I long to return home!

Shangguan Tou frowned slightly. He had absolutely no good feelings towards Huai Zhen the moment he saw him, and even wanted to kill him on the spot. But then he thought that the other party was, after all, from the same country as him, and especially since they were on the territory of the Yin Yue Empire, his killing intent instantly faded.

He held the blood-red fruit in his hand, and even a slight glance at it caused his mind to become involuntarily chaotic. He could almost instinctively sense the power contained within the fruit.

Moreover, the faint blood mist emanating from the fruit resonated with him, and the sword spirit Blood Dragon within the Blood Dragon Sword in his hand became even more excited.

A short while later, Shangguan Tou's thoughts changed. He looked coldly at Huai Zhen, who was also looking at him. The crimson fruit in his hand told him that the longsword in the other's hand was extraordinary, and that it shared the same origin as the fruit, or even had a stronger affinity.

"Considering that you and I both belong to the Wuji Empire, I will spare your life today. Hand over the long sword in your hand and you can leave."

Upon hearing this, Huai Zhen's face showed slight anger. After quickly treating her cut wrist, she gripped the long knife tightly, showing no intention of yielding.

"Very well, I need not say more. This Yin Yue Empire will be your burial ground." Shangguan Tou shouted again, stepping out with the Blood Dragon Sword in his hand.

The speed was very fast. When he was less than three body lengths away from Huai Zhen, he quickly drew his sword. The blood-red sword tip flashed with a cold light, as if a single strike would draw blood and seal the throat.

At this moment, Shangguan Tou's cultivation level should be at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, or even higher, with a faint aura of the peak of the mid-stage Golden Core realm.

Conversely, Huai Zhen disliked Shangguan Tou from the very first moment she saw him again. She even had an indescribable feeling deep down, which can be simply described as wanting to kill someone, like wanting to kill the person again after they were already dead.

Huai Zhen dodged the sword by tilting his head, but the sharp tip still left a shallow scratch on his face. Immediately afterward, Huai Zhen retaliated with his sword, and the two wrestled on the coffin, neither giving an inch, each strike and blow aimed to kill the other.

After exchanging dozens of blows, the strengths and weaknesses of each other became clear. Huai Zhen was obviously exhausted. After a clash of spells, he lost his footing and almost fell into the air. Shangguan Tou seized the opportunity and pierced his chest with a sword.

Before long, as Shangguan Tou unleashed a sword strike imbued with flames, Huai Zhen tried to defend but found that his spiritual power was depleted, along with the spiritual power in his jade pendant.

The flames scorched Huai Zhen's body. He gritted his teeth in pain and was then kicked away by Shangguan Tou, his body crashing solidly into the coffin on the cliff wall.

"You're too weak with just a pseudo-spiritual root. Die."

With a flash of red light, Shangguan Tou flicked his fingertips toward Huai Zhen, and the Blood Dragon Sword trembled immediately. Then, a blood-red dragon nearly a hundred feet long suddenly appeared on the sword.

The dragon bared its fangs and roared to the sky, its massive body charging forward, poised to pounce on Huai Zhen and kill him.

Perhaps it was a stroke of good luck, for a small hole appeared in the wooden bridge beneath Huai Zhen's feet, and he was the only one who fell through.

The dragon missed its target, but it tore the target area apart, causing rocks to tumble and creating a mess. Shangguan Tou was stunned. Unexpectedly, the mountain was torn open, but the coffin was completely unharmed.

Shangguan Tou sheathed the Blood Dragon Sword, glanced around, and a hint of joy appeared on his lips. "These coffins forged from about a hundred pieces of black iron are truly a stroke of luck. Reforging the Blood Dragon Sword with them will surely elevate the sword to another rank."

He had just taken a step when he changed his mind. His immediate priority was to kill Huaizhen and seize his longsword, lest things get complicated.

But, at that very moment, something unexpected happened!

Unbearable roars echoed through the deep pit, and Shangguan Tou was surprised to discover that the roars were coming from the coffins.

Before he could think any further, he was swept away by the burst of blood mist. His gaze sharpened, and he saw bizarre creatures, half-human and half-skeletal, dressed in tattered armor, crawling out of the coffin.

These were the very soldiers Zhang Lin had summoned to slaughter all living beings in this world, but Shangguan Tou was unaware of this and instinctively controlled the Blood Dragon Sword to tentatively attack the skeleton soldiers.

As their blood energies clashed, the Blood Dragon Sword pierced through the bodies of several skeleton soldiers. However, when it attacked more skeleton soldiers, the blood energy emanating from them was stronger and more concentrated than that of the Blood Dragon Sword. With just one clash of energies, the Blood Dragon Sword was flung into Shangguan Tou's hand, showing signs of its spiritual energy dissipating and its blade breaking.

"Damn it. I wonder if these things are even human. Even with their bodies pierced, they don't die and their bodies can even regenerate." Shangguan Tou glanced at the bottom of the pit. "Forget it, let's find a way to escape first. We can still kill people and take the knife later."

Just as Shangguan Tou was standing on the Blood Dragon Sword, trying to break through the encirclement, the fully resurrected skeleton soldier waved his hand lightly, and the blood energy emanating from his body instantly turned into chains of blood energy that pulled Shangguan Tou down from the air. Under the control of the other skeleton soldiers, his body was firmly pinned to the rock wall and unable to move.

The blood energy chains were so dense that his sword couldn't cut through them. In desperation, he immediately cast a spell to summon his sword spirit, Blood Dragon, to try his best to withstand the blood energy attacks from the skeleton soldiers and buy himself a chance to escape.

This was not a long-term solution. More blood-red skeleton soldiers awakened, and they all obeyed their orders, slaughtering all living beings in this world.

Soon, the enormous crimson dragon, its body covered in wounds, let out a painful roar. The ensuing surge of blood energy manifested into various weapons, all of which slashed at its scales.

Just as it was about to burn out, Shangguan Tou gave an order, and the dragon spewed out dragon flames to block the skeleton soldiers' attack. He then cleverly used his earth elemental root to break through the rock wall and escape.

"Rock Fierce Palm!"

With a palm strike combining blazing flames and hard rocks, Shangguan Tou seized the opportunity to escape. Carrying the broken Blood Dragon Sword, he made a move with both palms, and brown spiritual energy swept through his body, causing the entire pit to shake. Rocks rolled down and broke the wooden bridge that had come up, sealing the pit with rocks.

After finishing everything, Shangguan Tou took a deep breath, coughed a few times, and said softly, "I hope the half-human, half-skeleton creatures can't find a way to escape. As for that person..." He snorted coldly and continued, "Although we didn't get that long sword, it's alright. Let that sword be buried here completely."

After saying that, Shangguan Tou transformed into a long rainbow and disappeared into the distance.

In the deep pit, the skeleton soldiers let out chilling roars. They seemed mindless, not knowing how to get out of the pit once the path was cut off, and kept wandering around in the pit.

Below the pit, Huai Zhen dragged his weary body through an open stone door and finally hid in a stone chamber. He glanced at the figures that were faintly visible at the stone door, his nerves taut to the extreme. If anything went wrong, those skeleton soldiers would rush in and be dead.

Huai Zhen had witnessed some of what had just happened; the cultivator at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm was completely powerless to retaliate. Moreover, Huai Zhen's spiritual energy was now exhausted, and the spiritual energy in his jade pendant was depleted, leaving him with no pills or spiritual liquids to replenish it, making his situation truly pitiful.