186: Chapter 186 Blood Rain

Still unaware of the situation, Yin Laojiu stared wide-eyed, lying beside Li Xiuyuan, blankly watching him.

"Lord Dragon Lord, what happened to you?" Seeing Li Xiuyuan open his eyes again, Yin Laojiu asked in a hurry.

Li Xiuyuan looked at him without speaking; there was a clear, foolish look in this guy's eyes, and he really couldn't bear to tell Yin Laojiu that King Zheng had indeed abandoned him.

"Nothing, I just conjured another sparrow, circled around this world a few times, and learned about some situations."

Yin Laojiu immediately asked: "Then what do you know? Tell me quickly."

Li Xiuyuan was silent for a moment, then, he still told him about King Zheng; he didn't want to hide it from Yin Laojiu, and he also wanted to see the other's reaction and attitude after learning about it.

In fact, the situation regarding King Zheng was already very clear; news of its awakening had spread throughout the secret realm without any warning, and since Yin Laojiu had never mentioned this matter from the beginning to the end, it meant that King Zheng had only abandoned Yin Laojiu.

After hearing Li Xiuyuan's words, Yin Laojiu did not speak immediately.

It lay there, its amber tiger eyes looking straight at the sky of this secret realm, with a rare stagnation in its gaze.

After a long while, it finally spoke, its voice a bit deeper than usual, lacking that silly flavor: "Lord Dragon Lord, are you saying... King Zheng, from the very beginning, was just using me to bring it into this secret realm?"

Li Xiuyuan did not deny it: "Most likely."

Yin Laojiu slowly turned over, belly up, its four paws curled in front of its chest, like a large cat turned over.

Its gaze was still looking at the sky, its voice muffled: "Then why didn't it just tell me directly? It's not like I wouldn't have been willing to bring it... If it had told me, I would definitely have brought it."

These words carried a kind of confusion after being betrayed, but Yin Laojiu still had no intention of disrespecting King Zheng.

After all, it had been able to live until now, and have its current cultivation, all thanks to King Zheng.

It was not easy for a single Rising Beings to survive, and it was precisely because it knew this that Yin Laojiu was like this.

Yin Laojiu lay there for a long time, so long that the sky gradually turned from bright to dusk.

Then it slowly and clumsily turned over, supporting itself on all fours; although still a bit weak, it could barely stand.

"Lord Dragon Lord." It spoke, its tone a bit firmer than before, "I want to leave here."

Li Xiuyuan looked at it without responding immediately.

Yin Laojiu lowered its large tiger head, used its paw to push the gravel on the ground, its voice carrying a flat tone after making peace with itself: "I never had any interest in rootless duckweed or Spiritual Vein anyway. I only came here because King Zheng told me to; now that it doesn't need me anymore, I don't want to stay here either."

It raised its head, those amber eyes looking at Li Xiuyuan: "I want to go back, to Yunfeng Mountain or any mountain ravine is fine. I just want to find a place to have a good sleep and forget about this."

"You can, but you must wait until I finish handling matters here." Li Xiuyuan nodded.

Yin Laojiu looked simple, but it could guess what Li Xiuyuan wanted to do; it could be uninterested in rootless duckweed and Spiritual Vein, but Li Xiuyuan was different.

"Lord Dragon Lord, if there is anything you want me to do, just tell me."

Li Xiuyuan looked at it and said: "You rest here first; for you right now, not being a burden to me is good enough."

"Oh, that's true." Yin Laojiu scratched its head, not trying to be brave, but honestly lying back down.

Li Xiuyuan manipulated the mud doll body, his form flickered, turning into a very faint white mist, skimming silently along the ground towards the Wind Plains.

He did not bring Yin Laojiu; that silly state was indeed not suitable for more tossing, and letting it stay in place to rest was the best choice.

...

The Wind Plains were not far from their hiding place; Li Xiuyuan had measured it, and it would take him about two hours to arrive.

After all, this was just a mud doll body; although Li Xiuyuan could speed up, doing so would cause the mud doll body to collapse directly.

He stopped for a while on the way; during this time, Li Xiuyuan withdrew his Spiritual Sense and conjured a new mud doll body outside, only this mud doll body was completely molded according to Li Xiuyuan's transformed Qiu Dragon appearance.

After injecting Spiritual Qi, the yellow mud Qiu Dragon instantly became alive; Li Xiuyuan drove the yellow mud Qiu Dragon into the secret realm.

Currently, Li Xiuyuan could operate on two lines; he could control two mud doll bodies at the same time. After the yellow mud Qiu Dragon and the mud doll body converged, Li Xiuyuan drove them together towards the Wind Plains.

As for his real body, it remained outside.

Li Xiuyuan did not approach the battlefield directly, but stopped behind a protruding dirt hill on the edge of the Wind Plains, hiding his form in a dense bush, his gaze passing through the gaps in the leaves, looking at the land that was about to become a battlefield.

The Wind Plains were an open flat area, the terrain was flat, almost without cover, with only a few clusters of low shrubs and sporadic stones dotted in between.

At this moment, dark masses of figures gathered at both ends of the plains. A rough estimate suggested that there were already tens of thousands on both sides. The Tiger Tribe occupied the east side, while the Snake Tribe occupied the west. The distance between the two armies was about ten miles, like an invisible chasm.

The Half-demon of the Tiger Tribe were generally tall and sturdy, their lower limbs covered with short, dense tiger-patterned fur, and their weapons were mostly heavy, such as iron hammers, giant axes, wolf-tooth clubs, etc., gleaming with cold, hard light in the sunset.

The Half-demon of the Snake Tribe appeared more slender and flexible, their lower limbs covered with fine scales, their winding tails dragging on the ground, holding spears and scimitars in their hands.

The two armies confronted each other, the atmosphere tense to the extreme. Occasionally, the wind blew, raising dust from the ground, but there was not even an extra whistle or provocation. They remained silent, waiting only for a signal to pounce on each other.

On the edge of this battlefield, there were two more groups of onlookers, each occupying a slightly higher mound.

One group had slender features with wings on their backs, the Feather Tribe; the other group had lean figures with fluffy tails, the Fox Tribe.

The leaders of both tribes were personally present, each bringing their tribe's Half-demon, quietly watching the distant plains, their eyes filled with complex deliberation, neither approaching nor moving away, just watching in silence.

Li Xiuyuan noticed that the Fox Tribe leader's gaze swept back and forth between the Tiger Tribe and the Snake Tribe, frowning slightly, as if weighing something in his heart.

The Feather Tribe leader hugged his arms, his expression indifferent, showing no obvious inclination, but his eyes never left the open area in the center of the battlefield.

Although it was a battle between the Tiger Tribe and the Snake Tribe, the other two tribes were also present; it was clear that everyone felt that the pattern of the secret realm would change after this battle.

Previously, Baili Jin was pressing down from above, so although there were conflicts between the Tiger Tribe and the Snake Tribe, they would not completely erupt. Now that Baili Jin was dead, it was a good opportunity for the two tribes to settle things clearly.

...

Just as Li Xiuyuan was manipulating the mud doll body and the yellow mud Qiu Dragon to observe in secret, inside the Tiger Tribe's position, the Tiger Tribe leader was pulling the Snake Tribe leader to communicate privately with Baili Fei.

In fact, King Zheng had long since contacted the leaders of the Snake Tribe and Tiger Tribe through Baili Fei, and King Zheng had also indicated that fighting back and forth in this secret realm was really boring, so they might as well follow it to explore the outside world.

The leaders of the two tribes originally had great ambitions and had considered taking their tribe's Half-demon to leave this secret realm and go to a broader world.

But at that time, because Baili Jin was still there and did not allow any Half-demon to touch the outside world, the leaders of the two tribes did not dare to cross the line.

But now Baili Jin was dead, and those rules no longer existed.

So, the two leaders put down their grudges and hatred, choosing to follow King Zheng together. After all, King Zheng was also a prominent existence in the Ancient Mountain and Sea era; following it was better than fighting and scheming in this secret realm.

However, King Zheng asked them to act out a play for it first; King Zheng needed to lure Li Xiuyuan in.

King Zheng's plan was well-calculated, using the grand battle of the two tribes competing for the Spiritual Vein to lure Li Xiuyuan's real body into the secret realm, and at the same time, King Zheng successfully possessed the body of Baili Jin.

As long as the possession was successful, it would have the ability to trap Li Xiuyuan in this secret realm forever, becoming Dragon meat for it to slaughter.

However, although King Zheng's plan was loud, it did not count on Li Xiuyuan's caution.

In King Zheng's view, Li Xiuyuan could have the cultivation to suppress all spirits in the era of Spiritual Qi recovery only because the current Rising Beings were all too weak; it only thought that Li Xiuyuan had today mostly due to luck.

...

On the Wind Plains, an aura of slaughter shrouded the surroundings.

Those Half-demon kept in the dark gripped their weapons, their eyes fixed on the opposite camp; they did not yet know that this so-called world-shaking battle was actually a trap to kill a Qiu Dragon from the outside.

The Tiger Tribe and Snake Tribe warriors at both ends of the battle line waited silently for the horn that would never sound.

Meanwhile, in Baili Jin's mansion, the candles in the mourning hall were still burning quietly.

The white curtains were slightly blown by the draft, and the coffin in the center of the mourning hall was parked behind the incense table. The body that should have been lying quietly inside was now gone.

Baili Yue stood beside the coffin, his pupils constricted, standing frozen in place.

At this moment, his lips moved, but he could not make any sound, his eyes fixed on the familiar figure beside the coffin.

"Revered Master?"

Baili Yue looked at Baili Jin in front of him in disbelief, never expecting that his Revered Master had actually resurrected.

But soon, he discovered that his Revered Master's eyes were a bit strange.

That gaze was extremely cold, carrying a kind of scrutiny that did not belong to Baili Jin.

"Revered Master, you..."

Baili Yue only had time to spit out this one word.

The next moment, that face originally belonging to Baili Jin had closed in, the speed exceeding the limit of all perception.

Baili Yue didn't even see how the other party moved, only feeling a sharp pain in his neck, followed by the crisp sound of bone breaking; that sound was exceptionally clear in the empty mourning hall.

King Zheng, who had possessed the corpse, still had a trace of dark red blood on the corner of its mouth. It looked down at the deceased Baili Yue, then squatted down and began to frantically bite the corpse.

When eating, there was absolutely no pressure of an ancient mountain and sea beast on King Zheng's body; instead, it only made people feel creepy.

"Senior Brother Yue, what are you doing in the mourning hall? Such a heavy blood aura."

"I came to offer incense to Revered Master..."

The door curtain of the mourning hall was lifted by the wind, and a small figure was standing outside the threshold holding incense candles.

That was Baili Jin's youngest disciple, still young, his legs not yet fully transformed into human form, at this moment his mouth was open, the incense candles in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter", rolled a few times, and stopped on the bluestone floor.

He saw Revered Master squatting beside Baili Yue's corpse, with a trace of dark red blood on the corner of his mouth, bowing his head and biting.

A short breath sounded in the little disciple's throat, as if he wanted to scream, but his vocal cords were tightly choked by fear.

His body instinctively stepped back half a step, but the moment his toes hadn't landed yet, a hand covered with scale patterns was already on his neck.

King Zheng didn't look up, just casually closed its five fingers, and that short breath was interrupted. The mourning hall returned to silence, leaving only the faint crackling sound of candles being blown by the draft.

Immediately, it slowly closed its eyes, spreading its Spiritual Sense like a tide, covering the entire city; countless life forces lit up in its perception.

In the city, the Half-demon knew nothing about what happened in the mourning hall. They were still busy preparing for the evening sacrifice, still whispering about the upcoming battle on the Wind Plains, still mourning for Baili Jin's death.

Perceiving this, King Zheng's mouth raised slightly, revealing a violent and bloody sneer.

"This is a sumptuous feast!" King Zheng thought to himself.

It raised its hand, and the fingertips covered with scale patterns beckoned gently into the air.

The sky suddenly darkened; a thick black cloud gathered from above the city, pressing heavily towards the ground, like a curtain pressed down by an invisible hand.

A dull buzzing sound came from deep within the clouds, carrying a teeth-aching tremor; that tremor penetrated the roof and walls, seeping into the bone marrow of every Half-demon.

The busy Half-demon in the city stopped their movements at the same time; invisible power surged from all directions, like countless invisible thin lines reaching into their bodies.

Immediately after, an indescribable sharp pain exploded from the depths of their flesh and blood, as if something was tearing their limbs and organs at the same time.

Screams rang out one after another; some Half-demon fell to the ground, curling up and twitching, some wanted to run but their legs went soft and they knelt on the ground, some held their bodies tightly but could not stop the erosion of that power.

Those warm and vivid life forces were being extracted from their flesh and blood by an invisible hand, guided into the air along the invisible thin lines.

Then, a rain of blood fell.

That was not rain falling from the sky; blood beads rose from the ground, floated up from the eaves and windowsills, surged from the bodies and broken limbs lying on the ground, like an inverted waterfall, flowing upstream towards the thick black cloud in the sky.

Dark red blood lines intertwined in the twilight, converging into a thick blood column, which was swallowed by the black cloud, like a giant mouth greedily sucking.