The suspension bridge was far too narrow.
Only one person could cross at a time.
Li Zhexian stepped forward to test it.
Crack—
The decayed planks split underfoot, plunging into the roaring Blood River below.
Strangely…
Though the river surged with boiling, turbulent waves—
The fallen planks were not swept away.
Instead, it was as if unseen hands reached up to seize them, silently dragging them beneath the surface, until even the scraps were corroded away by the river of blood.
A solemn glint flashed across Li Zhexian's eyes.
"Xue'er, be careful."
"Don't take flight yet."
"Gather your Spirit Power under your feet. Keep your movements light."
"Mhm!"
Qian Renxue lifted her slender hand.
A thread of radiant Spirit Power shot out.
It transformed into a glowing golden rope.
One end coiled around her waist; the other she bound securely around Li Zhexian's.
"This way, even if one of us slips, the other can pull them back."
Li Zhexian froze for a heartbeat, then smiled softly and nodded.
This was the bond between two people who could entrust their backs to each other completely.
Tang San and Hu Liena, burdened by mutual suspicion, would never do such a thing.
"If the events follow the original story's path…"
"The Hell Road has three trials: the Dark Golden Three-Headed Bat King, the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent, and the Heart Demon Trial."
"In their wounded state, it's uncertain if Tang San and Hu Liena could even clear all three."
Li Zhexian stepped onto the bridge.
Each step made the rotting planks creak in protest.
The suspension ropes swayed violently—
As though the whole bridge might snap at any moment.
He frowned, deep in thought.
"But the fact that we're traversing the Hell Road in pairs already diverges from the original story."
"I can't predict what kind of changes might follow."
The bridge stretched much farther than Li Zhexian had expected.
An hour of nerve-wracking progress passed.
During that time, they were ambushed several times by twisted creatures leaping from the Blood River.
After fierce battles, they pressed forward slowly but surely.
Finally—
Ahead, in the dim distance, something began to take shape.
The end of the bridge, hundreds of meters away, was nailed into a patch of solid black ground several meters wide.
The surface was cracked in every direction, with scarlet liquid seeping from the fissures, exuding a nauseating heat and stench of blood.
Beyond the ground's edge yawned a bottomless darkness.
"Li Zhexian, look—over there!"
Qian Renxue's voice suddenly rang out.
She pointed toward a faint glow emerging from the darkness
at the far end of the bridge.
There, within the gloom—
clusters of sinister red spider lilies swayed in silence.
Their petals shimmered with an enchanting crimson radiance,
and within their layered centers rested pools of golden liquid,
gleaming like amber.
Thin wisps of white mist rose from their surface,
radiating a chilling yet seductive aura.
"Yellow Springs Dew!"
Li Zhexian's eyes flashed with astonishment.
Both of them felt their spirits lift.
They quickened their pace,
rushing toward the field of blooming flowers.
But just as they were ten steps from solid ground—
a sudden premonition of danger surged in Li Zhexian's heart.
"Xue'er."
He turned toward Qian Renxue.
She nodded silently, already understanding.
Li Zhexian pushed off the bridge,
leaping forward in a blur.
Clang—!
A crimson sword light tore through the dimness.
The Qinglian Sword flashed from its sheath.
He twisted his wrist—
and drove the blade straight into the ground beneath him.
Shhhk—!
The sword sank nearly two feet deep—
and immediately, boiling dark-red blood
erupted upward like a fountain from the wound.
"Gwaaahhh—!"
A shrill, infant-like wail pierced the air.
The solid ground beneath them began to warp and swell,
churning like a living thing.
Qian Renxue, long prepared,
spread her Angel Wings,
diving forward to seize Li Zhexian's waist from behind.
The two of them shot into the air,
rising dozens of meters in the blink of an eye.
As the scene below came fully into view—
Even with their iron wills, both Li Zhexian and Qian Renxue couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
Below them, coiled within the Blood River, was an enormous serpent—its body stretching for over a hundred meters.
The upper half of its massive form was black as ink, crisscrossed with veins of glowing scarlet that pulsed like molten cracks.
Atop its monstrous head, nine bulging lumps of flesh swelled grotesquely—each one looking as though it contained a miniature sun, glowing with molten golden light that flowed and churned beneath its skin.
It twisted violently within the Blood River, stirring up waves as high as mountains.
The suspension bridge, anchored to the serpent's very head,
swayed madly, like a reed caught in a storm.
"Wh–what kind of Spirit Beast is that?!"
Qian Renxue gasped in disbelief.
She prided herself on knowing more than half of the continent's Spirit Beasts—yet she had never seen such a monstrous serpent.
Li Zhexian narrowed his eyes at the creature stirring the Blood River below and said slowly:
"It isn't a Spirit Beast."
"It's a Ancient Relic—a creature that doesn't belong to this world. The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent."
As he spoke, his expression darkened.
The situation was clear now.
"By the order of the trials, we should have first encountered the Dark Golden Three-Headed Bat King first."
"So the order has changed—Tang San and Hu Liena likely faced the Bat King."
"This serpent is much stronger. It's an unfair match for us."
Li Zhexian didn't particularly care about claiming the Killing God Domain—
But letting it fall into Tang San's hands was out of the question.
"It seems we'll have to slay this Ancient Relic before they do."
He turned his head and called out sharply:
"Xue'er!"
Qian Renxue understood instantly.
Her Angel wings snapped wide, and she dove—
Carrying Li Zhexian like a golden meteor straight toward the raging serpent below.
Hissss!
The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent's crimson pupils flared with bloodlight, its forked tongue lashing like a whip.
Boom!
Boom!
The Blood River exploded. Waves soared sky-high.
Its colossal tail, covered in black scales etched with crimson runes,
rose like a living mountain—
then swept through the air with the force to shatter cliffs and tear the sky apart.
Wherever the tail passed,
the rocky banks crumbled like tofu,
air shrieking as the blow ripped toward the two figures in midair.
Li Zhexian's eyes glowed with crimson light.
A killing intent as vast as mountains of corpses and seas of blood burst forth from him—
Whoosh—whoosh—!
Tangible waves of scarlet murderous aura flared around his body like flames.
His robes fluttered wildly; his long hair, now dyed crimson, streamed like a waterfall of blood.
If not for Qian Renxue's own affinity with killing intent, that aura alone would have shattered her mind.
The Blood River beneath them boiled restlessly,
streams of crimson energy rising from its surface,
all gathering into the blade of Li Zhexian's Qinglian Sword,
now glowing blood-red.
The sword hummed and shook,
unleashing a beam of sword light tens of meters long.
Thick drops of blood slid from its edge,
each one containing a terrifying will to kill.
Li Zhexian gripped the hilt with both hands.
Facing the oncoming tail that could crush mountains,
his entire body ablaze in blood-red flame,
he shouted coldly—
"Qinglian Sword Song – Sixth Form—"
"Blood Pagoda!"
This was the first time Li Zhexian had fully unleashed his Slaughter Sword Intent after comprehending the Sixth Form of the Qinglian Sword Song and spending another year cultivating his swordsmanship in silence.
Crimson sword qi tore through the air!
Even the fragments of killing intent scattered from it
raged like a hurricane.
Qian Renxue, still holding him,
was forced back dozens of meters by the shockwave of the sword's power.
The crimson sword qi resembled a broken blood moon,
shattering the gloom as it fell—
a single stroke meant to cut through everything.
It collided head-on with the descending serpent tail—
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin