Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The crystal core Zhu Yun had given him was clearly different from the ones Tang Jie had obtained.
The translucent crystal contained a wisp of smoke that circled within it, occasionally transforming into the form of a fiend. This was the fiend soul.
Making a puppet beast in the form of a mythical beast didn't mean that the fiend soul was a mythical beast. In reality, it was more likely to be an imitation. Judged by the power coming from the crystal core, the fiend soul should have belonged to some Transformation great fiend. Even so, this power was already quite shocking.
Tang Jie put away the crystal core and also gathered up the materials of the shattered puppets.
Although these materials couldn't be used now that the puppets had been shattered, they were good things in their own right.
Cultivators didn't have the ability to make shattered materials regain their value, but nature did. He just needed to throw them into the Mountain River State Diagram and let them decay, and they would naturally show their other uses in some other fashion within that world.
Without the puppet beasts to cause trouble, the group soon broke through the Violet Astral Net Formation.
The doors to the central hall slowly creaked open.
He Changan waved his hand. "Go on."
The meaning of this wave of his hand was to have the cannon fodder lead the way, but he found that nobody was moving.
Turning around, he saw that all the cannon fodder was dead. A group of more than one hundred people had dwindled to only twenty or thirty, having suffered grievous losses.
He Changan's face twitched. Finally, he pointed at one of Jin Yutang's servants. "You, lead the way."
Of those below Celestial Heart, only Jin Yutang's servants were left. Moreover, this was all Jin Yutang's fault anyway, so whose people were they going to use if not his? If it weren't for the sake of the Sanguine True Lord, He Changan would have already had Jin Yutang lead the way.
The servant hardened his resolve and came forward, letting out a fiend tiger.
The fiend tiger barely made it a few steps into the hall before there was a light click, and numerous needles shot out of the two pillars on the sides, turning the tiger into a hedgehog. The fiend tiger didn't even have a chance to defend itself before it died.
He Changan waved his hand, and one of the needles on the corpse flew into his hand. He examined it and said, "It's made from a mixture of Nine Heavens Cloud Metal and Inkcloud Stone, and it's had Rain Dao Runes applied to it, allowing it to pierce through barriers, so it can't be taken on directly. In the end, this is the Court of Myriad Domains. Even a random trap has an immense amount of work put into it."
He waved his hand and directed the servant to keep going.
This servant originally had three fiends, but two of them had died on the way here, and now that the fiend tiger was dead, he had no more fiends left to lead the way. He looked pleadingly at He Changan, hoping that He Changan would have someone else go, but He Changan simply said, "Continue!"
A Beast Refining Gate disciple without fiends was basically worthless, and He Changan was determined to push this person to death so long as he could squeeze out every last bit of value from him.
The servant could only fearfully press forward, but thankfully, that needle trap didn't activate again.
Everyone followed behind the servant. As they passed in front of the tiger corpse, Tang Jie put away the corpse, needles and all. Jin Yutang was flabbergasted, asking him, "What are you doing?"
"These needles are all made from rare materials, so they still have some value. In addition, the tiger's body and bones are rather valuable."
Jin Yutang said in amazement, "When did you become this poor?"
Tang Jie rolled his eyes.
Another person might have wondered why Qian Yingchen had changed so much, but Jin Yutang would never have that much going on in his head.
The servant didn't get very far before a guillotine dropped from above, just like one of Tang Jie's Heavenly Cloud Blades. But his luck was good, as the attentive He Changan suddenly intervened, pulling back the servant just before the guillotine was about to chop him in half, saving his life.
Alas, while he could avoid one mishap, he couldn't avoid them all.
As he continued forward, yellow poison emerged from the ground, and the servant howled in pain and died. Even He Changan wasn't able to save him.
This great hall truly had a trap every few steps.
The outside of the hall was dangerous, yet the inside of the hall was dozens of times more dangerous.
Moreover, the traps were so powerful that even He Changan felt like he might not be able to fend them off.
Take those rain needles as an example. While they could penetrate through barriers, He Changan felt like he could fend them off, and at worst, he would be moderately injured. But as more and more traps appeared, even He Changan felt like he wasn't able to deal with some of them.
The more they advanced, the more shocking the traps became.
"Aaaagh!" With a shrill scream, another servant collapsed into a pool of blood.
A ghostly blade had appeared, slicing him in half through the waist, the black blade seething with a chilling murderous aura as it disappeared.
Nobody knew where it had come from, nor did they know if it would appear again, and they certainly didn't know if they were capable of blocking that grim reaper's scythe.
Everyone had no choice but to go around.
He Changan wanted to have another servant lead the way, but Ao Chihu awkwardly replied, "No one's left."
"What?" He Changan was startled. He turned his head and saw that Jin Yutang only had the old steward at his side. All his servants had died. If one were to look back the way they had come, one would find that it was painted with blood, though, eerily, one wouldn't find any corpses—Tang Jie had taken them all.
He Changan's face twitched as he scanned the group.
Everyone trembled in fear.
They knew that there was no going back at this point.
He Changan would not give up, and they would be going to the end no matter what.
But who would be the winners, and who would end up paying with their lives?
All the cultivators beneath Celestial Heart were dead.
Several of the Celestial Heart True Persons had also died.
It seemed like another few more would have to die.
As He Changan looked around, he finally pointed at a person standing behind Ao Chihu. "You go."
This was one of the five Spirit Ring True Persons Ao Chihu had brought. Upon hearing He Changan's order, he paled and said, "Lord He, this one is a member of the Beast Refining Gate and is not subject to your orders."
He Changan suddenly reached out, his right hand clasping the True Person's throat as he callously said, "Lead the way or die right here!"
He Changan finally revealed that cruel and callous side of his.
That Spirit Ring True Person felt an immense force surging out from He Changan's hand, almost causing him to explode on the spot. His eyes bulged out like those of a goldfish, and in alarm, he could only desperately nod.
He Changan released his grip, and the True Person staggered forward. He first let out his fiend to lead the way, and then he applied several powerful protective spell arts.
But no matter how formidable his spell arts were, they were as fragile as paper before the traps of the Court of Myriad Domains.
Whoosh!
A small arrow pierced through the air and struck a python fiend.
This python fiend was the most tenacious fiend the True Person had, able to survive even when its head was cut off, able to regrow even if it had been chopped into seventeen pieces. But when the arrow nailed it to the ground, it simply writhed once or twice before dying, such was the horrifying power of the arrow.
With the python fiend dead, the True Person had no fiends left, so he could only lead the way himself. Even though he was careful and used all the tricks he had, he was only able to avoid two traps before ultimately dying to a flying spear.
This one spear utterly obliterated all of his life force.
By now, they had passed through the great hall's external corridor and detoured around the side chamber, finally reaching the doors to the main hall.
Standing at the entrance, they could see a great cauldron and the eternal flame burning beneath it.
Upon seeing that cauldron and the flames, everyone's eyes glinted with greed.
Even though they didn't know what those things were, they could imagine that anything that would be so heavily protected by the Court of Myriad Domains and still persist after ten thousand years had to have unfathomable value.
The dead were dead, but the living saw a potential fortune before them.
But potential was only potential. There was still a long distance between the doors of the hall and the cauldron.
He Changan pointed at another person behind Ao Chihu. "You!"
He didn't even say that he was going to lead the way.
After all the various adventures, this was Ao Chihu's last Spirit Ring True Person.
The True Person looked at Ao Chihu in despair. "Sir, help me! I don't want to die!"
Ao Chihu looked away.
Completely despairing, the True Person angrily glared at He Changan. "You have bullied my Beast Refining Gate too much! After this is over, my Beast Refining Gate…"
Before he could finish, He Changan grabbed him. That person wanted to evade, his hands forming numerous signs. But He Changan ignored all his countermeasures, breaking through and grabbing him by the neck. This time, he didn't even make threats. He simply threw the man into the air and then thrust out his palm, striking the True Person's Beast Tamer Bag. Several fiends broke out of the bag and flew out as streaks of light.
A moment later, the hall exploded as various traps were triggered and crazily attacked that True Person.
The True Person didn't even have time to scream as the furious trap storm engulfed him, turning him to countless little bloody bits. A rain of gore descended over the hall, a mix of human and fiend, flesh and blood and viscera.
The bright and clean hall was instantly turned into a murder scene.
Everyone's hearts trembled in fear, and even Tang Jie frowned and looked away.
Jin Yutang scooted over and asked, "Are you still going to take the corpse?"
Tang Jie speechlessly stared back.
Most of the traps in the hall had been triggered, and the remainder were all on the periphery. So long as one didn't move around recklessly, one wouldn't trigger them.
At the cost of many lives, He Changan had finally opened the way to the cauldron, and he grew excited. As he stood in front of the cauldron, he could clearly feel the immense power coming from it.
"A divine object!" He Changan found it difficult to stop his voice from shaking. "This must be a divine object of High Antiquity, a rare treasure, even for the Court of Myriad Domains! That must be why it was in such a heavily-defended hall!"
"And that flame must be one of the world's supernatural flames." As Master Xuan Zhong spoke, he picked up a small arrow from the ground and threw it at the flame. This arrow was made from Heavenly Essence Metal and was extremely tough, but it instantly melted on contact with the flame. Master Xuan Zhong shivered as he blurted out, "So formidable! If this flame could be refined and tamed, the world would be at one's fingertips."
Ao Chihu said, "There might also be treasure in the cauldron."
He didn't have any hopes of getting the cauldron or the flame, so he could only hope that there were some treasures to share in the cauldron.
Nan Ningjiang, Ming Yezhen, and Xu Mingyue also understood this, and their eyes glimmered as they looked at the cauldron. Even Jin Yutang excitedly inched closer.
Nobody noticed that Tang Jie was falling back.
He retreated all the way to the doors, putting several dozen feet between them and him.
At this time, Jin Yutang turned around and spotted Tang Jie. Startled, he said, "Yingchen, why are you standing so far away?" and then walked over.
He had barely walked a few steps when there was a howl.
Raising his head in shock, he saw a crimson flash lighting up the hall, coupled with a sharp whistle.
Alarmed, He Changan cried out, "Watch out!"
Golden light erupted from his body.
As he reacted, Master Xuan Zhong threw up blood.
He looked down and saw the tip of a sword protruding from his chest.
Stunned, he tried to counterattack, but he found that he couldn't muster the strength.
All of his blood was rushing into that little sword, and he swiftly began to shrivel up.
"Awooo!" Master Xuan Zhong threw his head back and howled in pain.
He was a Soul Transformation True Person and extremely powerful, but alas, his luck was poor. First he had been suppressed by the Great Mountain, and then he had lost his finest art relic, and finally, he had been the first to be attacked in this ambush, dying before he even had a chance to show his skills. He could be said to be the member of Godhead Palace who had died the most unjust death.
Everyone was stunned by this sight, and He Changan and Zhu Yun almost instantly attacked the small sword. But as they thrust out their palms, that protruding sword tip flew out of Master Xuan Zhong's chest and shot into another person's body.
"Tenth Brother!" Nan Ningjiang cried out.
The one who had been stabbed by the sword was another member of the 12 Hawks.
Now, only Nan Ningjiang and Zhou Fanghua were left.
"Twelfth Brother!" Zhou Fanghua blurted out.
That familiar sword and its terrifying ability to suck blood—this was clearly the Immeasurable Sword!
The Immeasurable Sword sucked up the tenth Hawk's blood in a flash, and with that eerie whistle, it shot toward its next target, Ming Yezhen.
Ming Yezhen turned to flee. An expert in the Dao of Space, he was a master of evasion. But as he prepared to leap, he suddenly felt a hand press down on his shoulder.
This touch instantly drained him of power and scattered all of his spiritual energy. Unable to dodge, he could only watch as that little sword pierced through his body.
Plush!
Blood flowed out from Ming Yezhen's eyes.
He saw that sword stab into his chest and all of his life force accompany his blood into the sword, and then the crimson sword let out a radiant glow.
It was shaking!
Shaking in excitement!
It let out a hum!
Ming Yezhen didn't know why this was as his body dropped to its knees.
At the last moment of his life, he saw a sinister smiling face flit past him.
――――――――――――
The attack had come so suddenly that even He Changan had been caught off guard.
When Ming Yezhen collapsed, everyone finally came to their senses.
Awooo!
Ao Chihu let out a bestial roar, his heavy sword erupting with light as it shot at the area behind Ming Yezhen.
Ming Yezhen's body was pulverized by the frenzied energy of the sword.
But the bloody sword was like an agile fish, easily dodging it and flying a circle in the air before landing in the hands of a person.
Everyone realized that there was someone else in the hall.
"The crazy old Daoist!" Zhou Fanghua shouted.
She finally recognized this man as the crazy Daoist who had helped with Xu Miaoran's escape.
But Cang Qingfeng didn't look the slightest bit mad at this moment.
Standing in the center of the hall, he stared at the Immeasurable Sword in joy and excitement, not even glancing at the others.
He heartily laughed, "Success! Haha, I've finally done it! The seal on the Immeasurable Sword has been undone!"
The deaths of Master Xuan Zhong, the tenth Hawk, and Ming Yezhen had finally broken the seal of this vampiric sword.
Slivers of blood extended from its blade, filling the entire hall with a crimson mist.
He Changan immediately noticed that something was wrong and shouted, "Be careful of the blood mist!"
"Useless!" Cang Qingfeng shouted. "The Immeasurable Sword has been unsealed, and the Blood River Domain has opened! All of you will become offerings to the Blood River!"
He waved his hand, and the Immeasurable Sword pointed upward as more blood energy erupted from its tip. In the middle of the blood mist, a giant crimson fissure began to open.
This fissure was clearly made from the blood mist released by the Immeasurable Sword, but terrifying howls seemed to be coming from it.
"The Blood River Domain!" He Changan and Zhu Yun paled at Cang Qingfeng's words.
He Changan shouted, "Hurry and stop him!"
He thrust a finger at Cang Qingfeng.
"Pointless!" Cang Qingfeng brazenly shouted. "All of you will die here today and become offerings to the Blood River!"
He thrust out his finger, going blow for blow with He Changan.
The moment the finger bolts clashed, the finger bolt that He Changan had put all his energy into was obliterated, and Cang Qingfeng's finger bolt shot toward He Changan like a comet. It slammed into him in an explosion of silver light, and even the mighty King Canis found himself staggering back a few steps.
"You!" He Changan looked at Cang Qingfeng in shock.
He was one of the chiefs of Godhead Palace, without rival in the Soul Transformation Tier except among the chiefs of the six major sects. He had never imagined that a finger bolt from this nameless cultivator would be able to push him back.
Cang Qingfeng's face flashed with anger, and then he chuckled. "'Godking'? More like King Dogshit! The chiefs of the six major sects are nothing but frogs in their little wells. You really think that you're invincible against anyone below Violet Palace? Go and take a walk outside of this world and you'll find plenty like you! Today, this old man will teach what it means to truly be the number one beneath Violet Palace! I… will kill all of you!"
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