Hengsheng watched them closely to comprehend how and why the ritual worked. The whole concept of ritual had always been mysterious to him.
It just didn't make sense: people offered things and said something to the sky, and then Heaven somehow responded.
This was totally unscientific. Spiritual to the core.
The entire cultivator stuff, the cultivation, and the Dao seemed more logical than this.
Shortly, the sky was completely dark, entering the night period, and then the red shadow of the Blood Moon began to shine on the ground below as it had been doing for years.
The elder of these top-tier factions immediately took action; they turned to their cultivators, instructing them through the ritual.
Their voices echoed across the area as they led the prayer to the heavens.
The offering that had been placed before the altar began to glow with golden light, then slowly turned into a golden dust that floated into the sky, creating a scene that appeared magnificent and sacred.
An echo with the rhythm of prayer, as if it were a song. The golden dust arose from the ground as if countless fireflies soared to the sky.
Hengsheng looked at the scene through the dimensional map as if he were watching a movie. He chuckled as he wrote a note on the system display about what he had learned about the ritual.
One: it had to look grandiose.
The ritual continued.
The golden dust filled the entire sky and began to purify the demonic elements that radiated from the crimson moonlight at an instant rate. Soon, the darkness of the night sky was turned into golden light. If one didn't know the time, they would mistake this for daytime.
The ritual was continuing to go on smoothly, but suddenly something shocking happened. All experts from the four factions sensed this simultaneously; their expressions became grim as their eyes all gazed at the Blood Moon in the sky.
They saw the Blood Moon shift—countless enormous fangs appeared around the moon, as if the moon itself was now being swallowed into the maw of a beast.
Hengsheng saw this scene. He wasn't surprised that something like this would happen during the ritual, since there was no way the enemy would let their efforts be wasted so easily. He also remembered those fangs that appeared around the moon—they were similar to the fangs of the Blood Fiend's image that Yunsu had fought.
The fangs moved, ripping the fabric of space and creating a crimson space-time rift. Then, one after another, numerous figures flowed out of the rift. Quickly, the entire area was filled with a million uninvited figures.
They were none other than the Blood Fiend Palace's cultivators. Before them, there was one figure who stood out—he appeared to be a young adult in dark red robes. His aura was very dominant; clearly, the leader of these demonic cultivators.
He was known to the entire Seventh Heaven as the Blood Prince, the current Lord of the Blood Fiend Palace, and the direct descendant of the Blood Ancestor—Chu Di.
Right behind Chu Di, a dozen figures appeared; they were the Grand Elders of the Blood Fiend Palace.
Now, half of the peak-level experts on the Seventh Heaven were assembled in this place.
There was no need for words. The Blood Fiend Palace immediately launched the first attack. Millions of demonic cultivators rushed toward the ground, intending to attack the cultivators below and disrupt the ritual from succeeding.
The four top-tier sects, three great dynasties, and one great clan didn't sit idle and let that happen. They had already prepared everything for a year to ensure this ritual would succeed—this included the possibility that the enemy would appear!
The concealment formation around the altar lifted, revealing the appearance of millions of cultivators. They gazed at the incoming, then soared into the sky to clash with the demonic cultivators.
With this, the battle that would decide the destiny of the continent began.
While Hengsheng watched the epic battle unfold, he sensed that the communication talisman the Xia Clan had given him had activated. He brought it out and sent his Qi into the talisman to hear what they were going to say.
"Chairman Lan, we need your help…" The message was basically a plea for him to join the battle that had just started. He couldn't help but curse this shameless clan—if the enemy hadn't appeared, they wouldn't have invited him.
Hengsheng put the talisman back into his space ring. He would help them fight, but didn't want to join the battle right away, since he would appear too low in value if he showed up too quickly.
After all, the hero always arrives last.
"Meow…?" Yunsu appeared beside Hengsheng. She saw her human intently gazing at the display, wanting to know what he was doing.
"You came at the right time. Look, the battle has started," Hengsheng said, inviting Yunsu to watch the show.
Yunsu nodded, moved, then sat on Hengsheng's lap. She watched the scene. She remembered this place—she had been there before. She gazed at it with interest and licked her lips as she remembered the taste of that wicked woman.
Ever since she had possessed the Blood Fiend Bloodline, she had become a bloodthirsty beast, starting to eat the blood of other beings—including humans. But she didn't consume any being without restraint, since this would make her human heartbroken. She only consumed the enemy.
By consuming the blood of other beings, her cultivation advanced more rapidly, and her strength increased. This bloodline's effect could best be described as one of the strongest among the Earth Grade bloodlines she possessed.
To her, the blood of cultivators was the finest delicacy—especially that of a demonic cultivator, whom she could consume as much as she wanted without her human scolding her. The sight of it splattered across the battlefield only stirred her hunger.
The battle continued.
The clash above the clouds was intense, and the golden sky and the ground beneath were dyed with the blood of cultivators from both sides.
Xia Zhenhai was also there, observing the scene with narrowed eyes. He noticed that the rate of moon purification was slowing down as the battle went on. It seemed like the more they fought, the more likely the ritual would fail.
He's not gonna let that happen!
He quickly informed the three dynasties, and they agreed to lower the battle intensity—adopting a more defensive stance, avoiding direct clashes, and buying time for the ritual to finish.
The command from the four leaders was given.
Immediately, the formation masters who had been waiting for the command began casting the spell, and the massive formation activated.
The blue-color Qi constructs rose from the ground around the ritual area and grew into the sky, forming a fortress to protect the people performing the ritual and the cultivators on their side.
One of the Grand Elders of the Blood Fiend Palace appeared with a smirk on his face. A formation flag appeared in his hand. He cast a spell and sent the flag in eight directions.
The cultivators from the other side saw this and tried to stop it, but it was too late.
The formation flag of the demonic cultivator's side had already penetrated into the blue-colored Qi constructs of the fortress formation, turning part of the blue to red.
The formation masters from the dynasty side coughed up blood as they lost control over the formation.
The fortress, which had been placed by the four top-tier factions, had been partially hijacked. The protection it provided now became hostile toward them. Everyone within the fortress felt their movements slow down, as if they had been chained.
Seeing the Grand Elder of the other side take action, the top experts of the dynasties no longer stood still, making their move immediately—exerting their power and destroying the formation flags.
BOOM!
However, this was exactly what the Grand Elders of the Blood Fiend Palace were aiming for. The destroyed formation flags resulted in parts of the formation being damaged!
The upper part of the fortress crumbled, allowing the demonic cultivators to descend to the lower level of the sky, resuming their bloody battle with the cultivators of the dynasties.
The attempt to use the formation as an advantage on the dynasty's side completely failed. This showed that the Blood Fiend Palace was well prepared for this confrontation.
The top experts from the dynasties had grim expressions. The situation wasn't ideal—they needed to endure this battle and prevent the enemy from destroying their ritual.
Leaders like Xia Zhenhai and the others looked at each other and nodded in understanding that they needed to move.
Xia Zhenhai gazed at the Blood Prince with a grim expression. He had fought this man before, 50,000 years ago, when they were at the True Body Realm.
At that time, he had been weak and helpless, unable to compare to the other party—surviving only by luck. But today, he stood at the peak of the Seventh Heaven—the result would be different this time!
Without hesitation, Xia Zhenhai soared toward the sky.
The Grand Elders of the Blood Fiend Palace noticed this. One of them stepped up to confront Xia Zhenhai.
However, the Blood Prince stopped him. He smiled—not warmly, but viciously. He wanted to take this battle himself.