Bearing News

This place had once been a Blood Prison, covered in execution grounds. Though sealed away for countless years, the ruins still carried the tragic brutality and gore of that bygone era. The world was draped in crimson. Thick blood mist filled the air, saturated with baleful, sinister power. Anyone setting foot here felt as if plunged into a sea of blood—cold piercing to the bone. An oppressive, eerie atmosphere pervaded the surroundings, tightening every nerve. Ancient restrictions were everywhere to be seen. Yet the greatest danger was not the ancient restrictions, but living creatures. Monsters birthed in such a foul and bloody environment were bound to be chaotic and bloodthirsty by nature—exceedingly dangerous. Fortunately, since entering the blood mist basin, they had encountered no living monsters aside from the flesh puppets within the Black Pagoda Array. And even those flesh puppets were merely walking corpses with no sentience of their own. Yet the moment they burst through the Blood Gate, the expressions on everyone's faces changed. Ahead of them, even the Banner Gate Array paused slightly. Their greatest fear had come to pass! *Boom!* *Boom!* "Roar!" ... The earth shook. Deep within the blood mist, thunderous booms echoed from all directions. It sounded like the thundering tread of countless colossal beasts trampling the earth. Following closely behind were overlapping roars—some distant and muffled, but others prowling nearby. The blood mist and ancient restrictions obscured vision, leaving the monsters completely shrouded in the unknown. Only the endless booms and roars ringing in their ears sent chills down their spines. Why this sudden upheaval? Everyone looked around in bewilderment, feeling surrounded by monsters. Blood-red met their eyes everywhere; no monsters were in sight, but violent ripples came from the depths of the mist, churning it into chaos. For a moment, panic spread among them. Though they were top masters of the present age, there were no few existences in the cultivation world that could threaten them, especially in places like the Blood Lake and Ziwei Palace. Similar tragedies had happened more than once before. Qin Sang's expression shifted slightly as he recalled the unknown monster he and Dongyang Bo had disturbed at the bottom of the Blood River. When leaving the Blood River, he had deliberately lingered outside for a while. Seeing no movement after the beast awoke, he had left once the river calmed. *Could I have caused this?* Qin Sang muttered inwardly. Back then, only one beast had awakened, but now there was no telling how many lurked in the blood mist. If all of them possessed power comparable to that monster, their situation would be perilous in the extreme! After a brief pause, the Banner Gate Array plunged straight into the blood mist. With their pursuers hot on their heels, they had no leisure to worry about what monsters lurked ahead. Qin Sang and the others exchanged glances and stopped in unison, watching the Banner Gate Array vanish from sight. Discovering the cause of the anomaly, discerning the nature of the monsters, and escaping danger as soon as possible took priority; none of them wanted to be buried alongside Old Demon Ye. Just then, a figure suddenly darted out of the blood mist. Seeing this person, Qin Sang's eyes flickered with a strange glint. The others were equally surprised. It was Dongyang Bo, who had been missing for so long! Dongyang Bo was still dressed in his brocade robe, cultured and refined, though his face bore an unnatural paleness suggesting an injury. Even so, his aura remained fairly stable. "Fellow Daoist, what happened to you?" Everyone stepped out of the array and looked toward Dongyang Bo. Several subtle glances flicked between Qin Sang and Dongyang Bo, showing varying expressions. Qin Sang remained silent, deep in thought. When Qin Sang had revealed his identity earlier, the sharper minds among them had already suspected: could Dongyang Bo's mysterious disappearance be connected to Qin Sang? He was capable of forcing Old Demon Ye to detonate his avatar; with premeditation, he certainly possessed the ability to slay Dongyang Bo. Qin Sang sacrificing the Blood Demon avatar and revealing his true face was a scene etched deeply into everyone's minds. No one would be foolish enough to question him directly. Driving away a top-tier expert who had just performed a great deed would be utterly unwise. If he defected to Sin Abyss or Heavenly Demon Mound, the regret would be boundless. Besides, there was no proof. No one knew what enmity existed between this former ancestor and junior, or whether it had reached a life-or-death struggle. Dongyang Bo dashed in front of the group. Catching sight of the unmasked Qin Sang, his pupils shrank slightly, but his composure quickly returned as he said, "The monsters in the Blood Lake have awakened. I was unfortunately injured and besieged by them, which delayed me past our agreed time. Thankfully, I followed the markers left by fellow Daoists and found my way here. These monsters are frenzied and bloodthirsty, and among them are terrifying existences. We cannot linger here. Follow me quickly, we must leave!" Several people covertly observed Dongyang Bo and Qin Sang. Both men appeared completely normal, as if not noticing each other; Dongyang Bo seemed already to know Qin Sang's identity. This only deepened their suspicions. There was definitely something between the two! However, this was no time to dwell on such matters. "Everything was normal before we entered. Does Fellow Daoist know when these monsters appeared? Why did they awaken all of a sudden? What is their origin?" Demon Monarch Tongyou frowned, asking in quick succession. Dongyang Bo said, "Beneath this place lie countless crisscrossing blood rivers through which blood mist flows. The monsters were slumbering at the riverbeds. At first, only a few awoke and merely wandered within the rivers, likely stirred when we opened the seal. But not long ago, for reasons unknown, every ancient restriction in the Blood Lake began to tremble, and the monsters all woke at once, bursting out of the ground..." After confirming the timeline, Qingjun said in a heavy voice, "That was precisely when Old Demon Ye broke the cage's seal!" "Could they be Blood Prison guardians similar to the flesh puppets? When the core seal was broken, did it affect the entire Blood Lake?" Demon Monarch Tongyou hurriedly asked Dongyang Bo about the monsters' appearance, and indeed, they closely resembled the flesh puppets. "When we passed through the Black Pagoda Array earlier, the flesh puppets did seem somewhat abnormal," someone recalled. Sin Abyss had been desperate to escape and deliberately steered clear of the flesh puppets in the Black Pagoda Array, so they hadn't noticed anything unusual at the time. They immediately turned back to the Blood Gate to verify this. The flesh puppets were constrained by the Black Pagoda Array and were not as frenzied as the beasts outside. If every monster possessed strength on par with the flesh puppets, they were in serious trouble! They had intended to thoroughly explore the Black Pagoda Array after hunting down Old Demon Ye, but with this unexpected upheaval, none dared linger any longer. "As things stand, we must leave the Blood Lake as soon as possible and restore its seal, hoping those monsters will not leave the Blood Lake on their own. Once these monsters are loosed, not only will the Xiaohan Realm bear the brunt, but the entire Beichen Realm may face a great catastrophe." Dongyang Bo sighed. "When the monsters burst from the ground just now, I sensed several extraordinarily powerful auras far surpassing our own—enemies beyond our power to defeat." Having suppressed his injuries, he had chosen to stay rather than flee back to the Xiaohan Realm only after careful deliberation. Anyone who witnessed Qin Sang's strength would not oppose him. Furthermore, Qin Sang was not alone; he had dubious ties with the demons and had Qingjun as an ally. If Qin Sang wished, he would surely shine brilliantly in the campaign against Sin Abyss. When that time came, with one having deserted and the other having achieved great merit, whom the factions of the Xiaohan Realm would favor was glaringly obvious. Even if they did not side completely with Qin Sang, Shaohua Mountain would fall into a passive position, and centuries of cultivation and influence would be ruined in an instant.