Immortal Refiner

In the Blood Hall, Erya briefly recounted the events of the past decade to Li Qing.

It turned out that, starting nine years prior, the offspring born in the World of Eternal Night had begun exhibiting bizarre and indescribable deformities.

Some infants were born with six arms and inexplicable, monstrous strength.

Others lacked heads altogether, their eyes embedded in their chests, yet they still survived.

Still others emerged with wings sprouting from their backs and horns adorning their heads, bearing forms utterly alien to human anatomy.

Of course, a small fraction of newborns escaped these mutations, arriving into the world as perfectly normal infants.

Initially, these anomalies sparked widespread panic. However, after former cultivators from the Immortal Cultivation Path revealed themselves to the mortal realm, they declared the Red Moon responsible for these distortions.

In Giant Rock City, a Daoist temple called Tianliang Temple had been established.

The Immortal Masters within collected human blood, using it to aid pregnancies and ensure the birth of normal, undeformed infants.

Li Qing fell silent, stunned by the profound changes that had swept this world in just over a decade.

Li Qing suspected that the double-headed bull he had seen from the city walls had been influenced by the Red Moon hanging in the sky.

The thought sent a slight chill down his spine. If I stay here too long, won’t I be subtly affected as well?

After gaining a basic understanding of the world’s current state, Li Qing bid farewell to the charitable Blood Hall, where bloodletting served as both healing and resource extraction.

Erya, the hall’s caretaker, tried to persuade Li Qing, a Martial Artist with some medical knowledge, to stay and work at the Blood Hall.

Li Qing, of course, refused.

As he walked away, Li Qing pondered, ”Why does collecting blood from ordinary people sound increasingly like something a demonic cultivator would do?”

The Immortal Cultivation Path did indeed have demonic cultivators. Their cultivation manuals were filled with insidious and wicked practices, such as extracting blood essence and refining divine souls—all routine matters for them.s

Falling into their clutches meant eternal torment, even beyond death. Your corpse could be transformed into a mindless zombie.

As Li Qing walked through the city, he naturally connected Tianliang Temple with Tianliang Mountain from his memories.

The Green Gang must have known something about the establishment of a Taoist temple in Giant Rock City.

Li Qing decided to visit his former acquaintances in the Green Gang’s leadership, such as Miao Jiu, Wei Tian, and Zhao Kou, immediately.

Giant Rock City had changed dramatically. After more than a decade away, Li Qing couldn’t even find the entrance to the Green Gang’s main headquarters.

After discreetly inquiring around, he learned that the headquarters had been relocated to the area formerly occupied by the City Lord’s Manor.

To his surprise, the Red Fish Merchant Guild still existed, though its management had been taken over by members of the Green Gang.

Even more astonishingly, two familiar faces now oversaw the guild—Miao Jiu and Wei Tian, who were now in charge of a guild significantly larger than before!

Red Fish Merchant Guild, Miao Family Estate.

Li Qing couldn’t help but smile as he gazed upon the imposing estate ahead.

I never imagined that Miao Jiu, the man who once ran errands for me, would one day establish his own prominent family.

Time truly was a wondrous force, constantly reshaping everything in its wake.

Inside Miao Manor, a violent fit of coughing erupted from the direction of the main residence.

”Cough, cough, cough! Miao Xi, you worthless wretch! You’ll kneel here today, and no amount of pleading will change my mind!”

Thud!

A muffled sound came from within the main hall, presumably the sound of Miao Xi dropping to his knees.

”Hmph, you little brat, still defiant?”

Soon, a younger voice retorted, ”I did nothing wrong. Ma Yuan harassed the women of Giant Rock City, violating gang rules. I was merely punishing the wicked and upholding justice!”

The coughing fit from the elderly voice intensified once more.

”Even so, you shouldn’t have gone so far! Ma Yuan’s father is a Green Gang elder and was once the leader of the True Martial Gang in Giant Rock City!”

”Now you’ve crippled his manhood! Do you even realize this constitutes vigilante justice? That’s a violation of gang rules too!”

”I never should have sent you to Uncle Zhao for martial training. Look at what you’ve become!”

Listening from outside the door, Li Qing quickly pieced together what had transpired.

It was simply that Miao Jiu’s son was too righteous and principled, unable to tolerate even the slightest injustice. When he saw a second-generation scion abusing the Green Gang’s reputation to bully others, he couldn’t stand it and taught the young man a lesson.

Li Qing wasn’t surprised in the least. As any organization grows, diverse individuals inevitably emerge. Both Ma Yuan and Miao Xi were merely reflections of the gang’s internal complexities.

However, one thing did catch Li Qing off guard. The once smooth-talking, politically savvy Miao Jiu, who could navigate social situations with effortless grace, had produced a son so upright and uncompromising that he seemed entirely unlike his father—almost as if they weren’t related at all.

This sudden realization stirred in Li Qing an impulse to see the young man for himself. After all, he was now considered the boy’s elder.

Without hesitation, Li Qing chuckled loudly from just beyond the doorway. ”Heh heh, Brother Miao Jiu! It’s been years! I never imagined you’d become a father. My sincerest congratulations!”

The hearty greeting silenced the room instantly, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

”Father, you must leave! The intruder’s martial arts are formidable—I didn’t even sense their approach!”

The moment the words faded, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy burst through the main gate. He was remarkably burly, with arms far thicker than those of an ordinary person. Adding to his unusual appearance, two fleshy bumps protruded from his head, like nascent horns.

Li Qing studied the boy with interest, surmising that these deformities were another manifestation of the Red Moon’s influence, resulting in physical anomalies.

His gaze soon shifted past the hulking youth to the middle-aged man who stood frozen inside the main hall.

Miao Jiu’s face now bore deep lines of weathered experience, his entire demeanor drastically transformed. The shrewd, calculating young man Li Qing remembered had become a stout middle-aged figure exuding an air of prosperity.

Over the past decade, his rise to prominence within the Green Gang had left its mark. By Li Qing’s estimation, Miao Jiu must be nearing fifty.

Miao Jiu stepped forward cautiously, his eyes wide with disbelief, as if afraid he might be mistaken.

Meanwhile, his son Miao Xi shouted urgently, ”Father, don’t come out! This man is dangerous—I can’t even gauge his martial arts level!”

Miao Jiu ignored his son’s warning, his broad frame trembling uncontrollably. He blurted out a question that left Miao Xi stunned:

”Brother Li... is that really you?!”

Li Qing smiled faintly and replied, ”It’s been many years, Brother Miao Jiu. I trust you’ve been well?”

Hearing that familiar voice, Miao Jiu finally pieced together the tall figure before him with the image etched in his deepest memories. Time seemed to have left no mark on him; his youthful face and undiminished charm were exactly as Miao Jiu remembered them.

”Brother Li...”

The next moment, Miao Jiu turned to his son and roared, ”You insolent brat! Kneel and pay your respects at once! This is your Uncle Li!”

Miao Xi struggled to accept this. The man before him looked nothing like someone from his father’s generation!

But Miao Jiu had already stepped forward, dragging Miao Xi down with him to kneel.

Li Qing, however, didn’t give them the chance. He gently steadied both father and son, preventing them from kneeling.

”Enough with the formalities between us,” Li Qing said firmly, pulling both men to their feet.

Miao Xi felt a surge of terror as the unyielding strength in Li Qing’s grip left him no choice but to obey. In that moment, he realized that Li Qing’s mastery of the Martial Dao was likely unfathomable.

Miao Jiu’s voice trembled as he asked, ”Brother Li, where have you been all these years?”

Li Qing could only offer a vague explanation. He couldn’t possibly reveal his pursuit of Immortal Cultivation. ”It’s a long story,” he replied. ”I’ve been wandering aimlessly, without a fixed home, for years.”

Miao Jiu grew agitated. ”Quick, come inside and tell me! So much has happened!”

After dismissing his children, Miao Jiu led Li Qing to the main hall and seated him. Studying Li Qing’s face up close, he couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. Could this be the reward for reaching the Grandmaster Realm in the Martial Dao? To defy the passage of time and retain one’s youth? It’s truly enviable.

Seizing the opportunity to learn what he wanted, Li Qing cut straight to the point:

”Tell me,” Li Qing said, ”what happened in Giant Rock City while I was gone? How did it change so drastically? And what’s this about the Immortal Masters at Tianliang Temple and their bloodletting rituals?”

Miao Jiu took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, and began to explain everything he knew in detail.

After Li Qing’s departure, under An Xuan’s leadership, the Green Gang steadfastly pursued the tasks Li Qing had entrusted to them: locating traces of other cultivators and searching for rare and unusual materials.

As the dominant power in the Black Wind Domain, the Green Gang’s operations were naturally highly efficient. Before long, their widespread inquiries led them to Tianliang Mountain.

The Tianliang Temple in the city had been established by cultivators from Tianliang Mountain.

However, the cultivators in this realm had abandoned the Immortal Cultivation Path, instead pursuing a bizarre alternative Dao.

After years of research, a renowned expert had finally uncovered some of the Red Moon’s secrets.

That eternally unchanging Red Moon in the sky not only bathed the world in crimson moonlight but also radiated a unique mystical force.

This arcane force caused all sorts of mutations, rapidly transforming not only humans but also plants and animals.

Ever since the Red Moon appeared, it had been continuously influencing everything in heaven and earth.

Generation after generation, the cumulative effects finally led to the birth of grotesquely deformed infants with exceptionally peculiar physiques.

Whether human, beast, or even mushroom, the mutations caused by the Red Moon’s influence were invariably terrifying.

Miao Jiu’s son, Miao Xi, had also undergone a minor mutation, resulting in an unusually thick arm and strength far surpassing that of ordinary people—a natural-born martial artist.

”A wise man from Tianliang Mountain once lamented that the Immortal Path had forsaken them, leaving them no choice but to draw power from the Red Moon’s eerie crimson glow.”

Thus, the cultivators of this world collectively abandoned the Immortal Cultivation Path and turned to cultivating the Red Moon’s arcane force, drawing strength from its eerie, blood-red light.

They cast aside their former Immortal Path Secret Manuals and secret techniques, consigning them to the dustbin of history.

(End of the Chapter)

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