Chapter 1343: Sacred Fire

The ghostly mist had grown dense to the extreme, resembling an incomparably murky river encircling the blood-colored altar.

Countless souls and evil spirits filled every direction, radiating intensely venomous emotions.

All of them had revealed their true forms. Their appearances were grotesque, their bodies mutilated and incomplete. Swept along by the river of ghostly mist, they surged toward the blood-colored altar, struggling desperately within the current while letting out helpless and agonized screams.

The scene inevitably brought to mind the legendary Yellow Springs.

The moment the ghostly creatures approached the altar, they were assimilated by the blood-colored celestial barriers and erased from existence, becoming part of the blood seal itself. As endless ghostly creatures were devoured by the blood-colored altar, the blood light shining from the altar grew increasingly brilliant.

Above the altar floated a mass of blood clouds that emitted a dense stench of blood. Crimson light shot straight into the heavens.

Rumble... The blood clouds churned violently while yin wind howled and the void trembled.

Its momentum was not inferior in the slightest to the five-colored celestial wind within the inner palace.

A strange fluctuation spread through the void above the altar, as though something was gradually taking shape.

Old Devil Ye and the jade skeleton floated in mid-air. Their figures appeared frail and solitary amidst the storm.

Countless evil spirits surrounded them, filled with hatred toward them, yet none could draw near.

Old Devil Ye raised his head, his gaze piercing through the blood clouds toward the top of the altar. His eyes burned with fervor, completely uninterested in the jade skeleton’s earlier words.

The jade skeleton also fell silent. Neither of them regarded Qin Sang as worthy of concern.

Threads of blood-red silk extended from the palms of Old Devil Ye and the jade skeleton, drifting through the ghostly mist and stretching toward the distance.

Some more time passed.

Old Devil Ye occasionally glanced toward the altar. Licking his lips, he asked in a hoarse voice, "How many more souls need to be devoured before the seal is broken? More and more enemies are arriving. The Soul Infant Grand Array controls countless souls and is nearing its limit. It won’t be able to trap them for much longer. If they break free and destroy too many Blood Infant Crystals, it’ll affect the grand plan."

The Spiritual Infants fused into crystal spheres were the Blood Infant Crystals Old Devil Ye referred to.

Once transformed into Blood Infant Crystals, the Spiritual Infants completely lost their sanity and became savage Blood Infants under their control, forming the Soul Infant Grand Array.

"If you had known this day would come, why didn’t you act earlier?" The jade skeleton snorted coldly. "If you had opened the seal for me sooner and gathered enough souls outside, there would’ve been no need to create such a huge disturbance—"

Halfway through speaking, the jade skeleton suddenly paused. He turned his head toward Qin Sang’s direction and let out a soft exclamation.

"Sacred fire?" His tone carried unmistakable delight.

Old Devil Ye felt surprised and looked toward the jade skeleton.

***

Within the ghostly mist, clusters of red blood clouds drifted around Daoist Master Zhenyi and the others, ghostly figures flickering everywhere.

Countless souls and ghostly creatures surrounded them tightly. Every one of them had blood-red eyes and radiated tangible malice. It was as though they were being controlled by something, making them exceptionally sinister and crazed as they attacked the group relentlessly.

Noticing the incoming evasion light heading straight toward them, Daoist Master Zhenyi first showed a trace of vigilance. But after recognizing the evasion light, his expression immediately shifted into delight. "Daoist Qin!"

Whoosh! Sword qi streaked forward like a flowing ribbon, arriving ahead of Qin Sang and piercing through the ghostly mist to strike a cluster of blood clouds.

The blood cloud exploded apart the instant it was pierced by the sword qi.

Yet in the next instant, the scattered blood clouds gathered back together and returned to their original state. Although the sword strike had appeared astonishingly powerful, it had failed to inflict even the slightest damage upon the blood cloud.

Qin Sang, who arrived immediately afterward, abruptly stopped. Looking at the blood cloud, his expression grew solemn.

"Daoist Qin, be careful! Do not let the blood clouds touch your body! These are evil objects born from soul refinement. They can corrupt both the fleshly body and true essence. If they invade the body, the consequences will be unimaginable!" Zhenyi shouted a warning.

At the same moment he spoke, two blood clouds changed direction and lunged toward Qin Sang.

Qin Sang withdrew the ebony sword and frowned slightly at the blood clouds. His figure flashed backward, and a black shadow appeared where he had been standing. It was the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet!

The Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet was a puppet, so it should not fear these evil objects.

Qin Sang urgently needed to understand what had happened and was worried about the safety of Qingjun and Bai, so he no longer bothered concealing the existence of the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet.

The next moment, the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet threw a punch toward the blood cloud!

Runes flickered across the puppet’s body. One could vaguely make out the outline of the puppet seal, along with a faint layer of azure light. At the instant it attacked, a mass of black light detached from its body and transformed into a fist shadow that smashed the blood cloud apart violently.

The shattered blood clouds drifted toward the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet.

Qin Sang ordered the puppet not to evade. Just as he expected, once the blood cloud fragments touched the puppet, they could only cling to its surface and were unable to invade even the slightest bit.

Seeing this, Qin Sang’s expression relaxed somewhat. He ordered the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet to clear the way while he followed behind on his flying sword.

Just like that, they forcefully charged forward as the surrounding blood clouds, souls and ghostly creatures rushed toward them madly.

The ebony sword slaughtered the souls and ghostly creatures while the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet dispersed the blood clouds. The two divided their tasks clearly as they charged forward at high speed.

Seeing this, Zhenyi hurriedly called for the others to provide support.

Boom! A black shadow burst violently out from within a blood cloud and appeared before them.

The moment his gaze met those eyes filled with dense killing intent, even Zhenyi felt his heart tighten slightly despite his cultivation.

After glancing at the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet and realizing it belonged to Qin Sang, Zhenyi suppressed his surprise and activated his fly-whisk, repeatedly sending out streaks of white light to lessen the pressure on Qin Sang.

Whoosh! Qin Sang seized the opportunity to break through the encirclement. He nodded toward the group in greeting before naturally joining the battle against the enemy.

The Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet fought shoulder to shoulder with Qin Sang.

The others could not help repeatedly glancing toward the Spiritual Infant Talisman Puppet. Their expressions varied, but without exception, every gaze contained deep shock.

Qin Sang’s reputation had already begun to surpass even many veteran experts, despite the fact that he had only reached the Spiritual Infant Realm a few decades ago. Achieving such accomplishments in so short a time was already astonishing enough.

Who could have imagined that merely twenty years after the great war, he had somehow acquired a Spiritual Infant Realm puppet?

Judging by the puppet’s performance, it even seemed slightly stronger than an early-stage Spiritual Infant cultivator. How could they not be shocked?

Thinking of Qin Sang’s relationship with Qingjun, Zhenyi found it surprising yet still understandable, so he refrained from asking further questions and instead spoke about the important matter at hand. "Daoist Qin, you just came out from the inner palace?"

Qin Sang nodded. "That’s right! I entered a hidden realm and never expected the celestial barriers inside to completely isolate the talisman sword’s perception. The moment I saw the transmission, I rushed over immediately, only to find everyone missing... What exactly happened?"

"Daoist Qin, don't worry. Before we became separated, I saw Daoist Leng and Daoist Jingyu together. They should not be in any danger." Zhenyi knew what Qin Sang really cared about and first sought to calm him before continuing.

"After everyone entered the inner palace to search, we never discovered any trace of Old Devil Ye. The phenomena within the inner palace became increasingly violent, and the ancient barriers within the hidden realms were enough to make people shrink back in fear. Once the five-colored celestial wind appeared, the inner palace became even more dangerous, so we began considering retreating and observing from outside first. It was precisely at that moment that the blood-colored altar released a blood light that shot into the heavens, exposing Old Devil Ye’s whereabouts. So we returned to the outer palace, intending to capture Old Devil Ye first. After all, he might know the cause behind Ziwei Palace’s phenomena. Aside from you, the Feathered King, and Daoist Lu, nearly all the top experts had already gathered..."