Chapter 291: Colorful Blood
Chapter 291: Colorful Blood
The scroll above Cheng Lingyu’s head grew increasingly bright, releasing ever-strengthening power that showed signs of revival.
Protected by the scroll, Cheng Lingyu and Hu Yuer poured all their energy into advancing. After burning through an incense stick’s worth of time, they finally neared the island at the center of the lake.
The lake’s blood water obscured all vision, forcing the pair to rely on their thoughts to probe the island’s features.
The island was strange—a floating mass with its upper half beneath the lake’s surface and its lower half submerged yet disconnected from the lakebed.
Two dazzling Blood Moons glowed in the island’s lower section, positioned apart from each other.
Each Blood Moon spanned ten meters, surrounded by swirling blood light that released ever-shifting radiance. The light manifested profound mysteries of the Dao, its markings pulsing with primal truths.
Cheng Lingyu and Hu Yuer gaped in awe. The Blood Moons resembled dormant divine beasts beneath the island.
“Legends say the Golden Crow becomes the sun and the Jade Rabbit becomes the moon,” Hu Yuer murmured. “Could these Blood Moons be Jade Rabbit transformations?”
Cheng Lingyu turned sharply. “You think these are two Jade Rabbits?”
“Just wild guesses,” Hu Yuer said cautiously. “But real Jade Rabbits would surpass mere spirit beasts—they’d be divine creatures.”
“Divine beasts?” Cheng Lingyu frowned. “Yet I smell something like… spirit blood.”
“Let’s scout carefully first.”
They swam cautiously around the island’s underside. The floating structure’s lower half consisted of dark-red rocks etched with natural patterns resisting both time’s erosion and the blood water’s corrosive touch.
Circling the submerged section revealed three caves arranged in a triangular pattern between the two Blood Moons, forming dual equilateral triangles.
An odd force kept the caves blood-free. Cheng Lingyu approached but recoiled from an invisible repulsion. Hu Yuer’s attempts also failed—the cave’s defenses defied ordinary barrier logic.
“Secrets must lie within,” Cheng Lingyu muttered.
“Whether fortune or disaster remains unclear,” Hu Yuer countered. “This rootless floating island breaks all reason.”
Ignoring her doubts, Cheng Lingyu focused on solutions. “Youchen Nine Domains Orchid—starry skies forming rings.”
This mantra belonged to the Spatial Technique master among the Ten Immortal Souls, capable of breaching spatial limitations. Though his cultivation level remained modest, Cheng Lingyu grasped the approach’s outline.
He summoned the Heavenly Umbrella. “Test if this shields you from the blood water. I’ll work separately.”
Hu Yuer reluctantly took the mid-grade spirit artifact. Leaving the scroll’s protection, she opened a small defensive bubble. The umbrella’s defenses proved adequate though inferior to the scroll’s might.
Satisfied, Cheng Lingyu briefed her before summoning the Fang Tian Bao Yin and stowing the scroll. The seal’s defenses felt slightly weaker, but he preferred its familiarity.
Next, Cheng Lingyu activated the Youchen Nine Domains Orchid, causing the surrounding time and space to warp as spatial laws shifted endlessly.
His figure blurred as he darted toward the cave like a fish, only to be repelled.
Unfazed by the first failure, he swiftly attempted a second time, yet met the same result.
He persisted through a third, fourth, fifth attempt… until his ninth try, when he vanished abruptly, successfully entering the cave.
“This Cheng Lingyu never ceases to amaze. Let’s see what he finds inside.”
A vertical eye materialized on Hu Yuer’s forehead, emitting a beam of Spiritual Light woven from runes. It pierced through the blood water, revealing the cave’s interior.
The cave stretched less than a hundred feet deep, converging with two others within the mountain’s core to form a vast natural chamber. Spiritual patterns shimmered across its walls, forming a complete spiritual diagram that pulsed with the Dao’s essence.
At the chamber’s base lay a fist-sized blood pool. Within it, luminous multicolored blood swirled, runes dancing across its surface.
“Spirit blood! Cheng Lingyu guessed correctly!”
Hu Yuer marveled. For spirit blood to exist deep within this island’s mountain was extraordinary.
The blood shifted forms—now a Jade Rabbit, now a Blood Moon, now a floating ring, now a wisp of cloud.
“What manner of spirit blood is this? Could it belong to a spirit beast ranked among the top ten on the spirit beast list?”
As a member of the Fox People, Hu Yuer knew much of spirit beasts, yet this blood’s metamorphoses defied her knowledge. Its origin was clearly beyond ordinary comprehension.
Soon, Cheng Lingyu reached the pool’s edge, his silhouette blocking her view. Hu Yuer retracted her vertical eye and waited, time slipping by unnoticed.
When the lake’s blood water began churning, she jolted to alertness.
“I must flee! Once the Blood Moon submerges, the Heavenly Umbrella won’t protect me!”
She swam upward, aiming for the island, but an invisible force barred her path. After multiple failed attempts, she retreated toward the Sixteenth Pillar.
Though the Eighteenth Pillar was nearest, Shui Yingyue’s presence there deterred her. The Seventeenth Pillar, occupied by Heavenly Palace’s three experts, was equally perilous. Thus, she returned to the Sixteenth Pillar, reaching it just as the Blood Moon plunged into the lake. Shielded by the Heavenly Umbrella, she survived unscathed.
Daybreak revealed the pillars rising above the water. Hu Yuer’s solitary figure drew wary glances from all factions.
Heavenly Palace’s three experts noted Cheng Lingyu’s absence—first puzzled, then elated, assuming he’d perished in the blood lake.
Jiu Yang Sacred Palace, Tianlei Sacred Church, Heavenly Fire Sect, and Shanhua Alliance members exchanged theories.
“Did that woman sacrifice him to bypass the trial?”
“Plausible,” others murmured.
Distance prevented confrontation, leaving them to speculate.
Meanwhile, Shui Yingyue, Ye Anlan, and Yunxiu pressed onward, Holy Artifacts blazing as they forced the blood shadow guardian into retreat. Observers sensed the final gate’s imminent collapse.
The island at the lake’s heart glowed tantalizingly. Once the trio breached the Eighteenth Gate, latecomers would find nothing but scraps.
The Seventeenth Gate now teemed with experts: three from Jiu Yang Sacred Palace, three from Heavenly Fire Sect, and three from Heavenly Palace. The Sixteenth Gate held Tianlei Sacred Church and Shanhua Alliance’s trios, plus Hu Yuer.
Tianlei Sacred Church had initially lagged to avoid Jiu Yang Sacred Palace. Now, they raced to close the gap. Similarly, Shanhua Alliance, having evaded Heavenly Fire Sect earlier, abandoned caution and surged to the Seventeenth Gate within hours.
Thus, Hu Yuer remained alone at the Sixteenth Gate while fifteen experts from five major forces clustered at the Seventeenth—a tense equilibrium.
Heavenly Palace faced no direct rivals. Jiu Yang Sacred Palace and Tianlei Sacred Church occupied one flank; Heavenly Fire Sect and Shanhua Alliance the other. This uneasy balance birthed unpredictability.
The Seventeenth Gate’s blood shadow repelled even these elites. Desperation turned minds to sacrificial tactics, stoking rivalries.
Shui Yingyue’s trio owed their progress to peerless Holy Artifacts—luxuries beyond most. Jiu Yang Sacred Palace and Tianlei Sacred Church, both Three Saints factions, stood evenly matched. Heavenly Fire Sect (Four Peerless) and Shanhua Alliance (third among Four Peerless) fielded elite members, their clash’s outcome uncertain.
Mutual wariness kept hostilities dormant—no faction dared strike first without assured victory.
Hu Yuer lingered afar, monitoring Heavenly Palace while awaiting Cheng Lingyu’s return. To advance now would trap her among Yu Feilong, Li Moru, and Hua Yuehong—a perilous trio.