On the third floor of the Bronze Blood Hall, a group of battered cultivators fled upward in a panic.
Leading them was a purple-robed elder. His left arm had been severed at the shoulder, and strange, writhing blood threads were visible within the raw wound.
"That bitch from the Divine Wood Sect struck too viciously!" The elder pressed his hand over the stump, his face twisted in a grimace of pain and rage. "Thank the heavens I had a Life-Substitution Spirit Talisman!"
"Hah, what use is complaining now?" Beside him, a burly man with a face full of transverse flesh spat a mouthful of bloody foam. "Just move. That grand array is too strange. Luckily, we reacted fast. In my opinion, everyone left down there is going to die."
"Shut your mouth!"
The only woman in the group cut him off sharply. Half her face was burned into a bloody, mangled mess.
"If you hadn't been so greedy for the key in her hand and insisted on attacking first, would we be in this state? Now look at us! Not only did we miss the opportunity, but we even lost our Natal Treasures on the fourth floor!"
"Bullshit!" the purple-robed elder roared. "Who knew that woman had another top-grade spirit treasure hidden up her sleeve?"
"Enough!"
A white-haired elder, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke. A piercing wound in his chest was gushing blood.
"While those fools on the fourth floor are trapped, we need to leave this place. If we run into other cultivators now, we’ll just be making wedding dresses for someone else."
The group shuddered at the thought and quickened their pace.
The purple-robed elder glanced back at the dark, descending staircase one last time, gnashing his teeth. "She got off easy. I regret not being able to flay her alive myself!"
In the shadows, Shen Xian’s gaze turned glacial.
The "bitch" these people were cursing... was clearly his fiancée, Wei Zhaoli.
She was being besieged?
His heart tightened.
Boom!
Shen Xian burst from the shadows. The Blood Lotus in his dantian bloomed instantly.
The fleeing group had no time to react.
Several crimson blood threads shot out like venomous snakes, latching onto their necks in a split second.
Shen Xian hooked his finger. The threads tightened.
The purple-robed elder tried to summon a defensive artifact, but his eyes widened in horror. He could feel his vital essence draining away at a terrifying speed.
The other four didn't even have time to scream.
In the blink of an eye, they were reduced to five desiccated corpses.
The Blood Lotus greedily devoured their essence. Through the Blood God Scripture, Shen Xian absorbed fragments of their memories, piecing together the full picture.
It turned out Wei Zhaoli wasn't the only one exploring the Bronze Blood Hall. Forces from various factions had gathered here.
These people had fought their way through the first three floors, suffering heavy losses, before finally congregating on the massive plaza of the fourth floor.
The plaza spanned nearly a thousand zhang. Its ground was inscribed with the ancient, complex patterns of the Blood Fiend Grand Array, surrounded by seventy-two bronze coffins.
Murals on the walls revealed that the keys to the fifth floor lay within these coffins.
Chaos had erupted instantly.
Everyone rushed the coffins. Some pried them open, waking the dormant corpse puppets inside. Others carefully dismantled restrictions to find treasures.
Amidst the melee, a dazzling golden light had shot into the sky, illuminating the plaza.
Five Bronze Keys materialized within the light, scattering in different directions.
"Grab the keys!"
The cry had been like a spark in a powder keg.
The fifth floor held the true legacy of the Blood Hall. Over forty Golden Core cultivators charged toward the keys.
One of them "happened" to land in Wei Zhaoli's hand.
A swarm of cultivators attacked her instantly. They coveted the key, but they also lusted after the treasures carried by the Divine Wood Sect's number one beauty.
Wei Zhaoli had been forced to retaliate.
She summoned her White Jade Ruyi, unleashing a water dragon that devastated the first wave of attackers—the very group Shen Xian had just killed.
But her display of power didn't deter the mob. It only fueled their greed. More Golden Core cultivators joined the fray, wounding her.
Then, the Blood Fiend Grand Array activated.
A thick blood mist blanketed the plaza, trapping everyone inside. Only the initial attackers, sensing the shift, had managed to flee to the third floor.
...
Shen Xian finished sorting the memories, his expression darkening.
The array had temporarily paused the mob's frenzy, buying Wei Zhaoli some time, but the situation was critical.
There were still plenty of wolves circling her in the mist. And according to the memories, the corpse puppets from the bronze coffins had fully awakened.
Shen Xian noticed one crucial detail in the memory fragments: before the chaos erupted, someone had secretly manipulated the situation, deliberately guiding the crowd's aggression toward Wei Zhaoli.
"Someone is playing games," Shen Xian thought, a cold light flickering in his eyes.
He swept the corpses and their storage pouches into his own, then shot down the bone staircase like a bolt of lightning.
As he descended, the blood mist grew thicker. The air reeked of nausea-inducing decay.
When he stepped onto the fourth floor, the scene made his pupils contract.
The entire plaza was sealed under a heavy curtain of blood. Countless crimson runes flowed across the barrier, emitting a hair-raising hum.
Dozen of corpses lay scattered on the ground. They were shriveled husks, their blood completely drained.
More disturbingly, a thin layer of bronze substance was spreading over their skin, slowly fusing them with the floor.
"So this is the true power of the Blood Fiend Grand Array..."
Shen Xian narrowed his eyes. A faint red glow rose around him to repel the baleful energy.
He activated the Void Reflecting Spirit Mirror at full power. His Deity Transformation-level consciousness punched through the mist, expanding his sensory range severalfold.
But the plaza was vast. He couldn't locate Wei Zhaoli immediately.
He had to search.
At that moment, in a corner of the plaza.
Wei Zhaoli was surrounded by seven Golden Core cultivators.
Her white robes were stained red. A deep, bone-revealing gash on her left shoulder wept blood continuously. The fiendish energy of the array was gnawing at her spirit, testing her will.
Yet, she stood straight, her posture unyielding.
The White Jade Ruyi in her hand emitted a soft, clear light, forming a fragile barrier around her.
"Bitch! Do you think hiding in this mist will save you?" A hoarse voice sneered from the shadows. "My Tracking Mouse has locked onto your scent!"
"Little wench from the Divine Wood Sect, hand over the treasure!" A gaunt man stepped forward, brandishing a giant axe. "Or I'll make you taste a fate worse than death!"
The seven attackers were all injured, having suffered while crossing the mist, but they had fanned out in a semi-circle, backing Wei Zhaoli against an open bronze coffin.
Two fresh corpses lay at her feet—cultivators she had just slain.
"Despicable," Wei Zhaoli said, her voice cold and steady. "To align yourselves with heretics... do you still claim to be of the righteous path?"
Of the seven, four wore the robes of the Wind Thunder Sect—a member of the Two Sects and Three Teachings. The other two were known evil cultivators.
"Hahaha!" A blue-robed cultivator laughed wildly. "Blame yourself for being too conspicuous! That Bronze Key is the only way to the fifth floor. Who wouldn't want it?"
Wei Zhaoli's expression remained icy.
Her spiritual sense brushed over the Bronze Key in her storage pouch. The key could generate a protective shield and open a path to the fifth floor within this array.
She had tried to activate it when the array first triggered.
But she had only made it halfway before these seven interrupted her.
"Why waste breath on her?" A sinister-looking old woman screeched. "My Bone-Corroding Needles are thirsty! My grandson died at the hands of the Divine Wood Sect. Today, I take payment in blood!"
She was an evil cultivator, currently in a fragile alliance with the Wind Thunder Sect disciples.
"Fellow Daoists!" A seemingly refined cultivator in white robes shouted. "She is at her limit! Let's attack together! Whoever captures her first gets the key!"
The words stoked the flames of greed.
Seven magical treasures lit up simultaneously, their glow piercing the bloody mist.
Wei Zhaoli gritted her teeth, forcing the White Jade Ruyi to flare, but the light was dimming. She was exhausted.
"Let's see how long you last!"
The gaunt man swung his axe. The blade tore through her defense, leaving a fresh bloody streak on her arm.
"When I catch you," he snarled, eyes gleaming with malice, "I'll make you beg for mercy on your knees!"
"I want her Azure Phoenix pendant!"
"And I want her for my cultivation cauldron!"