A melodious, enchanting voice drifted over from the side. Jian Dan turned her head at once and respectfully saluted.
"Jian Lu greets the Nine-tailed Beast King. Many thanks to the Beast King for lending your aid."
The Nine-tailed, dressed in a flowing purple water-cloud silk robe, stood with a figure that was all grace and allure. Her foxlike purple eyes shimmered with a watery gleam, while the purple nine-tailed flower mark at her brow only heightened her charm.
"I promised you, and so naturally I will do as I said."
Ahead, Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn had already spread out a barrier. Within it, Yun Yun Zhēnzūn of Cloud Sea Sect was cooperating with him, both entangled in battle with a massive blood sac.
"Beast Lord, can you confirm that the evil cultivator is truly here?"
The Nine-tailed hung in the air, casting Jian Dan a sidelong glance, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Isn't your Zhēnzūn already fighting him?"
Jian Dan could only smile bitterly, bowing again. "Jian Lu would never dare doubt the Beast Lord's judgment. But this evil cultivator commands the art of splitting his soul. I only worry he might use a split body to stall us while his true body escapes, thus I dared to ask."
"You are cautious, at least."
The Nine-tailed Beast Lord did not take offense. She too wished nothing more than to eradicate this evil cultivator.
"Do you see that blood sac? His true body is hidden within. He tried to use it to slip out from his lair at the bottom of the sea, but Tian Zhuo and Yun Yun forced him out from the undercurrents."
Relief flickered across Jian Dan's face. As long as the true body had not escaped, there was still a chance to kill him. A flash of murderous intent lit her eyes.
Inside the barrier, the situation shifted. From the sea below, cultivators began to rise in droves, numbering over a hundred. They stood stiffly in the air for a moment, then suddenly charged forward with weapons, all striking at the two Zhēnzūns.
Yue Liang, who had been curled quietly on Jian Dan's shoulder, stood upright with a solemn expression. Her small face turned grave as she stared at the newcomers. "Zūnshàng, they have already become the evil cultivator's puppets. Not a single one of them can be left alive."
The Nine-tailed spoke languidly, her voice teasing. "Little one, your tone is fierce. Must you be so ruthless, demanding their total annihilation?"
Yue Liang bowed respectfully while still perched on Jian Dan's shoulder, her voice clear. "The evil cultivator has fused a strand of his split soul into each puppet. If even one escapes, he will survive through it."
Her bright black eyes, like polished obsidian, met those of the Nine-tailed Beast Lord.
The cultivators arriving one after another overheard these words. At once they understood this battle could not be left to the two Zhēnzūns alone.
Jian Dan nodded to the Heavenly Sword Sect cultivators behind her, then charged toward the barrier, raising her voice. "Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn, allow us to enter and assist in annihilating these puppets!"
In truth, Tian Zhuo Zhēnzūn was not using his full strength. He fought in support of Zhēnzūn Yun Yun, letting the Cloud Sea cultivator take the lead. After all, this traitor had been one of Cloud Sea Sect's own.
Now, Tian Zhuo's natal sword occasionally slashed out, shattering the brown tendrils lashing from the blood sac. Whenever his blade carved a gash into its surface, the wound instantly closed again.
Yun Yun Zhēnzūn conjured water-element spells to bind the blood sac, while Tian Zhuo's sword-light wove around it, leaving gashes that oozed foul, rust-colored blood.
Inside, Hai Yan—his face pale—sank deeper into the pool of blood at the center of the sac. With a wave of his hand, he summoned forth newly-forged puppet men.
He had grown greedy. As one blood sac after another was destroyed, his resources had nearly run dry. He had planned to abandon his current hideout and unleash another sac elsewhere. Yet to his shock, swarms of cultivators had intruded here under the pretense of exploring an "ancient expert's legacy."
Sensing opportunity, Hai Yan immediately opened his blood maw wide, intending to keep them all, to forge them into puppets or refine their blood as sustenance for his life force.
His calculations were precise at the beginning, but he had failed to foresee the end. One wave after another of cultivators was drawn in, only to lose their resistance within his blood sacs and crafted illusions. Step by step, they walked willingly into the blood pool, their bones melted and blood refined until they became a part of him.
But not all cultivators succumbed.
Among them was Xiao Ye, a Divine Soul cultivator of the Heavenly Sword Sect. He and seven comrades had fought through layer after layer of traps. Each time, when their chances seemed slim, they somehow forced a breakthrough, advancing to the next trial.
Eventually, Xiao Ye attempted to retrace their steps, but the moment they turned back, they found themselves once again at the starting point. Only then did everyone realize the truth—they were trapped.
"I heard rumors before coming here," one said grimly. "They claimed this so-called legacy is fraught with deadly peril."
"I heard the same. And that rumor spread from the Law Enforcement Hall."
Another Nascent Soul cultivator chimed in.
Xiao Ye confirmed it. "It's true. The Law Enforcement Hall punished the one who leaked it and reassigned him. The warning was that no one below Divine Soul should attempt entry. That is why I came."
The others grew silent. They knew they had fallen into a true deathtrap.
As the strongest among them, Xiao Ye's expression grew dark. The others were Nascent Soul cultivators—whether they could escape was doubtful.
"No matter what, we must fight our way through. Even if most of us fall, at least one must escape to return to the sect and deliver word."
All agreed. The Heavenly Sword Sect had never been a place for the weak-hearted.
For a month, the eight of them struggled through near-death experiences, until one after another succumbed to Hai Yan's control. Only Xiao Ye reached the heart of the cavern and the blood pool. When he saw the truth with his own eyes, there was no longer any doubt.
The Law Enforcement Hall had indeed been hunting these blood sacs. Two had already been destroyed. This was the third, and without doubt, the largest.
Though weakened from his earlier losses, Hai Yan still had more than enough strength to kill a Divine Soul cultivator. But fate sometimes delights in irony.
With everything he had, Xiao Ye burned his very lifespan, wielding his natal sword as a conduit to unleash a forbidden technique. His strike tore through Hai Yan's defenses. It was an attack made with the certainty of death.
And yet he succeeded. He shattered the barrier, escaped the hellish undersea lair, and fled through hidden undercurrents until at last he broke the surface, where he was saved by the Enforcement Hall's ever-watchful scouts.
Hai Yan's misstep came because another blood sac hidden in Yin-Yang Mountain had just been destroyed.
At that moment, Yang Rou Zhēnzūn, master of Yu Shu and Yu Ze, received her disciples' sword-transmissions and knew at once that matters were dire. She immediately sought out the current sect master of the Yin-Yang Gate, handed over the messages, and ordered coldly:
"Send someone to watch Du Yanran in secret. You will personally lead a team into the Yin-Yang Mountain range and root out that cancer. If the world discovers that what our sect destroyed was nothing more than a false blood sac, what face will we have left?"
Known for her grace and beauty, Yang Rou Zhēnzūn's face was anything but soft now. That a mere Divine Transformation cultivator, protected by the sect, dared betray them—she seethed with the urge to tear the woman's heart from her chest.
But until the true blood sac was destroyed, Du Yanran could not be touched. If she were to send out a warning, the entire operation would be ruined.