Chapter 165: The Rise of the Demonic Path

"Aung—"

Responding to Gu Chen was the sound of a dragon's roar.

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw a red dragon stepping on the waves, coming from the East Sea.

Clouds follow the dragon; before the red dragon had even arrived, clouds and mist were already breeding on the shore.

With the clouds and mist providing cover, Gu Chen drove the black smoke even faster.

The Qingluan flapped its wings, and a gale swept through, trying to blow the clouds and mist away.

The clouds and mist dispersed, and the red dragon arrived.

He looked at that red dragon, too stunned to speak.

The red dragon was several hundred zhang long, with red scales and fiery horns, but on its back were not fins, but red hair. Additionally, the red dragon's mane and tail hair were thick, smooth, and extremely long, like flowing flames.

This was a Brocade Dragon.

A red-haired Brocade Dragon.

When the red-haired Brocade Dragon appeared, Cheng Xinzhan's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The blood river in his heart mansion surged, as if it sensed an old acquaintance.

"Is this the Red-Haired Ancestor?"

Watching the red dragon pounce directly onto the Qingluan, Cheng Xinzhan found it hard to believe. Had the Red-Haired Ancestor fallen into the demonic path?

But when he looked closely, his heart shook again.

The red dragon's eyes had been gouged out.

He activated his Dharma eyes and Qi-gazing technique, only to see that the red dragon's dragon might was overwhelming, yet there was not a shred of life in its entire body, only dense death Qi.

This was a dragon corpse!

————

Western Shu, Mount Emei, Taiyuan Cave.

A handsome middle-aged man and a sorrowful-looking old man sat facing each other.

"Bingru, you have been stationed at West Kunlun for nearly ten years. You have worked hard."

The middle-aged man said.

Jian Bingru cupped his hands. "Sect Master Senior Brother, you are too kind. I would go through fire and water for Emei without hesitation, let alone such a small matter."

True Person Miaoyi nodded and asked again,

"West Kunlun is a bitter and cold place; you have suffered. In all these years, have you found anything? Back then, the demon Gu Chen was sealed by the Master under the West Sea with the Water, Fire, Wind, and Thunder formation. He was also made to swear a poisonous oath to abandon his evil thoughts, abolish his demonic cultivation, and painstakingly practice the righteous profound arts for six hundred years. Only then would the seal be lifted, and after emerging, he would need to perform one hundred thousand good deeds before being allowed to ascend."

"It has been less than three hundred years, so why did he break the seal so quickly? And he broke it without making a sound, destroying West Kunlun in one day, and even teaching his disciples Emei flying sword techniques, putting us in a very passive position!"

Jian Bingru replied,

"I went under the West Sea to investigate carefully. The entire seabed is as calm as usual, and the Master's seal is still there, without a trace of damage. Inside, it is already empty. Plus, with West Kunlun being destroyed overnight without anyone knowing, the Junior Martial Uncle must have..."

"What Junior Martial Uncle! A demon is a demon!"

True Person Miaoyi slapped the table.

Jian Bingru's expression grew even more bitter. He nodded and continued,

"I think that after the demon was sealed by the Master, not only did he not abolish his demonic arts, but he practiced the *Blood God Classic* even more intensely. He must have practiced the legendary divine art that no one had ever practiced before: the Blood Shadow Divine Light."

"The Blood Shadow Divine Light can enter and exit the blue void, traversing the void. That is why the demon could escape the seal and ignore the mountain-protecting formation of West Kunlun. With the demon's thousand-year cultivation and his demonic arts, recruiting demon soldiers and then destroying West Kunlun is not impossible. Sect Master Senior Brother, the demon hates our Emei to the bone; we must be on guard!"

True Person Miaoyi nodded and said, "Bingru, rest assured. The Two Instruments Dust Formation is an ancient immortal formation. Even if that demon has practiced the Blood Shadow Divine Light, he definitely cannot enter Emei. But having said that, the *Blood God Classic* is an ancient wonder book, and the Blood Shadow Divine Light is a legendary wonder art. We do not know if it has other divine mysteries besides entering and exiting the blue void. While you are watching the Blood God Tianzhen Tongzi at West Kunlun, you must be extremely careful."

Jian Bingru agreed.

"Has the Blood God Sect had any movements recently? Has the demon left the mountain?"

True Person Miaoyi asked again.

"No. Since the righteous path surrounded the mountain, the low and middle-level disciples of the Blood God Sect have been almost completely exhausted, and those in the third and fourth realms have also been injured. Now the whole sect is hibernating in the mountain-protecting formation, and I have never seen the demon leave the mountain."

"Hmm, then I must trouble Bingru to continue watching. The demon was sealed by the Master, and now that he has escaped, it is up to us disciples to capture and kill him."

Jian Bingru nodded again and said yes.

"Aung—"

A dragon's roar that shook the heavens interrupted their conversation.

True Person Miaoyi and Jian Bingru looked at each other, their expressions changing simultaneously. Without a word, they both flew into the sky.

The two rose to the peak of Emei, above the clouds. At this moment, countless sword immortals in Mount Emei rose into the sky one after another, and Lady Miaoyi also came to True Person Miaoyi's side.

Everyone followed the sound and looked toward the south.

It was late in the day, and they saw that starting from the Peach Blossom River in the Southern Wilderness, connecting in sequence to the Qian River, Xun River, West River, and Pearl River, several thousand li of water veins were simultaneously radiating a hazy brilliance, leading directly to the South Sea.

And at this moment, at the mouth of the river of light, eight illusory gate towers appeared abruptly.

The gate towers stood in the shallow sea, over several li wide, towering into the clouds. The bases of the four gate pillars had surging blue and white wave patterns, as if they were one with the South Sea. Above the wave patterns were coiled dragon patterns; each of the four pillars had nine dragons, red-gold in color, lifelike. Above the coiled dragon patterns were golden cloud patterns, connected to the crossbeams, hidden in the clouds, unable to see the full picture.

And in front of the gate towers, everyone saw a dark green flood dragon leaping out from the river of light, struggling to climb and fly onto one of the gate towers, with dragon roars echoing.

Seeing this scene, True Person Miaoyi's eyes were about to split. He wanted to intervene, but they were a thousand li apart, and it was already too late to save the situation.

"Mie Chenzi! Li Yuanhua! Where are the two of you?!"

The angry shout of the Fifth Realm True Person surged from the clouds in all directions like heavenly thunder. This time, it was not just within Mount Emei; the entire Western Shu heard it.

As soon as the words fell, a streak of light immediately flew out from somewhere on the south side of Western Shu, flying straight toward Emei. It arrived before True Person Miaoyi and bowed to receive orders. It was the Bearded Immortal, Li Yuanhua.

"Greetings, Sect Master."

A few breaths later, another streak of light flew out from somewhere in the east of Western Shu, flying faster than Li Yuanhua, finally landing in front of Li Yuanhua, cupping his hands toward True Person Miaoyi and calling him Sect Master.

It was faintly visible that the Bearded Immortal Li Yuanhua, known for his boldness, was trembling while facing the anger of the Fifth Realm True Person. And the one who came late, in a wide-sleeved white robe, the robe rustling in the wind, looked much calmer than the Bearded Immortal Li Yuanhua.

However, this person's calm expression was definitely not what True Person Miaoyi wanted to see right now. True Person Miaoyi pointed to the south and shouted,

"I told you to watch the Southern Wilderness. Is this how you watch?! You tell me what that is?! The Green-Robed Old Demon has walked the river for a thousand li and is about to turn into a dragon!"

The white-robed man did not answer. Li Yuanhua replied with a trembling voice,

"Reporting to Sect Master, the disciple really does not know. There has been no movement on Mount Baiman."

Facing this answer, True Person Miaoyi was clearly dissatisfied and looked at the white-robed man again. This white-robed man was Mie Chenzi, whom True Person Miaoyi had mentioned. He said, "It is not that Yuanhua and I were negligent. There really was no movement in the Southern Wilderness. Moreover, the one who should have sensed the Green-Robed Old Demon walking the river and turning into a dragon first should have been the Red-Haired Ancestor, and he should have been the most anxious. But there was no movement at all on Red Wood Ridge. Furthermore, for a flood dragon to walk the river for a thousand li, we couldn't even hear the sound of the water. There must be an expert protecting him all the way. It was only at the very end, when he was crossing the Ancient Dragon Gate, that the illusory image of the Dragon Gate and the traces of the flood dragon could no longer be concealed, and we saw it."

True Person Miaoyi heard this and calmed his anger slightly. He looked toward the South Sea, his voice colder than the wind of West Kunlun.

"An expert? Where did an expert come from who has the guts?"

As soon as the words fell, he seemed to suddenly think of something and looked fiercely at Jian Bingru beside him.

"You said that the Blood Shadow Divine Light enters and exits the blue void, shadowless and formless. If the demon wanted to leave West Kunlun, could you have discovered it?"

Jian Bingru's face turned pale. "This, this..."

True Person Miaoyi's expression was gloomy. If there was one demon in this world whose cultivation was higher than the Green-Robed Old Demon and who could conceal the momentum of his river-walking and deceive the Red-Haired Ancestor, it could only be him.

The Blood Demon, Gu Chen, his own former Junior Martial Uncle.

His heart was heavier than ever before.

No matter how transcendent that demon's strength was, he was not afraid.

Because this world is not the ancient times anymore; cultivation is capped at the Heavenly Immortal realm. How can the power of one person contend with a sect? This is also the fundamental reason why he tried his best to strengthen Emei—swallowing and nibbling, the means are not important, the result is what matters.

!

But many people still cling to the old ways, keeping the Dharma classics on the shelf, with very few disciples. How can they accomplish anything like this?

He hadn't expected that the short-sighted demon's first act after escaping would not be to attack Emei, but to destroy West Kunlun and occupy the mountain to establish a sect under the name of the Blood God Sect.

He also hadn't expected that the Blood Demon would start to pull together forces and connect with other demons!

True Person Miaoyi's heart turned a thousand times, but a thousand thousand li away, he ultimately could not interfere with that Li Dragon leaping over the Dragon Gate.

He saw that the Li Dragon finally crossed the Dragon Gate completely, its hundred-zhang dragon body radiating treasure light, illuminating the near sea of the South Sea in a deep green.

In the treasure light, the dragon claws under the Li Dragon's belly grew a fifth toe, and the short, rhino-like dragon horns on its head grew, lengthened, and branched, finally turning into true dragon horns.

And as everyone knows, the difference between flood dragon species and true dragons lies in the claws and horns.

This Li Dragon had turned into a true dragon.

At this moment, the continuous dragon roars, each one louder than the last, turned into human speech.

"I, Li Mizhen of Mount Baiman in the Southern Wilderness, am here to announce to the world: I am a Li Dragon of the dragon species who has attained the Dao. Today, I followed the ancient Pan Du to walk the river into the South Sea, leaping over the Dragon Gate to become a true dragon, merging with the water veins of the Southern Wilderness, and entering the Fifth Realm. Anyone who has the ambition to become a dragon and whose heart is unrestrained can enter my mountain gate!"

The voice was like thunder, spreading in all directions.

Hearing this, True Person Miaoyi clenched his fists. The Fifth Realm! The Green-Robed Old Demon actually entered the Fifth Realm by turning into a dragon!

A true dragon in the Fifth Realm is equivalent to an immortal!

However, True Person Miaoyi was True Person Miaoyi after all. He quickly calmed down and immediately ordered Jian Bingru,

"Bingru, you don't need to return to West Kunlun for now. You can't watch the Blood Demon anymore. Go to Mount Mangcang immediately and see if that demon corpse is still there! Quickly!"

"Obey the Dharma decree!"

Jian Bingru knew the matter was serious and was about to turn into a streak of light and fly away. But just as he was about to leave, he heard three voices that also shook the heavens coming from the east:

"I, Gu Chen/Wu Lao/Cui Ying, am here to announce to the world: We have all attained the Dao as strange corpses. Today, we establish the Red Body Sect on the Three Corpse Island in the East Sea. Anyone who has the ambition to seek life in a dead body and whose heart is unrestrained can enter our mountain gate!"

Jian Bingru's figure stalled, and he forcibly dissolved his streak of light. He turned with difficulty to look at the Sect Master.

Sure enough, he saw that True Person Miaoyi's expression was already extremely ugly.

After a long while, he secretly transmitted his voice to Lady Miaoyi beside him using the Lingxi method, saying,

"Lanyin, since the Blood Demon has released the demon corpse, it is not far from where the dual swords are hidden. However, I can still sense that the dual swords are still in the sword cave, which means the demon has not found them yet. You take Yingqiong and Qingyun to retrieve the dual swords now. Go now."

Lady Miaoyi looked at her husband, nodded, and her figure slowly disappeared into thin air.

————

Kuaiji, near the East Sea coast.

A crimson dragon corpse pounced toward the Qingluan, the dense corpse Qi making the elegant Qingluan subconsciously retreat.

On top of the dragon corpse was a barefoot bald child. The child looked only five or six years old, with only a red cloth wrapped around his waist, the rest of his body exposed, painted with flame talisman patterns.

The child held the dragon horn with one hand and played with a crimson elixir pearl with the other, laughing in his mouth:

"Old Demon Gu, your Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banner has already been refined. Do you still need us to come and pick you up?"

Cheng Xinzhan watched from afar, activating his Dharma eyes. Not only the dragon corpse, but the child on the dragon corpse also seemed to be a corpse. As for the elixir pearl in the child's hand, feeling the dragon might on it, it should be the red dragon's dragon pearl.

"That's right, that's right. You've been boasting to us about how amazing the Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banner is. It was a waste of the Blood Lord saving you and sending you into Mount Difei. In my opinion, it's nothing more than this."

After the child finished speaking, another charming voice rang out. Just listening to it made people feel their souls drifting away and their bones feeling three parts lighter.

Cheng Xinzhan looked and saw a woman appear out of thin air following the dragon corpse.

The woman's hair was tied up, her face pretty, with powdered cheeks and red lips, delicate enough to be broken by a blow.

The woman's clothing was very strange—not quite a robe, not quite a skirt, as if a piece of soft, bright white silk was tightly wrapped around her body layer by layer. Her upper body revealed white shoulders and arms, and her lower body revealed smooth calves.

The woman was barefoot, walking in the void. As she moved, her tightly wrapped waist swayed, full of charm, truly beautiful to the extreme.

Gu Chen laughed loudly upon hearing this. "It is not that my treasure is ineffective, but I had to give you two a chance to make a name for yourselves."

The child laughed loudly upon hearing this. The red dragon under his feet flicked its tail, striking a Dharma image, and spiritual light radiated everywhere. At the same time, he held the elixir pearl to his mouth and blew gently.

"Boom!"

A surging sea of fire immediately enveloped everyone from Mount Gouqu.

"It is good for you high Daoists to know, the Red Corpse Divine Lord Wu Lao is here!"

The child laughed loudly.

The woman giggled. "Little girl Cui Ying, greetings to all the Daoist priests."

The woman didn't seem to have used any strength, but several Daoist priests of Mount Gouqu felt their primordial spirits about to be called away just by listening to her laughter!

The three joined forces and instantly repelled the people of Mount Gouqu. Then they didn't linger, flying straight toward the East Sea, and no one dared to stop them again.

The three flew all the way to the near sea of the East Sea, stopping only when they landed on an island adjacent to Kuaiji.

Immediately, the demon corpse Gu Chen pinched several Dharma seals in succession, and one after another, banners flew out from his sleeves. Looking at their shape and Dharma essence, they were exactly the same as the Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banner in his hand.

The demon corpse had indeed held back just now!

He had actually refined eighty-one Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banners!

Only now did Gu Chen show his full strength. Eighty-one Profound Yin Beast-Gathering Banners were rooted in the void, enveloping the island. The black smoke and yellow gas radiating from the banners shot straight into the sky, forming a vast formation.

Then, the three spoke in unison,

"I, Gu Chen/Wu Lao/Cui Ying, am here to announce to the world: We have all attained the Dao as strange corpses. Today, we establish the Red Body Sect on the Three Corpse Island in the East Sea. Anyone who has the ambition to seek life in a dead body and whose heart is unrestrained can enter our mountain gate!"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 166 =====