Chapter 343: The last stand of the chief elders

In Mo Tian's sea of consciousness, everything was dichotomous. There were great paintings of landscapes and peaceful animals, birds made of ink flying around while their wings created beautiful melodies. But on the other side, the sea was stormy and black as ink. In the sky, there were ominous clouds and bloody thunderbolts with vortexes of black and white energies. But there were also calm and soothing clouds floating right under this maelstrom.

Right in the center, the same spot Cao Yun had his Drop of Wrath in his, Mo Tian was slowly condensing blood as well. When he received the blood essence of Da Mo, he had kept a tiny portion of it. His goal had always been to combine human and demon physiology. His reasoning was simple. Cultivating only one aspect of the body was now insufficient to break through. But if he could cultivate several of them at the same time, he would have a chance. Unfortunately, the 'Blood Runes' method could not be really mastered by a human.

Mo Tian had experimented on it. That was why he had used Luduo Bu. He had also hoped to use Lu Meihan for some of his experiments on dual cultivation. But both of them had been killed due to Cao Yun. Of course, he had other test subjects, but they were not as interesting to him. In the end, he was forced to admit that he would have to change his own physiology so that he could really cultivate his blood like a demon.

At first, he did not want to fuse his very soul with Da Mo's body. He thought he could just use the body to take over the Hongchen Kingdom and even subdue the demons. However, he had an ominous feeling right now. If he didn't get Da Mo's body out from the Devil's Jail, he would fail. Although he had no idea where this intuition was coming from, he was certain that this was right. Maybe it had come from Da Mo's blood essence. His body was feeling things, and he knew things that Mo Tian did not.

Thus, he felt compelled to fuse his Soul Embryo and by extension his soul within Da Mo's body. He had prepared for that. So it wasn't a far-fetched idea. But it was still a bit premature. His Soul Embryo was ready though. Only the blood essence was lacking a little. He would have loved to have more time to really work with it.

Since he had no time, Mo Tian would have loved to absorb a lot of blood runes to increase his chances. Unfortunately, the space around him was completely sealed by Sect Leader Xuan's technique. Although it was not as impressive as a Domain, this technique would allow a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior to kill an early Sage. In fact, if Matriarch Huang and Emperor Weide had been there, with this technique and their power, even a middle Sage would have faced real trouble. The realms were never impossible to breach after all. It was just extraordinarily difficult to fight over your own realm. Jumping a few grades to fight was normal, but the realms were exponentially distant from one another. A Monarch was way above a Sage thanks to their Domain. And an Immortal was leagues above a Monarch because their body had changed in nature.

As much as he searched, Mo Tian was unable to establish any contact with the blood runes of other demonic cultivators. However, he had something else in mind. He had planted seals in the demonic cultivators sent into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Most of the problems right now stemmed from them in his view. If they had been faster, Mo Tian would already be in control of Da Mo. But they had been discovered. Granted, it was partly due to the fact that his array formation had malfunctioned when they crossed over to the inside of the Ancient Ruins. But in his mind, his disciple should have been able to deal with it with more efficiency. He had failed him!

His plan was perfect! He had spent over a century inside the Wubei Sect without raising any suspicion. This 'Chen Guo' had been a problem, but his own subordinates had been incompetent as well. He had already been forced to get Mo Zi out of trouble once. Well, Mo Zi had outlived his usefulness. Now, he needed something back for all the efforts he had invested in him. He needed blood runes.

Thanks to his personal seal in Mo Zi, Mo Tian was able to get into contact with him. However, he immediately realized that his blood runes were gone. Indeed, Cao Yun had used them and they had all been absorbed by the Drop of Wrath. Of course, Mo Tian understood who was responsible for he knew something similar had happened with Luduo Bu. Enraged, Mo Tian found another use for his disciple. Although he was under arrest, Mo Zi was not heavily guarded because of his sorry state. Had he been more guarded, nothing would have changed anyway.

All of a sudden, several seals got activated within all the survivors of the infiltration. Mo Zi tried to plead but his body was completely frozen. He could not utter a single word. And when he tried to think, hoping that his master would hear his thoughts, his sea of consciousness turned completely dark. The last seal created by his master had just been activated. His Upper Dantian had been destroyed. All of his soul was now being burned away in black flames to nourish his blood. Fragments of the seal seeped into his Extraordinary Vessels and tainted his Qi. His body began to combust into flames as both his Qi turned Evil Qi and his blackened blood was getting agitated.

Wang Jinhua and Neng Lue saw that scene and knew what was about to happen. Their own seals also got activated. As all the prisoners were burning in eerie flames, the guards could only back away. All of their Evil Qi and blood gathered into a small ball in the air. Suddenly, it flew toward Mo Tian.

All the chief elders felt it. Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng tried to stop it. A white crane dove right toward the black ball to try and stop it. Its beak and the ball collided fiercely. But the beak of the crane got covered in cracks. It tried to resist while Sect Leader Xuan sent a shell scute in that direction. The black ball maneuvered out of the way. It was so tiny that its speed exceeded most of their attacks. Besides, it was made of Evil Qi. Thus, it was highly corrosive.

As it was about to go past the coiling seven-headed snake, Da Mo's arm sent several blood javelins to weaken to Qi Manifestation.

In the end, Mo Tian was able to obtain this black ball of blood and Evil Qi. It entered his sea of consciousness and started to fuse with the blood essence of Da Mo that Mo Tian had absorbed. All around the drop of blood, Mo Tian's sea of consciousness was getting narrower and narrower. He was actively contracting his sea of consciousness. His Soul Embryo had been perfectly fused with his soul. As such, his sea of consciousness was now within his Soul Embryo and not the other way around.

Then, as soon as he felt ready, Mo Tian's Soul Embryo exited his body.

Xiao Xuefeng was able to sense it right away. She sent a signal to everyone else. This was the perfect moment to attack. As a Soul Embryo, Mo Tian was extremely weak. All the chief elders and even Sect Leader Xuan poured their energy into the Seal of Authority. Xiao Xuefeng was still controlling it because she was the reference when it came to soul and Soul Embryo. She was the best suited to attack and destroy one.

All over the sky, the golden chains that had formed some time ago descended toward Mo Tian's Soul Embryo. But at the same time, the bloody chains of Da Mo's body rose into the air, ready to intercept the enemy.

The two different kinds of chains collided with tremendous violence. Even the technique of Sect Leader Xuan was shaken by the force of the impact. Without the array formations, all the buildings of the Wubei Sect would have been blown away. Behind this shock was the might of a middle Sage. All the chief elders had exhausted their strength. Even Sect Leader Xuan and Xiao Xuefeng were at the end of their rope. After this attack, they would not be able to fight. In fact, all the chief elders were even wondering whether they should burn their blood essence. Essence was the basis of a cultivator's longevity. It was extremely arduous and long to restore it.

Given their age, most of the chief elders would die before they could replenish their Jing. But if they were to die in battle anyway, this wouldn't mean much. Sect Leader Xuan was already very close to his 2,000th birthday. He still hoped to protect his sect. In fact, he had not chosen a successor yet. The chief elders could discuss and vote for a new sect leader. But it was tradition for the current sect leader to choose a direct disciple to eventually replace him. Unfortunately, Sect Leader Xuan had never found anyone he thought truly had the talent and the inclination for it. Instead, he thought the chief elders' judgment would be better.

Faced with the very real possibility of his own death, he now regretted that decision. He should have been more involved with the future after him. After all, he had to choose someone who would be able to further advance the comprehension that his predecessors had left behind. The chief elders could choose a great sect leader, he was sure of it. But they would not be the best suited to choose someone who could understand the Dao of Space. Only someone who had studied it could discern the necessary qualities.

-

While the final fight for the Wubei Sect and all of humanity was taking place, Sun Liao was bidding farewell to his master.

They had finally reached the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. And Sun Liao was smart enough to understand his master's plan. He was an array formation master too after all. And the only way to save the third-years still trapped in the collapsing realm was to take over the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. The real Palace Spirit had dissipated a long time ago and Dian Mo had taken its place long ago. But now Dian Mo was gone too. Right now, no one knew it was within Cao Yun. However, it was clear that it was gone. Maybe it had been gone for several years in fact. They had no way of knowing for sure.

"Master, this was a privilege to learn under you. This unfilial disciple could not prevent the disaster from within the Palace of Supreme Wisdom and is forced to ask for your help."

"You're way too harsh with yourself. I should have detected that someone had pierced through the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. I should have sensed the malicious intentions of my friend. You juniors have been implicated because of us old geezers. If we had been better, Luoming Tian would already be in the last level of the Devil's Jail, not trying to break out that abomination.

"Although I won't be able to be your master anymore, I'll still be right here in the Wubei Sect. I guess my Soul Embryo can endure two to three hundred years. As long as I stay awake, the Palace of Supreme Wisdom will keep functioning and our Wubei Sect will have a bright future ahead. This isn't such a bad way to go. My last centuries will serve the sect that gave me so much.

"Here, take this. Although you might not understand everything now, I am sure you will surpass me one day."

From Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo, a small blue character flew out and entered Sun Liao's glabella. It penetrated his Upper Dantian and went into his sea of consciousness. Under the nine suns in the sky, it slowly fell toward the water. As it touched the surface, it dissolved. This was an Insight Writing. When it had dissolved, a huge part of Chief Elder Suxian's knowledge got into Sun Liao's mind. But he could indeed not understand it at once. He would have to study it at length if he wanted to get something out of it. But his master had shown such confidence in him that Sun Liao didn't want to disappoint him.

They both knew that Chief Elder Suxian would have to play the role of the Palace Spirit. As such, he would be trapped inside the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. He wouldn't die but he would be completely cut off from the outside world. However, they had no other way of preventing the complete collapse of the realm within.

After a warm farewell, Chief Elder Suxian's Soul Embryo entered into the Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thanks to Sun Liao's detailed explanation, he found the ruins of the Demon Palace straight away. And it didn't take him a lot of efforts to fuse with it, replacing Dian Mo. Indeed, although he didn't know the Palace of Supreme Wisdom as well as Dian Mo or even Luoming Tian, Chief Elder Suxian had studied it for a very long time. And he had also notes from his master and his predecessors.

Now that he was in charge of the Demon Palace, he had a tiny bit of influence on the real Palace of Supreme Wisdom. Thus, he was able to activate the Supreme emblems to get everyone out. Stopping the realm from collapsing was impossible at this point. But he could save the disciples and prevent the entire array formation from being destroyed in the collapse.

Indeed, instead of waiting for the realm to collapse, Chief Elder Suxian planned on forcing it to collapse. As soon as the Supreme emblems got activated, the array formations did their work. They destroyed the past realm to make another one. But because there were no more disciples within, no new realm would be created. Hopefully, it would give Chief Elder Suxian a bit of time to try and fix the array formation. Maybe it wouldn't be ready for a few months or even years. But Chief Elder Suxian knew he could keep it running for at least two centuries before his Soul Embryo would dissipate.

Once his Soul Embryo would be gone, then his soul would enter the cycle of reincarnation. At least, that was the belief of the Hongchen Kingdom.

Sun Liao had known that since before Cao Yun tried to save his master's life. He had known that this was the only way but he refused to admit it. As he saw all the third-years appear before him, Sun Liao let out some tears. The fatigue and sadness had won over his arrogance and pride.