Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

Blood mist rose from the masked man's body, and the three buyers in the front row suddenly bled from all seven orifices.

Lin An's stool exploded with a bang, and he rolled towards the display stand. The moment the Nine Revolutions Demon Slayer Blade cleaved through the Xuanbing Box, the Winged Fire Serpent Sword Soul transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into the hilt of the blade.

"Catch the treasure thief!" the masked man roared, throwing out the marrow-extracting nail.

Lin An dodged the hidden weapon with a somersault, and the blade's energy swept away three Netherworld Lamps.

From the darkness, a buyer screamed, "The item being auctioned is alive!"

Under the cover of the chaos, Lin An glimpsed that the treasures that had not been photographed were undergoing strange changes.

The Yin Sha wood extended its roots to entangle the fleeing cultivator, and hundreds of bloodworms crawled out of a jade bottle.

After the Nine Revolutions Demon-Slaying Blade absorbed the sword soul, the illusory image of the Chaos Bell appeared above its head, illuminating the hidden compartment under the exhibition stand—inside, seven unconscious boys and girls were curled up.

When Lin An cleaved open the hidden compartment, the masked man finally revealed his true face.

The scorpion, its left cheek burned, licked its curved blade: "Young Sect Master was right, you really did walk right into our trap."

Sparks flew as the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade clashed with the curved blade, and Lin An suddenly withdrew his strength and leaned back.

The scorpion's blade strike was unstoppable, shattering the jade box behind him that contained the Corrosive Heart Grass.

The purple poisonous fog instantly enveloped the exhibition stand. Taking advantage of the moment, Lin An carried two children and rammed them into the bronze beast's eye—the emergency exit marked by the treasure-collecting pavilion manager.

After escaping to safety, half a talisman slipped out of the unconscious girl's sleeve.

By the moonlight, Lin An could discern that the runes and patterns on them shared the same origin as the blood sacrifice array beneath the city lord's mansion.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly unsheathed itself, carving a star map mark on the ground—the next sword soul, "Room Fire Pig," was located in the Falling Star Swamp, fifty miles north of the city.

At that moment, the midnight bell rang, and Lin An reached into the hidden compartment of the auction catalog in his pocket.

By the faint light of the sword's soul, the Blood Marrow Sect's secret code could be seen printed on the back. After deciphering it, a chilling text appeared: "[On the seventh day of the seventh month, a hundred children offered blood sacrifice, and the Weeping Blood Palace was completed]."

Today is the sixth day of the seventh lunar month!

Meanwhile, deep within the dungeon of the city lord's mansion.

The Blood Prince toyed with the broken marrow-extracting nail, while a trembling auctioneer knelt at his feet: "Useless trash. He deliberately let the sword soul fail to sell to lure out the rat, and ended up losing the sacrifice..."

The commander of the secret guards presented a blood-stained bronze toad talisman: "A secret mark of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion was found at the scene."

"Perfect." The Blood Prince crushed the bronze talisman. "Replace the young boys and girls with Nascent Soul cultivators, and advance the Blood Sacrifice by two hours. Have the Five Poisons Alliance go to the Fallen Star Swamp to collect the corpses."

Lin An hid the unconscious child in the abandoned earth god temple, and as he turned around, the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly appeared across his chest.

Three points of eerie green phosphorescent light grazed the blade as it passed by. Fifty paces away, the Poison Toad Envoy of the Five Poisons Alliance was forming hand seals on a treetop.

"The Blood Marrow Sect is offering a reward of three hundred spirit stones." The Poison Toad Envoy's cheeks bulged as poison darts rained down upon him.

Instead of retreating, Lin An advanced, unleashing a burst of energy from the soles of his feet.

The decaying leaves of the swamp were torn up to form a barrier, and poisoned darts sizzled as they were driven into the mud.

The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade slashed through the air, its blade energy cutting through three iron birch trees. As the Poison Toad screamed and fell to the ground, its neck was already wrapped with the Azure Scaled Serpent it had raised.

The deeper they went, the thicker the miasma became. Lin An's divine sense was suppressed to a range of three zhang, so he had to rely on the faint light from the Chaos Bell on the hilt of his sword to find his way.

Suddenly, skeletal claws emerged from beneath the humus layer. He spun around and severed seven corpse puppets, discovering that these corpses all had miniature marrow-extracting nails inserted into their temples—the Blood Marrow Sect had actually turned the swamp into a corpse-raising ground.

The sounds of fighting came from ahead.

Three rogue cultivators were surrounded by corpse puppets. Among them, the compass in the female cultivator's hand burst with starlight, which turned out to be the star-gazing instrument of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

Lin An swung his blade into the battle, his Primordial Chaos True Essence shredding the corpse puppet's head. Suddenly, the female cultivator cried out, "Fellow Daoist, watch your step!"

Crimson array patterns appeared on the ground, and the star map in Lin An's arms flew out automatically.

The female cultivator bit her fingertip and wrote rapidly on the star-gazing instrument, the starlight colliding with the blood array to create a strange path.

The group retreated through the gate of life to behind the giant rock. The female cultivator stared at the star map in Lin An's hand: "You actually have a fragment of the Twenty-Eight Mansions scroll?"

"Su Yingxue, a seventh-generation disciple of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion." She tore off her disguise, revealing a star-shaped birthmark on her collarbone. "The Blood Marrow Sect has laid down the Inverted Five Elements Formation deep in the swamp. If you want to obtain the Sword Soul..."

Lin An suddenly covered her mouth. The Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade was plunged into the ground, and its blade energy shook away the pile of rotten leaves five zhang away—beneath which was a recording array that was in operation.

The Blood Prince's chilling voice echoed from within the formation: "Fellow Daoist Lin, do you like the guide I gave you?"

Three days later, the group arrived at the Poison Dragon Pool.

The pool water shimmered with a seven-colored, poisonous light. Su Yingxue used her astrolabe to calculate: "The Fire Pig belongs to the Yang Fire element, so it must be located in an extremely Yin place." She pointed to the whirlpool at the bottom of the pool, "But beneath the water are thousand-legged poisonous centipedes cultivated by the Blood Marrow Sect."

Lin An took off his outer robe and tightened the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade: "I'd like to trouble you, young lady, to set up the Star Locking Array." He swallowed the poison-avoiding pill given to him by Su Yingxue and leaped into the poisonous pool.

The primordial essence formed an air film on the body's surface, startling the giant beast that had been lurking at the bottom of the pool.

As the centipede's tentacles wrapped around Lin An's left leg, the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly began to spin on its own.

The phantom of the winged fire serpent roared out, igniting the entire poisonous pool.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin An sneaked into the cave at the bottom of the pool and saw the Fire Pig Sword Soul nailed to the blood sacrifice platform—with forty-nine Nascent Soul cultivators hanging upside down all around.

The Chaos Bell mark on the hilt was scorching hot. The moment Lin An swung his sword and severed the blood chains, the entire cave began to collapse.

A scream came from above as the Centipede Envoy of the Five Poisons Alliance used his poisonous hook to lock her throat.

Lin An emerged from the water, holding the Fire Pig Sword Soul in his left hand and throwing the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade in his right.

As the blade pierced the centipede's chest, the Winged Fire Serpent and the Chamber Fire Pig resonated with each other, creating a patch of pure land amidst the poisonous miasma.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Su Yingxue activated the Star Lock Array, trapping the remaining members of the Five Poisons Alliance within it.

"Quick, let's go!" She grabbed Lin An and ran towards the gate of life. "The blood sacrifice is about to begin!"

When the two arrived at the outskirts of the Weeping Blood Palace, it was already past midnight.

A hundred Nascent Soul cultivators were hung upside down on the palace wall, while the Blood Prince stood in the center of the altar, his Blood Marrow Crystal Staff absorbing the blood-red light filling the sky. Lin

An Huaizhong's star map suddenly flew towards the altar, forming a complete star map with the twenty-eight blood pillars.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time." Blood Prince chuckled, and an iron cage rose from beneath the altar—inside were the seven children rescued from Azure Dragon Workshop, each with a reversal rune drawn between their brows!

Su Yingxue suddenly snatched the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade and stabbed it into her heart.

The blood splattered on the star map activated the hidden Twenty-Eight Mansions Demon-Slaying Array.

Lin An instantly realized: the blood of the Tianji Pavilion disciples was the true core of the formation.

"Take the sword spirit with you!" She shoved the blood-stained observatory into Lin An's hands. "The Chaos Bell is in the far north..."

The Blood Marrow Crystal Staff crashed down, and Lin An unleashed both of his sword souls.

The winged fire serpent burned the four pillars of blood, and the chamber fire boar illuminated the blood talisman left by Su Yingxue—the talisman between the brows of the seven children was the key to reversing the blood sacrifice.

Lin An coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the tiger's mouth of his hands split open.

Winged fire serpents and fire boars hovered overhead, the hilts of the knives burning hot and impossible to grip.

Blood Prince sneered, swinging his bitten wrist. "At the end of his rope."

The seven children suddenly opened their eyes at the same time, and the runes between their eyebrows burst forth with golden light.

Lin Anfu, moved by a sudden impulse, plunged the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade into the crack in the altar.

The two sword souls burrowed into the ground along the crack, causing the entire Blood Weeping Palace to tremble violently.

"Are you insane?!" The Blood Prince's expression changed drastically. "The underground palace is collapsing!"

Lin An grabbed the chains, flipped over, and leaped onto the crossbeam.

A muffled rumble came from underground, and forty-nine pillars of blood exploded one after another.

The illusory image of the Chaos Bell suddenly solidified, enveloping the seven children, and the red light of the blood sacrifice was forcibly cut off.

The Hunyuan Golden Pill cracked open with a sharp crack, and the intense pain almost made Lin An collapse.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Blood Prince flung off the blood marrow chain, the iron hook piercing through his left shoulder.

Using the momentum, Lin An swung to the center of the altar, his blood-stained hand slapping onto the blood talisman left by Su Yingxue.

"Starfall!" he roared, channeling his last bit of true energy.

Twenty-eight beams of starlight pierced through the palace roof, pinning the Blood Prince to the spot.

Lin An staggered towards the iron cage. As the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade severed the lock, the Primordial Golden Core cracked open again. The children held hands, forming a circle, and golden light gathered into a sharp arrow that shot towards the Blood Prince's brow.

The Blood Prince exploded into a bloody mist, but reassembled himself three zhang away.

Lin An reached into his pocket for the black iron token from the auction and suddenly threw it at the altar ruins.

The Winged Fire Serpent Sword Soul ignited the remaining blood marrow crystals, and the explosive shockwave overturned the entire underground palace.