98: Guardian of Heaven

Those were two silver figures, their entire bodies covered in strange armor!

The armor was like flowing liquid mercury, with streamlined silver wings unfurling from their backs, and seven-foot-long arc-blades extending from their elbows!

A terrifying pressure solidified, even surpassing Blood Ancestor's, as silver-black destructive thunder snakes writhed and hissed in the armor's crevices!

“Heavenly Dao Guardians!” Blood Ancestor’s voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing, and his withered fingers squeezed his Demonic Sword, making it creak.

Xiao Zhuo had already transformed into a golden lightning bolt tearing through the sky, bravely meeting the diving silver figure!

Golden thunder and silver lightning exploded in mid-air; amidst the dazzling light and booming sounds, two afterimages furiously intertwined, elbow blades and thunder sabers scraping against each other, creating a sky full of blinding sparks!

Xiao Zhuo's thunder long saber swung wide, his Moves simple and swift as lightning, while the silver-armored guardian's double-bladed attacks were strangely tricky and cunning, its body twisting in arcs that defied logic, utterly inconceivable!

On the other side, Blood Ancestor was also caught in a bitter struggle.

Facing the Heavenly Dao Guardians, empowered by the Heavenly Tribulation and fearless of the Law of Blood's erosion, he found it even more difficult than Xiao Zhuo.

His attacks could barely budge the guardians, forcing him into passive defense, struggling to hold on, hoping for the calamity eye's energy to deplete.

“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang—!”

Near the calamity eye, metallic clashes exploded in quick succession!

Xiao Zhuo's tiger's mouth instantly split open, blood staining the saber's hilt.

He wielded his long saber, weaving layers of thunder saber nets.

However, the silver-armored guardian’s blade light cut an incredible arc, its body strangely twisting and piercing through the thunder net, stabbing directly at Xiao Zhuo’s throat!

Xiao Zhuo leaned back to his limit, the icy blade wind grazing his throat, a line of blood beads instantly seeping from his Adam's apple!

“Screech—!”

Though he avoided the vital spot, two deep, bone-visible slashes had already appeared above his collarbone!

Xiao Zhuo's pupils contracted sharply—this silver blade could actually easily tear through his greatly enhanced Grand Beginning Glazed Indestructible Body!

Just then, the soul infant’s vertical eye between his brows vibrated violently! The Heaven-Observing Divine Eye finally captured the trajectory of the strange Dao patterns flowing on the guardian's elbow blade!

Blood Ancestor's situation was even more dire.

His Demonic Sword struck the guardian's shoulder armor, only to send a shower of sparks flying!

The guardian's armor rippled like water, and the foul blood Qi attached to the Demonic Sword was actually enveloped by silver lightning, coiling back along the blade, scorching Blood Ancestor's palm with a sizzling sound and emitting black smoke!

“Damn it!” Blood Ancestor retreated dozens of feet, horrified to find his left arm missing half a section!

The guardian's silver wings lightly flapped, and silver-black thunder snakes intertwined into a net of death, instantly sealing off all escape routes!

Blood Ancestor let out a sharp cry, forced to once again unleash his Origin Blood Sea, transforming it into a thick shield wall to resist.

Xiao Zhuo had already exchanged over a thousand blows with the guardian!

Each time the thunder saber struck the silver armor, the blade vibrated violently and wailed—the opponent's armor was actually furiously absorbing his Law of Thunder power!

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly spun and shifted his feet, allowing a blade light to scrape dangerously close to his spine!

At the same time, he struck back like lightning, gripping the guardian's wrist armor tightly!

“Buzz—!”

A blinding golden light erupted from the soul infant’s brow!

The Heavenly Dao Guardian's ghost-like movements suddenly slowed by thirty percent under the gaze of the Heaven-Observing Divine Eye—those flowing, strange Dao pattern trajectories were finally completely imprinted and analyzed!

“So that’s it…!” Xiao Zhuo's lips bled, but a cold arc formed.

The thunder saber in his hand suddenly changed its Move, from chopping to a delicate upward flick!

The tip of the saber precisely struck a node of the flowing Dao patterns under the silver armor's armpit!

“Bang—!!!”

The guardian’s entire right arm exploded in response, turning into a sky full of splashing silver plasma!

Almost simultaneously, a ten-thousand-foot blood pillar surged from the depths of the Blood Sea!

It was Blood Ancestor, pushed to desperation, who, at the cost of severe Origin damage, forcefully dragged the Heavenly Dao Guardian entangled with him into the depths of the Blood Sea!

Countless ferocious blood demons crawled out from the churning blood waves, letting out silent roars, rushing towards the silver-armored figure one after another!

Each blood demon Clone vaporized and disappeared the instant it touched the thunder light around the guardian, and the guardian’s surrounding silver glow dimmed a bit with each disappearance!

When the nine-thousandth blood demon Clone turned into green smoke, the guardian’s movements finally paused for a fleeting moment!

“Die—!!!” Blood Ancestor’s Main Body surged from the tip of the monstrous blood waves, his Demonic Sword, imbued with the terrifying power of the entire remaining Blood Sea, transformed into a dark red blood rainbow tearing through space, fiercely piercing into the guardian’s chest!

“Boom—!!!”

The tribulation clouds suddenly churned violently! The remains of the two guardians transformed into streams of light and vanished into the depths of the clouds, and the pressure emanating from the calamity eye was suffocating!

Blood Ancestor propped himself up with the Demonic Sword, half-kneeling on the rapidly shrinking Blood Sea; the once vast Blood Sea was now more than seventy percent depleted!

His aura was weak, and his eyes were filled with exhaustion and shock.

However, even more terrifying thunder erupted from the depths of the calamity eye than before!

Two silver figures were rapidly reforming in the rolling thunder light!

The newly reborn Heavenly Dao Guardians now had golden esoteric patterns appearing on their armor's surface, and the edges of their silver wings were surrounded by fine spatial cracks!

“This damn thing never ends?!” Blood Ancestor wiped away the black blood constantly overflowing from the corner of his mouth, a flicker of madness in his eyes, and suddenly turned his Demonic Sword, slashing out a bloody Sword Qi that tore through the sky towards Xiao Zhuo!

He utterly hated this instigator!

But that world-destroying Sword Qi was precisely shattered midway by an even faster silver-black Divine Thunder!

The repaired Heavenly Dao Guardian, with an even more terrifying aura, once again slammed down towards him!

Xiao Zhuo's feet were deeply embedded in the thunder clouds, and his entire body's pores erupted with scorching electric light even brighter than the sun!

The immense energy he had just gained from devouring the Thunder Tree was surging and roaring through his Meridians, continuously refining his Grand Beginning Glazed Indestructible Body!

When the newly reborn guardian's elbow blade, accompanied by a shriek that seemed to cut through space, struck again, a hint of determination flashed in Xiao Zhuo's eyes!

He no longer parried, but instead suddenly spread his arms, allowing the terrifying, gold-patterned blade to pierce through his chest!

“Seeking death!” Blood Ancestor, struggling to hold on in the distance, saw this scene and revealed a hideous, gleeful sneer.

But the next moment, his sneer froze on his face!

The silver blade piercing Xiao Zhuo's chest suddenly emitted a high-frequency vibrating hum!

Xiao Zhuo's figure instantly swelled to five meters, like a giant forged of thunder!

His thick arms, entwined with dark golden purgatory demonic patterns, clamped down on the guardian's arms!

Greedy demonic patterns, like living things, climbed madly onto and eroded the Heavenly Dao Guardian's silver armor from his arms!

The immense thunder light within the guardian's body was forcibly extracted like a bursting dam, pouring into Xiao Zhuo's Glass Golden Body!

He had already completely analyzed the core structure of the Heavenly Dao Guardian, even understanding the Heavenly Dao rune within it that drove its Origin and connected it to the calamity eye!

As long as the calamity eye's energy was inexhaustible, the guardians could be reborn infinitely!

If they fought conventionally, it was highly possible that Blood Ancestor would perish, leaving only Xiao Zhuo to contend with two guardians alone.

He had no choice but to take this dangerous gamble—devour the guardian and seize its Origin!

The silver-armored guardian let out a sharp shriek amidst the erosion and entanglement of numerous demonic patterns, and the newly added golden patterns on its armor began to crack inch by inch!

Xiao Zhuo furiously devoured the guardian's thunder Origin while simultaneously activating his soul infant!

The immense power of his Divine Soul instantly condensed into nine formless, insubstantial “Spear of Nothingness” that could annihilate Divine Souls, silently tearing through space and blasting towards Blood Ancestor, who was currently locked in battle with the other guardian!

After condensing his soul infant, Xiao Zhuo's Divine Soul Realm already surpassed Blood Ancestor's!

This Soul Extinguishing Divine Ability was even more hidden and unpredictable; Blood Ancestor was completely unaware!

It wasn't until the nine soul spears were less than three feet from him that the fatal chill made his soul leap out of his body in terror!

“Xiao Zhuo! If you kill me, you’ll die too—!!!” Blood Ancestor struggled to turn his head, letting out a desperate, venomous roar, but it was already too late!

Xiao Zhuo merely glanced at him coldly.

The purgatory demonic patterns that had invaded the head of the guardian in front of him suddenly retracted, forcibly plundering a brilliant Heavenly Dao rune, which instantly merged into Xiao Zhuo's body!

“Buzz!”

The Heavenly Dao Guardian, which had been in a stalemate with him, instantly disintegrated like a puppet whose strings had been cut, transforming into a sky full of scattered thunder plasma and electric light, vanishing without a trace!

This scene made Blood Ancestor's eyes twitch wildly and his mind shake violently as he was locked onto by the soul spears!

However, his Divine Soul was already fixed!

And the Heavenly Dao Guardian, his opponent, would not stop!

Its elbow blade, imbued with silver-black destructive thunder, carved out countless fatal electric patterns that cut through space, instantly blasting Blood Ancestor's demonic body into a sky full of bloody rain!

Xiao Zhuo had already activated his spell! A phantom of a Heaven and Earth Thunder Tree, composed of purple extreme Divine Thunder, suddenly appeared above his head!

Innumerable violent purple thunder branches, like whips of divine punishment, rained down a destructive lightning net upon the blood rain scattered from Blood Ancestor!

Blood Ancestor's Clone demonic body, already having consumed most of its Origin, was first severely wounded by the soul spears, then blasted apart by the Heavenly Dao Guardian; its remaining power was less than one-tenth of its original.

Now, being covered and bombarded by this purple extreme Thunder Tree, which contained the power of the Heavenly Tribulation, even re-aggregation became a luxury!

The scattered blood barely spread into a viscous pool, not even qualifying as a small pond.

Blood Ancestor's shrill, desperate screams echoed through the nine heavens, and turbid mist rose above the blood pool, being evaporated by the power of the Heavenly Tribulation every second!

Under the Heavenly Tribulation's lock, he had no escape! Death was already a certainty!

The attack of the other Heavenly Dao Guardian also did not cease; its wings flapped, and silver-black thunder light poured down like a storm, accelerating the annihilation of the last remnants!

Ten breaths later, under the combined refinement of the Heaven and Earth Thunder Tree and the guardian, Blood Ancestor's Clone's aura completely dissipated between heaven and earth.

Xiao Zhuo, however, frowned deeply.

His Soul Perception could no longer detect any trace of Blood Ancestor's Split Soul, but the System panel showed no kill notification!

“Not dead?!” His heart tightened. This old demon indeed had a backup plan!

At this moment, the last Heavenly Dao Guardian, having lost its opponent, surged with monstrous killing intent, transforming into a silver lightning bolt that tore through the Void Realm and shot towards Xiao Zhuo!

Xiao Zhuo suppressed the shock and doubt in his heart, repeating his previous tactic!

He again exposed a weakness, using his Glass Golden Body as a cage to trap the guardian, and the purgatory demonic patterns, like maggots to a bone, invaded its core, forcibly plundering that precious Heavenly Dao rune once more!

The final stage of the Heavenly Tribulation finally completely passed, and the calamity eye slowly began to dissipate.

Xiao Zhuo, however, curved his lips into a smile, and with a flash of his figure, he plunged directly into the core of the calamity eye, going against the dissipating tribulation clouds!

“Collect!”

The Taishi Space icosahedron suddenly manifested with his incantation, like a miniature Universe, instantly enveloping and suppressing the rapidly dissipating calamity eye, which still contained vast and pure Heavenly Dao energy, forcibly dragging it into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness!

After all this, Xiao Zhuo, thoroughly satisfied, tapped his toes on the Void Realm, and his figure instantly vanished without a trace.

Desolate Continent, beneath the Blood Demon Hall, ten thousand feet underground.

A dark red Blood Sea, so viscous it was almost solidified, was boundless and unfathomable.

Here, silence reigned, broken only by the overwhelmingly dense stench of blood and demonic Qi.

Suddenly, in the center of the Blood Sea, a figure slowly rose from the blood water.

His face was twisted and hideous, and the demonic Qi surging around him automatically condensed into countless suffering, wailing ghost faces, while scarlet demonic mist churned violently as if boiling!

“Xiao Zhuo—!!!”

A roar, filled with endless malice and monstrous rage, suddenly erupted!

The terrifying sound waves shook the entire massive underground space, causing it to tremble, and huge rocks fell like rain, crashing into the Blood Sea below, splashing viscous blood waves.

With his furious roar, the entire lower part of the underground space suddenly lit up with a dark red, heart-palpitating demonic light!

As far as the eye could see, there was a truly endless, vast, abyss-like dark red Blood Sea!

The “Blood Sea” that had covered dozens of miles earlier, exhausted by Xiao Zhuo and the Heavenly Tribulation, was nothing more than an insignificant small puddle compared to this true Main Body Blood Sea!

“Destroying one of my Clones! Very good!!” Blood Ancestor’s voice was like the frigid winds of the Nine Nether, every word steeped in bone-deep hatred and icy killing intent.

He had endured and lain dormant for countless years, furiously accumulating this Blood Sea's foundation, yet not only was Blood Night, the carefully cultivated Blood Son who would have been of great use in the future, lost in the Taiyi Sect Secret Realm, but now even a powerful Blood Sea Clone had been ambushed and killed by Xiao Zhuo!

This caused his millennia-long grand plan to suffer another heavy blow, greatly delaying it!

This Blood Sea vendetta was irreconcilable!