Under the vast sky, a city lay bathed in blood.
In the highest castle, the master of this desolation sat upon a dark throne, his crimson eyes filled with a heavy, sinister gloom.
In the hall before him,
Cyan candlelight flickered, burning with increasing intensity.
Before his eyes,
Within a blood-red light screen, grey images flickered. This was the Eye of Darkness of this land, reconstructing scenes from ten thousand miles away in real-time...
It showed the tide of Death Spirits sweeping across the world,
The woman in red pointing the way,
The four people heading west,
And the various spirits fleeing to the east.
He narrowed his eyes, speaking with great interest, "How interesting. A place in the lower realm, hidden for ten thousand years, can actually produce so many fellows. Tsk, tsk... truly rare!"
Before him,
A hulking figure, five meters tall and clad in a long black robe, glanced at the four people heading west, who were currently advancing with unstoppable momentum.
He spoke warily, "Spirit Lord, these four are no simple matter."
The king, honored as the Spirit Lord, gave him a faint glance but said nothing.
His expression seemed to say: I'm not blind! I can see that.
The giant spoke again to warn him, "Spirit Lord, it is better to be cautious in all things. We must not be careless. After all, 'she' has come as well!"
At the mention of "her," a trace of dread and loathing flashed in the blood-red eyes hidden beneath the giant's dark robe.
The Spirit Lord on the throne also set aside his cynical casualness, saying solemnly, "You're right. Those beings have an old saying: even a lion must use its full strength when hunting a rabbit. We indeed cannot be careless."
His voice sank, and after a few seconds of silence, he said sinisterly, "Have all the dark spirits in the territory assemble. I will lead the team myself. This Spirit Lord shall personally meet these four arrogant beings, drink their blood, and slaughter them to the bone."
The giant's peripheral vision drifted to the light screen. On it, countless Death Spirits were surrounding and slaughtering hundreds of beings. However, a single flaming sword was still wreaking havoc, seemingly unmatched. He asked for instructions:
"What about the group to the east? The little brat who shattered the Sky Gate with one strike... these Death Spirits can't handle him, and the Grey Spirits we sent probably won't stop him either. Should I dispatch a few dark spirits to intercept and kill them?"
"No need," the Spirit Lord said.
"We're just going to ignore them?"
The Spirit Lord's gaze fell upon the bright red bridal gown as he analyzed,
"Since she has pointed the way,"
"There's no guarantee she won't intervene."
"If she does, even I wouldn't be able to stop her personally."
"Given that,"
"Why provoke her for the sake of a mere few hundred beings?"
The giant did not argue; the Spirit Lord's words were logical. "Then we're really just going to let them go?"
A flash of cunning glinted in the Spirit Lord's eyes as he said sinisterly, "Go? Can they truly leave? Further east, they will enter that lord's territory..."
The giant understood, a sudden realization dawning on him.
"The Spirit Lord is wise!"
The Spirit Lord waved a hand. "Go!"
"As you command."
After the man left, the Spirit Lord waved his hand again, and the light screen before him shattered. He stood up, grey mist shedding from his armor.
He stretched his muscles and swung his shoulders, saying triumphantly, "It's been a long time since I've had a satisfying fight. I hope you all can withstand a few more of my punches, hahaha!"
...
On the battlefield of the Death Spirit tide, the Twilight Emperor led the three Immortal Kings from the Era of Primal Chaos—the Water Qilin, Nightmare, and the Demon Flood Dragon—pushing forward and cutting through the tide as they headed straight for the west.
Due to the Spirit Lord's orders, the Death Spirit tide did not continue to hunt the four of them. Instead, they turned their focus toward the east, pursuing Xu Xian and the others.
The Twilight Emperor and his group naturally found themselves at leisure.
As they traveled leisurely, they didn't forget to look back from time to time, as if watching a play and offering their critiques.
The Demon Flood Dragon said mockingly, "These Death Spirits are quite tactful. I thought they were just a bunch of mindless beasts."
The Water Qilin took the opportunity to flatter him, "That's only because our Sovereign is wise, divine, and possesses an extraordinary dominance. Even these fellows have to avoid his brilliance."
The Twilight Emperor curled his lips into a smile.
He found the Water Qilin's compliments quite pleasing.
Nightmare, on the other hand, had a slightly dejected look on his face.
The Water Qilin teased, "What is it, Nightmare? Does it hurt your heart to see your little lackeys from the North Sea getting killed?"
Nightmare denied it, speaking insincerely, "Lackeys? Hmph... they were nothing more than tools. Now that they're useless, throwing them away is of no consequence. No one cares."
"Then why the long face?" the Water Qilin persisted.
Nightmare stole a glance at the Sovereign and said calmly, "I just haven't had enough of a fight yet."
The Twilight Emperor glanced at Nightmare. He knew exactly what was on his mind but didn't expose him. After all, who doesn't have their own little schemes?
He had always allowed his subordinates to have their own thoughts.
As long as they followed his orders.
He smiled and said, "Don't worry. In the future, you'll have plenty of opportunities to fight."
Nightmare respectfully accepted the words.
"Understood."
The Water Qilin clasped his hands behind his head and said leisurely, "But honestly, I quite like that fellow named Xu Xian."
Then, he contradicted himself, "No, I like all those little fellows from that sect."
"Oh?" the Twilight Emperor asked with interest. "And the reason?"
The Water Qilin chuckled awkwardly. "They're bold. Each one is bolder than the last. It suits my taste."
The Twilight Emperor laughed heartily.
"Haha!"
The other two joined in the laughter.
"Hahaha!"
While there was laughter and conversation in the west and the path ahead was clear, the east was filled with thunderous noise and trembling earth as the endless tide of Death Spirits lunged forward in a frenzy.
The hundreds of beings trapped within were finding it difficult to advance. Xu Xian led the way with the Heaven-Burning Sparrow, wreaking havoc upon the masses of Death Spirits with his immortal realm power.
Even when a Grey Spirit occasionally emerged from the shadows to launch a lethal strike, he was able to neutralize it with ease.
However, looking at the others, they did not possess such strength.
The few saints and demon immortals were barely able to protect themselves, but the other demon beasts and those in the tribulation transcendence stage were not so lucky.
One by one, they were submerged and dismembered by the tide of Death Spirits. Of the original four hundred-plus people, nearly a hundred had fallen in less than fifteen minutes.
Their lives were devoured, their essence blood drained, and they were ultimately assimilated, becoming Death Spirits themselves.
This was the unique innate divine ability of the Spirit-Devouring Tribe.
Devouring,
And assimilation.
Even ordinary Death Spirits possessed this ability.
Using the Little Book Spirit's insight, Xu Xian saw everything, yet he watched with indifference.
In the current situation, he barely had enough strength to protect himself, let alone the energy to care about the lives of others.
Those who could keep up lived;
Those who couldn't, died.
There was no room for negotiation.
The predicament was not just the dense tide of Death Spirits before them, but also unseen crises.
Since the arrival of darkness and the fall of this world, the spirit qi that living beings relied upon had long since dried up.
Being in this place, it was impossible to replenish depleted spiritual power, just as it had been when he first entered the Demon Abyss.
The Breath of Darkness
Could not replace demon qi, beast qi, or spirit qi. The energy and spiritual power they lost could only be replenished using ordinary pills.
However, everyone present was above the ninth stage. Using pills, ores, and immortal values to recover was like a drop in the bucket.
Furthermore,
Deep within the Heavens, the power of laws was too strong, and the Breath of Darkness was constantly eroding them. The consumption was far greater than they had imagined.
If this continued,
Even if they weren't killed, they would be exhausted to death.
Xu Xian had known from the beginning that this was a war of attrition, so he only utilized the Heaven-Burning Sparrow. He refrained from using high-consumption sword manual divine abilities unless absolutely necessary.
Thus,
Xu Xian knew he couldn't protect everyone.
He could only do what was within his power.
Within his capabilities, he would protect Lu Yuan, Tu Sisi...
And perhaps the Twelve Demon Gods...
That was all.
Some people were destined to die. The immortality they sought and the causes they had sown were now resulting in the reckoning of today's effects.
No one could blame anyone else.
Amidst the chaotic battlefield, the slaughter continued, and the bloody battle raged on.
Curses and complaints also echoed incessantly.
"Damn it."
"There's no end to them, absolutely no end..."
"Ancestor, save me..."
"Xu Xian, I won't let you go even as a ghost... Ah!!"
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