Chapter 508: The Source of the Fiend-Blood Energy

On the Celestial Wind Sect's qi planet that was closest to the ancient battlefield.

In the small courtyard that they had rented for ten years, Huai Jing, Liu Yunzhi, Shin Qianzhang, and Nameless sat at a stone table with troubled expressions. A sheet of paper lay before them. Printed on it were several lines of upright script—the reply that they had received from Earth.

"Brother Sheng's soul lamp indicates he's fine, so where exactly is he?"

"

Amitabha.

" Huai Jing sighed. "This matter feels rather mystical. I had used a toe-sized portion of my golden body to temporarily boost my strength and divinate Fei Yu's location, but I couldn't see anything. It's like some great enchanted power is deliberately concealing it."

Liu Yunzhi asked softly, "Could Fei Yu have gone back already? We have been searching everywhere for his tracks. If he had come through here, he would have left some trace."

"We searched the whole area around the statue but found no signs of any additional exits," Nameless replied. "Maybe he's gone into seclusion to cultivate."

"We've already decided to settle here for the long term, so stop overthinking and focus on cultivation," Huai Jing said. "We can go out, look around, and search for his trail during our breaks. We'll also contact home again ten years from now. Fei Yu is our brother and the hope of Earth's cultivation world. We have to find him as soon as possible."

Shi Qianzhang and Liu Yunzhi nodded slowly. They then silently walked toward the qi-gathering formations that had been set on the two sides of the courtyard.

Nameless smiled. "I'll guard the perimeter."

He disappeared. His ancient sword then flew to the front gate of the courtyard, lodging itself there like a door bolt.

Huai Jing lowered his head and looked at his own hands. He had initially felt motivated, but he now inexplicably let out a tired sigh.

"I can't even play games in this lousy place. If I spend a few hundred years here, a few years will have passed over there by the time I get back. I won't be able to keep up with the meta, new farming strats, and the Esports scene. The game might have even completely changed by then. Fei Yu, oh Fei Yu, you're really causing me a lot of suffering."

Shi Qianzhang laughed and scolded, "Forget your games. Hurry up and level up in real life, Lord Arhat. I am waiting to cling to your thigh."

Through gritted teeth, Huai Jing countered, "I cling to Fei Yu's thigh."

He flicked his sleeve, walked to the third qi-gathering formation, placed a small Buddha statue in front of him, and sat down in silent meditation. For some reason, he suddenly felt as if he had deviated from his proper duties.

Mm, must just be my imagination.

***

Near the tunnel where Lan Huilin had been earlier, the dense fiend-blood energy at the blood mine's bottom passage had condensed into a fog of blood. It was so thick that it even blocked spiritual perception. One could only vaguely see the shape of the collapsed edge ahead.

Yaoyun telepathically said, "T

he final caved-in section should be up ahead. The fiend-blood energy is too dense here; I can't sense what lies beyond it.

"

Wang Sheng nodded and glanced back at Lan Huilin, who stood not far behind him. Treating the situation as a deadly threat, she enveloped herself with nearly eighty percent of her enchanted power.

"Stay here, Daoist Friend. I'll dig through this section first," Wang Sheng instructed, then stepped into the blood fog. A thin gray tribulation cloud wrapped around him, releasing countless hair-thin arcs of lightning.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The fiend-blood energy was so concentrated that he didn't dare take it head-on. Out of Lan Huilin's sight, he maintained two layers of tribulation cloud, one each inside and outside his body.

Pure primal qi swiftly enveloped him. However, he had absorbed too much primal qi. With his cultivation stuck at a bottleneck, the immortal power in his qi sea was on the verge of bursting.

Left with no other choice but to vent immortal power outward, he released layer after layer of Pure Yang Enchanted Power into chains of armor around himself. He then let them fall away on their own, wasting it all at full force.

Had Lan Huilin known about this, she would probably be furious enough to fall into devilish deviation.

Wang Sheng excavated the passage carefully yet swiftly. He remained focused, ready for any sudden change.

After roughly seven or eight hours, he finally broke through the last collapsed section. An even denser blood fog greeted him, but faint strands of golden light flickered within it.

"

That golden light's source is just up ahead,

" Yaoyun reported.

"

I'm reaching my limit,

" Wang Sheng answered.

He slowly retreated to the edge of the fog and met up with Lan Huilin. Throughout his excavation session, he had unearthed six skeletons, each with a storage artifact. He calmly stored the latter away as the "fruits of his labor."

At last, he had reached the end of the bottom passage.

Perhaps because it had been opened, faint golden light began to appear even around the outer edges of the blood fog. The golden strands and the blood fog resisted and seemingly restrained each other.

Staring at the golden light, Lan Huilin immediately came up with an idea. She hurriedly asked, "What's up ahead?"

Wang Sheng shrugged. "I haven't checked yet. I only opened the path."

Sitting cross-legged, he expelled and pushed the excess Pure Yang Immortal Power that he could no longer contain. The boundary of the blood fog was forced back more than ten meters, but the moment he stopped releasing immortal power, the fog slowly surged forward again, this time with more streaks of golden light mixed in it.

Lan Huilin whispered, "Did the Celestial Wind Sect fail to collect all the treasures here?"

"I don't know." Wang Sheng slowly exhaled. "Daoist Friend Lan, do you have a recording orb or anything similar?"

"Of course."

Lan Huilin flipped her hand. A pale-blue sphere floated above her palm, then drifted toward Wang Sheng.

She smiled softly. "When traveling outside, we often rely on communication talismans and recording orbs. Most people carry them at all times."

Wang Sheng answered calmly, "

Mm,

I usually only bring Immortal Stones when I go out."

Lan Huilin didn't know what to say.

He took the recording orb, which Yaoyun had already explained how to use, then stood up again. "I'll investigate the source of that golden light. You don't have to risk entering the blood fog; I'll record everything with this orb."

A trace of emotion flickered in Lan Huilin's eyes. She gave him a respectful Daoist salute.

To complete the task that her master had entrusted to her, she had been prepared to risk her life, go with him to the end of the passage, and verify if there were still immortal treasures here. She had not expected Wang Sheng to think through the situation so thoroughly, enter in her stead, and use the recording orb for her convenience.

Although Lan Huilin was a True Immortal who had cultivated for over ten thousand years, her Dao Heart still rippled for a moment. Watching Wang Sheng step into the blood fog once more, she stayed fully alert, ready to respond at any moment.

The longer she interacted with the man, the more she found him shrouded in layers of mist that were impossible to see through. And the harder he was to understand, the more she wanted to get to know him better.

It had nothing to do with feelings between men and women. Lan Huilin had cultivated for more than a millennium and had long grown indifferent to such matters. Her master often reminded her that some male and female cultivators did not have firm hearts for the Dao. Their attachments damaged their cultivation, and they inevitably parted ways.

Most Daoist partners were simply obstacles in cultivation whose only purpose was to fulfill personal desires.

Lan Huilin was just genuinely puzzled. She wondered why the fiend-blood energy didn't affect Wang Sheng, and how he advanced in his cultivation so rapidly in a place like this. Moreover, she couldn't help but recall the few sword techniques that he had used during their brief exchange earlier.

Though she had met many sword cultivators, including Heavenly Immortal ones, not one of them had left such a deep impression on her. His sword rhythm was far too indescribable.

She sighed faintly, suppressed her wandering mind, and focused on the situation in front of her. Though somewhat worried that Wang Sheng would take the treasure for himself since he was alone, she ultimately concluded that it didn't really matter. He was the one who forced his way in using his ability to resist the fiend-blood energy.

Lan Huilin sighed again and lowered her head. She then circulated her immortal power and blocked the stray wisps of fiend-blood energy from approaching her.

Half a day later, just as she was starting to consider charging into the blood fog, Wang Sheng finally emerged again. He slowly walked toward her.

Lan Huilin hurried over. "How did it go, Wang Sheng?"

Noticing his darkened expression, an unexpected tension rose within her.

Wang Sheng simply shook his head and returned to his previous seat. After pushing away the fiend-blood energy wrapped around him, he started releasing the excess immortal power within him. Lan Huilin waited quietly at his side, not daring to rush him.

Eventually, he opened his eyes, revealing a faint sorrow, as he handed the recording orb over. "See for yourself. I have to recover first."

"

Mm.

"

Lan Huilin immediately activated the orb, causing it to unleash threads of light. The threads then wove into a cloud mirror that displayed the orb's recorded scenes.

It was full of blood fog and golden light. For quite some time, the thick, liquid-like blood fog refracted threads of golden brilliance, which looked as if they'd break free at any moment. Gradually, the light grew stronger, and the fog compressed, until Wang Sheng finally found the source of the two seemingly opposing forces.

A golden sphere several hundred meters across appeared ahead. The passage led straight to one of its parts.

Inside it, wisps of black-red aura drifted slowly. Threads of it seeped through the golden light wall, spread outward, and transformed into fiend-blood energy that diffused into the surrounding soil.

Lan Huilin paused the recording and stared closely into the sphere. Within its center, two skeletons were faintly visible, one above the other.

They radiated dense immortal light. The one on top was in brilliant golden armor. In its hand was a broad-bladed greatsword that it had pierced into the chest of the skeleton below it. Meanwhile, the left hand of the skeleton at the bottom had pierced through the abdomen of the one above.

The two had clearly killed each other.

The golden light came from the top skeleton's armor. The fiend-blood energy was probably the flesh and blood of both corpses, which the golden light had trapped. Over a hundred thousand years later, it still hadn't fully dissipated.

Lan Huilin felt a wave of emotion.

"They're probably Golden Immortals," Wang Sheng whispered. "Stay away for now. I might cause some disturbance."

Lan Huilin asked, "You want to take the sword and armor?"

Wang Sheng paused, then nodded slowly. "Yes. Will you notify your master?"

She clearly hesitated for a moment, but then shook her head. "I won't. Those two treasures aren't worth mobilizing a force to claim. Besides, those two items rightfully belong to you."

"Thanks."

Wang Sheng slowly closed his eyes and resumed meditating to recover. He didn't think too much about it. After all, he was only doing this because Yaoyun had asked him to retrieve the remains of the Heavenly Court war general in the golden armor.