“Thump! Thump!”
“Thump! Thump!”
The eerie heartbeat continued to echo, and the martial artists present began to undergo varying degrees of mutation.
It started with their skin, which turned crimson and grew coarse.
Once the skin across their entire bodies had transformed, their teeth began to lengthen, and sharp claws sprouted from their hands.
Some martial artists even grew massive, sharp bone spikes from their elbows, while hideous spines erupted from their vertebrae along their backs.
Every mutation was remodeling the martial artists' bodies, shaping them into the forms of demons.
For this process, there is a term used throughout the myriad worlds: Falling.
When corruption enters the body, when the flesh is rewritten by that corruption, and when the soul is eroded by it—that is what it means to be one of the Fallen.
The martial artists collapsed to the ground, howling in pain. they desperately circulated their true qi and martial intent, attempting to block or delay the progression of the corruption.
However, the source of this corruption possessed an extremely high station. These martial artists below the eternal-tier had no power to resist it.
Even those at the mythic-tier were merely putting up a futile struggle; the process of their Falling was simply slower.
Beside the martial artists, the priests of Heaven cast divine spells one after another, calling down Holy Light in an attempt to help them purge the corruption.
As the Holy Light descended, the corruption did not recede. Instead, it only elicited even more agonizing wails from the martial artists.
A few mythic-tier martial artists still retained their sanity. Seeing that only the martial artists were falling into corruption while the members of the Heavenly Expeditionary Force remained unharmed, they endured the pain and asked a question.
“Why are you unaffected by that eerie heartbeat? Do you have some special artifact? Can you help my fellow disciples? Their strength is low; they cannot resist this corrosive corruption.”
At the martial artist's plea, the members of the Heavenly Expeditionary Force looked at one each other, exchanging glances.
Finally, an elderly priest stepped forward and spoke slowly.
“Child, it is not that we do not wish to help you, but our method of resisting corruption is not one you can use.”
“We rely on the Overlord of Heaven, the God of Gods, the Great Lord of Heaven.”
“We believe in Him, and He grants us His protection, ensuring we are never corrupted or Fallen.”
The mythic-tier inner sect disciple of the Universe Daoist Academy stared blankly at the pocket watch the old priest pulled from his robes, which was embossed with the likeness of the Lord of Heaven. He was speechless for a long time.
They were martial artists—warriors who worshipped power and pursued their own ultimate path. Naturally, it was impossible for them to place their faith in the Lord of Heaven.
But facing this eerie power of corruption, who could save them if they did not have the protection of the Lord of Heaven?
Just as the martial artists were sinking into despair, a grand will descended.
A massive face forced its way into this world. It was Li Taiji, the Yin-Yang Dao Lord.
“Master!”
In the next moment, hope flickered on the face of the struggling mythic-tier martial artist.
If anyone could save them now, it was their own master.
Li Taiji had been observing the battle between the Hell Archdukes and the Progeny in the void, but a faint sixth sense had caused him to divert a portion of his spirit to cast his gaze down toward the battlefield within the world below.
What he saw sent him into a towering rage. This War of Vengeance had been launched specifically to retaliate against the Mother of Hell for corrupting his disciples.
Yet now, that damned Mother of Hell was actually corrupting every single one of them.
Looking at his disciples twitching on the ground, their limbs twisting unconsciously, a fire of fury rose within Li Taiji's heart. His intense emotional shift was immediately noticed by the other Dao Lords beside him.
They were initially puzzled, but once they followed Li Taiji's gaze to the world below, they realized something was wrong and quickly looked down as well.
Subsequently, the fury spread from Li Taiji to the other Martial Dao Lords. Their terrifying anger was so great that even the void could not bear the weight, beginning to collapse.
In his extreme rage, the Extreme Martial Dao Lord threw a punch directly toward the Hell Archdukes not far away.
The absolute power shattered space itself, instantly landing on the Hell Archdukes.
One second, the Hell Archdukes were launching attacks; the next, they were folded and torn apart by the spatial collapse. Then, the power of a Dao Lord slammed into them, grinding the demon bodies they were so proud of into the smallest of particles.
Witnessing this, the Progeny disciples were all stunned, unable to comprehend why their masters had personally intervened.
“Oh no! It's our junior brothers!”
Chu Bawang, the third Progeny of the Extreme Martial Dao Lord known as the Heaven-Opening Hand, was the first to react.
The Progeny battlefield here was normal, so whatever had caused the Dao Lords to fly into such a rage had to be happening on the lower-tier battlefield within the world.
Hearing this, the other Progeny also realized the truth. They began to shift and flicker through the void.
In their urgency, they punched a massive hole through the world membrane and arrived at the battlefields their respective factions were responsible for.
When they saw the state of their junior brothers and sisters, these Eternal-rank martial artists and Progeny of the Dao Lords were also consumed by fury.
Right then, the eerie heartbeat rang out again.
“Thump! Thump!”
“Thump! Thump!”
Four more heartbeats sounded. The martial artists sprawled on the ground wailed once more. By now, the corruption was no longer limited to the flesh; it had begun to erode their souls.
“A heartbeat?”
Chu Bawang had sharp senses and immediately identified the source of the corruption. However, the heartbeat seemed like a natural phenomenon of the world itself, echoing from all directions. Even as an Eternal-rank, he could not pinpoint the exact location.
Just then, the Angel Priest in charge of this world's battlefield finally appeared. His expression was grim, and the hand holding his scepter trembled slightly.
“I did not expect that after all these years, Hell would birth another Blood Demon.”
“Blood Demon? Fellow Daoist Priest, is this Blood Demon you speak of the source of my junior brothers' corruption?”
“Yes. The Blood Demon is a creature of filth. If I am not mistaken, half of its body is still hidden deep within the earth's core.”
Before he could finish, Chu Bawang reached out with a clawed hand and tore the earth open, reaching straight into the core.
Sure enough, a blood-red, swollen embryo was pulsing rhythmically, just like a heart.
Chu Bawang struck again, throwing a punch. His overbearing martial intent instantly pierced through the embryo.
The embryo exploded with a bang, letting out a shrill shriek.
“Fellow Daoist, you said half was in the core. Where is the other half?”
Chu Bawang was anxious to remove this eerie Blood Demon as quickly as possible to free his fellow disciples from the suffering of corruption.
But the Angel Priest shook his head and sighed.
“When a Blood Demon is born, it severs its own soul to merge with the world. Everything you see now—the land, the sky, the rivers—is that Blood Demon.”
“The Blood Demon is filth itself. It targets the world, starting from the most fundamental Dao principles, corrupting the entire world into the form of Hell.”
“The world? What is so difficult about that? A mere minor world can be destroyed with the wave of a hand. Fellow Daoist, protect your people. I will send this world and that Blood Demon into oblivion together.”
Chu Bawang flew into the sky and began to build momentum. His Heaven-Opening intent condensed at his brow and gathered upon his fists.
The Angel Priest shook his head. He did not try to stop him, but instead sighed and whispered to himself.
“Sigh, it's useless.”
Chu Bawang struck with both fists. His Heaven-Opening intent was magnificent and blinding; everywhere it passed, the world melted like snow and space began to shatter.
But there was no joy on Chu Bawang's face. Instead, a look of astonishment appeared.
The world that should have collapsed was actually restoring itself rapidly. The destruction caused by his Heaven-Opening intent could not even keep up with the world's own speed of repair.
“No, impossible!”
“Sigh... Excellency, a world corrupted by a Blood Demon is already a part of Hell.”
“Breaking a world is easy, but breaking Hell... perhaps only if the one standing behind you were to act would there be a slim chance.”
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