A red watchtower swayed high above the clouds as if it was drunk. Anyone watching it would be afraid that it might topple at any moment.
On top of the swaying watchtower stood a stooped figure that was hugging tightly onto a pillar. He looked like he was in terrible pain.
"Why are you being so stubborn? As long as you agree, I can give you unlimited power! You could easily join the ranks of the Grandmasters, and that would only be the beginning."
"With enough power, you can become the most influential individual!"
"Don't you want to exact revenge? Only by embarking on the Grandmaster's path can you gain the right to challenge the Holy Emperor and get your revenge!"
...
He was patiently persuading, each one of his sentences dripping with undeniable seduction. However, the fellow in his body resisted every sugar-coated word with fervour. He finally lost all patience, unleashing a torrent of verbal abuse.
"Just what the hell are you thinking?"
"You maggot! Trash!"
A loud rumble could be heard as the red watchtower began to collapse. His body fell from the collapsing tower along with the countless longswords.
"Scoundrel!"
He hissed out two spiteful words from between his clenched teeth as he spiraled through the air. He reached his hands out into the darkness and bellowed, "Converge!"
Blood swords fell through the air like rain drops, coalescing beneath him on command.
The red watchtower had been rebuilt in the blink of an eye.
A look that was both arrogant and disdainful plastered his face. "You and your little tricks…"
Before he could finish, a dull, cracking sound made his face turn pale. With his sentence left hanging, the red watchtower once again collapsed, sending torrents of longswords cascading down into the depths below.
The floor beneath his feet had disappeared, and he joined the plunge.
Feeling pressed for time, he shouted, "Converge!"
The limp, falling blood swords regained their strength and merged beneath him. The swords moved like a school of salmon hopping upstream, rapidly stacking and surging upwards, propping him up as they went along. The watchtower was soon back to its full height.
Before he could even take a breath, he heard a dull, cracking sound.
"Enough!"
He suddenly burst into a violent rage. His face contorted into a terrifying mask and his eyes were filled with pure malice. Thick veins began to pop out of his neck. Much like a ferocious lion, he was ready to rip anything that moved into shreds. This anger was then spontaneously released into the area around him, creating waves of blood-red ripples that expanded aggressively.
The resulting shockwave instantly ignited every last bit of elemental energy within a fifty mile radius, creating a spectacular light show of multicolored flames.
He was like a god who had descended from the heavens. The air around him appeared to have congealed, and the wind did not even dare to brush against his skin.
Crack!
A familiar dull noise rang true amidst the lifeless landscape.
His terrifying expression was momentarily frozen. His eyes were wide open in surprise.
Crash! The newly rebuilt watchtower collapsed again.
"Converge!"
"Why bother…"
Crack, crash!
"Converge!"
"When will this end…"
Crack, crash!
"Converge!"
"I've had enough, I'm warning you…"
Crack, converge!
"I'm sure we can talk things through…"
Crack, crash!
"..."
Crack, crash!
Crack, crash!
...
Above the endless sea of clouds stood a red watchtower. It was stuck in a seemingly endless cycle of formation and destruction. Amidst this endless cycle a figure could be seen bobbing up and down, and an incessant stream of angry curses could be heard.
The recently awakened demonic god felt as if he was losing his mind. In all his years of unending life he'd never once encountered something so ridiculous.
His initial intention had been to take over the host. To think he would end up in this awkward situation instead.
If the heavens had given him another chance....
He was a demonic god for heaven's sake. How did he end up in such a pathetic state?
Aware of just how far he had slipped, the demonic god was on the verge of tears.
Flickers of lightning could occasionally be seen coming from the ever-moving sword embryo. Looking past the many layers of sword consciousness, one would notice a pulsating glow in the sword embryo's core.
That was Ai Hui's consciousness.
It was then that Ai Hui realised how much more dangerous mental training was when compared to elemental energy training. The slightest moment of inattentiveness could cause one to end up in an unrecoverable state. Slight deviations during elemental energy training were easily detected due to the numerous warning signs that would soon appear. But when it came to training the mind, there were no such warning signs. The entire training could immediately go south at the smallest mistake, leaving no room for correction.
Using the blood eye, he'd managed to devour the portions of God's Blood that contained its three incorporeal energies. He had channeled the remaining portions into the sword formation and managed to temper 18,000 god swords. He did not care about the many divisions of blood elementalists that had been consumed by the sword formation in the process.
The energy that he was unable to absorb was then channeled into the god swords as a desperate measure. However, Ai Hui had underestimated both the god blood's formidable power and the side effects of absorbing large amounts of blood spiritual force.
Part of the God's Blood's power was channeled into the sword formation to forge 18,000 "god swords". Following that, the sword formation consumed the entire Silverfrost Blood and God Wolf Divisions. Little did he know that their combined energy had created the perfect environment for the demonic god's awakening.
Ai Hui had no idea that the demonic god's consciousness was embedded so deeply within the God's Blood as this was a domain that he had yet to explore. The events that transpired taught him an important lesson - unfamiliar forces were often fraught with unknown dangers.
The demonic god's consciousness had hidden silently within the god swords, never once revealing any signs of its existence.
In the sliver of opportunity that opened when Ai Hui's attention was momentarily disrupted, the demonic god sprang into action.
Ai Hui's reaction was equally fast. Upon realising that something was wrong, he immediately retracted his consciousness into the sword embryo and laid out lightning defenses to keep the demonic god's assault at bay.
Ai Hui was now stuck in an unusual situation.
The 18,000 god swords were under the control of the demonic god. These swords also formed the basis of the demonic god's "corporeal body".
At the same time however, the sword embryo was still able to command those swords as well.
Ai Hui's body was in an even weirder state. The god swords' blood spiritual force was continuously nibbling away at Ai Hui's body, but the lightning emitted by the sword embryo was continuously purifying it at the same time. The demonic god had only just awakened and was in his weakest state. At this point, the lightning still presented a huge threat to him.
To make things worse, he was unable to destroy Ai Hui's body since it was protected by the Banner of God.
Long ago, when the demonic god was on the verge of disintegrating into nothingness, he'd split his essence into ten droplets of blood. These droplets of blood were to be the seeds of his revival in a distant future. His corpse was transformed into a set of armor, and his banner fell to the human world.
Of all people, the banner had ended up in Ai Hui's hands. Even worse, it had absorbed his blood and hence belonged solely to him.
A shadow of its former glory, the Banner of God was much weaker than it used to be in ages past. Even though it was unable to do much against the most powerful opponents, it was a natural suppressant for the newly awakened demonic god's powers.
The demonic god ruminated over his darn luck. His very own artifact had turned into someone else's protective gear.
What's more, the Banner of God had warned Ai Hui about the demonic god's reincarnation using the dreamscape. It was only because of this that Ai Hui was able to set up the appropriate defenses. Someone who knew nothing about God's Blood would most certainly not be able to put up such resistance.
Even until now, the demonic god could not fathom why the banner had chosen Ai Hui.
Regardless, his former defensive artifact was now his biggest obstruction.
At that time, the demonic god had wanted to snatch away the two drops of God's Blood that Lou Lan kept. If he had been able to fuse with those two drops of God's Blood, his strength would have increased tremendously.
He had however, met with Ai Hui's fierce resistance. Ai Hui had demonstrated his willingness to resolve the matter with mutual destruction, forcing the demonic god to retreat.
The next thing he knew, the watchtower was collapsing and reforming in an endless cycle. Right before the demonic god was about to fall apart, his ears picked up a sound.
His hearing was extremely sharp, allowing him to pick up sounds that were incredibly far away.
Is there a battle going on?
Hmm? Hang on.
His nose twitched a little and his eyes instantly lit up.
Fu Sisi never expected their assailant to be the Assembly of Patriarchs. She knew quite a bit about the Assembly of Patriarchs, particularly that they were practically Madam's right and left hands. Madam had later devoted all of her time and resources into Master's Glory.
News of the assembly's defection spread soon after the success of Master's Glory.
Skyheart City's Assembly of Patriarchs was immediately attacked and suffered heavy casualties. Four of their members died on the spot. The Assembly of Patriarchs promptly vanished without a trace, hiding like rats in a sewer.
It was hard to imagine that they would be bold enough to target the Sky Leaf Division.
What made Fu Sisi uneasy was the Assembly of Patriarch's deeper motives. It seemed as though they had developed a deep interest in Master's Glory. Whether they planned to create their own Master's Glory or figure out the Sky Leaf Division's weakness, she and her team were on the losing end.
Pop.
Fu Sisi pulled her hand out of a grey-robed man's chest, completely unfazed by the fresh blood that splattered over her clothes.
More than ten grey-robed individuals had died at her hands, yet not a single one of them showed any signs of fear.
No wonder why Madam had once relied so heavily on their power!
What a group of fearless individuals!
Fu Sisi's breathing was getting heavy. Even though the multicolored fog was not poisonous, it made the circulation of elemental energy extremely taxing. Fu Sisi had heard of the Assembly of Patriarch's fusion elemental energy before, but it was only now that she knew what it truly was.
Five elemental energies!
Even though fusion elemental energy looked crude and unrefined when compared to the Sky Leaf Division's five elemental rings, Fu Sisi realised that she was looking at its precursor.
Could Master's Glory somehow be related to the Assembly of Patriarchs?
In that instant, she finally understood the Assembly of Patriarchs' keen interest in Master's Glory.
Out of the corner of her eye, Fu Sisi noticed the multicolored arrow that was sticking out of her team member's body.
Fu Sisi's pupils contracted.
Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. An arrowhead crafted by entangling the five elements in a deathly embrace.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
The Sky Leaf Division member who was struck by the arrow cried out sorrowfully. His body was shaking violently, but there were even more terrifying things to come. The five elemental ring on his hand was dispersing strands of multicolored light as it became fainter.
How… How is this possible?
Fu Sisi's mind was buzzing.
Those who were not privy to the Sky Leaf Division's secrets had no way of knowing the true function of the five elemental rings. Most people thought of it as merely a mark, but it was in fact the source of their strength.
A lasso shot out from within the mist, latching onto the team member who was struck by the arrow and dragging him away.
Fu Sisi felt a chill run up her spine. The other team members experienced a similar sensation upon witnessing what had just happened as well. As if they needed to take a breather, the assembly of patriarchs did not make any moves either.
An eerie silence descended upon the battleground.
Both sides were reserving their strength for the next engagement.
Crash.
The sound of containers crashing thundered above them.
Everyone was dazed. A rush of cold air blew up their spines, making their blood run cold!
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