Chapter 453

Huh…

The endless wind calamity ahead suddenly intensified; where the gaze reached, all was chaotic and hazy.

Countless yin winds converged at the narrow cave entrance; the calamity qi surged like coiling dragons and snakes, each strand of black-silk calamity qi gathering at this pass, entwining into nine wind pillars, sometimes crossing, sometimes merging.

Each of the nine wind pillars bore the power of a heavenly tribulation, nearly capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Brother Qian Chen silently calculated: the Heaven-Blending Azure Umbrella most effectively countered calamity qi, but could withstand at most four wind pillars simultaneously; if all nine Dragon Wind Calamities struck at once, even a Daoist Yangshen cultivator would struggle to survive.

Though the Altar of Sacrifice lay just ahead, and this wind passage spanned only a hundred li, the calamity qi here had thickened to the point of obscuring the Altar's pull; entering this wind passage would surely hurl one into chaos, unable to distinguish east from west, north from south.

Merely discerning direction was already a formidable task.

Brother Qian Chen turned to Si Princess Qingcheng: "Beyond this final wind passage lies the Altar of Sacrifice. Stay close to me—do not leave the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella! The wind calamity here surpasses even the yin-shen wind disaster; if more than four pillars converge, the Umbrella cannot protect us both. Sister, be vigilant!"

Si Princess Qingcheng summoned the Yangyang Jade Seal to guard herself and nodded to Brother Qian Chen.

Upon the handle of the Heaven-Blending Azure Umbrella, seven Xuantian Star Stones glowed and drifted.

Brother Qian Chen drew the Sword of Sentiment from within the umbrella; upon its blade, the Big Dipper hovered, its tip pointing straight toward the Altar of Sacrifice. The dust atop the seated Two-Heart Demon Monkey's altar was swept up by a yin wind, the falling dust and shattered stones faintly tracing a star map centered on the Big Dipper.

The demon monkey lifted its eyelids, glanced at the Big Dipper before it, remained silent, and made no other move.

Brother Qian Chen raised the Heaven-Blending Azure Umbrella.

The treasure umbrella reverted to its original form, becoming a halo of spiritual light that rose from Brother Qian Chen's crown, opening a blue sky above, with the central Wu Earth Divine Light supporting their feet. Heaven and earth split open, the Brother Qian Kun spontaneously formed; from the boundless wind calamity, the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella carved out a stable, narrow realm, carrying them into the nine wind pillars, where wind and calamity condensed into red-black hues.

The umbrella's spiritual light repelled the crushing wind calamity; Brother Qian Chen focused entirely, calculating the shifting patterns of the nine pillars.

The umbrella's glow, like a tiny boat adrift in a great tide, darted between the nine pillars, cleaving through waves of calamity, struggling toward the destination indicated by the Sword of Sentiment.

Er Dao Shen held the Magnetic Light Vial, its Two-Instrument Magnetic Divine Light inhaling and exhaling, drawing in the scattered calamity qi from the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella, strand by strand.

Here, yin calamity converged; these qi had been refined over ten thousand years within the yin wind, their essence purified, ranking among the Seventy-Two Earthly Calamities, known as the Endless Wind Calamity—now worthy of Brother Qian Chen's notice.

The little demon was pressed into labor, under the twenty-four divine generals' spiritual power, collecting the calamity qi for future elixir crafting and qi refinement.

The two gradually penetrated the narrowest point of the wind passage, where the nine pillars entwined, their trajectories shifting unpredictably; the once-adequate gaps now narrowed to a single thread. Brother Qian Chen's expression grew grave; he devoted most of his spiritual sense to calculation, barely discerning the fleeting moment amid these nine paths of certain death.

Yet in the final instant, as the nine pillars whipped wildly, one moment sealed all escape routes—nowhere to evade.

Brother Qian Chen had anticipated this; he directed the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella to collide head-on with one wind pillar. The black-red calamity pillar, a hundred zhang thick, resembled a tornado spun from countless strands of black qi, its dense calamity exerting immense pressure on the Brother Qian Tian Qiantian Yi Qi Qing Gang, causing the spiritual light to tremble faintly.

At that moment, Brother Qian Chen noticed flashes of bloodlight within the black calamity.

A single speck of bloodlight shot toward Brother Qian Chen and Si Princess Qingcheng, moving with impossible speed.

Si Princess Qingcheng sensed that this speck contained a malevolence a hundred times heavier than the wind calamity—as if countless blood calamities had coalesced into this solid, tangible crimson ray.

She felt a flicker of nervousness, seeing Brother Qian Chen's face also grow grim…

Er Dao Shen chattered in terror, gesturing wildly before Brother Qian Chen, illustrating a mountain of corpses and oceans of blood; its innate spiritual awareness made the gestures vividly lifelike—but Brother Qian Chen whispered: "What's that? I know better than you!"

The bloodlight now slammed into the blue sky upheld by the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella.

This speck of bloodlight seemed forged from infinite blood calamity; Brother Qian Chen's Sword of Sentiment flashed forth, intercepting the crimson ray before it struck the umbrella. He retracted the blade—on its tip, a single drop of blood, crimson and glowing, slid down the edge, radiating a terrifying aura; merely glancing at it made one feel as if countless waves of blood surged forward, drowning them whole.

This drop of blood, striking the Sword of Sentiment, left a faint rust of blood upon the divine blade.

Brother Qian Chen let the blood slide from the blade's tip into the Magnetic Light Vial, then said to Er Dao Shen: "How about painting with this blood?"

Er Dao Shen shook its head violently, then gnashed its teeth and clawed the air in fierce gestures, depicting the final moments of the gods, drawing with a talisman brush the scene of the mountain of corpses and seas of blood beside the Altar of Sacrifice.

The blood spilled by the slain gods seeped into the five-colored earth mounds, swept up by the yin wind; from the abyss, clouds of blood rain mingled with the yin wind…

Brother Qian Chen stared at the bloodstain on the Sword of Sentiment and whispered to Si Princess Qingcheng: "This is the blood of the gods!"

Si Princess Qingcheng shuddered; Brother Qian Chen continued: "Long ago, during the great calamity, blood flowed like rivers here; all the gods lay dead, their divine blood pouring like streams into the abyss. Then the yin wind rose, scattering blood rain. These endless crimson fluids drifted in the yin wind for ten thousand years—how many dou must have gathered to form this single drop?"

"This blood condenses the resentment of countless spirits and gods; one drop weighs ten thousand jun. If it spread, it could dye an entire lake red!"

Brother Qian Chen lifted his gaze ahead; two wind pillars finally entwined, tearing open the red-black wind calamity. Amid the chaotic yin wind, bloodlight erupted from within the pillars—countless crimson specks mingled with the yin wind, weaving into a blood rain that blanketed the entire passage, pouring down upon the two.

The blood rain fell like a deluge; each drop meant a sea of blood.

These crimson specks had never dried in ten thousand years, staining all things crimson in the yin wind—making Si Princess Qingcheng's scalp crawl!

At last, she understood why the yin calamity qi, when condensed into wind pillars, appeared red-black.

How many perished in the great calamity of Jin Ling Celestial Realm?

Brother Qian Chen wielded the Sword of Sentiment in wild arcs, slashing at the blood rain—countless sword shadows flashed in an instant, severing the falling drops.

Yet some drops slipped through the sword net, striking the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella; the blue sky trembled, the rhythmic tap-tap-tap of raindrops on the oiled paper umbrella made Si Princess Qingcheng tense—the spiritual light hanging from the umbrella bore immense pressure, and even this semblance of heaven and earth trembled violently.

For the first time, the Brother Qian Tian Qiantian Yi Qi Qing Gang began to fracture; a single drop of blood rain pierced the umbrella, falling into their small realm.

Er Dao Shen immediately activated the Two-Instrument Magnetic Divine Light, drawing it into the Magnetic Light Vial.

The small realm where the two and the little demon sheltered now presented a bizarre scene—Brother Qian Chen slashed his sword against the wind, piercing the yin wind and severing the blood rain, carving a path through the storm; the half of the blood rain he failed to intercept struck the oiled paper umbrella above them, the umbrella trembling violently, tap-tap-tap—while the blood drips leaking through the umbrella's tear were caught by Er Dao Shen, holding a vial, darting everywhere to collect them.

A picture of a leaking umbrella—like a poor couple struggling through hardship.

After filling the vial halfway with bloodwater, they finally passed the most treacherous stretch; the yin wind thinned, and the realm around them finally cleared.

Er Dao Shen clutched the Magnetic Light Vial, looking utterly exhausted.

Si Princess Qingcheng looked ahead—the chaos had dispersed, revealing a long tunnel leading straight to the Altar of Sacrifice. She sniffed the air, genuinely delighted: "We're finally out!"

Brother Qian Chen surveyed the surroundings; the cavern opened into spacious clarity ahead, utterly silent. Far off, the massive stone altar and the ruins of surrounding structures stood ancient and desolate, as if standing before a tomb sealed for ten thousand ages.

All was deathly still—as if no one had ever passed through the nine wind pillars to reach here.

Si Princess Qingcheng's face lit up; she was about to step beyond the last of the yin wind when Brother Qian Chen raised his hand to stop her…

He glanced at the stone walls around them, the traces carved by the yin wind, and sneered; in an instant, his Sword of Sentiment thrust forth, the bloodstain upon its blade flicking off with the strike.

A speck of bloodlight, accompanied by sword qi, pierced forward.

The blood drop pierced through countless yin winds, entering the empty tunnel; as it flashed, countless sword shadows erupted from within the blood, striking the stone walls in all directions.

At once, dozens of spots on the walls erupted—out poured shadow after shadow, all corpses.

These corpses' cultivation ranged from Core Formation at minimum; each was covered in white fur, teeth piercing their lower lips, nails like tiny files, moving with lightning speed, lunging toward Brother Qian Chen.

"Zombies!"

Si Princess Qingcheng warned: "So many white-furred zombies—these aren't naturally born here. Someone must have buried them here as corpse-manipulated constructs!"

Brother Qian Chen chuckled softly: "If they'd been buried here all along, the yin wind would've dried them to dust long ago! If any of these corpses still holds a drop of moisture, I'll lose!"

He scanned the surroundings; the living white-furred zombies' fur rippled, revealing the stiff, gray-white corpses beneath—clearly not ancient, desiccated cadavers…

The overlapping sword shadows from the bloodlight were shattered by the stiff, god-metal-like claws of dozens of zombies in unison; the shattered sword shadows reformed into a single bloodlight, piercing into several zombies that couldn't evade—within an instant, massive wounds tore through their resilient bodies.

The bloodlight, like a sword, pierced through several zombies and leapt toward the others.

Brother Qian Chen had infused his own sword technique into that drop of divine blood; once tainted by this polluted drop, the dried blood within the zombies transformed into his sword, effortlessly rending their shells apart.

Had he not been posing as a righteous cultivator, forbidden from using blood-transforming demonic arts, Brother Qian Chen could easily have turned these zombies against their hidden controllers.

But now, displaying demonic arts before the true demonic sects risked exposure—he had to restrain himself.

From afar came a cold snort; Fu Lao Mo, wreathed in black-gold demonic light, flew from the darkness, glanced at the dozens of zombies entangled in crimson sword shadows, and sneered: "Duan Duan Laogui, your Corpse Manipulation Sect grows weaker by the day."

"Dozens of white-furred zombies, and you can't even handle a single junior disciple of the righteous path? What use are these corpses? Come join the Yu Jiuyou Dao instead!"

"We waited so long for Xiao Xie An, and all we get are two brats still smelling of milk!"

The blind elder of the Eyeless Sect also drifted out, raising his hand, his two blood eyes in his palm fixed on Brother Qian Chen and Si Princess Qingcheng, sneering: "Kill them quickly—before you scare off Xiao Xie An!"

"Supreme Celestial!"

A Daoist figure, face ashen, emerged from the darkness, staring intently at Brother Qian Chen, whispering: "A true Great Dao seed! This youth's Dao heart is naturally formed—he must join my True Transmission lineage!"

Brother Qian Chen's cheek twitched; a cold smile curled his lips as he surveyed the old demons emerging from the shadows, silently calculating: "The False Lineage of True Transmission—founded by a discarded disciple of the Supreme; the External Path Mind-Buddha Sect—descended from the Buddha's White Bone Bodhisattva; the Corpse Manipulation Sect—legacy of the ancient Xiao Xie Xuan Sect corpse-liberation immortals; the Netherworld remnant, the Unchanging Sect; the branch lineage of the Residual Demons, the Eyeless Sect; one of the two True Transmission lineages of the demonic path—the Yu Jiuyou Dao…"

"Damn, I'm impressed! All the demonic sects' strength has gathered here to block just one lowly Core Formation cultivator!"

"This is excessive!"

"And that useless Master Sima clan knew nothing of this massive demonic setup. Using them to probe the demonic path? My mistake!"

Brother Qian Chen's face twitched—even his true body would struggle against so many old demons, let alone this mere external incarnation?

No matter what, he must first escort his sister away! He resolved.

"Enough talk—seize them!" Duan Duan Laogui leapt forward, legs stiff, glancing at the corpses strewn everywhere, visibly irritated, barking: "Don't kill either of them!"

The Immortal of Undeath spoke softly: "Do not kill either of them…" He stared at Brother Qian Chen, his gaze filled with affection that sent chills down Brother Qian Chen's spine: "I want him to kill this woman himself—to perfect his Dao heart. Whoever ruins my plan shall become my new disciple's mundane tie!"

The blind elder of the Eyeless Sect sneered; his palm's blood eyes writhed, shooting a beam of bloodlight that erased all remaining yin wind and calamity qi in the abyss—the few remaining zombies and the blood-shadow sword qi were shattered by the demonic light from his eyes.

Brother Qian Chen shielded Si Princess Qingcheng with the Heaven-Weaving Umbrella and thrust his Sword of Sentiment, slicing the two blood beams midair.

"Fine sword technique!" Duan Duan Laogui praised: "This one is no ordinary cultivator in the righteous path!"

"This one is no simple matter!"

The Wuxiang Chan Master clasped his hands, smiling: "If this old monk guesses right, he is none other than the recently famed Lotus Yan Yan Jianxian—Li Taibai—who once drew his sword in fury at the Bronze Sparrow Tower, overshadowing the entire Southern Jin aristocracy!"

"Hah… So he's a big fish!" laughed the blind elder. "But with so many of us here, whether he's Lotus Yan Yan Jianxian or Crimson Lotus Yan Yan Jianxian, he won't escape death."

A hissing sound rang continuously; his robes burst open, and from his ribs, chest, shoulders, and back, ten blood eyes sprouted, each writhing, pupils turning to fix on Brother Qian Chen—where their gaze fell, green flames ignited in the void.

The flames clung like parasites, burning all things, igniting even the ambient qi, forming a sea of fire that engulfed Brother Qian Chen.

Yet within the flames, a sword light flashed—the venomous demonic fire was entirely drawn into the blade, transformed into a blade of green fire that slashed back toward the blind elder.

Green flames also ignited on Brother Qian Chen's body, but were instantly extinguished by the Fire-Element Divine Light.

Concealed by his sword light, none realized he wielded the famed Great Divine Art—the Five-Color Divine Light.

The sword light, like a flying needle, pierced the gaze of the elder's blood eyes.

The two blood eyes on the elder's chest immediately wept blood; their pupils turned gray—pierced and blinded by the sword light!

Demonic fire erupted from the blinded eyes, burning the elder's flesh; in an instant, his skin charred away, revealing bone.

The elder screamed, clenching his fist—his own blood eye burst into a spray of blood, instantly extinguishing the demonic fire upon him.

The elder trembled: "This brat's sword art is deadly—don't just stand there! Attack together!"

The old demons exchanged glances; the black-gold demonic light swirling around Fu Lao Mo coalesced into a dozen dark-gold suns, hovering in the air, within which faint black-feathered golden crows took shape. The sound of cloven hooves echoed as the demonic light merged into a sea, surging toward Brother Qian Chen.

He spoke: "Delay too long, and we'll alarm Xiao Xie An! Seize this boy first—before he ruins our plans!"