Chapter 680
Cultivation Level Plummets
In the starry sky.
A solitary continent lies deep in the void, its surface undulating with mountains and crisscrossed by rivers and seas, originally teeming with spiritual energy and vibrant life.
This place was once a paradise for many cultivators, with numerous sects and dynasties rising and falling. The strongest among them was a being known as the Celestial Saint, who wielded the Dao of Stars and was awe-inspiring in all directions.
However, now...
This continent has been completely transformed into a desolate wasteland.
The once prosperous city has been reduced to ruins, the verdant mountains are covered in gray, the rivers have dried up, and the air is filled with a nauseating stench of blood and decay.
In the center of the continent, the once most majestic Tianxing Sacred Mountain has collapsed, leaving behind shockingly large claw marks on its body, as if it had been ravaged by some indescribable terrifying being.
The head of the Celestial Saint was severed and carelessly discarded on the ruins of the altar atop the mountain.
It was a head as large as a house, with white hair and beard, an aged face yet still dignified, its eyes wide with rage, its pupils frozen with the extreme terror it had seen before its death.
His mouth was slightly open, as if he wanted to shout something, but he was frozen in that moment forever.
Not only his head, but also the mortal body of the Celestial Saint lay a hundred feet away. The saint's body, which was originally as smooth as jade and shimmering with starlight, was now withered like dead wood, with his skin clinging to his bones, forming strange wrinkles.
His chest was ripped open, his heart disappeared, and all 365 major acupoints on his body were pierced. All the essence of his holy blood and bones, cultivated over many years, was completely drained, leaving not a drop.
This is not an isolated case.
Looking across the entire continent, corpses littered the land.
Sect elders, dynasty emperors, aristocratic patriarchs, rogue cultivators... countless cultivators, regardless of their cultivation level, gender, or age, were all spared.
Their deaths were exactly the same as those of the Celestial Saint.
His life essence was completely drained, and his body was shriveled like a mummy, his face frozen in terror and despair.
Many people maintained their escape posture, but lost their lives halfway through.
Some huddled together in formation, but the formation's protective shield shattered, and everyone was simultaneously drained of their energy.
Some even attempted to self-destruct to stop the enemy, but the energy from their self-destruction was forcibly swallowed up by that strange force.
Not a single life survived on the entire continent.
Birds and beasts, flowers and trees, even insects hidden deep underground—everything that contains the essence of life was plundered by that invisible and greedy force.
The spiritual energy channels of the continent were violently severed, the earth's veins dried up, and the very essence of the stars was damaged. This once vibrant star continent has now become a giant tomb in the starry sky.
Meanwhile, a bizarre scene is unfolding in the sky above the continent.
The essence and blood extracted from billions of living beings did not dissipate, but instead, under the pull of some evil force, gathered into a river high in the sky.
It was a blood-red river, hundreds of miles wide and thousands of miles long, with viscous blood churning and surging within it, emitting a pungent, sweet, and foul stench that sent chills down one's spine.
In the river of blood, countless distorted faces could be vaguely seen appearing, wailing, and disappearing—the unwilling cries of the remnants of the dead.
The River of Blood was not still; it rotated slowly as if it were alive, eventually converging into a massive blood cocoon about a hundred feet in diameter at the top of the sky directly above the continent.
The surface of the blood cocoon was covered with dark red veins that beat rhythmically like a heart, each beat causing the remaining energy of the entire continent to tremble. Thick blood flowed and congealed on the surface of the blood cocoon.
Ultimately, it transformed into a dark red, solidified shell, as hard as divine iron, exuding an eerie yet powerful life force.
The blood cocoon floated in mid-air, as if held up by an unseen giant hand, or as if it had formed some kind of strange symbiotic relationship with this desolate continent.
It greedily absorbed the last remaining energy of the continent, even extracting the lingering soul power and resentment from the corpses, turning them into nourishment for itself.
The sun rises and the moon sets, the stars revolve.
In this desolate starry sky, time seems to have lost its meaning.
I don't know how much time has passed—maybe three to five days, maybe dozens of days—the pulsation frequency on the surface of the blood cocoon suddenly intensified!
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A deep, resonant sound, like the beating of a giant drum, emanated from within the blood cocoon, shaking the void, and causing the ruins of the continent below to tremble in the rhythm.
The dark red veins on the surface of the blood cocoon burst forth with an eerie blood-red light, which grew brighter and brighter until it illuminated the entire starry sky in a blood-red hue!
"Snap—"
A faint cracking sound was heard.
On the surface of the blood cocoon, a crack spreads from the top, rapidly expanding throughout the entire cocoon like a spider web.
A blinding blood light burst forth from the crack, and the extremely dense bloody aura and eerie pressure swept in all directions like a tsunami!
Boom!!!
The blood cocoon shattered completely!
Countless dark red fragments scattered like meteors, then dissipated into a bloody mist in the air.
At the shattered core, the blood mist swirled and contracted like a vortex, eventually coalescing into a humanoid silhouette.
The blood mist gradually dissipated.
A cultivator dressed in black robes, with a face so handsome it was almost otherworldly, stepped out from the center of the blood mist.
He was tall and slender, with black hair cascading down to his waist, skin as pale as jade, and exquisitely flawless features. His deep eyes were dark purple, and deep within his pupils seemed to swirl with a vortex of destruction.
The black robe was embroidered with eerie dark gold patterns, which writhed slightly as if they were alive, exuding an unsettling aura.
This person was none other than the Heavenly Punishment God Lord, who had not yet revealed his true form as an evil god.
However, at this moment, his aura was weakened by more than ten thousand times compared to his prime.
The God of Heavenly Punishment lowered his head and looked at his fair and slender hands. He gently clenched his fingers, and a slight ripple appeared in the void, but it was far from the power that used to destroy stars with a wave of his hand.
He closed his eyes and looked inward. In his soul, a hideous "Dao wound" clung to the core like a bone-deep sore.
That was the annihilating sword intent left behind by Gu Qingfeng's Netherworld Heavenly Blade, constantly eroding his divine soul and preventing his injuries from healing.
Even more serious is the decline in cultivation level.
The immense divine power of the half-step immortal realm has now been reduced to almost nothing, barely maintaining the level of the Great Emperor realm.
This long-lost sense of "weakness" made the Heavenly Punishment God feel unfamiliar and frustrated—he couldn't remember how many billions of years it had been since he had experienced this feeling of powerlessness.
"Gu Qingfeng... the Eastern Emperor..."
The God of Heavenly Punishment slowly raised his head, and in his dark purple eyes, suppressed anger and killing intent surged like a volcano.
His voice was low and deep, each word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth, containing boundless hatred.
"This battle... I will remember it!!!"
The sound echoed in the silent starry sky, but no one responded.
Only the millions of corpses below silently testified to what had just happened—in order to recover from his injuries, the Heavenly Punishment God Lord did not hesitate to use forbidden techniques to slaughter all living beings on the continent and refine their essence, blood, and souls, barely managing to stabilize his near-collapsed cultivation at the Great Emperor level.
He paid a heavy price for this battle.
His cultivation at the half-step immortal level was mostly destroyed, his soul was severely damaged, and even the foundation of his Great Dao was shaken.
If he hadn't decisively used a forbidden technique to escape at the crucial moment, he would have already perished under Gu Qingfeng's astonishing blade, his body and soul destroyed.
But as a price, he lost too much.
The God of Heavenly Punishment slowly descended, stepping onto the cracked earth.
Beneath his feet lay the withered corpse of a saint. With a casual kick, the corpse turned to ashes and vanished.
Looking around, the ruins stretched to the horizon, the stench of blood and death thick and heavy.
"Great Emperor Realm..."
The God of Heavenly Punishment muttered to himself, a self-deprecating smile curving his lips.
This level of power was completely foreign to him.
Since stepping into the realm of half-immortality, countless billions of years have passed.
Stars could be created and destroyed in the blink of an eye, and galaxies could be reversed with a breath—that was the level of power he was familiar with. But now, the power flowing through this body was pitifully weak—compared to his prime, he was probably not even as powerful as he could have exhaled back then.
The thought of this made the anger and murderous intent brewing in his chest almost burst forth!
But the next moment, the God of Heavenly Punishment took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed this emotion.
It's not that I don't want revenge.
But in his current state, he has no right to seek revenge.
Gu Qingfeng...
That name was etched into the depths of my soul like a nightmare.
Even at his peak, facing the awe-inspiring Netherworld Heavenly Blade and the unfathomable Netherworld Dao, he could hardly be guaranteed victory, let alone now that his strength has been greatly diminished, leaving him only with the cultivation of a Great Emperor.
Such a difference in strength is far beyond what one could imagine.
"call……"
The Heavenly Punishment God slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, which turned into a blood-red mist and dissipated as soon as it left his body.
He needs to calm down.
Anger and hatred solve nothing; they only cloud reason.
For a fleeting moment, the thought of leaving this immortal secret realm flashed through the mind of the Heavenly Punishment God Lord.
The outside world is an endless immortal realm, vast and boundless. As long as I hide and slowly recover, there will always be a day when I can return to my peak.
But he nipped the idea in the bud as soon as it arose.
Leaving the Immortal Realm isn't necessarily a good thing.
At the entrance to the secret realm of the Endless Immortal Realm, many powerful human beings will surely be on high alert, and the evil god race may not be so docile either.
In his prime, he could ignore all of this and come and go as he pleased.
but now……
A shadow crossed the eyes of the God of Heavenly Punishment.
He knew very well that his enemies were not just humans.
The evil god clan has never been a monolithic entity.
The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, is etched deep within the bloodline of evil gods.
At his peak, he was the supreme God of Heavenly Punishment, whose near-immortality commanded the awe and submission of other evil gods.
But now, he is severely injured, and his strength has plummeted to the Great Emperor realm...
"Ah……"
The God of Heavenly Punishment sneered.
Those "fellow clansmen" who are usually so respectful to him, if they knew his current situation, their first thought would probably not be to rescue him, but rather how to capture and refine him!
Even if the insights gained from the near-immortal realm are merely remnants of memories and Daoist principles, they are supreme treasures to any evil god at the Heavenly Venerable Realm.
If one can refine and absorb it, although one cannot ascend to the half-step immortal realm in one step, at least on the path of cultivation to the Heavenly Venerable realm, there will be no more bottlenecks to speak of, and one may even have the hope of glimpsing the threshold of immortality.
This temptation is enough to make any evil god take the risk.
and so--
"The Immortal Realm cannot be left."
The God of Heavenly Punishment made the decision.
At least, we can't leave now.
Although this immortal realm is dangerous, it is relatively "safe" compared to the outside world where powerful figures from various races gather.
After all, after the previous great battle, the high-end combat power of the evil god clan was almost completely wiped out, and the remaining forces were as frightened as stray dogs.
Although the human race won, it was impossible for them to completely control the entire secret realm.
With his current strength, as long as he carefully hides and avoids the main force of the human race, and then slowly hunts down the native creatures in the secret realm, refines their essence and souls to restore his cultivation... there is a possibility that he may return to his peak.
"Either wait until your cultivation is fully restored, or... wait until the time limit for the secret realm to open ends."
God Lord Tianshu thought to himself.
Every secret realm has rules and restrictions, especially immortal secret realms like this, which must have an opening time limit.
When the time comes, all outsiders will be forcibly expelled by the rules of the secret realm.
At that time, countless cultivators will leave at the same time. In the chaos, you can quietly blend in without attracting any attention.
As for now...
The divine thought of the Heavenly Punishment God spread out, sweeping across the entire continent like an invisible tide.
Saints have fallen, all living beings have perished, spiritual energy has been depleted, and the earth's veins have collapsed... After confirming that no life had survived and that no trace of him had been left behind, he nodded in satisfaction.
In the past month, he has slaughtered more than just this one continent.
Since he narrowly escaped death, he has been wandering around the starry sky, targeting stars where living beings gather.
With his strength at the Great Emperor realm, dealing with these native creatures, whose strongest were no more than Saints, was a piece of cake.
Refining the essence and blood of billions of living beings also allowed him to barely stabilize his injuries and restore his cultivation to the mid-stage of the Great Emperor realm.
But not enough.
Far from enough.
"We need more... more life essence and souls..."
The God of Heavenly Punishment licked his pale lips, his dark purple eyes flashing with a greedy yet cold light.
He took a step forward, his figure merging into the void and disappearing from this desolate star continent.
About an hour after the God of Heavenly Punishment left.
Ripples spread through the void, and a figure draped in a green robe and wearing a star crown stepped out from the space.
This was a human Celestial Venerable, with a gaunt face, eyes like stars, and a body radiating brilliant Dao light—he was none other than a Seven Tribulation Celestial Venerable!
He was originally ordered to patrol the starry sky and wipe out the remnants of the evil god. When he passed through this place, he sensed a strong aura of death and blood, so he came to investigate.
However, upon seeing the scene before him, the Seven Tribulations Celestial Venerable's pupils shrank, and his face instantly darkened.
"This is……"
As his divine sense swept across the land, the desolate scene of the entire continent came into his mind.
Millions of corpses, all with depleted essence and blood, their souls scattered, died in bizarre yet uniform ways.
The Celestial Saint's head glared angrily at the heavens, his eyes wide open in death. The continent's spiritual energy was depleted, and the earth's veins collapsed, turning it into a desolate wasteland.
"Who on earth dares to commit such an act of extermination!"
Anger flashed in the eyes of the Human Race Celestial Venerable.
Slaughtering living beings to cultivate evil arts is a major taboo in the cultivation world and is intolerable to the righteous path of humanity.
But soon, he sensed the faint yet highly sinister aura lingering in the air.
"No...this aura..."
The Human Celestial Venerable frowned, carefully sensing the surroundings.
Although the aura was faint, almost dissipating, its essence was extremely terrifying, as if it contained some supreme Daoist charm of destruction and devouring.
More importantly, this aura shared the same origin as the power of the evil god race he knew, yet it was purer and more ancient. (End of Chapter)