Chapter 1242: End Seen

Buddhism is not prominent in the Northern Star Realm; there are only a few minor, insignificant sects, mostly located in the desert. However, several ancient Buddhist ruins have been unearthed in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield. Both the Talisman of a Thousand Bodies and Ten Thousand Shadows from Shangyuan Pure Palace and *Stone Bridge Zen* that Marquis Dongyang previously revealed were acquired from these discoveries.

With the Talisman of a Thousand Bodies and Ten Thousand Shadows broken, Gongliang Yu realized that this old fox had already thoroughly understood all of his trump cards and had anticipated every move. Being manipulated to such an extent by a venerable Nascent Soul Grandmaster, Gongliang Yu suddenly felt a sense of absurd honor.

The Talisman of a Thousand Bodies and Ten Thousand Shadows was his most powerful escape method. With the talisman rendered useless, Gongliang Yu knew in his heart that he would not escape today. As expected, he was unwilling to simply accept death and tried to use other methods. But before he could even activate them, Marquis Dongyang had already prepared countermeasures. In fact, there was no time to activate them at all.

"Crack!"

A defensive magical artifact was easily knocked away by Marquis Dongyang. At this point, Gongliang Yu had exhausted all his tricks; his face was filled with despair as he watched the Vajra Circlet descend from above. Gongliang Yu felt a binding force tightly wrapping around him, his bones crackling, causing immense pain. His physical body, along with his Golden Core, was firmly trapped, rendering him unable to even self-detonate.

"Whoosh!"

The Vajra Circlet blazed with intense white light, generating infinite fiery auras that completely enveloped Gongliang Yu. It instantly shattered his protective spiritual energy, and he was incinerated to ash without even a cry of agony.

Marquis Dongyang had meticulously plotted for years and had long harbored a killing intent. He would naturally not be indecisive; his attack was swift and decisive, leaving Gongliang Yu no chance to breathe. As for the method to control the Nascent Soul Puppet, he had already obtained it, so there was no need to keep Gongliang Yu alive.

Furthermore, when he took the Evil Blood Boiling Flower earlier, he realized this place was fraught with trouble and hidden dangers, making it best not to cause too much commotion. With Gongliang Yu's inexplicable death in the blood lake, no one would ever be able to find any trace of foul play. By seizing the Nascent Soul Puppet, Shangyuan Pure Palace would undoubtedly become more dependent on Shaohua Mountain in the future. This was killing two birds with one stone.

Though it sounds complicated, from the moment Marquis Dongyang appeared to trapping the puppet and killing Gongliang Yu, the entire process was seamless and completed in the blink of an eye, ending Gongliang Yu's life.

With Gongliang Yu dead, the Nascent Soul Puppet, now without a master and unrestrained, instinctively sensed an opportunity for freedom and began frantically attacking the grand formation and the jade bottle. However, its attacks were disorganized; though seemingly fierce, most were futile.

Marquis Dongyang had a thought, intending to retract the fiery aura and activate the Vajra Circlet to confine the Nascent Soul Puppet and take it away, when a sudden strong sense of alarm rose in his heart.

"Whoosh!"

A sword light pierced through the blood mist, swift as lightning. Along its path, all blood shadows were cut into dust by the sword light, creating an astonishing momentum as it headed directly for Marquis Dongyang's back.

As the spiritual sword attacked, Marquis Dongyang felt a sharp sting. His expression changed drastically—there was a third person here! Moreover, the spiritual sword's aura was extraordinary; this person was a Nascent Soul cultivator!

He had no time to think. His body suddenly lunged forward, hastily recalling the Vajra Circlet. With a crisp sound, the Circlet vibrated violently, emitting a projection of power comparable to its true form, which flashed to block the flying sword.

The Sinful Abyss had once used the Endless Blood Mulberry to set up an ambush. Marquis Dongyang had also suffered losses from the Blood Filth Divine Light. Learning from his mistakes, he later always left some leeway when using his Natal Artifact, no longer acting as unreservedly as before.

"Clang!"

The Circlet projection blocked the flying sword, and its precious light contracted inward, attempting to repeat its old trick: encircling the flying sword and directly seizing it. At the beginning of the great war, he had used the Vajra Circlet to forcibly seize several magical artifacts from cultivators of the Sinful Abyss, a trick that had always worked.

Unexpectedly, this time he miscalculated. The Circlet projection only managed to barely catch a section of the sword tip before it could not descend further. The projection buzzed, and cracks surprisingly burst forth, showing signs of shattering. Marquis Dongyang was secretly alarmed. He had meticulously refined the Vajra Circlet for many years, and the Natal Artifact of the Underworld Devil Lord might not even be stronger. Yet, his opponent's flying sword seemed to surpass the Vajra Circlet, indicating it was a top-tier supreme-grade artifact.

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

The blood mist whistled as a figure swiftly followed the sword light, eyes gleaming coldly beneath a mask. He stared chillingly at the slightly disheveled Marquis Dongyang; it was Qin Sang. His face was ashen.

Fearing discovery by Marquis Dongyang, he had deliberately kept his distance. He had originally thought that Gongliang Yu, as the head of a sect, would surely not lack escape methods, and with the Nascent Soul Puppet by his side, he could at least withstand a few moves against Marquis Dongyang, giving Qin Sang enough time to arrive. Who could have anticipated that Gongliang Yu would not be able to withstand even a single exchange with Marquis Dongyang and instantly become a victim of the Circlet?

Qin Sang also hadn't expected that Marquis Dongyang's true objective wasn't the treasures in the blood river but rather Gongliang Yu and the Nascent Soul Puppet all along. A dignified mid-stage Nascent Soul Grandmaster scheming against a mere Core Formation junior meant Qin Sang didn't even have a chance to intervene.

The Demonic Banner Grand Formation was too slow, and "Thunder Control Art" required incantations. Qin Sang made a decisive choice: disregarding the exposure of his identity, he used his fastest Ebony Sword to stab at Marquis Dongyang. Even if he couldn't save Gongliang Yu, he couldn't stand by and watch Marquis Dongyang take the puppet.

Qin Sang had concealed his identity not out of fear of Marquis Dongyang, but because he wanted to wait until his strength was sufficient and he was fully prepared, to strike by surprise and succeed in one blow. He could no longer remain hidden. Qin Sang didn't understand the hidden dangers of the puppet, but he knew for certain that such a powerful puppet couldn't fall into Marquis Dongyang's hands; otherwise, even with allies, killing him would be impossible. He had always been decisive; he immediately attacked with his sword.

Marquis Dongyang, seasoned in battle, reacted quickly. He not only blocked the surprise attack from the flying sword but also subtly avoided repeating past mistakes.

"It's you!""It's you?"

Seeing Qin Sang, Marquis Dongyang's expression changed repeatedly, but he let out two identical exclamations in succession. The first exclamation was upon seeing the Phoenix Wings on Qin Sang's back, surprised that the newcomer was the recently renowned Demonic King Bright Moon. After forming his Nascent Soul, Qin Sang had always worn a mask when traveling, and the Phoenix Wings were his most distinctive mark.

Marquis Dongyang had heard too many rumors about Demonic King Bright Moon: slaying a Nascent Soul cultivator in a formation, infiltrating the Abyss Ruins to battle Old Devil Ye and escaping unscathed. Even the news about this blood lake expedition was brought back by him. The Two Realms Alliance was delighted to have gained such a formidable ally. However, some had expressed concern that the rise of such a talent among the demon race might be a sign of their future prosperity, potentially leading to them overshadowing humanity. Nevertheless, the Sinful Abyss was an urgent matter, and the demon race's foundation was considered insufficient to be swayed by one or two individuals, so the matter was not pursued further.

The second exclamation, however, was upon seeing the Ebony Sword. He had also studied the "Primordial Spirit Sword Nurturing Chapter," but later believed the cultivation method was incomplete and had little future even if reluctantly mastered, so he didn't pay much attention to it. However, he had a deep impression of this method. Over the years, only two individuals had achieved success with this cultivation method. One was his former disciple, who had refined a Metal-element spiritual sword. This disciple was extremely stubborn, refused to change cultivation methods, and stubbornly forged his own path, leading Marquis Dongyang to conclude that he had no hope of reaching the Nascent Soul stage. The other was a pawn who had once escaped his calculations and had cultivated a Wood-element spiritual sword, achieving the Golden Core stage many years ago, and now stood before him again. The Ebony Sword was no longer what it once was, but it was enough to confirm the identity of the newcomer!