Chapter 59: Blood Fiend

The morning of East Sea City was torn apart by a deafening explosion.

Ye Xiao snapped up from the bed, the Chaos Sword already gripped in his hand.

Outside the window, a pillar of blood-red smoke billowed from the direction of the port, and the air was filled with a pungent, fishy stench.

"Something's happened!"

Du Mao kicked open the door, his right arm still wrapped in blood-seeped bandages.

When the three of them rushed onto the streets, the entire city was in utter chaos.

Commoners wept and wailed as they fled toward the inland, and the armor of the city guards was stained with thick, black blood.

"It's Blood Puppets!"

Han Qi stopped a fleeing cultivator. "Hundreds of monsters suddenly appeared at the port, biting everyone they see!"

"And," Han Qi hesitated for a moment before saying, "someone saw Xu Beichen!"

Ye Xiao's heart tightened.

Blood Puppets were the hallmark of the Blood Demon Sect; anyone bitten would transform into a new puppet within twelve hours.

"Xu Beichen!"

The knuckles of his hand gripping the sword turned white.

The port had become a purgatory.

More than thirty withered corpses hung from the masts, like air-dried meat.

Five humanoid monsters were tearing apart a solitary guard, their skin cracked open to reveal squirming blood vessels beneath.

"Form the formation!"

Du Mao roared fiercely, and earth-yellow profound energy formed a halo beneath the feet of the three.

This was the "Leyline Protection" he had newly comprehended after being severely injured at the Sword Tomb.

The Blood Puppets turned simultaneously, their pupils devoid of whites locking onto the three of them.

When the first one lunged forward, Ye Xiao didn't even catch the movement clearly.

The Chaos Sword slashed horizontally by instinct, splitting the monster in half mid-air, black blood hissing as it splattered onto the bluestone pavement.

"Watch out for the blood venom!"

Han Qi's ice wall blocked the splashing tainted blood.

More and more Blood Puppets poured out from the ship cabins.

Ye Xiao noticed that their movements were more than three times faster than last night, and some could even execute rudimentary martial arts techniques.

"Something's wrong..."

He split a Blood Puppet's skull with a single sword strike, only to find a semi-solid blood crystal inside. "These have been refined!"

The port warehouse suddenly exploded.

A man wearing a blood-red cloak emerged from the dust and smoke, the familiar three-eyed raven squatting on his shoulder.

"Old Man Blood Raven!" Du Mao's expression changed drastically.

Withered, thin fingers pulled back the hood, revealing a face covered in corpse spots. "Little ones, we meet again."

The tip of Ye Xiao's sword trembled slightly.

It wasn't fear; the Chaos Sword was excited!

It had caught the scent of the vital blood of a Fish-Dragon Realm expert.

"Where is Xu Beichen?"

Ye Xiao deliberately shouted in a loud voice, while his left hand made a hand gesture behind his back toward Han Qi.

Old Man Blood Raven sneered sinisterly. "Xu Beichen? He is not someone you can afford to provoke anymore!"

Before his voice faded, three bloody feathers pierced through the air!

"Clang!"

The Chaos Sword parried with pinpoint precision, but the third feather arrow suddenly changed direction, aiming straight for Han Qi's throat. At the very moment of imminent peril, Du Mao used his injured right arm to take the arrow head-on.

"Senior Brother Du!"

Black blood spread along his arm, and Du Mao let out a muffled grunt, tearing off the poisoned flesh with his bare hands. "A minor injury!"

Old Man Blood Raven narrowed his eyes. "Interesting. Then all of you shall stay here."

Twelve blood ravens flew out from his sleeves, each of their eyes pulsing with blood-red runes.

Ye Xiao suddenly surged forward.

The blue and red patterns on the Chaos Sword lit up simultaneously, and a wave of sword qi dispersed in a fan shape. The blood ravens shattered one after another, but withered claws suddenly thrust out from the bursting blood mist!

"Puff!"

The instant the sharp claws pierced his shoulder blade, Ye Xiao's sword also stabbed into his opponent's abdomen. Old Man Blood Raven looked down in shock and disbelief!

The Chaos Sword was actually devouring his vital blood.

"Let go!"

The old man retreated violently by a hundred feet, the wound on his abdomen squirming as it healed. "What kind of evil sword is this?"

Ye Xiao knelt on one knee, coughing up blood, but he cracked a smile. "A sword dedicated to slaying old dogs."

Just as Old Man Blood Raven was about to flare up, the entire city suddenly shook violently.

In the direction of the East Sea, a blood pillar a hundred meters thick soared into the sky, dyeing the clouds a dark crimson.

"It has begun..." The old man laughed crazily. "Welcome the descent of the Blood Demon Lord!"

Huge waves exploded across the sea surface. A figure with blood wings sprouting from his back stepped over the waves, every step he took causing schools of fish to float to the surface with their white bellies up.

Ye Xiao's pupils contracted violently.

That was indeed Xu Beichen's face, but an additional spiral-shaped blood horn had grown on his forehead, and the immortal bone on his chest had turned into an eerie purple-black.

"Junior Brother Ye..." The voice sounded like hundreds of people speaking at once. "Are you satisfied with this gift?"

Xu Beichen gently raised his hand, and all the blood puppets at the port melted simultaneously, converging into a river of blood that poured into his palm.

The guards who had been bitten began to scream, their bodies rapidly withering away.

"He's absorbing the vital blood of all the living beings in the entire city!"

Han Qi's ice-crystal sword began to frost over. "We must stop him..."

Before she could finish speaking, the Blood Demon suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, he was already directly above the three of them, his blood wings slashing down like blades!

"Boom!"

Du Mao's Leyline Protection shattered in response, and the three of them were blown away by the shockwave.

Ye Xiao barely managed to parry with the Chaos Sword, the web between his thumb and forefinger instantly bursting open.

"Ants." The Blood Demon looked down at them and suddenly reached out with a grab.

A tear ripped open in the void, directly sucking Han Qi inside!

"Han Qi!"

Ye Xiao's eyes split with fury.

The Blood Demon grabbed Han Qi by the throat, the light of the immortal bone flashing.

The young girl's skin lost its color at a speed visible to the naked eye, and her ice-crystal sword dropped to the ground with a clatter.

"Stop!"

Ye Xiao frantically circulated the Blood God Scripture, the blood patterns on the Chaos Sword glowing like a branding iron.

The Blood Demon observed his changes with amused interest. "Yes, just like this—anger..."

As he spoke, he intentionally slowed down the absorption speed. "This lord is quite curious, how far are you willing to go for this woman?"

Du Mao suddenly surged forward! A punch fueled by his burning vital blood blasted toward the Blood Demon's back, only to be easily swatted away by the blood wings.

Yet this strike provided an opportunity for Ye Xiao! The Chaos Sword flew out of his hand, stabbing straight for the Blood Demon's glabella!

"Insignificant trick."

The Blood Demon casually pinched the blade of the sword, but suddenly let out a muffled grunt.

The blue patterns on the sword erupted with biting cold, freezing half of his arm into an ice sculpture.

Seizing this fleeting gap, Ye Xiao caught the falling Han Qi.

The young girl's complexion was pale as ash, but there was still a faint rise and fall in her chest.

"Take her and go!"

Ye Xiao tossed her to Du Mao and charged toward the frozen Blood Demon himself.

"Clang!"

An illusory figure drifted up from the body of the sword.

Yue Wuxia's remnant soul was much fainter than before, yet carried an unquestionable majesty. "Blood Demon, you have crossed the line."

The Blood Demon shattered the frost, revealing a solemn expression for the first time. "Yue Wuxia? It's you again, this meddlesome wretch?!"

The female sword immortal's phantom did not waste words.

She grasped the hand with which Ye Xiao held the sword, and the Chaos Sword instantly burst into brilliant light.

"Watch closely," she whispered softly in Ye Xiao's ear, "the first stance of the Chaos Sword Scripture..."

The sword technique was thrust out in an unpretentious, plain manner.

Yet the Blood Demon treated it like a formidable enemy, his blood wings folding together to form a cocoon. The instant the sword tip touched the blood cocoon, time seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second.

"Break."

Along with Yue Wuxia's soft whisper, the blood cocoon exploded with a deafening roar!

The Blood Demon retreated violently by a hundred zhang, a bowl-sized hollow appearing in his chest.

"Go!" the phantom urged urgently. "This body is only an avatar; his true body is still inside the Blood River Formation!"

Ye Xiao gritted his teeth and turned around.

The Blood Demon's roar came from behind: "Ye Xiao! If you want to save your woman, come to the Xuanhuang Sect!"

This Blood Demon was now Xu Beichen. Although he had not yet fully refined the power, his strength had already become extraordinary!

With Xu Beichen's ambition, the Xuanhuang Sect was bound to undergo a drastic upheaval!

The final words were drowned out by the sound of explosions. Du Mao dragged him into an alleyway, and the three of them fled toward the city gate under the cover of smoke and dust.

At the pauper's graveyard three miles outside the city, Du Mao collapsed limply beside a gravestone. "Han Qi's condition is looking bad."

Ye Xiao checked the young girl's injuries, his heart sinking to the bottom. The corrosive power of the Blood Demon was entrenched within her body, and even her breathing carried a bloody stench.

"We must go to the Xuanhuang Sect." Ye Xiao clenched the Chaos Sword tightly. "Both for the immortal bone and for the antidote."

"Are you insane?" Du Mao's eyes widened. "Going there now is courting death!"

The gravestone suddenly cracked with a "咔" sound. The Sword-Guarding Elder's voice came from underground: "Kid, bring the Chaos Sword and come see me."

The ground slid open silently, revealing a flight of stone steps leading downward. Ye Xiao picked up Han Qi and stepped into the darkness without a moment's hesitation.

At the end of the stone steps was a crude alchemy chamber. The Sword-Guarding Elder was brewing a fishy, foul-smelling medicinal decoction, and without even raising his head, he said, "Put her on the jade bed."

The jade bed was carved all over with runes, and the moment Han Qi lay down, a layer of frost formed over her. The elder tossed a handful of pitch-black herbs into the medicine cauldron: "The Blood Demon's poison has no cure, but it can be temporarily suppressed."

"Senior," Ye Xiao cut straight to the point, "how many Fish-Dragon Realm experts does the Xuanhuang Sect currently have?"

The elder finally raised his head, a glimmer of sharp light flashing within his turbid eyes: "Counting the old monsters in closed-door seclusion, at least five." He stirred the medicinal soup with a ladle. "However... once news of the Blood Demon's advent spreads, major sects everywhere will send people to encircle and suppress him."

Du Mao's eyes lit up: "We can blend in with the subjugation force!"

"Foolish." The elder sneered coldly. "Why do you think the Blood Demon chose this exact time to manifest?" He pointed toward the northeast. "Seven days from now is a solar eclipse, and by then the power of the Blood River Formation will double."

Ye Xiao suddenly recalled something and pulled the 《Chaos Sword Scripture》 from his bosom. The pages automatically flipped to a certain spot, revealing a star map.

"So that's how it is..." The Sword-Guarding Elder narrowed his eyes. "That girl Yue Wuxia hid the method to break it right here."

He scooped a bowl of medicine and handed it to Ye Xiao. "Feed it to her; it will sustain her for three days. As for you—" A withered, thin finger suddenly pressed against the center of Ye Xiao's brows. "It is time to learn the true Chaos Sword Scripture."

Excruciating pain washed over him. Countless visions flashed before Ye Xiao's eyes: sword dances beneath the starry sky, slaughter amidst a sea of blood, and... a colossal bronze gate floating high amidst the clouds.

When the final vision faded away, he heard the Sword-Guarding Elder's sigh: "Remember, if the Blood River Formation is not destroyed within seven days..."