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Chapter 221: The Dao of All-Creation Plants and Vegetation
The green pillar of light shot up into the heavens, causing everything to tremble. Even the blood qi in the area was blasted away. Instantly, the whole Blood Stream Sect was shaken.
Middle Peak Grand Elder Song Junwan was in the middle of meditating when suddenly, her eyes opened. Shocked, she rushed out of her immortal's cave to look at the green light, and quickly realized that it was coming from the Holy Pill Wall Fragment.
"Nightcrypt is over there seeking enlightenment. Don't tell me…." Heart trembling, she flew into the air. It wasn't just her; numerous beams of light sped from the various mountain peaks toward the Holy Pill Wall Fragment.
There were even streams of divine sense that flowed out from Ancestor Peak. Instantly, everyone saw Bai Xiaochun, in a deep trance, expression blank. He even seemed to be somewhat intoxicated. Anybody who looked at him could tell that he was in the middle of being enlightened by the wall fragment!
"Every few hundred years, someone succeeds in gaining enlightenment. But nobody has ever caused green light to shoot up from the wall fragment!"
"I remember reading in the ancient records about how the Daoist Blood Sage received enlightenment 800 years ago. Green light appeared back then…. Could it be that this is the same kind of enlightenment?"
"I can't believe Nightcrypt is so gifted in the Dao of medicine!"
"I remember him concocting medicine a few times in the past. If he can gain enlightenment from the wall fragment, then in the future, the Blood Stream Sect might have another grandmaster apothecary!!"
It wasn't just the prime elders who took note of what was happening. Two pairs of eyes flashed like lightning as they looked over at Bai Xiaochun.
One of them belonged to Patriarch Limitless, the other, to the Song Clan patriarch!
Strange light could be seen in those eyes, and they seemed moved. Soon, it became apparent that countless figures were converging on the wall fragment, so the Song Clan patriarch quickly said, "Song Junwan, stand as Dharma protector for Nighcrypt. If anyone tries to interfere, kill them immediately!"
The Song Clan patriarch's voice was as cold as ice, and rang out for all to hear. Immediately, the cultivators near Bai Xiaochun backed up, hearts pounding in fear. Some of them had actually been contemplating whether or not they should interfere, but now they pushed such thoughts aside.
Song Junwan took a deep breath. Clasping hands in respect toward Ancestor Peak, she took a few steps forward and sat down cross-legged next to Bai Xiaochun to serve as Dharma protector.
Other cultivators who were under the personal command of Song Junwan also sat down cross-legged, forming a wider perimeter, staring coldly at the other surrounding cultivators.
With Song Junwan serving as Dharma protector, and a warning having been uttered by a patriarch, the crowd began to thin. Soon, the area was very quiet.
Word spread about Nightcrypt gaining enlightenment from the wall fragment. During the following month, cultivators would come on a daily basis to observe what was happening. As for Song Junwan, her eyes were increasingly bloodshot, and she also seemed in a daze, as if the only thing that existed were Bai Xiaochun and the wall fragment.
"Nightcrypt reached Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening," she thought, "and also has terrifying abilities in divination. Now it seems he's a genius in the Dao of medicine. Lots of disciples study this wall fragment, but very few people can succeed, and even fewer provoke a reaction from the wall! Just what Dao of medicine is Nightcrypt gaining enlightenment of?" Her eyes glittered even more profoundly than before as she realized that yet again, her earlier assumptions about Nightcrypt had been incorrect.
He seemed simple enough, as if he could be judged at a single glance. However, Song Junwan had to admit that what she had seen, and what she knew, was just the tip of the iceberg.
"How could a person like this slip through Qi Condensation completely unnoticed? Did he really spend all that time building up and preparing?" No matter how she considered the matter, she couldn't come up with an answer. At the same time, the gleam in her eyes as she looked at Bai Xiaochun continued to deepen.
Time passed. Another month went by, and Bai Xiaochun had forgotten about himself. He was completely focused on the apothecary, and his process of concocting medicine.
He watched him over and over again, and the closer he examined him, the clearer the figure became. Eventually, the image turned into a different person, and soon, the concocting methods were different again.
Generally speaking, theories regarding the Dao of medicine were the same. However, when it came to the plant and vegetation pills, or the pill concocting methods, they changed from person to person. The people changed, the methods changed, but the foundation was the same.
A tremor ran through Bai Xiaochun as he saw one figure after another concocting medicine. Each one used the same general principles to form the exact type of medicinal strength they needed.
It was as if a huge door were opening in Bai Xiaochun's mind. At a certain point, he subconsciously extended his hands and began to mimic what he was seeing inside the wall.
As his hands moved, a green field of light appeared around him, which attracted the green light shining from the stone wall. Soon, the two were connected.
Bai Xiaochun's mind filled with rumbling sounds as countless bodies of knowledge regarding the Dao of medicine flowed into his mind through the light.
The group on Ancestor Peak was shaken, and based on the levels of their cultivation bases, they could actually sense what was happening.
"A legacy!"
"No wonder the Pill Stream Sect has tried so hard over the years to get that wall fragment back. If the Daoist Blood Sage hadn't expressed his dying order to never return the wall for all eternity, it would probably have been sent back long ago."
"So this wall contains a legacy of the Pill Stream Sect's Dao of medicine. Now that I think about, doesn't the Pill Stream Sect also have a wall fragment?" The Blood Stream Sect patriarchs exchanged glances, and all of them could see how deeply moved the others were.
Bai Xiaochun's mind was wracked with pain as he accepted the legacy. He was left trembling, his eyes completely bloodshot, and he even cried out at the top of his lungs.
However, he wasn't willing to give up. Even a glimpse at the knowledge of the Dao of medicine he was receiving was completely shocking.
"Use heaven and earth as the pill cauldron. Use all creation as the plants and vegetation. Bequeath soul seeds. Create medicines of good fortune!"
Bai Xiaochun's mind was battered by towering waves of shock. Suddenly, he thought back to the Pill Stream Sect disciple he'd killed, Fang Lin. The Heaven-Earth Furnace Cauldron he'd used was obviously what was referred to in the first line of the wall fragment legacy!
He also thought back to what had occurred when Fang Lin died, and the face of the young man he'd seen, which resembled a yin-yang symbol. Apparently, Fang Lin had unknowingly been infected with a soul seed! 1
Back in the heat of the moment, Bai Xiaochun had mostly ignored that young man with the yin-yang face. However, he hadn't forgotten the incident, and had always remained suspicious about it. Now, he realized that what he had seen was a manifestation of Soul Seed Bequeathal!
Furthermore, the legacy he was receiving now was the technique of All-Creation Plants and Vegetation!
Heaven-Earth Furnace Cauldron, All-Creation Plants and Vegetation, Soul Seed Bequeathal! These three divine abilities were the fundamental Dao which served as the foundation of the Pill Stream Sect!
Unfortunately, the Blood Stream Sect had robbed them of half of their wall fragment. Perhaps the lack of the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique was why the Pill Stream Sect had been in a state of gradual decline for so long.
"By using all creation as plants and vegetation, the transformations of the plants and vegetation can be used to form any type of medicinal effect! A Dao of medicine like this is unimaginable!" Bai Xiaochun was panting. Never could he possibly have guessed that his attempt to pretend to get enlightenment would result in him actually receiving a legacy magic.
As the legacy was passed on, the light shining up from the wall fragment grew weaker and weaker, and the green glow around him grew stronger and stronger. A few days later, the light around the wall faded, and Bai Xiaochun's eyes snapped open. The intense green light around him caused rumbling like that of thunder to echo out. At the same time, the images of countless plants and vegetation swirled around him, continuously merging with each other, continuously transforming.
The bizarre signs that the disciples of the Blood Stream Sect were seeing left them shocked. It was easy to imagine how, even as soon as the following day, Nightcrypt's name would once again rock the Blood Stream Sect. Even the other sects would surely hear about what was happening, and Nightcrypt would become even more famous in the eastern Lower Reaches of the cultivation world.
"Nightcrypt…." Song Junwan murmured, rising to her feet. An expression of concern could be seen in her eyes as she looked at Bai Xiaochun. He was much thinner than he had been before, his face sunken in a bit, seemingly little more than flesh and bones. And yet, his eyes shone with brilliant light.
He looked over at Song Junwan and nodded. Before she could say anything, he said, "I need to concoct some medicine!"
He needed to take the information that was sinking into his mind and apply it to medicine concocting as soon as possible, to firmly fix the sensation of the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique into his heart. Under the eyes of all present, he flew into the air toward Middle Peak. Even the patriarchs on Ancestor Peak had expressions of anticipation on their faces as they watched him go.
Back in his immortal's cave, he immediately went into secluded meditation. He didn't have a lot of plants and vegetation on him at the moment, but it was without hesitation that he produced a pill furnace and began to concoct, not spirit medicine, but plants and vegetation pills.
Through this process of concocting, he became much more confident in manipulating the plants and vegetation to produce specific levels of medicinal strength. The legacy branding in his mind grew deeper. He was so focused that he completely ignored matters like sleep and eating. At the same time, the exact effect he had hoped to produce within the sect could be seen. The Song Clan patriarch arranged for large quantities of plants and vegetation to be delivered to him, along with piles of bloodflame stones.
All of the resources of the Blood Stream Sect were being called upon to ensure that Bai Xiaochun quickly mastered the legacy he had received. Many of the medicinal plants he was given were very rare, and would fetch exorbitant prices on the outside, or even be the subject of fierce fighting.
But now, it was without hesitation that the sect handed them over.
They even sent over an apothecary attendant, who respectfully said, "Grandmaster, the patriarch sent me to explain that this is only the first set of ingredients. More medicinal plants are on the way!"
Because of the steady flow of medicinal plants, Bai Xiaochun experienced no delays in his mastery of the legacy. As he concocted more plant and vegetation pills, his eyes shone with more intense light. At the same time, his skill in the Dao of medicine advanced by leaps and bounds.
Bai Xiaochun was even delighted to discover that there were aspects of the Frigid School Medicine Manual that he didn't understand before, but were now clear. In fact, there was an entire section on the first page that now made complete sense!
"I have the feeling that I can finally concoct a tier-4 medicinal pill! Maybe even tier-5!"
Tier-4 medicinal pills were a dividing mark between journeyman apothecaries and master apothecaries!
1. Fang Lin died in chapter 160. Incidentally, when I first translated that chapter, I misinterpreted the "yin-yang face" description as being figurative. I've since changed the wording in chapter 160 a bit, and tinkered with a few other parts
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Chapter 222: I Must Concoct Medicine!
"I must concoct medicine!" Bai Xiaochun's eyes shone with intense focus. The enlightenment he had gained from the Holy Pill Wall Fragment, and the abstruse information from the Frigid School Medicine Manual, caused his skill in the Dao of medicine to break through from the point of being able to concoct tier-3 medicines. He was now fairly certain he could concoct tier-4 medicines!
In the eastern Lower Reaches of the cultivation world, tier-4 spirit medicines were virtually priceless. Foundation Establishment cultivators absolutely required them, the most obvious example being Foundation Establishment Pills!
Foundation Establishment Pills were tier-4 spirit medicines, and were very difficult to concoct. In fact, anyone who could successfully concoct them would be viewed as a master apothecary!
Master apothecaries were rare. The Blood Stream Sect had been home to a few in the past, but not anymore. It was the same with the Profound Stream Sect. Obviously, the Pill Stream Sect had them, and in fact, they even had grandmaster apothecaries, who were on a similar level as prime elders.
Other than the master apothecaries in the Pill Stream Sect, the only other one was in the Spirit Stream Sect, and that was Li Qinghou!
But now, Bai Xiaochun was at the peak of the tier-3 level, and was on the verge of breaking through to the tier-4 level. Theoretically, the knowledge he possessed already gave him what he needed to break through. Taking a deep breath, he extended his right hand and opened the bag of holding that the sect had provided, which contained all sorts of plants and vegetation. Almost immediately, he gasped, and the more he studied the contents of the bag, the more shaken he was.
"Is this dragonspirit root? I can't believe it's over 700 years old…
"This is peacedevil leaf!! More than 400 years old….
"Revelation fruit. Dao-immortal blossom…." It seemed like each of the medicinal plants he'd been given was more valuable than the one before it, and more rare. From the plants and vegetation he was being given, it was obvious how important the Blood Stream Sect viewed him to be. It actually exceeded his expectations.
He couldn't help but feel a bit conflicted. On the one hand, the Blood Stream Sect really had treated him amazingly. On the other hand, he couldn't forget that he was from the Spirit Stream Sect….
Even as he wavered back and forth about what to do, he looked at the most recent delivery, which included two bags of holding.
One of them contained pill furnaces, the other contained the Blood Stream Sect's unique bloodflame stones!
Bloodflame stones were similar to the earthflame crystals from the Spirit Stream Sect, except even more domineering. The intense heat they emitted was a necessity for medicine concocting, and although they were unique to the Blood Stream Sect, after some examination, Bai Xiaochun confirmed that they could produce three-colored flame.
Although he would have preferred fuel for four-colored flame, three-colored flame was still satisfactory. Finally, he made his decision. He would concoct pills, and secretly keep some of them for himself.
As for the four-leaf clovers he had harvested some time back, he still had them in his bag of holding. However, he didn't dare to use the turtle-wok in the Blood Stream Sect, for fear of mishaps.
After looking closer at the bag with the pill furnaces, Bai Xiaochun was even more shocked than he had been by all of the valuable medicinal plants. Eyes wide, he said, "How many pill furnaces are in here?"
Mind reeling, he counted over 100 pill furnaces. There were large ones and small ones, new ones and old ones. The mere sight of them left Bai Xiaochun's vision swimming.
There were even a few dozen pill furnaces which were clearly magical devices, and others contained strong medicinal aromas that indicated they had been frequently used by apothecaries in the past.
"Did they rob all of these?" he thought, rubbing his eyes. After further examination, he realized that almost all of the pill furnaces were marked with a symbol like a cauldron, which was the sign of the Pill Stream Sect.
Obviously, these were pill furnaces that the Blood Stream Sect had robbed from Pill Stream Sect disciples over the years….
In addition to the pill furnaces, there were some jade slips in the bag of holding. After examining them, Bai Xiaochun's mind was yet again sent spinning. It actually took quite a while for him to recover. Those jade slips were clearly incredibly valuable.
They were inscribed with countless medicine formulas!
Some of them were even tier-5 formulas….
Bai Xiaochun sighed emotionally, and his eyes shone with intense light. To have so many medicinal plants and so many pill furnaces right there in front of him left him completely excited. Rubbing his hands together, he immediately pulled out a pill furnace and some bloodflame stones. After igniting the stones with some spiritual power, a blood-colored flame lit the room.
"Concoct medicine. Must concoct medicine!" He didn't start with the Foundation Establishment Pill. Instead, he studied the formula for something called a Spirit-Tempering Crystallizing Pill, after which he began to concoct it.
Time passed. In the blink of an eye, half a month went by. Bai Xiaochun never went outside even once, and soon his hair was completely disheveled. He was completely immersed within his medicine concocting. He failed over and over again as he built up experience and performed experiments. He pursued new trains of thought, and every time he came up with a new idea, he would laugh out loud with joy.
As his laughter echoed out of the immortal's cave, the blood trees shivered, and any Middle Peak cultivators who happened to be passing by would be surprised, but mostly dismissive.
Most of the cultivators on Middle Peak had some sort of beef with Bai Xiaochun, although none of them would ever dare to reveal that publically. However, as time passed, all sorts of gossip spread.
"So what if he gained enlightenment of the wall fragment? Does he really think he's going to concoct some sort of amazing spirit medicine?"
"Hmph. I heard that all of the plant and vegetation resources in the whole sect were sent over to Nightcrypt. He's just digging his own grave. He's going to fail completely, or at best concoct some ordinary spirit medicine. Either way, he's screwed!"
"Who cares about medicine concocting? I don't even understand why the sect thinks it's important!"
However, Song Junwan and the three other grand elders, as well as the prime elders on Ancestor Peak, were filled with anticipation. Even the Song Clan patriarch felt the same way, and was constantly looking over toward Middle Peak.
Ten days passed. Bai Xiaochun's extended time in seclusion was being viewed with increasing derision by the Middle Peak cultivators. Of course, most of that was jealously. They were jealous of his relationship with the grand elder, jealous that the sect cared so much about him, and jealous that he was being gifted with so many plant and vegetation resources.
However, his overall level of power was extraordinary, and everyone knew it. Because of the Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening, he had already surpassed the power of a Mortal-Dao Foundation Establishment Dharma protector. The Earthstring Foundation Establishment elders were starting to feel threatened, and even the late Foundation Establishment experts were worried.
Another three days passed….
Bai Xiaochun had been working at medicine concocting for a full month straight. Inside his immortal's cave, he was working like mad, his eyes bloodshot as he paced back and forth around the pill furnace. He never stopped concocting. He would draw upon the plants and vegetation he had access to as he aimed for the medical strength he desired. Each time he failed, he would see new hope for success.
"This time I'm definitely going to succeed!" he said hoarsely, licking his lips and staring at the pill furnace. Several more hours passed, and then the pill furnace began to tremble. A medicinal aroma spread out, and Bai Xiaochun's eyes shone with anticipation. Moments later, though, his excitement turned into fear.
"What's going on!?" he said, eyes widening. In the instant that the spirit medicine was supposed to emerge, the pill furnace suddenly began to heat up. Apparently, the strength of the pill was causing instability, which was affecting the pill furnace itself. Even the bloodflame stones were being influenced, which was causing the heat spike. Instantly, a sensation of intense danger filled Bai Xiaochun's heart.
Cracking sounds rang out, and the pill furnace began to shake violently. Fissures spread out across its surface, which were filled with shining, blood-colored fire. From the look of things, the pill furnace was about to explode.
A shocking force was building up inside, causing the pill furnace to bulge dramatically….
"It's gonna blow!!" he gasped, his scalp tingling. This was a tier-4 spirit medicine, something far beyond tier-2 or tier-3 medicines.
Even an exploding tier-3 spirit medicine was completely shocking, but the idea of how much force the detonation of a tier-4 spirit medicine would release caused Bai Xiaochun's pupils to constrict. From the aura that was emanating from the pill furnace, Bai Xiaochun could tell that it had force comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
There was no time to sit around thinking about what to do. Shrieking, Bai Xiaochun reached out and grabbed the bulging furnace, then drew upon the full power of his cultivation base to burst outside and hurl it up into the air.
"Everybody watch out!" he cried at the top of his lungs. The pill furnace sailed up above Middle Peak, and then exploded, releasing a thunderous boom that shook heaven and earth. A shockwave also blasted out, sweeping over everything in sight.
As the pill furnace exploded, medicinal dregs shot out in all directions. Even more terrifying was that the burning shrapnel created by the exploding furnace rained down in all directions.
Countless Middle Peak disciples were badly frightened, and rushed out to see what was happening.
"What's wrong?!"
"What happened?!"
"Is the Spirit Stream Sect attacking us?!"
In their shock, they looked up and saw flames streaking through sky like falling stars to land in various locations around Middle Peak. As each bit slammed into the ground, booms echoed out.
Soon, cries of alarm rose up into the air. Wherever the destroyed remnants of the pill furnace landed, flames rose up. There were even some unfortunate cultivators who caught on fire and began to scream at the tops of their lungs.
All of Middle Peak was thrown into chaos. Song Junwan was shaken, and when she rushed out, she saw Middle Peak engulfed in flames. She could smell the acrid odor of a destroyed medicinal pill, and could also see the chunks of the pill furnace raining down.
"Is this what happens when you concoct medicine?" she thought with a gasp. "I can't believe medicine concocting is so terrifying!" In her mind, medicine concocting should be a calm, peaceful activity, and even if something went wrong, there shouldn't be a huge disaster like this.
If disciples of the Spirit Stream Sect were present, they would definitely understand what was happening, and would probably even feel bad for the Blood Stream Sect and say, "Disaster strikes once Sect Uncle Bai starts concocting medicine."
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Chapter 223: Flying Furnaces Fill the Firmament
Bai Xiaochun's heart was pounding with nervousness. The exploding pill furnace had not only been shocking, but also a very close call….
"If I had been just a bit slower, it would have blown up my immortal's cave! But that's not the scariest part. I might have lost my poor little life! That would have been a tragedy." Bai Xiaochun ducked his head down, trying to look apologetic to the furious crowd around him. He quickly made some adjustments to the cave's spell formation, and then hurried back inside.
There, he braced himself to face a mob, but after an entire day passed, nothing happened. Surprised, he waited even longer, but no one ever showed up.
"Weird…. Oh well. I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just keep concocting. Now why did that pill furnace explode?" Sitting down cross-legged, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
What he didn't know was that the reason nobody came looking for him was because of how people called him Nightdevil. He was already completely infamous, and although people wanted to go call him to account, the way he had slaughtered people with the blood sword left them no choice but to grit their teeth and endure.
Another reason was that, although the explosion had been a powerful one, and caused a lot of fires, other than that, it didn't really influence anyone negatively….
Three days later, Bai Xiaochun slapped his thigh.
"In the past, my tier-3 medicines also exploded. But this time, the explosion happened for a different reason. When tier-4 spirit medicines are in the final stages of condensing into a pill, they absorb qi from their surroundings, which leads to instability!
"It doesn't have anything to do with the bloodflame stones. The pill is being destroyed from the inside out!" Panting, hair in disarray, eyes shining with enlightenment, he quickly rolled up his sleeves and produced a new pill furnace to work with.
The concocting process went much more quickly this time. A day later, and the spirit medicine was already taking form. As it did, he paid close attention, and was also fully prepared for any outcome. Suddenly, the pill furnace began to turn bright red, and cracks started to spread out across its surface. A violent eruption was obviously building up, and the pill furnace even began to bulge in shocking fashion, even more dramatically than last time.
Bai Xiaochun gasped. Waving his sleeve, he collected up the pill furnace and then raced outside, where he threw it high up into the air. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to call out a warning this time….
A deafening boom echoed out as the pill furnace exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions, along with waves of violet-colored flames….
Booming thuds then rose up as the pieces landed on the ground. At the same time, enraged roars could be heard.
"Again?! What are you doing, Nightcrypt?!?!"
"Nightcrypt, are you really concocting medicine? If you want to kill us, why not just fight us!?!?"
"What pill is he trying to concoct?!?!"
There were about ten cultivators who were directly affected, and despite their rage, they didn't do anything other than gnash their teeth. They didn't dare to cause any problems for Nightcrypt.
Bai Xiaochun remained in his immortal's cave, terrified. However, after some time passed and nobody came to complain, he sighed and looked off into the distance.
"You people understand the situation, and choose not to cause problems for me. Don't worry. I promise this will be the last time." Taking a deep breath at how sincere he was in his efforts, he once again began to concoct.
Three days later….
"Dammit, what's wrong!?" Feeling like he was going insane, he rushed outside and threw the pill furnace up into the air.
BOOM!
Five days later… boom! Seven days later… boom! Ten days later….
"How could this be happening?!" He felt like he was going completely mad. This time, he threw an especially large pill furnace up into the air!
BOOOOOOOOOMMM!
During the ten days that passed, Middle Peak was driven insane. Every day or two, another pill furnace would explode, raining down shrapnel and fire. Many places on Middle Peak were scorched to the ground.
Many newly erected immortal's caves were burned to ash, and one cultivator after another was left screaming in rage. Eventually, not a single blade of grass or plant on Middle Peak was left unscorched.
Although Master God-Diviner's immortal's cave wasn't harmed, he did catch on fire at least once….
The killing intent of the Middle Peak cultivators continued to build until it seemed like it might explode.
The situation was a bit better on the upper finger. However, the fires eventually spread that far too, and the mid and late Foundation Establishment cultivators there were slowly building up into a rage. All of Middle Peak was turning into a ticking timebomb.
"Nightcrypt, are you looking to die?!?!"
"If I don't kill Nightcrypt, then I'm not human!!"
"Dammit! Does Nightcrypt want to burn Middle Peak to the ground? He's not concocting medicine, he's trying to kill us!"
The unusually large pill furnace that he threw up into the air didn't actually explode in until it landed. After it smashed into one of the blood waterfalls, a huge boom rang out, and masses of blood and water surged out in all directions. A miserable shriek rang out from Song Que's mouth as he emerged, engulfed in flames. His hair and eyebrows were almost immediately burned away.
"Nightcrypt!!!" he howled, shooting toward Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave. His actions caused the suppressed emotions of the other cultivators to erupt, and they joined him in shouting at the tops of their lungs.
"Kill Nightcrypt!"
"If Nightcrypt doesn't die, then we'll all be killed!"
"First he messed with the blood qi, then he chased that rabbit, and now he has these exploding furnaces. Nightcrypt is a walking disaster!"
"You're dead, Nightcrypt! You destroyed my immortal's cave during the blood qi incident, then again because of the rabbit, and now again with a pill furnace!!"
Never before had the cultivators of Middle Peak been united in such a way. Ninety percent of the cultivators, from early to late Foundation Establishment, raged with murderous auras as they shot toward Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave, intent on joining hands to destroy it.
Even if the sect prohibited such action, they didn't care. They were convinced that the sect wouldn't cause problems for all of the Foundation Establishment cultivators on Middle Peak because of a single person.
When Bai Xiaochun saw what was happening, his scalp began to tingle with fear. Even though he was already in the mid Foundation Establishment stage, and was sure he could easily crush even a large group of opponents, it was a shock to see so many Foundation Establishment cultivators racing toward him, including both Mortal-Dao and Earthstring types, from the early to the late stage, all of them bristling with killing intent, and many without any hair or eyebrows.
Song Que was leading them all, a pack of hornets whose howls shook the mountain peak like thunder.
"Listen to me, people!" Bai Xiaochun cried, face ashen from fear. Backing up, he tried to offer explanations, but his voice was drowned out by the howls of rage. As the people closed in, their cultivation bases surging with shocking power, they became like a wave of rage, upon which the rowboat which was Bai Xiaochun teetered on the verge of death.
That was when a cold snort echoed from Ancestor Peak, a snort filled with frigid iciness. It pierced into the maddened minds of the mob, and all the cultivators who had been planning to attack Bai Xiaochun were instantly shaken to their souls.
Only a prime elder or a patriarch would be able to calm down such a large group of people so quickly. It didn't matter who it was that had just snorted, it left everyone shaking.
Simultaneously, Grand Elder Song Junwan appeared in front of Bai Xiaochun. Looking around coldly at the group of cultivators, she frowned and said, "Enough is enough. Nightcrypt didn't do any of this on purpose. It's hard to avoid accidents when connecting medicine!"
The surrounding Foundation Establishment cultivators could say nothing in response. However, despite the fact that they feared and respected the grand elder, they were haughty and arrogant people by nature, and inwardly, were still just as angry as before. Even their eyes radiated a brutal coldness.
"The patriarch agrees on this point!" Song Junwan continued coolly, her eyes radiating cold light. When the Foundation Establishment cultivators heard that, they had no choice but to sigh bitterly. Biting their tongues, they turned to leave. Of course, their hatred for Bai Xiaochun still burned hot inside of them.
All of them were thinking the same thing: "You can't keep this up. The patriarch's patience has a limit, and sooner or later, you'll meet a bitter end!"
Inwardly, they chuckled coldly, filled with expectation for the day that Nightcrypt would be punished by the sect.
After the crowd dispersed, fear still lingered in Bai Xiaochun's heart. Looking over at Song Junwan, he slapped his chest and said, "Those people were being so unreasonable! I'm concocting medicine for the sect!"
Song Junwan, who had already been turning to leave, looked back at Bai Xiaochun with a strange expression on her face. Then she shook her head. Even she would never have been able to imagine that pill concocting could prove to be so dangerous….
After a moment of hesitation, she said, "Nightcrypt, you had better end up concocting a pill that pleases the patriarch."
With that, she gave him a deep look, and then left.
She didn't want to go into any more detail than that. She was sure that Nightcrypt would understand her meaning; the leadership of the Blood Stream Sect cared about the result, not the process. If, in the end, Nightcrypt was able to concoct a pill that pleased the patriarch, then everything that happened along the way wouldn't matter. As long as he didn't go too far, they wouldn't just ignore the mishaps; they would shield him from the consequences.
However, if he failed to produce a satisfactory medicinal pill, then he would be viewed as useless, and the sect would demand restitution.
Essentially, the more useful he was, the more they would use him, and the more powerful he would be in the sect!
Bai Xiaochun's eyes flickered. Naturally, he understood what was going on. He had come to understand the way the Blood Stream Sect did things way back on Corpse Peak….
"They look at the result, not the process." He sighed. "What a great sect!" Coughing dryly, he returned to his immortal's cave and continued concocting.
Back on Ancestor Peak, the Song Clan patriarch was sitting in a large hall. Looking away from Middle Peak, he smiled at the two prime elders who were there to accompany him. All of them seemed quite pleased.
"Aren't Nightcrypt's concocting methods a bit excessive?" one of the prime elders said with the shake of a head.
The other prime elder chuckled. Sounding a bit sarcastic, he said, "That's what Blood Stream Sect disciples are supposed to be like. Don't concoct pills like everyone else! You can see at a single glance that he walks a devilish path. Everyone else concocts pills as if they're drinking warm water. He concocts them with explosive flair!"
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Chapter 224: This Isn't Betraying The Sect, Is It?
Ten days passed. On two occasions, pill furnaces exploded, but there was nothing Bai Xiaochun could do about it. Reducing the medicinal strength seemed to be the only option. As far as Bai Xiaochun was concerned, these pill furnaces were simply to weak….
After reducing the medicinal strength, and utilizing the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique, he was gradually able to stabilize things, and in the end, managed to successfully concoct a batch of tier-4 Spirit-Tempering Crystallizing Pills.
Although only five pills came out, and they were all low-grade, they still contained far more spiritual energy than any other spirit medicine that Bai Xiaochun had concocted in the past. He could even feel the spiritual energy pulsing inside of them when he held them in his hand.
They almost seemed intelligent….
That was one of the unique characteristics of tier-4 medicinal pills. After examining them closely for a bit, Bai Xiaochun started to get even more excited than before. Although he was confident that a pill like this would please a prime elder, it probably wouldn't be good enough for the Song Clan patriarch.
"I need to increase my success rate significantly. Then the Song Clan patriarch will definitely be convinced!" Sticking his chin up proudly, he continued concocting with the techniques he had already perfected to some degree.
He wanted more control over tier-4 spirit medicine, and a higher success rate, similar to what he had with tier-3 spirit medicines. It was with complete focus that Bai Xiaochun proceeded to ignore the outside world, and immerse himself in the Dao of medicine. Next, he selected another classic tier-4 spirit medicine formula, Misty Spirit Incense.
A few days later, a fragrant aroma rose up from the new batch of spirit medicine, and Bai Xiaochun's eyes immediately began to shine. His right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, and the pill furnace opened, causing a stream of green smoke to rise up into the air.
"Huh?" What shocked Bai Xiaochun most wasn't the green smoke, it was the fact that no spirit medicine could be seen inside!
"What went wrong?' he thought, shocked. He inspected the pill furnace carefully, but there was nothing inside, not even any medicinal dregs. It was almost as if the spirit medicine in the pill furnace had vanished into thin air.
Thinking about the smoke, he looked around the immortal's cave, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Frowning, he started working on another batch, determined to identify the source of the problem.
The same thing happened with the next batch. "It turned into green smoke again?"
Green smoke rose up, and within a few breaths of time, had completely vanished. No matter how he tried to capture it or prevent it from dissipating, it faded away.
"Interesting. Every tier-4 spirit medicine seems to have a unique property to it." He wasn't discouraged. Quite the contrary. For the following month, he tried numerous methods to solve the problem. However, the dozen or so batches he completed during that time all resulted in a green smoke which quickly faded away.
As Bai Xiaochun continued his research and study into the Misty Spirit Incense, the cultivators of Middle Peak were finally awakening from the nightmare that had been the exploding pill furnaces. However, before they even had a chance to rejoice, they found themselves sinking into another nightmare.
The first cultivator to be struck with misfortune was Master God-Diviner. About ten days before, in the middle of the night, he had been performing an augury for someone when suddenly his face fell. To the surprise of the cultivator sitting in front of him, Master God-Diviner rushed out of the room, face bright red. That night, he felt like he was about to fall to pieces. The following morning at dawn, his face was ashen.
"What's going on? I haven't eaten food for more than ten years. How could I be having diarrhea…?" Clutching his abdomen, he tried to perform a divination, but before he could finish, a growling sound echoed out from inside of him….
Soon, one cultivator after another was affected. Regardless of whether they were in their immortal's caves or not, anyone on Middle Peak who breathed in the aura caused by the green smoke would be stricken with diarrhea. It didn't matter when or where they were….
If it were an ordinary case of diarrhea, it might not have been a big deal. However, days passed, and the situation only continued to worsen. The ones who had it best off only ended up visiting the restroom ten or more times per day, but for others, it was over a hundred.
The cultivators of Middle Peak were starting to go crazy, and couldn't even imagine what sort of poison could be causing the situation. Some of the Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn't handle it, and began to collapse unconscious.
"Someone's poisoned us!!"
"Dammit! What exactly is going on? This couldn't be Nightcrypt, could it?!"
A plague of diarrhea had struck the lower finger of Middle Peak. There was an invisible poison mist that seemed to affect any cultivator who encountered it, regardless of the level of their cultivation base. Soon, Middle Peak was virtually a ghost town. Everyone was on the verge of going completely insane, and yet barely had the energy to move.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a problem that simply went away after a short time passed. Song Que lay prone, listless and weak. He had visited the restroom so many times that by this point, he almost felt like a mortal.
"What's happening!?" people moaned.
"It must be Nightcrypt! He's concocting medicine, and the aura is spreading out and doing this to us!"
More and more people began to come to the same conclusion. However, no one could even go to investigate; the diarrhea had gotten so bad that most people couldn't even leave their immortal's caves.
Soon, the upper finger was being affected. Song Junwan simply left, shaking in fear at the thought of medicine concocting.
"Just what kind of concocting is he doing?" she sighed, looking down sympathetically at Middle Peak. "How could it be so terrifying!?"
Eventually, word spread to the other three mountain peaks, and the cultivators there began to laugh and joke about the matter. Some of them went over to the vicinity of Middle Peak to investigate for themselves, but they quickly returned and went into secluded meditation.
Eventually, the cultivators of Middle Peak began to leave. Unfortunately, they could only crawl, so that was how they made their escape. They crawled slowly away, unwilling to remain behind any longer. Sadly, they had been severely poisoned, so even after leaving, the symptoms lingered. Everyone teetered on the verge of collapse, glaring in terror at Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave. If they had to choose between this and exploding furnaces, they would pick the furnaces….
"Nightcrypt is so vicious! He's definitely getting revenge on us!"
"Dammit! We shouldn't call him Nightdevil, we should call him Plaguedevil!!"
"Nightcrypt the Plaguedevil!!"
As time passed, and the Foundation Establishment cultivators simmered in suffering, their hatred for Bai Xiaochun dissipated. Most of them resolved that in the future, they would do anything possible to avoid provoking him….
He was truly a terrifying figure, and his tactics of cutting down his enemies with invisible medicinal pills was truly mind-numbing.
Furthermore, quite a few cultivators changed their mind about the Dao of medicine, and decided that they should spend more time studying it….
Even Ancestor Peak took note of what was happening. Of course, Bai Xiaochun had no idea what was going on. Because he cultivated the Undying Live Forever Technique, he wasn't affected at all, and was completely consumed in the Dao of medicine. A month later, he finally solved the problem of the green smoke, and succeeded in concocting the Misty Spirit Incense.
Then he went on to concoct some other tier-4 spirit medicines. Eventually, he raised his success rate to seventy percent. By that point, he had run out of medicinal plants, and was forced to take a break. Spirit medicine in hand, he sighed and walked out of the Immortal's cave.
It was a bright, sunny morning, but for some reason, everything seemed unusually quiet. Bai Xiaochun looked around and found that Middle Peak was completely empty.
At first he was shocked, but then he was pleased. He had finally managed to concoct some medicine without affecting people in the area. Sighing again, he began to walk along through Middle Peak. Before long though, he started to get nervous.
"Why is it so quiet?" he thought. Something seemed off. By the time he reached the bottom of the mountain, he hadn't seen a single person, or even detected any signs of life. All of the immortal's caves seemed empty.
"Where is everyone?" Blinking, he started to get even more nervous, and then picked up his pace. Soon, he caught sight of one of the Middle Peak Foundation Establishment cultivators, hobbling along with the help of two Inner Sect disciples. When the cultivator looked up and saw Bai Xiaochun, a tremor ran through him, and his eyes widened as if with fear as he raised a trembling finger to point at Bai Xiaochun..
"Are… are you finished concocting?" he asked.
"Huh?" Bai Xiaochun replied, a bit confused."Um, yeah I'm finished!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the cultivator shivered, then turned toward the Inner Sect district and yelled as loud as he could: "You can all come out now! Let's go back to our immortal's caves. Plaguedevil is finished concocting medicine!!"
Soon, cries of relief rang out from numerous immortal's caves in the Inner Sect as countless figures appeared, supported by Inner Sect disciples. They all looked gaunt and sallow, their expressions simultaneously listless and excited.
"Are you serious?! Plaguedevil finally finished with his medicine concocting?"
"The heavens do have eyes!!"
"We can finally go back to Middle Peak…."
Song Que was in the crowd, his legs trembling as he glared at Bai Xiaochun. He was unlike the rest of the crowd; he had not been cowed into fear, and still wanted to kill Nighcrypt.
Bai Xiaochun scratched his head guiltily as the crowds of Inner Sect disciples helped the Foundation Establishment cultivators on their way back to Middle Peak.
For the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he watched hundreds of people passing him. Then Song Junwan flew by overhead, and then circled around to land in front of him, mixed emotions on her face.
"Big Sis Song…." he said carefully.
"Finished concocting?" she asked with a wry smile. "Give me the spirit medicine, I'll take it to the patriarch."
Bai Xiaochun quickly pulled five tier-4 spirit medicines out of his bag of holding. They were only a portion of what he had concocted. The rest he kept to himself, naturally.
Song Junwan accepted them, and after examining them briefly, was clearly moved. She gave Bai Xiaochun a deep look, then smiled. Telling him to wait for her, she flew toward the top of Middle Peak.
Bai Xiaochun was already feeling very nervous. He knew the rules in the Blood Stream Sect. Although he was confident that he had done enough to impress the leadership of the Blood Stream Sect, he was still a bit anxious.
He waited for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, whereupon Song Junwan returned. A strange look could be seen in her eyes as she handed him a command medallion, then lifted his chin with her finger. Her breath smelled like orchids as she said, "The patriarch wanted me to tell you that from now, as long as you don't betray the sect, you will be treated like a direct descendant of the Song Clan!"
Bai Xiaochun's eyes sparkled at the thought of being to do virtually anything he wished in the sect. Feeling extremely proud of himself, he looked back at the lovely grand elder, and then reached out and lifted her chin with his finger.
"Does this count as betraying the sect?" he said with a chuckle. Song Junwan's eyes went wide. In all her life, she had never encountered anyone who dared to flirt with her in such a way. She instantly blushed, but then her eyes flickered with cold light.
"It seems I need to teach a bit about why grand elders are supposed to be respected!"
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Chapter 225: Come Back Home With Me, Nightcrypt!
The command medallion was a gift from the Song Clan patriarch, and was a guarantee that as long as he didn't betray the sect, he could do virtually anything he wanted in the sect.
He could even kill people with impunity!
Unfortunately, it was useless when dealing with Song Junwan. It didn't matter that he was in mid Foundation Establishment, there was no way he was a match for someone like her, a top expert who was on the verge of reaching Core Formation. Of course, Song Junwan didn't attack him, she merely glared at him for a moment before turning and leaving.
Over the course of the following days, news about Nightcrypt successfully concocting a tier-4 spirit medicine spread throughout the entire Blood Stream Sect. Everyone, prime elders included, heard about the matter.
Even the blood rippers, who were almost always in secluded meditation, caught wind of the name of Nightcrypt. It was the same with the rest of the patriarchs.
The Song Clan patriarch seemed to take him especially seriously, and his attitude determined the attitude of the Song Clan. Of course, the Song Clan was a major force in the Blood Stream Sect, with roots that ran very deep.
Eventually, news about Nightcrypt and his medicine concocting leaked out of the sect to the cultivator clans. Word even reached the Spirit Stream Sect. Hou Yunfei and Bai Xiaochun's other friends were all struck speechless. Some of them couldn't help but think of Bai Xiaochun, but the idea that the two of them were connected seemed so preposterous that they quickly dismissed such notions.
Either way, the stories about Nightcrypt caused the other sects to view him as an even more important person in the Blood Stream Sect. Some people even placed him on the same level as Song Que.
Of course, in the Blood Stream Sect, things were different. A lot of people already viewed Song Que as being inferior to Nightcrypt. Not only did Nightcrypt have terrifying battle prowess, he was also brutal, vicious, and had a devilish way of concocting medicine. Few people dared to even approach him.
The fact that a pestilence of diarrhea had struck an entire mountain caused countless hearts to be struck with even more fear than before.
His nickname soon changed from Nightdevil to Plaguedevil. The mere idea of how he would cut people down without even shedding blood was terrifying.
Bai Xiaochun actually enjoyed the change in attitude. Most of the cultivators on Middle Peak were dead set on avoiding him at all costs.
None were willing to provoke him, and although some still resented him, no major issues arose.
As for the Inner Sect disciples, they thought of him as some sort of vicious wild beast. The mere thought of him would cause their legs to go weak, and based on the stories that circulated among them, he was the type of person who could wipe out an entire mountain peak if he wanted.
However, Bai Xiaochun's life only went smoothly for a few days. Calling upon her authority as the grand elder of Middle Peak, Song Junwan issued a whole series of orders to him. She had him sweep all of the paths on Middle Peak, had him go repair all of the destroyed Immortal's caves, and told him to do other similar things. She found plenty of ways to control Bai Xiaochun, to the point where he was left scowling on the verge of tears.
"So I slipped up one little time…!" Bai Xiaochun huffed. Just when he was finishing sweeping Middle Peak, he got another order from Song Junwan. He was now to scrub all garbage receptacles on Middle Peak.
"I can't believe she's being such a bully! How come she can make a pass at me, but I can't do the same thing back!?" Bai Xiaochun was brimming with anger. How could he go around scrubbing garbage receptacles, considering his status in the sect? It was at around that moment that a beam of light appeared off in the distance, which circled around and headed toward Bai Xiaochun.
When he looked up, he realized it was the grand elder of Corpse Peak.
"Hey there, Nightcrypt, old boy," the grand elder said, laughing heartily. Landing near Bai Xiaochun, he walked over and saw the broom in Bai Xiaochun was holding. Eyes glittering, he said, "Being punished? I can't believe you actually dared to make a pass at Song Junwan!"
Although he was the grand elder of Corpse Peak, he knew that Nightcrypt was an extraordinary person who would likely become a patriarch. He had virtually limitless potential, and was also haughty and arrogant. Therefore, the grand elder had long since come to view him as a cultivator of the same generation as himself.
"Yeah, so what?" Bai Xiaochun replied, glaring and sticking his chin up. "She made a pass at me first!!"
The grand elder looked around carefully, then lowered his voice and said, "Nightcrypt, old boy, you listen to me. Do you know what kind of person Song Junwan is? She's a damned scorpion, that's what! Of all the guys who have dared to provoke her over the years, not a single one met a good end. In fact, years ago, when she was in the Qi Condensation stage, I personally witnessed how she dealt with someone who treated her improperly. She gutted him alive…."
"Gutted him alive?!" Bai Xiaochun asked, gasping.
The grand elder looked around furtively for a moment before continuing, "Did you ever hear about Blood Master Situ Hao from Lesser Marsh Peak? A few years ago, he harbored malicious intentions toward Song Junwan. She chased him all the way to Nameless Peak, and almost managed to gut him too!"
"She guts blood masters?!" Bai Xiaochun felt his scalp tingling like mad. He knew that in the Blood Stream Sect, blood masters occupied a very high position, similar to the sect leader. In fact, in some ways, they were even more powerful than the sect leader. The sect leader couldn't directly issue orders to the cultivators of a mountain peak, but a blood master could!
Furthermore, only by reaching Core Formation and becoming a blood master could someone ever have a chance of becoming a blood ripper! Blood rippers were the most important force in the sect next to the patriarchs!
For various reasons, blood masters were people who could drive countless other members of the sect into madness.
Bai Xiaochun was more nervous than ever. After glancing up at the upper finger, he looked back at the Corpse Peak grand elder and said, "What are you doing here anyway? Trying to scare me?"
"Why would I want to scare you, Nightcrypt, old boy?" he replied, smiling broadly. "I'm just telling you the facts! Hey, we've been friends since your days in the Inner Sect, haven't we? Such good friends…. In fact, I even went to the sect leader and asked if it would be alright to invite you to Corpse Peak to concoct some medicine. If you do, then you won't have to follow any orders from that ogress Song Junwan, right?
"How about this: take as much time to think it over as you need. Don't worry, I'll provide you with all the medicinal ingredients. Actually, they've already been prepared. After you're finished, you'll have my profound thanks! Oh, right. The Corpse Peak blood master said that if you agree to concoct medicine for us, he'll give you that emerald zombie you refined as a gift!" The Corpse Peak grand elder slapped his bag of holding and produced a command medallion, which was none other than the device to control the emerald zombie.
Bai Xiaochun looked at it and confirmed that it was the very control device which he had handed over, the one that controlled the emerald zombie. Of course, if he wanted to, he could invalidate the command medallion with a mere thought at any time.
However, the idea of concocting medicine at Corpse Peak to evade the punishments of Song Junwan seemed like a wonderful idea. He didn't agree right away though. Instead, he put a hesitant expression onto his face.
"You know," he said with a wince, "whenever I concoct medicine, fellow sect members often suffer…."
"I'll personally kill anyone who complains," the grand elder responded immediately. "Nightcrypt, old boy, rest at ease and concoct to your heart's content! As long as you can make me a tier-4 Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill, then anything goes!"
Bai Xiaochun cleared his throat. He was about to continue to play hard to get when suddenly, a cold snort echoed out from the upper finger.
"Nightcrypt, why haven't you started scrubbing yet!?
"And then there's you, old fogey. What are you doing off of Corpse Peak!? Why are you always interfering in my business on Middle Peak!" It was none other than Song Junwan. As soon as her voice rang out, Bai Xiaochun grabbed the arm of the Corpse Peak grand elder.
"I agree! When do we leave!?"
"Now!" replied the grand elder, elated. Throwing his head back and laughing uproariously, he unleashed the power of his cultivation base, taking Bai Xiaochun with him as he shot toward Corpse Peak in a beam of light.
At first, Song Junwan's jaw dropped in shock. But then a strange fire began to rage in her heart, and she flew out to block the path of the Corpse Peak grand elder. "Where do you think you're going, Nightcrypt!?"
However, it was at that very moment that a blood-colored beam of light shot out from Corpse Peak. It was a middle-aged man with a mane of blood-colored hair, wearing a long, blood-colored robe. Even his skin was the color of blood, and eyes shone with piercing light. Clearly, he had a Foundation Establishment cultivation base, and yet he emanated an energy that was no weaker than that of a prime elder. A single step put him directly in front of Song Junwan.
"Junwan, Junior Brother Nightcrypt is a famous person in the sect. Even the patriarchs like him. It's fundamentally wrong to force him to do such menial, humiliating tasks. Junior Brother Nighcrypt has agreed to come to Corpse Peak to concoct medicine, so just calm down, we won't treat him badly!" The man waved his right hand, and Corpse Peak trembled, as though it were resonating with him. At the same time, incredible pressure weighed down in all directions.
"Windcliff, I don't care if you're the blood master of Corpse Peak, what gives you the right to interfere in Middle Peak's affairs!?" Song Junwan's eyes flickered with killing intent as she stared at the blood-colored figure, who was none other than Blood Master Windcliff from Corpse Peak!
"I'm not a useless piece of crap like Situ Hao! You're not getting past me!" Windcliff took another step forward to block her path while the grand elder sped along toward Corpse Peak with Bai Xiaochun in tow.
"Nightcrypt, come back home this instant!" Song Junwan shouted lividly.
Seeing that Song Junwan's path had been obstructed, and knowing that he was now safe, Bai Xiaochun shook his head vigorously and shot back, "I'm not going back, no matter what you say!"
"Are you coming or not!?" she cried, stamping her foot in fury.
"Not!" he retorted with another shake of the head.
"Oh, look at you, Nightcrypt. Think you're tough stuff now, huh? If you don't come back this instant, then you can forget about ever coming back!" With that, she turned angrily and headed back toward Middle Peak.
"Fine!" Bai Xiaochun said with an angry snort. "I'm never going back!" Then he turned and headed toward Corpse Peak.
By this point, the grand elder was sweating as he looked first at Bai Xiaochun, and then back at the equally furious Song Junwan.
"You two…?" he said hesitantly, starting to wonder exactly what had gone on between them….
The exchange that had just gone on left the Corpse Peak grand elder, as well as Blood Master Windcliff, blinking in shock. Something about the whole conversation seemed a bit off.
They weren't the only ones to have such a reaction. Any other cultivator who heard their argument couldn't shake the feeling that they were hearing a fight between a husband and wife. It was like a husband angrily storming out of the house and the wife cursing him the entire way….
Note from Deathblade: Since I always tend to get confusion when I include the notes from Er Gen, I want to make clear that the following note is from Er Gen, when the chapter was originally released:
Note from Er Gen: This chapter is coming out on Chinese Valentine's Day. I hope that all Fellow Daoists have someone who will say: "Dear, come back home with me…."
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Chapter 226: Don't Worry About Anything
Song Junwan returned to the upper finger of Middle Peak, her face a mask of rage as she flew over her blood lake and toward her immortal's cave. Before the door could even swing open like it usually did, she kicked it as hard as she could.
A huge boom echoed out, and the door trembled as cracks spread out across its surface.
"That lousy Nightcrypt! Thinks he's all grown up now, does he? How dare he say he won't come back home with me!" She kicked the door again, and it collapsed into pieces, whereupon she stormed into her immortal's cave.
The four attendants outside were shivering in shock. They had never seen the grand elder this angry; she had actually destroyed the door to her own immortal's cave.
Soon, more bangs and crashes could be heard from inside as Song Junwan threw things to the ground and smashed them into the walls. However, she was only partially done venting her anger. She sat down where she was, her face flickering with a certain hidden bitterness that even she didn't realize was there.
"Nightcrypt, you ignoramus! I had you sweep the paths on Middle Peak and repair the immortal's caves so that people wouldn't hate you so much! When someone makes a big scene like you did, people are bound to get jealous. Okay, so maybe asking you to scrub the garbage receptacles was a bit excessive, but all you had to do was come ask me, come beg me, and I would have let you off the hook!" Song Junwan was only getting more and more mad.
"But then you decided to collude with outsiders! I can't believe you ran away! You say you're not gonna come back? Fine! Don't come back for the rest of your life!" She grabbed a nearby jug of alcohol and smashed it on the ground.
The attendants outside exchanged embarrassed looks, then simply looked down at their toes and pretended they hadn't heard anything.
Meanwhile, in Corpse Peak's Blood Master Temple, Bai Xiaochun was sitting there stewing in fury. In his opinion, Song Junwan was being far too overbearing. What right did she have to ask him to do all those things? Was she in charge of whether or not he concocted pills for people?
"That shrew's temper is ridiculous!" he grumbled.
Blood Master Windcliff was sitting there in front of him, a strange half-smile on his face. The grand elder was also nearby, an equally odd expression on his face. The two of them exchanged a glance; by now, both of them were convinced that something was going on between Nightcrypt and Song Junwan.
"Take a deep breath, Junior Brother Nighcrypt," said Blood Master Windcliff, smiling. "Why don't we talk about the medicine concocting situation?"
Bai Xiaochun looked up. This was his first time actually getting a look at Windcliff. After examining him for a moment, he nodded.
Recently, he had realized that, considering how famous he was, he should act a bit more arrogantly.
"First things first," he said, sticking his chin up. "If anything bad happens while I'm concocting the pill, you people have to take responsibility!"
"Don't worry about anything!" Windcliff said. Smiling, he handed a bag of holding to Bai Xiaochun. Not only was he not put off by Bai Xiaochun's show of arrogance, he actually approved of it. What he cared about was the tier-4 spirit medicine. As long as Nightcrypt could concoct it, then it meant his own refined corpses could become more powerful.
The grand elder laughed heartily. "Come, come, Nightcrypt, old boy," he said. "Let me show you to the immortal's cave we've prepared for you. If it's missing anything, just say the word."
With that, the grand elder gave a look to the blood master and then led Bai Xiaochun out of Blood Master Temple.
Corpse Peak viewed Nightcrypt as someone very important, and had arranged a special location just for him on the border between the lower and upper fingers. It was in a wide-open area that had already been cleared of other cultivators.
Of course, news that Nightcrypt had come to concoct medicine had already begun to spread through Corpse Peak. Upon hearing the news, many of the Corpse Peak cultivators blanched in response. After thinking about the tragic fate of Middle Peak, they decided to be more vigilant than ever.
"I heard that the blood master and the grand elder personally invited Nightcrypt over to concoct medicine. We definitely need to watch out."
"Nightcrypt is also called Plaguedevil. The terrifying way he concocts medicine is the talk of Middle Peak…."
There were some cultivators who didn't take the matter too seriously, assuming that the stories were mere exaggerations.
"Who cares about medicine concocting? Could it really affect us that much? That whole diarrhea thing only happened because they got careless. As long as we're on guard, nothing bad could possibly happen."
"Hmph! Let's see what heaven-shaking, earth-shattering things happen when this Nightcrypt concocts medicine!"
Regardless of the various reactions on Corpse Peak, the blood master and the grand elder issued orders that the area around Bai Xiaochun's concoction cave was forbidden. No one was allowed to get close.
Bai Xiaochun was very pleased with all the preparations, especially the immortal's cave they had prepared just for him. After the grand elder left, he sat down cross-legged in front of another hulking cross-legged figure, a green-haired corpse. Surprisingly, it's hair wasn't incredibly long anymore. However, its fangs were just as razor-sharp as before, and it also had bone spurs sticking out of its skin. It had long, wicked-looking claws, and radiated a murderous aura that was completely shocking.
This was Bai Xiaochun's emerald zombie!
Clearly, the zombie was much stronger than it had been when he had first created it. Its skin looked tougher, and overall, it seemed more brawny and powerful.
It had green eyes, and emanated an aura that made it seem strangely intelligent.
Just looking at it caused Bai Xiaochun's hair to stand on end. Although he had personally created the emerald zombie, he still found it terrifying.
"Not cute at all…." he said, glaring. "Put those fangs and claws away, and shorten that hair a bit." As soon as the words left his mouth, the emerald zombie shivered. Its fangs and claws, as well as the bone spurs, all vanished. As for its hair, it shrank down until it was almost invisible.
Its murderous aura also faded a bit. It was still green, but now it looked a lot more normal. After a moment, it looked over at Bai Xiaochun, seemingly a bit sluggish.
"That's better," Bai Xiaochun said, pleased. With one last glance at the area outside of the immortal's cave, he opened the bag of holding the blood master had given him, which was filled with a large amount of medicinal plants. Although there weren't as many as the Song Clan patriarch had given him, they were equally valuable. There were even some plants which were more valuable than the ones the Song Clan patriarch had provided, and of higher quality.
"It seems that Corpse Peak's blood master has quite a bit of resources on his hands!" There were also plenty of bloodflame stones and pill furnaces in the bag of holding, as well as a jade slip that had the medicine formula for the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill.
Bai Xiaochun took the medicine formula and began to study it. Soon his eyes widened. The medicine formula was actually not very easy to understand, and there were many areas where the explanations were quite vague. Without true knowledge of how to concoct tier-4 spirit medicine, it would be impossible to understand.
In fact, even with such skill, the formula was still difficult. Thankfully, Bai Xiaochun's skill in the Dao of medicine had already reached the point where he could concoct tier-5 spirit medicine. Therefore, after studying the formula in detail, he started to understand it. Eventually, he took a deep breath.
"This Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill uses corpses as furnaces to brew corpse pills. Forty-nine corpses have to be withered into the form of corpse pills. Then, the forty-nine corpse pills are combined together to make the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill!
"This is not a pill designed to be consumed by the living. It's meant to be fed to a refined corpse. With this pill, a shadow zombie could be upgraded to a Core Formation-level flying ghoul!!" Strange light gleamed in his eyes as he looked at the medicine formula.
"This isn't a tier-4 spirit medicine, this is more like tier-6 medicine which has been simplified to some extent by some almighty practitioner of the Dao of medicine. Only by splitting it up into forty-nine smaller processes can it be successfully concocted by someone at the tier-4 level!
"A simplified spirit medicine like this would be much weaker than the original, and would have a limited success rate. However, in combination with certain other techniques, the success rate could be pushed a bit higher.
"So, spirit medicines can be concocted in this way too, huh?" Bai Xiaochun almost couldn't believe it, so he decided to continue to study the formula. Muttering to himself, he would occasionally look up at the emerald zombie.
After years of refinement performed by the grand elder of Corpse Peak, the emerald zombie had reached a battle prowess equivalent to the great circle of Qi Condensation. If it could make a breakthrough, it would be like a shadow zombie, equal to the Foundation Establishment stage.
"It would be a big waste to give a spirit medicine like this to the blood master. It would be way better to concoct it and use it on my own zombie….. But in that case, how would I explain things to Corpse Peak? I can only imagine what bad things might happen then…." Rubbing his chin, he looked at the medicine formula. Eyes shining, he continued to do more research.
Time passed. Half a month later, Bai Xiaochun suddenly looked up, panting. Eyes shining, he began to cackle maniacally.
"If I keep the first steps the same, but make some alterations to the final steps, I should be able to make a synchronization Blood Corpse Refining Pill!
"After refining the forty-nine corpses into pills, I can use my emerald zombie to serve as an enormous pill cauldron, and in the end reverse its blood flow. After the pill is finished, it will produce a secondary pill, a synchronization pill. I could give the synchronization pill to the blood master, and if he used it to successfully refine his corpse and break through, then my emerald zombie would be able to control it!"
Bai Xiaochun slapped his thigh, then threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Hair in disarray, expression one of excitement, he simply couldn't wait to try out this concoction method. After looking around, he began to chuckle derisively.
"So, this part was just a test, huh? You can't even create Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pills with a pill furnace." After some thought, he decided that the medicine formula really was a test. If he couldn't understand it, then naturally, he wouldn't be able to concoct it.
Only after truly understanding the formula would he be able to truly concoct the medicine.
With that, he rose to his feet and called over Corpse Peak's grand elder. When he arrived, he said that he needed forty-nine corpses, as well as more bloodflame stones. The grand elder didn't seem surprised at all, but rather, began to laugh excitedly. He quickly performed an incantation gesture, and then waved his finger at the immortal's cave. Rumbling sounds echoed out as a passageway appeared.
Shockingly, the passageway led to an underground necropolis!
Inside the necropolis was a lake of blood, surrounded by forty-nine zombies, all of which radiated murderous auras.
Bai Xiaochun looked around. Hands clasped behind his back, he stuck his chin up and tried to look displeased.
The grand elder clasped hands respectfully and said, "Nightcrypt, old boy, this is the true place to concoct the medicine!"
By this point, he was completely convinced of Bai Xiaochun's skill in the Dao of medicine. The truth was that the blood master had given that very same medicine formula to many other apothecaries, and yet none of them had truly understood it. It was only because he and the grand elder had access to certain ancient records that they were aware of the true concocting method.
And yet, Nightcrypt had only used half a month to see through to the critical aspects. The grand elder was very excited. Seeing that Bai Xiaochun didn't look very happy, he politely clasped hands again. After offering an explanation, he handed over a large collection of medicinal plants, whereupon Bai Xiaochun's expression softened.
"Please leave," he said coolly. "Without my permission, no one is to enter!"
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Chapter 227: Mysterious Black Smoke….
Corpse Peak's grand elder clasped hands and then hurried away, more confident than before that Nightcrypt might be able to concoct the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill. However, after leaving, he hesitated for a moment, and then sat down cross-legged nearby.
"I should stand guard myself to make sure there are no accidents!" Having made up his mind, he even summoned Corpse Peak's ten bloodstreak elders over to stand guard with him.
This was treatment that normally only a blood master would receive….
Bai Xiaochun ignored what was happening on the outside. Deep in the necropolis, he paced about excitedly. In all his years concocting medicine, he had never concocted a major pill like this before!
"Anything tier-6 and higher is a high-level medicine!" Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. Ignoring the murderous auras emanating from the forty-nine corpses, he took some time to examine the lake of blood.
The blood-water in the lake contained a mixture of Heavenspan River water and with powerful blood qi.
As for the forty-nine corpses, all of them had been specially selected, and even though they were only pallid zombies, they were all at the peak of Qi Condensation. Not a wound could be seen on any of them, and they possessed powerful corpse auras.
After some observation, Bai Xiaochun was very pleased. He sat down cross-legged, and then used an entire day to meditate and get himself in the optimal mental state. When his eyes opened, he waved his right hand, sending medicinal plants flying out of his bag of holding. As they floated in front of them, he made grasping gestures, causing the plants to break apart and turn into liquid.
More and more plants were added to the liquid, and as Bai Xiaochun observed the process, he called upon the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation techniques to analyze and adjust matters. Then he sent the liquid into the corpses around him.
The medicinal liquid almost seemed to possess intelligence as it poured into the bodies of the zombies.
"The corpse pills created by each of the forty-nine zombies might seem identical, but actually, they all have minute variations. Generally speaking, the pills all need to be intentionally incomplete, with a tiny gap left.
"The most difficult part of the concocting process is using the gaps in all of the forty-nine corpse pills to bind them together. Then, their complementary aspects will merge together to form the final major pill." Sweat began to drip down Bai Xiaochun's forehead, but he didn't notice, as he was completely immersed in the concocting process.
Time passed. Before long, half a month had gone by. Things were quiet on Corpse Peak, and soon, the cultivators there started to relax. Many of them were starting to think that the cultivators of Middle Peak had really made a mountain out of a molehill when it came to Nightcrypt's pill concocting. There didn't seem to be anything terrifying about it at all….
An entire month went by, and nothing at all happened on Corpse Peak. By this point, the cultivators there were all very relaxed. As for the cultivators from Middle Peak, they were all shocked.
After hearing that Nightcrypt had gone to Corpse Peak, they had been prepared for a great spectacle. However, after two months passed, and Corpse Peak seemed the same as ever, the Middle Peak cultivators were starting to feel a bit resentful.
"How come we're the unlucky ones? I can't believe it! Nothing has happened at all now that Plaguedevil is on Corpse Peak!!"
"Why are there no exploding furnaces? Why is there no diarrhea outbreak? This isn't fair!"
"Don't tell me that Plaguedevil has had a change of character?"
Another half month passed. The cultivators of Corpse Peak were completely at ease, and some of them had even forgotten about the fact that Nightcrypt was there concocting pills. But not the Middle Peak cultivators. They continued to stare at Corpse Peak, as if they refused to rest until they saw the place descend into misfortune.
It was around that time that Bai Xiaochun finally finished with the first step of the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill. The forty-nine corpses had been sufficiently imbued with the proper medicinal plants, and now he began to use the bloodflame stones to increase the temperature of the blood lake. Soon the medicinal liquid inside of the forty-nine corpses began to seethe.
Another month passed, and the Middle Peak cultivators felt dead inside. They were furious at the unfairness of the situation, and were starting to think that Nightcrypt didn't deserve to be called Plaguedevil.
But then, something happened!
The forty-nine corpses began to slowly wither. As they did, Bai Xiaochun's expression brightened, and he performed constant incantation gestures, which, in turn, caused one gray corpse pill after another to rise up out of the lake of blood.
"The critical moment has arrived!" Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, then sent out a stream of thought, which caused the emerald zombie to open its eyes. Suddenly, forty-nine green hairs emerged from the emerald zombie, which spread out and pierced into the forty-nine corpse pills, then began to absorb them.
The corpse pills rapidly withered, and soon transformed into nothing more than ash. All of their essence had been absorbed by the emerald zombie, and was transformed into forty-nine streams of flowing energy.
Bai Xiaochun's expression turned very serious as he hurried over to the emerald zombie, where he waved his right hand back and forth through the air. Almost immediately, the emerald zombie became like a pill furnace, and the forty-nine streams of energy inside it began to form together into the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill.
As he waved his hand, the emerald zombie trembled, and its expression twisted and distorted as violent bursts of energy began to pulse out of it. Bai Xiaochun's hair was in disarray, and he looked very nervous. He waved his right hand, and the emerald zombie suddenly flew into the air and then descended into the lake of blood.
The blood lake almost immediately began to bubble and boil. Bai Xiaochun also flew up into the air, where he settled down cross-legged and began to perform double-handed incantation gestures. With every movement of his fingers, the lake of blood would erupt with blood qi, which poured into the emerald zombie.
Three days passed by in a flash. During that time, the forty-nine streams of energy inside of the emerald zombie seemed incapable of fusing together. Every time they were about to, they would spontaneously separate. The emerald zombie's body was beginning to shrivel, and some parts of it even seemed to be hovering on the verge of collapse. As it struggled, its fangs, claws, bone spurs, and green hair all appeared in full, and began to distort. However, it seemed impossible to restore them to their original condition.
"How could this be happening?!" Bai Xiaochun was starting to get very nervous. It seemed that if he kept going, the emerald zombie might be destroyed. However, he wasn't willing to allow this concoction to fail. He suddenly reached up with his hand and pushed down onto his forehead, causing his forehead to split open, and his Heavenspan Dharma Eye to appear. As soon as it did, he could clearly see the forty-nine streams of energy inside the emerald zombie, and how they were completely mixed and jumbled.
The jumbled energy streams were apparently a result of the blood-water in the lake of blood. Although the blood-water was a precious material on Corpse Peak, Bai Xiaochun could now see how mixed and impure it was.
At this critical juncture, the jumbled energy streams were polluting the emerald zombie and making it impossible for the corpse auras to merge together.
"Dammit! How come the blood-water medicinal liquid is so impure!?" Bai Xiaochun was getting very nervous. He knew that, to most other people, the medicinal liquid in the blood lake could be considered unusually pure. Actually, the type of liquid most cultivators used in corpse refining was much less pure.
But Bai Xiaochun cultivated the Undying Live Forever Technique, and his Undying Blood qi was the most authentic. That was why the blood lake seemed so impure to him.
"I need to figure out a way to purify it as quickly as possible. There's no time to waste here. I'm going to have to use drastic methods!" Seeing that the emerald zombie wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer, he gritted his teeth and waved his right hand. Instantly, a hundred different types of medicinal plants appeared. Bai Xiaochun's eyes glittered as he made various mental calculations, and then began to fuse the medicinal plants together. By calling upon the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation techniques, he fused the plants, ignited them, and then sent them flying into the lake of blood.
As they flew through the air, they transformed into a medicinal liquid. When that entered the blood lake, a powerful expulsion force erupted out, and the burning caused a black smoke to rise up and fill the area.
The fire wasn't on the surface of the lake, but down inside. As it burned, vast quantities of black smoke roiled up, which merged into the walls. At the same time, the blood-water in the lake was significantly reduced.
It was a dangerous, crude method, and the black smoke was not only difficult to get rid of, but also extremely filthy.
However, Bai Xiaochun didn't have any time for other considerations. It didn't take long for the burning fire to release more and more black smoke, which fused into the walls and spread out through all of Corpse Peak.
As it did, the flame inside of the lake transformed from black to violet, and finally, red. More than ninety percent of the blood-water was gone, and yet, the bit that remained had absolutely no impurities whatsoever. Bai Xiaochun performed an incantation gesture and pointed out, and the remaining blood-water flowed toward the emerald zombie. As it merged into it, Bai Xiaochun howled. The forty-nine streams of energy finally fused together, and the corpse auras began to combine.
As they did, they formed a vortex in the emerald zombie's dantian region, whereupon the shape of a major pill could be seen!
Bai Xiaochun was starting to get excited, and he was staring directly at the pill. He had resolved all of the issues that seemed like they might lead to a failure. It was at that point that he suddenly remembered the black smoke….
"Ah, probably shouldn't be a big deal…." he thought, looking over at the walls. The smoke had contained many impurities, and he felt a bit bad about that. He actually wasn't sure what might happen as a result….
However, after reminding himself that he had repeatedly warned the blood master and the grand elder, who had subsequently guaranteed that there would be no problems, he felt a bit more at ease.
He even rubbed his bag of holding, which contained the Song Clan patriarch's command medallion, and felt even better. "I haven't betrayed the sect," he thought.
With that, he continued to focus on the concocting process.
And that was when the strange things started happening on Corpse Peak….
The first odd event to play out occurred with a young cultivator who was currently intently focused on his work refining a corpse. At the moment, the corpse was floating in a blood cistern in front of the young man….
He didn't notice it, but a strange aura suddenly emerged from the wall and began to fill the area. Before long, the young cultivator began to tremble, and he ceased with his incantation gestures. Rising to his feet with a look of unprecedented seriousness on his face, he rushed out of his immortal's cave and then blasted a hole in the ground.
After leaping into the hole, he began to bury himself with mud, all the way up to his waist. Raising both hands up above his head, he began to slowly sway back and forth….
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Chapter 228: Excuse Me… Are You Immortal Grass?
Strange incidents like this soon began to occur in other locations on Corpse Peak. Cultivators emerged from their immortal's caves, some of them with serious expressions, some of them howling out loud, some of them seemingly enraptured. A few even waved their arms around and laughed uproariously.
One cultivator stood in front of a large tree, expression twisted with rage as he gesticulated wildly and howled, "Halt! If you make a move, I'll kill you instantly!"
Off in the distance, another cultivator with disheveled hair threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "Hahaha! I've finally reached Core Formation. From now on, call me prime elder!"
There was another cultivator who stood stiffly in front of one of his own refined corpse, howling. Apparently, he thought that he was the refined corpse, and that his refined corpse was the master.
Strange scenes like these played out everywhere. As for the cultivators who weren't affected, they looked around, expressions of shock and terror filling their faces.
"What's going on!?!?"
"Heavens! What's happening!?!?"
"Dammit! What happened!?" The unaffected cultivators almost felt like they themselves were going crazy. The shocking scenes playing out around them soon caused blank expressions to appear on their faces.
Xu Xiaoshan was in the crowd, flying along in terror until he happened to reach a large boulder. Looking around fearfully, he turned to the boulder and said, "Did you see? Something big is happening! All of the disciples are hallucinating! This is bad, we have to go tell the grand elder!" After a moment of silence, Xu Xiaoshan glared at the boulder. "Eee? Why aren't you talking?"
Another moment passed. "Y-y-you're a hallucination?!" Looking terrified, Xu Xiaoshan flew off in a different direction until he found a refined corpse.
A tremor ran through him and he said, "Patriarch!! Sir, you have to hurry. Something big is happening. Everyone is hallucinating!"
Even as Xu Xiaoshan cried out in alarm, another Corpse Peak cultivator off in the distance suddenly threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Looking around with contempt and arrogance, he said, "Trifling Blood Stream Sect! How dare you challenge me, Bai Xiaochun! Listen up everyone. I am Bai Xiaochun, Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment expert. Yes. Bai Xiaochun!" He then proceeded to strut along arrogantly through the crowd, telling everyone he saw that he was Bai Xiaochun….
All of Corpse Peak was descending into complete chaos. The grand elder and the bloodstreak elders all rushed outside in shock, and when they saw what was happening, they gasped.
"What's going on!?!?"
Even as the grand elder began to rotate his cultivation base, the Corpse Peak blood master appeared up above, staring around in complete confusion.
"They're all hallucinating!!" the blood master murmured incredulously. As for the bloodstreak elders, they strode out to take control, but then their expressions turned blank.
One of them clutched the sides of his head and began to weep loudly. Another squatted down, put his hands on either side of his head, and stuck his index fingers up like rabbit ears. After looking around quizzically, he began hopping around like a rabbit….
Another of them ran off at top speed toward a certain immortal's cave where a young cultivator had buried himself up to the waist. The bloodstreak elder quickly squatted down next to the young cultivator and stared at him with a serious expression.
The blood master and the grand elder felt their scalps tingling in fear. Then they looked over in the direction where Bai Xiaochun was concocting medicine, expressions of shock on their faces.
"Could all this be caused by Nightcrypt's concocting!?!?"
"Even concocting medicine shouldn't cause something as terrifying as this to occur!!" The grand elder gasped, and just when he was about to say something, his expression suddenly went blank. Letting out a piercing cry, he stretched his arms out like wings and flew up into the air. Occasionally, he would swoop down and grab a cultivator, let out an odd cry, and then toss them back to the ground.
Apparently, he thought he was an eagle. As he soared through the air, he would use his sharp eyes to spot cultivators down below, and then swoop down and grab them.
The blood master's scalp was tingling so hard it felt like it might explode. He immediately flew high up into the air, unwilling to be anywhere near Corpse Peak, his eyes shining with terror.
"How could this be happening!?!?!?"
The people paying the closest attention to Corpse Peak were the cultivators of Middle Peak. As soon as things started to unravel, they flew over to take a look. When they saw the bizarre spectacle playing out, they began to gasp and back up, not daring to get too close.
"Plaguedevil finally unleashed the whirlwind!"
"This is horrifying! What's wrong with them? Don't tell me they're hallucinating?!?!"
"Hallucinations like that must draw upon their deepest desires…."
"Heavens! I can't believe one of them keeps saying he's Bai Xiaochun! What does he want, deep down inside? To become Bai Xiaochun?"
Song Que flew up into the air and looked over at Corpse Peak, gasping. The first person he saw was Xu Xiaoshan, who was prostrating himself in front of a refined corpse, calling it patriarch. Shortly afterward, Xu Xiaoshan flew off in a different direction, reaching a relatively wide-open section of Corpse Peak, where he suddenly flopped to the ground and stopped moving.
The Middle Peak cultivators weren't the only ones to notice that something strange was going on. Soon, people from Nameless Peak and Lesser Marsh Peak realized that something odd was happening, and flew over to check out the situation. When they saw what was playing out, they all gasped.
"Who is that one lunatic over there? He's actually making a pass at his own refined corpse!!"
"Isn't that the grand elder of Corpse Peak? Why is he screeching like a bird? Does he really think he's an eagle? Heavens! He's swooping down toward one of the bloodstreak elders! Eee? He missed him!"
"Does that bloodstreak elder think he's a rabbit or something?"
"And look at that guy who buried himself up to the waist. What is he doing? And what is that bloodstreak elder doing next to him? He's not even moving at all!"
The cultivators from the three other mountain peaks were flabbergasted. Eventually Song Junwan appeared, and when she looked over at Corpse Peak, she gasped.
As of this moment, the cultivators of Middle Peak felt mixed emotions regarding Nightcrypt. For some reason, they got the feeling that he had actually treated them quite well. The worst they had dealt with was some exploding furnaces and a bit of diarrhea. The situation with Corpse Peak was simply terrifying….
The Corpse Peak blood master felt like crying, but no tears would come. He looked around blankly at everything that was happening, and felt like he might go crazy at any moment too.
Even as everyone was shaking in terror, Ancestor Peak finally took note of the situation. Meanwhile, the young cultivator who had first been affected, the one who had stuck his hands into the air and started swaying back and forth, suddenly looked at the bloodstreak elder who was squatting next to him, unmoving.
The young cultivator was actually very curious about this. He had noticed the bloodstreak elder arrive earlier, but after much thought, couldn't identify him. Finally, he decided to ask directly, to dispel his confusion. After a moment of hesitation, the young cultivator asked, "Excuse me, are you immortal grass?"
"No, of course not," the bloodstreak elder replied solemnly. "I'm an immortal chicken egg!"
Even as Corpse Peak was filled with pandemonium, Bai Xiaochun was down in the necropolis, howling at the top of his lungs. At the same time, his emerald zombie shivered as two medicinal pills appeared in its dantian region.
One of them was the Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill, and the other was a smaller synchronization version.
An excited expression appeared on Bai Xiaochun's face. His right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, and the synchronization pill flew out. Capturing it in a medicinal pill bottle, Bai Xiaochun examined it closely, and then got even more excited than before.
"It worked!" Feeling very proud of his work, he collected up his emerald zombie and then pushed open the door of the necropolis.
As soon as he walked out of the immortal's cave, he heard the clamor off in the distance. However, considering that nobody had gathered near his immortal's cave, he felt very much at ease.
"Seems the black smoke wasn't a big deal after all, huh?" Sighing, he began to walk along the path, but then suddenly stopped in place. Some distance off was a bloodstreak elder hopping along in his direction.
Bai Xiaochun stared in shock, and even wondered if he was seeing things. Heart pounding, he rubbed his eyes and looked over to see a Foundation Establishment cultivator laughing maniacally as he attacked a nearby tree. Then he saw a younger cultivator walking along on his hands….
There was even one cultivator who he had never seen before, laughing proudly as he declared that he was Bai Xiaochun. Strolling over with hands clasped behind his back, the man glared at Bai Xiaochun and said, "Recognize me? I'm Bai Xiaochun!"
Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide, and his scalp began to tingle. As he looked around, he realized that almost all of the cultivators on Corpse Peak were behaving very strangely.
"Why are they all acting so crazy?" Fear rising up inside of him, he was just about to flee when suddenly, he saw Xu Xiaoshan lying off in the distance, still and unmoving.
As far as Bai Xiaochun was concerned, Xu Xiaoshan was a friend, so he hurried over to see if he could help. Just as he reached him, and was preparing to investigate, Xu Xiaoshan's eyes snapped open.
"Don't move!" he whispered. "Everyone on Corpse Peak is crazy. They're hallucinating! I almost can't believe it, but I was just talking to a boulder a few minutes ago. I even thought a refined corpse was one of the patriarchs!
"Thankfully, I, Xu Xiaoshan, have exceptional latent talent, as well as tons of magical items. That's how I recovered so quickly."
"You're not crazy?!" Bai Xiaochun asked jubilantly.
"Get out of here!" Xu Xiaoshan replied immediately. "Forget about me. I'm pretty sure all of this is happening because of that eagle up there. I'm trying to lure it down here, and then I'll kill it. Everything will be fine after that." With that, he peered up into the sky.
Bai Xiaochun subconsciously looked up into the sky, his mind spinning. Soon, he saw the grand elder, arms spread wide as he soared to and fro, occasionally letting out a piercing cry.
Bai Xiaochun looked around blankly. Meanwhile, everyone outside of Corpse Peak saw Bai Xiaochun, and their eyes began to widen.
That was especially true of Corpse Peak's blood master. He began to seethe with killing intent as he roared, "Nightcrypt!!"
As the blood master's cry echoed out, blood-colored light surged out around him, and he shot toward Bai Xiaochun like a beam of light. Within the blink of an eye, he was only about 150 meters away.
Bai Xiaochun's heart began to pound, and just when he was about to run away at top speed, Xu Xiaoshan threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Eyes shining, he leapt up into the air.
"The eagle didn't come, but a blood chicken did! It was all worth it!"
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Chapter 229: Plaguedevil's Name Spreads Far And Wide
Howling, Xu Xiaoshan flew up into the air and slammed into Blood Master Windcliff. Bai Xiaochun used that opportunity to flee, although by this point he was getting a bit angry.
"Windcliff," he shouted, "before I started concocting, I told you that there could be problems. You personally said not to worry at all! What do you think you're doing? You might be a blood master, but don't think that Nightcrypt is afraid of you!"
He was actually very nervous, but he pretended to be simply furious, and even intentionally erupted with a murderous aura. At the same time, he raised his right hand up into the air, within which was a medicinal pill bottle.
"This is the tier-4 Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill you wanted me to make!" In the middle of grappling with Xu Xiaoshan, Blood Master Windcliff looked over at Bai Xiaochun, and was forced to suppress the rage he felt.
The truth was that he really had uttered such words. Although he had never imagined that the current situation would have resulted, he was a blood master, and was capable of being cold and callous. A moment later, his anger faded, and he smiled so broadly his eyes narrowed.
"I was being a bit rash," he said. "Junior Brother Nightcrypt, none of this is a big deal. As long as the spirit medicine came out alright, then I'll keep my promise."
Ignoring the implied threat in his words, Bai Xiaochun threw the medicinal pill bottle toward Windcliff. Windcliff grabbed it and opened it, and was immediately moved. A look of joy even appeared on his face. Although Corpse Peak was in chaos, which was a bit annoying, the fact that the medicinal pill had been successfully concocted negated all other minor problems.
"Many thanks!" he said with a smile. Then, his eyes flashed with cold light as he shot toward Ancestor Peak, where he conferred with the prime elders about a solution to the problem on Corpse Peak.
Bai Xiaochun watched the blood master leave, and laughed coldly in his heart at how unreasonable the man was. Despite how Bai Xiaochun had been helping him with his medicinal pill, the coldness in his eyes had been more than clear moments ago.
"Hmph!" he thought. "It's a good thing that despite being so honest, I'm very intelligent. If he doesn't use that Inverse Blood Corpse Refining Pill, then it won't matter. But if he does use it, then I'll be able to take command of his refined corpse!" Bai Xiaochun was very proud of himself. With the snap of a finger, he had reduced the Corpse Peak blood master to ashes. Sticking his chin up, he looked around at the crowds. The cultivators from the other three mountain peaks trembled as his gaze passed over them, and they quickly backed up and clasped their hands respectfully toward him.
By now, everyone was terrified of Nightcrypt. His medicine concocting techniques had long since exceeded the realm of divine abilities; he could cut down his enemies without even touching them….
"Aiya. Outstanding people are always the center of attention no matter where they go. What a headache." Even as he was feeling very proud of himself, and sighing inwardly, he suddenly found himself looking into the eyes of Song Junwan. The cold smile he saw on her face sent chills up his spine.
"Um… hey, Big Sis Song…."
Her eyes went wide. "Oh, back to calling me Big Sis, huh?"
Snorting coldly, she spun around and headed back to Middle Peak. Everyone else in the area exchanged awkward glances and then began to leave.
Soon, Bai Xiaochun was left alone, hovering there in midair. He was starting to get worried. Song Junwan had clearly intended for him to see the look in her eyes, and all of a sudden, he was wondering what new tactics she might resort to in her desire to torment him. He sighed.
However, he now had no choice but to go back to Middle Peak. He did his best to sneak back into his immortal's cave, where he sat down quietly, stewing in his anxiety.
"What am I supposed to do…? This Song Junwan really knows how to harbor a grudge! All I did was leave the mountain for a little bit, right…?" Rubbing his forehead, he continued to try to think of ways to smooth things out with her. Over the following days, he continued to ponder the issue.
The situation with the hallucinations struck Corpse Peak quickly, but ended just as quickly. As the cultivators there recovered, they looked around blankly. Then they began to think back to everything that had occurred, and soon, angry shouts rang up.
"Nightcrypt! Our enmity is irreconcilable!!"
"ARRGGHH! Nightcrypt! I'm gonna kill you!!"
The fury of the bloodstreak elders burned especially hot, and all of them went directly into secluded meditation. As for the grand elder, as soon as he recovered, he threw his head back and let out an anguished howl. From that day forward, no one would ever dare to mention the word 'eagle' in front of him ever again. He also chose to go into secluded meditation….
However, there were even more extreme cases which had cropped up. For example, one young man had been under the belief that he was a corpse, and had tried to refine himself. Upon awakening, he let out miserable screams that echoed out near and far.
Many of them wanted to kill Nightcrypt, and yet nobody dared to step onto Middle Peak. All they could do was angrily gnash their teeth. Of course, at the same time, Nightcrypt's nickname 'Plaguedevil' filled the entire sect.
Eventually, word of Plaguedevil spread far and wide….
When Bai Xiaochun caught wind of it all, he was actually moved. Although his impression of the Blood Stream Sect cultivators as being violent and short-tempered only deepened, he was also deeply grateful for how well the leadership treated him. Whenever he caused huge problems, he never had to deal with any consequences.
As far as Song Junwan was concerned, he had finally come up with an idea of how to handle her.
"The only option is to give her a gift…." he thought, sighing. After much thought, he began to concoct some medicine. A few days later, he had produced a single green medicinal pill, which he placed in a pink medicinal pill bottle. Then he left his immortal's cave and began to nervously make his way toward the upper finger.
Along the way, any Middle Peak cultivators who he encountered would respectfully clasp hands in greeting. However, he completely ignored them as he made his way along.
Of course, the more coldly he treated them, the more it seemed to them that things were back to normal. Had he turned and smiled at them, their hair would have stood on end from fear.
Before long, Bai Xiaochun was at Song Junwan's blood lake. After making his way across the path to the area behind the blood waterfalls, he clasped hands and bowed.
"Nightcrypt requests an audience with Big Sis Song."
The four attendants standing guard outside the door exchanged glances, and then one of them went inside to report the situation. Another hurried forward to attend to Bai Xiaochun. By now, there were all sorts of rumors in the sect about the exact nature of Nightcrypt's relationship with Song Junwan. However, no one wanted to offend Nightcrypt and get on his bad side.
Bai Xiaochun waited for two hours, during which time the anger and anxiety in his heart built. It was evening before Song Junwan finally agreed to let him in. The door slowly opened, and Bai Xiaochun strode inside, trying look ice cold and filled with veins of steel.
As soon as he entered, he looked over at the huge hot spring, and yet, Song Junwan was not inside. Instead, she was sitting behind a table in an adjacent hall, staring at Bai Xiaochun with an expressionless face. Apparently, she was still angry.
"Didn't you say you would never come back?" she asked coolly. "And yet, here you are, back again. What are you doing in my immortal's cave?" She wore a long, violet gown, with her long hair coiled on top of her head and bound with a phoenix hairpin. Her garment was embroidered with black designs that made her seem particularly dignified. However, tiny droplets of water could be seen on her pearly neck, indicating that she had just bathed. Overall, anyone who looked at her would be hard pressed to not want to ravish her on the spot.
Bai Xiaochun blinked for a moment, then stuck his chest out and waved his sleeve. Expression cold, he frowned and said, "Enough!"
Song Junwan's eyes widened. Never could she have imagined that Nightcrypt would speak to her in such a tone. She slapped the arm of her chair, trembling in rage. However, that only made her seem more entrancing….
She seemed on the verge of exploding. Her eyes were icy, and just as she was about to start cursing him, Bai Xiaochun snorted coldly and waved his right arm, sending a medicinal pill bottle flying toward her.
Her rage did not lessen. With a cold laugh, she waved her hand, causing the pill bottle to shatter, and sending the medicinal pill flying out into the air.
Bai Xiaochun looked her calmly in the eye as the pill landed on the ground and rolled off to the side. Slowly, his eyes seemed to fade self-deprecatingly.
"I, Nightcrypt, returned for one reason only, and that was to give you this pill bottle. I am completely destitute. All of the medicinal plants given to me by the patriarch went into the pills I concocted for the sect. Because of that, I had no choice but to go to Corpse Peak to concoct medicine for Windcliff. Only then was I able to build up enough medicinal plants to make this single medicinal pill. It is a special spirit medicine that I concocted for the sole purpose of giving it to a special person!
"The medicine has been given, so I shall take my leave. Henceforth, you are the grand elder, and I am Nightcrypt!" His voice seemed bitter and filled with pain, as if the shattered medicinal pill bottle was a reflection of the state of his heart, and the fallen medicinal pill had transformed his kind feelings into nothing more than ashes.
Clasping hands, he bowed deeply, then turned and strode toward the door, looking completely and utterly lonesome.
Song Junwan looked on in shock. She had assumed that Nightcrypt would come to fawn ingratiatingly. In fact, the reason she had made him wait outside for so long, other than to give her time to bathe and dress, was to make sure he realized that it didn't matter if the patriarchs liked him. On Middle Peak, she was the grand elder, and was not someone to be brazenly defied.
To her surprise, however, he had started out by chiding her. Considering her pride and lofty position, it was impossible for her not to have been angered. When he tossed her the medicinal pill bottle, that anger erupted, and she destroyed the bottle. Of course she had noticed the medicinal pill rolling off to the side. But how could she ever have predicted the next set of words that would come out of his mouth?
Song Junwan looked down at the pill, and then looked at Bai Xiaochun bleakly walking out the door. For some reason, her heart suddenly seemed empty, which was a feeling that she had never experienced before.
"Wait!" she blurted.
Bai Xiaochun stopped in place, then turned and calmly clasped his hands in formal fashion.
"You have orders for me, Grand Elder?" His wording was very polite, without the slightest hint of passion or emotion. His expression was cold and grim, almost as if he had severed away his memories and buried them deep in his heart. Even more telling was that he had addressed her as 'Grand Elder' instead of 'Big Sis Song'.
"You…." Her face was ashen, and for some reason, her heart felt like it was in complete shambles.
"If you have no pressing matter, then I shall take my leave." Expression the same as ever, Bai Xiaochun turned and left the immortal's cave. It was only after he was some distance away, and off the upper finger, that he let out a long sigh. His heart was still pounding.
"This move should work…." he thought. "If not, then I don't know what else to do." He hurried nervously back to his immortal's cave, sighing to himself about how annoying women were, especially powerful women, who were far more domineering than the regular type.
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Chapter 230: What If… She Uses Force?
After Bai Xiaochun left, Song Junwan was left alone in the immortal's cave, somehow feeling irritated and depressed, all at the same time. And yet somehow, she didn't know how to give vent to her feelings. All she could think about was the image of him walking away, then turning and looking at her with that cold expression.
"Nightcrypt, you ignoramus!" she growled through gritted teeth. Then she looked down at the medicinal pill on the ground and made a grasping motion, causing it to fly through the air into her palm.
Upon closer examination of it, she was moved. It was a tier-4 spirit medicine, not designed to improve the cultivation base or heal injuries. Instead, it contained a delicate, sweet odor that was quite pleasing to the senses.
"A tier-4 Spirit Perfume Pill…." she muttered, shocked. Although she couldn't concoct medicine herself, she was an experienced and knowledgeable person, and could instantly tell that this spirit medicine was a Spirit Perfume Pill, designed for use by female cultivators.
Upon consuming the pill, one's entire body would emit a wonderful fragrance. It also caused one's skin to become more fair, and would remove old scars. As for versions which were tier-4 and higher, they would even purify the bones. Although the end results were common in nature, and could not lead to immortal transformations, it was enough to make any woman even more beautiful than she already was.
A tier-4 spirit medicine like this, even one that was relatively useless to male cultivators, would fetch an exorbitant price if it went up for auction. Despite the fact that she was from the Song Clan, even Song Junwan wouldn't be able to get her hands on one easily.
As she looked down at the medicinal pill, her face softened, and she thought back to what Nightcrypt had just said. As she stood there quietly, she realized that her heart was trembling. After a while, the sensation passed, and an enigmatic smile appeared on her face.
"You little rascal. You're just making a complicated pass at me, aren't you? That's what you've been doing from the beginning! Hmph. I've seen everything there is to see, you impudent little child. You really think I can't see through your plan?!" With a cold snort, she examined the medicinal pill again to ensure that it was pure. After confirming that it was safe, she consumed it.
Over the course of the following days, Bai Xiaochun waited nervously in his immortal's cave, unsure of whether his manly show had been effective. One day, Song Junwan arrived outside. He immediately rose to his feet to go out and receive her. He was just getting ready to put on a cold, manly front, and step out of the door, when she said, "That pill of yours got dirty, so I threw it away. I'm giving you a task. Concoct me something with sex appeal."
Without another word, she turned and left.
Bai Xiaochun was a bit taken aback. From the time she had arrived until the moment she left, it seemed like barely a moment had passed. Apparently, she'd only come to say one sentence.
"What is that vixen up to? What's the meaning of this latest move?" After a moment, his eyes widened with shock. Then he sniffed the air, and his brows rose in amusement.
"That's obviously the fragrance of my Spirit Perfume Pill! I put extra jasmine oil in it. Anyone who ate it would naturally smell that way." He immediately felt relieved. The fact that she had consumed the medicinal pill and then come asking for him to concoct more pills indicated that their previous conflict had been resolved.
"Man, this vixen really has a lot of demands. What does she want a sex appeal pill for, isn't she sexy enough as it is? I guess she wants more sexiness." Even as he shook his head, his heart suddenly flip-flopped, and his eyes went wide with a look of terror.
"Hold on. What does she plan to do with a sex appeal spirit medicine? Is she planning to consume it and then try to make another pass at me? Heavens! This vixen is terrifying…." At first he got even more nervous, but after thinking about it for a while he realized that this way, he might not have to actually become the grand elder to get access to the relic of eternal indestructibility. If he had free access to Song Junwan's immortal's cave, he would surely get a chance to secretly find the relic.
Although the thought excited him, it also caused his heart to pound….
"What a sacrifice, though," he thought. "She's a deadly vixen. I have to be very careful not to cause her to flip out. If I really mess up, then what would I do? I can't beat her in a fight, and if she tried to force herself on me, it would be absolutely terrifying." He blinked a few times, then put the matter to some more thought. Finally, he stuck his chin up. Expression one of pure righteousness, he flicked his sleeve.
"Fine. It's all for the chance to live forever. I'll just have to endure. If Song Junwan turns out to be a true predator, I'll… I'll just have to endure!" Grieving at how he was willing to sacrifice everything for the chance to live forever, he settled down to concoct medicine for Song Junwan.
He put a lot of effort into this batch. A few days later, a new Spirit Perfume Pill came out of the pill furnace. This one was actually a mid-grade medicinal pill.
It was specifically designed for female cultivators. Not only would it make the skin more fair and purify the bones, it would make the woman more attractive. Furthermore, she would emit a fragrant aroma that males would find fatally attractive.
Holding the spirit medicine in hand, Bai Xiaochun sniffed it, and a fragrant aroma buffeted his face. Instantly, he could tell that it was an aroma a man might lose himself in, never to awaken.
"It worked!" he said, seemingly drunk with passion. It took him a bit of time to recover, after which he took another whiff of the pill's aroma. By doing so repeatedly, he got used to the fragrance, and even managed to create another spirit medicine specifically designed to counteract the effects. After confirming that he had a powerful resistance built up, he looked at the pill in satisfaction, and he stared up into the sky. Looking profoundly melancholy, he said, "It's all for the chance to live forever!"
He emerged from his immortal's cave to find that the sky was already turning dark. As he began to make his way toward the upper finger of the peak, he continued to ponder whether or not he would submit if Song Junwan went truly crazy. He was really torn about what to do.
After he had been walking along for a while, teeth gritted as he agonized over what decision to make, his expression suddenly flickered as he saw a bald-headed figure on another nearby mountain path.
It was none other than Song Que. He had absolutely no hair visible on him, not even eyebrows, and was somewhat gaunt. He was just now coming back from a visit to his aunt. Although he had gone to her with some questions about cultivation, he had been criticized and taught a lesson. As such, he was in a foul mood. Almost as soon as Bai Xiaochun caught sight of him, he also noticed Bai Xiaochun.
Their gazes locked, and Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide. He hadn't seen Song Que for quite a few days, and almost did a double take.
He couldn't help but curiously blurt, "Eee? What's with the new look? You're skinnier and hairless too?"
Only then did he suddenly realize why Song Que looked like this, and then he saw the murderous look rising up in his eyes. Without any hesitation, he said, "You look great, by the way. Much better than before. Really…."
Song Que's eyes widened, and he subconsciously ran his head along his bald scalp as the hatred in his heart surged. All of the hair on his body had been scorched clean off during the recent incident with the exploding furnaces. Apparently because of the medicines that were part of the explosion, his hair still hadn't returned despite the passage of several months.
Because of that, every time he examined himself in his copper mirror, his mood would sink dangerously. If that were the only thing he had to worry about, he might have been able to endure it. But then there was the half month of diarrhea. On one occasion, he had visited the restroom more than a hundred times in a single day, so the words Bai Xiaochun had just spoken seemed like naked provocation!
In the Blood Stream Sect, Song Que had always been the type of person no one dared to provoke. Considering that he had met disaster three times because of Nightcrypt, he suddenly snapped.
"That's it, Nightcrypt!!" he shouted, stepping forward to block Bai Xiaochun's path. "Ever since you came to Middle Peak, not even the animals can sleep easy. Everybody hates you! I'm gonna–"
Song Que's rage actually sparked Bai Xiaochun's anger. He had just spoken quite conciliatory words. Besides, everything that occurred had been an accident. Therefore, he was forced to interrupt Song Que.
"Quiet down, boy! Get out of my way and go play or something."
Song Que almost exploded. Nightcrypt was talking to him the way someone of the Senior generation might talk to a child. Throwing his head back, he howled and unleashed the power of his cultivation base. Eyes bloodshot, he reached out toward Bai Xiaochun with his right hand.
Bai Xiaochun's eyes flashed with cold light. If he were dealing with anyone else, he might have been a bit nervous. However, he had already become familiar with Song Que in the Fallen Sword Abyss, and even more so after having come to the Blood Stream Sect. The instant that Song Que's hand began to move, Bai Xiaochun took a step forward, reached out, and grabbed his forearm, then threw him headlong down path leading to the foot of the mountain.
When the explosive fleshly body power of the Undying Heavenly King exploded out, Song Que felt like he couldn't even control his own body. The air screamed past in his ears, and his mind reeled as he slammed into the ground and then tumbled head over heels down the mountain.
"Nightcrypt!!" he screamed. He wanted to stop moving and right himself, but the force which had been unleashed was something he couldn't fight against.
Bai Xiaochun straightened up his garments, then ignored Song Que and once again began to ponder what to do if Song Junwan tried to force herself on him. Such thoughts preoccupied him all the way to her immortal's cave.
It didn't take too long for Song Que to finally grind to a halt. Without a moment's pause, he shot madly back up the mountain, face ashen with rage and heart bursting with the desire to do murder. Although the terrifying force Bai Xiaochun had unleashed filled him with a sensation of deadly crisis, there was no way he would let someone of his own generation treat him that way inside the Blood Stream Sect!
"This Nightcrypt is wily and cunning. He's brought disaster to the sect, and is the subject of universal complaint on Middle Peak. He dares to curse people, but doesn't dare to talk reason? I don't care if the patriarchs favor him or if my aunt likes him. He's nothing more than an outsider, with no connections in the sect. I'm the firstborn son of this generation of the Song Clan! I don't care what happens, I'm going to find my aunt and make an appeal to justice! She'll definitely drive this guy off. And even if she doesn't, she'll at least make him kowtow to me. Then he'll know who's boss!!" Gritting his teeth and fuming with anger, Song Que raced at top speed toward the upper finger.
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Chapter 231: The Senior Generation Isn't Perfect….
Song Que sped along at top speed, radiating killing intent, completely confident that his aunt would take the lead in presiding over justice. She would either kill Nightcrypt or force him to submit to Song Que.
"I'm the firstborn of the Song Clan! If it weren't for Bai Xiaochun from the Spirit Stream Sect, I would have definitely reached Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment. Then I wouldn't have to help Aunt Junwan become blood master; I would have been able to take the spot myself!" He was like a streak of light speeding toward the upper finger.
"Well, I can't do anything about that now. Besides, Aunt Junwan only wants to become the blood master for strategic purposes, to make sure that Xuemei doesn't take the spot. Just wait until I'm in late Foundation Establishment, then I can fight for the position of blood master on my own. This piddling Nightcrypt! If I can make use of him in the future, I will, but if he refuses to accept my good graces, I'll kill him and make sure he never gets a proper burial!" More confident than ever, he rumbled along through the upper finger toward Grand Elder Song Junwan's immortal's cave behind the blood lake.
Once he was behind the waterfalls, he saw the four young guards. Instantly, their eyes snapped open, glowing brightly as they observed him approaching.
Song Que didn't even pause. Just as he was about to enter the immortal's cave itself, the four young attendants threw themselves in his path.
One of those young guards was very well aware of the high position Song Que occupied. Even still, he didn't dare do anything other than try to block his path. Bracing himself, he said, "Elder Song, please wait a moment for–"
The fact that the young attendants were blocking his path caused Song Que to frown. Then his rage and killing intent soared, and he roared, "Get the hell out of my way! I have something to talk about with the grand elder!"
Usually, he never had any problems entering Song Junwan's immortal's cave. Considering his status, he didn't technically have free reign to come and go as he pleased, but for all intents and purposes, could. After all, Song Junwan was quite fond of her nephew.
But now the young attendants actually dared to stand in his way. Song Que snorted coldly, then pushed them aside and proceeded forward.
The four young attendants' faces flickered, and they were of a mind to try to stop him. After all, they were fairly certain that it was important to keep the identity of the other person inside the cave a secret. However, they were not really capable of stopping Song Que.
Before they could even react, Song Que was inside the door.
Usually, Song Que wouldn't act so impulsively. However, this was his aunt, and he was also consumed by rage. Because of that, he had completely lost his usual cool. Besides, as far as he was concerned, he wasn't asking for anything outrageous.
In the instant that he set foot inside the immortal's cave, and before he could even get into the main hall, he heard his aunt laughing, a strange laughter that seemed both cheerful and chiding at the same time.
Looking surprised, Song Que hurried forward. When he brushed the door curtain aside, a sight met his eyes that left him completely and utterly thunderstruck. As his mind spun, his jaw dropped. He almost couldn't believe the incredulous scene which was playing out right in front of him.
There was his aunt, Song Junwan, sitting on a chair, laughing lightly, her left hand covering her mouth the way a woman would in front of her lover. Nightcrypt sat next to her, clasping her right hand, studying it closely. He even seemed to be sniffing it delicately as he leaned over.
Song Que was virtually struck mute. He felt like he might fall over from the shock, and even wondered if he was hallucinating….
However, the scandalous image which was now burned into his mind couldn't be mistaken for anything else, and left Song Que stunned.
The moment Song Que entered the room, Song Junwan pulled her hand out of Bai Xiaochun's. Her smile vanished, and she coughed dryly. Expression somber, and looking very much like someone from the Senior generation, she turned her gaze toward Song Que.
"How rude of you to barge in like that," she said. "What's the matter?" Although she was trying to look like someone from the Senior generation, her cheeks were still flushed. That combination of flirtatiousness and somberness made her unbelievably attractive.
At the same time, she felt somewhat humiliated and angry. If any other person had burst in the way Song Que had, she would have punished that person severely. But Song Que was her nephew, so there was little she could do.
Startled by Song Que's sudden entrance, Bai Xiaochun quickly sat up straight and proper. He actually felt a bit guilty for having been caught in the act. After giving Song Junwan the spirit medicine he'd concocted, he had taken advantage of the moment to offer to read her palm.
Song Junwan had never forgotten his amazing performance in the Spirit Stream Sect, and had immediately allowed him to take hold of her hand. Then he had showered her with praise and complements, causing her to laugh in delight.
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath and sat in place, looking at Song Que just as somberly as Song Junwan was.
Song Que stood there panting for a long moment before he pulled himself together. Even still, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. In his eyes, his aunt was a lofty and magnificent figure, and yet here she was allowing a virtual stranger to grab her hand. Then she even laughed flirtatiously.
Although all of that was completely beyond anything Song Que could ever have anticipated, he might have been able to accept it if the person who had just been holding his aunt's hand was someone other than the infuriating Nightcrypt.
Song Que's anger began to rise to explosive levels, until he could hardly breathe. His eyes burned bright red as he glared at Bai Xiaochun and madly howled, "Nightcrypt!!"
Taking a step forward, he looked over at his aunt, Grand Elder Song Junwan.
Mind spinning with rage, he cried, "Aunt Junwan, ever since Nightcrypt came to Middle Peak, he's caused one disaster after another. All the disciples here hate his guts because of how he's screwed them over. I actually suspect that he's a spy, sent to sow chaos in the Blood Stream Sect! Aunt Junwan, please make an example of him and expel him from the sect!!"
As his cries echoed about in the immortal's cave, Bai Xiaochun's expression flickered, and anger began to rise in his heart as he realized that Song Que had come here to complain about him. Unfortunately, Song Que was actually right about some of his accusations, which caused Bai Xiaochun's heart to leap in fright. Just when he was about to speak up to defend himself, Song Junwan's face turned grim, and she slapped her hand down onto the table.
The resounding smacking sound that rang out instantly drowned out Song Que's voice.
"Shut up!" she said, her expression grim and murderous. As her voice echoed out, the immortal's cave suddenly turned, very, very cold, causing Song Que to shiver. From a very young age, he had always feared this aunt of his, and to see her so mad caused him to subconsciously look down at his toes.
Seeing Song Que react in such a way sated a bit of Song Junwan's anger. He was her nephew, whom she loved dearly. Looking both sincere and also profoundly disappointed, she slowly said, "Que'er, you're the firstborn of the Song Clan. There are no limits to what you could do in the future. How could you be so muddle-headed and short-sighted? Nightcrypt has a clean background, and has performed great services for the sect. It's true he's annoyed some of the other members of the sect, but none of that was intentional! Neither you nor I know the full extent of the humiliation he endured on the path of pursuing the Dao of medicine for the sect!" From the tone of her voice, she seemed to truly lament her nephew's unreasonable behavior.
As he sat there off to the side, Bai Xiaochun felt deeply moved. He gazed softly over at Song Junwan, and mused that everything she said was correct. He never intentionally did things to annoy or harm others.
He suddenly felt as if Song Junwan understood him on a deep and even intimate level. In fact, he really had nothing bad to say about how the Blood Stream Sect had treated him.
Even as Bai Xiaochun sighed inwardly, Song Que stood there trembling. From the time he was young, he had often been rebuked by his aunt, and he had rarely ever talked back to her. But the situation right now was something he just couldn't accept. That was especially true considering the emotional look on Bai Xiaochun's face. Song Que couldn't help but think about how Nightcrypt had been holding his aunt's hand, and how the two of them clearly seemed to be involved in some illicit affair. Song Que's breath came in ragged pants as he looked up and said, "Nightcrypt, you–"
When Song Junwan saw that Song Que was refusing to acknowledge his mistakes, her expression turned even grimmer, and she angrily yelled, "Que'er! Back down!" Then she looked at Bai Xiaochun and said, "Junior Brother Nighcrypt, please don't take offense. Que'er just doesn't understand adult matters, the little brat."
Bai Xiaochun sighed. Looking like the picture of someone from the Senior generation, he nodded and smiled bitterly.
"There's no harm in it," he said. "Que'er is young and full of energy, which is normal at his age. Members of the Senior generation like us can only do our best to educate him a bit more."
When Song Que heard Bai Xiaochun call him Que'er, he felt like he was about to go insane. His cultivation base immediately surged with power, and a murderous aura spread out from him.
"Nightcrypt, I'm gonna kill you!" he howled, and then charged toward Bai Xiaochun. Because he was so close, there was no time for Song Junwan to interfere.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as Song Que performed an incantation gesture, summoning a huge blood-colored hand almost directly in front of Bai Xiaochun's face. The hand surged with energy, destroying the chair and table. Bai Xiaochun's eyes flashed up in thought for the briefest of moments, and he decided not to dodge or evade. The hand slammed into him, causing his face to go pale. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, he staggered backward.
Seeing that, Song Junwan was both worried and angry. She waved her hand, causing a wave of power to surge out and suppress Song Que. Incapable of moving forward, Song Que stood there, eyes bloodshot, trembling physically. He knew that Nightcrypt had intentionally spit out some blood; even if he had been injured somehow, there was no way he should have coughed up any blood.
"Song Que, what gall you have!" Song Junwan yelled at the top of her lungs. Just when she was about to start reprimanding Song Que, Bai Xiaochun raised his right hand to stop her.
Wiping the blood off of his chin, he looked over at Song Junwan and said, "Que'er did nothing wrong. I might be of the Senior generation, but I'm not perfect. I make mistakes too. It's my fault that Que'er is now hairless. Therefore, I will immediately go into seclusion to concoct some spirit medicine to help him grow some more hair."
He even reached out and squeezed her hand to show how sincere he was.
Song Junwan's cheeks immediately flushed bright red. To have her hand squeezed right in front of her own nephew was something that instantly caused her heart to start racing. It was a very odd sensation.
Pulling her hand back, she looked over at Song Que and angrily said, "Que'er, apologize immediately to your Sect Uncle!"
Song Que stood there trembling, blue veins bulging out on his neck and face. Laughing shrilly, he said, "You two fornica–"
Before he could finish speaking, Song Junwan's eyes flashed with cold light, and she waved her hand. A huge wind swept over Song Junwan, carrying him out of the immortal's cave.
"Song Que, your impertinence has earned you three months in secluded meditation! Don't step a foot outside of your immortal's cave during that time!"
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Chapter 232: The Power of Four Ghosts
Bai Xiaochun didn't feel that it was appropriate to stay in the immortal's cave any longer. Looking over at the grim-faced Song Junwan, he gave a soft sigh, then bid her farewell. Song Junwan hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. After offering some more apologies for Song Que's behavior, she said, "We have a few more months before the war. Middle Peak is going to have its trial by fire for the position of blood master. When the time comes, I hope you'll be able to help me."
Her eyes shone with keen anticipation.
Bai Xiaochun looked back at her, his own eyes flashing. After a moment passed, he nodded, then left.
Once outside of the immortal's cave, his heart swelled with pride. Taking a deep breath, he reveled in his satisfaction at having mopped the floor with Song Que.
"Hmmmphh! From now on, Que'er, I'm your Clan Uncle!" Feeling wonderful, but expression pale and grim, he returned thoughtfully to his immortal's cave on the lower finger.
Once inside, he stretched lazily, thinking about how he now outranked Song Que. Then he waved his wide sleeve.
"Ah, whatever. As a member of the Senior generation, it's my job to help educate the youngsters." Sitting down cross-legged, he put aside the matters of the day and began to practice cultivation.
At the same time, he was continuously analyzing the methods of concocting tier-4 spirit medicines. Although his recent concocting efforts had been a success, he still didn't feel completely content with the results.
"Must have been problems with the pill furnaces…." he thought with a sigh. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his ideas regarding concocting medicine would cause virtually any pill furnace to explode.
The only thing he could do to prevent that from happening was to try to make the medicine less powerful. However, that would limit him to making the medicine about half as strong as he could, which left him feeling somewhat apathetic.
"What a pity," he thought with a sigh. "I guess my medicine concocting will be limited in this way for now." Considering there was nothing to be done about the matter, he decided that he would just have to wait until he got back to the Spirit Stream Sect. Then he could ask Li Qinghou about the situation.
When it came to cultivation, he didn't waste any time. During the following days, he spent all day absorbing blood qi and working on the second volume of the Undying Live Forever Technique, the Undying Heavenly King.
The first level of the Undying Heavenly King was the ten mammoths Berserk Ghost Body, which he had already completed perfectly. The second level was the ten ghosts Heavenly Demon Body. Because of his diligent hard work, and also the fact that the Blood Stream Sect was a Holy Land for the Undying Live Forever Technique, his continuous absorption of blood qi soon helped him break through to the power level of four ghosts!
Although he had no way to test out how strong he actually was, based on some basic calculations, Bai Xiaochun was convinced that he was terrifyingly powerful.
In fact, he was sure that he was strong enough to beat almost anything that might cross his path. He was so strong in terms of his flesh and blood that he was nearly invincible. Not only were his offensive capabilities enough to rock mountains and rivers, he had colossal defenses as well.
Song Que's all-out attack earlier had felt like nothing more than a scratch to Bai Xiaochun, and the blood he had coughed up had been forcibly pushed out by drawing upon the power of his own spiritual seas.
And then there was the divine ability which came with the Undying Heavenly King, the Mountain Shaking Bash. Although he hadn't come across many chances to practice it, on the few occasions when he had, he could sense how shockingly powerful it was.
In fact, he was convinced that if he unleashed it to full effect, he really could bash a hole into a gigantic mountain! When it came to bashing into people, well, it was obvious what fate they would meet.
"At this point, I think I'm actually more powerful than one of those heavenly demons!" He suddenly scooped his hand down into the stone floor, and it felt like he was scooping up some tofu. There was almost no sensation at all as he pulled out a chunk of rock and then crushed it into ash.
When he thought about how much more powerful he was than before, his excitement rose. Every time he absorbed blood qi, he felt indescribably wonderful. He also worked on his Blood Annihilation World, and although he didn't actually notice, he was getting much quicker at forming blood swords. The blood swords he formed were also more powerful.
When he absorbed blood qi, he almost felt like he was at one with Middle Peak, as if he himself could shake the mountain itself.
Of course, he didn't dare an actual attempt, for fear that things could quickly get out of control.
As for his Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation, his fundamental technique, and the only truly hidden Daoist magic in the Spirit Stream Sect, it was as the saying went: everything is difficult at the beginning, but gets easier as time progresses. Originally, he had needed help with the Heavenspan River water, but after passing into the middle level of the technique, and having successfully absorbed a drop into his spiritual seas, he now had some measure of control over the Heavenspan River water. Directly absorbing water from the Heavenspan River was something completely and utterly domineering, a trait which was now showing through in Bai Xiaochun's cultivation.
Now that he was in mid Foundation Establishment, he could actually absorb a full cup of Heavenspan River water. It was there above his fourth spiritual sea, rapidly being absorbed. With the help of some medicinal pills, Bai Xiaochun helped the process along, and could sense that his aura was becoming more and more like the Heavenspan River's.
Bai Xiaochun had the strange feeling that his current level of power didn't quite make him invincible within Foundation Establishment, but would surely allow him to crush almost any opponents who came his way.
After coming to the Blood Stream Sect, he had not unleashed his Heavenspan Dharma Eye on many occasions. However, he continued to cultivate it, making it grow more and more itchy, and at the same time, more powerful. Bai Xiaochun had the feeling that once he opened that eye and revealed its power, it would shake heaven and earth.
The only things Bai Xiaochun wasn't very satisfied with were his Human Controlling Grand Magic and protomagnetic power. After beginning to cultivate the Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation, his strength in control power had grown, but was still relatively limited.
He had spent a lot of time studying protomagnetic power, and had never given up on his plans to develop it. However, he seemed to have reached a barrier that he couldn't pass.
It was very frustrating, but there was nothing he could do about it other than spend some time every day on study and contemplation regarding how to progress.
There was one other thing that he spent time thinking about, and that was the Middle Peak blood master trial by fire that Song Junwan had mentioned, and how she wanted his help.
"If Song Junwan becomes blood master, then it stands to reason that the grand elder position will open up. Usually, someone would be promoted from among the bloodstreak elders. However, I bet that if someone was famous enough, they might be considered even if they weren't a bloodstreak elder already!"
By this point in time, Bai Xiaochun had suffered enough at the hands of the talking rabbit that he only delivered internal monologues. However, his eyes still shone brightly at the thought of the grand elder position opening up.
That would be his greatest chance to successfully acquire the relic of eternal indestructibility, and then finally be able to leave the Blood Stream Sect.
"I'm already just as famous in the Blood Stream Sect as Song Que is, which means I'm already above the bloodstreak elders. I'm probably not famous enough to directly become grand elder, though. In the next few months, I need to do something to make myself even more famous. Whether it's good or bad, I need to convince people that, despite only being in Mortal-Dao Foundation Establishment, I'm still a shocking and incredible expert!" His eyes began to shine even more brightly than before.
And that was how the days passed. The war between the Profound Stream Sect and the Pill Stream Sect had already reached the point where both sects had mobilized all of their forces.
Rumors about the war swirled. Some stories were true, some were false, but they all left the Blood Stream Sect disciples in shock. At the same time, the war preparations in the Blood Stream Sect were nearing completion, and disciples were already being dispatched from the sect to parts unknown.
Bai Xiaochun could see the blood clouds which hovered over the sect growing larger, and building up pressure to a terrifying degree. Even the blood qi within the sect seemed to be growing stronger.
Despite the fact that Bai Xiaochun was in secluded meditation and rarely emerged, stories about Nightcrypt continued to spread, and they only grew more fantastic as time went on.
For some reason, a lot of people knew why Song Que had been punished by being sent into secluded meditation. There even seemed to be some hidden force trying to get people riled up against Nightcrypt. As time progressed, the cultivators of Middle Peak continued to grow both more hateful of him, and more fearful.
People even began to talk about how Nightcrypt and Young Lady Xuemei didn't get along, and many people hoped that she would eventually put him in his place.
"Young Lady Xuemei, please come out and teach Nightcrypt a lesson!"
"Nightcrypt is so terrifying! Everyone on Middle Peak and Corpse Peak is miserable because of him…."
"Middle Peak's grand elder always takes Nightcrypt's side. Young Lady Xuemei, please come out and cut him down!"
Xuemei got requests like that just about every day. At the same time, stories about Nightcrypt continued to spread. Eventually, it reached the point where many people viewed him as something on the level of a devil king.
However, there wasn't much Xuemei could do. Nightcrypt was favored by the patriarchs, skilled in the Dao of medicine, extremely famous, and had a reputation that put him on the same level as Song Que.
A person like that wasn't somebody that Xuemei could openly make a move against. Furthermore, she could sense that he possessed extraordinary battle prowess, and knew that if she fought him, she wouldn't be able to beat him quickly.
So she sat down cross-legged in her immortal's cave, eyes flashing coldly as she contemplated the matter. It wasn't lost on her that someone was trying to provoke her into killing Nightcrypt.
In the end, she didn't care who it was that was doing such a thing. After all, she already wanted to kill Nightcrypt.
"It won't be long now before the blood master trial by fire begins, and that slut Song Junwan and I will finally face off. Song Junwan is probably counting on Nightcrypt to help her, so getting rid of him would be a boon for me." Xuemei chuckled coldly, the killing intent in her eyes growing more intense.
"Nightcrypt never made much of a name for himself before. But after he came back from the Fallen Sword Abyss, he suddenly rose to the top. It's almost like he's a different person. So very strange!
"There's definitely something fishy going on with him. Definitely! I just need to find out what it is!" Since she knew she wasn't a match for him openly, it was time to start plotting. At a point when the sect was just on the verge of going to war, the potential for destructive consequences was even greater.
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Chapter 233: Eee? Why Did You Stop Talking?
As Xuemei investigated Nightcrypt's background, a rumor began to spread through the Blood Stream Sect. Supposedly, after getting medicinal pills from Nightcrypt, the blood master of Corpse Peak had immediately gone into secluded meditation, and still hadn't emerged. However, powerful ripples had begun to emanate from Corpse Peak's Blood Master Temple.
Quite a few people noticed those fluctuations, especially the blood masters from Lesser Marsh Peak and Nameless Peak. All three of the current blood masters were relatively evenly matched, but now it seemed as if the Corpse Peak blood master was experiencing a breakthrough.
It wasn't likely that he would reach Gold Core, but to Corpse Peak, a breakthrough in corpse refining techniques would lead to a rapid and significant increase in battle prowess.
Because of that, the blood masters of Lesser Marsh Peak and Nameless Peak started to get nervous. A few days later, the grand elder of Lesser Marsh Peak shot through the air in a beam of light to appear outside of Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave.
He was a tall and well-built man, with a mighty look and a powerful aura of qi and blood. As a body refinement cultivator, he almost seemed like a mountain standing there, emanating powerful pressure. Even his voice was deep and resounding as he said, "It's me, Grand Elder Han Chundong of Lesser Marsh Peak. Junior Brother Nighcrypt, are you home?"
The blood trees outside Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave were trembling, but didn't dare to flee. No matter how scared they were of outsiders, Nightcrypt was far more terrifying. All they could do was grit their teeth and remain in place, glaring at the Lesser Marsh Peak grand elder.
Bai Xiaochun was currently meditating in his immortal's cave. He had been a bit surprised when he sensed the grand elder's arrival moments ago. However, he could already guess why he might be here. After a moment of silence, he waved his right hand, causing the cave door to open. Then he ordered the blood trees to clear a path.
The Lesser Marsh Peak grand elder strode into the courtyard outside Bai Xiaochun's immortal's cave, even as Bai Xiaochun emerged. As soon as they saw each other, the grand elder laughed heartily and clasped hands in formal greeting.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt, the moment you stepped off of the Blood Precipice back then, I knew that you were destined for extraordinary things. It's too bad you chose to go to Middle Peak. I would have loved for you to have come to Lesser Marsh Peak."
Bai Xiaochun smiled, although considering that he was wearing the mask, it was a very sinister and cold smile. Clasping hands, he said, "Grand elder, your presence brings honor to my humble dwelling. Please, come in!"
Abandoning any other formalities, the grand elder followed as Bai Xiaochun led the way into the immortal's cave. Once inside, they sat down across from each other, and the grand elder said, "Junior Brother Nighcrypt, you have an extraordinary cultivation base, and shocking latent talent. You prepared long and hard, and then made an incredible rise to the top. Middle Peak is truly blessed to have you, Junior Brother Nighcrypt!"
Although Bai Xiaochun was very pleased to hear such words, he maintained a somber expression, and didn't even respond to the grand elder's words.
"Even more amazing is that the patriarchs have taken a liking to you. There are virtually no limits to what you can accomplish in the future, Junior Brother Nighcrypt…." The grand elder sighed, and then went on to talk about the war between the Profound and Pill Stream Sects, as well as various other Blood Stream Sect matters, both big and small. He also used a variety of different methods to heap praise upon Bai Xiaochun.
From his facial expression, Bai Xiaochun didn't seem to be very impressed, but he was actually savoring the moment. He felt very proud to be the subject of such flattery. Occasionally he nodded, occasionally he shook his head, and occasionally he laughed heartily.
After about an hour passed, the grand elder apparently felt Bai Xiaochun had been sufficiently warmed up. He was just about to launch into the true reason for his visit, when he suddenly realized that Bai Xiaochun was looking at him with an encouraging gleam in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then launched into another round of praise.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt, you are a man of striking appearance and talent, like a mighty dragon among men….
"In fact, you can count on one hand the number of people in the Blood Stream Sect who can compare to you in terms of reputation…." After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, the grand elder's mouth was starting to dry up. At this point, he figured it was probably time to move on to more important matters. However, a quick look at Bai Xiaochun confirmed that he seemed to be completely immersed in the sensation of being praised.
The grand elder hesitated for a moment. However, he had come here to ask for help, and therefore, he gritted his teeth and wracked his brain to come up with new methods of offering praise. Another hour passed, and the grand elder finally ran out of words. However, Bai Xiaochun seemed more caught up in the moment than ever.
"Eee? Why did you stop talking?" He looked over curiously at the grand elder.
Lesser Marsh Peak's grand elder was taken aback, but he gritted his teeth and forced out a few more sentences. In the end, he sighed at the realization that Nightcrypt was profoundly enigmatic, and definitely could never be viewed as an ordinary cultivator. Finally, he clasped hands and bowed.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt, you are truly brilliant and stupendous. I deeply admire you. Truly. Since that's the case, I won't beat around the bush anymore. The reason I've come here today is because I'm simply incapable of allowing injustice in the world. Junior Brother Nighcrypt, your Dao of medicine is shocking. However, despite the fact that you concocted medicine for Corpse Peak, the conscienceless Corpse Peak cultivators not only refused to be thankful, they actually chose to hate you!"
When Bai Xiaochun thought back to the things that had happened in the past, his expression turned grim, and he let out a cold harrumph.
"The grand elder and blood master of Corpse Peak are the worst of them all," the grand elder continued, eyes smoldering with righteous indignation. "You actually went to concoct medicine for them personally, but they repaid you by venting their anger on you. Completely preposterous! However, you can rest at ease about the matter, Junior Brother Nighcrypt. The blood master of Lesser Marsh Peak has already petitioned to the sect to publically clear your name!"
Bai Xiaochun shook his head and sighed. "I offer you profound thanks, grand elder. And the same goes to the blood master. However, the matter has ended. Besides, I actually learned quite a bit from that event."
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt, there's no need to be so polite. You reached Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening, and are exceptionally talented in body refinement. You have a berserk ghost defense! You're like family to us on Lesser Marsh Peak!" The grand elder laughed loudly. "Corpse Peak doesn't know the difference between good and bad, so we might as well just ignore them. However, considering that we're basically family, how about this: Junior Brother Nightcrypt, why don't you concoct some spirit medicine for Lesser Marsh Peak? I guarantee that even if you destroy the mountain, the blood master and I won't even frown in response!" The grand elder even slapped his chest to emphasize his honesty.
"Um…." Bai Xiaochun said, feeling a bit hesitant.
"Don't worry, Junior Brother Nighcrypt, I know the protocol." He pulled a bag of holding out from his robe and placed it down in front of Bai Xiaochun.
After picking it up and looking inside, Bai Xiaochun found a large quantity of medicinal plants and a sizeable collection of spirit stones. Feeling very pleased, he was about to agree, when suddenly his expression flickered. The grand elder of Lesser Marsh Peak also frowned, and the two of them looked out of the immortal's cave.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt, are you home? It's me, Grand Elder Geng Qiankun of Nameless Peak." The grand elder of Nameless Peak, the dwarf, was right outside. His expression was the same as ever, but inwardly he was very nervous. For quite some time, both he and the blood master of Nameless Peak had wavered back and forth about Bai Xiaochun's pill concocting.
However, after hearing that the grand elder of Lesser Marsh Peak had shown upon on Middle Peak, they knew that they couldn't just sit around and do nothing. That was especially true of the Nameless Peak blood master. Therefore, he sent the grand elder hurrying over, worried the whole time about whether or not he could convince Nighcrypt to concoct medicine for Nameless Peak.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, then rose to his feet and went out to receive the grand elder from Nameless Peak and lead him inside.
As soon as the grand elder from Nameless Peak entered, he saw Han Chundong. When their eyes met, they blazed with a competitive flare.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt," the dwarf said, "I'm not the kind of person to waste words. If you concoct a special tier-4 spirit medicine for Nameless Peak, then we will double whatever Lesser Marsh Peak has offered you. Our only condition is that you concoct medicine for us first!" The dwarf spoke in a very domineering fashion. However, before Bai Xiaochun could respond, Han Chundong snorted and shot to his feet, radiating a murderous aura.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt, that bag of holding only contains the initial deposit! If you concoct medicine for us first, then we'll give you full access to our secret body refinement techniques. You can even cultivate the secret magic of Lesser Marsh Peak!" The grand elder from Lesser Marsh Peak gritted his teeth. He wasn't sure how much free time Bai Xiaochun had, but he knew that it often took many days for him to concoct medicine. Considering that war was looming, he was desperate to get this medicine concocted.
Because of that, he would do everything he could to make sure the blood master from his mountain peak was first in line.
Bai Xiaochun was moved. The truth was that he did want to do some research into Lesser Marsh Peak's body refinement techniques. After all, they seemed connected to the Undying Codex.
Off to the side, the dwarf seemed shocked by the other grand elder's words. However, as soon as he saw the expression on Bai Xiaochun's face, he gritted his teeth and said, "Junior Brother Nighcrypt, Nameless Peak has prepared a gargoyle just for you! We can teach you Nameless Peak's gargoyle refining magics!" In response to his words, Han Chundong glared at him angrily.
Bai Xiaochun was quivering in eagerness. The gargoyle magics of Nameless Peak were top secret, and cultivators from outside of that mountain peak had to spend a huge amount of merit points to study them.
Their incredible value was difficult to put into words.
Han Chundong looked at Bai Xiaochun and said, "Junior Brother Nighcrypt, the best rule to follow is first come first served. Lesser Marsh Peak was the first to come here to request medicine concocting, so please take that into careful consideration!"
The dwarf looked over and said, "Junior Brother Nighcrypt, Nameless Peak is willing to double their offer!"
Bai Xiaochun rubbed his forehead, then looked back and forth between the two. Chuckling, he said, "It's true. First come first served is the most fair. I'll start at Lesser Marsh Peak. I hope that grand elder and blood master from Nameless Peak won't take offense. Also, there's no need to offer double. I understand that both of you are here to represent your respective blood masters. How about this: I'll promise that no matter who I concoct medicine for, I'll get it done before the war starts. For both of you! I guarantee it!"
The two grand elders were visibly moved. The truth was that neither of them wanted to get into a bidding war. Seeing how smoothly Bai Xiaochun had handled the situation, the felt even better about him than before. Nodding, they proceeded to chat a bit longer before clasping hands and leaving.
After seeing them off, Bai Xiaochun returned to his immortal's cave and sat down cross-legged. After a moment of thought, he chuckled to himself.
"I have the emerald zombie from Corpse Peak, and I've gotten the grand elder from Middle Peak to fall for me. If I get a gargoyle from Nameless Peak and cultivate body refinement on Lesser Marsh Peak, then I'll be more important in the Blood Stream Sect than ever. I'll be similar to a bloodstreak elder. By the time Song Junwan becomes blood master, I'll be far more likely to snag the spot of grand elder for myself!"
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Chapter 234: It Really Won't Explode?
Bai Xiaochun had made up his mind, and there was no time to waste. The next morning at the crack of dawn, he left Middle Peak for Lesser Marsh Peak.
Lesser Marsh Peak was the pinky finger on the enormous hand that housed the Blood Stream Sect. Although it was smaller than the other fingers, the cultivators there all practiced body refinement, and were far more powerful and ferocious than their contemporaries in the sect.
Almost as soon as Bai Xiaochun arrived on the mountain, he could see how much taller and burlier the cultivators there were. They exuded an aura of qi and blood that filled all of Lesser Marsh Peak.
Bai Xiaochun was a bit shocked to be surrounded by so many mighty individuals. All of the cultivators were like that, regardless of whether they were male or female. Although he was a bit nervous, he refused to be intimidated.
"You people think you're as strong as me? Hmph! What good is there in being big and burly? I have the power of four berserk ghosts!" Blinking a few times, he hurried up one of the mountain paths. All of the cultivators he passed had wary expressions on their faces, as well as cold gleams in their eyes.
Obviously, the reputation of Plaguedevil had reached all ears on Lesser Marsh Peak, and the people there recognized him immediately.
Before long, Bai Xiaochun was on the upper finger of Lesser Marsh Peak, where Grand Elder Han Chundong was waiting for him. After some pleasantries were exchanged, Han Chundong led him to Lesser Marsh Peak's Blood Master Temple.
Inside the temple, Lesser Marsh Peak's blood master was sitting cross-legged. As soon as Bai Xiaochun stepped inside, he rose to his feet and smiled broadly.
"Junior Brother Nighcrypt!"
The blood master was a powerfully built middle-aged man who radiated a power and energy that seemed to surpass Han Chundong. Bai Xiaochun felt almost like he was looking at a giant whose aura caused all of the blood qi in the area to surge into motion.
The sudden pressure that Bai Xiaochun felt caused him to pause in mid stride and look in shock at the blood master, who was currently hurrying over to meet him.
Bai Xiaochun paid close attention, and immediately picked up on some clues regarding his body refinement technique.
"It's similar to the second level of the Undying Heavenly King?" Despite being shaken inwardly, his expression remained the same as ever. Smiling broadly, he clasped hands and bowed in greeting.
"Nightcrypt offers greetings, Blood Master."
The blood master looked at Bai Xiaochun with shining eyes, and then spoke in a booming voice. "There's no need for such formality, Junior Brother Nighcrypt. I'm a straightforward person, and hate beating around the bush. I need you to concoct me a batch of tier-4 Blood Body Pills!
"Such pills only serve one function: to rapidly propel you to the next level in Lesser Marsh Peak's secret body refinement technique!
"War is upon us, and everyone is working hard to prepare. Unfortunately, this pill won't be hugely effective unless it's tier-5, and tier-4 versions are unavailable for purchase inside the sect. Therefore, what I need is not a single pill; I need at least a hundred tier-4 Blood Body Pills!
"Nightcrypt, are you confident enough to concoct me a hundred tier-4 Blood Body Pills?!" The blood master's eyes glittered as he looked at Bai Xiaochun, his words echoing back and forth in Blood Master Temple.
Bai Xiaochun's ears hurt a bit from the blood master's booming voice. Not willing to accept that, he raised his own voice into a virtual roar and replied, "If I have enough medicinal plants and pill furnaces, then a hundred pills should be no problem!"
At first, the blood master was surprised by Bai Xiaochun's roaring voice. He was used to using a booming voice when talking with others, but wasn't used to the opposite happening. After looking Bai Xiaochun up and down for a moment, he started laughing.
"Oh I have plenty of medicinal plants," he said. "As far as pill furnaces are concerned, come, Junior Brother Nighcrypt. I want to show you the one-of-a-kind pill furnace we've prepared for you!" The blood master's subsequent laughter shook the entire mountain peak. Waving his sleeve, he swept up both Bai Xiaochun and the grand elder, who had been standing respectfully off to the side. All three of them then flew through the air toward a wide-open space which had been set aside on the upper finger.
It was protected by a powerful spell formation, the fluctuations and aura of which were so intense that even the hallucinatory mist that had appeared on Corpse Peak would not be able to escape it.
Clearly, Lesser Marsh Peak had taken many precautions before inviting him over to concoct pills. Seeing all of that, Bai Xiaochun coughed dryly, but didn't say anything. Following the blood master, he entered an immortal's cave inside of the spell formation.
It was a newly built immortal's cave, in the depths of which was a vast hall set aside for a single object!
Almost as soon as Bai Xiaochun laid eyes on it, he gasped, and his eyes glittered with bright light. He immediately began to circle around the object, and was unable to hold back his gasps as he did.
It was a pill furnace of enormous size. It was fully 90 meters in diameter, green in color, and engraved with countless magical symbols. There was something majestic about it that made it seem profoundly and shockingly sturdy.
"This pill furnace…." Bai Xiaochun reached out and touched it, and the awe-inspiring feeling he got left him even more excited than before. One of his main problems had always been exploding pill furnaces, leaving him no option other than to reduce the medicinal strength of his concoctions, and preventing him from unleashing his full skill in the Dao of medicine.
The moment he saw this pill furnace, however, he was deeply shaken.
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt, many generations ago, a blood master of Lesser Marsh Peak robbed this precious treasure from the Pill Stream Sect. The truth is that it isn't the original precious treasure, only a replica. However it's a replica of none other than the Heaven-Earth Furnace Cauldron!
"I personally arranged for you to be able to use it today. With this furnace, you can be as bold as you wish in your medicine concocting. Don't worry, a precious treasure like this won't explode under any circumstances!" The blood master threw his head back and laughed proudly. He was a body refinement cultivator, but that didn't mean he wasn't a cautious person. He was very familiar with the moniker Plaguedevil, and had prepared a pill furnace that couldn't explode, placed inside of a spell formation so impenetrable that not even the slightest scrap of an aura could escape from it. Only after having made these preparations was he confident that no mishaps would occur.
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath as he walked around the pill furnace a few more times, examining it. He was already itching with the desire to go all out, to experiment with medicinal strength that, up to this point, had been impossible for him.
And yet, he was still a bit nervous. Looking over at the blood master, he said, "Are you sure that this pill furnace will never explode!?"
"Of course I'm sure!" the blood master replied, smiling proudly.
Patting the pill furnace gently, Bai Xiaochun laughed and said, "Fine. If you're absolutely sure, then Nightcrypt will concoct your medicine for you!"
The blood master joined him in his laughter, then gazed at him deeply for a moment before throwing over a bag of holding.
Then he turned and left. The grand elder clasped hands formally, then also left.
Bai Xiaochun was now alone in the immortal's cave, looking at the enormous pill furnace, his excitement building. After a moment passed, he examined the bag of holding, which was full of medicinal plants and bloodflame stones. It also contained a jade slip.
In addition to the pill formula for the Blood Body Pill, the jade slip also contained Lesser Marsh Peak's secret body refinement technique!
"Way of the Blood Fiend Body!" Bai Xiaochun immediately set about studying it. By the time he finished, it was nighttime, whereupon he closed his eyes to think.
After a long moment passed, his eyes opened, and they shone with enlightenment.
The Way of the Blood Fiend Body had been studied by generation after generation of cultivators on Lesser Marsh Peak, and was derived from the huge hand that the sect rested on. It was essentially an inferior version of the Undying Codex, an imitation.
It derived power based on totem tattoos, and was divided into power levels of the ancient mammoth, the berserk ghost, the heavenly demon, and the blood fiend!
By absorbing blood qi into one's own flesh and blood, then catalyzing it with the secret technique, the body's basic structure would transform, and eventually be capable of unleashing powerful fleshly body power.
Although it seemed to have a lot in common with the Undying Codex that Bai Xiaochun cultivated, the truth was that it was extremely counterproductive. The Undying Codex didn't change one's basic body structure, it directly unleashed inner power to create a powerful combination of offense and defense!
"However, the Way of the Blood Fiend Body does have some redeeming qualities. Maybe I can even use them to make an early breakthrough in the second level of the Undying Heavenly King!" After a bit of further examination, Bai Xiaochun's spirits rose, and he even tested out some of the cultivation practices. When he did, rumbling sounds could be heard as blood qi rushed toward him. By using the secret techniques of the Way of the Blood Fiend Body, he stimulated his flesh and blood, but instead of allowing his basic body structure to be changed, he used the power to drive the Undying Heavenly King.
The night passed. The next morning at dawn, Bai Xiaochun's eyes snapped open, and they shone with delight.
"That one night of cultivation was like three days of ordinary cultivation!
"So it does work! Hahaha!" Excited, Bai Xiaochun mused that the Blood Stream Sect truly was his personal Holy Land. Looking over at the enormous pill furnace, his eyes shone with a strange light, and he suddenly smacked his hand down onto the furnace. A bang could be heard as the furnace's lid opened up. Without any hesitation, he flew up to stand on the edge of the furnace and looked down inside, which left him even more shocked than before.
"If this furnace really can't explode, then I think I need to test the limits of the medicinal strength I'm capable of producing!" Just when he was about to start, he suddenly paused for a moment.
"It really won't explode?" he thought, hesitating.
"Ah whatever. The blood master guaranteed that it wouldn't explode. It probably won't." Taking a deep breath, he tossed caution to the wind. A look of madness appeared in his eyes as prepared to concoct a huge batch of pills.
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Chapter 235: Plaguedevil's Here
"The last time I used dragonchimp grass, I could only use one blade, but this time I'm gonna put in ten!
"Firecloud pears, huh? Let's put in twenty of them!
"So, it calls for starlight leaf? It says half a leaf should do, but with an incredible pill furnace like this, that's definitely not enough. I'm putting in ten." Murmuring to himself, he continued to circle the edge of the pill furnace, tossing in one type of medicinal plant after another. After making minor adjustments here and there, he would add more plants.
Bloodflame stones poured out of his bag of holding to land underneath the pill furnace, providing intense heat. However, this was no ordinary pill furnace. Other pill furnaces would have turned bright red from the heat, but this one hardly seemed to be getting hot at all.
Seeing that, Bai Xiaochun got even more excited than before. He was slowly immersing himself in his medicine concocting, tossing more and more medicinal plants into the mix, doing nothing to prevent the medicinal strength from growing rapidly. At the same time, he was completely engrossed in making calculations regarding the medicine formula.
He felt completely and utterly satisfied. He didn't have to worry about the cost of the materials he was using, didn't have to worry about the medicinal strength increasing to unsafe levels, and didn't need to worry about losing control of the pill furnace. The only thing he worried about was how to concoct the pill.
His hair was disheveled and his eyes were bloodshot, but he felt wonderful, and more excited than he ever had been before. For seven days, he continued to add more medicinal plants to the mix. Eventually, more than half of the bag of holding had been emptied. By using the principles of mutual augmentation and suppression, Bai Xiaochun had pushed the medicinal strength to an explosive level.
Rumbling sounds began to emanate from the pill furnace, which by this point was changing from green to bright red. By now, it seemed that the furnace really wouldn't explode.
Seeing that, Bai Xiaochun threw his head back and laughed uproariously.
"A precious furnace!" he exclaimed. With that, he descended back into the medicine concocting. Based on his calculations regarding the medicine formula, he continued to add medicinal plants. As inspiration hit him, and as his train of thought proceeded, he made changes as he saw fit. Combined with the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique, he was gradually reaching the medicinal strength he sought.
Another five days passed, and the rumbling sounds inside of the pill furnace grew more intense. By now, the furnace was bright red, and Bai Xiaochun had added all of the medicinal plants he wanted to. He was sitting off to the side looking very content when he suddenly thought of something. Hurrying forward, he produced a drop of his own Undying Blood and added it into the furnace.
With that, he put the lid back on the furnace and locked it tight.
In that instant, any outlet for the medicinal strength was cut off, causing intense rumbling sounds to echo out, The pill furnace began to shake, and the temperature inside began to rise rapidly.
Bai Xiaochun was so impressed with the miraculous pill furnace that he didn't even think about any potential problems. As far as he was concerned, it wouldn't explode. Therefore, he decided to practice some cultivation off to the side. Occasionally, he would look over and make a few adjustments as the medicinal strength inside the pill furnace changed.
A few days later, he started to get worried. The pill furnace was now bright red, and radiating such intense heat that the area for three meters around the furnace was rippling and distorting. Cracks were even visible on the ground, snaking out from the furnace.
Bai Xiaochun swallowed, and edged away. The waves of heat battering his face caused his heart to begin to pound with fear.
"If a pill furnace this big exploded, I would lose my poor little life for sure…." Blinking, he thought back to what the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master had said. This furnace won't explode under any circumstances. Only then did he calm down a bit.
"There shouldn't be any problems, right…?" He was already starting to regret putting in so many medicinal plants. Lack of control was definitely one of his downsides. However, the pill furnace currently didn't seem to be in danger of exploding.
He waited for four more days. The furnace was still trembling, and the area of distortion had increased from three meters to thirty. The intense heat was even causing some of the nearby rock walls to slowly melt. The heat seemed to be building up with every passing moment. Bai Xiaochun was sweating up a storm, and his eyes were already wide with terror.
He thought about trying to stop the concoction process, but wasn't able to interfere. The spirit medicine inside the pill furnace was already beginning to take shape. He could only imagine how the temperature might increase now that the medicine was actually forming.
Bai Xiaochun took a long, nervous breath. He felt like he was sitting on top of a volcano that might erupt at any moment. He nervously edged backward until he was outside of the immortal's cave. Finally, he put on a lofty, enigmatic expression and walked out of the spell formation as he prepared to leave Lesser Marsh Peak.
In his opinion, Lesser Marsh Peak was now far too dangerous of a place to remain in….
On his way out, the grand elder detected him and flew over to stop him from leaving.
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt," he said politely, "where might you be headed now? Are you finished concocting our medicine?"
Bai Xiaochun was very nervous, but his expression didn't show it at all. Clasping his hands behind his back, he coolly said, "Don't worry. The concocting process is done. However, the hundred Blood Body Pills need more time to develop. In three months I'll come back personally to extract the pills from the furnace.
"In the meantime, I'll head to Nameless Peak. After all, I promised to concoct medicine for them too." Despite having been forced to scramble to come up with an excuse, Bai Xiaochun's expression was the same as ever. Lesser Marsh Peak's grand elder was still a bit suspicious, but couldn't find any fault with Bai Xiaochun's reasoning.
"Well in that case, Junior Brother Nightcrypt," he said, "I'll personally escort you all the way to Nameless Peak!" He still felt that something was off, but nevertheless, gestured for Bai Xiaochun to follow him to Nameless Peak.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, then nodded and followed along. Soon he had reached the border of Nameless Peak, where the dwarf grand elder came out to meet him. Only then did Bai Xiaochun finally breathe a sigh of relief. Even as he proceed on to Nameless Peak, he turned to look back at the grand elder from Lesser Marsh Peak.
"By the way," he said, "during the next three months, no one is permitted to enter that immortal's cave. And definitely do not let anyone touch the pill furnace. The pill furnace might burst open, and if it does, you'll be responsible!" With that, he looked away and followed the dwarf onto Nameless Peak. He also made a decision to never, ever go back to Lesser Marsh Peak….
"If what the blood master of Lesser Marsh Peak said is true, then the pill furnace won't explode. The medicinal pills will eventually be completed. If that pill furnace explodes, it's not my fault!" The more he thought about it, the more he believed himself to be in the right. Feeling much better, he followed the Nameless Peak grand elder to meet the local blood master.
In accordance with the previous agreement, the blood master gave Bai Xiaochun a gargoyle. Furthermore, they had set aside an immortal's cave on the lower finger where he could concoct medicine.
By the time he went in to begin his work, word was already spreading through Nameless Peak about his arrival, leading to gasps among the cultivators there. They already felt like they were going to go mad in the coming days.
They knew about Bai Xiaochun's nickname, Plaguedevil, and had heard that the terrors which came along with his pill concocting were like tribulations wrought by patriarchs. All of them felt as though they were heading into a life or death crisis….
The Nameless Peak cultivators began to think about everything that had occurred on Middle Peak and Corpse Peak. They weren't as confident as the cultivators from Lesser Marsh Peak, and were thus soon shaking in their boots.
"Plaguedevil's here!! The terror he causes with his medicine concocting is unimaginable. Remember Zhao Shuimu from Corpse Peak? He hallucinated that he was a tuft of spirit grass! Even down to this day, he sometimes goes into a daze if he sees spirit grass…."
"That's nothing. You know Zhou Yibiao? When he sleeps at night, he sometimes yells out that he is Bai Xiaochun…."
"Actually, there are quite a few cultivators from Middle Peak who have recovered, but still haven't grown back hair, and still have occasional bouts of diarrhea. In fact, it's been on more than one occasion that I saw someone from Middle Peak get the upper hand in a fight, only to suddenly look very uncomfortable. You know what I mean, right…?"
Discussions such as these spread like wildfire. As for the cultivators who actually resided near the location where Bai Xiaochun was doing his concocting work, their scalps tingled like mad, and many of them simply left. Before long, more than half of the cultivators who normally occupied Nameless Peak had abandoned their immortal's caves and gone to stay with people they knew in the Inner Sect.
Bai Xiaochun was a bit shocked at how quiet Nameless Peak became. Not a trace of a living person could be seen anywhere near his immortal's cave. Clearing his throat, he thought to himself, "I haven't even done anything yet! What are these people being so jumpy for?
"I concocted medicine on Lesser Marsh Peak and nothing happened!" A bit annoyed, he sat down cross-legged and looked around the immortal's cave for a moment until his gaze came to rest on something in the far corner.
A black shadow floated there, emanating a cold and sinister aura.
It was one of the Nameless Peak gargoyles, which were somewhat akin to the evil ghosts that could be found on Ghostfang Peak in the Spirit Stream Sect. The main difference was that the evil ghosts weren't intelligent, and didn't grow very large either.
In contrast, gargoyles became more intelligent as they grew, and could also practice their own form of cultivation. In terms of power and strength, they were no weaker than evil ghosts, and yet, were vastly more cunning and sly.
After they reached a certain level of power, they would develop a bizarre divine ability that allowed them to possess humans and even control them. By becoming something like an inner devil, they could kill people without leaving a single mark, whereupon they would viciously drain them of their blood.
Different methods could be used to raise different types of gargoyles. One of the reasons why the Blood Stream Sect was known as a devilish sect was because of the devilish gargoyles that they raised.
Bai Xiaochun wasn't too sure about the origins of the gargoyles. That was one of the big secrets of the Blood Stream Sect. As for the gargoyle in the immortal's cave with him, it was completely ordinary, with low intelligence. It was even frightened of Bai Xiaochun's murderous aura, and didn't dare to approach him. Instead, it cowered in the corner, trembling.
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Chapter 236: You Handle It, Shadow!
Bai Xiaochun looked at the trembling black shadow, and then pulled out a violet jade pendant and said, "Get over here!"
The shadow trembled again, then slowly floated over to Bai Xiaochun. Now that it was in front of him, he could just make out a face inside the black mist.
With that, he reached out to grab it, only to find that his hand passed through the mist. Apparently, the gargoyle didn't actually have a physical body. Bai Xiaochun was now more intrigued than ever.
"The Blood Stream Sect's gargoyles and the Spirit Stream Sect's evil ghosts are similar in some ways. Ghost come from the souls of people who have died, but what about gargoyles? Where do they come from?" After pondering the issue for some time, he couldn't come up with any theories. However, there seemed to be some connection between him and the gargoyle, something other than the jade plaque of control that had been given to him by Nameless Peak.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that the gargoyle must have something to do with the giant hand and the Undying Live Forever Technique….
Even as Bai Xiaochun sat there in thought, the face in the mist suddenly twisted into a ferocious expression, and the mist pounced on Bai Xiaochun.
Icy coldness spread out, a coldness filled with intense ferocity. It was almost as if it wanted to consume Bai Xiaochun's soul. The gargoyle's sudden outburst startled him so much that he unleashed the power of his cultivation base and flicked the thing.
The gargoyle let out a miserable shriek, and the mist faded a bit. Having no other options, it hastily retreated to the corner where it remained, trembling.
"What gall you have!" Bai Xiaochun said angrily. Stomping forward, he aimed a kick at the shadow, which promptly dodged out of the way. Bai Xiaochun gave a cold harrumph and looked down at the jade pendant. Not only could the pendant be used to control the gargoyle, it also contained descriptions of the various punishments and rewards that were usually used to train them.
The most common method was to feed the gargoyle one's own blood, which would strengthen the connection and also improve the gargoyle's ability to understand orders.
As the gargoyle grew, and its own cultivation base improved, it was also common to allow it to kill other things and drink their blood, which also would help the gargoyle grow stronger.
The description also mentioned that if the gargoyle showed any signs of misbehaving, it was important to crush such behavior as quickly as possible. Attempts at rebellion would only grow more intense until the gargoyle became impossible to control.
"You trifling, newborn gargoyle!" he said angrily. "How dare you try to bite the hand that feeds you!" With that, he used the jade pendant to lock the gargoyle in place, then walked over and kicked him a few times. The gargoyle's mist faded even more, until only a bit was left, whereupon he began letting out plaintive shrieks.
"You remember this," Bai Xiaochun said sternly. "I'm the top dog here. If you dare to provoke me, I won't hesitate to put you in your place. Hmph. Now, what should we call you? How about Shadow?" After giving him a name, he ignored him, and focused on the medicine formula that the blood master of Nameless Peak had given him.
"Undying Blood Pill…." he murmured thoughtfully. He had heard of this pill before. It had been created years ago by a patriarch who had gained enlightenment of the Holy Pill Wall Fragment. It had come to be one of the most useful spirit medicines in the entire Blood Stream Sect.
Not only could it lead to spectacular results when raising gargoyles, it could help with refining corpses, as well as with the body refinement techniques of Lesser Marsh Peak. Because it had so many varied uses, the Undying Blood Pill had been in high demand in the sect from the moment it was first invented.
Unfortunately, it was very difficult to concoct. The tier-3 version was relatively easy, but the tier-4 version wasn't easy at all. When it came to tier-5 Undying Blood Pills, they were far beyond the ordinary, and could be used to summon some of the deepest reserve powers available in the Blood Stream Sect. Even tier-4 versions could be used to try to awaken some of the most ancient gargoyles.
The more Bai Xiaochun studied the medicine formula, the more shocked he was. It required 97 types of medicinal plants, each one of which contained numerous transformations that had to be suppressed with Heavenspan River water. It even needed spirit blood from the enormous hand. Only after all of that could the Undying Blood Pill be produced.
"Even the slightest mistake in the ratios of the medicinal plants will result in a failure. Furthermore, when it comes to combining the plants, some aspects of the connections need to be neutralized, whereas some aspects need to be fused together. The result is that nine different streams of blood qi will be created!
"One stream of blood qi is a tier-1 version, and so on. The Nameless Peak blood master wants me to concoct a tier-4 Undying Blood Pill, which would contain four streams of blood qi!" Bai Xiaochun's eyes glittered as he continued to study the formula. As he did, his admiration for the person who had created it grew and grew.
"No wonder this pill is so difficult to concoct. One stream of blood qi is a simple matter, but even just two requires vast amounts of augury and other calculations, along with incredible skill in the Dao of medicine. Working with three streams of blood qi is even more complicated, about ten times more so than two streams. And then four streams. That's almost ridiculous. Clearly, the only way to succeed is to use the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique to simplify matters!" Bai Xiaochun eyes shone with a strange light. Obviously, concocting the Undying Blood Pill in the usual fashion was far too difficult. The only option was to do things backwards!
Having reached this point in his train of thought, Bai Xiaochun pulled out a pill furnace and some medicinal plants, and started to familiarize himself with the concoction process. Instead of trying to succeed the first time around, he decided to do a bit of testing first.
Time passed. Before long, half a month had gone by. Bai Xiaochun never stepped out of the immortal's cave even once. He was completely immersed in his medicine concocting. He would concoct multiple batches per day, and whenever he ran out of bloodflame stones, he would simply ask for more. It was the same with medicinal plants.
It got to the point where medicinal plants were being sent over every day. Thankfully, the mountain peak had deep reserves. Bai Xiaochun became more and more familiar with the Undying Blood Pill, and yet, as he did, he ruined one batch of spirit medicine after another.
In the past, he would have simply discarded such ruined spirit medicine, but this time, he hesitated, and looked over at the cowering gargoyle over in the corner.
"I wonder if gargoyles eat spirit medicine? They're ruined, but they still have some power left in them." After some thought, he tossed one of the pills over to the gargoyle.
"Eat it," he said, looking on in anticipation. The gargoyle's intelligence was only starting to develop, but he understood what was being said, and pounced on the medicinal pill. Within a moment, the pill had turned into black smoke which the gargoyle quickly absorbed.
"Wow, he does eat them!" Bai Xiaochun was quite pleased. From then on, he tossed all of the ruined pills over to the gargoyle. After absorbing the smoke from each pill, the gargoyle would burp loudly, and then laze off to the side with an intoxicated look on his face. Eventually, he would fall asleep.
"Hahaha! So smart of me! These ruined pills have a use after all." After ensuring that the gargoyle wasn't suffering any ill side-effects, he felt more than ever that he'd done something great. With that, he continued to concoct pills, looking over at the gargoyle every once in awhile and tossing him a ruined pill. He wasn't stingy at all.
Time passed. Gradually, another half a month went by.
During that time, Bai Xiaochun concocted many batches of pills, but every single one was a failure. Although he had gained enlightenment of the All-Creation Plants and Vegetation technique, he wasn't familiar enough with it to use it consistently. Problems continued to crop up. However, Bai Xiaochun always came up with ways to overcome such problems. Furthermore, he didn't waste any of the ruined pills, but instead, fed them all to the gargoyle.
"I don't have anything else to give you, just these ruined pills." Bai Xiaochun was actually quite pleased with the situation. Cultivators couldn't consume ruined pills, but they seemed harmless to gargoyles. In fact, the gargoyle had grown quite a bit in the last month. Instead of looking like a tiny imp, he was now about as large as a seven- or eight-year-old child. Of course, he was pitch black, and surrounded by pulsing black mist.
Most noteworthy of all was that the gargoyle seemed a lot more intelligent already. Instead of being completely useless, he was now able to assist Bai Xiaochun a bit when given simple orders.
There were a few times when he seemed reluctant to consume the ruined pills, and yet he didn't dare to defy Bai Xiaochun's orders….
On one occasion, Bai Xiaochun made a mistake, and could tell that the pill furnace was about to explode. He immediately backed up and called out, "You handle it, Shadow!"
Shadow raced over and passed through the outside of the pill furnace. Once inside, he took a deep breath, absorbing all of the spirit medicine. Afterward, he lay down on the ground off to the side, twitching, a glazed look in his eyes.
Bai Xiaochun made a clicking sound with his tongue, very impressed by the gargoyle's behavior.
"Not bad, Shadow, not bad." Excited, he continued with his concocting. At one point, the pill furnace began to emit pulsing black smoke, which Bai Xiaochun knew would cause some sort of disaster, either acid raid, diarrhea, hallucinations, or something else.
Yet again, he called upon Shadow.
"You handle it, Shadow!"
Shadow pounced, breathing in deeply and sucking away all of the smoke. Then he lay off to the side while the smoke wreaked havoc on his insides. If he had saliva, he would definitely have been frothing at the mouth.
Bai Xiaochun was moved.
"Great job, Shadow. You're awesome!" Bai Xiaochun was very excited, and had already determined that he needed to bring Shadow with him whenever he concocted medicine. Shadow was truly outstanding. Whether it was ruined pills, noxious smoke, or exploding pill furnaces, he could solve all of the problems that cropped up when dealing with the impurities in the pills….
Bai Xiaochun was so immersed in his medicine concocting that he didn't notice the rising spark of intelligence in little Shadow's eyes, that was apparently a result of consuming all of the impurities. Normally, he kept it well-hidden, and always tried to seem dazed and foolish in front of Bai Xiaochun.
At one point, Bai Xiaochun eyed a failed batch that had resulted in a strange pill. He had no idea what the pill did, and was just about to put it into his bag of holding, when he looked over at Shadow.
Blinking, he said, "You handle it, Shadow."
A tremor ran through Shadow, but then he flew over and took the pill. After consuming it, he flopped over onto his side.
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Chapter 237: A Boom From Lesser Marsh Peak
Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide. Just when he was going to go over to examine Shadow closer, Shadow suddenly leapt to his feet, howling as he transformed into a mist. Screaming, he burst out of the immortal's cave. Bai Xiaochun hurried out after him to find that the gargoyle had seemingly gone mad. He was running around, jumping up and down, sometimes collapsing into a shapeless mist, other times coalescing back into form. After a bit of time, he once again collapsed on the ground.
From that moment on, whenever he looked at Bai Xiaochun, profound fear could be seen mixed in with the intelligence in his eyes….
Things progressed like that for about half a month. Bai Xiaochun worked hard, and the tier-4 Undying Blood Pill slowly began to take form. He was already able to make pills with three streams of blood qi, and was on the very cusp of being able to produce four.
During that time, Shadow continued to consume medicinal pills. Although the quality of the pills improved, they were still ruined pills, and occasionally even toxic, but Shadow generally enjoyed them all.
Shadow also enjoyed leaving the immortal's cave occasionally and flying around above Nameless Peak. When he encountered other gargoyles belonging to other cultivators, it was clear that Shadow's murderous aura was much less pronounced than theirs.
The law of the jungle prevailed in the Blood Stream Sect, and it was even more brutal when it came to life among the gargoyles. The cultivators had to strictly control the gargoyles under their control, lest major issues crop up. However, there was something strange about Shadow. He got along with all of the other gargoyles on Nameless Peak, and never got into fights with them….
Bai Xiaochun was quite surprised about that, but didn't put too much thought into it. He focused on concocting medicine. Another half a month passed, and he finally made a breakthrough and concocted a tier-4 Undying Blood Pill.
When the four streams of blood qi finally combined, Bai Xiaochun began to laugh at the top of his lungs. Of course, his excitement came not from the fact that he had concocted the tier-4 Undying Blood Pill, but rather, because nobody had been affected during the concocting process.
There had been no acid rain, no exploding furnaces, no toxic smoke, no diarrhea, nothing. Most exciting of all was that Bai Xiaochun finally felt as if he understood what it was like to be a grandmaster apothecary.
"Hahaha! Now people definitely can't call me Plaguedevil! I concocted medicine for Nameless Peak, and not a single problem cropped up!" Of course, he was just as surprised as he was happy. Also surprised were all the other cultivators in the Bloodstream Sect, especially those on Nameless Peak. Although they were still a bit leery, there didn't seem to be any signs of disasters. Apparently, Nightcrypt's medicine concocting truly had proceeded in complete safety.
"Has Plaguedevil really changed his ways?"
"I can't believe that nothing happened during his medicine concocting!!"
There was one thing that happened which no one noticed, however. Bai Xiaochun's gargoyle Shadow had been making the rounds on Nameless Peak, getting to know all of the gargoyles there….
The blood master and grand elder of Nameless Peak were delighted that the tier-4 Undying Blood Pill had been successfully concocted. Just as they'd promised, they provided generous compensation, along with a ceremony filled with pomp and splendor. They even decided that they would work more with Nightcrypt in the future.
Although the ceremony was held on Nameless Peak, Grand Elder Song Junwan was invited to attend. It was held in Nameless Peak's Blood Master Temple, where Nightcrypt was lavished with endless praise. Bai Xiaochun felt that it wasn't the time to call attention to himself, so he simply stuck his chin up and smiled coolly.
Off to the side, Song Junwan watched the proceedings with a smile, and whenever she looked at Nightcrypt, her eyes would shine. Before long, the ceremony had been going for about an hour. At that point, Nameless Peak's blood master laughed loudly and walked over to Nightcrypt.
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt, you are a real genius in the Dao of medicine, a true rarity in the world. In the future, your name is sure to rock the entire eastern reaches of the world of cultivation. If you ever concoct a tier-5 Undying Blood Pill, you will surely shake the entire sect! I'm sure that day isn't very far off!
Nameless Peak's grand elder then chimed in, "Anyone who concocts a tier-5 Undying Blood Pill will receive a big reward from the sect, and will be credited as having performed a major service!"
As everyone clustered around Bai Xiaochun, chatting and laughing, he listened to their words with great pleasure. Just when he was about to do a bit of bragging, a deafening boom could be heard from outside.
It was like thunder from heaven, and came so suddenly that everyone was startled. All of Nameless Peak shook violently, and cracks even appeared in the ground. There was also a blast of heat that swept over everything. The entire crowd in Nameless Peak's Blood Master Temple looked out the door, their faces flickering with shock.
Outside, the sky had turned gray, and everything was still shaking. It wasn't Nameless Peak alone; Corpse Peak and Middle Peak were also physically rocking back and forth.
The Inner Sect district was thrown into complete chaos, as was the Outer Sect district. People were screaming and shouting, and almost immediately, beams of light could be seen as people flew up into the air.
Even the Blood Stream Sect's grand spell formation activated.
"What just happened?!?!"
"Don't tell me someone is attacking the Blood Stream Sect!!"
"The war's starting!!"
Even Ancestor Peak was completely shaken. As the blast of heat passed over it, the shocked prime elders sent divine sense out to scan the entire sect.
Bai Xiaochun's face fell as he raced out of Blood Master Temple along with everyone else. The entire group was shaken, and as for Bai Xiaochun, he was panting. Moments later, he was outside. Song Junwan took her place by his side, looking around vigilantly.
Cultivators were flying up from all of the other mountain peaks, looks of shock on their faces.
Before long, all gazes shifted in the direction of Lesser Marsh Peak!
Clouds of shocking black smoke were pouring up into the air from that direction.
The source of the smoke was a location right between the lower and upper finger, where massive fissures spread out in all directions from a huge hole.
Because of the belching black smoke, everyone soon realized where that huge boom had originated.
"Lesser Marsh Peak?!"
"What happened over there…?"
Bai Xiaochun squinted his eyes as he looked over at the masses of black smoke. After a moment, his eyes went wide, and his heart began to pound.
The big boom from moments ago had somehow seemed vaguely familiar, and after taking a look at the source of the black smoke, he realized that it was where he had been concocting medicine on Lesser Marsh Peak. Clearly, the sound from moments ago had come from an exploding pill furnace.
In that moment, he suddenly recalled that he had left a batch of medicinal pills brewing on Lesser Marsh Peak….
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his heart began to pound even harder. That was when the wails of anguish began to rise up from Lesser Marsh Peak, and Bai Xiaochun's scalp began to tingle.
"I'm finished. Kaput…."
Even as Bai Xiaochun began to tremble in fear, and the rest of the Blood Stream Sect looked on in shock, several beams of light flew out from Lesser Marsh Peak. In the lead was the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master. He was shaking visibly, and his eyes were bloodshot. As he looked down at the chaos on Lesser Marsh Peak, he seemed like he wanted to cry. After a moment, he threw his head back and let out a howl of grief.
He knew that everything that was happening was because of Nightcrypt. With that, he prepared to call out by name the person who was at fault, then, to track him down and kill him.
However, before the name 'Nightcrypt' could escape his lips, Bai Xiaochun took action. Forcing his eyes to instantly become bloodshot, he strode forward toward the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master and shouted out in a voice that could shake heaven and earth: "My treasured pill!!!"
Beating his chest with his fists and tugging at his hair, he howled like a lunatic as he then shot at top speed toward Lesser Marsh Peak.
"Why is this happening? Dear heavens! What happened? My treasured pill!!" He seemed to be going mad as he flew in a beam of light toward the source of the smoke on Lesser Marsh Peak, which was the center of all the chaos.
Lesser Marsh Peak was now completely scorched black, and more than half of the buildings and immortal's caves were completely destroyed. The cultivators all seemed to be in very bad shape, and flames of rage burned in their eyes. However, as soon as they saw Bai Xiaochun, expressions of fear filled their faces.
Bai Xiaochun ignored them as he raced in the direction of where he had been concocting medicine on Lesser Marsh Peak. The entire area was a crater. There was no spell formation, no immortal's cave. The only things left behind were the shattered chunks of the pill furnace, and intense heat.
In the air above the mountain peak were the blood master, the grand elder, and the bloodstreak elders. Many of them had blood oozing out of their mouths, and all of them looked astonished. The entire lot had been aware that Nightcrypt could be annoying, but none of them could ever have imagined that he could produce tragic results like this.
"Nightcrypt!!" growled the blood master, a shocking level of killing intent burning in his eyes as he flew toward Bai Xiaochun.
In the same moment that the blood master started moving toward him, Bai Xiaochun began to tremble. Spinning around, he howled madly: "Lesser Marsh Peak blood master!!
"I spent three months on that treasured pill! I poured my own blood, sweat, and tears into it! It was almost a tier-5 medicine!!" Bai Xiaochun's face was twisted as if with grief and madness, and an increasingly murderous aura was building up around him.
"Dammit, Blood Master, didn't you tell me that pill furnace couldn't explode? Didn't you tell me it was a precious treasure?!?! Why did you lie to me!?" Bai Xiaochun seemed insane, even more maddened than the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master. At first, it seemed like he was simply making wild accusations in his madness.
"You…." The Lesser Marsh Peak blood master was incensed, but after he began to speak, realized there was little that he could say.
"Why? Why did you lie to me? All of my hard work, all of my effort concocting that pill, was based on a lie! You said it was a precious treasure taken from the Pill Stream Sect, that it wouldn't explode under any circumstances! If you had told me ahead of time that the pill furnace could blow up, then I would never have wasted so many precious medicinal plants! I could have just used ordinary concocting methods! Oh, my treasured pill!"
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Chapter 238: Tier-5 Spirit Medicine!
"Do you know how much of my own blood, sweat and tears I poured into this treasured pill?!" Bai Xiaochun shouted hoarsely. "Dammit! Why didn't you tell me the truth instead of lying to me!?!?" Crowds of Blood Stream Sect cultivators were converging on the scene to watch, and the streams of divine sense from Ancestor Peak were focused on the area.
"I told you not to get close to the pill furnace. Tell me, did you get close? Did you?!" Bai Xiaochun finally began to chuckle bitterly, his face a mask of disappointment and sadness.
There was no way for the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master and grand elder to offer a retort to Bai Xiaochun's words. The blood master truly had told Bai Xiaochun that the pill furnace couldn't explode, and had also promised to take responsibility for any situations which arose. Bai Xiaochun last words hit especially close to home.
The truth was that because the heat radiating from the pill furnace had continued to increase, slowly scorching everything on Lesser Marsh Peak, they actually had felt they had no other choice than to approach the furnace to take a look.
They were in the wrong, and yet, the losses sustained by Lesser Marsh Peak were so vast that they couldn't restrain their rage. The blood master gritted his teeth and said, "You jabbering troublemaker! Lesser Marsh Peak trusted you! We asked you to concoct medicine for us, and if you had, I would have taken responsibility. But I don't see any spirit medicine! You destroyed Lesser Marsh Peak, Nightcrypt. I demand an explanation!"
Snorting coldly, the blood master took a step forward as if to grab Bai Xiaochun, and hopefully gain something from this disaster….
"Hold on!!!" Bai Xiaochun said. Looking very serious, he took a step forward and breathed in deeply through his nose. "Something's off here. That smell…. Do you sense that medicinal aroma…?"
The Lesser Marsh Peak blood master frowned. Snorting coldly, he proceeded toward Bai Xiaochun, but even as he did, Bai Xiaochun flickered into motion, appearing a moment later next to a chunk that had once made up the wall of the pill furnace. Looking shaken and incredulous, he pulled the chunk off to the side, revealing a medicinal pill underneath, which glowed with five-colored light!
It also emanated a strong medicinal aroma which, combined with the five-colored light, caused the eyes of everyone who could see it to go wide. Their minds began to spin, and many people even gasped or cried out in shock!
"Is that a tier-5 spirit medicine!?"
"I've never even seen a tier-5 spirit medicine before. Even the Pill Stream Sect only has a few people who can concoct them. Tier-5 spirit medicines are all priceless treasures!"
"A five-colored glow is one of the signs that appears when a tier-5 spirit medicine is concocted!!"
"Heavens! I can't believe it's actually a tier-5 spirit medicine!"
As the crowd erupted into pandemonium, Bai Xiaochun mustered his courage, reached out, and grabbed the pill. He had never imagined that he would end up concocting a tier-5 spirit medicine, and wanted to simply take it and run. However, with so many people present, that wasn't possible.
Bai Xiaochun wasn't the only shocked one. The Lesser Marsh Peak blood master stood off to the side, along with the grand elder and bloodstreak elders, and all of them were gasping.
When he saw Bai Xiaochun pick up the spirit medicine, the blood master suddenly started laughing good-naturedly, and his murderous aura vanished.
"A misunderstanding, that's all. A misunderstanding. Hahaha…. I was pulling your leg just now, Grandmaster Nightcrypt." The blood master hurried forward, his face filled with a sincere smile.
Bai Xiaochun snorted coldly. However, he couldn't think of anything to say in response, and was already wracking his brains as he tried to figure out what to do next.
"How about this, Grandmaster Nightcrypt: Lesser Marsh Peak would like to triple our previous offer of compensation!" The blood master, the grand elder, and the bloodstreak elders all hurried forward to cluster around Bai Xiaochun.
That was when Song Junwan, who had been standing off to the side the entire time, stepped forward and coolly said, "How dare you threaten one of my Middle Peak cultivators right in front of me."
The hearts of the elders began to pound, and an extremely unsightly expression appeared on the blood master's face.
As the two parties faced off, an ancient voice suddenly rumbled out from Ancestor Peak.
"Nightcrypt has concocted a tier-5 spirit medicine, and is a true Chosen of the Blood Stream Sect. Let him be appointed as a bloodstreak elder of Middle Peak!
At the same time, a blurry figure appeared in midair, an old man wearing a blood-colored robe. The incredible pressure radiating off of him caused everyone in the area to feel shaken, and they spontaneously bowed their heads and clasped hands in formal greetings.
"Regarding the pill, it belongs to Lesser Marsh Peak. However, Lesser Marsh Peak shall prepare the materials necessary, and personally craft the bloodstreak battlerobe for Nighcrypt!!"
That old man was none other than the Song Clan patriarch. As soon as Bai Xiaochun realized who he was, he took a deep breath, then clasped hands and bowed.
No one would dare to defy the orders of the Song Clan patriarch.
However, the Song Clan patriarch wasn't finished speaking. His placid voice continued to echo out through the sect. "It's good that everyone is gathered here, as I have three important announcements to make!
"First. In eight days, the cultivators of the four mountain peaks will all sacrifice some of their blood qi to summon the Blood Stream Sect's grand lich!
"Second. In a month, the trial by fire for the position of Middle Peak blood master will begin!
"Third. We will be going to war soon!"
As the Song Clan patriarch looked around at the gathered cultivators, gasps could be heard, and murderous auras began to build up.
"War!!"
"War!!!" Everyone began howling at the tops of their lungs, causing the entire Blood Stream Sect to shake. Although Bai Xiaochun was yelling just like everyone else in the crowd, he was actually feeling very anxious inside.
"Very well, you're all dismissed!" The Song Clan patriarch looked at Nightcrypt, smiled, and then turned and vanished.
Excited at the prospect of the coming war, everyone returned to their various mountain peaks. Although Bai Xiaochun was reluctant to give up the tier-5 spirit medicine, he had no choice but to hand it over to the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master. Then, he left with Song Junwan to go back to Middle Peak.
Song Junwan didn't say much on the way back to Middle Peak, but her eyes flashed with cold light. As for Bai Xiaochun, he was wrapped up in his own thoughts, and didn't feel like saying anything either. When they finally arrived, Song Junwan looked over at him and said, "Nightcrypt, in the trial by fire for the position of Middle Peak blood master, I want you to stand as Dharma protector for me, to help me win the title!
"The trial by fire will be dangerous, so you don't need to give me an answer right now. I'll be going into secluded meditation to prepare. You can inform me of your decision after I come out." She gave him a deep look and then headed toward the upper finger.
Bai Xiaochun watched her leave, complex feelings twisting his heart. Eventually, he found himself back in his immortal's cave, sitting there cross-legged, more worried than ever.
Based on what the Song Clan patriarch had just said, Bai Xiaochun realized that all of the discussion amongst the Blood Stream Sect patriarchs had led to a decision. The war with the Spirit Stream Sect would happen, and in only a few months.
The next seven days passed relatively uneventfully.
Early in the morning of the eighth day, the sound of tolling bells filled the Blood Stream Sect. Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath and strode out of his immortal's cave to find that virtually all of the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the four mountain peaks were flying through the air toward the upper fingers of each of their respective mountains.
Then, eight figures appeared, flying out from Ancestor Peak. They were like giants that caused rumbling sounds to fill the area, and shone with dazzling light that made it impossible to see anything more than their outlines.
As soon as those eight figures appeared, the cultivators all dropped to their knees to kowtow.
"Greetings, patriarchs!"
Bai Xiaochun was immediately shaken. Those eight figures were none other than the eight patriarchs of the Blood Stream Sect!
Patriarch Limitless and the Song Clan patriarch were among them. There was another among the group who wore a violet robe. He seemed to surpass all of the other patriarchs as he hovered there in midair like a brilliantly shining sun.
Intense pressure immediately weighed down on the entire area.
"Everyone, release your blood qi, open the blood portal!" The voice rang out to fill the entire hand that the Blood Stream Sect rested on, shaking everything as a huge spell formation appeared.
Blood qi exploded out, starting from Lesser Marsh Peak. As the blood qi streamed from the tip of the finger, it formed a blood-colored pillar of light that shot up into the sky. Next, the same thing happened on Nameless Peak, Middle Peak, Corpse Peak, and finally, Ancestor Peak!
RUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!
Five beams of blood-colored light shot up, staining the entire sky the color of blood, and creating an enormous vortex. The cultivators of the Blood Stream Sect were shaken, and could feel their blood qi seething as they unleashed the power of their cultivation bases.
At that point, one of the patriarchs stepped forward, a middle-aged man who was strikingly handsome. There was something entrancing about him that made anyone who looked at him want to admire and trust him.
"I am Droughtflame, and I will take the lead in summoning the reserve powers of the Blood Stream Sect. I need the help of nine disciples to help refine the qi and blood!
"Xu Xiaoshan, Song Que, Xuemei, Han Dong, Zhou Zhengfeng…." Although he was speaking in a calm tone, he was a patriarch, which caused even ordinary words spoken by him to carry vast pressure. Every time he called out a name, that person would fly up into the air to stand in front of him.
Soon, eight individuals had been called forth, and the sight of the assembled group caused the other Blood Stream Sect disciples to gasp. Every single one of the group of eight were Earthstring Foundation Establishment cultivators with the power of multiple Tideflows! All of them were top Chosen in the Blood Stream Sect!
Then, Patriarch Droughtflame's eyes came to rest on Middle Peak, and he uttered the last of the nine names.
"Nightcrypt!"
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Chapter 239: Should I Help Myself To A Bit….?
Although Bai Xiaochun was a bit taken aback, he quickly put a somber expression on his face and made sure his murderous aura was on full display. Then he shot up into the air to appear in front of Patriarch Droughtflame along with the other eight.
Not a single Blood Stream Sect disciple was shocked that Nightcrypt would be part of the group. In fact, for Patriarch Droughtflame to call him out was exactly what many people had expected would happen.
Not a single person even felt like commenting on the matter. Obviously, Plaguedevil was one of the most famous people in the Blood Stream Sect, and everyone recognized that he was a powerful Chosen!
Not only did the crowds of disciples on the mountain peaks feel that way, Song Que and the other Chosen didn't dispute his qualifications at all, although brutal gleams did appear in their eyes.
Bai Xiaochun had already been in the Blood Stream Sect for a few years now. To mortals, that might be considered quite a while, but for cultivators, that amount of time would flash by very quickly. Even still, it couldn't be considered a very short period of time. Bai Xiaochun had worked hard, and step by step, reached this day in which he was the focus of all attention, and had secured the approval of the entire sect.
Bai Xiaochun could sense that fact, and although he had been prepared for this day to come, even he couldn't help but gasp inwardly at the status he had attained. It filled his heart with contentment and pride.
"Hmmmmphhh! Wherever Lord Bai goes, he ends up shining as brightly as the sun or moon. Ai… who made me this outstanding…?" Although he felt wonderful inside, not a trace of those feelings showed on the outside. He looked as cold and dangerous as ever, with a powerful murderous aura that rivaled all of the other eight Chosen.
The eight patriarchs were all blurry and difficult to make out clearly, but when they looked at Nightcrypt, it was clear that they were nodding in approval. Some of the patriarchs even studied him more closely than the other Chosen.
The fact that a Mortal-Dao Foundation Establishment cultivator could rise up in the fashion Nightcrypt had was so strange that some of the patriarchs had grown suspicious, and had secretly investigated him. However, because the mask he wore was a true precious treasure, throughout the years, not a single clue had ever slipped out that might reveal his secret.
Furthermore, his skill in the Dao of medicine was so important to the Blood Stream Sect that none of the patriarchs took their own suspicions too seriously.
"The nine of you will sit in meditation in front of these blood altars," Patriarch Droughtflame said. He waved his hand, sending nine beams of blood-colored light flying out, which transformed into nine blood-colored altars. "Transform qi into blood to help me open the portal and summon the grand lich!"
Bai Xiaochun and the others all settled down in front of their respective blood altars.
In truth, there was no need for special help from these nine cultivators to summon the grand lich. However, after some discussion, the patriarchs had decided that because of the upcoming war, they should get a first-hand look at the power at the sect's disposal.
Among the eight patriarchs, Patriarch Droughtflame was the one most insistent on going to war, and therefore, he took charge of summoning the reserve powers of the sect, as well as looking over the nine cultivators who were being tested in the process.
His gaze seemed to contain intense pressure that left Bai Xiaochun shaken inwardly. It was almost as if he could see the secrets of everyone he looked at; even the other eight cultivators surrounding Bai Xiaochun averted their gazes humbly.
Eventually, Patriarch Droughtflame looked away from them, turning his gaze up into the sky. He then lifted his right hand and waved it through the air. In response, the blood-colored beams of light shooting up from the five mountain peaks all rumbled and began to grow larger. Simultaneously, the blood-colored vortex grew larger, and in the very center of it, a huge blood-colored eye became visible!
As the eye opened, the sky dimmed, and a massive wind kicked up. Intense pressure filled the world, and a blood mist spread out in all directions. All of the Blood Stream Sect disciples down below were shaken, and prostrated themselves toward the eye.
"Look up, and see the power which lets the Blood Stream Sect dominate the other three sects!" Patriarch Droughtflame's voice seemed to contain a bizarre power that forced everyone who heard it to look up into the blood eye in the sky.
Bai Xiaochun was deeply shaken. However, it was at that point that his Undying Live Forever Technique stirred, and gradually seemed to form a resonance with the blood eye.
Song Que, Xuemei and the others were all mentally shaken, and yet none of them dared to look down. They forced their heads up to look at the blood eye in the vortex above.
Many people cried out in shock. Even Song Que and the other Chosen, despite their high position and deeper understanding of the secrets of the sect, couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide, and his mind felt like it was filled with crashing lightning.
Within that blood-colored eye, just outside of the very pupil, were four shadowy figures, one of them being an enormous, violet-colored skeleton!
The skeleton was covered with crackling lightning, as well as a swirling aura of death. Although it wasn't moving at all, it emanated a powerful pressure that left anyone who could see it completely shaken.
Bai Xiaochun knew a bit about Corpse Peak, and based on that, he quickly came to the conclusion that this was a grand lich! On Corpse Peak, there was nothing more powerful than grand liches, which surpassed even flying ghouls!
"Flying ghouls are comparable to Core Formation cultivators, but grand liches are like Nascent Soul patriarchs!"
The second blurry figure within the eye was a black mist that seemed to be filled with tens of millions of faces. All of those faces seemed to belong to old men, and radiated a powerful sensation of Time. Within that mist was a gargoyle, and from the powerful pressure it radiated, it didn't seem to be any less powerful than the grand lich!
The third shadowy figure was nothing more than a pile of dried-up skin that was so old it was impossible to determine its age. It radiated a terrifying aura that was even stronger than that of the grand lich or the gargoyle. Just looking at it filled one with a sense of wonderment. Many of the Blood Stream Sect cultivators who saw it were left gasping.
Shaken, Bai Xiaochun looked over at the fourth shadowy figure, which was actually a sword!
It was a blood-colored sword, upon which sat a crimson imp. The imp had no hair on its head, and although it was only about as big as person's hand, it radiated an intense murderous aura that surpassed the other three shadowy figures!
"Corpse Peak's grand lich, Nameless Peak's million-faced gargoyle, Lesser Marsh Peak's totem canvas, Middle Peak's ancestral sword! These are the signature relics of the Blood Stream Sect, and they are actually defending what exists in the pupil of the blood eye, another of the Blood Ancestor's powerful reserve forces!
"Behold the complete Sacrificial Blood Dao Formation!" Patriarch Droughtflame waved his right hand, and the pupil in the blood eye began to expand to slowly reveal a fifth shadowy figure!
Clearly, it was being protected by the four figures outside of the pupil. The sight of the precious fifth resource of the sect caused Bai Xiaochun to begin panting, and his eyes to widen as he slowly came to see…
A scarecrow!
It was bizarre in appearance, with a patch of human skin held in one hand, and a steelyard balance in the other. A monstrous smile covered its face that made it seem as if it were sneering at the world…. When Bai Xiaochun looked into the scarecrow's eyes, that smile seemed to fill his entire heart and mind.
Within moments, though, the Heaven-Dao aura within Bai Xiaochun spread out, driving the image of the scarecrow out from inside of him. As he sat there panting in recovery, he noticed that Patriarch Droughtflame seemed to be looking at him with approval.
The other eight Chosen around him were in all still in a daze. Xuemei was the next to recover, followed by Song Que. One by one, they drove out the image from within their minds.
"These are the reserve powers of the Blood Stream Sect," Patriarch Droughtflame said, speaking to the sect as a whole. "Unleash your blood qi. As for the nine of you Chosen, begin the refinement process. Help me summon the grand lich!
"After summoning the grand lich, the other spirits will eventually awaken of their own volition. After they have all woken, the Sacrificial Blood Dao Formation can emerge from within the world of the blood eye!" Immediately, the innumerable cultivators in the Blood Stream Sect who were below the Core Formation stage all began to rotate their cultivation bases.
Foundation Establishment cultivators, Inner Sect disciples, Outer Sect disciples. Tens of thousands of cultivators all called upon the power of their cultivation bases to send blood qi streaming out. A blood mist formed, rising up into the air toward the nine blood altars, into which it merged.
Bai Xiaochun was seated in front of the fifth of the blood altars, and a tremor ran through him as the powerful blood qi began to merge into the altar, and through it, into him.
Before he even had time to think about what was happening, his Undying Live Forever Technique sprang into operation, absorbing the blood qi. He looked around, and saw that Xuemei, Song Que, and the others were all absorbing the blood qi. Apparently, they were using their own bodies as vessels; combined with a Blood Stream Sect secret magic, they were transforming the qi into blood.
Xuemei was the first to succeed. A drop of blood emerged from the top of her head and floated up to rest above her. Song Que was next…. Bai Xiaochun quickly followed suit, using his special Undying Blood refinement technique to transform the blood qi inside of him into a drop of blood, which then floated up out of the top of his head.
Soon, blood had emerged from all nine of the Chosen. Time passed, and the drops of blood grew larger. After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, Xuemei's eyes snapped open. The blood above her head, which was already the size of a fist, flew over toward Patriarch Droughtflame.
Patriarch Droughtflame's eyes flickered, and then he nodded his head slightly. The blood then transformed into a red beam of light that shot up toward the grand lich in the blood eye. A moment later, it touched the bones of the lich, which caused it to shake slightly, and a faint aura of life force began to emanate out from it.
"Eight more drops of blood!" Patriarch Droughtflame said coolly.
As massive amounts of blood qi continued to pour into the blood altars, Bai Xiaochun looked on with a somber expression. However, inwardly, he was shaken.
"So much blood qi," he thought. "Should I help myself to a bit of it?"
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Chapter 240: I'm Just Too Honest
At first, Bai Xiaochun was a bit hesitant. He looked around at the other Chosen in front of their blood altars and saw that, other than Xuemei, who had already succeeded, everyone else was still working with the blood qi.
After confirming the situation, Bai Xiaochun was actually starting to get a bit angry at the excessive actions of the others. Take Song Que, for example. He had a foundation of eight Tideflows, and although it seemed reasonable that he would be slower than Xuemei, he shouldn't be that much slower! However, he was clearly only about seventy percent finished.
Everyone else was in a similar situation, with the slowest of the group being only thirty percent complete.
"Apparently I'm just too honest!" he thought. "I can't believe I'm still trying to figure out what to do, while those other jerks are already helping themselves to the blood qi to further their own cultivation!" Feeling more righteous than ever, he looked over at Xuemei and mused that she really was a fool. Apparently, her honesty was almost at the same level as his own.
"Ah whatever. I guess I'll just give in to the peer pressure. Since I'm undercover here, I don't want to do anything to stand out too much. I need to fit in, that's for sure…. Ai, I really don't want to do this." Sighing inwardly, he took a deep breath, and then began to siphon away about ninety percent of the blood qi….
Because of the suddenness of his action, the blood sphere above his head, which was already about half formed, suddenly withered. Although nobody down below noticed, Song Que and the others did, and their eyes burned with rage as they cursed him inwardly.
Patriarch Droughtflame hesitated for a moment, and gave Bai Xiaochun a closer look. Strange expressions could be seen on the faces of the other patriarchs. Actually, in addition to calling upon these nine Chosen to help summon the grand lich, the patriarchs had also intended for them to take advantage of the opportunity to increase their cultivation bases.
As for exactly how much they could improve their cultivation bases while simultaneously not drawing too much attention, that would be up to each individual.
Because Xuemei was focused on becoming blood master, she disdained such actions, and the patriarchs ignored that. But then Nightcrypt, despite being half finished, suddenly began to siphon away most of the blood qi for himself.
If Nightcrypt were the only one to do such a thing, it might not have mattered. However, a few moments later, Song Que, Xu Xiaoshan, and the others all followed suit. The patriarchs couldn't allow such a thing to go on.
After all, an underworldly fire had begun to burn around the grand lich in the blood eye….
"Whoever delays the summoning of the grand lich by not completing their blood sphere in the time it takes an incense stick to burn will be personally transformed into a lich by me!" The Song Clan patriarch snorted coldly and then spoke out in a voice that could only be heard by Bai Xiaochun and the others.
Bai Xiaochun's heart trembled. The blood qi he had just absorbed had already helped him significantly. His Undying Heavenly King had already climbed up to the power of five ghosts.
"So stingy!" he muttered to himself. However, he didn't dare to defy the patriarchs, and immediately restrained himself. Everyone else bowed their heads, and soon, the allotted deadline approached.
By this point, Bai Xiaochun and the others all had blood spheres that were about ninety percent complete. The final ten percent would require full concentration all the way down to the last second. After all, no one wanted to complete their spheres early. The best thing to do was wait until the last possible moment, and thus take advantage of the unbelievable opportunity that had been presented to further their cultivation with the help of the entire Blood Stream Sect.
In the short amount of time it takes an incense stick to burn, Bai Xiaochun's Undying Heavenly King made another breakthrough. His fleshly body power now was equivalent to six berserk ghosts. He was tingling all over, and had to resist the urge to look up and howl at the top of his lungs.
"Can't keep this up, unfortunately. Time's almost up…." Although he was reluctant to stop, there was nothing else to do. Sighing inwardly, he was just about to take advantage of the final few dozen breaths of time to complete the blood sphere, when suddenly his heart thumped….
"I wonder… if I put a bit of my own Undying Blood into the mix, would I be able to control the grand lich?"
The thought excited him, and if it actually worked, could be considered an incredible service for the Spirit Stream Sect. But then he thought about how well the Blood Stream Sect had treated him, and was torn.
"Song Junwan, the Song Clan patriarch, as well as the other grand elders, have all treated me pretty well. Although they're a bit brutal, overall, they're not bad." Sighing, he also considered the fact that with his current cultivation base, it didn't seem very likely that he would be able to control a grand lich. And yet, he still couldn't make a decision.
"Well, I might as well try. Whether I succeed or not will be up to the will of the heavens." Bai Xiaochun's eyes flickered, and he looked down. As everyone continued to transform the qi into blood, he did the same. And yet, he also extracted a bit of blood qi from his Undying Blood, and mixed it into the blood qi being provided by everyone else.
A few dozen breaths of time passed, and Patriarch Droughtflame's eyes flickered as he announced that the process was now ending. At that point, a blood sphere flew over from Song Que, Xu Xiaoshan, and everyone else. Bai Xiaochun nervously opened his eyes as his blood sphere also flew over.
His blood sphere looked exactly like everyone else's, but also contained some authentic Undying Blood within it.
"They shouldn't notice," he thought. "After all, my Undying Blood is true and authentic. Any other kind of Undying Blood is only a replica. Even if they do notice, they'll just think it's because I'm stronger than everyone else. After all, I did perform an Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening…" As the eight blood spheres flew over, Patriarch Droughtflame studied them briefly, then waved his hand, sending them flying up to the grand lich in the blood eye.
Bai Xiaochun breathed a sigh of relief as the blood spheres merged into the grand lich. Moments later, a powerful life force erupted out, and the underworldly fire in the grand lich's eyes began to burn even more brightly than before.
Then, the grand lich slowly rose to its feet, threw his head back and roared. That roar shook heaven and earth, and caused all light to dim as a shocking energy radiated out.
A gale force wind sprang up, sweeping across everything, casting everything into murky darkness.
As the grand lich awoke, the million-faced gargoyle, the withered patch of skin, and the blood sword all trembled. Apparently, they were now heading toward the point of awakening….
Cracking sounds echoed out in all directions as fissures began to fill the pupil of the blood eye, as if a magical seal were being broken!
Before Bai Xiaochun had time to assess whether or not his idea had worked, Patriarch Droughtflame waved his sleeve, as did all of the other patriarchs. Eyes glittering, they all flew toward the blood eye. The last to reach it was the Song Clan patriarch. Turning to look at everyone down below, he said, "In a month, the trial by fire for the position of Middle Peak blood master will begin!"
Even as his thunderous voice continued to echo back and forth through the sect, he stepped into the blood eye. In that instant, the million-faced gargoyle awoke. The patch of withered skin suddenly began to radiate life force, and the imp on the blood sword opened its eyes.
At the same time, more and more fissures spread out over the pupil, and it began to collapse. It was as if a door were being opened, that the eight patriarchs of the Blood Stream Sect were now entering.
RUMBLE!
The sky suddenly seemed to fade, and the blood eye vanished. Down below, the cultivators of the Blood Stream Sect looked up from their meditation. The sect leader and the grand elders then dismissed the crowds. However, many questions remained in the minds of all present.
They had all seen the reserve powers, and yet, were unsure why the patriarchs had entered the blood eye. For some reason, no matter how they considered the matter, they couldn't help but assume it had something to do with the war.
Bai Xiaochun was more nervous than ever. In the end, he'd been unable to determine whether or not his idea had worked. He pondered the matter as he headed back to his immortal's cave, where he stabilized the increase in power of his fleshly body. In the blink of an eye, nearly an entire month passed. Soon, it was only three days before the appointed day mentioned by the Song Clan patriarch, the trial by fire for the position of Middle Peak blood master.
By that point, everyone in the Blood Stream Sect was talking about the trial by fire. Every generation of the Blood Stream Sect always had four blood masters, who would eventually become blood rippers, a position higher than the prime elder.
In this generation, the Middle Peak blood master was the last spot that needed to be filled. Now that war was looming on the horizon, the trial by fire would finally be held to select the individual to become blood master. After the blood master was selected, the battle prowess of Middle Peak as a whole would be increased.
It was an important matter for the entire Blood Stream Sect, and even more so for the cultivators from Middle Peak. After all, in theory, any Foundation Establishment cultivator from Middle Peak could eventually become blood master.
Of course, it was common knowledge that this generation's blood master would be one of two people. Either it would be Xuemei, or it would be Grand Elder Song Junwan!
Discussions raged as the trial by fire neared.
"It will definitely be Young Lady Xuemei. She's at the peak of Earthstring Foundation Establishment with nine Tideflows. If she doesn't become blood master, that would be a big loss for us here on Middle Peak!"
"I think the grand elder also has a good chance of succeeding. After all, she's in the great circle of Foundation Establishment. Xuemei might be at the peak of Earthstring Foundation Establishment, but that's still only mid Foundation Establishment. She's not quite on the same level as the grand elder!"
"The blood master trial by fire doesn't just come down to cultivation base power. There are other factors, such as the strength of the Dharma protectors they bring along."
The night before the trial by fire was to begin, Bai Xiaochun was meditating in his immortal's cave, when suddenly, Grand Elder Song Junwan appeared outside. She was cloaked in moonlight as she came to stand outside the door, and when she smiled, she looked more beautiful than ever.
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt, are you well-rested?" she asked softly.
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Chapter 241: The Blood Devil is the Blood Lord!
In the days preceding Song Junwan's arrival outside his immortal's cave, Bai Xiaochun had pondered what to do regarding her request. He knew that after she emerged from seclusion, she would come looking for him, to ask for his help during the trial by fire for the position of blood master. For many days, she hadn't come.
Just when he was trying to decide whether or not to take the initiative to go see her, he heard her voice. At that point, his eyes glittered, and he cleared his throat. Instead of immediately opening the door of the immortal's cave, he decided to take advantage of the situation to make her wait outside, thus increasing his own perceived value.
In truth, he wasn't sure which decision was correct. After all, if he didn't join her, he could take advantage of her absence to attempt to sneak into her immortal's cave and acquire the relic of eternal indestructibility. If he succeeded, then it would definitely be unnecessary for him to participate in the trial by fire.
However, that option was also inherently dangerous, so dangerous that it was hard to decide if it was a better choice than the trial by fire.
Even as he sat there thinking, the door of his immortal's cave swished open quietly, and Song Junwan stepped inside.
"You!!" Bai Xiaochun was so startled he jumped up and walked backward a few steps. His immortal's cave was protected by a defensive spell formation, and yet Song Junwan had somehow entered despite it.
She smiled enigmatically as she looked Bai Xiaochun up and down, almost as if her gaze could pierce into his heart. "I'm the grand elder of Middle Peak, and I currently stand in for the blood master here. I control every blade of grass and every rock. If I want to go into an immortal's cave, nobody can do a thing to stop me.
"Besides, why would Junior Brother Nightcrypt refuse to let me into his immortal's cave? Instead of making you say the words, I just decided to take the initiative." With that, she sat down in a stone chair and rested her chin on her palm.
Although her gaze wasn't seductive, there was something enticing about it, something that tugged at Bai Xiaochun's heart in shocking fashion. His expression turned somber, and he growled, "Is becoming the blood master really that important to you?"
Song Junwan looked back at him quietly for a moment, then nodded.
"For many years, the Song Clan has administered Middle Peak, and generations of blood masters have all been Chosen from our clan. But this time around, things changed.
"Our patriarch made a deal with Patriarch Limitless, and one of the conditions was that the slut Xuemei would have a chance to compete for the position of blood master. In exchange, we got information about Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment.
"Unfortunately, Song Que failed to live up to expectations, and didn't reach Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment. Even worse was that the slut Xuemei unexpectedly reached nine Tideflows. As of this point, Que'er is no match for her. Therefore, I am the only person left who has a chance at becoming blood master!
"And that is why I need your help. With you as one of my Dharma protectors, I think I have a hope of actually succeeding!" With that, Song Junwan waited for Bai Xiaochun's response.
Bai Xiaochun didn't say anything at first. After hearing about the details of Xuemei's involvement, everything made a lot more sense. However, he still felt that the competition for the position would be very dangerous. A long moment passed, and Song Junwan continued, "I wouldn't ask you to help me if it wouldn't benefit you as well. Considering that you're already a bloodstreak elder, if I succeed, I will strongly recommend you to be the next grand elder!"
For some reason, she blushed slightly, and the charming seductiveness in her eyes seemed to intensify. It was almost like she were casting her vixen-like claws into Bai Xiaochun in an attempt to drag him in.
Bai Xiaochun coughed lightly and averted his gaze. Inside, he was still trying to decide what would be best. If he didn't participate in the trial by fire, there was always the chance that he could secretly acquire the relic of eternal indestructibility. Although making that attempt would be a big risk, participating in the trial by fire would be equally risky.
In one situation, he would have almost no control over how things played out. In the other, he would have a bit of control. In one scenario, here was a high chance of success despite the danger. In the other, the chances of success weren't as high, but were still good.
It took some time, but he made his choice. Gritting his teeth inwardly, he looked at Song Junwan and said, "If you want to become blood master, then of course I'll help you. However, I'd like to know a bit about the trial by fire. How exactly does the process work? How do you become a blood master?"
He had already decided that, even though he would attempt to help Song Junwan, his own safety was paramount. Perhaps by being careful, he could reduce the dangerous elements.
Song Junwan was already glowing with excitement. Eyes shining, she looked at Bai Xiaochun, a smile growing on her face that she covered with her hand. Expression softening, she said, "To many people, the details of this trial by fire are a big secret. But I won't hide anything from you. To begin with, I have to be clear: in every trial by fire, death is a common thing." Although Bai Xiaochun had been prepared for news like this, it didn't stop his heart from suddenly beginning to pound. Every time he heard the word 'death,' he would get anxious.
"One reason for that is that the trial by fire isn't held in the outside world, but rather, in the world beneath our feet…." Although she was speaking quietly, he words struck Bai Xiaochun like lightning.
"Beneath our feet?" Stunned, Bai Xiaochun looked down at the ground. It only took a moment for it to dawn on him what she meant, whereupon his eyes widened, and he gasped.
Song Junwan smiled at his reaction. "Back when you first arrived at the Blood Stream Sect, you noticed how the sect itself resembles an enormous hand, right?
"The Blood Stream Sect really is built on top of a huge hand. That hand belongs to a giant that is submerged beneath the surface of the Heavenspan River. Over the years, the various techniques of the Blood Stream Sect were all created after studying the hand.
"We also came to call the giant our Blood Ancestor!" A passionate, worshipful gleam appeared in Song Junwan's eyes, as if the matter she was discussing was the most important thing in the world. She wasn't the only person who would view the subject in this way; virtually everyone in the Blood Stream Sect did.
Bai Xiaochun blinked, but didn't say anything in response.
"The Blood Ancestor was a giant, but just like us, possessed flesh and blood, a skeleton, as well as the five yin organs and six yang organs….
"Anyone who wants to become a blood master must gain the approval of the Blood Ancestor. That approval comes in the form of crystals, which grow in the organs of the Blood Ancestor. On Middle Peak's Blood Master Temple, there is an entrance that leads to the interior of Middle Peak itself. By following the blood vessels inside the finger, we can enter the body of the Blood Ancestor.
"Each of the mountain peaks corresponds with one of the five yin organs, with Middle Peak connecting to the heart. The blood crystals there are the goal. The first person to get the blood crystal wins the approval of Middle Peak, and can call upon the power of the blood qi of the entire peak. They will gain the ability to suppress the cultivation bases of all cultivators there, and even more impressive, raise all cultivators' battle prowess! That is a blood master!"
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. He was more shocked than ever by what he was learning. Although he had understood a bit about blood masters, as of now, he realized how truly high of a position they occupied.
The difference between a mountain peak with a blood master and a mountain peak without one was so vast that it couldn't be put into words!
"I heard a story once…." Bai Xiaochun said.
"You mean the legend of the Blood Devil?" Song Junwan replied immediately, smiling. Bai Xiaochun nodded.
"That legend stems from conclusions reached over generations of research by the patriarchs. They all believe that somewhere in the Blood Ancestor's body is a legacy blood crystal!
"Whoever gets that legacy won't become a blood master, but rather, the Blood Devil, a position far higher than the blood masters. In fact, that position is even above the patriarchs. Because the Blood Stream Sect practices spirit blood cultivation, if the Blood Devil appears, speculation states that a single thought on his part could reduce the cultivation bases of the entire sect by fifty percent, from the Outer Sect all the way to the patriarchs!
"At the same time, a single thought on his part could increase the battle prowess of the entire sect by thirty percent! Simply describing a person like that as the Blood Devil isn't quite sufficient, so another term exists, a term known only to a select few in the sect. In fact, only the patriarchs of the top clans in the sect are aware of it….
"Blood Lord!" She spoke the words softly, but they seemed to contain great power.
"But legends are just that. Legends. Throughout the years, generations of patriarchs have searched through the body of the Blood Ancestor. Despite having searched most of the locations, they haven't found any legacy.
"I hope that one day while I'm still alive, I'll be able to see the Blood Lord rise up. Even the patriarchs are well aware that once the Blood Lord comes, he will either lead the Blood Stream Sect to unheard-of glory, or drag it down into ruin…. Because of that, some of the patriarchs hope the Blood Lord never comes. As for my Song Clan patriarch, he is not among that group."
Song Junwan smiled. "But enough about legends. Let's talk about the trial by fire itself.
"Your main purpose in coming along is to help me get the blood crystal. The most important factors leading up to that point are battle prowess and speed. Along with the other Dharma protectors, you must protect me, and help me beat Xuemei to the heart cavity!
"As long as I can get to the heart cavity first, that blood crystal will be mine!" Song Junwan's eyes gleamed with self-confidence.
"How many Dharma protectors will there be?" Bai Xiaochun asked.
"Both Xuemei and I can bring up to twenty Dharma protectors." Song Junwan replied placidly.
"That many!?" Bai Xiaochun said, a bit shocked. "What if one of the Dharma protectors gets to the heart cavity before you?"
"Theoretically speaking, any of the Dharma protectors could become a blood master. All they would have to do would be to get to the heart cavity first, take the blood crystal, and absorb it."
Bai Xiaochun blinked. If what Song Junwan said was true, then how could she prevent that very scenario from playing out? Presumably, she would have some method of retaining control other than being very particular about which Dharma protectors she selected.
Song Junwan chuckled lightly, but didn't offer any further detailed explanation. Much as Bai Xiaochun had suspected, both she and Xuemei both had methods of retaining control, special command medallions given them by their respective patriarchs.
Only someone with the command medallion would actually be able to enter the heart cavity.
After a moment of contemplation, Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth and looked down at the ground. He wasn't interested in fighting to get the blood master title. After all, he wasn't even a real disciple of the Blood Stream Sect.
He just wanted to get into the grand elder's immortal's cave. Therefore, he needed to help Song Junwan become blood master, so that he could become grand elder. That would solve all the problems perfectly.
Bai Xiaochun had already been in the Blood Stream Sect for years now, and at long last, his goal was in sight!
With that, he looked up and said, "I'll be there tomorrow morning at Blood Master Temple!"
Song Junwan took a deep breath and looked at Bai Xiaochun, her eyes glittering. Covering a smile with her hand, she took a step forward, then leaned forward and spoke into his ear, her lips nearly touching him, her warm breath caressing the side of his face.
"If you become grand elder, there are many things that could happen between us…."
Suddenly, her face flushed, as if she weren't sure why she had suddenly spoken those words. With a final piercing look at Bai Xiaochun, she glided away.
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Chapter 242: Trial By Fire for Blood Master!
"The vixen makes another move!" A fragrant, silky aroma entered Bai Xiaochun's nose, causing a mysterious sensation to pulse through him. Anxious and more on guard than ever, he watched Song Junwan leave.
"This isn't gonna work," he thought, sighing. "One of these days, that vixen is going to go in for the kill. I might have incredible willpower, I might be an amazing fighter, I might have numerous, uncountable outstanding qualities, but this vixen is just too dangerous." After taking some time to calm down, he sighed again.
"Ah whatever. Once I get the relic of eternal indestructibility, I'll go back to the Spirit Stream Sect, and then things will be fine. Besides, I've been missing Xiaomei lately." Settling down cross-legged, he meditated until the following morning. Then, his eyes snapped open. His cultivation base was at its peak, and he was full of energy as he emerged from his immortal's cave. 1
"Everything comes down to this!" Chin stuck up, he proceeded along proudly. As he did, many cultivators saw him, and bowed their heads deferentially. This was his first time appearing in public with his bloodstreak battlerobe, which had been sent over a few days earlier from Lesser Marsh Peak.
Only bloodstreak elders could wear bloodstreak battlerobes, which had built-in magical devices that could defend against an attack from a Core Formation expert. Such robes could only be produced at significant cost.
Nightcrypt's handsome face combined with the bloodstreak battlerobe created quite an eye-catching scene. Many people looked over with awe and reverence on their faces.
Bai Xiaochun enjoyed being treated in such a way, and even slowed down a bit as he flew through the air toward the upper finger. Eventually, he landed in front of Blood Master Temple, where a large group of people had already gathered.
Song Junwan and Xuemei's groups were clearly separated, and the two women were staring at each other coldly. Xuemei had twenty cultivators backing her, all of whom were awe-inspiring late Foundation Establishment experts. Their expressions were placid, but they radiated intense, murderous auras.
Not every person in the group was considered Chosen, but they were all practiced killers who were famous even outside the sect. The reason why people like this would be Dharma protectors for Xuemei actually had a lot to do with the fact that her father was Patriarch Limitless.
Song Junwan also had a formidable group gathered behind her, including Song Que. Most were direct bloodline clan members of the Song Clan.
All of Middle Peak's bloodstreak elders were gathered, as were many other ordinary cultivators. Once the trial by fire began, they would all be waiting for the new blood master to come out.
Several blurry figures could be seen floating up above, and from the pressure that weighed down from them, it was obvious that they were patriarchs of the sect.
There were four of them, two of whom Bai Xiaochun had only seen once before, during the grand lich summoning ritual. The other two were more familiar; the Song Clan patriarch and Patriarch Limitless.
When Bai Xiaochun arrived, the Song Clan patriarch saw him and gave him a glare. Shivering, Bai Xiaochun ducked his head and hurried over to Song Junwan.
As he did, Song Que looked at him and chuckled coldly. "You can't do anything right, can you? You even managed to show up late for the trial by fire. If you're scared of dying, why don't you just stay home!"
Yawning, Bai Xiaochun looked over, making sure to drag his eyes slowly over Song Que's recently re-grown hair and eyebrows. "As naughty as ever, aren't we, Que'er?"
"YOU!" Song Que growled through gritted teeth. Glaring at Bai Xiaochun, he was about to say more when Song Junwan intervened with a cold snort.
"Enough!" she said. "Both of you shut your mouths. If you want to argue, I'll personally arrange for it to happen, after the trial by fire!"
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times. Considering the somewhat oppressive atmosphere at the moment, he decided not to say anything else.
Up in midair, the Song Clan patriarch and Patriarch Limitless exchanged a bemused glance. Then, Patriarch Limitless looked over the crowd and said, "Let the trial by fire for the position of Middle Peak blood master… begin!"
Patriarch Limitless then performed an incantation gesture with his right hand and waved his finger toward Blood Master Temple.
Blood Master Temple began to rumble, and then a huge crevice opened up in the square outside the temple. Strong blood qi erupted out, along with intense, pulsing coldness and blinding blood-colored light. It almost looked like an enormous mouth ready to consume anything that came near.
However, closer inspection would reveal that the blood-colored light was anything but ordinary. It was possible to see other worlds inside of that light; apparently, if you stepped inside of it, you would be sucked into one of those blood-colored worlds.
The instant the crevice opened, one of Xuemei's Dharma protectors stepped forward, his cold eyes radiating killing intent. After looking over derisively at the people gathered behind Song Junwan, he stepped into the crevice and vanished.
One after another, all of Xuemei's Dharma protectors stepped forward and entered the crevice. Last to enter was Xuemei, who cast a cold glare at Song Junwan and her group before vanishing.
As the others were stepping into the crevice, Song Junwan lowered her voice and gave her Dharma protectors more information about the Endless World of Blood.
"The first stage of the blood master trial by fire is called the Endless World of Blood!
"Xuemei and I will not be able to pass through the first stage. It is only for you Dharma protectors….
"The body of the Blood Ancestor is a place that not just anyone can enter. The first stage tests the qualifications of the Dharma protectors that the two of us have selected. It will also determine exactly how many Dharma protectors will be able to proceed to the second stage!
"In order to enter the body of the Blood Ancestor, you have to become one with him. Although he is dead, there are still parts of him which contain life force. You must convince those living systems within the Blood Ancestor that you are one of them. Only then can you avoid being expelled.
"Within that crevice are numerous worlds, each one of which can only be entered by two people at a time. Xuemei's Dharma protectors have taken the initiative to select which worlds they will go into. As for you all, when you enter the crevice, you will automatically be dragged into one of those worlds with them!
"Once inside, you and the other Dharma protector will vie for the approval of the world. Those who succeed will be able to proceed to the second stage. Those who fail will be ejected. Not only must you be on guard against Xuemei's Dharma protectors, you must also watch out for the bloodbeasts within the world. They aren't intelligent, but they are completely and utterly bloodthirsty!
"I'll be waiting for you at the entrance to the second stage!" With that, she clasped hands and bowed to the assembled group. Song Que nodded back at her, his expression somber. Then he looked at Nightcrypt, snorted coldly, and strode over to the crevice. Moments later, he was gone, and the rest of the group began to enter.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth and leapt into the crevice.
Almost instant, a beam of blood-colored light swept over him, and he felt a massive force tugging at him. He completely lost control of his own body as he was sucked into the light.
Although the light didn't necessarily seem impressive from the outside, once it wrapped around him, he felt as if he were floating in a huge sea. As he was sucked along, he moved toward the end of that sea, where he saw an enormous, blood-colored sphere.
There were other spheres visible, all of which had people floating toward them. As the people neared the spheres, they were swallowed up.
Bai Xiaochun was frightened, and looked away from the all the spheres. However, it was in that moment that something strange occurred. All of the blood spheres suddenly trembled, and then sent out even more blood-colored light, all of which shone onto Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun wasn't sure if he was mistaken or not, but it almost seemed as if the blood spheres all wanted to be able to select him in particular.
There were even some blood spheres which were empty, having not been selected by any of Xuemei's Dharma protectors, which were also quivering, as if with anticipation.
Bai Xiaochun felt his nervousness mounting, but before he could react, the first blood sphere to have reached out to him seemed to go mad. Before he could get close, it actually flew toward him, then slammed into him, seemingly delighted.
Bai Xiaochun's vision went black, and he was sucked into the body of the sphere. When things began to clear up, he found himself in a strange world.
The sky was the color of the blood, the ground was the color of blood, everything was the color of blood, even the mountains and the plants.
"So weird," he thought, looking around vigilantly. The more he considered what had occurred, the stranger it seemed. After some thought, he decided it must have had something to do with his Undying Live Forever Technique.
"Could it be that I'm like a god in this place, and that's why all the blood spheres seemed to go crazy?" His eyes turned up in thought, and he cleared his throat. Then he cast his senses about, and was sure that he could sense the presence of a powerful will, a will that seemed filled with desire, something that was calling out to him.
"One of Xuemei's Dharma protectors is also in this place. I need to be careful. All of them are in late Foundation Establishment." He looked around again, vigilance mounting as he flew up into the air.
The more he flew along, the stranger things seemed. It was almost like he didn't need to use any cultivation base power to fly. The wind simply carried him along….
He didn't even see any bloodbeasts, to the point where he started wondering if they even existed here.
1. By Xiaomei he's referring to Hou Xiaomei
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Chapter 243: Nightcrypt, I'm Jia Lie, And You're Dead!
The entire world, including the sky and the land, was the color of blood. Plants, trees, mountains; everything was crimson as far as the eye could see.
Off in the distance was a blood-colored desert, and the very end of which was an oasis which was also the color of blood, that led to an ocean.
In the middle of that ocean was a mountain, the peak of which pierced the clouds.
That mountain was where the will of the world was located, and whichever cultivator climbed it first would win the approval and blessing of the world. That person would then be able to leave, with the approval of the Blood Ancestor, and qualified to enter the second stage.
There were countless worlds inside of the Blood Ancestor, but Xuemei and Song Junwan had both brought twenty Dharma protectors. Of the total of forty Dharma protectors, in the end, only twenty would be qualified to proceed.
Obviously, the number of Dharma protectors who Xuemei and Song Junwan ended up with would determine who had the advantage in the second stage.
Xuemei's Dharma protectors had entered the crevice first, and the one who had selected this particular world was a gaunt, middle-aged man with cold eyes. His cultivation base fluctuations were those of late Foundation Establishment, and overall, he looked like a viper ready to strike at any moment. Clearly, whoever, ended up in his sights would likely end up dead.
This man was Jia Lie, and in terms of battle prowess, he could be considered among the top three in Xuemei's group of Dharma protectors. He was completely and utterly confident of being able to dominate any of Song Junwan's Dharma protectors, with the exception of one or two.
Although he appeared to be middle-aged, he was actually over a hundred years old. However, because of the unique techniques he cultivated, his fleshly body was at the ultimate peak. Furthermore, he'd been able to add a full sixty-year-cycle to his longevity during his Foundation Establishment trial by fire. He had reached five Tideflows, had an incredibly powerful cultivation base, and was an adept killer.
"This world is like a Blessed Land for me!" he thought, looking off into the distance. He was currently gripping a blood-colored sea snake by the head. No matter how it struggled, it couldn't free himself, and if Jia Lie wanted to, he could crush it to death in an instant.
Jia Lie completely ignored the snake as he looked at the towering mountain not too far off in the distance. He already felt somewhat amused by this first stage of the trial by fire for blood master. He'd only just arrived in the huge world, and yet, he was already relatively close to the location of the world's will.
The reflection of the vast ocean and the towering mountain could be seen in his eyes, as well as the pulsing fluctuations which spread out from the mountain.
"Even if Song Junwan's Dharma protector gets lucky, there's no way he could get as close as I am. I might as well just take control of the will of this world right now. I won't even need to kill the other Dharma protector. I wonder who it is. Nightcrypt maybe…?" He chuckled coldly. Originally, he had planned to kill Song Junwan's Dharma protector and then earn the approval of the will of the world. But now it seemed that might not be necessary.
Blurring into motion, he sped out over the blood-colored ocean, quickly closing in on the cloud-wreathed mountain. He proceeded along with caution, and as such, wasn't taken by surprise when an intense roaring sound shook everything in the area. A moment later, a huge blood-colored dragon sped out from the other side of the mountain, fixed its eyes on Jia Lie, and then sped toward him rapidly.
It was more than 30 meters long, and bristled with a murderous aura.
A sense of intense crisis gripped Jia Lie, and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. Eyes widening, he exclaimed, "Impossible! How could a bloodbeast like that be in this place? Foundation Establishment cultivators can't fight something like that!!"
Even as he gasped in shock, more roars could be heard, and the auras of more bloodbeasts exploded from the vicinity of the mountain. Something like a powerful wind blasted out, causing the blood ocean to churn and seethe. Moments later, countless murderous eyes appeared beneath the surface of the water. There were so many that anyone who saw them would be shocked.
Before Jia Lie could proceed any further, the bloodbeasts beneath the surface of the water joined the bloodbeasts from the mountain to attack him.
The sheer number of bloodbeasts Jia Lie saw caused his scalp to tingle in shock and fear. Not daring to proceed, he actually fell back. After he retreated by about 3,000 meters, the enormous dragon slowly turned around, the auras of the other bloodbeasts slowly faded, and even the creatures beneath the surface of the water disappeared.
Jia Lie's face was covered with sweat, and his breath came in ragged pants. Despite the supreme confidence he had in his cultivation base, to be stared at by so many bloodbeasts left him scared out of his mind. After a bit of time passed, he frowned anxiously.
"With so many bloodbeasts here, it won't be easy to go any further. I guess I'll just need to wait for the right opportunity to present itself before I move onward…." Gritting his teeth, he backed up a bit more, and then found a place to conceal himself and let time pass.
During the seven days which followed, he saw quite a few bloodbeasts coming and going. Finally, the killing intent in his eyes flared.
"Forget it. Things aren't going to change here any time soon. Instead of waiting around, I might as well go find Song Junwan's Dharma protector and kill him. Then I'll have plenty of time to wait around. Maybe if I'm lucky, my opponent will be Nightcrypt, and I can save a bit of effort by getting rid of him now!" Looking at the ocean of blood which stretched out behind him, he chuckled coldly.
Being an adept killer, he was naturally a skilled hunter as well. He had keen senses, and although the world he was in was large, he was confident that with his cultivation base, it would be no difficult task for him to track down the other Dharma protector.
Blurring into motion, he flew off to begin the search.
Before he got very far, though, the sea down below seethed, and a huge bloodbeast burst out from the depths. It had the torso of a human and the tail of a fish, and as soon as it appeared, it attacked Jia Lie with bloodthirsty violence.
After a short battle, Jia Lie killed the bloodbeast and proceeded along. However, before he could get very far, two more bloodbeasts burst out from the water to attack him….
Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun was flying through the air, marveling at how strange and quiet the world was. Despite having been flying along for a few days, he hadn't seen a single bloodbeast. Everything around him seemed to be completely empty.
He didn't even need to use his cultivation base. The wind simply pushed him along. Of course, the strangeness of the situation put him more on guard than ever.
"Something really weird is going on with this place," he thought. "And where is Xuemei's Dharma protector? I wonder if he set up an ambush for me since he got here first." He continued to look around vigilantly as he proceeded. Eventually, he reached the desert.
By that time, Jia Lie was fleeing in terror across the blood ocean, chased by several thousand maddened bloodbeasts. His face was pale white, and his expression was that of terror.
"Dammit! Why are there so many bloodbeasts? I didn't provoke them, and yet they're showing up one after another! They're like a flood!!"
Before long, the tenth day passed. The more time that passed, the more Bai Xiaochun felt as if something really strange were going on. He still hadn't even seen the slightest trace of a bloodbeast, but distinctly recalled Song Junwan saying such bloodthirsty creatures existed here. At this point, he was starting to wonder what exactly was going on.
Eventually, he caught sight of the end of the desert, with the blood-colored oasis and the blood-colored ocean. His astonishment grew, as did his caution.
By now, Jia Lie's hair was disheveled, his skin sallow, and his eyes bloodshot. At long last, he burst out of the ocean region and into the oasis. After numerous dangerous encounters, he had finally made it out alive.
When he thought back to everything that had occurred in the ocean, he was filled with a sense of awe and dread regarding the world around him.
"It's a good thing I had all those life-saving magics and items, otherwise I probably would have died. However, if things were that difficult for me, then it's probably the same with Song Junwan's Dharma protector. In fact, maybe he already got eaten by the bloodbeasts." He looked back out at the ocean, heart still thumping with fear. Just when he was about to sit down and rest, his heart trembled, and he looked off into the distance, where a beam of light could be seen flying lazily through the air.
"Hmm?" A cold light flashed through Jia Lie's eyes, and he quickly reigned in the power of his cultivation base. At the same time, he produced a pearl, which let out a soft, warm light that completely concealed his aura.
Unless he suddenly unleashed the power of his cultivation base, that pearl would make it almost impossible to detect him. It was one of the life-saving items that had enabled him to make it out of the ocean of blood alive. After activating it, he stood there unmoving, looking up into the sky.
"Nightcrypt? Hahaha! It's really him!" Eyes flashing with killing intent, he began to chuckle. Although Nightcrypt was very famous, Jia Lie felt nothing but disdain for him. "So what if you can concoct some medicine and please the patriarchs? You really think you're a Chosen? Even with your Inverse Blood Ancestral Awakening, you're only in mid Mortal-Dao Foundation Establishment. I can kill you as easily as flipping over my hand. By cutting you down, I can accomplish the mission assigned to me by the blood master of Lesser Marsh Peak!"
Completely calm and confident, he pulled in his murderous aura and decided to wait for the right moment to attack.
Bai Xiaochun proceeded along cautiously. He didn't move very fast, and kept his divine sense spread out in all directions. As he got close to the blood-colored oasis, he was about to fly over it, when he looked down. Although he hadn't opened his third eye, his intuition told him that the place harbored danger. Without the slightest hesitation, he backed up.
"Hmm?" Jia Lie was surprised that Nightcrypt would have such acute senses. He gave a cold laugh. Considering how powerful his own cultivation base was, he decided that there was no need to hide any longer. He leaped up into the air, shooting directly toward Nightcrypt, his murderous aura exploding around him.
"Nightcrypt, I'm Jia Lie, and you're dead!" Laughing loudly, he shot forth accompanied by rumbles like that of thunder. His right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, and he waved his finger, causing a huge blood-colored hand to appear, which sped directly toward Bai Xiaochun.
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Chapter 244: Pure Malice
Bai Xiaochun's eyes widened. Jia Lie had stuck out among Xuemei's Dharma protectors earlier, so he recognized him. His attack burst with powerful energy, and it only took a moment for Bai Xiaochun to realize that this was a formidable opponent.
"Your cultivation base is higher than mine, but you were lying in wait to ambush me!?" he exclaimed loudly. "How shameless! Despicable! I hate your type! People like you should be struck by lightning!" Bai Xiaochun was very angry, and was just about to unleash an attack, when suddenly his eyes widened with disbelief. Jia Lie likewise was completely astonished by what happened next.
Almost as soon as the words left Bai Xiaochun's mouth, Jia Lie had laughed in response, and sent his blood-colored hand shooting forward.
But then, without any warning whatsoever, a deafening boom filled the sky, and a bolt of lightning appeared, as thick as a bucket. Before Jia Lie even had a chance to react, it slammed into him.
As the boom echoed out, Bai Xiaochun's jaw dropped. Jia Lie cried out in alarm, and the blood-colored hand was destroyed. Before Bai Xiaochun could do anything, a second lightning bolt appeared, then a third and a fourth, all of which shot directly toward Jia Lie.
Jia Lie screamed at the top of his lungs as the lightning smashed into him, causing blood to spray out of his mouth. At the same time, a look of utter incredulity could be seen on his face.
"What's going on!?!?" he bellowed in rage, simultaneously backing up as fast as possible. "What divine ability is this, Nightcrypt?!?!" Then he glanced up into the sky, and his scalp almost exploded from shock when he realized that a whole string of lightning bolts had appeared, over a hundred of them, and they were all beginning to descend toward him.
"No!!" Jia Lie screamed miserably and abandoned any thoughts of tangling with Bai Xiaochun at the moment. He slapped the top of his head, causing an ancient, dilapidated buckler to pop out of his mouth, which provided a modicum of protection as he fled.
However, the more than one hundred lightning bolts continued to slam down, and although the buckler managed to block them, Jia Lie was still left coughing up blood. The last dozen or so lightning bolts were too much for the shield, which shattered. Coughing up more blood, Jia Lie withered visibly. At that point, he pulled out a paper talisman, which he ignited, increasing his speed dramatically. With that, he sped off into the distance.
Bai Xiaochun hovered there, jaw hanging open. He hadn't even had a chance to unleash an attack. All he'd done was say something.
It was a completely shocking and unfathomable scene. In the mere moments in which Jia Lie closed in on him, he was struck by over a hundred bolts of lightning, and then fled with his tail between his legs. Despite that, Bai Xiaochun chose to do the cautious thing and just let him run.
Taking a deep breath, he looked up into the sky, and then looked at Jia Lie fleeing into the distance. Blinking, he suddenly started to get excited.
"Could it be… could it be that, without even my knowledge, my cultivation base has reached the point where I can kill someone with a mere word?!?!" The idea excited him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn't very likely. After some more thought, he decided that it was either a coincidence, or something to do with the Undying Live Forever Technique. In fact, he was actually hoping Jia Lie would show up again so that he could analyze the matter further.
Filled with curiosity and anticipation, he slowly flew out over the ocean of blood.
Meanwhile, some distance away from Bai Xiaochun, Jia Lie finally came to a stop in an area close to the ocean. He had blood dripping down his chin, and his eyes burned with madness. However, within that madness could be seen fear, and even terror. As of this moment, he was absolutely convinced that the lightning which had struck him was not one of Nightcrypt's divine abilities.
"How did he do it? Dammit! How exactly did he do it? How did he get so much lightning to strike me!?
"Wait, I know. Nightcrypt is also known as Plaguedevil. He's vicious and merciless, as well as a profound schemer. He must have realized that I planned to ambush him, then figured out a way to cause anyone who neared him to get struck by lightning!" Even after more thought, he decided that this was the only possible theory that made sense. Although he wasn't absolutely convinced, he was having a hard time coming up with other ideas.
"Maybe it had something to do with that oasis. The area where it borders the desert had some unstable fluctuations. Maybe my sudden appearance and the unleashing of my cultivation base disturbed some natural law. As an apothecary, Nightcrypt knows a lot more about those kinds of things than me. Maybe he took advantage of that to cause the lightning…." Jia Lie gritted his teeth, and his killing intent began to rise even higher than before.
"I refuse to believe that if I prepare well enough, you'll escape my next attack. I'm going to hack you to pieces! You'll die in complete and utter torment!" Jia Lie had never suffered in such unlucky fashion, and it took him quite a bit of time to calm down.
"I'm going to sacrifice a bit of my cultivation base to completely conceal my life force and aura. With that level of concealment, nobody in the Foundation Establishment stage will be able to detect me without getting within 300 meters of me!" He gritted his teeth, and suddenly his face turned red and his body withered. Then he began to slink forward stealthily.
It took him about three days to track down Bai Xiaochun, who was currently flying around over the ocean. As he flew, his passage kicked up gentle waves, and yet, not a single bloodbeast could be seen anywhere. Bai Xiaochun was actually very interested in what the bloodbeasts looked like, and yet, still hadn't had a chance to see one.
As he flew along, bored out of his mind, he suddenly noticed the air rippling and distorting about 300 meters to his left. Even as he turned his head, he saw Jia Lie suddenly materialize.
Jia Lie threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Eyes bloodshot, he summoned a blood mist that completely covered him and then transformed into a gigantic, vicious head that lunged toward Bai Xiaochun as if to consume him.
"Time to die, Nightcrypt!!" Considering how close he was, it only took a moment for the blood mist head to be just up ahead of Bai Xiaochun.
Before Bai Xiaochun could react, and before the blood mist head could actually reach him, brightly colored light flashed through heaven and earth, wind screamed, and rain began to pour down. Then, an indescribably powerful gale sprang up right in front of Bai Xiaochun!
The wind even caused the ocean water to rise up in shocking fashion. It smashed into the blood mist head, which shuddered for a moment before exploding to reveal the screaming Jia Lie.
"Impossible! How are you doing this, Nightcrypt…?"
He was completely helpless as the mighty wind swept him away, shredding his clothing, ripping at his skin until blood flowed. In that critical moment, Jia Lie pulled out a life-saving magical item which teleported him away just before he was torn to pieces.
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. Moments ago, he had only been about 60 meters away from Jia Lie, and yet the mighty wind and the surging ocean hadn't even moved a single hair on his head.
That 60-meter distance was like the gap between heaven and earth….
Bai Xiaochun watched mutely as Jia Lie was swept away in terrifying fashion. If he didn't understand what was happening by this point, he wouldn't be Bai Xiaochun.
"This world is protecting me? We're related because of the Undying Live Forever Technique, so it's helping me?" Moved, he looked around at the world, and was more convinced than ever that this was the case. Excited, he stuck his chin up and then swished his sleeve.
"With the snap of a finger, I, Bai Xiaochun, can reduce measly Foundation Establishment cultivators to ashes!"
The pride he felt cleansed him of any nervousness. With that, he flew in grand fashion up into the air, sighing emotionally. Meanwhile, quite a distance away, Jia Lie was coughing up mouthfuls of blood. By this point, he was on the verge of going crazy.
"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!!" Enraged to the point of trembling, he simply couldn't accept the situation.
"First there was the lightning, and then that wind. Just how is Nightcrypt doing it all? Don't tell me this world is actually taking care of him?! I refuse to believe it! I refuse to accept it!" Then he coughed up another mouthful of blood. Eyes completely bloodshot, he looked down at his injured and damaged body, and was relieved to see that his bag of holding was still clutched tight in his right hand.
He put on a new set of clothing, killing intent surging. His hatred for Bai Xiaochun had reached the point where he couldn't bear to live under the same sky as him. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a small statue out of his bag of holding.
The statue depicted an evil ghost, completely vicious in appearance. After a moment of hesitation, Jia Lie bit the tip of his tongue and spit some blood onto the statue. The statue immediately melted, transforming into a black liquid that then took the shape of a magical symbol, which flew up and branded itself onto Jia Lie's forehead.
Jia Lie shuddered, then let out a piercing cry as the magical symbol spread out from his forehead, transforming into a black suit of armor. In the blink of an eye, the armor covered his entire body, healing his wounds, and causing his gaunt figure to suddenly ripple with muscles. Closer inspection would reveal that the transformation was partly corporeal and partly illusory.
"The Lesser Marsh Peak blood master gave me this Ghost Body. It will temporarily restore my cultivation base, and even advance it a bit! Nightcrypt's bizarre abilities won't do any good against the Ghost Body. I already understand his lightning, and although I don't really get that wind, I can now attack him from under the water! Plus, the Ghost Body can pass right through the wind!
"Nightcrypt, I refuse to believe that this world is taking care of you. And even if it is, I can defy the heavens and kill you!" Gritting his teeth, he reigned in his cultivation base and then dove down into the water, where he sped along at top speed.
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Chapter 245: This Isn't Fair!
Three days later, Bai Xiaochun was still flying around over the blood ocean. He could sense that, off in the distance, there were strange fluctuations which were obviously coming from the location of the world's will.
"I wonder why that Jia Lie hasn't shown up over the past few days?" Bai Xiaochun actually missed him a bit. Every time he showed up, it was a chance to see how the world would protect him.
Because of his anticipation, he made sure to fly along even more slowly than usual. On the evening of the third day, when the blood-colored sky was starting to grow dark, the sea water beneath Bai Xiaochun suddenly exploded with a shocking aura. Water showered up into the air, along with raging killing intent and a powerful roar.
"Prepare to die, Nightcrypt!!" It was a voice filled with indescribable hatred, and along with it, a black-armored figure appeared. It was Jia Lie, who seemed to flicker between corporeal and illusory. As he flew out of the water, he rapidly increased his speed, shooting directly toward Bai Xiaochun.
All of the power of Jia Lie's late Foundation Establishment cultivation base exploded out. That, coupled with the boost provided by the Ghost Body armor, put him incomparably close to the great circle of Foundation Establishment, and caused intense pressure to weigh down in all directions.
Bai Xiaochun was delighted, and as Jia Lie closed in, he stuck his chin up and waved his sleeve. Pointing at Jia Lie, he said, "Back off!"
To see Bai Xiaochun posing in such away enraged Jia Lie even more, and caused him to accelerate even more rapidly. By this point, he was already about 9 meters away from Bai Xiaochun, and not even a lightning bolt could intervene quickly enough to stop him. As far as he was concerned, Nightcrypt was going to die, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Mouth twisting into a vicious smile, he cried, "Like hell I'll–"
However, before he could even finish his sentence, a blood-colored hand suddenly shot up from the sea down below. It moved with indescribable quickness, forming a palm that slapped Jia Lie like a human would a mosquito.
A resounding smack could be heard. Jia Lie's black armor shattered, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. The bitterness of his scream would shock to the core anyone who could have heard it.
"No!!" Despairing, Jia Lie coughed up a mouthful of blood as he tumbled away. His body was already on the verge of exploding, and his recently recovered cultivation base power was instantly damaged. He was now weaker than ever….
Bai Xiaochun gasped and blinked a few times as the enormous blood hand sank back down into the water. As Jia Lie spun away off into the distance, Bai Xiaochun's expression turned into one of admiration.
"You're really persistent, aren't you?" Sighing, he proceeded along, looking forward to the next time Jia Lie showed up….
Off in the distance, Jia Lie hovered above the ocean water, looking confused, tears of frustration welling up in his eyes. Throughout all his years of cultivation, he had always shed blood, never tears. And yet, here he was, crying.
In his perspective, this world was completely and utterly evil. All he wanted to do was kill Nightcrypt! As a result, he had been struck by lightning, flayed by wind, and then slapped by some terrifying bloodbeast.
By this point, he was starting to think that it would take a miracle for him to get out of this place alive.
"My cultivation base is higher than his! I've been in the Blood Stream Sect for much longer! Why is this world treating me like this!?!?" Tears continued to flow down his cheeks. From the moment he had entered this world, he had felt like he was in a living nightmare.
By this point, he was completely and utterly terrified of Nightcrypt, and couldn't have been convinced by anybody to try to provoke him. Furthermore, he completely hated the blood master of Lesser Marsh Peak, as well as Xuemei. The only reason he was here was because of Xuemei. Otherwise, he would never have been forced to tangle with Nightcrypt, nor would he have accepted the mission from the Lesser Marsh Peak blood master. He wouldn't have attempted to kill Nightcrypt so many times, and wouldn't have ended up in this state, targeted by the very world around him.
"This isn't fair!!" Jia Lie was actually quite close to the mountain peak, and the will of the world. However, there were so many bloodbeasts on the mountain that he obviously had no hope of even getting near it.
As Jia Lie despaired, Bai Xiaochun was flying casually through the air some distance away. Looking at the mountain in front of him, he felt the strong sensation that all he had to do was head up to the top of the mountain, and he would be able to pass the first stage of the trial by fire.
However, even as he closed in, the same huge dragon from before stuck its head out from behind the mountain and stared at Bai Xiaochun. At the same time, countless terrifying auras surged out from the mountain itself, locking down onto Bai Xiaochun. Apparently, if he got any closer, all of those bloodbeasts would charge into action.
Bai Xiaochun stopped in place. Earlier, he'd only caught a glimpse of that huge hand, but now that he could actually see the bloodbeasts face to face, he realized that they looked very much like the kind of wild beasts you might see in the outside world. The only difference was that they were completely the color of blood. Actually, they seemed similar to banebeasts in certain ways.
Unexpectedly, the bloodbeasts were looking at Bai Xiaochun with animosity, which caused the despairing Jia Lie to suddenly go wild with joy. Panting, his eyes widened, and hope gleamed therein.
"He can't get onto the mountain either!!" Jia Lie exclaimed excitedly. At last, his chance had arrived. Quickly covering up his aura, he fixed his eyes on Bai Xiaochun and began to search for another opportunity to snatch victory.
Bai Xiaochun felt a headache coming on as he looked at the mountain full of bloodbeasts. After a moment of hesitation, he decided that the best thing to do would be to test out how much the world would protect him. Having made his decision, he carefully proceeded forward. If the bloodbeasts reacted too violently, then he could always retreat.
He slowly got closer and closer, until he actually stepped onto the mountain itself. That was when he really started to get nervous. However, the nervousness quickly began to fade as he realized that the bloodbeasts were just looking at him, and none of them were moving to block his path.
Joy rising, he began to stroll forward, completely unhindered. Meanwhile, Jia Lie hovered over the ocean, eyes wide with shock.
Moments later, a thoughtful expression appeared in his eyes, and then hesitation, and finally, an intense glowing light.
"I get it now! Although there are a lot of bloodbeasts here, as long as you don't exude any killing intent, the bloodbeasts won't interfere. That's definitely how to do it!
"For example, here I am floating on the surface of the ocean, right next to the mountain, and yet none of the bloodbeasts under the water are attacking me. It's obviously because I have no killing intent!" Jia Lie still felt a bit hesitant and unconvinced. However, if he gave up at this point, his newfound hope would be dashed. Therefore, he clenched his jaw and flew up into the air with an expression of determination. Making sure he had no killing intent, he proceeded forward with the utmost caution.
Soon he was nearing the mountain, and the numerous bloodbeasts turned their gazes upon him. Jia Lie stopped in place, scalp tingling, limbs trembling. However, he forced a smile onto his face.
"No ill will here!" he said. "I'm just passing through…."
However, in the instant he opened his mouth, the enormous, blood-colored dragon suddenly howled, flying up into the air and then charging down toward Jia Lie. At the same time, the countless other bloodbeasts erupted with murderous auras and flew toward Jia Lie.
Eyes snapped open down in the ocean water, and countless blood-colored giants rose up from the depths, howling as they surrounded Jia Lie.
Jia Lie let out a bloodcurdling scream, and tears streamed down his face.
"This isn't fair! You're cheating!!" Jia Lie wept at how the world around him was toying with him. As the bloodbeasts pounced, his screams echoed out far and wide.
Bai Xiaochun's heart was trembling. The sudden outburst among the bloodbeasts had startled him so much that he almost took to flight. But then he realized that the bloodbeasts were merely attacking Jia Lie.
He had been worried about Jia Lie in the beginning, but after realizing his own importance to the world around him, he stopped paying much attention to him. However, as of this moment, he started to feel a bit bad.
When he heard Jia Lie accusing him of cheating, he coughed dryly, but didn't attempt to make any explanations. After all, Jia Lie was actually right…. After arriving in this world, he hadn't done a single thing except fly around.
Even on the mountain, the bloodbeasts just let him pass by….
Bai Xiaochun really felt that the world had treated him well. Looking back down at Jia Lie amidst the bloodbeasts, he considered throwing an Aphrodisiac Pill down….
"Ah, I shouldn't. I'm a good person, after all." Sighing, he proceeded on toward the peak of the mountain, where he found a stone stele, which emanated pulsing light that seemed to be calling to him.
After some thought, he approached the stele and placed his hand onto its surface. Instantly, his divine sense seemed to spread out to fill the entire world….
It was as if the world had somehow become a part of him….
In that moment, the blood ocean began to seethe, the sands of the desert floated up into the air, the sky trembled, and the lands quaked. Plants, mountains, everything in the world began to shake with joy, with approval, with worship!!
The bloodbeasts kowtowed, roaring as they acknowledged allegiance to Bai Xiaochun standing there on the mountain….
His life having been spared, Jia Lie trembled and looked up at Bai Xiaochun, and knew that he would never, ever be able to forget this experience, nor the image of Nightcrypt standing there like the emperor of the entire world!
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Chapter 246: Second Stage
This was Jia Lie's first time serving as a Dharma protector in a trial by fire for blood master. As such, he was completely unaware of what others who were participating in the trial might have encountered in the worlds they entered.
However, he was convinced that his experience was completely unlike the experiences of anyone else. In fact, he had the feeling that throughout all the trials by fire the Blood Stream Sect had held from ancient times until now, no one had ever done what Nightcrypt was doing.
He had no way to confirm whether his theory was correct, but when he looked around at the world trembling, and all the livings things prostrating in worship to Bai Xiaochun, he impulsively followed suit.
As Bai Xiaochun stood there on the mountain top, he was suddenly struck by the strange sensation that he could actually destroy the entire world with a single thought.
As of this moment, his Undying Live Forever Technique was in full operation, and after a moment passed, he realized there was a voice whispering in his ear.
"Come… come… come…."
Snapping out of his reverie, his eyes shone, and he took a deep breath. Then he pulled his hand back from the stone stele. Everything in the world began to shine with bright, blood-colored light, which all shot toward Bai Xiaochun, surrounding him.
The crimson light transformed into a door, which slowly opened right in front of him.
He looked at the door hesitantly for a moment, aware that if he stepped through it, he would be able to enter the second stage. Looking around at the world one more time, he stepped forward and vanished into the blood-colored light.
At some unknown location within the body of the Blood Ancestor, there was an open space that seemed to have no beginning or end, and was as quiet as death. The only thing visible were numerous cone-shaped pillars which rose up from the darkness below.
At the top of each pillar was a platform.
Two of those platforms were much taller than the others, but not very far away from each other. Xuemei was on one, and Song Junwan the other. Both of them sat cross-legged, staring at each other.
They had been sitting there for less than two hours. Because of the command medallion each of them possessed, they didn't need to acquire the approval of the Blood Ancestor the way the Dharma protectors did. They had come directly to this place to wait.
Time flowed differently in the Endless World of Blood. In the two hours that had passed for Xuemei and Song Junwan, an entire month had gone by inside.
Based on the analyses of both women, they would need to wait several more hours before any of the Dharma protectors began to emerge. In any case, the second stage of the trial by fire could not begin until both women used their command medallions to open it. Neither of them would be willing to do that until their Dharma protectors were all accounted for.
The two of them had been exchanging barbs back and forth the entire time, and after a short respite, it was Xuemei who resumed the conversation. Chuckling coldly, she said, "Song Junwan, why fight with me over the blood master position, considering how old you are? Is it really true that the Song Clan couldn't find anyone better, and was forced to let an old woman champion their cause?"
Song Junwan frowned, and she was just about to respond in kind when suddenly, her expression flickered, and she looked up into the air. Xuemei also looked up, her pupils constricting.
Rumbling sounds echoed out as the shape of a huge door slowly took form.
"Someone got the approval of the world will so quickly!?" Xuemei thought. "It's only been two hours! That's about a month in the Endless World of Blood!" Xuemei's eyes widened, and her heart filled with shock. She was very familiar with how the blood master trial by fire worked. Supposedly, the most quickly a Dharma protector had ever obtained approval in the past was three hours, which was a month and a half on the inside.
"Who is it…?" Song Junwan thought, equally shaken. "Who overcame the other Dharma protector in the Endless World of Blood, dealt with the countless bloodbeasts, and still managed to get the approval of the will of the world? The fighting must have been intense for this person to have finished so quickly!" Whoever this person was, if it ended up being one of her own Dharma protectors, she would obviously be thrilled. However, if it was one of Xuemei's Dharma protectors, that would pose a big obstacle in her attempt to win the position of blood master.
After mentally reviewing all of her Dharma protectors, she couldn't think of any who could pull off such a feat. As such, her expression began to darken.
And yet, Xuemei had the same reaction. As she reviewed her own list of Dharma protectors, she wasn't confident that any of them could do something like this. Along with Song Junwan, she stared up at the illusory door.
A moment later, a blurry figure appeared within the door. It only took a few breaths of time for both women to see exactly who it was, and they both cried out in surprise.
"Nightcrypt!!"
"Nightcrypt!?"
Xuemei's eyes flickered with killing intent, and her heart trembled with shock. She couldn't imagine how Nightcrypt had possibly acquired the approval of the world will so quickly.
After her initial shock, Song Junwan's heart swelled with delight, and her beautiful eyes were glued to Bai Xiaochun.
When Bai Xiaochun first stepped out of the door, his vision was swimming, and he couldn't see clearly. It only lasted for a moment, though, and then he saw all of the countless platforms around him, as well as Xuemei and Song Junwan.
"Junior Brother Nightcrypt, come on over here," Song Junwan said, smiling. Her voice was full of both tenderness and joy.
Xuemei snorted coldly, clenching her hands into fists.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, then headed over to Song Junwan. As soon as he touched down onto the platform, he walked over to her side.
"Um… I'm the first?" he asked quizzically.
"Of course you are," Song Junwan said, smiling sweetly. "How did you do it? Who was your opponent?"
To Bai Xiaochun, her smile only seemed to reveal her inner vixen. However, he didn't allow his true feelings to show. He stuck his chin up, clasped his hands behind his back, and tried to look as proud and murderous as possible.
"Oh, it was simple," he said in a calm, deep voice. "I just walked through the world. As for my opponent, I never asked his name." From his wording and posture, he seemed completely proud and aloof. As for how he called the Endless World of Blood "simple," both Xuemei and Song Junwan could well imagine him summoning his blood sword and slashing his way through the world….
He likely ignored the countless attacking bloodbeasts, not even deigning to look at the world around him as he slaughtered his way to gain the approval of the world will.
Song Junwan's eyes glowed even more brightly before when she looked at Bai Xiaochun, and as for Xuemei, she couldn't help but stare at him. Moments later, both women realized that he wasn't wounded at all, and their expressions flickered.
Just when Song Junwan was about to ask about it, Bai Xiaochun flicked his sleeve and coolly said, "I'm tired. Please let me know when the second stage is about to begin." With that, he walked off to the side, where he sat down cross-legged, looking as arrogant as a wizened pine tree on top of a mountain. When he closed his eyes, his cold, cruel face and murderous aura caused Song Junwan's words to stick in her throat.
Inwardly, Bai Xiaochun was laughing, and felt very proud of himself. As far as he was concerned, he was completely outstanding and utterly superior to everyone.
"Wait, I need to do something to make it seem a bit more realistic," he thought. With that, he slowly lifted his head and looked off into the distance, eyes filling with a look of melancholy and introspection.
That left Song Junwan and Xuemei even more shaken, although they weren't sure exactly what it meant.
Time passed. Two hours later, the air up above once again began to ripple and distort, and the door appeared again. A burly, dangerous-looking man appeared, seemingly out of breath as he emerged into the open. As soon as Xuemei saw him, she broke out into a smile. The burly man clasped hands and bowed to her in greeting, then approached the platform and sat down next to her. When he saw Bai Xiaochun over on the other platform, his heart filled with shock.
He had assumed that he would be the first to emerge, and would never have even guessed that Nightcrypt would be faster.
As the hours passed, more and more Dharma protectors appeared. Song Que was one of them, although he looked exhausted, and his body was riddled with wounds. Clearly, it had been a difficult task for him to win the approval of the world will.
Ten hours later, the final Dharma protector appeared, and the first stage was officially over.
Both Song Junwan and Xuemei had selected their Dharma protectors carefully, and all of them were extraordinary in some way. Unexpectedly, the two groups had been quite evenly matched, as there were now exactly ten Dharma protectors on either side.
The two women exchanged a frosty glance, and then both of them snorted coldly. Turning to their Dharma protectors, they began to explain the second stage.
"During the first stage," Song Junwan began, "you Dharma protectors fought for the approval of the world, and I did not participate. In the second stage, the fighting will be more brutal, and I will participate!
"The second stage is called the Blood Wasteland. It is a road without end, over which a deathly wind blows every fourteen hours. Once that wind blows, every living thing within the Blood Wasteland will be killed, reduced to nothing more than a skeleton.
"That is the path that leads to the heart cavity. Put simply, we have exactly fourteen hours to search the Blood Wasteland for the keys which lead to the heart cavity!" Off in the distance, Xuemei was making a similar explanation to her Dharma protectors.
"Every two hours, a key will appear at a random location within the wasteland. Anyone who gets one of the keys, and holds onto it until the fourteen hours have passed, will be teleported to the Ancient Blood Path which leads to the heart cavity. Of course, Xuemei and I don't need keys to enter the Ancient Blood Path.
"There are a total of seven keys, which means that only seven Dharma protectors can enter the Ancient Blood Path with Xuemei and myself!"
Bai Xiaochun's expression flickered, as did the expressions of everyone else except for Song Que. One of them, a middle-aged cultivator, lowered his voice and asked, "What about the people who don't get a key?"
Song Junwan looked at the man for a moment, and then replied, "We are fighting as a team, and whichever party gets the most keys will be the winner. The disciples on the winning team who don't get keys will be not be teleported to the Ancient Blood Path, but neither will they be killed. They will simply be ejected.
"As for the losing team, whoever among them don't get keys will all be killed after the fourteen hours are up! Those are the rules, and not even the patriarchs can interfere to save the losers!
"Therefore, this is not the time for infighting! If a key falls into the hands of one of Xuemei's Dharma protectors, feel free to attack them. If your own teammates get them, however, you are prohibited from competing amongst yourselves!
"Infighting will not only increase our chances of losing, it could also lead to your deaths….
"The lot of you are either members of the Song Clan, or here because of certain promises I made. If I become blood master, your future prospects will be limitless. Everything that I have promised you, I will see done. If I lose, and Xuemei succeeds, then all of us will meet a grisly fate!" With that, Song Junwan clasped hands and bowed deeply to Bai Xiaochun and the other Dharma protectors.
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Chapter 247: What's That?
The ten Dharma protectors, Bai Xiaochun included, all had different reactions to Song Junwan's words. As for Song Que, his expression darkened slightly, but other than that, didn't change much. Because of his position in the Song Clan, he actually knew more about the blood master trial by fire than most did.
After all, if he hadn't failed to reach Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment, he would have been the one taking the lead in this trial by fire. However, because he wasn't a match for Xuemei, the Song Clan had chosen Song Junwan as the one to vie for the Middle Peak blood master position which the clan had held for generations.
Because of how things had played out, Song Que was on the bad side of many of the older generation of the Song Clan. In turn, the rise of Nightcrypt had put even more pressure on him. That was especially true considering that Song Junwan had come to favor Nightcrypt. Song Que was left with few options.
The Song Clan had deep roots in the Blood Stream Sect, and had many direct bloodline clan members. Song Que was the face of the current generation of direct bloodline descendants, but that only meant that there were plenty of people hoping to see him fail miserably so that they could then replace him.
He needed to blaze a path for himself, to go all out with everything he had, to try to make sure his aunt succeeded. Only in that way would he be able to prove how valuable he was. That was also the only hope he had of eventually succeeding his aunt as blood master in the future.
Suppressing his revulsion for Nightcrypt, he was the first one to speak up after Song Junwan finished talking.
"I will do everything in my power to gain victory in the Blood Wasteland, and I will definitely not allow any infighting to occur. Grand Elder, please rest at ease. If anyone dares to cause problems, then if we get out alive, and that person also survives, then I'll teach him what it means to live a life worse than death!" Song Que's eyes shone with intense light, and were filled with killing intent.
As for the other Dharma protectors, they were left with little choice of what to do. In the Blood Stream Sect, cultivators loved to fight each other. But in this case, if they lost, they would all die. Therefore, they had to band together as a team to fight and defeat their opponents.
After a moment of silence, the Dharma protectors began to speak out.
"Grand Elder, as long as you can fulfill your promise, then I won't hesitate to put my life on the line!"
"The Song Clan has treated me well, and I'll definitely repay the favor!"
Already, they were less on guard against the people standing next to them.
Bai Xiaochun was starting to get anxious, and couldn't help but feel that Song Junwan had conned him…. He had been aware that the trial by fire would be dangerous, but never could he have imagined that the danger would be completely out of his own control. If the entire team failed, he could end up dead….
Even as he was sighing inwardly, he suddenly realized that the whole group was looking at him. Without any hesitation he tilted his head back arrogantly, a cold look in his eyes as he said, "For Junwan, I would go through hell or high water! It's my duty!"
Strange looks could be seen on the faces of the other Dharma protectors, and Song Que gritted his teeth. However, he knew that he had no choice but to let go of his hatred for Nightcrypt. Snorting coldly, he looked away.
Song Junwan glanced at Bai Xiaochun apologetically, but didn't offer any words of consolation. Instead, she offered one final warning.
"There are three people you need to be especially careful of. They are Yang Hongwu, Xiao Qing and Zhang Yunshan! Of those three, Yang Hongwu and Zhang Yunshan likely possess powerful magical items. As for Xiao Qing…." Her expression suddenly flickered with dread. "He should have reached Core Formation long ago, but hasn't…. In the past, he served as Patriarch Limitless' personal attendant!"
With that, she went on to give more details about the group of three cultivators.
Bai Xiaochun's nervousness was mounting. About the same time that Song Junwan finished speaking, Xuemei also finished explaining matters to her Dharma protectors, who all seemed to be bursting with killing intent and murderous auras, and were looking over menacingly at Bai Xiaochun and those around him.
Of course, Song Que took the lead in doing the same, and Bai Xiaochun was more than happy to join in. Even back in the Spirit Stream Sect, he had participated in such staring contests.
"Hmmmph! I'm not afraid of anybody in competitions like these!" Although his eyes widened into a glare, he couldn't stop thinking about the three people Song Junwan had just described, and after finding them in the group, he fixed their facial features in his mind.
He would well imagine that he might run into them in the Blood Wasteland, and end up fighting bloody battles over the keys.
Only a total of seven people would be able to enter the third level, the Ancient Blood Path. Whoever those people ended up being, they would have a profound influence on who became blood master in the end.
At this point, Xuemei took a deep breath and said, "Shall we open the door, Song Junwan?"
She waved her right hand through the air, and a bright red light appeared in her palm, which flew out into the air in the form of a blood-colored command medallion.
That command medallion instantly became the center of all attention. Even Bai Xiaochun took a closer look. Both Xuemei and Song Junwan possessed such medallions, which not only let them bypass the first level, but ensured that they didn't need to get a key to enter the Ancient Blood Path.
"It's like all the decisions about this trial by fire were made behind closed doors, and everybody knows it…." Sighing, he looked over at Song Junwan. Song Junwan's eyes flashed as she also extended her right hand, causing the second blood-colored command medallion to appear in her palm.
Blood-colored light spread out from the two command medallions, flying up into the air above the platforms. As the light spread out, everything was bathed in crimson, and at the same time, the outline of a huge door appeared. As the door opened, pulses of heaven-shaking, earth-shattering energy rolled out. Two beams of blood-colored light then shot toward Song Junwan and Xuemei, connecting with their command medallions and merging into their bodies.
"The second stage is starting. Follow me!" With that, Song Junwan flew into the air, followed closely behind by Song Que. The other Dharma protectors flew out into formation around Song Junwan, Bai Xiaochun included, and the entire group shot toward the blood-colored door.
They managed to beat Xuemei into motion, and even as the eleven of them flew into the door, Xuemei and her group sped into motion behind them, transforming into beams of light that also shot toward the door.
Soon, not a single person could be seen on the platforms. The blood door slowly faded away, and within a few breaths of time, was gone.
The Blood Wasteland looked exactly as its name implied. It was a huge desert, filled with crimson sand and grit. Just looking around, it seemed like a completely barren wasteland.
Hot, screaming winds gusted, sending sand flying around everywhere. It seemed bleak and destructive, a place devoid of life.
Within the swirling deadliness of the desert sands, bleached bones were occasionally revealed, the remains of people who had died in previous trials by fire for the Middle Peak blood master position.
Bai Xiaochun instantly sensed the aura of death which pervaded the entire area. Then he saw a nearby skeleton, and his pupils constricted.
He wasn't the only one who had such a reaction.
"After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the first key will appear," Song Junwan said. "Whenever a key appears, it will send a huge pillar of light up into the sky, a pillar of light that will not disappear, not even when the key is attained….
"Everyone split up. When that first pillar of light appears, head in that direction…. Remember, fighting each other over the keys is not allowed. Whoever gets it first must be offered protection by everyone else!
"I plan to offer myself up as bait to Xuemei. Knowing her deviousness, she won't wait until the Ancient Blood Path opens up before trying to kill some of you. She'll definitely start here, and will probably ask for help from her Dharma protectors to kill me!
"Even if she wasn't planning to do that, I'll try to goad her into it. If she did have that plan all along… well then, I think she'll be surprised at how things turn out. For the next fourteen hours, everything is up to you Dharma protectors!" With that, she flew off by herself.
Some distance away, she called out in a powerful voice that spread out in all directions, "Xuemei, do you dare to come out and fight me!?"
Not too far away from Bai Xiaochun and his group, Xuemei and her team were just now appearing. When she heard Song Junwan's voice, her eyes flickered coldly.
"Don't worry about me," she said to her people. "You go get the keys. I'll handle Song Junwan!" With that, she flew in Song Junwan's direction.
It only took a moment before they were closing in on each other, eyes bursting with killing intent. Apparently, Patriarch Limitless and the Song Clan patriarch had reached an agreement. Song Junwan had a higher cultivation base, but didn't possess any spectacular precious treasures. As for Xuemei, her cultivation base wasn't quite as high, but she had many precious magical items, and was at the peak of Earthstring Foundation Establishment. As such, they were relatively evenly matched. In the blink of an eye, explosive combat was already underway.
As the two began to fight, booms filled the sky, rumbling out in all directions.
Everyone else looked on with serious expressions. Song Que was actually shocked that Song Junwan would be so daring. However, after only a moment of hesitation, he picked a direction and started flying. Everyone else followed suit, their admiration for Song Junwan growing.
Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times as he watched Song Junwan, then quickly picked a direction and sped into motion.
"I never would have thought Song Junwan would put herself up as bait to get Xuemei to fight…. She must be well prepared for this. But then again, so must Xuemei. Presumably, it won't be easy to secure a complete victory in the second stage. I bet the two shrews are just trying to feel each other out." Shaking his head, he sped along, already having decided that no matter what happened, he would not try to fight for the first key.
"Let them fight over the first key, I don't care. Whoever gets it will have a bitter struggle keeping it until the end." Although this trial by fire didn't seem as intense as the Fallen Sword World, there was a time limit. Furthermore, the threat of death hung over everyone's heads. The fighting to come would surely result in bloody carnage.
"Hmmmmph! Whoever runs into one of those keys first is going to have some bad, bad luck. No… no wait, bad, horrific luck!" As he sped along, he pondered the best way to hide safely off in the distance. Occasionally, he would look around, sighing. That was when… all of sudden, right up ahead of him… a blood-colored light appeared.
"What's that?" he said, taken aback. Within the space of a few breaths of time, the light grew so intense it hurt his eyes to look at it. Then, it turned into a pillar that shot up into the sky.
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Chapter 248: Get Away From Me, Stop Following Me!
Bai Xiaochun's jaw dropped at the sight of the pillar of light, especially considering that floating right there in the middle of it was a key, right within arm's reach.
He took a deep breath. How could he ever have imagined that the random direction he picked to run in would turn out to be the exact location where the first key appeared?
Simultaneously, the appearance of the pillar of light caused Xuemei and Song Junwan to stop fighting for a moment and look over. Also, the Dharma protectors from both sides, regardless of where they were, all stopped in place and looked over.
The people who had been selected as Dharma protector for this trial by fire were all outstanding individuals; obviously, they all knew that the first person to get one of the keys would automatically be put in a very difficult position. Every single one of them seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then they all started flying at top speed toward the light, bristling with murderous auras.
"Anybody who fights with me over that key had better not blame me for killing them!" Song Que howled, the battle prowess of eight Earthstring Tideflows surging around him.
"Everybody else might be afraid of you, but not me, Zhou Hua!"
"Snatch that blood key!" As the voices of the Dharma protectors rang out, it heralded the beginning of the fierce fighting that was destined to take place in the Blood Wasteland.
When Bai Xiaochun heard the voices rising up, he shivered and said, "Dammit! I gotta get out of here!"
By that point, more than a dozen figures were already heading in his direction. Bai Xiaochun gasped and quickly began to back up.
However, the instant he began to move… to his complete and utter disbelief, the blood-colored key… began to move… straight toward him.
"Heavens, how could a key move!?" Bai Xiaochun was about to cry. Currently, one of Xuemei's Dharma protectors was closing in, and as soon as he caught sight of the blood-colored key, his killing intent surged. Clearly, his first goal was not to get the key, it was to kill Bai Xiaochun.
He was in the late Foundation Establishment stage, and held a blood-colored greatsword in his hand.
When Bai Xiaochun saw the man's deadly-looking blood sword, and his violent killing intent, it was obvious that the man wanted to kill him. Bai Xiaochun immediately got angry. "Y-y-you're… you're pushing things too far! I just saw the key and didn't even touch it, and yet you're gonna try and kill me?!"
His eyes narrowed, flickering coldly. Although he hadn't fought much in the Blood Stream Sect, his battle prowess had increased to a dramatically terrifying level. Even as the sword slashed down toward him, he planted his right foot down onto the ground and then sprang forward with all the power he could muster. He instantly blurred into motion, leaving nothing for the sword to slash through other than afterimages. In the blink of an eye, he had bashed directly into Xuemei's Dharma protector.
It was none other than… the Mountain Shaking Bash!
It was backed by the power of Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment and three crystallized spiritual seas, which meant he was in mid Foundation Establishment. It was powered by the second level of the Undying Heavenly King, the fleshly body strength of six berserk ghosts. The Mountain Shaking Bash was a secret magic of the Undying Codex, and when fueled by such multiple levels of incredible power, it ensured that Bai Xiaochun was now like a vicious beast!
A bang rang out in all directions, low-pitched but shocking to the extreme. It was hard to imagine that a collision between two people would produce a sound as tragic as this.
Xuemei's Dharma protector screamed, and then blood spurted out of his mouth. Much of his body was already shattering, but that wasn't the end of things. His back bulged out, and his face turned violet as cracking sounds rang out from inside of him.
He began to spin backward through the air, his expression blank, his mind rapidly emptying.
At the same time, the dozens of other cultivators who were converging on the area looked on with tingling scalps as the Dharma protector who had just been bashed by Bai Xiaochun… exploded!
Bones, flesh, and blood spattered in all directions, and the man's soul was transformed into ash!
Even as his scream continued to echo about, he was killed in body and soul!
In any other sect, what had just happened would have left everyone too stunned to do anything. But this was the Blood Stream Sect, and its cultivators were cruel and merciless. Xuemei's other Dharma protectors quickly overcame their shock, and three of their number were the first to fly toward Bai Xiaochun.
Two of them were in late Foundation Establishment, and one of them was in the great circle. As they flew forward, three blood swords appeared, causing everything in the area to rumble. Most shocking among the group was one of the late Foundation Establishment cultivators, a middle-aged man with a long beard. Shockingly, he held an illusory stick of incense in his hand!
The incense was already burning, creating an aura that filled Bai Xiaochun with an intense sensation of deadly crisis. It was like every inch of his flesh and blood were screaming at him that this incense was completely and utterly dangerous.
Bai Xiaochun wasn't the only one to have such a reaction. The faces of the others in the area instantly fell….
"That's Yang Hongwu! He's the one Song Junwan said to look out for!!" Bai Xiaochun gasped, but what happened next caused his scalp to almost explode. There were about four or five people who… apparently because of the stimulation of the mysterious incense, began to emit auras, either from within their own bodies, or their bags of holding… that were all terrifyingly dangerous! Apparently, they were on the verge of joining the attack on him!
Bai Xiaochun had a profound cultivation base that enabled him to kill a late Foundation Establishment cultivator with a single bashing attack. However, to face three at the same time, one of them being in the great circle, and in possession of a shocking magical treasure, left him shocked and terrified. More than ever, he felt that the older generation in the Blood Stream Sect were all fear-inspiring individuals.
All of the Foundation Establishment cultivators who Xuemei and Song Junwan had called upon to act as Dharma protectors were either Chosen of their generation, or other famous individuals from the past.
That was especially true of the one terrifying cultivator Song Junwan had mentioned, Xiao Qing, who, for some mysterious reason, hadn't broken through into the Core Formation stage.
Regarding magical treasures, the fact that Blood Stream Sect cultivators were fond of robbing and pillaging meant that they tended to have a bit more of them than disciples from other sects.
Considering the danger he was facing, it was no surprise that Bai Xiaochun's scalp crawled with terror. However, none of that showed on his face. Backing up, expression cold, he said, "Nightcrypt doesn't have time to fool around with you people. I'm warning you, don't provoke me!" Combined with his icy, cruel expression, Bai Xiaochun was under the impression that his words were completely domineering. Turning, he pushed forward with a burst of speed and vanished.
Even as he sped off, the three blood swords descended in a net of death. They missed him, but the smoke from the incense swirled around, filling the area with terrifying fluctuations.
Even the mere sensation of those fluctuations caused Bai Xiaochun to pick up speed. Even as he left the first key behind, intense fighting broke out in his wake.
However, not everyone joined the attack. Some stood off to the side, and some merely left, clearly thinking the same thing that Bai Xiaochun had, that fighting over the first key was too dangerous.
Bai Xiaochun flew off into the distance, looking over his shoulder occasionally. Considering that everyone was in the late Foundation Establishment stage or even more powerful than that, the fighting was clearly a life-or-death matter. Nobody was holding back, and some people were already resorting to their life-saving magical items. Heaven-shaking, earth-shattering explosions rocked the area, and fluctuations that bordered on Core Formation could be felt, leaving Bai Xiaochun completely shaken.
"With the Undying Heavenly King, I might be able to take them on one by one, but fighting so many people at the same time, I might lose my poor little life…." Picking up speed, he sighed emotionally as he thought about how coincidental it was that the key had appeared right in front of him moments ago. Assuming he kept on flying as he was now, there shouldn't be any more such incidents.
As far as the fighting went, Bai Xiaochun felt that maybe after the fourth key showed up, it would be a bit safer to start participating. After flying along for the better part of two hours, he had put quite a bit of distance between himself and the last location, and finally decided to look around for a place to meditate for a while.
"I've flown far enough away that I shouldn't run into anyone else," he thought. "As for the keys, whoever wants to fight over them can have at it." He was quite pleased at his own insightfulness, and was just musing about how bright and intelligent he was when the third hour in the Blood Wasteland arrived.
In that very moment…. Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide, and he let out an exclamation of shock. There, right in front of him, was a bright red dot of light.
Within the space of a few breaths of time, it began to grow so brightly that it turned into a pillar of light that shot up into the sky. Anyone in the Blood Wasteland would be able to see it.
It was a very strange thing, and all of a sudden, Bai Xiaochun thought back to what had happened in the Endless World of Blood.
"No way…." he thought. "I'm not the one trying to become blood master. How could this be happening…?" Staring at the key in the pillar of light, he sighed, and then turned to leave, only to find that the key was flying toward him.
"Get away from me! Stop following me…."
Thinking about how the group of people had been fighting earlier, he wanted to cry. The terrifying ripples that had spread out from that fight were enough to send him running in the opposite direction.
However, the key behind him picked up speed, chasing Bai Xiaochun relentlessly through the Blood Wasteland….
Soon, cultivators on both sides of the conflict realized what was happening, and their eyes went wide with disbelief.
The first key… appeared right in front of Bai Xiaochun. That could have been chalked up to chance.
But for the second key to do the same…. They gritted their teeth and told themselves that it was another coincidence. And yet… they were completely dumbfounded at the sight of the key chasing Bai Xiaochun.
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Chapter 249: I Can't Believe He Ate It!!
"What's going on…?"
"Am I seeing things…? That blood-colored key is actually chasing Nightcrypt?!"
"This… this…." Although people were shocked, it didn't take long before them to react, and they began to speed toward Bai Xiaochun to start fighting for the key.
Meanwhile, up in midair, Xuemei and Song Junwan saw what was happening. Song Junwan looked angry; she had seen what had happened with Bai Xiaochun earlier, and felt it was a true pity that he had passed up the first key. Now here he was flying along while the key chased him, refusing to grab it. Song Junwan was furious.
"Nightcrypt!" she yelled. "The key is right behind you! Take it immediately! Everybody else, protect Nightcrypt!"
Bai Xiaochun hesitated for a moment, but when he considered that if he wanted to become a grand elder eventually, he would need Song Junwan's recommendation, and that she had just openly given him an order, he gritted his teeth, stopped in place and reached out to solemnly grab the key.
In that instant, the second blood-colored key suddenly erupted with dazzling light and shot into his hand. For some reason, Bai Xiaochun was certain that, as it did, he heard something like a cry of joy.
"Come help me!" he cried. There was no time to think. He immediately began to back up as Song Junwan's other Dharma protectors arrived to intercept the enemy. A moment later, magical combat erupted all around him, causing resounding booming sounds to shake heaven and earth.
Not everyone was present; in fact, not even ten people were here. However, magical items were unleashed, and terrifying fluctuations spread out. It was in that moment, that someone shouted out in alarm.
"Wait a second, why is the blood-colored light so faint?!?!" The person to shout out was one of Xuemei's Dharma protectors, and currently, his face was a mask of incredulity as he stared at Bai Xiaochun.
As his voice echoed out, everyone else looked over, and soon, all of their minds were reeling.
Bai Xiaochun had actually noticed what was happening before anyone else. As soon as his fingers closed around the blood-colored key, the light that had been bursting out of it began to flow into his mouth. Once inside of him, it surged through his body, causing his Undying Heavenly King to operate at full function.
The blood-colored light emanating out from the key immediately began to grow dim…. It almost looked to everyone else as if Bai Xiaochun were eating the key….
The effect was so pronounced that everyone could clearly sense the key growing weak….
"He… he's actually drawing on the power of the key?!"
"That's not just drawing on some of its power, he's obviously eating it! Nightcrypt, stop that immediately!!"
"Heavens! I've never heard of anybody doing such a thing. If… if he completely eats it, will its teleportation powers still work?" People were so taken aback all they could do was stare in shock.
Even Song Junwan and Xuemei, who were still locked in combat in midair, were staring at the blood-colored light fading away. Within the space of a few breaths of time, the light was completely gone.
What was left in Bai Xiaochun's hand… didn't look anything like a key anymore…. Even as everyone stared at Bai Xiaochun, his aura surged, and the power of the Undying Heavenly King exploded ferociously inside of him. He was about to try to explain, but when he opened his mouth, a burp echoed out loud and clear.
"I… burp… I didn't… burp… do it on purpose… burp…." Bai Xiaochun was so scared he was about to cry. Clasping his hands over his mouth, he looked around at the incredulous stares being leveled at him, which rapidly began to fill with killing intent. More nervous than ever, he began to back up.
"He actually ate that key!!"
"The key's gone! That's one spot out of seven… gone! Kill Nightcrypt! This is his fault!!"
"Kill him! The first and second keys both showed up near him. If the third one does the same and he eats that too, we'll lose another spot!!"
"What if he eats all the keys? If that happens… we'll all be losers…." As their minds spun with the thought of what could happen, they howled and charged toward Bai Xiaochun. As for Song Junwan's Dharma protectors, they hesitated for a moment, but then refrained from interfering. The scene which had just played out was simply too bizarre.
Another of Xuemei's Dharma protectors was a bit further off in the distance. After watching the depressing scene play out, and then hearing everyone crying out, his own anger surged, and he shot after Bai Xiaochun.
By now, eight or nine people were chasing him, the weakest of them being in the late Foundation Establishment stage, with more than one being in the great circle. Most shocking of all was that several of them were clutching powerful magical treasures. Bai Xiaochun was trembling in fear, but thankfully, was fast enough to evade them as he fled for his life.
Before Song Junwan and Xuemei could even react, a whole group was after Bai Xiaochun. They were completely taken aback.
"You can eat those keys?" Song Junwan murmured. Xuemei was equally stunned.
Bai Xiaochun flew through the Blood Wasteland at top speed. Some among the pursuers were faster than the others, but all were slower than Bai Xiaochun, and before long, there was quite a distance between chaser and chased.
"Nightcrypt, you will die beyond the shadow of a doubt this day!"
"Dammit, I can't believe you completely absorbed that key! Y-y-you…."
Various divine abilities and magical techniques were unleashed, leaving Bai Xiaochun so frightened he felt like his scalp would explode from terror. He felt completely wronged, and even more so, angered. He almost thought about turning around and fighting, but there were just too many opponents, all of them with higher cultivation bases than him, and many with powerful magical treasures. Although Xiao Qing wasn't among their number, Bai Xiaochun had the feeling he might show up at any moment, and thus devoted himself fully to fleeing.
Before long, the third and fourth hours had passed, and the fifth hour was approaching….
In that very instant, the group of pursuers were shocked to find that the third dot of red light had appeared directly above Bai Xiaochun's head. Even as he moved along, a blinding beam of blood-colored light shot up, which continued to float along with Bai Xiaochun as he flew along….
"What exactly is going on here!?!? Dammit! Why is this happening?!"
"I can't believe the third key… appeared right above him!!"
"Nightcrypt, you will die this day!!"
Xuemei's Dharma protectors were going mad. Were Jia Lie here, he would tearfully tell them that… this was nothing. Had they been by his side in the Endless World of Blood, they would have been driven to complete despair.
Bai Xiaochun was really starting to get pissed off. Looking around at everyone, he gritted his teeth, reached up, and grabbed the third blood-colored key.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as massive amounts of blood-colored light poured into his mouth. Yet again, Bai Xiaochun seemed to be gobbling it up….
"He… he ate another one!!"
"There are only seven keys, and he already ate two!"
"If he keeps this up, then he'll end up eating all the keys. We have to kill him!" Everyone was starting to get anxious. Song Junwan's Dharma protectors were starting to hesitate, unsure of whether they should help Nightcrypt, or try to kill him.
Up in midair, Xuemei's eyes glittered with cold light, and she suddenly waved her right hand, causing the bracelet wrapped around her wrist to flash with blue light. Instantly, a blue beam shot out, and even as she was about to send it flying toward Bai Xiaochun, Song Junwan swished her sleeve, sending out a blast of power to block the way.
Xuemei glared at Song Junwan. "Song Junwan! Something weird is going on with him. I refuse to believe that you can't see it!"
Song Junwan refused to respond, and simply launched another attack.
Xuemei grinned malevolently. Since she was being prevented from doing anything about Bai Xiaochun, she unleashed her full power upon Song Junwan. By this point, the two of them weren't simply feeling each other out, they were fighting with everything they had, including their secret weapons.
At the same time, just as murderous auras were beginning to rise up, the mad absorption of the blood-colored light by Bai Xiaochun caused cracking sounds to ring out from inside of him. The Undying Heavenly King was operating at full speed with the nourishment that was being provided. Fleshly body power was rapidly building up, and clearly, Bai Xiaochun was rapidly reaching the point of breaking through from the level of six berserk ghosts to seven.
Although he was being chased with murderous intent, the fact that his fleshly body was powering up so rapidly elated Bai Xiaochun. He could sense his power rapidly growing, and his battle prowess increasing.
"If I could complete the second level of the Undying Heavenly King, and form the Heavenly Demon Body, then even if I run into one of those cultivators with the powerful magical treasures, I could still fight them!
"It's too bad I can't reveal my identity, otherwise I could definitely beat those old Foundation Establishment experts!
"Considering how things are at the moment, what should I do…?" Moments ago, he had sensed that Xuemei had been about to unleash something incredibly dangerous on him, and as a result, was only getting more nervous.
He looked over at Xuemei and Song Junwan briefly, then looked away. His head was starting to ache. Even as he tried to think of a way to resolve the situation, another sensation of imminent crisis filled him. This time, it didn't come from Xuemei, it came from behind him. One of Xuemei's Dharma protectors had been quietly closing in on him. It was none other than… Yang Hongwu!
His eyes flickered with cold, merciless light, and his hand clutched a burning stick of incense!
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Chapter 250: Die!
Song Junwan had said to pay special attention to three of Xuemei's Dharma protectors. One of them was Xiao Qing, who was on the very cusp of Core Formation. Perhaps because of certain conditions in the Blood Wasteland itself, it was difficult for him to break through here. However, one could imagine that even after half of a breakthrough, he would still be powerful enough to dominate anyone else.
The second person Song Junwan had mentioned was Zhang Yunshan. The third was the very person who was closing in on Bai Xiaochun at this very moment… Yang Hongwu!
Yang Hongwu's cultivation base was in the late Foundation Establishment stage, and he had a powerful magical treasure. It was essentially a precious relic that could unleash terrifying power that exceeded his current cultivation base realm. With that item, he was virtually invincible to anyone in the same realm as him.
Up to this point in his cultivation, Bai Xiaochun had never possessed any powerful magical treasures other than the turtle-wok. Had he remained in the Spirit Stream Sect, he would definitely have been bequeathed one by the sect itself when he reached late Foundation Establishment. However, he had left when he was still in early Foundation Establishment, before he qualified for such a reward.
After all, such powerful magical treasures were generally not given to anyone under late Foundation Establishment. Not only would such a person have difficulty unleashing the full potential of the item, there was also the risk that it could be robbed from them.
Bai Xiaochun's pupils constricted; almost as soon as the smoke began to spread out from Yang Hongwu's incense, it filled his mind with a sense of imminent crisis. His fleshly body power was incredibly high, which lessened the sensation of danger, and yet, he was still jumpy with fear.
From what he could sense, if that power continued to build up, then it could seriously affect him in a negative way. By this point, his eyes were completely bloodshot.
"There are too many people and too many eyes in this place. So many techniques that I just can't use…." Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth, and then began to draw upon the Undying Heavenly King. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, and moments later, a bizarre power surged out from the palms of his hands.
It was the power of gravity and repulsion, which he could just barely unleash. He had only ever scraped the surface of protomagnetic power, but was still able to call upon it when needed.
Bai Xiaochun let out a hoarse shout as the two streams of power burst out, then converged together to form a powerful force of repulsion. He was immediately pushed backward at top speed, and in the blink of an eye, was speeding off into the distance.
Even as he did, the smoke coming from Yang Hongwu's incense sliced through the air into the spot he had just occupied. Considering how it seemed to slash rifts everywhere it went, it was obvious that if Bai Xiaochun had been even a bit slower, he would have been cut to pieces.
Xuemei's Dharma protectors frowned, and killing intent flickered in Yang Hongwu's eyes. Bai Xiaochun had already evaded him twice, even with his powerful magical treasure. That was something he found to be highly unusual.
"Measly Mortal-Dao mid Foundation Establishment. I can't believe he actually evaded me twice…. Seems like he's harboring a lot of secrets." Yang Hongwu took a deep breath, and then his chest caved in. Suddenly, his speed skyrocketed, pushing him past all of the other cultivators, transforming him into a beam of light that shot directly after Bai Xiaochun.
He breathed in, but never exhaled, and then, a few moments later, he took another deep breath. Yet again, his chest caved in, and his speed increased, closing the distance between himself and Bai Xiaochun.
Seeing Yang Hongwu speed up toward him, Bai Xiaochun's eyes grew even more bloodshot than before.
"You think I'm so easy to pick on?!" he shouted. Suddenly he spun in place, and instead of fleeing, barreled toward Yang Hongwu.
He shot faster than a bolt of lightning, appearing directly in front of Yang Hongwu and unleashing a punch with his right hand.
Killing intent flickered in Yang Hongwu's eyes as he extended his own right hand. The incense burned, and smoke swirled out toward Bai Xiaochun.
"So, you wanted to lure me out to fight alone? Fine, take your shot!" Yang Hongwu laughed coldly as his powerful magical treasure spewed out even more smoke, creating a web of death that caused Bai Xiaochun's scalp to tingle so hard it felt like it might explode. And yet, he didn't dodge to the side. As the smoke bore down on him, he poured even more power into his fist strike.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as the energy of the second level of Bai Xiaochun's Undying Heavenly King erupted out. The power of seven berserk ghosts could shake mountains, and at this moment, it caused sonic booms to echo out. The massive outpouring of power even caused a massive wind to spring up.
From a distance, the scene playing out was completely shocking. As Bai Xiaochun punched out, the image of a berserk ghost appeared behind him. This was no ordinary berserk ghost; it was like the king of all berserk ghosts, and it howled at the top of its lungs as Bai Xiaochun punched out.
Shockingly, the smoke which filled the area immediately began to shrink back as if it were about to be destroyed!
Although all of this takes some time to describe, it actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the massive blast slammed into Yang Hongwu. Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth as he was shoved backward. His eyes suddenly shone with intense fear. Obviously, he had been aware that Nightcrypt possessed shocking battle prowess, but had still been confident enough to fight him alone. As of this moment, though, he could see that Nightcrypt was even more terrifying than he had realized before.
Blood also sprayed out of Bai Xiaochun's mouth, and he felt like his body was about to be torn to pieces by the web of death. The power of Yang Hongwu's magical treasure slashed into the image of the berserk ghost, and yet, the power of Bai Xiaochun's Undying Heavenly King ensured that he wasn't seriously injured, much less ripped to shreds. It took some effort, but he managed to wrench free from the smoke, destroying it in the process.
Even as the wisps of smoke dissipated, the air not too far away from Bai Xiaochun distorted, and someone materialized. It was a young man with a fan in his hand. His expression was dark and somber, and his eyes flickered with killing intent. Without any hesitation, he waved his fan in Bai Xiaochun's direction.
Wind screamed, transforming into a tornado that connected the sky and the land as it raced toward Bai Xiaochun.
"Zhang Yunshan!" Bai Xiaochun's pupils constricted from the sensation of imminent crisis. Throwing his head back, he roared, and his energy began to rise as another berserk ghost appeared behind him, then a third, and a fourth….
In the blink of an eye, seven berserk ghosts had appeared, causing heaven and earth to shake violently. All of them threw their heads back and bellowed. Although the terrifying energy they were releasing wasn't quite enough to form the Heavenly Demon Body, it was enough to create…. a giant hand!
It was a giant, pale white hand, not the clawed hand of a ghost, but rather a heavenly demon hand!
It was as pale as death, and the outlines of scales could just barely be seen on its surface, as well as vicious-looking bone spurs. As soon as the hand appeared, it smashed out toward Zhang Yunshan!
The first thing it hit was the tornado. A huge boom echoed out as the tornado shattered, and at the same time, the heavenly demon hand flickered and faded a bit. However, it wasn't destroyed.
Another boom could be heard, and blood oozed out of the corners of Zhang Yunshan's mouth. Even as he flew back at top speed, the heavenly demon hand faded away. Bai Xiaochun's face was ashen, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood. His eyes were crimson, making him look cruel and vicious to the extreme. With a quick glance at Yang Hongwu and Zhang Yunshan, he turned and sped off into the distance.
Yang Hongwu hesitated for a moment, wiping the blood from his mouth. At the moment, he was too shaken to chase after Bai Xiaochun. The power that had just been unleashed, especially in that last attack, left him with the sinking feeling that Nightcrypt… hadn't even called upon his full battle prowess.
Even Zhang Yunshan's sneak attack had done nothing more than cause Nightcrypt to unleash even more power.
"Just how many secrets does this guy have…?!" Yang Hongwu took a deep breath. As for the youthful-looking Zhang Yunshan, his face was equally grim as he watched Bai Xiaochun flee.
The rest of the pursuers were completely shocked, and all hesitated. After a moment passed, though, Zhang Yunshan and Yang Hongwu exchanged a glance, and then their eyes flickered as they led the group in pursuit.
Bai Xiaochun's face was ashen as he sped along. On the outside, he seemed vicious and cruel, with his clothes stained with blood. However, inside, he was listless and panting.
"What a bunch of bullies. If I didn't have to be careful to keep my secret identity, I could wipe the floor with them…. Dammit. There are still six more hours left before this thing is over…." His anxiety increased as the seventh hour neared.
This time, he was mentally prepared. At the top of the hour, when the key was just about to appear, and he was just about to flee, he heard one of Song Junwan's other Dharma protectors crying out.
"Nightcrypt, don't absorb any more keys! Give them to us!"
"Nightcrypt, stop it!" Song Que howled.
It was at that exact moment that the fourth key popped out, and immediately began to speed toward Bai Xiaochun. It was almost as if he were a magnet, and no matter what he wanted, the keys would fly in his direction, transform into blood qi, and incite his Undying Heavenly King.
"Nightcrypt, are you… are you looking to die?!?!" Song Que was furious, and the other Dharma protectors felt like they were going insane. Once they saw Bai Xiaochun starting to absorb the fourth key, they couldn't hold back any longer.
After all… they weren't sure if the keys still counted as being won by their team if Bai Xiaochun absorbed them. If they did, then things were fine. But if they didn't, then when the wind of extermination swept through the wasteland… well, Song Que and the others didn't dare to gamble on the outcome.
"I don't want this either…." Bai Xiaochun wailed. His original plan had been to hide somewhere in the Blood Wasteland and let everyone fight it out, then snatch one of the keys toward the end. But now, all of his plans were laid to ruin.
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Chapter 251: My Plan
Thanks to Bai Xiaochun, the trial by fire for blood master had been thrown into utter chaos….
In the Endless World of Blood, only poor Jia Lie had been struck with such ill luck… but now, in the Blood Wasteland, even Song Junwan and Xuemei were shocked by what was happening.
Everyone was going mad, and all of it was because of Bai Xiaochun….
It wasn't that Bai Xiaochun wanted it that way. He was just as nervous as everyone else. But his Undying Live Forever Technique was in full operation, and because of the rapid growth of his fleshly body power, Bai Xiaochun's berserk ghosts… increased in number yet again!
The power of eight berserk ghosts caused cracking sounds to ring out from inside of him. Even as his energy surged, Song Que and the others gritted their teeth and joined the group that was chasing Bai Xiaochun!
Bai Xiaochun was getting more nervous than ever, and his mind was racing as he tried to decide what to do. Finally, he howled, "Song Que, go attack the person who got the first key! If you get that one, and I consume the rest, then Xuemei will never get onto the Ancient Blood Path!
"It's called divide and conquer! If you're focused on attacking them, they'll have to focus on defending, and I can just eat the keys. If you guys get your hands on the first key, I'll consume all the others. If you don't get it, then I'll make sure to leave the last two. That way, we'll definitely come out on top, and they'll be exterminated!
"That's my plan! Hahaha! We'll definitely win that way!" The more Bai Xiaochun spoke, the more he made sense.
Song Que and the others were shaken. They were no fools, and as soon as they heard Bai Xiaochun's plan, their eyes glittered.
As for Xuemei's Dharma protectors, their faces fell, especially the one who had acquired the first key, a middle-aged man whose complexion was now as pale as death.
Xuemei, who was completely tangled up in her fight with Song Junwan, was now getting more nervous.
"Nightcrypt, are you looking to die?!?!" she shouted. As for Song Junwan, she chuckled charmingly.
"We do things Nightcrypt's way!" she declared. Although her smile was lovely, her attacks were incisive, and she immediately began to push Xuemei back across the battlefield, who could do nothing to stop her. In fact, she couldn't even come up with a plan to deal with Bai Xiaochun.
It was an anxious moment. Song Que and the others gritted their teeth, ceased chasing Bai Xiaochun, and shot toward the Dharma protector with the first key. Xuemei's other Dharma protectors were then forced to cease chasing Bai Xiaochun and offer defense. Immediately, chaotic fighting broke out.
Booms echoed out, and the brilliant light of divine abilities and magical techniques rose up into the air.
At long last, Bai Xiaochun was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
"It's a good thing I reacted so quickly, otherwise I would have been in way too much danger…. There are people with higher cultivation bases and powerful magical treasures, and some of them are secret experts. If they gang up on me, how am I supposed to fight them?" Bai Xiaochun immediately began to flee, and yet, in that very moment, his pupils constricted. Although no one was visible in the area, he unhesitatingly unleashed the Mountain Shaking Bash, gathering a huge amount of power and unleashing it in an explosive burst that pushed him forward at top speed.
Even as he shot forward, a blood-colored hand suddenly appeared out of thin air and unleashed a stream of 30-meter-long sword qi.
"Eee?" someone said. An old man stepped out of thin air, a man with a long violet robe and age spots on his face.
Sweat was pouring down Bai Xiaochun's face. The sensation of imminent danger he had just experienced was one of the most intense he had felt so far. If he hadn't dodged at just the right time, that attack would have stabbed into his forehead.
"Xiao Qing!" he said, eyes shining with vigilance. This old man was another of the three people Song Junwan had mentioned, the same old man who could supposedly break through from Foundation Establishment at any time!
Xiao Qing smiled and said, "I've been in secluded meditation for many years, and just came out. Even still, I've heard a lot of stories about you."
Although he was indeed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was unlike the others. If he reached Core Formation, he would definitely become a prime elder. When he looked at Bai Xiaochun, Bai Xiaochun felt more on guard than ever; the man's gaze felt like two sharp swords.
"His spiritual seas are just a hair away from reaching full crystallization…. If I used everything in my repertoire, I could probably fight him. But considering how limited I am right now… I'm no match for him!" Without the slightest hesitation, Bai Xiaochun began to flee.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave, Junior Brother Nightcrypt?" Xiao Qing smiled and took a step forward with speed that matched Bai Xiaochun's. Then he waved his sleeve, and a stream of blood-colored sword qi appeared and slashed down toward Bai Xiaochun.
"What crap are you spewing?!" Bai Xiaochun asked. "If I don't leave, then what else am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for you to kill me? Did your cultivation cause you brain damage or something?" With that, he blurred into motion, avoiding the blood sword.
Xiao Qing's smile went stiff. Throughout all the times he had fought people in his life, no one had ever spoken to him like this before. Expression turning grim, he let out a cold harrumph and said, "Ill-mannered cur! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to rip out your tongue! Let's see what quips you come up with then!"
Chuckling coldly, he took another step forward in pursuit. At the same time, his right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, summoning a stream of blood qi that shot toward Bai Xiaochun.
Despite his anxiety, Bai Xiaochun was still trying to come up with a plan as he flew along. "Seems you really did suffer from brain damage while you were cultivating. If I had no tongue, I might not be able to speak, but I could still use divine will to say something!"
As they sped through the Blood Wasteland, Xiao Qing attacked multiple times. On a few occasions, his magical techniques actually hit home, and yet, Bai Xiaochun's terrifyingly powerful fleshly body defenses left Xiao Qing in shock.
With Xiao Qing's current battle prowess, he could dominate any other Foundation Establishment cultivator. And yet, Bai Xiaochun was incredibly fast and abnormally tough. In fact, as the chase went on, he kept going even faster. His reserves of spiritual power were simply unbelievable.
"How could mid Mortal-Dao Foundation Establishment possibly unleash such power!?" Xiao Qing's eyes flickered. The battle prowess being put on display by Bai Xiaochun in the Blood Wasteland was completely and utterly shocking to him. Even more bizarre than that, though, was the situation with the blood-colored keys.
If there was only one strange oddity with Bai Xiaochun, then it would be much easier to determine the cause, and then ascertain a method to deal with the situation. But with so many strange things happening, it was hard to decide where to start, and very easy to get going in the wrong direction.
Xiao Qing's eyes narrowed as he once again gave chase. As for Bai Xiaochun, he was grumbling and complaining to himself. It felt like Xiao Qing was stuck to him with glue; no matter how Bai Xiaochun tried to shake him, he would continue to pursue him. Were it not for the fact that Bai Xiaochun had an incredible fleshly body, and was actually at Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment, he would never have been able to sustain the speed he had been keeping up so far.
"Just wait until I make a major breakthrough with my fleshly body. Then I'll definitely show that old fogey how awesome I am!" Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth. By now, he actually looked forward to the arrival of the tenth hour. Now that he already had the power of eight berserk ghosts, for some reason, it didn't feel good enough. He actually wanted to consume that key and solidify the power of his berserk ghosts.
Time passed. Eventually, the seventh and eighth hours passed, and the ninth hour approached. As expected, a dot of blood-colored light appeared, which shot toward Bai Xiaochun's forehead. In the blink of an eye, it was only a few inches away from him.
He didn't pause for even a moment as he sped on, and the red dot instantly sank into his forehead. Although bright red light initially filled the area, it rapidly dimmed. At the same time, the second level of the Undying Heavenly King was in full operation.
Rumbling sounds exploded out from within his body as the energy of nine berserk ghosts formed. Xiao Qing's eyes widened as he sensed the growing power within Bai Xiaochun.
"There are many strange things about him. Now that he's absorbed that key, he's probably even more confident in fighting me." Xiao Qing closed in at top speed, and yet, before he could get close, Bai Xiaochun looked back, eyes flickering with the desire to do battle. At almost the exact same instant, his fleshly body power skyrocketed.
"Xiao Qing, you old fogey, do you dare to fight with me, Nightcrypt?!" Bai Xiaochun waved his right sleeve and pointed at Xiao Qing, as if challenging him to a duel!
"So, you're finally confident that you can fight me? Fine. I'll give you a chance!" Xiao Qing took a step forward, and the power of his cultivation base erupted.
"Alright, Xiao Qing, here I come!" Bai Xiaochun roared, eyes bursting with the will to fight. However, even as he faced Xiao Qing, he began to speed backward. Drawing upon the incredible power of his fleshly body, he unleashed even greater speed than he had in the past.
Xiao Qing's jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide. Bai Xiaochun was letting out a battle cry, and yet simultaneously fleeing off into the distance.
"Completely shameless!!" Xiao Qing howled. His eyes burned with flames of rage, and yet the slight delay had put a huge distance between him and Bai Xiaochun. At that point, Bai Xiaochun stopped backing up. Turning his back on Xiao Qing, he fled at even greater speed than before.
"I want to fight you," he called out, "but can't at the moment. Just wait a bit. Once the eleventh hour arrives, and I've completed nine berserk ghosts, then I'll wipe the floor with you, you old fart!" Bai Xiaochun didn't feel that he was being shameless at all. Instead, he felt that he had just out-strategized Xiao Qing.
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Chapter 252: You Really Can't Blame Me This Time
"Not even the least bit confident in being able to fight me? What kind of Dao do you cultivate, Nightcrypt?! I can't believe that someone as useless as you exists in the Blood Stream Sect. I think I need to step in for the sect and do some housecleaning!" Xiao Qing was incensed. First, he had been ridiculed, then challenged to fight, and then, his opponent had simply run away. More killing intent than ever could be seen in Xiao Qing's eyes, and as he gave chase, he unleashed the power of his cultivation base, pushing himself forward with greater speed than ever.
However, Bai Xiaochun was simply too fast. With the explosive acceleration provided by his fleshly body power, he managed to stay in the lead all the way through the ninth and tenth hours. Soon, the eleventh hour was rapidly approaching.
When it came, the sixth key appeared in the form of a red dot, right in front of Bai Xiaochun's forehead. It only took the briefest of moments for it to fly into him.
Rumbling sounds echoed out from within Bai Xiaochun's body, and he began to tremble visibly. His Undying Heavenly King was in full operation, and under the seemingly boundless addition provided by the blood-colored key, his fleshly body continued to increase in power. The expression provided by his mask was one of complete and utter ferocity as he threw his head back and howled at the top of his lungs.
As he did, eight berserk ghosts appeared behind him, and then… a ninth!
The appearance of the ninth berserk ghost caused Bai Xiaochun's fleshly body strength to be completely incited, sending matchlessly powerful qi and blood power surging heavenward.
ROAR!
Blue veins bulged out on Bai Xiaochun's face. In only a handful of hours, his fleshly body power had undergone a dramatic increase, so much so that it was difficult for him to endure. The nine berserk ghosts behind him were howling, and even as Xiao Qing closed in, Bai Xiaochun prodded them with the power of his will, and they merged together!
That new berserk ghost was vastly larger than the others, almost as if it were a new form of life!
It was now pure white, with vicious-looking bone spurs sticking out all over it. It had sharp claws, and radiated a power that seemed capable of crushing heaven and earth. Strangely, though, it had no head!
It was a headless Heavenly Demon Body, incomplete, but shockingly powerful nonetheless. When it formed, Bai Xiaochun howled, and seemingly infinite fleshly body power caused a tempest to spring out all around him. Within moments, it was a tornado connecting heaven and earth, an enormous, spinning vortex.
Xiao Qing stopped in place, his eyes widening. For the first time, a very serious expression could be seen on his face. Not only was Bai Xiaochun stronger, but the image of the headless heavenly demon made him seem completely different than before.
"Alright Xiao Qing, come on, let's fight!" Although Bai Xiaochun didn't look any different physically, the sensation he gave off was that he was growing rapidly. Having absorbed the blood qi from five of the keys, he suddenly felt that if he didn't unleash some of the power immediately, he would explode.
No such sensation had come from the previous four keys. But with the fifth key, he suddenly felt explosively powerful. Even as he called out, he took a step forward, and massive rumbling sounds could be heard as he shot toward Xiao Qing in a bashing motion.
The heavenly demon image behind him made the same bashing attack, except with power exponentially greater than Bai Xiaochun's. It was such an explosive outburst that it seemed capable of bashing anything and everything to bits. Even the air twisted and distorted as he bore down on Xiao Qing.
Just when Xiao Qing was about to dodge out of the way, the charging Bai Xiaochun suddenly extended his right hand, and a powerful gravitational force sprang out from his palm and seemed to latch onto Xiao Qing's neck.
Then the hand transformed into a fist. The air vibrated as powerful fluctuations spread out, locking down the entire area and making it impossible for Xiao Qing to even move.
Xiao Qing's eyes widened, and he roared as his hands flashed with an incantation gesture. Blinding, blood-colored light instantly spread out, transforming into a huge, crimson greatsword which slashed out toward Bai Xiaochun!
Although all of this takes some time to describe, it happened in the blink of an eye. A deafening boom echoed out in all directions as Bai Xiaochun's blow landed on Xiao Qing. Instantly, the two of them flew apart until they were 3,000 meters away from each other. The ground was shattered and destroyed, and a huge blast of wind rippled out, shaking everything.
The blood sword shattered, and the Heavenly Demon Body was split in two. Xiao Qing tumbled through the air, and blood sprayed out of Bai Xiaochun's mouth.
When the dust settled, Xiao Qing was off in the distance, his face ashen, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at Bai Xiaochun, who was currently wiping the blood from his mouth. Bai Xiaochun had vented more than half of the energy he had built up, and no longer felt like he was going to explode. At the same time, his fleshly body power seemed to be growing even greater as he stood there staring at Xiao Qing.
"Happy with the fight so far, Xiao Qing?!" Bai Xiaochun said with a twisted smile, his eyes completely bloodshot.
Xiao Qing didn't respond. The sensation of danger he'd just felt from Bai Xiaochun's explosive attack came partly because of his fleshly body power, and partly because there was something else about Bai Xiaochun that he found completely disconcerting.
"He's definitely still hiding something!" he thought. Although he was still confident that he could kill Bai Xiaochun, he knew that he would most likely end up seriously injured in the process. By this point in the trial by fire, most of the others had reached the point where they felt it was necessary to fight to the death. However, Xiao Qing knew about Xuemei's secret plan, and that everything that was happening now was just a smokescreen. Therefore, he wasn't ready to risk his life.
There was also another reason to make such a decision. Xiao Qin glanced over at an area some distance away from Bai Xiaochun, and then turned to leave without uttering even another word.
Bai Xiaochun did nothing to stop him, and in fact, felt a bit more relaxed to see him leaving. With that, he turned and looked off in the same direction Xiao Qing just had, his eyes shining with piercing light.
"You've been shadowing me for quite a while, Elder Brother. Why don't you show your face?"
Laughter echoed out as the air distorted, as if someone were using a magical item to distort space itself. A gaunt, middle-aged man appeared, a hunchback who, from the moment Bai Xiaochun laid eyes on him, gave off the sensation that he was no less powerful than Xiao Qing.
Bai Xiaochun had seen this man before among Song Junwan's Dharma protectors. However, nobody, not even Song Que, had seemed to notice that he was concealing the true power of his cultivation base. He was one of the aces Song Junwan had up her sleeve, someone similar to Xiao Qing.
Bai Xiaochun's eyes widened a bit. From what he could tell, this man was a big reason why Xiao Qing had fled just now.
"I am your humble servant Song Zhen…." the man said in a raspy voice. He looked Bai Xiaochun up and down, still a bit unconvinced that he was worthy of being one of Song Junwan's Dharma protectors. From what he could tell, there was something else going on between Song Junwan and Nightcrypt. That was the only explanation for why she would bring him along….
"I'm no gambler," he said slowly and calmly. "Nor do I wish to be exterminated by the wind in this place. I like things to be all sewn up. Soon, the thirteenth hour will be upon us. Let me have the seventh blood-colored key, and I won't make a move on you."
Bai Xiaochun thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. As soon as the seventh key appears, I'll back up. But don't forget, those villainous keys love to chase me. Whether or not you can grab it will be up to you. If you're slow, then I don't want to hear any complaints."
Song Zhen gave him an empty smile, and then said, "Don't worry, Junior Brother Nightcrypt. As long as you don't intentionally try to absorb the key, then as soon as it appears, I'll grab it. However, if you do make a move on it, don't blame me for flipping out.
"Why don't you sit off to the side and meditate while we wait for the thirteenth hour?"
Bai Xiaochun felt good about the idea. Although the keys were very helpful for his cultivation, the Blood Stream Sect in general was a Holy Land for his Undying Codex. As far as he was concerned, there was no need to get in a dangerous fight with this person over one single key.
In terms of the threat of being the losing team and getting exterminated, Bai Xiaochun actually wasn't worried about it at all. After all the strange things that had been going on inside the body of the Blood Ancestor, he was quite certain that, regardless of who else was killed, he definitely wouldn't be….
Feeling very much at ease, he sat down cross-legged to meditate. Keeping his guard up in case Song Zhen did something unexpected, he made some adjustments to his cultivation base, slowly recovering and, at the same time, increasing his fleshly body power.
Song Zhen also sat down to meditate and wait for time to pass.
Song Zhen didn't seem too worried that a fight might break out between the two of them, and Bai Xiaochun was too preoccupied to worry about it either. Time passed. Soon, the eleventh and twelfth hours had passed, and the thirteenth hour was upon them.
Song Zhen's eyes opened. Rising to his feet, he edged a bit closer to Bai Xiaochun, and his right hand began to flicker with light. He stared at the air in front of Bai Xiaochun, completely and utterly confident that when the seventh key appeared, he would be able to grab it.
Even if Nightcrypt tried to back out on their deal and tried to absorb the key, considering how close he was, Song Zhen was supremely confident that, with his own profound cultivation base, along with his innate speed that even the prime elders had praised, he would definitely be able to grab it.
Time inched along. There were ten breaths of time left. Six. Three. Finally, the thirteenth hour arrived.
Song Zhen threw his head back and laughed loudly as his right hand blurred into motion, leaving behind afterimages as it shot forward. A huge blast of power erupted out which he didn't even bother to shield Bai Xiaochun from.
However, at that exact moment, a bright red light suddenly shot out from inside Bai Xiaochun!
The seventh key had appeared, but not in front of him. Contrary to what anyone might have imagined, it appeared inside of him!!
Even Bai Xiaochun was completely taken aback. Before he could do anything, the key was inside of him, and the blood qi was coursing through his body.
Song Zhen's jaw dropped.
"This…."
Bai Xiaochun's eyes went wide.
"You really can't blame me this time. It appeared right inside my stomach!!" he shrieked. Song Zhen's face flickered, and he suddenly let out an intense howl of rage.
"Nightcrypt!!"
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