A Clan's Might, a Blood-Forged Road to Ascension!

He had begged Hong Zhi time and again, even casting aside his dignity as a mighty expert to kneel and plead with her. All because Liao Jiming did not want nearly a thousand members of the Liao clan to carve out a bloody road to heaven for his sake! Liao Jiming closed his eyes in agony, tears slipping from their corners. Hong Zhi gripped her saber so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her beautiful eyes stared fixedly at Liao Jiming's back. "Must it come to this?!" Liao Jiming stepped onto the cobbled-together Immortal Ascension Platform. Pausing slightly, he turned to Hong Zhi and spoke through gritted teeth. "Must it come to this? Come to what?" "Isn't all of this forced by you people?!" Concealed within the void, Li Guanqi watched the scene with mixed emotions. From the gazes the Liao clan members directed at Hong Zhi, he sensed boundless resentment and hostility. He had seen looks like that far too many times... Sure enough, Hong Zhi's brow furrowed, and her beautiful eyes slowly narrowed. A flicker of chilling killing intent surged within her depths. Things had reached this point... Hong Zhi had truly been driven to kill! Over a hundred people surrounded Hong Zhi, watching her like predators eyeing their prey. Though fear was hard to conceal in their eyes, not a single one took a half-step back. The inadvertent glimpses in their eyes were filled entirely with longing for their ancestor's ascension. A flicker of pain crossed Hong Zhi's face. Closing her eyes, she clenched her teeth, her jaw muscles bulging slightly. "Come with me now, and I won't touch the Liao clan!" Liao Jiming closed his eyes in agony, his body trembling slightly as he muttered in a hoarse voice, "No need... To this world, it makes no difference whether the Liao clan exists or not." Clearly, the old man had already resolved to sacrifice his clan in blood. Yet Hong Zhi dared not allow the gateway to ascension to open. This matter was... intractable. *Buzz!—* The Immortal Ascension Platform erupted with dazzling golden radiance that shot straight into the clouds. Across the pitch-black celestial void, a vortex spanning a hundred zhang slowly emerged. In an instant, seven-colored rays of light filled the sky, accompanied by wave after wave of rich immortal spiritual energy. And... the reception heavenly tribulation! *Rumble!—* Thunder roared in their ears. Standing atop the high platform, Liao Jiming spread his arms wide. "I... have no other choice." Hong Zhi sighed and opened her eyes, speaking slowly, "Then let the Liao clan... be destroyed." *Boom!—* Hong Zhi's aura transformed completely! Her crimson robe fluttered in the air like a river of blood as she took two violent strides forward! Her left hand shoved the saber from its sheath, and a terrifying blood-red radiance bloomed from within. Around her, a manic glint flashed through the eyes of the many cultivators standing upon the void! They would use their flesh and blood to forge a path to heaven for their ancestor! "Hahahaha! Today, the Liao clan shall have an immortal!" A man threw his head back in wild laughter—it was Liao Jiming's son, Liao Zhengxiong. His primal energy went wild, his lower abdomen swelling. Liao Zhengxiong's body ballooned rapidly and instantly turned into an explosive ball of fiery light! *Boom!—* A deafening roar erupted! The self-detonation of an early Mahayana realm cultivator unleashed terrifying power that seemed poised to obliterate heaven and earth. Next was the decrepit old woman in brocade robes. As the Liao clan's other ancestor, the old woman turned her head to look affectionately at Liao Jiming. Yet now, she chose to detonate herself without the slightest hesitation. Her body swelled rapidly, her cloudy eyes glaring furiously at Hong Zhi as she roared, "The Human Spirit Realm ought to have an immortal!" *Boom!—* The river of blood around Hong Zhi shattered, and the palm pushing her saber from its sheath was forced back half an inch! "An immortal for the Human Spirit Realm!" "Hahaha! Today, our Liao clan's ancestor ascends to the Immortal Realm to leave his name for eternity!" *Boom! Boom! Boom!—* The self-detonations of cultivator after cultivator stacked together, completely obliterating the void for tens of thousands of zhang around. Hong Zhi's robe was shredded. The flesh of her left hand clutching the saber stripped away, leaving only ghastly white bone! Hong Zhi gritted her teeth, a flicker of chilling killing intent suddenly flashing in her eyes. *Clang!—* A muffled saber chime resounded into the clouds, audible even over the continuous explosions. Immediately after, Li Guanqi was forced back tens of thousands of zhang by this terrifying saber momentum! *Boom!—* "Blood Python!" A ring of saber light bloomed from the void, carrying near-destructive might as it instantly rippled outward! The twisting, surging crimson saber light tore through all directions like a thrashing blood python. Everywhere the saber light passed, the void disintegrated, its saber intent shaking the heavens! The power erupted simultaneously by over a hundred cultivators was completely extinguished by the saber light. The ring of saber radiance was like a scythe harvesting human lives. With merely a single step forward from Hong Zhi, countless severed limbs and broken bodies rained down beside her like a bloody shower! The reception heavenly tribulation had already fallen, and from within the reception passage, Li Guanqi sensed an unfathomably vast and terrifying pressure! Evidently, someone from the Immortal Realm was already preparing to descend! Once the reception passage opened, descending immortals would retain their original strength! Liao Jiming glanced back, the horrific sight of severed limbs raining across the sky sickening to behold. The old man could no longer hold back his tears. With trembling lips, he murmured, "Caixia... my son... my eldest grandson..." "Hahahahaha!" "Neither human nor ghost nor immortal!" This scene struck Li Guanqi deeply to his core. Amid his sorrowful cry, Liao Jiming hurled out nine blood-colored spikes! Clearly, he had foreseen that these people alone could not stop Hong Zhi. Each spike was as long as an arm, shimmering with an eerie crimson glow. In an instant, the nine spikes absorbed all the blood in the void, erupting in blinding red light as they shot toward Hong Zhi! *Thud! Thud! Thud!—* The nine spikes traversed the void almost instantly, pinning themselves into empty space in an uncanny formation. Connected by threads of blood, they pierced through Hong Zhi's body in a flash, trapping her firmly in place! Immediately afterward, a pillar of blood-red light punched through the void and struck the Liao clan estate! One sealed giant cocoon after another shattered, and the Liao clan descendants' lifeforces withered away as they died one by one... *Crash! Boom!—* Thunder crashed down, and the old man swung his sword with all his might to shatter the lightning! Yet each bolt struck faster and fiercer than the last. Bathed in blood, his flesh torn open and hair singed black, the old man grimaced frantically as he swung his sword, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth! This was the final chance of his lifetime! A path to heaven bought with the lives of nearly a thousand Liao clan members! Hong Zhi's furious shout suddenly rang out: "Li Guanqi! Kill him! Stop him at all costs! You cannot let him breach the Human-Immortal Realm Barrier!" *Boom!—* Just as Liao Jiming was caught bewildered, a white-robed figure materialized three feet to his side. With divine markings covering his forehead, a look of resolve flashed in Li Guanqi's eyes as he slashed his sword outward! *Buzz!—* A terrifying aura capable of near-world destruction erupted violently. The Red Lotus sword blossomed with blood-red light, calling down lightning that converged upon the blade. With his thoughts unhindered and empowered by the special abilities of his Ethereal Dao Body, Li Guanqi's silhouette seemed to overlap with the sword spirit who had cleaved Xun Tian that day. "Eight Desolations: Extinction!" *Boom!—* "No!" The thunderous slash swept upward with fierce, biting sword radiance. Li Guanqi's aura rivaled a half-step Tribulation Transcendence expert, and the single strike drained nearly eighty percent of the power in his body. *Boom!—* Violent sword radiance flashed through the void, instantly cleaving the cobbled-together Immortal Ascension Platform in two. The golden pillar of light reaching for the heavens shattered on impact. Liao Jiming unleashed a furious sword strike with every ounce of his strength, yet it was all in vain... Li Guanqi's sword radiance crushed through his attack like dry weeds. Together with Liao Jiming, the sword radiance exploded, engulfing the old man's body and extinguishing both body and soul! Above the heavens, the reception heavenly tribulation slowly dispersed. Heaven and earth returned to tranquility, and the reception passage was completely sealed by the power of the world... Li Guanqi raised his hand and rescued Hong Zhi, but those nine spikes were vile artifacts. The remaining members of the Liao clan... had all melted into pools of bloody water... Li Guanqi looked grim. In silence, he absorbed spirit stones to recover his primal energy. Hong Zhi sighed and sealed her wounds, raising a hand to collect the fragments of the cobbled-together Immortal Ascension Platform. Silently approaching Li Guanqi's side, she murmured softly, "Let's go." Li Guanqi didn't move. The events of this day had shaken him far too deeply... An entire clan willingly marching to their deaths just to open a heavenly path of ascension for Liao Jiming. He looked up at Hong Zhi and asked in a low, heavy voice, "Were we... in the wrong?" Looking at Li Guanqi's bewildered eyes, Hong Zhi hesitated for a long time. "You'll understand in the future..." "Let's go. And thank you." Hong Zhi gave Li Guanqi a deep, searching look.