We Shall Raze Their Lair

Inscribed with dense runes and stained with the blood of the ancestral masters, thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes sank inch by inch into the mountain-high immortal graves, an agonizing sight. All the ancestral masters were silent, motionless. Their bodies were battered and reduced to mangled bones, yet they still stood unyielding, upright and wordless. With their own blood essence, they had consecrated the thirty-six divine stakes to suppress and seal the Earth Immortal. Beyond the desert's perimeter, many people's eyes were bloodshot. They clenched their fists tight, growling low or sobbing. So many cultivators had gathered here, yet they could offer no help at all. Before their eyes, the calm, composed figures of the ancestral masters still lingered, and their unyielding, resolute words still echoed in everyone's ears: "In years to come, our descendants will pay a visit, and on our behalf, they shall contend with you once more!" "Ancestral Masters, in the future we shall raze their lair to the ground and slaughter every vile fiend beneath these immortal graves!" many youths shouted at the top of their lungs, tears welling in their eyes. Many young and able-bodied cultivators drew their weapons. The ringing clatter of metal rose incessantly, cold glints rippling across sword edges and saber blades as murderous intent surged into the air. The older generation silently gazed into the distance, lips trembling as though mumbling something, tears shimmering in their aged eyes as well. "Let us withdraw. We will recuperate for a century before considering flattening this place," a grandmaster-level figure said. "Before that, we must retrieve the ancestral masters' remains and bring them back to our homeland," someone said through tear streaks. However, a small number of prominent elders objected, worried that dangers and uncanny anomalies might still linger there. For safety's sake at this stage, it was unwise to set foot into the desert's depths again. "We will go ourselves and bring Master home!" Several direct disciples of the ancestral masters stepped forward from the ranks. "We will go as well to welcome our ancestral masters back to their homeland!" Many more young people stepped up, their eyes rimmed red and their voices resolute. Under no circumstances could they bear to leave the ancestral masters' corpses exposed in the desolate sands. "Something has changed there!" Ling Canghai, a grandmaster of the immortal path, spoke with a grim countenance, his voice rising. With the great battle concluded, the dao rhymes and terrifying runic energy no longer assailed the Heaven-Illuminating Mirror, making the scene near the graves plainly visible. "What is that?" "Are the vile immortals counterattacking? Are they trying to break free?!" A terrifying spectacle was reflected within the hovering mirror surface. Those great graves were violently shaking, attempting to heave up the thirty-six divine stakes. The main tomb saw the greatest disturbance. Billowing white immortal mist steamed upward, and the newly opened realm of Yin soil, the sea of blood, and other horrors from earlier seemed poised to manifest once more. However, the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes were lethal instruments jointly forged by the ancestral masters of the three paths, weapons capable of tipping the fate of their race. Right now, they were drenched in the blood of their consecrated wielders. Furthermore, they originally possessed an extraordinary heritage and belonged to the ranks of forbidden relics. Though shaking violently, they could not easily be uprooted. Moreover, the blood on the stakes began to glow, resonate, and burn. Instead of giving way, they bore down once again, driving the stakes fully into the interior of the immortal graves. The dimly resurfacing Yin soil, sea of blood, and Earth Immortal Palace faded away once more. "No!" An enraged, muffled roar echoed from the main tomb. Suddenly, a radiant figure appeared, struggling desperately out from a fissure that cracked open in the main grave in a bid to escape the dire plight. He wore a golden crown hung with beaded tassels. His entire form was crimson, clad in treasure robes covered in runes that flowed with blinding immortal radiance, accompanied by boiling white mist. "The blood... of the Earth Immortal! Even at great cost, he is still trying to break free!" "How can we stop him? Will we make it in time if we rush over?!" Spiritual artifacts floated above many people's heads, ringing and emitting brilliant light. They could not tolerate the Earth Immortal—whom the ancestral masters had sacrificed their lives to suppress—emerging into the world once again. Nor was he the only one. Other great graves were also trembling as grave soil tumbled down in sheets. Fissures split open, and hazy figures pushed against dense blankets of runes, crawling outward. The thirty-six divine stakes hummed and boomed as every single character engraved on them blazed to life. In an instant, dense beams of light shot forth, raining down upon the main tomb and over a dozen immortal graves. The figure formed from the Earth Immortal's blood received special attention. The moment he managed to force part of his torso out from the realm behind him, the beams of light sheared him apart. He shrieked in agony, but an even denser barrage of runic immortal light poured down, intent on grinding him away completely. "The predecessors of these divine stakes possess an unfathomable origin!" The Earth Immortal's pupils contracted. Amid helplessness and indignation, he collapsed and disintegrated. Yet at the final moment, several drops of his blood pierced through the runic immortal light and splashed onto the ground outside. They glistened with immortal radiance, dazzling like blood diamonds and rubies under the shining light. Rather than gathering together, the few drops sank into the ground separately. Immediately, small burial mounds swelled up from the earth. The blood drops intended to undergo rebirth and assume form within their respective graves. "Charge over! Under no circumstances can we permit him to nurture an Earth Immortal avatar!" "Fortunately, we caught this in time. He won't have the time to develop!" Even as people felt a wave of relief, lingering fear gripped their hearts. This Earth Immortal wielded vast supernatural powers; even after being sealed, he still possessed such means. In truth, matters did not stop there. Figures from other great graves had also nearly succeeded. Some had splashed out a single drop of fresh blood, while others had managed less than half a drop. Falling before the immortal graves, they caused smaller mounds to swell up, looking like a cluster of fresh little tombs. "We must charge over immediately!" Soon, numerous warships took to the air. This time, they did not travel at an easy pace. Instead, their engines burned at peak capacity, bursting across the night sky at maximum speed. Along the way, many polished their spiritual artifacts and exotic treasures, wishing they could arrive at once to collect a measure of interest on behalf of the ancestral masters. "The sun elven race must be wiped out! Not a single one may be spared!" someone said aboard a vessel, their voice bone-chilling. "I wonder whether Ancestral Master Helian's three arrows managed to blast their city apart. If some fell and survived, their names will be placed on our race's hunt list from this day forth. Not one will escape!" Many young people stroked the edges of their blades, standing at the prows and gazing into the night sky, their killing intent surging like a tide. People suspected the sun elven race was composed of grave keepers and servants to the tomb's master, raising immortals here and ensnaring an untold number of souls across the long ages. Perhaps more than one great race had met its downfall here. When ancestral masters of certain great races met with calamity, they might very well have been buried inside in this exact manner, eventually turning into corpse-liberated immortals. Someone pondered and murmured, "I only fear that some among the sun elven race's three ancestral masters might still be alive. If so, things could be... extremely thorny. Right now is our race's weakest hour." "Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. We still have ancestral masters guarding our rear. Eradicating this treacherous sun elven race should pose no problem." Yet when they counted carefully, they realized they had virtually deployed in full force this time; hardly any ancestral masters remained behind to guard the rear. Over a dozen had come from the immortal path, a considerable number had marched out from the esoteric sect, and five had arrived from the Newborn path. This had been an all-out effort. At this moment, everyone's hearts grew heavy. Having lost so many peak combatants in a single blow, would the creatures of the Perils that had originally helped "watch over the house" begin to stir up trouble? Those from the Newborn path thought of Cao Qianqiu in particular. Ever since being severely wounded, that old fellow had been recuperating. Would he return in the future, striding forth to look down upon the world like a reigning sovereign? Along the journey, everyone bore heavy, complicated feelings. Ultimately, they reached the largest oasis and stood once more upon the grounds of the immortal graves. Ahead lay devastated ruins and complete desolation. The earth looked as though it had been thoroughly plowed over; all the surrounding ridges and towering peaks were snapped and leveled. Moreover, pitch-black chasms split the ground like bottomless abysses. Many of the immortal graves had collapsed or been sheared flat, bearing witness to the unimaginable savagery of the battle. The thirty-six divine stakes were anchored deep within the tombs, only their ends protruding and faintly glowing, still stained with the uncurdled blood of the ancestral masters. Before the graves lay severed hands covered in long black hair, their nails longer than a grown man's height, alongside unburned yellow paper fluttering in the wind. Scattered across the ground were shattered suits of armor, broken great bows, crushed bronze cauldrons, snapped longspears, and other armaments, all smeared with blood. These were the battle robes and weapons of the ancestral masters, shattered along with their fall in combat. Amid the broken earth and stones, bright red bloodstains and torn chunks of flesh were strewn about—some belonging to the vile immortals, many left behind by the ancestral masters. Perhaps the only intact body belonged to the Present Rulai. After the sea of blood receded, his broad form sat cross-legged upon the ground, blood trailing from his seven facial orifices, completely devoid of life inside. Yu Shaohua, the female ancestral master of the yang land, had possessed unmatched grace and beauty in life, but now only most of her head remained. Her eyes were dim, and her dark hair was soaked in blood. Sun Taichu, the ancestral master of the pure land, remained standing upright, his mangled torso as unyielding as divine iron. Facing the immortal graves, his fleshless right hand was rigid as a blade, frozen in the posture of cleaving straight forward. The six broken tusks of the enormous dragon-elephant lay scattered about, and the cracked remains of an old ancestral master of the esoteric sect lay strewn on the ground... The scene was horrifying, too unbearable to witness. As for the ancestral masters who had consecrated the thirty-six divine stakes at the end, not a scrap of flesh remained on their ruined frames. Only battered, snow-white bones remained, yet they still stood unyielding. Even now, the ground occasionally settled and collapsed, causing broken fragments of bone to tumble down from their bodies. They had suffered grievous wounds during the fierce battle. Their bones, harder than divine iron, were already riddled with dense cracks; the slightest tremor caused bone shards to separate and fall away. "Ancestral Masters, we have come to take you home!" Many broke down in tears. In an instant, nearly everyone present wept aloud in uncontrollable grief. An intense, unrelenting sorrow surged forth, sweeping across the entire shattered domain. "We reverently invite our ancestral masters' remains back to our homeland!" Some moved forward with grief-stricken faces streaked with tears, stumbling ahead to collect the remains of the ancestral masters. "First, eliminate any future trouble! Eradicate every drop of the Earth Immortal's blood!" "Burn away all the life seeds the other vile immortals splashed outside as well! Use them as an offering to our ancestral masters!" Enraged blood boiling within them, several young and able-bodied cultivators marched at the very front. All of them had already unsheathed their blades and swords, with brilliantly shining exotic treasures hovering above their heads, eager to personally sever any hope of the vile immortals emerging into the world. Right at that moment, many figures of the older generation abruptly looked up, as though sensing an anomaly. The grandmasters had already tensed their bodies, their eyes shooting divine light toward the distant horizon. A moment later, even the young disciples perceived the danger. In the distance, yellow sand churned and surged, and the night mist in the pitch-black sky completely split apart, rapidly scattering. Everyone stiffened. Along the horizon, it sounded as if countless ferocious beasts were stampeding, or as though colossal waves were relentlessly crashing against a shore. Deafening roars gradually swept across heaven and earth, surging straight toward them! Lu Zizai gazed placidly into the night sky and said, "A formidable enemy has arrived!"