82: Chapter 82 Breaking the Silent Formation, Killing the Traitor

"nirvana sword talisman?!"

Outside the blood-colored cage, the smile on Xiao Han's face instantly froze, and a trace of shock flashed in his eyes for the first time.

He recognized this sword Talisman—that was a life-saving item condensed by Elder Moyuan with nirvana Sword Intent, each equivalent to the full-strength strike of a Nascent Soul Peak Cultivator. Throughout the Taixuan Holy Land, the Disciples qualified to obtain this item could be counted on one hand!

How could Bai Yunzhou have it? And how dare he use it in the Nether Soul Refining Formation?!

"Impossible... Lord Blood God clearly deduced that you only had one nirvana sword talisman on your body, and it was already used in Wanmo Cave..."

"Deduction?" Bai Yunzhou sneered, "That Lord Blood God of yours probably miscalculated the temperament of my Elder Moyuan."

The pitch-black sword Talisman in his palm slowly melted, turning into ink-like viscous liquid that spread along his arm and quickly covered his whole body.

At the same time, that trace of newly born Power of Chaos in his Dantian was also mobilized, fusing with the nirvana Sword Intent.

Hum—

An indescribable coercion erupted from within Bai Yunzhou's body.

That was the Fusion of nirvana and Chaos, containing both the dead silence of obliterating all things and the vitality of opening heaven and earth. The two completely opposing forces reached a bizarre balance within his body.

The blood-colored cage trembled violently.

On the blood-colored light barrier forming the cage, countless fine cracks emerged. The chains extending from the Void Realm melted like snow the moment they touched the layer of black liquid on the surface of Bai Yunzhou's body.

"Break for me!"

Bai Yunzhou shouted lowly, pushing his hands outward.

Snap!

The blood-colored cage shattered in response!

Almost at the same time, his right hand pressed his fingers together like a sword, pointing from afar at the blood-colored crystal—the core of the Nether Soul Refining Formation.

A grayish Sword Qi burst from his fingertips.

That Sword Qi looked plain and unremarkable, yet it made Xuetong's pupils in the distance shrink sharply: "Power of Chaos?! You actually touched that level?!"

He wanted to stop it, but Ling Shuang's ice soul sword was already entangling him like maggots on tarsal bones, giving him no chance to get distracted at all.

The gray Sword Qi silently submerged into the blood-colored crystal.

Three breaths of silence.

Then—

Rumble rumble rumble!!!

The entire isolated island shook violently, and the nine blood-colored stone pillars burst simultaneously!

Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the surface of the crystal, and the baby-like phantom inside let out a shrill scream, then completely dissipated.

The formation core of the Nether Swamp was shattered.

"No—!!!" Xuetong's eyes split open from anger.

To set up this formation core, the Blood God Cult had spent a full three years and slaughtered tens of thousands of people to collect essence blood. Now that it was destroyed overnight, the master's plan would suffer a heavy blow!

In his furious rage, he opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of essence blood, turning it into a skyful of bloody rain to temporarily force Ling Shuang back.

Then he turned around, his single eye bursting with crazy blood light: "Bai Yunzhou, this old man wants you to be buried with me!"

His hands formed hand Seals, and a bloody hole suddenly burst open on his chest. A fist-sized, incessantly beating blood-colored heart flew out—that was his natal blood core, containing seven tenths of his cultivation!

The blood core hung in mid-air, spinning frantically, drawing the surrounding blood fiend Qi to converge, actually intending to self-detonate!

"Careful!" Ling Shuang's expression changed, her ice soul sword held horizontally in front of her, and a thick ice wall instantly condensed.

But Bai Yunzhou was even faster than her.

Almost the moment Xuetong took out his natal blood core, he moved.

The zhuiyun boots flashed with spiritual light, his figure turning into an afterimage, and with incredible speed he crossed the skyful of bloody rain, appearing in front of Xuetong.

The liefeng sword had returned to his hand at some unknown time, and on the surface of the sword body, that layer of Chaos color became increasingly deep.

Qinglian Sword Canon Sixth Form · Qinglian Slashes the Void!

But this time, he integrated the Power of Chaos.

The sword came out silently, yet it possessed the might to split heaven and earth.

Xuetong didn't even have time to react before the tip of the sword pierced into the center of his brows.

Puchi.

Amidst a soft sound, Xuetong's movements froze.

He lowered his head, looking at the long sword inserted into the center of his brows, his eyes filled with disbelief: "You... how could you..."

"Blood God Cult, all deserve to die."

Bai Yunzhou twisted his wrist, and the Power of Chaos erupted.

Xuetong's entire head burst, along with that natal blood core, turning into a skyful of blood mist, which was then completely purified by the Power of Chaos, leaving not even a trace of his lingering soul.

A Nascent Soul Middle Stage Cultivator had fallen.

The remaining seven blood-robed Cultivators saw that their leader had died and instantly fell into Chaos, trying to flee in all directions.

"Not a single one left."

Bai Yunzhou's voice was icy.

Song Xinghe, Deng Mufeng, and Zhou Zhiting had long been fully prepared, and upon hearing this, they immediately struck.

Song Xinghe's sword light was like a reversed galaxy, instantly slaying three people.

Deng Mufeng continuously unleashed Talismans, with fire, thunder, and ice elemental arts bombing in turns, killing another two.

Wearing the leihuang gauntlets, Zhou Zhiting punched out, thunder light bursting and smashing the last two into charcoal.

The battle ended.

The entire process took less than ten breaths.

From Bai Yunzhou breaking open the blood-colored cage, to Xuetong's fall, and then to the complete annihilation of the enemy, it was so fast that it was dizzying.

Ling Shuang put away her ice soul sword, and the look she directed at Bai Yunzhou held a bit more complexity.

This young man... his growth speed was far too terrifying.

That sword just now had already touched the threshold of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage. Yet he had broken through to Core Formation Perfection less than a month ago!

"Senior Brother Bai, that scoundrel Xiao Han wants to run!" Song Xinghe suddenly shouted.

Bai Yunzhou turned his head and saw that Xiao Han had already turned into a streak of blood light, frantically fleeing toward the depths of the swamp.

Clearly, the moment Xuetong self-detonated, he realized the general trend was gone and immediately chose to flee.

"Can he escape?"

Bai Yunzhou sneered.

As early as in the Immortal Cave, he had planted a Green Lotus Sword Intent mark inside Xiao Han. At this moment, with a thought, he could clearly sense the other party's location.

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion through the void.

"Come back."

Hum!

The fleeing Xiao Han shuddered all over, and the wisp of Green Lotus Sword Intent inside his body suddenly erupted, turning into countless fine Sword Qi that sealed all his Meridians.

He let out a miserable scream, falling from mid-air and heavily slamming into the mire.

Bai Yunzhou took a step forward, appearing in front of him.

"Senior... Senior Brother Bai, spare my life!" Xiao Han's face turned pale as he struggled to crawl up, "I was also forced! Elder Xuanming... No, that old scoundrel Xuanmingzi captured my sister and forced me to work for him..."

"Is that so?" Bai Yunzhou squatted down, his gaze like a sword, "What about Lin Feng and Liu Ruyue? What were they for?"

"They..." Xiao Han's eyes flickered, "They were also forced..."

Before his voice fell, Bai Yunzhou had already pressed a palm onto the top of his head.

Soul Search technique!

"Ah—!!!"

Xiao Han let out a shrill scream, blood bleeding from his seven orifices while his whole body convulsed.

Bai Yunzhou expressionlessly forced his Divine Sense into Xiao Han's Sea of Consciousness to search through his memories.

A moment later, he withdrew his palm.

Xiao Han collapsed softly to the ground, his pupils unfocused, his Divine Soul already shattered and his vitality severed.

"How is it?" Ling Shuang walked over and asked.

Bai Yunzhou stood up, his palm now holding a blood-colored token, several secret letters, and a recording stone.

"The evidence is conclusive." His voice was icy, "The three of Xiao Han were all dead soldiers secretly cultivated by Xuanmingzi in his early years, not forced. Their families were slaughtered by the Blood God Cult a full ten years ago, and their current identities are all forged."

"This Blood God Token was personally handed to him by Xuanmingzi. These secret letters record Xuanmingzi's multiple interactions with the Blood God Cult's Vice Cult Master, Elder Xuegu."

"As for the recording stone, it records how Xuanmingzi passed Holy Land intelligence to the Blood God Cult, how he suppressed the investigation of Disciple missing cases, and..."

Bai Yunzhou paused, the killing intent in his eyes growing even more intense.

"How he promised the Blood God Cult that he would capture me alive and present me to their Cult Master."

Song Xinghe and the other three felt chilled all over upon hearing this.

A Nascent Soul Late Stage merit transmission Elder, who had operated in the Holy Land for a century, had actually degenerated into a Blood God Cult traitor long ago!

If this news spread out, it would inevitably trigger an earthquake in the Holy Land!

"We must immediately return to the Holy Land and present the evidence to True Monarch Tianxing," Deng Mufeng said in a deep voice.

"No hurry," Bai Yunzhou shook his head, "Xuanmingzi has operated in the Holy Land for many years and has numerous cronies. If we return rashly, I am afraid that before the evidence reaches the hands of True Monarch Tianxing, it will be intercepted by his people."

"Then what should we do?"

Bai Yunzhou looked into the distance.

There was the direction of the Taixuan Holy Land.

"Wait."

"Wait?"

"Wait for someone," Bai Yunzhou said faintly, "Since Elder Moyuan gave me three nirvana sword talismans, he naturally anticipated today's situation. He should already be on his way."

As soon as his voice fell—

"You brat, you guessed quite accurately."

An aged voice rang out by everyone's ears without any warning.

Following closely, space twisted slightly, and a gray-robed figure emerged out of thin air.

It was precisely Elder Moyuan.

He was still in that withered appearance, but his turbid eyes were now shooting out brilliant light, sweeping across the battlefield and finally falling on Bai Yunzhou.

"Sword Intent condenses without scattering, Chaos is newly born... Not bad, it's even a bit faster than this old man expected."

"Greetings, Elder." Bai Yunzhou respectfully bowed.

Song Xinghe and the others also hurriedly bowed.

Moyuan waved his hand, walked to Xiao Han's corpse, and glanced at it: "Searched the soul?"

"Yes." Bai Yunzhou handed over the evidence.

Moyuan took it, and with a sweep of his Divine Sense, his expression instantly turned gloomy.

"What a good Xuanmingzi... What a good Blood God Cult!"

He put away the evidence and looked at Bai Yunzhou: "What do you plan to do?"

"Disciple would like to ask Elder to escort us back to the Holy Land to confront him face-to-face."

Moyuan pondered for a moment and nodded: "Very well. However, Xuanmingzi is, after all, a Nascent Soul Late Stage Cultivator with deep roots in the Holy Land. Relying solely on these evidence, I'm afraid it is not enough to completely bring him down."

"Disciple understands," Bai Yunzhou said, "Therefore, we need to add a bit more fuel to the fire."

"Oh?" Moyuan raised an eyebrow.

Bai Yunzhou took out the Xueshuo jade pendant from his bosom and lifted all its Seals.

The jade pendant instantly burst with brilliant blood light, and that tracking rune became active again, resonating with a certain existence in the distance.

"Xuanmingzi thinks that with me wearing this jade pendant, my whereabouts are completely under his control," Bai Yunzhou sneered, "Then I will let him 'see' what he wants to see the most."

He raised his hand and used Green Lotus Sword Intent to carve a reverse-tracking rune beside that tracking rune.

"Use his own methods against him."

A trace of approval flashed in Moyuan's eyes: "You want to use this rune to inversely lock onto Xuanmingzi's location and find more evidence of his collusion with the Blood God Cult?"

"Precisely."

"Any certainty?"

"Seventy percent."

Moyuan smiled, a rare trace of a smile appearing on his withered face: "Enough guts. Good, this old man will accompany you in gambling this once."

He waved his hand, and a grayish Sword Intent enveloped everyone.

"Let's go. Before Xuanmingzi notices, we must first return to the Holy Land to layout our strategy."

The Sword Intent enveloped the crowd, turning into a gray stream of light that soared into the sky and vanished instantly into the distant horizon.

...

Half an hour later.

The Nether Swamp returned to dead silence.

Only the nine broken stone pillars and the scorched corpses all over the ground proved that a fierce battle had once taken place here.

Deep within the swamp, in an inconspicuous mire, a string of bubbles suddenly emerged.

The bubbles burst, and a faint wisp of blood mist drifted out, slowly condensing in the air and finally transforming into a blurry humanoid phantom.

That phantom was only the size of a palm, and its appearance was impressively that of Xuetong!

He looked in the direction where Bai Yunzhou and the others left, his eyes filled with malice.

"Chaos Green Lotus Body... Indeed hard to kill..."

"However, this old man will remember the grudge of you destroying my formation core and annihilating my Clone..."

The phantom slowly dissipated, leaving only a whisper echoing in the swamp:

"The master... will not let you go..."

...

Taixuan Holy Land, Xuanmingzi's Immortal Cave.

Xuanmingzi, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation, suddenly opened his eyes, his brows slightly furrowed.

He sensed that the tracking rune he had left in the Xueshuo jade pendant was moving at high speed—and the direction was precisely the Holy Land.

But the moving speed... was abnormally fast.

"Did that old fellow Moyuan make a move?"

He got up, walked over to the blood-colored bronze mirror, and injected spiritual power into it.

The mirror surface rippled, but the displayed image was very blurry, and one could only vaguely see a gray sword light shuttling through the clouds, unable to clearly see the internal situation at all.

"Hmph, Nirvana Sword Intent blocking perception... Quite cautious indeed."

Xuanmingzi cold-snorted, not paying too much attention.

In his view, Bai Yunzhou was already a turtle in a urn. With Xiao Han and the two others monitoring from the side, Xuetong guarding the Nether Swamp, plus the Nether Soul Refining Formation, this brat had absolutely no possibility of surviving.

The one returning to the Holy Land at this moment was probably just Moyuan going to collect corpses.

"What a pity for that Chaos Green Lotus Body..." A trace of greed flashed in Xuanmingzi's eyes, "If it can be presented to the master, it can at least be exchanged for three Blood God Pills..."

As he was thinking, he suddenly felt something in his heart and took out a communication jade Talisman.

An icy voice came from the jade Talisman:

"The plan has changed. Bai Yunzhou is not dead, the Nether Swamp formation core was destroyed, and Xuetong's Clone has fallen. Xiao Han and the other three are completely annihilated."

Xuanmingzi's expression changed abruptly.

"What?! How is this possible?!"

"The specific process is unknown. But Moyuan has already brought him back to the Holy Land, and they are expected to arrive in an hour. The master has an order: At all costs, before they meet True Monarch Tianxing, destroy all evidence, or... silence them."

The communication ended.

Xuanmingzi gripped the jade Talisman, veins bulging on the back of his hand.

After a moment of silence, a fierce and ruthless expression flashed in his eyes.

"Since it has come to this... then don't blame this old man for being ruthless."

He walked to the depths of the Immortal Cave and opened a secret compartment.

Inside the secret compartment, three things were neatly placed:

A blood-red Medicinal Pill exuding a rich bloody smell—the Blood God Pill.

A pitch-black short sword with its sword body carved with bizarre runes—the Soul-Breaking Sword.

And a palm-sized blood-colored Formation Plate—a miniature version of the Nether Soul Refining Formation.

Xuanmingzi put away all three things, a ferocious smile appearing on his face.

"Bai Yunzhou... Moyuan..."

"Today, I will let you witness this old man's true strength."

He turned into a streak of blood light, rushed out of the Immortal Cave, and headed straight for the direction of the Holy Land's mountain gate.