Chapter 299: Action (Part 5)

As Gu Yuanzong drifted into the air, Xuanwu no longer entangled herself with Song Jinhe, but instead flashed to the center of the beach, bent her knees, held her arms horizontally, and buried her head into the crook of her arms.

A standard opening posture for a dance.

At this moment, Azure Dragon and White Tiger also simultaneously gripped the back of the necks of Fang Yuying and Su Xiao.

At this moment, the last bit of obstruction for the Blood Moon in the sky dissipated, and the scarlet, perfectly round sphere emitted a ferocious radiance.

Following an angry shout, Xuanwu danced her body with immense force, and the entire Moon Shadow Island began to tremble at this moment.

The sand on the ground vibrated into the air, and the young men and women collapsed on the beach all knelt on both knees in unison, heads tilted back, their spines arched into a standard arc.

True Qi and life force drifted once again from their eyes and mouths toward the sky.

Su Xiao and Fang Yuying were similarly affected, their faces twisted in pain, yet they were unable to break free from the traction of that tyrannical force behind them.

Azure Dragon and White Tiger retreated and flashed away, not launching any attacks toward Song Jinhe or Chen Che.

Just as Chen Che was about to go up to save them, a massive pressure descended from the sky, causing his body, which had just eased slightly, to suffer heavy damage once again.

Gu Yuanzong extended an arm, his expression contemptuous, looking down at Chen Che from above like a monarch looking down upon the world, coldly watching the resistance of an ant.

Gu Yuanzong clenched his five fingers into a fist, and the slight movement transmitted to the ground became an irresistible decree.

With a muffled "Boom—", Chen Che fell to his hands and knees, the ground caved in, and the overbearing pressure nearly crushed his bones to pieces.

"Ah!!!!"

Chen Che roared as he raised his head, looking up at Gu Yuanzong in the sky, refusing to submit.

Gu Yuanzong sneered mockingly, opened his palm again, and made a pinching gesture.

"Pfft!"

Chen Che immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, his limbs unable to bear the weight, and his entire body collapsed face-down onto the ground.

True Qi mixed with life force drifted out from his eyes, nose, and mouth, flying toward Gu Yuanzong, who was suspended beneath the Blood Moon.

"Hahahahaha..."

Gu Yuanzong laughed wantonly, his True Qi and life force being acquired continuously, entering his body without end.

The aura within his body surged continuously, and his body grew increasingly youthful; because of the change in his appearance, a trace of childishness even emerged between his brows.

However, those bright, piercing eyes emitted an increasingly dangerous light.

Song Jinhe pinched a seal with both hands to maintain the Array; Gu Yuanzong's pressure was not aimed only at Chen Che, but also at her.

Fortunately, she had deployed the Array in time to withstand the majesty that even Chen Che could not bear, but it also destined her to be unable to move even an inch.

"How could it be like this?"

Song Jinhe looked at the sky in disbelief, the radiance of the Blood Moon illuminating her pale cheeks in a blood-red hue.

She could not understand how this Array could still be operating, and by the looks of it, this was only the true beginning.

Xuanwu's dance steps did not stop for a moment; she was immersed in it, lost in madness, dancing her body with all her might. Her dance steps were bizarre and twisted, but following her steps, the True Qi and life force of almost everyone present gathered in the air and entered Gu Yuanzong's body.

"What to do... what to do, what to do?"

Seeing that Chen Che had also become a sacrifice, Song Jinhe's mind was in chaos, her brain working under overload as she pondered a countermeasure.

"Welcome, my Lord!"

Xuanwu finished her dance, knelt on both knees once again, and kowtowed piously toward Gu Yuanzong.

Azure Dragon and White Tiger also knelt and kowtowed.

On the ground, everyone whose True Qi and life force had been sucked away had passed out; Chen Che held onto a breath and raised his head, yet Song Jinhe saw a shocking scene.

Chen Che was bleeding from his seven orifices, and dense, bright red blood vessels crawled up his neck and cheeks.

Having lost the restraint of True Qi, the Great Red Sun Poison flared up unscrupulously, making Chen Che's already dying body even worse.

In the sky, Gu Yuanzong was still immersed in the mass of True Qi energy, but his face had already turned into that of a man in his twenties, and the True Qi power contained within his body was enough to rival heaven and earth.

The Blood Moon looked like a giant eye, watching Gu Yuanzong's transformation the entire time, and finally, at this last moment, it extended a helping hand.

A pillar of scarlet energy shot from the Blood Moon into Gu Yuanzong's body, and all the power of heaven and earth gathered on the night of the full moon entered Gu Yuanzong's body.

The power that was already enough to rival heaven and earth surged wildly again; Gu Yuanzong's entire body emitted a blinding red light, and his momentum, climbing section by section, actually faintly had a trend of transcending everything.

"Come again! Not enough! Continue!"

Gu Yuanzong stretched his body, welcoming the pouring of the Blood Moon's power; in his madness, he ignored the changes in his body.

When things reach an extreme, they reverse; when water is full, it overflows.

Cracks appeared on Gu Yuanzong's body, and dazzling white light and wisps of blood-colored threads leaked out from the gaps, signaling the passing of his life.

Moon Shadow Island shook as if it had encountered an earthquake, and the strange phenomenon in the sky rendered even the Milky Way into a sheet of scarlet.

The pressure dissipated, and Song Jinhe no longer needed to maintain the Array to resist, but the violent shaking of the ground still made it impossible for her to go and check on Chen Che's condition.

The ground trembled, and sand particles floated into mid-air, exposing the Array Diagram drawn on the ground with human blood.

Song Jinhe's eyes froze, and a look of realization flashed in her bright eyes: "No wonder you had to dance; it turns out that Blood Moon is the true Array Eye!"

Xuanwu sneered: "You know a bit too late; the god is about to be born, and you cannot change anything."

"The Ritual hasn't finished yet, how do you know it can't be changed?!"

Song Jinhe glanced at the direction of Chen Che, imitated the posture Xuanwu had just used to dance, bent her knees, and buried her head into the crook of her arms, "You rely on dance steps to pull the True Qi, making the Array operate to suck away the True Qi and life force of others..."

"Now that I have found the operating principle of this Array, it is not impossible to make that forcibly sucked True Qi return to where it originally belonged!"

Song Jinhe spread her arms and raised her neck high, dancing gracefully like a proud swan.

Her dance steps were different from Xuanwu's—light and elegant—yet they were similarly wrapped in infinite, wondrous energy.

"No! Stop! Quickly stop!"

Xuanwu noticed that the operation of the Array beneath her feet had stalled, and then it began to operate rapidly in the opposite direction; the True Qi that had been injected into Gu Yuanzong's body also returned along the original path, following the effect of the Array.

Xuanwu yelled and screamed, jumping up and flashing toward Song Jinhe, wanting to stop her movements.

However,

Song Jinhe ignored Xuanwu completely, spinning her body, dancing in a frenzy.

Xuanwu's figure froze; at this moment, she was no longer the one guiding the operation of the Array, but merely a sacrifice within the Array, left to be manipulated at its will.

As the True Qi backflowed, Xuanwu was also affected by the Array, her body's True Qi overflowing unconsciously and flowing into the Array on the ground.

"Come help quickly!"

The loss of True Qi left Black Tortoise teetering, and she could only call for Azure Dragon and White Tiger to help.

However, as soon as Azure Dragon and White Tiger stepped into the Array, they were similarly dizzy and lightheaded, unable to even stand steady.

With no other choice, Xuanwu could only force herself to steady her figure and continue dancing.

Within the radiant Array, both women danced in a frenzy, guiding the Array to operate in the opposite direction.

In the sky, due to the changes in the ground Array, the red pillar of the Blood Moon dissipated, no longer bestowing a single shred of power upon Gu Yuanzong.

Gu Yuanzong's expression was bewildered, feeling the discomfort of being interrupted mid-defecation, yet this was not the worst of it.

The mass of True Qi energy gathered around him was thinning, and the True Qi and vitality that had originally entered his body were slowly flowing away, returning to the bodies of the people on the ground.

"No! No! My power! My power! No!!!"

Gu Yuanzong instinctively reached out to grab and mobilized his True Qi to block it, yet it was of no use.

As the True Qi and vitality flowed away, his body gradually weakened, and his youthful face aged instantly, reverting to its original appearance.

However, the influx and subsequent withdrawal of True Qi and vitality had exhausted all his strength, and the changes to his body did not stop there.

His appearance continued to change, shifting from robust to decrepit, his hair turning gray and white, and his facial skin becoming crisscrossed with furrows.

Almost in an instant, he had aged several decades.

………