The Lord of Void and Real-Chapter 1712 - 1708: Procrastination

Shen Luo intended to test the Blood Essence Banner’s defensive power once more. He channeled his mana into it, and the blood-colored light curtain suddenly thickened several times, clashing head-on with the blood dragon’s claw that was rushing in.

With a thunderous boom, the blood-colored light curtain trembled violently a few times before stabilizing swiftly, showing no signs of breaking.

"As expected of the Blood Essence Banner, its defensive strength far surpasses the current Thousand Cup Golden Goblet by several times," Shen Luo nodded quietly to himself. With a flip of his hand, he retrieved a black magic ring—none other than the Nine Nether Demon Ring—and gave it a fierce wave.

The magic ring emitted a dazzling black light, releasing dozens of massive black rings that howled towards the blood-colored giant dragon.

However, the blood-colored dragon seemed to possess considerable spiritual wisdom. It dodged to the side, evading the attack, while simultaneously opening its massive maw. Amid a deafening dragon chant, an exceptionally large blood-colored light pillar shot out, colliding with the shadowy black rings.

The Nine Nether Demon Ring was not known for its offensive power, so the black ring shadows were instantly scattered to bits and pieces.

The blood-colored light pillar did not stop and shot straight towards Shen Luo, suddenly igniting into crackling flames mid-flight, transforming into a pillar of blood-colored fire that struck fiercely against the blood-colored light curtain before him.

With a thunderous crash, the blood-colored flame pillar exploded, sending Shen Luo and the blood-colored light curtain hurtling backward. Yet, the light curtain remained steadfast, unbroken.

However, the flames clinging to the Blood Essence Banner’s light curtain began burning vigorously, quickly absorbing the spiritual power within the blood-colored light curtain.

Shen Luo frowned slightly, retracting the Four Seasons Greatsword with a quick motion. Forming a hand seal, he summoned four Pure Yang Swords, which shot through the blood-colored light curtain, their sword light flaring brilliantly.

With a loud blast, the four flying swords burst apart, transforming into four streams of crimson sword silk that struck the blood flames.

These sword threads were as fine as hair, with traces of golden and crimson flames on their surfaces—the True Solar Fire and Golden Crow Fire. They wrapped around the blood flames and twisted forcefully.

With a crisp tearing sound, most of the blood flames were shredded into countless fragments of blood-colored embers.

At that moment, the Blood Essence Banner emitted a sudden surge of light. A blood light, as solid as substance, beamed outwards, enveloping the scattered embers.

The embers struggled momentarily but were swiftly absorbed into the blood light. The radiance of the Blood Essence Banner shone even brighter as a result.

A trace of delight flashed in Shen Luo’s eyes. The blood light just now was another God’s Power of the Blood Essence Banner, the Force of Blood Origin. Being of the same provenance as the blood flames, it could devour their energy.

Meanwhile, the crimson sword threads didn’t halt after shredding the flames. They continued charging towards the blood-colored giant dragon.

The blood-colored dragon seemed to fear those threads, dodging agilely. Yet suddenly, from the void beside it, a dozen black ring shadows emerged out of nowhere and clanged onto the dragon’s body, tightening abruptly.

The dragon’s massive body froze instantly, unable to move. It was then pierced through by the countless crimson sword threads.

The crimson sword threads constricted once more, and the blood-colored dragon let out a mournful wail. Its enormous body was torn into countless fragments before transforming into a massive wave of dispersing blood light.

The beam of blood light emitted by the Blood Essence Banner descended again, wrapping around the remnants of the blood-colored dragon and refining the blood Dao energy within.

At the same time, Shen Luo formed a hand seal with his fingers, sending out five more Pure Yang Swords, which merged with the four flying swords outside.

With a thunderous sword chant, a crimson giant sword, over a hundred feet long, materialized. Its sword body was entwined with various celestial flames, emitting a terrifying wave of sword qi that caused the surrounding void to tremble violently.

This sword technique was the Pure Yang Sword Technique: Nine Swords Unity.

"Strike!" Shen Luo pointed forward with his hand seal, and the crimson giant sword shot forward like lightning. Its horrific wave of sword qi made one’s hair stand on end as it slashed down fiercely onto the Blood Sea.

With a deafening boom, the Blood Sea was cleaved open by the massive sword, creating a gigantic fissure as the sharp sword qi surged forward, further splitting the sea apart.

Yet, from within the Blood Sea surged a viscous and tough force, swiftly wrapping back around and eroding the sword qi. Though the fissure extended slightly forward, the power of the Nine Swords Unity was completely worn down, and the Blood Sea ceased to split further.

Not only that, countless blood-colored tendrils shot forth from it, winding towards the crimson giant sword.

The situations of the others were no better than Shen Luo’s. While the Blood Sea’s assault couldn’t truly harm them, they, too, found no way to deal with this vast expanse of blood.

"Everyone, if my guess is correct, someone is using this Blood Sea to bind us while carrying out some kind of operation in secret. We must find a way to resolve this issue and push into the depths of the Royal Palace. I have a hunch the enemy is inside!" Shen Luo recalled the crimson giant sword with a hand seal, evading the entangling tendrils as he transmitted his voice to the group.

"Friend Shen is right. However, this Blood Sea is no easy foe. Does anyone have a solution?" Bai Xiaotian said.

The group appeared troubled, momentarily silent.

Shen Luo himself had no effective means to deal with the Blood Sea. While the Blood Essence Banner was a pinnacle treasure of the blood Dao, it couldn’t combat such a vast Blood Sea effectively. Their only options were the Pure Yang Sword Array or overwhelming strikes like the Turn Sky Seal.

"Fire Daoist friend, does your Gu Xuan Star Disk hold any formation that could restrain this Blood Sea?" Shen Luo transmitted his voice to Fire Spirit Child.

"This Blood Sea covers too wide an area. Besides, I am currently but a Tool Spirit and cannot fully unleash the Star Disk’s potential. It’s beyond my ability to handle," Fire Spirit Child replied.

Hearing this, Shen Luo frowned, continuing to wield the Pure Yang Giant Sword to fend off the blood-colored tendrils while pondering a solution.

"I may have a set of magical treasures capable of restraining this Blood Sea," Seven Kills suddenly transmitted.

"Truly?" Lu Huaming’s face lit up with joy, and the others turned to look as well.

"Of course. However, I’ll need assistance from two others to activate it. Brother Yan and Brother Jiang, stay to help me, while Friend Shen, Nie Caizhu, Bai Daoist friend, and Lu Daoist friend, the four of you seize the opportunity to venture into the depths of the Royal Palace to track down the enemy. How does that sound?" Seven Kills continued transmitting.

"Agreed," Jiang Shentian replied immediately, with Master Yan also expressing his consent.

None of Shen Luo, Nie Caizhu, or the others objected either.

At that moment, the Blood Sea suddenly shifted, surging into tides several times larger than before, crashing towards the seven of them like tsunamis.

"Why has the attack intensified all of a sudden? Could it be that someone inside overheard our transmissions?" Shen Luo’s heart grew tense.

"You four, retreat!" Seven Kills shouted, flicking his sleeve to release an object—an exquisite crimson box containing five small flags in gold, green, blue, red, and yellow, each glimmering with spiritual light and clearly extraordinary.

Shen Luo, Nie Caizhu, and the others retreated swiftly, but they all caught a clear glimpse of the Five-Color Flag Box.

"The Five-Color Flag Box? A secret treasure of Mount Fangcun, renowned for steadying the winds and stabilizing the earth—indeed highly suitable for dealing with this Blood Sea," Fire Spirit Child exclaimed in astonishment.

"The Five-Color Flag Box... truly remarkable," Shen Luo murmured, his eyes glinting as he gazed at the crimson box.