C1795 The New Strength!
On the distant side of the Primal Blood Continent, a dragon as vast as the violet gold mountain range caught the scent of the life essence it had longed for and unleashed an earth-shattering roar.
The sea of blood where it resided was strewn with the floating corpses of Blood Fiends and the bones of dozens of alien beasts and archdemons.
These corpses and bones were gradually losing their vital energy, which was seeping into the sea of blood she had conjured. She had intended to devour them soon to satisfy her voracious hunger and feel satiated.
Suddenly, a deeper, more intense greed and hunger flared in the depths of her violet-golden eyes!
Her heart's spatial bloodline chain, still immature, glowed brightly with her excitement.
With a tear, an unstable space rift opened. The young Titan Spinosaurus, still in its juvenile form, forced its way through the rift. As its scales and horns shattered the rift, she had already made her way through.
The starry void she left behind was a chaotic tunnel, with energy exploding wildly.
Many living archdemons and alien beasts of the Star River were caught in this unforeseen disaster, vaporizing into a mist of blood.
She bellowed with excitement, her massive maw capable of engulfing worlds opened wide, her sharp teeth dripping with corrosive saliva. She aimed to shatter the red crystals concealing the Secrets of Life on the edge of the red moon.
Then, she would consume them, allowing them to fuse with her dragon heart, bringing her closer to the legacy of her ancestors.
"Go amuse yourself elsewhere."
The supreme Dark Phoenix, seated upon the Divine Throne, struck out with a wing as if it were part of the bloody world itself.
A colossal storm of demon energy formed, enveloping her miles-long, menacing dragon form and whisking her away beyond the clouds.
With that single flap, the young Titan Spinosaurus vanished without a trace.
"I haven't decided to give you anything. Don't get ahead of yourself."
The Dark Phoenix huffed dismissively as the little spinosaurus, now lost to sight, continued to wail pitifully, seemingly still under the onslaught of her demon energy.
On the Dead Star, Lin Zhuyun's face, cold yet beautiful, was etched with fervent adoration.
When the young Titan Spinosaurus burst through the sky, her blood quivered with an instinctual fear.
She hadn't anticipated that the young beast, pampered by the supreme Dark Phoenix, would harbor such an intense longing for the red moon and the red crystals emanating from it.
The little spinosaurus, spoiled by the Dark Phoenix and allowed to gorge itself within the Dark Star, had never tasted defeat.
This was a first.
"We're halfway there."
The Dark Phoenix, shrouded in resplendent divine light, glanced at the departing blood crystals and said with a nonchalant air, hand propping up her cheek, "Without the unveiling of new, surprising powers, her journey of return shall not proceed."
Without any visible action on her part, the blood crystals that had fallen from Ann Ziqing after she shattered, all ceased to move toward the red moon.
Regardless of the pull of the Solar Meridian or Ann Ziqing's calls from the other side, the remaining blood crystals were immovable, as if rooted to the spot.
This indicated that she had the power to halt the departure of the first blood crystal.
She refrained, merely out of curiosity to see who the Solar Meridian had enlisted for help and what magnitude of force they could muster together.
The swathes of crimson sword light failed to pique her interest; with a mere wave of her hand, they were extinguished.
The subsequent attacks, amplified into red crystals by the vital energy of the Solar Meridian, briefly invigorated her, bringing a sense of delight.
But she quickly discovered that the power within these red crystals, the Secrets of Life they bore, were already known to her.
Her delight turned to profound disappointment; she grew discontent, yearning for more novel and intriguing powers.
"I'll grant you a moment more."
The violet Divine Throne drifted among the myriad blood crystals. She rested her chin on her hand, gazing dreamily at the red moon, "You've chosen your moment well, coinciding with the Soul-Capturing's battle with Lin Daoke. What, afraid Lin Daoke might intervene?"
Her voice dripped with scorn, "You can't even defend your own territory, yet you find the leisure to fret over elsewhere? A laughable creature, you possess independent spiritual wisdom and will, yet lack the emotions befitting a living creature. In truth, you are nothing at all."
Behind the immense purple Divine Throne, her wings fluttered gently.
Crack!
The substantial red moon, along with the red crystals at its edge, suddenly fractured, losing over half of its form. Intricate blood lines emerged clearly on the moon's surface, and its connection with the Ashlands became intermittent.
"I have limited patience," the Dark Phoenix stated icily. "Whether it's you, Yu Yuan of the Ashlands, or anyone else, if you desire what's left of the girl, show me something different."
...
Above the blood-red floating rocks in the Ashlands, Yu Yuan was wracked with violent coughs, blood tracing the corner of his mouth. It solidified into a blood crystal upon appearance, and upon bursting, transformed into streams of vital energy that he bestowed upon the anxiously waiting Ann Ziqing.
With the return of some blood crystals, three Blood Pools materialized in Ann Ziqing's little world of vitality, slowly filling with blood.
Yu Yuan, however, had his attacks effortlessly neutralized by the Dark Phoenix from another realm. The overwhelming demon energy from the Dark Phoenix countered him, causing his internal organs to shift and his fragile bones to fracture.
His Lunar Spirit, which had been in the Annihilation Nebula, had already frantically retreated. The Solar Spirit, deep within the little world of vitality, had formed into a stalactite. The intense and pure blood light, like lightning, wove together the many life arcana he had mastered.
He was at his prime, yet because the Dark Phoenix was in another space and beyond the reach of his soul, he could not summon the Heaven-Opening Sword Array.
The red moon, symbolizing the Solar Meridian, had been tainted with purple by the demon energy.
Yu Yuan stood on the Dragon Slaying Stage, straining his eyes to see. All he could make out in the red moon was the immense purple Divine Throne and the mere outline of the Dark Phoenix.
"The transmission of sword force has been greatly weakened; it's hardly effective. Your sword force, the fearsome sword spell you've mastered, doesn't work well in this kind of distanced combat."
The little spinosaurus, exuding a commanding presence, had hurried from the Tyria Star and now stood by his side.
Ji Ningshuang, sensing trouble, swiftly arrived on her Stardust Blade to hover beside an anxious Ann Ziqing in midair.
Chi!
A speck of her starlight fell into the red moon, disappearing without a trace.
The starlight twisted and turned through layers of space, its imparted power diminishing with each layer it passed. Even reaching another world, it stirred no ripples.
"Maybe we should just let it go?"
Ann Ziqing spoke up, addressing Yu Yuan and the moon within the floating stone, "Having half of the Solar Spirit return has already brought me contentment."
The moon flared to life.
The unique bond between this realm and the Dark Star Region tightened instantly, and Yu Yuan could suddenly hear the taunting voice of the Dark Phoenix.
Swoosh!
His crystalline Solar Spirit, gleaming like a red gemstone, left his real body, attempting to descend upon the blood-red floating stone.
It sought a better union with the red moon within the stone.
"Father!"
At that moment, the little spinosaurus arrived in a panic, bellowing, "No! The Solar Meridian is using you! It wants to strip your Solar Spirit and claim the Secrets of Life etched within! By falling into it now, you're playing right into its hands!"
Ji Ningshuang also cried out, "Stop! Ann Ziqing's half of the Solar Spirit Body isn't worth this risk! She's not even dead!"
While speaking, the Grand Sword Immortal from the Sword Sect glared at Ann Ziqing, who was fraught with worry, and declared sternly, "The moment she swore fealty to the Solar Meridian and was marked with those blood-colored imprints, she became its servant. Often, her self-awareness is compromised, and she ceases to be herself."
"What you see now, her actions, thoughts, and desires, could all be manipulations by the Solar Meridian!"
Swoosh!
Ji Ningshuang, with her sword in hand, landed atop the blood-red floating stone. She stood on the red moon beneath the stone, using the Stardust Blade as a support.
A blanket of white cold fog, like an ethereal sea of clouds, enveloped the floating stone, obscuring the massive dark rock and the red moon within.
Her newly awakened ice force transformed into a shimmering flame and intense lightning.
"Hmm?"
Ji Ningshuang, intent on stopping Yu Yuan, had harnessed her ice magic to freeze the red moon, but she suddenly gasped in surprise.
She sensed that her ice magic was wary of the red moon, prompting her to dispatch it to the Dark Star.
Oddly enough, the ice magic seemed unaffected by the layered spaces, reaching its destination without hindrance.
Upon arrival, it instantly became a straight and razor-sharp glacier!
Far from diminishing, her power surged as it neared the red moon, gaining an extraordinary boost!
"Wait!"
Planting her sword's tip into the ground, she reached out with her free hand to halt Yu Yuan's descent, saying, "Let me have a try!"
"No, we should do this together!"
Yu Yuan descended with the Solar Spirit and joined her on the dark red stone, both standing over the red moon.
Yu Yuan's hand, gleaming like a red crystal, clasped hers, and he flashed a grin.
In the next instant, a fresh surge of scarlet light, seemingly encased in Ice Shards, burst forth toward the red moon below, targeting the meticulously arranged Dark Star.
A wondrous glow sparked in Ji Ningshuang's eyes as she felt something shift within her.
"Can it really be?"
Astonishment washed over her face, as if she was grappling with an incomprehensible event unfolding in another world.
