"Those are Heart Phantom Gu, which can only be cultivated on blood and flesh. It seems this Tianmo is someone special."
The calm voice came from Li Chen's ring, they came outside the hall to watch the scene.
Li Chen: "..."
He looked at the sky, his eyes narrowing as he saw the faint, shimmering distortion of the Gu insects diving towards the Grand Elder. In an instant Elder Mang, Elder Xuan Ji, and two other elders were affected by the Phantom Heart Gu.
Their eyes glazed over, the sharp light of intelligence replaced by a dull, empty sheen. The formidable auras that had been pushing back the Bloodmist Sect's assault flickered and stabilized, but the intent behind them changed.
The Grand Elder's hands, which had been weaving seals to reinforce the barrier, froze. He slowly lowered his arms, his gaze turning inward, as if listening to a voice only he could hear.
He clenched his fist, he hoped the blood mist sect would eliminate Tianmo, if not, his heart demon would only grow. The fear—the threat of death still haunts him where he had peed his pants. That's the biggest shame of his life.
"Master, if Tianmo dies here, will my karma with him be resolved?" Li Chen asked, his voice low.
"Karma exists when the mind seeks it... Let the foolish ones perish. Let it be a reminder that the mind must use one lest you become ONCE."
"I understand master... It's just that this junior feels like I can never overcome my heart demon if I can't beat him with my own hands," Li Chen's voice was steady, but his eyes betrayed a storm of conflicting emotions.
"Hmph! Sentimental nonsense," the Immortal scoffed, the voice echoing directly in Li Chen's mind. "Victory is victory. The Dao does not care how the tiger falls, only that it feeds the jackal. But... very well. If you wish to claim his head yourself, then we must ensure these vultures don't pick the bones clean before you arrive."
Li Chen looked up, his gaze sharpening, taking a big gulp.
**
'Hahaha... This is it. This is my perfect victory.' Liu Xiu thought. He now has 8 Nascent soul powerhouses as his puppets. Obviously, it's only their body. A nascent soul can have up to two souls.
Elder Mang's Aura flared.
Elder Xuan Ji however quickly took control of his body. He possessed the 'True devil heart' which was extremely effective against Gu that lives inside the heart and takes control of the mind.
It was also the reason why Tianmo was perfectly calm and composed. Because he knew the Gu won't affect Elder Xuan Ji. The first day where he met Elder Xuan Ji he called him a fox with treasure is precisely because of his devil heart.
It should be the finest collection for Tianmo.
..
Pfft!
Liu Xiu who was in another dimension, coughed off blood, his eyes, nose, mouth, anus, and penis, all bleeding.
"Arghhhhhh!"
He felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if a red-hot needle had pierced it. The backlash was severe. The True Devil Heart was a countermeasure specifically designed to shackle the soul. It didn't just expel the Gu; it burned the connection, sending a surge of chaotic energy back through the link to the controller.
"Damn it... The mother Gu is severely damaged. I can't see what's going on there."
He roared, his voice trembling with a mix of rage and agony.
The Mother Gu, the core of his control network, was writhing in his soul space, its wings shredded by the counter-attack of the True Devil Heart.
Without the mother Gu he can't see what's going on, and more importantly, those babies will go berserk.
..
Inside the mind of Elder Mang, the world was no longer a battlefield of commands. It was a storm of red static. The Gu, confused and feral, began to feast on the host's spiritual sense to sustain itself.
"AARRGGGHHH!"
Elder Mang threw his head back, a scream of pure agony tearing from his throat. It wasn't a scream of physical pain, but of spiritual annihilation. He clutched his head, his fingernails digging into his scalp, drawing blood that mingled with the tears streaming down his face.
"My mind! My soul! It's eating me! It's eating me!"
He didn't care about the Bloodmist Sect anymore. He didn't care about the formation. He only cared about the monster chewing on the inside of his skull.
The other affected elders reacted similarly including Venerable Bloodcrown. One began to claw at his own eyes, trying to dig out the invisible invader, while the other simply plummeted from the sky, his flight technique disrupted by the chaotic spasms of his Qi, crashing into the mountainside with a thunderous explosion of rock and dust.
Elder Xuan Ji sensing the opportunity didn't hesitate. 7 nascent souls were like weak pigs waiting to be slaughtered. As long as he can use his "True Devil Refining Technique and refine their cultivation, he can make a breakthrough to the Soul Lord realm. After that, he can easily possess the body of Wang Tianmo and use his original body as a fine resource.
This is a heaven-sent opportunity. A sinister smile, devoid of warmth, stretched across Elder Xuan Ji's face. The chaos was the perfect shroud; the screams of his peers were the finest music to accompany his ascension.
"Devil Fire, ignite!" he roared, his voice echoing not just in the physical realm, but in the spiritual domain.
Whoosh!
Black flames, cold enough to freeze the soul yet burning with the intensity of a dying star, erupted from his palms.
This was not ordinary fire—it was the manifestation of sin. Something he got from another demonic cultivator.
He formed a seal with one hand, his fingers moving with the speed of a striking cobra. "Devil's Cage! Bind!"
The black fire lashed out like a living whip, wrapping around the falling, convulsing bodies of the Nascent Soul elders who had been struck by the berserk Gu. It didn't burn their flesh; instead, it seared their meridians and locked their Dantians, turning their bodies into prisons that their own souls could not escape.
Venerable Bloodcrown, the mightiest of them all, was the primary target. The black flames coiled around him like a python crushing its prey, suppressing the violent rebellion of the Gu in his mind just enough to keep him alive—but helpless.
"Excellent... Subarashi," Xuan Ji laughed, his voice echoing with a sinister undertone that chilled the bone marrow of every disciple within earshot.
"Today, the Azure Cloud Sect falls, but from its ashes, I shall rise as a Devil Lord!"
He clapped his hands together, the sound sharp and final, like the slamming of a coffin lid.
"Blood Soul Sacrifice: Begin!"
The black fire roared, intensifying in heat but losing none of its cold, spectral nature. It began to burrow into the skin of the trapped elders, bypassing their physical defenses to latch directly onto their souls.
Venerable Bloodcrown's eyes snapped open. They were no longer human; they were pools of swirling blood, terror, and madness. The Gu inside him was eating his sanity, while the Devil Fire was eating his cultivation. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a gurgle of black blood emerged.
His cultivation base, the majestic peak of the Nascent Soul realm, began to drain. It flowed out of his body like a river of light, swirling around Xuan Ji, forming a terrifying vortex of red and black energy.
The other elders were undergoing the same fate. Their bodies withered, their skin turning gray and sagging as their essence was harvested.
..
"Stop! Elder Xuan! What are you doing?!"
A roar of fury erupted from the defensive platform below. It was Elder Won, the Arch-Bishop who had previously confronted Li Chen. He stood with his sword drawn, his face pale with horror and disbelief. "You dare consume your own sect's enemies? This is heresy! This is the path of the devil!"
"Devil?" Xuan Ji turned his gaze downward, his eyes glowing with a chaotic red light. "You dare teach me how to do things?! Kneel down and slap yourself twice, this devil lord shall spare your bloodkin."
He didn't even wait for a response. With a casual flick of his wrist, a tendril of black fire lashed out.
"Arghhhhh!"
Elder Won didn't even have time to scream. The black fire pierced his chest, bypassing his defensive artifacts like they were paper.
With a ruthless yank, Xuan Ji pulled.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!"
***
"That's Devil art... If we don't stop him he might actually break through and kill everyone," Li Chen clenched his fist.
"I miss the part where that's my problem," quote Immortal in the ring unable to fathom what's there to save a bunch of useless dogs.
Li Chen: "..."
"Immortal Master... Please help me kill that devil lord after that, I, Li Chen pledge to labor day and night to rebuild your body."
"Rebuild my body? Do you think any useless vessel can house the majesty of an Immortal Emperor?" The voice in the ring was laced with ancient pride, yet a hint of calculation lingered beneath the disdain.
"But I am interested in this Tianmo, Powerful spirit root, supreme Aura, and Dragon Might, possessing him might be fruitful... Also, let Elder Xuan Ji, do the dirty work, as long as the Sect's powers finish, Holy Maiden will be at your mercy."
Li Chen nodded his head, he held some fondness for her. According to his Master, he possesses a Supreme Nine Yang Body physique, as long as it can be unsealed he will get unparalleled benefit from Dual Cultivating with Ice Maiden Physique.
"Master, your wisdom knows no bounds... With your support, I can easily make Holy Maiden my Dao partner, the deaths of a few insignificant ants are necessary. It's all for the greater good." Li Chen voiced with his mental thought.
"You just wait... Once that elder uses everyone as a resource, he will encounter the lightning tribulations. This Immortal Emperor shall seal the space, and you will go and fight the weakened elder with a power boost from my blessings... That way, you will become a renowned figure, a hero who saved the sect, and the Holy Maiden will be yours."
Li Chen: "Hehe, good plan, good plan."
He felt a little guilty, but the path of cultivation is a path of ruthlessness. If he can't harden his heart, he will never succeed.
...
Elder Xuan Ji's cultivation increased rapidly... He went further, attacking nearby disciples and elders, sucking their blood and Qi.
He was no longer the patient, logical elder of the Azure Cloud Sect. He was a monster, a vortex of insatiable hunger. The black fire had turned a deep crimson, pulsating like a diseased heart.
The screams of the dying were a symphony to his ears.
"More! More! The Soul Lord realm... it is within reach!"
He laughed, the sound echoing across the devastated peak, a mixture of ecstasy and madness.
He looked at the sky, his eyes burning with a chaotic light. The formation was shattered, the defenses gone. The path was clear.
"YOU TRAITOR!!" The Voice of Holy Lord boomed, he was weak but he was followed by two Archbishops.
"How dare yo— pfft!" but before he could say anything more, one of the Arch-bishop plunged a dagger at his heart.
"It was a wonderful time being with you Holy Lord Yang, alas, we were always loyal to Elder Xuan." One of the Arch-bishop said his voice was devoid of emotion.
"F-Father..." Holy Maiden, Yang Bingyun, stood frozen at the entrance of the hall, her face a mask of pale, porcelain shock. The icy demeanor that usually shielded her from the world had shattered, leaving her exposed and raw.
Her father, the pillar of the sect, the mountain that had always loomed invincible in her heart, was on his knees. Blood, dark and viscous, bubbled from his lips, dripping onto the pristine white floor of the hall. The dagger hilt protruded obscenely from his chest, twisted by the traitor's hand.
The Arch-Bishop who had struck the fatal blow didn't even have the decency to look ashamed. He stood over the fallen Holy Lord, his face a mask of fanatical devotion directed not at the dying man, but at the monster in the sky.
"The era of the Azure Cloud Sect ends today," the Arch-Bishop proclaimed, his voice ringing with a terrifying certainty. "From the ashes of the weak, the True Devil Sect shall rise!"
Yang Bingyun's hands trembled uncontrollably.
Li Chen looked at her and felt pity... But it's all for the greater good.
The world had turned into a canvas of crimson and charcoal. The once-serene peaks of the Azure Cloud Sect were now jagged scars on the landscape, weeping smoke and blood. The air was thick with the coppery tang of gore and the acrid stench of burning Qi.
Elder Xuan Ji floated above the carnage like a dark deity. The vortex of red and black energy around him had solidified into a towering pillar of light that pierced the heavens. The screams of the thousands of disciples he had consumed were no longer audible; they had been distilled into pure, silent terror that radiated from his form.
His cultivation was skyrocketing. The bottleneck of the Nascent Soul realm, was crumbling under the pressure of the stolen lives.
"Almost there..." Xuan Ji rasped, his voice echoing with the overlapped tones of the dead. "I can taste the Soul Lord realm... It is sweet... like the marrow of a child."
He raised a hand, and the space around him distorted. The laws of the Azure Cloud Sect, which had governed this land for millennia, were bending to his will. The very Dao of this region was being rewritten by his devilish intent.
Buzzz....
The sky began to darken further, not with the coming of night, but with the suppression of the Heavens themselves. The clouds swirled into a flat, black disk, pressing down on the mountain as if to crush it into dust.
Then, it began.
A single bolt of lightning, thick as a mountain range and jagged as a dragon's tooth, tore through the void. It was not the white of natural lightning, nor the red of blood lightning. It was a chaotic, swirling vortex of black and violet—the color of a bruised soul and a shattered law.
Tribulation Lightning.
To cultivate the Dao is to go against the Heavens. To break the rules of existence invites the wrath of the cosmos. And Elder Xuan Ji had just broken every rule in the book. He had slaughtered his own kin, consumed the souls of the innocent, and attempted to force his way into a realm that required enlightenment, not just power.
The Heavens do not tolerate such arrogance.
BOOM!
The first bolt slammed into Elder Xuan Ji.
The sound was less like a thunderclap and more like the cracking of the world's spine. The black fire surrounding him was instantly dispersed, the vortex of energy shattering under the divine impact. Elder Xuan Ji's body jerked violently, his skin cracking under the immense pressure, glowing fissures appearing all over his body as if he were a porcelain vase about to explode.
"AARRGGGHHH!"
He screamed, but he didn't fall. Instead, he laughed.
"Is this all?! Is this the wrath of the Heavens?! Pathetic!"
He spread his arms, welcoming the destruction. He opened his mouth and inhaled the lightning, his chest expanding grotesquely. The energy of the tribulation, which should have been his doom, became his fuel.
One by one, nine lightning descended.
The stolen souls of the Nascent Soul elders acted as a buffer, burning away to protect his core while his cultivation base surged upward.
Crack. Snap. Boom.
The bottleneck of the Soul Lord realm... shattered.
First stage.
Early → Mid → Late → Peak.
Second stage.
Early → Mid → Late → Peak.
Third stage.
His cultivation was at the third stage but his foundation was weakened and his qi was unstable. The lightning tribulation had ended, leaving behind a sky that looked like a bruised plum, weeping dark rain.
"Perfect timing, Master. Seal the space."