Chapter 1380: Maple-Dyed Ruins Scarlet Thousand Miles, Buds Embracing Darkness Awaiting Dawn

Everyone thought the towering pillar of blood-red energy erupting from Wei Feng's body was just a manifestation of his personal blade intent.

After all, known as the "Killer God," it was natural for his blade intent to carry a bloody aura, much like ancient sword cultivators who channeled their sword intent into silver-white sword qi—essentially the same principle.

But soon, he realized something was wrong.

The blood-red fury surging from Wei Feng's body was incredibly dense, even starting to shift from a gaseous state toward a thick liquid form.

This went beyond the simple materialization of "intent."

It was the application of Che Shen Nian!

"Wei Feng has mastered Che Shen Nian?"

Jin Ren could only wail inwardly once more: Xiang Yi has misled me!

In You Gui Ge, the intelligence jade slip from Xiang Yi about the Ten-Person Council didn't mention this crucial detail at all.

And from the current situation, it seemed that the angrier Wei Feng became, the stronger his killing intent grew, and the more his Che Shen Nian was enhanced.

This clearly made him a brute who relied on entering a berserk state to unleash his power. How could they provoke him to lose his sanity and control him, like they did with Yan Wu Se or Rao Yao Yao?

"A collection of excuses..."

All the mistakes, every single one, stemmed from that "Collection of Excuses"!

Thinking back, Dao Qiong Cang had even prearranged in the jade slip: "Ran Ming ruins, Xu Xiao Shou will see it."

It was obvious that from the start, this jade slip wasn't meant for Wei Feng to calmly face off against Xu Xiao Shou.

Its true purpose was to fall into Xu Xiao Shou's hands, to borrow a knife to kill—first, to eliminate the rational Wei Feng; then, to let the Killer God revert to his true nature and kill Xu Xiao Shou!

Admittedly, the jade slip had changed hands along the way, making the process convoluted, but the flashy old Daoist's ultimate goal was still achieved. Jin Ren felt as nauseated as if he'd swallowed a fly upon realizing this.

"Dao Qiong Cang, you make me sick."

He'd figured it out now.

This wasn't Xiang Yi's fault.

Wei Feng, the Killer God, was a figure from Lord Yu Tu's era and rarely made a move these days.

Even if there were issues needing resolution, it probably wouldn't require this peerless blade saint to unleash Che Shen Nian.

So, it was perfectly normal for Xiang Yi not to know.

It just meant that to deal with Xu Xiao Shou, Dao Qiong Cang had gone all out—like Cen Qiao Fu sealing his sainthood right from the start!

"Hah..."

Under the influence of the killing intent, Wei Feng seemed truly insane.

He gripped Yan Wang Yan, his lips parting to expel a stream of blood-red gas, his posture utterly relaxed.

The next second, Wei Feng's red eyes narrowed sharply, his muscles tensing instantly.

He flipped his broad blade with blinding speed, swinging it through the air toward Mo Mo's fair, jade-like neck.

"Everyone, go die!"

His voice was completely manic!

This blade tore from the tunnel entrance toward the giant mural, its speed so immense that it severed the air and space binding the human body, shattering the Dao principles into fragments.

A throat-slitting strike, arriving in an instant.

The killing intent imbued Yan Wang Yan with a true crimson red, amplifying infinitely in Mo Mo's eyes, where her combat awareness was essentially zero.

"Watch out!"

A cry echoed from the void.

The small bronze furnace trembled, but Mo Mo's hand remained steady.

Ever since following Xu Xiao Shou into the Ran Ming ruins, she had prepared herself mentally back outside Yu Jing City:

Every battle ahead would require more than her own strength; Xu Xiao Shou's enemies were all ancient monsters.

She stood in her white dress, serene as snow and ice, unfazed as space shattered before her, her gaze unwavering even as Wei Feng raged on her left.

Yan Wang Yan struck faster than her words, yet she seemed to speak ahead of time, her voice calm and unruffled:

"Feng Yu Jin, save me."

Her skirt hem fluttered like gray snow jasmine.

As her words settled, a boom resounded, shattering the space at the entrance of the Ran Ming ruins, with endless, surging gray mist flooding in.

It enveloped Mo Mo, lifting that pure white figure like a lotus in full bloom.

Mo Mo furrowed her brows, a hint of pain clouding her eyes as a faint gray ripple formed, followed by wisps of gray mist splashing into her pupils.

"Seal Heaven Ghost Hand!"

She thrust out her chest, and from it emerged a highly compressed, condensed gray arm.

As the eerie gray hand appeared, it voraciously absorbed the surging seal mist from the surrounding space, then clamped down fiercely on the incoming Yan Wang Yan that aimed for her throat.

Clang.

There was no explosion, no shockwave.

All that came was that familiar, eerie light sound in Jin Ren's ears, stirring his thoughts.

One of the five supreme bodies: the Seal Body!

With its special attribute of sealing even extended passive skills—the seal attribute!

In Jin Ren's eyes at that moment, looking back...

He realized that Tian Sang Ling Gong was truly a den of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!

If he had known more about this earlier, he would have understood the immense value of winning the outer court Fengyun Zhengba, and he wouldn't have been disheartened about not entering the inner court.

—Perhaps some schemers had planned to exploit that vulnerability, offering timely aid like sending charcoal in the snow.

He should have known sooner that the seal attribute had been in Ling Gong for so many years without the outside world catching on, meaning Sheng Gong's Four Sons—or rather, the holy slaves Wu Xiu—had suppressed a lot of information.

He should have realized even earlier why the Seal Ghost Beast, upon escaping Jin Zhao Prison Sea, chose to hide in Ling Gong, right under Sheng Gong's nose, the most exposed place.

Everything had traces to follow.

And now, it seemed like a cage within a cage!

Clang, clang, clang...

The eerie sounds pulled his thoughts back.

Looking again, the half-person-tall Zhan Shen Ling was now strapped to Mo Mo's back, bound by chains of seal mist, looking somewhat comical.

But precisely because of this token, Feng Yu Jin, the Seal Heaven Saint Emperor, could act freely in the Ran Ming ruins, ignoring all prohibitions.

Though the sound of sealing the killing intent was faint, the battle on site was fiercely chaotic.

With Yan Wang Yan restrained by the Seal Heaven Ghost Hand, its momentum waned, failing to decapitate as Wei Feng had intended.

The two were locked in a stalemate!

On one side, the former saint emperor bound to his host.

On the other, the semi-saint Wei Feng who had mastered Che Shen Nian.

While Jin Ren was pondering which of them held the upper hand and whether Feng Yu Jin needed his assistance,

"Kuanglan!"

Wei Feng hadn't lost his mind; he shouted human words.

In an instant, waves of blade intent surged behind him, each wave taller than the last, each blade layering upon the previous.

Under this relentless advance, Yan Wang Yan tore through the Seal Heaven Ghost Hand with a ripping sound, thrusting rapidly toward Mo Mo's neck.

"Die!"

As killing intent surged on his side, the other remained still as an ancient well.

Mo Mo even lowered her head, silently staring at the tear in her chest, murmuring, "Don't ruin my dress."

"Are you still worried about your dress?" Feng Yu Jin's angry voice rolled out from her throat:

"You're too slow!"

"I've waited a century for you, and you only call me now!"

"If you'd been any slower, we could have met in hell. Do you think this old man is easy to handle?"

"Then why didn't you act earlier?" Mo Mo's eyes turned fierce as she leaned back, manifesting a illusory gray mist figure that quickly formed hand seals.

"You said it yourself! If you don't call, I can't come out! Have you forgotten?" Feng Yu Jin's voice carried a hint of breakdown.

But as the gray mist figure rapidly formed seals, even though Wei Feng's blade had broken through the Seal Heaven Ghost Hand, six ancient door cracks materialized around him in all directions.

"Adapt."

Mo Mo's eyes showed no sign of battle lust as she lightly uttered the two words.

"Adapt my foot! I adapted last time, and you just stopped talking! Now you're telling me to 'adapt' again!"

"It wasn't urgent last time."

"Then what counts as 'urgent'? What's the definition of urgent!"

"You're urgent right now."

"Ahhh! Woman! Shut up!"

"Ahhh! Speak!"

Mo Mo fell silent.

Feng Yu Jin realized things had gone wrong.

This little girl wouldn't sulk again and stop talking to him, would she?

But it was too late for apologies; Wei Feng's blade showed no mercy.

In the instant the blade light reached her throat, the gray mist figure completed its seals, shaking the heavens and earth.

"Six Paths: Gate of Sealed Dust!"

Yan Wang Yan was outside, Wei Feng inside.

The doors, which had only been cracks at first, instantly formed, turning into a six-sided structure that sealed Wei Feng within its inner world.

Yan Wang Yan's blade intent halted, as if cast into a different dimensional space, briefly losing connection to its master's power, stopping just short of Mo Mo's throat.

Jin Ren was baffled.

What was happening?

Was Feng Yu Jin being controlled by Mo Mo?

In the vanished world, he clutched his head, more shocked than when he'd seen Wei Feng use Che Shen Nian.

But that didn't matter anymore.

In the battlefield, Feng Yu Jin's spirit technique pulled Jin Ren back to that battle at Tian Xuan Gate.

The technique was the same, but its power and formation speed were on a completely different level.

Back then, "Six Paths: Gate of Sealed Dust" required a lot of time to fully form before trapping the enemy.

Now, it had sealed the semi-saint Wei Feng in just a few words of dialogue.

This was a qualitative leap!

But before he could think more, blood-red gas and light overflowed from the sealed six doors...

"Break!"

Wei Feng roared from within the doors, piercing through with just his killing intent from the blood-red pillar, shattering the six gates and grinding everything into primal gray mist.

Che Shen Nian, hailed as a revolutionary force rivaling ancestral origins.

Moreover, this old blade saint's killing intent, after decades of accumulation, was extraordinarily strong—far beyond Xu Xiao Shou's briefly cultivated sword intent.

With the seal broken, Wei Feng burst forth like a caged beast, fully unleashing his madness.

He gripped Yan Wang Yan, swinging it horizontally in a sweep of blood light that filled the air.

"Tu Mo!"

Mo Mo's body had retreated explosively when the Six Paths: Gate of Sealed Dust was shattered.

But Wei Feng's blade was too fast!

Manipulating Mo Mo's frail body was already Feng Yu Jin's greatest hindrance in battle!

Even so, his combat instincts were so sharp that he instantly gray-misted Mo Mo's body, allowing the "Tu Mo" blood light to pass through her waist without harm.

Boom, boom, boom...

The giant mural crumbled loudly.

This blade of blood light blasted toward the side of the tunnel, forcefully creating another opening beside the only entrance to the Ran Ming ruins, leading to the unknown.

Above the Ran Ming ruins, near the high cliffs of Hei Shui Jian, the mountains split apart, and the ground sank for thousands of miles!

The figures in white and red robes didn't know what had happened; they scattered like startled birds in the forest.

As they flew into the sky, everyone looked down and saw the once lofty mountains collapsed into a depression, as if pushed flat by a single stroke.

In just a brief moment, the sunken ground seeped with killing intent and blood, turning thousands of miles into red maple.

All living beings there, except for the trial participants rescued in time by Wei An who was monitoring the battle, perished completely.

Such a familiar killing intent... Cheng Huan and the others hovered in midair, staring at the collapsed ground in bewilderment.

"Wei Feng, the senior?"

"This... is a blade mark?"

"Hiss!"

Jin Ren inhaled sharply.

Wei Feng's blade was overwhelmingly dominant!

A blade enhanced by Che Shen Nian could only be countered by something like Si Ren Mister's Sword Image Dual Blades, right?

Any ordinary semi-saint would be sliced down like Jiang Bu Yi with a single strike!

This was the peak state of the Three Emperors?

Jin Ren couldn't help but think of Yan Wu Se, another of the Three Emperors.

From Sin One Hall to Giant Kingdom, to Fallen Abyss, Blood Realm, and other forbidden lands—from Passive Fist to Second World, to the Demon Emperor Black Dragon, to the Mad God Machine...

Yan Wu Se had ultimately died at the hands of the Water Ghost Dai Mian.

But now, it seemed that only a setup like that, a war of attrition, could truly wear down a Three Emperors-level semi-saint bit by bit.

"Can Feng Yu Jin hold on?"

In the heart of the battle.

After unleashing that strike, Wei Feng seemed to calm slightly, propping himself on Yan Wang Yan in midair.

Mo Mo condensed back from the gray mist state, feeling a sharp pain in her waist and abdomen.

She reached out with her fingers, wiping the torn skirt at her waist to reveal a bloody gash...

Che Shen Nian, the ultimate force!

It specialized in countering all kinds of elemental bodies, let alone the mist form of a Seal Body that wasn't even a true elemental body.

When that smear of blood reached her fingers and she brought it to her eyes, Feng Yu Jin fell silent.

"Ah, this..."

He manipulated Mo Mo's hand, scalp tingling as he explained:

"Little girl, don't misunderstand!"

"This really wasn't me dodging on purpose and letting you get hurt."

"This blade is seriously fierce, very similar to Ba Zun An's sword intent..."

Whoosh...

A massive spray of blood suddenly erupted from Mo Mo's waist, staining her pure white skirt red.

She froze, her eyelashes trembling from the pain.

"Feng Yu Jin, I'm injured..."

"Uh." The gray mist figure behind her shuddered, unable to form a complete sentence. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sor..."

"He's very strong, stronger than the ones before, isn't he?" Mo Mo interrupted the apology, her voice returning to calm.

"Of course!" Feng Yu Jin was delighted; as long as this little girl was still talking, it was a good sign!

"In your prime, could you beat him?"

"Are you kidding? I'm a saint emperor, and he's just a mere semi-saint! Who are you underestimating?"

"What about now?"

"Uh... uh... mainly because he's not a spirit refiner... and you haven't grown strong enough yet..."

"I see."

Mo Mo was sharp as ice and snow; she knew that when Feng Yu Jin lost his confidence and started beating around the bush, it meant he couldn't handle it.

She didn't know who Wei Feng was or what level he belonged to.

In Feng Yu Jin's mouth, everyone was just pushovers except for saint emperors and Ba Zun An.

Mo Mo was used to this Feng family arrogance.

She had evolved from her initial silence at the start of battles to now chatting casually with him even during fights.

Because the battles belonged to Feng Yu Jin.

She was merely a vessel, or a medium, only responsible for watching.

Wait a bit, and the fight would end.

Just like any big issue, sleep it off, and it would pass.

At first, this state was hard to adapt to, since it was like watching her own body fight in unfamiliar ways.

But it had become routine, because the outcomes were always total victories.

So now, Mo Mo also believed that as long as Feng Yu Jin appeared, Wei Feng would soon fall, even if this black-robed old man was proving quite strong...

Mo Mo clutched the wound at her waist, blood continuously seeping through her fingers.

She looked at the old man propping his blade ahead, sensing the tranquil aura around her like the calm before a storm, and for the first time, felt pressure.

"Merge."

Mo Mo said softly.

"Ah?"

"Use the full ghost beast transformation that Bai Zhu Palace Master mentioned, the one that lets you exert your power to the maximum."

"Ah? But you said that could make it easy for me to take over..."

"Don't speak!"

Mo Mo gently shook her head, seriously cutting off Feng Yu Jin's response.

She lifted her gaze, glanced at the void, and slowly curled up in midair, hugging her knees as she lowered her head.

She voluntarily relinquished control of her body, her divine soul retreating to the farthest corner of her mental world—the place she once feared Feng Yu Jin encroaching upon.

The bud enclosed itself, embracing the darkness.

In the void, only a serene echo remained: "Feng Yu Jin, defeat him..."