C963 Nine Seals Arrive
A streak of blood-red light, like a ribbon of silk, streaked across the pitch-black expanse of the sky, arriving abruptly from a great distance.
The blood light shot directly toward the forbidden area, carrying with it the voice of Ann Jieshan from the Blood God Cult. Within the light, threads of eerie sword intent weaved in and out, seemingly gnawing at the souls trapped inside.
"Ann Jieshan!"
Yu Yuan watched in concealed astonishment from within the barrier, sensing Ann Jieshan's presence in the blood light.
With a quick assessment, he was certain that the blood light was indeed a manifestation of Ann Jieshan, and he surmised that Ann Jieshan must have been ambushed by a powerful member of the Sword Sect and was now grievously wounded.
"Our Sect Master, Ann Jieshan, is en route. The Blood God Cult has officially severed ties with both the Demon Palace and the Devil Palace, choosing to align with your forces!" Ann Jieshan's voice boomed from within the blood light.
His declaration sent a ripple of shock through the ranks of the three upper sects, the Demon Palace, and the Devil Palace.
The Blood God Cult, akin to the Red Devil Sect, was a prestigious power on the Quietus Continent.
In recent years, following Ann Jieshan's return, the Blood God Cult had reformed its sacred texts, excising the bloodier Spiritual Spells that demanded malevolent sacrifices. The Cult had gradually gained acceptance from the Demon Palace and the Devil Palace, reclaiming its place among the righteous.
Sect Master Ann Wen, dubbed the Evil God, was seen as a likely candidate for a seat of supreme power in the future.
The declaration from the Blood God Cult, with its profound heritage, to oppose the Demon Palace and the Devil Palace was akin to a bombshell, catching many present off guard.
"Intercept him."
Cao Jiaze of the Profound Sky Sect uttered a cold snort and issued the command.
The experts from the Profound Sky Sect, emerging from the Heaven Palace Seals, immediately set their sights on Ann Jieshan.
Many elders were well aware of the history between Ann Jieshan and the Profound Sky Sect...
Ann Jieshan, a contemporary of the Blood God Cult's first patriarch, had once covertly taken over the body of an unparalleled talent from the Profound Sky Sect. He had stealthily mastered numerous Spiritual Spells and secret arts from them, and by fusing these with the Blood God Cult's own blood arts, he had transformed himself into a being beyond human.
After uncovering the truth, the Profound Sky Sect found themselves unable to kill Ann Jieshan, even after his capture. Left with no other option, they decided to confine him within the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area, ensuring he could never break free.
When Yu Yuan ventured into the forbidden territory and lifted the numerous seals, Ann Jieshan managed to escape with his silent consent, returning to the Blood God Cult. This marked the beginning of an astonishing metamorphosis for the cult.
Now, after several years, Ann Jieshan, once detained in the forbidden area, had unexpectedly come back.
"If it's you..."
With a slight shift in his thoughts, Yu Yuan watched as Ann Jieshan transformed into a streak of blood light, piercing through the murky boundary and reentering the forbidden area, coalescing back into a shadowy figure.
The Profound Sky Sect's experts, poised to strike, could only stand down upon witnessing Ann Jieshan's return to the forbidden area. Fear gripped their hearts.
They dreaded the possibility of sharing the fate of Tang Zheng and the Grey Wolf King—lured into the forbidden area by Yu Yuan, only to be ambushed and slain by alien powerhouses.
"Why have you come alone?" Yu Yuan inquired, puzzled.
"I was in the vicinity," Ann Jieshan replied, his crimson eyes emitting an unsettling glow. He glanced at Tang Zheng, whose dharma was shattered, with the Yin God and Yang God dissipated into flickering lights across the forbidden landscape. "To see a mountain's lord reduced to this is truly lamentable."
"Cough!" Ann Jieshan cleared his throat, somewhat sheepishly adding, "Yu Yuan, if you don't object, may I refine Tang Zheng's blood?"
Tang Zheng, an Unrestrained Stage cultivator, possessed rich and potent life force, even though he was not a formidable demon.
For the visibly wounded Ann Jieshan, Tang Zheng's blood promised a swift recovery with the application of the Blood God Cult's secret arts.
"You've traveled a great distance to aid us on behalf of the Blood God Cult. The blood of Tang Zheng is yours to refine," Yu Yuan consented with a nod.
"Thank you."
With a whoosh, Ann Jieshan dispersed into slender beams of blood light, slithering like serpents through Tang Zheng's body, now nothing more than a shattered shell.
Tang Zheng's form withered rapidly, and within moments, he resembled a mummy desiccated over millennia.
This spectacle sent shivers down the spines of many foreign race powerhouses.
The Blood God Cult's sinister secret arts were universally feared, and those foreign races skilled in bloodline manipulation found the Cult's techniques particularly vexing.
A rumor had long circulated outside that the Cult's gruesome blood arts and the most aberrant offshoot of the Blood Devil Clan shared a profound connection.
Both the Blood Devil Clan and the Blood God Cult were regarded with dread, their very names inspiring fear both beyond and within the vast Boundless Land.
Their methods and secret spells bore striking resemblances to each other.
Whoosh!
From Tang Zheng's desiccated remains, Ann Jieshan's sanguine silhouette slowly rose. His blood-hued form swiftly refined into bones, muscles, and sinews.
Within moments, Ann Jieshan underwent a metamorphosis, emerging as a normal man.
He even conjured a gray robe to drape over his frame, his gore-streaked face meticulously adjusting its contours and edges.
Then, he revealed a face so unfamiliar that neither Yu Yuan nor any disciple of the Blood God Cult, including Ann Wen and Ann Ziqing, had ever laid eyes on it.
The sight of that face momentarily transfixed Yu Yuan.
Seated within the Soul Transformation Pool, Yu Yuan's Yin God couldn't resist glancing at Cao Jiaze in the outside world, then turned back to scrutinize Ann Jieshan, who had used Tang Zheng's blood to forge a new fleshly vessel.
Remarkably, Ann Jieshan bore a fifty to sixty percent resemblance to Cao Jiaze.
With a raspy chuckle, Ann Jieshan spread his hands, revealing two luminescent jade seals in his palms.
Yu Yuan recognized one from his past encounter in Chilly Wind Valley, the Heaven Palace Seal once held by Mei Qiurong.
Ann Jieshan, in collusion with Zhou Cangmin, had orchestrated Mei Qiurong's demise, resulting in the Heaven Palace Seal being taken to the Quietus Continent by Zhou Cangmin, a feat that earned him great merit with the Red Devil Sect.
The nine Heaven Palace Seals were indispensable; the loss of even one would diminish the full might of the Profound Sky Sect's Seventh Level formation.
Cao Jiaze, the designated successor to the Sect Master and the leader of this expedition from the Profound Sky Sect, was the linchpin in breaching the formation, carrying only seven of the Heaven Palace Seals with him.
At this very moment, Ann Jieshan, who should have been a member of the Blood God Cult, found himself with two additional Heaven Palace Seals in his palm upon entering the forbidden area. With that, all nine seals had converged at the Fallen Moon Forbidden Area.
Ann Jieshan bore a striking resemblance to an aged Cao Jiaze, decades older, which unsettled Yu Yuan deeply, prompting a sense of foreboding.
"Take him down!" The two Yu Yuans, faces darkening, simultaneously pointed at Ann Jieshan.
At their command, the three Demon Gods, the Ninth Level leaders from various races, Tianzang, the Withered Sword, Xi Quan, Luo Yue, and others, all lunged towards Ann Jieshan.
With a faint smile and the bloody light fading from his eyes, Ann Jieshan's whole demeanor radiated an aura of integrity, devoid of any malevolence. "Too late," he declared.
The two Heaven Palace Seals in his grasp transformed into a radiant sun and a luminous moon, rising into the air.
Beneath the dark green sky, the sun and moon cast their glow together within the forbidden area. Unhindered by the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation, the seven Heaven Palace Seals from the outside world burst forth with an extraordinary divine brilliance.
Whoosh! The seven seals spun rapidly, drawing in the three upper sects, the Spirit Void Taoist, the Thunder Sect, and the Unrestrained Stage, Yang God Stage, and Soul Wandering Stage experts, one by one.
Almost instantly, as if creating an alternate spatial corridor, the seven seals vanished into the void.
The next moment saw the seven seals, bearing the mark of many formidable beings from the Heavenly Source Continent, bypass the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation and enter the forbidden area, joining the other two seals in the void.
The nine Heaven Palace Seals hovered together, their light resplendent.
One by one, figures emerged from the seals, scattering like stars amidst the celestial radiance of the seals.
Though the Heaven Sealing Soul Transformation Formation remained intact, Cao Jiaze and the other powerhouses from the Heavenly Source Continent leveraged the remarkable properties of the nine Heaven Palace Seals to step into the forbidden area as one.
Those intent on swiftly eliminating Ann Jieshan abruptly halted in the void.
Ann Jieshan and Cao Jiaze stood shoulder to shoulder against the backdrop of the sky, sharing a smile beneath the imprint of the nine Heaven Palace Seals.
It was as though long-lost kin had been reunited.
