Chapter 252: Death Ground

Chapter 252 -248: Death Ground

At that moment, a sudden change took place.

The might of this Nine Dragon Dream Array was only now revealing itself.

Because Chen Qingyang was on the periphery, he saw everything clearly. On the ground, the bodies of both Demon Sect and Daoist Sect disciples were wreathed in a bloody mist.

Strange Qi Mechanisms rose from the corpses, forming crimson specks that fell from the ground up toward the sky.

It was like a rain of blood falling in reverse.

Chen Qingyang suddenly recalled that this Array drew its power from the Divine Souls and flesh of mortals. But these Cultivators had opened their acupoints and refined their Seven Meridians and Eight Vessels with Spiritual Qi for years, making them far superior to ordinary people.

Even the scattered remnants of Divine Souls that hadn’t been completely destroyed were swept up by the bloody rain and carried toward the heavens.

All the corpses became fuel for the Array. As the crimson color rose, it blocked the starlight, forcing the Circulation Demon Suppression Star Array, which had just gained the upper hand, to recede once more.

Something even more terrifying was about to begin. The nine crimson dragons in the sky began to descend. Each was a thousand feet long with a ferocious visage, leaving a long trail of bloody flames as they patrolled the land.

Any surviving commoners were turned into charred corpses, all their life force drained away. Even those who had managed to stay alive through caution now surrendered their lives.

A land of absolute death!

With the Demon Sect’s methods, not a single living creature would be left within a thousand li.

The nine Blood Dragons grew stronger as more people died. Finally, they converged on the center of the Imperial Palace from all directions.

Enormous draconic heads poked out from the void. The Daoist Sect disciples with low Cultivation, who had lost the will to resist, died almost instantly upon contact.

The situation instantly devolved into a one-sided slaughter!

Chen Qingyang could only hide far away, investigating with his will alone.

‘It seems… the Masters of the Tai Xu Sect didn’t anticipate this.’ He noticed all his senior brothers were panicking, which meant the current situation was beyond their expectations.

What was even more terrifying was that the dead were being absorbed by the Array. Everyone here could become a pillar for this Array.

Soon, only a few hundred Daoist Sect disciples remained, huddled together in a precarious position.

Several Blood Dragons had them surrounded, and over two thousand Demon Sect disciples watched them like tigers stalking their prey.

Chen Qingyang also noticed two Blood Dragons circling above Ci Yun Temple. Everywhere they passed, the only sanctuary left in this place was being reduced to scorched earth.

A figure in purple shot into the sky with a sword, only to disappear completely after charging into the body of a Blood Dragon.

‘That must be Lingxuzi, the Temple Master here. If even he ended up like this, the others stand no chance. There’s no way out.’

Chen Qingyang realized that if this continued, his own death was certain. ‘I have to find a way to sneak out and escape this thousand-li wasteland.’

“Tai Xu Condensing Truth, All Laws Return to Profound.”

“Dongming Creation, Directly Pointing to the Immortal Source.”

Suddenly, a clear voice echoed between heaven and earth. A figure in a moon-white robe, shrouded in a divine glow, strode through the air above the remaining Tai Xu Sect disciples. He shouted, his hands forming a seal.

Above his head, an Ink-Wash Bagua materialized from thin air, scattering golden light that instantly pierced the bloody aura. Waves of True Power radiated outward, coating everything they touched with a layer of Golden Qi. It was a divine sight!

The Eight Trigrams expanded, and in an instant, it was thousands of feet wide, shielding all the Tai Xu Sect disciples.

This person became the pillar of support for everyone from the Tai Xu Sect. Chen Qingyang mulled it over. ‘It seems only the Tai Xu Returning to Truth Technique could possess such power.’

“Facing death, and you still want to struggle!”

Someone from the Demon Sect sneered, sacrificially refining thousands of Soul Banners that flew straight at the Eight Trigrams. Then came a bloody vortex, the Profound Light Sword, the Demon God Golden Body… together with the nine Blood Dragons, they all surged toward the Ink-Wash Bagua.

They shot out dazzling light that spread out, almost completely submerging the Ink-Wash Bagua.

“Senior Brother Liu, I’ll help you!”

Following the shout, countless silver swords surged up from below to meet the assault. After them, various Magical Artifacts and Flying Swords swarmed upward.

It seemed both the Daoist and Demon sides were about to pour all their strength into this single, decisive clash.

True Essence flared in all directions with a SIZZLING sound before erupting in a deafening BOOM. The intense shockwave flattened everything within a radius of dozens of li. Houses toppled, not a single plant was left standing, and even Chen Qingyang was buried in the earth.

When everything settled, only a few dozen Daoist Sect disciples were left standing in the ruins. The hundreds of bodies on the ground quickly turned to ash, becoming more fuel for the Blood Dragons.

The nine Blood Dragons all turned, baring their fangs and claws. They stood between heaven and earth, poised to strike. In another two or three exchanges, no one from the Daoist Sect would be left alive.

But just at this moment, a young man from the Demon Sect stepped forward. With a wave of his hand, the thousands of Demon Sect disciples all ceased their attacks, and the Blood Dragons hovered in mid-air.

“Fellow Daoists, I greet you!” He bowed in mid-air, but no one responded.

He continued, “Today, although the Daoist Sect has a few Masters hidden and lending their strength, my Holy Sect also has many Masters concealed here. Even if both sides revealed themselves, it would only result in a stalemate.”

“As the saying goes, ‘be merciful when you can.’ The world is vast, so why must we distinguish between Dao and Demon? We should all share a single title: Cultivator.”

“Since that is the case, why must we fight to the death? Have not enough of our sect brothers died today? If you are all willing to lay down your weapons and join my Holy Sect, you can still seek the Great Dao. There is no need to throw your lives away here.”

Chen Qingyang hadn’t seen this man during the previous fight, but now he was clearly leading the Demon Sect. His strength among this group of Half-Step Foundation Establishment cultivators was evident.

The Demon Sect must have tried this method of inducing surrender many times before. The Daoist Sect members stood protectively together, none of them responding.

The man wasn’t in a hurry. He continued slowly, “I remember a Daoist Sect Master by the name of Xuan Gui. When he was the Xuanwei Master, I visited him several times and learned of his admiration for my Holy Sect’s methods. He even felt he had chosen the wrong path. If he hadn’t been so forcefully obstructed by the Daoist Sect, I believe that Master would not have met his end, his Dao perishing with him. This is all due to the deep-seated prejudice between us.”

“Today, I make this promise: any Half-Step Foundation Establishment Cultivator willing to join my Holy Sect will be granted a wisp of Earth Deity to aid their breakthrough.”

‘It seems persuading Daoist Sect members to defect is an old tradition for the Demon Sect,’ Chen Qingyang thought. He had seen them try to persuade Li Zheng last time. The Daoist Sect disciples didn’t respond to his words. ‘A wisp of Earth Deity is tempting, but it’s just empty talk.’

Faced with their silence, the Demon Sect man remained unhurried. He waved his hand, and an exquisite Brocade Box appeared. He opened it, and a stream of profound black energy billowed out.

Even from so far away, Chen Qingyang felt it—a very unique Qi Mechanism, one he had encountered once before in the Sumeru Secret Realm.

‘It’s a wisp of Earth Deity!’

‘He actually brought it with him.’

“You all need only give the word and stand by my side to take it. While you’re at it, just tell me where the Tai Xu Sect has placed the disciple my master has taken a fancy to. This disciple shares a deep fate with my master. My senior brother came here forty years ago for this very reason. By all rights, you cannot sever the bond between a master and a disciple!”

‘So this man is the disciple of a Golden Core True Monarch,’ Chen Qingyang realized. ‘I thought a True Monarch’s disciple would at least be a Master, but I never expected there to be a Half-Step Foundation Establishment cultivator among them.’

‘And the Profound Robe Daoist from forty years ago was his senior brother… the one who took in Zhang Jiu. The master is most likely that Pure Yuan Master.’

The temptation was immense, yet still, no one accepted. The man was growing annoyed. “If that’s how it’s going to be, then you can all die here! The Array can sense that the disciple my Holy Sect desires is within this thousand-li radius. We’ll find him ourselves!”

In Chen Qingyang’s estimation, it wasn’t that no one was tempted. Rather, with seventy or eighty people still alive, they kept each other in check. They felt they could find strength in numbers and thus maintained their will to resist the Demon Sect.

‘But when only seven or eight are left, that will be the moment of true despair for the Daoist Sect disciples. Then, someone will start to compromise with the Demon Sect.’

The man waved his hand, and the nine Blood Dragons surged forward again with their massive bodies, charging the Daoist Sect disciples. Tiny, pale blue butterflies flew from the man’s back, multiplying in an instant until they blotted out the sky, fluttering toward the disciples.

Their pale blue glimmer was the only touch of ethereal beauty in this desolate, blood-soaked land.

“Everyone, our bodies may perish, but our will cannot be broken!” The one who shouted was a senior brother from the Tai Hao Sword Institute.

The Daoist Sect side began to fight back, and both sides once again bombarded each other with Magical Treasures. The Demon Sect had superior numbers and the aid of the Array; with the force of a landslide, they instantly devoured the Daoist Sect disciples.

Every time a critical moment arrived, something changed. This time was no exception.

A beam of sword light streaked across the horizon. It moved with incredible speed, yet it seemed to stop in mid-air.

Silence. The wind stopped.

A glow spanning a thousand li swept across the land in an instant.

The Demon Sect disciples scattered in defeat, cut down like paper. Just as they were all about to meet a violent end…

…a vertical eye appeared in mid-air. Its multicolored iris swirled as if countless insects of every color were writhing within. Black light burned like flames around the eye, which seemed to be recessed in another dimension.

It was bizarre and nearly a thousand feet long.

Blocked by this force, the sword light could not advance another inch. SWOOSH—it retracted.

A petite young woman in a pristine white Daoist Robe, carrying a Treasure Sword that resembled white jade on her back, walked from the horizon with delicate steps, her slender waist swaying.

Chen Qingyang recognized her at a glance. She was a Foundation Establishment Master, and her name was Yun Ci.

And the eye that had blocked her sword technique was called the Eye of Mo Luo.

The Masters from both sides were finally making their move. They were the ultimate powers in this battle.

“Good of you to show up!”

With a loud shout, a massive bloody hand, a thousand feet long, materialized in the sky and shot straight for Yun Ci. The pressure it generated kicked up a hurricane on the ground. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

And the Eye of Demon Luo also shot out a beam of azure divine light.

Instantly, she was thrust into the perilous situation of facing two opponents at once.

But the Master remained composed and calm, her expression cool. Her slender, jade-like hand rested on the hilt of her sword, and she stood alone and unperturbed amidst the gales and blood-red light.

Her white Daoist Robe became the most dazzling color in the crimson glow.