261: Chapter 261 The Blood River Sweeps Again, Crisis Reappears

At the edge of the scorched earth, the steam had not yet fully dissipated.

The drill of the earth dragon hung in mid-air, its tip dripping a turbid mixture of blood and melted ice, while wisps of black smoke rose from the mecha's joints.

Chen Tiezhu's hands were still death-gripping the control levers, his knuckles white and the veins on his forehead throbbing violently.

He panted like a bellows, his chest heaving heavily; inside the cockpit, warning lights flashed red and yellow, as the cooling System had long since overloaded.

“Get to work!” The shout he had roared was still echoing across the scorched ground.

The clansmen moved.

Some crawled forward dragging broken Shield Generators, some rummaged through the corpses of exploded Yao Beasts to dismantle spirit cores, and several youths worked together to lift a twisted metal plate as a temporary shelter.

The shield flashed green, barely managing to prop up an arched barrier; though only three feet high, it was finally enough to block the aftershocks.

Chen Xiaodao stood atop a pile of rubble, leaning his sword tip against the ground, his mechanical prosthetic limb slightly burning hot.

He stared at the collapsed ice field in the distance, the Meteor Sword Intent in his eyes not yet fully retracted.

In the battle just now, he had squeezed out nearly every last drop of Spiritual Qi; now, even lifting his hand was a struggle.

Bai Ling leaned against a piece of scorched rock, her face pale.

She wasn't wearing a mecha, draped only in a thin Layer of Nature; the chill of frost and mist still lingered on her fingertips.

Crystallized patterns spread from her left hand to her forearm, like a frozen spiderweb.

Her eyes were closed and her breathing was weak, yet she still used her will to suppress the restless War Heroic Spirit within her body.

Chen Wuwang stood in the center of the rift, his mecha's outer shell covered in scratches, his left Mechanical Prosthetic Eye constantly scanning the surroundings.

He could hear a pulsation deep underground, low and slow, yet never ceasing.

He didn't move, nor did he order a retreat.

He knew this battle wasn't over yet.

The sky suddenly darkened.

It wasn't clouds, nor was it nightfall—it was something obscuring the light of heaven.

Everyone looked up.

From the deep fissure in the ground, a bloody shadow slowly rose.

The man was clad in tattered black robes that fluttered like withered leaves, with a scar on his face so deep the bone was visible; it was none other than Blood Butcher.

His feet left the ground as he walked through the air, surrounded by a bloody mist that coiled around his body like a living snake.

His right hand hung down, and six chains floated behind him, two of which were broken, with black blood seeping from the fractures.

But he stood straight.

“Did you think you could defeat me like this?”

His voice wasn't loud, yet it felt like an iron awl stabbing into their eardrums.

Chen Tiezhu jerked his head up, his pupils shrinking: “Fuck! He's still alive?!”

Before his voice could fade, Blood Butcher's hands suddenly formed a seal.

“Blood River—Rise!”

Boom!

The purple-gray sludge on the ground instantly boiled like an ignited oil pool, erupting into dozens of streams of blood.

Those blood streams twisted and coalesced in the air, actually transforming into a giant python-like river of blood, crimson all over, with countless outlines of human faces surfacing on it, mouths open in silent roars.

The blood river spiraled into the sky, coiling around the crowd circle by circle.

Chen Tiezhu reacted the fastest, slamming the console: “Initiate emergency retreat procedure! Quick—!”

The earth dragon exerted force with its feet, but just as it retreated half a step, several blood filaments shot out like venomous snakes, burrowing into the hydraulic pipes along the tracks.

Alarms blared wildly inside the cockpit, and the control interface was instantly covered in blood-colored code.

“Fuck! The control System is being hacked?!”

The drill stalled, and the entire mecha was wrapped by the blood river, slowly being lifted off the ground.

“Let go!!” Chen Tiezhu roared, his fist smashing into the console, shattering the instrument panel.

Chen Xiaodao drew his sword, the sword light cutting through the blood mist like a meteor, his 'Nine Stars Aligned' technique slashing through three blood cords in succession, sparks flying everywhere.

But the severed ends regenerated instantly, and more blood filaments pounced, wrapping around his arms and hoisting his entire body up.

“Hmph.” Blood Butcher looked down coldly, “A Sword Cultivator? Nothing more than a moving piece of wood.”

Bai Ling bit her teeth and formed a seal with her hands, vines growing wildly from the scorched earth and coiling toward the main body of the blood river.

But as soon as those vines touched the blood flow, they rapidly withered and carbonized, being swallowed by the blood river instead, making its color even more intense.

“The power of nature?” Blood Butcher chuckled, “Just right to replenish my blood.”

Chen Wuwang immediately activated his defense module, a psionic shield expanding to envelop him in a translucent light dome.

The blood river pounced, slamming into the shield with a dull, massive boom.

The shield deformed, compressed to a radius of three feet, with cracks surfacing on its exterior.

“Crack... crack...”

His right knuckles tightened around the Titanium Alloy Dagger, while his left Mechanical Prosthetic Eye performed frantic calculations:

“Energy fluctuation peak at seven degrees directly ahead, avoid the main pulse point—”

But in the next second, the blood river split into seven tributaries, squeezing simultaneously from different angles.

“Bang!”

The shield shattered.

He was wrapped in the blood flow, entangled layer by layer like a fly trapped in a spider's web.

The mecha's outer shell let out an overburdened groan, and sparks flew from the joints.

All five of them were trapped, suspended in mid-air and unable to move.

Blood Butcher walked slowly through the air, the blood river pulsating with every step he took.

He reached the highest point, standing atop the blood river as his shadow cast down, shrouding everyone.

His gaze swept over the struggling Chen Xiaodao, sneering: “Is the sword technique your Master taught you meant for nothing but seeking death?”

He swept over the wide-eyed, furious Chen Tiezhu: “Technology? Heh, nothing more than a trick of turning an Artifact Refining furnace into a coffin.”

He swept over the pale Bai Ling: “An elf? A race that should have gone extinct long ago, yet you still dare to play god here.”

Finally, his gaze landed on Chen Wuwang's face.

“You.” His voice was low, “Doing what Cyber Cultivation, what mecha civilization, did you think you could escape Reincarnation?”

Though bound, Chen Wuwang's mouth curled into a grin, revealing a row of stark white teeth as he chuckled softly.

“Hahahahahaha—!”

The laughter was frenzied, penetrating the blood mist.

“Blood Butcher, you've fled three times, and you still dare to come back to die?”

Blood Butcher didn't answer, simply raising his hand slowly.

The blood river tightened.

“Creeeeak—!”

The mecha's shell twisted and deformed; Chen Tiezhu let out a muffled groan, blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.

The veins on Chen Xiaodao's arms bulged, and his sword nearly slipped from his grasp.

The crystallization patterns on Bai Ling accelerated their spread as cold sweat slid down.

Chen Wuwang felt a jagged, dull pain from his ribs, his breath hitching.

Blood Butcher looked down at him, his gaze icy: “Technology? Mecha? They are nothing but new firewood for my Blood Furnace.”

He clenched his five fingers.

The blood river spiraled like a pillar, with the five people suspended within it, unable to break free.

The wind swept across the scorched earth, blowing up residual ash and carrying the scent of blood throughout the field.

Deep underground, the pulsation had not stopped.

Chen Wuwang's eyes narrowed slightly; deep in his consciousness, the interface of the family rise system quietly lit up.

Midnight had not yet arrived, and the three heavenly secret instructions had not yet been generated.

But he knew that this game was not yet lost.

As long as he was still awake, as long as the System was still running, he still had a chance to turn the tables.

The blood river, like a python, coiled around the five people.

Blood Butcher stood at the top, his robes snapping in the wind.

“This game,” he spoke flatly, “is over.”

Chen Wuwang looked up, half his face smeared with blood and three claw marks on his right cheek seeping blood, yet he still grinned.

“Are you sure?”