Suddenly, the cold energy erupted, and heavy snow fell across millions of kilometers.
The appearance of Yinggou weighed heavily on everyone’s heart.
Within the coffin, Yinggou’s face twisted in pain, and the surrounding temperature dropped further. A bone-chilling wind surged in all directions, instantly freezing the earth and causing many mountains and rivers to crack from the sudden freeze.
Looking towards the weakened Houqing, Mao Tianyun said, “It’s so cold. Yinggou? Meow! She seems much stronger than you, Houqing, even though you both are zombie ancestors.”
Houqing felt a chill pervading his body.
“What’s happening to her?” Gu Hai asked, his brows furrowed.
The shaman elder chanted something under his breath, apparently some sort of incantation. A series of strange talisman scripts slowly entered Yinggou’s mind from within the coffin.
“Is the shaman race’s first elder trying to control Yinggou?” Long Shenying suddenly exclaimed.
The scene indeed seemed to suggest so. Yinggou had just woken up. Was the shaman elder trying to manipulate her using a secret technique of the shaman race?
“Stop him!” Gu Hai ordered.
“Yes!” Kong Xuan responded.
Coo!
With a fierce shout, Kong Xuan charged towards the shaman race’s first elder in the distance.
The shaman elder paused his chanting and turned his head.
“A peacock spirit? You think you can stop me?” the shaman race’s first elder snorted. “Blood Sea Mirroring Intentions!”
He tapped the ground lightly with his cane.
Whoosh!
Centered on the shaman elder, a titanic wave of blood soared into the sky, quickly forming a boundless sea of blood. A figure identical to Kong Xuan, but drenched in a bloody hue, emerged from within the churning sea of blood. This blood clone of Kong Xuan moved to confront the original, and their palms met in a colossal clash.
Boom!
The space trembled violently, with neither side gaining the upper hand.
“Isn’t this the Yellow Springs Self-Mirroring Ritual Array from before? It formed a Yellow Springs clone? How did this happen?” the Mosquito Daoist exclaimed.
In the distance, the blood Kong Xuan battled the original, using the original’s techniques.
“I understand now. The Yellow Springs Self-Mirroring Ritual Array was created by this powerful shaman. He’s the Blood Shaman, the first elder of the shaman race. But wasn’t the Blood Shaman supposed to be dead? I remember Jiangchen killing him!” Long Wanyu said, shocked.
“The first elder, the Blood Shaman?” Gu Hai said, puzzled.
“Yes, there’s a resentful spirit known as the Blood Shaman Resentful Spirit in the Corpse Mound World. It’s the resentful spirit of the Blood Shaman. It roams the Corpse Mound World and—” Long Wanyu began but was interrupted.
“Is he the one who constantly mutters ‘I died a wronged death’?” the Mosquito Daoist interjected.
“Yes, that’s the Blood Shaman. A ritual array prodigy of the shaman race, he used the blood sea as the ritual array foundation and created countless shaman ritual arrays. He was one of the shaman race’s founding elders and the leader of the blood lineage!” Long Wanyu explained.
Surprised, the Mosquito Daoist looked at Gu Hai. “Your Reverence, wasn’t the Blood Shaman’s resentment refined by Changming?”
“This is not that Blood Shaman!” Gu Hai declared.
“Hah! That’s right. I’m him!” In the distance, the crimson-robed elder seemed to have heard Gu Hai’s voice.
“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” the Mosquito Daoist asked, shocked.
“Do you think it’s easy to escape under Jiangchen’s watch? Back then, I split my three spiritual souls into twos. One set remained in the war between shamans and animal spirits, fooling Jiangchen and everyone else, while the other set slipped away with the Divine Dao Shaman Canon. You all know me and, naturally, know my means. As for the shaman race, it would be more accurate to say Jiangchen destroyed it rather than it perished with the animal spirit race. Leader? Hahahahaha! The shaman race was on the verge of victory, but a ceasefire was called, and we were betrayed. Jiangchen, what do you want? Humph! I will avenge the shaman race. I will ensure Jiangchen dies a miserable death. You will all be buried with him!” the Blood Shaman said coldly.
“Split the spiritual souls into twos?” Gu Hai raised an eyebrow.
What a strange secret technique!
In the blood sea, Kong Xuan and his blood clone were locked in combat. Despite numerous powerful strikes, Kong Xuan seemed unable to overcome his opponent, his anger mounting.
“Should I go and help Kong Xuan?” Long Wanqing asked, her brow furrowed.
“Help? Hahaha! There is nothing of the three thousand Great Dao in the world that my ritual array cannot form. If you come, it will just form another you!” the Blood Shaman laughed uproariously.
Gu Hai’s true body gently pulled Long Wanqing back.
“Kong Xuan, come back!” Gu Hai’s true body ordered sternly.
“Understood!”
Although Kong Xuan was extremely frustrated by the fight, he returned upon Gu Hai’s command.
Whoosh!
The blood peacock suddenly vanished.
Gu Hai looked at the coffin behind the blood sea, where Yinggou was still writhing in pain, and the talisman scripts on the coffin continued pouring into her mind.
“Retreating knowing the difficulty? Useless. You will all become my blood nourishment. A consummate Upper Heavenly Palace Realm cultivator? Quite a rare sight indeed! When my great work is completed, I will execute Jiangchen and restore the glory of the ancient shaman race!” the Blood Shaman sneered.
The Blood Shaman’s cane once again struck the ground.
Whoosh!
The blood sea expanded countless times, inundating the surroundings.
As the blood sea flooded all around, blocking everyone’s escape routes, Kong Xuan’s face filled with anger as he stood ready to take action.
However, the skeleton Gu Hai stepped forward at that moment.
“Oh? What are you? Do you want to die first? That’s fine. Come on!” The Blood Shaman gently stirred the sea of blood.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a figure formed within the blood sea. It was a blood-colored clone of the skeleton Gu Hai.
Splash!
However, no sooner had the blood-colored clone formed than it collapsed.
“What’s happening? My ritual array can’t make a blood clone of you? Don’t you have the will to fight?” the Blood Shaman exclaimed in surprise.
“Who says I don’t? You want to kill me; why wouldn’t I have the will to fight?” the skeleton Gu Hai retorted.
The skeleton Gu Hai took another step forward, and the boundless blood sea on the ground instantly turned into sere bones, as if the skeleton’s energy was altering the very nature of the blood sea.
With each step the skeleton Gu Hai took, a large portion of the blood sea transformed into sere bones. As the bones accumulated, they gradually overwhelmed the sea of blood.
“This is impossible! How can you affect my blood sea ritual array? Form!” yelled the Blood Shaman in surprise. However, the sea of blood kept diminishing, incapable of forming the ritual array.
“Be careful, Brother-in-Law! All of the Blood Shaman’s means lie within the sea of blood. He uses the blood sea to form shaman ritual arrays, which can change in myriad ways. However, to think they can’t be used before Brother-in-Law. Hahaha!” Long Wanyu exclaimed excitedly.
“Kill Jiangchen? Ridiculous. If you really had that ability, you wouldn’t have hidden like a tortoise for a million years!” the skeleton Gu Hai scoffed coldly.
“That’s not right! That’s not right! My blood sea can simulate everything of the three thousand Great Dao; why isn’t it effective on you? You are not of the three thousand Great Dao? Impossible!” the Blood Shaman cried out in alarm.
The skeleton Gu Hai did not bother with words. He waved his hand, and a black fog surged out.
Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
Suddenly, countless tiny skulls emerged from the black fog. They rushed forward, quickly devouring the remaining blood sea. The roiling black fog billowed towards the Blood Shaman.
“Are the heavens trying to destroy my shaman race? No, the shaman race’s teachings: if the animal spirits seek to destroy us, we will destroy the animal spirits; if the world seeks to destroy us, we will destroy the world; if the heavens seek to destroy us, we will kill the heavens. Hahaha! The shaman race is immortal. No one can destroy us! No one! Ancient Shaman Energy, with me as the guide, aid the new leader of the shaman race, Yinggou, to achieve the supreme shaman body! @#$%^&*()!” the Blood Shaman roared.
Whoosh!
Black energy suddenly poured in from all corners of the nether realm, rushing into the Blood Shaman’s body. Subsequently, the Blood Shaman directed the Shaman Energy from his body into the coffin.
In an instant, Yinggou’s face relaxed. The talisman scripts inside the coffin no longer pained her when they entered her body.
The Blood Shaman suddenly began to corrode. His robes quickly decayed, and his flesh dissolved. He guided the roiling Shaman Energy into Yinggou’s body, and the cold energy radiating from Yinggou intensified.
“Something’s not right! The Blood Shaman isn’t controlling Yinggou; he’s using some kind of sacrificial curse to fulfill Yinggou? What does he want to do?” Long Wanyu exclaimed in surprise.
“A sacrifice? Yinggou? To make Yinggou the new leader of the shaman race?” Long Wanqing frowned.
“Argh!”
The Blood Shaman screamed as his whole body suddenly dissipated like smoke. He transformed into a special energy, which entered Yinggou’s body along with the roiling Shaman Energy.
Whoosh!
The blood sea disappeared completely.
Buzz!
Space immediately stilled. After the Blood Shaman vanished like smoke, the Shaman Energy stopped entering the coffin; everything calmed down.
The coffin also turned tranquil as the roiling black Shaman Energy engulfed Yinggou.
Buzz!
A terrifying aura emanated from the coffin, scattering all the sere bones around.
“I remember now. The talisman scripts inside that coffin are the most primitive written characters of the shaman race. So, that was the entire inheritance of the shaman race? Yinggou is Jingwei’s corpse but without souls or memories. The Blood Shaman passed on everything of the shaman race, including hatred, to Yinggou? Lead the shaman race? This is…!” Long Wanyu exclaimed in surprise.
“The Blood Shaman? Although he was cruel, his faith was extremely firm. The shaman race? In his heart, there was only the shaman race. He was even willing to sacrifice his own life, everything about himself, for the shaman race?” Long Wanqing said in shock.
“It’s too early to say!” the skeleton Gu Hai suddenly said coldly.
As he spoke, the Life Killer Saber suddenly slashed towards a distant space.
“Boom!” With that blow, a large amount of blood spilled out of nowhere.
“Argh!”
The Blood Shaman’s miserable cry came from the blood.
“I will remember you all! I will come back for revenge. Argh!”
The Blood Shaman’s voice was full of resentment, but it quickly disappeared into the distance.
“Stop right there!” Kong Xuan immediately gave chase.
However, it was in vain.
“What just happened? The Blood Shaman didn’t die?” the Mosquito Daoist asked in surprise.
Gu Hai’s eyes narrowed. “He sacrificed his own life but preserved his souls’ consciousness with the shaman race’s strange secret techniques. This consciousness escaped, but we have already injured it; recovery won’t be easy!”
“What a lingering ghost!” The Mosquito Daoist looked worriedly in the direction the departing Blood Shaman had taken.
While everyone was tense, a voice suddenly came from the coffin.
“Hah! Lingering ghost? You all pushed my shaman race’s elder to death and are still speaking rudely about him. Isn’t that a bit impolite?” A little girl’s voice rang out.
Everyone was shocked and turned to look.
Yinggou sucked in all the Shaman Energy in the coffin.
Then she stood up slowly inside the coffin, her eyes coldly surveying everyone around her.
