Volume 1, Chapter 469 – Huang Ze

The strange fragrance in the air grew heavier and heavier.

In the deathly silent space, even the slightest disturbance was magnified without limit. By Shi Lan’s ears, only the sound of her own heartbeat remained.

“Cheap theatrics.”

All of a sudden, a sharp chill flashed through Shi Lan’s eyes. Her blood and qi surged violently as the Scarlet Crow War Halberd tore through the void and shot toward the red-clad woman reclining sideways on the phoenix chair.

Creak—

The red-clad woman’s neck suddenly twisted sharply to the left, her neck bones bending at an unnatural angle. The halberd brushed past the side of her throat by the narrowest of margins, failing to injure her in the slightest.

“What an interesting little thing you are.”

An amused voice echoed through the hall. The red-clad woman slowly opened her eyes, and the dark red pupils she had before were dyed pale gold by an invisible halo.

The instant her eyes opened, the red-clad woman vanished where she stood. In the next moment, she was already standing before Shi Lan.

Even with Shi Lan’s current reaction speed, she had no time to respond. She had only just managed to recall the halberd when she was completely bound by a golden divine ring.

“Your bloodline is very strange.”

The voice drifting from the red-clad woman’s mouth was ethereal to the extreme, lacking some of the quality of the mortal world and carrying a sinister chill.

She floated closer, her body slowly rising, then tilted her head up and lightly licked the side of Shi Lan’s neck. Her three-inch tongue was like a steel blade scraping bone, instantly shaving away a large piece of flesh.

The clear sound of chewing lingered by Shi Lan’s ear, as though she were savoring it with meticulous care.

Gulp—

“Mmm… a taste I have not known in a very long time. You truly are human. You have absorbed phoenix blood, and mixed within you is the bloodline of another powerful creature. It is as sweet as the blood of the Ancient Gods. Quite delicious.”

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She licked the corner of her mouth, savoring the aftertaste, a smile surfacing on her face.

Shi Lan’s upper body was already soaked through with blood. The dark violet spiritual blood gushing out gradually slowed under her powerful regenerative ability, and the wound began to knit itself back together.

The scene before her stirred up certain memories in Shi Lan that were far from pleasant, and her gaze darkened.

“You are Huang Ze.”

Shi Lan was not asking a question. The signs before her were already more than enough to prove the other party’s identity.

“This fleshly body of yours appears to have been carefully tempered. Its foundation is solid, its talents exceptional. It is quite a fine shell.”

Huang Ze paid no attention at all to Shi Lan’s words, merely murmuring to herself:

“Unfortunately, a human body is incompatible with my Dao Fruit. To force a fusion would only spoil the result.”

She circled around Shi Lan several times as if weighing something, then fell into a long silence.

In the end, she slowly withdrew and sat back down on the phoenix chair. Within her pale golden eyes, the heavy divine might of the imperial path spread out as she gazed down on Shi Lan from on high.

“The proper time has not yet come, and it is inconvenient for this Emperor to walk the world in person. If you are willing to serve as this Emperor’s agent in the world, then today I may spare your life.”

“Then I really must thank the Demon Emperor for thinking so highly of me.”

A sneer touched the corner of Shi Lan’s mouth, her eyes brimming with killing intent. She had no interest in certain pieces of information buried in Huang Ze’s words.

The demons and devils of the Middle Ancient era had never known true civilization. Their cruelty far exceeded that of certain demon races in today’s Boundless Demon Domain. Not a single word from Huang Ze could be trusted.

“Little one, you are still young. There are many secrets in this world far beyond your imagination. Lingyang is but one corner of the universe. In this age, this Emperor is destined to transcend above it.”

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Huang Ze did not grow angry. With a wave of her hand, she withdrew the golden divine ring binding Shi Lan and spoke indifferently:

“This is a rare honor. It is only because your talent is extraordinary, rare through the ages, and because it was no easy feat for you to cultivate to this point, that this Emperor is giving you a chance.”

The moment her words fell, a pair of blood-red wings suddenly spread open from Shi Lan’s back, and a spatial vortex appeared in the void behind her.

“You wish to burn your small world and stake everything on one desperate struggle? Wishful thinking.”

Huang Ze propped up her chin with one hand and stopped trying to persuade her. A thread of brilliant golden light flowed from her fingertip, carrying imperial might within it.

“Well then. At least you might satisfy my appetite.”

Shi Lan’s refusal to appreciate the offer had left her somewhat disinterested.

Splash—

Yet the expected attack never came. Instead, a torrential rain of blood suddenly poured down from above, thick with the aura of laws.

“A Supreme’s essence blood is rare nourishment indeed. Think of it as the gift I’m giving you upon our first meeting.”

Mockery flashed in Shi Lan’s eyes. She drew the world power of the Qiongluo Realm into her body, then instantly activated the Spirit-Burning Art, igniting her life essence as she retreated in a frenzied rush, disregarding everything else.

Huang Ze had never expected Shi Lan to act like this and was drenched from head to toe in the overwhelming downpour of a Supreme’s essence blood.

The essence blood, packed with vast energy, released an enticing fragrance. She reflexively licked a drop.

“It truly is the blood of one who has attained the Dao…”

The laws within the blood, along with the oceanic energy it contained, could not be faked. And it was extremely fresh, untouched by the corrosion of time. For Huang Ze in her current weakened state, it could truly be called supreme nourishment.

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A mere Heaven-Man obtaining such blood—where could it have come from?

Just as Huang Ze was struck by doubt, the laws within the blood suddenly began to faintly repel the laws of this world.

“This is… an otherworldly Supreme?!”

A term from the distant past sprang out of the depths of her mind. Huang Ze’s pale golden pupils shrank abruptly, and for the first time, fear flashed across her always indifferent face as she let out a piercing shriek:

“Wretched beast, you deserve death!!”

Boom!

Outside the golden hall, the entire vault of the great world shattered in an instant, and layers upon layers of heavy Heavenly Punishment tribulation clouds emerged.

Before the tribulation lightning had even fallen, the crushing heavenly might had already smashed apart the entire sky-curtain. The slowly revolving phantom of the great sun collapsed, and the whole great world was plunged into boundless darkness, with only the occasional flicker of lightning bringing a trace of light.

“It’s Heavenly Punishment!”

“Retreat, now!”

“Fall back!”

In an instant, every Heaven-Man and Heaven Demon felt their scalps go numb and lost all courage to continue fighting. They only hated that they had not been born with more legs as they scattered madly in all directions.

Nie Lin’an and the other two were closest to the golden hall, practically at the center of the Heavenly Punishment, and they were even more terrified out of their wits.

“Shi Lan is still inside the hall!” Tian Xuanjing shouted.

“We can’t worry about that now. Go first!” Nie Lin’an barked and turned to flee without a backward glance.

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Under the lightning tribulation, all spatial nodes were sealed. Unless one could shift the entire void itself, escape depended solely on flight speed. At this moment, time was life.

Daoist Yunzhen fled the fastest. He specialized in the primordial spirit path and had the keenest spiritual sense. He had already sensed something wrong the moment the Heavenly Punishment showed the faintest sign.

This Heavenly Punishment came far faster than the one Shi Lan had experienced before. Almost in the blink of an eye, a thunder dragon came crashing down, striking straight at the golden hall.

Kreee—

A layer of formation patterns bearing divine phoenix imprints suddenly rose from the golden hall, covering the entire expanse of void.

Crack—

The formation patterns collapsed on contact. The thunder dragon struck straight into the center of the hall and, in the space of a finger snap, blasted through the golden hall and the floating island beneath it.

Having only just covered some distance, Tian Xuanjing stopped and looked back.

The lightning’s energy was extraordinarily concentrated, not a trace of it spilling outward. This caused a bold thought to arise in his mind.

He quietly pulled out his five-colored divine sword, crept closer to the floating island, and began prying up the gold bricks forged from Crimson Nether Gold on the ground.

“Why are you still here?!”

With the formation destroyed, Shi Lan met no further obstruction and rushed straight out, kicking open the doors of the hall in a single step.

When she saw Tian Xuanjing crouched at the edge of the island, she could not hide the astonishment on her face.

Faced with Heavenly Punishment of this magnitude, there was actually still someone unafraid of death enough to remain here?!