Chapter 206: Chapter Two Hundred and Seven

He took out the last item from his sleeve.

It was a jade compass the size of a palm; at its center there was no needle, but a single drop of golden blood suspended in midair.

"This is my Gu clan's heirloom 'Realm-Breaking Blood,'" Gu Yusheng said, voice low. "Legend says it can temporarily disrupt any form of 'gate' type divine ability or formation. There is only one drop; the effect lasts ten breaths at most."

"Ten breaths... enough to do what?"

"Enough for us to do one thing." Gu Yusheng looked at the two of them. "The Nether Spring's lock-striking is to open a door, to summon a certain existence or power from the 'Blood Sea.' If we disrupt the keyhole, causing the door-opening process to fall into chaos, then two outcomes are most likely: either the door opening fails, or... the thing behind the door descends in an incomplete state."

"An incomplete state?" Shi Ran frowned.

"It might be weaker, or it might be more uncontrollable." Gu Yusheng said. "But either way, it's better than letting it descend fully."

Mei Ruoxue fell silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "So the plan is: charge into the blood lake's core, under the cover of your clan heirloom treasure, disrupt the ritual presided over by a Spirit Severing cultivator, then escape from the hands of a group of Nascent Soul protectors and an incomplete 'Blood Sea existence'?"

"Basically correct." Gu Yusheng nodded. "But we also have to add — in the process, try to rescue Master as much as possible, and if possible, destroy the Heart Cauldron."

Mei Ruoxue pressed her forehead: "I'm starting to suspect, did the Patrol Heaven Division send me to Weeping Blood Valley to investigate, or to die?"

Words aside, she showed no intention of retreating.

Gu Yusheng manipulated the Auxiliary Cauldron, dividing the reversal energy stored within into three streams and infusing them into the three people's bodies. This was not healing, but forcibly stimulating potential; the price was that their cultivation might regress afterward, but now they could not care about that much.

Injuries were temporarily suppressed; spiritual power recovered to roughly seventy percent.

"Go."

The three no longer hesitated, speeding toward the direction where the trembling was most intense and the blood light most dense — the deepest part of Weeping Blood Valley, where the blood lake lay.

The scenery along the way grew increasingly horrifying.

The blood-colored runes on the rock walls had all lit up, writhing like living things. The air was thick with a cloying bloody stench; spiritual qi turned violent and turbid, stinging to inhale. Low-ranking Nether Spring Sect cultivators occasionally appeared, but most rushed toward the blood lake with fanatical expressions, treating the three as invisible — in these disciples' eyes, the ritual stood above all.

The closer to the blood lake, the greater the pressure. It was not merely spiritual pressure, but a suppression of rank, as if ants approaching a dragon.

Finally, they passed through the last rock crevice, and the view suddenly opened up.

Then, they saw a sight they would never forget in their lives.

It was a massive, nearly circular cavern, its roof lost in darkness, too high to see. In the center of the cavern lay a vast blood-colored lake — no, it was not a lake at all, but highly concentrated, viscous, ceaselessly churning blood.

In the center of the blood lake floated a black jade palace. On the palace terrace, Venerable Nether Spring's figure was clearly visible; he spread his arms, black robes dancing wildly in an invisible energy storm.

Around the blood lake, four thick pillars of blood rose from the lake, connecting to four giant cauldrons suspended in midair — three of them blazing with light, spewing towering black smoke; only one, the position corresponding to the Auxiliary Cauldron they had just seized, had a dim, feeble blood pillar.

And directly above the blood lake, at a height of about a hundred zhang —

That "keyhole" was no longer an illusion.

It was a slowly rotating dark-red vortex over ten zhang in diameter. At the vortex's center was a crack constantly oozing viscous blood drops, like a wound. Deep within the crack, countless rolling waves of blood could be faintly seen, and indescribably huge shadows rising and sinking within the blood waves.

Dong!

Another impact sounded.

This time, the three clearly saw the crack's edge burst open a sliver. A massive blood bead, seemingly alive, fell, dropping into the blood lake and stirring up towering waves of blood.

Venerable Nether Spring's wild laughter reverberated through the cavern:

"The door has opened a gap! The Blood Sea approaches!"

Just then, on the rock wall on the other side of the blood lake, a blinding golden light suddenly exploded.

Within the golden light, a figure shot into the sky, four black shadows in hot pursuit — it was Ling Xiao, and the Nether Spring Sect's four great protectors!

Ling Xiao's condition was clearly terrible; his daoist robe was in tatters, a wound deep enough to show bone on his chest, but the long sword in his hand still shone with myriad rays of light, each slash carrying an upright and majestic sword intent, forcing the four protectors to not press too closely.

He saw Gu Yusheng and the other two, surprise and joy flashing in his eyes, then turning to anxiety; a divine sense transmission exploded in the three's minds like a thunderclap:

"Run! He is summoning the 'Blood Sea Will'! That is not something you can contend against—"

Before the words fell, one of the four protectors suddenly sacrificed a black bone mirror; under the mirror's light, Ling Xiao's figure abruptly froze.

Opportunity!

The other three protectors attacked simultaneously, three strikes capable of splitting mountains and severing rivers blasting toward Ling Xiao.

At the critical moment, Gu Yusheng moved.

He did not go to save Ling Xiao — the distance was too far, there was no time.

He did something else.

He hurled the jade compass in his hand with all his strength toward the "keyhole" vortex above the blood lake.

The compass traced an arc in the air, flying precisely toward the blood-drop crack at the vortex's center.

Venerable Nether Spring noticed this insignificant interference, not even bothering to act personally, merely pointing a finger casually; a blood arrow shot toward the compass, intending to shatter it in midair.

But just as the blood arrow was about to hit the compass —

Gu Yusheng crushed the last talisman in his hand.

"Void Transposition."

The positions of the compass and the blood arrow swapped.

The blood arrow missed, burying itself in a distant rock wall.

And the compass, unimpeded, flew into the crack.

Flew into the keyhole of the "Blood Sea Gate" that was being struck open.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Then —

The compass shattered inside the crack.

That drop of golden "Realm-Breaking Blood," amid the endless crimson, bloomed with sunlight-like radiance.

The crack trembled violently.

The rotating vortex abruptly stalled.

From the crack's depths came not the anticipated impact sound, but... chaotic, angry, overlapping roars as if from countless voices.

Venerable Nether Spring's wild laughter came to an abrupt halt.

He slowly turned his head, and for the first time, he truly looked at Gu Yusheng and the other two.

His eyes were no longer human eyes, but two bottomless blood-colored vortices.

"You," his voice terrifyingly calm, "what have you done?"

The entire blood lake began to boil.

The crack in the lock hole, under the erosion of golden light, began to expand and deform uncontrollably.

The door was indeed opened wider.

But the "key" to opening the door was broken.

And from behind that twisted, unstable door—

Something was eagerly... squeezing out.

"You, what have you done?"

The voice of Youquan Zunzhe was not loud, but it felt like ten-thousand-year-old ice rubbing against everyone's eardrums, carrying a cold that pierced straight to the soul and... the supreme majesty of being offended by ants.

The blood lake boiled completely. No longer surging, but roaring. Viscous blood plasma raised waves tens of zhang high, slamming against the base of the black jade palace, producing earth-shaking roars. The four blood pillars connecting the great cauldron shook violently; three remained thick, spewing thick black mist, while the one belonging to the auxiliary cauldron flickered uncertainly, as if it would break at any moment.

The most terrifying change occurred above the blood lake.

The dark red vortex lock hole had completely changed its appearance. The golden "Pojie Xue" light was not swallowed by the crimson, but like a drop of water thrown into hot oil, it triggered a chain explosion. The crack was no longer a regular wound, but twisted, torn, and unnaturally swollen open; at the edges, it looked like cloth torn by an invisible great force, emitting a grating "hissing" sound.

Golden light threads and viscous blood plasma madly entwined, annihilated, and regenerated within and without the crack. The originally orderly "knock-lock" fluctuation became a completely chaotic energy storm. From deep within the crack came not regular impacts, but countless chaotic, violent roars and howls filled with greed and destructive desire, as if what lay beyond the door was not a "being," but an entire plane of purgatory plunged into madness.

Boom! Boom boom boom!

The impacts became chaotic and disorganized, and their force kept growing. Each impact made the entire cavern tremble, and rock walls shed rubble and bloody rune fragments.

Youquan Zunzhe's blood-vorticed eyes locked firmly onto Gu Yusheng. He raised one hand, palm up, and slowly curled his five fingers.

Gu Yusheng and the other two felt the space around them instantly solidify, an irresistible terrifying suction force coming, wanting to drag them together with the surrounding bloody air toward the center of the blood lake, dragging them to before the black jade palace!

"Master!"

At this critical moment, in the distance, Lingxiao, who had been restrained by the black bone mirror, suddenly burst forth with blinding sword light. This sword light was not aimed at the guardian, but slashed toward the void before himself!

"Duan Kong Zhan!"

Screech!

Space seemed to be sliced open by an invisible blade, and the suction locking him suddenly eased. Lingxiao seized this opportunity, his form turning into a stream of light, not fleeing, but rushing forward without hesitation toward the blood lake, toward the black jade palace, toward... Youquan Zunzhe!

He burned his origin.

The sword light blazed like the sun, carrying an irreversible resolve, slashing toward Youquan Zunzhe's raised hand.

"A mantis trying to stop a chariot."

Youquan Zunzhe did not even retract his hand, merely flicked a finger.

A thread of blood, condensed to the extreme, shot out—fine as a hair, yet carrying the terrifying power to pierce the void and annihilate souls—meeting Lingxiao's sword light.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

The blood thread was like a red-hot iron awl piercing ice and snow; Lingxiao's sword light, which had burned his origin and could heavily wound an ordinary late Nascent Soul cultivator, was actually easily split and dissolved from the center by that fine blood thread!

The blood thread's momentum did not diminish; it instantly pierced through Lingxiao's protective spirit light, pierced his right scapula, leaving a front-to-back translucent scorched-black hole. Lingxiao grunted, his sword light dissipated, his whole body as if struck heavily, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood with golden specks, flying backward and heavily smashing into the rock wall at the edge of the blood lake, sinking deep into it, life or death unknown.

"No!" Shi Ran felt her chest go hollow.

"Master!" Gu Yusheng's eyes were about to split.

"Don't lose focus! Look up!" Meiruoxue Zunzhe shouted sharply, her voice hard to hide her shock.

Gu Yusheng suddenly looked up.

Only to see that the twisted, swollen lock hole crack, after enduring another round of chaotic violent impacts, finally completely shattered at the edges!

It was not that the door opened.

But that the door... was "propped" broken.

An indescribable "thing" squeezed out from the crack.

It was not a physical entity, but more like a mass formed by coagulating viscous blood plasma, chaotic will, countless suffering soul fragments, and the purest destructive desire, a constantly changing aggregate. It was enormous, almost filling half the crack, its surface flowing with dark gold patterns (those were residual interference traces of "Pojie Xue"), sometimes transforming into countless struggling arms, sometimes condensing into a giant mouth full of sharp teeth, sometimes scattering into a covering blood mist.

It had no fixed form, yet emitted an aura even more chaotic, more violent, more... thirsty than when the "knock-lock" was complete. It was a part of the "Blood Sea Will," a fragment that, due to the ritual being interrupted and the gate twisted, descended prematurely—an incomplete, madness-plunged fragment.

Roar——!!!

An indescribable roar erupted from this aggregate, not a sound, but a shockwave directly acting on the soul. All Youquan Sect cultivators below Nascent Soul level in the cavern, regardless of distance, at this moment simultaneously bled from seven orifices, clutched their heads and screamed; those with weaker cultivation even had their souls directly shatter, collapsing softly to the ground.

Had Gu Yusheng, Meiruoxue, and Shi Ran not had逆转 energy forcibly supporting them, and had the auxiliary cauldron not shared part of the pressure, they likely could not have withstood it.

"No... no! Not like this! It shouldn't be like this!" Youquan Zunzhe lost composure for the first time, staring at that twisted, chaotic "descended object," his blood-vorticed eyes showing shock and anger for the first time, and a hint of... panic.

His plan was to introduce the complete, controllable "Blood Sea Will" or part of its power, to break through the God Transformation bottleneck, or even gain deeper mysteries. But now, what descended was a chaotic, incomplete, destruction-desire-filled fragment! This fragment might contain great power, but it was fundamentally uncontrollable, and might even... backfire!

The Blood Sea Will fragment seemed to "sense" the massive blood qi in the lower blood lake, and the existence before the black jade palace emitting strong blood qi and同源 aura (Youquan Zunzhe). Its constantly changing形态 paused slightly, then instantly, countless tendrils formed of blood plasma, like sharks smelling blood, violently detached from the main body and madly stabbed toward the lower blood lake and the black jade palace!