As Tang Zhouxie’s command rang out, thousands of soldiers formed a tight formation, surrounding Bai Qiuran from three sides. Tang Zhouxie and Bai Qiuran faced each other for several seconds, when suddenly, Tang Zhouxie opened his mouth and spewed forth a stream of blood light. Hearing his words, Bai Qiuran glanced down at the hilt of his sword and let out a light laugh.
Sima Yingbo, gasping for breath, shouted at him, "Give up! You don’t even have a sword anymore!"
Tang Zhouxie's brow glistened with cold sweat. With a flick of his hands behind him, two black flags burst out from Sima Yingbo’s headless corpse, launching toward Bai Qiuran's back, unleashing a torrent of fierce flames.
Carelessly discarding what remained of the sword hilt, Tang Zhouxie's figure shot like lightning, diving into the formation formed by sixteen offerings.
“Aah?” The battlefield was a forest of blades, and archers far off began to draw their bows. When the green string was pulled tight, the moon shone on their arrows like armor, and they rained down upon their target. Sima Yingbo felt the blood gathering at his forehead, and his entire head swelled, before bursting with a loud pop.
With eyes narrowed, Tang Zhouxie tensed, sweat trickling down his back as he remained on guard. Stepping over the corpses of the offerings, Bai Qiuran slowly made his way to the altar, meeting Tang Zhouxie's gaze directly.
In truth, Sima Yingbo and the others had long been lulled into a false sense of security, believing Tang Zhouxie's intentions were to strengthen Shangxuan. But ever since he chanced upon the remnants of the Blood God Sect and embarked on his journey toward immortality, he had long ceased to care for Shangxuan Kingdom.
Facing the rain of blades and arrows, Bai Qiuran raised his sword.
The first strike cleaved a thousand-foot chasm in the earth, shattering the Eastern Mountain of the royal tomb into powder. The army in the east was caught under the sword’s might, turning into heaps of white bones as blood erupted like waves crashing to the shore.
The second sword strike split the heavens, parting the clouds for miles, revealing the high sun. The western troops could not withstand this force. Over a thousand soldiers were sliced in two, falling like tragic leaves in the wind.
Finally, a hand descended from above, crashing onto Tang Zhouxie's crown. Blood flowed from the seven apertures of his true form, with true energy causing his blood to surge violently upward, shattering his nascent soul and spirit that lay dormant within his spiritual platform.
Sima Yingbo’s blood accumulated suddenly in his forehead, his head swelling before exploding.
As Bai Qiuran raised his sword against the storm of blades and arrows, soon he was faced with only Sima Yingbo.
The third sword stroke followed, the clouds writhing, shadows dispersing as the hurricane howled. It was as if a giant kun emerged from the clouds, waves crashing and lightning flickering, directing the sword energy straight at the last of the Shangxuan army standing between Bai Qiuran and the royal tomb. One sound after another split the air, and the body of over a thousand elite soldiers from Shangxuan exploded into nothingness.
Sensing the power within Bai Qiuran, Tang Zhouxie retreated a step and said, "I don’t think we need to make the scene so tense."
But the first strike descended, the earth splitting open, pulverizing the tomb's Eastern Mountain.
Bai Qiuran’s expression was serene as he nonchalantly faced the panicked fourteen offerings, who attacked him all at once, their faces filled with dread. With a simple wave of his hands, Bai Qiuran conjured endless illusions of fists, fingers, claws, and palms, each strike infused with sinister energy, as each movement fell upon these offerings without mercy.
With the dust still swirling in the thickening air, pungent with the scent of blood as it lingered, Bai Qiuran pressed forward, approaching Tang Zhouxie at the altar.
“What’s left of your true energy?” Bai Qiuran murmured, a gentle smile crossing his lips.
At this point, he had realized that the gathering of power within himself would end the conflict here.
The offerings were struck down one by one in screams of despair, blood erupting from their bodies, each death more tragic than the last.
“Ah!” Their cries were drowned out.
Within this tumultuous battlefield, even Sima Yingbo, filled with dread, could not comprehend the devastating power of the moment.
Bai Qiuran simply smiled, moving forward, ready to confront whatever lay ahead with unwavering determination. The stakes were nothing less than life and death, and he would see his mission through to the end.