Plus, being suppressed by bloodline, the fusion of the blood rivers is only a matter of time. The best that Saintly Venerable Mok Hai can do is try to delay this process.

At least he still holds some advantage in terms of terrain, but once Lu Ye's blood river merges in, this advantage will be completely lost.

However, some things cannot be stopped just by wanting to; in the battle of blood techniques, the fusion of blood rivers continues steadily and firmly.

Until a certain moment, the fusion is completely accomplished.

In the eyes of many Blood Race members watching from afar, the blood river hanging in the sky has undoubtedly expanded even more at this moment, because the current blood river is the fusion of the three people's blood rivers, spreading like a blood sea, with overwhelming might.

The terrifying saintliness emanating from the blood sea makes all Blood Race members afraid to rush forward recklessly.

Within the blood river, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai grits his teeth with a furious face, intensifying the activation of various blood techniques.

Lu Ye, however, no longer counters with blood techniques against him; in this aspect, he is at a disadvantage. It is unrealistic to rely on blood techniques to kill Saintly Venerable Mok Hai.

Now that the blood rivers have merged, in such a battlefield today, neither he, nor Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, nor Lann Qiyue can easily escape.

The disadvantage on the battlefield has been leveled, and what's left is to prove one's worth with actions!

His figure shakes, rapidly pouncing towards the location of Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, wielding the Boulder Mountain Saber to fend off one blood technique attack after another, his own might climbing steadily.

The distance between them quickly closes.

A drop of Essence Blood explodes, under the cover of his clothes, a Bloodstain Spirit Rune takes shape on Lu Ye's chest, and in an instant, his already ferocious aura becomes even wilder and more violent.

The Dragon Throne is beyond use, but the Bloodstain Spirit Rune remains unaffected. Although with Lu Ye's increasing strength, the enhancement provided by the Bloodstain Spirit Rune is increasingly negligible, in such a life-and-death confrontation, any improvement could be a chance for victory.

In the process of approaching, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai is not foolishly standing still; his figure retreats constantly, but the range of the Blood Sea is what it is, where can he retreat to?

Suddenly, the two figures crash into each other.

When the Boulder Mountain Saber slashes down, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai meets it with his fist, but having feared the power of the Boulder Mountain Saber beforehand, he naturally wouldn't foolishly resist its blade directly.

Even though he isn't sure what consequence awaits if struck by this long saber...

That's why he targets the blade of the Boulder Mountain Saber.

The sound of metal clashing explodes, Lu Ye's saber is deflected by the impact, and he kicks out fiercely, aiming at Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's waist and abdomen.

Unexpectedly, the opponent has the same idea.

Under the same fierce impact, both figures momentarily halt, then simultaneously recoil backwards.

Violent forces explode, within a hundred-foot radius, the blood river becomes empty, the surrounding blood water forms a hollow circle unaffected by invisible forces.

Stabilizing their figures forcefully, they each ferociously attack the other once more.

In all forms of combat, such close-quarter battles are the most dangerous and the most visually exciting, the clash between combat cultivators and physique cultivators often ignites the fiercest sparks.

Every time Lu Ye swings his saber down, it's blocked by Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's fist peak, the sharp offense of Saintly Venerable Mok Hai is entirely neutralized by Lu Ye, each unleashing fierce moves, fighting fervently, temporarily creating an evenly matched situation!

The last bit of unease in Lu Ye's heart dissipates.

Although his saintliness is stronger than that of Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, which can suppress his power to a certain degree, the extent of this suppression is unclear without real confrontation.

This exchange confirms one thing for Lu Ye.

That is, the power Saintly Venerable Mok Hai can currently wield exceeds that of a typical Divine Sea Level 9!

And Lu Ye's self-assessment is just about at this level.

In other words, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's current power is slightly stronger than Lu Ye's, but the gap is limited!

Thanks to the various peculiarities of the Blood Race, thanks to the previously deceased female Sacred Seed, if Lu Ye hadn't refined the Sacred Blood she left behind, he wouldn't have the capital to contend with Saintly Venerable Mok Hai now.

Encountering an opponent who happens to be just a notch stronger is naturally an opportunity, but also a form of tempered practice. A life-and-death battle isn't all about comparing power; there's also on-the-spot performance, so even if Saintly Venerable Mok Hai currently holds slightly more power, as long as the opportunity is found, Lu Ye is confident in slaying him here.

Whether this opportunity can be found depends on Lu Ye's adaptability and reaction under pressure.

Comparatively, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's mood is undoubtedly terribly sour now, encountering the first human with powerful saintliness suppressing him was bad enough, yet this human exhibits such terrifying power.

The spirit force fluctuations on the opponent only seem to be at the Level 5 realm, but the power exhibited is far beyond Level 5.

How could a vile human possess such inexplicable power?

As a Sacred Seed, he naturally had heard some rumors from the Southern Territory, knowing there was a sacred land of humans there, filled with powerful cultivators, but because of the great distance, he had never interacted with the humans there. In his fixed impression, the human race was a humble existence, pigs and dogs raised by the Blood Race.

Until now, when truly facing off, he realized that he had always underestimated the strength of the human race.

This human whom Lann Qiyue referred to as senior brother must have come from the Southern Territory. Though he didn't know how he bore the traits of a Sacred Seed, his existence was truly unfathomable.

In the combat up to now, neither he nor Lu Ye could easily retreat, and this battle was destined to be a fight to the death.

In the midst of their skirmishes, he also employed mental consciousness attacks, hoping to find a breakthrough this way. He believed that, given the vast difference in their realms, even if Lu Ye possessed strength beyond his own realm, his psyche might not necessarily be so strong.

The strategy was flawless, but several mental consciousness attacks yielded no success, causing absolutely no impact on the enemy, while his own divine soul power was being depleted.

Thus, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai realized that this human's psyche was equally strong!

It was indeed a misunderstanding on his part regarding Lu Ye; Lu Ye's calm demeanor under his psyche attacks could be partly attributed to his own robust psyche, but largely relied on the effects of the Soul Suppressing Pagoda.

This soul device, which he had exchanged from the Hall of Battle Merits at a great cost, had provided Lu Ye much assistance ever since he ascended to the Divine Sea.

At the very least, when battling against Divine Sea realm cultivators stronger than himself, he needn't worry about psychic attacks; all he had to do was exert his utmost to slay the enemy.

The Blood River roared continuously as two figures entangled with each other, maneuvering anddancing wildly within the immense expanse of the Blood River.

Lann Qiyue hid within the Blood River, ceaselessly wielding its power to restrain Saintly Venerable Mok Hai.

The situation was akin to a tussle between tiger and wolf, with a little rabbit causing mischief by the side—not very apparent, but still somewhat effective.

This annoyed Saintly Venerable Mok Hai greatly, but he couldn't spare any effort to deal with Lann Qiyue.

The pressure from Lu Ye forced him to focus all his energy.

Without a doubt, Lu Ye was the strongest opponent he had ever encountered, since conflicts between Sacred Seeds only occurred under deep-seated enmity, leading to a scarcity of experience in such battles even for one as long-lived as Saintly Venerable Mok Hai.

This was also the common weakness among all Sacred Seeds in the Blood Refinement World—the lack of experience in deadly combat due to insufficient clash conditions.

Of course, the Sacred Seeds from the Southern Territory had grown in this aspect due to frequent encounters with human veterans.

But Saintly Venerable Mok Hai didn't have this advantage, leading to an inability to convert his slight edge in strength over Lu Ye into a winning advantage.

If it were the cultivators of the Nine Provinces cultivation world, this situation would surely not arise; those strong cultivators, who often tread the edge of life and death and are rich in combat experience, can snowball any advantage into a killing momentum.

Lu Ye keenly realized this, further bolstering his confidence in his plan to slay the enemy.

All he lacked now was merely an opportunity.

Finally, the opportunity arrived!

Prolonged fighting had caused Saintly Venerable Mok Hai to lose his patience and caution, leading him to take a risk during a mutual assault.

As Lu Ye's long saber slashed towards him, he chose not to deflect the saber this time, but instead formed a claw with one hand, aiming directly at Lu Ye's chest.

His five fingers suddenly grew blood-red claws like sharp spikes, wrapped in chilling and deadly aura.

He had always sensed something strange about the long saber in Lu Ye's hand, a primal intuition of danger, so throughout the intense fight, he had avoided letting this saber strike him.

Yet doing so had its price, rendering his attacks ineffective against Lu Ye.

Continuing to battle this way, he didn't know when it would end, and Saintly Venerable Mok Hai was already fed up, prompting him to seek change.

He was willing to risk taking a slash from Lu Ye's saber to pierce this human's heart!

As long as he succeeded, no matter what oddity the saber harbored, it would be futile. Even if he didn't succeed, a mere slash shouldn't pose a big issue, especially considering he wasn't defenseless.

He intended it this way, and acted accordingly.

While forming a claw with one hand to stab out, blood light rapidly radiated over his body, transforming into a sturdy barrier.

Coincidentally, Lu Ye was also taking similar actions.

Spirit force gathered at his chest, spirit light flashed, and Defense Spirit Runes appeared layer upon layer.

The sharp claws penetrated the first layer of defense, then the second, and third… In the blink of an eye, the numerous Defense Spirit Runes that Lu Ye had activated were broken through one after another, revealing just how terrifying this strike was.

The Boulder Mountain Saber slashed down fiercely, its sharp edge slicing through the protective barrier surrounding Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's surface, and struck him hard.

```