Chapter 265: Stone Pillar
Chapter 265: Stone Pillar
Hu Yuer gripped Cheng Lingyu’s hand tightly, releasing a peculiar fluctuation that transformed into ripples of immortal light. The light shattered the void and dispelled the resistance of the blood energy.
With Hu Yuer’s help, Cheng Lingyu reached the edge of the massive hole. Holding her, he leaped into the churning blood mist below.
Xiao Lingfeng watched in shock and muttered, “Who is Hu Yuer? Why did she suddenly unleash immortal light? I’ve never heard of such a matter.”
Han Zhen answered, “Cheng junior apprentice once mentioned she’s from the Fox People, a descendant of the Fox Immortal tribe. She carries secrets.”
Chen Song gasped, “The Fox Immortal tribe! That ancient, extraordinary race was once glorious beyond measure.”
Xiao Lingfeng also looked startled. Legends of the Fox Immortal tribe dated back to ancient times, when they were a mighty force. Though faded into history, Hu Yuer’s lineage might yet revive their glory.
Inside the massive hole, the blood mist seethed like boiling blood water, radiating a terrifying aura.
After jumping in, Cheng Lingyu and Hu Yuer found themselves floating in mid-air instead of sinking.
“Strange. This place defies logic,” Cheng Lingyu murmured. Protected by the scroll, he glanced around. The other cultivators who’d entered the hole had vanished. Only five had leaped from the edge—Shui Yingyue, Ye Anlan, and Yunxiu were already gone. The rest had entered via the blood river, leading to different results.
“The blood energy here has formed a barrier. We can’t proceed without breaking through it,” Hu Yuer said, her brow furrowed.
Cheng Lingyu tightened his grip on her hand and activated the Youchen Nine Domains Orchid. The time and space beneath their feet twisted and split, dissolving the buoyancy.
Hu Yuer gasped, “Is there anything you *can’t* do?”
Cheng Lingyu shook his head grimly, channeling the Destruction of Space Divine Thought Wave to probe below. As the rift widened, the blood mist beneath them parted, revealing an endless abyss.
“Something’s wrong,” Hu Yuer whispered.
Cheng Lingyu agreed. Based on the deafening noise from the blood river, the hole shouldn’t be deeper than ten miles. Yet they’d descended twice that distance with no end in sight.
“Strange. Could this be a folded space?” He recalled the ravine in the ancient ruin where he’d met Thousand Snow, which had contained such distortions.
Hu Yuer stayed silent, her eyes glowing with faint light waves as she stared downward.
“Slow down—now!” she suddenly warned.
Cheng Lingyu jerked to a halt. The surrounding space shuddered, and the scenery shifted abruptly.
“We’re out?” he muttered, uneasy despite the lack of danger.
Above them, blood mist swirled, tinting the air crimson. Below stretched a massive blood lake shaped like a grotesque, grinning face. At its center, a small island—blood-red and glaring—resembled the face’s nose.
The blood lake was far from calm, with countless waves and terrifying vortexes resembling ghostly faces at their hearts, making one’s scalp tingle.
Cheng Lingyu gazed at the island in the blood lake, where a peculiar ripple stirred the scroll above him, hinting at revival.
Some experts who had entered earlier were now missing, likely dead, but most remained scattered around the lake’s edges.
“This feels odd. Do you see those stone pillars in the lake?”
Hu Yuer’s sharp eyes spotted something unusual.
Cheng Lingyu squinted through the churning waves and glimpsed stone pillars intermittently surfacing, their flat tops etched with ancient patterns.
The pillars snaked toward the island at the center of the lake, spaced dozens of yards apart.
Amid the turbulent waves, they were easy to miss unless observed closely.
As Cheng Lingyu and Hu Yuer descended, unstable distortions in time and space near the lake’s surface forced them to abandon hovering.
They hurried to the lakeshore for footing.
The eerie blood lake was bordered by jagged stones exuding malice, as though demons lurked within.
Shui Yingyue, Ye Anlan, and Yunxiu stood apart on three such stones, their heads radiating light waves that formed protective barriers.
“Many are here, but I don’t recognize over half,” Cheng Lingyu remarked, studying the cultivators. Hu Yuer kept her eyes on the pillars.
“Why three paths?”
Closer scrutiny revealed three winding pillar-paths from different shores converging on the central island.
Twenty-eight cultivators surrounded the lake. Each pillar-path began near a blood river inlet, drawing clusters of eight or nine people speculating about the mysterious structures.
With no prior knowledge of the blood lake, none dared act rashly.
Of the twenty-eight, Cheng Lingyu recognized half the strangers—mostly from the five major forces.
Nearby stood Heavenly Palace’s Yu Feilong, Hua Yuehong, and Li Moru. Shui Yingyue’s presence brought their group to six; the remaining four were unfamiliar.
By Ye Anlan were three from Jiu Yang Sacred Palace, three from Tianlei Sacred Church, and two unknowns.
Yunxiu’s area hosted three from Shanhua Alliance and three from Heavenly Fire Sect, including Bai Ruomei and Azure Sky Dragon, who eyed Yu Feilong and Hua Yuehong. Two strangers completed their group.
The three factions totaled twenty-eight: ten near Shui Yingyue, nine by Ye Anlan, and nine around Yunxiu.
“Nightfall approaches. If Blood River True Monarch finds intruders, consequences will be dire,” warned a cold man in Shui Yingyue’s group.
While the five major forces’ experts had entered via blood sacrifice, others were trespassers—no one wanted conflict with the True Monarch.
“Volunteer yourself if you’re so bold,” a cultivator shot back, refusing to be a guinea pig.
Li Moru interjected, “Arguing wastes time. Let’s jointly assess the pillars for dangers.”
As earliest arrivals, Heavenly Palace’s trio knew more.
“At midnight, no pillars existed. They rose at dawn,” Li Moru explained. “They’ll likely sink after dark, blocking access to the island.”
Hua Yuehong added, “We’ve debated whether beasts inhabit this lake. If they emerge at night, how will we survive?”
“Blood rivers have beasts—so does this lake. We must act now,” another insisted.
The grim truth united them in planning.
“I’ll test the path,” Shui Yingyue suddenly declared.
None objected. All watched intently as the veiled woman soared into the air, her mirror projecting a protective light sphere.
Violent blood waves and warped space made flight treacherous. Even shielded, Shui Yingyue dared not cross directly.
She alighted cautiously on the nearest pillar, triggering an extraordinary phenomenon. The pillar glowed, repelling bloodwater to form a crimson barrier around her.
Its ten-foot-wide surface bore ancient spiritual patterns now awakening. Beneath her feet, space expanded into a massive stone platform—an ancient Battle Platform.
Spiritual Light coalesced into a blood shadow before her.
“Defeat me or offer a corpse to pass,” it rumbled.
Shui Yingyue asked, “What if I lose?”