Chapter 560: Crazy, All Crazy

"Drip, drop."

Xu Xiaoshou felt something splattering onto his head and shoulders.

He looked up.

"Blood?"

The scalding blood felt like molten lava. In the brief moment he looked up, the dripping turned into a gushing flow.

What his "Perception" showed him...

The entire Sword-Leaving Grassland was completely stained crimson with blood. It was a vast ocean of blood!

"Xin Gugu?" Xu Xiaoshou's pupils contracted, and he instantly realized something. He had only seen this blood sea summoning ability used by one person: Xin Gugu.

He turned his head to look in the direction where Xin Gugu had been hiding. As expected, the figure was no longer there.

"That guy made his move?" Xu Xiaoshou raised a hand, and white flames flickered around him, immediately repelling the strange, scalding blood. Currently, he was still in the form of Elder Sang. Xin Gugu wouldn't recognize him, and if the guy went berserk and dragged him into it too, things would get complicated.

But clearly, Xin Gugu's attention wasn't on his direction at all.

"Ghost Beast!" The Red Coats, seeing the blood sea summoned across the ground, leaped into the air in horror. The pungent stench filled the air; anyone wearing red knew what this implied.

"The big fish has bitten," Lan Ling's heart tightened. It should have been a cause for celebration. But this strange blood sea on the ground... What kind of ability was this?

"The person!" "Find the person first!" Xin turned and shouted towards Lan Ling.

Just as Lan Ling was about to move, the blood sea seemed to erupt in a frenzy. "Blood Column Burst!" "Boom, boom, boom..." One massive blood column after another burst from the blood sea like dragons emerging from the ocean, hurtling towards the Red Coats with lightning speed. Human figures were minuscule compared to these pillar-like entities. Even though the Red Coats were on high alert and immediately flew high or dodged sideways when the blood columns struck, the blood columns ascended as if completely locked onto their targets, shifting with them and directly blasting the Red Coats high into the sky.

Then, the tips of the blood columns exploded, transforming into enormous, majestic hands that dragged the Red Coats into the blood sea.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Xin kicked apart the blood column beneath him, but caught off guard, he was also grabbed by a blood hand. He shook it off with force, shattering the blood hand, then flew to escape the danger. But the others lacked his strength. Most were instantly dragged into the blood sea. Ordinary Sovereign-level cultivators couldn't break free from the power of the blood hands. Out of dozens of Red Coats present, only about a dozen managed to break through this wave of attacks. This included the fortunate individuals protected by the grand formation around Lan Ling.

"What kind of ability is this?" Xin was stunned. He had a general understanding of the abilities of the ghost beast hosts that had entered the White Cave this time. But this blood sea attack was nothing like what was described in the intelligence reports. How could an entity like this be an ordinary ghost beast?

"Ah—" At this moment, the figures dragged into the scalding blood sea began to scream. The Red Coats fared better. Sovereign-level cultivators, though sinking deeper the more they struggled in the thick, bog-like blood sea, could still barely protect themselves. The observing younger Master-level cultivators were instantly corroded. Some died, others were injured. Those who managed to cling to life were pathetically few.

"I'll do it." Seeing this, Lan Ling immediately took control of Yu Zhiwen's grand formation. She could indeed let the White Cave trainees die, but only if their deaths wouldn't increase the enemy's strength. Judging by the blood sea's ability, it seemed that the stronger and more numerous the people who died in it, the more its various properties would be enhanced. How could they be allowed to die here?

"Sky-Sealing Formation, Refine!" The grand formation covering the entire Sword-Leaving Grassland instantly radiated high temperatures. Chains of the Heavenly Dao materialized in mid-air, piercing through the void and plunging into the blood sea. In an instant, the blood sea's temperature rose again. Boiling bubbles burst one after another. The rising blood water rapidly evaporated.

"Moooo—" A tearing cry of pain roared from beneath the blood sea. Clearly, the Heavenly Dao chains, upon entering the sea, must have directly pierced the originator of the blood sea. It worked!

Everyone present was startled by the roar and retreated rapidly. The Red Coats were even more on high alert. A roar like this typically preceded the ghost beast's full transformation. Evidently, that creature couldn't hold out much longer and was about to emerge.

"The blood sea..." Xu Xiaoshou watched the blood continuously seeping down from above, holding his junior sister as he steadily descended. This expanse of blood sea effectively divided the entire Sword-Leaving Grassland. The sky was the Red Coats' territory. The blood sea layer in the middle was likely Xin Gugu's doing. As for beneath the ground... "My world?" Xu Xiaoshou was delighted. This was great! With this in place, no one would pay attention to the underground world. Wasn't he perfectly hidden here, unnoticed by anyone?

"Junior Sister..." He glanced down at Mu Zixi. The girl had an astonishingly high fever, as if she had swallowed a Cinderflame Seed; it was utterly baffling. Xu Xiaoshou wanted to throw her into his Yuanfu space. But fearing the storyteller lurking in the shadows might see, he simply kept Mu Zixi close and protected her.

"Cause more chaos, even more!" Xu Xiaoshou seemed to wish for nothing but widespread disorder.

"Be careful." Xin no longer cared about Lei Shuangxing and darted to Lan Ling's side. Just as he was about to speak, Lan Ling turned to him with a mix of surprise and anger. "Didn't I tell you to protect him? What are you doing here?"

"I..." Xin was momentarily stunned. Protect that blind man? At a time like this, who would bother with him? Wasn't it obvious who was more important? One was the Red Coat leader controlling the grand formation, the other a blind man with clear hostility towards the Red Coats... If the ghost beast harmed Lan Ling, the Red Coat team's efforts would be in vain.

Lan Ling, however, was nearly driven mad by this bald man. "It's not me that's important, it's 'Four Swords'!" "If the ghost beast emerged now not for 'Four Swords', then what for?"

Xin was momentarily taken aback, still a bit confused. This guy, hadn't he been attacking the Red Coats ever since he appeared? His thoughts paused. Xin suddenly realized. A feint? He abruptly turned his head. He saw that the blood sea, which had been attacking the Red Coats earlier, had now swirled into a massive vortex. And following a roar, an enormous black-red bull horn surfaced from within the vortex.

"Boom!" Everyone was still trying to discern what was emerging from below. With a loud explosion, the vortex ruptured, and even the void itself shattered slightly.

"This?" Lei Shuangxing stood in mid-air, his spine instantly chilled. He too wanted to see what was beneath the slowly rising bull horn. But... Why had the sky suddenly darkened?

He spun his head around. A black-red, blood-soaked Minotaur, dozens of feet tall, was hovering in the air. Blood mist billowed around it, like a demon bursting forth from purgatory. This monster had the head and body of a bull, so robust it resembled a towering giant. Yet, its lower half consisted of human-shaped legs. However, unlike human legs, these robust, streamlined, totem-like legs had one planted in the air, while the other was raised high, accumulating power... What it was about to do was obvious!

"Holy..." Even Lei Shuangxing, who usually maintained a perfectly calm demeanor, was so startled he almost swore aloud. What speed was that? Teleportation?! So that slow surfacing earlier was just a feint? There was no time to think further. Lei Shuangxing didn't even have time to draw his sword. His only thought was to use his Four Swords to block the kick. But before he could act, the next second...

The Minotaur launched its kick!

"Boom!" The void seemed like a balloon being squeezed to burst. Space fragments exploded like fireworks under the force of that kick. As for Lei Shuangxing...

Deep underground, Xu Xiaoshou watched, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Lei Shuangxing was directly kicked into the spatial turbulence? What the hell?!

"Are you Xin Gugu?" Xu Xiaoshou was utterly bewildered. If he hadn't once teamed up with Xin Gugu to confront Zhang Taiying's illusion and witnessed the ancient Minotaur cracking out from that guy's back, he wouldn't believe that the blood-soaked Minotaur in the void was Xin Gugu!

"Full transformation?" Xu Xiaoshou realized something. Back then, Xin Gugu had indeed transformed into a ghost beast form, but only half a bull's head had cracked out from his back, and his body was made of ghostly energy. Now... Xu Xiaoshou looked at the blood-soaked Minotaur in the void, which showed no trace of human consciousness. Without a doubt, this time, it was a full transformation. Fully unleashed!

"But the difference is too huge, isn't he risking his life?" Xu Xiaoshou had never seen Xin Gugu in this form. He didn't know if this was an innate ghost beast ability or a unique secret art of the "Xuyue Grey Palace." But it was clear that Xin Gugu in this state was no match for ordinary Red Coats.

"Brother Shuangxing..." Luo Leilei's worried voice faintly reached his ears. Xu Xiaoshou immediately thought of the storyteller. Even at this stage, he still wouldn't make a move? What exactly were these big shots waiting for? Were human lives so worthless?

"Boom!" As he pondered, space suddenly exploded several miles away, far from the Sword-Leaving Grassland. Xu Xiaoshou gazed intently, his heart turning cold. Lei Shuangxing! That guy had traveled through the spatial turbulence for a while, only to be blasted back into the White Cave now?

"Damn you, Xin Gugu..." Feeling Lei Shuangxing, who was utterly unconscious and disfigured, Xu Xiaoshou's gaze towards the blood-soaked Minotaur turned to sheer horror. What kind of game was this?! What happened to fair competition? With that kind of power output, was he even leaving others a way to survive? Someone, help—

The entire scene fell into a dead silence. Even Xin was stunned by the sudden appearance of the Minotaur and its aerial kick. This power...

"Form the array!" Lan Ling was the first to react. No matter what, once a ghost beast emerged, the Red Coats had to fight it, even to the death. And she had to admit, although this guy in front of her had an impressive aura, she herself... "I've been waiting!" Lan Ling's eyes became wild, her small tongue licked her red lips, and she waved her hand. "Heavenly Dao Edict, Deprive!" A vast expanse of multi-colored divine light descended from the sky, instantly enveloping an area dozens of zhang around the blood-soaked Minotaur.

"Swoosh!" After a faint sound, Xu Xiaoshou was horrified to find that everything imbued with the divine light had turned into nothingness. Air, elements, space... Blood sea, earth, dust... Yes. Just nothingness! The moment the divine light dissipated, it was as if everything within that area had been stripped from the Heavenly Dao. Black. Only a black, hollow pillar remained, nothing else!

"Whoosh..." After a full second of silence, the blood sea was finally pulled by the suction of the black hole-like space and surged into the spatial turbulence.

"Xin Gugu, dead?" Xu Xiaoshou stared in a daze. But the next second, the blood-soaked Minotaur's aura suddenly appeared in the Red Coats' vicinity. It missed! Even that light-speed attack was dodged?

"Moo!" A furious roar. Everyone's souls felt as if they were about to shatter from the roar. The instant Xin reacted, he saw the Minotaur's powerful kick, already unleashed, right in front of Lan Ling. "You beast, how dare you!" Xin's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Red Coats signify protection. With him there, Lan Ling would absolutely not die before him! He pushed his hands against the space and pulled back. In that flash, Xin sprang forward using the force. It was also a whip kick, but it slammed forcefully towards the giant foot in front of Lan Ling. A human body confronting a ghost beast's form! Xin's height didn't even reach the blood-soaked Minotaur's ankle. Yet, his kick showed not an ounce of hesitation.

A clash of titans! Xu Xiaoshou's eyes widened, wanting to clearly witness everything. And the moment the two legs met...

"Rumble!" Heaven and earth trembled. The waves of energy blasting from the center of the clash rippled outwards, directly crushing and scattering the entire blood sea! The vast, floating ocean of blood... Xu Xiaoshou was shocked, his heart seeming to float as well.

No time for exclamations. The next second, something even crazier occurred. With a "boom," the entire space of the Sword-Leaving Grassland shattered like a mirror violently thrown to the ground. It cracked! The White Cave's space simply couldn't withstand the power of such a peak confrontation. Even if it was just two whip kicks!

It completely collapsed! The ground looked as if it had been pried up, shaken twice, with fissures crisscrossing everywhere, unable to re-seal. Xu Xiaoshou himself was utterly speechless on the spot. "They're crazy, all of them." "Is this even a fight?" "You two are in a nuclear war!" No time for complaints now; if the White Cave was collapsing, it was estimated that no one below the Sovereign level would survive. As for the Sovereigns... Xu Xiaoshou glanced at the blood-soaked Minotaur and sighed inwardly. Just as he was about to ignore everything and escape into his Yuanfu,

A figure suddenly appeared on the fractured horizon. Red robes fluttered, radiating fierce killing intent. "Night Watch?" Xu Xiaoshou couldn't believe how this supposedly dead person had suddenly appeared. But as the fierce-looking Night Watch appeared, he didn't head straight for the ghost beast. Instead, after taking a deep breath, he violently thrust his hands into the shattered space. "Close!" With his hands together, the fractured earth was re-fitted, and the shattered space was constricted. Darkness swallowed everything. A Sovereign's domain replaced the space, engulfing everything.

"Lan Ling, protect the space!" Night Watch roared. Lan Ling's flung body finally halted in mid-air. Xin was too strong! His kick slammed the Minotaur's massive foot downwards, directly deflecting its attack. But even with the grand formation protecting her, such a peak physical confrontation was more than an ordinary Sovereign could withstand. She, Lan Ling, was merely a grandmaster of spirit formations. Being approached meant death. That she escaped with her life now was pure luck. She exhaled, disregarding her wildly pounding heart. Lan Ling knew she had gravely underestimated this ghost beast. This was no ordinary ghost beast at all. "Is this someone from 'Xuyue Grey Palace'..." Lan Ling chanted a spell, and outside the dark domain, the Sky-Sealing Formation locked down this space completely.

"'Four Swords'!" Having done all this, she then loudly called out: "Night Watch, Hei Ming, find 'Four Swords' first, first..." She stopped abruptly. Lan Ling, mid-call, suddenly couldn't continue. With a face full of shock, she looked at the blood-soaked Minotaur, which had separated from Xin after the clash, and her expression turned to horror.