Chapter 594: Annihilation (Two-in-One)

It worked!

Weng Lingxiao rejoiced.

But a second later, the drifting sand suddenly grew incredibly heavy. To Weng Lingxiao, each previously weightless grain of grit now felt as massive as a mountain.

Pitch-black cracks webbed out around the grains of sand, instantly linking together.

Squelch.

A dense network of bloody gashes erupted all over Weng Lingxiao's body, sending blood spraying into the air.

Blood rushed up his throat. Weng Lingxiao's eyes went wide as the pages of his book flipped furiously. A massive cluster of pitch-black chains burst forth, binding his nearly shattered body back together.

The book dragged him along as it shot backward in a rapid retreat.

Fortunately, the onslaught temporarily ceased.

Though the woman had been driven to genuine fury, Chen Hong's life hung in the balance. She had no choice but to turn back and secure Chen Hong's safety first.

She gave a light wave of her hand, and the sandification gripping both her and Chen Hong instantly dispersed.

Chen Hong's true state was revealed, causing the woman's pupils to constrict.

Her clothes had been shredded to rags. Black iron chains as thick as fingers had gouged directly into her flesh, binding her so tightly that her skin split and blood poured from her mangled body.

Chen Hong's eyes were wide and vacant, her pupils already beginning to dilate.

The attack had been devastatingly brutal, sealing off ninety-nine percent of her life force and leaving only a fragile thread intact. Without immediate treatment, Chen Hong was dead. Seeing this, the woman abandoned all thoughts of the others. She scooped Chen Hong into her arms and fled into the distance at top speed.

Without the woman's power fueling it, the tempest of sand gradually died down.

Zhou Mian and the other two tore through the curtain of sand, rushing to check on Weng Lingxiao.

But Weng Lingxiao just lay on the ground. Through chattering teeth and mangled flesh, he forced out a trembling word:

"Chase them!"

The trio exchanged a glance, then immediately sprinted off in the direction the woman had fled.

Bai Chen and Bai Yue spread their wings simultaneously, pushing their aerial advantage to the absolute limit. Each grabbed one of Zhou Mian's shoulders, and they tore through the sky like a howling gale.

Rumble!

A torrential downpour broke out instantly, drenching the fleeing woman.

Every single raindrop carried a corrosive power. The moment the water struck her, plumes of white smoke hissed into the air.

The woman ignored the pain, letting the terrifying rain batter her body. She simply glanced over her shoulder, threw a punch behind her, and continued her frantic escape.

She had put her full strength into the blow. A colossal fist of swirling sand manifested in the sky, hurtling straight toward her pursuers.

Bai Yue and Bai Chen tried to haul Zhou Mian higher into the sky to dodge, but doing so would inevitably bleed their speed.

They were already lagging behind the woman; if they climbed higher, they would lose any chance of catching her.

But right then, Zhou Mian gritted his teeth and snapped, "Don't dodge."

Bai Chen and Bai Yue were both stunned.

As far as the pair were concerned, their mission was just to wound Chen Hong and, at most, delay the woman for a bit. They had already accomplished the first objective, and they had arguably done enough for the second. There was absolutely no need to risk their lives.

But there was no time to argue.

Zhou Mian bit down hard on the tip of his own tongue.

The trio's bodies instantly dissolved into countless droplets of water, weaving right through the gaps in the oncoming sandstorm.

In a split second, they phased straight through the giant fist. When their bodies resolidified on the other side, all three were drenched in blood.

Even in their vaporized state, they had still taken damage from the grit. Bai Yue felt as if the sand was going to suck him entirely dry.

"Are you insane?!"

Bai Chen finally shouted, glaring at Zhou Mian as they continued to carry him.

"What kind of person do you think Weng Lingxiao is?"

Zhou Mian asked, his voice incredibly weak.

Bai Chen blanked. He couldn't see what that had to do with anything.

"I don't know Director Wen, and I don't know Captain Mao Si, but I know Weng Lingxiao."

Zhou Mian's face was deathly pale.

"He must have sensed something."

"An opportunity. This is an opportunity. We're already on Mao Si and Wen Xu's ship, and everyone wants to climb the ranks."

"But how do you actually seize an opportunity... do you know?"

"Do you think you're prodigies? Or that you're indispensable?"

"Whoever drinks his blood will sit in that seat."

"If you want to keep sitting there, you have to risk your life even more."

"We've all been surviving this long just waiting for Advent Day, haven't we?"

Seeing the thoughtful expressions on the pair's faces, Zhou Mian gritted his teeth again.

"Hold onto your very last lifelines, but put absolutely everything else into the chase."

High above the Stone Realm, a spectacle unseen in a thousand years was unfolding.

Three Ninth Tiers were hunting down a Tenth Tier.

Even though the Ninth Tiers were battered and drenched in their own blood, they refused to let their prey go.

When her path of retreat was cut off by another deluge of water, the woman finally snapped. She whirled around, and with a single glare, she locked the trio dead in their tracks.

"Are you genuinely trying to get yourselves killed?!"

Her voice dripped with hatred. Her hair was a wild, disheveled mess, and she bared her teeth in fury.

Since reaching the Tenth Tier, she had never been this humiliated.

She genuinely couldn't fathom where these three Ninth Tiers had found the nerve to chase her all over the sky.

Even if they were throwing their lives away for whoever was backing them, they shouldn't be so eager to die.

"Hand her over."

Zhou Mian tossed out a random demand, simply using it as an excuse to stall her.

"Fine. Fine! You want to die so badly? I'll oblige you!"

The woman reached up and dragged a fingertip across her forehead. A streak of blood materialized on her skin.

The trio's expressions drastically changed.

Everyone knew that once a resident of Pure Blood City unleashed their bloodline power, they were fighting to the death.

"What do we do? Do we use it?"

Zhou Mian looked at Bai Chen.

"Use it!" Bai Chen roared at the top of his lungs.

It was literally a matter of life and death—there was no point in holding anything back now.

While the two were shouting, Bai Yue had already hurled the item in his hands outward.

Thrum.

A scroll unfurled in the wind.

The woman's pupils shrank when she saw the figure stepping out of the scroll.

The man was clad in a long black robe. He held a dark green lantern in his left hand and grasped a massive, pitch-black Scythe Blade in his right. He was strikingly handsome; his mature features radiated the commanding aura of a superior. His monolidded eyes didn't detract from his looks at all—instead, they gave him a distinctly memorable edge.

He lifted his head and gazed at the woman, his eyes devoid of both sorrow and joy.

Then, he hoisted his Scythe Blade.

A frantic wave of weird energy surged forth.

"Mu Tian?!"

Realizing that this was just a trump card her pursuers had played, her eyes darkened, and she scoffed inwardly.

Did they really think a mere portrait of Mu Tian could trap her? It was laughable.

Even if Mu Tian were still alive, he was only at the Ninth Tier!

Even if he was the strongest Ninth Tier in the entire world, he was still just a Ninth Tier!

Drops of radiant golden blood rolled out from the gash on her forehead, bleeding into the swirling grit in the air.

A crimson hue washed over the storm of sand.

The wind howled furiously. The entire sky went dark as countless boulders were ripped from the earth and hurled into the air.

It looked like the end of the world.

"Throw the damn things!"

Bai Chen was terrified. Seeing Zhou Mian clutching the seeds and hesitating, he reached over and smacked three of the five seeds right out of Zhou Mian's hand. Watching them fall, Zhou Mian felt a painful pang of loss in his chest.

According to Wen Xu, these had been left behind by Commissioner Yan himself.

They were priceless treasures!

Seeing the trio's frantic scramble, the woman let out a cold sneer.

"Nothing can save you now."

The crimson storm violently intensified. Filtered through the endless vortex of bloody sand, the setting sun morphed into a blood moon. In the next breath, the storm crashed down on the trio like a crushing tidal wave.

Caught in the wind, the Fear Seeds instantly sprouted into towering trees, rearing up to intercept the apocalyptic storm. But a second later, a pitch-black blade of light slashed down—as if cleaving the world itself in two.

A single arc of black light eclipsed everyone's vision.

It slashed from the very top of the sky, tearing down across the horizon to the other end.

Instantly, the terrifying tempest disintegrated.

The woman stared blankly down at her right hand.

As she watched in stunned bewilderment, her index finger cleanly slid off her hand.

Spurt. A jet of golden blood sprayed out.

The phantom of Mu Tian gave the woman one last, calm look. A surprisingly human flash of regret crossed his eyes. Then, his figure shattered into fragments and dissolved into the air.

As silence fell over the wasteland, the woman took a deep, shuddering breath. Unable to mask the raw terror in her eyes, she snatched Chen Hong up and turned to flee once more.

It wasn't because of her missing finger.

It was the terrifying reality that her enemies had maimed her using nothing but a portrait.

This battle was worlds apart from anything she had anticipated.

If the real person had shown up...

She didn't even dare to imagine the consequences.

But a moment later, three massive Thorns burst from the earth, blocking her path.

The stump of her severed finger gave a nearly imperceptible twitch.

"Hah... hah..."

Chen Mingkai sat on a boulder, trying to regulate his breathing as quickly as possible.

He didn't open his eyes until an Old Man stepped up to him.

"How is everyone's recovery coming along?"

"We're managing. However, anyone below the Summit tier took heavy casualties. That wave of attacks wasn't particularly intense."

The Old Man replied softly.

Chen Mingkai nodded.

He controlled more Ninth Tier cultivators than anyone else in the Family, surpassing even his eldest brother and sister.

That was his greatest advantage. If he lost his men, it would hurt him far more than it would the others.

"We just received word... their reinforcements have arrived."

The Old Man whispered the situation into Chen Mingkai's ear.

At the mention of Wen Xu's name, Chen Mingkai's pupils contracted.

But his gaze quickly smoothed over into utter calm.

"That is exactly why we must ally with Ninth Sister."

"We absolutely need Ninth Aunt's strength as a Tenth Tier."

"Ninth Sister isn't cut out to be a leader anyway. As long as our factions cooperate, Ninth Aunt will naturally fold into my ranks as time goes on. As for Ninth Sister... she'll have to be satisfied with a slight bump in her rankings. I'm sure she'll understand."

But just then, a deafening explosion ripped across the distance. A visible shockwave blasted toward them, uprooting massive boulders in its path. On the horizon, a colossal tidal wave of jagged stone was hurtling directly toward their position.

Chen Mingkai furrowed his brow.

That wasn't the first explosion.

Similar tremors and shockwaves had been echoing out from that direction for a while now.

Earlier, they had assumed Chen Hong had simply walked into a similar ambush. But now, it was obvious that something was very wrong. That last explosion had been far too massive.

Chen Mingkai reached out, caught a flying chunk of stone, and carefully probed it with his senses.

Immediately, his face fell.

As an expert in the path of sand and stone, he instantly read the residual energy within the rock.

It carried faint traces of the Chen Family's bloodline.

And in Chen Hong's camp, the only one who possessed the bloodline of sand and stone was the Ninth Elder.

The Ninth Elder was fighting for her life?!

Chen Mingkai sprang to his feet and rallied his men.

"We move out to Chen Hong's position."

This was an opportunity. If he arrived in time to help, he could win Ninth Aunt over to his side.

Ambition flickered in Chen Mingkai's eyes.

But as his orders rang out, his men didn't march forward as he expected. Instead, they all stared down at their own limbs in utter horror.

It was as if an invisible hand had seized them. Stripped of all control over their bodies, they began jerking and swaying like marionettes.

"La la la... la la la..."

A voice drifted over from behind the crowd.

A black cat clad in a tiny vest and boots sauntered into Chen Mingkai's line of sight.

It wore a wide smile, humming a tuneless song in a raspy, gravelly voice.

"Stringing a hundred people up like this is a lot harder than just killing them."

Yan Jing looked up at the dumbstruck Chen Mingkai, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"Hello there. I'm Mao Si, captain of the Cat Ship."

Chen Mingkai's face twisted. He attacked almost instantly, violently blasting all the ambient sand and stone straight toward Yan Jing.

But a second later, Chen Mingkai's vision blurred, and the icy chill of a blade pressed against his throat.

"This isn't a game of house, kid. Your Fourth Master doesn't have the time to play with blocks."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"Now, surrender. Otherwise—"

The razor-sharp claws effortlessly punctured Chen Mingkai's skin, drawing a bead of blood.

Intense bitter resentment flooded Chen Mingkai's heart.

He had held sky-high expectations for this Blood War. He had even fantasized about claiming the Summit and receiving the grand patriarch's direct empowerment.

But now, it was over before it had even truly begun.

He still hadn't even figured out what was happening!

Driven by that burning resentment, his brain went into overdrive as he desperately scrambled for a countermeasure.

He had to gamble... He just had to take the gamble...

He covertly channeled his weird energy, feeding it into the blood jade pendant resting against his chest.

A second later, he screamed at the space right behind Yan Jing:

"You're finally here! Protect me!"

But the moment the words left his mouth, Yan Jing's claws slashed down.

The razor-sharp tips cleanly punctured Chen Mingkai's throat.

A burst of bloody light flared, and Chen Mingkai vanished from the spot.

'It worked...'

Clutching his throat, Chen Mingkai hurtled through the air, his face twisted in the wild ecstasy of a man who had just cheated death.

Since the cat had ordered him to surrender, it meant he hadn't genuinely intended to kill him on the spot.

His gamble had paid off.

Blood pumped frantically from the wound in his neck. A crushing wave of dizziness washed over him, causing his flight to violently wobble.

'Why...?'

'Why isn't the wound healing?'

The blood gushing from the puncture wounds wasn't stopping. Despite his desperate attempts to heal himself, the bleeding was only accelerating.

His vision began to blur, and his breathing grew strained. The only thing keeping him conscious was his absolute desperation to reach the Ninth Elder.

As long as he found her, under the protection of a Tenth Tier, he would definitely make it out alive.

Clinging to that single shred of hope, he blindly staggered through the air until he reached the epicenter of the sandstorm.

But when his eyes finally focused on the scene before him, an icy chill pierced straight through his body.

Countless pitch-black Thorns were violently spreading across the barren earth. They grew and writhed, crisscrossing and climbing over each other until they formed a massive cage of Thorns.

And trapped inside that cage...

...was a familiar, bloodied figure.

It was the very person he had thought would be his final salvation.

Yet now, she was reduced to thrashing helplessly against the bars of the cage, like a crippled bird.

The woman turned her head. As she laid eyes on Chen Mingkai clutching his bleeding throat, her own heart violently lurched.