Blood light and dark radiance flickered across the barrier like a violent storm, making it pulse between brightness and shadow!
In the span of moments, the Purple Blood Puppet swelled to a height of a thousand zhang, towering like some god of heaven and earth. With both hands gripping a massive purple axe that had materialized before it, the puppet swung the weapon in a sweeping arc of purple luminescence and brought it crashing down upon the black barrier.
Booming impacts rolled forth in rapid succession, countless axe-images striking the same spot on the barrier simultaneously.
The white-haired woman, meanwhile, only poured even more power into the blood blade in her hands, performing no other technique.
*Riiip!*
Though this layer of the barrier was wondrously powerful, under the combined assault of so many Body Integration stage cultivators, it was forcibly torn open — a gaping hole over a dozen zhang in diameter.
The edges of the rift flickered with light, already trying to close back up, but that brief delay was more than enough for the demon kings.
"Good! I'll fix the entrance in place with a secret art!" Six-Limb cried in delight. He flicked his hand, sending eight orbs of blue light shooting outward, which rapidly expanded.
They were actually eight pale blue pillar-like artifacts, and all of them plunged straight into the rift.
An incredible sight unfolded.
The blue light flashed, and the rift transformed into a square corridor. Its four walls were lined with smooth blue crystal, as though they had been embedded in the barrier all along.
"Fellow Daoists, I'll be going ahead!" Six-Limb laughed and transformed into a streak of black radiance that spiraled and shot through the entrance.
The two blood-robed men exchanged a glance, and suddenly one of them leaped down from the Purple Blood Puppet to the ground below.
The other stamped a single foot against the puppet.
The Purple Blood Puppet rapidly shrank to a size of several zhang, and after a few flickers, it entered the black barrier along with the remaining blood-robed man.
For reasons known only to them, one of the pair had been left outside.
The white-haired woman stared in brief surprise.
On the other side, Mu Qing swept her long sleeves in every direction. Countless motes of light flew in from all around and vanished into her sleeves one after another. She had retracted every formation she had laid down without leaving a trace.
"Sister Lan, are you still planning to bring your two disciples inside? Even though the Nether Lightning Beast has been lured out, who knows what other dangers lurk within? Their cultivation is so poor — it would be a shame if they perished in there. Surely you wouldn't want all your efforts to go to waste! Jin Ling, you stay out here." Mu Qing flashed a smile at the white-haired woman as she offered her warning, then gave Jin Ling a brief instruction before her feet bloomed with golden light and she flew inside.
Jin Ling bowed slightly, and true to his word, remained standing in place without moving.
The white-haired woman's brows furrowed. She cast a glance at Yuan Yao and Yan Li, who were standing frozen off to the side, then let out a cold laugh and muttered to herself:
"Leaving them out here would put me even more at ease. You two — follow me in!"
She formed a hand seal with one hand, instantly releasing a swirl of murky gray yin wind that enveloped both herself and the two women, then swept them all howling into the rift.
In the blink of an eye, only a handful of people remained outside.
"I suppose we few will stand guard out here for a while. If all goes well, they should return with the Divine Milk before long," the remaining blood-robed man said suddenly, turning to Jin Ling.
"This junior hopes so as well. Matters out here will depend on you, Senior," Jin Ling replied with remarkable deference.
"Heh heh — are you perhaps wondering whether I am the true Di Xue, or merely an avatar?" The blood-robed man's eyes flashed, and he let out a short chuckle.
"Senior jests. Master once said that Senior Di Xue cultivates the great art of One Soul Division — both can be considered Di Xue's true body, and both can be considered avatars," Jin Ling answered calmly, his simian face shifting expressionlessly.
"Fairy Mu certainly knows quite a lot about this old man's affairs!" The blood-robed man started at Jin Ling's words, then let out a hearty laugh, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.
Besides the two of them, three high-ranking demon creatures remained outside. All three had already taken human form and were standing docilely a short distance away.
The blood-robed man's gaze passed over them, and he was just about to speak when his pupils suddenly contracted. His hand shot up like lightning, and without the slightest warning, he clawed at a patch of empty air nearby.
A blood-red giant hand materialized above the void, drenched in a foul stench, swelling to the size of an acre before tearing downward.
*BOOM!*
A flash of silver light erupted from the void, slicing the blood-red hand clean in two.
Then a figure flickered into view within the silver light — a person clad in blood-red armor, gazing at the blood-robed man and the others with a perfectly expressionless face.
It was a Blood Armor Puppet!
"The Mayfly Race?" Jin Ling blurted in surprise.
"Be careful! This is no ordinary Blood Armor Puppet — it's been possessed by a member of the Mayfly Race, a high-level existence!" the blood-robed man beside him warned, inwardly shaken.
The attack just now had been no great feat of power, but the ease with which the opponent had dispelled it was genuinely unexpected.
He narrowed both eyes and fixed his gaze on the blurry silver light.
The silver radiance was extraordinarily brilliant — even with his keen eyesight, he could not make out its details. A nameless sense of alarm stirred within him, and he stared unblinkingly at the silver glow, not daring to shift his gaze for even an instant.
Jin Ling heard the blood-robed man's warning and, upon seeing such a grave expression on his face, felt a chill run through him as well. His eyes blazed with golden light as he looked over.
The silver radiance that even the blood-robed man could not perceive clearly became perfectly distinct under the spirit ape's divine Spirit Eye ability.
Within the silver luminescence, a pale silver dragon coiled and churned in magnificent display.
"This is..."