C1218 The Bloodthirsty War Drum

Meteors streaked through the void like cold, ghostly lightning.

The Great Sage Beru's demeanor was grave, his gaze stern as he observed the fragmented land slowly coming into view. In a deep voice, he declared, "Profound Sky Sect, Heaven Palace Seal!"

To them, the shattered terrain was merely the size of a palm, with four majestic palaces perched at its corners like lanterns.

Small in stature, yet they radiated a brilliant treasure light.

As a Great Sage of the Star Race, Beru had fought countless battles of varying scales with practitioners from the major sects of the Boundless Great World. He was well-acquainted with the three great upper sects and was no stranger to the Heaven Palace Seal, capable of morphing into lofty palaces and emitting infinite divine radiance.

The simultaneous appearance of four Heaven Palace Seals on a fragment of land within the Illusion Starfield was astounding. How could he not be taken aback?

Beru surmised that perhaps an Unrestrained Stage cultivator from the Profound Sky Sect had encountered a formidable foe upon arriving in the Illusion Starfield due to Xu Jingyao's plotting.

Otherwise, it was unlikely they would so boldly deploy all four Heaven Palace Seals at once to deter their adversaries.

"I..."

From the bottle in Gheirat's grasp, a feeble voice emanated from the severely constricted, toxic river – the faint call of an Evil Demon.

Both Beru and Leo were preoccupied with the fragmented land, which was gradually enlarging as they drew closer, paying no heed to the Evil Demon's plea.

Gheirat's expression was dark, his mood sour. Within one of his pupils, ripples danced, and specks of starlight glimmered.

He was on the verge of unleashing his concealed Bloodline Secret Technique, ready to cast it into the bottle to further chastise the Evil Demon and acquaint it with pain.

"I, I know what's happened!"

In a dire situation, the Evil Demon quickly amplified its voice, desperate to avoid further harm from Gheirat. It urgently explained, "My other part is with Yu Yuan and the others on that damaged battleship. They've run into a group of cultivators led by the Profound Sky Sect!"

"A junior by the name of Cao Jiaze, whom I've never heard of, has summoned four Heaven Palace Seals, transforming them into four palaces!"

"And there's more!"

The Yimo wisely halted there.

Beru and Leo were indeed captivated by the information his words revealed. They shifted their attention from the fractured earth and turned to face him.

"What else?" Gheirat demanded.

"I want his promise to return this one-seventh of me to my other parts," the Yimo stated as a venomous river within the bottle morphed into a dark brown, elongated arm.

The arm stretched out, its end forming the shape of a hand with an eye in its palm.

This eerie eye fixed its gaze on Leo, awaiting his decision.

The Yimo was sly and distrusted Beru and Gheirat, placing his faith only in Leo.

He had long sensed that this Star Race prodigy, blessed by the constellations, was still pure-hearted and true to his word.

"I promise you," Leo affirmed with gravity.

"There's also an Asura Clan legion led by the Boiling Blood War Drum! They nearly encountered Yu Yuan and the others before, but the Asura girl named Elena steered them clear. With the four Heaven Palace Seals revealed, another Asura legion from a different direction is also converging on the shattered land," the Yimo hurriedly explained.

Within a certain range, his seven parts could communicate.

Just as the human Yin God and Yang God can interact freely within a reasonable distance, even when separated from their original bodies, they remain aware of each other's situation.

Despite being weakened and relentlessly pursued by Gheirat and the others, the proximity to Yu Yuan's group, who had paused due to Cao Jiaze and others, allowed him to successfully connect with the other six parts of his soul.

"Asura!"

"Boiling Blood War Drum!"

Beru and Gheirat exchanged a glance, their expressions growing increasingly grave.

Clearly, they could infer the might of the Asura legion and even knew which Platinum Asura was at the helm of the Boiling Blood War Drum.

"Who will reach the destination faster?" Leo inquired.

"In theory, if you exert your full strength, you will be slightly quicker," the Yimo responded.

After a brief hesitation, Leo instructed Gheirat, "Let's not rush. We'll slow our pace and observe the developments following the Asura legion's arrival."

Pointing to the Yimo within the bottle, Leo added, "He is our eyes. He can inform us of any event that transpires there."

Gheirat spoke with deference, "I'll reduce our speed now."

No sooner had he spoken than the meteor they were racing upon began to decelerate.

Yu Yuan regarded Chu Yao with a detached expression. The young man was cowering among the Yang Gods, his head bowed low. Upon seeing his once cherished disciple, Yu Yuan's long-repressed emotions surged forth uncontrollably.

He had deliberately stirred up trouble, deciding to unleash a tempest on this fractured land.

Whoosh!

The Dragon Slash Platform, concealed within his acupoints, transformed into a long, gray stone slab as he summoned it into his palm.

"Dragon Slash Platform!"

Weixian, previously eager for confrontation, changed his expression most rapidly at the sight of the Dragon Slash Platform.

"One piece, or two?"

Cao Jiaze paused, a wave of unease washing over him. The Dragon Slash Platform that had reemerged seemed fundamentally different from the one he had encountered in the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area.

He was unaware that the Dragon Slash Platform had been reassembled in the Nirvana Realm and had integrated the purple-gold shell of the Titan spinosaurus, resulting in a remarkable transformation.

All he sensed was an increasing aura of mystery around the Dragon Slash Platform, which only heightened his anxiety.

"I have no ulterior motive; I simply want you all to take a moment to cool off and not rush to attack me," Yu Yuan said with a toothy grin, casually brandishing the Dragon Slash Platform. Although he appeared to be addressing the Yang cultivators present, his full attention was on the dilapidated warship and the figure of Chen Qinghuang within.

His real concern was whether Chen Qinghuang would awaken due to these events.

Even after the Yang God cultivators had made extensive preparations and stood ready, Chen Qinghuang remained absent from the open hatch of the ship.

Yu Yuan let out a quiet sigh of relief, then, gripping the Dragon Slash Platform, he flew towards Elena with a calm demeanor.

"An Asura army is on its way. I trust your powers will be sufficient to stand against them," he said, stirring the pot yet speaking with an air of nonchalance. "Should you all perish, do try to preserve Chu Yao's soul for me."

His words sent a cold shiver through Chu Yao, who was hidden among the crowd.

Memories of his master's extreme actions at the end of his life, three centuries earlier, flashed through Chu Yao's mind, sending a shiver down the spine of the Little Medicine God.

"It looks like we're in for a tough fight."

Cao Jiaze let out a resigned sigh. Noticing the unease among the practitioners from various sects, he offered a reassuring chuckle, "Don't panic. Our luck isn't all that bad. As you know, I hold a significant position within the Profound Sky Sect, so there are always Unrestrained Stage cultivators shadowing me."

"This is, after all, my first venture into outer space."

He appeared somewhat sheepish.

The tense group visibly relaxed at his words.

"Yu, Yu Yuan, the Asura army might be more of a challenge than you expect."

Elena, standing at the front of the ship, shivered involuntarily. She glanced back at the vessel, as if pondering when Chen Qinghuang might awaken, and suggested, "Shall we keep moving? The Blood Boiling War Drum has detected me, but they're more focused on a clearer target."

She gestured towards Cao Jiaze, the four imposing palaces, and the numerous Yang Gods.

The group included over a dozen Yang Gods, among them Weixian, Jiang Xingwen, and Chu Yao.

This formidable assembly, combined with the Heaven Palace Seal and the increasingly renowned Cao Jiaze, would certainly attract the approaching Asura Army.

Elena suspected that the controller of the Blood Boiling War Drum, unaware of Yu Yuan and Chen Qinghuang's presence on the ship, might very well overlook her.

And possibly her ship as well.

After all, she too was an Asura, and the enemy might even speculate about her identity.

"How bad is it?" Yu Yuan inquired with curiosity.

"Formidable."

Elena grimaced, her bloodline abilities providing a grim insight. Her expression grew even more somber, "I don't want them to be... slaughtered. Nor do I want..."

Her gaze repeatedly shifted to the cabin, her mood a mix of concern for Chen Qinghuang's potential rampage upon awakening and worry for Yu Yuan's safety.

Suddenly, five greenish-brown streaks of light became visible from the depths of the dark galaxy.

The streaks were Asura Clan battleships, nearly a hundred meters in length, shaped like flat fish with distinctive ridges.

The Asura battleship drew near, its approach heralded by a deep, muffled drumming—thump, thump! The sound seemed to wield a force that could suppress one's bloodline and vitality, coupled with a sinister psychic energy that filled Yu Yuan's mind with visions of armies clashing in brutal combat. An uncontrollable urge for slaughter and battle surged within him, his eyes ablaze as if set alight by the flames of war, his once tranquil heart lake now roiling.

"Blood Boiling War Drum!" Cao Jiaze exclaimed. He had thoroughly researched the mighty beings and sacred relics of various races before venturing to the Outer Sky, so upon hearing the drumbeat and feeling its oppressive aura, he instantly recognized it as the Asura Clan's quasi-relic—the Blood Boiling War Drum.

Almost immediately, he saw Jiang Xingwen's expression shift ominously, a premonition of trouble flashing through his mind. Whoosh! Jiang Xingwen of the Taiyuan Sect, her mind muddled by the drum's sound, had her reason shattered and was the first to rocket skyward, barreling straight toward Yu Yuan.

This woman, who had once fought alongside Yu Yuan in Horror Land, now harbored deep resentment toward him. She was beyond the reach of Cao Jiaze's attempts to intervene and launched the first strike.

Yu Yuan, equally influenced by the Blood Boiling War Drum, struggled to contain the inferno within. But upon seeing Jiang Xingwen's hate-filled charge, his mind detonated in a burst of fury. A sinister chuckle escaped him, his eyes alight with an insatiable lust for battle.

"Seeking your own demise!" he snarled. The Demon Blade, Blood Prison, materialized in an instant. With a swift swing, a cascade of blood spirits burst forth, coalescing into seven crimson vortices before merging into seven gore-drenched suns.

The space before Yu Yuan was awash with countless blood-red specks, like crimson stars, enveloping the space and marking Jiang Xingwen's Yang God form with innumerable tiny blemishes.

"Fool!" Cao Jiaze muttered under his breath. Unaffected by the Blood Boiling War Drum's malevolent energy within the grandeur of his palace, he remained lucid and alert.

With a whoosh, a towering palace, as if yanked by the hand of a deity, plummeted downwards.

Yu Yuan wielded the Demon Blade, Blood Prison, conjuring a bizarre and bloody force field before him.

The engravings of Spiritual Arrays and patterns on the other two majestic palaces subtly shifted, forming a new array. This array emitted a luminous brilliance that purified the soul, washed away impurities, and clarified the mind, showering down upon the fragmented continent and upon both Yu Yuan and Elena.

Those bathed in the light found themselves increasingly able to withstand the influence of the 'Blood Boiling War Drum'.

"Hmm, what's happening? Can you hear the drumming?"

"Just now, I had the urge to kill many, yet all I could see were Yu Yuan and that foreign girl!"

"There must be an evil relic from the foreign race nearby!"

The now-alert powerhouses from all quarters scanned their surroundings and swiftly fortified their spiritual consciousness to avoid further corruption.

Jiang Xingwen, jolted awake within the bloody force field, then noticed seven orbs of bloodlight continuing to ravage her Yang God form.

"Yu Yuan, isn't it time to stop?" Cao Jiaze demanded, dissatisfied.

"You're not qualified to call for a halt," Yu Yuan retorted.

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