The long night turned entirely the color of blood.
In the main battlefield, sixth-realm powerhouses began to fall.
"'A lone plume of smoke rises straight in the boundless desert; the sun sets round over the long river.' Could it be that the grand frontier vistas depicted by the ancients were actually referring to colossal clashes where ancestral master-level masters fought to the death?" someone marveled aloud.
More people were simply awestruck, rendered speechless.
Bloody "beacon smoke" surged into the firmament before bursting open like crimson divine blossoms in full bloom.
As for the heavy, pitch-black clouds that had originally blanketed the sky, they had long since been shattered. The boundless heavens were soaked in bloody radiance, looking as though the sunset that had vanished for thousands of years had returned.
Many watched the core battle zone with taut nerves. In just a brief span, at least six or seven ancestral master-level figures had perished one after another.
Within that tragic, dazzling red glow, an enormous exotic bird spread its wings, attempting to soar into the heavens and flee. Yet it could not break free from the constraints of this domain; all four directions were thoroughly sealed.
Someone hurled a teal spear that warped space as it caught up from behind, impaling the beast beneath the vast sky.
Amidst the "sunset," its feathers scattered, each stained with blood. The sixth-realm powerhouse let out a mournful cry, this ancestral master of the nomadic hunting civilization showering endless blood, its wings ruined and unable to fly.
"'Sunset clouds fly with a solitary duck; the autumn water shares a single hue with the vast sky.' Could this, too, have been describing ancestral master-level experts splattering blood across the skies? It truly is a tragically dazzling beauty," the same person marveled once again.
Who on earth could appreciate such perverse beauty? Many turned their heads toward the perilous burial grounds, only to see a toothless old woman seated atop one of the grave mounds.
In an instant, everyone's hair stood on end. She did not look like an ordinary living person by any stretch of the imagination. When had an expert like this arrived? That place was sealed off—how had she managed to sit herself upon a grave?
At this critical juncture, twelve of the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes positioned in every direction shot forth immortal light. Twelve blooms of immortal fire descended upon the grave. With a soft sigh, the old woman twisted and blurred under the burning before dissipating, a final glimmer of flowing light sinking back into the tomb.
Evidently, the ancestral masters had deployed this lethal set of relics not merely to seal off the heaven and earth, but also to guard against disturbances erupting from the immortal graves.
Many shivered violently. The warfare here was deeply complex; even though the fated duel with the nomadic hunting civilization was nearing its end, they could not afford the slightest carelessness.
"This old man will drag you down with me!"
In the night sky, a burly figure resembling a male lion roared with fury, divine beams shooting from every pore of his body. His spirit, energy, and mind boiled together with his vitality, surging in all directions to cover the heavens and earth.
Golden Lion, one of the high-ranking leaders of the nomadic hunting civilization, sought mutual destruction, intending to drag a foe down to the underworld with him.
Yet with so many ancestral masters present from the immortal path, the Newborn path, and the esoteric sect, how could they possibly let him have his way?
The sound of chanting echoed, and intricate patterns spread across the night sky. His pupils dilated and his entire body stiffened, his vital energy and spirit stalling.
Then, he saw Leng Mingkong extend a single finger across the vast sky, akin to a world-breaking beam falling from beyond the domain.
"Ah...!" Golden Lion shrieked in agony as the beam shattered the center of his brow.
Immediately following this, Leng Mingkong unleashed a barrage of Immortal-Slaying Fingers. Across the night sky, it was as if one immortal sword after another flew forth, intersecting vertically and horizontally to weave a net of light.
Golden Lion was pierced through and shredded. Even his mental field shattered. No matter how many times he reconstituted himself, it proved futile; he was repeatedly crushed until he was utterly obliterated.
A mist of blood tinged with faint gold erupted, like a crimson hurricane sweeping through the firmament.
In the distance, the runes etched upon the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes shimmered, drawing in the sky-filling blood mist and rendering the divine stakes increasingly translucent, crystalline, and enigmatic.
Someone murmured, "Sustaining war with war, refining divine stakes through slaughter... only by using this forbidden relic in such a manner is it safest."
Golden Lion was one of the paramount chieftains of the nomadic hunting civilization. His death was nothing less than a spiritual storm to the other nomadic hunters, filling them with the premonition that their doom was at hand.
A two-headed werewolf struggled in the night sky, his body riddled with arrow holes. He had mended his flesh multiple times, but certain wounds simply refused to heal.
Helian Chengyun loosed a final arrow that streaked like an earth-shattering divine rainbow, blasting the ancestral master of the two-headed werewolf race to pieces. This time, the old wolf failed to reconstitute himself.
Even for those as mighty as ancestral masters, consciousness could only reconstitute itself a limited number of times within a short duration. Having already been slain repeatedly, the wolf gave a final, mournful howl across the desert before dying once and for all.
That despairing howl made many young nomadic hunters sway on their feet, their spirits following him into utter desolation as their morale plummeted to rock bottom.
In the battlefield of ancestral masters, success and failure were measured purely in life and death.
A black-haired elder, another chieftain of the nomadic hunting civilization, had his body torn apart. He sought to self-detonate so his opponent would suffer as well.
However, he discovered that his efforts were in vain.
A Soul-Anchoring Bell descended to cover him. His thoughts felt frozen, no longer active, and he stood there numbly.
Standing upon a black altar in the void, an elder of the esoteric sect solemnly performed an incantation, offering up his opponent... in ritual sacrifice.
"Ah...!"
The black-haired chieftain of the nomadic hunting civilization only regained awareness in his final moments. No matter how he struggled, it was useless; he could only watch his spirit, energy, and mind being drained away before appearing upon the black altar, burning furiously.
A giant roared, transforming into a Giant Spirit God as though he wished to tear this world apart. Alas, while he possessed the ambition to swallow mountains and rivers, he lacked the supreme might to look down upon all under heaven.
Shattered again and again by the heavenly light pouring down from the Present Rulai, his mental field collapsed repeatedly until he perished completely, massive clouds of blood mist drifting toward the thirty-six Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes.
Out in the desert, a rope densely covered in golden runes shot into the night sky, binding a green-eyed nomadic hunter of the sixth realm and capturing him alive on the spot.
Another direction, Lu Zizai took action, honing his fist-light in the ancestral master battlefield as he explored and perfected his Newborn system.
"You...!" His opponent, a sixth-realm feathered serpent, was filled with shock and fury. It could sense that its adversary was not yet an ancestral master, yet he was already capable of injuring it.
To the serpent, this was a humiliating disgrace. Was it truly about to be slain from below by a grandmaster?
Its dragon-like, colossal frame coiled into a mountain in midair before striking violently forward, seeking to lock onto the youth in coarse linen clothes.
*Pfft!*
Suddenly, it felt a sharp pain in its chest.
Within its heart, a cluster of heavenly light awakened, ceaseless and inextinguishable like an undying blossom blooming layer upon layer, threatening to rip it apart.
"A grandmaster can grievously wound me?" The feathered serpent could not believe it, feeling as if the world had become utterly surreal.
"A newly ascended sixth-realm feathered serpent... you are rather weak," Lu Zizai remarked calmly.
The feathered serpent's mental field roared with indignation at being looked down upon by someone of a lower realm. Moreover, the youth's demeanor was so placid, entirely devoid of deliberate mockery or insult.
Yet the more genuine it was, the more suffocated the serpent felt. Rearing its head, it lunged toward its opponent.
*Splatter.*
Across this stretch of land, massive amounts of serpent blood splashed down, dyeing the vast sky red.
Even several old monsters of the sixth realm glanced over with strange expressions. Lu Zizai was confronting an ancestral master with the body of a grandmaster? And he was actually about to slay it!
Lu Zizai remained indifferent. Having reached his current level, even if someone harbored ill intentions toward him, it would be difficult to accomplish anything; if outmatched, he could simply escape far away.
In a sense, as a supreme grandmaster, the entire world was now open to him.
A senior expert shouted, "The ancestral masters have set the example and begun pruning away the adversaries. What are the rest of you waiting for? It is time this battle drew to a close!"
"Kill!"
Instantly, battle cries shook the heavens across the desert.
The people of the Newborn path, the esoteric sect, and the immortal path were all filled with soaring battle intent. With the overarching situation decided by the upper echelons, all that remained for them was to charge boldly forward and carry out the final hunt.
The faces of many nomadic hunters turned ash-gray. Today, they had become the prey. In the past, they had always been the ones bringing disaster to other tribes and civilizations.
Now, the blood calamity had fallen upon their own heads.
Crucially, the "roaming" aspect of their nomadic hunting could play no role here. The desert battlefield had been sealed by the Heaven-Anchoring Divine Stakes; not even the ancestral masters could break free.
After flushing out the fire lizard, Qin Ming struck immediately. Amidst flashes of saber-light, crimson scales flew and blood carrying a faint fragrance sprayed forth.
Creatures possessing wondrous blood were all extraordinary beings whose strength far surpassed that of their peers.
However, once the fire lizard encountered Qin Ming, its fate was sealed.
*Slash!*
The fire lizard was cleaved in two at the waist. A portion of the blood within its body carried a dazzling glow, and a rich fragrance assailed the nostrils as if the lid of a medicine cauldron had just been lifted.
Qin Ming gathered the wondrous blood into a jade box, temporarily sealing it away.
Wu Yaozu charged over, his face flushed with excitement. "Brother Ming, you've cleared out your entire area? Let me tell you, Big Xiang and I hunted down something amazing—a small flood dragon! It's already fully formed, definitely not a snake. This species is rare and incredibly nourishing. When we get back, we'll make a flood dragon hot pot to temper our bodies and cultivate!"
Qin Ming reminded him, "There might be wondrous blood inside its body. Make sure you don't miss it—that's equivalent to a cauldron of precious medicine!"
As the great battle neared its conclusion, the surviving nomadic hunters were naturally all ruthless characters. They launched frantic counterattacks, turning the combat even bloodier.
During this process, immortal seeds fell and divine seeds faced mortal crises, while mutants from both the Five Elements Palace and the Six Imperials ancestral court died in battle.
In the grandmaster battlefield, experts from every path were slain.
Even with overwhelming advantages, it was impossible to avoid the unexpected deaths of remarkable figures in a large-scale, bloody war of this magnitude.
Some had possessed brilliant futures, only to wither away prematurely.
Li Qingxu was struck by an iron staff weighing ten thousand jun swung by a young giant at the peak of the third realm; over thirty of his bones shattered as he was sent flying, nearly dying on the spot.
Su Shiyun had an arrow pierce through her chest, tearing a corner of her heart's edge. Her vitality was heavily damaged, leaving her unable to recover without an extended period of recuperation.
Pei Shuyan's shoulder blade was smashed to pieces after being besieged by super seeds of the nomadic hunting civilization, nearly costing him his life.
Even Helian Zhaoyu met with misfortune, sent flying with a caved-in chest after being rammed by an old rhinoceros driven mad with despair.
Qin Ming was also severely wounded. He had long been regarded as a thorn in the side of many nomadic hunters. In the final chaotic moments, not only did third-realm experts gather to hunt him down, but even old fellows of the fourth realm barged into the fray.
Fortunately, the Thunder King Bird was fast enough. Amidst the chaotic bloodbath, he tore his way out of the quagmire of death, though he coughed up mouthfuls of blood incessantly.
He had taken a ranged palm strike that snapped two of his ribs, and a runic bell had detonated near him, blasting him and the Thunder King Bird over a hundred meters away.
Looking across the expanse, blood stained the desert everywhere and corpses littered the ground.
Relatively speaking, the casualties suffered by the immortal path, the esoteric sect, and the Newborn path were entirely acceptable. In this fated clash, every expert deployed by the nomadic hunting civilization was completely annihilated.
Chapter 313