“This underground palace, like others in Crimson Moon City, is filled with a dense, lingering stench of blood. The ground has formed into yin soil, clearly a place of constant slaughter. The people brought here, besides cultivators, are mortals with spiritual roots and vigorous blood, likely intended as sacrificial offerings,” Han Li explained, his expression grave.

“Gongshu Hong cultivates the Law of Blood. Could this method be so sinister that it requires the blood of living beings to cultivate?” Jiao Shiliu asked, somewhat astonished.

“If that's the case, why don't they initiate the blood sacrifice immediately? Why go through another selection process?” Jiao Jiu questioned, half in disbelief.

“My guess is that they first select those with superior cultivation aptitude to nurture them into the high-ranking cultivators in blood robes, to be used by Gongshu Hong. To prevent them from leaking secrets, they probably placed some kind of restriction on their souls. As for the remaining people… I fear the real sacrifice will begin once the selection is complete,” Han Li replied thoughtfully.

“Judging by this situation, there should still be some time. Enough for us to capture this person and leave,” Jiao Jiu glanced at the dwarfish Loose Immortal and said through voice transmission.

However, no sooner had he spoken than a buzzing sound erupted around them.

A bizarre scene unfolded!

Blood-colored纹路 (wenlu), crisscrossing like spiderwebs, suddenly appeared on the surrounding walls, instantly covering them all.

After a flash, these blood-colored纹路 (wenlu) bloomed like flowers, revealing numerous faintly glowing blood-red eyes. They writhed like living things, looking extremely eerie and sending chills down one's spine.

Everyone was bathed in a blood-red light, and the surrounding air filled with a blood stench ten times stronger.

Inside the underground space, many people began to show fear on their faces as they witnessed the scene.

Jiao Jiu opened his mouth, about to say something.

Another "嗡" (weng) sound echoed around them. The blood-red eyes suddenly blazed with intense light, and beams of blood shot out from them, as dense as rain, engulfing the entire underground space, leaving no room to dodge.

Each beam of blood emitted waves of inexplicable law power.

Han Li and the two Jiaos were shocked.

Although they didn't know what the blood was, it was clearly not something beneficial.

Without hesitation, Han Li activated his thoughts, and a layer of crystal-clear light film appeared on the surface of his skin.

At the same time, he waved his hand, summoning a yellow circular mirror and a cyan 如意 (ruyi) scepter, which instantly transformed into yellow and cyan halos, enveloping his body.

These two magical treasures were obtained from Tuha, the Great Ascension stage Han Crystal Clan cultivator he had killed. He had casually refined them and carried them on his person.

Jiao Jiu reacted equally quickly, forming hand seals, and layers of blue water ripples appeared around him, enveloping his body and protecting him completely.

Jiao Shiliu waved his hand and summoned a cyan umbrella. As it spun above his head, dazzling cyan light threads descended from the umbrella surface, forming a cyan sphere that enveloped his body.

“How could this be? The time hasn’t arrived yet…” A look of astonishment flashed in the eyes of the dwarfish Loose Immortal as he saw the blood-red eyes appear, but countless beams of blood shot towards him.

His body trembled, seemingly very afraid of these beams of blood. He opened his mouth and spat out a blood banner, which spun rapidly, then instantly transformed into a layer of blood-colored light barrier, protecting his body.

The beams of blood flying from the surrounding eyes were extremely fast, instantly falling on everyone in the space.

The magical treasure light around Han Li and the others was virtually useless. With a flash, the blood easily penetrated everyone's defenses and entered their bodies.

Han Li's expression changed drastically, and his spiritual sense immediately swept through his body.

But the strange blood disappeared without a trace as soon as it entered his body, causing his heart to sink.

“砰砰…砰砰…” (Peng peng… Peng peng…)

At that moment, a strange vibration suddenly rang in Han Li's ears.

His heart, for some reason, suddenly began to beat violently out of control, and it was getting faster and faster!

The blood flow in his body also accelerated several times, and his meridians became extremely hot. The mana in his Dantian was also affected by the heartbeat and began to become unstable.

Jiao Jiu and Jiao Shiliu also exclaimed, their situation clearly the same as Han Li's.

"What is this thing!"

"I feel terrible..."

"I can't take it anymore..."

"Ah!"

A series of muffled sounds, mixed with shrill screams, came from all directions.

Han Li and the others looked up.

They saw the bodies of the surrounding mortals and low-level cultivators being hit by the blood, their skin immediately turning blood-red and trembling.

Then, with a "砰" (peng) sound, their bodies directly swelled and burst open, turning into streams of viscous blood mist.

In just a few breaths, hundreds of thousands of people around them burst open, turning into countless blood mists that filled the entire underground space.

The blood-red eyes blinked, and the blood mist in the space quickly gathered, condensing into patches of blood clouds. The originally crowded underground space became empty, and the field of vision became clear.

Far from Han Li and the others, four figures stood, their bodies also shrouded in various colors of light. It was Jiao Ba and his group.

They had infiltrated this place at some point.

Jiao Jiu and Jiao Shiliu were slightly happy to see this.

In any case, encountering fellow travelers in this bizarre situation was always encouraging. Seven True Immortals working together could always find a way to resolve the scene before them.

Han Li quickly scanned the blood clouds in the air, his heart sinking. His whole body emitted cyan light, desperately circulating the mana in his body, while also performing some secret techniques to try to calm the changes in his body.

Unfortunately, no matter what means he used, he could not improve the situation in his body in the slightest. The frequency of his heartbeat was getting faster and faster.

An invisible force appeared in his body, moving towards his heart.

His body, however, was the opposite, filled with another force, expanding rapidly.

A layer of strange blood-red appeared on his skin, but the color was extremely faint.

Han Li's heart stirred, and the scene of the mortals and low-level cultivators bursting open flashed in his mind.

At the same time, Jiao Jiu and Jiao Shiliu, and even Jiao Ba and the others in the distance, also had a layer of strange blood-red appearing on their skin.

But to their surprise, even the purple-robed dwarf on the high platform had the same situation, his expression twisted, appearing somewhat painful.

But at this moment, they naturally had no time to care about this person.

At this moment, the situation was clear.

They thought they had successfully infiltrated, but they had already been discovered by Gongshu Hong, who had used a trick to trap them in this underground space. And in order to make everything seem seamless, he seemed to be preparing to sacrifice even this Loose Immortal subordinate.

While pondering, the surrounding blood-red eyes continued to blink, and beams of blood continued to shoot out.

Although everyone tried their best to dodge, they were still constantly hit by the blood.

Each time a beam of blood entered their body, a strange law force would invade their body, and the frequency of their heartbeat would increase sharply.

In a few breaths, everyone present showed pain on their faces, their hearts tumbling in their chests like thunder, as if they were about to jump out of their bodies.

Among the seven, perhaps the one who was still in a good situation was Han Li. He had already cultivated the True Fiend Body, and his whole body was indestructible, and so was his heart, which was far more resilient than ordinary cultivators.

Although his heart was beating faster and faster, he could still withstand it.

Jiao Jiu's face was gloomy. At this moment, the mana on his body was no longer concealed. He muttered words, and countless blue runes flew out from his body, densely woven and condensed into a thin shield.

Although this shield looked thin, the surface water light flowed, emitting waves of strong Law of Water power.

The blood flying from the surrounding area struck the blue shield, although it could still penetrate easily, it was obviously greatly offset.

"So that's how it is, the Law of Blood can only be resisted by the Law of Water..." Han Li thought to himself as he saw this scene.

Although Han Li and Jiao Jiu temporarily seemed to be fine, Jiao Shiliu's situation was quite bad.

At this moment, although he had used all his means, his body, covered by several layers of light barriers, was slightly swollen, his skin as red as blood, and blood was constantly seeping from his facial features.

"This place is not suitable to stay for long, let's find a way to leave here first!" Jiao Jiu shouted in a deep voice, his body enveloped in blue light, shooting towards the sky.

Jiao Shiliu immediately followed without saying a word.

Han Li was least affected by these beams of blood, but this place was too strange, and he naturally didn't want to stay here to be calculated, so he immediately followed.

Jiao Ba and the others in the distance obviously thought of something, and their bodies also emitted遁光 (dunguang) together.

In mid-air, Jiao Jiu waved his arm sharply, and a water-blue flying knife flew out of his hand, instantly transforming into a blue giant knife more than ten zhang long, emitting a rumbling wind and thunder sound, and fiercely chopped on the stone wall at the top of the space.

However, the moment the blue giant knife touched the wall of the underground space, an accident occurred!

A large amount of blood appeared from the wall without warning, forming a blood-colored light curtain, with countless runes hidden inside, swirling up and down.

With a "铛" (dang) loud sound!

The blue giant knife was like splitting on gold and stone. The blood-colored light curtain was unharmed, not even flashing, as stable as a mountain.

Jiao Jiu's face changed!

Rumble!

At that moment, a loud rumbling sound came.

A triangular black cone wrapped in black light flew out from Jiao Shiliu's body not far away.

Jiao Shiliu's eyes showed anxiety, and he spat out a mouthful of essence blood, which disappeared into the black cone in a flash.

The black cone suddenly emitted a great light and spun rapidly. Countless tiny runes appeared on the surface, and black lightning like snakes wrapped around it, emitting earth-shattering thunder.

Wherever the black lightning touched, the void vibrated violently, and even cracks appeared.

(Three chapters finished, three more tomorrow! Fellow Daoists, don't forget to vote for a monthly ticket to support Wang Yu^^)