Translator: CinderTL
Jiang Lanruo halted her escape light, her expression grave.
The blood sea ahead had expanded to cover a radius of two thousand miles, blotting out the sky and sun.
The crimson sea churned violently, its putrid stench assaulting her senses, as if the very heavens and earth had been dyed scarlet.
Her opponent stood atop a surging wave, hurtling toward her.
"Who exactly are you?" Jiang Lanruo demanded, her voice cold.
"A former acquaintance who has never forgotten your peerless beauty, Fellow Daoist. Your forgetting me after nearly a millennium truly chills my heart. Your image has haunted my mind these past thousand years," Song Wen replied, his voice dripping with false tenderness, spouting utter nonsense.
Jiang Lanruo's beautiful eyes widened, twin beams of icy light shooting forth.
"Enough with your flowery words! Die!"
Her flying sword struck again, slashing toward Song Wen.
Pfft!
The sword severed Song Wen's head, reducing him to a cloud of blood mist.
A mile away, the blood sea surged, and Song Wen's figure slowly rose from its depths.
"A thousand years of longing, only to be repaid with such a heartless strike. Fellow Daoist Jiang, you are utterly heartless," Song Wen continued his rambling, his face even contorting into a tragic expression.
Jiang Lanruo's delicate features grew increasingly frosty.
She gritted her teeth, her hands flashing through Sword Incantations with lightning speed.
The flying sword hovered high above her head, trembling violently as it emitted a clear, resonant sword cry.
The sword's silver light surged violently, transforming into a radiant silver moon in the sky.
"Slash!" Jiang Lanruo uttered a soft, icy command.
As her voice fell, countless Sword Qi erupted from the silver moon, a dense, overwhelming barrage that blanketed the heavens.
The Sword Qi rained down like a torrential downpour, each strike aimed directly at the churning blood sea below.
Song Wen stood within the blood sea, his expression calm as he watched the relentless Sword Qi descend like a storm.
The blood sea surged violently, extending countless tentacles to meet the incoming Sword Qi.
Where the Sword Qi struck, the tentacles shattered into crimson mist that drifted through the air.
The Sword Qi continued to fall, carving deep fissures into the blood sea and sending blood spraying in all directions.
For a moment, the blood sea seemed on the verge of collapse.
Yet no matter how much Sword Qi rained down, the blood sea refused to break.
Instead, the scattered blood and dissipated Blood Qi were drawn back into the sea, replenishing its strength.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang," Song Wen's voice echoed from the depths of the blood sea, "I've traveled far to see you. Why greet me with drawn swords? Why not find a tranquil, secluded spot, enjoy wine beneath the moonlit flowers, and share pleasantries? Wouldn't that be far more agreeable?"
His second blood shadow Incarnation had already been shredded by the Sword Qi.
Jiang Lanruo's gaze remained icy, her Sword Incantation shifting once more.
"Ten Thousand Swords Return to One—Break!"
In an instant, the scattered Sword Qi converged into a single, colossal blade of pure light.
The sword light, vast as a rainbow stretching across a thousand miles, shone with the brilliance of a starry river. Carrying an unmatched momentum, it slashed directly into the blood sea.
"Fellow Daoist Jiang, I have spoken to you with kindness all along. Why do you insist on forcing my hand?"
From the heart of the blood sea, a crimson pillar of light erupted, thick as a colossal dragon coiling skyward, and slammed into the luminous sword.
The sword cleaved through the pillar, splitting it in two.
With unstoppable force, the sword plunged into the blood sea, cleaving it into two halves.
Yet Jiang Lanruo's face showed no joy, only a tightening of her expression.
A copper bracelet on her wrist flew off, expanding to over three meters in diameter and hovering above her head.
The bracelet cascaded golden light, enveloping her in a radiant aura like a massive golden bell.
Clang!
A short blade, striking from behind, slammed into the golden bell.
The bell shuddered but remained unbroken, though the impact staggered Jiang Lanruo, sending her lurching forward.
Instead of trying to regain her balance, she channeled the momentum, accelerating her escape.
To her surprise, the severed halves of the blood sea below suddenly merged, surging skyward like an inverted celestial river, blocking her path.
The blood sea coiled, crashing toward her in a crimson torrent.
A flicker of resolve flashed in Jiang Lanruo's eyes. Without slowing, she charged straight into the blood sea.
At the same time, she executed a Sword Incantation with her hand.
The flying sword transformed into a silver streak, piercing through the air like a rainbow through the sun, aiming directly at the surging blood sea ahead.
Jiang Lanruo followed closely behind the sword, clearly intending to force her way through the blood sea's blockade.
Where the sword's light passed, a massive gap was torn through the blood sea. Crimson waves of blood were forced back by the Sword Qi, emitting piercing shrieks.
Jiang Lanruo's figure darted through the blood sea, flanked by towering walls of blood on either side.
As if possessing a life of its own, the blood sea rapidly healed the torn gap, while the surrounding waves churned wildly, threatening to engulf her.
Jiang Lanruo's brow furrowed slightly as she continuously shifted the Sword Incantation in her hand.
The deeper she ventured into the blood sea, the tighter her frown became.
Earlier, she had observed that the blood sea was only about ten miles thick. Yet now, having already plunged a hundred miles deep, she still hadn't broken through.
She had trapped herself in a self-made cocoon, plunging into a desperate situation.
"Heh heh heh..." A strange laughter echoed through the blood sea. "Fellow Daoist Jiang, are you throwing yourself into my arms? Have you finally agreed to fly away with me?"
Hearing the voice, Jiang Lanruo glanced to her left and noticed a human face protruding from the blood wall, clinging to her like a shadow.
With no way to retreat, she could only continue urging her flying sword forward, desperately trying to pierce through the blood sea and break free.
The face remained beside her, incessantly murmuring passionate yet reckless words.
After about a dozen breaths, the smile on the face vanished abruptly, as if struck by a severe blow. It dramatically spat out a mouthful of blood.
Before Jiang Lanruo could react, a glimmer of light appeared ahead.
Her flying sword had pierced through the blood sea!
Jiang Lanruo's expression brightened with joy as she swiftly flew out of the blood sea.
Only then did she notice the blood sea rapidly contracting, eventually revealing a human figure.
The figure wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said resentfully, "Fellow Daoist Jiang, your strength is truly remarkable. Even trapped within my natal magic treasure, you managed to severely injure me."
Before the words had even finished echoing, the figure mounted their escape light and sped away into the distance.
Jiang Lanruo watched their retreating back but made no move to pursue. Instead, she turned and headed toward the water pool.
She harbored deep suspicions about her escape, but the urgency of the situation left her no time for further contemplation.
When she arrived above the pool, her eyes blazed with fury.
The surrounding terrain had been utterly transformed, reduced to a desolate wasteland covered in crystalline ice.
The once uneven ground between the mountains had been carved into a massive, gaping pit.
Within the pit, a three-foot-wide luminous barrier hung suspended in mid-air.
Scattered at the bottom of the pit lay several formation flags, each about a foot long.
Jiang Lanruo dove down, crashing into the barrier.
The barrier flashed with a blue light, and she vanished instantly.
Moments later, the barrier glowed blue again, and Jiang Lanruo reappeared.
Her eyes burned with rage, and veins bulged on her forehead like writhing earthworms beneath her skin.
Her once ethereal face now twisted into a grotesque grimace.
(End of the Chapter)
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