Chapter 2024: Chapter 2022: Blood-Red Fireworks
In that moment, countless eyes turned towards this spot, vaguely glimpsing a young man’s face as the blood light dispersed. However, it seemed as though he was provoked by something, his expression twisted and ferocious to the extreme. With the blood light gone, a layer of black aura enveloped him, twisting and dancing like a living entity.
Even from afar, this black aura exuded an incredibly ominous feeling, as if it were the embodiment of all the world’s filth.
If it were just that, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the key was Deer Demon Venerable’s condition. His cultivation was undoubtedly higher than the young man in the blood light, yet in that collision just now, he didn’t gain any advantage, instead seeming to suffer a bit.
His robust body rolled through the stellar space, knocked back, and took several breaths to stabilize, his face showing astonishment. He clearly hadn’t expected to be knocked back by someone with weaker cultivation.
After all, he hadn’t held back in that strike!
The other Demon Venerables watched from within the battleship, feeling less distinctly, but he had collided head-on with the assailant and detected something amiss immediately.
The opponent’s state... was abnormal.
He seemed to have lost his reason, yet somehow not. In all his years of cultivation, Deer Demon Venerable had never encountered anything so bizarre—madness mixed with calmness, describing the opponent with such a contradictory state was undoubtedly most fitting.
At this moment, there was no time to think further because after that collision, the young man, who appeared somewhat abnormal, was once again enveloped in blood light, charging directly towards the largest battleship at the center of the Zixuan fleet with formidable momentum.
No one knew what he intended to do, but Deer Demon Venerable couldn’t ignore it and immediately moved to intercept.
However, the delay had opened a considerable gap between them, making interception impossible.
Thankfully, the battleship wasn’t a sitting duck. Upon seeing the enemy approach, a beam of light erupted from the battleship, fierce enough to rival the force of Sun Blaze’s personal strike.
Blood light was forced to retreat, maneuvering onward, but was repeatedly deterred by the battleship’s unleashed power. As Deer Demon Venerable drew closer, the blood light abruptly changed direction, darting towards a battleship on the left.
Evidently, he was forced to change targets.
The targeted battleship immediately counterattacked to obstruct, but it couldn’t deliver an attack strong enough to stop him, being weaker than the largest ship.
Within moments, the blood light adhered to the battleship surface.
Simultaneously, the battleship’s protective array was activated to its limit, its glow vibrant, transforming the entire ship into a bright light screen.
No one knew what the blood light’s intentions were, but being so close to a Sun Blaze forced the protective array to its limit, clearly the best and correct response.
Deer Demon Venerable roared angrily, rushing to drive the blood light away.
Mana surged as a spirit rune appeared out of thin air beneath the blood light.
Inside the largest battleship, two Great Demon Venerables had been watching the blood light’s movements. Upon seeing the spirit rune, both Bi Chen and Moh Xuan were momentarily stunned.
Immediately Bi Chen’s expression changed: "Void Spirit Runes!"
Having lived so long, he also dabbled in the Path of Spirit Runes. Though he lacked talent, his long life compensated for many shortcomings, instantly recognizing an extremely complex Void Spirit Runes.
"Not good!" Moh Xuan also cried out softly, urgently transmitting audio to Deer Demon Venerable, who was rapidly closing in on the blood light: "Quick, retreat!"
Though they didn’t know why the opponent suddenly constructed such a Void Spirit Rune, generally these runes were associated with teleportation and movement.
Almost simultaneously as his voice fell, the rune lightly trembled, and in the next instant, figures suddenly emerged beside the blood light.
Each figure was identical to the blood light, engulfed in crimson, their true features obscured, yet exuding an intensely frantic aura.
The blood lights transported via Void Spirit Runes numbered eight, plus the original, totaling nine!
Each of these nine blood lights radiated the aura of a Sun Blaze, seemingly originating from the same source, scattering hastily as soon as they appeared.
Meanwhile, on a distant meteorite, Lu Ye stood silently, his aura withdrawn, intently watching the direction of the Zixuan fleet.
The nine blood shadows were none other than his nine Treasure Blood Avatars.
But these Treasure Blood Avatars were different from normal, as each one carried a portion of the Talent Tree’s black fruit.
Previously, while in All Phenomena Ocean, Lu Ye persistently attempted to remove the Talent Tree’s black fruit. After numerous tests, the Talent Tree Avatar could split off half of the black fruit, but the Talent Tree Avatar couldn’t abandon this part, making the method futile.
Then he thought of the Treasure Blood Avatar. Being a type of avatar, if the Talent Tree Avatar could divide the black fruit, there was no reason the Treasure Blood Avatar couldn’t.
The initial attempts were unsatisfactory, but with Lu Ye’s diligence and perseverance, he finally succeeded.
The treasure blood in his body could absorb a portion of the essence of the black fruit and be carried within, enabling gradual removal once the Treasure Blood Avatar was relinquished.
Before returning to Nine Provinces, his nine droplets of treasure blood were prepared, each carrying a segment of the black fruit’s essence.
At that point, he didn’t abandon the nine drops because doing so would require re-concentration, consuming time and energy. He had continuously prepared to utilize them as a last resort here.
After all, those are doppelgangers of the 9th Dao Sun Blaze level, when used properly, can have a substantial effect.
For instance, right now!
His initial target was that largest battleship; its power was too strong, so it had to be removed first.
If he had enough time, it would be no problem for the Treasure Blood Avatar to approach that largest battleship, but... plans cannot keep up with changes, there was a slight issue with the plan.
Lu Ye didn’t expect that after absorbing part of the essence from the black fruit, subtle changes would occur in his Treasure Blood Avatar.
Each of his doppelgangers, after being condensed, seemed to develop their own thoughts and ideas...
This is quite incredible. The Treasure Blood Avatar was refined from his treasure blood and is a part of him, by rights, he should be able to control them easily, just like moving his fingers.
But now, the situation is, his fingers have their own thoughts, and this situation is becoming more apparent over time!
Lu Ye thought for a moment and knew what was happening.
The black fruit is the condensation of the seven emotions and six desires of those consumed cultivators. The Treasure Blood Avatar absorbing this stuff is equivalent to the revival of the thoughts of those deceased cultivators in his Treasure Blood Avatar.
Lu Ye wasn’t sure if left unchecked, whether one day, the deceased Yuan Du, Guk Xi, and Chen Xuanba might use his Treasure Blood Avatar to revitalize and return.
Probably not. After all, a person cannot be brought back to life. Even if the Treasure Blood Avatar does revive because of this, it would likely just become an entity that only knows killing and destruction.
The current issue is that with the influence of the black fruit essence, Lu Ye’s control over the Treasure Blood Avatar will weaken over time.
He didn’t expect such a thing to happen, as it was his first time refining a Treasure Blood Avatar that absorbed the essence of the black fruit.
The plan deviated a bit, but it was not too detrimental.
"Explode!" Lu Ye gazed ahead, speaking softly.
As the words fell, extreme terrifying energy fluctuations emitted successively from the scattered nine Treasure Blood Avatars, blood light burst forth suddenly, rapidly spreading in all directions, enveloping a vast expanse of stellar space.
Lu Ye, watching from afar, sighed. The nine Treasure Blood Avatars showed some resistance to his orders, so they didn’t explode together, which significantly reduced the damage!
If the nine Treasure Blood Avatars could explode at the same time, the resulting destruction would be several times stronger.
The blood light lingered, not dispersing for a long time. Several figures stumbled out from it, including the Deer Demon Venerable. Besides him, there were also two other Demon Venerables, all looking disheveled, obviously injured.
As the blood light gradually dissipated, the scene of that space became visible.
Five Zixuan battleships arrived, and now only four remained. The smallest one had turned into countless pieces; it was the one previously attached by the Treasure Blood Avatar. The Zixuan demon cultivators inside, except for the two Demon Venerables who escaped, had no remains, regardless of Moon Jade or Constellation.
The self-detonation of the nine doppelgangers of the 9th Dao Sun Blaze level, even with some unexpected reduction in power, was still something ordinary cultivators couldn’t withstand. Even if the battleship pushed its Protective Power to the limit, it was still easily torn apart.
The three Demon Venerables appeared hurriedly heading towards their largest battleship, panicked, as if seeing Spectral Bewitchment.
Although the other three smaller battleships weren’t shattered, they more or less got affected, with various damaged areas.
In the central control hall of the largest battleship, both Bi Chen and Moh Xuan were twitching their eyelids, having just witnessed that shocking scene with their own eyes. Even after living for countless years, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
"Blood Explosion Technique!" Bi Chen spoke in a deep voice, recognizing it as the Blood Race’s Blood Explosion Technique, a secret technique for perishing with enemies.
"What’s going on?" Moh Xuan exclaimed.
They had just arrived at the Jade Conch Star System, and it was still dismissible that nine Blood Race Sun Blazes suddenly appeared. But why did these nine Sun Blazes use the Blood Explosion Technique without uttering a word?
What exactly is happening?
Those were Sun Blazes, and they deployed nine at once.
This is the Jade Conch Star System, right? This isn’t the Blood Race’s main base, right? Moh Xuan was filled with unanswered questions.
On a different note, even if this was indeed the Blood Race’s main base, there’s no Blood Race with such audacity, directly letting nine Sun Blazes self-detonate to intercept the Zixuan fleet. What kind of grudge and resentment would warrant such grand gestures?
Sun Blazes are pillars of existence no matter where they are placed. Sending out nine at once to intercept through self-detonation, who has such a strong foundation to squander at will?
It can be said that the self-detonation of the nine Sun Blazes directly stunned Zixuan on this side. Not only Zixuan but even the various Sun Blazes observing the scene through means inside Mount Fangcun were a bit stunned.
When Lu Ye previously said he’d vanguard, everyone naturally had no objection. After all, this is a matter concerning Jade Conch, and Lu Ye stepping forward was only right.
But... is this how he steps up? Nine Sun Blazes, and such a big blood-red firework just went off, such a gesture, never seen before!
