Chapter 862: Battle of Blood and Malice

Chapter 862: The Battle of Blood and Wrath

Lie chuckled, not taking Sisi’s words seriously.

As Jiuyou had said, Lie and the Sword Emperor and their ilk were on a different path from hers. Aside from being able to extend their divine sense farther, they couldn’t be omnipresent. Most of the time, they too had to rely on changes in the Chaos Rankings to learn about distant events, just like ordinary people.

From the Chaos Rankings in recent days, Zhao Changhe had been campaigning in Kunlun, with many tasks ahead. Killing Hanchi, seeking Baihu, and slaying Boyun were one thing, but Kunlun also harbored the world’s foremost demon, Ye Jiuyou, who was more than enough to keep Zhao Changhe busy. How could he possibly run around everywhere?

It was unclear whether Zhao Changhe knew the optimal time for the spiritual land’s revival here. If he didn’t, he might not even come at all. Even if he did, arriving at that precise moment would be a feat in itself—provided he could survive Ye Jiuyou’s clutches.

Lie had been investigating the spiritual clan’s secret realm since parting ways at the northern frontier, and only now had he begun to grasp some clues. Zhao Changhe wasn’t even around, so there was no reason he should know...

“Whether he fears me or not, I don’t know. But as the time draws near, I should at least impose some preliminary restrictions on you... Don’t worry, it’s just a precaution. Protecting you is more important, after all—there are quite a few people eyeing you.”

As he spoke, a wisp of baleful aura silently coiled around Sisi.

But before it could take shape, the aura seemed to hit an invisible wall and abruptly dissipated. From the void came Zhao Changhe’s voice: “My woman, I protect myself. No need for you to trouble yourself, senior.”

Deep within the spiritual clan’s secret realm, Lie opened his eyes.

Sisi’s face broke into a radiant smile.

The Gu of Shared Hearts had not transmitted any mutual intent, yet the two were truly of one heart. At least half of Zhao Changhe’s palpitations came from the potential danger Sisi might face, prompting him to arrive early. Sisi, without any sign, felt that Zhao Changhe would surely appear when she was in peril.

No Gu, yet still one heart.

“I didn’t expect you all to come together.” Sisi pouted. “What’s left for me to do?”

Yue Hongling, who knew her best, was speechless with exasperation: “What’s going on in that head of yours? Is this the time to say that?”

Zhao Changhe leaned down and gently kissed Sisi’s forehead. “It’s my fault. I kept thinking everyone’s breakthroughs were at a critical juncture, but when the palpitations came, I realized that no breakthrough mattered more than being by your side sooner. I nearly made a grave mistake.”

Sisi said, “If their breakthroughs are at a critical point, let them break through. You could have come first...”

San Niang and the others looked at this enchanting little queen with a mix of amusement and exasperation. At a time like this, she still wanted to romance her man—there was probably no one else like her. How did she ever manage to be a queen? Oh, right, the Empress of the Great Han wasn’t much better either. It seemed that to sit at the same table as him, one had to be of this caliber, didn’t it?

Zhao Changhe could only laugh helplessly and say, “Everyone came because there’s work to do...”

As he spoke, he tapped the void again. A ripple passed, and Yue Hongling and the others, who had been watching Sisi, suddenly vanished.

Sisi was stunned: “Where did they go?”

Zhao Changhe smiled faintly. “Lie isn’t the only one lurking here. Don’t worry—their movements can’t escape my detection now. I’ll leave a big sister here to look after you. I’ll go see Lie and discuss things later.”

With that, he too disappeared.

Sisi turned her head and saw a peerless immortal standing behind her, her gaze seemingly distant and indifferent, yet with a strange warmth and approval.

Sisi bowed: “Sister, you are...”

Piaomiao smiled. “At the beginning of the year, you prayed to me for favorable weather and bountiful harvests. Now that we meet, you don’t recognize me?”

Sisi’s eyes nearly bulged out: “You are the Ancestral God? No... our Ancestral God couldn’t be like this.”

“The one you prayed to wasn’t just your Ancestral God.” Piaomiao said gently, “Your safety now concerns many. For now, I am your guardian deity, never leaving your side.”

Sisi opened her mouth, not moved, but rather wanting to cry.

Having such a beautiful sister by her side every moment—how was she supposed to be with her man? This sister felt gentle, yet the pressure was immense, as if facing a distant, unfathomable deity. What kind of strange beings had he gathered around him in this time?

But let’s leave Sisi’s dilemma aside. In the spiritual clan’s secret realm, atop the now-empty sacred mountain, Lie sat cross-legged in the holy hall, frowning with a grave expression.

He never expected Zhao Changhe to actually come. How had he managed it? Was Ye Jiuyou a nursemaid?

A broad blade emerged from the void, slashing straight at his head.

Lie flipped his wrist, and a blood-colored long blade clashed upward with a clang.

The air around them exploded. The holy hall collapsed, and the surrounding peaks crumbled, leaving only the pillar where Lie sat, isolated and solitary.

Lie sighed. “Zhao Changhe... I truly didn’t think you’d actually come.”

Zhao Changhe hovered before him, sizing him up, then suddenly smiled. “Old Xue didn’t keep the Blood God Blade? Then the formation disk must be with you too, senior.”

Far away at the frontier, Xue Canghai sneezed, sitting on a mountaintop with his hands tucked in his sleeves, staring at the sun.

As the Blood God Sect’s leader, he had lost everything that could prove his identity—all taken back by the ancestor. It was enough to make one weep. What was worse, the Blood God Blade in his hands was nothing but a sharp tool, but in Lie’s hands, its power was something else entirely. If he could have unleashed such strength earlier, how could he have been defeated by someone of a lower rank?

But that was all in the past. Xue Canghai gazed at the sky.

Lie paid no attention to Xue Canghai’s distant plight. He stared at Zhao Changhe in utter astonishment. “Your cultivation...”

It was simply absurd. When he had seen Zhao Changhe at the northern frontier, he hadn’t even broken through to the second level of the Imperial Realm. Yet in just a few months, he was already at the third. Lie, who had lived through two epochs, had never seen anything like it. Even just accumulating energy—how had he obtained so much in such a short time? Had the Heavenly Dao personally bestowed it upon him?

Zhao Changhe’s smile faded, and he said calmly, “Senior’s incense has spread so widely—isn’t that a joyful thing?”

Lie laughed dryly. “Unfortunately, the incense you use is no longer mine. The one who can still call it my incense is Xue Canghai.”

“Not necessarily.” Zhao Changhe said flatly, “Senior is the Blood God, not the Baleful God. Back then, you had me discard baleful qi and retain blood qi. I wonder if there was some other intention buried in that. But since I truly no longer wish to wield baleful qi, I went along with your advice and abandoned that path. It’s been fine so far, so I should thank you for the guidance.”

Lie was intrigued. “You noticed that back then?”

“Yes. I also noticed something else... Senior has no physical body.” Zhao Changhe smiled. “The better I or Xue Canghai and the others forged our bodies, the more vigorous our blood qi became, the better vessels we would be for your possession—not just for suppressing blood and baleful qi. Back then, you clearly intended to take my body, but you gave up. Xue Canghai and the others’ bodies, you didn’t fancy... To this day, you remain in a soul state. What kind of vessel are you looking for?”

Lie’s expression didn’t change. “Why must I have a physical body?”

Zhao Changhe sneered. “If someone else said that, I might believe it. But you and I know each other too well. Whether our cultivation is aided by blood qi makes a world of difference in our strength. If you say you don’t need a body, I don’t believe you.”

For Piaomiao, having or not having a body didn’t make much difference. In her soul state, she could still rampage through the ancient times, storming the Sea Emperor’s palace and breaking into the Night Palace without showing weakness. After painstakingly forging a body, in the end, it only served her lover, with no boost to her strength. Of course, she needed a body to keep her wandering soul from dissipating—that was another matter.

But Lie was different. His cultivation was rooted in blood qi; he absolutely couldn’t do without a body. The difference in combat power would be enormous. With Zhao Changhe’s current insight, the moment he saw Lie, he understood his intention... Lie was aiming for the spiritual clan’s ancient god’s body.

That was why his method differed from the prophecies about Zhuque and Baihu. It was another kind of so-called “blood sacrifice of all spirits.” What such a method would produce was likely not true resurrection, but a revival of flesh and blood, making it easier for him to occupy.

Just as Jiuyou had her own plan—originally intending to control corpses as puppets, also unrelated to the prophecies.

It seemed similar to the conflict with Baihu: everyone had different goals. If Lie succeeded in his scheme, his combat power might truly explode instantly.

But was Lie really sure his method would work? On what basis had he determined it? Even if it worked, it should be stopped—using the flesh and blood of the spiritual clan for a blood sacrifice? How could such a demonic method be allowed?

Lie gazed at him calmly for a long moment, then slowly said, “It seems there’s no room for negotiation between us.”

“No.” Zhao Changhe sighed. “I respect your bearing and thank you for your legacy. Even now, many of my principles still follow your original intent... But in the end, you are a demon god. Your mindset is too far from ours. We cannot walk the same path.”

“Indeed... in the end, it comes down to battle.” Lie slowly stood up, a violent light flickering in his eyes. “To tell you the truth, back then I didn’t take your body not because I didn’t want to, but because I was too weak to do so. But if you fall into my hands now, I’ll gladly take your body. With your body, the spiritual clan will obey my commands, and what I need to do will become much simpler.”

“Then you’re thinking too much, senior... You still can’t do it now.”

With those words, Zhao Changhe leaped forward, and a standard “Buddha and Immortal, Scatter!” came crashing down toward Lie’s head.

Buddha and Immortal, Scatter.

Lie’s expression flickered with a trace of daze.

Such a resolute “Buddha and Immortal, Scatter”—its intent was clear. In the eyes of his opponent, Lie was the Buddha and immortal that should be scattered, and his conviction was unshakable. When this very intent was turned against him, so perfectly fitting, Lie felt a profound irony in fate.

At the time, this intent had even made him feel that the world had no need for Lie... But some things still had to be done.

The Blood God Blade flipped again.

“Clang!” The clash of the two blades sent blood and baleful qi surging through the air, with thunder and wind roaring. The area around the sacred mountain had already turned into a vast sea of blood, the stench of gore and murderous intent spreading across heaven and earth.

Blood filled the mountains and rivers.

Though Lie’s soul form was of normal human size, in Zhao Changhe’s eyes, it seemed to tower like a giant, filling his entire field of vision.

This feeling—Zhao Changhe’s enemies had once been all too familiar with it. It was the oppression and terror caused by baleful qi interfering with the mind. His enemies had countless times seen a giant phantom behind him, as if about to cleave the world apart. Once their minds wavered, they would be dismembered.

Now it was his turn to experience it, and at the highest level. The taste was rather interesting.

Meanwhile, the blood within his body surged, wildly and chaotically stirred, on the verge of bursting forth.

Zhao Changhe laughed, revealing neat, white teeth.

Longque trembled, slashing diagonally along the Blood God Blade.

The vast sea of blood vanished, merging into the boundless gloom of night; the pungent stench of blood was merely the ordinary air of the underworld, and the overwhelming killing intent was but the ever-present dust of hell.

Thus is hell.

Lie, the creator of the technique, was stunned—was this his own "Thus is hell"?

This was Ye Jiuyou's Death Abyss, wasn't it...

"You cannot control the blood and qi in my body, nor can you burst my flesh and blood," Zhao Changhe said with a smile. "Because you yourself have none... I told you, without a body, your combat strength will be much weaker. Even if you are at the mid-to-late stage of Imperial Realm third level, and I have just broken through, you will lose."

Blood Fiend Saber Technique versus Blood Fiend Saber Technique—Lie truly found himself unable to deal with his opponent.

He had abandoned killing intent, but what Zhao Changhe controlled seemed even more outrageous—were you actually controlling the Nine Abyss?

"Swish!" The blood-colored saber light rose again, tearing through the Abyss.

It was as if the sky was shattered by this slash; above, a massive crack was clearly visible, and the sea of blood poured down, engulfing the entire world.

Slaughter of all living beings. This was also a slash that Zhao Changhe had only glimpsed but never fully learned, and it was this very slash that made him firmly choose the path of abandoning blood fiend.

He too raised his blade and struck, his saber path very similar to Lie's.

The same tearing of the sky, as if carving a cross-shaped slash across the heavens.

But what poured down was not a sea of blood, but the Milky Way.

"Boom!"

Galaxy versus Blood Sea, heaven and earth collided; the entire space boiled in chaos, the ground sank and the sky tilted. The Spirit Clan's secret realm even showed signs of crumbling collapse.

This was no mere imagery—the power had truly reached the point of shattering space and splitting heaven and earth. Though it was only the Spirit Clan's small world, it meant that with even stronger cultivation, one could truly destroy an entire world. The fall of the Heavenly Realm and the collapse of the era had come from this.

Blood trickled from Zhao Changhe's lips, but the battle fervor in his eyes only burned brighter.

Since entering Kunlun, he hadn't fought such a pure battle in a long time... This fight made the significance of consolidating the third level more valuable than a year of secluded meditation.

"Senior, how about matching this saber once more?" Zhao Changhe flicked his wrist, pushing Lie back slightly, and assumed the starting stance for the final slash.

The ferocity in Lie's eyes turned into a smile: "Good. Let me tell you a secret—the time the Sword Emperor agreed with you, the so-called late autumn, is wrong. The actual time is the fifteenth of August, tonight's Mid-Autumn Festival!"

"Clang!" Before the words faded, two identical sabers clashed again.

The blood color scattered, the sky regained its light, above and below were separated, yin and yang revolved.

Lie was finally shocked: "You... felt not even a ripple in your heart at my words?"

Zhao Changhe smiled faintly: "I had already expected it."

"Boom!" The sacred mountain, which had just been shattered by their terrifying power, miraculously reassembled, once again becoming a complete peak. Even the flowers and grass on the mountain quietly regrew, restoring their fragrance.

The final form of the Blood Fiend Saber Technique, rekindling creation. But this creation completely overwrote Lie's own intent, with not a trace of it related to him—it was entirely Zhao Changhe's time, space, and causality converging here, striking this divine and masterful slash.

As for Lie, his soul was nearly completely scattered by this slash, unable to hold its form, and he fled far away as a blood-colored mist.

His laughter lingered in the air: "Good, good, good... Truly, a new generation surpasses the old."

Zhao Changhe could not speak; he planted his saber on the ground and knelt on one knee, breathing heavily.

Lie's slash—its surface intent had been completely covered by him, but the damage to the body was not offset. Now, his insides churned like a storm, and he could not speak for a moment.

Yet his heart was filled with ease.

He had not even used his own techniques like Severing Causality; he had purely fought Lie's Blood Fiend Saber Technique with his own Blood Fiend Saber Technique, and in the end, he had won. Even though it was because Lie had no body, this sense of achievement was no lighter than any victory—it could be considered a different kind of Severing Causality.

As for the words Lie had tried to shake his resolve with, Zhao Changhe had indeed known them long ago... When Yue Hongling mentioned that she still had a battle with the Sword Emperor, Zhao Changhe understood the source of his unease.

The time was set by the Sword Emperor... But why would the Sword Emperor know the exact time, and why did everyone have to follow that schedule, inexplicably led by the nose?

If the Sword Emperor was not as graceful as he appeared, but actually had hidden schemes, then this seemingly sincere invitation to resolve the issue was actually half-truth and half-misleading. The location was correct—it sounded fine at first, easily believed. But the time was wrong, dragging Zhao Changhe's troublesome Four Symbols faction into a stalemate between Kunlun and the Nine Abyss, while the Sword Emperor had already finished what he needed to do...

It was a simple misdirection tactic, but very effective. A few days ago, Zhao Changhe hadn't even thought of it, his mind full of meeting in late autumn. If he had actually gone in late autumn, he would have been doomed...

But the Sword Emperor was probably racking his brains, unable to understand how the Four Symbols faction's entanglement with the Nine Abyss had been resolved in just a few days. Anyone targeted by the Nine Abyss would lose a layer of skin, let alone these two, who were originally mortal enemies, supposed to fight to the death.

At this moment, the Sword Emperor stood on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, watching the Four Symbols appear abruptly. Yue Hongling was holding her sword in a salute: "Meeting now, I wonder if you are delighted... or surprised?"