Chapter 510: Heavenly Immortal Enters the Mine

Outside the blood mine, several True Immortals of the Celestial Wind Sect sat on a cloud drinking wine while discussing the mine.

"For the past half year, I kept feeling that the fiend-blood energy had thinned quite a bit."

"You noticed it too? Maybe this blood mine is finally running out of it."

"Maybe it's because we're close to hollowing out the mine. Fiend-blood energy condenses into blood essence, which we've already dug out quite a lot of."

A True Immortal dressed like a scholar laughed. "The mine used to be quite a profitable venture for our Celestial Wind Sect since it contained valuable items, but our sect is no longer what it once was. We have to station a lot of our people here and even have Elder Long stay here year-round. This has not been entirely good for us.

"This place has been bringing us diminishing gains. Even so, it would be a waste to abandon it. That's why it'd be great if it runs out of fiend-blood energy now. Once we're done here, we can hurry on to the next place."

In a deep tone, a middle-aged man in battle armor replied, "The ancient battlefield still has many unexplored secret places, and we have already spent too much time here. On another note, do you remember the female spy from the Fengli Sect?"

"She was heavily wounded when she fled into the depths of the blood mine. So much time has passed that she's probably dead by now."

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"If the fiend-blood energy had been thinning long before we noticed it, she might have survived."

The group briefly fell into thought.

The scholar-like True Immortal chuckled. "So what if she lived? We've sealed this place with a grand array. Even if she had wings, she still wouldn't be able to escape. Moreover, though there's less fiend-blood energy in the mine, it still doesn't have primal qi for her to restore her immortal power. She's dead either way. It's only a matter of time."

They all nodded slowly. The armored immortal glanced at the grand array and smiled faintly. "Perhaps I worried too much."

A female soldier stepped forward to refill their tea.

The group chatted while waiting for the True Immortals in the mine to finish their shift, come out, and switch with them. They had all long forgotten the Ascended Immortal who had died in the mine. After all, it had swallowed more unaffiliated practitioners than they could count. Moreover, they couldn't care less whether the little immortal—whom Elder Long had personally dragged back—was alive.

The only ones they remembered were the rare few with slightly higher cultivation who had fought with everything they had after the fiend-blood energy had corrupted them. Those people were killed right before they fell into devilish deviation.

***

Bottom passage.

Near the exit, Lan Huilin sat quietly in a qi-gathering formation. She listened to the faint echoes from afar and occasionally opened her eyes to look deeper into the tunnel.

The fiend-blood energy around her had unknowingly thinned by more than half.

Lan Huilin knew that Wang Sheng, a mysterious cultivator, had caused all this. She had already begun to faintly sense that she might not die here after all. However, her slim chance of survival rested on him alone.

Gazing once more into the distance, she murmured, "What are you up to?"

She extended her spiritual perception along the passage that Wang Sheng had dug. An array soon blocked it, making her quietly withdraw it.

This had already been going on for a long time. Still, instead of overthinking it, she just shook her head and continued to wait for the moment that Wang Sheng had mentioned.

***

The enormous golden sphere at the end of the passage appeared to have shrunk, but it hadn't actually changed. Wang Sheng had simply dug away the surrounding blood soil and blood essences, creating enough space for him to set tribulation clouds around the sphere.

Wang Sheng sat cross-legged at the end of the passage, groups of gray tribulation clouds floating around him. He dispatched them in an orderly fashion to different positions around the sphere, then made them slowly seep inside to merge with the two clouds rotating above and below it. The two tribulation clouds were a hundred meters across, dividing the sphere's interior into upper, middle, and lower sections.

The top cloud rotated clockwise, while the bottom rotated counterclockwise. Lightning crossed like the fangs of giant beasts, repeatedly striking the drifting black-red aura. Although each attack lacked strength, it still slowly broke its target apart by dispersing a small portion of its target with enough bolts and constant impact.

The two tribulation clouds each had a small vortex at its center. Every fifteen minutes, two lightning spheres drifted out of the vortexes and converged around the two skeletons in the middle, unleashing violent heavenly tribulation power and battering their target.

If not for the Heavenly Immortal power suppressing the black-red aura, even a Heavenly Immortal would have been helpless against them in here.

While watching from the side, Wang Sheng thought about how to strengthen his Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent, which he had already mastered. He had previously tried a different approach that opened a new path, allowing him to improve the sword intent without attracting the attention of heavenly might.

After a full year of uninterrupted summoning, the tribulation he could unleash had become stronger and lasted longer. Using it enough times had created a slight qualitative change. It was nothing special; he had simply become more skilled through practice. Now, he felt as if he had some command over heavenly tribulation.

While sitting beside the golden sphere, the steadily diminishing aura made him consider a serious question.

What do I do after I've purified it?

Wang Sheng had initially planned to use the heavenly tribulation to pierce the golden light sphere's barrier and then force the destructive black-red aura upward, obliterating the entire blood mine. He would seize the Heavenly Court general's remains in the ensuing chaos and escape unnoticed.

However, the golden sphere had proven completely impervious to his lightning. On the other hand, he had accidentally pushed the tribulation clouds through the golden light, allowing them to clash with and suppress the aura quite effectively. Based on his calculations, it would be fully dispersed within half a year if everything proceeded smoothly.

Unlike his initial plan, this could also serve as an escape path.

Once the source of the fiend-blood energy was cut off, the energy in the mine would gradually dissipate and eventually cause the blood mine to dry up. The Celestial Wind Sect would likely abandon it in a few hundred years, which meant he'd have a chance to leave safely for as long as he could hide in here until they left.

This was the only viable plan that he could come up with at the moment.

Having given his word to Yaoyun, he focused on retrieving the Heavenly Court general's remains. As a man who lived by the sword, he would never go back on his words to others or to his sword.

"

Yaoyun, keep an eye around us. If anyone approaches, warn me immediately.

"

Once Yaoyun had responded, Wang Sheng resumed summoning tribulation clouds. He directed them into the golden light to replenish the two hundred-meter-wide clouds.

After calculating his immortal power consumption rate, he took out seven multi-coloured celestial crystals and placed them under him. Relying solely on the primal qi converted from the thinning fiend-blood energy was no longer enough to keep up with the demands of summoning the clouds. Hence, he had no other choice but to activate the Qiankun Ring and take out several celestial pills.

Fortunately, he had vast reserves. Otherwise, all his past efforts would have been wasted.

***

Three months passed.

Above the blood mine, two figures stood side by side near the edge of the pit marked with "Xuan." On the left was Elder Long, the fiend cultivator who had captured Wang Sheng. Ji Li, the Celestial Wind Sect's middle-aged vice sect master, stood on the right, donning a gray Daoist robe. Behind them, more than a dozen True Immortals stood silently with lowered heads.

Feeling awkward, Elder Long cleared his throat and asked deeply, "When did this start?"

The True Immortals exchanged glances.

Finally, a female immortal with a stiff smile stepped forward and bowed. "Elder, Vice Sect Master, it has been going on for a year and two months."

A hint of anger showed in Ji Li's expression. "That long? When you were assigned to this post, someone should have informed you of the rules here! If anything unusual occurs, you are to immediately report it to the sect! What is this? Do you all resent the fact that the sect stationed you here?"

"Please be a fair judge, Vice Sect Master. We have served the sect wholeheartedly and harbor no resentments! The fiend-blood energy did not suddenly decrease. On the contrary, it gradually faded day by day. By the time we realized something was wrong, it was already too late."

Elder Long stroked his beard. "Stop scaring them, Ji Li. Reporting a year or so late isn't that bad, and this was just a moment of carelessness. Why don't we go down and take a look? If those two corpses' powers have been exhausted, we can retrieve the sword and armor."

Ji Li sighed. "Understood, Elder. The Fengli Sect has been restless lately. With war upon us, we cannot call for stronger reinforcements. I'll have to accompany you down into the mines myself."

"Do we take the same route we used back then, or go straight down from here?"

"Go straight down. Many of our sect members died on our previous path. There is no need to disturb their peace."

Elder Long nodded slowly. Afterward, the two deployed their immortal power shields and summoned their most reliable treasured artifacts. It was clear these two Heavenly Immortals could still vividly remember what had happened in the past.

Ji Li coldly instructed, "Spread out and hold your positions around the array. Make sure everyone retreats beyond its boundary."

"Yes, Vice Sect Master!"

"What about the unaffiliated practitioners?"

"Take them out for now and keep them under tight watch. If the blood mine dries up, I see no reason to leave behind trouble that would stain our sect."

"Yes, Vice Sect Master!"

The True Immortals quickly carried out their orders. Soon, celestial soldiers started escorting the miners and wall carvers toward the edge of the grand array.

Meanwhile, the two Heavenly Immortals entered the mine and descended to the bottom of the vertical shaft. They then used their immortal power to force aside the thick brown-red blood soil that was blocking their way to the core.

Elder Long and Ji Li descended steadily. Though they weren't that fast, they weren't particularly slow either.

As Heavenly Immortals, they couldn't help but be confident in themselves. They had also visited the area before. Hence, they already knew what waited below.

The two reached the area near the golden sphere within moments. Right after, they simultaneously squeezed aside over a hundred meters of blood soil, revealing the golden light barrier and the tribulation clouds that were forming lightning spheres within. The sight made them exclaim in surprise.

Ji Li muttered in disbelief, "Heavenly tribulation?"

Beside him, Elder Long murmured, "Did the fiend-blood energy trigger heavenly tribulation because it's about to turn devilish?"

Ji Li frowned. "If so, isn't that heavenly tribulation too small? Why don't we go down and take a look, Elder?"

"Stay on your guard. Strange things are at work here."

The two slowly descended toward the golden sphere. Soon, they reached another conclusion: the immortal armor's power had also grown weaker.

They failed to notice that the golden sphere had "shrunk" and no longer pressed tightly against the surrounding blood soil.