Cultivating with Top Enlightenment Chapter 820 - 346: Blood Slaughter Array

Time slipped away quietly, and the duration remained unknown; even the Saint Ancestor grew restless.

With a clap of his hands, a phantom flickered into existence behind him, bowing in a disciple’s traditional greeting.

"Teacher."

The Saint Ancestor stroked his goatee and inquired, "Has Ning Qi surfaced yet?"

The phantom shook his head, replying, "Teacher, our scouts have been stationed outside the Boundary Wall for an age, yet there is zero movement."

"Have you failed to utilize your senses to probe the other realms?"

The phantom seemed struck by a sudden realization at this prompt.

"My apologies, Teacher. Your disciple was slow-witted and neglected this possibility."

With that, he closed his eyes slightly, his presence shifting into a state of profound neutrality.

The entire Vast Realm seemed to tremor under the weight of his focused might, sweeping across the expanse of the battle realm.

Within the heart of the battlefield, a resonance met his probe, mirroring the power and funneling every signal back to their origin.

Moments later, the phantom opened his eyes, his voice laced with the trepidation of a student who had blundered.

"Teacher, the fault is entirely mine for my oversight. Ning Qi has long since led his forces across the domains, but he diverted his path to the Northern Battle Realm!"

From the perspective of the Vast Realm, this location was diametrically opposed to that of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

The Saint Ancestor paused, his hand frozen on his beard as he turned to face him.

"Do you mean that youth leaped across a major domain to arrive in the Northern Battle Realm?"

"Indeed!"

The Saint Ancestor’s demeanor grew remarkably complex.

He was a man of meticulous foresight, never underestimating an enemy regardless of their cultivation level.

He held firmly to the principle that a lion must use its full strength to capture even a rabbit, pursuing this philosophy with obsessive dedication.

Yet, despite his elaborate traps, Ning Qi had managed to slip through the cracks.

It was as if a master hunter had secured the perfect snare on his prey’s trail, only for the prey to effortlessly choose a different path entirely.

The Saint Ancestor felt a surge of frustration; he had believed his vigilance toward Ning Qi was sufficient, yet it was clear he had underestimated the youth's own contingencies.

Logically, Ning Qi should have been under the direct orders of the Mountain Ancestor, the Sea Ancestor, and the Will of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

Through the data harvested by the Vast Realm Will, the Saint Ancestor had long analyzed the temperaments of the powerful figures within the Mountain and Sea Realm.

They were notoriously boastful of their achievements. After Ning Qi claimed two minor domains in the Northwestern Battle Realm, how could they possibly permit him to forgo the third? It should have been an impossible choice!

The Saint Ancestor let out a sudden, dry chuckle. "Intriguing!"

There could be only one explanation.

Ning Qi must have influenced the others, convincing them to allow a seemingly minor figure like himself to traverse a major domain.

"Very well, Ning Qi, pray that your luck holds in our next encounter!"

...

In the central hub of the Upper Southern Domain, six distinct armies had converged, locked in a ferocious clash.

The strength of the cultivators from both realms was remarkably balanced, with mid-level Spirit Domain armies facing off in brutal parity.

Leading the three-domain force for the Mountain and Sea Realm was a formidable cultivator known as Jiang Yuyue.

Some whispered of him as the Demon King.

Serving under the Sea Ancestor, he held the title of Domain Master of the Fish Dragon Domain.

True to his legacy, Jiang Yuyue was a colossal demon who had ascended by leaping over the Dragon Gate as a carp, ultimately transforming into a red dragon.

The Sea Ancestor governed the four seas of the Mountain and Sea Realm, commanding a significant portion of Human Race cultivators alongside a Demon Race contingent that comprised nearly half his forces.

Most were born from the coastal waters or land-dwelling demons rejected by the mainland.

Accompanying Jiang Yuyue were two other noteworthy figures.

One was Ren Boping from the Haihuang Domain, a muscular warrior with flowing hair who wielded a heavy trident and wore lightweight armor.

Beside him was a demon whose appearance was deceptively innocent and alluring; she featured the elegant upper body of a Saintess but possessed the tail of a fish or snake—a rare siren demon king named Lang Yingying, hailing from the Whirlpool Domain.

These two elite demon kings and their leader spearheaded the three-domain force, locked in a desperate stalemate with the Vast Realm army.

Lang Yingying manipulated a vibrant conch Spiritual Treasure, releasing a melody that drifted across the battlefield, shrouding all it touched.

Under its influence, the Vast Realm soldiers drifted into a languid, dreamlike sleep, rendering them helpless.

In those moments, the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators surged forward, reaping lives by the dozens.

Ren Boping swung his trident, the weapon expanding to a thousand feet in length and spinning violently into the enemy ranks; had the opposing commander not been exceptionally brave, the casualties would have been catastrophic.

As for Jiang Yuyue, he unveiled his true form—a fire-breathing dragon with crimson scales, vomiting torrents of flame like an underwater volcano erupting into the void.

Driven by their leaders, the three-domain coalition fought with unrelenting ferocity.

However, their counterparts from the Vast Realm were equally lethal.

Their primary commander possessed a Shura-like visage, sporting a natural red mask of flesh, his skin covered in densely packed, blood-colored scales that exuded a murderous aura.

Another commander sprouted dark, leathery bat wings from his back; his wild hair and thunderous voice allowed him to unleash lightning strikes that crackled through the void.

The third commander appeared as an ordinary human, yet he possessed gray-white eyes that seemed to strip the very soul from anyone foolish enough to meet his gaze.

The six commanders danced through the melee, turning the void into a hellish landscape of blood and gore.

Neither side entertained the thought of retreating, their spirits clouded by a blinding, primal fury.

As the pile of corpses grew ever larger, the pooling blood began to coalesce into a sinister, rhythmic pattern.

Abruptly, a crimson glow bathed the entire battlefield.

Across the ground, a gargantuan, blood-red eye seemed to iris open, fixed upon the warring cultivators.

Eerie black chains materialized within the bloody light, vibrating with a grating, metallic screech that chilled the marrow to the bone.

"Clang! Clang!"

Panic surged through the ranks of both sides, the soldiers recoiling as if faced with the end of the world.

"Who dared to trigger this blood massacre array?" Ren Boping bellowed.

To his bewilderment, the Shura-faced commander opposite him cried out, "Such a sinful art—which of you is responsible for this?"

The mutual confusion caused a momentary ceasefire; the eerie silence of the blood-drenched field replaced the clamor of war.

Both armies scrambled to flee the expanding light of the trap.

It was in vain. The corpses were being devoured by the void itself, feeding the array and trapping everyone inside a massive, pulsating sphere of crimson.

As the soldiers stared out from their prison, they were shocked to see a fresh, identical army surrounding the outer rim of the blood sphere.

This force had been silent and elusive, waiting until the heat of battle peaked to drop their trap and reveal themselves.

"Who goes there?"

Sword Ancestor, Qi Keqing, and the others looked on as a figure in pure white robes materialized before them.

His attire remained untouched by the surrounding carnage, a beacon of purity in the sea of gore.

The Sword Ancestor arched an eyebrow. "Ning, is this not overkill? And does this not look like a foul technique of the Demon Path?"

Ning Qi responded with calm indifference, "What constitutes Demon or Righteous paths? We simply repurposed the residual chaos. When balanced against our actions, look at them—are they not the true evil spirits in this dynamic?"

Qi Keqing and her companions studied the figures trapped inside the sphere and slowly nodded in agreement.