There were even blood-sea demonic creatures born in such a harsh environment, grotesque in shape. Most of them sensed the overwhelming aura of the dragon clan and chose to lurk in silence, but a few foolish ones still launched attacks, only to be casually torn apart by the dragons.
The search was long, tedious, and fraught with danger.
Along the way they encountered several terrifying crimson storms, each containing chaotic spatial forces and powerful soul shocks. Had Chen Ping not promptly used the Demon-Suppressing Tower to stabilise space and shield the dragons with his own formidable divine sense, some of them would surely have been wounded or killed.
They also blundered into an illusion-soul domain where colourless, odourless soul toxins drifted. Those toxins could trigger the deepest fears and hallucinations buried in a being’s heart. Several dragons with insufficient mental fortitude nearly turned on each other, but Chen Ping swiftly dispersed the poison with his Origin of Illusion.
Days passed. They scoured the vast, boundless Nether Blood Sea for a full ten days and still failed to locate the precise position of Soul-Burying Abyss.
Even Chen Ping began to feel a trace of irritation. That Soul-Devouring Venerable truly was as cunning as a fox, hiding himself so deeply!
“Master Chen, searching blindly like this won’t work. This blood sea is simply too large, and it’s draining us heavily,” Old Black growled impatiently, exhaling a blast of dragon breath that incinerated a swathe of resentful souls ahead.
Chen Ping was silent for a moment, then a decisive glint flashed across his eyes. He halted, hovering above the blood sea, and the Demon-Suppressing Tower slowly emerged in his palm.
“If we can’t find him, we’ll force him to show himself!”
He activated the tower. A gentle yet unimaginably vast radiance spread from it, carrying a power that both attracted and suppressed divine souls, especially evil ones. Like ripples, it surged outward in every direction.
The Demon-Suppressing Tower was the natural bane of divine souls. In a place crawling with resentful spirits like the Nether Blood Sea, it shone like a beacon in the darkness. To a remnant soul of the Soul-Devouring Venerable’s level, its lure and threat were irresistible.
Sure enough, less than the time it takes to burn one incense stick after the tower’s power was fully unleashed…
“Hum—!”
About a thousand li away, the blood sea suddenly began to boil violently. A colossal, bottomless vortex slowly took shape.
At the heart of the vortex, an icy, malevolent, overwhelmingly powerful yet faintly hollow soul fluctuation stirred, as though some primordial ferocious beast were awakening from slumber.
Chen Ping recognised that soul signature instantly. It was none other than the Soul-Devouring Venerable!
“Found him!”
A sharp light blazed in Chen Ping’s eyes. He withdrew the tower and led the dragon army racing toward the vortex at top speed.
A thousand li was crossed in the blink of an eye.
The vortex was enormous, hundreds of li across. The spinning blood formed a gateway straight into hell, radiating a heart-stopping suction force.
Yet at its very centre, instead of pitch darkness, a dim, eerie light faintly glimmered, suggesting another world lay beyond.
“Soul-Burying Abyss… so this is the place.”
Chen Ping could sense an independent spatial barrier beneath the vortex.
“Let’s go. Down we go!”
Bold and fearless, he took the lead, transforming into a streak of light and plunging straight into the heart of the vortex.
Old Black, Cen Biqing, and the rest of the dragons followed close behind.
They passed through a viscous membrane of blood-water and a formidable spatial barrier. Abruptly, the scene before them opened up.
This was not the dark abyss they had imagined, but a vast, empty, and bizarre subterranean realm.
The sky was a frozen dark red, like congealed blood. There were no sun, moon, or stars; only a faint, sourceless illumination.
The ground was pitch-black, studded with bizarre, jagged rocks of every grotesque shape. The air carried a blood stench and soul-resentment ten times denser than outside.
At the very centre of this space stood a gigantic throne constructed entirely from countless skulls.
Upon that throne sat a figure.
The figure had no physical flesh. It was formed from extremely condensed shadow and resentment. Faint black soul-fire flickered around it. Its facial features were blurred, save for a pair of eyes: two ghostly green flames burning with boundless venom, greed, and the cold indifference of ten thousand years.
