The memories of all humanity are awakening, except for mine.

Something in the holy land is calling to me. I'm afraid, but I can't escape.

Now it seems that the one calling her was none other than the Ghost Emperor Ning Jing; Ah Gui ultimately could not escape this fate.

A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from within Blood Mountain; it was the power of the Ghost Emperor's heart and the Aurora Heavenly Sword.

The two auras intertwined and swept across the entire sinkhole, causing even the space itself to tremble.

"This is the ultimate treasure that could drive the prestigious families of the Nine Provinces Dynasty mad."

Jiang Chuan felt that power and was deeply shocked.

The Seventh Realm is the current pinnacle of swordsmanship.

Whether there are true immortals above the seventh realm remains unknown.

Throughout the millennia-long history of the Nine Provinces, not a single word has ever been left about the legend of the Seven Realms, which suggests that there are even higher realms beyond the Seven Realms.

For the vast majority of cultivators, even the Fourth Realm Supreme is an insurmountable barrier, let alone the Sixth Realm Saint or the Fifth Realm Sage.

"Roar!"

A deafening roar interrupted Jiang Chuan's thoughts.

A colossal mammoth came crashing through the rocks, its body covered in bronze-like scales, its two tusks like towering pillars.

"Ning Jing! Where is the Aurora Heavenly Sword?"

Mammoths can speak human language.

Above Blood Mountain, the fiery red figure slowly turned around.

Ning Jing's eyes were full of contempt.

"You lowly beast, how dare you ask about the whereabouts of the Immortal Sword?"

"you!"

The mammoth was enraged and swung its trunk, sending up a shower of rocks.

Hand over the immortal sword, and I'll spare your life!

Ning Jing laughed heartily, his laughter filled with sarcasm.

"Want it? Come and take it yourself!"

"court death!"

The mammoth was completely enraged, and its four hooves stomped the ground, causing the entire Blood Mountain to tremble.

It hurtled toward Ningjing like a moving mountain.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain peak, a golden ape scratched its ears and cheeks.

It carried a jet-black iron staff on its shoulder, with strange runes wrapped around its body.

"Hehe, the Ghost Emperor's heart is mine!"

The golden ape let out a strange laugh, and in a flash, it transformed into a golden light and rushed straight towards Blood Mountain.

Within the crack, the mountain spirit stood with a solemn expression.

"Two powerful demons at the sixth level, Ning Jing is in trouble."

Jiang Chuan shook his head.

"No, those are the troublesome ones."

Facing the charge of the mammoth, Ning Jing grinned maliciously, his right hand making a grasping motion, and a long sword as black as ink appeared out of thin air—the Demon Prison Sword!

"cut!"

Ning Jing casually swung his sword.

This sword strike, seemingly simple and unadorned, without any fancy sword light, stilled the heavens and earth.

"Click——"

A rift was forcibly cleaved open in the void, from which came the wails of countless undead.

The crack continued to widen, transforming into a massive gate to the underworld, with the words "Yellow Springs" engraved on it.

"The Gate of the Underworld!"

The mountain spirit gasped.

The moment the gates of hell opened, the ghostly soldiers on Blood Mountain scattered in terror and fled.

From deep underground came a series of chilling roars.

"Boom!"

A giant bone claw emerged from the crack, followed by the awakening of the remains of a second and third ancient ferocious beast. They crawled out of the ground, their empty eye sockets flickering with eerie green flames.

"She severed the shackles between the human world and purgatory."

Jiang Chuan murmured, his eyes filled with shock.

The savage beasts surrounding Blood Mountain were also terrified by this terrifying sight, but they quickly calmed down and stared intently at Ning Jing—or more precisely, at the Ghost Emperor's heart inside her body.

That heart is the crystallization of the Great Dao attained by the Seventh Realm Ghost Emperor. For these demonic beasts trapped at the peak of the Sixth Realm, it is the key to opening the path to sealing the heavens.

In comparison, while the Aurora Heavenly Sword and the Yin Iron are precious, their appeal is far less.

"Ning Jing! Hand over the Ghost Emperor's Heart!"

A giant serpent with wings on its back hissed.

"dream!"

Ning Jing sneered, his figure flashed, and he took the initiative to attack.

"Flowers in the Mirror and Moon in the Water!"

With a soft shout from Ning Jing, her figure suddenly became illusory. The next moment, countless Ning Jings appeared around the mammoth, each one lifelike and indistinguishable from the real one.

"Little tricks!"

The mammoth snorted disdainfully, its trunk sweeping across and shattering dozens of illusions.

The real killing move has arrived.

"puff--"

A sword light pierced through the mammoth's head silently, entering from between its eyebrows and exiting from the back of its skull.

The massive body of the mammoth remained frozen in place.

"How can it be"

Ning Jing's true form appeared above its head and said coldly.

"A flower in a mirror, a moon in the water, what is real may be false, and what is false may be real."

"boom!"

The mammoth's soul exploded within its body, and its massive form crashed to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

A powerful demon at the sixth realm was killed with a single sword strike!

"hiss--"

The other savage behemoths gasped in shock, but greed quickly overcame their fear.

"Go together!"

Thirteen demons of different shapes and sizes rushed out first. Some were bone butterflies fluttering, while others were corpse demons roaring. Each of them had the strength of a fifth realm or higher.

The tide of ghostly soldiers surged forth, engaging in battle with the remaining seventeen savage behemoths.

"boom!"

The great battle broke out, and Blood Mountain instantly became a battlefield of blood and fire.

The earth cracked, mountains collapsed, and violent energy fluctuations changed the color of the sky and earth.

"Hahaha! So happy!"

The golden ape let out an excited cry, swung its divine iron cudgel, and smashed a demonic bone butterfly to pieces.

Ning Jing's gaze turned cold.

"You beast, who gave you permission to address me by my given name?"

"Hehe, Ning Jing, little lady, obediently hand over your heart to grandpa!"

The golden ape said with a grin.

"court death!"

Ning Jing roared, and the Demon Prison Sword unleashed a jet-black sword light.

The golden ape dared not be careless. Its divine iron staff swelled in the wind, transforming into a colossal pillar that clashed fiercely with the sword light.

"clang--"

The sound of metal clashing resounded through the sky, and the shockwave flattened a section of the surrounding mountains.

The golden ape was knocked back hundreds of feet, its arms numb, but instead of being angry, it laughed.

"Okay! Come again!"

Ning Jing snorted coldly and was about to give chase when he suddenly frowned and turned to look at a certain spot on Blood Mountain.

Through the crack, Jiang Chuan was staring intently at her.

"Ghost."

Jiang Chuan called out softly, though he knew it was no use.

Ning Jing withdrew his gaze and continued fighting the golden ape. The two powerful figures clashed at an astonishing speed; sword light and staff shadows crisscrossed in the air, each collision causing spatial tremors.

Jiang Chuan stood in the crack, looking at Ning Jing's fiery red back, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Shocked by her power, helpless at Ah Gui's disappearance, and an indescribable emotion welled up in my heart.

Ning Jing stood in the void, the eerie red lotus mark between his black eyebrows radiating a chilling pressure.

Beneath her feet lay a mountain of ghostly soldiers' remains, while opposite her stood a golden ape wielding a massive iron club, its golden fur bristling.

"You lowly beast, how dare you obstruct me?"

Ning Jing slowly raised his right hand.

In an instant, the color of heaven and earth changed.

Crimson lotus flowers, as red as blood, bloomed from the void, and as their petals unfurled, blazing flames swept in all directions.

That flame was no ordinary fire, but the legendary Red Lotus Karmic Fire, capable of burning away all the sins of the world! Wherever the flame passed, even the air itself emitted a deafening crackling sound.

"Roar--"

The golden ape let out a deafening roar, sweeping its divine iron sword horizontally, creating a powerful gust of wind.

The crimson lotus flames coiled upwards and spread rapidly along the iron rod.

"impossible!"

Golden light surged in the ape's eyes, and it hurriedly activated its divine power to try to disperse the flames.

But the red lotus karmic fire grew stronger with each encounter, burning even more fiercely, and in the blink of an eye it had climbed up its thick arms.

"what--"

Amidst a piercing scream, the golden ape acted decisively, its left claw like a knife, severing its right arm at the shoulder!

Before the severed arm even hit the ground, it turned to ashes in the crimson flames.

Ning Jing was somewhat sarcastic.

"Trying to survive by cutting off an arm? Too late."

She formed a hand seal, and the red lotus mark between her brows suddenly shone like a blood moon.

The countless red lotuses all turned and crashed down on the golden ape.

"No! I am an ancient spirit, how could I—"

The monkey's roar abruptly ceased. Hundreds of red lotuses exploded simultaneously, engulfing it completely in a blazing wave of fire.

Within the flames, a faint golden phantom could be seen fleeing in panic—it was the ape's soul!

"Want to go?"

Ning Jing opened her mouth and inhaled, and the golden divine soul was drawn into her belly like a swallow returning to its nest.

She licked her lips contentedly, and the ghostly aura around her solidified even further.

A hundred miles away, Jiang Chuan, who was hiding in the crevice of Blood Mountain, trembled violently.

He stared intently at the red lotus blooming between the golden ape's brows in the distance, feeling as if something within his soul was resonating with it.

A burning sensation rose from his dantian, scorching his internal organs.

"Is this the power of the Red Lotus Karmic Fire?"

Jiang Chuan gritted his teeth and endured the strange sensations inside his body.

At the same time, a deafening roar came from the sky.

Xin Gui knelt on the blue whale's enormous head, half of his body already submerged in the mountain-like fontanelle.

Her ten fingers, like hooks, pierced deep into the flesh of the blue whale, as she chanted ancient incantations.

The blue whale's once docile eyes were now filled with ferocious blood vessels.

"go with!"

With a fierce shout, Xin Gui's massive body accelerated suddenly, crashing into the Behemoth giant who was fighting against the Yin soldiers.

The Behemoth sensed the danger, roared and turned around, pounding its fists into its own chest like drums.

Its body is covered in bulging muscles, each one containing the power to split mountains and shatter rocks.

Faced with the charging blue whale, it did not retreat but advanced, its powerful legs plunging deep into the wasteland.

"boom--"

Two colossal primordial beasts collided with a deafening roar!

The terrifying shockwave spread out in a ring, instantly turning the Yin soldiers within a ten-mile radius into dust.

The earth cracked like a fragile eggshell, with countless fissures spreading like a spider web, the deepest of which reached hundreds of feet!
The Behemoth's legs were deeply embedded in the ground, yet it managed to withstand the Blue Whale's charge.

It roared and grabbed the blue whale's flipper, trying to tear the behemoth apart!

Xin Gui's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly changed his hand seals.

Countless strange runes suddenly lit up inside the blue whale's body, and its massive form began to writhe and deform in a bizarre manner.

"not good!"

Jiang Chuan, who was watching from a distance, suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"It's breaking down and recombining!"

Sure enough, the blue whale's skin rippled like waves, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of thick tentacles split off, wrapping around the Behemoth's body. The surface of the tentacles was covered with suckers, and from each sucker protruded sharp bone spikes that pierced deeply into the Behemoth's flesh.

Behemoth cried out in pain and struggled angrily, but the more it was entangled, the tighter it became.

The two enormous creatures tangled together as they crashed to the ground, creating a crater nearly a kilometer in diameter!
Before the smoke and dust had cleared, a chilling rustling sound came from the other side of the wasteland.

The Gu-poisonous beast stood on a high place, its abdomen swollen like a ball.

It opened its ferocious mouth and emitted a piercing hiss.

Where the sound waves passed, the soil on the wasteland surged like ocean waves, and countless poisonous insects emerged from the ground, gathering into a swarm of insects three zhang high!
"It's a Soul-Devouring Gu! Retreat!"

A ghostly general issued a stern warning, but it was too late.

Wherever the swarm of insects passed, the ghostly soldiers fell like straws.

The worms resembled centipedes but had human faces, and their mouthparts constantly dripped corrosive venom.

They climb onto the bodies of the ghost soldiers, enter through their seven orifices, and in the blink of an eye, they can devour a ghost soldier until only a skeleton remains.

Even more terrifying is that the swarm of insects grows stronger with each ghostly soldier it devours.

In the blink of an eye, the insect wave, which was originally three zhang high, had surged to five zhang, like a moving city wall, crushing towards the blood mountain!

Ning Jing watched all this with a cold eye, the blood at the corner of his mouth still wet.

She gently stroked the jet-black longsword in her hand—the Demon Prison—and the blade immediately emitted an excited hum.

"Have you had enough fun?"

She murmured to herself, then suddenly thrust the Demon Prison into the void beneath her feet.

"boom!"

A terrifying aura swept outwards from the sword as its center.

At the foot of Blood Mountain, countless remains of Yin soldiers suddenly trembled, their broken bones reformed, and their severed limbs were reattached, instantly forming an even larger army of Yin soldiers!

These newly born ghost soldiers, their eyes flickering with eerie blue flames, moved in perfect unison as they faced the swarm of insects.

The two torrents collided before the mountain of blood, unleashing a teeth-grinding, gnawing sound.

Ning Jing stood on a high place, his black robe fluttering even without wind.

Beneath her feet, the bones of ghostly soldiers were spontaneously piling up, gradually forming a throne of bones.

With each fallen ghost soldier, new skeletons rose to replace them, and the throne grew taller at a visible rate.

A massive tide of ghostly soldiers swept across the wasteland, the clanging of armor echoing through the heavens.

Along the ten-mile battlefront, countless pale ghost faces appeared and disappeared in the yin energy, and when the bone knife slashed, it brought up ghostly blue flames.

The opposite wave of Gu worms emitted a chilling rustling sound, and the colorful swarm formed a moving carpet of death, gnawing even sand and gravel into powder wherever it passed.

"Array up!"

The leader of the ghost soldiers raised a rusty bronze halberd.

The thirty thousand ghost soldiers instantly changed formation, their shields forming an iron wall, and spears thrusting out from the gaps.

The first wave of Gu worms crashed into the shield wall, the sound of their shells shattering echoing everywhere. The subsequent swarm immediately climbed onto the corpses of their companions and surged into the Yin Soldier formation from above.

The Behemoth roared, its ten-foot-tall body smashing through the chaotic battle.

Veins bulged on its iron-like arms, and its sharp claws tore through the air with a piercing shriek, aiming straight for the head of the descending blue whale.

With a "ripping" sound, the blue whale's head was torn in two, and foul-smelling blood poured out like a torrential downpour.

"Nothing more than that!"

The Behemoth grinned maliciously, only to see countless scarlet tentacles suddenly erupt from inside the blue whale's skull.

These tentacles are covered with suckers, each containing sharp, white teeth, which instantly wrap around the giant's entire body.

"Roar--!"

The Behemoth's muscles bulged, and blood vessels writhed like earthworms beneath its bronze skin.

It forcefully tore off half of its tentacles, flinging the blue whale's remains hundreds of feet away.

With a deafening crash, the blue whale's carcass slammed into the center of the wasteland, forming a blood-red mound amidst the rising dust. (End of Chapter)