Volcanic Age

The Kongtong Sect of Gansu, the Mount Hua Sect and the Zhongnan Sect of Shaanxi. These three forces of the Nine Sects and One Gang sent a small number of elites to Mount Mingsha at the Crescent Lake Gate's urgent request.

Everyone had moved as quickly as possible, but Mount Mingsha was so remote that it took them more than a few days to get there. That was enough time for the Blood Cult to run wild.

Near Mount Mingsha.

"Ahhh!"

Crescent Lake, the mysterious crescent-shaped natural spring.

The sparse landscape of plants and trees, rarely seen in the desert, was now soaked in blood and filled with human screams.

Despite being a medium-sized sect, the Crescent Lake Gate was powerless against the Blood Cult's attack.

Small and medium-sized sects from the surrounding areas, along with warriors dispatched from the Lanzhou Branch of the Martial Alliance, rushed to their aid. But the Blood Cult's numbers were overwhelming.

"Kuhahaha!"

"Become sacrifices to our sect!"

Their blood-red eyes blazed, and the maddening grins on their faces sent shivers down the spines of the onlookers.

The two thousand Blood Cultists that crossed the Yumen Pass first rushed at the Righteous Faction members who were waiting.

The Righteous Faction members who were not yet fully prepared for battle retreated in a panic, moving all the way back to Mount Mingsha.

"Get out of the way, you crazy bastards!"

At the frontlines, You Xiaofeng let out a deafening Lion Roar as he fought fiercely. He swung his yanyuedao—a massive 35-pound weapon—with such ease it felt like an extension of his body. Each swing was devastating.

Crunch.

"Ugh!"

With a sweeping motion, his blade carved a crescent through the air, cutting a Blood Cultist cleanly in two and sending blood spraying everywhere.

"Ahahaha!"

"Die!"

Most people would have been terrified, but the Blood Cultists were different. They let out excited screams when they saw blood.

"You crazy bastards!" You Xiaofeng shouted, disgusted by their madness as he held his ground. "Not only are you not scared, but you're getting even more fired up?!"

He could hear the frightened voices of the Righteous Faction members behind him.

Seeing the Blood Cult members charging forward without any fear of death was more terrifying than anyone could have imagined, forcing them to take hesitant steps back.

"Don't back down! Get it together!" You Xiaofeng shouted back as he continued to fight.

"Reinforcements are coming soon, just hold on a little longer!"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

It was a lie, but one he told to boost morale.

However, his lies were meaningless as a horrifying scene unfolded before his eyes.

"Just what the hell is…!"

Graaaaaah.

The voices of the dead flowed out of the Sanzu River, their cries bursting out into the world of the living.[1]

It started with the Blood Cultist You Xiaofeng had just killed. His upper torso dragged itself forward and latched onto a nearby martial artist's leg, pulling him down.

"Agh!"

"W-what the hell is that?!"

Crunch.

His ash-colored pupils were lifeless and melted into the whites of his eyes.

For some reason, a dead man, who shouldn't have been moving, had started to move and bit the body of a living man.

"Namu Amitabha, Avalokitesvara…!"

Someone nearby began muttering a chant in fear. It wasn't reinforcements from the Shaolin Temple—just a frightened warrior reciting a prayer out of desperation. Unfortunately, the chant was useless.

"A jiangshi?" You Xiaofeng muttered.

No, could that really be called a jiangshi?

Somehow, it seemed slow.

They seemed to be moving sluggishly. For a walking corpse, it did resemble a jiangshi, but something about it felt off—different from what he knew.

Is it possible for it to just wake up immediately like this without any prior preparation?

Creating a jiangshi was a sorcery art that required a considerable amount of time and effort, even for the weakest kind.

You Xiaofeng didn't know much about jiangshi, but he knew that it was impossible to wake one up immediately after death.

"Hmm, so that's why things were moving so slowly. A member of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven is standing in the way."

"...!"

You Xiaofeng raised his head in surprise.

W-what's with this death qi?!

Even the presumed jiangshi had felt strange, but the aura he sensed now was on an entirely different level. A chill ran down his spine. His bones quaked, cold sweat poured down his back, and his lips dried out as his heart raced wildly. His trembling eyes were fixated on a monstrous figure holding a six-foot stone staff.

"As expected of the Central Plains murim. It was hard to find usable corpses in the Frontier, but here, there are so many."

"Y-you, you aren't…"

You Xiaofeng almost dropped his sword.

The creature standing before him was like nothing he'd ever seen. Its face was unnervingly pale, nearly white, with patches of torn flesh exposing muscle and even bone. A jagged tear ran from the corner of its right lip down to its left cheek, leaving the insides exposed. Sunken eye sockets held tiny bloodshot pupils that glared like burning coals. On its back was a blood-red casket which was large enough to fit a person.

There was only one person in the murim, no, in the entire world, who looked like this.

"Blood Demon!"

The Blood Cult Leader (血敎主) of the Ten Empyrean Overlords (上天十座).

Blood Demon (血魔).

I-impossible!

Clatter, clatter!

Someone nearby trembled as their teeth chattered.

"T-the Blood Demon?!"

The title of Ten Empyrean Overlords was a heavy one.

The pinnacle of martial arts, warriors who had transcended human limits. Their strength was absolute.

They had the strength of a hundred, no, a thousand. Their power was immeasurable.

"R-run away!"

"How are we expected to beat something like that?!"

In the end, the morale of the Righteous Faction reached rock bottom, and one by one, warriors began to flee. The horrifying scenes they had witnessed were enough to break anyone's spirit, and now, the Absolute Master Blood Demon had appeared before them.

Even with You Xiaofeng, one of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven, leading them, there was no way they could hold out. The difference in power was simply too overwhelming.

"I'll hold them off! Everyone else, retreat!"

You Xiaofeng made the only choice he could as a commander. They couldn't win against the Blood Demon, and their allies were already overwhelmed by the enemies' numbers. The original plan to hold out for reinforcements was now impossible.

"Retreat!"

The Righteous Faction members, who had been hesitating, not knowing what to do, turned and ran the moment they heard the command.

"Gate Master!"

"We'll stand with you!"

Most of the warriors belonging to the small and medium-sized sects and the Martial Alliance fled. However, the disciples of the Crescent Lake Gate stood firm.

"W-what are you doing!" You Xiaofeng shouted in anger, but the disciples pretended not to hear him.

"This is our home, Crescent Lake."

"We can't just abandon it."

"I don't want to be a coward."

"If we can buy even a little more time, it'll be worth it."

Although they may not be related by blood, they were still disciples who were connected by something much deeper than just chance.

They smiled at one another, though it was likely bravado masking their fear. Still, those smiles stirred something deep in You Xiaofeng's heart, filling him with a bittersweet pride.

I can't let myself get pushed back here!

He bit his lip, forcing his trembling legs to steady and calming his racing heart. Slowly, a burning resolve surged within him, replacing his fear with determination.

"Proud heroes of the Crescent Lake Gate! Listen up!"

Raising his yanyuedao high, its crescent blade gleamed with a bluish aura, lighting the area around them.

"Even if we die here, our names will be remembered with honor! Our sacrifice will not be meaningless!"

"ROAR!!!!"

"Let's go!"

You Xiaofeng smiled brightly.

***

The Crescent Lake Gate Master cut down anyone in his path. If an enemy turned to flee, he would cleave their backs in two with his yanyuedao. If they pressed forward, he would relentlessly pursue and strike them down to ensure they couldn't chase the retreating Righteous Faction members.

At times, he fought back-to-back with his disciples to fight their enemies. The Crescent Lake Gate disciples didn't fear death and bravely swung their yanyuedaos.

"Ugh!"

"The Crescent Lake Gate betrayed the Righteous Faction!"

"They've all gone crazy! N-no!! Save me… ugh!"

A Mountain Of Corpses And a Sea Of Blood (尸山血海).

The corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like the sea.

You Xiaofeng felt some relief at the scene before him. At least, the sacrifice of the Crescent Lake Gate wouldn't be in vain. He believed that with all his heart.

***

As summer ended and fall began, the Blood Sect attacked the Central Plains murim.

The five thousand troops, using some kind of sorcery, crossed the Yumen Pass earlier than expected and entered the Central Plains.

Although the Righteous Faction forces of Gansu, including the Crescent Lake Gate of Mount Mingsha, tried to stop them, they failed miserably. Shockingly, the Blood Cult Leader, who would typically remain in the rear or center of the formation, led the charge, slaughtering the Righteous Faction members himself.

To make matters worse, the murim heard some unbelievable news from the survivors.

"They say that the Blood Cultists don't die even when they're killed."

"I knew their sorcery was strange, but I never imagined it would be this horrifying."

"I don't know how it's happening, but they're turning into jiangshi immediately…"

Sorcery arts originally came from the Southern Jungles.

The Central Plains had their own unique form of sorcery, one that refined and elevated the Southern Jungles sorcery arts.

The Jiangshi Art.

While the Demon Cult was also skilled in it, the Blood Cult was particularly good at manipulating the Jiangshi Art, and among them, the Blood Demon's mastery of the Jiangshi Art was unparalleled.

However, even with that, the current phenomenon of corpses becoming jiangshi immediately after their death defied all logic.

People were terrified of the unknown, especially something that transcended life and death.

"They say that if you lose to the Blood Cult, you'll end up wandering the underworld."

"I heard that the Martial Alliance abandoned Mount Mingsha without much resistance. Just what the hell are they doing?!"

"They're just mouthy bastards!"

The people's anxiety became delusions, and all sorts of strange rumors circulated.

The Righteous Faction's retreat from Mount Mingsha was a devastating blow to their honor, especially for the Martial Alliance.

Putting aside holding out for a little longer, how could they have retreated without even properly resisting?

In fact, there were even rumors that the Crescent Lake Gate members had all gone mad and were running wild, unable to distinguish between enemies and allies.

A few days later, the Blood Cult, that had nothing to fear, advanced from Dunhuang (敦煌) without meeting significant resistance.

Since the Hexi Corridor (河西走廊) leading to Lanzhou was in front of them, their forces advanced rapidly.

Crossing the desert should have been difficult, but strangely, the Blood Cult advanced without showing any signs of fatigue. In no time, they reached the outskirts of Lanzhou.

Around this time, reinforcements from the Mount Hua Sect, Zhongnan Sect, and Kongtong Sect, which You Xiaofeng had desperately requested, finally arrived.

But it was too late.

Most of the warriors of the Lanzhou branch of the Martial Alliance who had been dispatched to the frontlines, Mount Mingsha, and the small and medium-sized sects in Gansu that had quickly followed were annihilated.

In the end, the two sects who arrived late and the Kongtong Sect in Gansu had to cooperate to block the advance of the Blood Cult.

"The other troops, including the Exalted Sword Immortal, will arrive later, so we just have to hold out until then."

No matter how many elite experts there were among the Nine Sects and One Gang's gathered forces, none of them would be able to defeat the Blood Demon.

After much thought, the Martial Alliance asked for help from the Exalted Sword Immortal, who was the closest of the Ten Empyrean Overlords.

However, sending a sect leader to the frontlines wasn't a decision made lightly. After a lengthy meeting, it was decided that he would join the rearguard.

The problem was that it would take at least three days for him to arrive. Could they hold the Blood Cult's forces back without an Empyrean Overlord during that time?

"Whew…"

Lanzhou, Gansu Province.

Zhou Xuchuan opened his half-lidded eyes, staring coldly at the desolate horizon and the sandstorm-filled desert.

1. A Japanese Buddhist concept, the Sanzu River, or the Three Worlds River, is the boundary to the afterlife one must cross after death. Similar to the Yellow Springs or the River Styx. ☜