On the second level of the Earth Abyss, four Flying Spirit Clan Holy Sons with pale wings and tangled hair were battling a swarm of jet-black venomous scorpions several feet in length as they moved.
Though the scorpions lacked wings, each could still fly through the air. Their movements were extraordinarily nimble, and to make matters worse, they spat corrosive acid and bore tail barbs of unimaginable poison. The four Flying Spirit Clansmen were feeling quite overwhelmed and couldn't immediately shake off the scorpions' pursuit.
After more than half a shichen, when one of the Flying Spirit Clansmen finally gritted his teeth and unhesitatingly expended a great deal of Magical Power to unleash a fearsome divine ability—releasing clusters of brilliant blue fireballs that reduced the three or four scorpions surrounding them to ash—the remaining scorpions finally retreated, unwilling but unable to continue.
The four Flying Spirit Clansmen breathed a long sigh of relief, their minds settling slightly.
But before they could exchange a single word, a flash of spirit light suddenly flickered in the distant sky. A mass of blood mist came rolling in from the horizon.
The blood mist moved in utter silence, eerily swift as a specter. After just a few flickers, it had appeared near the four Flying Spirit Clansmen and begun circling around them in tight loops.
The four Holy Sons were startled and immediately assumed defensive stances.
A cold snort echoed from within the blood mist, and a pair of eyes brimming with madness gradually became visible. Those savage gazes swept across the four Flying Spirit Clansmen, followed by a hoarse voice that sent a chill down the spine of every Flying Spirit Clansman present.
"None of the ones I'm after. But since fate has put you in my path, consider yourselves unlucky."
The moment these words fell, thunder rumbled within the blood mist. The nearby sky suddenly turned blood-red, and eerie clouds of blood materialized in churning waves.
"No! It's the Heavenly Blood Thunder — run!" One of the four Flying Spirit Clansmen turned deathly pale at the sight. He let out a shout, and his body transformed into a streak of yellow light as he fled in panic toward the distance.
The other three Holy Sons, upon hearing the words "Heavenly Blood Thunder," were so terrified their souls nearly left their bodies. Their protective light flared, and they turned tail on their own streaks of escape light.
But in that very instant, a peal of thunder cracked through the sky. Four bolts of blood-red lightning materialized in the clouds, twisted, and vanished into thin air. The next moment, the four blood bolts appeared directly above the four fleeing streaks of light and struck down without hesitation.
Four shrieks of agony rang out. The four streaks of escape light disintegrated the instant the blood lightning touched them.
The bodies of the four Flying Spirit Clan Holy Sons flickered violently in the electric glare and were reduced to ash. Neither their protective spiritual light nor their defensive treasures had offered the slightest resistance.
A burst of frenzied laughter drifted from within the blood mist. Then the blood light surged, and the mist shot off like a meteor into the distant sky, vanishing from sight in moments.
…
Tens of thousands of miles away,
"Fellow Daoists, instead of searching for Netherflame Fruit, why are you blocking our path?"
"The Heavenly Roc Clan doesn't seem to have any enmity with your clan." Bai Bi spoke up from the side, his tone grave but his expression remarkably composed.
"Heh heh. The Heavenly Roc Clan indeed has no grudge with our Dark Spirit Clan. However, the Red Fusion Clan and several other powerful branches quietly issued bounties to the Holy Sons of the lesser branches before we set out. Anyone who ensures certain individuals remain in the Earth Abyss permanently will be rewarded handsomely. If we hadn't run into you, fine — we wouldn't have gone looking for you. But since we have, this is a simple matter, and our Dark Spirit Clan won't turn it down." A tall Flying Spirit Clansman, whose wings and skin were both jet-black, stood with arms folded as he addressed
The other Dark Spirit Clansmen surrounding
This was hardly surprising. While the Dark Spirit Clan wasn't ranked among the very top of the seventy-two branches, they occupied the upper-middle tier — far beyond a weak, nearly bottom-ranked branch like the Heavenly Roc Clan.
"A bounty?"
"We've told you everything you need to know. That way, you won't be confused ghosts when you reach the underworld. Now you can depart in peace." The lead Dark Spirit Clansman had no intention of saying more. A vicious gleam flashed across his face, and he waved a single hand.
The Dark Spirit Clansmen on the other sides opened their mouths without a word, each spitting out a single black feather.
At first only an inch or so long, the feathers instantly grew to a foot in length as the wielders rubbed them between both hands. Their surfaces shimmered with an oily black luster, and runes churned across them — clearly no ordinary objects.
Six Dark Spirit Clansmen wielded six black feathers, brandishing them simultaneously toward
With a thunderous boom, the black flames coalesced into an enormous fire dome, trapping all four inside.
The Dark Spirit Clansmen had attacked without the slightest mercy from the very first move, intending to annihilate the Heavenly Roc Clan group in a single strike. As for Qin Xiao of the Night Green Clan — though not a member of the Heavenly Roc Clan, they clearly had no intention of letting him go either.
Lei Lan's expression changed drastically at the sight of the black fire. Silver arcs crackled around her body as she formed a protective barrier. Then the golden gourd at her neck trembled, releasing fine threads of violet lightning. The arcs all turned purple in an instant, their presence overwhelming and fierce.
Only after completing these steps did the woman hurriedly send a voice transmission to