Chapter 617: A Difficult Choice

When Li Mu finished talking, everyone became absent-minded for a little. All of them were obviously shocked by this.

A long time later, Xue Li suddenly said, “Qin Lie, I didn’t think that the Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar would be intact. I… guess you should keep this body for yourself.”

“Big Brother Xue!” Mo Jun cried out.

The other Blood Fiend Sect elders screamed as well, attempting to dissuade him.

“Sect master, your physical body is gone! You need one to be able to unleash your strength and cultivate the Blood Spirit Art!”

“There is no better body for you than the Blood Progenitor’s!”

“Please think about this carefully, sect master!”

All of them were elderly members of Blood Fiend Sect. They hoped to live to see Blood Fiend Sect reestablish its dominance, return to Blood Cloud Mountain Range, and regain everything they’d lost.

In their opinion, Xue Li… was the best person to make all of this happen.

Once Xue Li fused with the Blood Progenitor’s body and used it to reach the Imperishable Realm, Blood Fiend Sect would have a peak expert guarding it.

Only then would they be able to face the combined pressure of Black Voodoo Cult and the three great families.

Only then would Blood Fiend Sect be able to survive and achieve their goals.

“Enough!” Xue Li exclaimed with a shake of his head. “Qin Lie cultivates the Blood Spirit Art and can be considered a member of Blood Fiend Sect. He will gradually be able to unleash the true strength of the Blood Progenitor in the future. Blood Fiend Sect will just have to wait a bit longer, that’s all.”

“But we old men don’t have much time left. Also… Qin Lie is only in the Netherpassage Realm. His soul is far too weak. It could take him hundreds of years to entirely fuse with this seven-level Soul Altar!” Mo Jun said anxiously.

“This process is not as simple as you think,” Li Mu said, interrupting the conversation again.

After giving Qin Lie a deep look, Li Mu pondered for a moment before saying, “Fusing with a Soul Altar is extremely difficult.”

Everyone listened to him attentively.

Not even Xue Li was an exception.

He might have been younger than Xue Li, but Li Mu’s knowledge and understanding of Soul Altars obviously exceeded everyone in the present!

—Li Mu was the only one present who possessed a Soul Altar.

“Strictly speaking, a Soul Altar possesses characteristics of the spirit art its owner cultivates. A Soul Altar constantly adjusts itself according to its owner’s perception of spirit energy, as well as the laws and principles of the world.

“For example, an expert who cultivates a fire spirit art would have an entire imprint containing that fire spirit art’s inheritance within their Soul Altar. The insights they spent all their life attaining would be held inside of the Soul Altar. You could even say that expert’s Soul Altar would equal everything he ever understood about that fire spirit art!

“If someone wanted to fuse with a similar Soul Altar, it would be best for them to be a fire spirit cultivator. This way, they would be able to fuse with it quicker. Of course, the more powerful a soul is, the faster the process of fusing with a Soul Altar will be.

“Even though Senior Xue Li cultivates the Blood Spirit Art and possesses a Nirvana Realm soul, it will still take him at least several hundred years to successfully fuse with the Blood Progenitor’s seven-level Soul Altar. This also takes the perfect condition of the Blood Progenitor’s body into account as well.

“As for Qin Lie… considering his current realm and how many spirit arts he cultivates, he may have to wait several thousand years before being able to completely fuse with the Blood Progenitor’s body and Soul Altar.”

Qin Lie was stunned.

“One more thing.” Li Mu smiled calmly and continued, “If you wish to fuse with the Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar, you must entirely abandon Heavenly Thunder Eradication, your Frost Spirit Art, and your Earth Spirit Art. The Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar may be unbelievably strong, but it also sets your future in stone. You will only be able to learn the Blood Spirit Art inheritance inside of the Soul Altar and walk only that path of cultivation. You can only try training your other spirit arts again after you’ve completely fused with the Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar and become strong enough to change the Soul Altar.

“The Blood Progenitor’s seven-level Soul Altar may be quite tempting to me, but I do not cultivate the Blood Spirit Art and may not be able to perfectly fuse with its Soul Altar. Furthermore, I don’t want to abandon the spirit art I’m currently cultivating and switch to the Blood Spirit Art.

“The only people here right now that are capable of fusing with the Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar are members Blood Fiend Sect. If we go by the strength of one’s soul, there’s no doubt that Senior Xue Li is the most suitable candidate among all of you… not to mention his present need of a physical body.”

Li Mu revealed the secrets of Soul Altars, the various limitations of the fusing with one, and the difficulties a person would face while doing so.

Although tempted, Qin Lie ultimately stopped entertaining the idea of fusing with the Blood Progenitor’s Soul Altar after listening to Li Mu’s explanation.

“If I would be forced to abandon all of the spirit arts I cultivate and spend several thousand years fusing with that seven-level Soul Altar, then…” Qin Lie smiled wryly before shaking his head, saying, “I may as well give up on it.”

An odd light flashed through Li Mu’s eyes.

The members of Blood Fiend Sect obviously looked excited and overjoyed by his declaration.

Xue Li suddenly said, “Do you know what a seven-level Soul Altar means? Do you understand what the early stage of the Genesis Realm means? Even the king of Land of Chaos, Nan Zhengtian, only possesses a three-level Soul Altar! Do you know how long it took him to get where he is now?”

“Nan Zhengtian?” Qin Lie was confused.

“He’s referring to Forefather Terminator,” Li Mu explained briefly.

“Nan Zhengtian was already famous long before I had even been imprisoned by Jiang Zhuzhe. Back then, he had already been selected as the next sect master of Terminator Sect before a public announcement was made. He had stronger momentum than I did and was already in the Nirvana Realm then.” Xue Li’s bloody eyes glittered as he continued, “This means that he spent more than a thousand years constructing a three-level Soul Altar. How long do you think it would take you to construct a seven-level Soul Altar on your own like Li Mu said?”

This revelation shocked everyone.

“The construction of each new level of a Soul Altar consumes an unfathomable amount of spirit materials,” Xue Li added. “I can’t even imagine how much spirit material Terminator Sect used to construct a three-level Soul Altar.”

“Mm, that’s true.” Li Mu sighed softly and said, “Nan Zhengtian is currently preparing to add another level to his Soul Altar. He has recently been quite intimate with the Asura Race and purchased a huge amount of spirit materials from them. Frankly speaking, he is still gathering the spirit materials needed to construct the next level even to this day. In fact, according to what I’ve heard, he still needs quite a bit of materials…”

Qin Lie looked absolutely astonished.

“Even he has yet to accumulate enough spirit materials to construct the next level?!” he exclaimed.

Li Mu smiled and decided to try explaining things in another way.

“Spirit Realm is vast and contains many forces. These forces are differentiated by rank and categorized as either Limestone, Black Iron, Copper, Silver, or Gold in a pyramid-like hierarchy. Do you know why even Gold rank forces, as powerful as they are, wish to control the world, take all the mines for themselves, and fight to the death for spirit materials?”

“You mean to say that they also hope to…” Qin Lie was shocked.

“When you one day step into the Imperishable Realm, you will understand that the advancement of one’s realm and the construction of one’s Soul Altar will no longer be limited to just the expansion of one’s understanding of strength and soul energy. No! From that point onward, the astronomical amount of spirit materials an expert has to spend becomes the most critical factor and limiter that decides whether an expert can rise to the next realm!” A bitter smile spread across Li Mu’s face once he reached this detail. He then muttered to himself, “Why else would I have become the Sixth Heavenly Sword of Heavenly Sword Mountain and performed so many strenuous and unrewarding tasks?”

“Uncle Li… you?” Qin Lie looked surprised.

“Your Uncle Li is pretty poor, you know? The only reason I put up with being the Sixth Heavenly Sword of Heavenly Sword Mountain is because I need them to gather enough spirit materials for me to advance my cultivation.” Li Mu sighed.

As soon as he said this, the Blood Fiend Sect elders, Xing Yuyuan, Xiang Xi, and everyone around Li Mu trembled.

Qin Lie’s eyes also lit up in response.

For the longest time, he felt that Li Mu was a person of unfathomable depth.

He knew that Li Mu had to be incredibly strong, and that his realm must have exceeded his imaginations.

But even then, Qin Lie never imagined that Li Mu would possess a Soul Altar and already be an Imperishable Realm expert.

“If you fuse with the Soul Altar, you won’t need to run all over the place to accumulate spirit materials. All you would need to do is to settle down, learn, and absorb the complete inheritance left within it. Then, after several thousand years, you’ll enter the Genesis Realm…” Li Mu’s eyes looked odd when he said this. “I’m pretty sure most people would be willing to abandon everything and choose to fuse with that Soul Altar. Are you certain you can resist this temptation, kid? Can you choose the more difficult path that leads to an unpredictable future?”

Everyone subconsciously looked at Qin Lie.

At this point, Li Mu, Xue Li, and Mo Jun explained all the secrets about the Soul Altar, its value, and the rewards one would get for fusing with it.

Qin Lie ultimately had to choose who the Blood Progenitor would go to.

Qin Lie fell silent.

After what seemed like eons went by, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice, gritting his teeth.

“I choose to walk my own path of cultivation step by step!”

This declaration surprised Li Mu, who then laughed loudly and patted Qin Lie on his shoulders.

“Good boy! Not even this can shake your resolve!”