An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

On the Sea of Clouds Plaza, a battle that had dragged on for more than a decade finally reached its fiercest point. Blood Nightmare and Silent Fate fought side by side against Blood Hermit, and though they had been forced onto the defensive at first, the sword in Blood Nightmare’s hand gradually changed the balance between them. Its power was close to that of a spirit treasure, and each time it struck, the pressure bearing down on Blood Hermit grew heavier.

Sword light crashed down and split into countless afterimages, blurring together until it was almost impossible to tell which strike was real. Then, in the next instant, one slash cut through all the illusions and landed squarely on Blood Hermit, splitting him cleanly in half. Before the two halves could fall apart, however, some unseen force dragged them back together, fusing the wound so perfectly that it was as if he had never been struck at all.

Blood Nightmare’s expression darkened. What the hell!? An outsider refining Sage-level Blood God Clones is already outrageous, but this man has somehow managed to cultivate the legendary Blood Sea Devil Body!

Blood Hermit’s face had gone slightly pale, but his eyes never left the sword in Blood Nightmare’s hand. At his peak, when four Sage-level Blood God Clones guarded him, he had not feared even a late-stage Sage. But this sword...

He drew in a deep breath and snapped the long whip in his hand, the crack echoing through the air like a thunderclap.

Blood Nightmare glanced at the whip and sneered. ”That whip was refined with my sect’s arts. It may be able to absorb blood and turn it into mana, but its materials are nothing special, and it hasn’t been nurtured for long enough. At best, it’s an average treasure. How could it ever stand against my sword?”

If Angler, Luo Chen, and the others had heard that judgment, none of them would have agreed. The whip had been painstakingly refined from three living beings: a fifth-tier Withered Blood Vine, the inner core of a fourth-tier Soul-Seizing Ghost Crow, and an archaic beast, Chiwen, that carried a trace of dragon blood. A sprite, a demonic beast, and an archaic beast had been used as its foundation, and the Society had poured immense manpower and resources into its creation. By any ordinary measure, that should have been more than enough.

Blood Hermit did not argue; he understood the whip’s flaws better than anyone, and he knew exactly why it fell short. The Withered Blood Vine and Soul-Seizing Ghost Crow were both excellent, but the Chiwen that the Angler had provided was too weak. Apparently, it had been confiscated from a Pseudo-Adept who had tried to join the Society, but an ancient beast controlled by someone of that level could only possess limited strength. Because of that, the three primary materials had failed to reach true balance during refinement, leaving the whip’s power far below what it should have been.

Even so, Blood Hermit’s grip tightened around the handle. ”Even an average treasure is more than enough to defeat you!”

As soon as he spoke, he reached toward the side and clenched his hand. The Blood God Clone that had been fighting Fairy Jadecold seemed to sense his summons, took one of her attacks head-on, and forced its way toward him without the slightest regard for its injuries.

Blood Nightmare’s expression changed. ”Stop him! He’s about to perform the Devil-God Fusion!”

That name alone was enough to make Silent Fate and Fairy Jadecold’s hearts sink. Among the countless formidable arts of the Blood Sea Lineage, the Devil-God Fusion was one of the most infamous. A cultivator with the Blood Sea Devil Body could merge with Blood God Clones refined from his own divine soul, multiplying his strength the moment the fusion was complete.

This was also why Blood Hermit had roamed the Northern Sea without fear. Even as a middle-stage Sage, he had dared to confront late-stage Sages because he had once possessed four Sage-level clones. Even merging with a single clone was enough to make his strength soar. If all four had fused with him at once, the result was simply unimaginable.

Now, three of those clones were gone, but Blood Nightmare still did not dare let the remaining one reach its master. In terms of cultivation, their side was already weaker. Their only advantages were their numbers and the Godslayer Blood Sword, and if Blood Hermit completed the fusion and broke through that suppression, even those advantages might disappear. Thus, Silent Fate and Fairy Jadecold moved almost at the same time as Blood Nightmare to block him before the clone could return.

”Too late for you guys!”

Crimson radiance erupted from Blood Hermit’s body as his hair and beard whipped wildly around his face. With a vicious grin, he swept his gaze over the three figures rushing toward him and lashed out with the Bloodkiss Devil Whip.

SSSSCCCHHTWICK!

The air warped beneath the force of the strike, and at the same time, the shriek of crows and the roar of dragons twisted together into an eerie cry that pierced straight into the soul. Blood Nightmare swung the Godslayer Blood Sword, severing the Bloodkiss Devil Whip with a single slash, but the sword could only cut through the whip itself. It could not cut apart the cries that had already erupted from it.

The sound struck Blood Nightmare like a titan’s hammer, sending him crashing into the plaza below.

BBBOOOOOOOMM!!!!

Blood Hermit swept downward after him, but Silent Fate and Fairy Jadecold were already trying to seize the opening. He turned before they could close in, struck out with both palms, and sent them flying aside before his gaze dropped back to Blood Nightmare.

Down on the shattered plaza, countless vengeful souls and malicious ghosts seeped out of Blood Nightmare’s body like smoke from a cracked stove. They swarmed over him, tearing into his flesh and divine soul while blood light surged back into him in an attempt to suppress them. The effort was pitifully weak. Instead of forcing the ghosts back, the blood light itself churned violently, as if the power inside him had begun to rebel.

Blood Hermit had been about to continue his pursuit, but at the sight, he suddenly froze. ”The backlash of vengeful souls... devil energy reversing...”

As realization struck, he suddenly burst into laughter. ”Hahahahahaha! I thought the Holy Land’s rules were as absolute as heavenly law. Who would’ve thought someone there would dare merge the three lineages and defy the ancestral teachings?”

Then his laughter faded, and his face turned cold. ”In that case, I’ll be taking Grand Elder Blood Sea’s power. Thank you, Fellow Daoist.”

He dove downward and pressed his palm onto the top of Blood Nightmare’s head. Blood Nightmare’s body seized violently, but the backlash of his own power had left him unable to resist. The strength that had sustained him for more than a decade was forcibly torn from his body and poured into Blood Hermit instead, causing the crimson radiance around Blood Hermit to surge higher with every passing breath.

Nearby, Silent Fate and Fairy Jadecold watched in fearful silence, neither of them daring to approach. Farther away, the gathered cultivators were no different; they could only look on as Blood Hermit seized this tremendous power for himself.

Then Blood Hermit suddenly lifted his head. High above the Sea of Clouds Plaza, one of the fourteen radiant palaces in the Heaven of Bright Illumination began to dim.

Buzzzzz...

A deep, resonant hum spread through the air as the palace gates slowly opened, and light poured out from within. A graceful figure stepped through the radiance, her robes drifting around her as though she was the Moon Goddess descending. She looked down at the cultivators below with an amused smile, her gaze lingering first on Blood Hermit before drifting toward Fairy Jadecold.

The moment Fairy Jadecold met her gaze, she shuddered instinctively and lowered her head.

”So...” Moon Hermit’s teasing voice floated down from above. ”My dear little sister is here as well...”

The words had barely left her mouth when her smile faded. Her brows drew together, and the amusement in her eyes gave way to surprise as she slowly turned toward the Alchemy Palace nearest to the Slave Palace. From within it, a terrifying and indescribable power had pierced through the suppression of the great hall and was slowly spreading outward.

No one else seemed to sense it. Only Moon Hermit, who had received Heaven Refiner’s complete inheritance of the Dao of Enslavement, could faintly perceive the presence hidden within that power.

Could this be the treasured cauldron the artifact spirit mentioned, the one even stronger than the Myriad Beast Scroll?