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According to many, the great calamity that had devastated the continent in the past had been caused by a hidden force beyond the great mountain chain, within the frozen lands.
And while they were not wrong to think so, what they did not know was that the truth went far beyond that.
First of all, the very source of the calamity, the titanic being that had corrupted nearly all of the frozen lands, should never have been there in the first place.
Very few knew that it had been planted there deliberately, for a precise reason, to draw out a particular individual.
That individual was none other than Zhu Rong.
He had not been continuously targeted by the fury of the heavens because of his own actions, but because of what the being he originated from had done.
That being had defied the very will of the heavens, and those who stood behind them.
Soone the heavens had tried to erase countless tis throughout the long lifespan of this entire universe.
Only after a long and terrifying battle, one that led to the destruction of entire worlds, small and great alike, did they finally manage to strike a decisive blow against that entity.
As a result, its soul was split apart, its fragnts scattered across different parts of the universe, not because it was forced to, but because it wanted to see just how far the heavens were willing to go to erase it completely.
It was an existence that embodied everything the heavens despised, one that stood directly against them. That was why they never ceased hunting it down.
This was sothing all those born from those soul fragnts instinctively knew. It was engraved into them, and once they awakened the powers tied to their fragnt, they would naturally co to understand everything.
This was also why the old Zhu Rong knew it was impossible for two fragnts to exist within the sa world.
And yet, here it was.
It was clear that the other fragnt was working with soone, with the sole aim of luring him out and eliminating him.
That fact was further confird by everything that had happened during the great calamity.
Even the reinforcents sent down by the heavens to deal with the disaster had not been ant to eliminate its source, but to eliminate Zhu Rong, once his position had been confird.
He uncovered all of this when the divine weapon in Lin Xian's possession chose to act, forcing the two of them into direct confrontation.
All of this led to his defeat back then, but he still managed to suppress the contamination from the other soul fragnt.
That was when he realized he needed to prepare himself.
Especially after realizing that his enemies were not limited to the other soul fragnt alone, but also included beings from a higher plane of existence, specifically, one directly connected to the world he was in.
In the plane of existence above the one where the Hanxu Continent currently resided, there were nurous powerful factions. Each of them possessed enough strength to wipe out this small world of a lower plane, which in their eyes was no different from the land of mortals.
Among these many factions, three stood above the rest:
The Crimson Lotus Sect
The Verdant Fang Clan
The Ebon Star Assembly
Three supre powers, all serving under a single overarching authority.
The Celestial Court.
It had ruled the higher planes for countless eons, its origins tracing back to ancient, forgotten tis. And yet, despite the passage of ti, it remained firmly at the apex, maintaining absolute dominance over all subordinate factions.
The three individuals who had descended from their plane were among the most prominent figures within their respective factions, beings whose talent and cultivation level surpassed many others.
They were existences that would never have imagined stepping into such a remote place unless it had been absolutely necessary. After all, every plane of existence had its own rules, and one of those rules concerned the level of power its inhabitants could wield.
Their cultivation bases were restricted to the Spirit Realm here, a limitation they could break if they wished. But doing so would result in the destruction of this small world, sothing they could not afford if they wished to avoid punishnt from above.
Even so, as far as they knew, their power alone would have been more than enough to deal with their objective,
or so they thought.
Zhu Rong's intensive preparations had led him to this mont. And now that it had finally arrived, he had no intention of letting any of them leave.
The divine looking woman standing to Zhu Rong's left was the first to speak.
"To think we would be discovered by you… truly unexpected. But that's fine.
Even if you returned earlier than anticipated, there is little you can do now, Blood Demon," she said, her voice soft, like a gentle caress.
Zhu Rong showed no concern at her words. His expression remained composed as he looked at her.
"You certainly seem very confident," he said calmly, a clear hint of mockery in his voice. "But do you really think that just the few of you are enough to deal with ?"
His words seed to provoke irritation in all three of them, yet none responded. It was as if they did not consider him worthy of further words. And indeed, they wasted no ti in acting.
"Whether we can or not, you will see soon enough.
We have already wasted enough ti and resources in this plane just to capture you," the woman's voice echoed once more, her words cold and dismissive.
"It is ti for you to perish. You may try to resist, but you will fail, just as you did last ti."
The mont her words fell, violent fluctuations of energy erupted, surging outward from all of them at once and expanding in every direction, engulfing the surrounding area in an instant.
It was clear they had decided to take the battle elsewhere, into one of their domains.
If they were to fight here, they would risk severely damaging this small world, and in doing so, angering the plane of existence itself.
Though they had the ans to endure such backlash, it was not sothing any of them wished to do, knowing the price they would have to pay.
The space around them began to warp as the five figures vanished from their original position.
As this happened, the woman could not help but notice that Zhu Rong showed no sign of resistance.
He did not seem worried in the slightest.
This surprised her, given the temperant he had displayed so far. But she soon cald herself, assuming he had simply accepted his fate.
Unfortunately for her, things were not so simple, and it did not take long for her to realize it.
Her expression darkened, as did those of the other two, as they felt their spiritual connection to their plane of existence being severed by an external force.
"Who dares?!" one of them roared in fury.
Yet no matter how hard he searched, he could not detect the force behind it.
He expanded his domain across tens of thousands of kiloters in every direction, trying to sense even the smallest trace of the interfering being, or the remnants of the severed spiritual link.
What he found instead filled him with horror.
An invisible restriction in space itself blocked his spiritual senses, preventing him from expanding beyond a certain point.
Judging from the expressions of the other two, they were facing the sa situation.
Even the demonic tree, caught within their domain and transported along with them, felt its own spiritual connection severed, finding itself in the sa situation.
The only one who did not seem panicked was Zhu Rong.
On the contrary, a smile appeared on his face, and an intense gleam shone in his eyes as they took on a deep crimson hue, glowing brightly.
That sight sent chills down the spines of the three, though they did not understand why. They only knew it was connected to him.
And they were right.
Only, he was far from finished with them.
Before any of the three could act, Zhu Rong released a powerful surge of energy, unleashing his own domain.
"Crimson Eclipse."
His voice echoed, distorted yet clear.
The already warping space around them seed to freeze for a brief mont, before twisting even more violently than before.
The three understood instantly.
Zhu Rong's domain had covered theirs, overlapping and engulfing them completely, leaving no escape.
The shock was indescribable.
Even with their power restrained, the strength of their domains should not have been limited in the sa way. There should have been no way for sothing like this to happen.
And yet, it did.
Soon, they felt the intensity of spatial energy surge to its limit, and not long after, all five vanished from that space.
They were directly teleported elsewhere.
A place completely different from before.
Different in every way.
A bleak, suffocating air perated everything, thick with death and blood, so heavy it felt almost tangible.
Below them stretched an infinite crimson sea, still and silent, its surface reflecting a cold, unnatural light.
All around them, even the void itself seed corrupted.
Within the vast, dark expanse stood enormous, spike like structures resembling crosses, scattered without any apparent order. Impaled upon them were what seed to be the remains of strange beings, colossal forms, so even larger than the others.
All were horribly mutilated, unrecognizable, yet still emanating ancient and overwhelmingly powerful auras despite having long since lost their lives.
Even in death, their presence weighed heavily upon the environnt.
Looking up, the sky was shrouded in thick crimson clouds, blocking all light.
Yet, suspended at the center of that corrupted firmant, a full blood red moon shone with blinding intensity, casting its light across everything below.
And that was when they saw him.
At the center of that light, Zhu Rong hovered in the air, his body motionless, his gaze fixed upon them.
His eyes were cold, devoid of emotion, and the crimson glow within them was even more intense than the moon itself.
At that mont, his figure resembled that of a god of death, distant, absolute.
Beside him stood a woman.
Her beauty was unsettling. A thin veil covered the upper part of her face, leaving only her chin, lips, and nose visible. Her lips curved into a faint, knowing smile, as though she were watching a scene whose outco had long been decided.
She had done her part, isolating the three completely and giving Zhu Rong the opportunity to act. Now, all that remained for her was to step aside and enjoy the spectacle about to unfold.
The three below felt a deep unease rise within their hearts.
It shocked them.
Beings of their level were not easily intimidated, and yet that was exactly what they were feeling.
Worse still, the domain itself was strange, utterly different from those they were used to fighting within.
It felt dead, yet at the sa ti brimming with life.
A contradiction.
And as if that were not enough,
The aura emanating from the figure suspended above was deep and oppressive, unlike anything they had ever felt before.
And more disturbingly, it continued to rise without end.
Soon, behind that figure in the sky, they began to see a shape taking form.
Tall, perhaps five ters, perhaps more, it erged slowly, as though carved directly from the energy surrounding it.
The body was slender yet incredibly defined, solid muscles visible across its bare chest, brimming with restrained power. Its limbs were unnaturally long, arms and legs stretching with almost unreal proportions, fingers extending into thin, razor-sharp claws.
Tattered, worn bandages wrapped around its arms, floating gently as if unaffected by the laws of this place, trailing down toward its knees and accentuating its predatory appearance.
Where a face should have been, there was nothing recognizable.
No human features.
No expression.
Except for one thing.
A mouth.
Curved upward into an unnaturally wide smile, revealing rows of sharp teeth that glead beneath its lips, as if savoring the mont.
Zhu Rong had condensed his main Nascent Soul.
And with it, he had sealed the fate of the four figures below.
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