399: Chapter 393 Sharp, Cold Light

On the city wall, Chen Zhiwen looked at the rolling blood-colored sky, a sharp cold gleam finally flashing in his eyes.

His hand gripping the hilt of "Qiushui," he slowly, inch by inch, unsheathed the longsword that was as clear as autumn water.

"Since you want to die," Chen Zhiwen whispered softly, his voice cold as if it could freeze time, "This seat shall fulfill your wish."

The sky wept blood.

The boundary between sea and sky had been completely erased at this moment.

That viscous, suffocating dark red was like soaking the entire world in a giant boiling pool of blood.

This was no metaphor, but a physical phenomenon caused by Blood Nether Old Ancestor's terrifying pressure at the Peak Early Nascent Soul Stage, which completely distorted the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi for hundreds of miles around Heavenly Sword City.

The fierce wind was no longer transparent, but took on a nauseating dark brown hue. In every gust of wind, there seemed to be countless fine fragments of flesh and blood mixed with the shrill screams of aggrieved souls.

The towering waves that had been raging on the sea were now suppressed by this pressure, becoming incredibly viscous, like boiling blood plasma,

closing in on the solitary faint golden light curtain of Heavenly Sword City with an extremely slow but unstoppable momentum.

"Boom—! Crack!"

Deep within the dark red clouds, it was no longer ordinary thunder rolling, but thick blood-colored lightning bolts, as wide as water vats, tearing through the sky like enraged dragons.

"Grand Elder... that... what is that..."

On the city wall, Chen Zhengchu, who had just finished disposing of Huang Wanfu's body and had run back panting, had legs that shook uncontrollably.

He gripped the cold battlements tightly, his fingernails peeling and bleeding from the force, yet he was completely oblivious. His eyeballs protruded, his pupils constricted to the limit, as he stared in terror at the distant sky.

There, the massive island-like Black Bone Ship was undergoing a terrifying transformation.

With the full activation of Blood Nether Old Ancestor's "Ten Thousand Blood Return to Ancestry Array," the surface of the bone ship—those originally white bones—was being dyed a shocking crimson at a visible rate.

Countless thick, physical-looking blood vessels spread frantically from the center of the Formation Plate, wrapping tightly around the entire warship like giant tentacles.

"Howl—!"

Thousands of massive blood-colored skulls formed in the air above the warship.

They opened their jawless, bloody maws, exhaling a blood-colored mist that blotted out the sun and sky, frantically draining the life from the entire sea.

"What's the panic?"

Chen Zhiwen still had his left hand behind his back, while his right hand rested casually on the hilt of the "Qiushui" longsword.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a Heart-Clearing Incantation, exploding directly in Chen Zhengchu's mind, forcibly dispelling the fear that had almost caused him to suffer Qi Deviation.

"Zhengchu, with this level of composure, you wouldn't even be fit to sweep the floors in the outer sect of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect in the Central Continent."

Chen Zhiwen turned his head slightly, his deep eyes showing no ripple, his tone carrying unconcealed contempt,

"Has that trash Huang Wanfu's body been cleaned up?"

"Reporting... reporting to the Grand Elder!" Chen Zhengchu suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to force himself to stand straight, gasping for air as he reported intermittently,

"It has... it has been done according to your instructions. That old thief's body has been smashed into pieces and all thrown into the core furnace of the Tianluo Vajra Array!

The Ice Poison Qi and the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection true essence contained within that old thief's body caused the Formation's fire in the furnace to instantly flare up by thirty percent! The Formation's defensive light curtain... the light curtain's thickness has increased by half an inch!"

At this point, a hint of fear flashed in Chen Zhengchu's eyes that he couldn't hide. He had seen with his own eyes the Huang Family Old Ancestor, who used to be so overbearing in Heavenly Sword City, being smashed to pieces by the Law Enforcement Team Disciples like a piece of rotten ice, and then shoveled into the Formation furnace burning with ghostly blue flames. That "hissing" sound of flesh and bone melting had become his lifelong nightmare.

"Only increased by half an inch..." Chen Zhiwen frowned slightly, seemingly not very satisfied with the result.

His slender fingers tapped lightly on the cold hilt, making a crisp "tap, tap, tap" sound that was clearly audible even in the gale.

"After all, it was a waste pill forced to maturity; too many Impurities, not of much use."

Chen Zhiwen commented coldly, as if the thing just stuffed into the furnace wasn't a person, but a piece of inferior Low-Grade Spirit Stone, "However, it's better than nothing. At least it can block a few breaths of pressure for those Mortals in the city."

"Grand Elder..." Chen Zhengchu swallowed and asked boldly,

"The spectacle that old Devil Head has created outside seems like it's going to melt heaven and earth. Can our Tianluo Vajra Array really... really withstand the direct onslaught of this 'Ten Thousand Blood Returning to Source'?"

"Withstand?"

Chen Zhiwen turned around and looked at Chen Zhengchu, his lips slowly curling into an elegant yet cruel cold smile.

"Zhengchu, remember this: the Formations I set up are never meant to just 'withstand.' Defense is only the lowest form of strategy."

Chen Zhiwen raised his hand, pointing toward the buffer zone below that looked like a Shura Hell.

"Look down there."

Chen Zhengchu followed Chen Zhiwen's finger.

At this time, the buffer zone had already turned into a true sea of blood.

Those two thousand Disciples of the Demonic Cultivator Vanguard Battalion had mostly been lost under Li Shuang's indiscriminate and frenzied slaughter.

The ground was covered with shriveled corpses; whether they were Loose Cultivators from righteous sects or demonic cultivators practicing evil arts,

at this moment, they had all been drained of their blood, turning into twisted mummies.

"Help! This woman is a monster! She's a monster!"

"Don't kill me! I am a Disciple of the Sacred Sect! I am a follower of the Blood Nether Old Ancestor!"

Several Demonic Cultivator Deacons stumbled and ran through the mud, not even daring to look back.

The Demonic Path Magical Artifacts they were so proud of were like paper toys before Li Shuang's overbearing Netherworld Demonic Hand, shattering upon contact.

"Sacred Sect? Blood Nether Old Ancestor?"

A chilling, hair-raising feminine laugh suddenly exploded in the ear of a Demonic Cultivator Deacon.

Li Shuang's ghost-like figure appeared beside him without warning. Her pale, bloodless palm rested gently on the demonic cultivator's shoulder.

"In the face of the true Youming Sect Legacy, you trash who dared to start your own sects after picking up a few scraps and fragments, do you even deserve to be called 'demonic'?"

Li Shuang's pure black pupils reflected the Demonic Cultivator Deacon's extremely distorted face of terror.

"Pfft!"

Five steel-needle-like nails pierced the Demonic Cultivator Deacon's skull with ease.

"Aaaaaah—!"

The shrill scream lasted for only half a breath. That Foundation Establishment Stage demonic cultivator shriveled up at a visible rate,

all essence blood, true essence, and even the Divine Soul were instantly devoured by the black-hole-like Devilish Qi inside Li Shuang.

"Phew..." Li Shuang let out a satisfied breath and tossed the mummy into the mud. She stuck out her purple-black tongue,

licked the blood splattered on the corner of her mouth, the flush on her face deepening, and the aura on her body showed signs of breaking through again.

In the mud further away, Wang Er and Uncle Li were covered in mud, lying dead still under two unrecognizable corpses, not even daring to breathe.

"Uncle Li... she... she killed all those monsters and demonic cultivators..." Wang Er watched the Divine Might of Li Shuang through the gaps between the corpses, his teeth chattering. "Are we... are we saved?"

"Shut your trap!" Uncle Li was scared out of his wits, tightly covering Wang Er's mouth, his voice trembling,

"Are you blind! Didn't you see she even sucks the blood of us Loose Cultivators! She's not here to save us at all! She just treats this place as her cafeteria! As long as she's not full, we're the next to die! Play dead! Don't move a muscle!"

On the city wall.

Chen Zhiwen took in everything below.

"Do you see, Zhengchu?" Chen Zhiwen's voice was flat. "The most powerful force in this world has never been some Formation, but greed and fear."

"That old dog Blood Nether thinks that by using the blood of tens of thousands to condense a grand array, he can crush Heavenly Sword City. But he doesn't understand at all that true fear is contagious."

Chen Zhiwen's fingers gently stroked the sword hilt. "The demonic cultivators outside fear Li Shuang, and the millions of Mortals inside the city fear the demonic cultivators.

This massive amount of fear and resentment has been completely absorbed by the Tianluo Vajra Array, turning into an invisible barrier."

"The more ferocious Blood Nether's 'Ten Thousand Blood Returning to Source' becomes, the stronger the fear of the Mortals in the city will be.

The more negative emotions the Formation absorbs, the stronger its defense becomes. It's a perfect feedback loop."

Chen Zhiwen turned his head, looking at the blood-colored sky pressing lower and lower on the horizon, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

"Therefore, I don't need the Formation to 'withstand' anything. What I want is for this Formation to act like a millstone, grinding away that old dog Blood Nether's momentum, true essence, and even his patience, bit by bit, until nothing is left!"

Chen Zhengchu was dumbstruck.

He finally understood why this Grand Elder dared to use his Late Nascent Soul Stage cultivation to face a demonic giant of the same level without falling into a disadvantage.

This method of calculating the emotions of millions of people in the city and utilizing the psychological game between both sides to the extreme was a hundred times more terrifying than any real Divine Ability!

"Grand Elder... your wisdom is truly divine!" Chen Zhengchu knelt on the ground in sincere awe, his voice full of deep reverence. "With you here, Heavenly Sword City will surely be impregnable!"

"Impregnable?" Chen Zhiwen sneered. "I didn't go to all this trouble just to be a turtle hiding in its shell. I said before, I'm taking that old dog's Nascent Soul."