C545 The Primal Blood Array!
Bathed in the bright moonlight, the heart-shaped Acora Island was suddenly illuminated by towering beams of bloody light!
Seventy-two wells erupted, each emitting a blood-red radiance that soared skyward, resembling cascading waterfalls of blood reversing their flow!
In a flash, the sky above Acora Island transformed into a dense sea of blood.
This sea of blood divided Yuan Lianyao and Yu Yuan, leaving them at opposite ends.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sea churned, unleashing waves of earth-shattering energy.
Hovering above the blood sea, Yuan Lianyao was caught off guard, her heart racing as if it were about to burst from her chest.
Her face paled, and she swiftly ascended over a hundred feet, distancing herself from the blood sea to steady her racing heart.
She quickly deduced that a powerful rune circle had been unexpectedly activated upon Yu Yuan's arrival.
The last thing she heard was Ann Ziqing's voice saying, "It wasn't me."
After that, she could no longer hear any sounds nor see the changes unfolding on the island below.
Her vision and remnant soul were cut off by the blood sea, rendering her unable to perceive anything.
"You little wretch! I knew you were up to no good!"
Once her heartbeat settled, Yuan Lianyao erupted in rage. She activated the Pyreheart Incantations she had recently mastered, and the petals of the red lotus transformed into armor-like scales that adorned her body.
Streams of fire, forged from molten lava, cascaded down towards the sea of blood.
She assumed that Ann Ziqing, who had previously entrusted a blood jade pendant to Yu Yuan, had malicious intentions.
Now, after Ann Ziqing had exposed the identity of the Abyssal Leviathan, causing many powerful individuals to depart, she remained. Wasn't it obvious she intended to confront Yu Yuan?
They had lured Yu Yuan to Acora Island, and the moment he set foot on it, the rune circle was triggered.
Ann Ziqing, the Divine Lady of Colddeath, had led them here. Without her prior consent, who would dare to meddle?
Could a concealed rune circle operate on its own?
"Scion of the Ruby Hand, back off!"
Out of nowhere, a fierce and gruff voice emanated from the heart-shaped island beneath the blood sea. The sea boiled over, and tumultuous waves of vitality surged towards Yuan Lianyao.
The churning sea of blood abruptly solidified into the forms of vicious dire beasts, each exuding a horrifying, blood-soaked scent.
Each dire beast stood over a hundred feet tall, exuding an imposing majesty with their violent vitality.
"Master Han! Cease your actions!"
Ann Ziqing's voice rang out sharply beneath the blood sea, urging the individual to refrain from reckless behavior.
The dire beasts, which had emerged from the sea of blood with the intent to pounce on Yuan Lianyao, turned back and dissolved into the blood sea once she spoke.
"Youngster from the Ruby Hand, if you dare to act without our consent again, don't blame me for disrespecting Faang Yao!"
The hot-tempered disciple of Colddeath huffed a threat from beneath the blood sea before finally relenting.
"Yuanyuan, I didn't intend to kill him! Please, calm down!" Ann Ziqing's voice emerged once more, "I don't want to spark a conflict between Colddeath and the Ruby Hand on your account."
"She's not yet worthy!" sneered the Colddeath member, "How long has she been with the Ruby Hand? She holds no special status within the sect. How could she compare to the mistress? Even if I were to kill her, Faang Yao would have to accept it. At most, we'd exchange her life for that of an equivalent disciple."
In his view, Yuan Lianyao was nowhere near Ann Ziqing's level.
Ann Ziqing was revered as a divine figure, the future leader of their sect. The only one within the Ruby Hand who could rival her in the creation of the Solar Spirit was Zhou Cangmin.
"If not you, then who?"
Streams of molten lava and fiery water cascaded toward the blood sea, only to be cleansed by the seething blood and psionic power, neutralized by the concealed vital energy, failing to breach the defenses of Acora Island below.
This indicated that the rune circle, which had appeared so suddenly, could effortlessly repel all her assaults.
Should the volatile Colddeath disciple on the island wield the might of the blood sea once more, disregarding Ann Ziqing's intervention, she would struggle to remain above the blood sea.
She would be engulfed by the sea, overwhelmed by the tumultuous crimson tides, and encircled by the newly formed dire beasts.
No matter how self-assured Yuan Lianyao might have been, she was aware that the disciple of the Colddeath Sect had spared her due to Ann Ziqing's commanding shout. With this realization, she watched the magma-like water fail to seep into the blood sea and wisely chose not to act rashly.
"Yuanyuan, please, don't be impulsive..."
It was then that Yu Yuan's peculiar voice emerged from the blood sea below.
Upon hearing his voice, Yuan Lianyao regained her composure. Soaring upward on a bloom of lotuses, she called out, "Are you okay? I'll summon Lord Faang Yao immediately. He won't stand by and do nothing!"
The molten rock she had unleashed was drawn out of the blood sea, reabsorbing into the petals of the lotuses that adorned her.
"No need to bother Lord Faang Yao. I'm fine," Yu Yuan quickly reassured her, "I'm truly unharmed. The Colddeath Sect hasn't mistreated me, it's just..."
"Just what?"
"It's just a bit peculiar."
Below the blood sea, Yu Yuan, having touched down, observed the blood light soaring from the wells.
Several streams of blood light, as if being yanked by an unseen force, desperately surged towards him.
In his little world, the Blood Altar, forged from eleven Sunsorrow fragments, had become ravenously thirsty the moment he set foot on Acora Island.
Like a dire beast famished for millennia, it had broken free from its cage at the sight of a mountain full of sheep.
The seventy-two wells scattered across the heart-shaped island had been stirred by the Blood Altar within him, sensing a threat and spontaneously springing into action.
It wasn't because Ann Ziqing had laid a trap to have him killed by the Colddeath Sect.
"What spell are you practicing?" the gruff voice demanded once more, "Why has the rune circle I taught react so violently to your presence, as if it's bracing itself against a formidable foe?"
Ann Ziqing was equally astonished.
The rune circle on Acora Island was designed not for offense, but for defense and cultivation support.
Yu Yuan's descent from the heavens had set off an unusual reaction in the circle, causing the Blood Wells to erupt in an extraordinary manner.
"I..."
Yu Yuan began, but his concentration faltered, and he noticed that the strands of blood light, like untamed horses, were once again stirring up a commotion from the blood sea above and within the seventy-two Blood Wells.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The disciples of Colddeath, practicing near the Blood Wells in their bright red robes, were suddenly startled. Some soared into the air, while others rode their enchanted weapons, rushing toward the commotion.
"Yu Yuan!" one of them bellowed, leading the charge.
"Lin Yue!"
Yu Yuan caught a glimpse and felt a surge of surprise. He hadn't expected to find the Colddeath trial-taker leader, with whom he had fought shoulder to shoulder in the depths of the Embers Sea, not back at the Colddeath headquarters but here on Acora Island.
"Yu Yuan? Is he the Grand Sword Immortal from Sword Island? The one who unleashed that devastating strike?"
"Wasn't it rumored that he vanished without a trace on some nameless island? Why has he suddenly shown up on Acora Island, triggering the Primal Blood Array to activate on its own?"
"How can this guy, without the backing of a powerful sect, dare to roam the Sundering Isles with the Crucible of Evil in his possession?"
The Colddeath disciples, upon hearing Lin Yue's cry of alarm, observed Yu Yuan from all sides, murmuring amongst themselves.
From a larger Blood Well, a figure emerged, shrouded in blood, tall and brimming with fierce vitality, likely a manifestation of a Lunar Spirit.
He fixed his gaze on Yu Yuan, and after a moment, he declared, "The unusual activity of the Primal Blood Array is due to his Profound Gate acupoint!"
With those words, Yu Yuan recognized him as the Colddeath disciple who sought to kill Yuan Lianyao and had threatened her.
"You refined the Sunsorrow?" Lin Yue gasped, realization dawning on him. "Did you secretly refine the Sunsorrow from the giant beast into your little world of vitality?"
"Sunsorrow!"
The man addressed as "Master Han" by Ann Ziqing was suddenly ablaze with excitement.
"Miss, his little world of vitality holds the essence of the Cosmic Giant Beast! Such a person will be immensely beneficial to the full realization of your powers!"