SWORD OF CHOAS, VOLUME 7 - Season 13 Episode 41

“This Blood-refining Formation can refine the blood, flesh, and essence of people into Soul-devouring Force, but only those who practice the Empyrean Demon Arts can absorb Soul-devouring Force. Even if Saint Emperors come in contact with the Soul-devouring Force among the fighters of the Tian Yuan Continent, their souls would be corroded away, yet there’s actually a complete version of it in the Death Nest. Just who cast down this formation? Was it a Saint Emperor who was in possession of the Empyrean Demon Orb in the past?” Houston diligently thought while filled with doubts.

“No. There’s rumors from the ancient times that the strongest human, Mo Tianyun, had collected the corpses of a large number of experts who had fallen in battle and created the Death Nest. Was the Blood-refining Formation cast down by Mo Tianyun before? Did he also know the cultivation method in the Empyrean Demon Orb and practiced the Empyrean Demon Arts, which was why he also knew the Blood-refining Formation recorded in the Empyrean Demon Orb? Was he using the blood, flesh, and essence to refine Soul-devouring Force for his own cultivation?” Houston sank into his thoughts, but he shook his head soon after, “That can’t be possible. According to what I know, the energy used by Mo Tianyun was not Soul-devouring Force. He would not have practiced the Empyrean Demon Arts. Soul-devouring Force is more detrimental to him than beneficial.”

Suddenly, Houston became surprised once more. He cried out, “There seems to be another formation hidden within the Blood-refining Formation.” Houston began to carefully observe the hidden formation. All his knowledge regarding formations originated from the Empyrean Demon Orb. If he did not have this item, he would not have discovered the formations hidden there even as a Saint Emperor.

A while later, Houston gasped. He recognized the other formation hidden within the Blood-refining Formation. It was one of the many formations recorded in the Empyrean Demon Orb. It was called the Empyrean Demon Mirage, an extremely great illusory formation.

Houston struggled to remain calm after he had discovered two formations recorded within the Empyrean Demon Orb within the Death Nest.

At this moment, the Death nest began to violently shake once more. A large swathe of sticky, red mist churned out from up ahead. Houston’s expression immediately changed when he saw the mist because it was Soul-devouring Force that could be refined through the Empyrean Demon Arts. The Soul-devouring Force was several times more powerful than the Soul-devouring Force he could cultivate himself.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Muffled sounds reverberate through the blood mist. With every sound, the land shook. A hundred-meter-tall, blood-red skeleton was obscured within the mist. It was radiating powerful Soul-devouring Force from every single bone. The blood-red skeleton even gave off a powerful presence that was enough to cause the world to tremble.

“This is a Blood Servant, one that has surpassed Saint Emperor!” Houston exclaimed as he stared fixedly at the skeleton. Disbelief was written across his face. At the moment, he suddenly thought of the information he had learned from the Empyrean Demon Orb regarding Blood Servants.

Blood Servants were created with countless remains through the Empyrean Demon Orb before being nurtured with vile blood and essence. Its strength was equivalent to how long it had existed as well as the bones, vile blood, and essence that had been used to create it.

A Blood Servant was the servant of practitioners of the Empyrean Demon Arts. There was a secret technique within the Empyrean Demon Orb to enslave them. They would not betray their masters, and they would follow every single command. They could be used to assist their masters in battle, and the Soul-devouring Force of the Blood Servants could be absorbed for cultivation as well.

The skeleton did not attack Houston and, instead, stood there blankly. It stared in Houston’s direction with its empty eye sockets. It had already sensed an intruder, but the intruder was actually in possession of energy that originated from the same source as it, which was why it did not attack Houston.

Houston became extremely stern. Blood Servants could not form by themselves. He did not even need to think to know that such a powerful Blood Servant had appeared here due to some other person and that that person also knew the various secret techniques of the Empyrean Demon Orb.

But fortunately, Blood Servants would not attack other practitioners of the Empyrean Demon Arts before they had received orders from their master. Otherwise, even a Saint Emperor would only be able to flee before such a powerful Blood Servant, and they wouldn’t necessarily be able to escape successfully.

Houston observed the Blood Servant and he became stunned, which was soon replaced by ravishing joy. He excitedly said, “I- it’s actually a Blood Servant that hasn’t taken on a master.” Houston’s eyes burned with desire. Without any hesitation. He immediately began to create the Blood Servant’s Imprint. The Blood Servant’s Imprint was one of the many secret techniques he had learned from the Empyrean Demon Orb. It was used specifically to enslave Blood Servants.

Within just a few seconds, Houston completed the imprint and sent it out with a wave of his hand. It shot out with lighting-like speed and landed accurately between the eyebrows of the skeleton. However, nothing happened even after quite a while. None of the signs of enslavement recorded in the Empyrean Demon Orb appeared.

Houston became disappointed with this. He gently sighed and said, “I’m far too weak, so I can’t subdue a Blood Servant that’s surpassed Saint Emperor. Looks like I can only do this in the future. I wonder who has left behind such a powerful Blood Servant.”

Houston no longer paid anymore attention to the Blood Servant. It was not like the Blood Servant would attack practitioners of the Empyrean Demon Arts by itself, so it would not affect him at all if he remained there.

Houston shifted his focus back onto the illusory formation hidden within the Blood-refining Formation. The illusions were extremely powerful. With Houston’s current strength, he could not create them, nor could he destroy them. However, he knew the way in.

Houston still ended up entering the formation after hesitating slightly. He followed the method he had learned from the Empyrean Demon Orbs and made his way through the formation.

Houston was extremely cautious. He checked every single step several times and would only take a step after confirming that it was completely correct. He knew that he would end up trapped in the formation if he took a single wrong step, and it would be very difficult for him to escape.

After taking several hundred steps, Houston finally passed through the formation. At that moment, he felt his surroundings ripple as the landscape around him suddenly changed. He had already unknowingly arrived in an underground cavern.

The cavern was round, around thirty meters across. The entire place was filled with dense Soul-devouring Force and a two-meter-long, square pool sat in the middle of the room. The pool was filled with blood-red liquid, which seemed just like blood.

When Houston’s gaze fell on the pool of liquid, he immediately became extremely excited. His head began to violently beat in an uncontrollable manner. He could recognize what the liquid was with a single glance. It was Soul-devouring Force that had condensed into liquid because of the high density of Soul-devouring Force in the cavern.

“I understand now. All of the Soul-devouring Force produced by the Blood-refining Formation above was actually all stored here. This Death Nest is basically a holy land made for practitioners of the Empyrean Demon Arts. Although I’m still uncertain as to who made this place, the Soul-devouring Force here has already become so dense, and the Blood Servant up above has not taken on a master either. The expert who created this place must have died if he did not leave.

“If I cultivate here and absorb the Soul-devouring Force in the pool, my strength will definitely skyrocket. Whatever. I may have reached Saint Emperor already, but that’s only the beginning of the path of cultivation. I’ll devote myself to cultivating here over the next few days,” Houston murmured before sitting down beside the small pool. He began to practice the Empyrean Demon Arts.

However, what he did not know was that when he had passed through the Empyrean Demon Mirage and was sent into the cavern by a strand of Spatial Force, the illusory formation had exploded apart with a boom.

In the surroundings, there were even more powerful and even more profound formations that Houston had not discovered. These formations were connected to the Empyrean Demon Mirage. The explosion of the illusory formation lead to the self-destruction of the other formations at the same time.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The formations were very powerful. With a string of violent rumbles, the powerful ripples of energy released from the self-destruction of the formations made the entire Death Nest violently shake.

The formations that had exploded were extremely powerful trapping formations, which actually trapped the origin energy that had disappeared from the Tian Yuan Continent for countless years. Now that the origin energy was freed, it immediately dispersed into the surroundings, but the entire place was still enveloped by a formation and a barrier, so the energy was unable to break free no matter what.

An extremely powerful pulse appeared in the void. Another extremely vast formation appeared out of nowhere. If Jian Chen was present, he would definitely have been able to recognize the formation to be similar to the ancient teleportation formation he had seen in the divine hall of the Underworld Sect.

The only difference was that the formation in the Death Nest was even larger and even more profound than the one in the Underworld Sect.

At this moment, a violent gust of wind suddenly rose through the Death Nest. It sucked in all the origin energy from everywhere, causing it all to enter the huge formation in the end.

The formation immediately began to shine with bright white light as it slowly revolved in the empty air, creating an extremely powerful pulse of energy. However, it was obscured by the barrier and formation outside the Death Nest, such that outsiders could not sense it at all.

Everything was connected to the moment Houston passed through the illusory formation into the cavern and to the consecutive explosions and the appearance of the huge formation.

As soon as someone passed through the Empyrean Demon Mirage and was sent into the underground cavern by the Spatial Force, the other formations would be activated. The illusory formation’s self-destruction would activate the trapping formations containing the origin energy, and the origin energy would the activate the huge teleportation formation in the air. This had all been planned by someone long ago.