"Junior Brother Zheng, you brought this all upon yourself. Don’t bla in the afterlife." Qin Xuan’s eyes were deep and profound.
A viscous, crimson red slowly seeped out of the void.
BOOM!
The crimson-gold fla that was the Fla Demon leaped up, devouring the last remnants of the Netherworld Fla.
It grew considerably stronger just like that.
The dark-gold Soul Banner appeared. Countless fine, bloody threads erupted from its black surface, absorbing Zheng Qi’s soul.
Before it was fully absorbed, Qin Xuan didn’t forget to perform a Soul Search.
Unfortunately, the gap between their Realms wasn’t large, and Zheng Qi’s Divine Soul had been damaged by the Bone-Piercing Nether Spring when he died. As a result, Qin Xuan found nothing of value.
As for the gleaming white bones left behind, they fell into Qin Xuan’s Storage Ring. He planned to refine them into Silver Bone Shadow Soldiers later.
Gazing at the cleanly disposed-of remains of Zheng Qi, Qin Xuan felt not a ripple in his heart, as if he had just done sothing utterly ordinary.
’Did they really have to collude with Ma Wei and Xie Qing? Don’t they know not to poke a sleeping tiger? Did they really think I was an easy target?’
A Cultivator’s Cave Mansion was private territory. Anything that happened inside was tacitly permitted by the Holy Sect!
Qin Xuan wiped a hand across his face.
His features shifted, transforming into the likeness of Zheng Qi as he respectfully exited the Cave Mansion.
"My apologies for disturbing you, Senior Brother Qin."
Under the watchful eyes of many, people saw Zheng Qi enter Qin Xuan’s Cave Mansion, and they saw Zheng Qi walk out.
On the way back, ’Zheng Qi’ even chatted and laughed while greeting so Stewards and Instructors. Incredibly, no one noticed the slightest flaw in his disguise.
When he arrived at Zheng Qi’s Cave Mansion, sothing even more amazing happened.
The Array at the entrance didn’t even recognize that Qin Xuan was an impostor!
...
Inside Zheng Qi’s Cave Mansion, the furnishings were similar to Qin Xuan’s.
A yellow ditation cushion, a stone bed, and a stone table.
There was nothing else out of the ordinary.
Except, on Zheng Qi’s bed, Qin Xuan discovered a bottle of ghastly green, putrid blood and a straw doll with his own na written on it.
And a set of brocade official robes!
RUMBLE—!
The instant he saw those brocade official robes, a magnificent Demonic Sound exploded in Qin Xuan’s mind.
In a daze, Qin Xuan seed to see a phantom—a ferocious Blood Demon with a leopard’s head, round eyes, a swallow’s jaw, and a tiger’s whiskers, carrying a blood-red Demon Sword on its shoulder—materialize before him.
Because Qin Xuan had triggered it himself, the ferocious Blood Demon phantom appeared quite amiable, letting out a coarse laugh.
"My na is Xiong Kaishan, my demon na is Giant Spirit. Any descendant who inherits my Golden-Breaking Blood Talisman must make avenging my blood feud their fundantal purpose."
"Should you fail to ascend to Golden Core and annihilate the Profound Cliff Du Family within a hundred years, your Cultivation will regress, your longsword will shatter, and my karma will be fulfilled!"
SHATTER!
As his voice fell, the ferocious Blood Demon phantom shattered into specks of bloody light and dissipated between heaven and earth.
A stream of information flooded his mind.
’So that’s how it is. What a vicious curse, what a venomous sche.’
Realization dawned on Qin Xuan. He gritted his teeth in anger, wishing he could drag Zheng Qi back from the dead just to grind his bones to dust.
’I was right to kill him.’
These brocade official robes ca from the Profound Cliff Du Family, a Daqian Golden Core Clan and the mortal enemies of the Giant Spirit Blood Demon, Xiong Kaishan.
And this bottle of putrid green blood ca from so kind of Exotic Beast. Paired with the doll bearing his na, it could be used to perform a crude karmic transference ritual.
’If I hadn’t agreed to go to the Secret Realm...’
’Zheng Qi would have returned and activated this Secret Technique, transferring the karmic link between and the Giant Spirit Blood Demon to this doll.’
Xiong Kaishan was a dignified Holy Sect Golden Core Blood Demon, and his Lifebound Blood Sword was buried in the Blood Pool Sword Tomb. In the unseen world, he was blessed by the Holy Sect’s Qi chanism.
Forget about a re Foundation Establishnt Second Level cultivator like Zheng Qi... even a Nascent Soul Demon Monarch would find it difficult to erase the karmic power involved.
Let alone when using such a crude and simplistic Secret Technique.
The end result would be that the Giant Spirit Blood Demon’s remnant will would have perceived it as Qin Xuan deliberately provoking it, trying to escape his duty, and breaking his oath.
It would have directly triggered a karmic backlash, and my Lifebound Blood Sword would have shattered!
Qin Xuan’s Golden-Breaking Blood Talisman had been exposed when he killed Li Cang. Although few people knew about it, he had revealed his Lifebound Longsword in public many tis.
Given Ma Wei’s background, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her to investigate this.
’If I had agreed to go to the Secret Realm with Zheng Qi, it would have been even worse.’
Zheng Qi was acting on Ma Wei’s instructions and had learned a Secret Technique from Xie Qing. The three of them had long been lying in wait, hoping to lure Qin Xuan to a Purple Mansion True Demon Secret Realm.
This Purple Mansion True Demon Secret Realm was real.
The inheritance inside was also real.
The only lie was that the karma attached to this Purple Mansion True Demon’s inheritance was imnse—an even bigger trap than the karma from the Golden Core Blood Demon!
’Those animals... those absolute animals...’
’I’m just a lowly Foundation Establishnt Incense Master. Did they really need to sche against like this?’
As for why Ma Wei had gone to such great lengths to harm him, Qin Xuan had a pretty good idea.
’That fat sow probably thought Chen Xuanba left so secret with .’
’Now that the news of Chen Xuanba’s failed Core Formation is just getting out, she’s already eager to make an example of !’
...
Late that night, Qin Xuan quietly returned to his own Cave Mansion.
If a Foundation Establishnt Cultivator truly went into seclusion, it was normal for them to remain there for a year, or even three to five years. Qin Xuan wasn’t afraid of being discovered.
By the ti Ma Wei discovered Zheng Qi was dead, Qin Xuan would long be gone, attending the Foundation Establishnt and Chaos Suppression Conference.
Another half-month passed.
As expected, no one had discovered Zheng Qi’s death. Ma Wei, it seed, was currently away on a mission and had not yet returned to the Holy Sect.
Only the rumors about Chen Xuanba’s failed Core Formation grew more and more intense.
Beneath the calm surface, an undercurrent surged.
’The Profound Cliff Du Family, a Daqian Golden Core Family...’
Qin Xuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Sitting on the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, he had spent fifty Contribution Points and had actually managed to find a few scraps of information.
According to the records, the Profound Cliff Du Family specialized in Wood Attribute Dharma Gates. The family’s core inheritance, passed down through generations, was the Earth-grade top-level Golden Core Technique, the "Yi Wood Evergreen Skill". They were especially skilled at healing and cultivating Spiritual Plants.
Their ancestor, Du Xuanya, was one of the six dukes and twenty-eight marquises who founded the Daqian Dynasty, having rendered great service under Grand Emperor Qian.
They held a hereditary Marquis title.
Unfortunately, their descendants were not as capable. Only Du Xuanya had been a Nascent Soul Daoist Monarch; in the generations since, the most powerful Patriarch had never surpassed the Golden Core Realm.
Combining this with the information from the Blood Talisman’s remnant will, Qin Xuan finally sorted out the tangled threads of karma.
’The feud between the Giant Spirit Blood Demon and the Profound Cliff Du Family actually dates back two thousand years.’
At that ti, Xiong Kaishan was still a Purple Mansion Daoist. In an overseas Secret Realm, he found a wisp of Golden Core Dao Fire, but was unfortunately discovered by the Young Master Marquis of the Profound Cliff Du Family, who was also at the Purple Mansion Peak.
The Golden Core Dao Fire was the key to the secrets of Core Formation.
The two ca to blows. Xiong Kaishan, then a Holy Sect Purple Mansion Altar Master, ended the Du Family’s Young Master Marquis with a single sword strike. The young master had grown up sheltered, cultivated a Wood Attribute Cultivation Technique, and was not skilled in combat.
Upon learning of this, the Du Family’s Golden Core Family Head, Du Xiude, was enraged.
He pursued Xiong Kaishan for thousands of miles, but unfortunately, Xiong Kaishan managed to escape back to the Holy Sect and successfully ford a Dao Golden Core, earning the title of Giant Spirit Blood Demon!
How could he not avenge his son’s death?
The Du Family’s Golden Core Family Head lay low for a full century. When the Giant Spirit Blood Demon was once severely injured, he finally found his chance. He used his family’s Tier Five Spiritual Plant to persuade a Daqian Nascent Soul True Monarch to place a death curse on the demon within the Holy Sect.
The technique used was the Yin tal Divine Technique—Zuo’e·Heart-Eroding Nail!
’The Profound Cliff Du Family really fights dirty. It’s one thing to be less skilled, but to have the old masters co out after the young one loses... and they even hired a Nascent Soul Daoist Monarch to do their dirty work...’
Qin Xuan found such behavior utterly despicable.
He read on and discovered that the story wasn’t over.
After learning that the Giant Spirit Blood Demon had been subjected to a death curse by a Daqian Nascent Soul Daoist Venerable while inside the Holy Sect, the Holy Sect’s Sect Leader at the ti flew into a rage.
He implored the one from the "White Wax Gold", the Venerable Candle Gold Ashes, who annihilated that audacious Daqian Nascent Soul Daoist Venerable with a single finger!
Qin Xuan was so moved he couldn’t help but wipe away a tear. ’Our Holy Sect really has a heart! The Saint Venerable truly cares for us!’
After that, no Daqian Nascent Soul Daoist Venerable ever dared to cross realms to kill a disciple of our Holy Sect again.
A Purple Mansion Daoist lives for eight hundred years, while a Golden Core True Monarch has a lifespan of fifteen hundred years at most.
’So that Du Xiude must be dead by now. The Profound Cliff Du Family, however, is still flourishing. The current Patriarch is nad Du Haixian, and he achieved his Dao Golden Core five hundred years ago.’
Qin Xuan’s brow furrowed, deeply feeling how troubleso this was.
Being required to reach Golden Core within a hundred years... this karma from the Giant Spirit Blood Demon was incredibly thorny!
The next mont, however, Qin Xuan rembered sothing else. His heart clenched, and he snapped his head up.
If a Golden Core Blood Demon carried such karma...
...then what about the two Purgatory Level Blood Talismans from the Nascent Soul Demon Monarchs that he possessed...?!
User Comments
0 comments from readers