Chapter 222: Deity Transformation Avatar

Jiuyou did not attack rashly; he quietly took half a step back. He could clearly sense the vortex continuously swelling, radiating an aura he could not fathom. It was a power entirely beyond the understanding of Nascent Soul cultivators, as if some long-slumbering entity were slowly opening its eyes.

Charging forward now would be no different from courting death.

The vortex expanded larger and larger, eventually growing to several zhang across.

Xue Huomo withdrew from the blood-red sphere of light, and the blood light he had released earlier was entirely absorbed by the vortex. His eyes filled with feverish fanaticism, he retrieved an unbonded Corpse Puppet from his storage pouch and hurled it into the vortex without hesitation.

The Corpse Puppet was not shredded by the vortex's tearing force, instead hanging suspended at its center.

Soon after, the vortex ascended into the sky, plunging a thousand-li radius into utter darkness. A frantic pulling force warped and distorted the surroundings, throwing the Nascent Soul cultivators off balance and forcing them to erect defensive barriers.

Beneath the vortex, the Corpse Puppet stood on thin air as endless plumes of pitch-black qi poured down, flooding into its body. Its eyelids twitched slightly, as if something were awakening within.

"I beseech Senior Yuan Huang to take action and eradicate this pest!" Xue Huomo cupped his hands toward the vortex, bowing deeply in a posture of utmost reverence. "Once my Three Sects trample the Northern Plains, whatever Senior requires, my Three Sects will exhaust all efforts to procure."

As if in response, a gigantic abyssal eye slowly opened within the darkness at the vortex's center. Its pupil, as pitch-black as the abyss, gazed down upon the living beings below. That gaze held no anger, no mercy, not even scrutiny. It was nothing more than pure indifference.

In an instant, every Nascent Soul cultivator present felt pinned to the spot by that gaze. An instinctual terror welled up from the depths of their hearts, and even the thought of fleeing was snuffed out beneath that single look. Some stood with mouths agape, unable to speak, while others gripped their magical treasures with uncontrollably trembling hands.

"What... what is this?"

"Could a rumored Deity Transformation Cultivator be making a move?"

"A Deity Transformation Cultivator hasn't appeared in over a thousand years. How could the Blood Abyss Sect possibly enlist such an existence?"

Whispers rose and fell among the Northern Plains cultivators, every sentence tinged with barely concealed panic. An aura of despair spread through the air as nearly everyone stared up at that sky-obscuring eye, their faces etched with disbelief.

The situation was hardly any better for the Three Demonic Path Sects. Their ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators looked equally terrified, clearly having been kept in the dark. Only the three Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivators managed to maintain relatively calm expressions, though a flicker of surprise still crossed their eyes. It seemed even they had not anticipated such a drastic measure.

That terrifying aura continued to spread, and the mid- and low-tier cultivators a thousand li below soon felt it as well. They had no idea what was happening; they only knew the sky had suddenly darkened, as if something were watching them. That gaze could not be dodged or resisted, and it drained away even their courage to muster their magic power.

Both sides halted their fighting in unspoken agreement.

Some hovered in midair while others stood atop mountain peaks, their spiritual light gradually dimming. Flying ships and light shuttles ground to a halt, and even the spirit beasts driven by the cultivators pressed their heads to the ground, shivering uncontrollably.

Everyone looked up at the eye that had appeared deep in the heavens. Hearts pounded wildly; no one dared make the first move.

Jiuyou's heart pounded furiously, his gaze locked onto that gigantic abyssal eye. He made no reckless attempt to flee; under the gaze of such an entity, any rash movement was no different from turning himself into a conspicuous target. Thus, he remained motionless, though his mind raced with calculations.

"This is the aura of a Deity Transformation Cultivator!" Xuan Zhenzi's voice rang out abruptly, laced with obvious shock. "Brat, how did you provoke a Deity Transformation Cultivator?"

He had clearly been jolted from his slumber by this terrifying aura. Jiuyou had sensed his awakening immediately, but in such a critical moment, he had no spare attention to worry about anything else.

"Patriarch, do you recognize this person?" Jiuyou asked via his divine sense.

"A Deity Transformation Cultivator's lifespan does not exceed two thousand years. I am separated from this person by ten thousand years—how could I possibly recognize him?" Xuan Zhenzi's voice carried a hint of frantic impatience, though he paused and his tone relaxed slightly. "Fortunately, this is not that Deity Transformation Cultivator's true body, merely a divine sense avatar. With the Heaven and Earth Ring in hand, a mere avatar may not be able to do anything to you. But this person is a living Deity Transformation Cultivator after all; even if this is just an avatar, you must handle it carefully."

"I see. Rest assured, I know what to do," Jiuyou replied.

At that exact moment, the gigantic abyssal eye condensed a thick column of pitch-black qi that plunged straight down, enveloping the Corpse Puppet. In an instant, the crisp cracking of bones echoed from within the black mist, as if something were awakening inside that husk.

Seizing the moment the entity possessed the Corpse Puppet, Jiuyou twisted his body, transforming into a golden afterimage as he shot toward the depths of the Northern Plains, swiftly vanishing into the horizon.

As he shot past Gu Daobian, the man only felt an afterimage streak by his side; by the time he turned his head, Jiuyou's figure was already gone. Jolted back to his senses, Gu Daobian did not dare linger for even half a moment longer, spinning around to flee right after him.

Yet in that split second, before he could even complete his turn, a strand of black thread slipped silently across his neck. His physical body abruptly detonated, filling the air with a mist of blood. Gu Daobian's Nascent Soul shot out from within, its spiritual light dim and looking utterly battered. But before he could react any further, another streak of black light flashed past. A grand Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator, one of the Thirteen Great Sacred Masters of the Northern Plains, fell right then and there. He had been utterly incapable of resistance.

Immediately after, the black light turned toward the rest of the Northern Plains' Nascent Soul cultivators. Over thirty Nascent Soul cultivators poured all their strength into defending themselves, yet none could mount a meaningful resistance. Facing a Deity Transformation avatar, the disparity in strength was an insurmountable chasm; in just a single exchange, over ten Nascent Soul cultivators perished on the spot. Within moments, not a single Northern Plains Nascent Soul cultivator remained alive on the battlefield.

The outcome was set in stone. The remaining mid- and low-tier cultivators of the Northern Plains were about to face their own reckoning. The entire process, from beginning to end, had taken barely half a quarter-hour.

Yet the Deity Transformation avatar did not stop there.

After eliminating the Northern Plains' Nascent Soul cultivators, those pitch-black pupils slowly shifted toward the direction Jiuyou had fled. A playful smile touched the corners of his mouth as he murmured, "Interesting."

He instructed Xue Huomo to clean up the battlefield, then dissolved into a plume of black mist, chasing after the direction Jiuyou had vanished at a speed far surpassing his previous pace.

As the black mist swept across the sky above the battlefield, the demonic cultivators below bowed their heads, no one daring to look up. Wherever the mist passed, it felt as if all heat had been sucked completely out of the air, leaving behind a faint chill that lingered in the sky for a long time.

Several thousand li away, as Jiuyou sped along, Xuan Zhenzi's voice suddenly rang out: "Run! That person is catching up." His divine sense far surpassed Jiuyou's, and he had already sensed the Deity Transformation avatar's trailing aura a thousand li behind them.

A rare trace of urgency flashed across Jiuyou's face. Once he confirmed the other party could not yet pry into this area, he immediately activated the Heaven and Earth Ring to thoroughly erase all lingering traces of his spiritual energy fluctuations.

He did not dare expose the existence of this Heaven-grade Spiritual Treasure before a Deity Transformation Cultivator. As long as the enemy remained unaware, failing to locate him would likely prompt the avatar to turn back. But if the entity discovered such an item rested in his hands, it would no longer be an avatar giving chase, but rather his true body descending in person. Should that happen, the entity would likely turn the entire Northern Plains upside down to find him.

Having concealed every trace, Jiuyou altered his course, hurtling deep into another desolate plain. He even dimmed the color of his escape light by several shades, leaving behind not a single clue that could be tracked.