Yang Jian looked frowningly at the fork up ahead. “Despite being able to clearly sense the source precisely, these forks are quite troublesome. They cannot be destroyed so all I can do is attempt to approach the source using the closest possible path.”
He could sense the source, but he couldn’t reach it in a straight line.
He kept walking through the maze-like belly of Mt. Three Blades as he traversed the countless forks. This left Yang Jian somewhat helpless as well. He was momentarily without solution.
…
Time flew by.
While walking through the stone tunnels, Patriarch Blood Sea stopped suddenly despite moving more than a thousand feet with every step. He pricked up his long brows slightly as his eyes filled with puzzlement. “I was wrong. I guessed wrongly for this fork.
“It appears it was my wishful thinking trying to guess the location of the sealed land according to the other Ancestral Fiends’ maps. The location of the sealed land isn’t that up for speculation! Even I… can’t guess it in a short period of time.
“I’ll still have to rely on stupid methods.”
With a wave of his hand, Patriarch Blood Sea shattered yet another thousand-foot-long stone wall, revealing an incomparably profound, array vein within.
“If I study this array, I’m sure I’ll be able to find its core.” Patriarch Blood Sea lifted his head to take a closer look. “It’s very difficult to figure out the array formation of a Heavenly Dao realm. Even though I can’t completely figure it out, it should not be hard to gain insight into part of its patterns.”
He scrutinized it.
As he took it in, he proceeded forward…
He moved at a speed much faster than Qin Yun’s.
Of course, their goals were also different. Qin Yun was truly studying the array for cultivation while Patriarch Blood Sea was only looking for patterns amid the profoundness. As a perfected Great Dao existence… he was already one of the top existences when the Chaos first developed. After so many years, his dream was to step into the higher Heavenly Dao realm.
Thus, he could make out some patterns when faced with a Heavenly Dao realm array formation.
In a blink of an eye, more than half a day passed in Mt. Three Blades.
Patriarch Blood Sea’s heart filled with greater anticipation. “It will be soon. I can feel it. I’m getting even closer to the array’s core. I’ll definitely be able to find the sealed land in two hours.”
“Patriarch, I encountered Qin Yun.” One of his Ancestral Fiend subordinates sent him a karmic voice transmission.
“Qin Yun?” Patriarch Blood Sea frowned slightly. “Hanubi, try your best to escape.”
“I am. He used his flying sword against me, but I blocked it… No good! His flying sword has split into three. They are forming an array formation that has trapped my 3000 sanguine shadow avatars. I can’t escape,” said Hanubi via a voice transmission. “He will definitely use the Qingping Sword if he catches up to me.”
Patriarch Blood Sea frowned slightly.
The two Ancestral Fiends from before were Yuxiu and Posu. They had their combat bodies killed by Qin Yun, which Patriarch Blood Sea thought little of. After all, the loss of a combat body could be repaired by recultivating it at some cost. Furthermore, they were ordinary Ancestral Fiends. It would not affect the sea of blood lineage much.
However, Hanubi was one of his three pinnacle Ancestral Fiends. Furthermore, he was the founding patriarch of one of the three big clans of the sea of blood lineage. If his combat body was killed… the effects would be immense! After all, there were only a limited number of pinnacle Ancestral Fiends among the fiends. Many of them presided over various areas to keep the Daoists and Buddhists in place.
The six subordinates Patriarch Blood Sea brought were the most number of people he could bring with him without affecting the delicate situation.
“Patriarch, my combat body has died under his Qingping Sword.” Hanubi soon sent a karmic voice transmission.
Patriarch Blood Sea frowned slightly.
It did not surprise him.
On this trip to Mt. Three Blades, Hanubi had not sent a single Connate Numinous treasure with his combat body. He was already at the disadvantage if he met a pinnacle Golden Immortal sword immortal. Coupled with how it was impossible to be reinforced in a short amount of time in Mt. Three Blades, Hanubi naturally did not last long against a Qingping Sword-wielding Qin Yun.
“He used a total of thirty-three strikes to kill my combat body with the Qingping Sword,” reported Hanubi via a voice transmission.
“Thirty-three strikes to destroy your combat body? It looks like he has improved again.” Patriarch Blood Sea took in the information. “Alright, Hanubi, focus on cultivation and quickly condense a new combat body.”
“Yes, Patriarch,” replied Hanubi. He was already prepared to lose a combat body on his expedition to Mt. Three Blades. However, the fact that he was surpassed by a junior despite all his years of cultivation left him sighing.
“Hmph!”
A killing intent flashed in the Patriarch Blood Sea’s eyes. “I brought a total of six Ancestral Fiends in and three of them perished at Qin Yun’s hands one after another? Qin Yun, I’ll let this matter pass for now, but once I’m done with my important matters, I’ll definitely flush you out. When that happens, not only will Numinous Treasure’s Qingping Sword land in my hand, I’ll even take your life!”
Following which, Patriarch Blood Sea paid no further attention as he continued proceeding forward.
******
“Whoosh.”
The Qingping Sword transformed into dots of sword flashes that were densely packed but also filled with endless transformations. Hanubi failed to put up any sort of defense as he was stabbed by the countless sword flashes.
Hanubi had six curved horns on his tall and a strong build, while his skin was like a cow’s hide. However, the Qingping Sword’s sword flashes was ultimately able to pulverize his powerful body.
“You wouldn’t have been able to destroy my combat body without the Qingping Sword.” Hanubi said indignantly before his body was decimated, his voice echoing in the stone tunnels.
Following that, his body reduced to nothingness.
Qin Yun beckoned his hand as the Misty Rain Sword, which had been split into the Heaven, Earth, and Man swords, flew back along with the Qingping Sword.
“As expected of a pinnacle Ancestral Fiend. These Ancestral Fiends from the sea of blood lineage do not bring powerful treasures when they travel. All of them cultivate their bodies and focus on divine powers. It makes their bodies extremely powerful,” thought Qin Yun wistfully. “I could kill Yuxiu with one strike because my realm is much higher than his. However, to kill Hanubi while our realms are about the same, it required 33 strikes of the Qingping Sword because of his resistant body.”
In fact, defeats were easy but kills were difficult during bouts between pinnacle Golden Immortals under normal circumstances.
Qin Yun’s killing of Hanubi’s combat body also represented the deep insights he had gained in the Qingping Sword.
“All I did was destroy his combat body. Only the day I destroy their Blood Sea will be worthy of celebration.”
Qin Yun continued studying the array.
…
“I’ve finally arrived!”
Patriarch Blood Sea walked out of a stone passageway and arrived in a massive circular hall. It was rather spartan and there were six tunnels that led to that spot. Patriarch Blood Sea had arrived from one of the six stone passageways.
Embedded in the middle of the circular hall were two stone columns.
At that moment, Patriarch Blood Sea smiled. The eyes under his long brows carefully swept the area before locking onto the two columns. Finally, he said, “Old Friend, how does it feel like to be suppressed here for so many years?” His voice resounded in the hall.
At the moment he said that—
In another stone tunnel, Perfect Sovereign Erlang, Yang Jian, heard his voice. He immediately flew towards it. Having cultivated in the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, he was good at hiding his aura and even masking himself from the heavens. Patriarch Blood Sea therefore failed to discover Yang Jian who was hiding nearby.
“It’s Patriarch Blood Sea?” Yang Jian could see Patriarch Blood Sea standing in front of the two stone columns from the stone tunnel he was in.
Although Yang Jian was confident and the Eight-Nine Arcane Art was also great for combat, he did not dare act rashly against the infamous Patriarch Blood Sea.
“It appears you can’t even sense the world outside? Then, let me release you. You will owe me great karma for the rescuing you.” Patriarch Blood Sea smiled as he waved his hands. Immediately his two arms expanded rapidly as he grabbed the two stone columns.
“Up!”
The two columns were like Yin and Yang. They were being slowly uprooted at the same time.
This process also caused the entire Mt. Three Blades’ array formation to quake!
“Boom!” The massive array emitted beams of light. Even the external surface of Mt. Three Blades had array formation patterns glow across it. A terrifying force bore down on the land. The two columns were the array’s core so Patriarch Blood Sea was naturally able to forcibly pull them out.
Patriarch Blood Sea revealed a look of glee.
A terrifying aura emanated from deep underneath the hall.
“I’m finally out.”
“We are finally out. Haha.”
“Hurry, hurry. Uproot the two columns!”
A series of excited voices sounded.
“Shut up, all of you!” A hefty voice bellowed from underground, immediately putting an end to the other voices.
The angry bellow pricked up Patriarch Blood Sea’s brows.
Even Yang Jian, who was hiding in the stone tunnel, was alarmed. The bellow brought with it a rich banal aura that left him reeling in fear. He knew that it was an existence whose strength far exceeded his.
“Blood Sea, thank you,” said the powerful voice nonchalantly. “I will naturally owe you great karma for the act of releasing me.”
“Hahaha…” Patriarch Blood Sea smiled as he continued uprooting the stone columns.
…
And inside Mt. Three Blades, Qin Yun was still a great distance away from the core.
He was still studying the array formation.
However, when Patriarch Blood Sea pulled up the two columns, it caused a huge stir in the array formation. The array formation began to act out in full force as it emitted glaring beams of light.
“All the array formation’s powers have been triggered?” Qin Yun was somewhat astonished. Following that, he was attracted by its full powers. The array formation was completely different from before. “It actually becomes this when it releases all its powers?”
He looked in excitement with a covetous gaze. The feelings in his heart grew more intense until it finally reached an extremum.
There was a hum in his mind.
He was suddenly enlightened.
His comprehension of the Great Dao of Earth had reached its limits until, finally, it underwent a qualitative change.
A brand new pinnacle Great Dao surfaced in Qin Yun’s mind.