Spirit Realm

The woods behind Armament Sect were shrouded in clouds of blood.

There were pools of blood of various sizes divided among the parts of the forest. The blood in the pools was thick as they bubbled and produced a noxious bloody mist.

There were martial practitioners of different cultivation stages in each pool of blood. There were males and females, and gender didn’t seem to matter.

Under the guidance of Ying Xingran, Qin Lie stepped into Bloody Spear’s high-level grounds and was shocked by the pervasive stench of blood.

The expressions of everyone in the pools were terrifyingly twisted as they resisted the corrosion of the blood as their eyes exuded lunacy.

Many martial practitioners in blood-colored robes were laughing strangely with cruel smiles on their faces.

When they found that Ying Xingran had come in, these people suppressed their expressions of cruelty and became respectful. They bowed, “Greetings, Sect Master.”

“I’m looking for Lang Xie,” Ying Xingran said simply.

“Sire is inside,” a person respectfully answered, bowing and leading Ying Xingran and Qin Lie deeper.

Along the way, many Blood Spear martial practitioners and the people in the pools of blood showed shock when they saw Qin Lie here.

This person quickly led Ying Xingran and Qin Lie to a place filled with white bones. This was deep in the woods, and shattered bones littered the area. Some skeletons were transparent and glowing, and others still had splotches of blood on them.

At this time, a Rank Three Metal Wing Golden Horn Lizard was trapped in a cage and had just been stabbed to death by two Blood Spear martial practitioners.

Blood swelled from the abdomen of that Metal Wing Golden Horn Lizard and flowed into a large wooden bucket. The large bucket was filled with thick blood that gave off a strong and nauseating odor.

At the side, there were six pools of blood. Each pool of blood was the size of a room.

The two Blood Spear martial practitioners that were bleeding out the lizard would change buckets once a large bucket was filled and pour the bright blood into one of the pools.

When the blood inside the pools came into contact with Rank Three spirit beast blood, it gave off astonishing heat as though it was boiling water.

Lang Xie was silently sitting between the six pools of blood.

Beside him was someone else that Qin Lie was familiar with—Feng Rong

Qin Lie had seen Feng Rong at Mo Hai’s bamboo house before. Unlike the other females that were naked, Feng Rong was wearing skin-hugging leather clothing as she was immersed in one of the pools and seemed to be cultivating.

At this time she heard the steps of Ying Xingran and Qin Lie as they came closer and opened her eyes.

“Greetings, Sect Master, Greetings… Future Sect Master,” Feng Rong smiled at Qin Lie.

“Lang Xie, I’ve brought him to you,” Ying Xingran shouted in a low voice.

Lang Xie finally opened his eyes. He bowed towards Ying Xingran and then looked deeply at Qin Lie.

A thick, blood-thirsty aura suddenly swept over Qin Lie like a flooding river!

The terrifying aura seemed to take over the world. Qin Lie’s eyes showed shock, and he felt like he was within the bloody maw of a vicious beast and terrified like he was situated in an endless sea of blood.

Forcibly suppressing the shaking of his body, Qin Lie used his resilient strength of mind to channel his Frost Arts and used the frost concept to resist the aura’s impact.

Ice quickly formed over his body. His eyes became silvery white, and his face became expressionless as he displayed his absolute cold and emotionless state.

Yet the vicious aura and the noxious bloody tang seemed to pass through his body and straight into his mind and the deepest part of his soul

It seemed that no matter how he tried to defend or resist, he would be corroded in mind and body by the waves of blood and become a pile of bones.

He tried to focus his mind and form layers of defenses inside his mind to try his best to resist the attack from the bloody presence as he painfully fought back…

Suddenly, the bloody and vicious presence that had instantly flooded over him retreated like the tide and instantly disappeared.

Qin Lie’s entire body was frozen as though he had gone through centuries of torture. Concentrating his mind, he found that the his blood was not flowing smoothly, his limbs had gone numb, and his body was completely exhausted.

He looked with shock at Lang Xie and thought, “So powerful!”

Just the intrusion of a single wisp of blood energy made him unable to resist, as though he was drowning in an endless sea of blood and was unable to break free.

This feeling of terror caused him to recognize his weakness and understand that his present strength and cultivation realm was nothing in front of someone who was truly strong.

“Lang Xie, how is he? Am I right?” Feng Rong asked with a smile.

“Not bad?” Lang Xie nodded and then pointed at one of the pools of blood nearby. He ordered Qin Lie, “Strip bare and soak in that blood pool.”

“Bare?” Qin Lie raised an eyebrow.

Lang Xie nodded indifferently.

Feng Rong giggled and then said teasingly as she covered her mouth, “I’ve stayed for more than three decades in Blood Spear and have seen too many naked bodies. You won’t have something extra that no one else doesn’t, so don’t be embarrassed and just listen to his orders.”

Qin Lie looked at Ying Xingran.

Ying Xingran appeared awkward. “Don’t look at me. At the rear of the mountain below the blood clouds, even I listen to Lang Xie.”

Qin Lie did not speak and stripped out of his clothing in front of everyone. Before they could react, he jumped into the pool of blood that Lang Xie had pointed to.

“Glug glug!”

The blood inside the pool of blood suddenly boiled. It also rippled as it released astounding heat.

“Mn?” Qin Lie’s expression changed slightly.

The blood entered all the pores in his body and suddenly became billions of small insects that chewed on his flesh and drank the blood inside his body, causing him to feel sore all over, making him felt like he was being slowly consumed.

The sore pain was weak in the beginning and gradually deepened. After several minutes, Qin Lie felt as though billions of insects had entered his bones and vessels and had started chewing on his organs. There wasn’t a place on his body that he didn’t feel pain.

His brow was tightly creased. Under the eyes of Lang Xie, Feng Rong, and Ying Xingran, he silently experienced the enormous pain his body felt, but his eyes did not change.

Pain of this degree was much weaker than the thunder from the Ninth Heaven.

With his Heavenly Thunder Sacred Body, it was not a very difficult matter to tolerate pain of this degree.

Especially when he felt that there seemed to be some kind of heat inside the blood when he was experiencing the pain that was being slowly absorbed by his flesh.

He quickly understood that this blood was very beneficial for him.

So he had no worries and focused his mind to have his physical body take in more of this beneficial fluid from the blood.

“What is the thickness of the spirit blood in this pool? What level of martial practitioners is it for?” Ying Xingran observed for a while and suddenly inquired.

Because he found that, as time passed, Lang Xie and Feng Rong’s gazes gradually turned to looks of slight surprise as they looked at Qin Lie.

“The spirit blood thickness is not high, it is for the late stages of the Natal Opening Realm, for new entrants like Pang Feng and Yi Yuan,” Feng Rong explained.

Ying Xingran was shocked. “It has not been diluted?”

“No.” Feng Rong shook her head and said seriously, “No dilution, I didn’t adjust the thickness of the spirit blood for him. Pang Feng and Yi Yuan had come here nine days ago. Yi Yuan had cried and wailed in this pool of blood while Pang Feng underwent this without a sound.”

“Pang Feng comes from Cloud Sky Mountain and practices the Golden Stone Art. It emphasizes the refinement of the body, so how can Qin Bing compare to him?”

Ying Xingran’s expression suddenly changed as he shouted, “Qin Bing! Don’t push yourself! The blood in the pools are primarily composed of spirit beast blood and has been mixed with more than seventy types of medicinal liquids. It can rapidly strengthen the body, but it is not something that an average person can quickly adjust to. It’s better if you go slowly!”

“Come out,” Lang Xie said.

Qin Lie was slightly unwilling, but he still walked out from the pool and stood naked in front of him.

Ying Xingran sighed in relief.

“I underestimated you,” Lang Xie said. “It is not suitable for you to use pools with low spirit blood thickness. Go to that pool.”

He once again pointed to a pool that was even brighter.

Before Ying Xingran could shout in shock, Qin Lie jumped again into the pool that Lang Xie pointed at.

When he entered the pool, enormous pain that was more than three times stronger swept through his body almost instantaneously!

That terrifying pain caused Qin Lie to feel as though there were wild beasts tearing at his flesh and that he was about to be torn shreds and swallowed in pieces.

Qin Lie’s pupils contracted. He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the wail that was going to come out of his mouth.

Blood pools with more spirit blood held even more heat in the blood. The threads that contained a strange power burrowed into his bones, muscles, veins, and organs.

He could feel a fiery piercing pain and the discomfort of his heart and lungs, but he also had a wondrous feeling of being nurtured.

He started to grit his teeth and endure. Just as though he was cultivating Heavenly Thunder Eradication, he had a serious attitude and tried to use his mental strength to resist the piercing pain within his body.

Time passed in seconds.

Ying Xingran’s face was dark as he switched between looking at Qin Lie and Lang Xie. He said, “I’ve given him to you, but I feel you can treat him with kindness. I do not want any accidents to happen to him!”

“Sect Master’s body is becoming increasingly weak, and your tolerance is becoming weak with it. If Sect Master cannot maintain your peace of mind, please return to the sect.” Feng Rong’s tone was concerned as she said sincerely, “Do not worry, I will look after him. Nothing will happen, I guarantee it.”

“Give him to you?” Ying Xingran’s expression changed, “Instructor Feng! Has the number of people who died in your hands been a small number? If you did not change your personality suddenly and got close to A’Hai, there would be even more these trainees that would die under your watch!”

Feng Rong giggled, “I’m different now. I rarely dose trainees with strong medicines anymore. Also, those that died under my training were picked from the delegates. Since Sect Master doesn’t care about their lives, in order to quickly pick out the people most suitable for Blood Spear, we can’t do anything about a few people dying.”

“But Qin Bing definitely cannot be under your care!” Ying Xingran snorted coldly. He clearly did not believe Feng Rong’s guarantee.

“Qin Bing, come out.” At this time, Lang Xie spoke again and pointed at another pool of blood. He said, “Try this one. This time, do not force yourself. If you can’t bear it, you can jump out without needing any permission from me.”

Once these words were spoken, Feng Rong and Ying Xingran’s expressions both changed. Even the expressions of the two Blood Spear martial practitioners that were bleeding out spirit beast blood had changed.

Before they could react, Qin Lie shouted and jumped into the pool of blood that Lang Xie was pointing at.