Devour

Chapter 423 Unspeakable

A thick blood mist, nearly solidified, surged across the sea, enveloping an ever-widening area. The surging waters continuously sank into the abyss of the seabed, vanishing without a trace, leaving only a symphony of roaring sounds that shook all living things.

A terrifying, invisible force lifted the Rakshasa Ghost Saint completely out of the sea. The skeleton towered tall, its imposing presence causing the entire North Sea to tremble beneath it.

Cheng Bai's heart trembled, and he keenly realized that the environmental changes were rapidly worsening: "The blood mist is flowing much faster than before!"

The blood mist that spanned over a hundred thousand miles across the sea suddenly surged and swept across, condensing into hundreds of blood-colored whirlwinds, rushing madly towards the ten huge skull mouths that suddenly opened on the corpse of the Demon King.

A terrifying sucking sound echoed between heaven and earth. A thick mist of primordial spirit energy, formed from the life essence of countless sea creatures, was snatched up by the abyss-like suction force, for the demonic body to sip mercilessly!

"The blood erosion has begun!" As soon as Jiuying's lazy and indifferent voice fell, the whole world seemed to be plunged into fear and despair.

"Now... it really begins!" Wang Hong and others looked around the sky in awe, and the next moment they were shocked.

The spiritual light surrounding Jing'ao Island's Thousand Machine Illusion Formation trembled silently and violently, appearing to be in a state of chain collapse. Parts of the light wall gradually disintegrated, losing their concealing and protective properties, forcing the island's physical form to reveal itself.

Wang Mingsheng's voice was filled with horror. "That... that demon king's corpse is so far away from Jing'ao Island... My consciousness can't even sense the shadow of the demon king's body, yet it can destroy the island's protective formation at will through the air..."

Before he finished speaking, the Zhenhai Pavilion trembled and shook, the roof made a cracking sound under the weight, and fragments of glazed tiles fell to the ground with a rustling sound.

Wang Sheng's face turned pale as he hurriedly said, "The center and highest point of the island protection formation is the roof of this pavilion. Once the formation collapses, Zhenhai Pavilion will bear the brunt!"

Wang Hong bit his tongue in panic and spurted out a stream of blood. He quickly pointed his fingers and drew talismans in the air to bless the formation. He shouted, "My fellow Taoists, in this critical moment of life and death, we must do our utmost to protect the island formation. Only then can we have a chance of survival!"

Wang Mingsheng, Wang Sheng, and Pan Guanxia did not dare to be negligent at all. They followed Wang Hong and sat cross-legged on the ground in a circle. They each sacrificed blood to form talismans, concentrated their spiritual consciousness, and used all their strength to strengthen the formation to withstand the violent turbulence outside the formation like a raging storm.

At the same time, in the Jinglong Hall on the ground floor of Zhenhai Pavilion, dozens of elders had already formed a formation and were waiting. They sat in the hall with their eyes closed, concentrating, chanting and casting spells, and continuously transmitting their power to the island protection formation.

All the members of Jingtao Sect, from the elders on up, joined forces to resist the external pressure, repair the Thousand Machine Illusion Array and keep it running, finally making Jingao Island disappear without a trace again and drift steadily southward.

"Sacrificing the essence of all living things' spirits—this is the secret of the blood erosion." Cheng Bai pondered for a moment, feeling that something was amiss. He asked doubtfully, "But the Rakshasa Ghost Saint has been dead for a long time. Could he be trying to revive again?"

Master Li looked up and saw that Zhenhai Pavilion was no longer in turmoil. He murmured, "The corpse of a True Immortal is inherently spiritual. If nourished by the essence of heaven and earth, it can indeed give rise to a new spiritual intelligence, and then cultivate itself to become a True Saint among corpses."

Cheng Bai was clearly dissatisfied with the answer and pressed on, "If the Ten-Headed Demon King truly wanted to achieve Corpse Sainthood and return to peak form, he should have been diligently training day and night. Why did he wait five thousand reincarnation epochs to emerge and do just one thing? With such a slow training pace, the fruit would be gone by the time it's ready. Why bother with all that effort?"

"This... is a bit strange." Master Li stammered and fell silent, unable to answer the tricky question.

All nine of Jiuying's faces showed disapproval. They chuckled softly, "Practicing day and night is just too much! Where in the North Sea can there be so many creatures dedicated to it to achieve enlightenment? It won't take more than a few days for all the sea creatures to die out."

Cheng Bai felt quite conflicted and questioned, "Could it be that the Ten-Headed Demon King would be so kind as to wait until the sea creatures prospered before crawling out from the deep trenches of the seabed to enjoy a bloody feast?"

Jiuying chuckled and said slowly, "Of course not. The blood erosion cannot spread beyond the North Sea, and the disaster cannot reach far away. This is because there is an almighty powerful being secretly suppressing it."

"What?!" This time even Master Li was so shocked that he was dumbfounded and speechless for a moment.

For thousands of years, the Five Saints have been recognized as the pinnacle of combat power in the Five Continents' cultivation world, their position unshakable. So, where did this supreme power emerge from?

Cheng Bai was stunned for a while, then quickly asked, "Who on earth has such great ability to suppress the power of the ancient demon?"

Jiuying winked and said cautiously, "In my opinion, the Blood Eclipse is a means of balance left by that being to curb the development of the Sea Clan, so as to prevent them from becoming too powerful and threatening the human race... When the Blood Eclipse ends, you will see the truth."

Seeing that he was keeping things in suspense, Bei Tingjun said with a look of resentment, "Great Immortal, your mind is as clear as a mirror. Why don't you speak frankly now?"

Jiuying said awkwardly, "The Buddha said, it cannot be said, it cannot be said, and there is no need to say it."

The four of them were talking passionately when the blood mist outside the formation suddenly surged and intensified, like a ferocious beast that had been completely enraged.

Cheng Bai turned around and looked around, and said with emotion: "They are about to collapse!"

The protective aura of the Thousand Machines Illusion Formation was as thin as paper and was torn apart layer by layer by the even more powerful blood-red whirlwind, causing the entire island to tremble violently.

The formation's defense is becoming increasingly fragile in the face of the rapidly growing destructive power of blood erosion, and the island protection formation may collapse at any time!

The elders in Jinglong Hall were struck by lightning, vomiting blood and gasping for breath. Some of those with weaker cultivation suffered excessive loss of consciousness, first bleeding from all seven orifices, then collapsing and even fainting.

The island's protective formation, eroded by the blood mist, began to weaken, revealing more and more flaws. The most obvious was the roof of Zhenhai Pavilion, where spiderweb-like cracks suddenly appeared in mid-air, and Jingao Island emerged from its hiding place.

The situation is extremely critical and all living beings are facing despair!

Master Li, realizing the situation was not looking good, dropped his relaxed demeanor, activated his magical skills, and his entire body was filled with sword energy. He shouted, "Roam freely in the world, ascend to immortality through the nine tribulations. Retreat!"

Billions of sharp sword energies emerged from outside the entire Jingao Island, swirling and converging into a dense sword net, forcing away the rolling blood mist outside and buying a breathing space for the island protection formation.

"Thank you, Master, for your help!" Wang Hong immediately directed the Thousand Machine Illusion Array to repair the damage, and in an instant the light wall was as smooth as before. Peace and tranquility returned to the island, and it disappeared into thin air once more.

Master Li didn't relax his brows at this, and said solemnly, "Even if the scholar exerted 70% of his strength, he could only force the blood mist back a few feet from the island. Jing'ao Island is currently located deep within the blood erosion's range, and it will be extremely difficult to hold out for long."

Cheng Bai hurriedly asked, "When will this disaster end?"

Jiuying looked up at the sky, counted on his fingers, and said, "In the past, even the most severe blood erosion would stop immediately after the end of the hour of Wei."

"So, everything will be calm once the afternoon arrives?" Master Li pondered silently, and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's still good enough. It would be totally unworthy to risk my life!"

However, just as they held on until the early hours of the afternoon, the boiling blood mist became even more violent and raging, threatening to turn the North Sea into a pot of bloody porridge.

Cheng Bai was secretly alarmed. "It's still early in the afternoon, and the blood erosion hasn't weakened, it's gotten stronger! Is there going to be another climax before it ends?"

"It will be over in less than an hour!" Master Li's hair and beard stood on end, his brocade robe rustled, and the sword energy in his body was as continuous as a rushing river. He pushed his cultivation to the limit and put all his strength into protecting the island.

Billions of sword energies enveloped Jing'ao Island, forming a dazzling web of light. Against the dim backdrop of the blood mist, the island's outline resembled a luminous beacon. The sword light rippled through the surrounding sea, repeatedly pushing aside the surrounding blood mist and illuminating the surrounding sea with a shimmering brilliance.

The ten skulls of the Rakshasa Ghost Saint slowly turned, and scarlet light rose from their empty eye sockets, filled with greed and resentment, just like starving ghosts salivating over delicious food, firmly locking onto the only target of public criticism in the North Sea.

Suddenly, all its skulls opened their huge mouths and roared towards Jingao Island, "Wooahh ...

The mighty roar shook the blood mist, its power spreading far and wide. Wherever it reached, the mist gathered into thousands of bloody arms, their fingers flexing and extending vividly, and they tore towards Jingao Island in groups.

Faced with even greater power, Master Li was unable to completely disarm the attack. With a faint thud, several terrifying cracks appeared mid-air above Zhenhai Pavilion. Then, wisps of blood-red mist seeped in through the gaps.