These two were none other than the Six-winged Frost Centipede and the Ice Phoenix, who had been pursued all the way onto the Thunder Continent by Ma Liang.

"We've most likely truly enraged him by luring him into that trap set by the Blood Dao sects on the Blood Sky Continent. In any case, there's no point in talking about that now. Do you have any other ways to shake off that man? It won't be long before he catches up to us again," the Ice Phoenix replied.

"If I did, do you think I would've persisted with this method for so long? Hehe, looks like we're a pair of tragic lovebirds," the Six-winged Frost Centipede chuckled.

"Ptui! Who wants to be lovebirds with you? Sit down, I'll use a secret technique to assist you," the Ice Phoenix instructed.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede faltered slightly upon hearing this. "What could you possibly do to help me?"

"My cultivation base may be far inferior to yours, but I'm still a descendant of the Five-colored Heavenly Phoenix, and I possess some innate secret techniques that are beyond your imagination," the Ice Phoenix replied in a proud manner.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "In that case, I guess it couldn't hurt to try."

After that, he sat down in the crater with his legs crossed and closed his eyes without any hesitation.

The Ice Phoenix heaved a faint sigh before appearing behind him and also taking a seat. She then opened her mouth to expel a cloud of white glacial Qi that was flashing incessantly, and there was a thumb-sized five-colored bead within the cloud.

Immediately thereafter, she made a hand seal, and a massive Ice Phoenix projection emerged behind her.

The projection let loose a clear cry, then spread its wings to release countless threads of translucent light, all of which vanished into the bead in a flash.

All of a sudden, layers of extremely rich energy began to appear around the bead, and the energy was so dense that it had attained a virtually viscous liquid state.

The Ice Phoenix gritted her teeth as she pointed a finger at the bead, and it immediately vanished into the Six-winged Frost Centipede's back in a flash.

After that, the Ice Phoenix began to chant an incantation while making a rapid string of hand seals, and a layer of translucent light began to emanate from her body. At the same time, her face gradually took on a translucent quality, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.

The Six-winged Frost Centipede currently felt as if there were countless wisps of glacial energy flowing from a certain point on his back into all of his meridians, then converged toward his dantian.

At the center of his dantian was a very exhausted Nascent Soul, but it was immediately reinvigorated and burst into celebration upon receiving this influx of energy.

"This is your essential power! You're able to inject your essence directly into me!" The Six-winged Frost Centipede's eyes immediately sprang open with surprise and elation.

"It's all thanks to the fact that we're both glacial beings and our essential abilities are quite similar. Otherwise, even if I were willing to offer you my essential power, I wouldn't be able to do so," the Ice Phoenix replied in an expressionless manner.

"With the injection of your essential power, I'll be able to unleash my secret technique to continue in our escape. However, your cultivation base is quite lackluster, so you won't be able to do this many more times; we have to think of another way to shake off that bastard," the Six-winged Frost Centipede said as a cold light flashed through his eyes.

The Ice Phoenix's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Have you thought of something?"

"I had devised a plan to divert the enemy, but he was pursuing us too closely, so I never had a chance to implement it. However, now that you've bought me some time with this influx of essential power, there's a chance we'll be able to do it," the Six-winged Frost Centipede revealed.

"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and recover your energy so we can implement the plan," the Ice Phoenix urged.

"Hehe, that's precisely what I was planning to do. Once I recover somewhat, we'll travel to the nearest city with a teleportation formation, then get to the territory of the Jiao Chi Race as soon as possible. I've heard that the Jiao Chi Race is one of the premier superpowers on the Thunder Continent with many Grand Ascension Stage beings among its ranks; they should have a decent chance of stalling that madman," the Six-winged Frost Centipede replied.

......

A month later, one of the main cities of the Jiao Chi Race, Spirit Cap City, was completely inundated by a boundless river of blood.

Countless Jiao Chi beings were struggling and wailing desperately, but all to no avail, and they could only look on helplessly as their blood and flesh slowly disintegrated to fuse as one with the river of blood.

In the air above the river hovered a black-robed young man, and the bodies of hundreds of high-grade Jiao Chi beings were hovering beside him.

One of the bodies had had the top of its head opened up, and its cranial cavity was completely empty.

All of a sudden, a rumbling thunderclap rang out in the distant sky, and a green cloud appeared before rushing over as a sea of mist.

The black-robed young man's expression remained completely unchanged as he cast his gaze toward the sea of mist.

In the blink of an eye, the sea of green mist reached the river of blood, then transformed into a giant green devil that was over 10,000 feet tall with a single straight horn on its head, green devilish eyes all over its body, and a shimmering golden pagoda in its hand.

"How dare you perform a Blood Sacrifice in Spirit Cap City? Do you not fear the dire consequences of your actions? And where is Fellow Daoist Tian Xiang? Why is he allowing you to do this?" the green devil roared with an enraged look in its thousands of devilish eyes.

"Tian Xiang? Are you talking about this piece of trash here who detonated his own nascent soul?" the young man asked as he pointed at the body with the empty cranial cavity.

"That's impossible! Fellow Daoist Tian Xiang's powers are second to none, and he has the formation of Spirit Cap City to assist him; how could he have suffered such a gruesome fate?" the green devil roared in an alarmed and enraged voice.

"There's no need to be so surprised. If you don't hand over the two people I'm looking for, you'll also end up like him," the young man said, and his expression suggested that the green devil was already as good as dead in his eyes.

The green devil's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Which two people are you looking for?"

"These two, have you seen them?" The young man swept a sleeve through the air as he spoke, releasing a scroll that slowly unfurled itself, revealing a pair of extremely life-like portraits of the Six-winged Frost Centipede and the Ice Phoenix.

"They don't look like beings of our Jiao Chi Race; how could I have possibly seen them before? How are they related to you, and why are you searching for them in our race?" the green devil asked.

"I'm not very happy with that answer. Also, I'm the one asking questions here, not you. I'll give you three days to find these two people. If you can't do that, then I'll sacrifice your entire Jiao Chi Race city by city," the young man said in an unhurried manner as he pointed a finger at the scroll to withdraw it up his own sleeve again.

The green devil was enraged to the point of bursting into laughter upon hearing this. "You want to sacrifice our entire race? Haha, never have I heard something so insolent before. I can tell you now that not only do I not know these two people, even if I did, there's no way I would hand them over to you."

"In that case, you can stay here and become a part of my blood sacrifice," the young man said a hint of mockery appeared on his face.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a rumbling boom rang out within the river of blood down below, and around a dozen crimson chains shot out before hurtling directly toward the green devil.

In retaliation, the green devil let loose a thunderous roar and hurled his golden pagoda through the air.

The pagoda swelled to countless times its original size mid-flight before crashing down toward the young man, and at the same time, countless threads of green light erupted out of the devilish eyes all over its body to oppose the oncoming crimson chains.

Thus, a ferocious battle ensued above the river of blood, but it didn't last very long.

An earth-shattering boom rang out as all of the green mist was scattered by some type of invisible power.

The green devil was already nowhere to be seen, and in its place was a pile of countless shattered green crystals.

As for the young man, a ball of green light had appeared in his hand, and within the ball of light was a Nascent Soul that was struggling frantically in a horrified manner, but was unable to escape.

A cold smile appeared on the young man's face as he appraised the Nascent Soul, and he thrust a finger into the ball of light, striking the Nascent Soul's head with unerring accuracy.

The Nascent Soul immediately let loose an anguished howl and fell completely still.

Only after a full 15 minutes had passed by did the young man withdraw his finger from the ball of light, then tossed it down into the river of blood below.

In the next instant, a buzzing sound rang out from the river of blood, and it began to surge toward a certain direction.

......

Meanwhile, a pair of ordinary-looking Jiao Chi beings were situated countless kilometers away, fleeing as quickly as they could toward another major city of the Jiao Chi Race.

The duo was comprised of a man and a woman, and the latter sighed, "I didn't think this method would be so effective. Who would've thought that that madman would immediately sacrifice the entire Spirit Cap City upon his arrival? Even the Grand Ascension Stage Jiao Chi being guarding the city had his Nascent Soul torn out and destroyed."