Tianyuan Sword high and thrust it fiercely toward the Heavenly Ladder crack! The sword tip tore through space, pointing straight at the Void Monarch.

Just at this moment, the mark on Lin Yu's chest burned with intense pain, and the bloodline within his body suddenly produced a strange resonance, establishing some kind of connection with the Void Monarch. The Tianyuan Sword suddenly stalled at the core of the Void Monarch, unable to advance even an inch.

"What's going on?" Lin Yu gritted his teeth and struggled, but he couldn't control his own arm.

"Child, you and I are one." An ancient, hoarse voice sounded in his mind. "Part of your soul was taken away by me three thousand years ago, and now is the time for return."

Lin Yu was stiff all over, and some secret memory in his bloodline was awakened. In a trance, he seemed to see the great battle three thousand years ago—he held the Tianyuan Sword and fought the Void Monarch, finally having to sacrifice part of his soul to seal it.

"Your bloodline is connected to mine, you cannot kill me." The Void Monarch chuckled.

Lin Yu broke out in a cold sweat, and the Tianyuan Sword actually deviated from its direction uncontrollably.

"Lin Shu!" Xuanyuan Qing had rushed to his side at some point, her silver bell shaking violently. The crisp bell sound echoed in the Heavenly Ladder, interrupting the mental connection between Lin Yu and the Void Monarch.

Lin Yu sobered up instantly and regained control of the Tianyuan Sword. But the Void Monarch had already squeezed most of its body out of the crack—it was a twisted black shadow, its form constantly changing, yet always maintaining some kind of twisted human shape.

"It's too strong!" Xiao Chengzhou supported the defensive formation, but it was shattered by the Void energy, and he fell to the ground seriously injured.

The Destiny survivors fell one after another, and Qin Tianluo was also hit by a huge tentacle, vomiting blood as he hit the stone pillar.

"Lin Yu, slash its core!" Qin Tianluo struggled to shout.

Lin Yu raised the sword to attack again, but was always held back by the bloodline in his body at the last moment, unable to pierce the Void Monarch's core.

"Child, come back." The Void Monarch spread its huge black hands and reached toward Lin Yu. "Merge with me, and share eternity."

Seeing Lin Yu fall into a struggle, Mo Lao suddenly roared: "Xuan Qingzi, appear!"

The stone statue exploded, and a golden light darted out from the fragments, turning into Xuan Qingzi's phantom.

"Descendant, walk the path I prepared!" Xuan Qingzi formed seals with both hands, his body turning into a golden light corridor, leading straight to the Void Monarch's core. "Find its core, and sever the source!"

Xuanyuan Qing pushed Lin Yu: "Lin Shu, go! We will stop these monsters!"

Lin Yu took a deep breath, grabbed the Tianyuan Sword, and leaped into the golden light corridor. Space distorted, time fragments swept past him, and he felt himself crossing countless dimensions.

At the end of the golden light, Lin Yu stumbled to the ground and looked around. This was not a tomb, but a boundless wasteland, the sky covered in cracks, and countless twisted stone pillars standing in the distance.

What shocked Lin Yu even more was—dozens of "Lin Yu" stood quietly before him, each holding a Tianyuan Sword, their faces and attire different, yet all casting sympathetic glances.

"Another failure." The "Lin Yu" in ancient costume at the very front sighed. "Welcome to the ranks of failures, we are all your past..."

Lin Yu gripped the Tianyuan Sword tightly, his heart heavy: "What do you mean?"

"Every timeline, every Nine Stars Alignment, there is a 'you' who tries to stop the Void Monarch," another "Lin Yu" in modern attire explained. "No one has ever succeeded."

"What is this place?" Lin Yu looked around the wasteland.

"The end of the Time Corridor, the core domain of the Void Monarch." A white-haired "Lin Yu" walked forward. "It is also the place where we have been imprisoned for three thousand years."

Lin Yu's mind flashed with Yan Nanshan's final words—"Sometimes betrayal is also a form of loyalty."

Suddenly, the huge stone pillar in the center of the wasteland vibrated, and countless black energies gathered, forming the Void Monarch's true body—a huge black shadow, its face blurred, yet vaguely recognizable with a silhouette similar to Lin Yu's.

"My children, how does it feel to be home?" The Void Monarch emitted a twisted laugh and stretched out its giant hands. "The last piece of the puzzle is in place, and eternity is about to begin."

Lin Yu raised his sword, but found that the other "Lin Yu"s all looked bitter, lowering their swords and heads.

"Don't waste your effort," the white-haired "Lin Yu" said in a low voice. "For three thousand years, every one of you has tried, and all have failed. Bloodline connected, you cannot kill it."

Lin Yu gripped the Tianyuan Sword tightly, thinking of Xuanyuan Qing, Xiao Chengzhou, and everyone who had sacrificed themselves to stop the Void Monarch.

"Then break this cycle!" Lin Yu suddenly turned the Tianyuan Sword toward his own chest. "Since I cannot kill it, then I will sever the source of the bloodline!"

The other "Lin Yu"s exclaimed in obstruction, and the Void Monarch roared in fury. But it was too late—

The Tianyuan Sword pierced into Lin Yu's chest, piercing through the center of the mark! ===== CHAPTER 215 =====