The Nine Provinces cultivation world is currently calm and tranquil. It has been four months since the insect disaster passed, and during this time, it can be said that the Nine Provinces cultivation world is experiencing the most peaceful period in its history.

Many pieces of intelligence about the Blood Refinement World have spread throughout the Nine Provinces, from the Divine Sea down to the Spirit Stream, and even some well-informed mortals have heard about it.

This domain, dominated by the Blood Race, is swiftly approaching the Nine Provinces. It won't be long before the two domains inevitably experience a world-shaking collision, which is bound to be a severe crisis.

To overcome this crisis, the only way is to muster the entire domain's strength and engage in a racial conflict with the Blood Race.

Under such external threats, the dispute between the Haotian Alliance and the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge seems negligible. Combined with the experience of comprehensive cooperation during the insect disaster, once again working together to face the enemy is a consensus shared by everyone.

On the Nine Provinces' mainland, all martial strife has ceased, and all cultivators are preparing for the various tasks before the grand battle.

Conversely, the Spirit Stream battlefield and the Cloud River battlefield have become increasingly lively.

This is because rumors state that, for this expedition to the Blood Refinement World, only cultivators of the Cloud River Realm are qualified to participate. This is understandable, as the cultivation of Spirit Stream Realm cultivators is ultimately too low, suitable for minor skirmishes, but incapable of involving themselves in such domain and racial conflicts.

Yet, even Spirit Stream Realm cultivators have yearnings and pursuits. They hope to quickly advance to the Cloud River before the great war, thus obtaining the qualification to participate in a war that determines the future of the Nine Provinces. Consequently, there is a great thirst for merit, and to gain merit, they inevitably get involved in various affairs, naturally making the Spirit Stream battlefield more vibrant.

As for the Cloud River Realm, they now have the qualification to join the war, but who doesn't want to elevate their cultivation as much as possible? Only with a higher cultivation can they better slay enemies in the future war and gain more benefits.

Thus, cultivators in the Cloud River battlefield are also stirring up various storms, having already missed the war of counterattacking the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm; they don't want to have any more regrets.

The senior cultivators of the two camps are well aware of this situation but show no intention of stopping it. They understand that flowers in a greenhouse cannot withstand the ravages of wind and rain. Only with conflict can there be better growth. Just because the two camps have temporarily joined forces does not mean that the lower-level cultivators must peacefully coexist.

They can compete, should compete, to better grow. Otherwise, having cultivation alone would be insufficient in significant endeavors.

Generations of Nine Provinces cultivators have always grown in this manner.

True Lake and Divine Sea cultivators remain quite stable, each retreating to their respective sects, engaging in closed-door cultivation. Benefiting from the battle in the counterattack against the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm, the cultivators involved gained tremendous benefits, which they have long converted into their strength.

Beneath the peaceful surface of the Nine Provinces' mainland lies a lurking ferocity, like a fierce dog quietly sharpening its fangs, waiting for the right moment to unleash a ferocious bite on the enemy.

No one knows when that moment will arrive, but it shouldn't be too far off.

Because the star representing the Blood Refinement World is becoming brighter and larger in the night sky!

Lu Yiye from the Righteous Blood Sect has already set out towards the Blood Refinement World. Unfortunately, there has been no news sent back from there, so the Nine Provinces remain unclear about the situation in the Blood Refinement World.

However, the Nine Provinces still hold an advantage. According to Lu Yiye, there are dozens of elders of profound cultivation on that side, who have jointly established a human sanctuary. Just these few elders alone represent an incredibly powerful and expectant force.

To prepare for this war, the Nine Provinces cultivation world has done a lot of preparatory work. For example, using each provincial state as a unit, the cultivation world has been organized into nine battalions, led by chief cultivators of the Nine Provincial States as battalion leaders, with further subdivisions under the battalions. Once the war breaks out, cultivators can quickly assemble and act together.

War ultimately relies on collective strength; individual power appears small in such high-level confrontation.

Additionally, Pill Masters from the big sects are urgently crafting various elixir pills to replenish their sects' elixir reserves in case of need.

Moreover, the Heaven's Augury Mercantile Union's external sales of goods have been uniformly discounted by 20%, causing many cultivators to scramble for them.

All of these efforts and more because, without information from the Blood Refinement World, the Nine Provinces remain unsure about the actual situation when the war begins; they can only strive to do their best.

It is under this atmosphere that the Nine Provinces cultivation world lies dormant, waiting...

In the Blood Refinement World, tens of thousands of miles away from the Empyrean Sea, Blood Race members are gathering from the southeast, southwest, and northwest.

By previous timing calculations, it is not yet the time for the Blood Race to besiege the Righteous Blood Sacred Land.

Every time the Blood Race army comes to besiege, there are heavy casualties, especially among the mid and low-rank Blood Race members. Although the Blood Race grows much more quickly compared to the Human Race, it still takes some time.

Therefore, in the past, the Blood Race typically besieged the Righteous Blood Sacred Land every five years. Five years of recuperation allows nearby Blood Race members to regroup into a large army.

But this time, it is clearly earlier. Firstly, because, in the last great battle, the Righteous Blood Sacred Land's last line of defense was broken, and the human side lost their final complete barrier, the Blood Race is unwilling to wait any longer. Since the end of the last great battle, they've been actively preparing for this siege, naturally advancing the timeline.

Secondly, this time the participating Blood Race's sources are much more extensive than before, covering almost half of the southern territory of the Blood Refinement World.

Among those involved, over thirty were Blood Race Sacred Seeds.

This was an unprecedented number. In the past, the quantity of Sacred Seeds was even less than half of this time. The Blood Race's main reliance in the siege of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land was their numerical advantage, not the strength of the Sacred Seeds, who mainly focused on holding back the human race's elite combat strength.

The troops were stronger than before, and there were more Sacred Seeds. The Blood Race was determined to succeed in this encirclement operation against the Righteous Blood Sacred Land.

From their standpoint, in such a war, the Blood Race had no possibility of failure.

The only issue they needed to consider was how to prevent those top human combatants from escaping while destroying the Righteous Blood Sacred Land, uprooting this scourge of the human race.

Each of these individuals was as strong as the Sacred Seeds, with some being even stronger, especially Feng Wujiang, who had precedent for killing Sacred Seeds.

If they couldn't destroy them completely and let them scatter throughout the Blood Refinement World, even the Sacred Seeds would have headaches.

After all, there's no thousand-day thief prevention. When individual strength reaches this degree, if they really insist on hunting and destroying, it generally becomes quite tricky to handle.

Lately, the Sacred Seeds gathered to discuss this issue but remained clueless.

The summoning order was already issued, and armies from four directions were mostly assembled; within a few days, it would be the agreed time. At that time, armies from all four directions would launch from four paths against the Empyrean Sea, completing the encirclement of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land.

The Blood Race concentrated their forces mainly in the east, because that was the position of the Righteous Blood Sacred Land's defensive line gap.

Regarding this battle, all of the Blood Race were confident. No one believed there could be any failure, so their morale was booming.

...

In the stone chamber, Lu Ye slowly awakened, feeling his head buzzing, and pain all over his body.

This inevitably reminded him of his past experiences on the Spirit Stream battlefield. That time, he was hunted by a fellow named Dong Shuye, with injuries so severe he nearly lost his life. In the end, it was Ruan Lingyu who found him and brought him back to the Independent Wanderers Society, where he met Hua Ci and slowly recovered under her care.

It seems since then, he hasn't suffered such heavy wounds, especially as his cultivation grew higher; ordinary injuries couldn't possibly make him lose consciousness.

This fight with the Saintly Venerable Mok Hai was extremely fierce. Lu Ye had no choice, even though bloodline suppression somewhat reduced Saintly Venerable Mok Hai's power, the apparent strength was still in the opponent's favor.

Lu Ye had to pay the price to win.

Facing such enemies, trading his life for theirs was already a favorable outcome. All thanks to the Soul Severing Saber; without it injuring the opponent's psyche time and again, eventually shattering the psyche of Saintly Venerable Mok Hai, Lu Ye couldn't have won this battle.

During the previous battle, he was almost torn apart; if not for his strong physique, he would have been beaten to death alive by Saintly Venerable Mok Hai.

He could feel himself had slept for several days, but it was hard to determine exactly how long, as he was unconscious all the while.

With his current physique's strength, combined with the foundation of Blood Technique, ordinary injuries heal quickly.

Yet, he still felt severely wounded, indicating just how tragic it was before.

But his mood was joyful.

Up to now, on the human side, only senior brother had ever killed a Sacred Seed solo. Those old predecessors, one by one, had never achieved such magnificence.

Previously, Jian Guhong, Wuchang, and Wey Fufeng killed one, but it was done with three people's cooperation plus her assistance.

Now, Lu Ye himself accomplished this feat, matching senior brother's achievement, and with cultivation of Divine Sea Level 5.

If he were to tell others, probably no one would believe it.

But he knew, this didn't mean his strength truly matched senior brother's.

His biggest reliance in killing Saintly Venerable Mok Hai was bloodline suppression, followed by the Soul Severing Saber, and then Blood River. Especially after the integration of Blood River, Saintly Venerable Mok Hai couldn't easily escape.

While senior brother had none of these conveniences, senior brother relied entirely on his own terrifying prowess, which Lu Ye couldn't compare to.