Time ticked by bit by bit. In the desert, aside from the occasional gust of scorching wind sweeping across the sands, nothing out of the ordinary appeared in any direction.
"Why hasn't he shown up yet? Don't tell me that brat lost his nerve and bolted halfway here." A burly man covered in reddish fur within the light formation finally ran out of patience and sent a voice transmission to a plump, elderly man beside him. "To keep that fiend from detecting us, we didn't send anyone to secretly monitor those two."
"Relax, Brother Cheqi. Since we set this trap, we naturally have full confidence." The plump elder smiled gently and replied via voice transmission. "We don't know why that fiend has been hunting these two so relentlessly for so long, but our prior investigations show he has shown absolutely no sign of letting up. As long as that six-winged mortal has half a brain, luring the fiend here won't be a problem at all."
"Coming from you, that puts my mind at ease." The red-furred man nodded. "But tell me—is that fiend really so powerful? This time, apart from the twelve of us Mahayana cultivators, they've deployed the Heaven and Earth Supreme Grand Formation and even brought out the Blood Bone Sect's supreme treasure, the Yellow Wind Scroll. With that treasure and the grand formation, couldn't they simply refine the fiend alive? Why bother using us as well?"
"This old man isn't entirely certain either. But since the directors have gone to such lengths, there must be good reason. Setting everything else aside, the fact that this fiend single-handedly killed three Mahayana fellow daoists and dared to offer the billions of living beings on the continent to a blood sacrifice—he has every qualification to receive this kind of treatment." The plump elder paused for a moment, then spoke.
"I'm still curious about this person's origins. Where did he come from? Was he perhaps in secluded cultivation somewhere all along, or is he a transplanter from another plane?" The burly man's expression turned thoughtful as he asked.
"There's no point dwelling on that. Regardless of where he comes from, after committing such heaven-condemned atrocities, our great sects absolutely cannot allow him to remain alive. Otherwise, where would our sects' reputations stand? How could we maintain our footing in the Blood Heavens?" The plump elder stroked his somewhat fleshy chin and chuckled.
"That's true enough. But I've heard that Bi Ying of the Helian Trading Alliance, Madam Lingyun of the Myriad Gu Mountain, and Mr. He of Falling Heaven Valley have also been invited to observe this demon-slaying battle. If those three were willing to act, that fiend would have absolutely no chance of survival." The burly man blinked, then suddenly sighed.
"Heh heh. With their status, how could those three ever join forces to fight? Besides, with us here, there'd be no opportunity for them to step in." A faint, peculiar smile crossed the plump elder's face.
The burly man nodded upon hearing this, a contemplative look appearing on his face.
At the same time, in a colossal city whose distance from the desert was impossible to gauge, a golden tower's great hall held four Mahayana ancestors of varying auras standing together, gazing at a hazy white screen of light at the center.
The light screen continuously shifted through various scenes, revealing every corner of the desert.
One of the four Mahayana cultivators—an old man in green robes—was none other than Bi Ying.
The other three were a middle-aged man in scholar's robes, a middle-aged woman draped in a five-colored iridescent mantle, and a hawk-eyed, imposing man in blood-red robes.
All four watched the scenes on the light screen in silence, their expressions remarkably calm, with no intention of speaking to one another.
…
Half a day later, a sharp tearing sound rang out at the edge of the desert. A streak of crystalline light flickered into view and, moving at a terrifying speed close to teleportation, flashed once and plunged straight into the desert.
Almost immediately after, a mass of seven-colored clouds appeared on the horizon as well. From within came a cold, male voice: "You've truly angered me this time. I'm growing tired of this cat-and-mouse game. Today, it ends."
The words had barely faded when a deafening rumble echoed from the seven-colored cloud, and it transformed into a seven-colored arc of lightning that gave chase.
The two—one fleeing, one pursuing—covered nearly half the desert in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, arriving at the center.
Ahead, the crystalline light withdrew. Within the cold gleam, an eight-winged centipede of purest white and a beautiful woman in a silver palace gown appeared.
The enormous centipede rolled on the spot and transformed into a white-robed young man with silver-and-gold spirit patterns imprinted on his face.
His complexion was deathly pale. The instant he materialized, he whipped his head around to look behind him.
A peal of thunder cracked through the void, and a bolt of lightning streaked toward where the two had stopped.
Six Wings' pupils contracted. Instinctively he retreated a step. Behind him, a flash of cold light and eight near-transparent wings materialized once more, and he was about to revert to his giant centipede form to flee again.
At that very moment, a tremendous rumble resounded between heaven and earth. The ground trembled, and an invisible suction force surged upward from deep beneath the earth.
The seven-colored lightning shuddered and was abruptly frozen in midair by this unexpected power. A sickly-looking young man in black robes appeared within it.
It was none other than the descended True Immortal—Ma Liang.
Below in the desert, dense, multicolored pillars of light pierced upward through the grains of sand and shot straight toward the heavens beyond the nine skies.
Amid the shaking earth, a colossal grand formation that stretched beyond the horizon slowly rose from underground. With a burst of hissing sounds, countless Blood Dao disciples materialized within it, immediately forming into an intricate formation pattern. Chanting in unison, they began channeling the formation's power to activate the magical artifacts in their hands.
In the sky, a blinding light suddenly flared. A layer of invisible restriction like gossamer veil flashed and vanished, and an enormous light formation that blanketed the entire sky materialized.
It pressed slowly downward, and a terrifying wave of energy immediately flooded the entire void.
The black-robed young man stood between the two titanic formations. From a distance, he looked like an ant.
At that moment, a figure flickered within the sky formation, and twelve Blood Dao Mahayana cultivators surged out from it. With another blur, they appeared surrounding the black-robed young man on all sides.