Immortal Martial Emperor

’What is happening?’

The entire Soul-Refining Blood Pool was trembling.

From the tens of thousands of corpses, specks of bloody light continuously rose, enveloping both Hong Yu and Xingtian.

Bathed in the bloody light, Hong Yu felt all the blood in his body throb.

It was as if the light contained something that attracted his blood and vital energy. The temptation was so strong that his blood nearly burst from his skin.

Curiously, however, when his blood surged toward his skin, it seemed to hit a barrier.

This was his Eight Desolates Dominating Body, which he had already activated.

Blocked by the Eight Desolates Dominating Body, the bloody light failed to draw out his blood and vital energy.

"ROAR!"

Xingtian suddenly let out a low growl at Hong Yu.

Hong Yu froze, looking at Xingtian in confusion. "Are you telling me not to resist?"

"ROAR!"

Xingtian gave a firm nod.

Hong Yu hesitated slightly.

The feeling just now—of his blood being completely drawn out and wanting to surge forth—was terrifying. He didn’t like this passive sensation of being controlled.

But Xingtian was extremely loyal to him.

He would never betray or harm him.

At this thought, Hong Yu gritted his teeth and deactivated the faint golden light of the Eight Desolates Dominating Body surrounding him.

As the Eight Desolates Dominating Body dissipated, the churning of his blood and vital energy grew violent once more.

Following this violent fluctuation...

A faint layer of blood gradually seeped out from the surface of Hong Yu’s body—one drop, two drops, three drops...

The blood gathered into beads.

They trickled down the surface of his body, silently sliding off and dyeing him into a man of blood.

It was truly a terrifying sight!

Even Hong Yu could barely stand the sensation of his blood being peeled from his body. The intense agony was like having a searing hot iron plate pressed against him. Perhaps only a word like "heart-rending" could describe such soul-piercing pain.

"HUFF! HUFF!"

Hong Yu gasped for breath.

His eyes were still crimson, but he persevered, clenching his teeth so hard they felt like they would shatter.

Even with his Spiritual Power, which was at the level of the Late-stage Primordial Core Realm, he found it difficult to resist such agony. One could only imagine how terrifying the process was, having his blood forcibly drawn from his body by the pervasive bloody light.

"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"

Enduring the excruciating pain, Hong Yu glanced at his body from the corner of his eye.

The blood on the surface of his body had completely coagulated, forming a dark red shell. With a twitch of his brows, the slight motion of looking down shattered the bloody crust on his body.

The shell cracked inch by inch, like a spiderweb covering his skin.

Only then did the blood shell on his body begin to flake off.

A shimmering luster appeared on the surface of his skin.

"ROAR!"

Xingtian, however, strolled through the bloody light as if it were a leisurely walk in a garden. He moved as freely as a fish in water, coming to Hong Yu’s side.

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hong Yu.

The two of them shared the highest level of Soul Blood Contract, and because of it, they had an inexplicable and intimate connection with each other.

Hong Yu felt an extremely terrifying power awakening within Xingtian’s body.

"ROAR!"

Xingtian suddenly threw his arms wide and roared at the sky.

The roar shook the heavens!

From his back, bloody vines suddenly erupted. At a glance, there were at least a hundred of them spreading out, making Xingtian look like a giant octopus.

The bloody vines danced wildly.

A bloody shadow coalesced behind him, and the scarlet light from the void gradually gathered toward the vines.

As the bloody light was devoured by the vines, the aura emanating from Xingtian grew steadily stronger.

"RUSTLE! RUSTLE!"

As the bloody vines danced, they continuously rose, twisting and condensing behind Xingtian to form a small, blood-colored tree.

This small tree was about three meters tall!

Its entire body glowed with a bewitching bloody radiance. The trunk was straight, and the crown sat atop it like a hat.

At this moment, three bright red fruits hung from it.

Inside each fruit, a faint figure sat cross-legged.

Hong Yu saw it clearly, his heart trembling slightly. ’Are those the Corpse Demon Generals?’

Little One had once explained that after an Execution Corpse reached the Three Tribulations, its Seed of Misfortune would take root and sprout, growing into a Tree of Misfortune.

When the fruits on the Tree of Misfortune ripened, they would fall and become Corpse Demon Generals.

The strength of a Corpse Demon General depended on Xingtian’s own strength, and it was also related to the strength of the souls Xingtian had devoured.

For example, if the expert souls Xingtian had devoured were from the Earth Soul Realm, then the strongest Corpse Demon Generals he could summon would also be at the Earth Soul Realm.

If Xingtian had absorbed the souls of Primordial Spirit Realm experts, then as a Third-Tribulation Execution Corpse, the strongest Corpse Demon Generals he could summon would be at the Primordial Embryo Realm.

Only when Xingtian reached the level of a Fourth-Tribulation Execution Corpse could he summon Primordial Spirit Realm Corpse Demon Generals.

The souls of these three Corpse Demon Generals had not been strong in life.

Even if they were summoned, their combat power would only be comparable to the Earth Soul Realm.

But...

If he had the chance to devour the souls of powerful experts in the future, Xingtian’s true combat potential would erupt.

Just imagine if Xingtian devoured the souls of ten thousand Primordial Spirit Realm experts. He could then summon ten thousand Corpse Demon Generals comparable to the Primordial Spirit Realm. He would be able to sweep through everything!

What’s more, Xingtian’s potential didn’t stop there!

’Incredible, Xingtian! I can’t wait to see the day you lead an army of Corpse Demon Generals and dominate everything in your path!’ Hong Yu thought excitedly.

Just then, Xingtian let out another low growl.

A beam of black light rose from beneath his feet.

It was none other than the Unjust Death Black Lotus!

The Unjust Death Black Lotus was now countless times stronger than when it had been with Xue Jun. The terrifying aura of death alone was enough to force the soul out of the body of an ordinary Celestial Soul Realm expert.

"BUZZ!"

The Unjust Death Black Lotus rose from his feet and hovered above Xingtian’s head.

Black light shrouded down, falling upon the Tree of Misfortune.

Streams of black runes flowed across the tree trunk.

The trunk of the Tree of Misfortune squirmed, and its crown trembled. With this tremor, the entire blood-red Tree of Misfortune became covered in a dense layer of black runes.

At the base of the crown, roots coiled, and a black lotus flower actually appeared, propping it up.

Just as Little One had speculated, after the Seed of Misfortune merged with the Unjust Death Black Lotus, a mutation had occurred.

The current Xingtian seemed to have embarked on a path of mutated evolution, different from any Execution Corpse before him.

"WHOOSH!"

A pillar of intertwined black and red light rose from the mutated Tree of Misfortune.

The two-colored light enveloped Hong Yu.

Hong Yu instantly felt as if he were basking in a spring breeze. Torrents of incomparably pure energy surged madly into his body.

He shot a look of surprise at Xingtian, then his gaze fell on the mutated Tree of Misfortune behind him.

The pure energy that had just rushed into his body was coming from the black lotus base.

Hong Yu looked closely and discovered that the source of this energy was actually the bloody light in the void. The tree’s crown trembled, its black runes pulsed, and it continuously devoured the bloody light around it.

"BOOM!"

A jolt ran through Hong Yu’s entire body.

He stared at his body in disbelief. Under the infusion of this energy, his cultivation was actually breaking through, reaching the Late-stage Primordial Core Realm!

"This... This mutated Tree of Misfortune is devouring energy to help me break through?" Hong Yu murmured, half in shock and half in doubt.

This power was truly peculiar.

Even more...

It wasn’t just raising his cultivation. More importantly, it was replenishing the Essence Blood that had just been forced out of his body.

Crucially, the replenished Essence Blood was even more condensed and purer than before.

It contained boundless blood and vital energy!

"Hahaha, it can even replenish Essence Blood! This Tree of Misfortune is too powerful!"

Hong Yu was ecstatic, but he also understood that such an opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime event, unless he stumbled upon another Soul-Refining Blood Pool.

However...

A Soul-Refining Blood Pool was a malevolent creation. If not for sheer luck this time, he never would have encountered one.

He composed his chaotic thoughts and murmured, "It’s not fitting to call it the Tree of Misfortune anymore. Hmm, I’ll call it the Devouring Demon Tree!"

As if hearing its new name, "Devouring Demon Tree," the tree condensed from black and red light trembled slightly. Black Demon Patterns transmitted from its crown, and then a gentle force pushed Hong Yu away.

Immediately after, the Devouring Demon Tree began to ravenously consume the remaining energy in the area.

In just a short while, all the energy within the Soul-Refining Blood Pool was devoured completely.

As the bloody light dissipated, a roiling cloud of blood, laced with crackling lightning, suddenly condensed above Xingtian’s head.

This was the sign that Xingtian was about to undergo his Execution Corpse Tribulation!

"As long as you endure this, you’ll be a Third-Tribulation Execution Corpse!"

Hong Yu clenched his fists in excitement.

Xingtian roared and charged toward the tribulation cloud...

「Several thousand kilometers away from the Gobi Desert, at the same time Xingtian was facing his tribulation.」

Atop an ice-covered mountain peak, a blood-colored grand hall was particularly jarring to the eye.

The Blood Demon Palace stood upon Ice and Snow Peak.

The Blood Demon Palace was one of the five major powers within the Ice Kingdom, even ranking among the top three.

In the entire vast Ice Kingdom, only the Imperial Family and the Xu Family could keep the Blood Demon Palace in check.

However...

In recent years, the Xu Family had gradually declined, giving the Blood Demon Palace an opportunity to advance further, and it had developed quite rapidly.

Liang Hunran was the Grand Elder of the Blood Demon Palace, a Mid-stage Primordial Embryo Realm expert. His cultivation was so powerful that he ranked among the top five in the vast Ice Dynasty.

However, Liang Hunran was in seclusion year-round, so he was considered a low-key expert throughout the Ice Kingdom.

Of course...

Anyone familiar with Liang Hunran would scoff at that notion.

The reason he was always in seclusion was not to be low-key, but because the *Blood Demon Scripture* he cultivated was extremely vicious. He had once slaughtered several cities to create a Soul-Refining Blood Pool.

No less than a million people had died at his hands.

Because of this, after Liang Hunran broke through to the Primordial Embryo Realm, all the major powers grew wary of him, fearing he would commit another city-wide slaughter.

After all, if he wanted to advance his cultivation further now, only a Soul-Refining Blood Pool made from at least a hundred thousand people would have any effect.

Liang Hunran knew full well that he had many enemies and was a thorn in the side of the major powers, so he hid in the Blood Demon Palace’s main headquarters year-round.

「On this day!」

Deep within the Blood Demon Palace, a furious roar that shook the Celestial Universe suddenly erupted from a secret chamber...

"Damn you! Someone actually killed Tian’Er? I don’t care who you are, but for daring to harm Tian’Er, I will make you wish you were dead!"