The moment Youming appeared in the Gu clan domain, the entire world seemed forcibly gagged into absolute silence.
An immense oppressive aura swept across all directions. Zhu Ying, Lu Hengtian, and their companion all felt their hands and feet turn icy cold.
Though they did not know who this wickedly handsome man before them was, they knew his strength was unquestionably terrifying!
At that realization, Lu Hengtian acted on pure instinct, immediately stashing Tang Ru out of sight!
Lu Hengtian narrowed his eyes, staring at the red-robed man with the wicked smile, and asked in a low voice, "Who are you?"
Zhu Ying lightly tapped her walking cane against the void, instantly raising an invisible barrier, and said in a chilling voice, "Blood Venerable Youming, to think you would appear here!"
Youming clasped his hands behind his back, a playful smile gracing his lips. He scrutinized Zhu Ying for a long while, wearing a thoughtful look.
"Hmm... the little girl from the Zhu clan? Hahahahaha, who would have thought you would end up looking like this..."
"How many years has it been? To think you still remember me."
Zhu Ying's expression darkened severely as she spoke in an icy tone, "Forget? How could I ever forget?"
"The sight of you slaughtering my Zhu clan ancestor still echoes in my mind to this day."
Youming curled his lip without answering. Instead, turning to look at Yu Chang'an nearby, his expression abruptly turned grim.
From within the void, a low whisper quietly drifted: "Why is he here?"
Inside the domain, Youming stared at Yu Chang'an with utter disgust and said coldly, "You're awfully sissified."
Yu Chang'an's expression changed. Glaring malevolently at Youming, he sneered, "Aren't you just the same?"
The moment the words left his mouth, a crimson array light barely three feet across manifested in the void before Yu Chang'an.
Under the sudden burst of bloody radiance, Yu Chang'an took a devastating blow and smashed violently into the ground with a thunderous roar!
The earth shook and mountains trembled as the ground cracked wide open.
With a flick of Youming's raised hand, crimson light flared. The three-foot blood array continuously layered and expanded, ballooning in the blink of an eye into an enormous array spanning a hundred zhang!
Narrowing his eyes, Youming casually hooked a finger, and the scarlet array blazed with blinding brilliance.
The blood array suspended in the firmament seemed to pour down a monstrous sea of blood!
Moreover, the power of this blood sea corroded the void itself, seemingly harboring countless vengeful spirits howling and shrieking within the crimson depths.
Seeing this, both Lu Hengtian and Zhu Ying were shaken to their cores.
Lu Hengtian also finally understood how this man had silently bypassed the ancient barrier erected jointly by their two clans.
'This bastard's mastery of array arts is terrifying! No... we must leave quickly!'
Zhu Ying also hurriedly transmitted her voice: "Divert Youming's attention to Yu Chang'an! We'll use this momentum to get away quickly!"
"If we don't leave now, it'll be too late. Gu Changsheng and the others are bound to return swiftly—we can't drag this out any longer!"
Yu Chang'an's furious roars echoed across the sky. He could not fathom why this newcomer had singled him out the moment he appeared.
Even though the man harbored an old grudge with Zhu Ying, he had not even lifted a finger against her!
Not just them; even the few Mahayana realm cultivators watching the battle from a distance were thoroughly bewildered.
Only the severely wounded Gu Lie stared fixatedly at Youming, every muscle in his body taut and bulging!
He swallowed hard in nervous tension, his palms slick with sweat.
Beneath the blood array, Yu Chang'an exhausted every technique at his disposal to resist desperately.
Youming turned slowly, his gaze sweeping past the other two alchemists without sparing them a glance.
Yet when he laid eyes on Gu Lie, he burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Little Lie, you motherfucker actually took up alchemy?"
"I told you long ago, you motherfucker have the brute strength for it—you should've swung a sledgehammer and become an artificer ages ago."
Gu Lie's gaze flickered rapidly. Clenching his teeth so hard that the veins on his temples throbbed, he lowered his brow submissively, not daring to voice the slightest contradiction.
The old man merely let his hands hang slightly loose, ready to strike back at any moment, cautiously regulating his breathing.
His eyes remained fixed on Youming without letting down his guard for a second, brimming with vigilance.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Youming curled his lip and sighed with a shake of his head. "Tsk. Once people get old, they're no fun anymore."
Whoosh!
Like a cat with its fur bristling on end, every hair on Gu Lie's body stood upright!
The slender Youming draped one hand over Gu Lie, his fingers lightly brushing across the old man's shoulder.
At that instant, a bone-chilling cold shot straight to Gu Lie's scalp!
Holding the burly old man close, Youming leaned into his ear and asked softly, "That fellow claimed I'm just like him. Tell me, Little Lie, are the two of us the same?"
Gu Lie's whole body stiffened, and his voice trembled slightly as he spoke: "Not the same."
Youming leaned in with keen interest, looked into the old man's eyes, and nodded.
"Mhm, your eyes don't look like you're lying. Hahahaha."
"Then tell me, how am I different from him?"
Gu Lie's heart was hammering violently, the blood and qi churning inside him.
It seemed only through that raging circulation could he ease his stifling tension.
Where Youming's fingers touched the old man's bronze skin, crimson runes flickered continuously across his flesh.
As Youming's fingers moved, more and more runes appeared, seeping through flesh and blood and darting straight toward Gu Lie's heart!
In the blink of an eye, a crimson array barely three inches across formed right outside his heart!
The corner of Youming's mouth curled slightly. Leaning close to the old man's ear, he murmured softly, "Your heart is beating a little fast, you know."
Gu Lie's throat bobbed with difficulty. Taking a deep breath to steady his racing thoughts, he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "Blood Venerable, you are elegant and sinister, but that Yu Chang'an... is just a dickless broad."
Bang!
The blood array shattered, and every single rune inside Gu Lie's body vanished into smoke at that very moment.
Furthermore, they transformed into surges of pure energy that dissolved into Gu Lie's flesh and blood.
Youming laughed haughtily and said 'good' three times in a row.
"Hahahahaha, good, good, good! Well said!"
"You didn't lie. Tsk-tsk, still the Little Lie I used to know."
"Why don't you listen to me and take up weapon forging? Go learn smithing from Meng Jiangchu, and your accomplishments will definitely not be low."
How could Gu Lie take in Youming's words right now? It felt as though all the breath and spirit had been drained right out of him.
Resting both hands on his knees, he panted heavily for air, his back soaked in cold sweat.
In merely a few breaths, Gu Lie had walked through the gates of hell and narrowly escaped with his life.
Youming curled his lip as he watched the cloud boats in the sky trying to tear through the barrier. Slowly raising his left hand, he pressed down violently toward the earth!
Boom!
Runes filled the heavens. The blood array, originally only a hundred zhang across, suddenly expanded fivefold!
Yu Chang'an cursed furiously, "You dog bastard, why are you targeting me?!"
Youming curled his lip, his eyes cold with disgust as he spoke.
Boom!
"Blood Reversal: Blood Sea Soul Burial!"
Boom!
The grand array ground down like a millstone. Yu Chang'an had no power to fight back whatsoever, leaving only his wretched, agonizing shrieks.
Youming clasped his hands behind his back, a playful smile curling the corner of his lips as he murmured softly, "No reason. I simply despise you."
Having said that, Youming turned his gaze toward the two cloud boats attempting to flee the Gu clan domain, his eyes gleaming with intent.
Chapter 898