The Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace, wreathed in a Red Fire Gangfeng, swept across. As Zhou Tianyan staggered back, he suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, and the Jiuyao Sect’s secret technique, "Nine Luminaries Burning Star," erupted violently. His Blood Qi and Strength combined, bursting forth from his body as seven crimson rings of fire.

Xu Yunfan neither dodged nor retreated. The scales of his Dragon Scale Armor clanged as he brutally crushed the scorching rings of fire, shattering them into a sky full of sparks.

A golden light flared in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. His red mace drew a circle in the air, splitting into nine afterimages that forced Zhou Tianyan back repeatedly. Finally, Xu Yunfan hooked a foot around his leg and flung him onto the high platform.

Zhou Tianyan was horrified. ’The sect has records on this White Jade Platform! It can absorb a person’s Essence Qi!’

"No!"

Strange ripples spread across the surface of the White Jade Platform. The moment Zhou Tianyan landed, dense, tadpole-like spells materialized on the platform. The Profound Turtle Armor on his chest disintegrated, transforming into pure Blood Qi that seeped into the cracks between the jade bricks.

Zhou Tianyan’s pupils contracted violently. He could feel the Blood Qi in his entire body draining away frantically through his pores.

As the head disciple of the Jiuyao Sect’s Megrez Peak, the Nine Luminaries Swallowing Qi Technique he had practiced since childhood should have made his Blood Qi as stable as a Melting Furnace. Yet at this moment, he was like a Flood Dragon in a drained pond, unable to even move a fingertip.

’Master’s information was a trap!’

The thought slithered up his spine like a venomous snake gnawing at his heart. Years ago, seven great sects had joined forces to explore the otherworldly White Jade Palace. Unbeknownst to the world, only one person from the Jiuyao Sect had emerged, recording the situation within.

The Profound Turtle Armor his master had specially bestowed upon him before his departure was now turning into myriad threads of blood, boring into the cracks of the jade platform. ’This isn’t some protective Secret Treasure! It’s clearly a blood catalyst, prepared long in advance!’

A strange gurgle escaped his throat. His potent Blood Qi surged through his body, trying to break free, but it was to no avail, disappearing without a trace.

In his peripheral vision, he saw his junior sect brothers being kicked onto the platform one by one by Xu Yunfan. He watched in horror as their flesh instantly caved in. He suddenly remembered a line from the secret records on the White Jade Palace: "Feed the Star Monarch with blood to open the heavenly gates."

Every hair on his body stood on end.

’So the so-called opportunity in this Secret Realm is just a way for someone who fell two thousand years ago to be resurrected using the Essence Blood of Martial Artists.’

’That person who walked out of the White Jade Palace... was he really from the Jiuyao Sect?!’

Those deliberately erased Sect records, those precise calculations of the White Jade Palace’s location—at this moment, they all transformed into a bone-chilling cold that seeped into his marrow.

"No... It’s not supposed to be like this..."

Zhou Tianyan frantically tried to activate the wisp of Burning Star True Qi the Sect Leader had planted in his meridians. He discovered that even this wisp of True Qi was surging along the bloodlines toward the stone throne.

When he saw the mysterious man’s pale fingertips twitch slightly, he finally understood that he was nothing more than the most insignificant sacrifice in some terrifying, behind-the-scenes scheme.

"This... a variation of the Ancient Jade Pendant, the Blood Sacrificial Jade!"

Su Zhenhe suddenly cried out in alarm from a distance.

Before the remaining Jiuyao Sect disciples could react, Xu Yunfan appeared behind them like a phantom. A light tap of his red mace on the vital acupoints on their backs, and he threw them all onto the high platform.

In an instant, the entire White Jade Platform erupted in a brilliant cyan light. The Dragon Eyes on the thirty-six Coiling Dragon Pillars simultaneously lit up with a scarlet glow.

The Martial Artists thrown onto the platform screamed and curled into balls. Fine beads of blood seeped from their pores, tracing the runic patterns on the jade bricks and converging into nine winding rivers of blood that surged toward the central stone throne.

A vein on the neck of the man on the stone throne bulged slightly, then vanished in an instant.

Xu Yunfan, who had been watching intently, felt the hairs on his arms stand up. ’The man’s physical body seems to be reviving,’ he thought. ’But thankfully, this group is a bunch of good-for-nothings. They’re ultimately not potent enough.’

He snatched Su Zhenhe, pulling him closer.

Su Zhenhe was horrified. He knew he was no match for Xu Yunfan. He had no Divine Weapon or Treasure Armor; he was merely one of the more outstanding True Inheritors of this generation in the Profound Daoist Sect. The one who truly carried the weight of their generation was someone else.

’Even for a great and powerful sect like the Profound Daoist Sect, Divine Weapons aren’t a dime a dozen. Why would they give one to me?’

"Brother Xu!!"

Su Zhenhe cried out in alarm, only breathing a sigh of relief when he realized Xu Yunfan hadn’t thrown him onto the high platform.

"What is this Blood Sacrificial Jade?"

Xu Yunfan’s five fingers clamped down on Su Zhenhe’s shoulder like an iron band. A scale of his Dragon Scale Armor scraped against Su Zhenhe’s neck as he spoke, his voice cold. "Two thousand years ago, the experts from the major sects suffered a crushing defeat here. I refuse to believe your Profound Daoist Sect knows absolutely nothing about what’s inside."

With a sudden burst of strength, he slammed Su Zhenhe against a Coiling Dragon Pillar covered in runes. Dark red bloodstains flowed slowly along the grooves on the pillar’s surface.

Su Zhenhe’s back was pressed tightly against the Ice Cold Jade Pillar. He could clearly feel the lines of blood climbing his spine like living things.

He stared at the scales on Xu Yunfan’s Dragon Scale Armor, which bristled like the inverted scale of an enraged dragon. His voice trembled uncontrollably.

"The Profound Daoist Sect has clear records," he stammered. "Blood Sacrificial Jade is something Ancient Cultivators used to defy the heavens and extend their lives. It’s created by nourishing Jade Marrow with the Essence Blood of countless beings. A palm-sized piece of Blood Sacrificial Jade would require the lives of two hundred thousand people."

Xu Yunfan was shaken. He glanced over at the high platform.

This high platform, forged entirely from Blood Sacrificial Jade, was an octagonal altar. Each side was about thirty feet long, and it stood nine feet high.

’If a palm-sized piece of Blood Sacrificial Jade requires the blood of an entire city’s population, then one of this size...’

’The slaughter required to create it was likely no less than that committed by the Witch of Great Zhou.’

As he spoke, a look of shock also crossed Su Zhenhe’s face. Even though he was born into one of the Six Great Sects and had been isolated from the common people his entire life...

...the thought of slaughtering tens of millions just for a piece of Blood Sacrificial Jade—all to achieve an incorruptible body and physical longevity—was something he knew he could never do.

"That man on the high platform must be from the Demon Dao!"

Hearing the grit in Su Zhenhe’s voice, a thought stirred in Xu Yunfan’s mind. He pulled out the Token he had taken from Daoist Master Qing Yue.

"What does the word on this Token mean?"

Su Zhenhe glanced at it, and his pupils constricted. But meeting Xu Yunfan’s gaze, which had turned instantly cold and murderous, he had no choice but to answer.

"This is a True Script from two thousand years ago. The word is ’Primordial’."

A thought stirred in Xu Yunfan’s mind.

Seeing the tension in Xu Yunfan’s eyes ease, Su Zhenhe felt a wave of relief. Just as he was about to explain further, Xu Yunfan’s fingers suddenly erupted with immense force.

CRACK!

Meeting Su Zhenhe’s incredulous gaze, Xu Yunfan lowered his eyes slightly, his knuckles gently stroking the Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace.

The eerie light of the White Jade Palace cast a shadow over his brow, obscuring the emotion in his eyes and making them unreadable.

"Brother Su should understand." His voice was very soft, yet it was like a dull knife scraping across bluestone. "Only dead men tell no tales."

’I have to eliminate any trace of my presence in this Little Heaven and Earth Secret Realm. Otherwise, if word gets out after I leave... if the True Inheritors of the major sects all die in here while I’m the sole survivor, anyone would find that suspicious.’

’In this era, once those lofty, top-tier sects grow suspicious, their policy is to kill the innocent rather than let a potential threat go free.’

The scales of his Dragon Scale Armor flexed silently, pulsing with undiminished Powerful Qi.

Powerful Qi erupted from his fingertips, surging into Su Zhenhe’s body. It shattered his internal organs and turned his head to pulp, after which Xu Yunfan casually tossed the body aside.

His gaze fell upon Su Zhenhe’s hand, hidden beneath his robes. The knuckles were white from gripping a sword hilt, a grip he hadn’t relaxed in the slightest, even in death.