The fla in front of him was none other than a Blood Fla.
And the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect was famous for it. The disciples of the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect used Blood Fla techniques frequently. They were known to ignite blood itself and use the victim’s own life force as fuel.
Han Yu tested the mixture carefully. He did not want to recreate the blood burning disasters he had seen in the discipline halls. But even with small amounts, the fla was clearly stronger.
’A dangerous but powerful tool.’ Han Yu exhaled and allowed the fla to dissipate.
Then he sat cross-legged on the stones, placed his palms on his knees, and began to absorb qi from the air. Slowly he replenished his spirit qi pool, then converted part of it into blood qi using the cultivation thod of the sect, the Moon Slaughter Arts.
His qi returned gradually.
The thought of refining a spirit fla once again tempted him.
But he shut it down imdiately.
’This was not the place.’
The Dancing Fla Art was manageable. But a spirit fla was a completely different matter. It required focus equal to fighting a life and death battle. It required stillness and safety. One mistake could turn him into a torch.
And he also could not ignore the possibility that Zhao Liun had eyes on him sowhere along the road.
So far he had not sensed anyone. His spirit sense had swept the region several tis and found nothing suspicious. But that was not enough reassurance.
He would practice. He would improve. He would refine his skills further.
But the spirit fla would have to wait until he found absolute solitude.
He rose to his feet again, adjusted his robes, and continued along the road.
Han Yu pressed onward after leaving the stream and resud his long march toward the Harrow Mountains. The scenery gradually shifted from open plains to thicker clusters of wild shrubs and winding paths that forked unpredictably.
At first the terrain was gentle, and the journey was entirely peaceful.
The first day passed without interruption. Han Yu walked at an even pace, alternating between running and walking depending on how much qi he wished to conserve. The road was quiet.
Only small forest animals scurried in the underbrush, and occasionally he saw villages in the distance that he avoided deliberately not wanting to wander too far off the path and waste ti. Even if he wished to farm so Eight Emotions Energy he had to be prudent about it.
The fewer places he lingered, the fewer chances for Zhao Liun’s forces to catch him off guard.
The second day was much the sa. He slept for five hours under the cover of a tree and ditated for another one. His body did not fatigue easily now, and his spirit qi replenished steadily. When he opened his eyes at dawn, the world was wrapped in a thin fog and the faint silhouette of the mountain range in the far distance reassured him that he was on the right path.
Only on the third day did anything remotely interesting happen.
Han Yu had been following a narrow road that cut through the forest. The trees here towered high and blocked much of the late morning sunlight. The chirping of insects echoed through the woods and a faint breeze caused the leaves to rustle softly. It was eerily peaceful.
Then Han Yu saw movent far ahead.
A hundred ters down the path a small wooden carriage had stopped. Two horses were hitched to it, and both were stamping nervously. Around the carriage stood a dozen n dressed in black cloth, ragged leather, and bits of old armor. They held rusty swords, knives, and hatchets.
"Bandits." Han Yu clicked his tongue lightly.
A classic scene, straight out of story books. Bandits surrounding a lone carriage on a quiet forest road. He would not have been surprised if a cliche line was shouted any mont.
He did not approach imdiately.
Instead he slipped behind a thick tree trunk and watched with his spirit sense. Han Yu wanted to first see what type of bandits these were. In this region of the Blood Moon Continent, random bandits were rare. The presence of local militias, roaming cultivators, and occasional patrols made banditry a very risky profession.
Only soone desperate or foolish would choose to operate here. Or perhaps soone with different intentions.
With a gentle sweep of his spirit sense, he examined their strength. Ten of the bandits were body tempering cultivators. Their movents were sloppy and chaotic, showing no training. Two of them were cultivators, one at the mid stage of Qi Refining and another at the late stage. These two stood closer to the carriage and clearly commanded the others.
Not the smartest or strongest bandit troupe he had seen. But enough to pose a threat to an ordinary traveler.
Han Yu then turned his attention to the carriage. The driver was tense, gripping the reins with trembling hands. He was a body tempering eighth stage cultivator, enough to deal with one or two weak opponents but nowhere near enough to fend off twelve at once.
The bandits had surrounded him in a loose semi circle. They were shouting loudly, telling him to hand over all valuables and order whoever was inside the carriage to step out. The driver refused and tried to maintain a stern face, though his heartbeat was clearly quickening.
One of the bandit leaders barked sothing crude and moved toward the door of the carriage.
Han Yu probed ntally. He sent out a quiet thread of spirit sense toward the carriage to see who was inside.
But his probe hit a barrier.
"Huh?"
The spirit sense bounced off as though hitting a wall. Han Yu narrowed his eyes. There was a formation array on the carriage. A proper spirit sense blocking array, not a sloppy or incomplete one. This was not sothing a random rchant or traveller would have.
Suspicion rose in Han Yu’s heart.
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