Chapter 147: Demon Butterfly

Nan Luo stood quietly in the void, waiting for Primordial, Master of Jade Void Palace, to make another move. Suddenly, a faint bloody scent wafted to the tip of his nose, accompanied by a fierce aura of slaughter. Frowning, he suddenly looked up and saw a mass of blood-red clouds churning beneath the western setting sun. Flames ignited within his pupils, and under his Heavenly Vision, he saw clearly that it was not any red cloud at all, but a river of blood drifting through the air.

The blood river churned up and down, roaring close in the blink of an eye. Along its path, countless cultivators living in seclusion among the mountains were swept into it in a split second, transforming into blood corpses within the blood river that churned and roared amidst the bloody waves.

Descending from the sky, the blood river poured down and reached the airspace above Kunlun Mountains in the blink of an eye. Countless onlookers gathered on the perimeter were swallowed up without the slightest resistance... A few individuals with superior escaping techniques narrowly avoided it by a hair's breadth. Those with slightly inferior escaping techniques who were touched by even a sliver of bloody water were instantly reduced to white skeletons, willingly plunging themselves into the blood river to become ferocious, roaring blood corpses amidst the bloody waves.

By the time Nan Luo realized it was a blood river, it had already traversed the boundless void, swept across countless mountain peaks, devoured countless lives, and arrived roaring above Mount Kunlun.

"Roar—roar—"

Countless blood corpses in the blood river roared toward the sky, and a heavy, murderous aura rushed toward his face. Struck by this wave of slaughter, Nan Luo felt a sudden dizziness and a sense of nausea... Immediately afterwards, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind, calling out to him. His heart grew hazy, unable to discern what the voice was saying, only dwelling on the urge to go to that blood river, having to get there no matter what, for only there was paradise in heaven and earth, devoid of suffering and filled only with joy.

His magic power circulated frantically, and inexplicably, a passage of the *Yellow Court* scripture surfaced in his mind. He found himself reciting it involuntarily, and the sickening dizziness vanished instantly, leaving his mind crystal clear. Looking again, the blood river was already right above his head. He stepped forward to escape into the void, but a gigantic blood hand suddenly emerged from the blood river and grabbed toward Nan Luo, its speed in no way inferior to his Five Elements Escaping Technique...

Nan Luo immediately waved his sleeve, deploying a five-colored light barrier. It was shattered by the blood hand in an instant, though it did manage to obstruct it slightly, and this brief moment allowed Nan Luo to escape into the distance. Several blood corpses riding the crests of the blood river seemed extremely unwilling to see Nan Luo escape, and they roared up to the heavens. Following that, every single corpse throughout the entire blood river began to roar. The sound shook the Primordial World, and many people who had already escaped suddenly swayed their bodies at the sound, then flung themselves toward the blood river, plunging into it to transform into blood corpses.

Above the nine heavens, all living creatures across the mountains threw themselves into the blood river one after another.

An involuntary, inexplicable chill welled up in Nan Luo's heart. This kind of demonic, slaughtering might—which regarded all living beings in the world as nothing—was something he had never witnessed before...

Just a moment ago, he faintly sensed that this blood river seemed targeted specifically at him. The subsequent roar was merely out of intense rage for failing to capture him, which was why so many people who had clearly escaped were still drawn into the blood river.

Suddenly, the churning blood river fell silent, with a dead silence. The blood corpses in the blood river also sank into the water, leaving only their heads exposed, their hollow eyes gazing into the void. It was as if they were waiting for something, or perhaps devoutly performing some ritual.

Nan Luo followed the direction of the blood corpses' gaze and saw a wisp of fresh blood oozing out from the void, floating in the air to form a wisp of bloody mist... Immediately after, the bloody mist wriggled, turning into a small circle. At once, Nan Luo felt as though that circle could lead to an alien void, seemingly connected to another layer of space.

The bloody circle was bizarre, and a brilliantly patterned butterfly flew out from within it, its wings gorgeous and brightly colored.

The butterfly gently fluttered those gorgeous yet seemingly extremely fragile wings, slowly flying through the air. At this moment, the sole protagonist between heaven and earth was that butterfly slowly flying in the void. Further away, countless people were watching this brilliantly patterned butterfly flying out from the void.

Heaven and earth were silent, the butterfly's posture graceful yet incomparably frail...

When the butterfly flew above the blood river, countless blood corpses roared, bloody waves churned, and the butterfly danced gracefully amidst the bloody waves. A moment ago, everyone had sensed a frail aura from this butterfly, but at this very instant, no one had that feeling anymore. With every single beat of the butterfly's delicate wings, the blood river churned and surged accordingly.

Above the nine heavens, the murderous aura soared to the heavens, and the blood corpses roared.

"This is a demonic butterfly, a demonic butterfly dancing in a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!"

After the butterfly flew above the sea of blood for a while, it seemed to have recovered much of its strength, no longer as frail as before... It suddenly turned its body, looked toward Nan Luo's direction, fluttered its wings slightly, and seemed about to fly toward Nan Luo. However, the blood river suddenly churned to block its path, and a blood corpse emerged from the blood river, roaring as if saying something to the butterfly.

The butterfly remained silent for a moment, gazing toward Nan Luo.

A short while later, it turned and left. The blood river churned and surged toward the horizon like a red carpet spread across the nine heavens, and walking upon this red carpet was a gorgeous butterfly.

Nan Luo naturally knew that the butterfly was Bei Ling; he could sense that the blood river seemed to have come specially to rescue Bei Ling...

As for what kind of existence the blood river truly was, he knew nothing at all.

Along the path the blood river traversed, endless living creatures perished within it; not even when Eastern Emperor Taiyi patrolled the heavens and earth back in the day had there ever been a murderous aura this heavy.

The butterfly's posture was graceful, and with just a gentle flutter, it accompanied the churning blood river as it receded into the distance.

An inexplicable sense of relief washed over him, yet it was accompanied by a trace of inexplicable loss. In the end, Bei Ling had not spoken a word, and Nan Luo himself did not even know what he had hoped to hear her say, nor did he ultimately speak any words of his own.

Everything was hazy and indistinct, as if there was much to say, yet words failed at the lips...

In Nan Luo's eyes, the blood river soon became a red cloud on the horizon once again, gradually fading into the distance.

A moment ago, this region had been in utter turmoil, with countless people watching Nan Luo's battle from above the nine heavens. At this moment, it was dead silent; even the green mountains seemed tainted with that aura of slaughter, and the air remained filled with a thick, bloody scent. Those living creatures that had fallen into the blood river had all been swept away by it. They still appeared to have life, but they were no longer the people they once were.

Suddenly, Nan Luo sharply looked up toward the nine heavens and saw a pitch-black writing brush sweeping across the space above his head. The writing brush was pitch-black, its tip hooked like a claw, and the brush body bore an engraved humanoid pattern, looking fierce and terrifying...

The black brush shuttled through space, and in the blink of an eye, it broke through the void from above the nine heavens, flying straight in pursuit of the western sky where the blood river had vanished.

Upon seeing this, Nan Luo immediately recalled what the Master of Five Villages View had spoken of—the Reincarnation Brush used to write the two characters 'Netherworld' above the nine heavens. With a motion of his feet, he found himself irresistibly pursuing it as well.

With a single step, thousands of mountains and rivers fell behind him. Having nearly mastered the Five Elements Escaping Technique, Nan Luo already possessed the sensation that the farthest corners of the earth were within a single step.

Not long after Nan Luo gave chase, the void above Jade Void Palace rippled, and a Daoist stepped out from it, bearing a majestic appearance and an imposing demeanour. Standing there, he gave off a feeling as unfathomable as a deep abyss.

Immediately after, the void behind him rippled once more, and several Daoists dressed in apricot-yellow robes stepped out. Each of them possessed extraordinary spiritual essence and diverse bearings, yet all wore expressions of anger. The moment Daoist Guangcheng saw the foremost figure, he immediately stepped forward and bowed: "Master!" The rest naturally stepped forward to pay their respects as well.

That figure was none other than Primordial, Master of Jade Void Palace. He gave a faint nod.

The void flashed, and Cihang appeared there. The person she brought along with her unexpectedly turned out to be Yellow Dragon, whose complexion was ashen and extremely frail, making even the act of speaking seem arduous. Cihang whispered a greeting to her master. Primordial looked at her and said, "Your Pure Glass Bottle was used quite timely, preventing Yellow Dragon from losing his life."

Cihang lowered her head and did not reply.

Primordial, Master of Jade Void Palace, waved his large sleeve, and a ray of pure light enveloped Yellow Dragon. Then, flipping his hand, a golden pellet appeared in his palm. With a gentle flick, it dropped into Yellow Dragon's mouth. Yellow Dragon's complexion improved significantly in an instant, though compared to his previous immortal air and graceful bearing, it fell terribly short.

A Daoist standing behind Primordial spoke up: "Master, Junior Brother Yellow Dragon's foundation of Dao has been injured by Nan Luo. Allow us to go and capture him!"

The others chimed in in agreement. Primordial, however, gazed toward the extreme west, and after a long silence, he said expressionlessly, "Seal the mountain for a millennium!"