The earth exploded, and a huge net of earthen roots covered the sky, enveloping the Blood race’s experts. There was nowhere for the Blood race’s experts to go.

“Earthen Net Slaughter!”

Liu Ruyan shouted once more, and that net shrank in an instant. The roars of the Blood race experts inside were cut off like they were severed with a knife.

Blood dripped out of the ball of earth in the sky. In one move, Liu Ruyan had emptied over half of the battlefield.

“What a vicious move.” Even Long Chen jumped. He had never seen this move of Liu Ruyan’s, so it was most likely a new technique she had just learned.

Before this, Liu Ruyan only relied on her branches to attack. She had never attacked with her roots.

“Ruyan’s roots are her true killing tools. Her roots and branches manifest Yin and Yang, forming a cycle. According to her, if it wasn’t for the Yin Yang Immortal Grass’s help, it would have taken her centuries to comprehend this ability. The cycle of Yin and Yang contains the essence of heaven and earth. In this state, she cannot be destroyed, and her power is endless as long as there is still energy within heaven and earth,” said Chu Yao with praise. Liu Ruyan’s power had surpassed everyone’s expectations. The Undying Willow race was extremely powerful.

Thanks to Liu Ruyan, everyone had a chance to breathe. Liu Ruyan’s roots returned to the ground, and her branches continued slaughtering the Blood race experts.

“Hm?” Xia Chen’s expression suddenly darkened. He looked behind him.

“What is it?” asked Long Chen.

“Boss, someone is secretly siphoning the blood mist in the air to take away a portion of the essence blood,” said Xia Chen.

Xia Chen was in control of the grand formation. Although it didn’t look like it was doing anything, it was active underground.

Through that formation, Xia Chen was absorbing the essence blood for when the battle was over.

Naturally, he had been keeping an eye on things from the start, and when Liu Ruyan instantly killed so many of the Blood race experts, Xia Chen sensed some kind of force stealthily absorbing the blood mist.

Although it was well hidden, even managing to slip past Long Chen’s sharp spiritual perception, Xia Chen’s formation still caught it.

“Is it the outer branches of the divine families?” asked Long Chen.

Xia Chen nodded. “Boss, what do you want to do? Do you want to give them a bit of real blood to deal with?”

“Don’t be so petty. Give them more than a bit.” Long Chen smiled. Xia Chen also smiled and stealthily formed some one-handed seals.

Within the camp of the divine families’ outer branches, there was one elder holding a palm-sized furnace.

The furnace had blood stains on it, and as the formation inside it worked, blood mist began to appear inside it, condensing into one drop after another.

Hundreds of elders were surrounding this elder, blocking others from seeing his tiny movements.

“Too slow. Can you go faster? This little bit of essence blood isn’t enough to share,” said one of the other elders.

“I can’t go too fast. If we’re noticed, that would be bad,” said the elder with the furnace cautiously.

“What are you afraid of? They’re just a bunch of novices who have never seen the Blood race before. They don’t have this experience. If we don’t take a bit of advantage, we’d be idiots. Hurry up. Just how little will each of us get at this rate?” demanded the first elder.

“Fine!” The elder with the furnace hesitated but seemed to feel that the other elder’s words were reasonable. Thus, the furnace in his hand grew until it was a foot long.

The mist gathering inside the furnace grew denser. More essence blood began to condense inside.

“A bit bigger would still be alright. We’ll use magical arts to block you from other people’s senses.” The first elder was amazed at seeing so much essence blood, but he was still unsatisfied. When he looked over at Long Chen and the others and saw that they weren’t acting odd, his guts grew.

Hence, the furnace grew again, becoming the size of a person. More and more essence blood gathered.

“That’s about enough. Don’t release its divine power…!” cried the first elder. This was too conspicuous.

“Stop, stop! Others will see!” Someone whispered angrily at them. The furnace’s aura had grown along with its size, and the surrounding people were starting to look over.

“Hurry and stop! What’s wrong with you?!” shouted the first elder.

“I… I…”

The elder controlling the furnace was pale. Terrified, he said, “I can’t control it…”

The furnace suddenly grew until it was the size of a mountain. The other members of the outer branches were startled.

“What are they doing?”

Everyone’s attention shifted from the Dragonblood Legion to the outer branches of the divine families. Seeing their panicked state, they couldn’t understand what was going on at first.

“They’re taking the essence blood!”

In just a moment, people saw traces of blood flowing through the air into the furnace.

“Despicable! Didn’t they say that all the rewards for this battle would go to Long Chen alone?! The Dragonblood Legion is fighting a bloody battle at the front, while the outer branches of the divine families try to steal from them? Isn’t that too shameless?” People were dumbfounded. Were the outer branches of the divine families really shameless to this extent?

The furnace continued to grow, and its suction force also magnified. Their little plot was completely exposed.

The Righteous path’s experts began to curse at them. “Is there really anyone as shameless as you? Can the outer branches of the divine families care at least a bit about face?”

Hearing their cursing, seeing their disbelief, those elders wanted to dig a hole to bury themselves in.

“It’s a misunderstanding! This Blood Condensing Furnace has its own spirit, and it automatically activated to absorb the Blood race’s essence blood. We can’t control it. Don’t you see us trying to stop it?” shouted the first elder. That wily old fox instantly found a good excuse.

That explanation was questionable to people. It was true that these elders were trying to suppress the furnace.

“That excuse is really good.” Xia Chen laughed. His hand seal suddenly changed and the earth quivered.

BOOM!

The furnace exploded, and a terrifying burst of power blasted apart the elders controlling the furnace.

That sudden change was even more dumbfounding. The furnace was just a quasi divine item, and it wasn’t even a battle divine item. How could its explosion be so violent? Hundreds of Netherpassage experts were killed in an instant.

“Nicely done.” Gu Yang patted Xia Chen on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Hahaha…!” Guo Ran laughed, causing everyone to look over. Guo Ran immediately sensed that it was wrong and apologized. “Sorry, I’m new here and don’t know the rules. Am I supposed to laugh directly or wait in line?”

That appearance of his that looked like it needed a spanking made even Meng Qi, Chu Yao, and the others chortle. Gu Yang and the others on the other hand laughed without any restraint.

The outer branches of the divine families had come with fewer than a thousand people, and the explosion of the furnace had killed hundreds of them. The elders further away were coughing up blood.

Seeing Long Chen and the others laughing and patting themselves on the back, one of the elders shouted, “Bastards, you did this?! You killed so many of our Elders! Just wait, when I report this to the divine families-”

“Hey, are you an idiot? Are you blind or are you deaf? Didn’t you hear those elders say that the furnace had its own spirit and they were unable to control it? The furnace exploded because it absorbed too much essence blood, killing them. What does it have to do with us?” sneered Guo Ran.

“You…!” That elder was gobsmacked. In truth, he had known what was happening.

As those elders stealthily absorbed the essence blood, he simply acted like he hadn’t seen anything. Of course, if it had been pulled off, he would have had his own share.

Since Long Chen and the others were laughing, they had clearly done something. But he couldn’t do anything to them because if he proved that they had done something, it would also prove that those people had been stealing the essence blood. He was stuck.

“You’re clearly laughing at misfortune. We sacrificed our people to stop the furnace explosion, and you laugh at us? That’s clear disrespect to the divine families!” The elder switched tactics, using the signboard of the divine families.

“Give it up. Do you not know what your own side was doing? And you even have the face to bring up the divine families? You’ve lost all the face of the divine families. Furthermore, what’s wrong with laughing? You lost control of your furnace, so why can’t we laugh for the heroic display of the Dragonblood warriors? What a terrible excuse,” mocked Guo Ran.

Guo Ran’s words were very sinister. He had almost directly said what had happened. If they could be shameless, then he would be shameless too. If they didn’t care about face, then he wouldn’t care about face either. Just who was afraid of who?

The spectators had also guessed what had happened. Looking at the outer branches of the divine families, they shook their heads contemptuously.