“Ah…”
Upon the towering jade table that dwarfed mountains, the white-haired youth let out a piercing scream. His divine blood was forcibly drawn out, splattering onto the bone scripture and staining the jade surface.
“Boom!”
The bone scripture trembled, radiating immortal light in waves. Even his protective divine artifact cracked and shattered before his eyes.
“No! I refuse to accept this!” He roared at the heavens, his disheveled white hair whipping wildly, his eyes blazing with fury. This was an ancient freak, a being of immense power, yet he was about to meet his end.
“Pierce Heaven and Earth!” he bellowed, his body igniting with energy, the aura he unleashed causing everyone to tremble in fear.
Even Shi Hao felt a shudder in his heart, realizing just how terrifying these ancient freaks were—their strength surpassed the limits of their realm, transcending into something greater.
Such figures were absolute terrors, dominating all beings of their era without exaggeration.
“Pfft!”
Yet, at that very moment, his body began to fracture inch by inch. Even his strongest treasure technique proved futile. With a final explosive burst, he perished.
The bone scripture hummed, glowing with chaotic energy as it trembled violently. The ancient cave grew even more horrifying, with countless sword energies manifesting.
“Damn it, this is a killing field! That bone scripture is a formation flag—disturbing it activates the slaughter here,” the Divine Striking Stone said, its voice quivering.
The formation was too terrifying, even for it.
The only silver lining was that Shi Hao had sensed the anomaly immediately and, alongside the Dragon Maiden, leaped out of the cave in time.
“Ah…”
Behind them, waves of agonized screams erupted—all from powerful experts, most of whom were the strongest young elites of their regions. Yet here, they were nothing.
The sword energy swept through, carrying a misty chaos aura, instantly reducing swathes of people to bloody mist.
“Ah, how could this be?!”
Suddenly, screams echoed ahead of Shi Hao as well. The platform area had also undergone a sinister transformation. Those who hadn’t leaped off in time were bound to the platforms, their blood forcibly draining into the stone.
“Quick, charge outward!” Shi Hao roared.
Luo Dao and Lan Yichen, their faces pale, had heeded Shi Hao’s warning and jumped off the platform just in time. They watched in horror as others—some incredibly powerful first-generation experts—struggled futilely on the platforms, their bodies withering and desiccating.
The sight was ghastly. Blood erupted uncontrollably from their pores, splattering onto the platforms.
The survivors noticed something even more horrifying: the blood carried symbols. The bone patterns within the victims were being expelled alongside their blood.
“This is too terrifying—a living hell!” Louis trembled, standing at the farthest point, witnessing everything clearly.
Now, the immortal cave was nearly devoid of life. After several waves of sword light, the strongest batch of experts had been annihilated, with only three or four escaping.
As for the platform area, only about twenty remained, desperately fleeing outward.
“Go!” Shi Hao moved with incredible speed, outpacing the survivors and quickly reaching the outermost edge, reuniting with Lan Yichen, Luo Dao, and Louis.
However, the original path was no longer an option—they had already noticed that the routes they’d taken were sealed behind them.
“Let’s join forces!” the Dragon Maiden declared, flying alongside him like a celestial maiden gliding over waves, her azure-blue hair fluttering, her robes billowing, an enchanting sight.
“Agreed!” Shi Hao nodded.
Both had set aside their earlier friction—now was a time of utmost urgency. This place was sinister, undoubtedly harboring a grave threat.
They hadn’t obtained the Ten Evils’ treasure techniques. Instead, they’d triggered a killing formation. This didn’t seem like a trial left for descendants—it felt like a massacre.
The ancient treasures, like the Heaven-Patterned Conch and the Universe Pouch, were weapons capable of slaying sect masters. Yet none had been obtained. Even the divine medicines had vanished without a trace. No opportunities remained.
“Count me in!” Another powerful figure soared toward them.
“Let’s move together!” A man wielding a compass rushed over—a divination cultivator who’d survived this far, proving his methods were effective.
The remaining survivors banded together, charging into a path that hadn’t yet closed—the diviner’s predicted route of survival.
Though not the strongest, his ability to survive the bloodbath spoke volumes about his skills.
Yet, after running just a few dozen feet along his suggested path, radiant glyphs lit up, slaughtering twenty-three people in an instant.
“Retreat!”
Shi Hao swiftly summoned the cauldron he usually used for cooking wild game, storing Luo Dao, Lan Yichen, and Louis inside. None resisted—outside was far too dangerous. Even Shi Hao had been wounded by a sword beam.
“The stench of blood is overwhelming. This is a demonic land. Look—the blood of the dead is flowing in one direction,” the diviner stammered in fear.
Shi Hao and the others turned. Not only the blood from the twenty-three slain on this path, but also from the cave, was converging toward a single point.
“This is a death trap,” the Dragon Maiden said coldly, her eyes flickering with starlight.
There was no time for discussion—escape was the only priority.
“Boom!”
Brilliant glyphs erupted, reducing even the diviner to a bloody mist.
Now, only four remained—the strongest of them all.
Shi Hao sprinted ahead without a word.
“Careful! Step left, through that stone forest, then into the swamp,” the Divine Striking Stone urgently directed.
Beyond the path, the terrain grew complex—woodlands, lakes, and stone formations underground defied logic.
“Hmm?” Suddenly, Shi Hao sensed something—a familiar presence.
“Brother!” It was the mark he’d left on Qin Hao, pulsing intensely. He was nearby. Crossing the swamp, Shi Hao spotted traces of a path.
“This doesn’t feel right—it’s not the way out!” the Divine Striking Stone cried.
But Shi Hao didn’t stop. He raced forward, only to find his path blocked by a wall.
Yet he could sense Qin Hao just beyond.
Shi Hao summoned his alchemy furnace, unleashing a torrent of thunder to blast the wall.
The scenery blurred as the wall shattered—the thunder had disrupted the powerful glyph formation, revealing what lay beyond.
“Good! Let’s break through here!” the Divine Striking Stone exclaimed. The dead end seemed to conceal an escape route.
Behind them, the Dragon Maiden and the others, who’d hesitated, now followed.
Beyond the wall lay a battlefield—gray-brown earth littered with bones.
“What kind of cursed place is this? Wasn’t this supposed to be a nest?” Shi Hao cursed.
“Brother!” A bloodied figure on the battlefield cried out—it was Qin Hao.
“What happened?”
“I entered an ancient land with a jade staircase leading to an island in the void. It was covered in saint herbs and even divine medicines.”
Qin Hao explained that over a thousand experts had gathered there, all vying to ascend the staircase and reach the herb garden.
But whether they climbed or flew, all were slain by a mysterious formation, their blood staining the land.
Qin Hao’s face was pale. “A thousand experts—all incredibly strong—yet all dead!”
“A thousand? Over a hundred thousand have already fallen in this cursed nest,” one of the Dragon Maiden’s companions remarked.
“At least you survived,” Shi Hao comforted.
“Without the Immortal Battle Armor, I’d be dead,” Qin Hao murmured, his voice low. The ordeal had shaken him deeply. Besides the armor, another treasure had shattered in his place.
“This is the battlefield’s edge. Don’t go deeper. We must leave—this nest is a death trap,” the Divine Striking Stone urged.
They raced onward, the stone continuously deciphering clues to guide them.
Leaving the ancient battlefield, they traversed hills and other terrains, encountering glowing paths again.
“These paths are our only hope. Dangerous, but they might lead us out.”
“Ah…”
Two more screams rang out as two of their companions fell to the glyphs.
Their blood flowed eerily in one direction.
Eventually, even the Divine Striking Stone was stumped. They wandered blindly through the underground passages, dodging lethal traps and crushing formations.
A full day and night passed. Along the way, they encountered over a dozen groups, but none survived—only Shi Hao, the Dragon Maiden, and Qin Hao remained.
“Hmm, a familiar aura… Shi Yi!” Shi Hao’s heart jolted as he saw two beams of light ahead, tearing through the void, accompanied by chaos mist—someone’s gaze.
“Go!” He charged forward.
The two groups merged. It was indeed Shi Yi, accompanied by five or six others, all wounded and bloodied.
Shi Hao and the Dragon Maiden weren’t faring much better—their battle robes were soaked in blood.
“Someone’s playing us. If we escape, they’ll pay dearly,” Shi Yi muttered darkly.
The others tensed. “This is a setup? Not the nest’s trial?”
“Trial my ass!” Shi Hao spat, his gaze icy.
The Dragon Maiden’s eyes deepened, a starry sky manifesting behind her as a dragon’s phantom soared. Her azure hair fluttered as she activated a secret art to sense her surroundings.
Finally, she spoke. “It seems the ancient words I glimpsed in the nest were true. Someone’s been scheming for six or seven lifetimes, harvesting divine blood and glyphs.”
A collective chill ran down their spines.
No explanation was needed—this was a conspiracy of cosmic proportions.
“Let’s combine our strength to break free,” the Dragon Maiden said, producing two broken horns. Dull at first, when joined, they emitted a terrifying pressure that shook the ancient nest.
“There!” Shi Yi’s eyes gleamed as he pointed toward an ancient gate radiating chaos light, slaughtering any who approached.
After observing for hours, he believed it might be the exit—though a perilous one.
“Together, we can make it,” Shi Hao declared.
As they prepared, a dozen more survivors arrived, led by an ancient freak Shi Hao recognized—Chang Gongyan, once seen in Sin Province.
“Everyone, this is it. Break through, and we live. Fail, and we die here.”
In the next moment, all unleashed their ultimate techniques.
The Dragon Maiden wielded the fused horns, their draconic might trembling the air.
Shi Yi produced a fractured stone seal oozing wisps of chaos.
Chang Gongyan nocked a black arrow on his ink-dark bow, its aura terrifying.
Shi Hao summoned his alchemy furnace and, after a thought, the Primordial True Solution—the Myriad Spirit Diagram.
The others readied their own treasures.
“Charge!”
With a shout, they surged forward.
“Ah…” The toll was brutal—over a dozen were instantly pulverized.
Shi Hao shielded Qin Hao as they fought through. His furnace glowed, its light mingling with the others’ attacks to breach the gate.
“Clang!”
At the critical moment, a deadly beam shot toward them. Shi Hao blocked with the Myriad Spirit Diagram, shrouding the area in mist.
In the end, only a handful survived—the Dragon Maiden, Shi Yi, Chang Gongyan, Shi Hao, and Qin Hao. The rest had fallen to the slaughter.
They burst through the gate, scattering the chaos mist, and emerged aboveground, fleeing the cursed nest.
The stench of blood was overwhelming. Fresh corpses—tens of thousands—littered the nest’s vicinity.
“All died today,” Chang Gongyan noted.
In the distance, figures fled in droves.
Clearly, the surface entrance had also become a slaughterhouse.
“More are still escaping,” Shi Yi said, his piercing gaze spanning hundreds of miles.
Then, a flute’s melody drifted through the air—soft, haunting.
Shi Hao and the others turned. Above a volcano-like crater in the nest, a figure stood, a jade flute at his lips.
Bathed in the bloody moonlight, he seemed transcendent—a banished immortal descended to earth, his robes fluttering, exuding peerless grace.
His beauty was flawless, his skin radiant with holy light. He smiled faintly and nodded at them.
“A flute’s song to farewell the heroes.”
His voice was gentle as he began to play, the melody like celestial music drifting from the heavens.
In the distance, screams erupted as crystalline petals rained down, piercing through the fleeing figures, reducing them to blood.
It was a surreal scene—glittering petals dancing under the moon, accompanied by the flute’s tune.
Yet the result was carnage. One by one, the strong perished, their blood staining the ancient earth.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage