Under the golden lightning, countless blood shadows shattered into fragments.
No matter how many Blood God Servants Yu Yuan sent forward to block the lightning, it was useless. The golden thunder continued to descend, unstoppable, not even slowed for a single second.
At the final moment, Yu Yuan let out a furious roar. His hands suddenly swelled, covered in layers of crimson scales that spread rapidly until they transformed into a pair of enormous claws shielding his head.
A deep, muffled sound rang out as blood light and thunder exploded together.
Where Yu Yuan once stood, there was now only a charred crater. At its bottom lay a thick pool of blood.
It was almost the same as what had happened to Lu Yan and the others earlier—only the protagonist had changed.
As the blood mist dispersed, a figure descended from the sky. In his hand was a faint red figure.
The newcomer was naturally Liu Bai, who had rushed thousands of miles from the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy to render aid.
The person in his hand was none other than the unconscious Hong Xiao.
Though Lu Yan and the others had sacrificed themselves to protect her, Hong Xiao had already exhausted her strength after escaping. She had barely made it a short distance into the wilderness before collapsing into unconsciousness.
If Liu Bai had not appeared, she might have ended up like Qing Yanjing—picked up by some weak man and living an entirely different life.
Of course, that would be another story.
Had Liu Bai not found her, Hong Xiao might well have been discovered by a wandering Spiritual beast. To that creature, her sudden appearance would have seemed like a divine gift—food delivered straight to its jaws.
Liu Bai stopped at the edge of the crater and glanced down at the pool of blood, a faint smile curving his lips.
"The Blood Demon Codex truly is miraculous. Even with your body completely destroyed, you still cling to life."
His calm voice echoed through the air, but there was no reply.
Liu Bai's expression did not change. He continued to stare at the blood pool and spoke again after a brief pause. "What is it? Are you still planning to play dead before me?"
As his words fell, a palm-sized five-colored disc flew from his body, rising into the air and casting a brilliant glow that enveloped the blood pool below.
The moment the five-colored radiance touched the blood, the once-still liquid began to writhe violently, gradually condensing into the shape of a man.
"Who are you? How could you detect my true body?"
When Yu Yuan had first entered the world, he had only been at the Heavenly Fusion Realm. Over the years, he had endured countless hunts from enemies, many stronger than himself. Yet, with the power of the Blood Demon Codex, he had always managed to escape—even if he could not fight back.
This time, however, was his greatest crisis yet. His entire body had been annihilated.
Even so, he had survived. Give him a year, and not only could he rebuild his body, but he could also fully restore his strength.
But he had never expected that the man before him would see through his disguise so easily.
Liu Bai's response, however, was completely unexpected. He merely shrugged casually and said, "I did not actually detect you. I just wanted to bluff you. Even if you were truly dead, it would only have cost me a bit of spiritual energy. Nothing to lose."
"You…!"
The blood shadow churned in fury, as if truly enraged.
"Enough talk. It is time for you to go on your way."
Seeing that Lu Yan and the others' injuries had stabilized, Liu Bai no longer wasted words. He formed a seal with his hands, and the Five Elemental Divine Disc rotated in midair, drawing the blood shadow into it.
This was his assigned mission, after all. It would be best to let the Dean confirm the capture before destroying Yu Yuan completely. Though the chance of being denied credit was small, Liu Bai preferred to be cautious.
Turning to the other side, he found that under the nurturing glow of the five-colored light, the dried Qi Seas of Lu Yan and the others had begun to recover slightly, and their injuries were stabilized. At least, they would not die immediately.
That was the limit of what he could do. The Divine Light of Five Elements possessed decent healing properties through its Wood and Water energies, but it was not capable of restoring the dead to life. To fully save them, they would need to be treated back at the academy.
Using the Five Elemental Divine Disc once more, Liu Bai lifted the five injured people and began his journey back to the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy.
Midway, he encountered a team from the Punishment Hall sent to assist. The team was led by Lin Zheng, along with two others, including Gu Tianyan. When Yu Yuan had escaped from Gu Tianyan's grasp before, it had been a deep humiliation. Now that he finally had a chance to redeem himself, his fighting spirit was high.
However, upon meeting Liu Bai and learning that not only had he already rescued the victims, but that Yu Yuan had been beaten down to a mere wisp of remnant soul and blood shadow, all three were left speechless.
"Junior Liu Bai was even able to slay Yu Yuan. It seems your position at the top of the Heavenly Ranking is well deserved. I, Lin Zheng, am thoroughly impressed."
The silver-haired, black-robed Lin Zheng cupped his fists with visible astonishment on his face.
"Senior Lin Zheng, you flatter me. These seniors were severely injured in the attack and are still unconscious. I must hurry back to the academy. Everyone, we shall meet again there."
With that, Liu Bai transformed into a streak of light and vanished from sight.
Lin Zheng and the others stood silently for a while, complex expressions crossing their faces.
Using the Rainbow Transformation Technique, Liu Bai returned to the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy within half a day. Without stopping, he went straight to the central hall.
"Dean, please save them!"
His loud voice startled the elders inside the hall, who all turned toward the entrance.
At the head seat, Dean Tai Cang smiled faintly at the sight of the flustered Liu Bai. With a wave of his hand, an invisible force instantly drew Liu Bai from outside into the grand hall.
Liu Bai blinked in surprise. One moment he had been outside; the next, a terrifying power had enveloped him, leaving him no room to resist as he was pulled into the hall.
"So this is the power of the Sovereign Realm. Truly terrifying."
Below the Sovereign Realm, regardless of whether one was at the Three Heaven Realms or the Three Disaster Realm, none could resist a true Sovereign's might.
"Enough daydreaming. Put them down," Dean Tai Cang said with a smile, amused by the young man's expression.
He had noticed that this student's cultivation had been improving far too quickly. Without letting him experience a bit of Sovereign pressure, Liu Bai might actually start believing he could act without restraint.
If Liu Bai knew his dean was thinking that way, he would surely feel wronged.
He had only shouted for help—how was that "acting without restraint"? Besides, having read the original classics himself, he knew perfectly well how powerful a Sovereign truly was.
Following the dean's instruction, Liu Bai obediently placed the wounded down from the Five Elemental Divine Disc.
Both Dean Tai Cang and the elders around him immediately noticed the five-colored disc, their eyes lighting up.
"So this is what you forged after gathering the essences of the Five Elemental Spiritual Beasts? Its power has likely surpassed the level of a Supreme Spiritual Artifact, reaching the grade of a Quasi-Deity Artifact," Dean Tai Cang said admiringly.
"No wonder Senior Northern Sea Dragon holds you in such high regard. To have even passed on the Deity Art of Five Elemental Light to you. I hope you will cultivate it well and not disappoint his expectations."
Liu Bai's heart stirred slightly. He had not expected that the dean would know so much. The Deity Art of Five Elemental Light was originally a cultivation art of the Five Elemental Divine Sect. He had thought the Northern Sea Dragon merely kept it stored away, but it seemed others were aware of it too.
Thinking about it, perhaps the Northern Sea Dragon had been searching for a suitable successor all along. After all, that art was originally used by the Five Elemental Divine Sect to select disciples.
"Thank you for your guidance, Dean. This student will remember it well."
Liu Bai bowed respectfully.
"This is Yu Yuan's remnant soul. I have already suppressed it within the Innate Five Spirits Disk. Please inspect it, Dean."
Seeing the trembling blood shadow beneath the five spirit beasts, the Dean of Tai Cang smiled slightly. "Excellent. You completed this mission very well."
A streak of spiritual light shot out from the Dean's hand and entered Liu Bai's spiritual value token.
"All right, this is your spiritual value reward. As for the supreme-grade spiritual artifact, you may go to your teacher to claim it."
"Yes, Dean."
Receiving the spiritual value, Liu Bai's heart was filled with delight. Being able to have his rewards custom-tailored for him—he was probably the only one in the entire academy with such treatment.
"Oh right, there's still this fellow left…"
Seeing the blood shadow still lingering within his Innate Five Spirits Disk, Liu Bai willed it to move. The five great spirit beasts acted simultaneously, the power of the Five Elements circulated rapidly, and the blood shadow was instantly annihilated.
"Ding! Congratulations, player, for killing an Early-phase Human Body Disaster Realm enemy. Cross-realm kill bonus: double experience reward. You have gained 60,000 experience points and 500 Spiritual Pulse Awakening Points."
Liu Bai was momentarily stunned, then his face lit up with joy.
"An unexpected surprise. Five hundred Spiritual Pulse Awakening Points? That means Yu Yuan actually possessed a Heavenly Pulse?"
That was quite unexpected, considering Yu Yuan hadn't even activated his Spiritual Pulse power during battle. Although as one's cultivation increased, the amplification from Spiritual Pulse became less significant—and at higher realms, almost imperceptible—Liu Bai knew that a Heavenly Pulse still provided tremendous benefits even at the Sovereign Realm. This could be seen from Ji Xuan in the original story.
What Liu Bai didn't know was that his attack had completely exceeded Yu Yuan's expectations, and the Metal Calamity Lightning he used had absolute suppression against sinister demonic techniques like the Blood Demon Codex. As a result, Yu Yuan's physical body was destroyed instantly, leaving him no chance to resist.
Without a physical body, there was no way for his Spiritual Pulse to activate, and naturally, no power eruption could occur—so Liu Bai overlooked that aspect entirely.
In fact, people like the Blood Demonic Dargon Yu Yuan, Demon Dragon Son, and Mo Xingtian—all considered seed disciples nurtured by the Demonic Dragon Palace—were extremely talented individuals. Their Spiritual Pulse were definitely present, differing only in grade.
Now, with five hundred Spiritual Pulse Awakening Points gained, Liu Bai could awaken Grade-Four Earth Pulse. Without hesitation, he immediately allocated the points.
In that instant, he sensed a faint spiritual radiance flickering deep within a hidden space in his body. It resembled a vast star river stretching across endless starry skies. As the awakening points were infused, the star river grew even more brilliant.
The pitch-black void beneath the river became illuminated, then dimmed again, as if nothing had happened.
Yet Liu Bai could faintly sense that his speed in absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy had increased by nearly thirty percent.
These changes seemed minor for his current level, but they would profoundly affect his future growth.
After silently strengthening himself once again, Liu Bai sent a message to Yue Qing, then made his way toward the Spiritual Artifact Institute.
Supreme-grade spiritual artifacts were extremely rare, even across the Northern Heaven Continent. In the original story, among the younger generation on the continent, only Mo Xingtian possessed one—a heritage treasure of the Demonic Dragon Palace.
As for the Northern Heaven Spiritual Academy, every supreme-grade artifact was a priceless treasure. The materials required to forge one were unimaginably precious. Although Elder Chi Huo possessed the ability to forge such weapons, he had only done so a few times.
"Haha, so you've come, little brat!" Elder Chi Huo's eyes sparkled with excitement when he saw Liu Bai.
He was holding several unique metal ores in his hands, each radiating a powerful spiritual fluctuation.
"Heh, you've done well this time. Tell me, what kind of spiritual artifact do you want? I'll go to the Dean and requisition the materials right away!"
Liu Bai was speechless. So that's why he's so happy—he just wants a reason to forge again.
But Liu Bai had already decided what he wanted. He had many combat methods, but the ones requiring weapons were mainly the Ghostly Soul Arrow Technique and the Ten Thousand Thunder Sword Technique.
For the Ghostly Soul Arrow Technique, he already had the Origin Chasing Moon Bow—a top-grade spiritual bow paired with a top-grade spiritual technique, perfectly matched. There was no need for another supreme-grade bow.
The Ten Thousand Thunder Sword Technique, however, was a sword art. Although Liu Bai could condense lightning swords with his own thunder arts, they could not compare to a true spiritual weapon. To unleash the full might of this divine technique, he would need a sword of sufficiently high grade.
Of course, if he could obtain a Divine Sword, that would be even better. He could even attempt "Divine Sword Commanding Thunder." Unfortunately, such a treasure was surely something the Dean would never part with, so he could only settle for a supreme-grade spiritual sword.
"A spiritual sword, huh? And one that can conduct lightning…"
Elder Chi Huo pondered for a moment, then his eyes suddenly gleamed.
"I've got it! The Purple Heaven Sword—it's perfect!"
As he spoke, Elder Chi Huo waved his hand, forming a projection of spiritual light. Within it appeared a long sword of blue-violet hue. The scabbard was sky-blue, shimmering with radiant light that drew the eye irresistibly.
"Excellent. This one is perfect. I'll leave it to you, Teacher." Liu Bai nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Wait here while I fetch the materials. You'll stay and assist me too. The forging of a supreme-grade spiritual artifact is not something one gets to witness often—it'll be good experience for you."