Ascension of The Unholy Immortal-Chapter 373: Blood and Dao Sacrifice

Watching the two black-robed figures close in, Shadow Exalt’s spatial ring glowed—the Heavenly Will Fragment reacting to the chaos. Suddenly, he understood. The fragment wasn’t just a treasure—it was a tracking mark, and these hunters had let him "steal" it to track the Astral King’s location.

He spat blood. "You..."

"You thought yourself clever, thief," the leader sneered, his voice dripping with contempt as he stepped forward. "But the Fragment of Heaven’s Will was never yours to claim. The Pavilion Head of All Things understood this—why else would he scheme to discard it so openly?" His lips curled into a venomous smile. "It belongs to the Nether Sovereign. And you...you dare covet what even gods fear to touch?"

Shadow Exalt’s jaw tightened, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. He’d anticipated risks in seizing the Heavenly Will fragment—ambushes, perhaps. But this? A cold dread coiled in his gut. Nether Sovereign? The title meant nothing to him. It was his first time hearing this title!

The leader hurled his spear. It tore through the air with a space-time-breaking speed. The remaining shield that had protected the Heaven’s End Pavilion for millions of years shattered on contact. The spear plunged into the fortress’s central spire, detonating in a storm of black lightning.

BOOM!

The shockwave rippled outward, flattening the Astral King. Shadow Exalt staggered, his cloak singed. "You dare—?!"

Shadow Exalt’s eyes blazed with fury as the Astral King crumbled around him. The spear’s corruption spread like ink in water, devouring the fortress’s core. His mind raced—the fragment. The Heaven’s Will Fragment pulsed in his spatial ring, its resonance sharpening as if awakened by the violence. A gamble flickered in his thoughts, dangerous and desperate.

"You want it?" Shadow Exalt snarled, blood staining his teeth. "Then take it!"

He hurled the spatial ring into the air. The three attackers lunged, their focus snapping to the glowing artifact. But as the leader’s fingers closed around it, Shadow Exalt slammed his palms together, unleashing a forbidden mantra.

"Heaven’s Judgment, Shatter the False!"

The ring exploded.

A shockwave of golden light erupted, tearing through the corrupted void. The Astral King’s ruins trembled, its collapsing structure momentarily frozen in the light’s radiance.

Shadow Exalt didn’t wait. He tore a jagged talisman from his chest, a relic stolen from a forgotten tomb.

"Blood and Dao Sacrifice Art: Ninefold Phantom Ascension!"

His body disintegrated into nine shadowy clones, each darting in opposing directions. The clones burned with his essence, a decoy gambit costing him millions of years of cultivation.

The female attacker shrieked, "Illusions! Find the true—"

But the space ring detonation had warped spacetime. Rifts yawned open, vomiting chaotic tempests. One clone plunged into a rift, unnoticed by any of them—perhaps the real Shadow Exalt.

Inside the Astral King’s ruins:

"To the escape arrays! Now!"

Vermilion Blade Lian slashed a crimson path through the chaos, her sword drinking the blood of falling debris. Thrice-Cursed Hong staggered behind her, "The arrays are dead! The corruption energy—"

A rift bloomed beneath them. Silent Oracle Wen, his stitched eyelids bleeding, grinned madly. "The heavens... they’ve answered."

He shoved the others into the rift before the black spear’s remnants vaporized him.

Outside the battlefield,

Shadow Exalt’s clone emerged in a desolate starfield, his body flickering like dying embers. The clone disintegrated, but not before hurling a message talisman infused with his final breath.

"Avenge us... Progenitor... The Nether Sovereign—"

The message cut off, consumed by the void. The talisman winked out of existence, leaving only the echo of a desperate warning in the silent expanse of space.

The battle was over. The Heaven’s End Pavilion, one of the four most powerful factions in the Common Realm Road, was obliterated.

Three attackers stood amidst the wreckage, their expressions unreadable. The leader, still clutching the shattered remnants of the spatial ring, examined the destruction with cold satisfaction.

"Foolish thief," he muttered, tossing the fragment into his spatial ring. "Did he truly believe he could escape?"

"Eight of his clones remain unaccounted for. He might have escaped."

The other black-robed man snorted. "Even if he did, it changes nothing. He’s a dead man walking. The Blood and Dao Sacrifice Art exacts a heavy toll. He won’t survive a year with his cultivation crippled."

The leader nodded curtly. "Inform the Lord. The Heavenly Will Fragment is retrieved. As for Shadow Exalt... his fate is sealed. The Heaven’s End Pavilion is no more."

The three figures vanished into thin air, leaving behind the silent wreckage of the Astral King.

In the desolate expanse of the void, a lone figure drifted aimlessly. It was Shadow Exalt, his body a flickering shadow of its former self. The Blood and Dao Sacrifice Art had taken its toll, leaving him a husk of his former power.

His mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments of the nightmare he had endured. The Nether Sovereign...a name that sent shivers down his spine.

Why had they targeted him? Why had they allowed him to "steal" the Heavenly Will Fragment, only to hunt him down like a rabid dog? Questions gnawed at his mind, but the answers remained elusive.

As he drifted through the void, Shadow Exalt’s thoughts turned to his fallen comrades. The Heaven’s End Pavilion, one of the most powerful forces in the Common Realm Road, was now nothing but a ruin. Vermilion Blade Lian, Thrice-Cursed Hong, Silent Oracle Wen...their faces flashed through his mind.

A surge of guilt and despair washed over him. The years of hard work at the Heaven End Pavilion in the lower domain had crumbled to dust.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

By the time assistance arrived from the upper domain branches, who knew how much time would have passed? He, on the other hand, had no time to spare.

Just as he was lost in thoughts, his expression suddenly changed as he looked at a certain direction.

The empty void rippled. A woman appeared suddenly beside Shadow Exalt, her hair split perfectly between black and white like night and day. Her robes glowed faintly with shifting star patterns, and she held a twisted staff topped with two snake heads—one pure white, one pitch black.

"Shadow Exalt." Her voice was calm but sharp, like ice cracking.

He jerked back weakly. His body was barely visible now, flickering like a dying flame after using the Blood Sacrifice Art. Fear clawed at him—this woman radiated power far beyond his crippled state.

"Who… are you?!" he croaked.

"Luo Li. From All Under the Heaven Pavilion," she said, floating closer. The black snake head on her staff hissed, its eyes glowing red. "Our Pavilion Head sends his… apologies. You weren’t our enemy. But angry men with nothing left to lose are dangerous. Best to clean up loose ends."

Shadow Exalt’s eyes burned. "Apologies?!" He spat dark blood. "You let the Nether Sovereign’s killers destroy us! You knew—!"

"We knew nothing," Luo Li interrupted coldly. "But your hatred could burn others now. Can’t have that."

She raised her staff. The white snake’s eyes flashed, and chains of light erupted from the void, pinning Shadow Exalt’s ghostly body in place. He roared, thrashing, but the chains tightened.

"Your tricks won’t work," Luo Li said, watching him struggle. "Nine clones? Eight already dead. This last one… let’s finish it."

The black snake opened its jaws. Shadow Exalt screamed as a wave of darkness surged toward him—a void that erased everything it touched. In his final moment, he tore a glowing talisman from his chest, screaming: "PROGENITOR! AVENGE—!"

Luo Li’s staff flicked. The talisman exploded into ash before the message could finish.

"No loose ends," she muttered. The darkness swallowed Shadow Exalt completely, dissolving his body, soul, and fading voice into nothing.

For a heartbeat, the void felt heavier, as if the universe itself mourned. Then Luo Li frowned. The black snake’s jaws still dripped with void energy, and in its teeth… a faint wisp of shadow clung stubbornly.

"Hm. A trace of his resentment…?"She crushed it with her palm."No matter. Let the Nether Sovereign’s dogs chase ghosts."

With a swirl of starlight, Luo Li vanished..