Chapter 207

Pfft! Pfft-pfft-pfft!

Tentacles pierced the blood lake, and the blood lake began to "dry up" at a visible speed—not disappearing, but its essence being frantically sucked by those tentacles! At the same time, more and thicker tentacles lashed out and coiled toward the Black Jade Palace and the Venerable Jade Spring on the terrace!

"Wicked spawn! How dare you devour your master!" Venerable Jade Spring flew into a rage, blood light blazing all over his body, releasing the terrifying spiritual pressure of a Nascent Soul cultivator without reserve, forming a thick blood-colored light shield. Tentacles struck the shield, emitting a dull, massive boom; the shield violently fluctuated but was not breached. Yet he was completely pinned down, forced to focus entirely on this mad attack from "beyond the gate," with no spare attention for anything else.

As the essence of the blood lake was frantically sucked, the four blood pillars connecting the great cauldrons were affected and began to destabilize. Especially that already dim auxiliary cauldron blood pillar, it shook violently, nearly snapping.

Opportunity!

Gu Yusheng forcibly wrenched himself free from the grief and anger over his master's severe injury, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

"Now! While it (Venerable Jade Spring) is entangled, the blood lake and blood pillars are unstable!" He let out a low roar, his form shooting forward first, aiming straight for the center of the blood lake—the core surrounded by the four great cauldrons—below the Black Jade Palace, the deepest part of the blood lake, where a fainter, larger cauldron shadow hovered, the very location of the Heart Cauldron!

Mei Ruoxue and Shi Ran followed closely behind. They too understood this was the only chance, possibly the last.

"Stop them!" The leader of the Four Great Guardians, the gaunt old man who had sacrificed the black bone mirror, bellowed sharply. Venerable Jade Spring was entangled by fragments of the blood sea; maintaining the ritual and self-preservation was already difficult, so the task of slaying the intruders naturally fell to them.

The Four Great Guardians, all at late Nascent Soul or even peak cultivation, now held nothing back, each unleashing their divine abilities, transforming into four streams of light of different colors, murderous aura surging as they lunged at Gu Yusheng and the others.

"You face me."

A calm yet weak voice sounded.

Lingxiao, embedded in the rock wall, somehow managed to struggle to his feet at some point. The wound on his right shoulder still gushed blood, his face deathly pale as paper, his breath weakened to the extreme, but his eyes shone astonishingly bright, as if experiencing a final flare before death.

The long sword in his hand, its light now considerably dimmed, was raised again, the sword tip pointing far toward the Four Great Guardians.

"Lingxiao! You're already at the end of your strength—why court death?" The gaunt old man shouted, though a hint of wariness flashed in his eyes. A starved camel is still bigger than a horse, let alone a sword cultivator who has burned his origin.

"Court death?" Lingxiao coughed up a mouthful of blood, yet smiled, "If I can hold you four off, buying my disciple a sliver of survival, it's worth it."

Before his words faded, he once again transformed into a streak of sword light. This time, the sword light was no longer brilliant, but more condensed, more resolute, carrying an aura of mutual destruction, and shot straight into the midst of the Four Great Guardians.

"Sword Domain—Setting Sun!"

In an instant, centered on Lingxiao, a tattered, blood-stained sunset scene unfolded, enveloping all Four Great Guardians. Within the sword domain, every thread of light, every breath of wind, carried an incredibly sharp sword intent—cutting, piercing, annihilating.

The Four Great Guardians' expressions changed; they had to halt their pursuit and focus entirely on countering this sword domain, which burned life itself to unfold. Though strong, breaking through the sword domain of a Nascent Soul sword cultivator (even if mortally wounded) who unleashed it at the cost of his life was no easy feat, and they would inevitably be delayed for a time.

"Master..." Gu Yusheng glanced back at that blood-colored sunset-like sword domain, his eye sockets heating up, but he forcibly turned his head, pushing his speed to the limit.

"Don't let his sacrifice be in vain!" Mei Ruoxue gritted her teeth, her movement agile as smoke, dodging several blood arrows and energy remnants splashing from the chaotic battle.

Shi Ran said nothing, the cold light flashing on her short blade as she stayed close to Gu Yusheng's side.

The three shot forward like arrows against the current, breaking through the pervasive blood mist and chaotic energy turbulence, finally nearing the blood lake's core region. The closer they got, the clearer became the ancient, eerie, yet immensely powerful aura emanating from the Heart Cauldron; simultaneously, the suction and chaotic impact from the blood sea will fragment above grew stronger.

The Heart Cauldron was not fully submerged at the lake bottom, but half-suspended in the viscous blood plasma, only its upper half exposed. It was larger than the four auxiliary cauldrons, its entire body dark red, as if forged from congealed blood, its surface carved with incomprehensible ancient runes. At this moment, as the blood lake's essence was sucked and Venerable Jade Spring's ritual proceeded, it flickered unstably, emitting a heart-pounding fluctuation.

"That's it! Destroy it, or at least disrupt it, and the entire ritual and the foundation of this blood lake will tremble!" Gu Yusheng transmitted.

"How to destroy? This thing looks incredibly hard!" Mei Ruoxue stared at the heart cauldron, as large as a house and emanating terrifying aura, her scalp going numb.

Gu Yusheng's eyes hardened as he looked at the auxiliary cauldron core still faintly glowing in his hand (that piece of black crystal). "Use this! The auxiliary and heart cauldrons share the same origin; I will reverse the energy to detonate the auxiliary cauldron core, transmitting the impact through their connection to shatter the heart cauldron's internal structure! You guard me, block any incoming attacks and backlash from the blood lake!"

This was an extremely dangerous move. Detonating the auxiliary cauldron core, as the operator, Gu Yusheng would bear the brunt, likely suffering backlash severe injury or even death. And the backlash to the heart cauldron from the impact, plus any possible blood lake uprising, would be equally deadly.

But now, there was no better option.

Mei Ruoxue and Shi Ran exchanged a glance and nodded firmly.

"Rest assured, as long as we still stand, we won't let anything disturb you." Mei Ruoxue produced the standard magical artifact of the Patrol Heaven Bureau—a small silver shield that, upon meeting wind, elongated into a light shield protecting Gu Yusheng ahead. Shi Ran silently took position to his other side, her short blade held horizontally before her chest, her breath sinking and condensing.

Gu Yusheng hesitated no longer, sitting cross-legged in midair above the blood lake (his feet on the churning, viscous blood plasma), gripping the black crystal with both hands. The little remaining spiritual power in his body, combined with the reversed energy stored in the auxiliary cauldron, surged frantically into the crystal.

The crystal violently trembled, countless fine cracks appearing on its surface; the internal reversed, chaotic energy was fully unleashed and ignited, beginning to operate and expand in a destructive manner!

"With cauldron against cauldron, with chaos to break order……explode!"

Gu Yusheng roared hoarsely in fury, hurling the crystal, expanded to its limit, fiercely downward toward the heart cauldron!

The crystal traced a black-red arc, like a meteor falling to earth, striking straight into a relatively dim area of runes on the heart cauldron's body.

At the same moment, a furious, shocked roar came from above: "You dare!!" Venerable Jade Spring seemed to sense the danger to the heart cauldron and wanted to stop it, but several thick blood sea tentacles clung tightly to his protective light shield, leaving him momentarily unable to divert attention.

The crystal struck the heart cauldron.

No earth-shattering explosion.

Time seemed to freeze for an instant.

Then—

HUM!!!

A low, extremely deep humming sound, as if directly echoing in the depths of the soul, erupted suddenly from the heart cauldron as its center!

On the heart cauldron's body, the area struck by the crystal instantly turned bright—not normal red light, but a violently unstable, frenzied light mixed with black, gold, and blood red! Dense cracks spread from the impact point like a spiderweb, instantly covering nearly half the cauldron's body!

Inside the cauldron, it seemed something had shattered, balance broken.

Then came the chain reaction.

The invisible conduits connecting the heart cauldron to the four auxiliary cauldrons (via the blood lake and blood pillars) violently trembled. Those four thick blood pillars twisted, swelled, and then……partially snapped!

BOOM! Boom boom boom!

The four auxiliary cauldrons, except the one seized by Gu Yusheng's group and already energy-reversed, which merely shook violently with flickering light, the other three auxiliary cauldrons spewing black smoke simultaneously burst open with multiple cracks, thick, un dispersible black smoke mixed with crimson blood light shooting skyward like a volcanic eruption!

The blood lake descended into utter frenzy! Losing the heart cauldron's stabilizing control and partial transformation from the auxiliary cauldrons, massive amounts of inadequately refined violent blood energy broke free, beginning to frantically collide, annihilate, and explode!

The entire cavern became a purgatory of energy. Blood waves surged heavenward, black smoke rolled, chaotic energy turbulence tore at everything.

"Pfft——!" Gu Yusheng bore the brunt; despite Mei Ruoxue's light shield and Shi Ran's support, the backlash from detonating the auxiliary cauldron core and the energy impact from the heart cauldron's shattering still hit him like a heavy blow, his six organs seemingly displaced, a mouthful of blood mixed with organ fragments spraying out, his breath instantly collapsing to extreme weakness, darkness flashing before his eyes.

Mei Ruoxue and Shi Ran also fared poorly; the light shield shattered, both were flung by the energy turbulence, their bodies covered in countless wounds, blood flowing freely.

But their effort was not in vain; at least they blocked the first, most deadly direct impact for Gu Yusheng.

"Did we……succeed?" Mei Ruoxue coughed blood, gazing at the heart cauldron.

The heart cauldron was not completely shattered, but its body was covered in dense cracks, its light chaotic and dim, obviously severely wounded; its core function of stabilizing and transforming blood energy was seriously impaired. The foundation of the entire Weeping Blood Valley Grand Array had been shaken!

"Ah——!!!"

Venerable Jade Spring let out a cry of pain and rage to the extreme. The heart cauldron's injury shook the ritual's foundation; his connection with the blood lake and the grand array also suffered backlash. His protective blood light fluctuated violently, nearly breached by several blood sea tentacles. What shocked and enraged him further was that, due to the ritual's interruption and the heart cauldron's damage, his attraction to the blood sea will fragment above seemed to weaken, while that fragment, having absorbed vast amounts of blood lake essence, appeared to grow stronger and more frenzied, part of its attention beginning to turn toward him—this "delicacy" emanating the same origin aura!

Misfortunes never come singly.

Lingxiao's sword domain exploded with a thunderous roar at the very last moment when that blood-red dying sun was about to be completely extinguished.

The final sword intent, like the last flare of a dying sun, swept over everything.

The four guardians were caught off guard, severely wounded by this last self-destructive attack, each spitting blood and flying backward, their breath in disarray, losing the ability to pursue for a short time.

At the center of the sword domain, Lingxiao's figure, like a candle burned down, slowly tilted backward and fell toward the blood lake below. His life force, like a candle guttering in the wind, was so weak it was almost imperceptible.

"Master!" Gu Yusheng forced a mouthful of spiritual energy, ignoring his injuries, and was about to rush over.

"Don't go over there! Look up!" Shi Ran grabbed him, her voice filled with fear.

Gu Yusheng looked up.

He saw that the blood sea will fragment, after enduring the chaos of the heart cauldron explosion and the blood lake uprising, seemed to have "digested" part of the power it had absorbed, its form slightly stabilized, condensing into a larger, clearer outline—a vague giant skull made of blood plasma and resentful spirits, its hollow eye sockets "gazing" downward.

Its gaze first swept over the raging blood lake and the wounded heart cauldron, seeming somewhat "dissatisfied." Then it "looked" toward the struggling, breath-unstable Lord of the Hidden Spring, the massive skull tilting slightly, as if scrutinizing.

Finally, its "gaze" fell upon the weakly breathing Lingxiao, now falling toward the blood lake, and further away, upon the seriously injured Gu Yusheng and his two companions.