Chapter 26: The Blood-Evil Spirit-Locking Array

Seeing his three subordinates at the eighth level of the Void Refining stage perish in an instant, Xue Wuchang felt as if his heart had been gripped by an invisible giant hand; cold sweat soaked through his black robes.

This Ye Chentian was no mere first-level Void Refining cultivator. He was clearly a top-tier powerhouse within the Void Refining realm! However, Xue Wuchang was a cultivator at the first level of the Integration stage; the crushing disparity in their realms should be enough to decide the outcome.

"Ye Chentian! Surrender your life!"

He roared, heaving the Nine-Nether Nether-Coffin, its pitch-black frame suddenly expanding to ten feet square. The moment the lid flew open, ten thousand strands of black mist erupted, each strand coiled with three struggling, vengeful souls. This coffin was the supreme treasure of the Blood Shadow Hall, forged from the remains of one hundred thousand cultivators and soaked in a pool of blood and malice for a millennium; it had previously slain a ninth-level Void Refining cultivator in seconds. Even the elders of the Profound Water Sect had once been consumed by this very coffin, leaving them without even the chance for reincarnation!

"Taste the agony of having your heart devoured by ten thousand souls!" Xue Wuchang’s eyes gleamed with malice. He manipulated the black mist into a sky-obscuring ghost claw, the gaps between its five fingers glistening with ink-green corpse poison, and lunged forward with a nauseating, fishy stench. In his view, for a Void Refining cultivator to withstand three moves against the pressure of an Integration stage expert was already the limit.

Ye Chentian’s gaze sharpened. Sword light surged from his fingertips as the Flowing Light Violet Lightning Sword hummed, cutting through the sky. Seventy-two lightning-summoning runes etched upon the blade ignited simultaneously.

"With nothing but this broken coffin for corpses? You dare to clamor before me?"

His tone was brimming with disdain. The Flowing Light Violet Lightning Sword unleashed a thunderous sword aura, woven with violet and gold, to meet the attack head-on. This sword aura contained the righteous power of the Nine Heavens, the natural nemesis of all malevolent things. Wherever the light passed, the black mist melted like snow, and the thousands of vengeful souls let out shrill screams before being purified into ash by the power of the lightning.

The sword light, like a bolt of violet-gold lightning, struck directly at the Nine-Nether Nether-Coffin. The barrier that supposedly could withstand a ninth-level Void Refining expert shattered like thin paper. The coffin let out a mournful wail, then exploded with a "bang" into countless fragments, the millennia-old vengeful spirits sealed within it shredded alongside it.

"No! My natal artifact!" Xue Wuchang’s eyes were bloodshot. This coffin was his ultimate trump card for survival. To see it shattered by a single strike sent him into a frenzy as he stared fixedly at Ye Chentian. "How is this possible! You actually destroyed my natal artifact in one move?!" His mind was filled with disbelief—how could his first-level Integration stage natal artifact be destroyed by a single sword strike from a Void Refining cultivator?

Ye Chentian sneered, "With such meager tricks, you dare to act insolently at the Profound Heaven Sect? If you want to seize my spiritual vein, you shall pay with your blood."

Before the words had faded, a foot-long streak of violet lightning condensed at his fingertip. It twisted like a living creature, striking directly at Xue Wuchang’s face. Before the streak even touched him, the exposed skin on Xue Wuchang’s face was already scorched with tiny beads of blood. Terror gripped his heart; he felt the threat of death.

"No, run!"

He burned his essence blood frantically. In an instant, ten-foot-high blood flames erupted around him. His jet-black hair turned crimson, blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, and his aura surged by thirty percent. This was a forbidden technique that traded a hundred years of lifespan for a momentary burst of power—one he would never dare use unless facing death.

"Blood Shadow Escape!" He transformed into a beam of blood light a foot thick, his speed increasing tenfold as he fled toward the outside of the Profound Heaven Sect. This movement technique was the Blood Shadow Hall’s ultimate escape card, capable of traversing ten kilometers in an instant. Once he escaped, he would surely return with reinforcements to grind Ye Chentian into dust!

"Trying to leave? It won’t be that easy!" Ye Chentian chuckled coldly. With a flash of light beneath his feet, the teleportation effect of his Snow-Treading Boots activated, and he appeared behind the blood light in pursuit.

Xue Wuchang had already fled to the Black Wind Valley. Seeing Ye Chentian in hot pursuit, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes: "Since you insist on killing me, let this Black Wind Valley be your burial ground!" He felt a surge of confidence; he hadn't expected the Blood-Shatter Soul-Locking Array he had laid out to come in handy.

He crushed the array disc at his waist, and the entire valley was instantly shrouded in thick, ink-like blood mist. The mist churned, manifesting into countless ferocious blood beasts; the poison dripping from their fangs hissed as it corroded the rocks. This mist contained the resentment of one hundred thousand living beings and could pollute a cultivator's spiritual roots. Within the fog, ten thousand blood-red runes emerged, each corresponding to the remnant soul of a devoured being.

"This array has swallowed the spiritual veins of three sects and absorbed the essence blood of one hundred thousand souls. Even a ninth-level Void Refining expert would be stripped of a layer of skin if they fell into it! Ye Chentian, you will die today!" Standing at the eye of the array, Xue Wuchang laughed wildly, already envisioning the scene where his opponent’s spiritual power would be locked and he would be slaughtered at will.

He formed seals with his hands, and the blood-red runes in the mist ignited, firing out like ten thousand arrows. Blood maggots capable of devouring spiritual power coiled around the arrowheads, and the ground split open, with thorny blood-colored vines lashing out toward Ye Chentian’s limbs.

Ye Chentian hovered above the blood mist, his white robes unstained by the foul aura, appearing entirely composed. "Is this all you have, and you dare call it a 'deadly killing array'? It’s laughable!"

He slowly raised the Flowing Light Violet Lightning Sword, the violet light on the blade flaring intensely, invoking the power of the Nine Heavens' thunder. With a light flick of his wrist, he swung his sword in what appeared to be a casual motion.

The strike seemed ordinary, yet it condensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth along with the power of lightning. The violet-gold sword light flowed from the tip; though it appeared slow, it carried an irresistible pressure that made the very atmosphere tremble!

Everything in the path of the sword light dissolved; it was like a silver river from the Nine Heavens pouring down. The blood mist evaporated instantly, and the blood-red runes were annihilated inch by inch! The blood pool at the heart of the array began to bubble and hiss, the white bones piled at the bottom purified into ash in an instant. The Blood-Shatter Soul-Locking Array had not even lasted a single breath!

"How is this possible! This is an array capable of trapping and killing ninth-level Void Refining experts!" Xue Wuchang roared in despair, his voice choked with sobs. "Who are you? Why do you possess such power?!" He was completely broken, never imagining he would fall into Ye Chentian’s hands.

"Noisy! Your Blood Shadow Hall harmed my disciple, dared to covet the spiritual roots of my sect, and set up such a heinous array. I will surely eradicate your Blood Shadow Hall!" Ye Chentian’s eyes turned cold and sharp. Lightning surged around him, and the Flowing Light Violet Lightning Sword in his hand emitted a hum like a dragon’s roar.

Xue Wuchang recoiled in horror, the color draining from his face: "You... you dare move against my Blood Shadow Hall? Our Hall Master is a powerful expert at the ninth level of the Integration stage; he will surely grind you into dust!"

"Ninth level of the Integration stage?" Ye Chentian sneered, and with a twist of his wrist, the violet-gold sword light suddenly surged by thirty feet. "Heh, you shall all be reunited underground soon enough!"

Before the words finished, the sword light shot toward Xue Wuchang like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night, carrying the force of collapsing mountains. Xue Wuchang hurriedly summoned his final protective spiritual light, only to watch it burst like a bubble under the sword’s strike. The moment the sword energy pierced his chest, it carried countless tiny lightning snakes that rampaged through his meridians, grinding his Nascent Soul into powder.

"No—!"

Xue Wuchang’s scream came to an abrupt end. His body stiffened and fell against the rock wall, his eyes fixed in a final, eternal look of absolute terror. Ye Chentian sheathed his sword, looking at the dissipating blood mist on the rock wall with a cold, sharp curl of his lips.

This was the price for coveting the spiritual veins of the Profound Heaven Sect. The Blood Shadow Hall was next in line for destruction.