Chapter 60: A Thorough Slaughter, Restoring Order to the World

The Azure Sky Crab would never wait for its companions—they were all dead, not even granted the chance to become ghosts.

What awaited it was a mighty river of blood.

Above that river, gods and demons stood tall, banners flapping, waves of blood rolling like thunderous war drums. When the Azure Sky Crab saw the young Daoist seated atop the blood lotus, it knew all was lost.

“Begin the blood sacrifice.” Without a moment’s hesitation, the Azure Sky Crab issued the command, leading the surviving beastfolk to massacre the thousands of humans who had long been herded together.

These humans had been kept for centuries; their written language had vanished, their civilization obliterated, and they could no longer speak human tongue. When slaughtered by the beastfolk, they neither resisted nor fled, as if this was simply their fate.

“Abominations.”

Zhong Shenxiu’s brows shot up, murderous intent pouring forth. He leapt into the fray, a hundred sword lights following him, slashing through the ranks of monsters, leaving blood rain and severed limbs in his wake.

Chen Yang’s intervention was a hundred times fiercer than that of his disciple. With the Blood River Technique empowered by thousands of newly refined demon gods, his magic had surpassed the limits of this world. Were it not for his unwillingness to abandon the legacy of the Primordial Daoist, he could have used the Blood River Technique to forge a Blood River True Spirit and reclaim his status as a free immortal.

He pressed his hands together, releasing infinite blood flames. These flames were neither mundane nor true fire, nor even demonic fire, but nameless karmic flames, born from the stirrings of desire and emotion.

They burned not flesh nor soul, but all forms of emotion and longing. If one were good, it was the best fire for attaining the Dao; if wicked...

When the blood flames descended, regardless of whether the beastfolk possessed intelligence or not, the light stripped them of all feelings and desires. Their hearts emptied, and they willingly plunged into the river of blood, undergoing its purification and transforming into strange new creatures within, never to return to their former selves.

As they progressed, more and more beastfolk cast themselves into the river, further enriching it with wondrous blood-born spirits, until the river began to resemble a world unto itself—a realm of blood.

Arriving at the heart of Beiju, only a fraction of the thousands of humans remained, and even these survivors did not resist, allowing themselves to be butchered by the Azure Sky Crab and its kin.

Witnessing this, Chen Yang stopped and waited in silence.

These people were no longer truly human, merely human in form. To live like pigs and dogs was less merciful than to be reborn, to begin anew.

“Well slain, exquisitely slain! In this world, heaven and earth are disordered, all creatures lack virtue. I have long grown weary—best to cleanse it all, restore order to the cosmos.”

Chen Yang praised, flicking his sword.

Whether Shu Mountain or this cultivation realm, Chen Yang had never cared for either—especially after mastering supreme sorcery. He’d simply been indifferent: the fate of this world meant nothing to him.

Now, with the emergence of the Great Tang, things were different. Though he did not love it, he did not hate it either. That was enough.

A clean sweep—a blank slate—to restore the order of heaven and earth, so this world might not offend him so.

Endless blood flowed into ravines, pouring into a colossal altar. Blood mist billowed, and thunder and lightning raged above Beiju, scarlet bolts descending from the sky.

A vast spatial rift appeared, and a forceful will crossed worlds.

The sun and moon shone together, seasons faltered, and heaven and earth mourned.

“Now you know fear? Too late! Without the skill of Shu Mountain’s heavenly Dao, you still wish to meddle with catastrophes reserved for the Dao of Heaven?” Chen Yang sneered.

The calamity between humans and beastfolk could not occur without the urging of heaven’s will. Self-preservation was natural, but the consequences must be borne.

The foundation of this world could no longer withstand beings above the Divine Transformation. A single true spirit, equal to an immortal, was a burden even in ancient times when the world was young and strong, let alone now.

Even this true spirit, descending only as a projection through the blood sacrifice of thousands, was almost too much for the world to bear.

Heaven’s will would endure, but after this ordeal, it could no longer manipulate the fates of living things from the shadows. His young disciple would at last be free from destiny, his future determined only by himself.

Demons pursue ultimate freedom, hating nothing more than having their fate controlled.

The power of heaven surged, striving to bolster Chen Yang, urging him to prevent the true spirit’s descent, but he blocked it completely with the Blood River.

For heaven itself, even an immortal was nothing. A true spirit’s projection causing havoc would not harm heaven itself—after the calamity, sun and moon would still turn, the five elements would persist, pure qi rising and turbid qi descending.

The true fear was not heaven and earth, but the will of heaven that, out of a desire for self-preservation, developed emotions, and with emotions, selfishness.

Self-preservation was selfishness.

Heaven is impartial; once it develops bias, calamity befalls all creatures.

It is a double standard, but such is reality.

Cultivators in this world were corrupt, and a biased heaven was no better.

Had heaven remained impartial, there would have been no calamity between humans and beastfolk, no descent of the true spirit’s projection, nor the great disaster that followed.

If heaven had remained impartial, cultivation civilization would have reached its peak, then everyone would cultivate, eventually the spiritual energy would dissipate, and the world would transition from a cultivation civilization to a civilization of humanity.

Since the order of heaven and earth must be rebuilt, so too must heaven’s will be remade.

Boundless blood mist gathered, forming a crab with eight blood-red claws towering thousands of feet tall. The Azure Sky Crab and its kin, despairing as Chen Yang approached, were surprised when he did not interfere with their blood sacrifice. Now, with the true spirit descending, the beastfolk were suddenly hopeful again.

The Azure Sky Crab was overjoyed and shouted at Chen Yang, seated with his sword,

“Please, Ancestor, destroy this foe for our beastfolk—”

But before it could finish, the giant blood crab ignored Chen Yang. Instead, it dropped a massive claw, splitting its descendant in two and devouring it wholly, body and soul, swelling its blood-colored form further.

How laughable these beastfolk were; to the true spirit, humans and beastfolk were alike—not kin. In its eyes, they were ants, and for ants to command a true dragon was absurd.

The beastfolk panicked as the blood crab’s eight giant pincers moved with deceptive speed. With every strike, countless beastfolk and monsters perished. The remaining Divine Transformation beasts had no chance to resist, each swallowed by the crab, becoming nourishment for the true spirit’s descent.