Chapter 2375: Return "You are me, and I am you; there’s no need to thank me. Now that you’ve been free, I can return to you," the blood soul said, and Fairy Ice Soul nodded in response before making a hand seal, upon which the bright crimson light erupted from her body.
At the same time, the blood soul flew toward her as a ball of crimson light before vanishing into her body in a flash.
Fairy Ice Soul immediately doubled over slightly as a pained look appeared on her face, and the crimson light radiating from her body brightened as countless crimson threads shot out of her skin before disintegrating into crimson mist.
Only after 15 minutes had passed did the pain on her face gradually fade, and she stood up straight again.
At this moment, her appearance hadn’t changed in the slightest, but her disposition had undergone a subtle transformation.
"I see that you’re an extremely renowned figure in our human race and has had extensive interactions with this blood soul clone of mine. It’s all thanks to you that she was able to make it all the way here," Fairy Ice Soul said with a smile.
"Have you already absorbed all of your clone’s memories?" Han Li asked.
"It’s not that simple; I’ve sealed most of the memories away and have only absorbed the most important parts," Fairy Ice Soul replied with a wry smile.
"That’s a wise decision. Now that you’ve recovered your clone and there’s nothing else in the Heavenly Cauldron Palace that can interest us, let’s leave this place. I’m sure no one could’ve anticipated that the palace would close early, and during the unrest, we’ll be able to get away safely," Han Li said as he swept a hand through the air, and Jin Tong emerged out of thin air before vanishing up his sleeve.
Almost at the exact same moment, Daoist Xie also made a hand seal before disappearing into Han Li’s body as an arc of silver lightning amid a faint thunderclap.
"Alright, I’ll begin right away," Fairy Ice Soul agreed.
Thus, she opened her mouth to release a crimson jade badge, which she pointed a finger toward, and bursts of restriction fluctuations began to emanate from the badge.
In the air above the Myriad Moon Mountain Range, a giant formation had already been set up around the giant gate that was the entrance to the Heavenly Cauldron Palace, and there were Blood Bone Sect disciples situated all around the formation, while two Grand Ascension Stage beings from the Blood Bone Sect were seated at its center.
All of a sudden, a burst of rumbling rang out from the giant gate alongside waves of energy fluctuations.
The two Grand Ascension Stage beings immediately opened their eyes, and one of them, a thin elderly man, exclaimed, "What’s going on? Is the Heavenly Cauldron Palace opening earlier than usual? According to past records, it shouldn’t be closing yet!"
He was accompanied by a short and hideous woman, who speculated, "Perhaps someone obtained Daoist Tian Ding’s true inheritance to trigger this change."
"In any case, let’s activate the formation first in case someone gets away during the chaos," the thin elderly man decided.
"That is indeed a necessary precaution to take," the woman agreed.
Thus, the two of them issued an order, and the Blood Bone Sect Disciples around them immediately activated their formation treasures.
Rays of dazzling light rose up from the formation as it was activated, quickly intertwining to form a gigantic net that encompassed the entire sky.
As soon as the net took shape, an astonishingly menacing aura surged through the area, as if there were a formidable army lying in ambush.
The two Grand Ascension Stage beings of the Blood Bone Sect were appraising the giant gate with intense unblinking eyes, and all of a sudden, an earth-shattering boom rang out.
The massive gate warped and blurred before abruptly exploding, and the world’s origin Qi scattered in all directions while the white spatial rift was slowly sealed.
Spatial fluctuations then erupted where the gate had disappeared, and two light formations appeared, from within which two groups of people emerged.
One group was comprised of around 30 and 40 people, led by a brocade-robed man with a dark expression.
They had only just broken through the restrictions in one of the central areas and were about to plunder the treasures in there when they were forcibly ejected out of the Heavenly Cauldron Palace.
This was naturally extremely frustrating and explained the displeased look on the brocade-robed man’s face.
As for the other group, it was comprised of the Five Xue He Clones.
A hint of surprise flashed through the elderly man’s eyes at the sight of the two groups.
The brocade-robed man’s expression changed slightly at the sight of the two Grand Ascension Stage beings and the giant net up above, and he asked in a cold voice, "Fellow Daoist Tian Jiu, Fellow Daoist Di Meng, I didn’t expect to see you two here. What is the meaning of this?"
"Ah, so you were in the Heavenly Cauldron Palace, Sect Master Feng; no wonder it was closed early. You must’ve reaped some significant rewards in that palace, right, Brother Feng?" the short woman chuckled.
The brocade-robed man’s expression darkened slightly upon hearing this. "Are you under the impression that I was the one who caused the palace to close early?"
"Aside from you, I can’t think of anyone else who could be capable of accomplishing this," the woman replied.
The brocade-robed man was furious to hear this, but he didn’t know how to respond.
Right at this moment, the elderly man suddenly yelled, "Where do you think you’re going? Are you not planning to say anything?"
In that direction, the Five Xue He Clones were slowly backing away toward the edge of the formation.
"We have nothing to say. Are you going to keep us here along with Sect Master Feng?" one of the clones replied in a wooden manner.
Instead of answering the question, the rainbow light flashed through the elderly man’s eyes, and he sighed, "I didn’t think that the vastly renowned Five Xue He Clones would be reduced to such a sorry state; how pitiful."
The clone’s expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "What do you mean by that, Tian Jiu?"
"What do I mean? Hmph, you think your blood puppet body can escape the detection of my Glazed Illusion Eyes? Why don’t you reveal your true form?" the elderly man harrumphed coldly.
"What? Blood puppet?" The short woman and the brocade-robed man both turned toward the Five Xue He Clones with alarm and wariness in their eyes upon hearing this.
The clone reverted back to his wooden expression, and chuckled, "Hehe, the resounding reputation of the Glazed Illusion Eyes is truly warranted; I’ve already cultivated the Blood God Arts to such a degree, yet I still wasn’t able to fool you."
Immediately thereafter, a streak of crimson light shot out of the back of each clone’s head, then converged to form a blurry crimson humanoid figure with shimmering green eyes that were giving off an indescribably ruthless aura.
The elderly man took a deep breath, and declared, "It is a well-established rule across the entire Blood Sky Continent that all those who cultivate the Blood God Arts are to be killed!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, he made a hand seal before pointing a finger upward, and a rumbling thunderclap rang out as six bolts of crimson lighting appeared in the air before crashing down toward the Five Xue He Clones and the crimson figure.
At the same time, a loud buzzing sound rang out from the entire formation, and thick pillars of light erupted into the sky all around it, creating a massive cage of light, while the gigantic net up above also began to slowly descend.
A burst of cackling rang out from the crimson figure’s body, and he swept a sleeve upward, releasing six streaks of crimson light that destroyed the six bolts of lightning in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, countless bursts of crimson mist surged out of his body, sweeping up the Five Xue He Clone’s before speeding away toward the edge of the cage of light as a sea of crimson mist.
The elderly man’s expression darkened slightly upon seeing this, and he quickly switched to a different hand seal, upon which a white sword projection that was several thousand feet in length erupted out of his body.
He then fused as one with the sword projection before hurtling directly toward the sea of crimson mist, while the short woman turned to the brocade-robed man, and asked, "Sect Master Feng, that man has cultivated the Blood God Arts; what do you plan to do?"
"Hmph, there’s no need to goad me, Di Meng. All those who cultivate the Blood God Arts are sworn enemies of our Blood Dao sects and must be killed, so of course I’m not just going to stand by and watch," the brocade-robed man harrumphed coldly in response.
He then instructed his disciples to release the treasures in their hands, which transformed into giant runes of different colors that began to fly erratically through the air.
The brocade-robed man chanted an incantation, and the runes quickly converged along a set trajectory before rapidly intertwining, and within mere moments, a golden formation that seemed to be filled with countless sharp blades had taken shape above him.
The short woman was quite pleased to see this, and she swept a sleeve through the air to summon several spirit beast bracelets.
Around a dozen massive crimson doves flew out of the spirit beast bracelets, then also pounced toward the sea of crimson mist in the distance at the woman’s behest.
As for the giant pillars of light that seemed to be extremely far away, they began to slowly converge toward the center under the combined efforts of all of the Blood Bone Sect disciples, and a fierce battle ensued.