As Bai Xiaochun backed up, his Undying Live Forever Technique exploded into action, absorbing all of the blood qi from the blood-colored key and causing intense, thunderous rumbling to fill him.

Meanwhile, as the nine berserk ghosts behind him roared and howled, a tenth berserk ghost began to take shape, causing Bai Xiaochun’s fleshly body power to skyrocket.

Of the seven keys to be had in the Blood Wasteland, six had been absorbed by Bai Xiaochun. By now, Bai Xiaochun could clearly sense the fluctuations emanating from the first of those keys, some distance away.

It almost seemed as if all seven keys were required to form a whole.

However, there was little time for Bai Xiaochun to think about that as he sped backward.

Song Zhen’s rage had reached an indescribable level. With a completely ferocious expression, he howled and shot toward Bai Xiaochun in a beam of light. At the same time, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, summoning a blood-colored greatsword, which he hefted as he closed in.

Then he slashed the sword out in an attack, backing it with the full cultivation base power of the great circle of Foundation Establishment. The sword rapidly grew as it cut through the air, until it was fully thirty meters long. The air distorted, and the sky filled with rumbling sounds as the sword light slashed toward Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun’s scalp was tingling so hard it felt like it might explode. There was no time to ponder the situation. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, and he called upon both his fleshly body and the power of his cultivation base, three crystallized spiritual seas. Intense ripples spread out as the Undying Live Forever Technique flew into motion, and true Undying Blood swirled out into the open!

That Undying Blood almost instantly expanded into the shape of a huge sword, which Bai Xiaochun grabbed with both hands and raised up to meet Song Zhen’s sword.

BOOOOOOOOOMMM!

Blood sprayed out of Bai Xiaochun’s mouth as he was flung backward. Song Zhen was also shaken, and his qi and blood vibrated inside of him. Just as he was about to make another attack, though, Bai Xiaochun wiped the blood off of his lips, grinned viciously, and then waved his right finger at Song Zhen.

Human Controlling Grand Magic!

Even in this critical moment, Bai Xiaochun didn’t call upon any of the magical techniques of the Spirit Stream Sect. He had created the Human Controlling Grand Magic himself, and despite the fact that it was incomplete, it was still freakish in many ways. As soon as he unleashed it, Song Zhen lurched to a stop amidst creaking sounds. Without even thinking about it, he unleashed the full power of his cultivation base, whereupon all of his clothing... was ripped to shreds!

Every scrap of cloth covering his body was destroyed, leaving him completely exposed to the breeze....

Song Zhen’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened. Looking down at himself, he suddenly let out a shrill scream that filled almost the entire Blood Wasteland.

“Nightcrypt, I’m gonna kill you!!” Trembling with madness, he threw another set of clothing on and prepared to attack again. However, in the brief moment that had passed, Bai Xiaochun had unleashed explosive speed, and was now quite a distance away.

Bai Xiaochun looked anxious and miserable. For some reason, this blood master trial by fire did not seem to be going at all the way a trial by fire should. It was like everyone was out to get him!

“Two more hours. I only have to last for two more hours!” Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath. It was at that point that he realized that the first blood-colored key was actually getting closer to him.

“Oh come on, no....” he thought, his scalp tingling. It hadn’t been easy to get everyone else to go after that key. Although Song Zhen was chasing him, everyone else was now in a killing mood as they fought over that one key.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“Go away. Don’t even get near me....” Tears were welling up in his eyes. Even if he could advance his Undying Heavenly King by absorbing that key, he wasn’t willing to put his life on the line, especially considering that everyone would try to kill him if he did. Shivering, he changed directions and sped away from the key.

However, even as he did, the key suddenly sped up dramatically, to the point where Bai Xiaochun was sure he could hear it whizzing through the air.

“Don’t get near me....” He pushed forward with even more speed. Enough time passed for an incense stick to burn as he shot through the Blood Wasteland, Song Zhen hot on his tail. Then, up ahead, a blood-colored pillar of light appeared, heading directly toward him.

It was none other than the blood-colored key.

“No!!” he wailed.

It was the very key which had first appeared, and following it were a dozen or so Dharma protectors, all moving at top speed.

The key had originally been acquired by one of the Xuemei’s Dharma protectors. However, just as Bai Xiaochun had planned, the rest of the people in the trial by fire had been fighting over it, and it had changed hands numerous times since.

As the end of the trial by fire approached, Song Que acquired it. And yet, for some odd reason, just after he grabbed it, it surged with power and flew out of his hand, then shot off into the distance.

The other Dharma protectors were shocked, but there was little time to consider the matter. They all stopped fighting amongst themselves and shot after the key.

That was when they saw Bai Xiaochun being chased by the enraged Song Zhen. The key sped up, heading rapidly toward Bai Xiaochun; within the blink of an eye, and before he could do anything, the key shot into his forehead.

“Nightcrypt!!” Song Que howled, his eyes completely bloodshot.

“Nightcrypt, don’t do it....”

“Dammit, Nightcrypt, y-y-you....”

All of the Dharma protectors were going mad, both those on Xuemei’s team and Song Junwan’s. Moments ago, they had been fighting each other, but now their eyes were completely bloodshot as murderous auras erupted because of Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun was trembling on the verge of tears. This was not how trials by fire were supposed to go!

That was exactly how Song Junwan and Xuemei felt as well. Although they were both still fighting up in the air, their hearts were filled with amazement at the absurdity of the situation. They almost weren’t sure what to do now that Bai Xiaochun had absorbed the final key. A moment passed, and they stopped fighting, then turned and began to speed toward Bai Xiaochun.

“This isn’t a trial by fire for blood master, this is a trial by fire to kill me....” Gritting his teeth, he immediately began to flee.

The last bit of hope for everyone in the Blood Wasteland had just been absorbed by Bai Xiaochun. There were now no keys left....

According to the laws of this world, none of the Dharma protectors should be able to step onto the Ancient Blood Path. However, what was most terrifying of all... was the possibility that both teams would be classified as having lost.

If that were true, then when the fourteenth hour ended, all of them would be wiped out of existence....

The culprit who had caused the catastrophe... was none other than Bai Xiaochun!

The hatred both sides felt for him was completely indescribable, and many of them were so maddened that the only thing they wanted to do was kill Bai Xiaochun before they were exterminated by the world.

At the moment, nothing mattered. Not the sect, not their future, not the potential punishments they might face. They disregarded all of that and embraced the desire to kill. Rumbling could be heard as three cultivators immediately drew upon powerful magical treasures. Multi-colored light rose up from magical techniques, and booms could be heard as divine abilities were unleashed. All forms of rage and madness were poured out upon Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun bolted into motion like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on. As he fled, some people got the strange feeling that Nightcrypt... was used to doing this. Every move he made seemed designed to avoid the divine abilities and magical techniques, and in fact, he only seemed to move faster and faster.

Of course, the reason why Bai Xiaochun seemed so familiar with what was happening was that back in the Spirit Stream Sect, he had often ended up in such situations because of the catastrophes he had wrought. By now, he was very familiar with what it was like to be chased, and in fact, reacted to it on an instinctive level....

Even as he fled, rumbling sounds filled him as the Undying Live Forever Technique continued to operate. The blood qi from the keys caused ten berserk ghosts to appear, which rapidly merged together.

As they fused and grew clear, his aura grew more powerful. After enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, he suddenly stopped in place as an intense rumbling sound echoed out from within him.

In that very moment, the ten berserk ghosts... completely merged together!

Intense howling could be heard as the ghosts became one....

“It’s the ten ghosts Heavenly Demon Body!” he murmured, a strange light gleaming in his eyes as a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering energy erupted from inside of him!