Chapter 312: Dramatic Upheavals!!
The sudden, shocking development caused faces to fall throughout the various sects that made up the coalition.
Patriarch Soaring Cloud immediately turned and left the river behind as he rushed back to the city. He looked at Master Shengyun hovering in the sky, arms outstretched as he looked up at the broken face of the god. Expression very unsightly, the patriarch then looked down at the blood tree growing up from within Seven Blood Eyes. There were only three people who could control the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo treasure. He was one of them. Another was the sect leader. And third was his own son, who had already been appointed to serve as the next sect leader.
That was Master Shengyun’s father!
“Chu Tianqun!” growled Patriarch Soaring Cloud as he looked in the direction of his sect’s headquarters. [1]
“Father.” A middle-aged man stepped out from the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect headquarters. Floating up into the sky to stand next to Master Shengyun, he looked in the direction of Patriarch Soaring Cloud and bowed respectfully. This was the very same person whose fleshly body had been destroyed by Master Seventh back in Seven Blood Eyes in South Phoenix. [2]
“Why are you doing this?” Patriarch Soaring Cloud asked.
“You really don’t know, father?” Chu Tianqun smiled mysteriously, his eyes full of venom as he looked at Patriarch Soaring Cloud. “My son did nothing wrong to deserve being born a conjoined twin. They were supposed to be ordinary twins. You did something, oh exalted father, to ensure that one would devour the other. You made them venomous bugs in a jar.
“You were planning to possess my son all along, weren’t you? You wanted him to be your next reincarnation. The life lamp seemed like it was good fortune for him, but the truth was that it contained some of your divine resonance. You could have killed him with a mere thought. I was actually delighted to see that life lamp taken away from him. But if I didn’t pretend to be furious, you wouldn’t have been happy. So I played along.
“I thought that, given how things ended up, you would abandon your thoughts of taking my son. Instead, you did just what you would expect of an old patriarch. You traded my son to the president. Since you couldn’t possess him, you gave him over to be used as a clone.
“How could I not be furious at the coalition after that? How could I not hate a father like you down to my marrow? What other choice did I have but to rebel?
“Truth be told, I should thank Seven Blood Eyes. But they did injure my son, so at the same time, I hate them with a passion. Therefore, though I had originally planned to put on my Blood-Soaked Performance in the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect, in the end, I agreed to my son’s request and decided to do it in Seven Blood Eyes.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Patriarch Soaring Cloud said, glaring at his son. And then he noticed something unusual happening to his son’s face, and his expression turned more unsightly.
As Chu Tianqun smiled, his face wriggled, and a mask appeared. It depicted the broken face of the god, sinister and awe-inspiring, pulsing with boundless fluctuations. Those fluctuations weren’t Chu Tianqun’s own energy, but rather a divine ability in the mask itself, which created a defensive barrier around him. With such defenses, he wasn’t exactly a match for his father, but he would be able to hold his own safely for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
“Someone’s coming to get me,” Chu Tianqun said. “I just need an incense stick’s worth of time.”
Meanwhile, in Seven Blood Eyes, the blood tree emanated a shocking aura in all directions, causing wild colors to flash in heaven and earth, and sending winds screaming everywhere. The mountain headquarters trembled, causing massive rock slides, and shaking the entire area. The sect-destroying power of the taboo treasure erupted, making it seem like the mountain would end up completely destroyed. What was more, blood-colored shadows erupted from the trees, vicious expressions on their faces as they swarmed down.
From a distance, Seven Blood Eyes looked like a blur. Countless disciples were going crazy with anxiety.
However... there was no way that Seven Blood Eyes would join this coalition without being ready to defend themselves. That was especially true considering that Master Seventh and Sir Bloodsmelter were both known for their rigorous schemes and deep foresight.
As soon as the blood tree appeared, Sir Bloodsmelter appeared, becoming a stream of blood-colored threads that shot greedily toward the tree. Master Seventh was right behind him, ready to work together to keep the tree in check.
At the same time, in the Seazombie ancestral land, the Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure appeared. Seven eyes opened, and the massive mirror turned in the direction of Seven Blood Eyes. As soon as the mirror locked onto the tree, the tree trembled violently. Terrifying fluctuations rolled out, and then an eye could be seen on the tree. Then a second eye and a third. Those eyes were manifestations of the Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure.
The moment the eyes appeared, a unique power erupted. A power... of stealing!
Unexpectedly... Seven Blood Eyes was using this opportunity to steal the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo treasure! It was a development no one could ever have predicted.
Participation in what was happening required a certain level of cultivation base. As a result, in all of Seven Blood Eyes, only Master Seventh, Sir Bloodsmelter, and the taboo treasure could react to crush the tree.
Meanwhile, all disciples were stunned at what was happening. However, the peaklords had already issued orders about what to do, and thus, action was immediately taken to deal with the blood shades that were invading the sect. Though Seven Blood Eyes seemed like it was in chaos, the reality was... the sect was reacting in a very orderly fashion.
It was easy to imagine what would happen if Seven Blood Eyes actually took control of the Soaring Cloud Sword Sect’s taboo item. If that happened, and Seven Blood Eyes controlled two taboo treasures, they would instantly become vastly more powerful.
The patriarchs and matriarchs of the other sects were paying very close attention to what was happening. Yet they seemed just as confident and relaxed as Master Shengyun and his father, Chu Tianqun. They didn’t seem worried at all, presumably because they already understood exactly what was happening.
Master Shengyun and Chu Tianqun were betraying the sect and putting on a Blood-Soaked Performance. That was why the river water had been polluted, to attract the attention of the coalition leadership and force them to activate their taboo treasures. As such, it was a given that people from Torchlight were watching. After all, Torchlight was the only organization that had rules relating to a Blood-Soaked Performance. And that meant that the Torchlight members who were watching the performance had to be in the coalition somewhere.
Given that, and considering that the coalition was one of the six great powers, with Void Returning experts in it, there was no reason to lack confidence that they could defeat Torchlight, which had already been scattered and listed as wanted in the past.
As for Seven Blood Eyes, though the sect seemed to be in turmoil, things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
It was the same with the Everlasting Immortal Profundity River. The source of the pollution had already been removed, and the river was already starting to turn pure again. The deadly fog was dissipating.
Events so far were still within the Eight Sect Coalition’s power to control.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing sped on his way to the Seven Blood Eyes headquarters. He saw the huge blood tree, he saw the mountain headquarters trembling, and he saw the disciples fighting against the blood shades. He also spotted Sir Bloodsmelter and Master Seventh dealing with the huge tree.
Things didn’t seem too bad. Yet for some reason Xu Qing still felt profoundly uneasy. What was more, the black fog and red sky had mixed, making violet light spread everywhere.
Xu Qing took a deep breath and took out an entropic teleportation talisman. Pushing down his unease, he flew into the mountain headquarters and joined the disciples fighting the blood shades. With his life flames burning, his battle prowess was sufficient to crush them with ease. Because the tree was being suppressed, there was only so much the blood shades could do. At first they had been ferocious, but with disciples surrounding them, they were collapsing. The only thing they had on their side was numbers.
As Xu Qing sped through the headquarters, he spotted the peaklords and elders fighting in midair. When he saw that, the anxiety in his heart eased a bit. However, that was when...
An indistinct figure flew through the sky into Seven Blood Eyes.
It was Night Dove, clad in a voluminous robe, a thousand threads swirling in his eyes. Fixing his eyes on the peaklords, he strode forward. As he passed Xu Qing, he looked over and exhaled softly. Then he blurred into motion as he shot toward the fighting.
Down below, Xu Qing had no time to react. In fact, he didn’t even see anything. He just heard a rumbling sound in his head.
At that moment... his Violet-Heaven Supreme-Limitless Crown appeared and its defenses snapped into place. However, they were like wet paper, and collapsed immediately. The Violet-Heaven Supreme-Limitless Crown exploded.
Xu Qing’s vision grew dark, and he felt a sense of deadly crisis erupt within him.
The next thing he heard was something like a child screaming. The lifeswapping ghost doll appeared in front of him, and it only lasted for a moment before crumbling as it lost a life.
That indicated that, a moment ago, Xu Qing should have just died!
Things weren’t over yet. There was a second life within the lifeswapping ghost doll. However, that single breath from Night Dove was so terrifying that the second life only lasted for a moment before it was also destroyed!
All of that happened in the shortest of moments. Then, it seemed like the doll’s third life might also be lost. The two lives it had lost before were lifelines for Xu Qing. Now, despite his shock, he instinctively crushed the entropic teleportation talisman.
In the blink of an eye, he began to ripple and distort. However, that was when another scream rang out as the lifeswapping ghost doll’s third life expired!
That was when Xu Qing vanished, leaving behind only the fluctuations of a teleportation and the shattered remnants of the lifeswapping ghost doll.
“Oh?” a soft voice said. “Three extra lives? And an entropic teleportation talisman...?”
Off in the distance, Night Dove wasn’t paying attention. After all, he had just casually exhaled a moment ago, little more. Right now, he was fully focused on the battlefield. Looking around, he focused on the spot where the peaklords were helping crush the blood shades.
Master Seventh and Sir Bloodsmelter had both noticed what just happened with Xu Qing. Other patriarchs also noticed, and their expressions flickered.
“Void Returning expert!!”
It didn’t matter how shocked everyone was, or what they did. They couldn’t stop Night Dove from approaching the peaks of Seven Blood Eyes. He stopped right in front of Master Sixth! His move against Xu Qing had been beating the grass to startle the snake. He had wanted to hide his true reason for coming to the field of battle. That was why he had only exhaled softly.
Now, his eyes flickered with killing intent as the full power of his Void Returning cultivation base erupted. Not even Sir Bloodsmelter or Master Seventh could do anything to stop him now....
He reached out his index finger toward Master Sixth’s forehead.
“The forehead is the bridge between heaven and earth. Slaughter the past, the future, the present. Lock down all teleportations, life-saving items, and divine wardings. EXTERMINATE!”
A stream of blood-colored light shot into Master Sixth’s forehead. A tremor passed through him, and his eyes turned blank, even confused. Then they turned dim, and he fell. A Nascent Soul cultivator... had fallen!
Piercing cries of disbelief, pain, and heartbreak erupted from Master Seventh and Sir Bloodsmelter.
Winds screamed. The sky turned dark.
Grief overwhelmed Seven Blood Eyes!
1. Chu Tianqun: Chu does not appear on the list of the 100 most common surnames. It’s the same surname as Chu Shengyun (Master Shengyun). Tian means “heaven/sky” and qun means “group.” Tian basically rhymes with “then” except it starts with TY sound. It’s like tyen. Qun is hard to pronounce, as it’s made up of sounds that basically don't exist in English. I recommend pronouncing it like “chun” or “choon.” Madam Deathblade says that when she sees this name, it conjures the image of a man hovering in the sky looking down at a group of countless followers. ☜
2. Master Seventh crushed Chu Tianqun in chapter 264. ☜