368: Creatures from the long river of time

Xiao Zhuo's pupils suddenly constricted at his words.

In a flash of thought, he understood.

This old man actually has connections in Penglai?

Although he had traveled the Immortal-Demon Realm using various aliases, Wang Xianzhi and his siblings had not concealed their identities. For the first hundred years, The Two Little Ones were not well-known and did not attract much attention, but after the Immortal Realm Grand Competition, The Two Little Ones' ranking among the top ten had already garnered attention.

This time, when Xiao Zhuo brought the two back to the Blood Demon Realm, Xue Tian must have deduced his identity as Wang Xuan from them.

The name Wang Xuan had long spread throughout Penglai Holy Land—wielding the Great Dao of Life and the Great Dao of the Soul, suspected to be a Peak Immortal King!

Xue Tian's revelation now meant that he at least had the confidence to counterbalance, or even suppress him and control the overall situation.

What gave him such confidence?

Suppressing his surging thoughts, Xiao Zhuo's expression remained calm, and he smiled faintly: "Since Old Ancestor has made it clear, what do you need me to do?"

"There's no need for me to say more! You should already know what the Blood Demon Realm is about to face," Xue Tian said, looking at Xiao Zhuo with deep eyes, then added, "Of course! What I refer to is not Undergoing Tribulation itself, but after Undergoing Tribulation!"

"Is Old Ancestor referring to... those forces eyeing the Blood Demon Realm from outside?" Xiao Zhuo understood, his tone still calm.

Xue Tian nodded: "What is currently entrenched outside is merely the tip of the iceberg. When the Blood Demon Realm completes its advancement and fully transforms, that will be the moment when wolves devour the tiger!"

"Is Old Ancestor asking for my Main Body to protect the Dao?" Xiao Zhuo directly pointed out.

Xue Tian first nodded, then shook his head slightly: "Although I don't know how you achieved Immortal King status, your power alone is not enough to resolve this crisis. What I want is—for you to guard a secret place for me!"

Xiao Zhuo raised an eyebrow... A moment later, his Main Body, located outside the Blood Demon Realm, received the memories transmitted by his Clone. With a movement, he sped towards a secluded star.

Within the Blood Palace, a large number of Disciples were dispatched to reinforce the eighteen towering Giant Cities.

Xiao Zhuo, accompanied by Wang Xianzhi, Wang Xianyu, and Bai Huang, arrived at No. 6 Giant City in Wuluo Prefecture.

There, he met Yuan Tian, whom he hadn't seen for several hundred years, and his Great Disciple, Cao Xiaochuan.

The Giant City had a strict structure, divided into inner and outer cities.

At the core of the inner city stood a ninety-nine-story high tower that pierced the clouds.

The tower was magnificent, each floor spanning over ten thousand square meters, serving as the residence for high-ranking Blood Palace members.

Ordinary Disciples and members of the Five Great Sects resided in other areas of the inner city, while the outer city accommodated the billions of beings of the Blood Demon Realm.

At this moment, on the tenth floor of the high tower, in a luxuriously decorated hall.

Xiao Zhuo, the Wang Siblings, Yuan Tian, Bai Huang, Dark Thirteen, and Cao Xiaochuan sat around a round table. Delicacies and fine wines were served continuously.

"Revered Master! After several hundred years, your demeanor remains as impressive as ever!" Cao Xiaochuan was the first to speak, a smile on his face, diligently filling Xiao Zhuo's cup with wine, then topping up everyone else's.

When he reached Wang Xianzhi and Wang Xianyu, he specifically emphasized his identity as their Senior Brother.

After a hundred years, before returning to the Blood Demon Realm, Xiao Zhuo had allowed The Two Little Ones to choose whether to stay or leave.

They unhesitatingly chose to follow him, so Xiao Zhuo officially took them as his Disciples, ranking second and third.

Today was also their first meeting with their Senior Brother Cao Xiaochuan.

Upon first seeing Wang Xianyu, Cao Xiaochuan's gaze lingered, causing Wang Xianzhi to frown slightly.

Fortunately, this Senior Brother knew his limits and did not pester her, though his gaze occasionally drifted towards his Junior Sister, which, despite Wang Xianzhi's displeasure, he could not act upon.

Xiao Zhuo saw everything but didn't mind.

The atmosphere at the banquet was harmonious, and everyone reminisced.

Xiao Zhuo recounted many of his experiences in the Immortal-Demon Realm, and everyone told him about the changes in the Blood Demon Realm over the years.

After eating and drinking to their fill, everyone returned to their respective quiet rooms in the high tower.

This brief gathering felt like the last calm before a storm.

On the eighth day.

Boundless and unmatched energy from the boundary sea surged into the Blood Demon Realm's barrier/boundary like a broken dam.

The barrier/boundary was madly strengthened and thickened, eventually solidifying into an indestructible crystal wall!

It isolated the inside from the outside, preventing even a trace of information from passing through.

Within the Blood Demon Realm, disaster descended!

Countless dark spatial rifts, like scars on the earth, tore open menacingly across the six prefectures.

Beings long annihilated in the river of time, bearing the will of destruction, roared out from the rifts!

From weak, mortal-like beastmen to terrifying Vicious Beasts with Qi comparable to Soul Transformation Cultivators... Their eyes were hollow, their consciousness Chaos, possessing only the single mission bestowed by the will of the boundary sea—destruction!

A black tide of resurrected armies, carrying the aura of destruction, surged towards the eighteen Giant Cities standing in the six prefectures!

At No. 6 Giant City, the thousand-zhang city walls stood majestically, like a natural chasm.

The weakest beastmen began to futilely pile up and climb below the city.

Long-limbed wolf-headed monsters, however, ascended the steep city walls with ease, as if walking on flat ground.

As the calamity had just begun, to conserve Spirit Stones, under the command of the Blood Palace Elder in the city, the defending Cultivators did not immediately activate the city's barrier/boundary. Instead, they allowed these rift creatures to surge to the city walls before annihilating them.

Xiao Zhuo also led Wang Xianzhi and others to the city wall to observe the battle.

The current offensive was far from requiring their intervention.

Looking out, within dozens of miles around No. 6 Giant City, a vast, dark mass of monsters covered the land, stretching endlessly.

Although there were scattered powerful individuals emitting Soul Transformation Qi among them, they were quickly pinpointed and eliminated after the defending Cultivators dispatched over a hundred Soul Transformation experts.

On the city walls, Cultivators took turns, their various Spells shining brightly.

Fireballs roared, ice cones rained down, electric snakes danced wildly, and rock spikes pierced the air!

Monsters climbing the city walls fell like dumplings.

Below the city, corpses piled up like mountains.

Whenever the pile of corpses approached five hundred zhang in height, a Blood Palace Elder would fly out, sweep his sleeve, and collect all the accumulated corpses.

These monsters, summoned by the will of the boundary sea, were themselves resources.

"Saint," a black-robed middle-aged Elder behind Xiao Zhuo respectfully reported, "According to Old Ancestor, these monsters are past beings that the will of the boundary sea manifested from the river of time with supreme power. The intensity of the assault will increase with time, and there will be more and more powerful ones among them."

Xiao Zhuo nodded slightly, his gaze deep as he looked at the surging black tide below the city.

"What is the river of time?" Cao Xiaochuan couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Zhuo's gaze was distant as he calmly explained: "Legend has it that it is a supreme existence spanning the past and present of the boundary sea, recording all imprints of existence since the boundary sea's creation."

"Then... are these monsters all beings that once truly existed somewhere in the boundary sea?" Wang Xianyu's bright eyes held curiosity.

"Perhaps," Xiao Zhuo's gaze swept over the diverse, roaring torrent of monsters below the city, his tone carrying a hint of imperceptible melancholy, "Perhaps we... are merely insignificant drops of water in that river of time. Even this entire era is just a segment in the river's rush."

Everyone seemed to understand, yet not fully.

Xiao Zhuo said no more.

After comprehending the Great Dao of Time, he had long been able to perceive the unseen river of time, and even borrow a trace of its mighty power.

The will of the boundary sea could actually invoke the river of time to bring down calamity; such methods left him deeply shocked.

He had tried to probe those spatial rifts with his Divine Sense, but it was instantly annihilated by an invisible and vast force, completely unable to peer into the mysteries behind the rifts, which showed how terrifying it was.

After observing the battle from the city wall for only a moment, hundreds of zhang of monster corpses had already piled up beneath the thousand-zhang city wall.

On the wide city wall, Cultivator teams were clearly organized, taking turns to cast Spells.

Those whose magic power was exhausted quickly retreated to the rear, recovering rapidly with the help of the Spirit Gathering Array on the city wall.

Beneath each Giant City, there was buried an Immortal Vein and at least seven top-grade Spiritual Veins. Spiritual Qi was continuously channeled to the city wall, providing Spiritual Qi replenishment for the defending Cultivators.

As the tribulation began, the Spiritual Qi concentration of the entire Blood Demon Realm was increasing at an astonishing rate.

Areas that already had the embryonic form of an Immortal Vein were even more suffused with Immortal Qi, nurturing new Immortal Veins.

The transformation of the Blood Demon Realm had already quietly begun, unnoticed.

However, before the dust of the great tribulation settled, this transformation process was relatively slow and restrained.

The true transformation would only fully begin after the great tribulation passed.