It was an endless plain, with an enormous blood moon hanging in the sky above.
The blood moon was so vast that it covered half the sky, as though two worlds had been fused together, bathing the entire landscape in a crimson glow.
The ground was neither grassland nor desert — it was a dense, countless-layered mass of remains, stacked who knew how many layers deep.
In the distance stood mountain-like formations, but the reason this was still called a plain was that there were no actual mountains. Those mountain-shaped objects were also remains — remains of the Demonic Beast race, enormous as mountains.
Though these remains had been dead for countless years and their essences had all been devoured, they had all once been powerful martial cultivators or Spirit World Masters. Thus, even after having turned to remains for so long, traces of their martial power still lingered faintly, with a vague pressure radiating outward.
One or two such remains would have been manageable, but clustered together like a sea of the dead, that pressure became truly terrifying.
Yet what seeped out even more than that was a sense of the bizarre.
So bizarre that even the experienced members of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace — even Zhao Laoba, who had killed without mercy — felt chills crawl up their spines.
However, the true culprit behind all of this was not these remains, but a figure in the distance.
He was far away from them, yet the moment they set foot here, every single person's gaze had been involuntarily drawn to him.
It was a figure no more than three meters tall, roughly humanoid in shape, but certainly not human.
It wore no clothing, nor did it need to — its entire body was covered in black scales, like armor embedded into its flesh.
It crouched on the ground, motionless as a statue.
But it was not a statue.
Because from its back, and from the top of its head, countless snake-like tendrils writhed and squirmed as though they were living creatures.
And the aura of a Fifth Grade Celestial God radiated from this being — but the oppressive force it exuded was far more than what mere cultivation could account for.
Because its gaze was filled with supreme, domineering arrogance, as though it alone was the master of all — as though it were the very predator responsible for every single one of these remains lying on the ground.
And right now, it was staring directly at the members of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace.
Though the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace far outnumbered it, the way that being looked at them was like a hunter regarding prey.
"Form the Formation!!!"
The Palace Master of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace broke the suffocating silence. Facing such an existence, she dared not show the slightest carelessness, immediately summoning the Heavenly Sword Sacred Formation.
But soon, the expressions of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace members grew even grimmer. To their shock, they discovered that the Heavenly Sword Sacred Formation could not be activated.
"Heh…"
At that moment, a mocking laugh rang out — it came from the black monster.
"Here, you'll have to rely on yourselves."
The voice came again, and every member of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace turned deathly pale.
Because the voice had not come from far away — it was right in front of them.
The black monster had appeared before the Palace Master of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace like a specter.
Clang— The Palace Master drew her sword in a flash, but in the next instant, she froze.
The divine weapon longsword had been unsheathed — but the black monster had seized it with a single hand.
Seeing this, the Palace Master began forming hand seals, channeling vast amounts of martial power into the divine sword.
The divine sword blazed with brilliant light, its might surging enormously.
It was a martial technique of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace. Had she been able to swing it, this single strike could have cleaved an entire minor world in two.
But even without being swung, with all that power gathered within the blade, the divine sword was now incomparably sharp — capable of cutting through anything.
And yet, the black monster simply held the impenetrable divine sword in one hand, without so much as a scratch appearing on it.
Seeing this, Zhao Laoba gripped his own weapon, preparing to step in and help.
But in that very instant, the black monster suddenly turned its head and fixed its gaze upon Zhao Laoba.
The black monster said nothing — a single look was enough to make Zhao Laoba realize.
Though they were both Fifth Grade Celestial Gods, there was absolutely no way he could defeat the being before him.
So he did not strike.
Even the Palace Master of the Heavenly Sword Sacred Palace dared not make any further move.