Longzang

Chapter 129 The Second Day

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, dozens of cultivators were still busy. They moved the corpses of the witch warriors to an open area, stripped them of their armor, carefully searched their bodies, and placed the found items in a designated area, while the corpses were left in the designated open space. Above the area of ​​corpses, faint blue smoke drifted continuously, then transformed into a life-giving rain.

As Wei Yuan instructed, these corpses were to be left like this for three days, allowing the poisonous gas and magical power within them to dissipate, after which Qingming would transform it into spiritual rain. Three days later, the corpses would be transported to a designated area for burial. The area Wei Yuan indicated was at the edge of a dense forest at the foot of the mountain. After three days, the boundary would expand to that location.

Witnessing firsthand the bounty of heaven and earth, and how Qingming transformed the magical and poisonous powers of the Wu Clan into nourishment for the realm after their slaughter, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. The true nature of this world was perhaps far more cruel than Wei Yuan had imagined.

As dusk approached, the surroundings grew dim, but above the realm, the sky was ablaze with fiery sunset colors. Suddenly, the red of the sunset thickened and became sticky, the sky abruptly darkened, and the atmosphere became extremely oppressive. Everyone felt as if a huge boulder was pressing on their hearts, making it difficult to breathe.

Wei Yuan looked up at the sky and saw that the sunset was turning into patches of blood-red clouds.

The Blood Curse of the Witch Clan!
After their crushing defeat, the Witch Clan was naturally unwilling to let the matter rest. This was a blood sacrifice curse launched by the Witch Clan from afar, targeting everything within this entire region.

As the blood cloud took shape, drops of blood began to fall. Wei Yuan immediately rushed towards Qingming, while simultaneously ordering the four idle Foundation Establishment cultivators to enter the array nodes.

The blood droplet encountered an array halfway down its path, a faint glow appearing and covering a thousand-foot radius around the core of the domain. The blood droplet began to dissolve upon entering the array, finally disappearing completely when it was still tens of feet from the ground.

But the blood rain intensified, and as more droplets fell, the formation's dissolving speed noticeably slowed, and the blood droplets drew closer to the ground. Clearly, the Cleansing Spirit Formation was nearing its limit.

Suddenly, a wind arose. Though not strong, it occasionally blew patches of bloody rain beyond the boundary. Wherever the bloody rain fell, vegetation withered and decayed, the land turned green, and even the stones were corroded and riddled with holes.

The wind arose unexpectedly, but it did significantly weaken the blood curse, allowing the Purification Array to barely hold on. This was actually the effect of a feng shui array, weakening the blood curse in this way. Without the layered feng shui array, the Purification Array alone wouldn't have been able to withstand it.

Wei Yuan stood at the edge of the Azure Sky and channeled a wisp of energy into Jade Mountain. The Jade Mountain, which had become transparent, was now shrouded in shadow, and the light within the realm dimmed again, as if shrouded in leaden clouds. The falling blood raindrops suddenly dissolved at a faster rate, giving the already overburdened Purifying Spirit Array a chance to breathe.

However, the blood rain grew increasingly rapid and dense. One blood-fusion cultivator was unlucky; a few drops of blood that broke through the formation were drenched in him, and he immediately screamed and collapsed to the ground. In the blink of an eye, several large holes were corroded into his body. His screams grew weaker and weaker, and charred, sticky fluid began to ooze from his body. After a few moments, his entire body was corroded away, leaving behind a patch of scorched earth several feet in diameter, with a vague human figure in the center.

The rain of blood intensified, with drops constantly falling to the ground. After five or six people had died, Wei Yuan summoned all the cultivators to the vicinity of the main hall. Wei Yuan then increased the power of his Azure Mist Qi, focusing all his efforts on protecting the area within a thousand feet of the main hall. In just a short while, a wisp of Qi was completely exhausted!
Without hesitation, Wei Yuan sent in another stream of energy to fight against the blood curse with all his might.

The blood rain impacted the formation like a torrential downpour pounding on a rain shelter, the dense sound turning all the cultivators' faces pale. They were not afraid of direct combat with the enemy, but before this blood rain curse, which resembled the might of heaven and earth, they could only passively await their death; the feeling was completely different.

Amidst the rain of blood, fist-sized clumps of blood began to appear! This blood clot formation was impossible to dissolve, each one hurtling straight to the ground. One cultivator, unable to contain his fear any longer, cried out and summoned his magical throwing knife, slashing at the blood clots!

The blood clump shattered, splattering countless tiny droplets onto the person's face and body. The throwing knife, covered in blood, fell straight to the ground. By the time it hit the ground, the blade was charred and pitted, completely devoid of its former spirit.

The monk suddenly screamed in agony. Every spot where the blood had splattered began to fester, and in the blink of an eye, the tiny, rice-grain-sized wounds grew to the size of a bowl—even being doused with strong acid wouldn't have happened so quickly. He ran a few steps away, then collapsed to the ground, instantly turning into a charred skeleton.

All the cultivators were terrified at the sight. If another blood clot fell, they would try to avoid it if possible. If they couldn't avoid it, they would carefully use their magical artifacts to catch it and move it aside. They would rather lose a magical artifact than lose their lives.

After struggling for a full half hour, the blood-red clouds in the sky finally dissipated. By this time, all the Foundation Establishment cultivators within the array nodes had exhausted their mana, and large patches of charred, foul-smelling earth had appeared around the realm, like large clumps of filth staining a dark green cloth. There were also several scorch marks, each about ten feet in diameter, within the realm, all caused by the blood clumps falling to the ground.

Wei Yuan had exhausted four strands of his Qi, leaving only one strand of Qi in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The Witch Clan's blood curse retaliation was finally averted, and all cultivators within the realm felt a sense of relief, as if they had escaped a calamity. This blood curse was so terrifying; the Witch Clan had sacrificed at least a thousand people, and it was initiated under the auspices of a Great Witch.

But all of this was thwarted. Although the cost was enormous, everyone had a genuine hope for the future.

Before long, night fell. Wei Yuan told Xu Wan'er, Yun Feifei, and the others to take turns resting, while he wandered alone around the realm.

The Azure Netherworld is of extremely high status, and given the shattered state of heaven and earth, it is difficult to investigate through divination. The Witch Clan, having unleashed such a massive curse, would inevitably have sent people to investigate the outcome. Unfortunately for them, they encountered Wei Yuan.

Qingming also possessed some ability to probe beyond the boundary, leaving the Wu Clan scouts nowhere to hide. Wei Yuan, alone on horseback, moved continuously through the night, reaping squads of Wu Clan warriors like a ghost. That night, the Wu Clan dispatched seven squads, totaling two hundred and ten men, all of whom became victims of Wei Yuan's spear, with not a single one escaping.

Now Wei Yuan only has one last bit of luck left. He absolutely cannot withstand a blood curse of this level, let alone another one, even if its scale were halved. If another one were to occur, the fate of the cultivators would be entirely up to destiny. Even if Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er were hit, they would certainly die. The entire realm would be destroyed, and Qing Ming's task of repairing the cursed world would take years, not just a day or two.

Therefore, Wei Yuan could only try to eliminate all the Wu Clan's scouts, preventing them from seeing the true nature of the realm. Ideally, he hoped they would believe the realm possessed a special means to resist the blood curse, thus forcing them to switch to other methods. Changing methods would inevitably take time, and Wei Yuan was currently stalling for as long as possible.

As dawn broke, the first day of Qingming's recognition of its master finally came to an end.

Wei Yuan returned to the realm, still radiant with energy. As long as the Azure Nether Realm existed, he was essentially cultivating constantly. Although this method was far inferior to meditation in the Primordial Palace cave, it had the advantage of a steady, continuous flow. If the spiritual energy in ordinary places in the Western Regions was one, then the Azure Nether Realm was now ten, and the Void Valley's Azure Spirit was two hundred!

After leaving the mountain gate, Wei Yuan realized how barren the outside world was.

As dawn broke and a new day dawned, it was uncertain what kind of offensive the Witch Clan would launch today, or whether they would unleash another thousand-person blood curse. However, after Wei Yuan killed a Great Witch, at least for the time being, no Great Witch of the Witch Clan should dare to appear rashly outside Qingming.

(End of this chapter)