Chapter 2759: Choices

At this thought, Xue Jiu grew more desperate. As he pursued, a cloud of blood mist erupted around him, and the aura of the Blood Princess, whom he possessed, surged dramatically. Blood even oozed from her seven orifices, making her appear utterly hideous and terrifying.

This was no secret art; rather, Xue Jiu was forcibly unleashing the potential of Blood Princess's physical body by drawing upon the source of his own bloodline. This action would leave Blood Princess incredibly weak for the next three to five years, potentially even affecting her very foundation.

However, at this moment, in order to quickly subdue Lu Ye, Xue Jiu couldn't care less about the consequences.

With a raise of his hand, blood mist surged all around, transforming into thick, blood-red chains that twined towards Lu Ye, completely sealing off all his escape routes.

Lu Ye's scalp tingled at the sight.

His current situation was extremely dire. Although he had just fought his way out of the encirclement, he had sustained considerable injuries, and now he was being pursued and intercepted by numerous powerful experts from the Insect and Blood races.

Even though he was proficient in the Dao of Space, he had little room to maneuver at this moment. He could only continuously activate the power of time to influence the thoughts of the surrounding pursuers.

Among all these pursuers, Xue Jiu undoubtedly exerted the most pressure on him.

As he fled, he continuously sought opportunities to kill the pursuers, attempting to turn them into poisonous corpses to alleviate his own pressure.

He did indeed have some success. The Harmony Realm cultivators present had varying levels of strength, and many were of the Blood Race. He specifically targeted the weaker ones, and those he targeted simply couldn't withstand the power of his single blade.

Yet, it was ineffective, because under Xue Jiu's command, whenever a Harmony Realm cultivator was killed by Lu Ye, they were obliterated by numerous attacks from all directions before they could transform into poisonous corpses.

Xue Jiu was clearly using this method to prevent the creation of poisonous corpses.

The only thing that made Lu Ye feel fortunate was that when the corpse tides erupted in the various Harmony Realm cities, many Harmony Realm cultivators rushed back to help.

Not returning was not an option. Poisonous corpses were widespread within the cities, and the number of Harmony Realm cultivators left behind was limited. If their Harmony Orbs were accidentally shattered, the losses would be catastrophic.

Precisely because of this, although Lu Ye was under immense pressure right now, it was not yet a desperate situation.

He continued to put up a desperate fight.

However, unable to escape the Blood Wall Art, his resistance ultimately had its limits.

As he darted forward, Lu Ye's movements suddenly stiffened as a blood-red chain finally bound one of his feet. He raised his blade and cut, and though he severed this chain, more chains immediately wrapped around him.

Furthermore, numerous attacks assailed him from all directions.

He was overwhelmed instantly.

After three breaths, Lu Ye was like someone trapped in a quagmire, bound by more than a dozen blood-red chains. His movements were severely hindered as numerous enemies closed in, layer by layer, each with murderous intent on their faces.

Yet no one dared to actually kill him on the spot, simply because every single person present was afflicted by a potent poison. Even the Blood Princess, who arrived later, was no exception, though her symptoms were much milder.

These Harmony Realm cultivators from the Insect and Blood races were still hoping Lu Ye could provide a detoxification method; how could they possibly deliver a killing blow?

Moreover, Xue Jiu's standing order had always been to capture Lu Ye alive, so even though Lu Ye was now in a desperate situation, his life was still safe.

Lu Ye was well aware of this!

The crowd parted as Xue Jiu arrived, spear in hand, staring coldly at Lu Ye. "Hand over the detoxification method, and I will spare your life!" he commanded.

As he spoke, he continued to control numerous blood-red chains, coiling them around Lu Ye.

Lu Ye completely gave up resisting and was firmly bound in an instant.

Xue Jiu was enraged by his appearance and snorted coldly, "What are you laughing at?"

Lu Ye looked at him. "Does Blood Lord desire a detoxification method?"

Xue Jiu gritted his teeth. "Enough nonsense. Within ten breaths, either die, or tell me how to detoxify!"

Lu Ye nodded slightly. "Then it shall be as you wish."

Xue Jiu instantly became highly vigilant. "What are you going to do?"

Lu Ye grinned and smiled at him. Xue Jiu was instantly unnerved by his smile, and just as he was about to retort sharply, his expression suddenly changed. He turned his head to look towards the deepest part of the Blood Source Sea.

In that very instant, he sensed an anomaly coming from his true body!

His true body had actually been poisoned.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered this possibility before, but his true body had already investigated itself and found no abnormalities. Therefore, he mistakenly believed Lu Ye's poison had not spread to that area.

But only now did he realize that his true body's failure to detect it wasn't because it hadn't been poisoned, but because the toxin was extremely subtle.

Furthermore, his true body needed to fully focus on refining the Starry Sky Chessboard, with limited mental energy to spare, which led to the oversight.

At this point, the accumulated toxins within his true body instantly erupted.

Under normal circumstances, he could completely disregard it. From the current situation, although Lu Ye's poison was subtle and potent, anyone with the strength of a Mid-level Harmony Realm cultivator could generally suppress it; those struggling to resist were only Low-level Harmony Realm cultivators.

As one of the Ten City Lords, his own foundation was naturally much stronger than that of an ordinary Mid-level Harmony Realm cultivator.

However, this was precisely the critical moment for him to refine the Starry Sky Chessboard. He had also split off a wisp of his divine sense to deal with Lu Ye, and any slightest interference could cause him to fail at the last step.

This was an utterly unacceptable outcome.

In fact, when the potent poison erupted within his true body, the Starry Sky Chessboard, which he was refining, suddenly stirred.

He had completely underestimated the artifact's sentience. Its sentience had not been completely extinguished but had merely lain dormant, like a severely wounded, dying soldier who avoided his detection by feigning death. The moment an anomaly occurred on his side, it sprang up and delivered a critical blow.

The most obvious sign was that the Starry Sky Chessboard began to vibrate violently, attempting to break free from his control. The soul imprint he had so painstakingly carved into the artifact was also being assaulted by the artifact's sentience, with the intent to erase it!

He immediately suppressed it with all his might, but the Starry Sky Chessboard's sentience clearly realized this might be its last chance to regain freedom. Thus, the artifact's power completely erupted. In an instant, a colossal chessboard unfolded, enveloping Xue Jiu's true body.

Xue Jiu blinked and quickly realized that he had now become a chess piece, lying across the chessboard...

"How will Blood Lord choose?"

On the battlefield, Lu Ye smiled as he looked at Xue Jiu.

This was an unexpected turn of events.

When he spread his mixed poison throughout the Blood Source Sea, he had never expected Xue Jiu's true body to also be affected. Before he used the Ten Thousand Poison Pearl fruit to control the toxins, he had completely failed to notice this.

But when he used the Ten Thousand Poison Pearl fruit to control the toxins, Xue Jiu's true body's location provided some feedback.

He was extremely surprised at the time.

This was his first time using the Ten Thousand Poison Pearl fruit to concoct a potent poison. Although he knew his poison was very subtle, he hadn't expected even Xue Jiu to fail to detect it.

At this moment, the potent poison erupted within Xue Jiu's body. While it wouldn't pose a great threat to him under normal circumstances, Xue Jiu was clearly at a critical juncture in refining the Starry Sky Chessboard, and this sudden onset of poison would definitely have a huge impact on him.

Moreover, Lu Ye clearly sensed the aura of the Starry Sky Chessboard fluctuating in the depths of the Blood Source Sea. This supreme artifact... seemed to be fighting back!

This increasingly filled Lu Ye with pleasant surprise.

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Xue Jiu gave his answer.

"Kill him!" he gritted his teeth and roared.

The next instant, that wisp of divine sense left Blood Princess's body and returned to the depths of the Blood Source Sea.

The Starry Sky Chessboard's last struggle was something he couldn't afford to ignore. He had expended so much effort and energy to forcibly bring the Starry Sky Chessboard back to the Blood Source Sea; all his various arrangements and hard work were just one step away from complete refinement, and he absolutely could not allow any mishaps.

He certainly hoped to seize Lu Ye's body and refine it into a blood puppet, but relatively speaking, the Starry Sky Chessboard, a supreme artifact, undoubtedly held more weight in his heart.

If he could successfully refine the supreme artifact, it would become a part of his power. But even if Lu Ye were refined into a blood puppet, it would only add a capable arm. He could still clearly distinguish between what was more important and what was less.

He also knew that without his own suppression, his subordinates alone attempting to capture Lu Ye alive would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Since he couldn't obtain him, he might as well destroy him.

At Xue Jiu's command, Lu Ye's hairs instantly stood on end. In his vision, countless attacks converged upon his location.

He would die!

Such an encirclement would be difficult for him to resist, no matter how strong he was. His protective Dao power would be broken in an instant, and the Heaven-Battling Sacred Dragon Guard would not be of much use. Then his physical body would be torn into fragments by the violent forces.

"Ugh..."

At the same time, Blood Princess finally regained control of her body. She first felt an unspeakable wave of weakness, which was the aftereffect of Xue Jiu forcibly unleashing her body's potential earlier. There had been no symptoms when Xue Jiu was present, but the moment Xue Jiu's divine sense departed, it erupted.

This kind of weakness was something even a strong cultivator at her level could not resist.

Immediately following was the suppression of terrifying holiness!

That was Lu Ye's counterattack and his means of self-preservation.

In the current situation, if he wanted to survive, the only way was to quickly break free from his restraints; only then would he have room to maneuver.

Blood Princess instantly felt limp all over, as if she had lost all her strength. Even the thunder spear, her artifact, flew out of her hand.

With a clattering sound, all the blood-red chains wrapped around Lu Ye shattered, turning into blood mist and dissolving into the surroundings. He finally broke free from his bonds and regained his freedom.

Without the slightest hesitation, his long blade spun around his body, and a circular blade light flashed out, covering a hundred-zhang radius centered on himself.

Spatial power diffused.

Horizon Blade!

At the same time, a dense temporal power emanated from Lu Ye. Everything around him slowed down, and his own thoughts became extremely active in that instant.

Temporal power could not only be used on enemies but also be applied to oneself. However, Lu Ye rarely did so because it would consume a vast amount of his mental energy in a short period.

The void was twisted. Numerous attacks entered this area, but spatial power vanished, and the twisted void returned to normal.

Lu Ye had already charged in one direction.

By leveraging the effect of temporal power on himself, he found the weakest area of the assault in that instant. This was also the only direction for escape!

Numerous attacks assailed him. Lu Ye furiously channeled his Dao power to protect himself, continuously swinging his long blade, cutting through obstacles.