Chapter 174: Prophecy

Blood surged forward, and amidst the sky-filling Blood Light, the crimson poisonous snakes that shot out from the hazy mist grew increasingly solid, as if alive.

Wriggling crimson poisonous snakes fiercely bit into Wu Tie's body.

Each bite left four sharp blood holes.

Moreover, terrifying blood poison seeped in through the wounds, spreading throughout Wu Tie's body with his blood.

Wu Tie's skin flushed all over; he let out a low rebuke, his magical power burned rapidly, and the divine ability 'Ding Jia Divine Body' he had comprehended during the recent empowerment blessing activated, causing his flesh to begin writhing rapidly.

A faint layer of golden light welled up from deep within his flesh and blood; instantly Wu Tie's skin turned a bright yellow, as if cast from brass.

A wisp of divine aura emanated; beneath Wu Tie's skin, ancient Dao symbols with flowing brushstrokes appeared, making his flesh extraordinarily tough—skin like iron plates, flesh like copper ingots, immensely strong and mysteriously pliable.

Strands of crimson poisonous snakes lunged forward, their four sharp fangs flashing with red light.

The fangs sank viciously into Wu Tie's body; each fang tore with force, barely breaking his skin, and could no longer pierce deep into his body as before.

Ding Jia Divine Body, also known as the Six Ding Six Jia Divine Body, when activated greatly enhances physical defense and also boosts strength, speed, reaction, and other qualities.

Wu Tie's forward speed suddenly increased; he breathed deeply, fully activating his Great Strength God Magic, a low rumble came from within his body, he swung the White Tiger Split with all his might, the spear brought up eighteen points of cold light thrusting straight at Lu Yan.

Behind Lu Yan, three blades of light whistled sharply as they slashed down.

Three short, thin figures clad in soft armor flew over; faint Blood Light glimmered in their eye sockets, seeing the blade lights about to reach Lu Yan's rear, they all let out a sharp cry.

The three blades of light suddenly exploded, filling the area within several hundred meters with flashing crimson blade lights; for a moment, countless blade rays from all directions slashed toward Lu Yan.

Lu Yan cursed angrily.

He gritted his teeth, took out a sharp long bone from his sleeve, held it with one hand to his mouth and blew hard.

An extremely sharp, eerie whistle issued from the bone, like a long, red-hot iron needle viciously stabbing into the eardrums of Wu Tie and the others; everyone winced in pain, illusions flickered before their eyes, their brains felt as if drenched in boiling vegetable oil, their vision went pitch black, seeing nothing.

Countless crimson poisonous snakes surged forward, frenziedly tearing and biting.

Wu Tie closed his eyes, blood spurting from the corners; relying on the afterimage, he thrust his spear forward, then felt the special sensation of the White Tiger Split piercing a body.

He flicked his wrist, and the White Tiger Split let out a low tiger's roar.

The sharp whistle from the bone was shattered by the tiger's roar; Wu Tie's vision suddenly brightened—the White Tiger Split had indeed pierced Lu Yan's chest.

Behind him, the three slender figures trembled slightly; countless blood-red poisonous snakes of various sizes coiled around their bodies, ferocious snake heads gnawing fiercely at their flesh, all three groaning in pain.

Three crimson sabers sank deep into Lu Yan's back; each three-foot-long, palm-wide blade nearly cut completely into his body, the dense crimson patterns on the blades writhed like poisonous snakes, frantically drawing out his bodily fluids.

Lu Yan stared wide-eyed, glanced at Wu Tie, and broke into a ferocious smile.

Wu Tie's heart tightened; he abruptly pulled back the White Tiger Split and shot backward. Tiny threads of electric light surged around him, his retreat speed astonishing—within a snap of his fingers he had retreated three or four li.

"Let's die together..." Lu Yan looked helplessly at Wu Tie, who had escaped so far in such a short time.

Strands of crimson poisonous snakes clung tightly to Wu Tie's body, pulling to delay his movements. But Wu Tie's strength was too great; these blood-condensed snakes were easily torn apart by him.

Lu Yan's body swelled up, quickly becoming a huge mass of flesh.

"Damned little bastard..." Lu Yan cursed at the retreating Wu Tie, then muttered lowly: "What that guy said is true... our assassination this time will indeed run into trouble."

"Boom!"

Lu Yan's body exploded, turning into a thick cloud of blood mist that instantly swept across the passage for several li.

Whether members of the Gold Undead Assassination Team or the assailants of the Blood Curved Blade, at the instant Lu Yan's body exploded, their bodies were like snowflakes thrown into hot water, melting away in an instant.

Only a few Life Pool Realm assailants of the Blood Curved Blade, wailing in pain, had strange lights flickering around them, barely helping them withstand the terrifying devastation from Lu Yan's self-detonation.

The blood mist spread outward, even corroding a thick layer of the passage's rock strata.

Lu Yan's self-detonation had modest explosive force, but the blood mist it produced was vicious and cruel, its lethality extremely terrifying.

Qin Yi and Luo He were also enveloped in the blood mist.

Facing the Blood Curved Blade's assault, and moreover a targeted one, Qin Yi and Luo He were also quickly surrounded and severely wounded in just a few exchanges.

When Lu Yan self-detonated, they also simultaneously gave a strange laugh, their bodies suddenly swelling into spheres.

"Boom boom!" two sounds rang out as Qin Yi and Luo He self-detonated; an even denser blood mist completely filled this stretch of passage, all nearby living beings were corroded, dissolved, and then swallowed up by the mist.

"I say, your life and death are under my control."

"I say, I let you live, you must not die."

A low, solemn voice echoed from afar; a soft white light shrouded the blood mist. The thick blood mist roiled, three massive blood-mist vortices appeared out of nowhere, the mist swirled and devoured the surrounding crimson haze, and a sharp whistle could faintly be heard continually issuing from the three vortices.

After about the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, three bloody figures slowly condensed from the blood mist.

After another quarter hour, the self-detonated Lu Yan, Qin Yi, and Luo He reappeared; they opened their mouths and gulped down the surrounding loose blood mist until it was completely gone. 'Boom, boom, boom,' three powerful auras surged from within them, shaking the nearby passage into violent tremors.

A tall, handsome young man with golden hair and blue eyes, wearing a gold robe, walked over slowly.

He held a heavy tome bound in gold-covered hide; dozens of thumb-sized golden glyphs, like fireflies, circled the book slowly, lending the youth an air of sacred majesty as if a deity had descended.

He smiled faintly and softly said to the astonished Lu Yan trio: "Having gone through the terror between life and death, you should have gained a deeper understanding… Do you still doubt what I have said?"

Lu Yan, Qin Yi, and Luo He exchanged glances; Qin Yi said in a low voice: "If we are to believe you… you said we are omnipotent, then let our subordinates also come back to life—can you do that?"

The youth pondered for a moment, then said softly: "This would consume a great deal of my strength……"

Luo He stepped forward, gazing solemnly at the youth: "We are all Life Pool Realm experts; we self-detonated our flesh, but our Life Pools remain intact… thus, even we ourselves could rebuild our bodies… given sufficient resources, we can reconstruct our own flesh."

"But if you are truly as mighty as you boast, let our people come back to life."

Luo He said solemnly: "In that case, we could also prove your words to the chiefs… we would also… believe you, and……"

Luo He grinned.

The youth looked deeply at Luo He, then nodded slowly: "Then, in the name of Dolya… I grant you the chance of rebirth."

Out of thin air, figures appeared one after another in the air.

Those of the Gold Undead Assassination Team completely melted by Lu Yan's self-detonation successively recondensed their flesh, revived and returned to the mortal realm.

Even……

Even Sun Zuo, whose soul Wu Tie had shattered with the Purge Evil Divine Thunder, slowly recondensed his flesh in a white light.

But obviously, because his soul had been shattered, Sun Zuo's recondensation was much slower than that of others.

Dolya furrowed his brow, let out a cold snort, and raised his hide-bound book high with both hands: "You know my name; keep chanting it in your hearts… whoever praises my name shall surely live."

A torrent of white light surged out from the beast‑skin book with a golden cover, violently pouring into Sun Zuo's newly condensed body.

Sun Zuo gasped heavily, his aura steadily increasing as he broke through from the initial Chonglou Realm level all the way up; he sat cross‑legged on the ground, enlightened, letting the white light from the beast‑skin book continually pour into his body while he silently exercised the secret method, beginning to use the light's power to cultivate and break through.

Chonglou Realm second level, third level…… ninth level, tenth level……

Sun Zuo's breakthrough speed could be called terrifying.

His cultivation technique is obviously low‑rank; for each level of the Chonglou Realm, the heavenly locks he breaks amount to only a few thousand.

The white light washed over his body, his aura rising step by step, gradually strengthening, and soon he broke through thirty‑three levels in a row, instantly becoming a top‑level expert of the thirty‑third level of the Chonglou Realm.

"You are blessed…… therefore you should receive more." Duo Li Ya smiled, two faint white chains flickering in his eyes, he lowly chanted an obscure prayer, and even more surging, more condensed white light continually gushed from the beast‑skin book whose glow was gradually fading.

Sun Zuo breathed heavily, he suddenly lifted his head, a piercing cracking sound came from within his body, then countless elusive light threads shot out from inside him, about tens of thousands of light threads swirling above his head before violently piercing his brow.

In Sun Zuo's brow, a point of black light quietly appeared.

Thereafter black energy continually poured from that point of black light, rapidly swirling and dancing in his brow, a more substantial aura gradually spreading from within Sun Zuo's body.

Several li away, Wu Tie grabbed a stone stalactite with one hand, hanging suspended near the dome almost a kilometer above the ground, his eyes wide open in shock as he looked at Sun Zuo.

The person he personally killed came back to life.

The soul he shattered re‑condensed.

What's more unbelievable…… this guy actually went straight from the initial Chonglou Realm level all the way, breaking through like a bamboo, to become a great expert of the thirty‑third level of the Chonglou Realm, and he is now condensing a Life Pool, attempting to break through to the Life Pool Realm.

"But, such a weak thirty‑third level of the Chonglou Realm!"

Wu Tie looked somewhat bewilderedly at Sun Zuo in the midst of his breakthrough.

The thirty‑third level of the Chonglou Realm's heavenly locks, the thirty‑third level's earthly shackles, one level's earthly shackles can contain about a hundred million light threads, a hundred million shackles that hold boundless heavenly secrets.

For each level, the more light threads cut, the more heavenly and earthly shackles broken in the breakthrough, the greater the heavenly and earthly insights and the spiritual mechanisms of creation, the stronger the accumulated cultivation, the more robust the mana and the richer the insights, and the larger, more vast and solid the Life Pool that can be condensed.

Wu Tie received the blessing of the Nuwa Clan Ancestral Spirit Baptism; he painstakingly solidified his foundation, he only broke seventy‑to‑eighty thousand light threads on the first level's heavenly lock of the Chonglou Realm, and he used all the power of the Nuwa Clan Ancestral Spirit Baptism to temper his flesh and soul, to cultivate the Great Strength God Demon Magic and other divine‑ability secret arts.

Sun Zuo actually…… broke through all thirty‑three levels.

But at each level he only broke through a few thousand light threads……

Looking at him condensing the Life Pool, the tens of thousands of light threads surging from his body…… are not much stronger than Wu Tie's current first‑level Chonglou Realm; such a Life Pool Realm could be called the weakest of Life Pool Realms, right?

However, it seems Sun Zuo cannot be blamed either.

After all, when Wu Tie just fought Lu Yan, he discovered Lu Yan wasn't that strong either.

Lu Yan is indeed a genuine 'great expert' of the Life Pool Realm, but let alone comparing him to the mighty masters of the Six Paths Palace, his mana cultivation is probably only three to five times greater than Wu Tie's, while in physical strength he falls far short of Wu Tie.

Moreover, in terms of divine abilities, Wu Tie's Divine Thunder of Exterminating Evil perfectly countered Lu Yan's Blood‑Colored Poisonous Snake Divine Ability.

This is the difference in foundation, this is the difference in reserves.

The cultivation techniques that Sun Zuo and Lu Yan practice are really too poor.

Wu Tie stared blankly at Sun Zuo sitting cross‑legged on the ground, countless thoughts turning in his mind; he finally grasped the mystery of it. His gaze oddly fixed on Sun Zuo several li away, what value does such a Life Pool Realm have?

Of course, compared to an ordinary Chonglou Realm, he is still considerably stronger.

Moreover, after all, being a Life Pool Realm existence, having condensed a Life Pool will greatly slow the speed of soul weakness and greatly extend lifespan.

Life Pool Realm, after all, is the Life Pool Realm.

Even the weakest Life Pool Realm is still a Life Pool Realm!

Wu Tie shook his head; such a Life Pool Realm, he now has confidence to pierce it to death with a single spear.

However, that Duo Li Ya is really not easy to deal with.

Wu Tie deeply gazed at the handsome, tall Duo Li Ya with golden hair and blue eyes.

Duo Li Ya actually felt Wu Tie's scrutiny just like that; he suddenly lifted his head and pointed fiercely at Wu Tie's side: "Over there, there's an enemy…… the main target who came to take revenge on you this time…… go, kill him!"

After a pause, Duo Li Ya said in a deep voice: "If the three of you join forces at once, you can kill him."

"Absolutely do not separate; if you accidentally split up, I have seen your deaths……"

Duo Li Ya said solemnly: "Believe my prophecy…… if you don't split up, you can kill him; if you do…… the three of you will surely die."

Lu Yan, Qin Yi, and Luo He exchanged a glance, then simultaneously transformed into Blood Light and charged toward Wu Tie.