It was the beginning of the night. From within the trading city, a strong wave of wild Qi could be felt coming from the Albedo clan. All cultivators were on alert, and Meili looked toward the clan with concern.
Eight forces in the Bone Forging Realm attacked with all their power. Lian stood in the center, his eyes cold and bloodthirsty. At the same time, hundreds of blood runes emerged from the red sword. With a firm swing, dozens of blood runes were launched into the air, carrying immense spiraling power. Together, they resembled a spinning blade made of blood. The power contained within the true essence of blood was fully ignited, making this strike unstoppable.
A massive red explosion erupted as the forces collided. The impact was overwhelming, hurling the eight advisors toward the stands with immense force. The blast echoed throughout the arena as debris flew in eight different directions, reducing everything in its path to rubble. Chaos and destruction filled the environment, leaving a trail of ruins and dust in the air.
The surviving spectators had already fled far away when they witnessed the advisors regathering. Now, at a certain distance, they watched as the most powerful cultivators of their clan were thrown, coughing up blood like kites with severed strings.
Within seconds, the eight cultivators rose from the wreckage. Their bodies were twisted and covered in red, their own blood. Exposed bones were visible amidst their wounds. One of them had an arm completely destroyed, while another had a severely damaged leg.
They couldn't believe that such power could be wielded by a young cultivator in the Muscle Transformation Realm. Although their injuries were grave, they were not fatal. Desperate, the eight advisors focused their Qi, and a glow enveloped each of them.
Within seconds, each advisor summoned spears, swords, sabers, and various other weapons that flew and gleamed intensely. Elemental powers manifested around the eight, with two encased in ice, three with a presence of wood, and the remaining three displaying earth armors.
Nothing was held back from their Qi now. A full-scale attack was unleashed. Either they would kill Lian, or they would die by the patriarch's command. After being responsible for the irreparable loss of the clan's invested resources, they had no other choice.
Blood runes merged into Lian's sword blade. He didn't wait any longer and advanced, disappearing like the shadow of a ghost. That caused the advisor with the ice Qi to feel death approaching. He didn't stay still, though. Bright sabers emerged from four directions around him. With a thought, ice barriers formed, and the saber in his hand awaited the confrontation.
Lian suddenly appeared before the old man, smiling. The elder didn't hesitate and attacked quickly. However, Lian's body vanished into a bloody mist. With a disturbed look, the old man struck in the opposite direction, only to destroy another shadow.
Within seconds, dozens of bloody mists were annihilated. The old man began to realize that something was wrong. His body was gushing blood abundantly from his wounds. Tears of blood formed in his eyes. His breath became increasingly intense and heavy. Suddenly, a cry of despair echoed to his right.
Instinctual fear took hold of his mind, and he desperately tried to run towards the cry. However, his legs were immobilized by something. When he looked down... he was able to see agonizing and suffering ghosts holding him firmly.
As he looked at the ghosts that held him, the advisor recognized their faces. They were members of the clan he himself had trained and favored in the past. The ghosts grabbed... a bit... and screamed with extreme hatred and pain.
Desperately, the advisor tried to break free, but he realized his Qi was not responding. He attempted to break through with his own body, but his muscles were weak, and there was no blood flowing in his veins. Deep dread and despair consumed him, causing him to collapse on the ground. The ghosts covered his entire body... they were biting and tearing his skin... the advisor couldn't move an inch. His entire body was gradually being torn apart... but there was no blood in anything.
Lian was determined to resolve everything in a matter of seconds. He knew his greatest weapon was the fact that the advisors and the patriarch didn't believe he would be capable of killing them. If they had united and attacked him from the beginning, he would have had to use the formation to contain them and escape.
Seizing the opportunity, Lian quickly eliminated the cultivators who had been used to try to kill him, and now he was ready to finish off the eight advisors in a matter of seconds before the patriarch realized the gravity of the situation.
Two advisors had already been killed within a moment. Two blood runes that emitted powerful true blood, as a result of their death, were now floating around Lian.
Right after, the other six advisors swiftly appeared around him. Realizing they had been manipulated, the advisors became alert. Lian separated them with agile movements and managed to eliminate two of them individually. It would be impossible for him to defeat the eight advisors if they used the clan's divine art to counterattack.
Lian smiled playfully as he noticed the understanding in the elders' eyes. All he needed to eliminate the remaining advisors were the new and powerful blood runes. With a gesture, all the runes gathered around him, starting to glow intensely and emitting a rapidly expanding red light.
An immense domain of blood, spanning several meters, was created. All six advisors were trapped within it. It was a tangible demonic killing domain, completely enveloping them.
Within the domain, the advisors were shrouded in a dense red mist, losing all spatial perception. They could only feel the ground beneath their feet while hundreds of screams of pain and lamentation echoed from all directions. Angry ghosts surrounded them and mercilessly attacked, pushing their minds to the brink of collapse. Not even the advisor with the strongest willpower could resist the effects.
Meanwhile, Lian heard a loud noise coming from outside the domain. The patriarch had finally taken action. To maintain the domain, all the hundreds of blood runes used their power to block the patriarch's strike. All the runes he gathered from the victims earlier were gone in that single strike of the patriarch. Now, only the two most powerful runes remained to sustain the domain.
The fight against the advisors had been brief so far, lasting just over a minute. But he hasn't finished the advisors yet. Now, Lian needed to eliminate them quickly, as another strike from the patriarch could be devastating.
At the tip of his sword, a swirling red vortex began to form. The space around it seemed to rotate around the blade, demonstrating the immense power contained in this strike that lightly touched the laws of space.
With a deep vertical slash, the sword created distortions similar to the destruction of a spatial crack, unleashing an overwhelming force.
The speed was so fast it was imperceptible to cultivators of the mortal world. Lian's strike hit the advisors without them being able to offer any resistance. They were instantly torn into pieces and mists of blood, with no chance of survival.
Lian quickly raised his sword, and the inscriptions on it glowed intensely. The space within the domain was manipulated and distorted. The devastating strike that had just annihilated the advisors bent and completely disappeared.
Outside the domain, the patriarch felt an imminent threat of death approaching. He quickly swung his black sword to the left, and a wound in space appeared before his eyes, revealing the gravity of the situation.
The patriarch's sword exploded in power, with all his Qi being released. Cracks quickly spread across the blade, leaving him surprised. With a quick thought, the patriarch channeled his soul strength to merge it with his weapon in a desperate attempt to protect himself. He was forced to retreat several meters away from the bloody domain while his weapon was completely destroyed. However, he managed to block that terrifying strike.
Suddenly, he looked ahead with a furious expression as his eyes gleamed with anger. The intense red glow at the center of the domain dissipated, revealing a young boy completely covered in his own blood. From his hand, he dropped onto the ground a sword shattered into hundreds of pieces.
It was possible to see entrails around the young boy, pieces of flesh, blood, and scattered limbs on the ground. They were the remains of the clan's advisors, completely annihilated.
The patriarch was stunned by the scene before his eyes. In less than two minutes, a fifteen-year-old youth had annihilated hundreds of the clan's most powerful cultivators, along with the eight advisors. And what was even more surprising was the calm and tranquility displayed on the young man's face. It seemed like he was having fun on a leisurely stroll.
Lian stared at the patriarch and felt the imminent pressure of a battle where he could lose his life. His Qi was almost completely depleted, as he had used all his power in the fight against Wunu. Lian turned to the power of the demonic formation to gain strength from blood and soul and continue fighting. Now, however, everything had been used up, and he still had to face the most powerful cultivator of the clan.
A burning desire for the next battle throbbed in Lian. He knew he needed to cultivate himself to the maximum in each realm. In order to compete with the body training of the Divine Plane, he had to fight to the limit of his body to expand his power. He longed for a battle where he could risk his own life. It was in this battle that he would find his true desire.