On this ancient Nascent Soul battlefield thick with the scent of slaughter, the war began in earnest...
The Star-Sea side possessed a significant number of top-tier Nascent Soul powerhouses. In fact, their current lineup was absurdly strong!
First was Wang He, who had evolved into the Heavenly Heart Asura. Originally, with his talent and sword-craft, he was merely a genius. Because of a mental shackle, he hadn't been exceptionally outstanding and struggled to rank among the top geniuses of his era.
It wasn't until Meteor City, under Qi Ping's influence, that Wang He first displayed his incredible potential for will. While watching Qi Ping control the Treant clone—unrestrained and fearless even when facing the darkness of the sky—Wang He broke his inner chains and faced his true self.
That experience allowed him to realize one of the ten peak sword intents of the Path of Idealism: The Heavenly Heart Sword Intent! From then on, his heart replaced the heavens, purging the ultimate evils of the world. His sword shocked the world.
Freed from his shackles and possessing a clear mind, Wang He's comprehension of the sword intent soared. He met no obstacles, like a dragon rising through the clouds. His cultivation followed suit, advancing as if aided by gods.
When Qi Ping unified the Azure Sky and Star-Sea worlds, the task of purging marauder cultivators and ending the era of slaughter fell to Wang He. No one was better suited for the job; few could escape the perception of a Heavenly Heart Sword Intent practitioner. This period was an unprecedented opportunity for Wang He. "Soaring" didn't even begin to describe his progress.
His breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage was merely a byproduct. The truly terrifying part was his aura—a single look from him was enough to make others shiver.
But there is a saying that "too much is as bad as too little." A supreme pill is a treasure for a breakthrough, but devouring ten thousand at once makes it a lethal poison. Wang He faced this dilemma. His "Sword Heart" ensured that every kill led to growth, but it also meant he couldn't kill heartlessly like other cultivators. He had to bear the profound spiritual cost of every life he took. Should he fail to endure it, he would either collapse or fall, becoming a supreme demonic lord himself!
Had it not been for Qi Ping's guidance, the later-stage Wang He might have even considered ending his own life.
However, a Sword Heart is different from a sea of Qi; its upper and lower limits are far beyond the dantian. If he could fully refine those "ten thousand supreme pills," his Sword Heart would inevitably reach the heavens! But the difficulty was immense. This was evident in how he struggled with heart-demons and thoughts of self-destruction after the endless slaughter... as the Chief Justice of the early Star-Sea domains, the scale of killing he performed had far exceeded his limits.
Even Qi Ping was powerless to help; he couldn't interfere with Wang He's duty, or the string might snap entirely.
Fortunately, in this war against the Demon Realm, Wang He could simultaneously enjoy the baptism of the Heavenly Heart Sword Intent while protecting his people, without bearing the massive burden of the "Sword Heart" cost since he was slaying pure enemies. This gave him the space to digest and comprehend everything.
Yet, he still couldn't fully internalize the impact of such massive slaughter. The power to replace the heavens with one's heart was not easy to bear. In a sense, it was an extreme and pure grand vow—one a mortal should not be able to carry. Wang He's path was paved with talent, hard work, and coincidence, but the opportunity was so heavy it turned into poison. It was a weight he shouldn't have been able to carry.
Even slaying countless demons couldn't fully save him. It was only when the Star-Sea World instinctively saved itself, granting him a miraculous opportunity through the Providential Power generated by the slaughter, that Wang He completed his final leap!
He had spent his life bearing a destiny too heavy and a cost too great. Fortunately, with his own will and a stroke of luck, he endured. But such is the path of the Dao; talent, effort, and luck are all indispensable.
Having paid the price and struggled through desperation, Wang He finally received the gift of fate: The Heavenly Heart Asura appeared! A new, brilliant flower that the universe seemed to have never seen before!
To prove the Heavenly Heart through the path of the Asura—he had walked a path previously unknown to man. Even more precious was that Wang He had completed a total metamorphosis, forging a flawless Dao-heart within the extremes. Having survived the ultimate desperation, he was now nearly immune to anything that might destroy his conviction. From then on, his path was clear. Whether it was heart-demons, realm bottlenecks, or monsters, nothing could stop his Heavenly Heart Asura Sword.
Nothing could disturb him; nothing could resist his blade! At the Nascent Soul realm, few beings could withstand a full strike from the Heavenly Heart Asura!
And the "Sword of Universal Justice," which once represented the fairness of punishment, had been nurtured day and night until it evolved into his life-bound weapon. Between heaven and earth, only Wang He could use it, even if the blade itself were destroyed!
On the Nascent Soul battlefield, Wang He was a terrifying existence with no weaknesses. His Heavenly Heart Asura Sword Intent ensured he couldn't be successfully ambushed in soul, body, or will. Coupled with his ultimate lethality, he was nearly invincible! His presence alone could contend with the aura of countless Nascent Soul demons. Even the Royal demons couldn't affect him.
...
The Star-Sea World had few true geniuses at the Nascent Soul rank, but it had produced Wang He—someone who surpassed those with special physiques! However, as strong as Wang He was, there was an even more terrifying existence on the battlefield!
Though she lacked Wang He's perfection and invulnerability, she was more horrific in her extremity. The crushing pressure she radiated made even the insect-like demons shiver uncontrollably. Those demons who relied on their bloodlines found no room for resistance; once their bloodline advantage was gone, they were nothing.
The one responsible for this was the Forbidden Blood-Yu Parasite—having finally evolved from a larva to its growth stage after devouring a massive number of demons! And the one controlling it was Sister Nan.
This once mature and stable big sister of the Cloud-Mist Mountains had been transformed by the drama of fate. She was no longer who she once was; she was now a presence that made all who saw her shiver.
In fact, only Wang He could face her with relative calm. Even then, it didn't mean he was certain he could defeat her. He could save his own life, but who could be certain of victory against the Blood-Yu—ranked among the top three taboo insects in history?
It wasn't that Wang He was weak, but that the Blood-Yu was too terrifying! A common Demon-Insect King could destroy a region, and the strongest had destroyed entire worlds. Yet, even such a King could only barely break into the top ten of taboo insects. One could only imagine what kind of roles the top three occupied. The Demon-Insect King was merely raw material used to nurture the Blood-Yu.
When Sister Nan appeared with the Blood-Yu, the fierce aura they radiated made souls tremble with fear. Without strength on the level of the Heavenly Heart Asura Sword, one could not hope to resist.
Coincidentally, the Demon-Insect King corpse used by Sister Nan was the one that had escaped after killing several Gold Core elders in the Azure Sky Domain years ago. Back then, out of gratitude, Sister Nan had given Qi Ping the manual for insect-rearing, helping him through the crises of his early path. Even now, his first animal companion, the Golden Marrow Bee, remained indispensable.
Qi Ping later helped Sister Nan awaken the "Tailing Insect King Body," the core bloodline of the Beast-God Sect, giving her the foundation to walk the Path of the Insect King. That Demon-Insect King was actually from the bloodline of a traitorous Beast-God elder who had been expelled for rearing such world-destroying pests. Their exile allowed that line to survive the sect's annihilation. The larvae and adults they left behind became the stepping stones for the Golden Marrow Bee and the essential materials for Sister Nan to nurture the Blood-Yu. Without them, such a taboo creature could never have been born.
Even more dramatically, the taboo insect once feared for its potential to destroy the world was now the most terrifying weapon in the Star-Sea World's weakest battlefield. Such coincidences, written by the ink of time, created an unimaginable magic.
When Sister Nan first successfully reared the Blood-Yu, it displayed fierce power capable of hunting demons of the same rank. Now, after devouring massive amounts of demon flesh, it had reached its mature Nascent Soul form!
Its body was shaped like a raindrop, translucent and blood-red like a rare spiritual stone. It possessed a haunting beauty and a mesmerizing, strange allure. However, the front of that raindrop was covered in black, alien runes—so numerous even a Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't count them. Just looking at them triggered a soul-deep fear, causing one's courage to wither instantly.
At the center of those runes was a bizarre, black-hole-like mouth that seemed capable of slicing through anything in existence—only to devour it into its abyssal maw! The sense of suffocating lethality and extreme danger was easily perceived by anyone with working senses. It made no attempt to hide; it radiated its aura openly, baring its hideous fangs.
A single Blood-Yu was bad enough, but Sister Nan wasn't surrounded by just one. There were countless "raindrops" and maws. A single glance was enough to shatter the courage of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator!
Most frightening of all was that its true terror did not lie in its appearance. It lay in its near-total immunity to magic and its ability to split its body infinitely! Any part of it could divide and regroup into a new Blood-Yu, which would then rapidly devour to restore power and elevate its life-level. The Blood-Yu possessed near-immortal life and the power to destroy worlds once fully grown!
Now that these Blood-Yu had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, they had begun accumulating power for their next evolution. If they lost control then, even a powerful Soul Transformation cultivator might only barely save themselves; there would be no possibility of slaying them.
Strangely, these supposedly uncontrollable creatures were currently being quietly held by a woman whose entire body was covered in blood-red runes. Layers of Insect-King power radiated from her, turning into illusory chains that bound the Blood-Yu.
However, for some reason, the woman's pupils had vanished, replaced by an absolute blackness—like the black-hole maws of the insects she controlled. No one knew what had happened to the Master of the Insect Hall. Since she appeared with the Blood-Yu, she had remained motionless. She didn't respond to anyone. Only when the Star-Emperor was in his life-and-death struggle with the black dragon did her body visibly tremor.
Had the Blood-Yu not been staring greedily at the demons, the Star-Sea World might not have been able to tell if she was controlling the insects or if the insects were controlling her.
Because of this, all the Nascent Soul cultivators, including Wang He, had gathered into a formation. Han Li, Zhang Daniu, Meng Yan, and the Calamity-Averting Bamboo had formed a life-and-death alliance. Although their strength had soared under Providential Power, they still faced the possibility of death against such a horrific demon lineup. Only by working together could they grasp a sliver of hope for victory.
Only Sister Nan stood outside the formation. Surrounded by the Blood-Yu, she looked like a statue—uncontrollable and impossible to ignore. But there was no denying that her presence gave them more confidence. They didn't know if they would survive, nor if Wang He and the Master of the Insect Hall could fight to the end. But regarding the Blood-Yu... if the demons didn't possess some taboo-level power of their own, the entire Nascent Soul battlefield was likely to become a cradle for this taboo disaster.