The golden auspicious cloud forcibly carried the woman back into the sky. The tens of thousands of stunned and bewildered cultivators in the lower realm painstakingly collected nine drops of vital blood essence. They used true fire to burn, thunder to strike, true water to dissolve, and magic spells to vaporize, yet none could damage these nine drops of essence. Finally, they gathered vast quantities of materials and forged a Nine Dragon Demon Sealing Cup, within which the nine drops of vital blood essence were suppressed.

“So that’s how it is. This is the origin of the nine drops of Han Piao vital blood essence that I absorbed!” Gu Xiechen gazed thoughtfully at the scarlet mist suffusing the eleventh layer. The mist appeared from nowhere, harboring an intensely evil heat. Gu Xiechen cautiously reached out to touch a wisp of cloud drifting past him, only to nearly have his finger burned into a chicken wing.

“Such terrifying temperature!” Gu Xiechen stared at the crimson clouds floating above in shock, then suddenly cried out in alarm, “Blast it. Those women!” If even Gu Xiechen’s physical resilience was nearly cooked, these women would surely turn to ash instantly if they touched these scarlet clouds.

Gu Xiechen bounded onto the plaza in a panic, shouting at the dumbfounded Yan Jiang and the disciples of the Nine Nether Dao, “What are you all still doing there? Hurry up and save them! Damn Peng Hua, what the hell are you playing at? Three drops of Han Piao essence—didn’t you absorb it all? How is there still—”

A bone-piercing agony shot through Gu Xiechen’s body, a terrifying power actively plundering the essence, spirit, and mind within him. Specks of scarlet blood continuously secreted from within, distinctly separate and incompatible with Gu Xiechen’s own blood. Every drop contained boundless, tremendous energy, brimming with a chilling, terrifying evil aura.

“Ah!” Gu Xiechen shrieked in pain. This scarlet blood secreted from every one of his cells, flowing directly out of his robust body. Gu Xiechen felt as if he were a piece of fatty pork being tightly pressed by a red-hot iron plate, his very oils being squeezed out of him.

Gu Xiechen had absorbed three drops of Han Piao essence, and their energy had been completely digested and absorbed by his body. But he never dreamed that although the essence had been absorbed, it had never been truly digested or controlled. The three drops of Han Piao essence had split into billions of minute seeds, taking root and sprouting within Gu Xiechen’s body, continuously strengthening themselves.

In the blink of an eye, nearly one thousand milliliters of scarlet blood, harboring immense energy, had appeared inside Gu Xiechen. This blood moved within him like sentient creatures, frantically draining the inherent energy of Gu Xiechen’s physical form. Gu Xiechen writhed and screamed on the ground in agony. Before long, this thousand milliliters of blood erupted from his seven orifices, writhing like living things as they ascended toward the sky, slowly coalescing into a sphere of blood.

Faint specks of blood-colored light continued to surge out of Gu Xiechen’s body. This blood sphere, having left his body, still continued to plunder the energy within him.

The five disciples of the Nine Nether Dao, including Yan Jiang, were stunned by this transformation. Yan Jiang lunged in front of Gu Xiechen, crying out breathlessly, “Junior Brother, you—you...”

Gu Xiechen suddenly snapped his eyes open, two sharp bolts of lightning flashing away in his gaze. He roared, “I’m fine. Go look at Senior Brother Peng Hua! The root of the mutation is with him!”

The root of the mutation was indeed with Peng Hua.

As soon as the CrysTall Crystal entered Peng Hua’s body, countless drops of scarlet blood began to secrete from his body, just as they had from Gu Xiechen. This blood frantically surged toward the CrysTall Crystal, greedily clinging to it, intending to devour and digest this sphere harboring marvelous power.

The crystal also cooperatively dissolved into countless points of light. These light points merged one-to-one with the scarlet blood, slowly transforming into a bizarre energy that was viscous like glue, transparent like crystal, yet soft yet tenacious. Amidst Peng Hua’s and Gu Xiechen’s pained screams, this mass of strange energy instantly spread throughout Peng Hua’s entire body and rapidly invaded his Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness.

Peng Hua shrieked and flailed his arms, screaming, “Help! How can this be? This didn't happen when others merged with the CrysTall! Oh my god, oh my god, help! Possession—this damned thing is trying to possess me! Who dares possess me? My master is the Corpse Emperor... my master is the Corpse Emperor!”

Peng Hua, who had been screaming nonsensically in fright, suddenly snapped to awareness. He bellowed, “Junior Brother, quickly help me destroy the spiritual consciousness of that bastard Jinren inside the crystal! Damn it, he’s using the essence blood of the Han Piao Ancestor to try and possess my body! Ah, help, my nascent—”

With a whoosh, the sphere of blood that had erupted from Gu Xiechen compressed into over three hundred drops of brilliantly crimson blood droplets. Each drop radiated a suffocating pressure; even though the blood had seeped from Gu Xiechen’s body, he was rendered breathless by the immense pressure emanating from the drops.

The three hundred-plus drops of blood seemed like birds finding their nest, shooting toward Peng Hua with faint sounds of breaking air, instantly piercing into his body and merging with that mass of bizarre energy.

Peng Hua scrambled out from the cluster of women, gripping his throat tightly, screaming hoarsely, “Help me, help me! My Primordial Spirit is about to be devoured!”

Gu Xiechen roared in utmost urgency. He forced his body up and rushed to Peng Hua’s side, shouting at the five Xin Jia brothers, “Use Heavenly Thunder to strike the crown! Destroy the spiritual intelligence of that CrysTall Jinren!”

The five Xin Jia brothers exchanged glances, unable to speak. They looked at each other, and cold sweat suddenly beaded on their foreheads. Peng Hua possessed the Zombie Body. The Heavenly Thunder mastered by Xin Jia and the others was the foremost Demon-Subduing True Thunder between Heaven and Earth, capable of striking down any zombie instantly. They feared that one strike might fail to annihilate the lingering spiritual consciousness of the CrysTall Jinren, but might instead cause Peng Hua’s soul to scatter!

Xin Jia anxiously said, “Exalted One, the trace of spiritual consciousness remaining in that crystal sphere cannot cause any harm to a cultivator who has achieved true attainment in the Dao!”

Peng Hua screamed, “What do you mean by attainment in the Dao? This lord only cultivates the physical body and magical power, not the Primordial Spirit! I’m finished, completely finished!”

Seeing Peng Hua rolling his eyes and his aura growing weaker, Gu Xiechen grew frantic. His soul origin was churning like an ocean in a tsunami, causing the twenty-four-storied pagoda to tremble slightly. Just as Peng Hua’s Primordial Spirit was about to be devoured by that bizarre nascent energy, a sharp pain flared between Gu Xiechen’s brows, and a fountain of blood sprayed out, hitting Peng Hua squarely in the face.

In Gu Xiechen’s vast and boundless Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, among the countless golden stars rapidly spinning around the Taiji vortex, one golden star, faintly shrouded in blood light and fire energy, suddenly flickered. It directly vanished from Gu Xiechen’s Sea of Consciousness. A ray of azure light shot out from the top of the twenty-four-storied pagoda, enveloping that golden star, carrying it out through Gu Xiechen’s brow, and directly injecting it into Peng Hua’s brain.

The nascent strange energy rebelling in Peng Hua’s Sea of Consciousness, upon being illuminated by that azure light, instantly became obedient and compliant, as if a grandson had encountered his ancestor. In an instant, it merged into Peng Hua’s Sea of Consciousness, beginning to frantically expand Peng Hua’s sea and strengthen his mental acuity.

That speck of golden star merged with the churning Han Piao essence blood in Peng Hua’s Sea of Consciousness, and instantly, boundless blood mist enveloped Peng Hua’s mindscape.

“Ah! I have a connection!”

Peng Hua suddenly shrieked with ecstatic joy, “I’ve merged successfully! I—I have a connection!”

A streak of blood light surged out from Peng Hua’s side, and a peerlessly beautiful woman, clad in a blood-colored palace gown, with agile eyes and an aura of murderous intent surrounding her, slowly stepped out of the light.

The five Xin Jia brothers stared at the woman in stupefaction for a moment, then simultaneously clasped their fists and knelt down, “Your subordinates pay respects to the Star Lord!”

The woman frowned, tilting her head to look at the five Xin Jia brothers, and said lightly, “Oh? Which battalion under the Zhen character of the South Heaven Gate are you officers of? Strange, I seem to have forgotten much.”

Peng Hua stared at the beautiful woman, drool once again hanging from the corner of his mouth. He stupidly reached out to pull the woman’s sleeve, asking with an incomparably lewd smile, “Beauty, may I ask your name and age? Are you married? Heh heh, this humble student Peng Hua is the orthodox successor of the Corpse God. I am currently only just past the age of thirty-eight!”

Gu Xiechen’s eyes widened. Thirty-eight? Three hundred and eighty years old, perhaps?

The peerless woman glanced at Peng Hua with surprise, then suddenly covered her rosy mouth and laughed, “Heh heh, a little zombie over three hundred years old, completely insignificant! Successor of the Corpse God? With that little appearance of yours? Heh heh, this young lady Han Piao is the chief of the Thirteen Corpse Gods of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. This young lady is currently—”

Tilting her head, she thought carefully for a moment, and Han Piao smiled with pursed lips, “This young lady should only be thirty-eight thousand years old?”

Gu Xiechen stepped back, looking at Han Piao with shock and suspicion. Thirty-eight thousand years old? What an ancient existence that was. No wonder the vital blood essence she left behind was so bizarre, clearly from a self-damaging, heretical cultivation method that nearly drained Gu Xiechen dry. By Gu Xiechen’s own estimation, his physical power had decreased by at least seventy percent! Fortunately, his soul origin was protected by the pagoda and suffered no damage.

Peng Hua’s drool continued to drip steadily. He gently stroked Han Piao’s sleeve, muttering with salivation, “Alas, our Corpse God clan—the older we get, the more valuable and lovely we become. Ancestor Han Piao? Heh heh, you are named Han Piao? How can you share the same name as Han Piao?”

Overcome by passion, Peng Hua impulsively placed his hand on Han Piao’s hip.

Han Piao’s expression changed. Instinctively, she kicked Peng Hua squarely in the chest.

With a loud crack, Peng Hua, whose upper body ribs were completely pulverized, was kicked over two kilometers away, smashing directly into a building.

Gu Xiechen took a few more steps back, crossed himself over his chest, and managed a dry laugh.

“Senior Brother Peng Hua, you have finally gotten your wish. This woman—it’s not just a coincidence that her name resembles Han Piao. She must be the real deal, right?”

Gu Xiechen glanced at the five Xin Jia brothers; they stood respectfully to the side, not even daring to look directly at Han Piao.

Monthly tickets are a must, but everyone shouldn't forget recommendations and clicks either.

Alas...