The two had barely been seated for three hours, deep in contemplation, when a long howl suddenly echoed across the void, followed by hearty laughter: "I've grasped it! I've grasped it! This Blood Demon legacy is mine!"
The laughter was wild and unrestrained, brimming with smug triumph.
The disturbance jolted every cultivator meditating beneath the stele. One by one, they opened their eyes and looked forward. There stood the disciple from Great Thousand Blood Earth, head thrown back in manic laughter, a churning vortex of blood mist swirling around his body — an awe-inspiring sight.
Even as he laughed, the man was striding boldly toward the edge of the Blood Lake, a look of absolute certainty gleaming in his eyes. All he had to do was cross this final stretch of the Blood Lake, and he would reach the palace at its heart — there he would finally behold the truth of the inheritance!
Without warning, a mass of black mist surged forth, coalescing into an enormous dark serpent that lunged at him with gaping jaws. The serpent was rendered in exquisite detail, its entire body seething with demonic energy, a truly terrifying sight.
The disciple from Great Thousand Blood Earth was startled. He leaped backward, and the blood mist around him quivered and morphed, transforming into a blood-red saber that slashed down upon the serpent's head.
With a wet crack, the dark serpent was cleaved in two. But before the disciple could even breathe a sigh of relief, the two halves burst apart and scattered into countless smaller serpents, each flicking its forked tongue as they shot toward him at lightning speed.
The disciple let out a low shout. His hands flew through a rapid sequence of seals, and the blood saber split into a thousand copies. He retreated at full speed, barking: "Cut! Cut! Cut!"
One after another, the black serpents were sliced apart, dissolving into wisps of demonic mist. The sea of blood blades vanished in short order as well.
By the time every last serpent had been slain, the blood mist swirling around the Great Thousand Blood Earth disciple had thinned considerably. He whipped his head around and glared furiously in a specific direction: "Pei Wenxuan, what do you think you're doing?!"
The attack had been so blatantly deliberate that he didn't even need to look to know who was responsible. The disciple from Myriad Demon Heaven, Pei Wenxuan. In that instant, he was shaken with both alarm and fury.
Pei Wenxuan remained seated where he was, simply watching the man with cold detachment: "You were annoying me, that's all."
The Great Thousand Blood Earth disciple choked with rage. Though he was no weakling, he knew he was no match for Pei Wenxuan. Swallowing his anger, he said through gritted teeth: "Brother Pei, I will remember today's kindness. Rest assured, I will repay you in kind before long!" His words made it abundantly clear that retribution was forthcoming.
With that threat hanging in the air, he turned to resume his advance toward the lake-heart palace — but the moment he lifted his foot, Pei Wenxuan spoke with lazy indifference: "Go ahead and take one step. Just try it."
Zhou Yi froze with one foot still hovering in midair, genuinely unable to bring it down. His gaze locked onto Pei Wenxuan like iron: "What exactly do you mean by that?"
He could feel it — Pei Wenxuan's aura had locked onto him completely, like a leopard coiled and ready to spring, capable of striking at any instant. The rage building inside him felt like a volcano on the verge of eruption, compressed and suffocating.
Pei Wenxuan said calmly: "If you had comprehended the Blood Radiance Scripture and slipped away quietly, I couldn't have been bothered to trouble you. But you deliberately let out that howl to disrupt my state of mind, undoing all my previous effort. Do you think I'm someone you can push around?"
Zhou Yi snarled through clenched teeth: "That was me carried away by excitement — I couldn't help myself. It wasn't deliberate!"
Pei Wenxuan let out a string of cold laughs: "Whether it was deliberate or not, I'm perfectly capable of judging for myself. Your excuses are pointless."
Zhou Yi barked: "Then what does Brother Pei want?!"
"Nothing special," Pei Wenxuan said, rolling his neck with exaggerated laziness. "Just stand there quietly. Once I've finished comprehending the Blood Radiance Scripture, you can set off alongside me."
Zhou Yi's fury erupted. Ever since arriving at the Blood Lake, he had been leading the pack at every stage. Now, with the final trial right before him and so many others far behind, Pei Wenxuan expected him to just wait?! How could he accept that? If he agreed, all his previous effort and advantage would be rendered completely meaningless. He had been planning to push ahead and see whether he could claim the Blood Demon Divine Lord's blood-dao inheritance first. Whoever entered that lake-heart palace ahead of the others would hold a decisive edge — no matter how he looked at it.
"Does Brother Pei think I'm a pushover? You may be a disciple of Myriad Demon Heaven, but neither of us has yet opened the heavens — the gap between us isn't that wide. If Brother Pei truly insists on blocking my way, then I, Zhou, have no choice but to exchange a few moves with you. I just hope that when the dust settles, we won't have given the others a free ride at our expense."
His response blended soft and hard in equal measure — a deft bit of maneuvering.
Pei Wenxuan let out a cold snort and gestured at the crowd around him: "If that's what you think, you're dead wrong. Go on — ask them. Do you think any of them will agree to let you go first?"
Zhou Yi turned to look, and sure enough, a ring of eyes stared back at him with undisguised malice. More than a few faces wore eager, predatory expressions, clearly itching for a fight. A jolt of alarm shot through him — his earlier outburst had clearly earned the collective wrath of everyone present, and after all his previous posturing, he had made himself the enemy of all.
His face shifted between pale and green. Just as Pei Wenxuan had said, that deliberate howl of his had been calculated to interrupt others' comprehension of the Blood Radiance Scripture, to make them waste precious time. Who could have guessed he'd end up smashing his own foot with the stone he'd hurled?
If no one had stepped forward, he might have gotten away with it. But Pei Wenxuan had specifically detained him, and with that little provocation to the crowd, there was no way he could leave now.
If he tried to force his way through, he would immediately face a concerted assault from everyone.
At that realization, Zhou Yi clenched his teeth: "Fine. I'll do as Brother Pei says — I'll wait. But I hope Brother Pei won't take too long!" He was the type who could bend when necessary. Between waiting and being swarmed by the entire group, patience was the only sensible choice. Even if they all entered the lake-heart palace at the same time, he still held an advantage — after all, his attainment in the blood dao far surpassed that of anyone else here.
Pei Wenxuan smiled and nodded: "Relax. I won't keep you waiting long."