Chapter 2886: Ambush

In the void, a streak of blood-red light shot through, swift as lightning, heading straight for a dead star.

A moment later, the blood-red light dissipated, revealing Xue Yuan’s figure.

He looked up at the person in front of him, frowning. "Xue Jiu, what are you doing here? Hasn't the appointed time arrived yet?"

"It's only a few days off. The others have already returned and are waiting over there, so they sent me to find you," Xue Jiu replied casually.

"So soon..." Xue Yuan was surprised, then said, "It seems they had a good harvest. Well, if that’s the case, let's go gather."

As he spoke, he shot forward again, and Xue Jiu hastily followed.

As they walked side by side, Xue Jiu seemingly casually asked, "What grade is your Union Bead now?"

Xue Yuan took his Union Bead from his pocket and casually tossed it to Xue Jiu. "I don’t know either. What grade is this, do you think? It doesn’t seem as powerful as yours."

He had never encountered a Union Bead before, so suddenly possessing one made it difficult for him to determine its grade.

Xue Jiu held the Union Bead, his expression somewhat strange.

He hadn't expected Xue Yuan to just toss the thing over.

He looked it over, then smiled faintly. "This is a Desolate-grade Union Bead." To acquire a Desolate-grade Union Bead from scratch in just ten days or so would be an absolute fantasy for an ordinary cultivator.

But for a Half-Saint, it wasn't surprising.

Xue Yuan must have conquered many Union Cities recently, and most likely encountered a Desolate-grade city; otherwise, there’d be no reason for such a gain.

"Indeed, it's not as powerful as yours," Xue Yuan nodded, understanding. Although he couldn't precisely determine the grade of his own Union Bead, he knew the general grading system. This Desolate-grade Union Bead was one grade lower than Xue Jiu's.

Still, this Union Bead did augment his strength, albeit not significantly. But it was essentially a free gain, and he couldn't help but imagine how much his strength would increase if he could obtain a Cosmos-grade Union Bead.

"Take your time, no rush," Xue Jiu said, tossing the Union Bead back.

Xue Yuan casually caught it. However, the moment he touched the Union Bead—the very one he had worked so hard to form by breaking cities and gathering fragments—it suddenly developed countless fine cracks.

Before he could react, the Union Bead shattered completely, turning into countless fragments that scattered in all directions.

Xue Yuan's eyes widened instantly, utterly clueless as to what had happened.

A longsword shimmering with lightning suddenly appeared in his vision, striking straight at him.

"Xue Jiu!" Xue Yuan exploded in fury. Even with a slow reaction, he knew what was happening now.

His Union Bead hadn't shattered for no reason; Xue Jiu had secretly tampered with it, breaking it. And in that fleeting moment, this guy dared to launch a sneak attack on him!

In an instant, Xue Yuan's rage erupted like a volcano, almost incinerating the void.

His Blood Qi and Dao power surged. A layer of blood-red armor materialized on Xue Yuan's body, forming a solid defense that barely managed to block the attack.

Both were Half-Saints, but Xue Yuan had ascended many years prior, and his strength and foundation were significantly greater than Xue Jiu's. Thus, even with a surprise attack, Xue Jiu's blow failed to achieve its desired effect.

This made Xue Jiu regretful. The main reason was that he had only acquired the Nine Heavens Thunder Marsh Sword for too short a time and hadn't had the chance to nurture it. Although he wielded a supreme treasure, he couldn't unleash its full power. Otherwise, with the sword's might, he would have had a very high chance of succeeding.

While it might not have killed Xue Yuan, it would have at least injured him.

However, Xue Jiu had never expected his sneak attack to fully succeed.

Almost at the exact moment Xue Yuan blocked his attack, ripples distorted the void behind Xue Yuan, and a ghostly figure stepped out. A long saber, already unsheathed, with dark green energy flowing along its blade, cut down through the air.

Lu Ye had set off a step behind Xue Jiu, so he had been hiding nearby, waiting for this unexpected moment.

As Xue Yuan blocked Xue Jiu's attack, he intended to counterattack. However, the killing intent behind him startled him. Not knowing who the enemy was or how strong they were, he could only frantically unleash his Dao power in haste to maintain his defenses.

A violent force struck Xue Yuan's back, making his entire body tremble.

At the same time, Xue Jiu also unleashed his power.

A saber and a sword, attacking from front and back, with no reservations.

Even though Xue Yuan was incredibly strong, he was caught off guard by this assault. One-on-one, neither Lu Ye nor Xue Jiu could have been his match, but with the combined power of two formidable individuals unleashed upon him in that instant, his protective blood-red armor could no longer hold.

The moment the blood-red armor shattered, Xue Yuan felt a sharp pain in his back. His eyes instantly widened in fury, and his figure abruptly transformed into a streak of blood-red light. When he reappeared, he was a thousand zhang away, having used a Blood Escape technique at a critical moment to evade danger.

Lu Ye secretly felt it was a pity. Although he knew ambushing Xue Yuan wouldn't be easy this time, that last strike was just barely short. If Xue Yuan's reaction had been a little slower, the sharpness of his Mountain-Shattering Saber would have been enough to cleave him in two.

And now... he looked down at the Mountain-Shattering Saber, and a drop of fresh blood rolled down its dark blade.

This Blood Race Half-Saint, who had ascended countless years ago, was indeed not so easy to kill.

"You scoundrel! You're actually alive?" Only then did Xue Yuan clearly see Lu Ye's face, both surprised and enraged.

He naturally recognized Lu Ye. Previously, he and another Blood Race Half-Saint, Xue Li, had pursued Xue Jiu and Lu Ye to Abyssal Island. He had clearly witnessed Lu Ye's subsequent departure from the Origin Realm, so he had initially shared Xue Jiu's belief—that Lu Ye was certainly dead!

He never expected to meet him here today, let alone for him to attack him.

However, for Xue Yuan, Lu Ye was not a character worth much attention. What angered him most was Xue Jiu's actions.

Xue Jiu's Half-Saint status came from usurping Xue Tianxing's bloodline. The Blood Race of the Origin Realm tolerating his existence was already a great mercy, yet now he dared to attack him! It was a good thing Xue Yuan hadn't been on guard against Xue Jiu before, even handing him his Union Bead to inspect.

"Xue Jiu, you are truly digging your own grave!" Xue Yuan snarled coldly. "Taking Xue Tianxing's bloodline wasn't enough, and now you dare to scheme against me?"

Xue Jiu remained silent. Things had come to this, and words were useless. The only way to resolve it was through combat.

He secretly mused to himself, 'An veteran Half-Saint is truly an veteran Half-Saint. He's much stronger than Xue Tianxing was back then. If it had been Xue Tianxing just now, he would have been severely injured, if not dead.'

"Very well, today I'll show you the gap between us!" As Xue Yuan coldly snorted, a point of blood-red light suddenly exploded, and a vast sea of blood spread out, instantly enveloping an area of hundreds of thousands of miles.

"Lu Ye!" Xue Jiu groaned, feeling his own Blood Qi within him become somewhat chaotic.

The most feared thing had happened. In conflicts among the Blood Race, it wasn't a slight difference in strength that was most terrifying, but the bloodline suppression now in effect.

Xue Yuan's bloodline was undoubtedly much higher than Xue Jiu's. With the spread of the blood sea, Xue Jiu felt his strength weaken by almost twenty percent.

This was equivalent to nullifying the Cosmos-grade Union Bead's enhancement and adding another ten percent reduction on top of that.

Fortunately, the moment his words fell, an invisible force descended from the sky, forming a blood-red banner behind him.

Xue Jiu's eyes lit up. Having interacted with Zong Shenliang for many years, he naturally recognized this as the power of Zong Shenliang's Anamorphic War Banner.

He marveled inwardly, 'How many supreme treasures does this Lu Ye fellow possess? Even more astonishing is that he can actually activate their full power.'

The power provided by the War Banner wasn't substantial for him at this moment, perhaps only a few hundred units of Dao power at most. But what surprised him was that his chaotic Blood Qi had stabilized significantly, and the instinctive fear of a superior bloodline was also greatly diminished.

He had never known the War Banner had such an effect, as he had never encountered an enemy with a higher bloodline than his own before. In the Inner Realm, he was the Blood Lord, the one with the highest Blood Race bloodline.

But it was a good thing, ultimately.

As thoughts raced through his mind, he also hastily activated his own blood sea. In an instant, the already vast blood sea expanded further. The two Half-Saints' blood sea techniques merged and clashed, and even before a true confrontation, dark currents surged within the blood sea.

Within the blood sea, Lu Ye had already flashed towards Xue Yuan, intent on killing him.

Xue Yuan gritted his teeth, finding the wound on his back unbearable. Not only that, but a peculiar force seemed to linger within the wound, obstructing the flow of his Dao power and inexplicably weakening his strength.

It seemed to be a wondrous sealing power.

From that single sneak attack with the saber, he had sensed Lu Ye's formidable nature. Not only was the supreme treasure in the opponent's hand incomparably sharp, but the sealing power was what truly made him wary.

He immediately shifted his gaze, looking towards Xue Jiu's location.

He was merely wary of Lu Ye, but he utterly detested Xue Jiu. Relatively speaking, he wanted to kill that ungrateful wretch Xue Jiu even more.

With that thought, his figure flickered and vanished from his spot. Within the blood-red expanse, an almost imperceptible blood-red light rapidly approached Xue Jiu.

Xue Jiu, of course, noticed this, knowing he was being targeted. Yet, he faced it fearlessly, meeting the advance head-on.

In an instant, they confronted each other. As Xue Jiu fiercely thrust his sword forward, a large axe suddenly appeared within the blood-red light, hacking down viciously towards him.

Xue Jiu's heart tightened.

He recognized this large axe as Xue Yuan's saber hilt, the Profound Yellow Annihilation Axe, which was naturally a supreme treasure. But that was all he knew.

He wasn't aware of the Profound Yellow Annihilation Axe's true power, as he had never personally witnessed Xue Yuan using this supreme treasure.

Until now, when he faced it himself.

With a single axe swing, Xue Jiu cried out in alarm, his body sent flying like a kite, his sword-wielding right hand trembling violently.

One-on-one, even with Xue Yuan already injured and part of his strength sealed, Xue Jiu still suffered a disadvantage, showing the disparity in their power.

Just one strike almost shattered Xue Jiu's protective Dao power.

Having gained the upper hand, Xue Yuan raised the Profound Yellow Annihilation Axe high above him. A profound light flickered unsteadily on the axe.

A powerful sense of mortal peril suddenly welled up in Xue Jiu's heart. He felt as if he might die the next moment.

Fortunately, at this moment, Lu Ye had already arrived, shifting through the void. He appeared like a ghost beside Xue Yuan, sweeping his saber upwards at an angle.