Spirit Realm

Gao Yu swiftly descended through the sky seated on the Evil God’s shoulder.

The body of the Evil God struck the water, floating there like a dark green mountain. Gao Yu’s eyes glowed with dark light as he leaped into the air and summoned the Demon God’s shadow from his Ogre-faced Rings.

Qin Lie had shackled Zheng Zhihe’s body with layer upon layer of Blood Arts: Soul Shackle. The pitch black clouds around his body were slowly being dyed red.

Numerous complicated bloody patterns crisscrossed to form a dense web of blood that covered Zheng Zhihe’s eyes.

The Demon God’s shadow, which had emerged from the Ogre-faced Rings, instantly descended upon Zheng Zhihe’s head, opened its mouth, and inhaled.

“Qin Lie!” Gao Yu exclaimed softly.

“Got it!” Qin Lie answered, weakening the Soul Shackle a tiny bit.

“Whoosh…!”

The Demon God’s sinister shadow inhaled a long, continuous stream of air, directing the vacuum of its mouth toward Zheng Zhihe. His soul slowly seeped from his skull, frantically struggling against the shackles of the web of blood. Bit by bit, the shadow extracted Zheng Zhihe’s soul from his body.

No matter how hard Zheng Zhihe struggled, he couldn’t break free of the Soul Shackles. He ultimately became a gray soul that the Demon God’s shadow devoured.

Elation shone from Gao Yu’s dark, icy eyes. He even subconsciously licked a corner of his lips and muttered, “The heavens are on my side today…”

“Swoosh!”

Having devoured Zheng Zhihe’s soul, the Demon God’s shadow instantly withdrew back into the Ogre-faced Rings. Gao Yu smiled in satisfaction as he returned to the Evil God’s shoulder.

“I’ll watch over your body, Qin Lie,” Gao Yu said, patting the Evil God on the neck. Its visage sinister and terrifying, the Evil God’s body swam over to the Wavebreaker where Xing Shengnan and the others were. However, it didn’t climb up aboard.

Gao Yu just stared at Xing Shengnan and Qin Lie’s body. “No one will be able to destroy it.”

Qin Lie grinned, pointed at Zheng Zhihe’s soulless body, and said, “Eat it.”

The largest god corpse immediately grabbed Zheng Zhihe’s body and stuffed it into its mouth. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere as it chewed.

In that instant, every Black Cloud Palace martial practitioner nearly broke down.

Their young palace master, three of their Fulfillment Realm elders, and their palace master had been slaughtered in short order.

As a Copper rank force, Black Cloud Palace had already taken the worst blow that it could’ve possible received during this battle. Even if its remaining martial practitioners managed to escape, Black Cloud Palace would drop in rank from Copper to Black Iron. They would no longer be able to fight nearby forces on equal footing.

Jiang Hao, Heavenly Sea Pavilion’s pavilion master, wore an incredibly solemn look on his face.

He was in the process of reevaluating the situation.

Xiahou Sheng’s eyes shimmered profoundly as he pondered to himself as well.

He was already thinking of fleeing.

Bloody light shone from Qin Lie’s eyes as he unleashed his soul consciousness and gave commands.

The eight god corpses unleashed furious roars in response, making the sea seem as though a dragon were writhing through it. They began a savage assault on the enemy.

“Splash! Splash! Splash!”

The eight god corpses formed multiple pillars of water that surged into the air like translucent mountains that were several hundred meters tall. They stabbed into the sky like gigantic thorns.

“Ruuuuummble!”

The pillars of water smashed into the crystalline war chariots still moving in the sky, exploding into countless crystal shards.

Bloodcurdling screams erupted from numerous Black Cloud Palace and Heavenly Sea Pavilion martial practitioners. The power of the pillars of water either completely annihilated them or forced them to fall into the sea after the chariots burst to pieces.

In the sea below, the eight god corpses opened their gaping bloody maws and waited for them to fall.

The Xing Family’s dire situation had reversed in an instant.

At the same time, Qin Lie rode the Bloodthirsty Dragon across bloody sea that surrounded it, flying toward the enemy.

The energies of the Bloodthirsty Dragon and the Blood Progenitor’s body combined to form an endless blood aura. It transformed into bloody comets that shot through the sky and bathed the world in sanguine light, creating an extraordinary domain of fiendish blood energy.

Jiang Hao looked at the Xing brothers, who had regained their morale, and then glanced at Xiahou Sheng, who was hesitating. His face twisted in frustration as he made a split-second decision.

“Retreat!” he yelled.

Every single Heavenly Sea Pavilion martial practitioner had been waiting for that order. Screams filled the air as they immediately fled in every direction.

“Split up and kill them all!” Qin Lie ordered.

“Hunt them down!” Xing Yuyuan roared angrily.

The eight god corpses resembled eight enormous beasts of the icy seas. They walked through the waves as though they were stepping on flat land, violently chasing the fleeing martial practitioners. They summoned giant waves of water, conjured shocking rays of prismatic light, and flung them at their enemies.

Xing Shengnan also ordered the surviving, panic-stricken Xing Family clansmen and Gold Sun Island martial practitioners loyal to the Xing Family to kill as many of their enemies as possible.

“Kill Xiahou Sheng!” Qin Lie yelled.

Controlling the Blood Progenitor’s body swiftly depleted his soul energy, but in exchange, he had full reign over a near infinite amount of blood energy.

Qin Lie grasped at the air with both hands, and a several-hundred-meter-long Blood Weeping Ghost Claw quickly materialized. It swiped at Xiahou Sheng like the claw of a giant beast.

Xing Yumiao grew a hundred times bolder when he heard Qin Lie give the order. A battle-crazed look came over him as he exclaimed, “With pleasure!”

The Xing brothers temporarily ignored Jiang Hao and turned all their attention to Xiahou Sheng, cooperating with Qin Lie to attack him.

The space of this area had been intentionally destabilized, making it impossible for anyone to use a secret art to escape instantly.

—This had originally been done as a part of Xiahou Sheng’s plan to cut off the Xing brothers’ means of retreat.

He had been afraid that they would escape from his clutches yet again.

However, he woefully realized that his supposedly clever trick had backfired.

Instead, he had become the one that couldn’t use a secret art to escape.

Qin Lie and the Xing brothers gave up on chasing other targets and worked together to hunt down Xiahou Sheng.

Jiang Hao frantically fled the area. He had no intention of fighting alongside Xiahou Sheng, a betrayal that made Xiahou Sheng repeatedly roar in frustration and anger.

In another part of the this region of the sea, Xiang Xi and his men weren’t sure which side to support. The internal conflict was killing them.

Looking at the situation objectively, Qin Lie’s sudden appearance had long since saved the Xing Family from its wretched fate. Zheng Zhihe’s death made Xiang Xi realize that this rebellion was doomed to fail, and Xiahou Sheng’s previous actions proved that they never planned to keep their promises. They were going to slaughter the Xing Family to the last man.

In addition to that, Qin Lie had promised to spare them if he could give up on taking over Gold Sun Island.

These different factors made Xiang Xi extremely reluctant to make a decision.

He had kept his silence all this time.

As a result, Xiahou Sheng essentially had no one to help him. He had no choice but to face Qin Lie and the Xing brothers alone, an outcome that frustrated him so much that he could almost vomit blood. He continuously roared at Xiang Xi, demanding his help.

Two gigantic Blood Weeping Ghost Claws whistled through the air, slapping, hitting, tearing, and pulling at Xiahou Sheng. The golden spear and numerous spirits birds of the Xing brothers transformed into a ceaseless stream of attacks that nearly overwhelmed the man.

“Tear him apart!” Qin Lie cried from atop the Bloodthirsty Dragon.

Exerting himself in the Blood Progenitor’s body slowly but surely depleted his soul energy. The battle with Zheng Zhihe had already exhausted him, and he had no choice but to utilize Blood Fiend Sect’s ultimate treasure to intimidate and pressure Xiahou Sheng.

The Bloodthirsty Dragon didn’t disappoint him.

This killing weapon had been forged by the Blood Progenitor himself. The sanguine skeleton released an apocalyptic roar is it fired hundred of rays of bloody light.

Every ray resembled gigantic deadly swords, the culmination of a potent, fiendish bloody aura having been turned into a terrifying attack.

Xiahou Sheng retreated over and over again.

“Chief enforcer!” Xu Changsheng exclaimed. “I-if we aren’t going to interfere with this battle… wouldn’t it be better for us to temporarily take our leave?”

Every rebel Gold Sun Island martial practitioner already knew that the situation had gone awry. They also knew that, since the eight god corpses emerged, Zhang Zhihe died, and both Black Cloud Palace and Heavenly Sea pavilion retreated, they no longer had the power to fight the Xing Family.

When would they retreat if not now?

Xiang Xi gritted his teeth and barked, “Move out!”

He, Xu Changsheng, and Xu Jiadong rode their crystalline war chariots and quickly flew toward another Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix.

Xue Moyan, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Du Xiangyang, and Luo Chen were currently standing at the edge of that fire phoenix’s wing. The second they saw the rebels heading in their direction, they went pale and became a bit worried.

“Boom!”

A crystalline war chariot abruptly landed near them with a dull crash.

“You should leave immediately,” Xiang Xi’s voice rang from a distance.

Xiang Xi had no desire to enrage Qin Lie during this ordeal, so he obviously didn’t want to fight his companions. Even after deciding to retreat, he didn’t forget to leave them with a crystalline war chariot of their own to leave on.

“Let’s go!” Du Xiangyang laughed loudly.

The five of them hastily boarded the chariot, using it to descend to the water’s surface before the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix left.

On the sea below, the three ships under Xiang Xi’s command released loud whistling sounds as they headed off into the distance as well.

Qin Lie leaped from the Bloodthirsty Dragon and left the combat zone, surveying the surroundings through the Blood Progenitor’s body.

Xiang Xi’s act of giving the crystalline war chariot to Song Tingyu and the others, allowing them to leave the fire phoenix, did not escape his sight.

He had also noticed Xiang Xi’s attempt to retreat.

The eight god corpses were currently hunting down enemy martial practitioners across the sea. They also used extremely tall pillars of water to shoot down hostile crystalline war chariots.

If Qin Lie wanted to, he could have easily ordered the god corpses to attack Xiang Xi’s Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix’s and his three ships.

He believed that Xiang Xi and his men had absolutely no way to escape the wrath of the god corpses.

Several thousand meters away from Qin Lie, Xiang Xi realized the circumstances they were in and smiled bitterly as he left aboard the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix.

“M-my friend…” he said loudly. “I didn’t disappoint you, did I?”

The idea of Qin Lie sending an order to the god corpses terrified Xiang Xi. He worried that all of his men would die here.

Qin Lie had the power to make that happen!

“You haven’t committed a irredeemable mistake, Brother Xiang,” Qin Lie said, a grin on his face. “You succeeded in summoning the Xing Family’s enemies here, assisted Gold Sun Island in exterminating two powerful threats, and helped kill two Xiahou Family experts! Not only have you not made a mistake, you’ve done Gold Sun Island a great service.”

Qin Lie’s words astonished Xiang Xi.

“You also helped Gold Sun Island eliminate Bo Boze, a spy that’s been hiding among us for a very long time!” Xing Shengnan suddenly cried from the Wavebreaker below.

Her words built upon Qin Lie’s, stunning Xiang Xi two-fold.

“In all honesty… your grudge against the Xing Family isn’t impossible to resolve,” Qin Lie said. “If the Xing Family’s decision to take revenge on the three great families weren’t suicidal… if Gold Sun Island were to experience a drastic increase in strength in a short amount of time… would you find it easier to accept their quest for vengeance?”

“A… a drastic increase in strength?” Xiang Xi asked, utterly confused.

“That’s right,” Qin Lie said, sincerity shining in his eyes. “I can increase Gold Sun Island’s strength in no time at all!”