Chapter 1829: Bloodcut Blocks the Way

Inside the Southern Square Inch Mountain, sudden changes occurred. The Sun-Illuminated cultivators quickly began investigating, and Lu Ye was the first to sense them.

What struck him as odd was his clear perception that the Southern Square Inch Mountain was encountering powerful resistance. Its speed, propelled by the core's pull as it traversed the starry sky, was rapidly diminishing due to this resistance. But where was this resistance coming from?

His consciousness drifted out, and his vast vision peered beyond the realm. This was a convenience only available to a Realm Lord; otherwise, even Sun-Illuminated cultivators like Chen Xuanhai would have to physically exit the realm to investigate conditions outside.

Soon, Lu Ye's attention was drawn to a scene before him.

Directly ahead of the main Square Inch Mountain's path lay a colossal mountain. This peculiar mountain had six spiritual peaks of varying heights, with the central one being the tallest and the others gradually decreasing in height outwards. Faint bloody light shimmered around these six majestic peaks, exuding a deep crimson hue.

Upon closer inspection, the mountain with its six peaks resembled a gigantic hand raised flat against the Square Inch Mountain, the towering peaks distinctly forming the six fingers of the colossal hand.

Behind the mountain shaped like a sky-supporting giant hand, there was a slightly curved, crescent-shaped landmass of immense size. A strong aura of a realm emanated from it.

Lu Ye instantly understood what it was.

One of the Blood Clan's major foundational realms—the Blood Extinction Realm!

This realm was formed from a portion of the Blood Ancestor's remains after his death. The Blood Forging Realm was the torso without limbs or head, while the Blood Extinction Realm was an arm, which explained its unusual shape.

However... something was amiss.

Lu Ye transmitted a message to Yu Qinglou: "Senior Brother, are you certain that the Blood Extinction Realm is not on our main force's projected path?"

During their discussion a few days prior, Chen Xuanhai had mentioned this. At the time, Yu Qinglou's answer was that their calculations indicated the main Square Inch Mountain's path would be more than ten days' journey away from the Blood Extinction Realm.

This clearly contradicted what Lu Ye was seeing now.

Yu Qinglou quickly responded, confirming that their previous calculations were correct.

Lu Ye steadied himself and said, "Senior Brother, the Blood Extinction Realm is currently directly in front of the main Square Inch Mountain, blocking our path. The changes in our main force are related to this realm."

"How can this be?" Yu Qinglou exclaimed in surprise, then added, "I'll go take a look."

With that, he leaped out.

Lu Ye cautioned, "Be careful, Senior Brother."

Although he hadn't yet sensed a significant threat from the Blood Extinction Realm, nor had he seen any Blood Clan cultivators, the situation was strange, and it was best to be cautious.

Yu Qinglou swiftly emerged from the realm to investigate. Upon realizing the situation ahead, he was momentarily stunned.

He returned a moment later and informed the many Sun-Illuminated cultivators of what he had seen. All of them were utterly astonished.

Their divine senses rapidly exchanged thoughts.

Yu Qinglou said, "Our calculations cannot be wrong, yet the Blood Extinction Realm is now blocking our way. Moreover, a peculiar repulsive force is emanating from the entire Blood Extinction Realm, hindering our main force's advance."

Chen Xuanhai stated, "Something impossible has happened. Therefore, there can only be one explanation..."

Weng Xiong interjected, "The Blood Extinction Realm has moved from its original position to here!"

This was precisely what the other Sun-Illuminated cultivators were thinking; otherwise, there was no way to explain the current situation. However, moving a realm was incredibly difficult. Even if the Blood Extinction Realm truly had a Realm Lord, achieving such a feat would not be easy, let alone in such a short time.

The Blood Extinction Realm most likely did not have a Realm Lord. For a Realm Lord to be born, the realm must first develop a primordial consciousness. Since the Blood Extinction Realm was part of the Blood Ancestor's body, any primordial consciousness would be a residual fragment of the Blood Ancestor's own.

Just like how the drop of precious blood in the Core World gained consciousness, that was essentially an extension of the Blood Ancestor's consciousness.

Despite lacking a Realm Lord, the realm had undergone a significant shift, which made the Sun-Illuminated cultivators recall what they had heard a few days prior.

"The power of an Ancestral Artifact?" someone speculated.

Aside from that mysterious Ancestral Artifact, no one could fathom how the Blood Clan managed such a feat.

Lu Ye also considered this and immediately transmitted a query to Ding Beifeng: "Has the Blood Extinction Realm ever moved before? Does that Ancestral Artifact possess the power to move it?"

Ding Beifeng replied blankly, "This humble one doesn't know..."

Lu Ye realized he couldn't rely on him. The man didn't even know what an Ancestral Artifact looked like, so how could he know anything else? According to Ding Beifeng, only the Sun-Illuminated Saints were qualified to interact with such an artifact. Lu Ye even suspected that not every Blood Clan Sun-Illuminated cultivator could access it, and that the Ancestral Artifact was most likely in the hands of the most powerful Blood Clan member within the Blood Extinction Realm.

"Junior Brother Lu, our main force's advance is blocked. Do you have any good ideas?" Xia Yingyue transmitted, asking. Even though they were powerful Sun-Illuminated cultivators, they couldn't intervene in such a matter. Only Lu Ye, as the Realm Lord, might be able to play a role.

After a brief pause for thought, Lu Ye said, "I can use our main realm's power to counter it. If we can neutralize that resistance, our path will be clear!"

The might of the Ancestral Artifact was unknown. Neither Lu Ye nor the Sun-Illuminated cultivators of the Human race wished for their main force to be blocked in this starry space. For now, the Blood Clan showed no other moves, but no one could predict the consequences if they were truly forced to remain.

Therefore, it was best to leave this troubled place quickly.

"Then let's try it!" Yu Qinglou said deeply.

Lu Ye nodded, then immediately immersed his consciousness, mobilizing the main realm's foundation to resist the strange force emanating from the Blood Extinction Realm.

The effect was significant. The main realm, whose speed had been gradually slowing, picked up pace once more.

However, this didn't last long. As if sensing the change from their side, the strange force from the Blood Extinction Realm suddenly intensified greatly. This caused the main force's travel speed to decrease again, showing signs of stopping entirely. Lu Ye had no choice but to further increase the mobilization of the realm's power.

After a period of such struggle and contention, when the two realms drew within a certain distance, Lu Ye astonishingly discovered that the entire Blood Extinction Realm was retreating. It seemed to be simultaneously maintaining its distance from the main Square Inch Mountain while preventing its advance.

Lu Ye couldn't help but frown. "Senior Brothers, the situation is not good. This kind of confrontation is severely depleting our realm's foundation, and the opponent can also mobilize realm power." During the struggle with the Blood Extinction Realm, Lu Ye had already discerned the nature of the strange force: it was indeed the Blood Extinction Realm's own foundation.

This had turned into a clash between the foundations of two great realms, essentially a mutual destruction where both sides suffered equally.

If they couldn't completely break free from the Blood Extinction Realm, this confrontation would continue indefinitely. Eventually, the entire Square Inch Mountain's foundation would be depleted, and of course, the Blood Extinction Realm wouldn't fare well either.

However, the Human race absolutely could not accept such an outcome.

Yu Qinglou's voice sounded, "If they want to block us, let them. Junior Brother, let's stop our main force."

Lu Ye, as instructed, ceased mobilizing the realm's power. The next instant, the entire Southern Square Inch Mountain experienced a violent tremor and abruptly halted in the starry sky.

The Blood Extinction Realm, which had been continuously retreating, noticed this and slowly came to a halt as well.

"Junior Brother Lu, you remain in charge of the main force and act as circumstances dictate. As for the rest of you Junior Brothers and Sisters, follow me out to confront the enemy!" Yu Qinglou commanded, leading the way by flying out of the realm.

Since competing with realm foundations was unfavorable, they would decide the outcome directly at the cultivator level. The Human race had eight Sun-Illuminated cultivators, while the Blood Clan only had six. The Human race thus had a numerical advantage. Furthermore, regardless of what the Ancestral Artifact was, a Blood Clan Sun-Illuminated cultivator was undoubtedly activating it. In other words, if they attacked now, they would definitely have the upper hand.

If they could tie down the Blood Clan's Sun-Illuminated cultivators, preventing them from unleashing the Ancestral Artifact's power, Lu Ye could then seize an opportunity to break through the Blood Extinction Realm's blockade and depart directly. This was Yu Qinglou's plan.

In a blink, eight Sun-Illuminated cultivators exited the realm, transforming into eight streaks of light, rapidly approaching the Blood Extinction Realm.

Yu Qinglou's voice echoed in all directions: "Do not enter their realm; fight only outside it!"

Regardless of whether the opposing side had a Realm Lord, they could still mobilize the realm's power. Therefore, rashly entering their realm would be courting disaster, just as when the Blood Clan invaded Square Inch Mountain previously. Once a realm was sealed, they would be trapped like dogs in a closed yard.

Fighting only outside, creating chaos, would provide Lu Ye with an opportunity.

Upon receiving the order, all the Sun-Illuminated cultivators activated their magic power, poised for action.

But just then, the bloody light shimmering around the sky-supporting giant hand suddenly became incredibly bright. All eight Human Sun-Illuminated cultivators felt a chill run through them simultaneously, and an extreme sense of danger enveloped their minds.

"Watch out!" Chen Xuanhai roared, instinctively conjuring a defensive red talisman without a moment's hesitation.

Not only him, but Yu Qinglou also simultaneously conjured a defensive red talisman, while the others activated their own means to protect themselves.

The next instant, a thunderous boom echoed from the depths of their minds. Under everyone's gaze, the sky-supporting giant hand violently trembled. Immediately afterwards, bright bloody light emanated from within the giant hand, transforming into an incomparably vast blood-red palm print capable of obscuring a section of the sky, which then swept towards the eight Human Sun-Illuminated cultivators.

The sight was utterly shocking, as if a giant had clapped its hand down on the eight Human Sun-Illuminated cultivators. Under this single palm strike, their figures appeared as tiny as ants.

Roars erupted as the Sun-Illuminated cultivators struggled to resist.

The light from the two defensive red talismans shattered first. Immediately after, the eight figures were sent soaring like kites, bleeding profusely as they were struck by the blood-red palm print.

"Retreat!" Yu Qinglou's face paled as he roared.

The eight figures returned as swiftly as they had departed.

Inside the main Square Inch Mountain, Lu Ye, watching the scene from afar, was deeply shaken. He finally understood why, years ago, several major realms had joined forces, deploying over twenty Sun-Illuminated cultivators, yet failed to conquer the Blood Extinction Realm.

With such a terrifying offensive, not to mention twenty Sun-Illuminated cultivators, even fifty would be insufficient.

The Blood Clan could move the Blood Extinction Realm using the power of their Ancestral Artifact. They could even use the Ancestral Artifact's power, drawing from the Blood Extinction Realm's foundation as a source, to unleash such terrifying attacks. As long as the Ancestral Artifact remained, the Blood Extinction Realm could never be conquered.

In contrast, what he, as a Realm Lord, could accomplish was very limited, confined only to within his own realm. He couldn't project the realm's foundation outside its borders.