Blood Ice Sculpture

“It’s over, it’s over. These lunatics are about to start again…” She Wanshan brought his palms together, praying skyward, “May Buddha and Dao Lord bless me!”

Meanwhile, midair, Qin Huai stood at the precipice, peering down at the increasingly distinct Qingzhou City. Wisps of blood reached for the sky, creating an almost visible heaven-connecting blood waterfall.

“I wonder how many lives will be claimed,” he murmured, his gaze fixed on the rapidly ascending hot air balloon, propelled by his dragon energy. In no time, it had soared over twenty thousand feet high.

The biting wind screeched through the sky, slicing the air like icy blades, and pelted the umbrella fabric, eliciting loud noises. Eventually, even Qin Huai had to squint against the forceful wind and snow.

The encroaching blood sea was making him increasingly tense. His presence might alert the Kun Peng clan above the blood sea, and they might send their members to bring him down. In that case, Qin Huai stood ready at the battlefield’s edge, primed to launch himself at the demons at any moment.

Yet, even after ten minutes, there was no stir above the blood sea.

“What are they up to?” Qin Huai was puzzled. The demons usually wouldn’t ignore such a significant presence, unless they were confident in their aerial supremacy, being from the Kun Peng clan after all.

Bang!

Suddenly, a loud blast resounded. Qin Huai looked up to see a wide hole torn in the once sturdy umbrella fabric. The blistering cold wind flooded in, disrupting his dragon energy.

Was this an attack? No, it was the balloon’s limit. Gazing down, he couldn’t discern the ground anymore, hidden beneath layers of clouds and blood qi.

“About forty thousand feet up,” he estimated as the deflating balloon began to descend.

Without a second thought, Qin Hua leaped from the falling balloon. The rushing wind echoed like a knife slicing the air.

His blood surged, and in the next moment, a pair of brown wings, three meters long, unfurled from his back. His plunging body suddenly ascended, easily surpassing the fallen balloon.

However, frost instantly covered his wings. Despite being nurtured by blood and qi, this altitude was still harsh on his guardian spirit item. “I’m not sure if it can make it to the blood sea,” Qin Huai muttered, feeling a hint of fear. Failure would mean certain death.

He braved the chilling wind, advancing towards the blood sea. As he climbed higher, his wings grew increasingly rigid, gradually icing over.

Qin Huai invoked the nine dragon qi to shatter the ice and shield against the cold. But, even the nine dragon qi froze after a short while, hindering the wings’ mobility.

Qin Huai was stuck in a repetitive cycle of breaking ice, boosting the nine dragon qi, and flying higher. This struggle lasted two hours before he finally arrived at the blood sea. A hot current cascaded from the sky, enveloping his entire body, melting the ice and snow on his wings.

However, Qin Huai’s wings were far from intact. Several feathers had fallen off, leaving them battered and ragged, making it seem like he could plummet any moment. With a powerful flap, Qin Huai soared, keeping close to the blood-tinted clouds.

Boom!

A hand emerged from the clouds, attempting to grasp Qin Huai, but he deftly evaded it.

Finally, after flying another forty to fifty meters, Qin Huai reached the blood sea. The vast sanguine expanse stretched to the horizon, enveloping the entire Qingzhou City.

Due to the thick clouds and blood, his visibility didn’t exceed a hundred meters. He had no way of seeing the full scope of the blood sea.

Qin Huai attempted to step on the blood sea but failed. It seemed to exude a pulling force, attempting to suck him in. He managed to break free hastily, perplexed.

“This is strange.” Leaning against the blood sea, he tried to discern what lay within. However, visibility was too poor to see anything.

Raising his fist, a flash of white light followed.

Boom!

He used the forbidden technique, poison dragon shock, and the venomous power instantly targeted the blood sea.

But despite its deceptive softness, the blood sea exhibited impressive resilience. With Qin Huai’s current prowess, the poison dragon shock could only manage to form a shallow pit a few inches deep. “As expected, it’s not that simple.” Qin Huai was not taken aback by this. He immediately adjusted his position and continued his swift forward motion.

Another gust of fierce wind attacked, troubling his wings. He did his best to fly close to the blood sea, wondering, “Where did those Kun Peng demons go?” He had not encountered any life form for quite a while.

Suddenly, a pair of hands reached out from the depths of the blood sea, attempting to grab his waist.

Chills ran down Qin Huai’s spine. He activated his blood qi armor, and the dragon energy and blood poured from his body, creating a hard protective layer around him.

Bang!

The hands were repelled, unable to reach him. Taken aback, Qin Huai flew higher, staring at the gradually calming blood sea.

“What just happened?” He wondered if there were creatures lurking within the blood sea or if the demons were hiding there. Despite trying, he couldn’t confirm the identity of the strange hand.

For a long while, the blood sea was silent. Tension gripped Qin Huai, fearing a disturbing secret lay hidden in the mysterious blood sea. action

He pressed on towards its center. He had no landmarks to guide him in the extensive sea of clouds, so his only option was to head toward the endless red middle. He tried to protect his wings from frostbite, remaining vigilant for any more unexpected attacks.

After another fifteen minutes, Qin Huai stopped. Not far from him, several crystalline forms floated on the Blood Sea, like blood-colored ice sculptures. Upon a closer look, he found a living creature frozen within the blood sculpture — a Kun Peng demon.

“What happened?” he wondered, speculating if a conflict had arisen between the demons and the Sacred Heart Sect, or if they were conducting some daring experiment.

Without hesitation, Qin Huai shattered the ice sculpture with a punch, instantly killing the frozen demon.

“Ding! You have collected a [Kun Peng Seed (Fragment) x1], [Kun Peng Seed (903/2,000)]!”

“The Kun Peng fragment has finally been absorbed.” He sighed in relief. “As long as the Kun Peng clan’s members are on the blood sea, it’s only a matter of time before we discover the truth.”

His immediate priority was to find a way to sustain long-term flight over the blood sea, so he used the nine dragon qi to shatter the frost accumulating on his wings again, which was slowing him down and threatening their structural integrity. The idea of his wings shattering mid-flight, causing him to plunge into the blood sea was horrifying.

After traversing another two miles, Qin Huai heard a cheer, “Yahoo!”

Suddenly, a tremor in the air accompanied a sharp, cold light approaching from the distance. “Let me see, where did this little mouse come from?” an excited voice echoed.

Qin Huai focused his gaze, spotting a pair of immense gray wings, seven meters long, soaring high in the sky. Compared to his trembling wings, the Kun Peng wings were still radiant, even at nearly seventy thousand feet.

“What a treasure,” Qin Huai commented, flapping his wings and slowly rising into the sky.