Chapter 585: Blood Rune

Su Xiuyi’s expression flickered as he stared at the black skull. Suddenly, rays of brilliant light began to swirl across his feather fan.

"East flows the great river, its waves washing away the heroes of antiquity!"

With a low cry, he swept his feather fan forward. The image of mountains and flowing water upon it seemed to spring to life, instantly transforming into a torrent of green light that unfurled across the heavens. This ocean of green light surged violently, crashing down upon the black skull.

Battered by the torrent, the skull was thrown into disarray, letting out a series of howls. The black smoke roiling around it erupted with a string of muffled explosions.

BOOM!

A stray stream of green light crashed diagonally into the ground. Instantly, the ancient streets of Ancient Yang City split apart, forming a chasm hundreds of meters long and over ten meters wide. Debris from vast swathes of collapsed buildings poured into the churning abyss. No echo returned from its depths, leaving its true profundity a mystery.

Elder Tianyi said in a chilling voice, "Good. As expected of Su Xiuyi. You haven’t disappointed me."

Su Xiuyi retorted coldly, "Tianyi, you wish to unify the Dream Realm Plain. Is this the only power you possess?"

Elder Tianyi sneered, "Don’t be in such a hurry. I will show you my true strength. I hope you’ll still be able to smile then."

Elder Tianyi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood essence. His left hand quickly tapped its center, tracing an incredibly complex and bizarre pattern.

VMMMM!

An intangible, blood-red ripple of light spread out. The blood essence morphed into a gigantic runic pattern that swiftly descended upon Su Xiuyi.

As the blood-red rune passed through the torrent of green light, it ignored the torrent’s existence entirely, moving like an ethereal cage to envelop Su Xiuyi.

’What is this?’ Su Xiuyi was momentarily stunned, but he remained calm despite his shock and swiped at the rune with his palm.

The very space around it distorted under the power of his barrier, yet the blood-red rune’s energy was completely unaffected by the spatial force, landing on Su Xiuyi’s body in an instant.

VMM! VMM! VMM!

An iridescent glow erupted from Su Xiuyi’s entire body. The blood-red runes writhed ceaselessly, like swarms of tiny, blood-colored tadpoles swimming across his form. They resembled bizarre characters, each flickering with a sinister aura.

’This is bad!’

The moment the blood-red runes touched him, they began to bind the Profound energy within his body, even though he managed to keep them from penetrating his skin. Su Xiuyi’s face instantly fell.

"Hahaha! Su Xiuyi, today is the day you die!"

Elder Tianyi cackled maniacally. With a wave of his Skull Staff, three enormous skulls materialized in an instant, lunging at Su Xiuyi to tear him apart.

"Hmph." Su Xiuyi snorted. While the blood-red runes restricted his ability to channel his Profound energy, they couldn’t restrain his movements. He clenched his fists and lashed out.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Amidst the violent impacts, the black skulls reeled back, letting out shrill roars. Despite being knocked back, they continued to charge forward, heedless of death.

"Su Xiuyi, let’s see how long you can last!"

Elder Tianyi roared, grinding his teeth. As he directed the skulls to attack, he simultaneously struck down with his palm.

KABOOM!

A gigantic palm materialized out of thin air. It crashed toward Su Xiuyi like a great mountain, its overwhelming aura blanketing the entire area.

With a deafening crash, under Elder Tianyi’s relentless assault, Su Xiuyi was forced back again and again. Suddenly, he was struck squarely and sent flying backward like a kite with a severed string.

"Su Xiuyi!"

Seeing this, Ge Puzi and the others cried out in alarm. They were incredibly tense. The experts from the major powers, including Elder Jian, all clenched their fists, not daring to let their focus waver for even a second.

Their very lives were now riding on Su Xiuyi alone. How could they not be nervous? How could they not worry?

To put it simply, if Su Xiuyi lost, they would all die. Only if he won would they have a sliver of a chance to live. Every one of them felt their heart pounding wildly in their chest.

They watched as Su Xiuyi finally halted his flight after several hundred meters. His body was wrapped in the tadpole-like runes, which now glowed with streaks of red light. However, they could sense that he hadn’t been seriously injured by the last attack, allowing them to breathe a small sigh of relief.

"Oh? You’re unharmed?" Elder Tianyi exclaimed in surprise, his brow furrowing. Clearly, Su Xiuyi’s strength had exceeded his expectations.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He attacked relentlessly. Columns of black smoke, like ancient warning beacons, billowed into the sky. Within the smoke, the three skulls lunged and bit, attempting to devour their target.

At the same time, Elder Tianyi himself launched a frenzied assault on Su Xiuyi, constantly creating new obstructions for him.

Under Elder Tianyi’s relentless assault, Su Xiuyi was forced to retreat again and again, his expression growing grim.

’What in the world are these blood-red runes? They can influence my Profound energy, yet they’re unaffected by it and I can’t seem to destroy them. If this keeps up, Elder Tianyi might actually manage to kill me.’

His expression was grim as he desperately sought a way to remove the blood-red runes covering his body.

These blood-red runes had sealed about forty percent of his Profound energy, preventing him from unleashing his full power.

’If Profound energy won’t work, I’ll see what my Martial Soul can do.’

VMMMM!

An illusory image of a scroll materialized above Su Xiuyi’s head. The scroll was covered in lines of text and depicted a magnificent landscape of mountains and rivers.

Each character in the text shone like a radiant pearl. The landscape itself was breathtaking—vast, majestic, and exquisitely beautiful.

At the same time, seven stellar rings began to circle the scroll, shimmering with multicolored light and creating a magnificent image.

At Su Xiuyi’s command, the scroll above his head blazed with intense light. Waves of Martial Soul power, like ripples spreading across a lake, flowed into the blood-red runes.

The blood-red runes covering his body wavered for an instant, but quickly settled back to normal.

Su Xiuyi’s heart sank. ’Even my Martial Soul’s power has no effect on these runes. Just what are they?’

"Hahaha!" Seeing this, Elder Tianyi roared with laughter. "What do you think of this technique of mine, Su Xiuyi?"

BOOM!

As he spoke, he sent another rumbling palm strike, forcing Su Xiuyi to retreat once more.

Down below, Elder Jian and the others watched with burning anxiety, but they were utterly helpless.

They longed to help, but a clash at the Martial Emperor Level was far beyond their ability to interfere. A mere graze from one of those black skulls would be enough to leave them severely injured and vomiting blood; they would be of no help whatsoever.

In the face of absolute power, everything else was futile.

’It looks like Su Xiuyi is in trouble.’

Down below, Ye Xuan also felt a flicker of anxiety. Watching Su Xiuyi struggle to find a way to dispel the blood-red runes, a glint flashed in Ye Xuan’s eyes as he discreetly sent a mental transmission.

"Su Xiuyi, you’ve been hit by Elder Tianyi’s Blood Runes. They’re a unique imprint formed by using blood essence as a catalyst, supplemented by Soul Power, and woven together with a Soul Skill. To break them, you must use your own blood essence as a spear..."

Su Xiuyi had no idea what these Blood Runes were, but Ye Xuan, with his vast experience, knew them well. He immediately explained their origin and the way to counter them.

Upon receiving Ye Xuan’s transmission, Su Xiuyi was visibly startled. He glanced at Ye Xuan in astonishment, his gaze flickering with uncertainty. A moment later, however, his eyes hardened with resolve. He began to act on the method Ye Xuan had provided.

Instantly, streaks of red light began to flicker across his body—the power of his own blood essence was condensing.

The streaks of crimson light from his blood essence crashed against the red runes. With a loud BANG, the blood-red runes shattered, dissipating into wisps of sanguine energy.

"Damn it." Elder Tianyi’s expression soured, his furious gaze immediately locking onto Ye Xuan.

Ye Xuan’s transmission had been subtle enough to fool even Tier Seven Peak Martial Kings like Ge Puzi, but it couldn’t deceive a Tier Eight Martial Emperor like Elder Tianyi.

"Brat! You ruined my Seven Star Earth Element Array, and now you foil my plans again! Die!"

With a furious roar, he sent a column of the beacon-like smoke hurtling toward Ye Xuan.

"Tianyi, you dare get distracted while fighting me?!"

Having shattered the blood-red runes on his body, Su Xiuyi’s aura surged instantly. With a wave of his hand, a stream of green light dispersed the beacon smoke. Simultaneously, the Martial Soul above his head flared with brilliant light, and wisps of its power flowed into the ancient tome he had been holding in his left hand.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The pages of the ancient book flipped rapidly, accompanied by a sound like the deep, sonorous chime of a great bell.

The ancient book flew open to a certain page, from which a beam of white light erupted.

"Celestial Derivation Book—Soul-Calming Scroll!"

BOOM!

The beam of white light instantly slammed into one of the skulls. The black skull immediately let out a silent, agonized howl as black smoke poured from it. Countless faces began to materialize on the skull’s surface, densely packed and numbering in the hundreds.

Among them were the faces of Li Zongluo and Wang Lu of the Qingfeng Empire, flickering in and out of existence. It was clear that all these faces belonged to the powerful experts Elder Tianyi had killed in the past.

Su Xiuyi’s expression turned frigid. "Elder Tianyi," he said in a cold voice, "to think you’ve killed so many people. You deserve death."

He let out a furious roar. The Celestial Derivation Book in his left hand blazed with light as the white radiance swept out, constantly dissipating the black mist in the sky.

"Damn it! My Soul-Devouring Skeleton! Su Xiuyi, what is that treasure?!"

Elder Tianyi coughed up a mouthful of blood and cried out in anguish. He rapidly formed a series of Hand Skills, and the three skulls instantly merged into one, a faint red glow now visible within its black form.

Streaks of blood-red radiance flared from it, just barely managing to block the attack from the Celestial Derivation Book, though its power was still being steadily diminished.

’A good opportunity.’ Ye Xuan, who had been coldly watching the battle from below, saw his chance. His figure flickered as he silently made his way toward the imperial palace in the center of Ancient Yang City.

"Xuan Ye, where are you going?" Ge Puzi was stunned for a moment and quickly sent a mental message.

Ye Xuan replied coldly, "Now that Su Xiuyi has Elder Tianyi occupied, I’m going to take complete control of this Seven Star Earth Element Array."

With his knowledge of the Seven Star Earth Element Array, he could tell at a glance that the Array Base within the Ancient Yang Empire’s imperial palace was the Tianquan node—the core Array Base of the entire formation.