Chapter 310: A Ray of Light

Sixth Master was a truly tragic figure. He was once a proud prodigy within the Seven Blood Eyes, on par with Seventh Master, and his cultivation should have progressed far beyond the Nascent Soul stage. However, at the most crucial juncture of his life, his beloved Dao companion and junior sister unexpectedly perished.

Her demise was, in fact, an act of sacrifice to save him.

This tragedy filled the deeply emotional Sixth Master with boundless sorrow and regret. He descended into madness and bitter grief, and it was only after immense struggle that he emerged from that dark period. He then channeled all his hope into the child his deceased wife had left behind.

His son also proved exceptional, cultivating diligently and exceeding expectations. This allowed the profound sadness in Sixth Master's heart to gradually subside, and it seemed that hope had rekindled in his life.

But fate can be cruelly indifferent. His beloved son disappeared during an outdoor cultivation experience.

The shattering of his son's life jade slip confirmed his demise.

For Sixth Master, this blow was no less devastating than the loss of his Dao companion years earlier. What truly suffocated him was that despite searching for many years, he never found any clue to his son's disappearance.

Consequently, Sixth Master became utterly despondent. He spent his days in drunken stupor, sometimes gazing at the moon and weeping uncontrollably, consumed by profound grief.

Everyone in the Seven Blood Eyes witnessed his despair, but no one could offer true solace; they could only sigh in resignation.

This profound sorrow explains why Sixth Master became frantic when Xu Qing accidentally stumbled upon a clue, and why Blood Refiner agreed to let him act, even during a war with the Sea Corpse Clan.

It also explains why Sixth Master held a special regard for Xu Qing.

Subsequently, events began to turn for the better. The Seven Blood Eyes successfully ascended to the ranks of a major sect, joined the alliance, and relocated from the Southern Phoenix Continent to Yinghuang Prefecture.

In Yinghuang Prefecture, Sixth Master had found a great deal of inner peace. He dedicated all his energy to serving the Seven Blood Eyes and, at the same time, silently kept an eye on Xu Qing, waiting for the opportune moment to repay the significant favor he owed.

He was even prepared for that moment.

But now... everything had dissolved into thin air.

Sixth Master had fallen.

His death sent shockwaves throughout the entire Seven Blood Eyes.

This was particularly impactful because, during the war with the Sea Corpse Clan two years prior, despite significant casualties, not a single Nascent Soul Peak Master of the Seven Blood Eyes had fallen.

Indeed, for nearly two hundred years, under Blood Refiner's leadership and with Seventh Master's later cooperation, the Seven Blood Eyes had risen triumphantly, and not a single Nascent Soul realm cultivator had died during that time.

The last Nascent Soul to fall was two hundred years ago, during a brutal conflict between the Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Clan.

In that particular war, the Sea Corpse Clan had nearly breached the Seven Blood Eyes' territory. With the previous generation's Old Ancestor severely wounded and most peak masters dead, Blood Refiner—who had been traveling for many years and was even forgotten by many—made his return.

He displayed a cultivation level at the Grand Perfection of the Spiritual Treasury, far exceeding everyone's expectations, and at that critical juncture, he averted the Seven Blood Eyes' crisis.

From that day forward, he assumed leadership of the Seven Blood Eyes.

Following that, the Seven Blood Eyes developed steadily, and Nascent Soul cultivators gradually emerged. However, reaching the Nascent Soul stage remains exceptionally difficult for the vast majority of cultivators.

Thus, over the years, only a few such cultivators existed. Among them, the Peak Masters of the First and Fourth Peaks were veterans from ancient times, while the remaining six had achieved their status within the last two hundred years.

Seventh Master and Sixth Master had joined the sect in the same generation and were once fierce rivals as exceptional prodigies.

Now, as he watched Sixth Master's headless body plummet from the sky, disintegrating bit by bit until it dissolved into a desolate rain of blood that splattered across the Seven Blood Eyes' mountain gate, Seventh Master's eyes, unusually, turned blood red.

He was no deity; he could not account for every variable!

Nor could Blood Refiner.

They had anticipated that the Lingyun Sword Sect would pose a hidden threat, that the Alliance Leader's stance would be ambiguous, and that a sectarian crisis might erupt. They even considered the possibility that such a crisis could stem from an internal betrayal.

Furthermore, a betrayal carried a certain probability of involving Zhuzhao.

Seventh Master had foreseen all these possibilities and had made extensive preparations well in advance. The activation of the Lingyun Sword Sect's forbidden art, in particular, had actually been within the expectations of both Blood Refiner and Seventh Master.

Following their pre-established plan, they seized this opportunity to suppress the Lingyun forbidden art, intending to legitimately acquire it and integrate it into their sect's foundation.

However... they had not accounted for the vast disparity between Zhuzhao's true power and what Yinghuang Prefecture had previously understood.

This wasn't a failing unique to Seventh Master and Blood Refiner; in fact, every major power in Yinghuang Prefecture had miscalculated Zhuzhao's strength, still operating under outdated information.

They were unaware that Zhuzhao had transformed due to the arrival of one individual.

Crucially, the combat power unleashed by the shadowy figure when it killed Sixth Master moments ago was at the Reverting to Void stage—a fact completely unrecorded in the intelligence of any faction.

It was also evident that this was a premeditated and targeted strike. The assailant seemed to have come solely to kill Sixth Master, even demonstrating unknown methods that suppressed all of Sixth Master's defenses and life-saving artifacts, ensuring a single, fatal blow.

And indeed, that was the case; the shadowy figure's mission was precisely to eliminate Sixth Master.

Encountering Xu Qing en route, he merely swiped a sleeve, attacking him with little care.

Xu Qing was not his mission.

It was akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut; if Xu Qing escaped, so be it. His focus was on completing his master's assignment, which held far greater importance than any incidental gain from killing Xu Qing. Therefore, against Sixth Master, he exerted his full power.

After securing the head, he vanished instantly, touching nothing else.

At this moment, Seventh Master's body trembled. As he watched the shadowy figure recede into the sky, the bloodlust in his eyes erupted with earth-shattering intensity, distorting the surrounding space and causing even the Seven Blood Eyes itself to tremble. Yet, he was forced to suppress it.

He could not abandon his post. He and the Old Ancestor were still needed to suppress the Lingyun Sword Sect's forbidden art. Their departure would not only jeopardize their plan but, more critically, risk the forbidden art's catastrophic activation, which would inflict severe damage upon the sect.

Blood Refiner's eyes, too, bore immense sorrow. He turned, let out a low roar, and channeled his full power into suppressing the Lingyun Sword Sect's forbidden art. Meanwhile, the other peak masters trembled, watching in disbelief as Sixth Master's body dissolved into a bloody rain, profound grief engulfing their minds.

The remaining Golden Core protectors and disciples from various peaks within the mountain gate were all crestfallen. In particular, several princes from the Sixth Peak trembled uncontrollably, letting out heart-wrenching roars of anguish.

But it was all in vain.

Meanwhile, the Old Ancestors of the other sects, having witnessed this spectacle, wore exceptionally grim expressions.

Several of them simultaneously formed hand seals, activating the grand alliance formation to create a blockade. Even the Alliance Leader's face, appearing in the sky with an unprecedentedly grim expression, materialized, and gazed first at the Seven Blood Eyes, then at the city of the Lingyun Sword Sect.

Their collective gaze fixed upon a pavilion rooftop in that area.

As the sky twisted, the figures of the alliance's Old Ancestors, with the exception of Blood Refiner, materialized one after another, their combined oppressive power locking onto that very spot.

The killing intent at this moment was overwhelmingly potent, causing cracks to appear in the void of the area they focused on, as if space itself were on the verge of collapse.

On this rooftop, a black-robed figure lay with hands clasped behind his head, wearing a mask depicting a shattered deity's face. He gazed upward, observing Saint Yunzi and his son in the sky.

Beside him, as the void twisted, the figure of Night Crow materialized, standing silently. In his right hand... he held a human head, still dripping with blood.

Sixth Master's eyes remained open, even in death.

“Master, the welcoming gift for the Seven Blood Eyes is complete,” Night Crow respectfully announced. Despite being targeted by multiple alliance Old Ancestors, amidst overwhelming killing intent and oppressive power, his voice remained completely steady, utterly indifferent to the external circumstances.

His eyes were solely fixed on his Master, who was currently gazing at the sky.

“That performance was rather mediocre,” the young man's voice, tinged with indifference, slowly drifted out.

“Understood, Master. Shall I retrieve the mask?” Night Crow whispered.

“No need,” the young man replied. “Though the performance was merely adequate, at least we were entertained.” He sat up, glanced towards the Seven Blood Eyes, offered a faint smile, and then rose to his feet.

“The show is over, so let's depart,” the young man declared, stepping down from the pavilion and onto the street.

Cracks spiderwebbed through the surrounding space, a consequence of the oppressive gazes from the numerous Old Ancestors fixed on them from above. The ground, too, unnaturally caved in in places, emitting terrifying sounds of collapse.

Furthermore, killing intent converged from all directions, affecting the local weather and causing snowflakes to form in mid-air and fall.

Simultaneously, the suppressive force permeating the heavens and earth intensified, subtly solidifying the very void and impeding all movement.

Yet, the masked young man's steps remained unhurried. Even while targeted by the alliance's formidable experts, and despite the presence of the Alliance Leader, a second-stage Reverting to Void cultivator, he appeared completely at ease.

It was as if none of this held any significance for him; in this world, no one could stop him from going where he pleased, nor could they prevent him from leaving when he desired.

Behind him, Night Crow followed silently, the blood from the head he carried having nearly ceased to drip. Only an occasional drop or two would fall to the ground, staining it a startling crimson.

At this incredibly tense moment, the black-robed youth, wearing the mask of a shattered deity, walked ahead and passed a candied hawthorn stall.

The ordinary residents of this area had long been evacuated, leaving half of Lingyun City empty. In the hasty departure, many belongings lay scattered across the surroundings.

The young man glanced at the candied hawthorn, a flicker of reminiscence in his eyes, then walked over and picked one up.

“My younger brother likes to eat them.”

The candied hawthorn was red, the same color as the blood still dripping from Sixth Master's head in Night Crow's hand.

Witnessing the young man's actions, the Old Ancestors of the various sects in the sky grew even more solemn.

From the moment these two individuals appeared, the gravity of the situation had escalated to an extremely high level.

Simultaneously, the Seven Blood Eyes had successfully suppressed the Lingyun Sword Sect's forbidden art. In the very next instant, Seventh Master and Blood Refiner's figures sped directly from the Seven Blood Eyes towards this location.

The Alliance Leader of the Eight Sects, his eyes chilling, spoke slowly from the sky.

“Zhuzhao, do you intend to declare full-scale war on my Eight Sect Alliance?!”

Upon hearing this, the young man raised his head. His gaze, directed through the eyes of his deity mask, swept across the sky, and he let out a soft chuckle.

“Night Crow.”

“Yes, Master!” From behind him, Night Crow produced a seemingly simple wooden box with a lid. He gently pushed the lid open.

A beam of light... abruptly burst forth from within the wooden box!

The light was colorless and formless, invisible yet palpable. The instant it appeared, the sky shifted color, the earth rumbled, the Forbidden Sea roared, and the sun and moon dimmed in comparison!

At that very instant, everyone within the Seven Blood Eyes—mortals, disciples, and Old Ancestors alike—underwent a drastic change in expression.

Because that light...

It was the gaze emanating from the deity's fragmented mask, now with open eyes!