Under the blood moon, Li Jing’s garments fluttered against the wind, her pupils scarlet.

The Bone Giant continued to sever the blood-colored ribbons that had flown out of the Blood Lotus one after another with an enormous bone saber.

Every time a ribbon was severed, the spiritual power within the Blood Lotus was slightly weakened.

She was doing her best to manipulate the huge blood shadow to keep Meng Qing, the Bone Sect’s current leader, occupied. Hence, she didn’t have the energy to strengthen the Blood Lotus.

It was her senior martial sister, Shen Xiu, who was controlling and powering that Blood Lotus. However, Shen Xiu was only at the late Worldly realm.

Considering the level of her spiritual power, it was already a miracle that she had lasted til this point.

Li Jing was well-aware that as those blood-colored ribbons were severed one after another, it wouldn’t be very long before Shen Xiu would be drained of all her spiritual power and die.

Meng Qing, who was also at the Profound realm, was an expert in wielding the Bone Sect’s various secret magics. Li Jing had even failed to affect the flow of his blood with the Blood Sect’s Reverse Blood Flow technique.

Having fought for so long, she, who had to spare part of her own soul to control the enormous blood shadow, had consumed a significant amount of strength.

She knew that, if this went on, Shen Xiu would be the first to die, and then she probably wouldn’t survive this tribulation herself either.

“I hope Feng Luo and Little Tong made it out of here alive.”

After a moment of pondering, Li Jing made her decision.

She decided to risk suffering severe injuries and a cultivation setback to activate the Blood Lotus’s ultimate blood escape art and get away from this place with Shen Xiu.

Her scarlet, devilish pupils suddenly began to shine with dazzling light as they were rapidly filled with a rich bloody aura.

The river of bloody aura around her started to quietly float towards the Blood Lotus, along with the enormous roaring blood shadow.

Meng Qing, who had been secretly observing her, shrewdly discovered the abnormal movements of the river of bloody aura and the enormous blood shadow.

Calm and composed, he sneered and said, “Sectmaster Li, do you know why I picked my sect’s headquarters to be the place where we finished the transaction?”

Before Li Jing could answer, he went on and said, “Many years ago, my entire sect was annihilated overnight.”

With these words, Meng Qing’s expression grew grave, and the corner of his mouth twitched briefly. “Everyone in the headquarters died. Not a single person survived. Fortunately, I was not in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation at that time, and thus survived that calamity. Even after many years, I still didn’t dare to come back, but rather roamed other realms like a stray dog.

“The overnight annihilation of my sect was the doing of a legendary villain from the Realm of Unbounded Desolation. He was the most skilled spatial power wielder throughout the entire Domain of the Falling Stars.

“And the terrifying spiritual tool he used to wipe my sect out carried unfathomable mysteries of spatial power. It was that spiritual tool that made these normal-looking ruins full of hidden danger.”

Upon hearing these words, Li Jing, who was about to activate the blood escape art, frowned in surprise.

“If you don’t believe me, you can go ahead and have a try.” Meng Qing was still calm and composed. “Once someone who’s not very skilled at using spatial magics casts a forbidden spatial magic, the consequences... will be hard to predict.”

With an expression of anticipation, he even encouraged Li Jing, “In fact, I kind of want to see what will happen to those who dare to use spatial magic in the Bone Sect. It’s just that I don’t have the audacity to try it myself. I’d be happy to be an observer if Sectmaster Li is willing to do the honor.”

After hearing these words, not only was Li Jing not enthused, but she actually became afraid to enact her plan.

While Li Jing was torn with indecision, Meng Qing’s face turned warm. “Sectmaster Li, your sect’s and my sect’s incantations complement each other. Our union will benefit us both. Why do you refuse to open your eyes to reality?

“Imagine this. One day, our Blood Bone Sect will rise to prominence and become as powerful as the Heaven Palace Sect and the Tool Sect. Won’t that be better than you struggling to keep the Blood Sect afloat in the Realm of Flame Heaven?”

Glaring at him, Li Jing said, “You disgust me!”

Meng Qing was suddenly enraged.

Just as he was about to launch a murderous attack on her and Shen Xiu and snatch the Blood Sect’s incantations by force, he was struck by an intense sense of crisis.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He spun around.

A thick lightning bolt flew over from the distant sky. After it came to a stop in midair in front of Meng Qing, it turned out to be Zhu Bin.

“Elder Zhu?” Startled, Meng Qing hastily bowed respectfully. “I’m the son of Meng Han, the Bone Sect’s former sectmaster. I happened to be out of the Realm of Unbounded Desolation when our sect was annihilated. To what do we owe Elder Zhu’s presence?”

Zhu Bin went blank for a moment before saying, “Meng Qing? I’ve heard of you. I thought you were killed by the Death Reign like your father. I can’t believe you possess such amazing talent and managed to advance to the middle Profound realm through practicing your sect’s incantations at such an age. From the look of it, your cultivation talent is far superior to your father’s.”

Meng Qing behaved incredibly modestly when facing Zhu Bin. “That’s very kind of you.”

Zhu Bing let out a cold harrumph. “It’s a pity that you’ve associated yourself with evil! Your sect was wiped out overnight by Zhao Shanling’s Death Reign. Everyone in your sect died because of the Death Reign, including your father. Zhao Shanling should have been your sworn enemy, yet you sold yourself to him. How can you expect your father to find peace in the Yellow Springs?!”

A confused expression spread across Meng Qing’s face. “Where is this coming from, Elder Zhu?”

Zhu Bin grew impatient and said loudly, “Don’t you try to fool me! Where is Zhao Shanling at this moment?”

“How would I know about that?” Meng Qing felt deeply wronged.

WHOOSH!

All of a sudden, a spot in the dark sky not far from the Bone Sect’s ruins began to shine brightly, like a door slowly opening into darkness.

Immediately afterwards, Zhen Huilan stepped through it with a black-robed, burly man that looked like a mountain.

“The Bone Sect’s ruins are right ahead of us.” With these words, Zhen Huilan, who had forcibly opened a spatial portal and created a spatial tunnel out of thin air, got ahold of her bearings and sped off towards the Bone Sect’s dilapidated headquarters.

She had received word from Zhu Bin while he had been searching on the other side of the Realm of Unbounded Desolation. The urgency of the matter had led her to come with the help of her spatial device, along with that burly expert.

As she and the large black-robed man flashed into appearance before Meng Qing and Zhu Bin, Zhu Bin, who had been berating Meng Qing, hastily turned around and bowed, saying, “I didn’t expect that you would come as well.”

Li Jing, who had been forgotten since Zhu Bin’s arrival, was shocked as soon as she saw Zhen Huilan and the black-robed man with her.

As the sectmaster of the Blood Sect, this wasn’t the first time she had been to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation, so she naturally had some knowledge regarding the main figures in the Tool Sect.

Even though she hadn’t met Zhen Huilan in person before, she had seen portraits of her. Therefore, she instantly recognized her.

As for the burly, mountain-like man beside her, the moment he arrived, Li Jing’s eyelids started twitching with an intense sense of crisis. “A Soul realm expert!”

Just like her, the Profound realm expert who Meng Qing had invited to help him was also deeply shocked and awed.

He, who practiced metal power, was so petrified by the black-robed man that he immediately disassociated himself from Meng Qing by saying, “I have absolutely no connections with the Bone Sect, Mr. Wu! I only agreed to come and help him deal with this woman from the Blood Sect in the Realm of Flame Heaven because he paid handsomely for my service.”

The burly black-robed man took a glance at him, but didn’t say a word.

“Umm... I have nothing to do with what Meng Qing has done or plans to do!” The man urgently attempted to make his relationship with Meng Qing clear. “If you don’t have any other business with me, could I please be excused?”

“No,” The black-robed expert said with an expressionless face.

The man hung his head, his face ghastly, as if he had been determined guilty by the burly expert, and was waiting for his penalty.

In fear and trepidation, Meng Qing hastily said to the black-robed man, “Mr. Wu, I really have nothing to do with Zhao Shanling. This is the first time I’ve returned to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation in decades!”

A meaningful look appeared in the black-robed man’s eyes. “Well, what a coincidence. This is also the first time that traitor has returned to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation after he disappeared decades ago.”

Upon hearing these words, desperation filled Meng Qing’s face.

“Mr. Wu, Zhao Shanling’s whereabouts are vital to our efforts to put an end to the turbulent situation in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.” After a moment of pondering, Zhu Bin suggested, “It seems that the rest of us can’t tell if Meng Qing is telling the truth or not, so will you please take the trouble to use your soul transmission art on him?”

The black-robed man nodded briefly. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

“NO!” Meng Qing’s face turned pale with fright. Too scared to mind Li Jing and Shen Xiu, he fled into the distance at the fastest speed possible.

“I’ll be back soon.” With these words, the burly, mountain-like man vanished into thin air.

Moments later, Meng Qing’s blood-curdling scream rang out from the direction he had fled in.

Upon hearing his miserable scream, both Zhu Bin and Zhen Huilan’s faces remained expressionless, as if they had expected it.

However, everyone else gasped with terror, especially the Profound realm expert who had come upon Meng Qing’s invitation. His face was already covered in sweat.