"That scythe uses souls as its weapon!" Ao Sheng exclaimed, his golden eyes narrowing sharply.

  Zhi Xuan snorted softly, his cold gaze unwavering. "Souls are but food for the Ruthless Heavenly Banner, and to Yama of the North, they are nothing more than a passing breeze. He has no soul to be corrupted."

  Indeed, the spirit shadows passed through Yama of the North's body without leaving a single wound. The puppet king swung his fists once more, each strike carrying the weight of a mountain range.

  However, the four-directional land beneath the scythe suddenly glowed blood-red. The formation Chen Ling'er had warned about began to activate; an ancient labyrinthine pattern rose from the riverbed, locking Yama of the North’s movements with chains of freezing vapor.

  "Now, Ao Sheng, Xiao Die," Zhi Xuan said, expanding his domain to clash with the mountain's living will. "Descend and experience this trial of life and death. Find the Crimson Emperor Veil Root with your own hands."

  "I understand, Senior," Ao Sheng replied, his voice no longer high-pitched like a child's, but carrying the heavy resonance of buried thunder. Xiao Die remained silent, but her transparent wings beat with a rhythm that sliced through the air, emitting a sharp, piercing glow.

  The two small figures instantly transformed into their massive original forms, filling the mountain crater with their sheer size. Ao Sheng let out a low roar, his body coiling through the void as he dived. Xiao Die produced a hum that swept through her surroundings, her wings flapping as she glided down. Their presence surged violently.

  Zhi Xuan stood upon the cliff, his white robe fluttering like a war flag in the heart of a dark storm. He allowed the Reincarnation Domain to shadow them from afar, but he deliberately loosened its protection the moment the two ancient creatures touched the surface of the four-directional land.

  He faded into a shadow, leaving his domain behind for a few breaths before it would dissipate. He crept downward and reappeared with a thundering boom, staring coldly at the steam-chained Yama of the North. With a flick of his wrist, dozens of other nirvana puppets began to stream out from the Ruthless Heavenly Banner.

  The army of nirvana puppets fell like rain, striking the four-directional land with thuds that shattered the eternal silence of the Underworld. They landed around Yama of the North, and the soulles bodies immediately grabbed the vapor chains binding the puppet king, pulling with pure physical strength until the chains cracked and shattered into shards of black ice.

  Zhi Xuan landed at the center of the formation, his feet pressing onto the pulsing blood-red earth. Without the protection of his Domain during his descent, he could feel his body beginning to wither, his vitality draining away. Inside him, the leaves of the Tree of Life began to fall one by one.

  Zhi Xuan snorted and waved his hand coldly. In his palm, he now gripped the Heavenly Sword, which radiated flashes of reddish lightning, its dark blade glowing with crimson runes. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting his sword intent reach a singular consciousness capable of splitting the mountain.

  When he opened his eyes, the Heavenly Sword expanded behind him. "Cleave," Zhi Xuan’s voice was low and frigid as he swung his hand down in a light motion. The Heavenly Sword released a crimson slash that tore through the Jiu-Quan.

  The thick, dense flow of the Jiu-Quan was split in two, revealing a riverbed filled with white bones that had petrified over thousands of kalpas. Deadly cold vapor exploded outward, creating a hollow corridor amidst the raging underworld waters.

  In the center of the river's parting, within a rocky crevice still slick with black water, appeared a root pulsing with a vivid red color—like a beating heart inside a corpse's chest. The Crimson Emperor Veil Root. The root emitted an aroma of fresh yet pure blood, representing life within the womb of death.

  "Ao Sheng! Xiao Die! Now!" Zhi Xuan shouted, his voice booming over the roar of the river attempting to close back up.

  Ao Sheng let out a long roar. His scales, usually shimmering gold, were now being covered by the purple mist of the mountain's deathly aura, yet his eyes shone with a determination never seen before. He dove sharply toward the riverbed, ignoring the fact that his soul was being eroded by the Jiu-Quan vapors.

  On the other side, Xiao Die beat her wings with vibrations that shook her surroundings. The dust of light she scattered turned into glowing silk threads, attempting to ensnare the emperor root before the four-directional land's formation could lock it away again.

  However, the Abyssal Reaping Crescent did not remain idle. Sensing the threat to its treasure, the giant scythe spun on its axis. Its deep purple blade emitted a deafening soul-scream and swept horizontally, releasing a soul-reaping wave shaped like countless miniature scythes.

  Zhi Xuan snorted, his body glowing with the devilish aura of the Ruthless Heavenly Banner. He stepped through the air, standing directly in the path of the scythe’s attack. "How dare a dead weapon attempt to reap my life!"

  Zhi Xuan moved his fingers, forming the Mudra of the Collapsing Mountains and Rivers. Instantly, his divine essence exploded, and from beneath his feet rose sturdy pillars of earth, forming a prison that held the attack at bay for several breaths.

  The earthen pillars Zhi Xuan summoned shook violently as the purple energy scythes struck their surface, creating deafening booms. Each strike tore layers of earth from the technique, as if the ancient weapon were skinning the earth’s own protection.

  Zhi Xuan felt an incredible weight on his shoulders; his breath came in ragged gasps, and the remaining leaves of the Tree of Life in his sea of consciousness fell even faster. He knew that in a place where the laws of death ruled, his existence as a practitioner of life would be constantly eroded.

  "You two, do not look back!" Zhi Xuan screamed, his voice hoarse yet still carrying an unshakable authority.

  At the bottom of the parted river, Ao Sheng had reached within a few zhang of the pulsing root. However, the ground beneath him suddenly softened, turning into pale spirit hands that tried to pull the dragon’s claws into the mud of death.

  "Get away!" Ao Sheng roared, his voice shaking the crater walls. He ignored the spirit hands tearing at his scales until they bled, and with one powerful jolt, he lunged forward.

  Xiao Die, on the other hand, hovered like a flash of light amidst the storm. Her silk threads had already entangled the Crimson Emperor Veil Root, but the root fought back, emitting waves of vitality so hot they scorched Xiao Die’s threads.

  "One more step... just one more step!" Xiao Die whispered through the howling wind of death.

  Zhi Xuan saw the bodies of the two ancient beasts starting to become overwhelmed. He stomped his feet in the air, suddenly withdrawing the Ruthless Heavenly Banner and the Heavenly Sword. Then, with a cruel smile, he allowed a nine-tailed figure in a robe of darkness to emerge from the shadows.

  Ruo Xianxue appeared, bringing with her a Devil’s breath capable of making thousands of demons tremble in fear. She raised her palm with a soft, audible sigh, and the Ancient Devil Monument appeared in her hand, cracked and etched with ancient runes.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Shall I play with you first?" Ruo Xianxue said, her voice almost purring as her Sun and Moon double pupils stared into the devil soul residing within the Abyssal Reaping Crescent. "I still miss the deliciousness of devouring the demon from your 'banner sibling'... come here, be my worshiper... I will give you a proper life."

  The Abyssal Reaping Crescent vibrated violently, its hum changing from a scream of rage to a whimper saturated with primordial fear. Before Ruo Xianxue, the weapon that had been washed by underworld waters for thousands of years suddenly lost its arrogance. The presence of the Ancient Devil Monument in the Sacred Devil’s hand acted as a judge for all dark entities in the mortal realm.

  "Come here..." Ruo Xianxue whispered again, her voice flowing low like a soul-ensnaring mantra. She laughed softly. "Be obedient... though I do not know who forged you, you were certainly born from a single Devil like me..."

  Ruo Xianxue floated down with a soft sigh, and instantly the four-directional land was covered by her nine tails, which glowed in every direction. From above, Zhi Xuan watched as Ruo Xianxue completely blocked the Abyssal Reaping Crescent from his sight, as if she were about to devour it alive.

  He turned his gaze toward the two large beasts at the bottom of the split river, watching them slowly being eroded. He did not move, refusing to be soft on them this time.

  Ao Sheng roared in pain as spirit hands from the depths of the Jiu-Quan began to tear the flesh beneath his scales, leaving black trails that rotted instantly. Golden dragon blood dripped, evaporating into smoke upon contact with the river of death.

  He looked briefly toward Zhi Xuan, hoping his Senior would arrive in the blink of an eye, but he only found a pair of sapphire eyes watching him with absolute coldness.

  "Don't look at me, Ao Sheng!" Zhi Xuan’s voice boomed, cold and merciless. "If you cannot take that root with your own strength, then I shall revoke the name I gave you. Die here and become part of this river's bones!"

  On the other side, Xiao Die began to lose the glow of her wings. Her light dust, usually pure, grew dim, choked by the poisonous mist creeping into her. She felt her soul fading, as if she had returned to the moment she was abandoned at the Taiyin Holy Pond, alone and helpless.

  "Senior... it's cold..." Xiao Die’s hum sounded piteous, her wings weakening until she seemed ready to fall.

  Yet, Zhi Xuan remained unmoved. "You were too pampered inside the Divine Furnace, Xiao Die. Once, with your silk threads, you devoured the life of every wild beast. Now, let this underworld river devour you if you no longer know how to devour!"

  Zhi Xuan’s words, sharp as nine sword blades, pierced Xiao Die’s heart, triggering a turmoil they had long hidden. Xiao Die felt an incredible pain, not from the deathly aura of the Jiu-Quan, but from the realization that the protection she had always worshiped had been entirely withdrawn.

  "Devour...?" Xiao Die murmured, her large eyes slowly changing from the dullness of grief to a burning darkness.

  Instantly, her primordial Thousand Feathered Moth instincts exploded. She was no longer just a beautiful moth decorating a heavenly garden; she was a predatory insect from the age of chaos, born to swallow the cycle of life. Xiao Die let out a shrill shriek, her transparent wings turning pitch black with eye-like patterns that seemed to stare from the abyss of death.

  She no longer tried to gently ensnare the Crimson Emperor Veil Root. Xiao Die lunged, letting her body burn from the root’s vitality, then greedily bit into the base of the root with a mouth that now featured fine fangs.

  She began to forcibly absorb the root’s energy, letting the crimson emperor essence flow into her blood vessels, repairing her damaged moth body while reforging the foundation of her soul.

  On the other side, Ao Sheng, hearing Zhi Xuan’s insults, felt his long-buried dragon dignity boil over. The memory of his horns being cut by the Shi Clan—a humiliation he had covered up with obedience—now incinerated his fear.

  "I... still hold a grudge!" Ao Sheng roared, and his blackening golden scales began to peel away, revealing new scales of dark gold with edges like red dust.

  The golden horn on his forehead elongated, emitting lightning of destruction that struck the spirit hands below into dust. With strength exploding from rage, Ao Sheng clawed at his surroundings, pulling himself forward by force even as his flesh was torn.

  He opened his mouth wide, swallowing the deathly aura that tried to corrupt his soul, and with a roar that froze the air, he spat out a golden light that struck the souls of the death river.

  The bloodline pressure of the two ancient beasts surged, their massive bodies coiling like two giants in the split of the underworld river. Every drop of blood from their bodies seemed to invite a resonance that had once shaken the universe in ancient times.

  Zhi Xuan watched from above, seeing the ancient insect and the ancient beast coil and writhe. "I thought they would stay clean like that forever, but now I see they have been trapped for so long because of the comfort I created."

  "Today, I finally see," Zhi Xuan thought as he watched Xiao Die and Ao Sheng shake the ground below. "That this is the true face of the supreme beings among ancient beasts."

  He could see Xiao Die, whose body was now turning increasingly black, beginning to vomit dark purple silk threads that no longer ensnared but rotted anything they touched. The river spirits trying to approach vanished instantly, their essence forcibly sucked out by the primordial moth as fuel to swallow the Crimson Emperor Veil Root.

  On the other side, Ao Sheng had sunk his claws deep into the petrified riverbed. Each time he took a breath, the poisonous Jiu-Quan vapor was drawn into his lungs, forcibly processed into dragon fire containing the aura of death. The dragon no longer avoided the pain; he embraced it as a reminder of every inch of skin that had once been insulted.

  "Good..." Zhi Xuan whispered, his voice barely audible amidst the roar of the river, but his eyes shone with cold satisfaction. "Break the shells of your sanctity. In this world, greatness is not born from comfortable meditation, but from the pile of corpses you step upon."

  Suddenly, the Crimson Emperor Veil Root being devoured by Xiao Die gave a final, powerful pulse. A wave of blood-red energy exploded, striking Xiao Die’s chest and throwing her back several zhang. But instead of whimpering, Xiao Die shot back with speed that split the air, her fangs locking hard onto the core of the root until an echoing crack was heard.

  KRETAK—!

  The root snapped. A thick liquid resembling the essence of a god's blood sprayed out, drenching Xiao Die’s now-savage little face. She swallowed the essence greedily. Instantly, a red light glowed from within her stomach, piercing through her black skin and wings, creating a Crimson Lotus pattern blooming on her back. This was the sign of stage advancement—an evolution forced by the will to survive.

  Ao Sheng didn't need to be told twice. With a single tail movement that split the remnants of the river flow, he lunged at the remaining piece of the emperor root still embedded in the ground. He didn't use his claws; instead, he used his golden horn to pierce the core of that land.

  The explosion of extreme vitality energy from the root clashed with the deathly aura Ao Sheng carried. The dragon's body trembled violently, and new dark gold scales began to grow at a speed visible to the eye, replacing the destroyed old scales. His Golden Dragon bloodline had now mutated, absorbing the underworld essence to show a Crimson Lotus transformation, beginning his journey as a sacred creature.

  Every ancient insect or ancient beast undergoes a transformation once they reach a stage equivalent to Soul Transformation. They no longer follow ordinary beast cultivation. Instead, they begin their journey up the ladder toward the majestic Heavenly Beast, worthy of their bloodline.

  Zhi Xuan moved his fingers, manifesting the Six Paths Reincarnation Disk to surround himself and maintain his own vitality. He saw that the mountain appeared alive and was about to fight back; clumps of devil souls began to crawl from the holes within the mountain.

  "You dare interfere with this harvest," Zhi Xuan hissed, staring as a terrifying sword intent cleaved purely from his will. "Split."

  Thousands of invisible sword slashes exploded from where Zhi Xuan stood, creating a net of death that shredded the devil soul clumps just as they were about to crawl out. The devil souls creeping from the mountain walls screamed silently as Zhi Xuan’s sword intent minced them into grey smoke.

  However, the chaos at the riverbed reached its peak. Once the Crimson Emperor Veil Root was completely severed, the balance between life and death within the mountain collapsed. The Jiu-Quan flow, previously split by Zhi Xuan’s slash, began to roar wildly, attempting to rejoin with a pressure capable of crushing a mountain. The black water rose like giant walls from both sides, surrounding Ao Sheng and Xiao Die who were still in the midst of their transformation.

  Zhi Xuan snorted softly, waving his hand as the Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron hovered in his palm. The Divine Furnace immediately grew large, like a bronze sun carrying the weight of Xuan-Huang. He had a crazy thought; with a sharp motion, he overturned the Divine Furnace and pointed its mouth toward the river of death.

  "Absorb!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his hand tensing as his Divine blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. "Fill my soul artifact with the underworld river!"

  WUUUUUUNNNNGGGG—!

  The Divine Furnace in Zhi Xuan's hand vibrated violently; the shrieks of the souls trapped in the river of death were dragged into the furnace’s belly. The Xuan-Huang energy and the Law of Four Seasons, usually harmonious, now collided with the deathly aura of the underworld river, creating a storm that could only be held back by Zhi Xuan’s extraordinarily strong will.

  At that moment, the churning Jiu-Quan water created giant shadows of devils that had settled since the Abyssal Reaping Crescent appeared. They stood surrounding Zhi Xuan, locking the escape routes. Zhi Xuan snorted coldly, his eyes flashing with a terrifying flame as the devil giants swung strikes carrying the scent of death.