Translator: CinderTL
Song Wen shook his head slightly.
He cared nothing for Zhu Mei's life or death. Whether he saved her or not was irrelevant.
There were two reasons he hadn't fled yet.
First, although Rong Luan and Yu Bi were locked in a fierce, evenly matched battle, their combat zone was only three to four thousand li away. For two great ascension stage cultivators, that distance could be covered in an instant. Song Wen feared that any sudden movement would draw their attention. Escaping would require retracting the Ten Thousand Li Blood Sea, a massive undertaking that might force Rong Luan and Yu Bi to temporarily set aside their feud and join forces to hunt him down.
But that wasn't the primary reason.
What truly kept Song Wen rooted in place was his greed—he was waiting to see who would emerge victorious between Rong Luan and Yu Bi.
If they both ended up severely wounded, might he have a chance to swoop in and claim the spoils?
These were two great ascension stage cultivators. The immense spiritual power within their bodies could potentially propel Song Wen straight into the Great Ascension Realm, assuming he could bypass the bottleneck that typically blocked such advancement.
In truth, the bottleneck of the Great Ascension Stage cannot be overcome solely by absorbing external spiritual power.
Back when Song Wen advanced to the Body Integration Stage, he first consumed the Heavenly Astral Body Integration Pill and Pure Origin Heavenly Dew, successfully opening all 108 soul apertures. Only then did he break through by absorbing Wei Gu's spiritual power.
Yet even so, Song Wen still wanted to try!
Otherwise, missing this opportunity might mean never encountering such a favorable chance again.
Song Wen's greed wasn't mere wishful thinking.
His strongest trump card wasn't the Blood Sea Seal, nor the Nine Calamity Heaven-Measuring Sword or thunder magic.
It was—
The early eighth-tier Shadow Void.
With the Shadow Void's divine sense attack, if he launched a surprise ambush while the two were off guard, it was entirely possible to briefly paralyze their consciousness, allowing Song Wen to deliver a fatal blow.
As for Gu Que, his divine soul injuries remained severe, leaving him utterly debilitated. He could barely sense his surroundings, let alone muster his divine sense for an attack.
"Gu Huang, please take me with you when you escape," Rong Shao's voice suddenly echoed.
Song Wen didn't even lift an eyelid.
Even if Song Wen escaped with Zhu Mei, he wouldn't save Rong Shao.
Zhu Mei was, after all, a peerless beauty, still useful in bed.
Rong Shao, on the other hand, was a supreme medicinal treasure to Rong Luan and Yu Bi, but utterly worthless to Song Wen.
Song Wen currently lacked nothing in lifespan.
A Body Integration Stage cultivator possessed a lifespan of ten thousand years, and Song Wen had lived only a little over six hundred seventy-three years.
More importantly:
In Rong Luan and Yu Bi's eyes, Zhu Mei was insignificant; they wouldn't care about her life or death.
But Rong Shao was different. If Song Wen escaped with him, it would undoubtedly enrage the pair, causing them to set aside their feud and pursue him relentlessly.
"Fellow Daoist Rong Shao, you are the object of contention between Senior Rong Luan and Senior Yu Bi. I dare not intervene..."
Song Wen's words were abruptly cut off by Rong Shao.
"I know... the location of the Nine Aperture Profound Connection Mushroom."
This declaration brought Song Wen's unfinished sentence to a grinding halt, the words catching in his throat.
After all, this mushroom was crucial for advancing to the Great Ascension stage.
No Body Integration Stage cultivator could remain unmoved by such news.
"How do you know about the Nine Aperture Profound Connection Mushroom?"
"As a cultivator at the peak of Body Integration, it's hardly surprising that I'm gathering information about treasures related to advancing to Great Ascension," Rong Shao said.
Song Wen fell silent, offering no further response.
His gaze drifted toward the distant clash between Rong Luan and Yu Bi, his mind weighing the potential benefits and risks.
Suddenly, Shadow Void's voice echoed in his sea of consciousness.
"Master, in my opinion, you should leave this place immediately."
"Why?" Song Wen asked.
"Rong Luan is no match for Yu Bi. She's only holding on due to her slightly higher cultivation level. At most, the temporary boost from her medicinal pill will last for a short while. When that fades, her defeat will be inevitable," Shadow Void explained.
Song Wen hadn't noticed any signs of Rong Luan's impending defeat, but he trusted Shadow Void's assessment implicitly.
Shadow Void's divine sense power far surpassed his own, making it unsurprising that he could perceive details Song Wen had missed.
After a moment of contemplation, Song Wen spoke.
"Fellow Daoist Rong Shao, I hope you haven't deceived me. Otherwise, I'll ensure that falling into my hands will be a hundred times more miserable than falling into Rong Luan's or Yu Bi's."
As the words faded, a blood-colored tentacle suddenly extended from the blood wall, coiling around Rong Shao on the deck.
The tentacle swiftly retracted, dragging Rong Shao toward the blood wall, where he was ultimately swallowed whole.
Zhu Mei was initially startled by the sight, but she quickly realized: Xing Chang is saving Rong Shao.
"Senior Xing Chang, please take me with you!" Zhu Mei pleaded.
Song Wen ignored her, his figure rapidly dissolving into the blood wall.
The blood wall, now without support, collapsed like a breached dam, plunging into the churning blood sea below.
Zhu Mei's face paled slightly.
But she wasn't one to resign herself to fate. Taking a deep breath, she forcibly suppressed her disappointment and swiftly ascended into the air, streaking toward the horizon.
She had also come to a crucial realization: clinging to Xing Chang's side was far from safe.
After all, by taking Rong Shao, Xing Chang had shouldered the greatest calamity.
Rong Shao was coveted by two Great Ascension cultivators; whoever possessed him became the target of universal hostility.
Her solo escape, though slow and insignificant before Great Ascension Stage cultivators, offered a critical advantage:
If she could distance herself far enough to escape Rong Luan and Yu Bi's detection range, neither would pursue her, regardless of who emerged victorious.
Instead, they would chase Xing Chang, who had taken Rong Shao.
Thus, this insignificant pawn had found a chance to slip free.
The commotion caused by Song Wen and his group naturally drew the attention of Rong Luan and Yu Bi.
However, their reactions differed sharply.
"Insolent whelp! You dare to meddle under my very nose?" Yu Bi roared, his voice booming like thunder from the Nine Heavens.
He had already gained the upper hand in his battle with Rong Luan, and her defeat was only a matter of time. Yu Bi considered Rong Shao his prize, and he would not tolerate anyone else laying claim to him.
Rong Luan's eyes flashed with fury and shock. She was equally enraged by Song Wen's attempt to rescue Rong Shao. But upon hearing Yu Bi's words, she let out a shrill, mocking laugh.
"Yu Bi, after scheming for millennia, your 'great elixir,' about to be within your grasp, is snatched away by a thief in the night—stolen by a mere Body Integration Stage ant! How does that taste? It's exactly how I felt when you declared your intent to seize Rong Shao and plunder my cultivation! Hahahaha..."
Now suppressed by Yu Bi, the surging cultivation power granted by the Reverse Origin Pill was slowly receding from her body. This seemed to have forced her to accept reality, and she had already abandoned any hope of reclaiming Rong Shao.
"Get lost!"
With another thunderous roar from Yu Bi, the nine Corpse-Suppressing Nails suddenly surged with power, forcing back Rong Luan's attacks and entangling strikes.
Immediately afterward, a Corpse Coffin materialized before him.
The coffin expanded rapidly upon exposure to the air, instantly transforming into a hundred-zhang-long behemoth, looming like a small mountain as it crashed down into the blood sea below.
(End of the Chapter)
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