The Blood Pool and the Blood Infant

Waves surged within the pool as the essence of blood rose in spiraling vapors, the concentrated lifeblood of a king. It billowed upward and bathed Xiao Chen's Yellow Diamond skeleton, enveloping the crystalline bones in a crimson haze.

The capillaries that had taken root on his Yellow Diamond frame grew thicker, showing signs of developing further.

The scent of fruit wafted through the underground palace. Keke had eaten more than a dozen spirit fruits, her small belly round and tight. The little creature's eyes were half-closed in blissful contentment. When she noticed Xiao Chen's transformation, her gaze filled with curiosity.

Though Xiao Chen sat in silent meditation, his spiritual perception was sharper than ever. Everything around him reflected clearly in his mind. Fearing that the little one's curiosity might lead her to touch something dangerous, he quickly warned, "This is the blood of a king. Though it contains supreme blood essence, there is also a great deal of blood poison—enough to kill any being below the Half-Ancestor level. If you touch it without refining away the toxin first, you will surely be poisoned."

The little creature's eyes widened in surprise. She sat down obediently like a well-behaved child.

With a splash, a lotus of blood suddenly emerged from the crimson pool, its red radiance dazzling. The light cast a hazy glow over the entire hall, and the altar formed entirely of skulls beneath Xiao Chen shimmered with dreamlike colors.

"Ya-ya!"

The snow-white beast immediately became alert. Seven-colored divine light swept out, shielding Xiao Chen, and she charged to his side, staring warily at the blood lotus.

"The ultimate sublimated blood essence of a king." From such close proximity, Xiao Chen could finally sense what the blood lotus truly was. He said to the little beast, "Keke, use your Binding Art to bring it up."

"Ya-ya!" The little creature was just as excited. Her fluffy white paw swept out, and seven-colored light descended, instantly sealing the blood lotus.

The blood lotus did not resist. It carried no conscious will—it was pure holy blood essence, rising slowly as it blossomed with radiant light.

Suddenly, a hair-raising infant cry echoed through the hall. The Blood Infant shot back like a bolt of blood-colored lightning, opening its mouth to spit streams of blood light at Keke and Xiao Chen.

Void shattered. The blood light swept away all obstacles.

The Weng Syllable divine sound Xiao Chen emitted could barely contend with it. This was the terrifying power of the Perfected Man realm—the Blood Infant stood on the same level as the War God King and the Asura King.

"Ya-ya!"

Keke quickly sent the blood lotus to Xiao Chen's side. Huffing with anger, she waved her little claws, sweeping out layers of seven-colored light to block the countless curtains of blood light outside.

The Blood Infant shrieked, hideous and ferocious, suddenly transforming into a blood-colored corpse worm that seemed capable of piercing even the seven-colored radiance.

"A Blood Corpse Worm!" Only now did Xiao Chen realize that the Blood Infant was not the reincarnated soul of a king but a Blood Corpse Worm that had attained such terrifying cultivation by devouring king's blood for ages. It was not surprising—this corpse worm had feasted on the blood of a sovereign for who knew how many years.

"Keke, trap it in Paradise Lost," Xiao Chen transmitted to the little beast. This Blood Corpse Worm had never seen the wonders of Paradise Lost—if it charged in forcibly, it would bring about its own destruction.

The little creature blinked her big eyes, wrinkled her cute little nose, and reluctantly opened Paradise Lost. She was afraid such a vile creature would defile her pure land.

Shwish!

The Blood Corpse Worm burst through the seven-colored light barrier and shot forward, crashing directly into Paradise Lost. In that instant, the once ferocious thing plummeted like a dead dog, crashing to the ground.

Hiss…

The fragrant grass of the sacred garden smoked, and the blood poison tainted a large patch of flowers and earth, even corroding the soil.

Keke quickly waved her little claws and summoned a great bronze tripod from the depths of Paradise Lost. With a clang, she trapped the Blood Corpse Worm inside.

"Where did that tripod come from?"

"Ya-ya! There was a sealed heavenly palace on Mount Wuyi. I went deep inside and found this tripod full of sweet little beans. I ate them all." The little creature smacked her lips, still savoring the memory. "They were really sweet."

Xiao Chen was quite speechless. The 'sweet little beans' she mentioned were undoubtedly the precious immortal pellets left by ancient sages, and this little one had devoured them all like candy.

"Let's seal this Blood Corpse Worm in the bronze tripod for now. It has already reached the Perfected Man realm. It was only caught because it didn't understand Paradise Lost. If we can control it, it would be a powerful combat asset."

Xiao Chen had another reason for not killing the Blood Corpse Worm. He wanted to experiment with it, together with the Fallen Angel King, to see if they could be sealed into the Dragon Clan Sacred Tree and brought into the World of the Dead. If successful, he could take them along to explore the deepest reaches of the Death Continent.

By now, Xiao Chen had completely refined away the toxins from the blood lotus and planted it within the cavity of his Yellow Diamond chest. The entire blood lotus seemed to have taken root inside his bones.

Blood mist emanated outward, shrouding his whole body. The entire altar was covered in a faint blood glow. The breath of life rippled forth, and in this moment, Xiao Chen appeared sacred beyond compare. He sat motionless, meditating in stillness.

The little creature was also tense, holding her breath as she carefully guarded Xiao Chen.

Specks of blood-colored light flowed through Xiao Chen's Yellow Diamond skeleton. The crystalline bones were filled with the vital essence of life. The blood lotus seemed ready to melt into the skeleton itself.

Using the blood lotus as a catalyst, the essence within the pool continuously rose and converged toward Xiao Chen.

At last, the Yellow Diamond skeleton was completely submerged in blood light. The blood lotus vanished entirely, leaving only a mass of blood mist where it had been. Waves of powerful life energy pulsed through the hall, but this life essence did not yet belong to Xiao Chen—he needed to fully refine it.

"Roar!"

A long cry came from outside the hall. The entire underground structure shook violently as a savage power descended from above, splitting the earth and demolishing the hall. It was the Asura King. He had sensed everything happening inside and used his Perfected Man realm power to interfere. Breaking free from the Dark-Furred Giant who had transcended the golden bloodline, he smashed through the ground and charged into the underground ruins, heading straight for Xiao Chen.

"Boom!"

The earth split apart, and boulders flew into the air. The Asura King burst in, his thirteen divine cables writhing like thirteen blood-colored serpents, stirring up a thousand blood shadows as they lashed toward Xiao Chen.

"Ya-ya!"

The snow-white beast knew the Asura King's prowess. She immediately opened Paradise Lost to block his path, and the thirteen cables were stopped cold.

"Asura Heavenly Way!" The Asura King was no ordinary foe. He knew Xiao Chen seemed on the verge of transformation and refused to let that happen. He summoned the Asura World, a dreamlike realm of millions of Asura soldiers, its devastating killing intent converging into the aura of an era to seal the entire hall.

At this moment, Xiao Chen was undergoing the crucial transformation, using the blood lotus as a guide to draw the essence from the pool. He trusted that Keke would protect him—no one could break through.

The little creature did not disappoint. Even the Asura Heavenly Way's world-annihilating aura could do nothing against Paradise Lost, dissolving into nothingness.

"Ya-ya!"

The little one even launched a counterattack, sweeping out a seven-colored beam. With Paradise Lost, she was in an invincible position. Like a bolt of lightning, her body wreathed in multicolored light, she struck out forty-nine curtains of light in quick succession, blasting the Asura King away.

The Asura King, known as a Heavenly King, was in the Perfected Man realm and rarely met his match among the Hundred Races' kings. Now enraged, he found his Asura Heavenly Way power suppressed by Paradise Lost. His left hand swelled to the size of a mountain as he slapped forward, breaking through thirty-nine of Keke's seven-colored light curtains. The thirteen blood-colored cables in his right hand thickened like houses as they chopped down, the chains taut like blood-colored demon blades.

But Keke did not retreat. She charged forward, unleashing the Dragon Clan's great divine arts: Imprisonment, Sweep, and Extinguish. Divine radiance blazed into the sky as she struck out eighty-one layers of seven-colored light, not only blocking the mountain-sized hand but also severing four of the thirteen cables.

Clatter!

The broken cables fell to the ground.

Then the little creature summoned the palm-sized Sacred Tree, grasping it in a fluffy little paw. She swung it again and again, unleashing millions of colored rays.

"Boom!"

She sent the Asura King—the Heavenly King—flying with a single sweep.

The little beast was mightily ferocious, completely beyond expectations.

Just then, a group of foreign kings stormed in, witnessing everything. They were all shocked, never imagining that the snow-white beast not only had the inherently invincible Paradise Lost but also possessed combat power comparable to the Perfected Man realm.

Among them, the peerlessly beautiful Yan Qingcheng and the exquisitely radiant Yin Ying were the most astonished. They recognized the little beast and saw her guarding the Yellow Diamond skeleton—a sight that filled them with confusion and uncertainty.

"Ya ya ya!" The little creature held the Sacred Tree across her chest, glaring angrily at the assembled kings.

"Do you understand now?" The Asura King swept his gaze over the others. There was no need for explanation—the kings already knew that the White Bone King Banner must have fallen into the Yellow Diamond skeleton's hands, with this little snow beast as his accomplice. How could he not have obtained it?

"Kill!"

The kings all revealed murderous intent and unleashed their powers, charging forward.

Then something astonishing happened. The seemingly innocent little beast showed strength beyond anyone's expectations. She swung the Sacred Tree in all directions, striking again and again. Beams of multicolored light burst forth, and the foreign kings groaned in pain. In an instant, six of them were sent flying.

One particularly unlucky king was knocked directly into the blood pool. With a single scream, he was dissolved by the king's blood poison into white bones.

Everyone was stunned. The little creature, only half a foot long, had always been gentle, protected by Paradise Lost but never actively fighting the kings. Now she displayed such overwhelming power—all were dumbfounded.

"Kill!"

Despite Keke's formidable performance, the kings did not retreat. Several more attacked together.

"Demon Locking the Nether!" a foreign king bellowed, unleashing black baleful energy that surged toward Keke.

"Three Thousand Karmic Flames!" Flames of every color burned, distorting the void as they spread toward the snow-white beast.

"Ultimate Holy Light!" Blazing radiance tore through heaven and earth, like a sun suddenly appearing in the ruins, crashing toward the little creature.

Each foreign king had unleashed his ultimate technique. The sky blazed with resplendent light, and terrifying energy fluctuations surged violently.

Keke lifted the Sacred Tree and muttered quietly, "Keke's Ultimate Art: Devouring the World."

She had wanted a more majestic name, but her nature won out—eating everything in the world was the coolest thing she could think of. The Sacred Tree swept across all directions, and a seven-colored rainbow shot into the sky. The Demon Locking the Nether technique shattered, the Three Thousand Karmic Flames extinguished, and the Ultimate Holy Light dimmed in an instant.

Five foreign kings were blasted away simultaneously. Everyone's expression darkened.

"You're nothing more than this," the Golden Lion King said, stepping forward. He had been besieged by kings himself, but seeing his old enemy's current state, he could not help but advance to the front.

"Yellow Fur, I've beaten you twice already. Do you still want to fight me?" Keke blinked, staring at the Golden Lion King with displeasure.

Though many foreign kings had just suffered under Keke's paw, hearing her call the fearsome Golden Lion King 'Yellow Fur' made some chuckle.

The Golden Lion King was furious. He swept his gaze over the kings and, without a word, gripped the Basde Ancient Spear—still dripping with the blood of Half-Ancestors—and charged forward. His battle intent surged. The spear swung with such force that heaven and earth trembled. The blood-red spear split space into segments as it passed, revealing bottomless dimensional rifts.

Destructive power caused the palace ruins to collapse entirely, leaving only the blood pool, protected by Keke's Paradise Lost, intact. In the distance, over a dozen mountain peaks crumbled.

But such overwhelming might was blocked by the little beast's Seven-Colored Sacred Tree, which deflected the Basde Ancient Spear.

"Yellow Fur, you'll never beat me." The little creature's childish words only fueled the Golden Lion King's fury. Lost in his battle state, he had forgotten everything else.

He whirled the spear, stirring up raging gales and shredding the void in a frenzied assault. Keke's fur shifted from snow white to gold, then to emerald green. She fought the Golden Lion King with the Sacred Tree, meeting every one of the War Clan king's ferocious attacks.

"Perish forever!" In that moment, the Golden Lion King roared. The third vertical eye on his forehead began to open slowly, emitting a faint, supremely ominous radiance. He had gathered power for a long time to open this eye, originally meant for the Asura King, but now he used it against the little beast.

Ancient sacrificial chants and celestial hymns resonated through the world, making every soul tremble.

Everyone felt an unbearable, terrifying presence, and Keke was at the very center.

But in that instant, the snow-white beast seemed to push open a mysterious gate buried in the river of time. Her own eyes unleashed terrible light, impossible to fathom.

Her left eye blazed with black light, like demonic radiance from the abyss, carrying an aura of destruction. Her right eye shone with white light, like an eternal star suddenly flaring, igniting the boundless cosmos.

Thunder rolled. Wind and clouds shifted. Heaven and earth lost their color. The Golden Lion King's third eye and Keke's gaze clashed, surging with oppressive power on the verge of destroying everything.

"Boom!"

The Golden Lion King's third eye ultimately could not open fully. It was forced shut by the snow-white beast's gaze, and blood even seeped from the corners of the eye.

It was not a matter of insufficient power—the third eye's might was so terrifying that he could not fully control it. Interrupted mid-opening, he nearly wounded himself instead.

The Golden Lion King groaned, staggering backward.

Clatter!

The sound of cables came as the Asura King struck again. All nine intact cables and four broken ones lashed out together, catching Keke off guard as they coiled around her body.

"Die!" the Asura King shouted. As a Perfected Man realm expert, he was confident that even the physically mighty Golden Giant King had been crushed this way, let alone a tender little beast. Though she possessed fearsome divine powers, her body could not possibly be that strong.

Keke seemed genuinely angry. In the moment the cables bound her, the black and white light had not yet faded from her eyes. She turned her gaze on the cables.

"Crack… snap!"

All thirteen cables snapped, then shattered, turning to ash in the void.

Keke swept her gaze over the foreign kings. They all recoiled as if from a viper, none daring to reveal themselves under those terrible eyes.

Even so, two foreign kings were a step too slow, unable to escape through space in time. The little beast's gaze caught them, and before they could even scream, they were annihilated—body and soul extinguished without a trace.

Space collapsed. The terrifying black holes left by Keke's gaze slowly dissipated only after her eyes returned to normal.

The little beast Keke normally used the Dragon Clan's great divine arts, but only in moments of true danger did she unleash abilities she herself did not understand.

The foreign kings were all experienced. They were deeply shaken.

It looked very much as if someone had deliberately taught the little beast the Dragon Clan's great divine arts to conceal her own innate abilities. If that deduction held, what a world-shaking revelation it was! It was hard to imagine what race she truly belonged to.

Once the light faded from her eyes, Keke seemed dazed, muttering like a little lost child.

"Ya-ya… so strange…"

Hiss!

The sound of tearing air came as some foreign kings, seeing her confused state, launched a fierce attack.

Just then, Xiao Chen had already risen to his feet. His body was shrouded in blood mist, his bones completely covered in red light. He could now wield his former divine arts, and he struck out continuously.

The Lingxi Sword Wave spread like a fount of destruction, rippling outward in circles but exploding with a boom upon reaching the foreign kings.

Then the Four Killing Hands followed in succession—Slay God, Reverse Chaos, Suppress Demon, and Collapse—shattering heaven and earth.

Next, eight overlapping illusory worlds manifested: the Eight Aspect Worlds spinning, erupting with overwhelming energy fluctuations.

Several foreign kings who had charged in to attack were all sent flying.